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Vol. 145, Issue 6
Friday Sept 22, 2017
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OPINIONS
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Kingston Area Taxi Finding comfort in Commission drafts bylaws being single to oust uber
Queen’s needs to adjust attention span on contentious issues
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News
2 •queensjournal.ca
Friday, sept 22 2017
Drafted bylaws could up-end Uber’s Kingston operation Kingston Area Taxi Commission could face potential “legal wrangling” over jurisdiction
PHOTO BY IAIN SHERRIFF-SCOTT
Stakeholders of the Wednesday’s meeting, chat outside of City Hall.
IaIn SherrIff-Scott Assistant News Editor The Kingston Area Taxi Commission (KATC) held a meeting on Wednesday to continue the review of recently drafted bylaws that could disrupt the operations of ridesharing companies like Uber in Kingston. Uber has been operating in Kingston since November of 2015, and like many other cities, has faced pushback from the local taxi drivers and companies in the form of bylaws. Although stakeholders gave input on their written submissions at the meeting, no motion was brought forward on the draft bylaws. In order to allow more submissions from all parties and to potentially tweak some of the language of the bylaws, the KATC will reconvene on October 18 to move forward with the reading process. Uber’s Canadian Public Policy Manager Chris Schafer was present at the meeting and spoke briefly, arguing that there has been a lack of public consultations and studies in the bylaw drafting process. “KATC lacks the financial resources that other city councils have to study this issue thoroughly. That sometimes means hiring a consultant or experts in the area like most cities have done,” he said. In an interview with The Journal two days prior to the meeting, Schafer explained that many cities across Canada and many in Ontario have “already developed and passed” relatively uniform regulations for ridesharing. Schafer expressed that the bylaws are “not consistent with the consensus that has developed,” calling Kingston “way, way far out in terms of what they’re proposing.”
business model. The commission is also in favor of creating a test for new drivers to prove they have sufficient knowledge of the city before hitting the road. Schafer points out that no other city in Ontario requires a knowledge test, as drivers utilize the in-app GPS system. “[The commission] is ignoring the fact that it’s 2017 and not 1975, where we don’t have the internet, Google maps and all this other technology.” Under the draft, drivers would have to jump through several security hoops like providing fingerprints, a photo driver’s license and sign a sworn affidavit. The bylaws would also feature a “vehicle supply cap” that would limit the amount of Uber cars on the road to 150. Schafer said these changes would also be completely unprecedented in Ontario. Wednesday’s contentious City Hall meeting In Wednesday’s meeting, Schafer presented several arguments in favor of Uber, on top of the written submissions he had presented to the commission throughout the drafting process.
One of Schafer’s arguments appealed to the safety of Queen’s students. “Studies have shown [that] having ridesharing options to get around a city lowers the instances of driving under the influence.” While Schafer spoke, a taxi driver who attended the meeting interjected multiple times, demanding Schafer stop “taking money” out of his pockets. Despite this, Schafer continued, arguing that Uber is beneficial to senior citizens and immigrants struggling to find extra work. The commission also heard from Mark Greenwood, the president and owner of Amey’s Taxi, who expressed that taxi services have “been around Kingston for over 100 years,” but also that he wasn’t opposed to change. Greenwood vocalized his support for the draft bylaws, also indicating he would be open to “cut around the edges” once the bylaws had been implemented. Throughout the meeting, a topic of particular interest was cases of sexual assault against Uber drivers. Highlighted several times throughout the meeting, Greenwood emphasized that “one sexual assault is too many.”
Polling about Uber in Kingston
Who has the final say?
During Schafer’s speech at the Given the difficulty Uber meeting, he touched on a poll has faced in Kingston with that Uber had commissioned for the commission so far, Schafer Kingston from Nanos. The results is confident that his side will showed that not only had 97 per be able to win an argument cent of Kingston residents heard of over jurisdiction. Uber, but 63 per cent of residents “The KATC gets its jurisdiction support or somewhat support from a several-decades-old the draft bylaws allowing Uber to (1989-90) piece of old provincial continue operation in Kingston. legislation that governs the KATC Greenwood criticized Uber for and grants it jurisdiction over their reliability when it comes to ‘taxi cabs,’” adding that it “only statistics, saying that he doesn’t mentions taxi cabs.” trust statistics from Uber “for Schafer pointed out that at known reasons,” adding “they the time of the legislation, Uber have had scandals.” Greenwood could not have been predicted, brought up the recent Greyball and therefore it remains unclear scandal, in which Uber utilized a if the commission will have the secret data collection system to final say. skirt the authorities in cities across Excluding the KATC, the world. “jurisdiction would naturally rest The New York Times reported with the Kingston City Council, and earlier this year that Uber’s use I think frankly it’s a better body to of the Greyball tool “underscores deal with these issues,” Schafer the lengths to which the expressed, citing that the council company will go to dominate has more resources to effectively its market.” regulate Uber. “Using its app to identify and Schafer will again be present at sidestep the authorities where the upcoming October 18 meeting regulators said Uber was breaking to continue making his case the law goes further toward against the bylaws. skirting ethical lines — and, potentially, legal ones,” wrote the Times’ Mike Isaac.
Controversial draft bylaw provisions The changes brought before the commission seek to implement regulations that would make it difficult for Uber to operate in Kingston. One part of the proposal would require the company to maintain a physical office space in the city, something that cuts directly against the tech giant’s
GRAPHIC BY REBECCA FROST
Nanos poll results from Kingston residents.
News
Friday, sept 22 2017
VOLUNTEERING
Queen’s student volunteers as medical responder in Israel Jesse Wolfsohn volunteers with Magen David Adom to provide ambulance service to citizens in need raechel huIzInga Contributor After spending the summer as a volunteer medical responder in Israel, Queen’s biochemistry student Jesse Wolfsohn knew there was nothing else he’d rather be doing. Since 1976, Canadian emergency service Magen David Adom — which is Hebrew for “Red Star of David” — has been providing ambulance services and medical equipment to the people of Israel. Because these services aren’t government-funded in Israel, Magen David Adom enlists student volunteers from all over the world. The organization runs throughout the year in six-week increments and is open to any student between the ages of 18 and 30. Wolfsohn, ArtSci ’19, was one of the many volunteers this year. After only 10 days of training and learning skills such as CPR and the proper use of medical equipment in Jerusalem, he was ready to begin his work at Israel’s national emergency service.
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with substance abuse who resisted the aid of the medics and attempted to run into oncoming traffic. Wolfsohn reached out and pulled him back, saving his life. “No matter what someone does in life we’re all still humans,” he reflected. “Everyone deserves another shot.” During Wolfsohn’s travels through Israel, he said locals showed gratitude for the help offered by Magen David Adom through offering the volunteers free meals or a simple smile. “I cared about all these people so much,” Wolfsohn said. “I saw people suffering, and I wanted to comfort them. My favourite aspect was, after dropping them off at the hospital, watching them wave goodbye and smile.” Despite working with a large diversity of people from various religious communities, Wolfsohn said he witnessed no tension or conflict. The volunteers and the community were united in achieving one goal – helping those in need.
But no one cared “about what anyone’s
No matter what someone does in life we’re all still humans. Everyone deserves another shot.
religion was. It didn’t come up. All that mattered was that human life was being saved.
— Jesse Wolfsohn, ArtSci ‘19
— Jesse Wolfsohn, ArtSci ‘19
”
Stationed in Haifa for six weeks, Wolfsohn responded to medical emergencies ranging from childbirth to suicide attempts. Wolfsohn’s first emergency call involved a man who was struggling
Jesse Wolfsohn in Israel.
”
“There were Christians and Muslims and Jews,” Wolfsohn said. “But no one cared about what anyone’s religion was. It didn’t come up. All that mattered was that human life was being saved.”
PHOTO SUPPLIED BY JESSE WOLFSOHN
queensjournal.ca
•3
Queen’s, University of Gondar and Mastercard Foundation celebrate partnership Three institutions gathered at Agnes Etherington Art Centre to formally launch $24 million collaboration
Traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony at the Agnes.
Maureen o’reIlly News Editor While most go to the Agnes Etherington Art Centre to celebrate art, guests gathered there this Wednesday to celebrate the collaboration between Queen’s and the University of Gondar. Upon arriving, guests were met with the sound of bagpipes and the scent of fresh Ethiopian coffee. In January, the University announced they had received a grant from the Mastercard Foundation’s Scholars Program valued at $24.2 million (USD) to partner with U of G to advance education and research opportunities for African students. Over the course of their 10-year partnership, Queen’s will host 60 U of G faculty members on campus. The goal of the collaboration is to enhance their teaching and research skills, while also developing Ethiopia’s very first undergraduate occupational therapy program. In her address to the crowd, Kim Kerr, Deputy Director of Education and Learning for Mastercard Foundation, said that Queen’s and U of G are now two of 28 university and NGO partners who are working diligently to transform higher education in Africa. The partnership will support 450 African students’ education, both at the undergraduate and graduate level, and will specifically focus on inclusive education for young people with disabilities. “There are over 80 million people across Africa that are living with disabilities, and these young men and women deserve an inclusive education that’s designed to meet their needs,” Kerr told the crowd on Wednesday. “[This partnership] will help to address some of the many barriers at the community level that prevent young people from accessing quality education and realizing their full potential,” she continued. In an address to the room, Principal Daniel Woolf explained this partnership isn’t only for
PHOTO BY JULIA BALAKRISHNAN
academics, but also signals the students from U of G to arrive “beginning of an exchange of at Queen’s. cultures and knowledge that will “Since my arrival at Queen’s, benefit all of us.” I have been gaining lots of Woolf and Asrat Atsedewoyin, knowledge and skills and Vice-President (Academic) at U of experience… and I have been G, exchanged university flags to sharing these experiences with commemorate the partnership. colleagues in Gondar,” Adugna said. As a gesture of friendship and “This has opened so many doors in respect, U of G also orchestrated my life to succeed and be able to a traditional Ethiopian coffee support others.” ceremony in the Agnes, which Although being one of the all guests were invited to first students to arrive at Queen’s participate in. “comes with a lot of responsibility,” “Thank you for investing in the Chala said he’s been happy to see University of Gondar and in the how welcoming the community future of all young people with has been. disabilities in Ethiopia and all Chala told the story of a of Africa,” Atsedewoyin said in librarian who insisted she email his address. him about his research regarding According to Kerr, this rehabilitation medicine after partnership signifies one they spoke because she was so of the first times that the interested in helping him. Scholars Program has joined “We Ethiopians say when spider an African university with a webs unite, they can tie up a lion,” non-African university. Adugna said. “This is to show the The crowd also had the chance beauty of working together.” to hear from Molalign Adugna and Mulugeta Chala, the first two PhD
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4 •queensjournal.ca
Friday, sept 22 2017
Take Back the Night In photos
PHOTOS BY NICOLE LANGFIELD
CORRECTIONS “Several Con-Ed Teaches de-leadered prior to Orientation Week,” published Sept. 14 2017 This article originally stated that the traditional “hickey party” practiced by Con Ed Teaches was banned last year by the Senate Orientation Activities Review Board (SOARB). However, prohibiting events that fall outside the terms of sanctioned orientation activities is outside the mandate of SOARB. Rather, the SOARB co-chairs at the time encouraged the Con-Ed Orientation Executive to work with the Faculty of Education to hopefully phase out the event. Since SOARB lacks the permission to ban any event without approval from Senate, the Con-Ed Orientation Team said they would instead be happy to work with the faculty to try and move away from the event.
Take Back the Night is an event and nonprofit organization committed to ending sexual, relationship and domestic violence internationally. Hundreds of events are held in over 30 countries annually — this Thursday, Kingstonians gathered at Confederation Basin to support the organization.
The Journal regrets the error.
News in Brief Dean receives prestigious award from Medical Council of Canada
Queen’s scholar wins prestigious Trudeau fellowship
Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences Richard Reznick was presented with the Medical Council of Canada’s 2017 Outstanding Achievement Award in the Evaluation of Clinical Competence. Given out in Ottawa, the award recognizes an individual who has made significant contributions in the field of assessment and evaluation of clinical and professional competence. Reznick was recognized both for his work with the Medical Council of Canada, in which he led the development of the first objective structured clinical examination, and for integrating innovative educational methods into his work as dean. During Reznick’s career at Queen’s, he’s overseen educational programs such as the Clinical Investigator Program and the Queen’s University Accelerated Route to Medical School. Reznick is also credited with introducing an entirely online Bachelor of Health Sciences program and with helping make Queen’s the first university in Canada to introduce competency-based medical education across the board.
Queen’s National Scholar Norman Vorano has received one of five prestigious Pierre Elliot Trudeau Foundation Fellowships. The fellowship is among the most competitive and distinguished awards in Canada for scholars concerned with the humanities and social sciences. It grants a $150,000 allowance for fellows to conduct research and networking, as well as an additional $75,000 award used to cover the cost of participation in foundation events. In phase one of his current project, Vorano’s work featured sketches created around three North Baffin communities in 1964. His journey to those areas allowed original artists, their communities and descendants to record and incorporate their traditional knowledge into his work, creating a contrast to later Southern influences. Vorano told the Queen’s Gazette that the grant will support phase two of his project — the creation of an ‘Arctic Cultural Heritage Research Network.’ The platform will provide all Inuit access to heritage collections currently stored in Southern museums.
— Jasnit Pabla
—Jasnit Pabla
Friday, Sept 22, 2017
queensjournal.ca
•5
Features Fighting for transparency with Queen’s haemophiliac dog colony IN-DEPTH STORIES FROM AROUND CAMPUS AND IN THE COMMUNITY
Growing concerns about live animal research Alex Palermo Features Editor In the basement of Botterell Hall, below the scattered study spaces and underground lecture halls lie some of Queen’s more contentious research labs. The live animal research facilities hold a range of companion species, including dogs. Most famously, a research colony of schnauzers, spaniels and beagles carrying the sex-linked gene for haemophilia (a rare blood clotting disease) have been held and studied at Queen’s since 1981. Although the research conducted on the colony has given rise to ground-breaking leaps in understanding the disease, it has met resistance around Kingston. In April 2014, The Kingston-Whig Standard published an article citing lack of transparency in animal research at Queen’s. The Journal published articles in 2006, 2014 and 2015 citing an increased demand for accountability when it comes to live animal research on campus. This isn’t the first time concerns have been raised surrounding the lack of transparency about the animals used at research institutes around the world. For example, universities in some European countries are now required by law to disclose information on animal numbers, species and breeds upon request. While most schools in Canada don’t disclose this information on their websites for public access, some do. For example, UBC provides detail about the animal numbers and species used in their labs. At Queen’s, the University links the policies and procedures of the University Animal Care Committee (UACC) and the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC) guidelines on their website, but doesn’t disclose the specificities of their research subjects. “The lives of lab animals at Queen’s are hidden behind a wall of secrecy,” Sue Donaldson, Queen’s Animal Defense (QAD)
representative said to The Journal via e-mail. “We don’t know how many animals, of which species, are on campus. We don’t know what experiments are being conducted.” Donaldson said the only way QAD can gain insight on the use of live animals at Queen’s is through vigilant monitoring of published papers that the University’s researchers produce every year. “[The studies] describe animals being purposefully and catastrophically injured — their spinal cords severed, heart attacks induced, brain damage inflicted,” Donaldson said. “QAD’s position is that the use of animals in research and education at Queen’s does not meet any meaningful ethical standards.” Currently, Canada has a tiered system to address the requests for animal models and the use of any and all animals used for scientific purposes. On the national level, the CCAC sets guidelines and policies for the use of all animals in science. As a research institute that receives funding from the tri-council agencies (CIHR, NSERC, Heart & Stroke), Queen’s is required to hold a certificate of good animal practice. “[The CCAC] visit tri-annually and assess the overall animal care and use program, which then would lead to reviewing our overall program. If it’s a successful assessment we receive [the certificate],” Dr. Andrew Winterborn, one of the University veterinarians, said in an interview with The Journal. The facilities at Queen’s are subject to unannounced inspections by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) to ensure compliance with UACC regulations. The UACC is the barrier for animal research at Queen’s. The composition of the committee is dictated by national level recommendations and includes two community members that have no personal interest in protocol approval, to represent
Queen`s is home to a colony of dogs with haemophilia that are used for live animal research.
the Canadian public. The committee then sets their own policies which are reviewed by the CCAC. Located somewhere under Botterell Hall, the colony is one of two canine haemophiliac colonies in North America (the other located at Chapel Hill in North Carolina). The colony was established at Queen’s due to the particular interest in bleeding disorders at the University in combination with the unique expertise of the research team when it was established in 1981. The Queen’s colony was the subject of a QAD blog post in 2014 in which they cited concerns about the necessity of haemophilia research on gene transfer therapy, the lethality of the disease and the financial responsibility for undertaking research that might yield expensive treatment options. The population and breakdown between normal and haemophilia-bred dogs that the colony includes remains unknown to the public. Dr. Winterborn also declined to share how many dogs make up the colony at present, saying it fluctuates regularly. According to Dr. Winterborn, the colony was established with dogs with the spontaneous mutation and then they were brought in and used as an animal model for haemophilia. “[Haemophilia] is a severely devastating disease within the human population. It’s not uncommon for animal models to be directly related to the human disease where there’s a very similar genetic mutation,” Winterborn said of the colony’s contribution to haemophilia treatment in humans and animals. According to the Hemophilia Federation of America, 400,000 people worldwide are affected by the disease. “It’s important to note that the understanding of the disease pathology and treatment strategies, whether it’s around haemophilia or another disease process, goes back into veterinary medicine.
“[The research] benefits the human population and the animal population as well,” he continued. As part of the enforced animal use protocol and contrary to the 2014 QAD blog post, Dr. Winterborn said there’s an adoption program in place for animals that have reached their maximum number of safe litters and animals whose genetic makeup is overrepresented in the colony. At present, there’s a waiting list for the adoption of those animals into the Queen’s community. While some of the dogs are housed at a separate facility off-campus in order to allow increased outdoor access for exercise, the animals that actually have the genetic blood clotting disorder are held indoors 24 hours a day. Dr. Winterborn explained that allowing outdoor access is simply too risky. “We need to take care of them because of their bleeding disorder,” he said. “We cannot have those animals in an outdoor facility because we would run the risk of those animals having bleeds.” According to Dr. Winterborn, everything pertaining to the use of animals in research at Queen’s is driven by the three Rs: refinement, reduction and replacement. On a national scale as well as within campus, the goal is to refine the ethical treatment and sourcing of animal tissues, reduce the number of animals used without loss of the use of scientific validity and replace animal models with less sentient animals or bacterial-colony based models. “Obviously with dogs there’s increased sensitivity because they are companion animals.” Winterborn said. “We are looking at how we can increase our transparency around the use of animals in research at Queen’s and that’s an ongoing discussion. I think we will see some changes around our transparency in the coming months.”
PHOTO BY NICOLE LANGFIELD
6 • queensjournal.ca
Friday, Sept 22, 2017
EDITORIALS
The Journal’s Perspective
THE QUEEN’S JOURNAL Volume 145 Issue 6 www.queensjournal.ca @queensjournal Publishing since 1873
Editorial Board Joseph Cattana
Editor in Chief Managing Editor
Meg Glover
Production Manager
Justice king nicole Langfield
Digital Manager
Maureen O’Reilly
News Editor
Sarina Grewal
Assistant News Editors
Iain Sherriff-Scott Jasnit Pabla
Alex Palermo
Features Editor
Brigid Goulem Editorials Editor
Ashley Rhamey
Opinions Editor
Sydney Wilson Nick Pearce
Arts Editor Assistant Arts Editor
Teaching young Canadians how to discern what’s real news and what’s fake has become critical in a world dominated by social media. But these lessons should extend to Canadians of all ages in order to create a real impact on media literacy within our country. In order to educate Canadian students on how to spot fake news, Google Canada is rolling out a new media literacy program called NewsWise. It’s expected to be in schools before the next federal election in 2019. Young Canadians are in a very new position when it comes to how they consume news media. The internet has provided us with access to a wealth of information about what’s going on locally and around the world. Yet, separating fact from fiction has never been more difficult. Incorporating media literacy in Ontario curriculums is the first step to having a better-informed country. While it’s a great thing that NewsWise is focused on affecting
Canadians of all ages need a lesson on media literacy the future of news consumption in Canada, it still fail to include older Canadians. Unfortunately, the program won’t affect Canadians who are currently eligible to vote in Ontario. By only focusing on educating current students, provisions are focused on combating fake news in the future. NewsWise is going to help Canadians eventually, but ignores the problem fake news presents to Canadians today.
Maureen O’Reilly
PHOTO BY JULIA BALAKRISHNAN
Being alone doesn’t have to be uncomfortable
Adult Canadians who can’t differentiate between what’s fake and what’s real will be the ones who are vulnerable to being politically influenced by fake news stories. With a federal election looming long before the majority of today’s students are eligible to vote, the impact of NewsWise’s media literacy program won’t be seen for years to come. Canadian curriculums need to include and fund their own Learning to be secure with being single is a difficult journey, but it will leave you feeling more whole than any counterpart ever could. In the past seven years, I’ve only been single for a cumulative one year and 10 months. After my most recent relationship ended at the beginning of this summer, I spent the past four months reveling in the unfamiliar feeling of being alone. Security doesn’t come easily — navigating a messy break-up and tackling each day without a partner to lean on has taken some serious adjusting. Having the opportunity to be in love with and learn from someone else is rewarding, but once you begin to derive your sense of joy and self-worth from your relationship, it becomes more damaging than anything else. Whenever I wasn’t distracted this summer, I felt the weight of immense loneliness on my shoulders. I truly felt my experiences were invalidated if I didn’t have a boyfriend to share them with. Without having someone to lean on, I felt insignificant. This feeling is normal when you’re adapting to the loss of your
ILLUSTRATION BY STEPHANIE JIANG
permanent education programs on media literacy to keep up with an evolving problem. Including workplace and community programs like NewsWise for older generations of Canadians is the next step to cultivating a well-informed country now. If Canadians learn to take a step back before clicking that like or share button on social media, it can make a huge difference in what goes viral. During the 2016 American election, false news stories were able to spread through social media platforms like Facebook because of a lack of fact-checking mechanisms within the website. Social media platforms like Facebook need to take responsibility for the damage unchecked sharing of fake news stories can do. It’s never been easier to spread news, which is why it’s more critical than ever to know how to teach people to examine what they consume carefully. — Journal Editorial Board
Clayton Tomlinson Sebastian Bron
Sports Editor
Matt Scace
Assistant Sports Editor
Shivani Gonzalez
Lifestyle Editor
Josh granovsky
Assistant Lifestyle Editor
Julia Balakrishnan
Photo Editor
nicole Langfield
Assistant Photo Editor Video Editor
Max Silverberg
Assistant Video Editor
Amelia Rankine
Editorial Illustrator
Stephanie Jiang Rebecca Frost
Graphics Editor
Meredith Wilson-Smith Sreya Roy
Copy Editors
Contributing Staff Staff Writers Mikel Gega Ramolen Laruan Kiera Liblik Pamoda Wijekoon Contributors Michelle Boon Raechel Huizinga Eily Shaw Eva Stein Julie Tran
Business Staff Business Manager Head Sales Representative
partner, but you can find a sense of significance again by taking time to reflect alone. Thinking closely about yourself and your life can be uncomfortable, but it also feels wonderful to have experiences and thoughts that are solely your own. Once I accepted my singlehood, I stopped feeling a need to fill the space beside me and instead began to discover exactly how I wanted to live my life. I no longer fear being alone, because it was in these times of isolation that I remembered all the things I like to do by myself. There’s no need to feel lonely doing the things you enjoy just because you’re without company. To be happily single, you need to embrace being alone. If you keep longing for the safety and validation of a significant other, you’ll never find peace. Complete self-reliance is frightening, but it’s also liberating. If you’re single and mourning a relationship, do yourself a favour — make a commitment to yourself and learn to enjoy life on your own terms.
Maureen is The Journal’s News Editor. She’s a fourth-year English Major.
Abby Choudhury LeeAnn Sverko
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Want to contribute? For information visit: www.queensjournal.ca/contribute or email the Editor in Chief at journal_editors@ams.queensu.ca Contributions from all members of the Queen’s and Kingston community are welcome. The Journal reserves the right to edit all submissions. The Queen’s Journal is an editorially autonomous newspaper published by the Alma Mater Society of Queen’s University, Kingston. Editorial opinions expressed in The Journal are the sole responsibility of The Queen’s Journal Editorial Board, and are not necessarily those of the University, the AMS or their officers. 190 University Ave., Kingston, ON, K7L 3P4 Editorial Office: 613-533-2800 Business Office: 613-533-6711 Fax: 613-533-6728 Email: journal_editors@ams.queensu.ca Please address complaints and grievances to the Editors in Chief. The Queen’s Journal is printed on a Goss Community press by Performance Group of Companies in Smiths Falls, Ontario. Contents © 2016 by The Queen’s Journal; all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without prior permission of The Journal. Circulation 6,000
Friday, Sept 22, 2017
queensjournal.ca
OPINIONS
•7
Your Perspective
Gillian Moir, ArtSci ’18
Hey Queen’s, I think it’s time we talk about our attention span issue. In the past year alone, we’ve forgotten an unacceptable number of incidents that at one point were major sources of disappointment or outrage. You likely already know what I’m talking about, but for the sake of clarity let me provide some examples. I’m talking about the racist Beerfest party, another year of “Daughter Drop-off” signs and the recent reporting that has highlighted a lack of resources available to victims of sexual assault at Queen’s. These issues have each had their brief moments of infamy. In the immediate aftermath, we throw up our arms, attend protests and create a social media buzz demanding change. But eventually the outcry fizzles, and ultimately, each issue has gone under-addressed overtime. It’s not tough to understand why this happens. I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve let my anger dissolve before I’ve even given myself the chance to act. With balancing schoolwork, extra-curricular activities and a social life, it’s difficult to stay engaged throughout the school year. It’s also hard and uncomfortable to confront issues of systematic ill-treatment Gillian speaks to how students forget about important issues as new ones arise. that many of us unknowingly contribute to especially when you feel like you’re speaking body is unacceptable because it fails the It contributes to inexcusable alone. victims and survivors of events that have manifestations of hate and violence, and it When the racist party first happened already occurred. It lets down those who tells some of our peers that they should not at Queen’s, I was on exchange. I found out are already suffering. In cases where racism feel equally as safe and welcome here at about it when another student pointed to a is perpetuated, our inaction suggests we’re Queen’s. HuffPost article with a knowing, “Don’t you unconcerned with the comfort, security and Regardless of our intentions, inaction go there?” wellbeing of our students of colour. breeds an unacceptable culture that I immediately felt impassioned and geared continues to privilege some at the expense up to join the change makers when I returned of others. to Queen’s. But when I finally got back, no one was talking about it anymore. I for sure wasn’t going to be the only one, so I let it slide and then I got busy, all without making any sincere attempt for change. In addition, motivating yourself to act is hard when it’s not clear how to contribute to meaningful change. This is often the case at Queen’s, especially because we expect our administration to do that for us. In What I never realized before was that you many ways, it’s reasonable for us to expect While this isn’t necessarily what we can’t be neutral in these instances. school officials to be working to ensure mean when we skip that rally we clicked Neutrality implies staying out of it and our wellbeing, comfort and safety. But “interested in”, it’s nevertheless the message by doing so we silently consent to the increasingly we are learning that we can’t rely we send. maintained dominance of some over others. on it. Maybe even more importantly, inaction By not speaking up, we signal approval to Chalking up the administration’s careless communicates that our community tolerates those harming the individuals already buzzwords — like “committee” or “working this behaviour and what it represents. When systematically unprotected by our society. group” — as victories and staying comfortably we don’t condemn and punish these actions, Essentially, what I’m trying to get at is that complacent isn’t the right thing to do. By we don’t make clear that we find them if you’re not working towards the solution, not keeping the school’s administration inexcusable and their repetition unacceptable. you’re contributing to the problem. accountable, we allow them to not act on We contribute to a culture that’s conducive The question then becomes ‘what the recommendations they made during our to more offenses because we don’t tell likely can we do to help?’ For one, we can keep initial anger. perpetrators that they will be punished or our administration and public officials Nothing gets changed and we allow the shamed. In addition, when we don’t view accountable, even after the recommendation process to continue, continually brushing these offenses as an opportunity to educate, report comes out. these issues under the rug until they bubble we allow negative stereotypes and beliefs to Currently, this looks like tweeting at up again. continue. Principal Woolf and telling him to implement Yes, our administration is inexcusably In some cases, people don’t even know the on-campus Sexual Assault Response and shruggingofftheirresponsibilitytoprovideusa that their actions are harmful until you’ve had Prevention centre that was outlined in the safe environment. a sincere conversation with them. Inaction Sexual Assault Prevention and Response However, our inaction is equally part of and silence perpetuates larger systematic Working Group Report. the issue. issues like racism, sexism and rape culture on Perhaps you email the Deputy Provost For one, our inaction as the student our campus. of Academic Operations and Inclusion
Poor attention span for issues on campus Why we need to do more in the aftermath of events at Queen’s
Regardless of our “ intentions, inaction breeds an unacceptable culture that continues to privilege some at the expense of others.
”
The question then “ becomes, ‘what can we do to help?’
”
PHOTO BY JULIA BALAKRISHNAN
and demand to know the status of the 2016 Principal’s Implementation Committee on Racism, Diversity and Inclusion. Talk to the people you know in student government and email the Rector. The AMS even has a handy contact form on their site for you to voice your concerns. Next, it’s important to voice your disapproval to the community at large. Doing so and continuing these hard conversations is maybe the only way to make lasting cultural changes. Consider doing so on a national platform, like Letters to the Editor at the Globe and Mail or National Post. Continue to have these conversations with your friends and peers. Tell your neighbours that their spray-painted bedsheet is tacky and shut down racist jokes when you hear them. Share on social media your discontent and your support for the victims and survivors. Making noise is a good thing. It tells administrators they have to make change, signals to perpetrators their actions aren’t acceptable and supports those suffering in silence. All we can do is stay engaged, but I think a lot of the time we underestimate how indispensable the involvement of individuals really is. It’s so important to remember that we can make a difference. Continued complacency and willful ignorance by the student body cannot continue if we want to create a place that is safe and welcoming for all. Gillian Moir is a fourth-year Politics major.
Talking heads ... around campus
PHOTOS BY JULIA BALAKRISHNAN
How are you dealing with the September heat?
“It’s too hot.”
“Iced coffee and water.”
“Winter is coming.”
stuart lillico artsci ‘21
gelareh hajian electrical dept.
farzaneh sadri mining dept.
8 • queensjournal.ca
Friday, sept 22, 2017
ART NEWS
ARTS
Agnes Art Gallery introduces three new exhibits A look at this season’s exhibits Clayton tomlinson Assistant Arts Editor Originally published online on September 19. The Agnes Etherington Art Centre is back in action with new exhibits and some old favourites. Now in its 60th year, the Agnes opened with its season launch on September 14. This semester, the gallery features both contemporary art, which will be shown until December 3, along with other continuing exhibits and its permanent Bader collection. Sunny Kerr, curator of the season’s contemporary art exhibits, spoke to The Journal via email about his role launching the new exhibits. “‘The Golden USB’ by Richard Ibghy and Marilou Lemmens and ‘A Form of Formlessness’ by Teresa Carlesimo and Michael DiRisio are [some of the] new contemporary exhibitions,” Kerr said. These new exhibitions mix traditional media like video and sculpture with audio and a layout intended to evoke a larger experience than the typical viewing of paintings in a gallery. “In ‘The Golden USB’ we are shown samples from a ‘Catalogue of Everything’ that is intended to invite a commercial relationship with extraterrestrials by way of the titular USB, sent into space. We
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imagine the gallery as a showroom or a trade show” Kerr said about the work. The “golden” exhibition takes inspiration from The Golden Records sent out by NASA in the ‘70s. These phonographs were 12-inch gold-plated copper disks sent on the Voyager Shuttle to portray the range and diversity of humanity on Earth. Kerr continued explaining that ‘The Golden USB’ is meant to comment on the downsides of modernity’s obsession with progress and expansion. So, the exhibit imagines that humanity would only reach out to extraterrestrial life for a commercial purpose. The other work of contemporary
art on display for the season is ‘A Form of Formlessness’ by Teresa Carlesimo and Michael Dirisio. The exhibit takes on three separate instillations: an infinity room made with mirrors, an architectural video intervention and a platform lined with various objects made with aluminum to represent the currently depraved state of the ecosystem. By reshaping and
deforming everyday building materials, the artists work to inspire an urge for re-purposing and renewal. “Their platform filled with objects seems to lend new value to construction tools and building material samples, often pieces of their own building processes, which have been configured into abstract forms” Kerr said about the
pieces of aluminum. “We continue with Alfred Bader Collects: Celebrating Fifty Years of The Bader Collection and Stories to Tell: Africans and the Diaspora Respond to the Lang Collection” he said about the art still showing at the Agnes from earlier years. See The page 9
PREVIEW
Lee Maracle and others head to Kingston WritersFest Previewing the festival with noted Indigenous author Pamoda Wijekoon Staff Writer
Lee Maracle.
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This fall, Lee Maracle will be taking her latest book, My Conversations with Canadians, to the Kingston WritersFest, which runs from September 27 to October 1. There, she’ll be appearing alongside authors from around the world, including Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Chabon and celebrated Canadian authors such as Elan Mastai and Kathleen Winter. For Maracle, it’s another step in a journey that began roughly four decades ago. In the 1970s, a group of Indigenous youth sat in Lee Maracle’s house and pledged to do something with their lives. They wanted to move forward and revitalize their nation, to break out of the cycle of poverty and suicide that plagued their families and peers. Maracle was 22 at the time and pledged to become a writer for a similar reason. “We didn’t want to lose our cultural selves in the process, but we needed to go forward
because the poverty was unbearable in our communities,” she explained. “So that’s where it all started.” Now 67 years old, Maracle is one of the most respected authors in Canada. She’s taught in universities across the country and in the United States and is currently teaching at the University of Toronto. Her first novel, Bobbi Lee, Indian Rebel, was published in 1975 and since then, her over 30 published works have become some of the best-known Indigenous literature in Canada. Maracle’s success today would’ve been unimaginable in Canada in the 1950s and 60s when she was growing up. “In school, there was only one Indigenous author I knew about. And I was the second one,” she said. “In those days”, she said, it was as if “no one believed that Indigenous people could even read.” She credits earlier Indigenous authors, such as Maria Campbell, whose classic memoir HalfBreed was released just two years before her own debut, for
creating a wave of acceptance and opportunity which bolstered her confidence as she entered the literary world. She describes that experience as happening still among Indigenous youth today. “I have had people tell me that we as writers have changed things for young Native people. There is more opportunity now, upward mobility that didn’t exist when I was young.” Arguably, Maracle’s participation in the literary community and attendance at events like WritersFest has contributed to this new ground. At Maracle’s first writer’s festival, she was awestruck simply by the amount of books that were piled in one spot. “There’s something magical about it,” she described, “it’s wonderful.” Several hundred festivals later, that magic hasn’t died. Now, the most important part for her is getting the chance to meet other writers. See Maracle page 9
Friday, sept 22, 2017
queensjournal.ca
Lina Rodrguez’s poetic meditation on family life Pamoda Wijekoon Staff Writer Toronto-based ColombianCanadian filmmaker Lina Rodriguez gives a glimpse into a middle-class Bogotà family leading an uneventful life until tragedy strikes, unsettling their relationships and routines in her film This Time Tomorrow. The Screening Room, an independent movie theatre in downtown Kingston, shows a staff pick every month. This month features a Latin film from Bogotà, Colombia that deals with universal issues regarding a family that transcends time and place. Family life is one of the most important facets of the day-to-day relationships that influence many of our lives; it’s a constant struggle of push and pull that results in beautiful and dreadful moments. Through the story and film script, cinematography and the use of time and audio in This Time Tomorrow, Rodriguez achieves an authentic depiction of this tumultuous territory. The story features the family’s mundane everyday events and conversations that seem trivial in the greater sense of one’s life. But these trivial interactions, like going for ice cream or watching a
FILM REVIEW
This Time Tomorrow’s slow win
The final exhibit newly introduced to the Agnes this semester presents a set of paintings curated by Alice Boutilier, curator of Canadian Historical Art, titled “At Home: The Interior in Canadian Art”. The exhibit features several different artists who have all realistically depicted the inside of
reflecting the theme of emotional repression throughout the film. Through Rodriguez’s welcoming invitation, the audience becomes privy to what may not be candidly actualized on a typical screen. Time and sound, or lack thereof, are also important themes throughout the film. Silence is utilized brilliantly in moments of intimacy most notable when the mother and daughter are cleaning the bathroom together. The silence in this scene, amongst others, suggests a sense of peace and repose while also doubling to suggest the inner tensions the characters are battling within. There is an optimism in the title that suggests an infinite unpredictability with life that we can learn from the film: the only constant is change. The family’s quiet life resulted in a slow-paced film that can only be relished with patience and understanding.
SUPPLIED VIA THE SCREENING ROOM
movie together, become treasured memories for the family members — while their petty disagreements become unforgivable battles. Throughout the film, there’s a sense of “what will be, will be” as the scenes move from heated arguments to civil tea time. The timing is blurred as we transition from a disagreement to a comforting scene between parent and child. We don’t know how they were able to reconcile; we only learn that life goes on. The banal moments on the
screen force viewers to cherish and reflect on the subtle moments of how our relationships develop through resilience in times of hardship and in continuing t appreciate what and who you have around you. This Time Tomorrow is visual poetry, using cinematography to reflect the connections between characters and nature throughout. The film opens with a long shot of ceaseless trees echoed in the closing shot of clouds strolling across the sky, both stretching on
for what seems like forever on screen time. The film is shot with handheld cameras that provide an intimate way of observing the family’s private life that’s reminiscent of cinema vérité, the style of documentary filmmaking that embeds the camera in the action on screen. The characters are shown in medium to close-up shots that force viewers to focus on their expressions, while most of the film is confined to the family’s home — this visual constraint
Agnes’ new season launches three exhibits this year Continued from Page 8
•9
their home, study, office or some other space that holds special importance to them. “At Home” uses the Canadian domestic interior as a genre to explore the varying ways the featured artists inhabit their own domestic spaces. Some of these works have windows and show the weather, an essential inspiration to most Canadian art and most of our
conversations. Meanwhile, other works explore the effects of sunlight on the atmosphere of the interior shown, and some just show pretty couches. What connects all these though is their use of realism to elevate the furniture beyond just being a feature of everyday life. It challenges you to think of the artists’ identity through their personal spaces, and not just
a portrait. Kerr also pointed to some important works of Carl Beam and Rebecca Belmore as a must-see for any gallery visitor. The new exhibits at the Agnes will be shown until December, but the Rembrandts of the Bader collection are always free for students to see throughout the year.
CAREER
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Maracle hopes to open new paths Continued from Page 8
“We teach each other,” she said. As an author, “nobody expects to go past their next book, so they’re always trying to get better. I’m very grateful to those who think my books are worthy of their attention.” For Maracle, a book can be life-changing. She explained that her favourites are the ones where “I have to read every line, because if I skip a line, I’ll miss something.” “Life is like that,” she said. “Lives appear simple only in retrospect. They’re complicated in the moment. There’s nothing easy about living. When you write about it, you create a heroism of an ordinary sort.” “Books teach children that they can do stuff, and not in that bossy way that a lot of adults have [when they say that] you can do anything you want, but through the characters’ intelligence, drive and spirit, that gets inside you and opens you up to your own possibilities,” she said. She hopes that her novels, and those of other authors, will continue to motivate Indigenous youth. “When you’re reading at 16 and you’re thinking about what to do with the rest of your life,” she said, “they tell you: don’t waste it. You can do great things.” Kingston WritersFest presents an opportunity for authors to connect and inspire their greater community. It allows for the exhibition of important perspectives in a climate that is often pessimistic about the value of an education in the arts. It’s also a chance for students to understand and remember the impact of the written word.
Arts
10 •queensjournal.ca
Friday, sept 22, 2017
REVIEW
The Revolutions breaks new ground in the world of theatre SpiderWebShow connects six actors in four different cities miChelle Boon Contributor Originally published online on September 19 When I entered Studio Theatre at the Isabel Bader Centre on Thursday, it was like walking into someone else’s home. Three actors sat at a table, sipping wine and making idle dinner conversation, while the audience found their seats. The show began and, under the warm stage lighting, the improvised dinner dialogue about Indigenous land acknowledgment felt simple and intimate. However, this
performance was anything but. The Revolutions, a SpiderWebShow creation written by Rhiannon Collette and directed by Kathryn MacKay, meanders between reality, virtual reality and fiction. Actors Anne Hardcastle, Jim Garrard and Daniel David Moses play themselves as they discuss issues such as politics, gender and identity at the dinner table. They then slip into character to convey the story of a family mourning the loss of their family dog. However, the three elders at the dinner table make up but half of the cast. The remaining three actors deliver their performances from
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The Revolutions offers an innovative vision of technology and theatre.
across Canada in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal. This collaborative performance is made possible through CdnStudio, a digital tool that merges several livestreams, allowing the actors to interact with each other live from various cities. Green screens are used to complete the illusion that six actors from four different places are in the same space. Although this innovative use of technology in theatre was intriguing, I found that it hindered the overall performance. The live interactive scenes were projected on a screen upstage and had all the qualities of a Facetime call: grainy image, hollow audio and lots of lag. This lag became especially distracting when I could hear the actors on stage deliver their lines in real time, only to watch their delayed movements on screen. In addition, at times the actors on stage would address cameras to deliver their monologues as opposed to the audience. Hardcastle and Moses in particular delivered dramatic, philosophical
monologues that simply lost gravitas through the gritty camera quality. That being said, the play featured several powerful moments. Most notably, the character Margaret, played by Hardcastle, addressed the audience and declared she was fed up living inside boxes constructed by others. This gut-wrenching yet liberating monologue about personal revolution commanded the room, and even brought some to tears. Although the use of technology often distracted from the story, the show was not conceived for the sole purpose of entertainment. After all, the play is aptly named, The Revolutions. It addresses revolutionary topics such as evolving gender identity, featuring millennials as the revolutionaries of the present and elders as the original revolutionaries. The use of technology and CdnStudio makes the show in and of itself a revolution in the world of theatre. The show’s Creative Director Michael Wheeler stressed the importance
SUPPLIED BY SPIDERWEBSHOW
of The Revolutions as an experimental piece. “If we don’t take these [technologies] as artists and make art with them, Pepsi will figure out what to do with it,� Wheeler said of the role artists should take in shaping technology as opposed to strictly business tycoons. “There has to be an artistic engagement for it to be beneficial in a societal sense.� Wheeler also addressed the issues of lag and picture q u a l i t y, understanding technology is developing at a rapid pace. Within six months to two years, these problems will improve or cease to exist, he said. The Revolutions was a new theatre experience. It was messy and unpredictable, as revolutions often are. I left the theatre pondering the ever-changing social climate and the exponential rate of developing technology. I thought to myself, and wondered if I had just witnessed the new standard for theatre.
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Friday, Sept 22, 2017
queenSjournal.ca
• 14
TV
Welcoming a new Powerpuff Girl to the squad The significance of the new African American Powerpuff Girl Julie Tran Contributor Growing up, my sister and I established a solid after-school routine: come home, grab our Dunkaroos snack and turn on our television to catch the latest episode of The Powerpuff Girls. I was mesmerized by the entire show. I mean, a show promoting female representation and girl power to children at such an early age? I was and still am all for it. Eventually, I thought to myself, “Hey, I could be one of the Powerpuff Girls too!”. I felt the Powerpuff Girls and I shared similar traits. I believed I was intelligent like Blossom, courageous like Buttercup and
optimistic like Bubbles. However, I failed to account for one major difference. I self-identify as a Vietnamese female. I’m not white, but all of my television heroes seemed to be. The Powerpuff Girls was originally released in 1998 and yet, it wasn’t until September 17, 2017 that Cartoon Network revealed there would be an official fourth member to the female empowering team. Here’s the best part: Her name is Bliss and she’ll be the first African American Powerpuff Girl. So yes, Bliss’ inclusion to the team is a big deal. It’s important to showcase racial and cultural representation throughout the media. The media has a long-standing history of
Lifestyle SUPPLIED BY WIKIPEDIA
being ``white-washed``, resulting in the inevitable lack of diversity. This isn’t to suggest the notion that the media is racist, but rather struggling with a diversity issue. Though there has been an increase in racial and cultural representation, there needs to be a stronger push. Without groups of racial and cultural minorities shown in the media, it suggests these groups aren’t deserving of representation. It’s critical to
recognize the significant influence media possesses on shaping our generation, especially amongst children. Our society embraces diverse fractions of numerous ethnic groups, yet this reality is often diminished or non-existent in television or on cinema screens. The cold hard truth is that the media fails to accurately represent and embody the nature of our society. As a cultural minority, I’m
proud of Cartoon Network for their drive for diversity in one of their most iconic series. With the newest Powerpuff Girl Bliss, young African American girls can grow up with representation. Hopefully, this will inspire other networks to introduce new characters with diverse racial backgrounds. Who’s to say you can’t be a cultural minority that identifies with sugar and spice and everything nice?
on Saturday? Never fear — because Leonard Hall cafeteria’s legendary weekend brunch is here. Every Saturday and Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., grab your roommate and eat as many pancakes, tater tots, sausages and bowls of Cinnamon Toast Crunch as your stomach can handle. All this bonding will certainly work up an appetite. Play a Game
PHOTO BY JULIA BALAKRISHNAN
CAMPUS HOUSING
Bonding with your roommate A frosh’s how-to guide eily Shaw Contributor We all know adjusting to university life can be hard. It’s more than likely this is your first time living away from your parents, going to lectures with hundreds of students, sharing a bathroom with an entire floor and, yes, having a roommate. But while sharing your space with someone you’ve probably never met before seems daunting, your roommate can be one of the
best things about your first year; they can be your built-in study, lunch and even party buddy. Don’t pass up the opportunity to make a lasting friend out of your first-year roommate. Here’s a sample of some tried-and-true tips to help you get past that awkward roommate stage and right into being BFFs. Decorate your dorm room
Make sure you’re not looking at those ugly brick walls all year and head down to Princess St. with your roommate to find things to personalize your shared space. Dollarama and Vandervoort General Store are great places to start. Once you’ve purchased the various decoration materials, head back to your dorm room, play some good music and get to decorating. Not only is this a fun and great stress-reliever, you also may learn a bit about each other’s styles and preferences in the process. Start a show on Netflix Nothing gets the conversation flowing quite like two people gushing over their favourite TV show together. New Netflix original shows like Ozark and American Vandal have been stirring up buzz this semester. Start one of these new series or catch up on the older favourites like season one of Stranger Things. No matter what, settle in with your
blankets and pillows, because you know you’re not going to watch just one episode. Go to a Queen’s football game There’s no better way to spend a Saturday than heading out to support the Golden Gaels at the newly—revitalized Richardson stadium. You and your roommate can check this classic Queen’s experience off of your first year bucket list. Our next home game is October 5 against the Waterloo Warriors, and our Homecoming game is October 14 against the York Lions. With your student card, your ticket and the bus ride out to the stadium are free. Find out why Queen’s has so much school spirit and bond over a shared love for the Gaels at the same time. What’s the sport of Kings? Find out together. Get brunch at Lenny Party too hard on a Friday night? Stay up all night studying
For anyone who has played Cards Against Humanity before, you know exactly why this game is a bonding experience. If you don’t own this crowd favourite, grab a deck of cards and play a simple game of Go Fish instead. Any game can bring out your silly side and letting your guard down is bound to lead to hilarious memories and inevitable roommate bonding. Whether you want to play with the Head’s Up app or just a good old card game, it’s a great way to hang out. Organize a floor event Give your Don a break and team up with your roommate to plan a fun event to bond with your whole floor. Make sure you ask your Don’s permission – but they’ll probably be more than happy to let you take the lead. Set up a movie night, bake cookies together, play Frisbee on Tindall or, as the weather gets a bit colder, carve pumpkins or go skating at Springer Market Square. Your roommates are the ones who are there when you wake up, there when you fall asleep and everything in between. Whether you like it or not, they’ll most likely soon become the friends that know you the best. Even if you haven’t clicked with them yet, there’s still time to have the greatest possible first year with your roommate.
LIFESTYLE
Friday, Sept 22, 2017
queenSjournal.ca
• 15
A review of BoJack Horseman season four
One of the smartest and most subversive shows on television
SCREENSHOT FROM NETFLIX
Michelle allan Staff Writer For a show that centers around a cartoon half-horse half-man, BoJack Horseman prides itself on its use of a realistic perspective when talking about issues like the political climate, sexuality and mental health. Season four, which was released on Netflix September 8 was no different. The show follows an anthropomorphic horse with depression in an alternate world where cartoon humans and tailless animals inexplicably live side-by-side. Heartbreaking, witty and incredibly volatile, BoJack Horseman will have you laughing and crying in the same breath — one moment. It was originally met with mixed reviews — the first season received a mediocre 60 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes — but the latest three seasons since have all scored a perfect 100 per cent. Since season one, the show has always found its strength as a ground-breaking depiction of mental illness but season four is the most introspective and, consequently, the most involved and raw look we’ve had at the characters’ mental climate. In episode six titled, “Stupid Piece of Shit”, viewers are allowed into the mind of main character BoJack for the first time. Unsurprisingly given his offbeat character, it’s pretty harsh. When left alone with his own reflections, BoJack spirals into a loop of anxiety, depressive thoughts and suicidal ideations. While BoJack Horseman has never shied away from showing mentally ill characters, season four embraces honest depictions of neuro-divergence. It’s emotional, it’s funny and the creators still manage to work in poignant nuggets of commentary on the state of the world. While in previous seasons, certain plotlines have had strong congruency to current events, BoJack Horseman manages to mirror the real world more than ever this season. And mental health isn’t the only issue the show tackles head on — in the fourth season, it tackles even more big questions which get more multifaceted and subtle. In one episode, character Princess Carolyn recounts a tale
of her ancestors fleeing the “old country”, with a visual of a cat family living in a shabby apartment while klezmer-type music plays in the background. While this could be interpreted many ways, the implication seems to be that Princess Carolyn’s family is Jewish. When she later meets her boyfriend’s family who practice many “anti-cat” traditions all in the name of good fun, it brings to mind the casual anti-Semitism we still see in the real world. This is a prime example of the type of pertinent commentary on real, serious issues BoJack Horseman manages to include. In another plotline, the likeable ever-positive yellow lab and former sitcom star Mr. Peanutbutter makes a clear statement with his harebrained campaign for governor of California: celebrities should stay out of politics. Mr. Peanutbutter fails to establish a real position on any pressing issues, and at one point states even though he has “zero qualifications”, he “honestly thought [he] would have made an that even better governor” than the ever-dedicated sitting governor, Woodchuck CouldchuckBerkowitz. In an episode where the characters are trapped underground, Mr. Peanutbutter, egged on by his political advisor, overthrows Woodchuck’s logic by driving the masses into a blind rage. Considering the current political climate in the United States, it’s no head-scratcher what message the show is trying to portray with Mr. Peanutbutter’s character. While the show makes many more subdued points, the one they face-head on is loveable slacker Todd’s asexuality. There are startlingly few asexual characters in media (fictional or real), let alone any that have canonically come out. Because of the lack of representation, Todd’s journey towards figuring out his sexual and romantic orientation is incredibly important. By refusing to shy away from depicting a member of the oft-forgotten group, BoJack Horseman provides a source of positive representation for members of the queer community. At the end of the day, one of the main questions people return to when discussing BoJack Horseman is: How does
the show shine where similar shows about depressed, alcoholic womanizers like Californication, Mad Men and others falter? What makes the characters in BoJack
Horseman is that they are allowed to be unglamorous and often, unlikable. They sink into slumps, irrevocably damage relationships, and often backslide.
The show hits its stride in the fourth season and through all the animal puns and dark humour, its underlying sincerity shines more than ever.
LIFESTYLE
Friday, Sept 22, 2017
queenSjournal.ca
• 16
Eva in Fairy Pools, Isle of Skye, Scotland.
POSTSCRIPT
The benefits of spending first year abroad The journey from high schooler to world traveler eva STein Contributor The first year of university is typically notorious for frosh week, moving into residence and finding your way around campus. Well, for me it was a little different. I decided to do my first year of university abroad. True, it’s a strange concept, especially for the first year, but I was determined; I was extremely excited to finish high school and start a new adventure. I know you’ve heard probably this sentiment many times before, but my case differs from the norm because I actually really liked high school. Albeit safe and familiar environment, I wanted to be tossed out of my comfort zone. What better way to do that than by moving to England for eight months? People told me I was brave to make such a decision, so I believed I was fit to tackle a year in England and who knows where else on my own. You may ask, “Why would I want to disrupt my coziness?” To be perfectly honest, I couldn’t give you an exact answer but I think the expression “too much of a good thing” applies here. The security I felt over the course of my high school career prepared me for a new adventure. The year turned out to be nothing like what I expected, because frankly I didn’t know what to think. At the beginning of my time abroad, I expected to find it challenging to adjust to life somewhere other than beneath my parents’ roof. I assumed friendships wouldn’t happen overnight and that my new teachers — excuse me, professors — would take some getting
used to. While all of these things proved to be true, and felt like an overbearing burden at first, they were much easier to handle than I foresaw. For example, I met a friend in my orientation group early on, we clicked and she introduced me to some other girls that night. Today they are still some of my absolute best friends. However, don’t think I was Ms. Charisma immediately upon arrival, I was incredibly homesick for the first week or so and spoke to my parents and siblings at least twice a day. The hardest thing by far was trying not to let the homesickness consume me. Luckily, I managed to get by with the help of some initially fabricated confidence. I’m a firm believer in the motto “fake it ‘til you make it,” after all and it worked for me.
“
The security I felt over the course of my high school career prepared me for a new adventure
”
Before my arrival, I probably couldn’t have outlined these original expectations as I’ve done here, I was more generally anxious for such an unfamiliar experience. However, if it wasn’t for my initial fear of being a yearlong outsider, I wouldn’t have put myself out there in the first few days of orientation, I wouldn’t have gone to the various social events and I wouldn’t have made friends so quickly. And these lifelong friends weren’t all I gained from my year in England. Now that I’ve allowed myself to explore some of the inner
anxieties I had before and during my time abroad, it’s time to switch gears from what happened going into this year to what I got out of it. Let’s start with geography. By the time I left in May, I visited 15 European countries. Although I joke about being well travelled, it’s something I’m seriously grateful for.
When faced with an “outstanding amount of new information, you really do obtain new perspectives.
”
It’s often said that young adults travel to “find themselves,” but what does that even mean? We’re continuously growing emotionally and intellectually, so how can we ever be “found”? Although I didn`t “find myself”, I undoubtedly grew tremendously as an individual this year. Travelling without my parents and without any form of supervision noticeably improved my self-confidence. After going around the UK, I came to a newfound conclusion that I can take care of myself; I wasn’t going to die alone on a street in a foreign land. I learned to be more self-aware, patient and generally more comfortable in my own skin. Ironically, along with this newfound confidence and feeling of maturity came humbleness and a sense of immaturity. Although I thought I’d feel like a grown-up because I was travelling with friends the reality was my friends and I were actually the youngest in every hostel and bar we went into. We got used to being the babies, especially in British pubs where the
customer age ranged from 18 to roughly 75. I often did feel strong ,independent and adult-like, but also—in addition to literally being the youngest — I felt small in comparison to the grand scheme of the world. Seeing new parts of the planet almost every weekend instilled an appreciation in me for just how large and amazing our world is. As well as seeing the bigger picture of things, I was also introduced to the history and culture of these different countries. Europe in particular is weighted with history, and it has an inescapable presence when travelling this continent. Compared to North America where it’s rare to find infrastructure older than 100 years-old, 200 years-old is extremely young by European standards. In a city like Prague, the history is even felt when walking down the streets. Although feeling like a grain of sand on the enormous beach of history, travelling helped me truly feel like a citizen of the world, not of just one city.
did feel strong “andI often independent, adult-
like, but also — in addition to literally being the youngest — I felt small in comparison to the grand scheme of the world.
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When faced with an outstanding amount of new information, you really do obtain new perspectives. Travelling enhanced my social skills as I interacted with
innumerable individuals from diverse backgrounds and cultures. Of course, my hometown of Toronto is a very multicultural city, but the cultures that have landed in ‘The Six’ play second fiddle to their home countries. Albeit true that the trips themselves were phenomenal, company really makes the journey memorable. With such an absurd amount of time spent in each other’s company, you learn things about your travel buddies that may have never come to the surface in any other situation. Travelling with friends is an entirely different experience and one that creates a whole new type of friendship. I have no doubt that I can truly depend on the friends I made this year. After all, what is friendship if not following someone up a mountain in the Portuguese countryside for an extra two hours longer than it was supposed to take? Yes, we got lost but don’t worry, we eventually made it to the top. This year I fulfilled dreams I didn’t even know I had. I had no idea what to expect going into my year abroad. I figured I’d make some friends, go on a few trips and then return to my high school friends at main campus as the same person I was when I left. I didn’t comprehend just how meaningful the year would be or how I’d change as an individual. I don’t think I’m any different; I’m simply more myself. The one goal I actually set in advance was achieved: I abandoned my comfort zone and had an adventure of a lifetime. Deciding to take a year abroad can be a scary one — but the experience may be immeasurable.