The Queen's Journal, Volume 148, Issue 5

the journal Vol. 148, Issue 5

Queen’s University

Friday, September 11, 2020

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

Since 1873

‘[It’s] off the table’: Queen’s students condemn frosh week partying Students share similar concerns about an outbreak with the University, the City J ulia H armsworth Assistant News Editor

PHOTOS BY CLAUDIA RUPNIK, JODIE GRIEVE, TESSA WARBURTON

Following warnings from the University and the City of Kingston, some Queen’s students are doing what they can to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

In response to large gatherings of students during Frosh Week, the City closed the Gord Downie Pier and Breakwater Park Beach Area on Sept. 5. The emergency order was made in consultation with Kingston, Frontenac, and Lennox and Addington (KFL&A) Public Health.

Cassidy McMackon, ArtSci ’21, told The Journal she thinks closing the pier was a “good move.”

She said she’s been wearing a mask everywhere she goes, constantly sanitizing, and has had “minimal” contact with people from outside of her immediate social circle.

McMackon said she thinks small gatherings are okay, but larger parties worry her.

“The masses of people coming in from all kinds of locations and intermingling with people from other locations—it’s scary,” McMackon said. “I think anyone coming into a community that they don’t live in full time [has] to be careful and respect full-time residents.”

Rayan Rahal, ArtSci ’22, told The Journal he thinks partying is “off the table.” He’s been avoiding seeing people indoors altogether, except for his housemates. He plans to wait two weeks to see if Kingston has an outbreak of the virus, and then re-evaluate.

Rahal said he’s witnessed several large parties on University Ave. over the past week—not as large as last year’s Frosh Week parties, but still large enough to break current social gathering rules.

“It’s f—ed up,” he said. “These guys are putting so many people at risk […] I feel almost a selfish bitterness that people aren’t making the same sacrifices that I and so many people I know are, and they’re

basically making [the sacrifices] for nothing.”

Rahal said he’s seen police officers on University Ave. while these parties are happening, observing but not intervening.

“I’m not anti-party,” he added. “I’m just anti-being an irresponsible dick.”

Sarah Mallen, ArtSci ’22, told The Journal she doesn’t plan on partying this year either. She said that, as a person who works in the service sector, she’s careful to follow all public health guidelines.

“There’s a part of me that is empathetic, that understands that […] partying is such a big part of the university experience,” Mallen said. “But the other part of it is there is a pandemic, these are not normal circumstances, and to pretend anything otherwise is selfish.”

Mallen said she noticed a “massive” house party on Monday night, but hasn’t seen many large gatherings other than that.

“It’s really about rising to the challenge that public health has given us, that this community has given us, and right now, as a Queen’s community, we are failing,” she said.

McMackon, Rahal, and Mallen all said they don’t blame Kingston locals for being concerned about a possible COVID-19 outbreak amongst the student population.

“I don’t think it’s fair to blame every Queen’s student because it’s not every Queen’s student that’s participating in these things, but I think the reason for concern is absolutely warranted,” Mallen said.

Jeff Masuda, associate professor in the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies, submitted a letter of concern to Queen’s senior administration on Sept. 6. “[Students] have, epidemiologically speaking, turned the entire university district into some kind of pandemic outbreak incubator,” he wrote.

According to the letter, Masuda observed several “pods” of students engaged in “network partying,” moving between house parties in small groups.

“I fear we are too late to prevent the outbreak that will result from these (in)actions,” he wrote. “More ought to have been done, but the ship has sailed. Now is the time for Queen’s to take urgent and radical measures, whatever these may be.”

See Frosh in Pandemic on page 4

In this issue: business owners manage returning students, page 6. Gender and beauty products, page 7. Queen’s must take mental health seriously, page 8. Wilderness album release, page 9. ex-Gaels in CFL tackle season cancellation, page 11. A cancelled semester abroad, page 15. queensjournal.ca

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AMS concerned about lack of communication from University about isolation residences Society is adapting some services to prevent staff from “working in unsafe or high-risk areas” Claudia Rupnik News Editor Though Queen’s has designated the JDUC as an isolation residence, the AMS has raised concerns over how the University will ensure the safety of student workers.

The University told The Journal the residences in the David C. Smith building

and the JDUC are ideal for isolation rooms because they have individual bathrooms and controlled access. These residences were also selected with the input of “public health experts to mitigate any risks to others in the area.”

The University has allocated 136 beds in Smith and another 90 in the JDUC for isolation requirements.

The app is required for those entering campus buildings.

PHOTO BY JODIE GRIEVE

SeQure app launches new COVID-19 tracker University asks students to self-assess for COVID-19 on mobile security app Simone Manning Assistant News Editor As Queen’s attempts to prioritize health and safety leading into the fall term, it’s asking students to track their own symptoms through SeQure.

Initially launched in 2012, the University’s mobile security resource app SeQure now features a brief COVID-19 survey for those visiting campus.

The COVID-19 Self-Assessment survey was created by the Department of Environmental Health & Safety in conjunction with Human Resources and Safety Services, based on recommendations made by Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox & Addington (KFL&A) Public Health and the provincial government.

The form includes questions about symptoms, recent travel, exposure, reason for campus arrival, and a time-sensitive list of buildings individuals enter to assist public health authorities with contact tracing.

“The SeQure app takes respect for user privacy very seriously and does not track your device’s location,” Kim Murphy, executive director of Queen’s Risk and Safety Services, wrote in a statement. “The responsibility will be on users to fill out the app survey and receive the ‘all clear’

before each visit to campus. It’s quick and simple, and doing so will help keep them, their colleagues or classmates, and the community safe.”

If the user has been deemed “safe” based on their responses, they’ll be issued a green badge with a QR code to be presented to building attendants, athletics and recreation staff, and employee managers upon entering various University facilities for a 24-hour period.

After that time, the green badge expires, and users are required to fill out the questionnaire upon their next trip to campus.

If the user has indicated exposure to or symptoms of COVID-19, the app will display a screen that asks them to discontinue their visit, return home, and complete the Ontario COVID-19 Self-Assessment survey.

Students should contact Student Wellness Services at 613.533.6740 for medical assistance, and those living in residence should follow the COVID-19 Residence Student Isolation Protocol.

Staff and faculty are asked to fill out the Symptoms and Response form and advise their supervisor.

“Queen’s is working to ensure that those who will be on campus are safe, informed, and have the right tools,” Mark Green, provost and vice-principal (Academic), also wrote in the statement. “We strongly recommend that all students, staff, faculty, and visitors to our campuses download the SeQure app and use the assessment tool, as it will assist administrators and our public health partners in mitigating potential impacts of any potential COVID-19 transmission.”

Students living in residence who selfidentify as having symptoms of COVID-19 or test positive for the virus will be moved to an isolation space until they receive direction from a healthcare professional to cease isolation.

“The process for isolation in residence is initiated by students who develop symptoms and need to separate themselves, pending their test results,” Leah Wales, executive director of Housing and Ancillary Services, wrote in a statement to The Journal.

Wales said students in isolation can expect to have meals delivered and receive a daily video-conference check-in from residence staff to ensure any other needs are met, like laundry or garbage removal.

The University has instructed these students to stay in their isolation space and avoid all contact with others unless they require immediate medical attention.

“We do expect, based on current rates of negative tests within the Kingston community, that many who enter isolation will be negative for COVID-19,” Wales wrote. “If and when a positive case is confirmed, KFL&A Public Health manages contact tracing and we would expect that students would cooperate with all public health requirements.”

“Isolation spaces are a critical part of being able to promote the health and safety of the student population in residence this year.”

Wales said the residency occupancy

Friday, September 11, 2020 plans were developed in consultation with the Residence Planning Working Group, a sub-group of the Campus Operations Group, which includes AMS President Jared den Otter as one of two student representatives.

However, den Otter told The Journal that while he was first made aware of the decision by Wales at the meeting, the AMS was not “consulted prior to the University’s decision to designate the JDUC as an isolation residence.”

Den Otter added the AMS recognizes the University’s efforts to create a safe space for self-isolating students but is “discouraged” about the lack of consultation and communication.

“Staff safety is our most important priority, and we will not allow our staff to be working in unsafe or high-risk areas,” den Otter wrote.

AMS Vice-President (Operations) Alexandra Samoyloff explained that the isolation spaces within the JDUC are confined to the residence spaces. She said the AMS has been in contact with Wales regarding the University’s safety protocols and procedures. “[S]tudents living in the JDUC are not permitted to “roam” the rest of the building in spaces such as the Lower Ceilidh where Walkhome operates,” Samoyloff wrote.

“With the protocols in place outlined by the University, students living in the JDUC would never come into contact with AMS service staff.”

The AMS is currently advocating to Housing and Ancillary Services for areas of protocol they believe are lacking.

“Although we were not involved in the creation of the JDUC as an isolation space or in any of the procedures, we are and will continue to push back where needed to ensure not only the safety of our staff, but the wellbeing of students living in the residence,” Samoyloff wrote.

“We want the school to work with us, not against us, to maximize safety and student well-being.”

Read the full story online at queensjournal.ca

Allegations against AMS permanent staff member determined to be “unfounded” AMS Board of Directors’ Ad Hoc Committee wraps external investigation

Claudia Rupnik News Editor AMS Board of Director’s Ad Hoc Committee announced on Sept. 11 that allegations made against a Permanent Staff member at the AMS were determined to be unfounded.

The AMS Board of Directors shared that it had formed an Ad Hoc Committee of the Board on Sept. 2, which had hired an external party to investigate allegations made against a current member of the AMS’s permanent staff.

The Ad Hoc Committee used the AMS Advantage Fund to hire John Curtis as the external investigator.

The Ad Hoc Committee confirmed the allegation under investigation was made against the AMS Operations Officer

in two separate posts shared through Instagram account ‘AMSxposed.’

The posts had alleged that the Operations Officer had previously engaged in sexual relations with an AMS employee who was their direct report.

Curtis completed his investigation on Sept. 8, determining there hadn’t been any workplace harassment, sexual harassment, or any breaches of the AMS Harassment, Discrimination and Violence in the Workplace Policy and Program.

Due to confidentiality and privacy obligations, the AMS told The Journal it was unable to provide any further information.

The Ad Hoc Committee also reminded the community to ensure submissions to the account are an “accurate reflection of events” because they can result in consequences for the individuals identified. journal_news@ams.queensu.ca

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‘I want bystanders to feel like they have the responsibility to speak up’: Queen’s students share experiences of discrimination Students recall instances of verbal discrimination in the Kingston community Alysha Mohamed Assistant Arts Editor Tanya Tran, PhD candidate in clinical psychology, sent a tweet on Aug. 28 describing her experience being confronted with anti-Chinese racism in downtown Kingston the previous day.

“I was walking outside on Princess Street when I was verbally harassed by a group of males,” Tran wrote in a statement to The Journal.

“I stopped to let the group pass by me so I could keep my social distance. As they walked by me, one said, ‘Wear a mask you

f—ing Chinese c—t.’ Another group member joined in the harassment by saying pseudoChinese words (i.e. ‘Ching Chong’) which I assume was their way of making a mockery of my ethnicity’s language.”

Tran took to Twitter to share her experience and urge Kingstonians and visitors alike to engage in serious conversations about anti-Chinese discrimination, especially in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I will be adding this incident to a list of microaggressions, harassments, and discrimination that I experienced as a woman

Tran said the incident on Aug. 28 wasn’t unique during her time in Kingston.

of colour while living in Kingston,” Tran said, noting the incident wasn’t unique during her time in the city.

Tran isn’t alone in having these kinds of discriminatory interactions in Kingston.

After she shared her story online, Haadia Mufti, CompSci ’22, and Gage Benyon, ArtSci ’19, spoke to The Journal about their experiences with Islamaphobia and homophobia.

Mufti’s experience, in particular, mirrored Tran’s.

“I was walking through downtown with my friend a year ago,” Mufti said. “A white

PHOTO BY JODIE GRIEVE

New conference aims to foster discussions about gender equality in engineering view on how individuals of all genders, and women, navigate through STEM fields,” Kathy Sheng, Q-WASE marketing and events coordinator, said in an interview with The Journal. “We want delegates to leave our conference feeling hopeful for their future careers and excited for the opportunities ahead of them.”

Ahrani Gnayakan Sheng said inclusivity is Staff Writer important in any industry, but pointed out it’s more significant The Queen’s Women in Applied in a field historically dominated Science and Engineering by men. In 2018, only 22 per cent Conference (Q-WASE) is more of undergraduate engineering than just another engineering students in Canada were conference—it’s the Faculty female, with some disciplines of Engineering and Applied seeing representation as low as Science’s (FEAS) first and only 14 per cent. non-technical conference.

Queen’s fares slightly better Where other conferences than the Canadian average, with ratified by the Engineering Society female enrollment in the FEAS tackle issues like space, energy, at around 30 per cent—but it’s and the environment, the newly still much lower than the average formed Q-WASE is focused on at Queen’s, which saw women exploring gender disparity in the make up almost 60 per cent of the field of engineering. class of 2023.

“Q-WASE aims to offer a unique “Having a diverse and inclusive

Q-WASE wants delegates to leave the conference feeling hopeful about the industry

workplace fosters a more engaged, collaborative, and productive environment, resulting in more innovative ideas and better work being produced,” Sheng said.

Sheng shared her personal experience as a woman seeking employment in engineering as an example of how gender disparity hampers one’s comfort in the workplace. “[S]everal of my interviews included only myself and a group of men in a room or video call, which admittedly was an intimidating situation to be in,” she said.

When she asked if there were any company initiatives in place to support women in the workplace, Sheng said many of the organizations she was interviewing with were unable to provide an answer.

Q-WASE hopes to serve as an inclusive and supportive platform where experiences like Sheng’s can be shared. Through sharing these stories, Sheng said “delegates can

man, maybe in his late 40s, Mufti and Benyon both said walked towards us and said, they feel like the University deals ‘Assalmualaikum,’ which is an with diversity and discrimination Islamic way of greeting someone.” like “checkboxes” rather than a “I kept my head down and set of inclusive values promoted continued the conversation with every day. my friend. The man then started “I am sick of seeing Queen’s yelling at me, saying ‘How dare and the Kingston community say you not respond to me?’ and ‘You ‘Black Lives Matter’ and ‘We accept think you are so much better everyone’ only after a negative than me.’” event has happened,” Benyon “[He also said], ‘Go back to your wrote. “There needs to be more country you b—, we don’t want accountability and proactive work.” you here.’”

Though Tran publicly shared Mufti said she didn’t respond to her experience on social media, these remarks. She chose to walk she said she still doesn’t know away rather than put herself in who she could have reported more danger. the incident to and sought Tran and Mufti both said they support from. felt “isolated” and “angry” after Now, she’s pushing for the incidents, especially because greater education in dealing with the racist remarks were made in a discriminatory incidents and busy downtown area of Kingston. racist behavior.

Benyon told The Journal he “I want to feel like the odds are in experienced verbal discrimination my favour when I speak up against from other Queen’s students racism. I want bystanders to feel targeting his sexuality. like they have the responsibility “Two years ago, while checking to speak up,” Tran wrote. “I out at Loblaws, I called out to my remember learning in grade same sex fiancée to get something school about stranger danger and for me, calling him babe,” Benyon the power of consent, but I was not wrote. “A group of four guys in prepared to educate grown men Queen’s athletics gear looked over. on the street about changing their One of them did a fake cough and racist and misogynistic behavior. said ‘f—g’ and the rest of them “My bet is that bystanders on laughed and walked away.” the day of the incident did not “This was the first time I’d have that education too. Let’s experienced homophobia in make this education mandatory in Kingston, and it is something I’ll schools now.” never forget.”

Q-WASE hopes to run its conference in-person.

empower one another to take action and instigate change.”

The conference invites students from all disciplines, years, and genders to participate in talks with industry professionals, workshops, and case competitions. Q-WASE’s plan is to create an environment which encourages collaboration across different backgrounds.

However, this year has presented some unique challenges for the inaugural year of the conference.

Within the Queen’s community, this year has seen the COVID-19 pandemic push classes online for most students and the launch of Instagram accounts like ‘Erased

by FEAS,’ which share anonymous submissions about discrimination in the FEAS. Sheng sees the Instagram

SUPPLIED BY Q-WASE

account as an opportunity for growth.

“Now that issues are being brought forth, they should be proceeded with discussions and an action plan to solve them,” Sheng said. “Helping people find a support system and giving them a platform to speak on issues of gender disparity is a great first step, which is something that Q-WASE can provide to students.”

As for COVID-19, Sheng said the Q-WASE team is hoping to run the conference in-person by complying with the most current public health guidelines. Contingencies are in place if the conference must be held virtually.

Those interested in the conference can learn more through Q-WASE’s website or Instagram.

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Reform Smith launches equity proposal for Smith School of Business Recommendations focus on measuring progress and increasing transparency Sasha Cohen Staff Writer Walkhome is open to students as of this week.

PHOTO BY JODIE GRIEVE

Walkhome introduces criminal record check for all future employees Service to operate through phone or app-based requests during remote term Sobika Ganeshalingam Assistant News Editor All future Walkhome employees are now required to receive a criminal record check completed prior to employment.

The Ad-Hoc Committee formed by the AMS Board of Directors has made this change following the launch of the ‘AMSxposed’ Instagram page in August.

According to Jordan Nensi, chair of the AMS Board of Directors, all Walkhome employees hired after September 2020 will be required to provide a Criminal Record and Judicial Matters (CRJM) check to the AMS before the start of their employment terms.

This check includes inquiry of any criminal convictions or findings of guilt under the federal Youth Criminal Justice Act, along with any absolute and conditional discharges, outstanding charges, arrest warrants, and certain judicial orders.

These checks are used in many places of employment as a precautionary measure for screening employees and volunteers.

The CRJM check can be requested through a municipal police service or the Ontario Provincial Police.

“Employees will be reimbursed for any nominal fee incurred while obtaining a CRJM check,” Nensi wrote in a statement to The Journal.

The Walkhome program will continue to operate on campus this term with some changes made to adapt for the remote communication requirements due to COVID-19 precautions.

“Due to COVID-19 safety precautions, Walkhome will be operating on a phone-request and/or app-request basis only for the remainder of the Fall term,” Nensi wrote.

The user can access the app or make a phone call to Walkhome to initiate the process. The service will then dispatch two Walkhome staff members to meet the user at their location. The staff will then walk the user to any location within the service’s extended boundaries.

To ensure the safety of the staff and Walkhome program users, all staff will be wearing masks and practicing physical distancing while on walks.

“The AMS also asks that all patrons do the same,” Nensi wrote.

Walkhome will continue to operate from Sunday to Reform Smith now runs ‘Stolen By Smith’.

Wednesday, 8 p.m. to 2 a.m., and Thursday to Saturday, 8 p.m. to 3 a.m.

to keep this virus at bay,” they wrote. “Outbreaks within our student population will be disastrous, not only for us but for many others. We do not want to see the university forced to close its doors and students leaving the City as we saw in March.”

According to the message, the University “supports” the efforts

of campus security, the City, and Kingston Police, who will be handing out fines to students who break social gathering restrictions.

“Please familiarize yourself with the public health requirements as they will be enforced and penalties for failing to abide by them will be utilized,” they wrote. “We cannot afford to let COVID-19 get the upper hand.”

journal_news@ams.queensu.ca

Students say City’s concern about virus outbreak is valid

continued from front...

Rector Sam Hiemstra, SGPS President Justine Aman, AMS President Jared den Otter, and Principal Patrick Deane released a joint welcome message on Sept. 4 to provide recommendations regarding COVID-19 safety.

“We need your help to continue

Reform Smith launched its equity action proposal on Sept. 8 to make comprehensive recommendations for addressing the inequities within the Commerce program at the Smith School of Business.

Reform Smith, the group of current students and alumni operating the ‘Stolen by Smith’ Instagram account, advocates for systemic reform at the Smith School of Business. The account was first launched in July to give QTBIPOC students a platform to share experiences of racism and inequity within the faculty.

Reform Smith did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.

While the group has expressed concern over various forms of violence across the University, its proposal focuses particularly on the Commerce program.

The proposal includes seven specific areas of development: admissions; curriculum, equitable hiring, and education/training; financial aid; recruitment; disclosure, reporting, and disciplinary m e a s u re s ; and student support and community development.

The group introduced short-term, medium-term, and long-term plans for addressing equity concerns within each area.

Their recommendations are based on input provided by students and staff within the Smith community.

The admissions guideline includes the short-term recommendation to “increase transparency, reporting, and publish sharing of admissions data.”

Key performance indicators for this section also include measuring the proportion of students from a minority background admitted to the program, as well as collecting and publishing information about the demographics of applicants, admitted students, and those who accept their offers.

Reform Smith also drew on equity practices from other leading institutions when drafting the proposal to “build a better Smith School of Business experience for all students.”

On its website, Reform Smith has various opportunities for both Queen’s and non-Queen’s students to get involved. Individuals can sign the group’s petition to the Smith administration, email a statement of support to University executives, or share messages on social media.

JOURNAL FILE PHOTO

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They filmed four virtual simulation games for students.

SUPPLIED BY MARIAN LUCTKAR-FLUDE

LGBTQ+ specific health content in development for Queen’s nursing

Queen’s professors, PhD student create Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) Nursing Education Toolkit Julia Harmsworth Assistant News Editor Two Queen’s professors and a Queen’s student are creating LGBTQ+ specific healthcare content for the University’s nursing program.

Marian Luctkar-Flude, associate professor (School of Nursing); Deborah Tregunno, associate professor (School of Nursing); and PhD student Benjamin Carroll are part of the seven-person research team developing the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) Nursing Education Toolkit, an educational resource specific to LGBTQ+ healthcare.

“[We] wanted to develop some educational materials for healthcare educators, health professionals, to improve their understanding of cultural humility as it applies to interacting with individuals that are LGBTQ+,” Luctkar-Flude told The Journal.

The content will be integrated into the Queen’s Nursing program through the mandatory fourth-year course in community health.

“It was probably touched upon in different places across the program, but now there’s a specific module that they can use, so I think that’s filling a gap,” Luctkar-Flude said.

Carrol received a grant in 2018 with two

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other then-grad students. They approached Luctkar-Flude, and together decided to use virtual simulation games as a way to engage students and nurses in their presented content.

The team created four games, each of which focuses on a different LGBTQ+ individual and the barriers to healthcare they might face. The team is currently working on the scripts for more games demonstrating different barriers.

In the games, the learner plays as a nurse interacting with a patient. Depending on how the player chooses to respond to the patient’s dialogue, they’ll receive either a positive or negative reaction from them.

“It’ll go through different issues depending on the game, and you see how the patient reacts to the way the nurse is addressing them and speaking to them,” Luctkar-Flude said.

After the game, the player is directed to resources that can help them improve their delivery.

“Just based on the feedback we’re getting since we’ve opened up the course, people are telling us that this was a much-needed resource for educators,” Luctkar-Flude said.

Released last week, the SOGI Nursing Education Course includes assigned readings for each of the four virtual games and two narrated introductory presentations—one on cultural humility and another explaining terms related to sexual orientation and gender identity.

The toolkit also includes the SOGI Nursing website, a searchable database of curated resources for health educators and professionals to learn more about the realms of LGBTQ+ health and cultural humility.

“We need to improve how we deliver care to these individuals and part of it is that we weren’t educated about these issues,” Luctkar-Flude said. “So, I think it’s important that nursing students have the opportunity to think about these issues and to think about their own biases.”

Luctkar-Flude worked on other simulation games that focus on COVID-19 nursing care, which are scheduled to be released next week. She’s also working on a set of games that will teach nurses how to interact with BIPOC patients.

“I think there’s the intersection too of both groups that would be important to look at,” she said.

Queen’s community participates in Scholar Strike

Twenty Queen’s community members signed their name in official support of the event’s demands.

Two-day event supports movements against anti-Black racism and police violence Larissa Zhong Staff Writer Provost and Vice-Principal (Academic) Mark Green released a statement on Sept. 4 supporting members of the Queen’s community who chose to participate in the Scholar Strike initiative.

The Scholar Strike is a labour action which took place from Sept. 9-10 across Canada and the United States and allowed individuals in higher education to pause all academic and administrative duties in a call for racial justice.

“Academics [ … ] have organized actions in support of movements against anti-Black racism and police violence against Black, Indigenous, and racialized communities,” Green wrote in the statement. “I know that some members of the Queen’s community will want to take part in Scholars Strike Canada in various ways.

The university supports these efforts and will be flexible where possible for employees who need to adjust their scheduled duties.”

Green wrote that participating faculty members were expected to promptly inform their students, department heads, and dean’s office of any cancelations of synchronous classes. Students weren’t to be disadvantaged should they chose to participate in the Scholar Strike.

Participating staff members were expected to “request lieu time, vacation time, or flex their time” and managers were asked to accommodate where possible.

PHOTO BY MADDISON ANDREWS

According to the Scholar Strike Canada website, 15 faculty members, one staff member, and four students at Queen’s had signed their names in support of Scholar Strike Canada’s official statement and list of demands.

Alana Butler, assistant professor at the Faculty of Education, participated in both days of the initiative and led the making of a Scholar Strike guide that was distributed to the deans of all faculties.

“My idea was to create a resource guide for educators at all levels to address issues of oppression and racism,” Butler said in an interview with The Journal.

“Something positive, something with lasting impact that people could use beyond the [Scholar Strike].”

She thanked Rebecca Carnevale, director of operations, advancement, and communications, and Rebecca Luce-Kapler, dean of the Faculty of Education, as well as other colleagues for their support and

Stauffer reopens with limited seating 150 study seats available through online reservation system Jessica Dahanayake Contributor The Queen’s University Library announced in a release on Sept. 8 that 150 individual study seats will be made available for student use in Stauffer Library as of that day.

The limited seating must be booked in advance on a first-come, first-served basis through an online reservation system.

These seats are available in four-hour time slots, and Queen’s students will be able to book study seats for up to 32 hours per month. All reservations will be four hours long, with the option to extend for an extra hour that won’t be counted toward the monthly allocation of hours.

Safety measures and regulations include a mandatory wellness check upon entrance to the library, face coverings and physical distancing guidelines, and sanitizing supplies provided to wipe down the study seat before and after use. Students will be informed via email of these safety protocols with each booking.

The University closed all on-campus libraries on March 18 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, online resources and limited curbside pickup have been made available for faculty and graduate researchers in recognition of the library’s crucial role in conducting research.

It was also announced that curbside pickup is still available to all students, staff, and faculty for print materials, which can be requested online through the Omni Search Tool.

The book bins remain open for returning print materials, and all loans can be checked out for 120 days.

A newly added scanning service has also been made available to all students, staff, and faculty. The service allows a chapter or equivalent of all regular and limited print materials to be scanned and emailed to the requestor.

Additional library services like access to computers, scanners, and library equipment won’t be offered for the fall term.

Students who require printing are directed to the newly provided online printing services at the AMS’s Printing and Copy Centre (P&CC), where they can receive their orders through delivery or curbside pickup.

Library staff are available through online chat to help students, staff, and faculty locate and gain access to the library or alternate resources.

contributions to the guide.

With support from faculty administration, Butler opted to sustain her synchronous classes and replace the regular curriculum with “a productive discussion around equity, diversity, and inclusion.”

“I think the faculty of education has a critical role to play in dismantling racism,” Butler said. “Racism and discrimination are perpetuated because of ignorance and lack of education, so it’s important for us to take the lead.”

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Features As students return, local businesses balance economic benefits with community safety IN-DEPTH STORIES FROM AROUND CAMPUS AND IN THE COMMUNITY

Three local business owners share their perspective on the COVID-19 and financial impacts of Queen’s students returning to Kingston Carolyn Svonkin Features Editor

Jonathan McCreery is familiar with the common college town trope of the “town and gown”: the relationship between post-secondary students and the residents of the town which hosts them. The dynamics of this relationship —always symbiotic, sometimes adversarial—is something he’s well-acquainted with.

“Having been born in Kingston, I am very aware that its residents love to bash Queen’s but also couldn’t live without its income,” McCreery, owner of Barcadia, a local bar situated in the hub, wrote in an email to The Journal.

Queen’s students have long been a force in Kingston’s economy, frequenting bars, restaurants, and stores. During the school year, local businesses rely on students to turn a profit, McCreery said.

“As a business owner, we rely on the disposable income of students,” McCreery said. “Even before COVID-19 we tried to cater to students, as we are well aware of where the money comes from.”

However, due to COVID-19, the student-resident relationship may look slightly different this year.

Unlike most Septembers when business owners look forward to the return of students, their arrival this year may bring not only a surge in business, but a surge in infection—as has been the case in other college towns.

Balancing these risks and benefits is weighing on business owners’ minds as they implement COVID-19 safety protocols while trying to recover from a difficult first half of 2020.

Barcadia was closed until six weeks ago, with McCreery calling profits “non-existent.” Similarly, William Fisher, owner and operator of The Mansion Restaurant and Bar, said the restaurant struggled after it was forced to close on March 17.

“We didn’t stay open to do takeout, so [the closure] made a big difference for sure, especially before patio season,” Fisher said. “Being able to stay open would’ve made a significant difference.”

Even after restaurant patios were allowed to open on June 10, The Mansion saw a lull after the initial rush.

“There was a honeymoon phase of a good boost,” Fisher said. “But

PHOTO BY JODIE GRIEVE

The Mansion opened on June 10 after being closed for nearly three months. we suffered after the first two weeks. There weren’t many people coming in, and a lot of people are still tentative about coming inside.

They’ll only come if [weather permits the] patio.”

According to Marc Gour, general manager of Phase 2, a local clothing store specializing in Queen’s merchandise, his store also took a “significant hit,” not only due to closure but because over the summer, “traffic was down significantly.”

Coming out of one of the most difficult summers in memory, McCreery, Fisher, and Gour all spoke positively about students returning to Kingston. “[At] this time of year, up to 50 per cent of business is university students,” Fisher said. “So we’re embracing [student’s return] and we are optimistic.”

Gour said Phase 2 is also welcoming Queen’s students back to Kingston.

“For 39 years, we’ve catered to Queen’s students and we love them. They’re a good part of our business and we’re happy they’re here,” he said. “We absolutely love having students back. We love catering to them and we take as many [COVID-19] precautions as we possibly can and 99.99 per cent of having students back is absolutely wonderful.”

During the school year, 40 per cent of Barcadia’s business is made up of Queen’s students, according to McCreery. He’s also happy to have students back, seeing them as no different than any other customer.

“Queen’s has gotten a bad rap in these strange times,” he said.

“Regardless of Queen’s or the age of our patrons, there’s always going to be ignorant people who feel as though the pandemic is not a big deal. It would seem as

though the latest inclination is to blame students.”

Gour and McCreery have both noticed that Queen’s students have respected their institutions’ COVID-19 regulations.

“Students have been very respectful of our rules,” McCreery said.

Gour echoed the sentiment. “The vast majority [of Queen’s students] are well-intentioned and want to be careful.”

McCreery also sees the return of students as a challenge business owners will have to meet.

“The reality is that any increase in population is going to be risky, be it Queen’s, St. Lawrence, or tourism,” he said.

“The students re t u r n i n g is beneficial not only to the economy, but it also forces businesses to comply and adapt.

COVID-19 isn’t going anywhere so businesses need to cope.”

Fisher feels similarly about we l c o m i n g students back to The Mansion.

“It’s pretty o bv i o u s the variables go up when people from out of town come back into town, but [COVID-19 is] something the world has to deal with anyways. As people become immune or vaccines come forward, there will be a big change. But

until then people will mingle a bit anyways. We’re anticipating being able to open our other floors soon and have student bookings.”

According to Gour and Fisher, business has already been up over the past few weeks. “Without question there’s a night-and-day difference since the summer,” Gour said. “We’re nowhere near numbers from last year, but it’s significantly better [since students began to return].”

All three businesses have implemented strict COVID-19 safety measures, limiting washroom and change room space, and spacing

out tables and merchandise.

McCreery said that although there were initial expenses associated with these measures, “now it’s just another facet of overhead [costs].”

Gour, McCreery, and Fisher are all looking at the full return of Queen’s-supported business optimistically.

Gour said for him and other downtown business owners, he believes the return of Queen’s students to Kingston will be more beneficial than risky.

“It’s a balance,” he said. “As a downtown business owner, I absolutely love Queen’s students.

We’re glad they’re here.”

Friday, September 11, 2020

queensjournal.ca • 7

EDITORIALS

The Journal’s Perspective

THE QUEEN’S JOURNAL

It’s time to ditch our gendered conceptions of beauty products

Volume 148 Issue 5 www.queensjournal.ca @queensjournal Publishing since 1873

Editorial Board Editor in Chief Managing Editor Production Manager

Raechel Huizinga matt scace tessa warburton

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claudia rupnik sobika ganeshalingam Julia Harmsworth Simone Manning Caroliyn Svonkin Aysha Tabassum

Features Editors

For years, beauty brands have bombarded us with a strict binary: products “for men” and those “for women.” But as society shifts away from rigid gender norms, so should the products we use.

In the past few years, beauty brands have marketed more gender neutral products, a positive trend not only promoting inclusivity, but challenging the notion that some personal care products are feminine, while others are masculine.

Moisturizer, for example, is generally considered a feminine product, despite men having skin to take care of just like anyone else. The idea that using skincare products is emasculating shows how deeply entrenched in gender norms our society is, as well as the progress we still need to break free of them.

Marketing genderless products is a step in the right direction and creates inclusivity

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for all genders. It also sets a precedent for other companies. At the end of the day, beauty brands are businesses, so if they see a viable market for gender neutral products, they’re more likely to hop on board, creating a new norm for the beauty industry.

That said, men shouldn’t feel obligated to buy beauty or skincare products. This campaign isn’t meant to make people more conscious about their appearance, but to allow people—regardless of their gender—to purchase any product they want or need. This creates space in the market for men who’ve traditionally been excluded from the beauty industry, as well as nonbinary individuals.

Companies shifting to gender neutral products could also improve price disparities between male and female products.

Beauty brands and personal care

TAPS closed, and it’s the University’s fault

In the eleventh hour, the AMS announced The AMS Pub Services (TAPS) would not be opening this year. It’s largely the University’s fault.

Restaurants in Kingston are now able to legally operate, as long as they abide by public health guidelines. By doubling or even tripling the guidelines set out by Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington Public Health—otherwise known as the real guidelines—without giving any consideration to student businesses that also need to survive the pandemic, Queen’s is overstepping.

It’s critical that members of the Queen’s and Kingston communities remain safe and abide by physical distancing and masking guidelines. But the economy doesn’t pause at the threshold of the University District.

Many students rely on campus employment as a source of income.

Student services pay the University high fees to use the spaces they operate in but, of course, rent relief was not an option first presented by the Campus Operations Group (COG), the body that oversees campus reopenings. The AMS had to advocate for it.

Yes, the timing of the TAPS layoffs could have been better executed. However, some empathy should be awarded to the AMS for

companies tend to expect women to pay more for their products than men. Razors marketed for women often cost more, while those for men are cheaper.

A razor is a razor, whether it’s pink or gray, and should be priced as such.

Having gender neutral products would not only acknowledge this point but combat the disparity between female- and male-marketed products.

It’s also important to remember the businesses pushing genderless products are simply acting on a demand in the market. Beauty brands are an important part of the genderless product trend, but they’re not the pioneers for it—that credit lies with young people.

Gen Z youths, or anyone between the ages of five and 24, are generally more open minded and often advocate for less rigid gender structures. Spaces like TikTok and the show Queer Eye are also collapsing gender norms, normalizing men in makeup and traditionally feminine clothes.

Dismantling strict gender norms begins with the everyday products we use. As companies shift to genderless products, people of all identities can be free to express themselves in whichever way they choose, without being weighed down by the strict masculine/feminine binary.

Gender neutral individuals have and will continue to exist. It’s time the beauty market reflected that.

—Journal Editorial Board

Raechel Huizinga

the COG’s disorganization and frequent vacation absences throughout the summer. Queen’s announced on Aug. 7 it expected just 6,600studentstoregularly be on campus this fall. Yet, reopening plans for some services had not yet been approved, meaning the University determined this number without factoring in student-run businesses. Just this week, The Grad Club announced it’s also unable to open due to University restrictions.

Queen’s recently designated the JDUC, home to the Queen’s Pub, a self-isolation building. The University then didn’t acknowledge the connection between this decision and the AMS’s failure to gain the COG’s reopening approval. Despite operating in the JDUC, the AMS wasn’t consulted about the University’s decision to make it a quarantine hub.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise.

Queen’s has a pattern of either failing to consult with its students, or else doing a poor job of it.

Take Queen’s sexual violence policy. After a quiet handful of changes to the policy last summer—the time period during which

Editorials Editor

Chloe Sarrazin

Editorial Illustrator

Alison Andrade Ben Wrixon

Opinions Editor

Nathan Gallagher

Arts Editor

Alysha Mohamed

Assistant Arts Editor

Matt Funk

Sports Editor Assistant Sports Editor

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Lifestyle Editor

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Assistant Lifestyle Editor

Kirby Harris

Photo Editor

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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.

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

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students are the least engaged with campus affairs—Queen’s came under fire for failing to adequately consult the community about the policy and introducing changes that were dangerous to students.

Embarrassingly, Queen’s later suspended the sexual violence policy, promising a highly communicated, open consultation period for the community to provide feedback about policy amendments. While the consultation period was delayed due to COVID-19, it reopened on July 21.

Since then, the link to the consultation page has appeared in a grand total of three Gazette newsletters.

The pandemic isn’t going anywhere. If Queen’s doesn’t want student services to disappear for good, it should remember it’s not a public health body and doesn’t have the authority to be.

Raechel Huizinga is a fifth-year English major and The Journal’s Editor in Chief.

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 and Managing Editor.

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

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8 • queensjournal.ca

OPINIONS

PHOTO BY JODIE GRIEVE

Greg Adams advocates for mental health services.

Queen’s must take mental health seriously during COVID-19 Discussing Queen’s University’s response to COVID-related mental health concerns COVID-19 is worsening the mental health of Queen’s students.

In 2018-19, 23 per cent of students at Queen’s had been diagnosed with or treated for anxiety.

The challenges of socially-distanced academic life call for dramatic overhauls to Queen’s mental health support this fall. Proactive resources on coping with potential isolation, difficulty in connecting with others, and the general challenges of university life must be prioritized over strategies for writing essays or taking notes.

Mental health concerns existed before COVID-19 at Queen’s. In 2018-19, 23 per cent of students at Queen’s had been

diagnosed with or treated for anxiety.

Nearly 60 per cent of students reported academics as being traumatic or difficult to handle. More than 64 per cent of female students and 49 per cent of male students reported experiencing above average stress levels.

COVID-19 is exacerbating this problem.

This summer, 83 per cent of Canadian students reported worsening mental health because of the pandemic. Allowing students access to timely and inclusive mental health support is more vital now. Yet, Queen’s University offers a remarkable lack of proactive resources to address student mental health.

Queen’s has provided guides for students to follow in preparation for their transition toward online classes, yet these resources don't address mental health.

For example, Student Academic Success Services has created a ‘transition course’ for the class of 2024, but it neglects the importance of a healthy lifestyle during remote learning.

Furthermore, Queen’s resources regarding the transition from high school to university haven't been updated to acknowledge COVID-19 realities. The Student Wellness Services’ description

Friday, September 11, 2020

of university life for first-year students still refers to face-to-face lectures and the bustling campus life of the past. It doesn't mention remote instruction, the differences found in this year’s orientation week, or other COVID-19-related changes.

Queen’s has an opportunity to normalize mental health dialogue during COVID-19.

Acknowledging the strains of COVID-19 could lead to the normalization of mental health discussions in university culture and academics.

Mental health challenges must be recognized as a day-to-day reality for both instructors and students.

This must begin with university leaders. Principal Patrick Deane hasn't addressed student mental health in the return to school on his social media platforms. Doing so would be a visible first step toward change in the atmosphere at Queen’s.

A reaffirmation and emphasis on the principles of the Okanagan Charter—a health-centric charter for post-secondary schools adopted by Queen’s in 2019—would also demonstrate a renewed focus by the University toward addressing and normalizing mental health in its daily operations.

While Student Wellness Services offers one-on-one remote programming to help with developing health-behaviour changes, some students may face accessibility issues as these services are only available for those living inside Canada.

Mental health challenges must be recognized as a day-to-day reality for both instructors and students.

Health-aware, compassionate pedagogy, sometimes referred to as “pandemic pedagogy,” outlines the normalization of mental health in the classroom. Teaching and classrooms can be structured to facilitate student wellness, belonging, and acceptance.

Cultures of belonging in classrooms foster higher rates of student attainment and engagement, which is beneficial to the institution. For struggling students, the support presented by compassionate pedagogy creates an environment in which they can flourish, as individual struggles are no longer left unacknowledged or unaddressed.

For Queen’s, adopting an environment of compassionate pedagogy would mean that instructors no longer view mental health struggles as aberrations. Ideally, discussions of mental health would be normalized throughout the university as we return to academic life this fall. Mental health must become a priority for academic staff across all levels.

Mental health resources, dialogue, and openness should be ubiquitous across the student experience. A culture of compassionate pedagogy accepts mental health as a constant, shared struggle faced by students and instructors in the university. The isolation and stress created

by COVID-19 have undoubtedly increased these concerns.

The modernization of the mental health dialogue, resources, and culture at Queen’s could reshape the student experience. Mental health and academic success have never been more intertwined than during this COVID-19 pandemic.

Greg Adams is a fourth-year Economics student.

Arts

Friday, September 11, 2020

queensjournal.ca • 9

BAND REVIEW

The Wilderness finds its home with first full-length studio album Indie-rockers worked with The Tragically Hip’s Rob Baker on ‘Until Tomorrow’

Nathan Gallagher Arts Editor Working with the acclaimed Bathouse studio was a dream come true for The Wilderness, but releasing their first album during a pandemic never factored into their plans.

The Journal spoke to Jonas Lewis-Anthony, lead singer and rhythm guitarist, and Liam Neale, keyboardist and percussionist, about the band’s first fulllength album, Until Tomorrow, which was produced by lead guitarist of The Tragically Hip, Rob Baker.

Before meeting Baker, The Wilderness had most of the demos for their new songs finished.

“We had most of the songs… completely done and rehearsed really well so we knew them backwards and forwards,” Neal said, “but at least four or five of the songs weren’t fully done. They were written but we hadn’t played them together as a full band.”

According to Neale, one of the biggest challenges about this album compared to their last EP, Seminary Road, was having a tight deadline and needing to make song-writing decisions on the fly.

“We bit off almost more than we could chew by trying to crank out nine songs in 12 days,” Neale continued.

“We had to learn things on the spot. For example, the song “Fire and the Wolves,” only half of the band had actually played through it by the time we went into track.

The Wilderness is excited to get back to touring after the pandemic.

The first time I had ever played the piano part, they stuck the music in front of me and said, ‘Okay, time to start recording.’”

This production style lends their tracks the spontaneity of their live performances, combined with the layered complexity and sound quality of a major studio like The Bathouse, located in Bath just outside of Kingston.

“That kind of pressure was really cool because it forced everyone to be on their A-game and really, really give the best that they had, and I think that’s reflected in the record,” Neale said.

“A lot of the lyrical content was deeply personal to all of us,” LewisAnthony said. “Having to go and

spill your guts into a microphone and pick those songs apart was also really challenging, but it was super rewarding being able to work with Rob Baker as the producer, who basically made us feel like better musicians.”

When asked how they got the opportunity to work with Baker, Lewis-Anthony laughed, “Luck, man.”

“Honestly, it was luck,” Neale added. “We did a writing session in Quebec in January and that was when 90 percent of the album was written and we started reaching out to studios after that.”

Lewis-Anthony said, “We sent Rob a few demos that we recorded in my bedroom as a sort of Hail

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SUPPLIED BY THE WILDERNESS

Mary, and he loved them.”

A couple days later, the band met Baker at NORTHSIDE espresso + kitchen, right next to the McDonald’s on Princess St., to grab a coffee and discuss their plans for the album.

According to Lewis-Anthony, while The Wilderness was excited by the prospect of working with Baker, they were uncertain how their meeting would go.

“We thought he would assess the situation and maybe see if he wanted to work with us or not,” he said, “but it was very clear that his mind was made up and he wanted to work on the project.”

Although Neale and Lewis-Anthony insisted it

was all luck, their tracks speak for themselves, and the facilities at The Bathouse were up to par with what the band deserves.

“The Bathouse is just a legendary studio. The equipment and instruments that we had at our disposal on the record were just incredible, and we wouldn’t have been able to see that anywhere else,” Lewis-Anthony said.

On Sept. 5, The Wilderness aired on BBC Music Introducing for the first time with their track “If I Have to Die,” which was an amazing experience for all of them, but especially for Lewis-Anthony, who grew up in the UK. “I discovered many of my favourite bands, to this day, through BBC Introducing,” Lewis-Anthony said. “I grew up listening to that radio, and then to have one of our songs on there was just mind blowing.”

Working on Until Tomorrow was a wonderful and surprising experience for The Wilderness, but with the COVID-19 pandemic hanging over the album’s release, the group can’t help but feel a little short-changed.

“All of our touring plans have been canceled or postponed, but we would love to get back to The Bathouse,” Lewis-Anthony said.

“We’ve all decided that we want to record our next [album] there just because the experience was so amazing. The more time we can spend in that studio the better.”

Dan School of Drama and Music cancels fall and winter majors COVID-19 continues to impact theatre artists at Queen’s

Theological Hall sits empty.

Alysha Mohamed Assistant Arts Editor The Dan School of Drama and Music announced the cancelation of its major productions on July 31 in an email to students in the respective programs.

Before the pandemic struck, Timothy Findley’s Not Wanted on the Voyage, a modern retelling of Noah’s Ark, and Donna-Michelle St. Bernard’s A Man, A Fish, inspired by events in Burundi, were selected as the majors for the year.

PHOTO BY JODIE GRIEVE

Major productions happen once per semester annually and differ from student-run theatre shows as they’re directed

by Queen’s professors.

Maddie Disera, ArtSci ’21, was hired as the Production Manager and Technical Director for Not Wanted on the Voyage.

The play is layered with mysticism and religious themes, using puppets to portray the story with originality.

“I was really looking forward to ending my Drama degree in this role,” Disera said in an interview

with The Journal.

“It was scheduled as the Fall Major, and we had done a lot of work in terms of creating the whole launch night, hiring our main production and creative team, and collaborating on policies to make the Dan School majors a more inclusive space.”

Disera said the Black Lives Matter movement had come up in many discussions as the team created workplace trainings, accessibility measures, and new ideas to promote diversity in the program.

Initially, a statement on the Dan School Majors Facebook page was released in May, outlining a plan to have both major productions performed in the winter semester.

However, this shifted as the summer progressed, and both shows were eventually cancelled.

“I was informed every step of the way, largely because there were so many meetings about what we were going to do,” Disera said. “I wish we could have communicated

with our production team more, but unfortunately it was pretty chaotic.”

Lucy Mee, ArtSci ’22, was also part of the production team for the Fall Major as Co-Head of Props.

“I had no idea the shows were canceled until the email on the 31st,” Mee said. “One student working on lighting didn’t even get the email because he wasn’t a Drama or Music major, so he actually found out through others on the production team.”

After the initial email was sent, Disera sent a follow-up response to members on the production team.

The Dan School faculty also provided alternative options for course credit in the email, as many students were fulfilling requirements of their degree by working on production teams.

“Sarah Waisvisz who was to direct the Winter Major, has created a winter-term course (DRAM 319/3.0 Creative and Production Approaches to ‘A Man, A Fish’) which will culminate in an online presentation

of the play. In addition, there will be an online puppet-making course that will be related to the production of Not Wanted on the Voyage that had originally been intended for the Fall Major,” the email stated.

“Every theatre company is on their own now because there isn’t an example from the department,” Mee said. “But I am really excited that the Dan Studio Series (DSS), which is funded by the Dan School, is moving forward with a Zoom production.”

Despite the pandemic, various student-run theatre companies have also announced plans to create online performances in the upcoming year.

“There are so many unique and creative ways to make theatre,” said Disera. “The majors are unable to move forward, but other theatre companies are definitely innovating. I think it’s going to be a long time before we’re able to have the ‘theatre experience’ again, so I’m really glad to see other forms of performance at Queen’s.”

Arts

10 • queensjournal.ca

Friday, September 11, 2020

FILM REVIEW

Charlie Kaufman outdoes himself with perplexing take on Queen’s alumnus’ novel Reid’s book adaption hit Netflix this week

Jessie Buckley stars as Lucy.

SCREENSHOT FROM NETFLIX

Nathan Gallagher Arts Editor This article contains minor spoilers for the film and novel I’m Thinking of Endings Things.

The films of Charlie Kaufman are meta and hard to parse, but in his latest, I’m Thinking of Ending Things, adapted for Netflix from Queen’s alumnus Iain Reid’s novel of the same name, he found a way to out-Kaufman himself.

While the writer-director is probably best known for Eternal

Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, for which he won Best Original Screenplay at the Oscars, the first Kaufman film that sprung to my mind when I heard he’d be turning Reid’s novel into a movie was Adaptation.

Adaptation is about as meta as it gets. Originally, Kaufman was assigned to adapt Susan Orlean’s non-fiction book The Orchid Thief into a screenplay. At first glance, Orlean’s novel is simply about the 1994 investigation of John Laroche for poaching rare orchids in south Florida. But it’s less about those

literal events and more about how they affected Orlean as she witnesses Laroche’s deep passion and realizes she’s lacking passion in her own life.

The Orchid Thief is a nonlinear meditation on beauty and the search for meaning, a style of writing not well-suited to the traditional Hollywood narrative.

So, instead of directly adapting it, Kaufman wrote a script about himself—played by Nicolas Cage— struggling to write the script for The Orchid Thief.

I’m Thinking of Ending Things doesn’t delve quite as far into metanarrative. Kaufman, for example, doesn’t make an appearance. But unsurprisingly, the film differs from Reid’s novel in some striking ways.

Without giving too much away, the novel is a psychological thriller, narrated by the unnamed girlfriend of Jake. At the beginning, Jake is taking his girlfriend to his parents’ farmhouse for the evening. We learn through the girlfriend’s internal monologue that she’s being harassed by a series of phone messages in which a grisly male voice complains he is feeling unhinged. The messages come from her own number.

For the most part, the movie

SOCIAL COMMENTARY

Memes have replaced the political cartoon In the digital age, political satire is giving way to misinformation

Nathan Gallagher Arts Editor The political cartoon has been a means of speaking truth to power since the 18th century, but now print media is in its death throes, and internet memes are spreading misinformation in place of satire.

James Gillray, a British caricaturist born in 1756, is credited as the father of the political cartoon. His most famous work, The Plum Pudding in Danger (1805), depicts British P.M. William Pitt and selfproclaimed Emperor of France, Napoleon Bonaparte, slicing into a plum pudding version of the globe.

Gillray makes Napoleon appear tiny in stature next to the imposing Pitt. Even though scholars say Napoleon was probably average height, Gillray’s caricature prevails in the modern imagination of Bonaparte as the little dictator.

What’s more, the French despot looks silly in his cartoonish, oversized hat with giant plumes the colours of France’s flag.

Gillray’s meaning is self-evident: Napoleon is an egotistical child, hungrily eyeing Europe

like a gourmand eyeing plum pudding.

This caricature of the French ruler stands in stark contrast to the propagandistic paintings of the time which glorified him. For example, the famous Napoleon Crossing the Alps (1801), gifted to Napoleon by the Spanish King, portrays him on horseback and is painted from a low angle so he appears large, powerful, dignified, and poised for victory.

Thus, Gillray’s lampooning of Napoleon and his wars was the antidote to propaganda.

His work set a benchmark for generations of satirical cartoonists to follow. In 1841, Punch Magazine was established in London, a publication of wit and satire picking up where Gillray left off.

Punch actually coined the term “cartoon” to mean funny drawing.

Over time, the political cartoon became a staple of newsprint, springing from the pages to sway public opinion. As satire, these cartoons are inherently biased in that they represent the artist’s view on current affairs. Yet, such cartoons rely on their audience to have read the news of the day to understand the context.

Therefore, an informed readership is free to make up its own mind on the satirist’s interpretation of events.

Today, newspapers are in decline. Canadians and Americans are increasingly getting their news from online sources, including various social media platforms.

When digital technology usurped print media, internet memes replaced political cartoons as well. Although, memes and cartoons both serve a similar function—to criticize or praise a leader and influence public opinion—they have some key differences.

Unlike cartoons, memes circulate rapidly to a large audience and, most of the time, the originator of the meme is unknown.

As such, no one can be held accountable if the meme turns out to be promoting false information. This makes it easy for misinformation to spread quickly, and it’s a major problem for democracy when elections are decided on bad information.

In 2015 and 2016, Russian Troll Farms posing as Americans on social media disseminated fake political memes on people’s

follows this narrative. Some of the dialogue is ripped straight from the pages of Reid’s book.

But Kaufman takes full advantage of film as a medium of sight and sound, expressing similar ideas while doing things Reid’s novel could not.

For example, one theme expressed in the novel is isolation and the impossibility of fully knowing your romantic partner, which Reid conveys through the couple’s fragmented conversations.

At times, Jake’s daunting vocabulary confuses his girlfriend, like when he tells her he’s a “cruciverbalist,” a person who’s good at solving crossword puzzles.

Kaufman translates these conversations to the screen using snappy editing. Jake and his girlfriend—who’s given the name Lucy in the film—don’t quite talk over each other, but frequently when one of them stops talking, the other pipes in immediately with no natural pauses from one line to the next. The viewer, like Lucy, feels like they’re drowning in conversation, gasping for air.

I’m Thinking of Ending Things teems with bizarre occurrences, both nightmarish and dreamlike.

When the couple gets to Jake’s parents’ house, things get even weirder. There are many deliberate gaps in continuity where a character’s makeup or clothing changes from shot to shot. I first noticed it when Lucy meets Jake’s father at the foot of the stairs

and he has grey hair, but when they sit down at the dinner table his hair is brown. These reality lapses become more startlingly obvious as the evening goes on.

At times, the film feels more perplexing than intriguing. It’s kind of like a hydra because it’s so replete with references to film and literature that for each allusion you understand, four more will fly over your head.

While Kaufman maintains the tone of existential dread achieved

by Reid’s novel, these allusions are added by the screenwriter and they’re integral to sussing out what the film is trying to say. In particular, Jake’s love of the musical Oklahoma comes to bear in a major way in the final act.

The conclusion is also where the movie strays furthest from the book.

Kaufman chooses to abstain from the big twist at the end of the story, which is a trope of the psychological thriller genre. Although one could infer Reid’s ending does happen in the movie, Kaufman gives us a more ambiguous finale open to multiple interpretations.

I’m Thinking of Ending Things is Kaufman’s most experimental work to date. It’s beautifully shot as well as acted, and it lifts some of the most intriguing ideas from Reid’s novel while presenting new ones.

But at the same time, I’m not sure if the movie stands on its own.

If I hadn’t read the book, the movie might’ve been uninterpretable.

In that sense, the two are companion pieces.

news feeds.

This had the intended effect of deepening social unrest and mistrust of American government, leading the US to elect a political outsider like Donald Trump. Now, it’s happening again.

Memes use real or doctored images combined with text to present a fictitious reality to an uninformed public. They purposely misconstrue events or completely make them up. That’s not satire—it’s propaganda.

For example, a misleading meme circulated on Twitter on Sept. 6, showing a sunken boat with a bright red TRUMP 2020 flag. While several boats did sink at a Trump parade on Lake Travis in Austin, Texas, the boat in this picture was not one of them.

In some ways, this example shows the similarities between

satirical cartoons and political memes. After all, the story of boaters who support Trump accidentally sinking their boats is hilarious.

Since there wasn’t an ideal image to capture this story, someone added the Trump 2020 flag to a pre-existing image of a sunken boat, creating the perfect symbol for his sunken campaign. Here’s to hoping he goes down in the election this November.

Still, it’s disheartening that even a meme based on real events isn’t completely accurate. Perhaps the spread of misinformation is an unavoidable side effect of the internet.

Today, it’s important to question what you see online as fake memes proliferate and real life begins to feel indistinguishable from satire.

Memes spread misinformation.

ILLUSTRATED BY TESSA WARBURTON

Sports

Friday, September 11, 2020

queensjournal.ca •11

SPORTS

From left to right: Nelkas Kwemo, Matt O’Donnell, Derek Wiggan.

PHOTO BY JODIE GRIEVE

‘Everything in life is a blessing or a lesson’ Ex-Gaels in the CFL share approaches to the season cancellation

Matt Funk Sports Editor On Aug. 17, nearly 70 days after the CFL season would have normally started, players and fans received the disappointing news that the season was cancelled. The announcement came after a failed bid from the league to garner a $30 million interest-free loan from the federal government.

The news puts many players, especially those with a family to provide for, in a tough situation.

A year without football means a year without guaranteed income, forcing many to explore different employment opportunities.

Nelkas Kwemo, Sci ’18, is no stranger to setbacks.

He experienced his first season-ending injury in high school after spraining his ACL, and saw his interest from Division I NCAA schools dissipate.

After bouncing back from his injury, the Toronto Argonauts linebacker landed a spot on the Queen’s football team, turning heads early in his post-secondary career. Just five games into his sophomore year, Kwemo led the OUA in tackles and was raising eyebrows throughout the league when he once again suffered a season-ending ACL injury.

What some might view as bad luck, Kwemo saw as an opportunity to better himself.

“That was a really tough part of my sports career, but I learned a lot from it. I had to find new ways to be a teammate and lead without necessarily participating, and use my voice a lot more, trying to be a positive influence for people who needed my support,” he told The Journal.

“Everything in life is a blessing or a lesson, so that was one big lesson for me and I’m grateful for it.”

Just as Kwemo has found silver linings in his injuries, the 25-year-old isn’t treating the season cancellation any differently.

Preparing for a post-football career has been something he’d taken to almost as soon as his professional career began.

Kwemo’s secured a job as a

research analyst at Barometer who began to suspect the outcome season cancellation.

Capital, an investment firm once July came and went without a “I think the biggest thing I’ve in Toronto, and has launched prospective season. taken away from football is just Pride Rock productions, a digital Difficult transitions are frequent having that structure. […] Almost marketing company for small occurrences for professional every single hour of the day is businesses. Not only is Kwemo athletes, and something Wiggan planned for us during the season. approaching the cancellation as has overcome in the past. His […] So basically, just keeping that an opportunity to work on his initial adjustment to the CFL structure going without having interests outside of football, the after being drafted in 2014 was football in my life, I make plans Montreal native is also helping short-lived, resulting in being cut and set objectives for myself those experiencing COVID-19 after training camp and returning each day.” outside North America. to Queen’s for a fifth year.

Recognizing the Cameroon, where Kwemo’s “Oh man, it was rough, that first unpredictability of a professional father is from, has been training camp was rough to say sports career was echoed overwhelmed by COVID-19. the least,” the defensive tackle told by Matt O’Donnell, ArtSci ’11.

Kwemo and his family have helped The Journal.

The First Team All-Canadian raise funds on cameroonsurvival.

Wiggan came back to Queen’s was originally drafted by the org, and have surpassed their with a new level of determination, Saskatchewan Roughriders in fundraising goal of $1.5 million. to put on weight and perform at the 2011 CFL draft, but ended Considering how he finds his best. The 28-year-old mapped up initially pursuing an athletic positivity in trying times, the 2017 out exactly how he needed to career in the NBA after receiving First Team U Sports All-Canadian improve, constructing a regimen interest from the Boston Celtics recounted how he stumbled into to get him there. and Toronto Raptors. O’Donnell football almost by accident and The rest was history: he made later found his way to the NFL considers himself blessed for the the Calgary team the following following the 2011 lockout, and trajectory his life has taken. year and won a Grey Cup in 2016. was signed to the Cincinnati “Soccer was my sport growing He’s been with the Stampeders Bengals’ practice squad where up, but I converted to football ever since. he stayed a year before returning when I was 17-years-old. [My Wiggan believes the regimented to the CFL, this time for the high school team] was missing mindset that’s helped him Edmonton Football team. a quarterback, and I was good throughout his football career O’Donnell remained in at quarterback playing in the is also promoting a productive Edmonton for two seasons before playground at recess, so I thought approach the pandemic and making another appearance with I’d give it a try,” Kwemo the Bengals, but was said. waived by the team “My life today has just under a year later. been an accumulation Undeterred, of coincidences and O’Donnell returned to circumstances that were Edmonton part way sometimes outside of through the 2015 my control. But also, season where the just purely, who would team went on to get a of thought that just me first-round playoff being able to play in the bye, and ultimately CFL would come from a secured an elusive Grey leap of faith of playing Cup victory. football for fun in “It was fantastic, I high school?” got back after the NFL Like Kwemo, Derek training camp, and we Wiggan, ArtSci ’15, won 10 games straight is focusing on the […] we just kept wining positives coming from and winning and started the pandemic. The to feel that mojo. […]

Calgary Stampeder The whole week was has found a job for an just amazing.” insurance firm, a field Throughout his he was planning to seasoned career, the pursue post-retirement.

31-year-old league The news of the veteran has learned to cancellation didn’t come roll with life’s punches.

PHOTO BY JEFF CHAN as a surprise to Wiggan, Nelkas Kwemo as a Gael.

“I’ve been on a team

that went 4-14 and there’s a lot of negativity and not a lot of comradery […] You’ve just got to take the good with the bad and always prepare for a curveball,” he said.

“So it’s been a very up and down career when it comes to crazy milestones professionally, and now with the COVID and losing a full season, [that] was definitely a huge curveball though.”

Without a season, O’Donnell has had to switch his focus from football to finding an alternative means of providing for his family, and has found a job doing industrial cleaning for FourQuest energy in Edmonton.

“It’s really good I’ve got a lot of friends and family in the energy industry, so they prepared me for it. […] I started applying for jobs after [the league] postponed [the season] the first time because I figured [there was] less and less chance the more time went on.”

Amid reports questioning the future of the CFL, O’Donnell believes the future of the league will largely depend on whether the pandemic still limits social gatherings in a year’s time.

“The CFL makes a lot of money off ticket sales and concessions and stuff like that. So if they can’t make that money, it’s gonna be very hard to continue working like that.”

Like O’Donnell, Wiggan also recognizes the uncertainty for the league’s future and believes the CFL should use this opportunity to evolve for the better. In addition to fostering better communication with the player’s union, Wiggan believes the league needs to better market itself to the Canadian public.

“There’s so many things I believe the league could do to grow our game within Canada and spark interest. At least marketing-wise, I think there’s so many opportunities. The league can’t just be stubborn and just do it their way. They’ve got to look at new revenues and stuff like that.”

Sports

12 • queensjournal.ca

Friday, September 11, 2020

Queen’s varsity teams and clubs get gradual green light to begin training Varsity activity to start on Sept. 14, but not without adjustments Almost all varsity activity will take place in ARC South.

Daniel Green Assistant Sports Editor Queen’s teams can expect to hit the ground running next Monday.

A brief timeline, which was released Sept. 3, follows as such: varsity team activity will start on Sept. 14, when strength and conditioning training at outdoor venues is allowed. On Sep. 21, strength and conditioning at indoor venues will be open to teams. On Oct. 1, sport-specific technical training will begin.

Access to Queen’s Sports Medicine, services begin sometime after Oct. 1 via appointment only.

Varsity clubs will have to wait for their own timeline, which is expected to begin in early October.

Return-to-Sport (R2S) plans are being developed by coaches to be approved by the Athletics and Recreation (A&R) R2S Committee, as different sports will have different sanctioned activities. If an athlete plays a sport that requires physical contact, such as basketball, it will be modified to meet provincial government, public health, and University guidelines.

No matter the sport, accessing facilities and training within them

will be different from past years.

A&R’s plan is to host almost all team activity in ARC South’s High Performance Centre (HPC), the addition which was completed in 2019. Change rooms and team rooms aren’t available this fall.

Some rooms and sport-specific practice facilities have been closed entirely. If an athlete plays a sport which requires the combative room, squash courts, or rowing ergometer room, other spaces and facilities have been made available for modified training where possible. A&R plans on reinstating these closed spaces when it is deemed safe to do so.

Sports like football which play out of a local external venue, like Richardson Memorial Stadium, will be able to use them assuming the venue modifies their operations and complies with provincial government and public health guidelines. A&R is working with the City of Kingston and other external facility providers to determine facility availability and access.

Even if players live together, in the initial stages of reopening activities will be limited to individual-based activities only.

ARC North’s gym set up for individual shoot arounds.

ARC and A&R staff aren’t permitted to determine whether groups of individuals live together.

U SPORTS and the OUA haven’t made any decisions about whether winter or two-term sports will happen. A decision is anticipated for early or mid-October.

Training allowances vary from sport to sport. Indoor sports, especially ones that require close contact, like basketball, will be hard to accommodate for or modify.

“The issue with basketball is we have to figure out a way that we can do it and stay six feet apart from each other. We’re always moving in line with what the provincial requirements are and what the public health guidelines are,” Executive Director of Athletics and Recreation Leslie Dal Cin told The Journal.

Scrimmaging, g e t t i n g competitive, and gelling as a team will prove difficult.

“Our varsity basketball teams, they are allowed to train, but they’re only

PHOTO BY DANIEL GREEN

allowed to train in individual skill activities. They won’t be scrimmaging or doing two on two, or three on three, or any of that until the provincial regulations and public health guidelines allow us to do that.”

On the other hand, outdoor sports have slightly more leeway in terms of practicing as a team.

The men’s rugby team has been working on its R2S plan for about six weeks. Although Kingston is in phase three of reopening, the rugby team has decided to use a phase two-style reopening plan to ensure students’ safety.

The plan is to work in cohorts: divide the field in half with 10 people in each 60 foot by 50 foot space. Cohorts won’t train with other cohorts. That way, if there was a positive case of COVID-19, contact tracing would

PHOTO BY DANIEL GREEN

be easier.

Players will also be wearing masks while training. A rugby ball is the only equipment that they’ll use, and it will be sanitized multiple times during each session.

“Our priority is one, to make sure we return to sport safely and two, to engage all of the athletes in activity. If we can tick both of those boxes off, I think we’re in a really good place,” men’s rugby Head Coach David Butcher told The Journal. “[Our mindset is this]: let’s make the most of this. Let’s stay productive. Let’s set goals for the team, for individuals, while recognizing the limitations that we’ve got now […]. Let’s do the best that we can with the limitations we’ve got.”

friday, September 11, 2020

LIFESTYLE

OnlyFans isn’t for Bella Thorne or any other celebrities

Lifestyle

The platform is a haven that keeps sex workers safe from physical harm, but not from exploitative celebrities Cassidy McMackon Contributor In an age when the majority of social media platforms censor sex workers and challenge their livelihood, OnlyFans seemed like a

ILLUSTRATION BY TESSA WARBURTON

saving grace—that is, until it was exploited

by Bella Thorne.

Since its creation in 2016, OnlyFans has offered a safe space for sex workers to subsist. Unlike several other sites which feature pornographic images and videos, OnlyFans offers a platform for sex workers and users to display and consume intimate, realistic NSFW content.

Whereas sites like Pornhub, RedTube, and Tumblr (before it was censored in 2018) are filled with aggressively sexual content that can be intimidating to users, OnlyFans features content produced by the creators themselves. In contrast to

queensjournal.ca •13

the sometimes violent or upsetting sexual spectacles featured on mainstream porn services, OnlyFans offers users a place to consume pornographic content that conveys the intimacy required for a realistic fantasy.

The intimacy OnlyFans brings to its users has continued to propel the platform into the realm of mainstream media, where it’s caught the attention of celebrities. Most notably, well-known American actor Bella Thorne joined the platform in August.

With OnlyFans having mass appeal on the basis of insight into the otherwise private side of people’s lives, the addition of celebrities to the platform seems to be something that would be in high demand. However, the participation of celebrities on the platform poses significant risks to working-class sex workers.

For many sex workers, OnlyFans has also become an essential facet of their livelihood during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a time when physical contact can present a significant risk to a person’s health, the platform has stepped up to fill the gap.

By bringing sex work into the virtual realm, OnlyFans offers not only a place for sex workers to continue earning an income without the risk of contracting the coronavirus, it also alleviates some of the risks associated with in-person solicitation, such as violence and assault.

OnlyFans has contributed greatly to the normalization of sex work and promoted more constructive and positive dialogues surrounding the field among young people. Creating content for large scale platforms such as PornHub drastically inhibits one’s ability to earn money, but content creators on OnlyFans are often directly in charge of how they present themselves online and have

PHOTO BY JODIE GRIEVE

Don't get caught up in sexist online trends.

This September, let’s examine ‘simping’ ‘No Simp September’ is the trendy collision between toxic masculinity and sexism Emily Clare Contributor You’ve probably heard of ‘cuffing season’: in the colder months, the desire to snuggle through the winter with a partner becomes hard to resist, and more and more of your friends start changing their relationship status from ‘single’ to ‘taken.’ Suddenly, your group of friends has diminished to you and that other girl who also

has commitment issues and likes to watch The Bachelor.

This fall—because 2020 needed more chaos, apparently—we’re seeing a trend that’s arguably the opposite of cuffing season: ‘No Simp September.’

What is a simp, you ask? It’s a guy who bails on his friends because the girl he’s been talking to asked him to go out for a date night. It’s your buddy who always picks up when a certain girl calls and leaves you hanging in the middle of a Call of Duty match.

The term spotlights on men—although it’s not strictly gender-specific—who are willing to show an ounce of respect to a woman, usually a significant other, in their life.

Although it’s been adopted by

teens on TikTok as a synonym for ‘stanning ’—obsessing over someone, often a celebrity— in its purest form, the term ‘simping’ is extremely regressive. It fosters toxic masculinity and promotes sexist ideologies that encourage the emotional absence of men while simultaneously dismissing the emotions of women.

No Simp September encourages men to embrace their ‘no strings attached’ habits, which on its own, isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Hook-up culture is fairly prevalent and can be a healthy and fun way of expressing yourself and your sexuality. However, No Simp September’s goal isn’t to empower men to have casual sex; it’s aimed at removing the element of fluid communication and respect in relationships.

This isn’t the first time there’s been a

full control of their income from the platform.

The positive impact of OnlyFans for sex workers is obvious when looking at its numbers: as of May 2020, OnlyFans had 24 million registered users, and claimed to have paid $725 million to its 450,000 content creators.

When Bella Thorne joined the platform this summer, she made $1 million on her first day posting content, shattering earning records for all users. Thorne was alleged to be charging fans $200 for a single pay-per-view photo.

Fellow OnlyFans creators are suspicious that new policies implemented by the platform are in response to Thorne’s massive and unprecedented earnings.

Creators are now only permitted to charge $50 USD for exclusive content, and tips are being capped at $100 USD where no previous limit existed. OnlyFans also imposed a new holding feature on funds in some countries, where funds would only be paid to creators 30 days after users made their initial payments.

If the demand for exclusive content from celebrities becomes greater than the demand for content from everyday people, OnlyFans will no longer be sustainable to the average sex worker.

Whether celebrities are sharing explicit content or not, revenue that goes to them is ultimately detracted from regular content creators who use the platform as their primary source of income.

In its current state, OnlyFans has become a hub for sex workers to make money safely and consistently. Celebrities like Bella Thorne, who have ample funds and platform, have no place gentrifying the site and charging exorbitant amounts of money for subscriptions when they have plenty of other avenues they can use to interact with fans. trend that fosters hostility between genders.

There are plenty of online movements that pit men and women against each other: For example, the ‘Waste His Time’ trend, which encouraged women to lead men on for personal gain, also cropped up in recent years.

No Simp September is overtly anti-women. At its core, it’s striving to discourage men from extending respect to women they’re attracted to. The trend reduces women to nothing more than inconveniences and requires men to be disconnected in their relationships.

At this point, one might encourage a so-called simp to just disconnect altogether—after all, there’s still a deadly virus circulating, and if you think you need to take a month-long vacation from respecting women, some social distancing is probably warranted even without a pandemic.

It’s clear that mutual respect between genders has been far from harmonious or consistent, and university culture doesn’t help. Students are often under pressure academically and socially, and most find themselves interacting with people who may be at extremely different phases in their lives. Throw in a pandemic to top it off, and you’re sure to see some trends arise that reflect the ongoing angst everyone is feeling.

No Simp September may have women feeling like it’s 1920 instead of 2020. Given the regressive and offensive nature of the trend, it’s no surprise that it’s caused controversy online. Women have worked for decades to gain equality, and with one TikTok hashtag we’re reduced to a forbidden fruit yet again.

Luckily, we’re in 2020 and women can fight back. I suggest that No Simp September gets a facelift next month with Only Ovaries October. If men want to swear off women for a month, why can’t a girl return the favour?

In all seriousness, don’t treat people poorly, because we’re all just trying to get through this year. Respect should be given to everyone, no matter their gender identity or the time of year.

LIFESTYLE

14• queensjournal.ca

Friday, September 11, 2020

TV REVIEW

‘The Umbrella Academy’ is back with a better apocalypse The Netflix show’s second season sticks to what it knows, but makes significant improvements Shelby Talbot Lifestyle Editor The first season of The Umbrella Academy ended with the Hargreeves siblings hurling themselves through space and time in a desperate bid to save themselves—and the world—from a devastating apocalypse.

Season two picks up just moments after the previous finale—and 56 years in the past.

The family of heroes, launched backward in time to 1963 Dallas, spend the season navigating a Civil Rights Movement, hippy cults, and, of course, the assassination of JFK, all with another apocalypse hot on their heels.

The first season of the Netflix original, adapted from Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba’s comic book series, was a smash hit, its nonsensical plot and wacky aesthetic making for a lighthearted weekend watch.

Superhero adopted siblings Luther, Vanya, Allison, Deigo, Five, Klaus, and Ben are an entertaining—if a little ridiculous—crew of protagonists. Season one introduced viewers to the Hargreeves family, each born with a unique ability and trained by their adoptive alien father to save lives and fight crime in their adolescence.

At its core, the plot of the show’s second season is almost identical to its first: round up the ragtag hero siblings, grapple with alien daddy issues, and stop the end of the world.

The latest season of The Umbrella Academy is undeniably better than its debut season, but that achievement is made less impressive when you consider season two as a second try at the formula of the first. While the new setting allows the newest episodes to feel unique enough, rehashing conflicts from the first season detracts from the freshness and unconventionality that drew so many viewers to the show in 2019.

The Umbrella Academy finds a better foothold its second time around not through its originality, but through its superior execution. Better pacing, diverse storylines, and stronger characterization elevates season two’s somewhat familiar story to a season that’s worth taking your time on instead of binging.

While the show’s first season felt monotonous and sluggish at times, season two of The Umbrella Academy is imbued with enough bizarre villains and head-spinning conspiracies to propel the story along at sometimes breakneck speeds.

Although the new season leaves behind some of less successful elements of its first ten episode run, it capitalizes on what it knows works. Like its first season, the latest addition to the Netflix series features violent fight scenes juxtaposed with a cheery soundtrack, witty one-liners, and irresistible characters you love to hate.

Whether you’re watching the Hargreeves siblings attempt to foil a group of aliens plotting to assassinate the President of the United States or just dance around a barber shop, season two improves on the unpredictable and outlandish charm that makes The Umbrella Academy stand out.

New series centers on relationships and marriages.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY ANUSHKA RAJARAM

On ‘Indian Matchmaking,’ Sima Aunty knows best. Or does she?

Considering the representation of South Asian culture in Netflix’s ‘Indian Matchmaking’ Pravieena Gnanakumar Contributor Following its premiere on Netflix several weeks ago, Indian Matchmaking has remained a topic of conversation in and surrounding the South Asian community.

The unscripted show follows Mumbai-based matchmaker, Sima Taparia, also known as Sima Aunty, as she helps her clients who are looking for love.

I had no intention of watching the show until all my friends and cousins told me I needed to binge it as soon as possible. They warned me I was about to be hooked, and within the first five minutes, I realized they were right.

Sima Aunty’s view on marriage is practical—she uses the word “suitable” to describe partners to her clients. However, as the show progresses, viewers get a glimpse into the way many South Asian households discuss love and marriage. From biodatas which have a plethora of information about a potential match—including their height, career, and what they’re looking for in a partner—to visits with astrologers, there’s so much that precedes an actual date between two people who are set up

by Sima Aunty.

Indian Matchmaking shows viewers a side of arranged marriages and Brown culture that contrasts the stereotype that all South Asians are forced into marriages by their traditional parents, a trope that often leads to unjustified pity towards South Asian women.

It’s important to recognize there are many people who’d rather allow their parents or a matchmaker with years of experience such as Sima Aunty to set them up with somebody.

While it’s inevitable that personalities and situations have been exaggerated for television—come on, there’s no such thing as honest ‘reality TV’ anymore—the show serves to shed a light on Indian culture beyond arranged marriages. Indian Matchmaking captures how the Brown community speaks about people, particularly young adult women, who are at the age when they’re expected to be married.

For example, upon meeting and getting to know Aparna, one of Sima Aunty’s clients, Sima Aunty talks about how stubborn and picky Aparna is when it comes to choosing a partner. At one point, Sima Aunty implies that Aparna will never be able

to find a match if she can’t compromise her standards and values.

What I heard from that exchange was “settle.” On paper, compromise sounds like the practical and normal thing to do, but when it comes to South Asian culture, ‘compromise’ is just a disguise for ‘settle for less and just do what’s expected of you.’

Don’t get me wrong: I agree that Aparna was often negative, blunt, and pretentious.

But the fact of the matter is, South Asian women are always criticized the moment they disagree with the majority of our culture and tradition. I couldn’t relate to Aparna’s thoughts on marriage, career, and family, but what I could relate to was how she was put down because her thoughts didn’t align with traditional values.

There has been lots of discussion in the South Asian community about how Indian Matchmaking fails to show full representation amongst different sub-cultures within Indian culture. There are also moments in the show that emphasize discriminatory and anti-Black practices within Indian communities, revealing casteism and colourism; describing people as fair-skinned or being from an upper class just scratches the surface of these harmful rhetorics.

As someone who’s watched Indian Matchmaking, I don’t think it’s completely fair to expect an eight-episode Netflix series to break down generations of Indian culture and matrimony. And I don’t think it’s right to pretend some of the stereotypes depicted in the show aren’t true, or to pretend discrimination within our community doesn’t exist.

The series unveils a great deal of truth when it comes to South Asian communities and their standpoints on marriage. However, I think it’s always important to remain critical. Instead of watching the show mindlessly and talking about how it skims the surface of South Asian culture, let’s dive deeper and have conversations about those problematic and cringey moments, from the racist and sexist comments to the way we villainize Aparna for not wanting to settle.

We should always be asking ourselves how the media we consume can do a better job because while TV is meant to entertain us, it plays a much greater role in our lives by being a major influence on our ideas, perspectives, and thoughts. Indian Matchmaking might be binge-worthy and addictive, but it’s also the starting place for some important conversations.

LIFESTYLE

Friday, September 11, 2020

Putting perspective on a year without exchange

Some plans have had to be postponed in light of the pandemic.

Moving on from the disappointment over my cancelled semester in Madrid Teagan Sliz Contributor Spain in early autumn is supposed to be sunny and warm.

It’s early autumn, and instead of enjoying the beautiful Spanish weather, I’m in Kingston admiring my view of the glowing Metro sign and debating whether

or not to turn the heat on at night.

Everyone had something they were looking forward to that was swiftly cancelled or put on the backburner when COVID-19 hit Canada this past spring.In my case, the something sitting on the backburner is my semester abroad in Madrid, Spain.

This January, after announcing her acceptance to study abroad at the University of Madrid this fall, my housemate turned to me and my other housemates and said, “Oh my god, you should take

ILLUSTRATION BY ALISON ANDRADE

online classes and come to Madrid with me.”

The idea of travelling abroad with friends while studying my favourite subjects on my own time excited me and made the decision to go an easy one. I was eager to be in a new, stimulating environment and to meet people from different cultures and backgrounds. Most of all, I was looking forward to making memories with my friends that would last a lifetime.

After checking with an academic advisor that a semester in Spain wouldn’t prevent me from

The 2020 MTV Video Music Awards proved that awards shows are still stuck in the 2010s Kirby Harris Assistant Lifestyle Editor The 2020 MTV Video Music Awards were streamed to our living rooms on Aug. 30. A socially distanced event that had been largely pre-taped, the award show was a new frontier for the entertainment industry in a pandemic-adapted world.

There were some messy moments, like Doja Cat losing her train of thought and Machine Gun Kelly The MTV Video Music Awards are falling behind the times. nearly doing the splits to get close enough to the mic. Messy moments are something we expect from the VMAs, which are the grounds for iconic and cringe-worthy moments like Kayne’s interruption of a 19-year-old Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech in 2009 and little to watch on television right full of speculation and Miley Cyrus’s infamous twerking now, people didn’t tune in. paparazzi pictures. performance in 2013.

The peak of the VMAs was In 2020, we live in a world This year, however, the parts nearly ten years ago, with where it’s hard to get celebrities of the show that were live the 2011 show bringing in almost off of our screens. Social were far from exciting, consisting double the viewers of 2020. media has changed how we mainly of awkwardly distanced It isn’t difficult to guess interact with the rich and famous, hosts and interviews that left why viewership was higher making those once-exciting much to be desired. nine years ago: in 2011, moments of celebrity content feel The VMAs have been award shows were a special treat like they’re being shoved down struggling for years, with ratings wherein fans would get to see our throats. and viewership dropping their favourite celebrities on While celebrity gossip annually. This year’s show screen for a night. It was easy to used to be something people couldn’t shake that downward get excited about Beyonce’s actively sought out, it’s become trend, with linear viewers down baby bump when your impossible to ignore. Social 5 per cent from 2019. Even with Twitter feed wasn’t already media treats rumors and tabloids

queensjournal.ca • 15

graduating in four years, my plan was to take three online courses while in Madrid and make up for the rest of the credits over the next two summers. It was a sacrifice I was willing to make.

Blissfully unaware of the global pandemic that was about to rock everyone’s lives, my two friends and I spent months planning weekend trips throughout Europe to Paris, Amsterdam, and Rome, daydreaming about European nightclubs and hot days on Spanish beaches. Even after COVID-19 closed down the University and non-essential services across the country, we held out hope, as many did in the early and uncertain period of the pandemic.

Hindsight is 20/20, and if we’d known earlier this spring that our semester abroad would be cancelled within a few months, maybe we wouldn't have spent so much time looking forward to it.

Though missing out on a semester abroad is a hard pill to swallow, in light of what others lost to the pandemic it’s something I try not to complain about.

There’s always something to take away from every experience in life—even the experiences that get cancelled.

When my trip was cancelled, it felt a little like COVID-19 itself was personally trying to sabotage my third year, and it’s possible that some self-pitying took place.

However, I quickly realized that

feeling down about my situation wasn’t worthwhile when so many people had lost jobs and loved ones to the pandemic—not just a trip to Europe.

This, along with the knowledge that I’d likely be able to push my trip back to the fall of fourth year, helped with the disappointment.

On top of letting go of the sense of loss I felt for my semester in Spain, I realized it wasn’t hard for me to find reasons to be excited about coming back to Kingston this fall.

While it’s not as exotic or warm as Madrid, Kingston is an amazing city with plenty to do even under the current circumstances. After five months apart, I think I was more excited to see my friends again than I would have been to go to Spain.

My cancelled semester abroad allowed me to reflect on my privilege and the opportunities I didn’t think twice about before the pandemic. In the grand scheme of things, the places we planned to travel will still be there next fall, and Queen’s is a pretty great place to spend the year while we wait for the world to return to normal.

Hopefully I, and everyone else who missed out on their semesters abroad, can begin confidently looking forward to their Spain 2021. But if COVID-19 has taught us one thing as students, it’s to not take anything for granted.

help prevent the number of viewers from slipping even further.

What MTV needs to focus on is reviving the show for a new era.

A real change to the VMAs would be one that adapts the show to a social media-driven world. Although once upon a time the VMAs was iconic for its big celebrity moments, the key to saving the show in the present is putting more focus on the music and videos themselves.

Even if the public has grown tired of hearing about Miley Cyrus’s dating life, we can still appreciate her powerfully written music. Imagine the excitement if Taylor Swift had announced and debuted Folklore on live television ILLUSTRATION BY ALISON ANDRADE rather than our social media feeds.

An exciting VMAs in 2020 might look like an awards show that debuts new music in real time or gives viewers a first look at the newest music video from our favourite rising stars. Bringing like the news; a Twitter user might us behind the scenes on a get a notification about Keeping Up music video set would be with The Kardashians alongside eons more interesting than an update about corruption in the watching artists get in verbal White House. sparring matches with each If MTV really wants to hold other live on stage—especially on to their 36 -year-old tradition, when we can watch them beef on it's going to have to make some Twitter any day of the week. big changes.

If the VMAs and similar award A simple place to start would shows don’t push themselves be inviting more artists with large in a bold new direction, they fanbases to drive up viewership. run the risk of becoming a relic of Bringing in a group like the past. As they exist right now, BTS may not be guaranteed to it’s hard to imagine they would excite a general audience to tune even be missed. in, but it does, at the very least,

If we’re tired of celebrities, what do we need award shows for?

LIFESTYLE

16 • queensjournal.ca

Friday, September 11, 2020

POSTSCRIPT

PHOTO BY JODIE GRIEVE

Kirby is striving to find a sense of personal style.

Transitioning to adulthood in leggings and a hoodie How my childhood body insecurity has impacted my adult wardrobe Kirby Harris Assistant Lifestyle Editor As a child, I hated shopping for clothes.

Every summer, I would have to be dragged to the mall by my family to buy new clothes for the upcoming school year. They would pull things off the shelves, trying exceptionally hard to find clothing I liked. On the rare occasion we would find something I was excited to try on, that excitement would end the minute I looked in the dressing room mirror.

“I like it,” my mom would assure me.

“It actually looks really good,” my older sister often added, worried that our mother’s enthusiasm would be taken as a signal that what I had on was totally lame.

The encouragement didn’t matter. All I could see were the parts of my body the clothes didn’t cover the way I’d hoped they would.

Most of the time, I would leave the mall with only a few t-shirts, a hoodie, and a pair of jeans. These weren’t clothes I necessarily liked, but they felt relatively safe. I couldn’t bear looking at my legs in skinny jeans, so I would spend hours hunting for boot-cut long after they had gone out of style.

From the age I started choosing my own outfits, I didn’t pick my clothes based on trends or what I thought looked good. Instead, I chose whatever I felt could hide my body insecurities.

When I started high school, my wardrobe shifted even further away from ‘fashionable.’

I found comfort in leggings, with their lack of a defined waistband and button. As I got older, I grew more insecure in my arms, leaving even t-shirts out of the question. Most of the time, I chose to wear a large hoodie with nothing but a bra underneath, a security policy that left me unable to take my sweater off even when I wanted to. I leaned into my comfortable look, wearing slippers to school most days and even carrying around a blanket in the winter.

A ‘lazy’ style became what people expected of me. When peers made comments about my clothing, I chose to believe it was a good thing: if I could keep everyone focused on how bad my outfits were, they wouldn’t notice what my body looked like underneath.

I knew I couldn’t hide behind my clothing forever. Eventually, I was going to become a real adult in a future where I would have to dress in a way that was at least semi-professional.

In high school, that adult future existed in a far off, untouchable world that teenage me wasn’t concerned about. I had always imagined that once I graduated high school and moved away from home, I would fall into adulthood naturally. Your college years are

supposed to be about growth and self-discovery, so it made sense to me that a natural spurt in confidence would gradually alter my style.

Moving from Vancouver to Kingston to attend Queen’s, I planned to use the fresh start to reinvent myself. I dreamed of becoming a version of myself that wore shorts without worry and wasn’t embarrassed in a tank top.

I believed that the version of me at Queen’s would buy jeans and only wear sweaters when it was cold outside. I was determined to be confident and unapologetic as I walked around campus in clothes which asked to be stared at.

After I arrived in Kingston, it didn’t take long to find out that a change in scenery wasn’t going to wipe away the years of insecurity and doubt that had plagued my adolescence.

If anything, my university years have worsened my relationship with my wardrobe. While I expected being at Queen’s to challenge and push my sense of style forward, I found campus life to be incredibly accepting of my lazy, comfortable aesthetic.

Kingston was a much colder climate than I was accustomed to, so my wardrobe choices started to centre around keeping me warm. Then, around the time I turned 19, my hips and breasts went through a last-ditch growth spurt, altering my body in a way I hadn’t experienced since early high school.

The shock of how differently clothes were fitting me was enough to send me running back to

leggings and hoodies because I could trust them to fit me no matter how much my body had changed.

After six months of living in a pandemic-ridden world, I’m at an all-time low in terms of what I feel comfortable wearing. Even on days that nearly broke 30 degrees this summer, you could find me with a sweater on to cover my arms and stomach.

In the last year, I’ve noticed my clothing purchases getting larger and larger while my body has stayed roughly the same size. The only t-shirts I wear are about three sizes too large, and any pair of pants with a waistband have been shoved to the back of my closet.

With only two years left in my undergrad, I’m worried about how I’m supposed to transition into an adult world. I can’t walk into a professional setting dressed in leggings and a hoodie, but I never learned how to dress any other way. My obsession with hiding my body has impacted my life in a way I never expected: I feel clueless not only about general fashion, but personal style. While my friends can go to a store and find outfits that make them feel like themselves, I look at a rack of clothing and am left questioning who I am.

Every now and then, I make an effort to change how I dress.

I open YouTube or Pinterest and start looking through the endless amount of content on how to dress better, but I usually give up around ‘everyone should own a black turtleneck.’ The online information about individual fashion is seemingly infinite

but incredibly overwhelming if you’re not sure you could put on a miniskirt without wanting to cry. I feel far too old to be trying to learn how to assemble an outfit, and it’s discouraging.

The process of shifting my wardrobe to one that is more acceptable for the professional world is not only emotionally daunting, but incredibly expensive.

The clothes I’ve purchased over the last few years were never intended to do anything but hide my insecurities. If I were to make changes in my wardrobe now, it would be a ground-up process I’m scared to begin. I can’t afford to buy clothes without knowing whether I’ll end up wearing them.

The barriers are obvious: money, lack of experience, and insecurity are significant factors which have prevented me from stepping into a more adult wardrobe. I realize there’s never going to be a stage in my life where all of those barriers suddenly go away; I’m going to have to fight my insecurities and actively work towards finding clothes that make me feel like myself. I’m going to have to commit to starting that process now.

I recognize that a lifetime of body insecurities isn’t going to disappear overnight. It might be a long time before I feel comfortable outside of oversized and dull clothing. However, the hard work is going to be worth it if I can one day control my clothing choices instead of letting them control me.