Volume 62 Issue 12

the carillon

62

the staff editor-in-chief

editor@carillonregina.com

The University of Regina Students’ Newspaper Since 1962 November 21 - November 27, 2019 | Volume 62, Issue 12 | carillonregina.com

john loeppky

executive director jacob nelson business@carillonregina.com

cover

production manager jeremy davis production@carillonregina.com advertising manager advertising@carillonregina.com

We have the privilige of being able to cover world news that is timely, affects students, and won’t be covered in any sort of depth by the mainstream media.

With protests happening in Regina against the horrors being forced upon the people of Bolivia and Chile, we thought it important to look at the issue and give the story its proper space. We may not be famous, but we can at leaste be anti-facist.

ty cote

technical editor frank nordstrom carillontechnical@carillonregina.com multimedia/Graphics editors kate thiessen

sarah carrier morgan ortman multimedia@carillonregina.com graphics@carillonregina.com copy editor hannah senicar copyeditor@carillonregina.com news editor news@carillonregina.com

sara birrell

photos

a&c editor ethan butterfield aandc@carillonregina.com

cover......................... morgan ortman page 2........................... haley klassen news............... wikimedia commons a&c............................. public domain sports............. wikimedia commons op-ed........................................ Pxhere

sports editor tyler meadows sports@carillonregina.com taylor balfour

distribution manager kyle anderson distribution@carillonregina.com

staff writer

elisabeth sahlmueller marty grande - sherbert

news writer

ben schneider

a&c writer sports writer

Zilch

errata

holly worby brian palaschuk

contributors

julia peterson, isaac adeoluwa atayero, haley klassen, wynonna allen

the paper

The Carillon welcomes contributions.

Correspondence can be mailed, emailed, or dropped off in person. Please include your name, address, and telephone number on all letters to the editor. Only the author’s name, title/position (if applicable) and city will be published. Names may be withheld upon request at the discretion of the Carillon.

City of One

Page 9

Arts writer Holly Worby reviews a recent City and Colour show.

sport

Letters should be no more than 350 words, and may be edited for space, clarity, accuracy, and vulgarity. The Carillon is a wholly autonomous organization with no afilliation with the University of Regina Students’ Union.

Contributor Julia Peterson writes about the extinction rebellion movement and what impact their decentralizzed members are having on climate and leftist activism.

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THE CARILLON BOARD OF DIRECTORS Erickka Patmore, Lindsay Holitzki, Maddie Ouelette, Dustin Smith. John Loeppky, Jacob Nelson, and Ethan Butterfield 227 Riddell Center University of Regina - 3737 Wascana Parkway, Regina, SK, Canada S4S 0A2 www.carillonregina.com Ph: (306) 586 8867 Printed by Star Press Inc, Wainwright, AB

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Free the planet

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staff writer

news

op-ed editor op-ed@carillonregina.com

Opinions expressed in the pages of the Carillon are expressly those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of The Carillon Newspaper Inc. Opinions expressed in advertisements appearing in the Carillon are those of the advertisers, and not necessarily of The Carillon Newspaper Inc. or its staff.

The Carillon is published no less than 11 times each semester during the fall and winter semesters and periodically throughout the summer. The Carillon is published by the Carillon Newspaper Inc., a non-profit organization.

the manifesto

Hijabs in sports

Page 14

Staff writer Elisabeth Sahlmueller speaks to members of the Muslim Students’ Association about the signifcance of athletes wearing hijabs.

op-ed

In keeping with our reckless, devil-may-care image, our office has absolutely no concrete information on the Carillon’s formative years readily available.

What follows is the story that’s been passed down from editor to editor for over forty years.

In the late 1950s, the University of Regina planned the construction of several new buildings on the campus grounds. One of these proposed buildlings was a beltower on the academic green. If you look out on the academic green today, the first thing you’ll notice is that it has absolutely nothing resembling a belltower.

The University never got a belltower, but what it did get was the Carillon, a newspaper that serves as a symbolic bell tower on campus, a loud and clear voice belonging to each and every student.

The People’s Friend; the Tyrant’s Foe

Fascism alert

Page 18

Marty Grande-Sherbert writes the first itteration of a series deciated to highlighting, and thus removin, fascists.

Nadda

in other news

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3 Editor: sara birrell news@carillonregina.com the carillon | November 21 - November 27, 2019

Capitalism strikes again in Latin America

Calling a coup a coup sara birrell news editor On Nov. 10, 2019, Bolivian President and leader of the socialist party “Movement Towards Socialism,” (MAS) Evo Morales, resigned following a right-wing coup. Morales, who is Indigenous, and whose policies of industrializing and nationalizing Bolivia’s mining and natural gas industries have lifted millions of Bolivians out of extreme poverty, has been the leader of the country since 2006. The November coup d’etat came after three weeks of unrest following an election on Oct. 20, 2019 that was contested by Morales’ opponent, former Bolivian president Carlos Mesa. Morales offered to hold another election but the offer was not accepted and he was ultimately forced from office, saying he wanted to “avoid a massacre,” after generals in the Bolivian Army appeared on television and demanded his resignation and arrest. At least eight Bolivians have been killed since he went into exile, most, if not all of whom were shot to death when the armed forces opened fire on a group of Morales’ supporters. As of press time, Morales has sought – and been granted – asylum in in Mexico and right-wing Jeanine Añez, who was formerly the second vice-president of the Bolivian senate, has been declared President.

In the days since the militant takeover, mainstream English-language news outlets – and nations – have been reluctant to call the coup a coup. But Miguel Sanchez, a University of Regina professor who fled Chile and came to Canada as a political refugee during the Pinochet regime, is clear. “It was a coup d’état,” he said. For Sanchez – who stressed that he is not an expert on Bolivia, but rather an invested observer – the accompanying reluctance to name the coup for what it is, is only natural. “How else do they justify the violence they want to exert?” He added that the coup was “not from nowhere.” Although Morales’ ouster came on Nov. 10, the unrest that led to it had been building for weeks, even before the October election.

In 2017, in Morales’ third term as president, he decided he wanted to run for a fourth, although Bolivian law did not allow this. A referendum to determine whether leaders should be able to run for more than three terms was narrowly defeated, with 51 per cent of the population voting against. That same year, Bolivia’s highest court ruled that term limits were unconstitutional, and Morales ran again in 2019. His decision to do so has been cited by some as one of the reasons for the coup. Mesa went so far as to accuse him of being an “illegal candidate” on Twitter However, Morales’ run violated no laws, and he did not attempt to hold onto his power without an election. When the votes were tallied, MAS won by a not insignificant margin.

Whatever the causes, tensions were high leading up to the October election and so the Organization of American States (OAS) sent observers to monitor the

election. OAS was first formed during the Cold War as a coalition of anti-communist countries.

It ostensibly represents all 35 states in the Americas, although Sanchez calls it “an instrument of U.S. policy in Latin America.”

Bolivia has a somewhat complex way of counting votes, and it was during the counting of the votes – before polls had even closed – that Mesa cried foul over the (not yet fully returned) results, and the OAS backed him up.

“OAS has played such a horrendous role here,” said Sanchez. “They followed the lies of Mesa. They gave the impression that something wrong was happening when the reality is very different.” Neither the leaders of the coup nor the OAS has provided any evidence of election fraud, although the non-partisan Centre for Economic and Policy Research has provided a detailed statistical analysis showing “no evidence that irregularities or fraud affected the official result that gave President Evo Morales a first-round victory.”

Sanchez says this isn’t the first time that Mesa has allied with the US against the people of Bolivia. In 2002, Mesa was elected vice-president alongside Gustavo Sanchez de Lozada. They ran against MAS, and beat them by 24,000 votes. Bolivia has large stores of natural gas, and following his election, de Lozada made moves to sell those gas reserves to the United States. Hundreds of thousands of Bolivians converged on Le Paz, Bolivia’s de facto capital, and other major Bolivian cities to protest that decision and to demand that the country’s natural gas be industrialized nationally for the benefit of the people. Evo Morales and MAS were among them.

In 2003, as protests and demonstrations continued in what would become known as the “Gas Wars;” de Lozada was forced to resign after more than 60 Bolivians demonstrating against the government were shot dead by the military. He fled to the US, where Sanchez says he was granted political asylum.

De Lozada was found guilty of the extrajudicial killings in a Fort Lauderdale court in 2018, however the Bolivian government’s efforts to have him extradited from the US to face trial in Bolivia have so far failed. After de Lozada fled, his vice-president, Mesa, assumed the presidency. But in the end, the people did not want Mesa either.

He resigned in the late spring of 2005 while protests continued to rage. Evo Morales was elected that same year.

Sanchez said that for many years before Morales’ presidency, coups were common in the country. “We knew Bolivia for instability,” he said. Landlocked and bordered by five other countries, Bolivia is rich in lithium, a mineral that is probably best known for its role as a treatment for bipolar disorder (the Indigenous people of the region understood its medicinal properties long before it was “discovered” by colonizers), but is also necessary for the production of many “green” technologies, like hybrid and electric cars.

“Lithium is key,” when trying

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The people will prevail

to understand what is happening in Bolivia, said Sanchez. Resource wealth has exacted a price on Latin American countries in the form of what he calls “the permanent intervention of the United States in our affairs, in order . . . to get our natural resources.”

He says the US allowed Morales’ government to carry on without interference for so long because the country didn’t have anything they wanted. “[Morales] was not very important because lithium was not very important.”

In the years before green capitalism made lithium important, Morales governed Bolivia into a period of stability and even prosperity, particularly for Indigenous people. His progressive policies included nationalizing the country’s natural gas industry and requiring all government communications be written in Spanish and at least one Indigenous language. The Bolivian constitution states that all Bolivians have the right to health, and that health care in the nation is to be “universal, free, equitable, intra-cultural, intercultural, and participatory,” and administered “with quality, kindness and social control.”

Under Morales’ leadership rates of poverty among Bolivians – who were once the poorest citizens in South America – have been reduced by 42 per cent and rates of extreme poverty (living on less than $1.90 per day) by 60 per cent. In 2009 Morales instituted a new a new constitution.

Along with policies ensuring the right to healthcare, education, and “a dignified old age that has quality and human warmth,” the 2009 constitution declared that an essential function of the Bolivian state was to “construct a just and harmonious society, built on decolonization, without discrimination or exploitation, with full

social justice, in order to strengthen the Pluri-National identities.”

The Government of Canada has not condemned the coup, saying instead that they will “support” the government that has been formed in its wake, although they have expressed “concern” over the violence that has broken out in Bolivia. Violence that includes the deaths of eight of Morales’ supporters, who were killed after the Bolivian armed forces opened fire on them in an echo of the Gas Wars. “They are exercising incredible violence,” Sanchez said.

The Canadian government’s failure to advocate against the coup is not surprising in the context of this country’s history in the region. Canada, and in particular Canadian mining interests, has long put profits before the Bolivian people, and the people of Latin America at large. Canada’s role in Bolivian politics is “not protecting the social rights of the people in Latin America, but protecting the economic interest of the Canadian operations [in Bolivia],” according to Sanchez, who added that the way Canada is operating south of the equator is “making a huge difference in the way that people in Latin America see Canada today.”

Although serving the needs of corpocratic countries like Canada and the US is an important part of essentially every coup in Latin America over the past thirty years, the role that anti-Indigenous racism plays in the Bolivian conflict is enormous. Although Bolivia has the largest population of Indigenous people in South America, Morales, an Aymaran, was the country’s first Indigenous president. In the days following the election, the wiphala flag – Bolivia’s second flag, which represents Indigenous people – was

burned and desecrated in the streets. Añez, the new president, once tweeted, “I dream of a Bolivia free from Satanic Indigenous ceremonies. The city isn’t for Indians. Go back to the altiplano or the hills.”

Sanchez said that immediately after the Army demanded Morales’ resignation and arrest, “right wing paramilitary groups got out on the streets and violently attacked neighbourhoods and anybody that looked Indigenous.” This kind of ferocious violence against Indigenous people is a horrific – but unsurprising – settler response to the decolonization and indigenization of lands that have long been ruled by the doctrine of colonizer supremacy.

Although Morales is in exile and Añez has been installed as president, neoliberal, conservative powers have not yet won in Bolivia. Far from being passive victims, crushed beneath the weight of imperialist oppressors, the people of Bolivia – and of other Latin American countries like Chile, Haiti, Honduras, and so many more – have a long tradition of resistance. Sanchez said, “they are people who have said ‘no more.’” They will not simply give up and go home. Although countries of the so-called “global north” have deposed so many of the leftist governments in Latin America, it is the people who have brought those leaders into power, and it is the people who will restore them. But Canadians must not turn away.

“The people are going to prevail in Bolivia,” said Sanchez.

“But we cannot be accomplices against them.”

November 21 - November 27, 2019

news

Risking arrest to save the planet

carillonregina.com | The Carillon | 4

Extinction Rebellion fights back julia peterson contributor The protest group Extinction Rebellion’s simple logo – two triangles forming an hourglass inside a circle that represents the planet – is becoming an iconic feature at the school strikes, climate marches, and other ecological protests taking place all around the world.

Established in the U.K. in 2018, Extinction Rebellion describes themselves as “an international movement that uses non-violent civil disobedience in an attempt to halt mass extinction and minimize the risk of social collapse.”

Extinction Rebellion started as a response to the landmark United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report which was released mid-October, 2018 – Extinction Rebellion was launched on the last day of the same month. One of the report’s most dramatic findings was that, at that time, they estimated that there were only twelve years left to limit the effects of global warming to a maximum of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

This 1.5-degree threshold represents a major tipping point along multiple axes of the climate crisis – it will not prevent environmental disasters but limiting warming to this extent will mitigate the damage to land and lives.

For example, according to the IPCC report, by 2100 global sea level rise will be 10cm higher if warming increases by only half a degree, to 2 degrees Celsius. Furthermore, if global temperature rises by 1.5 C, approximately 14 per cent of the world’s population will experience extreme heat waves twice in every decade. But this will be true for more than 66 per cent of the population if temperature rises by 2 degrees.

In Canada, Extinction Rebellion has framed their actions in terms of demanding three things from the government – tell the truth, act now, and form a citizen’s assembly. Fulfilling these demands would encompass clear and honest communication about the dangers of the climate crisis, enacting legally-binding policies to reduce Canada’s carbon emissions to net zero by 2025 and cooperating with international efforts towards sustainability, and putting a group of citizens in charge of deciding what measures need to be taken to reach these goals.

Here in Saskatchewan, provincial members of Extinction Rebellion have organized climate action rallies and participated in

Fridays for Future marches, as well as worked to get out the vote in advance of last month’s federal election.

However, Extinction Rebellion as a whole does not limit itself to these methods for getting its point across. They are a decentralized organization, which in practice means that anyone can take action in the name of Extinction Rebellion without asking permission, so long as they abide by the organization’s principles and values. In November 2018, in what The Guardian described as “one of the biggest acts of peaceful civil disobedience in the UK in decades,” Extinction Rebellion protesters blocked the main bridges over the river Thames in London for several hours.

This was followed by more traffic-blocking Extinction Rebellion actions all around the world. Here in Canada, activists were arrested earlier this year after they shut down bridges during rush hour in Montreal and Vancouver. In a major development for the group last month, over a thousand people were arrested after staging a protest at London City airport.

The main Extinction Rebellion website describes these arrests as an unfortunate but critical part of carrying out the cause.

“We are strictly non-violent and reluctant law breakers,” they said. “We follow in the tradition of nonviolent civil disobedience movements like the civil rights movement and the movement to end apartheid.”

The group has encouraged its members to participate in actions that maximize disruption – like blocking traffic in a major city during rush hour – to call attention to the crisis and their demands, and has encouraged its members to get arrested and use the judicial system as another platform to share their message.

“We need only a few hundred thousand people to actively break the law and/or support such activities to put us in the ballpark of structural change,” said Roger Hallam, one of the group’s co-founders.

However, Extinction Rebellion has attracted some criticism for these tactics, including from people who say that they are being irresponsible by urging inexperienced to get arrested and risk prison time and the long-term impact of a criminal record on their lives just so that Extinction Rebellion can stay in the headlines.

Activist Ben Smoke, who agrees with Extinction Rebellion’s aims as a whole, raised concerns that responding to mass arrests will suck valuable time and mon-

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ey away from places where it is more urgently needed, might encourage governments to adopt stricter anti-protest legislation, and is particularly dangerous for non-white protesters.

These concerns were also raised in an open letter to Extinction Rebellion published in May, that included Black Lives Mater UK, Lesbians and Gays Support the Migrants, London Feminist Antifa and the People’s Climate Network as signatories.

Extinction Rebellion says that they run trainings in nonviolent direct action and have a legal team that provides support to arrested protesters. For them, these arrests are a necessary part of creating national and international conversations about the climate crisis.

“The only time that people

know it is serious, is when people are prepared to sacrifice their liberty in defense of their beliefs,” said British writer and activist George Monbiot at the group’s launch in 2018. He was part of a group who were arrested this October while blocking traffic.

Earlier this week, on Monday November 18, Extinction Rebellion launched their latest action – a hunger strike, where participants will go without food “in solidarity with people starving because of climate and ecological breakdown and to force governments to confront the crisis by enacting Extinction Rebellion’s three demands.” While minors who are officially participating in the hunger strike are forbidden from fasting for more than 24 hours, many adult participants will be going without food for a

week or more.

Fight back

“We need only a few hundred thousand people to actively break the law and/or support such activities to put us in the ballpark of structural change.” – Richard Hallam

November 21 - November 27, 2019

news

Fall reading week to learn its fate

carillonregina.com | The Carillon | 5

Who would vote ‘no?’

ben schneider news writer Students are back from fall reading week, the U of R’s second time offering a mid-semester reprieve in classes. In the fall of 2018, the university piloted a fall break for the first time. 2019 was the second and final year of this trial.

A survey that allows respondents to evaluate the fall break was sent out to the university community on Nov. 12. Data from the completed evaluations “will be used to determine the continued interest and timing of future reading weeks,” as stated in Registrar James D’Arcy’s communication.

The survey asks about the appropriateness of the semester’s timing, its length, as well as its effectiveness. At the end of the survey, several other break options are outlined, including a full week in October following Thanksgiv-

CollegeDegrees360

Sleeping week

ing, or a full week in November attached to Remembrance Day. In the winter semester, the university offers a five-day long reading week during the third week of February, attached to Family Day which consistently falls on the third Monday of that month. One of the biggest questions that is often raised is that, if the university sees it fit or necessary to give students a break in the winter, why wouldn’t it be standard to do the same in the fall?

Mackenzy Vida, a fourthyear visual arts and creative technologies student has the same question.

“I don’t understand why there would be a break in the winter, but not in the fall. Why should the fall semester be any different?”

Vida reflects on year of studies at the University of Ottawa.

“All Ontario universities have a

reading week attached to Thanksgiving to provide the opportunity to travel home, catch up on assignments, as well as take time for mental health.

“The week off also provides extra time for students to study on a quieter campus. This is especially great for visual arts students who need to be in the studio to complete their work.”

Nicole Denis, a professor at La Cité, argues that, for firstyears specifically, the fall semester can be a huge adjustment.

“The fall semester can be more stressful for first-year students because it’s their first experience at university. They’re still figuring out the campus, expectations and campus life – not to mention perhaps even living on their own for the first time. At least with the second semester they have the one semester under their belt.”

Turning to the notion of pi-

loting the reading week, Denis stated, “I do like the idea of doing trials, but I think in this case, because we already have a break in that second semester, we see the advantages at all levels. [Students] can put in the time if they need to catch up on homework or they need to spend more time doing meditation, whatever they need to do to unwind. Then they come back and they can possibly put in [those] last four or five weeks and then recuperate after exams.”

“When I was going to school, we wouldn’t even say reading week, we would say suicide week.

I think now that we have more mental health awareness, everyone seems a lot more cognisant of what that is and specifically the struggles that students face.

School is stressful. It can be stressful financially, it can be stressful emotionally, [students] are in this new environment where the pressure is on. So, if somebody does

struggle with mental health, they likely will struggle with it when they are going to school.”

“As a prof, there is nothing that I have to sacrifice in order to have that week be put into practice. I still have all the same teaching hours. Perhaps you end up teaching a little later, but I think it’s only a two-day difference. That is such an insignificant detail because most profs are here Monday to Friday. [Students] are the ones going through the ringer.”

“I do like the idea of doing trials, but I think in this case, because we already have a break in that second semester, we see the advantages at all levels.” – Nicole Denis

November 21 - November 27, 2019

carillonregina.com | The Carillon | 6

news

Horrific accident leaves 19 candidates running for Dem nom.

An American garbage fire

ben schneider news writer The American election, set for Nov. 3, 2020, is now less than a year away and the Democratic candidates are campaigning at a new high while we move closer to delegates electing the nominee for president of the United States.

Beginning in the new year, the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries and caucuses will see the election of approximately 3,769 pledged delegates to the Democratic National Convention. It is then up to those delegates to vote on naming the official Democratic nominee who will contest Donald Trump for the presidency. There is no specific timeline for when the nomination will happen, though the primaries typically last for several months. In 2016, Hillary Clinton was chosen as the Democratic nominee on July 26.

A little more convoluted than the Canadian parliamentary system some might say.

The following are the current Democratic presidential hopefuls: Michael Bennet, senator from Colorado; Joe Biden, vice president under Barack Obama; Michael Bloomberg, former Mayor of New York City and billionaire; Cory Booker, senator from New Jersey; Steven Bullock, governor

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Who knew you could vote for a trash fire more than once

of Montana; Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Indiana; Julian Castro, mayor of San Antonio, Texas; John Delaney, former congressman for Maryland (sixth district); Tulsi Gabbard, congresswoman for Hawaii (second district); Kamala Harris, senator from California; Amy Klobuchar, senator from Minnesota; Wayne Messam, mayor of Miramar, Florida; Deval Patrick, former governor of Massachusetts; Bernie Sanders, senator representing Vermont; Joe Sestak, former U.S. Representative; Tom Steyer, a billionaire and philanthropist; Elizabeth Warren, senator from Massachusetts; Marianne Williamson, author and activist; Andrew Yang, founder of Venture for America.

A lot of names there, yes.

Let’s boil that list down a tad.

Here are the candidates that the Washington Post deems to be in the first tier.

Pete Buttigieg is in his eighth and final year in office as mayor of South Bend, Indiana. Buttigieg was first elected in 2011 at the age of 29. Preceding his re-election in 2015, Buttigieg came out as gay.

Buttigieg is also a Rhodes Scholar and a veteran, having completed a seven-month tour in Afghanistan.

When it comes to climate change, Buttigieg supports government subsidizing solar panels

as well as the “Green New Deal” proposals which are being floated by progressive Democratic Representatives. Buttigieg presents himself as a supporter of labour and unions. Coming from his own experience, Buttigieg would end the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan.

Bernie Sanders is a household name due to his bid for the presidential candidacy in the 2016 election. Sanders is currently serving his third term as a senator and previously engaged as Representative for sixteen years.

Sanders is the oldest candidate at the age of 78 and actually suffered a heart attack last month, but his campaign has maintained its momentum, which can partly be attributed to his endorsement from the tour de force that is Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Sanders is a popular choice amongst students given his “College For All” plan in which he would cancel all student loan debt, then place a cap on interest rates at 1.88 per cent. Sanders also believes in everyone’s right to an education and sees it as the government’s duty to ensure post-secondary education is accessible. Sanders is also committed to removing barriers in the healthcare system and around affordable housing.

Joe Biden was the recipient of much acclaim during his time as vice president in the Obama administration. Previously, Biden served in the senate from 1973 to 2009, making for an extremely successful political career. Biden entered the presidential race in April of 2019 and has received criticism for failing to stand out amongst his progressive and diverse counterparts.

Biden’s platform includes the immediate passing of the Equality Act, as Biden has been outspoken about Trump’s banning of trans individuals from military service. A Biden administration would support the decriminalization, but not legalization, of recreational cannabis use. This summer, Biden spoke out against capital punishment, a sentiment that the former vice president has not voiced before.

Elizabeth Warren has experience as a teacher, lawyer, professor of law and has served as a senator representing Massachusetts since 2013. Warren did not run in 2016, though she was asked to. Instead, she was one of 15 female Democratic senators to encourage Hilary Clinton to run. She announced her run for the presidency in February of this year and has seen a steady surge in support.

Warren, who self identifies as

a capitalist, would raise minimum wage to $15 an hour and supports an “Ultra-Millionaire Tax” (all whose net worth is greater than $50 million). Warren says that this tax would result in $250 billion in revenue for the government.

A defender of the middle class, Warren would push to make the formation of labour unions easier. She supports the Green New Deal and is committed to ensuring that every citizen’s right to vote is protected.

According to the New York Times national average polls, Joe Biden is leading at 25 per cent.

Warren and Sanders sit at 19 per cent and 17 per cent respectively while Buttigieg trails at 8 per cent.

In the four early-voting states, the results are more varied, with Buttigieg leading at 22 per cent in Iowa. In Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina, Biden leads by margins similar to the national polls with Warren in second, Sanders in third, and Buttigieg in fourth.

On Dec. 19, 2019, the sixth Democratic debate will be held in Los Angeles. As of now, only six candidates qualify. Biden, Warren, Sanders and Buttigieg will all take the stage as well as Senator Kamala Harris and Senator Amy Klobuchar.

“As of now, only six candidates qualify. Biden, Warren, Sanders and Buttigieg will all take the stage as well as Senator Kamala Harris and Senator Amy Klobuchar.” – Ben Schneider

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7 Editor: ethan butterfield aandc@carillonregina.com the carillon | November 21 - November 27, 2019

Garneau creates token of Métis culture

Campus professor crafts Riel memorial coin john loeppky editor-in-chief On Oct. 22 the Royal Canadian Mint unveiled a coin commemorating the life of Louis Riel. The designer of the coin was David Garneau, a professor in the University of Regina’s Faculty of Media, Art, and Performance.

For Garneau, commemorating a man that the state murdered by designing art for the same colonialist state left him with “mixed feelings.”

“To design a coin for the state that killed him, and in a form that celebrates an individual male hero would seem to be against this grain. It is.”

“I attended the unveiling of the coin at Louis Riel’s 175 Birthday Celebration in Winnipeg yesterday [Oct. 22]. It was a large gathering of Métis leaders and supporters who continue the struggle for our land and sovereign rights. I saw in their faces and felt through their handshakes their genuine appreciation and need for these tactile and conventional symbols. Folks talked about their sense of the fragility of the Nation, of their coming in to view. Art is a form of visibility, of presence.”

In a recent Facebook post, Garneau said his feelings about the coin are linked to both his heritage and his community’s use for the coins.

‘The Métis Nation purchased 3,000 of these coins. They plan to use them to honour and connect; award them to individuals and connect them to or as Métis people. The coin commemorates Riel, but also the Métis people and the Mitchif language (inscribed on a coin for the first time). Riel wears his beaded buckskin, rather than a suit, and he is wrapped in a sash which represents the community.’

“The Riel Commemorative coin was the result of team work.

My designs were guided by the Métis Nation and other Métis advisors. The end result as a work of Métis culture, facilitated by the Canadian Mint, and is primarily for Métis people and their supporters. The coin is accessible to Métis people who would like a work of Métis art, a Métis heirloom, Métis trophy or award. The coin is a portable monument, a mobile memorial that links Métis with their history and Nation.”

“While I remain uneasy about the coin, I see the necessity

Public Domain

of collaborating with mainstream institutions to meet Métis ends. I feel the value of these accessible tokens of cultural being and belonging to Métis people.”

This isn’t the first large-scale public project Garneau has engaged in. One of the most notable being the Tawatine bridge project. On the project’s website,

Garneau laid out his plan for the installation.

“The paintings will have Métis and First Nations themes and styles relating to material culture

in the collection of the Royal Alberta Museum; the plants and animals of the River; but also the stories of the region entrusted to me.”

For Garneau, commemorating a man that the state murdered by designing art for the same colonialist state left him with “mixed feelings.” – John Loeppky

November 21 - November 27, 2019

carillonregina.com | The Carillon |

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8

How to survive finals

It’s that dreadful time of year again

elisabeth sahlmueller staff writer With the fall semester quickly wrapping up, and only 11 class days remaining, the dreadful and stressful time of final exams will soon be here. I’m sorry, but I just can’t sugar-coat it: finals suck.

Fortunately, as someone who has written numerous finals over the course of the past five years, I have learned what works and what doesn’t. Here are ten tips for not only surviving, but conquering your final exams.

1. Study in Advance While it may seem like your only option is to cram the day before, don’t! Instead, begin studying a couple of weeks beforehand.

For each of your classes, dedicate a little bit of time each week to study, even if it just an hour or two. This approach will not only allow you to be better prepared, but will also prevent you from getting overwhelmed right before your final.

2. Do your Pre-work: University finals require significant effort and pre-work to be successful. Depending on the course, this pre-work may include practice questions, charts, study cards, essay outlines, and reference sheets. All of this pre-work

Alberto G

Got to love those little circles

takes a lot of effort and is time consuming, but these are some of the best ways to study course material. Additionally, if a professor provides you with essay topics beforehand, or allows a reference sheet to be brought in to the exam, use this to your advantage!

Set aside some time to make a detailed sheet, or prepare an essay outline. Anything you can do to make a final easier on yourself is well worth it.

3. Review the Information With every class, there’s always a lot of info to go over and it is important that this information is reviewed multiple times, not simply glanced over. Although it can be extremely time-consuming to make study cards, this has honestly been my go to review method since my grade nine social studies class (thank you, Mr. Menhart). However, everyone has their own system, whether that is reviewing study cards, making detailed notes, rereading and highlighting sections of your notes or textbook, or forming a study group. Find a method that works for you and stick with it.

4. Ask questions There is nothing worse than studying material for a final that you don’t understand. Professors are here to teach and help you learn; that is their job. If you for-

get, or simply don’t understand the material, ask your professor.

Most professors are more than willing to answer your questions, review concepts, and will usually make time outside of their regular office hours to meet with you.

However, it is your responsibility to reach out to them and I would suggest doing so early, rather than the night before the exam.

5. Take Time for Yourself There is only so much your brain can take at once. Therefore, it is important for both your mental health and overall sanity that you take multiple breaks when studying. For every couple of hours you spend studying, take some time to do something you enjoy, whether that is reading, playing Just Dance on Wii, baking, watching some TV, or simply going for a walk.

6. Manage Your Time Study time is limited and as a result, it is essential that you manage your time wisely. Instead of focusing on information or concepts that you understand well, give more attention to the areas that you struggle with and find the most difficult.

7. Be Ready for the Day of Make sure you have the necessary items for writing your exam, such as pencils, pens, calculator, text books, reference

sheets and student ID card. Pack everything the night before. That way you won’t accidentally forget something important the next morning. There are also some other items you should consider bringing, like Kleenex, a water bottle and a sweater. During a final, water is good to have in case you get overheated, or your throat gets dry. Kleenex is good because you don’t want to be that snuffly student who is an extreme annoyance to everyone around them.

Additionally, at some point while writing, you may get chilly and will be glad to have a sweater.

8. Get a Good Night’s Sleep I know that the night before an exam is usually the time when students do the majority of their studying. However, staying up late studying is honestly not the best idea. In order to do the best on your exam, you need your sleep.

Turn in early and try and get at least seven to eight hours. It is a lot easier to think and write an exam when you have had enough hours of sleep. To get a good night’s sleep, eliminate all distractions and destress a little bit beforehand. Maybe watch some TV, or listen to music and have a nice light snack such as fruit or almonds.

9. Eat good and healthy food In addition to skill and knowl-

edge, writing finals also require a lot of energy and brainpower. It is important that you eat something healthy before writing an exam, to not only give yourself the energy, but also to fuel your brain so that you can do your absolute best. Although your exam may be later in the day, eating a healthy breakfast is still important. Also, if your exam is later on, make sure to have some healthy snacks throughout the day, especially shortly before you write your exam.

10. Stay Positive While it is important to do last minute studying in the few hours before your exam, I would argue that it is just as important to pump yourself up. Go for a short walk, or listen to some good tunes. These types of activities will release endorphins which will increase your positivity and help you focus when you write your exam. Overall, be confident. You put in the effort and work all semester and you can do this!

Best of luck to all university students with your upcoming final exams. On the bright side, once you finish, you can relax and enjoy the wonderful holiday season!

“On the bright side, once you finish, you can relax and enjoy the wonderful holiday season!”

– Elisabeth Sahlmueller

November 21 - November 27, 2019

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Regina welcomes City and Colour Dallas Green can do no wrong

holly worby a&c writer There wasn’t a dull moment at the City and Colour concert on Nov. 15 at Evraz Place. The audience’s responses ranged from quiet reverence to righteous rage; from moments singing in unison to moments where there wasn’t a dry eye to be found.

City and Colour is an alias for Dallas Green who started his solo-project in the mid-2000s, branching out from his roots in Alexisonfire. Green’s first opening act was a band he’s acting producer for, Ben Rogers. This group comes from British Columbia, and has a very strong west-coastfolk influence to their tone, sound, and general mood. What stuck out the most for me and many others about Ben Rogers’ performance was a song called “The Highway of Tears.” The title references British Columbia’s Provincial AutoRoute 16, a known location for both past and present abductions of missing and murdered Indigenous women. Rogers dedicated the song to Tina Fontaine, an Indigenous teen who

Derek Purdy

A city of one

was murdered in Winnipeg in the summer of 2014.

Through the song, Rogers uses his performance art for activism by laying out plain and simple what little concern those in federal government show for problems out of their sight with this chorus line: “Broken lives only matter if the pieces can be seen, and it’s a long way from that highway to that hill in Ottawa.”

Show attendee Sarah Furutani was struck deeply by the song “I think it is really culturally relevant and I love that they used their platform to call attention to a nationwide issue, and that they dedicated it to someone specific.

There’s such power in presenting those women with their names instead of just ‘the missing and murdered.’”

The second opener for the show was Jacob Banks, a singer/ songwriter born in Nigeria who grew up in England and by some deity’s grace wound up performing in Regina. This man’s voice took my breath away and gave me life all in one measure - if you haven’t looked him up al-

ready, this is your sign to. It’s as if Louis Armstrong and Hozier had a baby, and meanwhile John Legend had a baby with Chris Martin from Coldplay, and then those babies had a baby that was blessed at birth by Bob Marley.

His voice somehow has this perfect warm raspiness to it without sounding strained or guttural, and the instrumental writing suited the mood and complimented the melody just perfectly with every song. Banks transgresses genre categories by playing a cocktail of soul, gospel, blues, and R&B. He also gave a nod to his British upbringing by doing a live cover of Coldplay’s “Fix You,” taking everyone by surprise and leaving tears in more than a few eyes.

My first time seeing City and Colour was nearly a decade ago so I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from Green now. His music has taken on a stronger pop influence in recent years, which was shown most obviously in the show by the lights used throughout the show. They would at times change with beats or sequences and the movement was quite pret-

ty. I found it a unique way to hold the audience’s attention visually as the group wasn’t dancing and moving enough to hold the attention of most for long.

Green made a much larger effort to connect with the audience conversationally this visit than last. Between the show and the start to his encore he made jokes about how far away the bathrooms were from the stage, and shortly before that he’d thanked an audience member for being the first person to yell “I hope you’re having a great night,” all tour long.

Many of the songs played were from City and Colour’s newest album, a pill for loneliness but some thought it was too many, including Tylar Chapman, another show attendee.

“City and Colour was great, but I do wish he played more of his older stuff. I’m just personally not into his newer music as much.

It’s still good, but I think some of why I wanted more of his older stuff was partly because of the nostalgia factor, as his pre-2013 era writing was the stuff I could

relate to as a teenager while going through high-school.”

The best part of Green’s performance for me was when he played those older, 2013-and-earlier songs. Last year he released a special album titled Guide Me Back Home (Live), comprised of 20 favourite past songs recorded live at over a dozen separate shows. I feel as though choosing to do that album project so shortly before releasing an entirely new album and doing a tour was an incredible move. It kept all those favourite past songs present in the performer’s heads so when they played them live for us it still had a very present feeling. You could tell the songs still had their original depth and poetry of lyrics, but over time that poetry had taken on new meaning. The contrast between the atmospheric quality of his last show I attended versus him now is a true testament to his talent as an artist and performer.

“The best part of Green’s performance for me was when he played those older, 2013-and-earlier songs.” – Holly Worby

November 21 - November 27, 2019 a&c

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Scarves in Victoria Park Angels 4 Warmth make their mark. ethan butterfield a&c editor Recently, there was a large influx of scarves that found there way onto the trees that inhabit Victoria Park. This wasn’t some supernatural occurrence however, rather, this was the result of the superhuman spirit and what it can do to make the lives of others just that much easier. Placed on the trees by the non-profit organization Angels 4 Warmth, is the volunteer-based collective has been distributing the knitted neck warmers every year for the past several years, having been founded in 1999. Angels 4 Warmth wraps anywhere around 200 scarves in the area during their drive.

Angels 4 Warmth was started by Shannon Clarke and is supported by the North Central Community Association. Their website says that they have upwards of 50 members, all of them senior citizens, who knit these scarves to support those in need.

“Angels 4 Warmth Inc. is a registered non-profit group in Regina who make afghans, quilts, hats, mitts, sweaters, lap robes,

chemo caps, preemie caps, shoulder shrugs, slippers, and a variety of other knit and crocheted items.

They distribute them to the cold and needy throughout the city.

Founded by Shannon Clark a resident from North Central in 1999, the group now has more than 50 members who regularly contribute items. Angels has distributed thousands of items to charitable organizations throughout the city.”

One might think that over 200 scarves would more be than necessary to cover any less than fortunate persons that would looking to bundle up during the harsh Saskatchewan winter. However, this would be a misjudgement as, (such is the case with previous years) more often then not the scarves will all be taken, which presents an unfortunate commentary on how bad the homeless situation is in the Queen City Helping those in need is a focus topic for those working with marginalized communities in Regina. Carmichael Outreach recently put a notice out which called on those in the Regina community to stop donating certain items for the time being. The cause? A huge influx of donations from unbelievably generous peo-

Ethan Butterfield

Warming more than trees in Victoria Park

ple after the call was put out for more clothing items to make their way to the charity. This is one of those heart-warming stories that adds even more of a punch to what Angels 4 Warmth are doing in Victoria Park. Carmichael is still accepting winter clothing, household items, food, gift cards, and monetary donations, but said

they had to be “careful” given the limit space as they organized their move to a new space.

So, whether it’s through Angels 4 Warmth or Carmichael (or the numerous other organizations out there), there is certainly a case to be made to up the ante on being more generous during this time of year. Thus, hope-

fully leading to being a bit more generous year-round. Regardless, please don’t turn a blind eye to the homeless issues that surround the Queen City, at the very least.

Yeezy forgoes God moniker and says Jesus is King Yeezus and Jesus fight for the crown, Yeezus gives up tyler meadows sport editor I read a quote one time from an author whose name escapes me talking about Kanye West’s Yeezus album and specifically the song called “I Am a God.” They wrote that they could picture Kanye staring at himself in the mirror repeatedly pronouncing “I am a God” to himself, almost as if he was trying to convince himself that this was true. ’Ye is one of the most accomplished artists of all time and has been known both for his creative works and for being, well, a bit of an ass. He has recently come out with Jesus is King, a short worship album emphasizing that he has given his life to Jesus and become a reborn Christian.

In my opinion Kanye is a marketing genius. It is extremely fascinating to watch him work from a different perspective.

Over the past decade, usually just before an album or clothing line is about to release, Kanye is (suddenly) active and absurd on Twitter. This draws both praise and outrage and it gets both people and the media talking about him and his album and then he sells, or streams, millions and his clothing or shoe line sells out in minutes. Now, I’m not saying that Kanye has leveraged bornagain Christianity to promote an album and acquire new listeners

Peter Hutchins

or former ones he lost from his “slavery was a choice” comments BUT, there is a pattern of this behaviour from a very intelligent and calculated artist and marketer. Not to mention he is a part of the Kardashian family, which has dominated pop culture for the last 15 years.

The album itself is unique but is organized similarly to his last album Ye and his 2013 album Yeezus in the sense that Kanye is trying to create a very short, yet high quality 27-minute listening experience. Anyone who has listened to Kanye regularly knows

how often he mentions his faith, God, and Christians, but the tone of this is obviously different. He bashes you over the head with it like a church choir, but he does it over traditional rap beats and weaves in an unexpected aggressiveness in some songs (“Selah”).

Kanye is also quite heavy on repetition which is what makes it feel very gospel-like and would likely turn off any secular listeners, but he may rope some hardcore fans in with some references to old Kanye and how “Christians will be the first ones to judge me” which will have non-Christians

screaming Hallelujah along with ’Ye. It is hard to judge Kanye on his artistic work, because it usually turns out that he is always ahead of his time and artists copy his music styles (see autotuned Graduation & 808’s & Heartbreak).

His rap skills are significantly tuned down on this album, but his producer skills are on full display and I highly recommend listening on a high-quality sound system to get the full experience. Kanye is one of the few artists, particularly in the rap industry, that can make a full-blown Christian worship al-

From drop out to believer

bum, yet not get dubbed a Christian rap artist and relegated to the back of the Apple Music or Spotify playlist. Whether Kanye will stick to his non-cussing Christian worship music ways or be back to destroying exceptional beats in a cuss laden rap album proclaiming he is still the king remains to be seen. Either way, I look forward to hearing whatever Yeezus does put out, because it usually turns to gold, with or without the help of Jesus.

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Editor: tyler meadows sports@carillonregina.com the carillon | November 21 - November 27, 2019

The Cherry has been popped

Is the poppy as red as the Cherry when it comes to Canada? tyler meadows sports editor When sports, politics, and news collide you get the sports editor speaking on issues he is intrigued by but only has surface knowledge of. Yet, in a twist of fate that sees people emboldened by free speech I get to have my say just as much as any Twitter troll. I will make an attempt to provide nuance in a hot-take culture and be fair to both sides, which may be new to some readers, so please buckle up.

For context, my pronouns are he and him and I am the son of an immigrant mother born to a minority Christian family in Pakistan, and my father was born in Regina and raised in Pense. His dad, my grandfather, worked his life as a trucker and farmer and my grandmother was also from a long line of farmers. My fiancée is an immigrant who was born in Russia, moved to Israel, and then moved to Canada when she was 15. So, my background is one that is extremely diverse and sympathetic to each ideology that is spouting off without understanding how to spell ideology.

Don Cherry fucked up. That is factual. If you deny that he fucked up, you have your head so far up your – actually let’s just say you have succumbed to a level of bias that leads your opinion moot.

Don Cherry being fired was not the solution. Debatable opinion: on one hand any level of discriminatory remarks should be called out as divisive and not indicative of any of the values we should hold as Canadians. On the other hand, Don Cherry is given less than five minutes a week to spew his opinion on hockey and current events every week, he had a discriminatory 20 second ill-contrived rant and, though he has extremely flawed logic, he is trying to essentially make a point that all of Canadians should respect those who fought for our country. The problem is Mr. Cherry equates the wearing of poppies as equivalent to showing respect and therefore, if you do not wear one, you are being disrespectful.

The huge issue is that those who are defending Mr. Cherry’s comments are taking the essence of what he was (hopefully) attempting to say and equating that with what he did say. There is a huge difference between pointing out a specific behaviour by a

group of specific individuals that does not fit your philosophy and then generalizing it to all people within that group, and saying that your philosophy is those who wear poppies are paying tribute to the soldiers who have sacrificed for our freedom, therefore every Canadian should wear a poppy.

Now I do not know Mr. Cherry personally; however, he has always had a reputation of being, let’s say, a Canadian nationalist and has a laundry list of divisive remarks to point to. I’m sure he has plenty of anecdotes detailing the numerous behaviours that contradict him being labelled a racist as well (there was one time I heard him compliment a Russian hockey player, I think). What does this mean in regard to dealing with his behaviour on one of the most historic Canadian Broadcast platforms in history (Hockey Night in Canada)? Well Sportsnet believes it means first, coming out attributing Mr. Cherry’s words as his own and not representative of Sportsnet (according to Sportsnet President Bart Yabsley in a widely distributed press release). Then, two days later, after deliberation, releasing another statement announcing that Don Cherry has stepped down (translation: we fired his ass).

Ron MacLean got on his platform through Sportsnet and his own personal Twitter feed and apologized, referencing Kathryn Tenese of Kxtuna First Nation.

“In any wrongdoing the key is recognition and acknowledgement . . . and then you work on the relationship.”

This represented MacLean’s acknowledgement and understanding that both he and Cherry were wrong. Cherry for his comments, and MacLean himself for being a bystander, therefore supporter of the comments. Don Cherry was unwilling to compromise, in a follow up with the Toronto Sun’s Joe Warmington, he said “I know what I said and I meant it. Everybody in Canada should wear a poppy to honour our fallen soldiers”.

This statement represents Mr. Cherry’s personal philosophy that he was attempting to impose on everyone. Whether Mr. Cherry has the capacity to express his opinion in a nuanced debate and understand that the semantics of what he said represent hate and racism is unclear. It is likely true, but I wasn’t in the room when the Sportsnet bosses were talking to

him. What I imagine happened is, in typical corporate fashion, Sportsnet made a business calculation on firing him or not, and the algorithm said fire him. Is this the right decision? Well that is not for me to decide but I said we were going to be nuanced so here we go.

Don Cherry is now a martyr for anti-PC (political correctness) culture. Because what Don said is not overtly racist (those bleeping bleeps don’t wear poppies and don’t belong in Canada) but represents what we could call micro-aggressions [EIC’s note: immigrant here to say it shows a hell of a lot of xenophobia], it takes a bit of a second to think “woah, that was kind of racist.” This is what Ron MacLean had to deal with in a 90 second bit, with a guy he has been doing this for 30 years with, while the producer is talking in his ear, and Ron is thinking about transitioning to the next subject, LIVE. Now, I’m willing to give Mr. MacLean a hall pass because literally every Canadian has been there; a friend makes a pretty racist micro-aggressive remark that you don’t call out immediately because of the heat of the moment and you know them more deeply as a nuanced human being.

Don Cherry is a human being, and he has a personal philosophy and extremely flawed logic that does not work when examined in a short form one-sided medium like Hockey Night in Canada. However, by firing him it gives some people, who also fall prey to these logical flaws, someone to idolize as a salt-of-the-earth Canadian sacrificing his job for his personal value of respecting the poppy and what it symbolizes by wearing one, and it should literally be law that every Canadian wear one. Now, as reprehensible as his remarks are, I would have preferred to see Sportsnet not fire him but suspend him. Then what I would like to see is Mr. Cherry along with Mr. MacLean both apologize together, and for an immigrant not wearing a poppy on Remembrance Day have an open discussion about the merits of wearing poppies, respecting the people who fight and have fought for our country, along with an acknowledgement and discussion that one does not have to wear poppies to show respect.

Those that have recently come to Canada, those who have spent many generations in Canada, and

wikimedia commons

Don Cherry, former Hockey Night in Canada analyst

everyone in between, much like Mr. Cherry and his ancestors, can all enjoy the privileges that come with living in this beautiful country, including respecting the military and soldiers in their own ways. I advocate for this because nuance and rehabilitation in corporate North America has been lost. If it makes us money keep him on the air, if it doesn’t then fire him. We need to take a cultural figure like Don Cherry and use him as a model to teach people that words matter, and if you do not express your sentiment in the right way the first time you must acknowledge that you did not communicate properly, and then rephrase, like we do in most other situations.

Those that are screaming “Racist!” and “Fire him!” may be forgetting that human beings are complex, and people need to stop the virtue signalling and examine each situation carefully with a balanced approach. I view Don Cherry as a powerful tool that

can perhaps act as a lightning rod for those who are anti-PC, or be a model for rehabilitation and understanding that we can communicate in much more appropriate ways that push for objective truth and logical discourse, rather than personal truths and fallacious hate speech. Perhaps I believe in Cherry too much, but I feel like we all know someone like him, and I am positive that most of us have acted like MacLean far more than we would like to admit.

We need to take a cultural figure like Don Cherry and use him as a model to teach people that words matter, and if you do not express your sentiment in the right way the first time you must acknowledge that you did not communicate properly, and then rephrase, like we do in most other situations.” – Tyler Meadows

November 21 - November 27, 2019

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Sports For All brings inclusion to the classroom Program for disabled students facilitated by U of R students

marty grande-sherbert staff writer Physical education in public schools is a child’s first entry into the world of movement-based”activity. For Mitchell Smith, an arts education student at the U of R, that means more than just competitive sports. Although he is looking to teach arts, Smith is himself an athlete and knows that people like to win. He emphasizes, though, that the deeper purpose of sports – generating teamwork skills and self-confidence – can’t be forgotten, especially for kids. Smith is an advocate of including movement in every aspect of education, even subjects like math, where he says it’s totally possible to involve the body in learning. More important than winning and setting records as an athlete, he says, is simply being able to participate in movement with one’s peers.

For young athletes with disabilities, however, there can be institutional barriers to this simple goal. That’s why Mitchell is so passionate about running the Sports for All Program on campus, a project he took over this year. Sports for All was founded

by Kerri Staples several years ago in conjunction with her research in kinesiology, and the program has since grown to focus on teaching “FUNdamental movement” for children 7 to 13 with a range of intellectual and/or developmental disabilities. The program is facilitated by coaches, student volunteers who direct and supervise games and exercises for the

University of Regina Athletics

Campus program makes sport available to disabled partipants

young athletes. Many are involved in education or sport themselves, but there are others who are simply passionate about the project and want to be involved.

“Fundamental movement,” Smith explained, refers to the basic bodily movements that are required to engage in sport and physical activity. Examples of these movements are running, jumping, kicking, throwing, and catching. They may seem simple or even automatic to some, but the truth is that different kids develop these basic movements at different paces and levels. Smith said the focus of the program is individualized support for athletes once they get in the gym.

“In schools, students get about half an hour for gym, and a lot of that time is spent just changing out into gym clothes.

Then they usually play a game.

That leaves no time at all for oneon-one instruction if kids are having trouble with fundamentals.”

Smith and the people at Sports For All see a disconnect between the needs of some students and the opportunities they’re being given to engage in movement.

If a student hasn’t been given enough attention and instruction to learn how to throw a ball or jump, that student cannot be expected to fully participate in any games or sports in their gym class – they are left out of the experience.

“It’s just assumed that kids know these things,” Smith siad.

But those assumptions leave a gap

in students’ capacity to play, and in turn, their overall self-confidence. Sports For All is an eightweek program that aims to give these students their own space to focus on fundamentals. Smith describes it as both extra-curricular and a necessary part of the athletes’ physical education.

The pride Mitchell has in both the coaches and athletes at Sports For All was evident throughout our interview. He explained that he tries his best to “load the roster” with coaches at every practice, so that there’s at least one coach available for every athlete. Having one-on-one instruction is essential. “Everyone is different,” he says. “We modify all our activities based on the needs of that athlete. We need a lot of coaches so we’re able to do that . . . everyone has some kind of skill.”

Athletes in the program have shown marked improvement with the attention they receive through activities like dribbling around pylons, doing stretches and jumping exercises, and circuit running. “A lot of our athletes were learning how to play basketball, and we used a [lower and easier-to-use] practice basket.” Smith showed me this basket in the back room.

It was about chest-height, allowing an athlete to focus just on aim.

“But I’m now proud to say that we don’t need to use them anymore; all those students can use a regular basket to play. They’ve all worked really, really hard, and we use lots of stuff to make it fun.”

Sports For All also uses visual

aids, like plastic “colour spots” on the ground of the gym that help an athlete physically see the distance they should travel before dribbling a basketball. This addresses the difficulty those athletes have gauging distance or understanding the markings on the gym floor, things that their teachers at school are likely to miss with a large class size. Because of the extra time they can spend at Sports For All, though, those athletes can now go back to school and participate in games more fully than they would have before.

When talking about the future of the program, Smith said he wanted to be able to get more students involved as a priority, including students beyond the age range of 13 years.

“After students age out of Sports For All, there’s a gap in between that and the [age range for the] Special Olympics. So I want to give athletes somewhere to go in between those periods, so they can keep getting that one-onone.”

Smith has seen the benefits of the program for the athletes and for their families, many of whom he has been personally thanked by for what the program offers.

“I just want more people to know about it. I fight really hard for this program, and I don’t do it for me, I do it for the athletes.”

Smith lives by a three-part mantra: “Work hard, treat others fairly, and earn respect.” He brings those values with him in Sports For All. Every athlete has

their own set of goals, and the confidence and health of young people improves by meeting those goals where they are. As someone who felt out of space in sports as a child, I found myself encouraged by a real effort in this program to assert everyone’s right to be included in movement activity. It is an initiative worth supporting.

Smith lives by a three-part mantra: “work hard, treat others fairly, and earn respect.” He brings those values with him in Sports For All. – Marty Grande-Sherbert & Mitchell Smith

November 21 - November 27, 2019

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carillonregina.com | The Carillon |

Jane Kish leads women’s hockey back in the playoff hunt

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Cougars goalie backstops charging green and gold brian palaschuk sports writer Heading into the reading week break, the Cougars women’s hockey team was in rough shape.

Sitting in last place, with a third of the Canada West season already in the books, this pause was a perfect opportunity to reset their season. Fast forward two weeks and things are looking up.

The team came out of the bye week flying, sweeping the Manitoba Bisons 2-0 and notably, the team got back-to-back shutouts from Jane Kish, who has since improved her season record to 4-2 with an incredible 0.949 save percentage. For Coach Hodges, the bye week reset has helped to team to get back on track and in the playoff hunt.

“Overall, I’m happy with our effort and attention to detail since the bye week. We’ve competed hard every day and have seen our results improve as a result. It’s always tough to win in Manitoba, so to sweep there is huge.”

However, after a dominant weekend in Manitoba, the high-flying Cougars have fallen closer to earth, with a 1-1 split result against the University of Alberta Pandas.

On Friday night the Cougars put together a fantastic performance in all phases of the game.

Leading scorer Jaycee Magwood got the team on the board first with a powerplay goal, and then

University of Regina Athletics

Kish outstanding for the Cougars

Jordan Kulbida scored the game winner just 30 seconds later. The defence was solid as well, particularly the special teams. U of R killed a whopping seven penalties, and Kish continued her outstanding run, stopping all 21 shots she faced to get her third consecutive shutout. Coach Hodges was impressed with her team’s ability to shut down the Pandas, who have the leagues leading scorer, Autumn MacDougall.

“Alberta has a great skating team, and offensive team, so to shut them out is a big accomplishment.”

On Saturday the Cougars were decidedly less spectacular. Although they showed some signs of offensive pressure, especially at the start of the second, they managed only 9 shots in the entire game. Kish stood on her head again, making plenty of great saves, but the team in

front of her simply gave up too many good chances. The league’s leading scorer MacDougall was a terror all over the ice. Unlike on Friday, when the Cougars did a great job containing her, MacDougall used her speed and skill in dominant fashion. She had seven shots, three of which gave her a hat-trick, and all three of her teams’ goals. Despite this weaker performance, the team is trending in the right direction overall, pull-

ing their record up to 5-7 to get within a single win of third-place Lethbridge.

Next week, the Cougars will be in Saskatoon against the fourth-place University of Saskatchewan Huskies. A sweep against their rivals would bring them back to .500 and bring them closer to the playoffs.

What’s the problem with men’s hockey?

With a 2-9 record, Cougars are limping more than prowling brian palaschuk sports writer The Cougars men’s hockey team has not been good in 2019-2020.

They are 2-9, last place in Canada West, and have an abysmal goal differential of -36. This week they had the toughest draw of the season, playing against the juggernaut University of Alberta Golden Bears, a team who has lost only one game in 2019. Unsurprisingly, they got swept 2-0, but that is far from the whole story. On Friday, the Cougars gave the Golden Bears a tough test, pushing them to the edge. The team’s leaders stepped up with Connor Chaulk getting one in the first and scoring leader Tristan Frei bringing the game within one in the third, only to end up giving up a late goal to lose 2-4. On Saturday the Cougars imploded, giving up nine uncontested goals, their worst performance of the season.

Second-year forward Chaulk spoke to the polarizing weekend.

“On Friday’s game we played really well. We came out and showed them that we can compete with those top teams when we want to. With Saturday’s game, it shows us that if we take games off against teams like that, they are going to slam it down our

throats.”

So, what do the Cougars need to do to be better?

The first step is offence. The Cougars simply do not score enough goals to win. The team has scored only 23 goals in 12 games, averaging less than 2 goals per game. This is compared to league leaders Alberta, Mount Royal, and Saskatchewan who score 4.75, 4.66 and 3.75 goals per game respectively. While the Cougars are far below the standard, they are also below the possible threshold they need to win games. With only 1.91 goals per game, the Cougars need to allow less than that on average to win, which is near an impossibility.

Only one goalie in U SPORTS allows less than 1.91 goals per game, and that is Matt Berlin who backstops the utterly dominant Golden Bears. This means that to win hockey games, the Cougars need Brandon Holtby to steal them. Fortunately, this is certainly something he is capable of.

Like his counterpart on the women’s team, Jane Kish, starting goaltender Brandon Holtby has been absolutely fantastic. Despite facing almost 32 shots per game, the second most in Canada West, Holtby allows only 2.83 goals per game, good for fifth in the league.

However, his underlying numbers are even better. Holtby’s 0.915

University of Regina Athletics

Chaulk leads Cougars despite rough start

save percentage is second in the league. The Cougars have the goaltending support to win games with lower than average production, but 1.91 goals for per game is simply not enough. For Chaulk, he is a huge part of the team’s success.

“Holts has been phenomenal for us, every game he’s played in we’ve lost by one or won, I can’t say enough about him.”

On the other side of it, Chaulk appreciates the need to

increase production beyond that 1.91 goal average, something he says starts with the day to day.

“It is a tough league to get points in, especially when we aren’t getting 30 shots a night, getting 20-25. I think we need to start directing a few more pucks to the net. It has to do a lot with the mental side of the game. It all starts in practice.”

The Cougars next test is another tough one. They play their biggest rivals, the third place Uni-

versity of Saskatchewan Huskies at home Nov. 22-23 at the Co-operators. For Chaulk, his outlook is still positive, despite the tough start.

“This is going to be a huge weekend for us. We believe that we are playing good hockey right now. We just have to keep going in the right direction, there’s no reason we can’t get a couple points against U of S.”

November 21 - November 27, 2019

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sports

Muslim women, hijabs, and sports The need for discussion elisabeth sahlmueller staff writer Although sports are based on skill, performance, power, strength and endurance, there are multiple moments when the sports domain becomes complicated by factors of gender, race, ethnicity and religion.

On the weekend of Oct.19, Noor Alexandra Abukaram, a 16 year old Muslim high school student competed in her seventh cross country race of the season in Findlay, Ohio finished with a personal best of 22.22, a time good enough to advance to regional competition. However, because Abukaram wore her hijab while racing, without having it approved beforehand, which goes against the OHSSA’s regulation that all religious headwear (a category hijabs fall into) must be approved before it can be worn during an athletic competition or event, she was disqualified. In response to the public outrage and anger expressed by Noor, her family members, and coach, the OHSSA agreed to allow Noor to compete at cross country regionals and has also announced, without providing any specifics, that the group is considering modifying its current regulations regarding religious headwear. Despite some resolution for Noor, this occurrence highlights the frequent challenges, prejudice and discrimination that many female Muslim athletes experience.

In today’s society, many individuals perceive the hijab as an oppressive clothing item and believe that therefore by extension, Muslim women who wear one, must also be oppressed. However, for Muslims this perception of the hijab is extremely inaccurate.

As Arwa Shamiss, a Muslim woman who wears a hijab and U of R rugby team member explained, while the media has manipulated the hijab to “portray women as submissive, thoughtless individuals, who are controlled by men of the Islamic faith,” this is not the actual reality. The Hijab “encompasses the principle of modesty and not only [includes] a piece of cloth worn around the head, [but also] the behaviour of an individual.” Shamiss also elaborated on how there is a major “misconception . . . that [the hijab has been] thrust upon women of the Islamic faith, [when in fact this] principle applies to both males and females of the Muslim faith. Its only oppressive element is how it has been misconstrued by western societies and the media . . . as a way to force western ideals onto Muslim women, under the

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Relgious expression on the field becoming a needed topic of coversation

false pretense of freedom.”

A similar concept was also expressed by Zuna Iftikhar, VP of social affairs for the U of R Muslim Student Association, who explained how the hijab symbolizes female empowerment. In literal translation, the hijab “means to cover, or have a barrier.” It is a clothing item that “is a very important part of Islam and . . . a Muslim woman’s identity.” Hijabs are not about making “women inferior to men, [but rather showing] women in a world of men that they are respected.”

Wearing a hijab is considered by Muslim women as a way to “save them from social evils, like lust and provide them (with) a sense of security.”

Iftikhar also expressed how it is bittersweet that while “some people are curious and want to know what [the hijab] is all about. . . the world doesn’t really know, [or understand] the true significance of the hijab.”

Unfortunately, these ignorant views result in regulations, prohibitions, prejudice and underrepresentation, which provide various challenges and difficulties

for many professional and recreational female Muslim athletes.

Firstly, some sports have regulations and even prohibitions against religious headwear during athletic competition, creating a major obstacle for many Muslim women to actually participate in the sports. In some cases, these types of prohibitions force Muslim women to choose between the sports they love and are good at, or abandoning their religion, by removing something that contains significant value.

Secondly, according to Iftikhar, Muslim women are frequently excluded from participating in sports based on perceived capabilities.

“For sports you really need to see someone compete to know if they’re capable or not, and sometimes that’s where Muslim woman who choose to wear a hijab lack the chance. There are a lot of talented people out there who would do great if they (were competing), but sometimes it’s the discrimination and stereotypes holding them back.”

Often Muslim women are left out and considered incapa-

ble based on the assumption that because they are wearing a hijab, they “ must be an immigrant, or a refugee [and as a result, must not] know how to play the sport.”

Additionally, as Shamiss mentioned, “many [Muslim] women in sports . . . wear a head covering, [but] because of the limited views of the media, they aren’t covered as much as male athletes, or popular non-Muslim female athletes.” While this reality has a lot to do with the existing negative perception of the hijabs within society, it also has to with the massive sexualization of women that exists in today’s sports culture.

“It is difficult for female athletes to be taken seriously because the focus is on their appearance and their athleticism is overlooked, while males [on the other hand] are applauded for their athleticism and given no attention to their appearances.” This situation is even worse for Muslim female athletes. “When Muslim women [wearing a hijab] are represented in sports,” the focus is on [their] head covering and “their athletic capabilities are overlooked.”

Despite all of this negativity,

prejudice, challenges and current underrepresentation and misrepresentation of female Muslim athletes, both Shamiss and Iftikhar believe that the situation can be improved. Shamiss stated that “female athletes [need to be given] the same consideration as male athletes and Ifikar suggested that “there needs to be [more] awareness and education [regarding] the hijab. More Muslim women [need] to speak about what the hijab really is [and] what it means to them.”

Another major step towards improvement is evident by Nike’s release of the Pro-Sports Hijab, a product which Iftikar has suggested is “a step in the right direction because it shows [the world] that [Muslim women who wear hijabs] are not any different . . . and can do whatever anyone else without [a] hijab can do, [just] as well.”

“The world doesn’t really know, [or understand] the true significance of the hijab.” – Zuna Iftikhar

op-ed

15 Editor: taylor balfor op-ed@carillonregina.com the carillon | November 21 - November 27, 2019

Students are not academia’s masochistic playthings

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Scrounge through Twitter on any given day and you will find professors griping about students. While I won’t name and shame those who happen to teach here who have indulged in the practice, what I will say is this: we see you and there aren’t enough expletives in the universe to describe your behaviour.

I understand academics are under a tremendous amount of strain. I also find it difficult to stomach the small section of that same workforce that refuses to have empathy. In my time at this newspaper, we’ve thrown a fair amount of resources at covering the black hole of horridness that is administration’s want to destroy those who pay tuition, but I do think there’s a tad bit more blame to go around.

Certainly, this is (in part) a generational thing. Just as doctors used to run residents into the ground (actually, more like as close to the earth’s core as they possibly could), so too have leaders in other education sectors decided that the absolute sewer they had writhed through to get their credentials – think Dufresne’s shit hole swim in Shawshank – is just part of the fun. Guess what? It shouldn’t be.

Every time a professor pokes fun at a student’s vulnerability I decide to spend a little less time here. I was once chastised in a class and asked to stop talking for bringing up another academic’s behaviour in class because, and I kid you not, to keep bringing forward someone’s colleague’s complete lack of humanity when it came to treating students correctly might actually have to lead to faculty action. I’m not

a big fan of violent metaphors, but when someone in a position of power on this campus does something that could endanger others, students are forced to go to war.

It shouldn’t be this way.

I’ve sat in rooms as students are belittled to within an inch of their souls and I have to ask: what the fuck for? Are we all just these people’s masochistic playthings?

Sometimes it feels like the whisper network that keeps campuses together: who not to be left alone in a room with, who can’t be trusted with mental health concerns, who will celebrate your failure, is as vital as any student centre service. The opposite is also true: a “caring network” exists.

We all know the professors we can go to with any concerns, the ones who remember what it felt like to be hanging from a thread, the ones who care about your existence outside of your ability to memorize names and numbers, the ones who will protect you in your internships and professional placements, come hell or high water.

It’s not like Regina is unique. The capitalist hellscape of academia, becoming more brazen by the day as it, has worn all of us out. I’m not advocating infighting. In fact, I’m asking people to thank those who make a true difference and to call out inequality when they see it.

Look around you. We have a campus with no on-site medical clinic, our engineering department is embroiled in a scandal every other year, our humanities departments are slowly shrinking as administrative bloat begins to look like the reason for our campus’ inevitable demise.

We prioritized thanking a millionaire donor over memorializing a recently passed alumni award winner. For your information, the President called me when I called the campus out on that one.

If, as this campus tends to claim, the folks on it were here for us, they would fight for education internships to not be free labour or for co-op opportunities to not have a hefty price tag attached. If this was a place that lived up to its slogan of service it would be one that valued graduate students, that didn’t have a Faculty of Graduate Studies that is little more than an admissions office (if you don’t believe me, check out the travel award requirements, you have to have gone and spent the money before you can apply for reimbursement).

If this university cared about student health we would have a gendered violence policy that actually involved student input, we would have an ESL program that isn’t just a print money project, setting participants up for failure while raking in the cash and the clout. We wouldn’t have the provost wringing his hands about international tuition while balancing his austerity budget of the backs of our most marginalized.

This isn’t to say the entirety of campus is bad, but it is to say we’re not doing enough to correct it. Some leaders want to get rid of student evaluations for professors. There are some legitimate arguments for this – like, for example, the fact that women and non-binary academics are disproportionately affected by the rash of insensitive comments that tend to come from these documents in junior classes

– but in deciding to remove the one area of recourse students have they are silencing us again. If they cared about our input they would actually take it. During the aforementioned gendered violence policy meetings one of the leads of the project thanked someone for bringing forward that those who are complained against should be better protected. Better protected! As if the power balance wasn’t enough, as if our victim-blaming culture wasn’t enough, as if the absolute fucking hell of going through a complaint process at this university wasn’t enough, administrators want change to be harder to make.

Look, this piece sounds bleak because I’m fed up with seeing my friends suffer at the hands of people who don’t care. If we cared we would have more counsellors, we would have a medical clinic, we would have recourse for abused students who exist in a system that cares more about their wallets than their minds. A university should be judged on how it treats its most vulnerable and, in my eight years here, all I can tell you as that our campus is failing miserably.

I’m glad for the recent diversity research project, but I worry about its implementation. At this point, there is little more I can do other than hope.

john loeppky editor-in-chief

“If this university cared about student health we would have a gendered violence policy that actually involved student input.” - John Loeppky

November 21 - November 27, 2019 op-ed

The importance of seeking help

Throughout the course of this semester, things have gotten increasingly difficult day to day. Now, let me preface this immediately by saying that my struggles are not greater than anyone else’s, but my struggles are also not invalid. I’ve pulled all-nighters, I’ve taken time away from important aspects of my life, and I’ve done all I can to maintain relationships with those closest to me. What I haven’t done is ask for a helping hand.

I’ve asked for favours, certainly, but I’m too proud to ask someone for actual help – to talk things out, or to request an extra hand with a project. However, with finals approaching quickly, and stress hitting an all-time high at this point in the year, please remember to ask for help if you need it.

I understand if this sounds a bit too preachy, or if this is coming across as overly emotional, but it’s so important. Honestly, I feel like I write one of these articles every year around this point, but it’s still something I need to do to remind myself and others that support systems out there exist.

Nothing is worse than when you’re trying your hardest at something, when you’re giving it your all, and you finally break down because you feel as though you’ve got the weight of the world (or semester) on your shoulders. This is particularly evident during a time when seasonal depression is hitting at an all-time high.

With that being said though, there are options that one can (hopefully) pursue.

Calling a friend or a family member, trying to make it clear to your profs what is going on, maybe discussing your grievances with follow classmates, or perhaps seeking counselling services (which I understand are quite difficult to come by around this time) are all, at the very least, routes one can take to air out frustrations and maybe lighten the load a little.

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Speaking on a personal level, I can’t tell you how amazing one particular friend of mine has been in just being someone to communicate back and forth with. Sometimes that’s all you need. Of course, not everyone has the same luxury, so I can’t expect to meet everyone on the same level. Just know that if you have the option, don’t feel like you’re being a bother or that you’re not worth the time, because you are.

You matter. And you always will.

I wish I could help those out who need it most, I really do, but the best I can do

right now is just putting out those few examples. If you’re going to take anything away from these ramblings, make it this: finals put a unique stress on all of us, so don’t be ashamed to say you need a hand, or that you need someone to listen to what’s going on. Don’t let things linger, because that puts a significant toll on almost every aspect of your well-being, whether it be emotional, mental, physical, or what have you.

Remember: you matter. Grades are important, of course, but you’re just as, if not more, important.

ethan butterfield a&c editor

Your phone isn’t killing you We need to stop acting like clicking onto Google Chrome is akin to inviting the devil into your digital landscape. Society has decided that finding comfort in the internet is far more gateway drug than gateway to freedom.

We see these photo manipulations where cell phones are removed from social situations as if they’re the problem.

Newsflash: the issue isn’t our access to mini computers in our pocket, it’s the soul destroying knowledge that capitalism is trying to engulf us as fast as it possibly can and that those making decisions see this as the natural order of things. If anything, cell phones and computers are lifelines.

For every bullying incident on Instagram (also, fuck those kinds of people) there are 2SLGBTQIA+ and disabled people finding friends, resources, and outlets that they wouldn’t have found otherwise. For every Twitter mob or unneeded cancel culture kerfuffle, there’s Sixties Scoop survivors finding their relatives or social actions being planned under the nose of oppressive regimes.

It’s almost like painting with a broad brush ignores all the beautiful complexity underneath. Did I write another op-ed in this section complaining about social media etiquette? Yes, but do I think that social media conduct is the reason for a millennial apocalypse? Only if we become like our elders: stiff, unwilling to change, and fully on board with murdering the planet instead of challenging structural inequality.

The amount of burnout I see on social media is overwhelming. We’re using channels meant for liberation and social mobility that have been co-opted by the dregs of society. Unapologetic Nazis flood-

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ing to Twitter, misinformation campaigns shifting elections through the Facebook algorithm, child abuse for profit on YouTube, or the aforementioned cyberbullying and self image issues stemming from Instagram’s platform. Tik Tok’s data being mined by the Chinese government is scarier than any detox tea pitched by some minor influencer.

And yet, look at the connections that can be made. Relationships, whole publishing houses, solidarity in leftist movements, would not be possible without social media sites. We cannot pretend that these nothing but evil when they create so much (problematic) good. The anger that folks

feel towards the perceived degradation of social skills should be redirected at the income inequality in our world, at Facebook’s ability to lead to a Trump presidency, the inaccessibility of the housing market for anyone who didn’t inherit wealth, the lack of labour protections for youth, the threat of privatized health care and schooling in Alberta or the slashing of arts funding and student centres in Ontario.

The quintessential question is why do folks rail on social media when there are so many other things to be angry about? The kicker is that the same people who think Facebook will lead to the death of the universe are the very people sharing fake news

stories to debunk wokeness or leftist causes.

We need to balance these things and monitor our social media consumption, but we also to need to resist the world’s insistence that social media’s value is merely fleeting and dangerous.

john loeppky editor-in-chief

November 21 - November 27, 2019 op-ed

We should all stand with Taylor Swift

Okay, time to get angry.

Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a hardcore Taylor Swift fan. However, I’m not writing this article in an attempt to convert anyone else to become a fan alongside me. Instead, I’m writing this to shed a light on a detrimental aspect of the music industry that people too often overlook: the hostage-like mentality of legal documentation.

This probably seems a little intense for an article about a country-turned-pop singer, but let me give a run-down of the situation for those left in the dark.

In 2018, Taylor Swift announced that since her contract with her first ever record label, Big Machine Records, was up, she would be signing a new contract with Universal Music Group. Her contract with Big Machine dictated that she was to produce six albums under them, which she did, before her contract was up.

She was offered this deal, and agreed to it, when she was 14 years old.

It was was when she was arranging to leave Big Machine that she noted she was interested in purchasing back her masters – the six albums she released under the label – as she wanted to take ownership of her own work.

It was after this, in 2019, that it was announced that Scooter Braun, an American businessman known for representing popular mainstream talent such as Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, and Demi Lovato, purchased Big Machine Records from the label’s founder Scott Borchetta. This is when the seemingly private feud ramped up in the public.

Taylor Swift wrote a Tumblr post claiming that not only was she not told that Scooter Braun was purchasing the company, and therefore the rights to all of her previous work, but also that Scooter Braun had been “bullying” her for years, and that learning that Borchetta, whom she trusted, had sold the rights to his company and her music off without giving her the opportunity to buy them was devastating.

It was also during this time that Swift made it known that Borchetta and Braun attempted to blackmail Swift into re-signing with them in order to “earn” – as Swift states herself – her masters back.

Since writing her statement, Swift has claimed that she’s interested in re-recording her past work seeing as Big Machine refuses to sell her back her original songs, therefore rending the original records valueless.

The feud between Swift and her previous label only escalated this week when Swift posted on all her social media platforms that Borchetta and Braun were barring her from performing any of her old songs. She cited two major examples: the American Music Awards (AMAs) held on Nov. 24, and a Netflix documentary.

At the 2019 AMAs, Swift is to be awarded with the Artist of the Century award, in response to which she was going to perform a medley of songs that put her on the map, so to say. In a similar vein, Netflix has been working on a documentary about Swift’s life for the past few years and wishes to include, obviously, her old music.

Swift’s public statement claimed that Borchetta and Braun were refusing to let

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her do so. In response to the AMAs, the men claimed that it would be her re-recording her songs before she is legally allowed to do so in 2020, but they’ve also refused to give her the rights to use her music in her own documentary.

And, after that long-winded rundown of the current situation, we sit here today.

In case you couldn’t tell, I’m a bit upset about this.

I consider myself to be a creative. I see myself as someone who lives and breathes art in various forms, and therefore a lot of people I surround myself with in my life are creatives as well. I think being a creative makes me even more frustrated as I watch this situation unfold from the outside.

Swift has a hand in creating all of her own music, including writing an entire album on her own at 19. She’s stated herself that her previous albums were filled with “music [she] wrote on my bedroom floor and videos [she] dreamed up and paid for from the money [she] earned playing in bars, then clubs, then arenas, then stadiums.”

I cannot imagine being placed in a similar position, where work from my deepest, innermost emotions was stolen and leveraged over me as a tactic to make money

off of me, as if I was an object rather than a human.

Because the truth of the matter is that yes, Taylor Swift is a rich, white woman who can hold her own. She can fight this, she had been fighting this, and she will continue to fight this, but if this greed can happen to her, who’s to say it’s not happening to smaller artists? To artists of colour? To queer artists? To artists who don’t have as big of a platform?

If Taylor Swift, one of the most popular and powerful figures in modern music, is struggling with two white men who are holding her own work over her head and using it to threaten her to complacency, who’s to say this isn’t happening to artists around the world? Who’s to say other artists aren’t being blackmailed for their work but aren’t in a position to do anything about it? Who are forced to “behave,” as Swift herself penned.

This is, yet again, another example of a female in the entertainment industry being used and abused by men who did nothing to place her where she is today. Swift put herself in the position she’s currently in thanks to her hard work, passion, dedication, and talent. Yet, despite that, men who had no hand in her work, but who own it,

are using her passionate, soul-filled work against her to force money, compliance, and respect out of her.

And they’re infuriated that it isn’t working.

And it should continue to not work.

Artists deserve the rights to their own music. Women deserve to be treated as people rather than money-making objects. Men do not deserve to threaten women into silence and blackmail them in complicity in acts of greed.

taylor balfour op-ed editor

“This is, yet again, another example of a female in the entertainment industry being used and abused by men who did nothing to place her where she is today.” - Taylor Balfour

November 21 - November 27, 2019

op-ed

This week In fascism The Carillon humbly presents the debut of a new column in op-ed and news: “This Week In Fascism.” Horrible as it is that this is such an easy topic to write, and depressing as it is that it will likely be applicable each week, keeping an eye on alt-right ideology is one way of making sure we do not fall into apathy or complacency at the state of the world. This column will aim to give the reader a week-in-review of political actions and assertions that raise serious red flags, focusing on the Canadian state and the land it occupies, but extending to the rest of the world as necessary. This column will also make a point to offer counter-actions, education, and organizing tactics we can use to push against fascism, because the name of the game is power through knowledge and not hopeless doom and gloom.

Before this column launches, though, an obvious question must be addressed: what is fascism? The cumulative knowledge of our old friend Wikipedia describes fascism as “a form of far-right, authoritarian ultranationalism characterized by dictatorial power, forcible suppression of opposition, and strong regimentation of society and of the economy.” So, that’s super wordy, but basically fascism is politically far right, nationalist, repressive, and hierarchical. That might be a good starting point, but besides being pretty hard to break down, this definition also leaves out the real-life, material context that should accompany our understandings of politics.

The Laurier Students’ Public Research Group, or LSPIRG, passed a zine (a kind of handmade, cheaply distributed publication) onto our own Regina Public Interest Research Group that more thoroughly explains fascism in contexts relevant to us in 2019. It’s called “Fascism and the Rise of the Alt-Right: Tactics for Organizing with LSPIRG.” LSPIRG acknowledges that fascism is very complex, and we’re often “too close to [it] in order to fully grasp what it is,” but they break it into a few key points.

The centrepiece of fascism in a state is “authoritarian nationalism,” which involves the idea that one’s country is superior to all others, and therefore has the

right to restrict freedoms. This is “generally attached to aggressive racism, conservative traditionalism (or, wanting to go back to the ‘good old days’), anti-liberalism, anti-communism, and a strong expansionist foreign policy.”

LSPIRG says that we most commonly associate this with the Nazi party in Germany, and this is a correct association.

However, it’s important to remember that the end of WWII and the liberation of Nazi camps was not the end of fascism or fascist organization, nor does fascism only apply to the Holocaust. In fact, assuming that we will be able to immediately recognize fascism the instant we see it can leave us unaware of “fascist creep,” the tendency for fascist rhetoric and ideals to “creep into mainstream discourse.” This comes from “Against the Fascist Creep” by Alexander Reid Ross.

For example, LSPIRG specifically mentions “humour (more recently, memes), symbols . . . and the offering of platforms and “air time” for fascists” as examples of fascist creep. Richard Spencer, who himself became a meme when he was silenced mid-speech with a punch, was at the time trying to popularize “pepe the frog” as a symbol of the alt-right. Pepe seems harmless, even humorous – but when that connection is made, he can become a way for neo-Nazis to identify each other and organize. More recently, when Maxime Bernier was allowed in the political debate, the PPC’s racist rhetoric was allowed to “creep” onto a national stage.

Of course, we also have literal, self-identified Nazis living and working in Canada. We have very clear white nationalist terrorist attacks targeting synagogues and mosques. Even though it’s somehow hard for people to condemn the most obvious of fascist actions, a lot of them are easy to spot. But this column will be covering things classified as “fascist creep” or even “alt-lite” – associated with the altright, but claiming moderation, according to LSPIRG – as well as the obvious things.

Future versions of this column will focus on specific events or trends to keep an eye on and organize against in our back-

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John Loeppky

yards, but for now, here are some general ways to resist fascism that LPIRG recommends: counter-protests or demonstrations against alt-right gatherings, spreading awareness about how to spot fascism, speaking up in person or online when you hear ultra-conservative or ultranationalist talking points, and even checking in with your friends who engage in any social organizing. More information can also be gathered from RPIRG, with lots of resources (and even grants!) available to do organizing of your own.

Until another week, stay connected and stay hopeful.

marty grande-sherbert staff writer

On starting over There’s something magical about wanting to start over. There’s a certain glimmer that accompanies wanting to become new.

Human beings like new things: whether it’s a brand-new iPhone or a bouncing baby, new is cute, new is sweet, new is lovely, and new is desirable.

This is why we get touchy about new years, new months and even new weeks.

From motivational Monday posts to New Year’s resolutions, there’s a constant: everyone desires a fresh start. But why?

Why does it have to be a fresh start?

Why do we feel like opening a new book is cooler than reading the next chapter of an old one? How many times will you start over? When will you stop going back to the drawing board? Why do you have to start from scratch?

Don’t get me wrong. New days, new weeks, new months and new years give us time to reflect and strategize, which is excellent. However, we fall into this illusion of progress when we start over and sadly that’s all it is – an illusion.

Today I challenge you to try continuing. Pick it up from where you stopped and learn from yesterday’s experience. You’ll find that allowing yourself to exist in a familiar space is more magical than you’d have ever expected.

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isaac adeoluwa atayero contributor

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19 Editors: sarah carrier, kate thiessen and morgan ortman graphics@carillonregina.com the carillon | November 21 - November 27, 2019

November 21 - November 27, 2019

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Haley Klassen Wynonna Allen