The Carillon - Volume 65, Issue 12 - November 24, 2022

the carillon

the staff

editor-in-chief holly funk editor@carillonregina.com

business manager thomas czinkota business@carillonregina.com production manager shae sackman production@carillonregina.com advertising manager holden norrie ads@carillonregina.com communications mehrnoush bahramimehr comms@carillonregina.com technical editor vacant tech@carillonregina.com multimedia/graphics editors multimedia@carillonregina.com safal gangwani graphics@carillonregina.com lee lim copy editor aurel dumont copyeditor@carillonregina.com news editor gillian massie news@carillonregina.com a&c editor wren gessner arts@carillonregina.com s&h editor vacant sports@carillonregina.com op-ed editor hammad ali op-ed@carillonregina.com distribution manager chandra wassill distribution@carillonregina.com staff writer amina salah staff writer victoria baht staff writer bodie robinson news writer josh king a&c writer jorah bright s&h writer sophia stevens

contributors adam baker-smith, ayodipupo adetola board of directors holly funk, jacob nelson, and honourary members: shiva souri, jorah bright, hammad ali, shae sackman, amina salah and thomas czinkota

news

‘Twitterpated’ used to be just a cute word from the film Bambi to convey you have an infatuation-level crush on someone, but with the latest in Twitter updates we’re thinking the word should flip to something like the infatuation people feel watching a gorgeous old ship as it sinks below sea level at record speed.

Uncertainty abounds in more areas than just social media platforms though, so if you’re feeling more like that second definition in general than the first, we’d encourage you to consider contributing an article so you have an excuse to make time to look into potential solutions for situations you’re stuck on. There’s always a route, sometimes it just needs to be sleuthed out, and we’ll be happy to support you in scouting for potential paths of action.

holly funk editor-in-chief

the paper

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The Carillon welcomes contributions.

Opinions expressed in the pages of the Carillon are entirely 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 sum mer. The Carillon is published by the Carillon Newspaper Inc., a non-profit organization.

land acknowledgement

The Carillon is written on treaty four territory. As such, the staff recognize that we are living, working, and telling stories on and of Indigenous lands. We recognize that we are on the traditional homelands of the Nakota, Lakota, and Dakota peoples, along with the homeland of the Métis nation. The Carillon understands that it is pointless to acknowledge the land on which we work without speaking to our commitment to telling stories and prioritizing voices that further the return of the land to its place sacred place in the cultures of those that live here.

the manifesto

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 sixty years.

In the late 1950s, the University of Regina planned the construction of several new buildings on the campus grounds. One of these pro posed 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 Car illon, 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

Local healthcare groups and residents met at the Saskatchewan Legislative building on November 9 to advocate for abortion as an essential aspect of healthcare that’s inaccessible through much of the province.

Abortion rally p. 4

The Perfect Story p. 6 Madman Musk p. 10

a&c a&c op-ed

Fun > function p. 3 Café study series p.

7

news

Recreation takes spotlight, homelessness looms over Regina

Fun over function

gillian massie news editor

On November 20, Regina host ed its fourth Canadian Football League Grey Cup game. On that same night, as hundreds of peo ple streamed out of Mosaic Stadi um, a person stood holding a sign asking for money and food on the side of the train track. This per son went generally unnoticed as the crowd crossed over Saskatche wan Drive and into the night.

Regina’s homelessness pop ulation continues to grow, and homelessness advocates continue to argue there are no long-term solutions to keeping people off the streets. Another concern re

catalyst committee consultations, the committee received harsh criticism that social issues existing in Regina should be taken into consultation before committing to large, million-dollar complexes.

City Councillor and cochair of the catalyst committee board Bob Hawkins spoke with 980 CJME explaining that these new facilities could have wrap around benefits. “These projects have a ripple effect that will help create neighbourhoods (and) cre ate housing,” said Hawkins. “So I think there was an attempt to see that the social issues that were raised, and the recreational cre ation issues that were raised, are connected, and that’s something

currently sits near the Regina downtown area where many of the recreational projects are set to be built. The company would benefit from recreation complex es and event centres in their area. However, they explain that ram pant homelessness comes at the cost of peoples’ lives. Johnson previously told the Carillon that homelessness is worse than previ ous years.

“It is a little bit more hidden and harder to detect, but it is cer tainly not better. I would argue the only things that have made it – and I hate to use the term better – is the fact that so many people died,” said Johnson.

Johnson worked at Camp

housing units exploded in North Central on November 13. Ac cording to CTV, their housing units with and without govern ment affiliations report months without heat, and pest and rodent populations.

In the same values as John son, District Brewing Company argues the catalyst committee’s ideas and goals of new recreation facilities would benefit the com munity, but putting people into safe and warm housing is top pri ority.

Original RRI Taylor Field plans on the line

On day 3 of the catalyst

grocery store to the neighborhood is the Safeway in the Cathedral area, but depending on financial situations, this can be expensive compared to other grocery stores. The nearest affordable grocery stores are Crawford’s No Frills, located across Lewvan Drive in Rosemont neighbourhood, or FreshCo, which is situated in Re gent Park. Since there is no fully funded public mode of transpor tation available many are left to bus, costing more money to get their groceries home.

While negotiations of the catalyst committee took place, the RRI Phase 3 planning mentions nothing of housing units, but instead mentioned “an exciting

mains that recreation facility de velopment in Regina continues to take priority, ousting resourc es to aid homelessness. Alysia Johnson, an advocate with Rally Around Homelessness, spoke to 980 CJME: “Nobody is against recreation facilities. We just don’t think that this is the (right) time. We have bigger fish to fry.”

Five major recreational proj ects are set to take place already, undergoing consultation at the end of October. The catalyst committee set up four days of sessions for public feedback on recreation facilities. According to CBC, the total cost of the five rec reation projects could hit around $490 million. On the first day of

we are going to go away and think about hard.”

Since consultations took place, other community organi zations and businesses have come forth expressing their concern about the building of recreational complexes. In a press release, Dis trict Brewing Company argued that affordable and stable housing should take priority over recre ation in Regina.

“There are hundreds of peo ple without stable housing in Re gina right now. We cannot wait for councillors to ‘go away and think about hard’ how to deal with the crises our neighbours are facing tonight.”

District Brewing Company

Hope, the tent city that occupied Pepsi Park in the Heritage area in the fall of 2021. One in five Camp Hope residents have died since last year. With snow on the ground, resources matter more than ever. Johnson said people are “dying needless deaths.”

“It’s so important because we have neighbours in our communi ty that are losing fingers and toes, and limbs, and hands,” said John son. “They are freezing, they are cold, they are wet.”

CBC reports that there are currently around 700 Regina Housing Authority Units that sit vacant. However, the safety and reliability of these housing units are in question after one of these

committee public feedback ses sions, a suggestion was made for Taylor Field, the previous loca tion of the old Mosaic Stadium, to be the site for the new outdoor baseball and soccer facility. In the original 2011 Regina Revitaliza tion Initiative (RRI) plan, Phase 3 originally designated Taylor Field to be a place to build 700 affordable and market-rate hous ing units. These housing units would be a great asset for the North Central community who needs better housing units. More housing units would have attract ed commercial development to the area. For example, North Central does not currently have a grocery store. The nearest

opportunity to rejuvenate one of Regina’s historic neighbourhoods with approximately 20 acres avail able for future development.” After catalyst committee negotia tions concluded, the RRI page on the City of Regina website was updated with a revision explain ing that affordable housing units were never the official plan of the RRI: “Council has not yet ad opted a neighbourhood plan for the Taylor Field Neighbourhood. The Taylor Field Neighbourhood servicing and planning evaluation will begin in 2023 and is part of the Land Development Master Plan.”

Deputy Mayor Lori Bresciani told 980 CJME that the reason the affordable housing units were never built is because no develop ers came forward to develop the housing. “I had heard that there were whispers that the Taylor Field was going to be designated for some affordable housing. But there has been nothing that has moved that forward,” said Bres ciani.

The only phase of the RRI that has been fulfilled was Phase 1, the building of the new Mosaic Stadium.

Recreational facilities weighing down the potential for affordable housing.

“There are hundreds of people without stable housing in Regina right now. We cannot wait for councillors to ‘go away and think about hard’ how to deal with the crises our neighbours are facing tonight.”

– District Brewing Company Press Release

editor:

Rally reflects concerns about abortion access

Still controlling what people wear

“Take my hand, not my life,” the sign read above a picture of a chubby infantile hand reaching out to a delicate feminine hand, in a manner reminiscent of Michel angelo’s The Creation of Adam. It was a sign I passed regularly for two years as I made drives be tween Calgary and Lethbridge, but I think the casual anti-abor tion sloganeering supported by an amateur display of art is a surreal experience that most peo ple on the prairies can relate to.

As reported by CTV in August, a Saskatchewan resident, Megan Johnston, started a non-profit in response to her frustration with all the anti-abortion highway signs. She recounted how on one drive across the province she had come across 13 highway signs. Johnston ended up raising a to tal of $21, 424 on GoFundMe to put up pro-choice highway signs across the province.

The issues with abortion in the province are not limited to the messaging many of us see while driving; abortion access is also limited in Saskatchewan, which the Carillion’s Gillian Massie re ported on previously in June. In short, surgical abortion is only available in Saskatoon and Re gina, for up to 12 and 18 weeks, respectively. Pregnant people also commonly face crisis pregnancy centres, which are anti-abortion groups masquerading as health centres. According to a list com piled this October by the Abor tion Rights Coalition of Canada,

there are two anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers just in Regina. The deception perpetrated by these centers is viewed as char ity by the government, who give the two in Regina tax-exempt status. In my previous conversa tion with the executive director of Planned Parenthood Regina, we also discussed the difficulties they faced in finding a new location. Planned Parenthood Regina is an organization that does not offer abortions themselves, but works to make sexual healthcare accessi ble to all. United Nations human rights bodies have decided in the past that access to abortion falls under the human rights to health, privacy, and in some cases free dom from cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment.

Saskatchewan residents took to the snowy legislature on No vember 9 to let their represen tatives know they’re fed up with the state of abortion access in the province. Stephanie, a rally attendee, told the Carillon that their concerns about abortion in Saskatchewan were that “Rules vary from city to city, even doc tor to doctor. There needs to be a Reproductive Health Centre within PA [Prince Albert] or a mobile unit that travels around the North. We need doctors that know what care is and isn’t avail able.”

The rally was led by Megan Johnston, who was interviewed by Bodie Robinson with the Carillon in September about her ‘abortion is healthcare’ road signs. Johnston made headlines again on Novem ber 9, this time national. During the rally, she peacefully entered

the building wearing a shirt that said “abortion is healthcare,” when she was told by security that she couldn’t wear the slogan into the building. Johnston ended up turning the shirt inside out so that she could watch the legislature. Outside on the steps, rally-go ers showed support with signs showing her slogan, ‘abortion is healthcare.’

According to a press release by the NDP, Johnston’s Abortion is Healthcare organization was also joined by Planned Parent hood Regina, Saskatoon Sexual

Health, Regina Abortion Support Network, other abortion provid ers, and NDP MLAs. Rally at tendee Stephanie confirmed the organizations in attendance and estimated about 100 people were in attendance.

While the protest was occur ring outside, NDP MLA Jennifer Bowes told the legislature that “Platitudes and words of support simply won’t do when Saskatch ewan people are consistently de nied adequate access to this im portant service. We need action today.”

In response to the protest, Paul Merriman, the provincial health minister, told the Regina Leader-Post that the government is considering expanding surgical abortion access to Prince Albert and looking into the discrepancy between abortion access in Sas katoon and Regina. However, Premier Scott Moe has previously stated that he is pro-life.

Stephanie noted that “No one from the Sask. Party was will ing to speak to us.”

New Accommodation Test Centre opens at the U of R

In memory of Hornung

Brad Hornung was one of the first students at the University of Regina to receive extensive ac commodations in the early 90s. Now, a new Accommodation Test Centre is being named after him.

On November 4, the ribbon was cut to officially open the new Brad Hornung Accommodation

Test Centre at the University of Regina. The event was attended by Hornung’s family. Hornung passed away in February this year after a battle with cancer at 52.

Hornung’s sister, Leanne Wright, said they felt the need to do something with the remainder of funds from the Brad Hornung Foundation.

“Considering this mon ey was provided to Brad by the wonderful people of Regina and

Saskatchewan – and considering both Brad’s educational journey and love of athletics – we thought a perfect fit would be to establish some things that would continue Brad’s legacy at the University of Regina,” said Wright in a Univer sity of Regina press release.

The Accommodation Test Centre is tucked into a hallway near the University of Regina Bookstore in College West.

Hornung was an up-and-

coming WHL hockey player for the Regina Pats who had good odds of going pro. But in 1987, he suffered a spinal cord injury in a game against team rivals, the Moose Jaw Warriors. The spinal cord injury left him a quadriple gic.

Hornung’s number 8 jersey is currently retired by the Regi na Pats organization. Hornung’s former coach, Doug Sauter, re flected on Brad after his death in February.

“His attitude was always outstanding,” said Sauter to 980 CJME. “His character was top notch and his enthusiasm for life and improving himself was great. […] Unfortunately, [Hornung] passing away last night will I think leave a large hole in the commu nity as far as a role model goes.”

The Accommodation Test Centre’s goal is consistency. The goal for students who need extra accommodations to be able to stay on campus and receive the help they need instead of having to seek help somewhere else. This centre will provide equal access for students to complete their work and help them in their academic pursuits. There are 58 worksta tions, 11 private exam rooms, and 11 shared exam rooms. These stations and exam rooms are all

equipped with dual monitors, and readers and scribes.

Hornung holds two degrees from the University of Regina. In 1996, he graduated from Cam pion College with a Bachelor of Arts in History. In 2018, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree for his courage and perseverance.

Hornung shared an inter est in creating a more accessible space for other students who came after him, according to President of the University of Regina Jeff Keshen.

“Brad was clearly passionate about creating a more accessi ble campus for the students who came after him,” said Keshen in a press release. “The establishment of the Brad Hornung Accommo dations Test Centre is not just a testament to those efforts – it’s our commitment to continue them.”

In addition to the new centre, the Hornung family and the Brad Hornung Legacy Foundation will be supporting accessible fitness equipment and two scholarships for the University of Regina Cou gars hockey team. A scholarship at a value of $1,500 will go to one player from the women’s and men’s teams.

We’re not gonna take it. Image: Mohamed_hassan via Pixabay and Eric Brochu via Flickr, manipulated by Lee Lim

gillian massie news editor

Brad Hornung Accommodation Test Centre doors.

Photo: Gillian Massie

Climate activists see mixed results from COP27

Last minute race to keep 1.5 alive

josh king news writer

Implementation and inequality were the big themes on the agen da going into COP27. However, with the closing of COP27 on Sunday, November 20, leaders at COP27 were struggling to get countries to sign onto a progres sive final statement.

Thursday night, with only 24 hours before the scheduled close, the United Nations secretary-gen eral and COP27 president jointly addressed the summit to urge all parties to take necessary action. Sameh Shoukry, the COP27 pres ident, summarized the state of the conference as “Some of the discussions were constructive and positive, others did not reflect the expected recognition of the need to move collectively to address the gravity and urgency of the cli mate crisis.”

Shoukry went on to say “The mitigation work program has yet to reach the desired out come. Adaption is still held back by procedural matters. Ambitious outcomes on finance have not yet materialized. And on loss and damage parties are shying away from taking the difficult political decisions.”

The loss and damages Shoukry mentioned are the terms countries have been using to re fer to the irreversible destruction caused by climate change. Coun tries at the COP have also recog nized that the loss and damages due to climate change dispropor tionately impact poorer countries, and there has been a push to get developed countries to pay for those damages.

One of the issues being de bated in the last days of COP27 is whether the final statement should have the goal of keeping warming to 1.5 C above pre-in dustrial levels. This debate is

ing for a stronger commitment to keep warming to 1.5 C.

According to Climate Ac tion Tracker, a consortium of international scientists, Canada has an overall ranking of High ly Insufficient as of September 2021, meaning that we are not on track to meet our Paris Agree ment commitments. The Highly Insufficient ranking means that current policies put us on track for warming above 2 C. The do mestic targets are ranked at “al most sufficient,” meaning that if planned policies and targets are enacted, we will be on track to be below 2 C but remain above the 1.5 C goal.

During COP27, Canada has made a number of announce ments to further its climate commitments. The Canadian government announced initia tives totalling $84.25 million at COP27. All of the money com mitted under these initiatives is planned to be funded out of Can ada’s $5.3 billion climate finance commitment, which was previ ously announced in 2021. Can ada also led a Climate Pricing Challenge at COP27. The pric ing challenge will not involve any additional commitments from Canada, and is a call for other countries to implement carbon pricing initiatives, like the one enacted by the Trudeau govern ment. Canada also signed onto a US-led net-zero government initiative which commits to hav ing all government operations at net-zero by 2050. This commit ment is already a requirement of the Paris Agreement.

Notably missing from Can ada’s commitments at COP27 this year is a commitment to phase down oil and gas produc tion. In doing so, Canada has notably broken from other west ern nations such as the US, the European Union, and the UK,

Guilbeault said “we weren’t real ly challenged on that, but we are on pretty much everything we’re doing on oil and gas.”

The Center for International Environmental Law held a press conference on November 17, one day before the scheduled end of the conference, as a final push to get countries to commit to phase down all fossil fuels and commit to loss and damage financing.

had plenty of opportunities to promote their corporate interests across the conference.”

The Director of the Climate and Energy Program Center for CIEL Nikki Reisch added that “What we’ve seen here are mul tiple new gas deals signed on the margin of this climate summit.”

During the press conference, panelists laid out their position of what a successful COP would

the negotiating table. On Sat urday morning, Jeni Miller, ex ecutive director of the Global Climate and Health Alliance, who was commenting on behalf of over 130 health organizations worldwide, said “With people’s lives and humanity’s future at stake, governments at COP27 have a moral duty to stay at the table until they reach a robust agreement on establishment of

senior attorney with the Center for International Environmental Law

coming to COP27 due to a report released by the UN Environmen tal Programme shortly before the conference that claimed the only remaining paths to 1.5 C require “urgent system-wide transforma tion.”

Previous COP meetings have been criticized for taking little actual action on promises made, which is why this year had a focus on implementation. The current warming target at previous COPs was in accord with the Paris Agreement, which committed to keeping warming below 2 C and set 1.5 C as an aspirational target. This year at COP27, countries reaffirmed the Paris Agreement despite the European Union call

whose negotiators were consid ering signing onto a cover deci sion that committed to a fossil fuel phase-down. At COP26, last year, a commitment was made to phase down coal production, but ignored other fossil fuels, like oil and gas.

At a fireside chat on Thurs day night, Minister of the En vironment and Climate Steven Guilbeault blamed withholding agreement to the fact that under the Canadian constitution, natu ral resources are not under fed eral control. Although, last year at COP26, Canada signed onto a pledge to phase down coal use, also a natural resource. When asked about this discrepancy,

Sebastien Duyck, senior at torney with the Center for In ternational Environmental Law (CIEL), said in reaction to a first draft of the cover decision, “The conference has been marred by the promotion of false solutions and pledges that have doubled down on fossil fuels.”

Duyck made allegations of corporate influence on the con ference and even foul-play, stat ing: “Many civil society and In digenous Peoples representatives have been personally targeted by acts of intimidation and harass ment by operatives with badges provided by the host of this con ference. At the same time hun dreds of corporate lobbyists have

look like.

Reisch said, “If this COP does not extend the commitment to phasing out fossil fuels beyond coal to include oil and, critically, gas, about which we’ve heard an awful lot about here, it’s a failure, full stop.”

Another panelist, Joie Chow dhury, program co-ordinator at ESCR-net, a coalition of environ mental activists and NGOs, said “for many of us, the measure of success at this COP is the estab lishment of the loss and damages facility.”

As negotiations headed into overtime on Saturday, both the fossil fuel phase-out and loss and damages financing were still on

loss and damage finance. […] Countries must also sit down and thrash out firm plans for protect ing the future health and liveli hoods of people worldwide by making a clear commitment to an equitable phase-out of all fossil fuels, essential to limiting warm ing to 1.5 C.”

At the closing of COP27 there were no commitments to phase-out oil and gas, though an agreement to finance loss and damages was established, and a management team for the fund will be set up next year at COP28.

COPS, COPS, COPS, COPS (in the baseball organ theme). Image: Lee Lim

“Many civil society and Indigenous Peoples representatives have been personally targeted by acts of intimidation and harassment by operatives with badges provided by the host of this conference. At the same time, hundreds of corporate lobbyists have had plenty of opportuni ties to promote their corporate interests across the conference.”

– Sebastien Duyck,

arts & culture

A look inside The Perfect Story

Perspective on Michelle Shephard and Abdulle’s unique connection through journalism

bodie robinson staff writer

George Orwell, writing about his experi ences of the Spanish Civil War, said that filth and chaos seemed to be an inevitable byproduct of civil war; it was everywhere. Power vacuums lend themselves to con fusion and volatility. When a country is irreconcilably divided, when violence and terror become the only recourse, the fog of war hangs thicker.

Somalia has been in various states of civil war since the early 1990s when the Somali Democratic Republic collapsed. In 2010, the two main combatants were the Federal Government of Somalia and the jihadist group al-Shabaab. At that time, Michelle Shephard – a journalist and film maker based in Toronto – had been report ing on Somalia.

When al-Shabaab controlled Moga dishu – the capital city of Somalia – they used amputation as a form of corporal punishment. For example, men accused of stealing would have their right hand and left foot cut off. Ismael Khalif Abdulle, a 17-year-old Somali boy, was a victim of one of these “cross-amputations.”

Through a fellow journalist, Shephard and Abdulle met. Abdulle told Shephard that he was cross-amputated because he refused to join al-Shabaab. He wanted to stay in school and study, he said. For Shep hard, Abdulle’s experience seemed like the perfect story. Abdulle was an innocent boy, maimed by jihadists, who wanted to ear nestly pursue his education. Abdulle was also seeking refuge in the West.

Abdulle’s story came to the attention of the Somalian diaspora living in Cana da. They organized fundraisers and oth er events to help Abdulle find refuge in Norway. After several years of studying in a small town called Harstad, Abdulle be came a citizen of Norway.

was a resilient, innocent kid who had defied a powerful terrorist group. He wanted to pursue his education. With the help of the Somali diaspora, he found refuge in Nor way. Who wouldn’t love that story?

The perfect story became complicat ed and morally ambiguous when Abdulle confessed that he lied about the reason he had been maimed by al-Shabaab. Conse quently, Shephard’s documentary invites viewers to question narratives about the responsibility of journalists and the way in which journalists portray war and refugees in their stories.

“This isn’t a good thing to admit, but the journalism wasn’t my first thought. It cer tainly came quickly as a second thought. But my first thought was really about him. I grasped pretty quickly that he had been carrying this around for ten years, and be cause of that initial story he told, he had to keep retelling that because the story had gotten bigger than himself.”

Nevertheless, the basic facts of the story are still true. Abdulle was a teenag er who had been maimed by al-Shabaab. The reasons for why Abdulle ended up in al-Shabaab’s custody differed, however.

refugees one of two ways. As one narrative goes, refugees experience utter deprivation and flee from intolerable conditions to find safety in the West; therefore, their status as refugee is valid. Or, as the other narrative goes, refugees had relatively stable lives in their home countries, but they are seeking material gain in the West. In other words, they are characterized as economic mi grants rather than refugees. Some far-right news outlets even argue that these so-called economic migrants intentionally manipu late bleeding heart liberals in the West to more easily secure refugee status. These

Shephard and Abdulle kept in touch during these years. After receiving his Norwegian citizenship, Abdulle told She phard that he was suffering a breakdown. He missed home. He missed his family. He felt alienated in Norway. Shephard helped Abdulle coordinate a brief return to Mog adishu.

Abdulle was reunited with his fami ly after a decade of being apart, but Ab dulle’s behaviour became increasingly eva sive during his stay in Mogadishu. It was clear to Shephard that Abdulle was hiding something. Later, Abdulle met Shephard in Toronto to make his confession. Ab dulle revealed that he hadn’t been entirely honest about the events leading up to his cross-amputation. He wasn’t the totally in nocent refugee as he had led media to por tray him.

Shephard’s 2021 documentary The Perfect Story recounts her and Abdulle’s decade-long professional and personal re lationship. For Shephard, Abdulle was the perfect story. It was a simple narrative. He

“It’s the type of film that I feel like you need to discuss afterwards,” Shephard told me in an interview. “It’s one of those stories that makes you think about the profession [of journalism] and what we do.”

The question of objectivity in jour nalism is dealt with in The Perfect Story. If journalists can’t be objective, then what is their responsibility as writers who can shape the public’s perception on sensitive issues? Shephard explained “We all bring our own experiences, and we all bring our own backgrounds, to whatever story we re port on. […] If you recognize the lens that you’re bringing to the story, then you can do a better job at seeing how that’s shaping what you’re seeing.”

With Shephard and Abdulle, it be came personal. “It felt like I was breaking the rule we always try to keep in journal ism: don’t become part of the story,” She phard said. Over the past decade, the two had developed a friendship. I asked Shep herd what she was thinking when Abdulle confessed that he had lied about his past.

That is where the record had to be correct ed. Other journalists have accused She phard of failing to properly question and fact-check Abdulle’s claims. But as she told me, journalists also have a responsibility to practice compassion and avoid re-trauma tizing their subjects: “This was a teenager who had suffered this incredible trauma six months earlier. […] It’s important not to re-victimize victims of war.” Although she had been misled in some details about Ab dulle’s story, she said, “I feel like I pushed him hard enough.”

On the other hand, consider Abdulle’s situation. He was a boy, living in a coun try that had been in civil war for decades, and he had just lost his hand and foot. “I understand why he did it. In a way, he was incredibly savvy and smart for a 17-yearold,” Shephard explained.

The Perfect Story masterfully deals with two intersecting issues: objectivity and ethics in journalism, and narratives about refugees fleeing to the West. In many cases, Western media shapes narratives around

economic migrants fabricate stories of ex treme destitution or persecution in order to garner more pity and compassion from Westerners.

Obviously, both of these narratives are oversimplified and untrue. The Perfect Story complicates and problematizes both of these narratives and presents something much closer to reality: that nobody is en tirely innocent nor entirely cynical. People are simply trying to survive, trying to make a better life for themselves, and they’ll do what they think is necessary in order to se cure that better life.

Journalists must remember that they shape the public’s perception of these is sues. They have a responsibility to pres ent nuanced, complicated stories, because that’s closer to the truth. As Shephard said near the end of our interview, “We’re so desperate to put people into one box or the other. […] Of course there are cases on each extreme, but they are the minority.”

The perfect story through a different lens.

Illustration: Lee Lim

“It felt like I was breaking the rule we always try to keep in journalism: don’t become part of the story.”

– Michelle Shephard

A not-so-Funny Girl

Identifying fat phobia ever-present in Broadway’s Funny Girl

jorah bright a&c writer

The year is 2009 and season one of Glee is airing on Fox. Lea Michele as Rachel Ber ry is singing “Don’t Rain on My Parade” at Sectionals. It’s an incredible performance. The New Directions win Sectionals.

The year is 2013. Glee is on season five. Lea Michele as Rachel Berry is cast as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl. She eventually decides to leave for a TV show despite it being her dream role.

The year is 2022. Glee ended some time ago. Lea Michele has seen many contro versies from behind the scenes of the show.

Funny Girl has been revived on Broadway. Lea Michele takes over the role of Fanny Brice in September of 2022.

But, let’s back up a little bit.

When the show opened on April 24, 2022, the lead role of Fanny Brice was played by Beanie Feldstein. Reviews of Feldstein’s performance were not great. The show was not performing very well at all, especially compared to Mean Girls the Musical which was at the August Wil son theatre before Funny Girl. Many people blamed this on Feldstein. They said her performance was not good and that her voice was not strong enough for the vocally demanding role of Fanny Brice. According to some, Feldstein missed several perfor

mances of the show.

When Feldstein announced she was leaving the show on Instagram, she said that “the production decided to take the show in a different direction,” which seems to suggest something happened behind the scenes.

Ironically, Jane Lynch, who played Mrs. Brice in Funny Girl alongside Feld stein, left at the same time. Lynch worked with Michele on Glee and was out of Fun ny Girl before she would have to work with Michele.

When Michele was announced to take over the role, people began talking about the Glee comparisons and bringing up old claims about working with her. An actress

from Glee claimed that Michele was a bul ly and often said racial microaggressions. Several cast members agreed. They stated that Michele was rather mean and difficult to work with.

Since Michele has taken over the role of Fanny, a lot has changed over at Fun ny Girl. The show has started performing better and a lot of people have praised Michele’s performance as Brice. Some re views state that Michele was meant to have the role over Feldstein.

One major change that people noticed was the costuming. Feldstein, who is plussized, wore the signature finale red dress with a straight neckline and long sleeves. In contrast, Michele’s has a completely differ ent neckline and no sleeves. This sparked a conversation about fatphobia on Broadway that died out far too quickly.

Recently, it was announced that Funny Girl would be getting a cast recording al bum with Michele at the head. It’s not very common for cast albums to be recorded with replacement actors as opposed to the original cast.

Even though Michele may be vocally stronger than Feldstein, not every change was necessary. It was not necessary to change the finale dress. It was a stand-out decision from the producers at Funny Girl to make the album without Feldstein.

While we’re discussing Michele, we can’t ignore the rumour that she can’t read. Despite the rumour being around for years, there have only been steps taken recently to try and combat it, though they haven’t been very successful.

If there’s anything to be said about this, it’s that Julie Benko, Michele’s un derstudy, is absolutely incredible as Fanny Brice and should get a lot more credit for her amazing work, and that fatphobia is very present on Broadway and needs to be discussed more.

Café study series: Utopia Café

victoria baht staff writer

A few weeks ago, I did a review of a café known as Stone Throw’s café to let you know all the ins and outs of that cute little coffee shop, and whether or not it was a great place to study. Today I will be keep ing that series going as I hit up Utopia Café, located on 106 Victoria Avenue East. I have been here a couple of times and it is honestly one of my favourite study spaces to hit up and enjoy a nice drink, and I am going to tell you why.

First, the mood of this coffee shop is just immaculate! I say this because there is a welcoming atmosphere when you walk in. They have twinkling lights in the window, a variety of plants around the seating area, a water fountain to the side that trickles in the background while you study, smooth music, and so much more. All these little details make it a very relaxing place that al lows you to fully relax and focus while you work. The combination of a soft and warm setting allows you to dial in on what needs to be done.

Not only is the setting good, but the drinks are outstanding. The two drinks featured in the picture on the menu are the iced mint cocoa and the iced straw berry matcha latte. The iced mint cocoa is a drink that offers the perfect balance of chocolate and mint. As I take a sip, it re minds me of a mint Aero chocolate bar, it’s just that similar in taste. The second drink

is good, personally one of my favourites. It hits hard with the matcha first, then calms down with a nice creamy flavour, and ends with the strawberry taste, blending it to gether naturally. These drinks appear to be original and taste that way as well. I am unsure if these drinks are on a special sea son, but they have lots of options to choose from.

Do you know what else is original about this place? All of their different des serts! I did not try any, but let me tell you it was hard not to. Based on the options they had when I visited, it seems like they are a real hit in the café. A few options that they had were mango cheesecake, strawberry cheesecake, Oreo cheesecake, salted car amel cheesecake, and more. I don’t know how often these are here or how many will be here when you come by for a visit, but trust me, they have lots of different cheese cake options to choose from.

Utopia café – they have the setting, the drinks, and a glorious amount of cheese cake. What else can I tell you about the café? One thing that they have is a busy setting! If you are a person that likes to have background chatter and music to lis ten to, then this is the place for you. Per sonally, that is one of my favourite parts about studying in a coffee shop and one of the main reasons why I wanted to do this series. I find when I have a little bit of back ground noise when working it allows me to take small breaks. It is better for me than going on my phone and ending up distract ed. I am not tempted to look for the perfect

song or mix for the next couple of minutes.

So, now you know! Do you know what kind of study setting may be right or wrong for you? Utopia café is a great place to visit

or to catch up with friends, so make sure to hit it up next time you are craving a piece of cheesecake or a nice setting to study in.

A not so similar costume for Funny Girl.

Illustration: Lee Lim

The best café in town to grab an original drink and sweet cheesecake

Two reversed drinks that taste equally as good.

Photo: Victoria Baht

sports & health

NextGen Energy Street Festival

As I am sure most of you Sas katchewan residents are aware, the 109th Grey Cup Champi onship game was held in Regi na’s Mosaic Stadium last week. This meant we also had events happening all week to entertain those who had come from far and near to enjoy. This was known as the Grey Cup Festival. It started on Tuesday, November 15, and events took place until game day, November 20. Today, I am going to be reflecting on the Grey Cup Festival to tell you what it was all about, what you may have missed, and to encourage you to go to the next one.

The last Grey Cup held in Saskatchewan was in 2013 when the Saskatchewan Roughriders played against the Hamilton Ti ger Cats, coming to an ending score of 45-23 for the Roughrid ers. This is a memory that Roughrider fans will not forget.

Even with the Roughriders not playing in this championship game, that didn’t discourage us from going out and having fun in the winter, celebrating the love of football. That is one thing that I personally love about festivals like this in good old Regina, Saskatch ewan. No matter the weather, we will get all geared up and go have some fun in the cold because that is honestly just what we have to do sometimes.

This past weekend, I at tended the Grey Cup Festival on Saturday, November 19. I will be talking in detail about a fam ily-friendly event so everyone can enjoy it and plan on heading out next time. I had the opportunity to participate in many events. Be cause there was so much to do, I will be talking a great deal about the one big festival that was there: the NextGen Energy Street Fes tival. It took place from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. in Confederation Park. This event was held outside with options to stay outside or to walk from tent to tent to participate in activities as well. A few companies were involved with the NextGen Energy Street Festival, and all had unique events.

First was the NextGen Fan

zone. This is where you had the chance to complete four foot ball-like challenges to test your ultimate football skill. When you first walk into the tent, the first skill test you come to is the lightup seesaws. This is where you get on the seesaw no matter your age and you use your legs to power up. The longer you moved the seesaw, the more it lit up, but you had to use a lot of leg power to move the seesaw. Once you got your legs warmed up, the next challenge was kicking accuracy. This is where you got the chance to kick a pretend field goal – trust me, it is harder than it looks.

Now, you think you would be done with the leg work, cor rect? Well, that is not the case. The third activity involved the end-zone race. This is where you and an opponent sit on foot ball-shaped bikes, and you must race to the end zone. As you start biking, some lights on a field goal post light up, and the more you pedal the higher the light reach es. Finally, the last skill is a gen eral skills competition where you challenge yourself or a partner to throw some footballs into some challenging baskets, all at differ ent levels. These were all great activities put on by the NextGen Fanzone, but that’s not all.

Once you left that tent and walked around, you came across some curling. CTV presented two sheets of ice where attendees had the chance to throw two curling rocks across the ice to see if they were a true curler. Do not worry about having to move the heavy rocks, they had options for kids and adults to both be able to slide down the sheet of ice.

So, you got to do some foot ball and curling, what’s next? The SaskPower tube slide. To me, it would not be a Saskatchewan event in the winter if there were no tobogganing events, but Sask Power pulled through! After fill ing out the waiver form and wait ing in line, you grab a tube and up you go to the top of the slide. Then, take a seat on the tube and get pushed down the slide. This is great fun for all ages, and I saw all ages go down the slide and enjoy the event just like we were all little kids riding toboggans down a hill.

Once I finished zipping down

the tube slide, I became a little chilly, and this is where I took the opportunity to go and warm up next to a fire. A little ways down I saw a fire going, and when I walked over there I noticed that there was a fire and s’mores to en joy. What is better than enjoying a s’more in the winter with your toes tingling in the cold?

When I went to this event, I went later at night, and got a bit of an extra show for going in the evening because at 9 p.m. there

was a live drone show. 300 drones moved around in the sky to a back ground story and showed some art with it. As the show went on, it told a story about Turtle Island and a story about Indigenous tra ditions, which then transformed into a story about football and the Grey Cup. This show must have taken a great deal of practice and time to finish.

So, those were some events that you may have missed at the Grey Cup Festival, or got to par

ticipate in! Honestly, the Grey Cup Festival was a great one, and I think lots of time and effort was put into it. There were a lot more events that were not mentioned in this article, but the Carillon want ed to do a family-friendly event for everyone to enjoy and only had so much space on this page to do so. Next time the Grey Cup is here, make sure to check out some of the activities that come this way, and stay warm out there doing those winter activities.

This full-day celebration as part of the Grey Cup Festival offered fun and competition, fireside s’mores, and more

victoria baht staff writer

The Grey Cup Festival goes on strong whether there’s snow or shine (or night time by 6 p.m.).

Photo: Victoria Baht

“Even with the Roughriders not playing in this championship game, that didn’t discour age us from going out and having fun in the winter, celebrating the love of football. [...] No matter the weather, we will get all geared up and go have some fun in the cold because that is honestly just what we have to do sometimes.”

– Victoria Baht

Canada claims bronze at FIG World Championship

For the first time at this competitive gymnastics event, our women’s team made the podium, qualifying for the 2024 Olympics

sophia stevens s&h writer

The Canadian women’s national artistic gymnastics team recently had a historic performance at the FIG Artistic Gymnastic World Championship in Liverpool. For the first time ever, Canada had a podium performance at a World Championship where they fin ished in third place, with a score of 160.563. As expected, the United States won the gold medal with a score of 166.564, and the United Kingdom took home sil ver with a score of 163.363.

Canada’s podium finish qual ified team Canada for the upcom ing 2024 Olympics in Paris. In the lead up to the final rotation of the competition, Canada was sitting in fourth place, two-tenths of a point behind Japan. During the last rotation, Japanese gymnast Kokoro Fukasawa fell on uneven bars which resulted in a major de duction in her overall score.

Canada had an amazing ro tation on the balance beam in the final rotation, which ended up be ing the second highest combined score for a team on balance beam during the competition. Canada’s composure on the balance beam saw Canada move into third place after the final rotation. The an chor for Canada on the balance beam was Ellie Black, who is very much an icon in the world of Ca nadian gymnastics, as this was the 27-year-old’s seventh time at a World Championship.

Black has had many amazing individual performances, but by the elation on her face when her team won the bronze, we could see how truly amazing she is as a teammate and overall competitor. In a post to Instagram, Black stat ed “Making History! First ever team medal for Canada at World Championships and qualified a full team to the Paris 2024 Olym pics. I am speechless and blown away. Beyond proud of this team and what we just accomplished.”

Her final performance end ed up sealing the deal for Can ada winning the bronze medal.

Black’s performance wasn’t over, as she also qualified for the event finals on balance beam, vault, and the All-Round Final. Black would take home the silver med al on balance beam with a score of 13.566. She just nearly missed out on the gold medal, as her Jap anese competitor Hazuki Wata nabe won gold with a score of 13.600. Black finished just shy of the podium during vault finals, placing fourth, along with a fifthplace finish during the All-Round Finals.

In reaction to Black leading Canada to a historic performance,

Olympic Champion and CBC Sports analyst Kyle Shewfelt had this to say about Black: “For over a decade, Ellie has led the Cana dian women’s gymnastics team to overwhelming success, but that is just part of the story. She exem plifies Canadian values – she is fo cused and determined, she always sees the bright side, she treats oth ers with kindness and respect, and she is a fierce competitor on the competition floor.”

This result showcases how Canada can and should be a part of the conversation going into the Olympics. However, it’s now

Canada’s job to prove that this podium finish isn’t just a one-off. Although Canada qualified last in the team final, it proves that any thing is possible and that in sport the ability to capitalize on your opportunities is vital in achiev ing success. Therefore, Canadi ans should remain hopeful that Canada will succeed in achieving another historic result at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, as they have proven that they are capable of doing so.

Cougars cross-country Canada West rankings

sophia stevens s&h writer

The University of Regina’s cross-country team competed at the Canada West Champi onships in Abbotsford, B.C. on October 29. The Cougars had a very successful meet, with three Cougar athletes finishing within the top 12. Brayden Mytopher finished eleventh in the men’s course, which earned him a spot as a Canada West second team all-star. Jonathan Podbielski fin ished seventh in the men’s course which earned him not only Can ada West first team all-star recog nition, but also the Canada West Rookie of the Year title.

On the women’s side, Kai la Neigum finished the race in ninth place and received Canada West second team all-star hon ours. Neigum started training with the Cougars when she was in grade 11. When asked why she joined the Cougars, she ex plained that she loved the team and coach, though it was definite ly the team that made her want to stay. Neigum became inter ested in running after a physical education intern introduced her to cross-country. She decided to drop out of volleyball in order to pursue running and, with the help of the intern, Neigum was able to

go from twelfth in provincials to getting second in just the span of a year. She attests that having the intern as her coach helped to kickstart her love for the sport.

The cross-country season for the Cougars is relatively short, as the competition normally goes until late October or early No vember depending on whether the team makes nationals. The snow and ice make things tricky when running outside, so the team will normally transition in side when it becomes super cold outside.

Neigum sees her cross-coun try and track seasons as three sep arate seasons throughout the year. When in cross-country season, Neigum focuses on slow reps but high mileage, and then transitions to more speed-intensive workouts going into track season. Neigum sees the cross-country season as being beneficial going into the track season, saying that “You just feel like you’re more aerobi cally in shape when you switch to indoor track which I think makes me faster,” and “workouts are a little more easier.”

Niegum says that her “Favou rite event would be the 1500. Just long enough, but not too long.” When asked about her most re cent race in Abbotsford, Niegum said that the race “was by far the fastest I’ve ever run a race. A pret

ty fast course as it wasn’t too hilly, which makes faster times. I’ve gone to only two cross-country races since before COVID. So, I think I could have ran a little bit faster.” In transitioning into the indoor track season, Neigum’s goals consist of trying to increase her mileage while managing an ongoing Achilles issue, all while getting in quality workouts. Neigum also says that she would really like to auto-qualify for na tionals, since it’s something she hasn’t been able to do throughout her U Sports career.

If Neigum continues to race like she has been racing, then she will have no problem having a successful track season with hopes to obtain an auto-qualification for nationals. This year, the Can ada West 2023 Track and Field Championships and the U Sports 2023 Track and Field Champion ships will be hosted in Saskatoon. Hopefully Neigum and the other Cougars with her have a success ful Canada West Championship and U Sports Championship in their home province.

Despite their fairly short season, this varsity team hit the ground running and hasn’t stopped since

Swing low, sweet world championship medal.

Illustration: Lee Lim

Trouble in Twitter town

Twitter is being offered as a sacrifice to Elon Musk’s ego ayodipupo

This week has been quite the eventful one on the internet. It’s interesting to watch Twitter melting down in real time. Musk prides himself as a sort of visionary, keen to save Twitter from bankruptcy. Among some of his brilliant moves since taking charge was firing a significant number of Twitter employees. For those who remained, he posed a choice: work twice as hard with no increase in salary or take three months’ severance right before the holiday season. Take a wild guess as to which option the majority picked. Hint: Twitter is currently hemorrhaging staff who are showing their displeasure in very visible ways.

It is interesting that, despite his claims of being a proponent of free speech, Musk seems to heavily endorse a particular politi cal party to the point of even telling people where to cast their vote. It is concerning that social media and news conglomerates are increasingly concentrated in the hands of the mega-rich; in truth, there is an in herent bias in that billionaires control more and more avenues of information (and misinformation) dissemination.

Even more interesting is the current state of content moderation. In the first 12 hours after Musk took over Twitter, us age of the ‘n-word’ went up a remarkable 500%. This, of course, was due to the lackadaisical approach taken to modera tion, ostensibly in an effort to ensure ‘free speech.’ Of course this had rapid reper cussions on the only thing that matters to Musk (other than his baffling superiority complex): his bottom line.

As it turns out, most advertisers dislike

being associated with hate speech. It’s not a good look for Disney or Coca-Cola ads to be screenshot next to colourful screeds about immigrants and/or how anyone who fails the paper bag test is an abomination sent from the devil to destroy the country. So, Wonder Boy had to walk back on his statement and do some moderation to pre vent more advertisers from pulling ads.

Now, in order to make money, Musk came up with an idea: a blue checkmark subscription. There are several reasons that this is poorly thought out, and I’ll list them.

1: The origin of the blue checkmark was to verify the accounts for public figures. Since Twitter is increasingly used by local and government organizations as well as emergency services to get out information, it’s important to know that the Regina Po lice Service Twitter, say, actually belongs to the RPS and not just some random person.

2: The $8 a month for the verification check doesn’t make any sense for verified people to pay since they aren’t necessar ily profiting from Twitter; it’s the other way around. Twitter traffic is largely due to these public figures. Why should Taylor Swift pay $8 when it’s her own fans making the site ‘profitable?’

3: The subscription won’t actually make a profit. Twitter has about 400 mil lion users. Now to do some math: about 400,000 of these users are verified. In a year, that would be 8 x 12 x 400,000 = 38,400,000. Twitter’s yearly operating ex penses are roughly $1.5 billion a year. The revenue from the verification process is a mere rounding error in the budget. And remember, Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion, and the site continues to lose mon ey. This is even before we mention the lack of (real) utility: all it does is give you a jpeg.

But for some people, that’s a bonus, leading to the fact that…

4: It becomes very easy to impersonate other people on Twitter, thus defeating the entire purpose of the verification check.

Anyone on the internet in the last week has likely seen the crop of accounts emulating Musk himself (with often hilarious results) or the account pretending to be Eli Lilly (a pharmaceutical company) that actually affected their stock price by claiming that the company was now offering free insu lin.3 These accounts are being banned in droves, which is a shame because they’re pure comedy, which is supposed to be ‘le gal’ on Twitter now, according to the Chief Twit.4 The fact that this Musk moniker is self-bestowed is proof not only that irony is dead, but that the internet killed it. But it just goes to show that comedy is only ‘legal’ when not directed at our corporate over lords.

Suffice to say, Mars Boy is having to dip into his own pocket to cover for his Twitter purchase. He’s sold off nearly $4 billion in Tesla stock so far.

Personally, I don’t have Twitter, so this entire debacle has been highly entertain ing. I think a good way to describe my feel ings on Twitter’s freefall is “and nothing of value was lost.” My only complaint is that writing this article in itself has been diffi cult, because new ridiculous details come out several times a day. I’m sure by the time this article is published, it will once again be wildly out of date. Also, as I write this, Trump’s Twitter account has been reacti vated. I’m going to need some popcorn.

I am no self-made billionaire, but if this many people are this unhappy with you, you might be the problem.

Content: Gia Vang via Twitter (@Gia_Vang)

adetola contributor

This caricature of Elon Musk somehow looks more human than the actual Elon Musk.

Illustration: Lee Lim

The future is strange

Elon Musk probably doesn’t realize he isn’t running a mine in apartheid South Africa

bodie robinson staff writer

I think we should get used to a small group of egomaniacal billionaires owning every thing. Wealth inequality is worse now than it was at the height of the Roman Empire – you know, the civilization that was built on the labour of slaves. The concentration of capital into fewer and fewer hands is at a uniquely alarming stage at this point in history. But who knew these hands would belong to such strange men? One of these strange men is the particularly insuffer able tech lord, Elon Musk. It seems that the bloated, lethargic American state can’t compete with these Silicon Valley whiz kids. Will they take over everything?

You know that Orwell quote: “If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – for ever.” Not altogether untrue. However, Orwell had no idea about pay-to-play microtransactions, nor could he have predicted multiple gen erations of young people with blown-out dopamine receptors doom scrolling Tik Tok for six hours a day.

To wit, if you want an NFT image of the future, imagine Elon Musk slapping you in the face as he passes by on the Hy perloop – forever.

Born to an influential and wealthy fam ily in apartheid South Africa, Musk enjoyed a privileged upbringing. His father, Errol Musk, owned half of an emerald mine in Zambia. Musk attended prestigious schools and universities throughout his youth. He ended up studying physics, economics, and engineering. He dropped out of Stanford and pursued a career in technology, taking advantage of the dot-com bubble. We’ve heard this story before. He made his own fortune when he sold PayPal to eBay in

2002. The price tag: $1.5 billion.

Musk is smart. Very smart. In the past decade, he’s gotten into the business of science and technology. He undoubtedly fancies himself a techno-utopian vision ary, and he might just be. Tesla, SpaceX, The Boring Company, Neuralink, and now Twitter. After months of all manner of eight-dimensional pussyfooting, back pedalling, and post hoc tomfoolery, Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion in late Oc tober.

The takeover has been a dumpster fire, to put it mildly. Musk has laid off over half of Twitter’s workforce. The board of directors and directory of top executives is in utter shambles. He stated that Twitter would move in a more engineering-based orientation. He also offered an ultimatum to remaining employees: forget your family and work yourself to death, or leave. In the past week, the resignations have been de scribed as a mass exodus.

Interestingly, Musk has cited the issue of free speech as one of his main motiva tors for buying Twitter. The social media platform, allegedly, had become too woke. Accounts that spread hate and vitriol were suspended. Neither Trump nor Jordan Pe terson survived the woke purge. To every one’s utter horror, no doubt, Twitter put in effort to fact check misinformation. Not on Musk’s watch.

To remedy this intolerable state of affairs, Musk offered the blue checkmark (indicating a verified account) to each and every Twitter account for the cool price of $8 USD per month. Hilarity and hijinks ensued.

One account pretended to be the pharmaceutical giant, Eli Lilly, a notorious purveyor of insulin at ridiculously inflated prices. This account paid the $8 and com

Black Friday deals are here

Shameless consumerism or clever financial hack?

no reason to work.

Growing up in South Asia, the first time I remember hearing about big weeks-long sales events was when I was already in col lege. Until then, most businesses around me were small businesses that kept modest hours and never tried anything too flashy or bold. At any rate, the concept of offer ing enormous discounts on things so that even people who do not need them will buy them sounded like a concept that had

I am not sure when I first became fa miliar with the idea of huge annual pro motions like Black Friday, Boxing Day, and these days, Amazon’s very own Prime Day sometime in the summer. The idea is sim ple: for a span of time anywhere between three days to a month, stores offer deep discounts on their inventory and people are on the lookout for scoring some great deals, saving a lot of money on these deals.

Actually, the saving part of it is often not the focus. As the cliché goes, if you buy something you did not need just because it

hero of free speech gets into an online, very public argument like an angsty teenager.

posed a very simple tweet: “We are excited to announce insulin is free now.” Suddenly, Eli Lilly’s stock price decreased 4.37 per cent, costing the company billions of dol lars. For $8, that return on investment can’t be beat.

Musk responded by implementing a new “Official” badge in addition to the blue checkmark. So much for free speech!

But it was never about free speech. It was about a maladapted, eccentric work aholic investing in his cult of personality. There’s no doubt that Musk has an author itarian streak. Good government is sup posed to have checks and balances to pre

Content: Eric Fronhoefer via Twitter (@EricFronhoefer)

vent individual personalities from lording arbitrary impulses over the rest of us. But private companies – and especially private tech companies – aren’t subject to these conventions. Musk has demonstrated this throughout his storied career.

It’s a circus. But perhaps we should get used to it; rich men with unfathomable amounts of influence and money treat ing the world as their personal plaything. Money can’t buy happiness. Money can’t buy wisdom and prudence. But it can buy a handsome set of hair plugs. And it can buy Twitter. Let’s see what happens.

was on sale, you actually did not save any money. This of course makes sense. You never really needed the item, so you were saving 100 per cent of the price. But then you saw giant red letters flashing “50 per cent off” and now you are out the other 50 per cent cash and have something your life was fine without. But after all, that is the point of businesses offering such dis counts. People will always buy the things they need at whatever price is being offered when they need it. What businesses want is to make us buy the things we do not need, simply because they are now cheaper.

There is also the sardonic observation on how Black Friday and Boxing Day are paired with festivals that are supposed to make us more grateful of what we have, more mindful of how the relationships we build and the time we spend taking care of each other is the real deal. We sit down with loved ones for a meal and express gratitude and contentment in our lot in life. Then we go online to see if there is a great deal to be scored. A rather strange, modern-day ritual on the altars of capitalism, I suppose.

I began by saying big sales events like Black Friday were not a thing when and where I was growing up. They are now. Starting from mostly the USA, this culture has now spread pretty much all over the world, as well as online. Many big brand stores offer exclusive online deals as early as the first week of November, lasting well into the end of the month. This is then promptly followed by deals in December for the holidays and the new year. Who knows, with the healthcare situation what it is next door, perhaps the day is not far

when medical professionals will offer dis counts on a triple bypass if done on Black Friday week, or buy one get one free deals on insulin for Prime Day.

Enough with the cynicism, though. For one, that would be hypocritical of me. The truth is I find much about Black Fri day (and other similar events) problematic. However, I have also benefitted from such events almost every year for the past five or so years. All it has taken on my part is a little planning and a lot of patience. There are several items one needs these days for work and/or school – computers, a phone, portable hard drives, noise-cancelling headphones. Perhaps this is not true for ev eryone, but I certainly have felt the need for everything on that list in recent years.

I also appreciate that I have been im mensely fortunate in that none of those needs were an emergency – like being left without a computer a week before a re search paper was due. I have always been able to take my time, look at what exactly I want to buy, and then (this is where the pa tience comes in) simply hunker down and wait for the next big sales event when I can buy what I needed and save a ton of mon ey. Pretty much every gadget or work tool I own now was bought during some promo tional event. While the relentless drive of capitalism to produce, own, and consume can be overwhelming, I tell myself that un til the day we make a better world, I might as well leverage parts of it to save myself some money.

The

Photo: Michael Summers via Pixabay

Two

She

body

the signposts

and

She remembered that her brother, or her father, or perhaps no one had told her that when your lights are reflected in the ditch of a road, it might mean there's a wild animal She went slowly, and as she got closer to the two floating orbs she began to feel a creeping sense of terror They floated on the shoulder, bodiless but wreathed in a twisting darkness There was no head to hold them or body to cast a shadow, but when she looked past where the body should have been she saw the light passing through those eyes cast strange shadows as if the body of the creature was only there to stop light and replace it with something

a

a glass of water reached towards her car, they reached towards her They poured over the light, suffocatin g her

to see

had turned to ash and coal, but whatever burned it was like an oozing liquid fire and it seeped ever outwards

The fingers of the arm of the creature that was not there, could not be there, reached the hood of her car They began to prod along the door searching for a way in when she broke down and let tears fall from her eyes If she could have seen the dark oil tears she shed, she would have cried harder And then she passed the eyes in the ditch, and the fingers were gone She shook and when she looked in her mirror she froze The only thing she saw in the dark behind her were two shining eyes She blinked and then only darkness sat in her mirror once again

She drove for a long time after that She felt she should've reached her destination already, despite not knowing where she was meant to reach She drove like that, in darkness and uncertainty, until she came upon a pair of eyes reflected in the ditch She didn t slow down this time She drove faster, refused to let herself be caught by those eyes She would not let those hands made of shadows grab her Her car began to whine as the needle on her dashboard pushed further forward then stopped suddenly as the full grown buck in the ditch beside the road ran out and crashed through her windshield

Wait wait no that doesn t make sense She didn t understand what she was saying I m not dead that s not how it happened Even to her her words sounded weak frail Like a child pleading for something they knew they would never get Resigned and defeated, but still in denial The old w oman s voice chimed in one last time Spirit, you a re dismissed We hope you enjoyed your time with the Department, goodbye " "But I'm not " her voice trailed off into nothingness, and then so too did she

eyes floating on the side of the road That s exactly what I saw I swear there was nothing but the reflection of my headlights in them She felt like she had told the story a dozen times already and she didn't understand why she was doing it again She also didn't understand where she was It was a white room an almost overwhelmingly white room, where each corner reflected back the harsh LED light that came from a single oddly powerful bulb overhead There was a stainless steel or was it aluminum? table in the middle of the room, which was where she sat on an uncomfortable straight backed chair

No, start from the beginning The voice that sounded in her ears was that of an older upper class woman We must have everything Regardless of where she positioned her head the voice always felt the same distance away It was always near enough for each word to be perfectly understood and the inability to get away from the voice brought with it an oppressive claustrophobia "Start again " Thi s time the voice was louder, and more threatening She was scared and confused, but she assumed that once the voice got what it wanted she might be allowed to leave She didn t understand but she felt like she needed to leave as deeply as the voice needed to hear her story, so she did as she was told and started from the beginning

had been driving somewhere when night fell on the long stretch of nearly endless highway in front of her She couldn't remember where she had been driving, the details were fuzzy She also couldn t remember her name but she thought it rhymed with orange, but she knew that didn t make sense She had been driving for what felt like too long Her

began to fight the chair beneath her and her existence shifted from monotony to abject discomfort The hills beside her passed by too quickly and the words upon

were blurred

smudged like they were submerged in water She wasn't sure where she was driving, and that scared her It went on like this for hours Then, suddenly, she saw the first thing that she thought made sense From beyond the oily smudged mess that was the count ryside her headlights lit up a pair of shiny eyes along the highway s ditch

darker Long black fingers like

midnight oil being poured into

ability

The grass where the eyes hovered above

graphics: fiction edition Eyes - adam baker-smith - contributor

photo: shae sackman