The Queen's Journal, Volume 149, Issue 9

the Queen’s University

Nadia Mahdi and Barbara Lotan sit down with ‘The Journal’ S ydney K o and A nne F u Senior News Editor and Assistant News Editor

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journal

Vol. 149, Issue 9

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Thursday, October 7, 2021

SVPR and SACK talk preventing gender-based violence on campus

This article discusses sexual assault and may be triggering for some readers. The Kingston Sexual Assault Centre’s 24-hour crisis and support phone line can be reached at 613-544-6424 / 1-800-544-6424.

Following the AMS Walkout to stand against sexual assault and violence, Nadia Mahdi, ArtSci ’21 and Community Outreach Coordinator for Sexual Assault Center Kingston (SACK), and Barbara Lotan, Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Coordinator (SVPR), spoke to The Journal about supports and resources offered at Queen’s.

For Mahdi, preventing gender-based violence on campus starts with accountability and community-building.

“When we’re addressing a culture of harm or a culture of violence, sexual violence, gender-based violence, it’s about coming and making those changes and showing up time and time again,” Mahdi said.

SACK’s annual Take Back The Night took place on Sept. 23.

The event saw folks from local sexual assault and violence prevention organizations, like the HIV/AIDS Resource Center (HARS) Kingston and Kingston Interval House (KIH) gather to raise awareness about sexual and gender-based violence.

According to Mahdi, Take Back the Night is an especially important event for the Queen’s community because it’s often students’ introduction to activism against sexual and gender-based violence. “[Take Back the Night] is usually folks’ first encounter at the university or the college level with the things that we hushed and the secrets [we told] in the hallways of high school, or at home with our cousins,” Mahdi explained.

Mahdi believes storytelling is an especially vital method to combat sexual and gender-based violence. It allows survivors to discuss their experiences with one another in a safe environment and resist stigma surrounding the topics.

“When we’re talking about young survivors of childhood sexual assault, [disclosures of] sexual violence are so affirming to hear. The healing nature of

Local organizations respond to accusations of sexual assault across universities.

PHOTO BY SPENCER HENDRICKSON

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

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have to keep showing up and showing up for one another,” Mahdi said.

“Maybe that looks like folks who are working on the sexual violence policy at Queen’s, but also maybe that just looks like students continuing to show up for one another.”

In September, the Ontario Government announced that all universities and colleges must update their sexual violence and assault policies before March 2022 to better support students who bring complaints forward.

Lotan said the university last revised its policy in December 2020.

“The policy has been underway for a full year, so there were a variety of groups, individuals, and groups that participated in providing feedback around what the policy should include, or what changes needed to be made in the existing policy,” Lotan explained.

Ontario’s announcement detailed that the policies must ensure students who file reports of sexual violence won’t be disciplined for breaking school rules related to drug and alcohol use or be asked questions concerning past sexual history and sexual expression.

According to Lotan, the changes called for by the Ontario government had already been implemented into Queen’s sexual violence policy prior to the announcement.

On additional steps, Lotan said the pandemic has put students at a disadvantage in receiving resources and information regarding sexual assault and violence policies.

“There’s a real gap in communication, and that happened because of COVID,” she said.

“Some of the older students would know some of the things that exist that the newer students would not.”

Lotan said there will be more advertising on workshops and certificate program offered for students.

“There are a variety of events, different initiatives that will take place over this academic year that are partnerships with community partners like SACK, along with partnerships with provincial partners,” she said.

Beyond awareness, Lotan said one of the biggest problems that still needs to be addressed is the social nature of alcohol consumption.

storytelling is that it normalizes our lives and what’s been happening to us. It contextualizes it,” she said.

The very idea of “taking back the night,” Mahdi believes, is rooted in an important reclamation strategy for survivors of sexual violence and their allies.

“Take Back the Night is about taking back our sense of safety, our sense of agency, our power.

It’s taking back the streets and any other intellectual, physical, spiritual, emotional spaces that have harmed us or have ever made us feel unwelcome,” she said.

“It’s about community support.

It’s about unity building and coming together and sharing

our stories, sharing space with one another, sharing time with one with one another.”

At Queen’s, Mahdi stressed the university has its own duty to protect and nurture its students.

To her, this comes in the form of “slow work”—change that cannot happen overnight, but instead requires the institution to remain dedicated towards always combatting all forms of sexual and gender-based violence. “[You can’t] necessarily see safety as a place that you will arrive at, as that’s simply not possible for so many of us. When we look at safety like that, it’s safety at someone’s expense.

Whereas when we talk about accountability, we’re constantly

reassessing what we’re doing, who we’re serving, who we’re not serving, and how we bridge those gaps.”

Mahdi pointed towards recent accusations of sexual assault at Western University as an example of the importance of this work.

“I know that it’s been very hard to sit with the pandemic, the rise in gender-based violence and sexual violence, and also the sexual violence that’s been taking place across other Ontario universities and colleges, especially with what’s recently transpired at Western.”

She said Queen’s can’t shy away from these conversations.

“We have to continue. We

Queen’s professors win Ideas Worth Teaching Award

Employers should prioritize inclusivity over economical gain

Queen’s must redefine sexual violence policy

Futura Free release new album ‘Reducer’

Queen’s Hall-of-Famer Sheridon Baptiste speaks to The Journal

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Thursday, October 7, 2021

Fall term break Task Force hosts consultations

PHOTO BY CURTIS HEINZL

Survey will be available from Oct. 1 to 22.

Task Force to consider National Day of Truth and Reconciliation as nonacademic day Sydney Ko Senior News Editor To make comprehensive recommendations on future fall term breaks, Queen’s Fall Term Break Task Force launched a

survey for the Queen’s community.

William Nelson, Associate Dean (Teaching and Learning) at the Faculty of Arts and Science and Co-Chair of the Fall Term Break Task Force, discussed the importance of community input in scheduling future fall term breaks.

The Senate established the Fall Term Task Force in April 2016 to develop recommendations for implementing new non-academic days. “[The Fall Term Break] is really intended to be a pause from

regular academic activities. It’s a chance for students, faculty, and staff to rest and support their own personal needs and their own mental health,” Nelson said in an interview with The Journal.

The survey was launched on Oct. 1 and will remain available until Oct. 22.

“What we’re asking people to do in the consultation is really give us a sense of what they would like and where they’d like the days to be, and how many days should

be allocated for fall term break,” Nelson explained.

“We can get everyone’s input on where they feel we should prioritize our time, which of those activities are most important […] we want the consultation to be extensive, so that we can really hear from everyone in the community.”

Alongside the survey, Nelson said the Task Force will be hosting feedback sessions with student organizations, staff, alumni, and faculty.

Queen’s Art Conservation partners with National Gallery for diversity initiative Program to provide placements for students of visible minorities Julia Harmsworth Staff Writer A new internship program is working to provide increased opportunities for students of visible minorities in the department of Queen’s Art History & Art Conservation.

Initiated by Stephen Gritt, director of conservation and technical research for the National Gallery of Canada (NGC), and developed by Patricia Smithen, director of the Master of Art Conservation Program at Queen’s, Queen’s Art Conservation Program will see four students from visible minority groups prepare for their studies through up-close work at the NGC. Upon acceptance, each intern will receive a $25,000 bursary and a four-month long placement at the NGC in Ottawa during the summer, prior to their start in the Master’s program. “[Gritt] and I have been looking for ways to increase diversity in the profession,” Smithen said in an interview with The Journal.

“We really want our profession to

look like Canadians […] and right provides students with needed appens when these professionals now, our profession does not look experience and preparation. interact,” Smithen said. like Canada.”

During their placement, One of the students who “It’s common sense. Diversity interns will be mentored by entered the Art Conservation is a really important thing not art conservators, have the Master’s program this just to conservation but to opportunity to look at paintings year spent her summer at the NGC everything […] We are under microscopes, and embed as a trial intern. overwhelmingly white, and themselves in the profession.

“Her feedback to us is really while we are seeing some They’ll also spend time at important in terms of what of those numbers change in the Canadian Conservation it meant for her, what helped terms of our intake, change Institute to further develop her, and what should we be is not happening fast enough their skills. doing differently,” Smithen for me.”

“They’ll be a fly on a wall said. “She said that it When students apply for and actually be able to track really has boosted her confidence the Master of Art Conservation that process, and see what h coming into the program.”

Program at Queen’s, they can self-identify as being from a visible minority group. Students who choose to do so will be screened for potential acceptance i n to the internship program.

Applications close on Jan. 15.

“The goals of the program are to find students who are coming into Queens who may not have had an opportunity to experience conservation first-hand,” Smithen said. “We really wanted to give them a bit of a leg-up and make sure that we give them the absolute best chance to succeed in the program.”

Smithen called the internship program a “fantastic” opportunity for students entering the Master’s program. There’s no undergraduate program for art Interns to receive $25,000 bursary and a four-month long conservation, so the program placement at NGC in Ottawa.

“We want the consultation to be extensive, we really want to reach all these communities,” Nelson said.

“We have such a diverse community […] with the constraints there’s not going to be a perfect solution for everyone, but if we can hear from the community that we have got a grounding, a foundation that we can use to really set a plant that balances the needs of people—and articulate why that balance has arrived.”

In an email sent to The Journal, AMS Vice-President of University Affairs, Ryan Sieg, encouraged students to provide feedback on the Fall Term Break.

“Broad participation in the survey will help the task force properly understand the value of the break to the community and make its recommendation accordingly,” Sieg said.

The fall academic term runs from Sept. 1 to Dec. 23.

The university is required to fit 60 teaching days in a full semester, with days off taking place on holidays like Labour Day, Thanksgiving, and Commemoration Day on Dec. 6.

Nelson said the task force will consider making the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation a day off in the future.

This additional day-off would affect how fall breaks will be administered in the future.

“We want to give the university community the flexibility to consider that we’re going to have this non-academic day.”

From this feedback, Smithen is “confident” they’ll be able launch the program for the next three interns in September 2022, depending on the state of COVID-19 restrictions.

Smithen said she hopes this program will encourage more students from diverse backgrounds to apply to the Master’s program.

“Part of this is also getting the word out.

H e re we a re , we would love to have you, and help be the future of conservation for Canada,” she said.

Smithen added that, because the Queen’s Master’s program is the only one of its kind in Canada, it’s really important they “get it right.”

“If we get it right at our stage, then our profession gets it right in the future.”

PHOTO BY SPENCER HENDRICKSON

News

Thursday, October 7, 2021

Queen’s clubs take part in Sustainability Month Several campus groups host climate awareness events Rida Chaudhry Assistant News Editor October marks the beginning of AMS Sustainability Month.

This year, the student society has split the month into three different themes: agriculture, fashion sustainability, and waste management.

Jessie Wile, ArtSci ‘22 and AMS Commissioner of Environmental Sustainability, spoke to The Journal about some of the events and programs students will be able to take part in, during the month.

“The main goal of [Sustainability Month] is to celebrate these initiatives and give students an

opportunity to come together as a community and show other students how they can get involved,” Wile said.

In recent years, the AMS has ratified some new climate focused clubs, including Queen’s Backing Action on Climate Change (QBACC) and Greenovations. Wile said these organizations aim to promote sustainable lifestyles and climate advocacy in the student community.

“A bunch of clubs applied in September to lead their own event under sustainability month,” Wile said.

One group, the Earth Centre—an AMS club and nonprofit store where students can purchase inexpensive eco-friendly products—is also hosting a green grocery grab.

This initiative will provide some students with a few free grocery items and can be accessed through Earth

Centre’s Instagram.

On behalf of the AMS, Wile has been heading a speaker series.

The series will include a representative from Fair Trade Canada, a fashion professor from New York City, the operations manager from HuskeeCups—a reusable cup program where owners can pick up coffee and drop off empty cups at their nearest participating coffee shop—and Myra Hird, professor at the school of Environmental Studies.

In addition, the AMS is bringing back its dumpster art contest, which invites students to submit visual art entries. The top three applicants will paint dumpsters before they’re placed across campus and will win gift cards to Artnoise, a local art store on Princess Street.

The year’s theme, consumer culture, encourages participants to reflect on how consumerism

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can result in devastating environmental impacts, according to Wile.

“Applications for the dumpster contest went out yesterday. Queen’s students can apply with visual art entries that can be replicated on dumpsters we will be bringing to campus at the end of the month.”

Wile said.

“We’re going to leave up the dumpsters with the art on them, bringing a sense of beauty and different interpretations of a negative issue.”

Sustainability Month will also bring awareness to initiatives made possible by the Sustainability Action Fund, administered by the Environmental Sustainability Commission. In the 2020-21 year, the Fund disbursed $20,000.

Wile said the Fund, this year, has so far been used to acquire compostable materials for Common Ground, launch a buyback program for broomsticks used by the Arts and Science Undergraduate Society (ASUS) for orientation, support QBACC’s native species garden on recycled canoes, and run a slow fashion skills workshop.

These activities all coincide with the three sustainable themes.

Queen’s professors win Ideas Worth Teaching Award Award recognizes educators using business to make the world a more inclusive place Anne Fu Assistant News Editor Two Queen’s educators have won an Ideas Worth Teaching award for a business course that teaches students how to integrate traditional Indigenous ways of knowing with modern business practices in the workplace.

Lindsay (Kawennenhá:wi) Brant, Educational Developer in Indigenous Pedagogies and Ways of Knowing and adjunct lecturer at Smith School of Business, and Kate Rowbotham, Assistant Professor and Distinguished Faculty Fellow of Organizational Behaviour, were one of eight recipients of this year’s Ideas Worth Teaching Award for their course COMM 354 Relationships and Reconciliation in Business and Beyond.

The Ideas Worth Teaching Award, established in 1999 by the Aspen Institute’s Business and Society Program, recognizes some of the foremost business educators around the world each year who commit to making a more inclusive, sustainable society through commerce.

In an interview with The Journal, Brant said this course seeks to demonstrate how Indigenous ways of knowing can be compatible with capitalism and the corporate sector. “[Students] are really puzzled at first when they take the course and see concepts like capitalism and then Indigenous ways of

knowing, which are seemingly polar opposites, but then we kind of explore some ways that those can converge and collide,” she said.

According to Brant, this course was developed through many discussions between herself and Rowbotham. Both educators wanted to make sure Indigenous students at Queen’s felt they were reflected in the curriculum.

“Kate had been teaching in in Smith for a while, and had said that there were Indigenous students there, but they didn’t really have a home or a course where they felt connected and had their worldviews represented,” Brant said.

“She knew that I had taught a similar type of course at St. Lawrence College previously, so she approached me and said, ‘Do you think we could bring something like that to Queen’s?’”

COMM 354 opens with a focus on Indigenous culture, ways of knowing, and creation stories. It then explores how to apply these concepts to the classroom and the business sector.

It also introduces students to Indigenous entrepreneurship and encourages them to consider the role of documents, like the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Final Report and the United Nations Declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples in building relationships with Indigenous people and communities.

One of the unique features of COMM 354 is its focus on the Indigenous medicine wheel, which is used to guide students’ physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual growth and development throughout the course. Another is the special emphasis it places on community

and collaboration by encouraging students to establish guidelines for learning in cooperation with each other.

The course’s assessments also differ from traditional business courses. Instead of graded assessments, students participate in reflective exercises such as journal entries to contemplate the ways the content has affected them, and then suggest a grade for themselves at the end of the course.

“We’ve taken an ‘ungrading’ approach, which I think is innovative and new for students, especially in business where they’re used to a very competitive environment.” Brant said. “ “[Ungrading] really de-emphasizes that competitive aspect allows [students] to focus on their learning,” Brant says reception to the course has been very positive, with students attesting to the value of using Indigenous ways of knowing to foster more

inclusive workplaces and challenge existing injustices in the business community.

According to her, this is an especially vital asset to have in an increasingly diverse world. “[Kate Rowbotham and I] are both so proud of this course, so it was just an honor to receive the award. We knew that with the award, the recognition that it would bring would enable us to tell the story of the course and why we created it, and hopefully inspire other business schools to do something similar,” she said.

Relationships and Reconciliation in Business and Beyond is currently available to third- and fourth-year Commerce students and students in the Indigenous Studies program. A condensed version was taught to MBA students this summer as a part of Smith’s Summer Enrichment Program.

Professor Lindsay (Kawennenhá:wi) Brant is one of the co-instructors for the course, alongside Professor Kate Rowbotham.

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Local organizations respond to allegations of sexual assault at other Ontario universities Continued from front...

“I think we need to address [the social nature of alcohol consumption as a society and definitely as an institution, because there is that concern about the violence and alcohol sometimes […] coming hand in hand that link to orientation.”

When a s ke d wh a t consequences are faced by individuals who have committed sexual assault, Lotan said there’s “no straight-line answer” adding that the Student Code of Conduct office guides this aspect of sexual violence policy.

“The office is guided by the procedural part of the sexual violence policy and the Student Code of Conduct has some long-standing legal principles around how things have to be in those processes,” she said.

“The outcomes of any process where the survivor has filed a complaint can range from an apology to educational sanctions.”

Consequences are in part determined by a conversation with the survivor and depend on the survivors’ needs.

According to current Policy on Sexual Violence Involving Queen’s University Students, if the Office of the University Secretariat and Legal Counsel close a complaint, their decision is final cannot be subject to review or appeal.

These procedures can be found under Sections 11 and 12.

Once a complaint is received, the University can impose “interim measures,” which work to protect the complainant’s and respondent’s interests. It’s the university’s hope these measures will promote a safe campus environment for all.

“Interim measures are not disciplinary and do not represent a finding of misconduct,” the procedure states.

Lotan emphasized it’s important for students to look out for each other.

“I think students have a really big role to play in creating that safe climate. There’s more of you than anyone else.”

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Features

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Thursday, October 7, 2021

FEATURES

The death of the paper textbook Less and less textbooks are making it to print—but publishers are still making money Kirby Harris Features Editor

Textbooks have always been an expensive requirement of attending university, but prices have risen considerably in recent decades.

According to the Canadian Federation of Students, the cost of textbooks rose 2.44 times the rate of inflation between 2008 and 2015. From the 1980s to 2014, textbook costs overall have increased by over 800 per cent, more than double the rate of increase in housing prices.

One reason textbook publishers can keep raising costs is because students are “captive consumers.”

If a new textbook is assigned for a course, students can be forced to purchase it as part of their course requirements, or may not be able to do well in their course without it.

Today’s university students are also expected to buy extra materials that may not have been required just a decade ago. On shelves at campus bookstores, in addition to paper textbooks, you will find course-specific software and codes that give students access to online labs or homework assignments—not to mention most students are expected to have personal devices capable of running all this software.

According to Queen’s Student Awards Office, ArtSci students should budget approximately $800 per term for class materials. This number includes textbooks, lab kits, and any specialty software that may need to be purchased.

The expected price goes up for different programs. Engineering students can expect to pay up to $1,100 per term, while Education majors could be looking at paying over $2,000 in class materials every fall and winter.

It’s not uncommon for students to skip out on purchasing a textbook or buying secondhand to save money. Buying books from upper-year students and taking out textbooks from the library can be excellent ways to save money. But that’s not always an option with digital tools.

Online materials can be required for handing in homework, meaning that grades could be lost if they aren’t purchased. In a study of British Columbian students, 54 per cent of respondents reported not purchasing a textbook at least once. Of those who reported not buying a required text, 30 per cent reported receiving a poor grade in a class because of not having the textbook.

With rising costs of tuition and housing, the cost of good grades could mean going without necessities or ending up in debt for years after graduation. *** Before the pandemic, less than one fifth of course materials at Queen’s were digital. In less than two years, that figure has seen a drastic change. Physical textbooks are going out of style, replaced

no more expensive physical version to compare costs to. A lot of digital texts are still costing students well over $100 per book.

Some of our largest “ courses no longer

have a loose-leaf option available as the publisher has put them out of print”

The pandemic was accompanied with a rise in e-publishing.

with digital versions. The shift is due to the switch to online learning in 2020 due to COVID-19.

Looking back to 2019, “online course materials represented about 19 per cent of our total course materials. Last year, it surged to 32 per cent”

“Looking back to 2019, online course materials represented about 19 per cent of our total course materials. Last year, it surged to 32 per cent.” Cindy Healy, General Manager of Queen’s Campus Bookstore, told The Journal.

Navigating textbook purchases in a pandemic proved to be a problem. Queen’s Campus Bookstore wasn’t open for in-person shopping, and curb-side pickup was limited.

Textbooks could be ordered online and shipped through FedEx, but the service charged $25 for in-province shipping.

That cost was even higher for students in other parts of the world.

Rather than have textbooks shipped to students who were scattered across the globe, many professors assigned digitalized versions of textbooks. Although students are back on campus and

ILLUSTRATION BY VIOLETTA ZEITLINGER FONTANA

in-person for the 2021-22 school year, digital textbooks haven’t disappeared.

“This year, we have not seen a return to pre-pandemic number.”

Healy said. “Instead, the number has increased and currently represents 39 per cent of our total course materials.”

“This increase I think is the result of a couple of things—the adoption and acceptance of these materials by professors and students and a hard push from publishers to adopt digital.”

In the past, there have been programs at Queen’s that worked to reduce the cost of course materials. In 2018, a working group of Queen’s faculty produced a report on Open and Affordable Course Materials. The goal was to look for ways to provide students with course materials for the lowest possible price.

When COVID-19 halted in-person classes in 2020, the transition to online learning became a priority and textbook affordability took a backseat to safety.

Those who attended Queen’s prior to 2020 might remember purchasing some of their textbooks secondhand from the Tricolour Outlet in the JDUC. The student-run AMS store had a consignment program that allowed students to sell their used textbooks

at the store. This program came to a halt due to COVID-19.

“Since the store was closed and students could not come in store to sell or buy textbooks the service was terminated.” Sierra Holas, Tricolour Outlet Books Manager, told The Journal.

As the Tricolour Outlet transferred to a new point of sale (POS) system while moving online, returning to the consignment program would require adapting to the new POS system.

“In the future we are open to its return if it can fit in with current operations,” Holas said.

Students looking to buy used textbooks may be able to find them on online marketplaces like Facebook Marketplace or Kijiji.

However, with so many courses making the switch from physical to digital, it might be difficult in some cases to find the edition a professor is requiring. *** The good news for students is that online versions of textbooks are usually cheaper.

A $200 paper textbook might have a digital version available for only a fraction of the original cost.

Still, that doesn’t mean all digital textbooks are relatively cheap. Some textbooks have gone completely digital, meaning there’s

Due to the temporary nature of access codes, students are also unable to resell their book after they’ve completed their course.

“Some of our largest courses no longer have a loose-leaf option available as the publisher has put them out of print” Healy said.

When you purchase a textbook, around 80 per cent of the money that you spent on the book goes to the publisher. Those costs go to production, which covers paying the authors, editors, marketing team, and the costs of printing the physical book.

With digital books, printing costs are nonexistent—that means a $150 digital textbook can have a much larger profit margin for a publishing company than a $150 paper one.

Digital versions of textbooks do come with unique benefits. For instance, bookstores can’t run out of a book, there are environmental benefits to going paperless, there’s less physical weight for students to have to carry in their backpacks, and notetaking can be made easier for students who prefer digital notes.

Digital textbooks are also getting better overall. The transition to online learning last year drove improvements to the way we access online texts.

The Queen’s Campus Bookstore is part of CampusEBookstore, an online consortium of collegiate bookstores that includes major Canadian and US publishers. In Fall 2021, CampusEBookstore launched a new ebook platform.

“It has some exciting new features—note synchronization across devices, annotations, highlighting, et cetera. There was a real focus on how students learn and an emphasis on how to improve the academic and student experience,” Healy said.

As the captive consumers of publishers, students are likely going to have to keep paying hundreds of dollars each semester on course materials.

With the shift to online learning increasing the prevalence of digital textbooks, the future of the textbook is uncertain.

It’s very possible that we’ll see less and less physical books on university bookstore shelves over the next few years. Unfortunately, it’s up to publishers what that will mean for affordability.

“The big question moving forward was ‘will this trend stick or will we see a return to prepandemic percentages.’” Healy said.

“I think it’s quite clear that online is here to stay.”

Thursday, October 7, 2021

EDITORIALS

Editorials The Journal’s Perspective

True workforce inclusivity must look beyond economics The current pandemic labour shortage is causing Canadian employers to shift their attention to the greater than 600,000 Canadians with disabilities who have both the capability and desire to work. But inclusivity demands more than simply filling holes within the economy.

Meaningful employment doesn’t just mean providing someone with an opportunity to work—it’s when a new employee is included, appreciated, and valued.

Before recruiting people from marginalized groups, it’s important to consider why a group is underrepresented in the workforce in the first place. If the workforce isn’t free from barriers and oppression, employers will be paying for their employees to enter a toxic—and often exploitative—environment.

At large, our workforce often fails to be friendly to most workers. The exhausting conditions aren’t helping those who struggle from chronic fatigue, for example, and many employers—particularly for minimum-wage jobs—don’t support their employees through work-related considerations for health, such as insurance covering physiotherapy or providing appropriate footwear.

Furthermore, unethical practices

like short staffing—hiring fewer people than needed for highly demanding work—create inconsiderate and actively harmful workplaces for laborers.

Employers shouldn’t welcome any workers—including those with disabilities—into a poor environment to address the labour shortage. They must focus on creating welcoming, ethical, and accessible jobs for all workers all the time.

There are flaws in current employment practices. Folks can spend valuable time compiling evidence of their disability, instead of receiving the support they need, and the arduous process can deter candidates from applying in the first place. Additionally, one route towards accessibility is too often viewed as a catchall solution. But instead of molding workers with disability into one category, personal accommodations should be considered on a case-by-case basis to consider everyone’s unique needs.

Queen’s and other university campuses

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are home to future changemakers and employers, who are likely at the beginning of their time working. The conversation around the right to work in safe and ethical environments must now happen amongst students to prevent reinforcing the same cycle of exclusion and exploitation in the future.

Inclusivity and accessibility in the workforce are much needed, but these objectives shouldn’t be abused as a means for economical gain. Workers with disabilities deserve a place—labour shortage or not.

It’s concerning discussions about inclusion are happening because of a need for workers, not because this is a systemic change long overdue.

Employees with disabilities must feel welcome and valued within their working environments. The pandemic has proved businesses can make accommodations to make their services available for everyone.

The process is easy, manageable, and beneficial for both the employers and their patrons. This kind of mindset should persist within hiring processes and work environments as we transition into a new normal.

Employers must provide opportunities for individuals with disabilities to be part of their team regardless of their need for workers. To do so, they must also be prepared to make their teams accessible to everyone’s needs.

—Journal Editorial Board

THE QUEEN’S JOURNAL Volume 149 Issue 9 www.queensjournal.ca @queensjournal Publishing since 1873

Editorial Board Editors in Chief

Aysha Tabassum Shelby Talbot

Production Manager

Violetta Zeitlinger Fontana

News Editor Assistant News Editors

Features Editors

Sydney Ko Asbah Ahmad Rida Chaudry Anne Fu Kirby Harris Julia Stratton

Editorials Editor Editorials Illustrator Opinions Editor

Anna Fouks Clanny Mugabe Cassidy McMackon

Arts Editor

Ben Wrixon

Assistant Arts Editor Sports Editor

Mackenzie Loveys Angus Merry

Assistant Sports Editor Lifestyle Editor

Natara Ng Alysha Mohamed

Assistant Lifestyle Editor Photo Editor

Madeleine McCormick Spencer Hendrickson

Assistant Photo Editor Video Editor

Curtis Heinzl Nathan Carter

Assistant Video Editor Copy Editors

Leah Smithson Martin Hayes Suzy Leinster

Graphics Editor

Dharmayu Desai

Podcast Coordinator BIPOC Advisory Board Members

Lauren Thomas Alysha Ahmad Anya D’Souza Yvonne Tan

Contributing Staff Contributors

Erika Gow Julia Harmsworth Hyunny Kim Livi McElrea

Staff Writers

Jack Burnham

Business Staff Business Manager

Canada’s prison system needs to provide more rehabilitation options for drug addiction Nathan Carter Canada’s prison system provides too few resources or programs for people suffering from drug addiction—all it does is make the situation worse.

Prisons exist to punish those who’ve committed crimes, and to prevent them from being a further harm to society. However, prisons also exist to rehabilitate prisoners and to deter them from offending again.

While Canada’s correctional system may fulfill the first two functions, they’re failing in the latter two.

Those currently within Canada’s

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ILLUSTRATION BY CLANNY MUGABE

prison system often aren’t dangerous murderers, but people suffering from drug addiction and mental illness. Their charges may include drug possession, theft, or property crime to fuel their addiction.

Let’s say an individual becomes addicted to crack cocaine. Like others addicted to hard drugs, they’re probably struggling with other issues, causing them to use and eventually abuse to cope. They often can’t fund their addiction, finding resources illegally through crime—usually minor property crimes, such as car break-ins.

The Canadian prison system can provide barely any treatment options for their addiction. Minor crimes mean entry into the provincial prison system, with a 60 to 90 day serving sentence.

Most of these people can’t make bail due to court order breach or a previous criminal record.

PHOTO BY SPENCER HENDRICKSON

While they wait for their trial, they are put in remand centres until they plead out. Often, many end up finishing their sentence in the remand centre because of the complicated transfer process to a provincial prison.

Although provincial prisons offer very few resources for rehabilitation, remand centres offer absolutely nothing. The court even recognizes how awful remand centres are, mandating that 1.5 credit be given, meaning that a 15-day sentence would be shortened to 10, for example.

When they get out of prison or a remand centre, these folks have fewer job prospects than before due to their criminal record.

While they may have been clean for the duration of their sentence, many people turn back to drug addiction and end up right back in prison.

The past decades saw the launch of Canadian drug treatment courts in response to the mass incarceration of offenders for drug-related offences. These courts create programs to support people suffering from drug addiction. While this initiative is a good starting point, the program doesn’t receive enough support or resources.

Unfortunately, not many get to benefit from the program.

The circumstances create a never-ending cycle in which people suffering from drug addiction go in and out of prison, never given a proper chance to improve their condition.

While it will be a long and difficult process, the Canadian government must take further steps towards providing more rehabilitation programs within the prison system.

Nathan is a third-year Film major and The Journal’s Senior Video Editor.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Contents © 2021 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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Opinions

Thursday, October 7, 2021

OPINIONS The AMS Walkout was nothing but performative activism

Erika and Livi believe student governments must exercise their agency to aid their student bodies.

Student governments need to use their platform to propose change, not allow for virtue signaling

this was a real walkout, it wouldn't be hosted by the AMS in alignment with Queen’s preferred public image, and it certainly would not have the public support of Principal Patrick Deane.

A walkout doesn’t happen if services on campus shut down to accommodate the walkout.

And a walkout certainly doesn’t work if it’s conveniently filtered down to a bite-sized and performative ordeal.

Erika Gow and The AMS walkout also Livi McElrea lacked concrete demands for Contributors the university.

While we listened to speeches This article discusses sexual assault given by prearranged speakers, and may be triggering for some we kept waiting for a distinct set readers. The Kingston Sexual of goals we as a collective should Assault Centre’s 24-hour crisis and strive for. Instead, we heard support phone line can be reached insulting chants and survivors’ at 613-544-6424 / 1-800-544-6424. stories with no trigger warnings The Journal uses “survivor” to refer given at the beginning of the event. to those who have experienced The AMS’s criticisms about sexual assault. We acknowledge the University’s sexual violence this term is not universal. policies and resources were that they were too inaccessible On Sept. 27, we donned our to students to be of service. raincoats and made our way to This was touted as the primary Summerhill to participate in a fault of inequities on campus student-led walkout to show rather than the enduring rape solidarity with survivors of sexual culture, the repercussions of assault. With activism and advocacy reporting sexual harassment being a large part of both our lives, and violence, and a lack of it was only natural we would actionable policies. both attend.

What this event did accomplish Unfortunately, we were soon was a smothering of the movement disappointed as we watched against sexual violence. our student government host an When student governments insensitive and thoughtless “rally.” host events like this, students on It became clear that Queen’s and campus feel the issue has been its student government had much addressed or that by showing up, more work to do than we thought. they have contributed to aiding It’s well within the scope of the cause. Instead of capitalizing the AMS’s platform, influence, on the frustration of attendees and resources to host an event and their desire to create change, for survivors to collectivize students’ drive was coaxed to a dull student action against sexual rumble via broad statement after violence—unfortunately, this broad statement. didn’t happen.

Throughout the event, we First, a person cannot walk felt the actual needs and feelings out against an institution if they of survivors were a second operate within that institution. If thought. It was as if the AMS

slapped the words “protest chants” and “second-wave feminism” into Google and did no more research.

At an event where the responsibility should have lied with the host to ensure speakers had the tools for an accessible speech that didn't contain triggering content and dismissive language, the AMS failed to deliver this for the student body.

The majority of individuals attending the event already likely understood the gravity of the situation and empathized with survivors. They came, like we did, to join together and challenge the status quo of mere institutional rhetoric against sexual violence and instead work towards actionable community empowerment.

While the event was meant to support survivors of sexual violence and draw attention to the urgency of the sexual violence crisis on university campuses, it instead consisted of virtue signaling from student leaders.

One speaker even asked the crowd to “raise your hand if you have ever been groped”—we were appalled.

Though the act was meant to foster a sense of bonding by seeing who had also experienced assault, it had the opposite effect.

The question made survivors feel they were expected to reveal an experience that's at minimum uncomfortable and at maximum traumatic in front of a crowd of their peers. This insensitivity to the difficult and emotionally taxing process of deciding to share your story was reduced to a casual hand raise like you were answering a question in class.

From that point on, organizers and speakers continued to isolate survivors in attendance.

The crowd was led through a number of chants with no

ILLUSTRATION BY VIOLETTA ZEITLINGER FONTANA

explanation or purpose. The use of various gaudy chants like “hey mister get your hands off my sister” made a mockery of the gravity of the situation and failed to consider institutional failure in responding to and advocating for survivors.

The AMS’s flippant appropriation of chants from other social movements further demonstrated their performative activism.

Chants like “no justice, no peace,” which belongs to the Black Lives Matter movement, were used. This was a disrespectful and unnecessary co-opting of sacred language that had no place being used at this event.

This provided more than enough evidence to indicate this event lacked critical research and an intersectional approach.

The AMS also subtly elected who could and couldn’t be a survivor, as they assumed all “male-identified students” in attendance were allies rather than survivors and neglected to address the fact that sexual assault can happen to anyone regardless of their sexual or gender identities.

Even if this was an attempt to help women feel seen, the AMS didn’t give survivors of all identities a sufficient space to feel heard.

Though we want to make it clear that speakers at the Queen’s Walkout deserved to have a platform and to share their stories, the language used and the overall dilution of the problems at hand garnered a harmful insensitivity towards survivors.

Through the lack of representation of survivors within the student body, the walkout failed to act in the interests of those affected by sexual assault on campus. It satiated the need for action and, because of that, acted to keep Queen’s and

other institutions safe from having to acknowledge the deep-rooted nature of sexual violence and rape culture on university campuses.

The University continues to promote a number of superficial policies and employs reactive support services in light of sexual violence. The failure of the AMS to effectively call on Queen’s for action means that it’s failing survivors on campus.

When Queen’s students choose to collectivize to demand action, that collectivization must disrupt the status quo to be effective. For a walkout to be effective, everyone must actually leave their classes, physically disrupt movement on campus, and not simply return to regularly scheduled activities an hour later.

A walkout must also empower students with resources for next steps. Students don’t need more bystander training—they need an administrative body that listens and believes in us and a student government that advocates for tangible changes while actively pursuing the needs of the students.

While we don’t know what amendments to propose to make sexual violence response policies more effective and survivor-focused or how individual students can help, we do know that we want student governments to continue to advocate for change. In the future, the AMS must move forward, question their institution, and not be complacent.

Erika Gow and Livi McElrea are third-year Political Studies students.

To submit an opinion, contact journal_letters@ams.queensu.ca

Thursday, October 7, 2021

ARTS

Arts

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Union Gallery launches collaborative art project ‘Together, we tile’ uses ceramic to bring people together Ben Wrixon Senior Arts Editor In participation with Culture Days, a program taking place across Canada from Sept. 24 to Oct. 24, Union Gallery has launched a collaborative art project called Together, we tile.

Those participating in the project will receive a ceramic tile to be decorated based on central themes of dreams, exploration, and re-imagining our tomorrow.

The Journal spoke with Carina Magazzeni, director at Union Gallery, about how the isolation of various lockdowns over the last year inspired the minds behind Together, we tile.

“People can sign up for one tile, two, three, or four, and pick them up here at Union Gallery, or we can mail them out,” Magazzeni said.

“Everyone is invited to design their tile in whatever way they’d like. They could do a collage, or even use things from around the house. All of the tiles get brought into Union Gallery at the end of October, and we’re going to grout them all together to

create a sculptural item that we hope will live outside on Queen’s campus.”

Together, we tile is the brainchild of Abby Nowakowski, an artist who started working with Union Gallery last month. Magazzeni explained how Nowakowski’s recent exhibit titled Wales Hall provided a starting point for the tile art.

“Abby Nowakowski designed it from the ground-up,” said Magazzeni. “There was a big part of [Wales Hall] that was ceramics, so Abby was trying to think of something in relation to ceramics, but also just different ways that we can all make together on a [larger] scale.”

One core element of Together, we tile is the opportunity for those participating to create their tile art using whatever techniques are most comfortable for them.

Along with tile, those participating will also receive an instructional zine from Abby featuring suggestions and ideas to inspire their own work.

Magazenni wants to send everyone home for reading week with their tiles.

Union Gallery hopes to have at least 100 tiles when everything is said and done—this strong community contribution would go a long way toward affirming their post-COVID mission.

“This year, all our programming is guided by our ethos of centring everything in care,” she said. “We’re really wanting to bring programs that can connect students [organically].”

SUPPLIED BY UNION GALLERY

The project is the brainchild of Abby Nowakowski.

“Even for a lot of students who might be in their second year now, this [might] be their first time on campus, and we have a student majority team. A lot of our students are really excited about actually getting to meet people. To have a space where we can come together to think about a better tomorrow is the guiding focus of [Together, we tile].”

More than anything, Magazzeni hopes Together, we tile sparks collaboration.

“We’re putting tools directly in people’s hands and breaking down something that might seem unapproachable at first for some. We’re really centred in making sure we’re providing access and opportunity to students from all departments and disciplines to get creative.”

Union Gallery intends to have all tiles collected for the sculpture on Oct. 23. Those interested in participating can sign up for free on their website.

Futura Free gets ready for album release

SUPPLIED BY FUTURA FREE

Futura Free adds experimental sounds to their indie rock.

Singer Peter Luft discusses inspiration behind ‘Reducer’ Mackenzie Loveys Assisstant Arts Editor Kingston band Futura Free is set to hold an in-person release show at The Mansion on Oct. 9 for their newest album, Reducer.

Doors open at 8 p.m. and there will be an entrance fee of $10. Audience members can also expect musical performances from Monarch and Willy Nilly.

The Journal spoke with Peter Luft, Futura Free’s lead singer

and lyricist, about the album and its upcoming release show.

Along with Luft, the band features Kevin Feeley on guitar, Bobby Benevides on drums, and Gabriel Reeves on bass and vocals.

Following the release of Reducer in June, Luft says the band is excited to play for a live audience and expects a night of positive, fun vibes.

“There’s a lot of built-up anticipation and excitement,” Luft said. “[Now] being able to get back at it with live music after the pandemic, there’s going to be insane amounts of energy.”

With Reducer, Futura Free takes its catchy songs and experiments by adding

bizarre sounds to their music.

Luft described the album as “catchy punk indie rock that has been infected with a spooky computer virus.”

While their previous album featured happy, feel-good songs about love and fulfillment, Reducer takes the band’s sound in new directions. The new album reflects bleak themes of mental health, highlighting a world collapsing around us.

This dramatic theme shift was intentional. Luft said he loves when artists’ albums distinguish different eras of their careers.

“I wanted to almost give a tonal whiplash between [the albums].

Thematically, the first record

is very happy, and [Reducer] is the complete opposite of that.”

Much of the inspiration for Futura Free’s retro, neon aesthetic is drawn from a combination of synth-wave and cyberpunk music from the 80s, also pulling on elements from 90s dream pop and shoegaze. They cited Brockhampton as a modern influence, too.

“There are quite a few rock bands or guitar bands that only draw influence from older classic rock,” Luft said. “[Aesthetically,] we’re trying to draw influence from other genres, like pop and hip hop and stuff like that.”

The band is proud about self-producing their music.

It has allowed them to get creative

and “weird” without facing high studio costs.

“We live in an age where you can record your own stuff and it can sound pretty freaking good,” Luft said. “We can get really creative with it and get really experimental.”

Luft encourages artists to experiment and make music that excites them, regardless of any criticism they may receive.

“That thing that people say, ‘you need a lot of money or a lot of connections to make the cool music that you want’ is completely false,” he said.

“That’s a myth. If you have a song you want to make. In this day and age, you can just go out and make it.”

Arts

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Thursday, October 7, 2021

‘The Corrections’ is a cautionary tale worth revisiting

PHOTO BY BEN WRIXON

The novel is a self-aware triumph.

Jonathan Franzen’s acclaimed novel is a reminder to appreciate family Ben Wrixon Senior Arts Editor In the 20 years since its release, The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen has garnered a reputation as a modern literary classic—and with time, its warnings not to take those we love for granted have become more relevant than ever.

This 2001 novel by Franzen

debuted to universal acclaim. It won the National Book Award and was also a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Critics Circle Award, among many other notable designations.

However, The Corrections also arrived with controversy after Franzen rudely rejected the support of media titan Oprah Winfrey. He feared her endorsement of his novel as part of her Book Club might repel male readers.

Years later, Time magazine gave Franzen a contentious cover story in 2010 and touted him as the next “Great American Novelist” after releasing Freedom. The

most recent decade has seen his opinionated elitism continue to upset people.

Controversies aside, Franzen is an undeniably gifted writer, and The Corrections is worthy of all its praise. It deserves its status as a classic.

The novel tells the story of the Lamberts, a dysfunctional family driven apart by the realities of adult life and their shortcomings as people.

Enid Lambert, wife to Alfred and mother to Chip, Gary, and Denise, is insistent on reuniting her children in their hometown of St. Jude for one last family Christmas.

It might be their last chance to

be together, given Alfred’s rapidly deteriorating health.

Franzen brings these characters to life over The Corrections’ roughly 600 pages, his prose consistently meticulous and inventive.

Enid, caring to a fault, is the victim of a neglectful marriage and desperate to reconnect with her adult children. Her husband, Alfred, is a sickly and bitter father of three. He chose his work over everything else but failed to leave a legacy.

The children’s stories are where The Corrections shines.

Chip’s situation is hardly original—a creative mind

struggling to make ends meet—but it’s elevated by Franzen’s sharp wit and willingness to be bold. He dives headfirst into Chip’s worst impulses to uncover the goodness he’s kept hidden.

Denise’s story is about expectations.

She’s a hard-working chef, a career path never supported by her parents.

She’s also conflicted about her sexuality. Franzen should be commended for exploring her life and psyche in harsh, believable ways.

Gary, the oldest Lambert child, is perhaps the most interesting of the three. He’s grown to resent his father for mistreating his mother, yet finds his own marriage falling apart as he continues to lose battles against his depression.

As the story progresses—and a family Christmas becomes a pipe dream—the Lamberts begin to understand the dangers of taking those they love for granted. Life only affords us so many opportunities to connect with loved ones.

This is an over-arching message that resonates in COVID times—appreciating those we love while they’re here is essential.

There’s never been a better time to bury the hatchet and reconnect with those who matter most.

Now more than ever, families and friends need each other.

The Corrections, for all its twisted humour and cynicism, is a cautionary tale about what life can become when people lose sight of what matters.

Even if we can’t pick our family, we can choose to love them.

Local artist collective launches collaborative community Forworld Studios aims to foster an inclusive artistic environment Mackenzie Loveys Assisstant Arts Editor Forworld Studios, a newly founded artist collective, includes six artists from the Kingston community: Francisco (Fran) Corbn, William Carroll, Hayden Frasso, 4CiD RaBBiT, Michaela Zinsmeister, and Constance Intounas.

The Journal discussed the collective’s launch with Forworld Studio members Constance Intounas, ConEd ’23, and William Carroll.

The idea to form the collective originated after Carroll and Corbn, sharing an art space at the time, expressed their dissatisfaction with what they perceived as traditional artist collectives and how they often function in self-serving ways.

The two hoped to form collectives around the values of inclusivity and collaboration, offering an encouraging, connected space where artists could interact.

“As a collective, we are mandated to building a better, more inclusive, more accessible, creative community,” Carroll said. “[An inclusive community] is really important—to me specifically because I am on the spectrum,” Carroll added.

“I don’t find that there’s a huge place for disabled artists necessarily in the city all the time, at least in terms of breaking

into the creative community. I found it very difficult.”

Carroll and Corbn’s collective began welcoming other members in July, with their final member, Intounas, added in September. While each member is an independent artist, the collective aims to establish a space for collaboration.

Forworld Studios’ first major collaborative project is set for a November release—a zine discussing issues within the creative community and how they can be repaired.

Carroll said the collective intends to promote more interaction within the Kingston scene. This may be accomplished through future events where artists can gather and engage with each other.

“There is a number of collectives in town, but they all kind of just do things independently,” Carroll said.

“To properly foster community, you have to interact with everybody.”

The skills each artist within Forworld Studios possesses are unique to themselves, which offers all kinds of possibilities for future collaborations.

“The best part about it is that we’re all making very unique, diverse types of artwork,” Intounas said.

“There’s someone working with oil

Forworld Studios gives local artists a space to create art together.

paints, then acrylics, then spray paint. There are just so many different mediums that we use.”

While the collective is a recent development, it has already started to establish a welcoming community among its members where they can expand

SUPPLIED BY FORWORLD

their talents in a workspace designated for creative exploration.

“It’s providing me a new opportunity to use different mediums,” Intounas said.

“It’s also a different kind of push because I’m surrounded by artists who inspire and motivate me.”

Thursday, October 7, 2021

SPORTS SPORTS

Sports

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PHOTO SUPPLIED BY SHERIDON BAPTISTE

Queen’s Hall-of-famer Sheridon Baptiste speaks to ‘The Journal’ about his talk, “Let’s do our part, one kind act at a time” Baptiste hopes his wisdom will help current student-athletes better use their influence Angus Merry Senior Sports Editor Sheridon Baptiste, ArtSci ’89, is no stranger to being an athlete—and an exceptional one at that.

At one time or another a member of Queen’s varsity basketball, football, and track and field teams, his string of stellar performances during his undergrad netted him a spot in the Queen’s Track Hall of Fame, after which he began competing with Canada’s national track team.

Shortly after his graduation, he was drafted into the CFL by the Saskatchewan Rough Riders.

If that weren’t enough, he also went on to become a three-time Olympian—in bobsled.

Yet surprisingly, none of those accomplishments were planned—or even dreamed of—by him when he first arrived at Queen’s in the fall of 1985.

According to Baptiste, when he first stepped on campus,

he was just another Arts and Science student. Although he played a number of sports in high school, nobody had scouted him anywhere, including Queen’s. He expected to spend the next four years of his life staying fit and working on his studies.

“When I came to Queen’s, my intention was […] just to focus on academics,” he said, in a sitdown interview with The Journal.

All of this changed within a matter of days.

Seeking respite from the antics of frosh week, Baptiste grabbed a basketball and started practicing in the gym one morning. The then-head coach of the basketball team happened to see him and was impressed. After suggesting he try out for the team, Baptiste casually agreed.

That decision ultimately led him on a path toward an incredible four-year tenure as an athlete at Queen’s.

Evidently, he ended up making the basketball team—but he didn’t stop there. Shortly after, he sought to pursue an interest he had nurtured since high school for track and field.

“I’ll be honest with you,” he said with a chuckle. “I didn’t even know [Queen’s] had a track team,” The following year, after making waves in both sports, one

more coach came knocking: Doug Hargreaves, the legendary head of the football program. After asking Baptiste to join the football team outright in second year, Baptiste opted to do football and track only from then on, believing he had a better chance of making the CFL than the NBA. Sure enough, he was drafted in the CFL two-and-a-half-years later, in 1988.

Although he was ultimately never able to play professionally, Baptiste went on to become a member of the National track team—winning a gold medal in the 4 x 100 metre relay at the 1994 Jeux de la Francophonie—as well as performing as a member of the Canadian bobsled team at three separate Olympic games: 1992, 1994, and 1998.

After coaching the bobsled team and training professional athletes in the US for a spell, Baptiste eventually moved back to his Canadian hometown of Ottawa, where he quickly began the work he performs to this day as a healthy living coordinator at the Odawa Native Friendship Centre, also located in Ottawa.

There, he oversees athletic programming, training, and recovery services to members of the local Indigenous community that wouldn’t otherwise have

the opportunity.

Baptiste addressed Queen’s student-athletes and athletics staff on Sep. 26, presenting his talk “Let’s do our part, one kind act at a time.” When asked about the nature of his talk, Baptiste told The Journal it’s fundamentally about acknowledging the reality of racialized struggles many BIPOC face in today’s socio-political landscape, as well asrecognizing the power of their own voices as athletic figures.

“There’s so much we can do as individuals, as athletes,” he said.

“You’re very privileged, because you have a voice, you actually get a chance to speak out, you actually get a chance to be noticed in your community.”

Baptiste went on to mention that as individuals who carry influence, athletes have a responsibility to reflect on the treatment of themselves and others, and to fight against prejudice and racism wherever possible.

“I just want people to be aware that racism exists, and there is something that they can personally do about it.”

Reflecting on his own time at Queen’s as a Black student-athlete, Baptiste remembers that during advent of Gangsta rap in the late 80s, a wave of fear mongering swept across North America

targeting young Black men like himself. As a result, Baptiste felt he constantly had to go out of his way to prove he wasn’t dangerous or violent to his peers.

“In that scenario, it almost makes you seem as though you want to be white,” he said.

“People are just trying to make you become them.”

In retrospect, Baptiste wishes he could go back and tell his younger self that it was okay to be himself—and to take pride in his identity.

“If I could [go] back and told myself, you know, ‘be positive’, […] ‘be more proud of who you are’ […] it would have made a big difference in my life.”

Although he doesn’t know the exact state of racial affairs on university campuses today, Baptiste hopes that talks such as his own will nonetheless have a noticably positive impact on the way individuals treat each other with respect to their racial identities.

When asked about what he would like included in his legacy, Baptiste kept it brief.

“I would like to be remembered as just a kind person, that just helped people when they needed help,” he said.

“It really doesn’t have to be more complicated than that.”

OUA and U Sports announce new broadcasting agreements with CBC Sports Partnerships will mean coverage for OUA tournaments until 2023 and U Sports Championships until 2025 Angus Merry Senior Sports Editor As of Oct. 1, the OUA and U Sports are both partnered with CBC Sports for coverage of select collegiate sporting events from now until 2025.

The agreements—which were signed on Sep. 20 and Oct. 1 for U Sports and the OUA, respectively—have notable differences in scope, but both ultimately mean digital broadcasting services for championship-level tournaments that take place within provincial and national divisions of play.

CBC Sports is a division of the CBC which publishes regular news content on a vast range of sports, in addition to streaming

services for specific events. They were Canada’s primary sports broadcaster during the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

The U Sports partnership, contracted until the conclusion of the 2024-25 academic year, specifically advertises that CBC sports will be the exclusive Englishlanguage digital broadcaster for every U Sports national tournament for the next four years.

Though only recently announced, this partnership comes off an agreement from the 2019-20 school year, in which U Sports and CBC Sports agreed on a broadcasting deal for coverage of six of that year’s 13 national tournaments. This partnership expands on that previous agreement, encompassing all

13 of U Sports’ annual national tournaments for the next four years.

In their press release outlining the partnership, U Sports said this coverage will debut on Dec. 4 for the 2021 Vanier Cup—the national championship for Canadian university football.

The OUA’s partnership deal with CBC Sports—announced just days ago—encompasses broadcasting coverage for varsity sports in the province of Ontario alone.

The agreement signed will only last for two academic years, until 2022-23.

Much in the same fashion as the U sports partnership, however, the CBC Sports coverage for the OUA will only extend to championship

level tournaments, of which there commented they are excited to are 13. collaborate with all three entities U Sports reported in a press in the future. release the scope of sports covered “As an organization that takes

by CBC Sports for the OUA will tremendous pride in producing include men’s and women’s soccer, the highest quality webcasts basketball, hockey, and volleyball, possible each week for our as well as football, swimming, students, alumni and supporters track and field, wrestling, around the world, we are looking and women’s rugby. forward to working with CBC No further details provided Sports, U SPORTS [sic] and the on other coverage of non- OUA to bring the incredible championship level events, student-athletes and coaches although the inaugural event taking part in our championships for the CBC’s coverage of the to viewers across Canada for years OUA occurred over the weekend to come.” for the Panda Game—an Streaming of these sporting annual football game between events is available on three the University of Ottawa and platforms: cbcsports.ca, the CBC Carleton University—in Ottawa.

Sports App, or on the streaming In a email statement to The service CBC Gem. Journal, Athletics and Recreation

Sports

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Thursday, October 7, 2021

Degabriele dominates the diamond Second baseman Erika Degabriele named Fastpitch Association’s Athlete of the Week NATARA NG Assistant Sports Editor Whether she’s up to bat or out at second base, Queen’s Fastpitch player Erika Degrabriele is a force to be reckoned with this season.

Degrabriele, Kin ’23, was named Athlete of the Week by the Ontario Intercollegiate Women’s Fastpitch Association (OIWFA) after her performances catalyzed four straight wins for the Gaels during their second set of matchups on Sept. 25 and 26.

“It was a great weekend. The other teams definitely gave us a battle, which was expected, but we were able to get a win under our belt,” Degabriele said in an interview with The Journal..

In those four matches against Carleton and X University, Degabriele recorded eight assists after 10 total chances on the ball while on second base. She also held a perfect fielding percentage.

When she stepped up to the plate, Degabriele wasn’t struck out once either. In total, she had seven hits—one single, four doubles, and a triple—scored six runs, stole two bases, and finished with seven Runs Batted in.

Her contact average is currently sitting at 1.000—meaning she has put the ball in play during all plate appearances—and her batting average sits just above 0.500, meaning half of all her swings result in genuine hits.

The Journal sat down with Degrabiele to discuss her journey coming to Queen’s and learn about her hopes for the rest of the fastpitch season.

A Brampton native, fastpitch has always been Degabriele’s sport. At just three years old, she was already playing T-Ball. Five years later, at age eight, she began playing rep fastpitch.

Her career spans several clubs, including the Brampton Blazers, Barrie Storm, and Oakville Angels.

When she came to Queen’s last year, she didn’t miss out on her chance to become a Gael.

When asked about what motivated her to try out for fastpitch here at Queen’s, Degabriele credited “the passion and the love for the sport.”

“The dynamic of the team is amazing.”

Due to COVID-19 health and safety restrictions, Degabriele couldn’t train on the diamond this past summer, so getting back into a competitive mindset for this season required some patience.

“A little bit of time in the gym, warming up your body slowly, and just being confident that you’ll get there eventually,” she said. “You just have to take it step by step and [not] really rush [it].”

Humble as ever, Degabriele said the greatest part about fastpitch is feeling the support of her thirteen teammates on the field and supporting them in return.

“If someone makes a mistake,

you know you have the coaching staff and 13 girls behind you ready to pick it up, whether it’s through their bats or through another play,” she said.

“It’s a really low-stress situation when you know that you have people behind you that are there for the same reason and are just as passionate as you are.”

Meanwhile, Degabriele and the Gaels keep tallying up wins.

They’ve won seven of their first nine games and will be chasing down more victories in the latter half of the season.

“As a team, we really want to go undefeated for the rest of the round robin,” she said.

“Our goal is to definitely get some wins, and hopefully qualify for one of the top two spots to move on to the next round.”

That next round would be the OWIFA playoffs, where the Gaels would have a chance at redeeming themselves after failing to medal in 2019.

From enjoying the long weekend bus rides to being a resolute force on the diamond, fastpitch has quickly become an outlet for Degabriele—outside of schoolwork—that’s defining her time at Queen’s.

“You truly have a moment of just, ‘okay I’m here to not only take a break, but to play the sport that we all love,’” she said.

“It keeps me going.”

Erika Degabriele makes a catch at second base.

SUPPLIED BY SHAWN TRUDEAU

‘Gaels Tackle Hunger Food Drive’ initiative raises 1,126 pounds of food Queen’s Football Team partnered with Food Banks Kingston to help those in need for the Thanksgiving season Football team collecting food at downtown Metro.

Natara ng Assistant Sports Editor

Kingston community for the upcoming Thanksgiving weekend.

“We just wanted to be able On Sunday Oct. 3, the Queen’s to get food and provide food Football team was stationed to those in need and those at the front entrance of Metro that don’t have access to it on Barrie Street collecting during such an important non-perishables for their holiday like Thanksgiving,” annual initiative, the ‘Gaels said defensive back Ashton Tackle Hunger Food Drive.’ Miller-Melancon in an interview The drive ran from 4 to 7 with The Journal. p.m. on Sunday and was done in The Journal caught up with partnership with the Kingston both Miller-Melancon, ArtSci Food Bank. Gaels football players ’25, and defensive lineman asked customers walking in Liam Wrigley, ArtSci ’22, to and out of Metro to purchase gain some more insight on or lend a non-perishable Sunday’s initiative. food item as a donation to As an upper-year, Wrigley the foodbank. has participated in the By the end of the day, the team annual event for several had raised a whopping 1,126 years now. pounds of food.

According to him, the team Afterward, the collected brought forth lots of energy that items were distributed to gave many passersby the incentive homeless shelters in the to donate.

“We were really hyping people up when they were dropping food off and it seemed like everyone that saw it wanted a piece of it,” Wrigley explained.

“The support from the community is great, everyone was having a great time.”

The football team tackled the event in shifts, with younger players taking the first hour and upper-years coming in for the final hours.

Miller-Melancon, a first year, said that the drive started off slow, but after members of the team became more confident in asking for contributions, it didn’t take long for donations to pick up.

“Once everyone [on the team] started understanding what needed to be done and started feeling more confident […] that’s when the results really started to

show and that’s when we started to get a lot of donations,” he said.

“By the end of it we had accumulated a lot of food, so I thought it was a great success.”

For Miller-Melancon and his teammates, giving back to a community that grants them so much at Queen’s and in football is very important.

“One meal can go a long way for someone, especially in this Thanksgiving season where it’s about coming together,” MillerMelancon said.

“You really want to be able to provide something that people are going to cherish, and that people are really going to appreciate.”

Wrigley echoed this sentiment, praising the effects that these experiences give to members of the team.

“We do a lot of different community initiatives led by coach

SUPPLIED BY KWAME OSEI

Kwame Osei, and it’s a great experience for everyone to be out there and enjoying it,” Wrigley said. “The football team as a whole really does enjoy just being out within the community and helping out.”

On behalf of the entire team, Wrigley stressed that team unity—both on and off the field—is very important to Queen’s Football.

“We’re here for four to five years, and a big goal by the football team is to be one of the most respected groups of people and the most respected team on campus and in the community,” he said.

“It’s just nice to be out and bringing some generosity, energies, and positive vibes into the community. The world needs that right now.”

Lifestyle

Thursday, October 7, 2021

queensjournal.ca

LIFESTYLE

The Emma Chamberlain appeal

Analyzing the popularity of everyone's favourite YouTuber.

Why we’re so enamoured by our generation’s ‘it girl’ Alysha Mohamed Senior Lifestyle Editor Watching Emma Chamberlain’s YouTube videos feels like being on FaceTime with your best friend.

In the midst of cancel culture and social media anxiety, our generation has steadily followed and fallen in love with Emma’s life as she navigates burnout, wellness, and perfectionism. Everyone I know who watches Emma describes her as ‘real,’ a stark contrast to ‘unreal’ content creators who only show us a glorified, Instagram-worthy vision of their morning routines and relationships.

How to take control of your finances Five quick tips to manage your money Julia Stratton Features Editor With minimal education about financial literacy in high schools and universities, many students don't know where to begin when learning to navigate their finances as young adults. I’ve assembled a few tips to get you started on managing your finances responsibly and learning about financial literacy.

Create separate sections of your bank account for free spending and necessities One of the simplest ways to stop worrying about money is to have a dedicated account for necessities.

In my first few years of school, I pooled all my money into one chequing account and as the year went on, I got increasingly worried watching the number in my bank account drop.

I recently learned that you can create a separate—and totally free—chequing account to put

money for necessities, like food and rent and have another account for free spending. This way, I never worry I’ll run out of money for the basics, and I have a better gauge of how much money I can spend on non-essential purchases.

Pay off your credit card in full every month Credit cards have really high interest rates if you don’t pay off your bill in full every month. Paying the minimum amount doesn’t count as paying off your monthly credit card bill. If you use a credit card, get in the habit of paying it off every month so you don’t have to pay more money in interest in the long run.

Failing to pay off your credit card every month can also amount to bad credit score. Having a bad credit score makes it harder to borrow money for things like mortgages when you get older, so it’s important to build as good a credit score as you can. You can pay off your card balance easily using online banking or even set up automatic payments.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY DHARMAYU DESAI

It’s also a unique experience to grow up alongside someone in the public eye. Emma has been making YouTube videos since 2016—we’ve seen her move, vlog, break down, and attend the Met Gala. Somehow, she’s also managed to start numerous fashion trends by simply wearing what she likes, regardless of how ‘ugly’ the outfits are.

She’s unapologetically sported sweater vests and flared yoga pants as many other influencers stuck to Fashion Nova sets. The funniest part about Emma’s

fashion influence is that it seems unintentional—she wears clothes she finds interesting or funny, and somehow it trickles down into outfits you’d see students wear on Queen’s campus.

The YouTuber has also been a key influencer in making thrifting cool again, uploading vlogs of her shopping and videos where she pulls together and styles completely thrifted outfits.

Though it may seem like her content is repetitive, it’s actually soothing to see her lean into the simplest aspects of her life,

never told any of my friends about my financial situation.

Likewise, my friends have never told me what’s going on with their finances. We need to stop coveting what the people around us have because we have no idea whether they can afford it or not.

We have to be honest with our own financial situation instead of comparing ourselves to others.

Setting the example for saying “no” to extra expenses may also help those around you feel comfortable saying “no” too.

If you have an emergency fund, when unprecedented situations arise you won’t have to go into debt to pay them off. Unexpected costs have the potential to be the little shove that can send someone spiraling into debt.

Creating an emergency fund will give you a buffer, so when unforeseen circumstances surface, you have money set aside to pay the expenses. Like your money for essentials, your emergency fund can also be a separate chequing account.

Create an emergency fund

Find resources to help manage your finances

• 11

like grocery shopping or going to the gym.

It’s almost as if we’re growing up and trying to navigate the world together, and none of us know exactly how to be completely independent. I find joy in seeing her figure out her air fryer or arrange her produce and feel like an adult, because it’s exactly how I attempt to make sense of my own life.

Some of my favourite video titles are “EVERYTHING WENT WRONG,” “READING MAKES YOU HOT,” and “just another vlog lol.”

The Emma Chamberlain appeal lies in her honesty and humour.

Despite having 10.9 million subscribers on YouTube and 14.2 million followers on Instagram, she feels like one of the girls and is completely candid when discussing the normalcy of most of her life.

There’s a special kind of comfort in seeing Emma make her signature breakfast and oat milk latte while ranting in her kitchen.

I feel strangely validated when she starts a vlog committed to having a productive day, and instead ends it in bed after an anxiety attack She reminds me that no one’s life is perfect, even the life of our generation’s ‘it girl.’

She’s wealthy, privileged, and successful, and a large part of her charm is the fact that we forget about her fame while engaging with her content.

As she grows and embraces her own creativity, I’ve loved seeing Emma thrive in more serious editorial shoots and partnerships with Louis Vuitton, Vogue, and Calvin Klein.

I’ll watch her breakdowns and cooking vlogs until she decides to stop making them—and I’ll never apologize for adoring the only influencer who feels like an anxious, hilarious, real person to me.

Our culture has a money taboo that prevents young people from learning about finances. A great way to start bridging this gap is to find local classes and workshops where you can learn the basics and ask any questions you have about money.

For students living in Kingston, the Peer Health Educators Financial Literacy Team runs workshops for students about various financial literacy topics relevant to students. In addition, the Kingston Frontenac Public Library holds financial literacy events throughout the year.

Don’t compare your financial situation to those around you I don’t know about you, but I’ve

Learning to manage your money in university.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY DHARMAYU DESAI

Lifestyle

12 • queensjournal.ca

Thursday, October 7, 2021

POSTSCRIPT

PHOTO BY SPENCER HENDRICKSON

Hyunny reflects on her journey with overthinking.

Overthinking is my Shakespearean tragedy How I broke the cycle of self-imposed criticism and doubt Hyunny Kim Contributor Overthinking has absorbed my university life. I find myself bound by standards for and perceptions of myself—and sometimes it goes overboard.

I refer to my overthinking as an “analysis curse.” I would over-analyze my own work and capabilities to the point where I’d lose myself in my thoughts and panic.

"

I ended up criticizing myself less and moved to adopt what I call 'free thinking'" I remember writing a creative assignment for a philosophy course in my third year. I stayed up all night thinking about ways to craft the most inspirational and analytical piece of writing.

After hours of worry, I had a conversation with my professor who helped me shift from trying too hard to write—with unattainable standards—toward writing without thinking.

This method helped me let go of some of my anxiety overbearing my writing and allowed me to simply let the words flow. I ended up criticizing myself less and moved to adopt what I call “free thinking.”

Before my professor’s advice, I would restrict myself to unbelievable standards of creative

skill, comparing myself to greats like William Shakespeare. Now, free thinking has helped me accept my conclusive and restricting attitude towards my work and prevent it from putting me in a tailspin.

Rather than becoming the next Shakespeare I dreamed I could be, I’ve practised valuing my own unique thoughts and making peace with the negative aspects of my life, that I couldn’t overthink my way out of.

Much of my overthinking stems from how I self-evaluate and analyze others’ perceptions of me. This course of thought, as expected, never ends well.

At a certain point, overthinking became my routine. Overthinking even bled into my personal life, impacting my relationships with friends and even romantic partners.

During my first year at Queen’s, I was in a long-distance relationship and things were rocky.

In the time I spent away from him, I had the perfect opportunity to question my feelings and overthink aspects of our relationship. Given the amount of people added to my life and my growing social circle, he only felt farther and smaller.

Our relationship began to feel like a barrier between me and the other people I wanted to interact with.

Alone and weary, my "isolation pushed me

into feeling as if I was a character in my own Shakespearean show"

These feelings made me question whether I liked him, why I began the relationship in the

first place, and why I ever thought a long-distance relationship would work. I worried about the possibility of liking someone else.

And then my concerns mutated into self-resentment. I would say and believe that I was the most insecure and indecisive person and I should never date again.

I would begin to isolate myself every time I overthought something, then found myself creating what-if scenarios in my mind until I spiraled, searching endlessly for deeper and darker thoughts.

Alone and weary, my isolation pushed me into feeling as if I was a character in my own Shakespearean show.

many ways, I wasn’t " Inonly hurting myself by overthinking, but I was hurting the people around me too"

I needed to imagine the worst aspects of my relationship in order to feel secure. It took time for me to finally realize how unhappy I was and—even worse—how unhappy I was making myself.

I ultimately decided to end the relationship on bad terms, a choice that was driven primarily by the consequences of my overthinking.

At that time, what scared me most was how easy it was for me to overthink anything. The turmoil of thought and doubts became more and more challenging to overcome.

In many ways, I wasn’t only hurting myself by overthinking, but I was hurting the people around me too. Making my own assumptions about what they

thought of me and drawing conclusions on my own wasn’t positive for my relationships.

A helpful first step in dealing with my overthinking was evaluating of how much I was hurting myself. It wasn’t easy to recognize and admit every time I was overthinking. Holding yourself accountable is not a static process—it’s always changing and evolving, but, trust me, it can be done.

to realize "thatI came overthinking is

really a battle of what I think about myself and perceive myself to be" Even when I was younger, I was known to be an obsessive overthinker. Every time I began to lose control of my thoughts, my mother would sit me down and walk me though my anxieties. A question she asked me, something that is still stuck with me was “Did worries actually manifest as you expected them to?” My answer is always a resounding “no.”

Though at times I value and admire my imaginative thoughts that aren’t bound by reality, it was beneficial to realize that, when I’m imagining a worstcase scenario, a little reality doesn’t hurt.

One of my favourite poets, John Keats, coined the concept of ‘negative capability,’ which expresses one’s ability to accept uncertainties and, in the end, acquire an open mind because of it. This concept has contributed to my adoption of ‘free thinking’ and I’ve applied it with success to my overthinking turmoil.

In a letter to Charles Dilke, Keats writes, “the only means

of strengthening one’s intellect is to make up one’s mind about nothing—to let the mind be a thoroughfare for all thoughts.”

Keats message resonated with me. He believed in keeping one’s mind open to all possibilities, just as I had done with my philosophy creative writing assignment. I adopted ‘free thinking’ rather than restrict myself to the idea that there must be an answer to everything. I now celebrate uncertainty.

I dissolved my rigid "standards and began

to take on a much more imaginative and boundless expectation for myself"

I came to realize that overthinking is really a battle of what I think about myself and perceive myself to be. On a practical level, I was fortunate to apply Keats’s concept of ‘negative capability’ in adopting a new mindset, admitting to the fact that I don’t have the answers and don’t need to have the answers to everything.

I dissolved my rigid standards and began to take on a much more imaginative and boundless expectation for myself and how I navigate of challenges—not just understanding Shakespeare, but in all aspects of life.

This change in perspective has sincerely helped me cope with my overthinking nightmare.

I’ve failed, time and time again, to accept the confusions and uncertainties in my life, but I’ve found it’s skill that can be learned, practiced, and acquired.