The Fulcrum - Volume 78, Issue 25

VOL. 78 ISSUE 25

APR. 2, 2018

P. 13

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In this week’s issue...

SFUO board votes on motions from the GA by P. 5 Online voting passes, BDS motion fails

Your summer guide to Ottawa’s quirky museums P. 9 Sick of the big names?

Here are some smaller museums you should try The Travel Issue P. 13 Behind the lens Cavalry Award winners announced P. 21 Learn more about your best Gee-Gees athletes U of O needs to extend its lease date P. 26 Moving out on April 27 doesn’t work with exams, Ottawa housing How to keep your love life spicy while travelling P. 28 Because you can only see so many old buildings

karaoke NEW!

Sing your heart out on Thursday, April 19, 9pm

Student menu All items are only $5-$10 each!

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NEWS

NEWS EDITOR

Anchal Sharma news@thefulcrum.ca (613) 695-0061 @anchalsharma_

March BOA sees BDS motion fail, online voting pass

Meeting marks third defeat of BDS motion at the U of O Anchal Sharma News Editor

O

n Sunday March 25, the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO) held their monthly Board of Administration (BOA) meeting, where they voted on motions that were presented at the General Assembly (GA) on March 13, and one motion that was not presented at the GA due to time constraints.

The BOA meeting was not live-streamed as SFUO vicepresident communications and services Kathryn Leblanc, who normally live-streams the meetings, was sick and not present.

BDS MOTION The Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) motion, initially brought by SFUO vicepresident equity Leila Moumouni-Tchouassi at the Nov. 5 BOA meeting, went through many amendments, and was proposed once again at the GA. The motion read as follows:

“Be it resolved that the SFUO support campaigns associated to the BDS movement, including the divestment of corporations complicit in occupation of Palestinian lands, until Israel respects international law, and the rights of the Palestinian people.”

“That the Section 47 of the SFUO policy manual be named BDS Movement and read: ‘The Student Federation of the University of Ottawa will support this movement as well as take a Pro-Palestine stance.’”

Another part of the motion called for the SFUO to “put pressure on the Board of Governors” of the U of O to support BDS campaigns by “reading a declaration in support of divestment of companies complicit in violation of Palestinian human rights at all meetings of the Board,” as well as calling for “the complete divestment and boycott of such companies and the implementation of investment guidelines that would prevent similar investments in the future.”

However, following the BOA meeting, U of O president Jacques Fremont released a statement condemning the motion, stating the university “will have no part of the BDS

movement.”

Despite getting 241 votes in favour against 231 votes against, the motion failed at the GA for not meeting the two-thirds majority vote rule required when addressing constitutional changes.

The motion was brought up again at the BOA as the board had to ratify the decision of the students.

As explained by BOA meeting chairperson Anne-Marie Roy, votes at the GA are received at the BOA as a recommendation, giving the board the power to vote against them.

Another board member pointed out that “even though the votes don’t matter, (the board) should still take the students’ votes in consideration.”

The motion saw 6 speakers for and against, and the board voted by secret-ballot with a tie of 11 votes in favour and 11 against, and two abstentions.

Since the vote was a tie and did not meet the two-thirds threshold, the BDS motion failed.

ONLINE VOTING MOTION The online voting motion was passed at the GA, and called for the SFUO to hire Simply Voting, a third-party company to run further elections online

The BOA meeting took place at tabaret hall.

as of May 1, 2018. This motion was passed unanimously by the board.

MOTION REGARDING THE SFUO’S POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS Another motion, which was on the agenda for the GA but did not get voted on, was in regards to the SFUO taking political stances, reading as follows: “Whereas there has been serious concern about an endorsement of a campaign singling out Israel and Israel alone, including but not limited to the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions campaign against Israel.”

“Whereas there has been serious concern about an endorse-

Photo: Anchal Sharma.

ment of aforementioned campaigns making many students on our campus feel attacked, unsafe, and marginalized.”

“Whereas, as a member and or ally of the community most targeted by hate crimes in this country, we know what antisemitism is, and we know that campaigns including but not limited to BDS, breed it.”

“Be it resolved that this body will not consider any further campaigns that single out one state or place of origin above others, including but not limited to BDS resolutions, for two years.”

Some board members took issue with the highlighted two years in the motion, claiming

that it was undemocratic to vote on something that could affect future students.

Moumouni-Tchouassi also touched on the debate, explaining, “we represent students on this campus that will be affected by these issues. I want to remind people that being a political organization means that we are allowed to talk about everything. When we take positions, we are also taking positions against certain actions.”

The motion was consequently defeated with a majority vote by the board.

The next BOA meeting will take place on April 8, at 1 p.m. in Tabaret room 083.

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NEWS | 5

U of O students demand university postpone residence move-out day

Students, members of SFUO set to meet with Housing Service to discuss options Anchal Sharma news editor

Students have come together to create a petition in response to the University of Ottawa’s residence move out date of April 27.

The petition, spearheaded by Lucie Atangana, a first-year political science student at the U of O and resident of the Henderson building, calls for the move out date to be pushed back to May 1.

“We realized that the resident contract states that we have to move out

by April 27, even though our lease, as do most leases in the Ottawa region, and in Ontario start on May 1,” Atangana explained. Students living in all residences with the exception of Hyman Soloway and Brooks are also forced to leave during the winter break, for up to 12 days.

According to Atangana, students are given the option to rent a room in 90 University Private for the days that they would be displaced, at 40 dollars a night.

“Automatically, I thought that was outrageous, because as residents, we signed on for 8 months ... and we paid for the whole month of April, but aren’t allowed to stay,” she said.

Atangana created the petition in February after venting her frustra-

tion with her floormates. She initially shared it in her residence Facebook group, and garnered support from students living in other residences, getting over 1,000 signatures in 12 hours.

Shortly after, she emailed the U of O’s Housing Service with the signatures, but did not get a response.

“Historically the U of O has a really bad track record with not helping students out, but just responding to questions or demands,” she said.“Is the U of O prioritizing their students’ well being or monetary incentives or profits?”

Atangana’s biggest concern is that Housing Service hasn’t given its residents a reason for the early move-out date.

“We have to leave, but we don’t know why,” she said. “If you want me to move out and you have clear reasons.”

After hearing back from the Housing Service in March, claiming that her concerns are being reviewed, Atangana reached out to members of the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO).

Paige Booth, incoming vice-president external of the SFUO, helped Atangana create a new petition, which asked students for their residence information and student numbers and shared the petition on her social media.

According to Atangana, SFUO vice-president finance, and incoming president, Rizki Rachiq also supports the petition, and requested a meeting with Housing Services within the next week for Atagana and Booth to express their concerns.

In 10 hours the new petition got 400 signatures, which Atangana said she will bring with her to the meeting along with printed messages she received on social media supporting the petition, emails, and the original petition with 1400 signatures.

Atangana has high hopes for the outcome of the petition, due to a loophole in the current resident contract which says she has 24 hours after her last exam to move out.

However, Atangana also recognizes that the deadline is close. “Even if we can’t get it changed for us, if we get it changed for next year that’s important,” she said. “It’s our duty to fight for the education system that we want.”

“We already pay a lot for our tuition, $40 a night to move into a residence, just to move out four days later … they don’t need that money, it would make a lot more sense for them to support their students.”

The U of O’s Housing Service did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.

Students moving out on April 27 will have nowhere to go for four days.

Photo: CC, Jeangagnon.

Women in politics event highlights need for intersectionality

UONDP hosts multi-partisan discussion to bridge the gaps in political Marissa Phul Staff Contributor

As it stands, 27 per cent of seats in the House of Commons are occupied by female Members of Parliament.

That’s why, on March 27, the University of Ottawa New Democratic Party (UONDP) hosted “27%”, an event focused on encouraging women to get involved in politics, featuring NDP Member of Parliament and Assistant Deputy Speaker Carol Hughes as the guest speaker.

Although hosted by the UONDP, the club’s vice-president equity Tiyana Maharaj explained that the event was labelled as multi-partisan, as “diversity in politics is not a partisan issue.”

According to Maharaj, who is in her third year of international development and women’s studies at the U of O, “increasing diversity is a national issue and trying to represent our country as a whole is not just the responsibility of the party in power.”

The event was held at 1848.

The event started with an informal discussion on the current state of diverse representation, or lack thereof, in the House of Commons.

The audience was met with statistics showing that only 14.5 per cent of the House consists of visible minorities, including 88 women, one of whom is black, and 10 Indig-

Photo: Parker Townes.

enous MPs. This was followed by a brainstorming session where attendees were encouraged to name a woman in politics who inspired them, name a challenge that stops women from entering politics, and name one tangible thing that can be done to increase diverse representation.

UONDP co-president Danielle Kydd, a third-year political science and public administration student, identified childcare as one of the big barriers for women entering politics.

“Whether you are a man or a woman raising kids, you are still facing that same barrier of childcare.” However,

she acknowledged that there are prominent gendered aspects of raising children.

“There are barriers in the home that are not saying ‘women take on politics in your spare time.’”

Marahaj believes low representation is another substantial barrier. “It is a difficult thing to put your name on a ballot especially coming from a kind of oppressed, intersectional background where you don’t see MPs that look like you.”

She further explained that the need for representation extends to the campus level, as she and Kydd are the only racialized women on the UONDP executive.

As for tangible ways to improve diverse representation, Marahaj calls for women to be provided with the same resources as men.

“It’s definitely kind of a culture thing we need to shift to be able to encourage and empower women to run, and to give them the tools they need to run,” she said, naming campaign training,

6 | NEWS

social media training, fundraising and self-advocacy as areas of improvement.

Both executives hope participants walked away from the event feeling like they have a place to be represented and strengthen their voice. “All of this activism and these conversations are not something that we should be doing about people but with people,” said Marahaj.

Kydd mirrored her sentiment, adding, “it’s really important when we talk about issues to make people feel like stakeholders in them.”

Kydd also hopes to continue talks on other gaps in representation, including a multi-partisan panel on racial issues, as well as one focused on barriers to entering politics.

“Politicians are people too, and if you want these people to run for politics, we have to make it welcoming for them and recognize these barriers ... that prevent women and other diverse groups from getting involved in politics.”

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U of O Supermileage team unveil eco-vehicle at Design Day Students set to compete internationally in Shell-Eco Marathon in April anchal sharma news editor

On March 29, the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Engineering hosted its third annual Design Day at SITE, where students showcased their passion projects to faculty members, family and friends, and field professionals. The event was open to the public, and had over 100 submissions ranging from interactive art to environmental robots.

One of these projects, an eco-vehicle, took centre stage, with a team of up to 25 students who worked on the project. Kevin Gravel, a fifthyear mechanical engineering and computer science student at the U of O, explained that the Supermileage team had eight months to build the car from scratch.

The team will also be competing in the international Eco-Shell Marathon, which will be held in California this year from April 18 to 22 against 130 teams from high

schools and universities in Central, North, and South America for a prize of $3,000 US. While the team has competed in the Prototype category in the Eco-Shell Marathon in the past, Gravel said this is their first year in the Urban Concept category, which has a different set of specifications.

“The car has to have four wheels, basically like a small car that you would see on the road today. Our car, what’s unique is that it’s a one-wheel drive car, so only one of the two-wheels in the back is powered by the engine.”

The eco-vehicle’s engine was taken from a Honda, with two horsepower, and a maximum speed of 40 kilometers an hour.

Dominic Monette, a fourthyear mechanical engineering student at the U of O and another member of the team said that the new category is a good fit for the group.

“We thought this would be more relevant to mechanical

engineering in the sense that we’re graduating soon, the automotive industry interests us, and if we can do a project that relates to a real car, that would be a positive for us,” he said.

“It’s a really friendly competition where everyone helps each other, because we’re in it to have fun, we’re in it to promote sustainability.”

Monnette also discussed the team’s decision to unveil the car on Design Day, explaining that the team wanted to show people what could be accomplished in such a short time, in a sustainable way. “(We) hope that we can influence people or encourage them to take steps in more eco-friendly in their day to day lives because it’s a pretty paramount topic in today’s society,” he said. “It’s really to emulate the future of fuel efficient cars.”

According to Gravel, what makes it eco-friendly lies in its structure. The car has an ultralight body with a carbon fiber monocoque, eliminating

The eco-vehicle has an aerodynamic shape and no frame for optimum efficiency.

the need for a frame.

Monnette mentioned that its aerodynamic shape also contributes to its environmentally friendly nature as it provides less wind resistance, further explaining that the car has an inline transmission, and that their motor is fitted with a fuel injection system, allowing them to control how

much fuel goes in, and reducing waste.

For both students, the push to get involved with the Supermileage team came from wanting to apply their skills in a practical way, with hands on experience. Monnette encourages other interested students to join the team.

“If you want to apply what

Photo: Parker Townes.

you learn in class, the engineering teams at the university is a really good way to get involved. If ever you’re interested, head out, try to find a team. There are a lot of opportunities.”

To learn more about the University of Ottawa’s Supermileage team, you can follow them on Facebook.

U of O student first openly transgender Ottawa-Vanier NDP candidate

Local activist Lyra Evans committed to housing first approach, mental health programs Ellie Sabourin

associate news editor On March 25, 2018, the New Democratic Party (NDP) nominated an openly transgender candidate for the first time in provincial history. At the centre of this milestone is Lyra Evans, a current student at the University of Ottawa who was nominated as the party’s candidate for the Ottawa-Vanier ward.

Evans has been a student at the U of O since September 2016, but she has currently firstyear standing in the chemistry program with a focus in battery chemistry. She says her motivation for changing programs to pursue chemistry is because she believes that the climate crisis is going to be the defining problem of our generation.

Evans says that it’s her community work and involvement that encouraged her to try her hand at politics.

“I made the decision to transition from activism and community-based organizing to politics, because I was appalled at the way the homeless are being treated,” she said.

“I believe the province needs

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to stop funding mega-shelters, and start properly fund the housing first model that has been proven to work in cities around the world, and fund mental health and addictions care to help those who are struggling.”

Although the NDP and Evans have garnered a lot of media attention for the historical nomination, Evans says she is “a mix of disappointed and honoured.”

“Disappointed that it took this long for there to be a trans candidate. But I am honored to be the first openly trans candidate for a major party in the history of Ontario. Growing up I didn’t have any role models in politics or leadership roles who were people like me, and I hope to inspire young people who are currently looking out for people like them.”

Although she is appreciative that people are taking note of her due to her gender, because it provides her with a platform to talk about issues that she is passionate about, she says her goal is “to show folks I have issues I care about beyond LGBTQ+ issues.”

Evans says that she hopes to be known for her progressive

policies around housing and healthcare, and also hopes to gain a reputation as someone who fights for the rights of students.

Evans feels she is qualified for the job because she has spent her entire adult life fighting for changes in these same social arenas.

“I have done nearly a decade of homelessness activism, years of LGBTQ+ community organizing, and worked with others on empowering women movements, and harm reduction approaches to sex ed,” she said.

“I believe that my experiences as a community organizer, as a person with an understanding of science, and as a formerly homeless person give me great insight into how to fix some of the problems society is currently facing.”

But above all, she hopes to be known for being the first NDP member to ever be elected to Ottawa Vanier.

“For my parents who can’t afford to work, because the cost of having someone else take care of their kids is too high. For all the people who have historically been left out of politics.”

Evans is the first openly transgender candidate in provincial history.

Photo: Thane Robyn.

NEWS | 7

A&C EDITOR Ryan Pepper arts@thefulcrum.ca

ARTS&CULTURE Fine arts students gear up for capstone art show, Voix (613) 695-0062 @pep_ryan

Visual Arts building to host works on identity, social media, and more Ryan Pepper

Arts & Culture Editor

T

he end of another school year brings the most anticipated artistic event on campus, as the fourth-year bachelor of fine arts students showcase their talents for all the Ottawa art community to see.

The grad show is an annual event that marks the end of the BFA program, is a requirement to graduate, and the last major opportunity for students to exhibit their art as an undergrad.

The exhibition blends seamlessly with the program—all graduating visual arts students take a course called Intensive Studio where the exhibited piece tends to be created, and the piece is graded before the vernissage.

“It’s part of our grade, but it’s basically your fourth year, especially your final semester, the work you’re creating in your studio is the work you put into the show. Exhibiting is part of your mark, as well as putting together the show,” explained Briana Fitzgerald, a fourth-year fine arts student and one of the two head organizers of the event.

All 28 graduating students are involved with this year’s rendition, entitled Voix, divided into five groups: marketing, vernissage, catalogue, finance, and fundraising, along with translators. Planning for the show runs throughout the year, with different groups securing funds and dealing with money, advertising and doing outreach, creating a catalogue of all the art that is sold at the vernissage, and planning for the opening night, explained Sarah Clothier, a fourth-year fine arts student and one of two head organizers of Voix.

The vernissage is the biggest night for the visual arts department, with professors, faculty,

family and friends, and artists and gallery owners passing through. The show takes up all the floors, from paintings on the top floor to installation pieces in the basement.

“We managed to curate the show so that there’s some thematic ties within each room, so that when people go into each room, it feels like its own curated room and not just art put up next to each other willy-nilly,” Fitzgerald said.

There are also several prizes given out during the night for sculpture and installations, painting, video and media arts, and photography. It can be a good opportunity for graduating students to meet Ottawabased artists and galleries, making connections within the artistic community.

Voix was chosen as a theme that could cast a wide net over the diversity of artists and projects. The night isn’t organized thematically, but each artist can showcase their own voice, their own distinct talents and interests.

As for the final piece that

The graduating BFA class puts on one final exhibition.

will eventually be on display, it’s the work of an intensive semester-long project building on four years of changing artistic practices. As Clothier explained, it’s a consistent project with some professor feedback, but it’s very self-driven.

It’s hard to say what visitors should expect—in the end, the exhibit boasts 28 artists with projects that vary wildly.

Clothier said it’s impossible to point to any one takeaway or highlight from the night.

Fitzgerald pointed out several large-scale pieces this year, like large paintings and room-filling installations.

Fitzgerald and Clothier explained that the first floor will highlight time-based projects and pieces that deal with personal identity and family heritage, while the third floor has individually curated rooms, each based on the themes and colour palettes of the artists.

There will also be a large collection of artwork centered

Photo: Andrew Wright.

around social media.

“The viewer of this year’s exhibition can expect to see a much more curated show than in previous years, as we have worked hard to connect works within shared spaces and throughout each floor of the building,” Fitzgerald explained.

Or, as Clothier put it, “just expect to see some cool art.”

Voix is open to the public from April 25–29, with the vernissage at 6 p.m. on April 27.

Entrance is free.

Off the beaten path of Ottawa museums This summer check out the city’s lesser known museums Ryan Pepper

Arts & Culture Editor Ottawa is a city of museums. Institutions like the Canadian Museum of History, the War Museum, or the new Museum of Science and Technology are packed full of artifacts, interactive exhibits, and are a great place to spend half a day. But Ottawa is also crowded with smaller museums devoted to a single topic or local history that are just as fascinating as the big ones.

With the summer fast approaching, a lot of students are heading home or going abroad. But just as many of you will be staying in Ottawa for the warmer months. These smaller museums make great outings that won’t take up your whole day (the larger museums, I can speak from experience, are time-consuming, exhaustive affairs).

One such museum is the Bytown Museum, which has been preserving Ottawa history for over one hundred years. The museum is next to the Rideau Canal, and is housed in the oldest building in Ottawa, the Commissariat Building, which was built in 1827 as the headquarters for the canal project.

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The bottom floor deals with the building of the canal, and contains artifacts used by the engineers, stonemasons, and mainly Irish and French-Canadian labourers who carved out the 202-kilometre canal between 1826 and 1832. The upper two floors deal with the early history of Ottawa, and shed some interesting light on what was once called the most dangerous city in North America.

Little known relics of Ottawa’s past, like the Stony Monday Riots which saw the Tory and Reformist factions hurling rocks at each other over the canal in anger at the Rebellion Losses Bill, or the Shiner’s War in which a local timber baron raised a private Irish army to wreck French Canadian lumber rafts, are highlighted at this fascinating museum. Best of all, admission is $5 for students, and the museum can easily be done in under two hours.

Another small museum right downtown is the Bank of Canada Museum.

Located at the corner of Bank and Wellington, this museum is hyper-interactive, and is designed to engage people in the economy. Along with games—such

as a space ship simulator that teaches inflationary targets—the museum also has more traditional artifacts like coins from New France, old stocks and war bonds, and every series of bill dating from 1935.

In a similar vein is the Mint, located on Sussex Drive in an old castle. On this 45-minute guided tour, visitors can see the process to make collector coins and medals, or just stare in awe at a gold coil worth $20 million, used to make gold collector coins.

There are plenty of other small museums farther from downtown, or even outside the city. The most famous is probably the Diefenbunker, a Cold War-era bunker in Carp that now acts as a time capsule, with rooms still set up just how they were in the height of the Cold War. Communities like Vanier and Nepean, and the founding Billings family estate also have museums that focus on local history, and other fun events like sugar shacks and high tea. In short, there’s no excuse for not getting out to a small, local museum this summer! You may just find your new favourite.

The scenic Bytown Museum.

Photo: Parker Townes.

ARTS & CULTURE | 9

Governor General’s 2018 Visual Art Award winners’ exhibition now open Prestigious award honours lifetime of artistic accomplishment, celebrates eight artists Ryan Pepper

Arts & Culture Editor On March 29, the National Gallery of Canada officially opened the 2018 Governor General’s Media and Visual Arts Awards special exhibition, comprising the works of the eight talented winners of this prestigious arts award.

The exhibition runs from now until Aug. 5 at the National Gallery, and offers a chance for visitors to see the best art that Canada has to offer across a range of media.

The Visual and Media Arts Awards honour lifetime achievements in the fine arts, such as ceramics, sculpture, multimedia and audio-visual, painting, and photography. All forms of artistic expression were included this year, from the delicate ceramics of Jack Sures to the video projections of Wyn Geleynse, and the monumental buffalo sculpture of Siksika artist Adrian Stimson.

The winners this year are Bruce Eves, Geleynse, Spring Hurlbut, Midi Onodera, Stimson, Sandra Semchuk, curator and gallery director Glenn Atleen, and Sures, who is the Saidye Bronfman Award for fine crafts winner. All the laureates are nominated by a jury of their peers, something that London, Ontariobased artist Geleynse says is quite special.

“You’re not being crowned by bureaucrats.

It’s actually your peers who think you’re worthy of it, and I think that’s a really

wonderful thing.”

While the jury decides the winners, each potential winner must be nominated by someone in the field. In Geleynse’s case, he was conominated by Paul Walde, and University of Ottawa professor Andrew Wright, who lived with Geleynse when they were both teachers at Western University in London.

Geleynse pointed out that the Visual Arts Awards are an excellent opportunity for talented artists to be noticed in the country’s major gallery. He said that gallery space in Canada can be limited, and that Canadian galleries don’t always have the funds to put on major exhibitions that can put new talent on the map.

“I think there’s a lack of a sophisticated collector base,” said Geleynse. “Collectors support the galleries that help launch careers, and the institutions, they’re not the best funded things in Canada, so oftentimes their budget for purchasing or producing good exhibition is somewhat limited.”

This year’s exhibition was curated by Rhiannon Vogl, Associate Curator of Contemporary Art at the National Gallery. One of the major hurdles with curating an exhibition like this, she said, is that there’s no common theme to build the exhibit around. Instead, she was given a list of eight artists and told to curate the space.

“I see it more like a puzzle,

really. I like to work with the physical gallery spaces that I’m given, and really think visually and thematically how their works will go together,” she said. “This way, I’m kind of given basic ingredients and it’s really about being creative with limitations.”

One of the more eyecatching pieces on display takes up the whole front room of the exhibit—Stimson’s “Beyond Redemption,” which features a life-sized buffalo surrounded by buffalo robes held up on stakes.

Stimson’s work deals intensely with his Plains Indigenous heritage, and the essential role of the buffalo in the lives of First Nations people.

If any theme could be found, it’s the totality of the artist’s body of work—each part of the exhibit is a miniretrospective. That also impacted the way Vogl thought about curating the space.

“I think because for this particular exhibit, the theme is really celebrating an artist’s career so far and celebrating a prize, so the thematic of the show is about that celebration and monumentality as opposed to something that is more of a storyline,” Vogl said. “Your thematic is a little but looser, but I get to find and build the show as I go along.”

The Governor General’s Visual and Media Arts Award winners’ exhibition runs from March 29 to Aug. 5. Entrance is included in the National Gallery’s regular price of admission.

Ceramic artwork by Jack Sures.

Photo: Ryan Pepper.

The exhibition is open now at the National Gallery.

Photo: Ryan Pepper.

The winners of the 2018 Governor General’s Visual Arts awards, with the curator and representatives from Canada Council for the Arts.

10 | ARTS & CULTURE

Photo: Ryan Pepper.

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Ready, set, whoa 5.0 Iain Sellers

staff contributor It has been over seven months since I first arrived in Ireland and began writing this Ready, Set, Woah column.

In some ways it feels like this timeline can’t be right, that I must have only arrived a few weeks ago, and yet, in other ways, it feels like I’ve been here for years.

When I first arrived in Galway in those long-gone early days, the Irish day-today culture really shocked me. Ireland seemed like it was stuck in a more interpersonal time, as if the age of social media, texting, and the internet hadn’t ripped the social aspects of everyday life from the Emerald Isle.

On most days, strangers might start a friendly conversation in the streets with me, locals might show up at my place for some craic without announcing it, or I might go for a walk and get

to meet dogs running around without leashes whose owners eagerly waited to tell me their life story. All in all, it was a really cool way to live life and get to know people on an exchange.

One of the downsides of this lifestyle was that alone time could be hard to come by. I had some very introverted Canadian friends in Galway who couldn’t enjoy this constant barrage of conversation and mostly avoided mingling with the locals so that they didn’t have to adjust the way that they went about their daily lives.

So I know this lifestyle wasn’t for everyone, but I really enjoyed it and that’s what I think is most important for anyone studying abroad. Time is short, so you don’t necessarily have to do what others say you should do, but what you enjoy most.

One of the weirdest parts of any exchange is leaving

this new home after one or two semesters. The more time you spend in a place, the more that it feels like it’s a part of your identity and the harder it will be to break the connections and friendships that you’ve made.

It’s a bittersweet feeling. On one hand, studying abroad means that you can make friends and build relationships all across the world, but on the other hand it also means that you have go back to the University of Ottawa and leave all those new friendships behind.

Don’t get me wrong, you can still keep those relationships and connections going after you leave your visiting university, but it does mean that you’ll have to come to terms with the idea that you won’t see those people as much as you once did.

Overall, I’m certain that I’ll miss the random conversations that I have had with

Saying goodbye to the Emerald Isle.

Irish people on the street, or the sound of intrepid Galway buskers trying to make their big break, but I’ll admit

Illustration: Alina Wang.

it’s probably time for my next adventure.

Life is short and full of possibilities. In the end,

whether it feels like I’ve been here for a few weeks or a few years, I wouldn’t change a second of it.

Getting artsy in Ottawa this summer at OSA

Ottawa School of Art offers wide range of summer classes Candide Uyanze

staff contributor

Are you stuck in Ottawa for the summer semester and looking for things to do? Why not stop by the Ottawa School of Art (OSA) to brush up on your creative skills?

Partnered with the City of Ottawa, the independent alternative art school and not-for-profit organisation has called the ByWard Market its home since 1983, and also has a campus at the Shenkman Arts Centre in Orleans.

From April to August, the OSA will offer a variety of courses, exhibitions, and events during its Spring (April-June) and Summer (July-August) terms.

In Spring, the school will offer 58 courses at its downtown campus and 48 courses at its Orleans campus, across a range of media and styles including drawing, painting (watercolor, acrylic, etc.), printmaking, photography, letterpress, ceramics, animation, sculp-

THEFULCRUM.CA

Ottawa School of Art offers great summer art classes.

ture, lithography, and jewelry making.

“There’s a lot of things going on. We don’t take the summer off,” said OSA director Jeff Stellick. “Probably the spring term, from

May to June, is probably our quietest time in terms of the number of students we have, but July and August is very busy, all kinds of things going on.”

Most courses are sepa-

Photo: Parker Townes.

rated by skill level, with dozens of intro courses offered for beginners, and is a good place to learn specialized skills.

During the summer term, the OSA will also be

offering week-long specialized master classes. The master artists, hailing from Canada and Mexico, will be teaching specialized painting, printmaking, and etching classes at both the

Orleans and Downtown campuses. The school also maintains an artist-in-residence program.

In May, the school is hosting their annual Miniature Print Biennale, an international show featuring miniature prints in countless styles. On June 28, the OSA is hosting their grad exhibition and ceremony, which showcases the works of students graduating from the school’s diploma and certificate programs.

In July, the Orleans campus will feature an exhibition of installation pieces from an artist from their residency program. The month of August will also feature exhibitions from the OSA’s instructors at both campuses.

To find out more about the events, classes, and exhibitions going on at the Ottawa School or Art, visit their website, follow @artottawa on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, or visit them in person at 35 George Street.

ARTS & CULTURE | 11

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Reflections at the

Alexei Kazakov

Fulcrum contributor

Maison bleue

In San Francisco, there’s this blue house that’s backed by a hill, where you come by foot, where you don’t knock, where those who live there have thrown away the key.

At least, that’s how the famous song by Maxime Le Forestier goes, which was inspired by the time he spent in that house back in 1971. Like many fans of the song (and 60s counterculture), I decided to make the trip down to 3841 18th Street when I visited San Francisco in the summer of 2016. I took the 22 down Fillmore to the Castro, silently followed a family of French tourists—I figured they were down there for the same reason—turned the corner, and there it was, repainted in all the splendour of its original blue (it had been green for some years before the owner was implored to pay homage).

Taking a seat on the opposite curb, I queued up the song on my phone, lit a cigarette, and got ready to spend a few minutes in a time warp, transported into the San Francisco of our collective cultural memory via a synesthetic Frankenstein of Maxime’s voice, the view of the Maison bleue, the smell of summer air, the heat of the San Francisco sun on my face.

C’est une maison bleue Adossée à la colline On y vient à pied, on ne frappe pas Ceux qui vivent là ont jeté la clé…

Something’s not right. For some reason, I find myself unable to really get into it.

Something is breaking my immersion. I analyze my surroundings to find the culprit.

The stairs leading up to the house are barred by a locked gate. My view of it is blocked for a moment as a 2013 Honda Civic rolls down the street. Beside me, a middle-aged couple from Toulouse is taking pictures. Yet I feel that there is something at play deeper than these various anachronisms.

Suddenly, I realized that the problem was me. My perception of the incon-

sistencies; my awareness of 3841 18th Street as “Maxime Le Forestier’s Maison bleue”; my retrospective and impersonal understanding of the time period I wished to recreate; this was the root of my inability to insert myself authentically into that experience, that unique atmosphere of the Summer of Love. Perturbed by this realization, I got up and found Ashbury Street, walking north until it intersected with Haight. I now stood at the apex of the hippies’ Jerusalem, Hunter S. Thompson’s high-water mark. But it sure as hell didn’t feel like it.

Every year, around twenty tourists succumb to Paris Syndrome: a mental disorder characterized by anxiety, depersonalization, and hallucinations, brought on when the Paris of their imagination is confronted with its reality over the course of their visit. An extreme reaction, perhaps—but I think that what I experienced in San Francisco, which was an experience I imagine to be at least somewhat common among others who visit these sorts of cities, was a mild case of Paris Syndrome.

The cultural heritage sites of the modern age—San Francisco, Paris, London, New York, Dublin, Liverpool—become frozen in time, their appeal drawing largely if not entirely from the contributions of dead or dying artists. To put it another way, if you’re going to San Francisco, be sure to wear flowers in your hair at Scott McKenzie’s behest, but more importantly, be sure to wear rose-coloured glasses, as well.

My obsession with that spatiotemporal moment of history is not idiosyncratic. Our generation has spearheaded a massive period of retromania: vinyl, Polaroid cameras, vintage filters, and retro fashion are the centrepieces of our aesthetic sensibility. Why this hiding from the present? Why this nostalgia for a past we ourselves never experienced? I think that the answer is a difficult one, in part because this dichotomy between present and past is

not as clean-cut as it might seem.

Did I actually visit San Francisco in the summer of 2016? I’m not too sure if I did.

The way I see it, what I visited was a sort of strange pastiche, existing in a temporal limbo, generated by the physical reality of San Francisco in 2016 being mediated through projections of mine which haven’t corresponded to reality since The Graduate first hit theatres (if they’ve ever even corresponded to reality at all). The result was an Expressionist landscape of San Francisco which properly belonged to neither the past, nor the present—it was, if you will, a sort of spectral entity. To put it another way, San Francisco (1967) haunted my experience of San Francisco (2016) to create something which couldn’t be categorized into our neat divisions of past, present, and future. But is this not the category in which most travel experiences find themselves today? It’s not possible to visit a Paris unhaunted by the Lost Generation and the Trente Glorieuses, an Eastern Europe unhaunted by the legacy of Communism, or a New York unhaunted

by Frank Sinatra, JD Salinger, the Mafia, and Woody Allen, among others.

French philosopher Jacques Derrida designated the study of such neitherpresent-nor-absent entities as “hauntology”. I’ll spare the reader of the technical details of such jargon, but I think it’s useful to have this word to designate a lens which, to me, seems critical for analyzing these sorts of phenomena.

Cultural critic Mark Fisher identified the nature of this haunting as a pining for “lost futures”, that is, futurisms promised by the time periods we look back on with nostalgia which had never been delivered to us. San Francisco in 1967 promised us a brave new world of peace, love, and a deeper connection between ourselves, others, and the world. Instead, we got Iraq, Trump, and mass consumer culture.

In this cynical, ironic, postmodern time, is there anything more out of place than Kerouac’s vision in The Dharma Bums of “a great rucksack revolution, thousands

or even millions of young Americans wandering around with rucksacks, going up to mountains to pray, making children laugh and old men glad, making young girls happy and old girls happier”?

How does all of this tie in with travel?

Perhaps it doesn’t, in the highly generalized meaning of the word. But I believe that, consciously or not, these hauntological elements play into all of our travel experiences, and that they also constitute the essence of relatively benign cases of Paris Syndrome such as the one I experienced at the Maison bleue. They are the result, I think, of a rift between our perception of ourselves as traveling “authentically” being rudely confronted with the counterfeit nature of our nostalgic daydreaming.

(The sense in which I mean “us” here is,

of course, those readers who in some way identify with the sentiment I am describing.)

There is, then, a sense in which any forlorn attempt to place oneself directly into the past is an act of inauthenticity, and yet we aren’t able to escape the past—there is, in effect, no such thing as “living in the present” in the way most people speak of it, as some sort of clean-cut delineation from past and future. What I’m searching for is a philosophy of travel which enables the traveler to experience their travels authentically, in such a way as to be conducive to one’s own personal development, whatever that might mean.

I’m afraid that if the reader has gotten this far in the piece expecting to have me impart some definitive answer by

the end of it, then they are sadly mistaken. I myself am honestly still not sure how to reconcile this hauntological age with its lost futures. At this stage, I’m only capable of sketching the problem.

For those of us concerned with culture and the arts, however, I advance that this is the question of our time, and the malaise we feel when thinking about these things will never be lifted until we answer it in a satisfying way.

So perhaps the next time you find yourself sitting at a sidewalk café in Paris, drinking a café au lait and smoking a Gauloise as you scribble fragments in your notebook, you can meditate on these topics as you people-watch the crowd which, in all its modern banality, keeps foiling your attempts to plant yourself in a Truffaut film.

Photo: CC, Peter Potrowl, SunKing2.

What I learned traveling in conflict zones Looking beyond the media horror stories to the reality of civilian lives

Oddly enough, this fear ended up being realized far earlier than we planned as the 2016 Turkish coup broke out just as we passed through the area. As we discussed calling off the whole ordeal altogether, we came to a surprisingly liberating realization—no one could care less about who we were or what we were doing in the region. I was not a diplomat, a soldier, or even a prominent journalist. At my best, I was a mildly interesting drinking partner, or a clueless tourist at my worst.

The narcissistic paranoia of being antagonized by a radical faction quickly melts away when you realize your value as a hostage is roughly the price of two kebabs and a box of cigarettes.

The term “warzone” is often used by the media to add a level of urgency and drama to any number of regional conflicts. Without further context, the word tends to conjure up images of bloodied soldiers skulking around bombed out and long-abandoned villages, devoid of their displaced civilian population.

However, for all but the most extreme conflicts, this mental image is not only hopelessly inaccurate, it’s harmful to our understanding of the world, particularly the Global South where these narratives hold most prevalent, and the direction of our foreign intervention. In 2016 I had the opportunity to travel through parts of the Middle East and the Pamir Region of Central Asia. The mountain range and its foothills cover parts of North Eastern Afghanistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan. We were warned by friends, embassy staff, and media reports that entering the region as tourists was guaranteed trouble—that could not be further from the truth.

Paranoia has denied world travellers from so many colourful locations around the world. Travelling through these so-called conflict zones has been an incredibly rewarding experience, and I hope that sharing what it taught me will provide some insight for anyone uncertain of their next trip.

LIFE GOES ON Eastern Tajikistan has faced sporadic violence since the onset of its civil war in the early ‘90s. A recent clash between government forces and Islamic militant factions left several hundred people wounded or dead mere months before I arrived in the area. I was going in expecting armed checkpoints and paranoid citizens, what I got was a quaint mountain town suffering from an unfortunate situation. Civilians were fully aware of the conflict; there was just far too much going on in their lives to waste mental energy thinking about a problem beyond their control.

COUNTIES ARE NOT REAL Citizens of stable states often take defined jurisdictions and political status for granted. Looking at a map with all of its lines and coloured countries suggest a much more orderly world than the reality. The Pamir region’s official borders look like a work of absurdist art without taking into account the land claims by Russia, China, or the patchwork of pseudo-states that lay claim to the countryside.

A 40-year-old Tajik could have lived a life under five governments without

Eric Davison videographer

leaving his hometown. Vast stretches of borders are often not enforced, and even clear laws are uncommon outside of the largest cities where police often lack the resources to do much more than occasional patrols. The western sense of national identity and patriotism almost seems absurd in regions where a clean line can’t even be drawn between neighbouring states.

TERRORISTS ARE NOT BORN WITH DEVIL HORNS The slow descent into militancy often begins with naive optimism.

Everyone had a story about a family friend who was lost to radicalism, or a positive movement turned sour by an ill-intentioned leader. It’s all too easy to dehumanize terrorists and paint regional loyalty in broad strokes without acknowledging the stress and manipulation that turns promising kids into murderers.

Parents would often discuss the children lost to radicalism the same way they would address a death. In both instances, the child that they knew was never coming back. So long as there are hungry teenagers left in the world, the supply of recruits will not cease. Realizing that leads to recognition of the absurdity of our current approach to preventing terror around the world.

It’s easy to read Al-Jazeera and assume that the overabundance of horror stories is indicative of a region in chaos. While the human suffering caused by violence cannot be understated, it is rarely as all-encompassing as the media portrays. Three months of relative peace followed by a bombing in the town square is not reported as such, we only see the attack.

YOU’RE NOT SPECIAL The lead up to the trip was a constant back and forth of jokes about how stupid this entire adventure was, many of which concerned our plan if we ended up in a hostage video on the BBC. But underneath it was a genuine fear of being caught in the middle of an international conflict in an unfamiliar country.

Photo:s: Eric Davison.

When utopia isn’t so relaxing Coping with the pressure to make every moment count

Christine Wang Visual editor

The money wasn’t exactly the problem anyway. I had saved up enough to cover my expenses until the end of my time abroad. It was the stagnancy, the lack of urgent work to do in addition to the lack of people around me to distract me from the lack of work to do. I was like an ant plucked from its well-oiled colony, placed in a virtually utopian habitat. And it completely and utterly stressed me out.

Bad analogies aside, this unexpected conundrum created a weird sort of crisis for me. The intermittent days I made the decision to stay in and spend the night reading or watching a movie instead of going out to explore the city, I felt like I was wasting all my time and money.

Then I felt guilty for feeling guilty when I should be enjoying my time.

Of all the problems to have in life, this is definitely one that I would prefer. But if I were to be honest about my experience abroad, this was definitely something I was wholly unprepared for and had no tools to deal with.

I came across a couple blog posts from exchange friends describing similar struggles. After reaching out to them, I realized that it is not just acceptable, but crucial to take time off to reflect and absorb the experience. The more I talked to other exchange students about this issue, the more I realized it was quite common.

Administratively, there is the expectation that when you go on exchange, you’re doing exactly the same things as you would at home but in a different country.

The idea is that you pay tuition, select your courses, and go about your daily routine in much the same way you would in your hometown. The reality is that not only will your academic and cultural experience be different, but so will your priorities and lifestyle.

So, you’ve finally submitted the mountains of paperwork, written the letters of motivation, received your visa, flew halfway across the world, figured out accommodations and registered for courses. You’ve finally settled in. Now what?

This was the question with which I struggled on the third week of my exchange trip to France.

As someone who has historically been classified as a “type A personality”, I am definitely a non-stop, highly anxious workaholic. I obtained my first job at age 16 and have not spent a semester off since. The thought of not having consistent income, however small, stresses me out to no end. Every spare moment out of school and work has been spent volunteering, playing sports or participating in other extracurriculars to improve my resume.

The third week into my exchange, I hit a surprising set of challenges. It wasn’t the culture shock, as I had been expecting, but my own crisis that I found disconcerting. In week three, I had finally settled in and finished choosing my courses, but most of them had not yet officially begun. That week, it hit me that I had spent so much time working on applications, stressing out about accommodations, and worrying about whether I had saved up enough, that I had not thought about what I would actually be doing when I got to France, beyond learning French.

It finally struck me that I was on a different continent, away from all my friends and family and had essentially nothing to do. According to my student visa, I was not allowed to work past 20 hours a week and I was doubtful I would find a job for only 4 months.

Ultimately, I discovered two strategies that were very helpful in managing this stress. The first was writing a short list of things I wanted to do or accomplish during my semester abroad. This gave me a concrete set of activities to focus on so that I didn’t constantly feel like I was wasting my time.

The second was to learn to live in the moment, as cliché as it sounds. Even now, as I think back on the experience, I have realized that my favourite memories are not just the ones where I traveled and went on crazy adventures, though that was definitely a big part of it.

Sometimes, happiness just comes from the joy of being fully present in the moment, whether that means exploring a new city or simply enjoying the walk to the grocery store.

Whether you’re on exchange or on vacation, there is a pressure to make every moment count, especially when you can practically feel the seconds ticking down until the inevitable return home. Often, we are so caught up in the preparation and planning that we forget how to soak in the moment… And that might be the most important part of all.

Illustrations: Christine Wang.

Pirate volcano, or unspoiled queen?

Lucas Barroso

Fulcrum Contributor Nestled in the leeward Caribbean islands, surrounded by gusting winds, strong, wind-driven currents and perilous cliffs is the small island of Saba. An island that more closely resembles the peak of a mountain than the standard Caribbean island, it is 13 square kilometers of the most difficult terrain ever settled in the world.

At its center is Mount Scenery, but don’t let the name fool you—it is actually a potentially active volcano. Due to the high winds in the area and the rather sudden slope of the volcano, the warm and humid ocean air is sent upward and quickly cools to become a cloud that rarely leaves the peak. This creates a “cloud rainforest” known as Elfin forest. Over time the currents have worn away the outer coastlines of the island, creating seemingly impossible cliffs.

In fact, Saba is so ridiculously extreme that even Christopher Columbus spotted the island in 1493, but didn’t dare try to land. This led me to develop a certain view of the people and culture of the area.

But before we go there, let’s talk about the history of that culture for a minute. Given its less than positive relationship with English and French rulers, Saba often received immigrants that were criminals in the eyes of the Crown.

But due to Saba being an extremely difficult place to anchor, this meant only skilled sailors could settle there, and what kind of skilled sailor would have reason to flee Photo: CC, Simon Wong.

Unravelling the Saba’s complicated past, and unexpected present the wrath of the French and English Crown? That’s right, pirates.

Freaking pirates.

This lead to Saba becoming a straight up pirate island—wait, Mount Scenery is a volcano.

PIRATE VOLCANO. I stand corrected.

Last year I was hired on as a dive instructor for a company that sailed the Caribbean and taught kids to dive along the way (If you’re thinking that sounds awesome, it’s because it most definitely was). The final stop in our journey was this fantastical place, but after reading up on Saban history and geography I found myself a tad bit worried about taking kids to a pirate volcano (ridiculous concern, I know).

We made the journey, and after spending a solid 40 minutes trying to correctly “park” our catamaran, we jumped in our dinghies and headed to shore. We were then taken into a small room to watch a documentary on the modern Saba.

vation Foundation.

As for the people, they were not exactly the pirates I was expecting. The island has a population of just under 2,000, and people come from all over the globe to live there.

Saba is known as the “Unspoiled Queen” of the CaribAs it turns out, the Saban bean because of its simple and culture is actually very eco- laid back atmosphere. centric. It is home to one of the largest and longest-running In short, I incorrectly judged coral reserves, and its cloud a nation based on its past (no forest is also highly protected. matter how cool). In reality, Saba is famous for its amaz- Saba is a forward-thinking ing diving and extreme un- member of the Dutch Antilderwater terrain. Needless to les, and is one of the best exsay, there is more to Saba than amples of ecotourism in the what’s above the surface. It’s world. The people are warm home to many different kinds and inviting, and the whole isof fish, including a wide vari- land carries a small town vibe ety of sharks, all of which are that is unlike anything you protected by the Saba Conser- will experience in the Caribbean.

Reconciling romance with social, ethnic, and territorial “apartheid” DON’T LET THE HAZE OF NOSTALGIA OBSCURE THE MORE COMPLEX REALITY OF MODERN PARIS

I had been to Paris once as a child, but didn’t remember much apart from telling my uncle he looked like a monkey and my brother pushing me into a puddle. I went back for the first time during the summer before my senior year in high school, and in the intervening years I had developed a voracious appetite for all things classically French.

I had developed a penchant for bougie French new wave films, and imagined that the city, and Europe entirely, would be indistinguishable from the carefully manicured 1960s glamour of my favourite movies. I idolized Anna Karina, my favourite actress of the era, imitating her gorgeous haircut and dramatic eyeliner, but skipping the beehive-bluesanta suit combo.

The actress herself inspired me as well, not just the enigmatic characters she played on screen. Karina moved to Paris from Denmark when she was 17, and almost immediately got cast in the films of an up-and-comer named Jean-Luc Godard. The movies had worked their magic well on me, because I thought everyone in Europe elegantly smoked their cigarettes and drank their wine and fell in love, and then got cast in gorgeous movies on their way home.

When the prospect of Paris arose that summer, I fantasized of a Midnight in Paris-esque escapade.

Of course I knew of France’s history regarding its former colonies, and the current treatment of immigrants. But I foolishly didn’t realize that meant me too.

I stayed with my aunt and my cousins, in Asnieres, a suburb north of Paris. Up until then I had lived my life as a Moroccan-Canadian in Vancouver, where most people have been befuddled by my face.

Then I got a taste of my aunt’s existence as a hijabi woman in France. I realize now that I have been very privileged in being able to grow into my cultural and religious identity. I now know that most places don’t offer you the opportunity of self-exploration.

They decide it for you.

and religion, due to the argument that these types of statistics are essentially discriminatory.

“Patrick Simon, a researcher at the National Institute of Demographic Studies, has been repeatedly frustrated by what he sees as a fundamental contradiction — on the one hand, repeated references to race, ethnicity and religion in the public debate, and on the other, the absence of quantitative instruments to measure the populations everyone is talking about,” according to the New York Times.

In 2005, riots broke out in banlieues across France as a result of the death of three youths at the hands of law enforcement, in conjunction with other issues related to police brutality

Nadia Drissi El-Bouzaidi

Associate Features Editor

and inequality. In recent years, the rise of far-right parties across Europe, the Mediterranean refugee crisis, and discriminatory policies against Muslim women, have made identity issues unavoidable.

However in Canada we still talk about Paris, and Europe in general, as if it were a democratic socialist utopia frozen in time, both infinitely more progressive, yet more traditional than home.

During our time together, my aunt made an effort to expose me to a more diverse experience than just seeing the Eiffel Tower.

She took me to L’Institut du Monde Arabe, where I saw an array of Arab cultural and historical objects that preceded the narrow conception of history I

had grown up with. I was introduced to the FrenchMoroccan author, Tahar Ben Jelloun who is now one of my favourite writers.

Since then, I’ve widened my scope. I’ve watched movies likes Un Prophete, La Haine, and the T.V. series Aicha that all focus on different experiences of non-white French citizens.

Paris is still a breaktaking, richly historical destination, and you should still go. But when you’re in the Louvre, don’t just look at the Mona Lisa.

When you’re drinking the delectable French wine, try some North African or South Asian cuisine.

Travel should be about discovering what a place once was, but also what it is becoming.

The first thing I noticed was the air of segregation between the multicultural metropolis core, and the immigrant neighbourhoods of Asnieres.

In fact, former French Prime Minister Manuel Valls even referred to a social, ethnic, and territorial “apartheid” in France in a 2015 statement. This isn’t unique to France. According to recent research by professor Maarten van Hamm, segregation has increased since 2001 in 11 of 13 major European cities.

The main culprit is rising inequality.

Interesting enough, French law actually prohibits the collection of data on race, ethnicity, Photo: CC, bnsonger47.

SPORTS

SPORTS EDITOR Daniel Birru sports@thefulcrum.ca @FulcrumSports

Celebrating the top Gee-Gees: the Cavalry Awards

Bearne, Champagne, Lefebvre-Okankwu, and Boyd get nods this year ERIC DAVIDSON EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

E

very year the Fulcrum gives out Cavalry Awards for the best that varsity athletics has to offer. This year saw strong athletic performances for the Gee-Gees, so without further ado, here are our top picks.

FEMALE MVP: KATHERINE BEARNE The Women’s Soccer team had a great showing this year, and it’s safe to say Katherine Bearne was a big part of their success.

With a good showing in the regular season and the playoffs, the team had great defence, letting in only eight goals, the second-least of any team in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA). However, while their defence was excellent, they also needed to put points on the board themselves, and no one was better at scoring points than Bearne.

Bearne scored eight of the team’s 40 goals and added two assists to lead the team in scoring, as well as putting up the best shooting percentage.

She was also no stranger to coming up clutch, her four game-winning goals good for second in the league.

MALE MVP: MONTANA CHAMPAGNE Montana Champagne is coming off a strong season last year, where his gold medal in the 400m medley at the U Sports national championship snapped a sixyear medal drought for the Gee-Gees swim team. But he had even more in store this year.

This year, Champagne put on amazing performances at both the provincial and national level. At the OUA championships in London,

THEFULCRUM.CA

The Cavalry Awards celebrate top Gee-Gee talent.

Ontario, Champagne took first overall in the 200m medley with a time of 1:59.85 and 200m butterfly with a time of 1:57.37, as well as a silver medal in the 4x200m freestyle relay and bronze in the 400m Medley Relay.

He was also presented with the Jeno Tihanyi Award for individual medley excellence.

Champagne continued to shine at the U Sports national championship, where he became the first Gee-Gee to win a second career gold medal at nationals, taking first in the 200m butterfly with a time of 1:56.58, a GeeGees record.

He also won a bronze medal in both the 200m and 400m medley.

Runners up: Stephen Evans, Jean-Emmanuel PierreCharles.

ROOKIE MVP: BRIGITTE LEFEBVRE-

OKANKWU The Women’s Basketball team had a strong year. The team had a nine-game winning streak towards the end of the season, and finished off with a 15-8 record to head into the post season strong. In the playoffs, the team continued their excellent play and made it to the third round, where they were only edged out by a single point.

Brigitte Lefebvre-Okankwu played a huge part in the team’s success this year. Despite being new to the team, she put up big numbers, leading the team in scoring, with 259 points, in field goals with 108, in rebounds with 142.

On top of that, she had one of the best shooting percentages in the league—her 50.2 per cent field goal percentage was eighth-best.

She also demonstrated good chemistry with the

Photo: Parker Townes

team during games, especially in her pairing with Angela Ribarich.

The league also approved of Lefebvre-Okankwu’s play, naming her to the U Sports Women’s Basketball Allrookie team.

COACH OF THE YEAR: JEN BOYD It’s been a busy year for Women’s Rugby coach Jen Boyd, who started off the year by coaching Rugby Canada’s U20 team in a series against USA Rugby in August as the teams faced off in Ottawa. The team even featured two of the Gee-Gees she coaches, Taylor Donato and Alex Ondo.

Boyd’s team would go on to win 45–24 and 50–12, and she would carry her winning ways into her season with the Gee-Gees.

Boyd is no stranger to recognition. In 2016 she was named Rugby Canada coach

of the year. With her incredible performance this past year, she definitely deserves the top spot among Gee-Gees coaches.

Right from the start, Boyd had her eye on the national title this year. When she was interviewed after the team won the RSEQ title this year, Boyd said she was of course happy with the win, but the real goal was the U Sports national championship. The Gees had come ever so close to being first in the country in the past few years, but weren’t able to finish the job.

This year they got the win in the big game in Lethbridge, Alberta, and brought the title back to the University of Ottawa.

FAN FAVOURITE: WOMEN’S RUGBY The fall semester saw a lot of heartbreak losses in the playoffs for the Gee-Gees varsity teams. The Football

team went out in the first round, while the Women’s Soccer looked like they could go all the way, but got knocked out in round two.

But one team gave fans of the Garnet and Grey plenty to cheer about, which was the Women’s Rugby. This team would put on strong performances in every game it played, including a lights out 116-0 win against McGill, before going all the way to win the national championship.

The Women’s Rugby team has set a high bar for themselves in recent years, consistently winning the RSEQ division handily, and placing well at nationals.

But this year they outdid themselves and did something that most varsity teams couldn’t—bring home the national title.

—With files from Zack Goobie and Daniel Birru.

SPORTS | 21

Exploration of Sportation: Axe Throwing Edition

The sport for anyone who is lazy but still wants exercise Christine Wang Visual Editor

In this week’s edition of Exploration of Sportation, I went axe throwing with Savannah, the incredible features editor at the Fulcrum, Anchal the outstanding news editor at the Fulcrum and Alex, the guy who planted his butt on Nick’s face last week.

Being somewhat of a klutz, I was pretty nervous to try this sport. I already have trouble keeping myself alive doing normal human things, so I was reasonably terrified of combining that with sharp and heavy objects.

We met Skylar Mills, an axe throwing coach at Bad Axe Throwing. He explained that axe throwing started with a bunch of lumberjacks throwing

22 | SPORTS

Illustration: Christine Wang.

axes to avoid boredom.

Bad axe throwing popularized the sport by bringing it into a modernized warehouse. “We opened up about two and a half years ago in the summer of 2015, but we started in Burlington a few years before that.”

We started off by trying one and two-handed overhand throws. The challenging part was getting the axe to dig into the wood. As it turns out, wood isn’t very soft. It took a few tries in addition

to getting angry in order for me to get my first axe to stick. The group next to us were there as a work social and had put what was presumably photos of their bosses’ faces on the targets. I think they had the right idea.

After we got familiar with the feel and weight of the axes, Skylar showed us how to do an underhand throw, which is when I had my first brush with death.

Honestly, I was mostly just proud that it wasn’t sooner.

As I was distracted during

the explanation (not recommended), I missed the part about not using your wrist when you throw the axe.

When it came to be my turn, my badminton instincts jumped in and I flicked my wrist upwards.

The axe flew almost directly upwards, coming down a little closer to me than I would have preferred. In that moment, I saw my life flash before my eyes.

If you’re lazy and hate going to the gym as much as I do, axe throwing might be the activity for you.

(Side note: think about it, what is running on a treadmill? Just doing the same repetitive motion over and over again without actually getting anywhere.)

It didn’t feel like a heavy workout while I was there, but my arm was definitely sore the next day.

For anyone who wants to try their hand, Skylar gave us a few tips. “Do wear closed toed shoes, don’t wear sandals. Bring a good attitude and an open mind. A lot of people come here and they think

it might be dangerous but we play it very safe, we’ve never had a major incident.”

Next time you’re planning an event, maybe you can kill two birds with one stone by having fun time with friends while getting your anger out by throwing axes.

Bad Axe Throwing has walk-in sessions for $20 per hour. Lanes can also be booked for a private event with a coach. More information can be found on their website.

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OPINIONS

OPINIONS EDITOR David Campion-Smith

opinions@thefulcrum.ca (613) 695-0062 @davidcs96

The SFUO needs a long-term livestream plan Federation can’t rely on only one person in coming years Eric Davidson Editor-in-chief

O

n Sunday, March 25, the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO) Board of Administration (BOA) met to go over topics discussed at the recent General Assembly (GA). The board reviewed motions on BDS, online voting, and the student federation taking political stances in general.

Students have shown interest in all of these topics, as demonstrated by the fact that the past GA, which dealt with

these issues, was only the second overall to meet quorum.

However, unlike most BOA meetings this year, students who weren’t present didn’t have access to a live-streamed version of the meeting, in order to catch up on the board’s business at their leisure.

Now, it’s worth noting that the SFUO did something good this year when it started livestreaming meetings for the first time—a practice that other student feds like the Carleton University Students’ Union have been doing for some time.

It’s great that our federation started doing this, so students who can’t trek over to campus for a five to nine hour meeting on a Sunday can still have access to the body that makes all of the SFUO’s policy decisions.

The move has taken on an added layer of importance, since after last year motions from the GA have to be ratified by the BOA anyway, so if

you’re a student who wants to make their voice heard at the GA, you also have an interest in seeing what happens to the motion you voted on at the board meeting.

And that was precisely the situation on March 25, but this week, my hypothetical student wouldn’t have been able to tune in. Why? Because the person who usually does it was sick. That’s, well, totally understandable.

Having a live-streaming system in place is a big step up, but having only one person responsible can lead to one of two outcomes. First, some meetings don’t get live-streamed. Second, the SFUO unleashes some sort of disease outbreak because the designated live-streamer couldn’t abandon their post.

Neither is ideal.

This is especially problematic if the burden rests on someone in an executive position with a number of other duties.

For the first time, the SFUO began live-streaming its BOA meetings this year.

Not only that, but next year a lot more of the media-related duties will be falling on the president, so it’s extra important that there be a solid plan around live-streaming meetings.

So what can the federation do? A simple solution would be to work more with SFUO staff

on live-streaming meetings and events. Instead of relying on one member of the board, have multiple staff members ready to go. The SFUO could also make use of their media production company, Zoom productions.

It’s a good thing that the SFUO has started live-stream-

Photo: Jaclyn McRae-Sadik.

ing its meetings this year, but it needs a better system to make sure important meetings, like the one on March 25, don’t fall through the cracks.

By planning ahead and making use of its staff, the SFUO can make sure livestreaming runs more smoothly next year.

I’m stuck in Ottawa for the summer: So that’s how my life is going Top ten places to find me this summer in no particular order Anchal Sharma News Editor

Today as I was walking down the street, a man walked past me and just burped. This is my home for the summer.

My best friend is going to Rwanda, my roommate’s in New York watching Anastasia on broadway without me, other friends are exploring Asia or going to New York to watch Cursed Child also without me, and I am jealous.

To be fair, I’m not much of a traveller to begin with. The last place I went was Toronto, and I’m from there, so that doesn’t really count.

I usually spend my summers doing nothing at home, or doing nothing at my cousins’ homes in Winnipeg or Chicago, but this year, I am stuck in summer school, and also planning the future of this paper.

I’m sure there are some Narcity

posts about cool things to do in 3. the “city that fun forgot,” like odes to Blues Fest, or Pride, or Canada Day, or farmer’s markets, or museums, or beaches—maybe there are things to do in Ottawa—but I told David, the opinions editor here at the Fulcrum, that I would write him an article this week, so I’m going to make my own personalized list of places that I will frequent this summer. Enjoy.

1. The Tavern on the Hill 4.

If you want to pay gourmet prices for mediocre hot dogs, this is the place for you. I’ve also heard the view’s not bad, and I’ll probably be there grabbing a drink, so that’s a plus.

2. Andaz

If you want to pay gourmet prices for good drinks, this is the place for you. I’ve also heard the view’s not bad, and I’ll probably be there 5. grabbing a drink, so that’s a plus.

6.

Union 613

If you want to pay gourmet prices for hipster drinks 7. while pretending you’re a Bond villain, and/or hobbit, then the “speakeasy,” below the bar that’s only accessible through a bookshelf, is the place for you. Pro tip: Predrink. Also pre-eat. On second thought just stay home and order a pizza.

Happy Goat (Wilbrod Street) Happy Goat is a quaint little local coffee shop with friendly staff who all re- 8. mind me of Dave Franco’s character in Easy. This location makes a mean iced chai, has sweet vegan desserts, delicious sandwiches, and an interesting selection of craft beers. I also owe them $12, so 9.

I will definitely be back here.

631 King Edward Ave. 10.

Come say hello!

The University of Ottawa

As visited by Bill Nye the science guy.

The hospital Historically speaking, I’ll probably end up here at some point. Anytime I’ve tried to do something fun and normal in the summer I’ve ended up in the hospital.

Most recently, I got a head injury on my way to the beach before the bus even left Mackenzie King station.

In the past, I broke my wrist trying to rollerblade. I’d bet on myself in a dead pool.

ISO Spa In case you missed it: I hung out in a float tank, and it was the best and most stressful hour of my life. I’ll probably be in one of these tanks for the entirety of the summer.

Home Chillin with bae (aka Netflix).

Home (Toronto)Because Ottawa blows.

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Photo: CC, pxhere.

OPINIONS | 25

HECKLE: Midterms in April David Campion-Smith opinions editor

Students are busy with final papers, getting ready for exams and worrying what we’ll do with our summers, and beyond.

Many students are seeing their schedules begin to get even more hectic, as they scramble to find time to go to class, work, make time for the higher than normal amount of assignments at this time of year and maintain some semblance of a social life. What we don’t have time for is the ridiculous fiction of exams that take place now, but that some professors continue to call midterms. This is a petty issue I know, but that’s why we have the Heckle column.

Exams are just around the corner, so there’s no point in assigning a class a midterm exam now. There is a whole period of a few weeks specifically devoted to giving students time to study and write exams. By not taking advantage of the official

exam period, professors that continue to have midterms in the extremely busy period before exams are adding unnecessarily to an already stressful period for most students.

The worst culprits are those professors who have assigned a “midterm” before the exam period, and still have some assignment due during the official exam period. This state of affairs really is the worst of both worlds, as students have to scramble to finish an assignment before the exam period, and see no reward for that stress.

What is the point of this system for professors? Whether they have exams before or during the exam period they still have to mark them, so they’re not getting out of any work. It would be a better idea to have an exam a few weeks earlier, when students are less busy and can focus more effectively on studying for your exam.

This may be the most petty

part, but why do people continue to call these exams “midterms” anyway? We are well passed the middle of the term, so if you’re a professor who wants to hold exams before the finals period call them exams, call them quizzes, but I think we can all agree that using the phrase “midterms” is a little bit annoying.

It might seem like a nonissue, but when exams are scheduled has a real impact on students. There is an exam period for a reason, and professors who ignore that and have midterms so close to that deadline is not only annoying, but contributes to the high-stress environment that students in live in this time of year. Professors, I know you want to continue to call them midterms, so let’s make a deal. If you put midterms in the middle of the semester, when I have less assignments due, I’ll actually study for them, since I won’t have several papers to write.

No one wants to write midterms in April.

Photo: Brennan Bova

U of O residence leases should be extended to May 1

Current gap leaves students scrambling, adds unnecessary strain David Campion-Smith opinions editor

Finding an apartment is never an easy task, especially if you’re a first-year student trying to juggle moving out of residence as well. At present, the University of Ottawa has a system in place that is only making that process more stressful for students. The current deadline for students with an eight-month residence to move out of U of O residences is noon on April 27.

This puts pressure on students to find a place to live from the time they have to leave residence to the time their lease on an apartment somewhere else in the city, with most leases beginning on May 1. This timeline needs to change, and is one way the university administration can live up to their promises of caring for students.

The majority of students are most likely already moved out by the date, which means the deadline is putting stress on just a few groups of students.

Students that haven’t gone

Leases on residences come up on April 27

home for the summer, but are planning on it, probably haven’t moved out because they still have exams. The exam period only ends on April 26, so some students may have to go immediately from studying to packing

Photo: Ryan Pepper.

up their homes, which is an incredibly stressful state of affairs.

The other group of students staying in residence past the deadline are those who are moving into an off-campus apartment.

Those students don’t have anywhere to go for several days, as the vast majority of leases in Ottawa don’t start until May 1, unless they’re able to work out a special deal with an outgoing tenant or particularly nice

landlord. This is another significant cause of stress, both emotional and financial, as students could easily be forced to shell out further funds for somewhere to stay.

Adding three more days

to the tenancy agreements wouldn’t be that much work for the university staff, who simply need time to clean rooms to be rented out throughout the summer. Extending leases on residence rooms wouldn’t prohibit students from moving out before the date.

The university could easily send out a survey asking students for a rough idea when they will be moved out of residence, include the deadline, and go in after whatever date students provide to clean or sign new tenants.

The U of O spends a lot of time claiming that they care about the mental health and happiness of their students.

Extending the length of leases on residence rooms is a simple way for the administration to put those beliefs into action. While funding for more student services is valuable, improving the lives of students can also just mean making small changes to ease the transition from on-campus life to off-campus housing, and ultimately ensure that students have a roof over their heads.

26 | OPINIONS THEFULCRUM.CA

Five ways to help global warming, according to an environmentalist

Award-winning author and scientist Dave Robertson answers your burning questions Christine Wang & Anchal Sharma Beefsteak Tomato reporters

On March 28, 2018, the Tomato sat down with Dave Robertson, author of Nobel Prizewinning e-book, “Assessment and management of a changing climate: successful adaptation to global warming,” and professor of environmental science at the University of Ottawa to discuss ways that students can help global warming.

Check out our exclusive interview below.

The Tomato: It’s almost April, and it’s still freezing cold. How can we, as students, remedy this?

Robertson: Well, that’s just the weather. When we talk about “global warming” it doesn’t necessarily mean that every region will constantly increase in temperature. Globally, the tempera-

ture will rise, but as scientists we are more worried about the secondary effects such as increased spread of disease, droughts— T: Yes, but I am cold. What can I do to remedy this?

R: Oh, okay, well, you can put on a sweater for a start, haha! If you’re looking to save a couple bucks on your heating bill but still keep warm, you can think about turning down the heat when you’re not inside your home or even using exercise as a study break.

T: If I understand correctly, the sweat and body heat from my workout routine can help induce global warming?

R: What? N-no, of course not. The heat from your body will not have any significant effect on the climate of the planet as a whole. If we could get back to the question of environmental sustainability,

my research focuses more on the aspect of— T: Well, that’s cool Dave, but what we’re trying to understand is, -17 degrees Celcius is not habitable for humans, right? Why don’t they cancel classes in such apocalyptic temperatures?

R: No, what?

T: Well said. Now, what the people really want to know is, how can we help increase the climate to hospitable human temperatures so that we don’t have to keep skipping class because it’s too cold?

R: I don’t think we’re on the same page here. What I’m essentially saying is, in layman’s terms, in plain English if you will, climate change does not affect every area in a consistent linear way. Just because one region feels cold, doesn’t mean that climate change is not affecting the whole planet in other important ways.

T: And another thing!

Why does summer school start in May? It’s basically still winter.

R: Um, I’m not sure, but if you want to be good to the Earth, cut out meat from your diet, eat your greens, walk, don’t drive, and conserve energy wherever possible.

T: So you’re saying, that in order to increase global warming, we should leave our heat on always, uber everywhere, and smoke our greens. Got it.

R: No, well, technically, yes? Is this even a real publication? I thought I was meeting with the esteemed editors of the Fulcrum.

T: Unfortunately, that’s all the time that we have.

Is there anything else you want students to know about how they can help destroy the environment?

R: Oh God. Please don’t publish my name on this.

Some eco-tips from professor Dave Robertson. Photo: CC, Peterjus. Edits: Christine Wang.

Students continue studying, writing papers after finals season

University administration suggests sleep, binging Netflix as possible cures

David Campion-Smith Tomato Editor The end of the school year has brought about many unwelcome effects for some students at the University of Ottawa. While the majority of students have been able to set aside their books after finals season and enjoy their time off, some are having a harder time leaving school behind.

“It’s been months now and I’ve still been writing critical reviews of everything I watch on Netflix,” said third-year film studies student Mary Oliver. “No one’s going to read my three page examination of Marxist themes in Riverdale, but I wrote it any-

A student relaxes, stressfully.

way.” As of the date of this publication, Oliver has begun work on an examination of capital-

Photo: CC, Stocksnap.

ist undertones in The Jungle Book.

“After spending so much time studying on

campus during the last few weeks of the semester, I just decided to move into the library to save

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on rent,” said secondyear political science student Graham Pepper.

“It may seem weird, but a few years ago I read about someone who was living in the caf, so this isn’t that far fetched.”

Coffee shops in Sandy Hill have reportedly been reaping the rewards of students’ inability to unwind. “We still have lines out the door every morning of dead-eyed students complaining about their assignments,” declared Happy Goat manager Glen Grimes. “Every time it happens, I have to double check with my coworkers that it is in fact May.” While no cure has yet been found for students who can’t seem to stop studying, U of O officials

have shared a few suggestions. “We’re studying this phenomenon and are still working towards a solution, but right now we advise students to resist the urge to write unnecessary papers and read pointless academic articles,” university president Jacques Frémont wrote in an email to students.

“While it seems like copious amounts of sleep and Netflix will help, we’re continuing to research exactly how many episodes of Drag Race it’ll take to finally be cured.”

While students may be struggling to adapt to not being chronically busy, there is still time to readjust and enjoy the summer—at least until the whole cycle starts up again in September.

THE TOMATO | 27

DISTRACTIONS

DEAR DI

FEATURES EDITOR Savannah Awde

features@thefulcrum.ca (613) 695-0062 @s_awde7

Dear Di,

I’m planning a big trip to Europe this summer with my partner, but we’ve gone on trips together before and I find we don’t end up having sex often because we’re so exhausted from all our sightseeing. If we are in the mood, we’re usually staying in a hostel and don’t want to be the annoying couple banging in the bunk bed. How can I keep my sex life alive while travelling?

—Celibate Sightseer

Dear CS, When you’re exploring mysterious new lands, there’s no reason you have to sacrifice exploring familiar terrain between the sheets. To ease the pressure, I would recommend planning a few things out before you pack your bags.

First and foremost, make sure to know the attitude of your host countries towards sex. While Europe is a generally open destination, attitudes can vary. For example homosexuality is illegal in 72 countries around the world, and is still taboo in many other places. In Europe, among the worst offenders are countries like Azerbaijan, Russia, Turkey, Poland, and even Italy.

While gay men have generally been the targets of such legislation, more and more countries are criminalizing gay and bisexual women. Other countries might not be too welcoming to PDA regardless of sexual orientation, so mark these down as the places you don’t want to be caught kissing.

You should also make sure you’re well supplied in terms of protection. Depending on your destination, condoms and/or birth control can be difficult to find, or get expensive, so plan ahead! The last thing you want to remember this trip by is ‘that time you thought you were pregnant’.

In terms of location, I would agree, you definitely don’t want to be “that couple” in the hostel. If you have the budget, pick a few nights of your trip to stay in an Airbnb or hotel room where you have more privacy. You could even make a night of it, by dressing up in a killer outfit sans undies, or opting for a more romantic restaurant for dinner. You won’t break your bank, but you’ll still get the opportunity to give your sex life the TLC it needs.

If you’re worried about initiating sex at the end of a day of exploring cobblestoned streets, and three too many glasses of wine, try having sex at the start of your day. It’ll give you a nice energy boost, and you’ll be more willing to take your time. Trying to get an early start to the itinerary? No problem, slip back to the hotel for a midday siesta and a little one-on-one time.

Vacations are also a great time to change things up. Try a new position, or have sex in front of a window with a great view, or on a breezy balcony. There’s something special about having anal sex for the first time in front of the Thames, or the Acropolis.

Another option is investing in some light, travel-size sex toys that are sure to spice up your trip. I would opt for re-chargeable rather than battery-powered toys as they’ll give you more bang for your buck. Just make sure you have adapters as outlets can vary from country to country. You can also opt for electricity-free toys like cock rings or rope.

Finally, you would be remiss to skip the gastronomic delights of Europe. Try some fresh fruit, spicy chilis, or renowned French cheese by eating it off your partner’s body.

Vacations are a time to experience something new, so don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone!

Love, Di

28 | DISTRACTIONS

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MAY - AUG. 2018

THRYLLABUS

MUSIC EATS SPORTS & WELLNESS FUN THINKING ARTS

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Yeah, it feels like summer

How to wind down as the warm months hit the nation’s capital May Sporting Life 10K Runs for Ooch: May 13 May is a great month to get some physical activity out of the way, since we likely won’t yet be in the dead heat of summer. Cross a 10 kilometre run off your list, and do it with some scenery by running along the Rideau Canal in the Run for Ooch. The sweat and tears you shed trying to complete the race won’t be for nothing, as participants raise funds for Camp Oochigeas, which sends kids with cancer on a summer camping experience they won’t forget.

Ottawa ComicCon: May 11-13 Calling all proud nerds, and those still wrestling with their fate, this one’s for you. With everything on display from comic books, to sci-fi, fantasy, movies, TV, toys, anime, and gaming, there’s something for everyone—even for the ones who haven’t yet embraced their inner nerd.

June Ottawa Veg Fest: June 2-3 I know, I know, vegans and vegetarians are SO uptight, am I right? Why would you want to spend a whole day at a festival all about that lifestyle? Well, if you’re feeling brave enough to put the chicken wings down, you might actually learn a lot about the impact of a plant-based diet

on your health and the planet.

Go ahead, challenge yourself to meet some new people and try some delicious food. No, you will not be forced into a post-festival veganism pact.

Orpheus Musical Theatre Society presents Mamma Mia!: June 1-10 Who doesn’t like Mamma Mia? Even if you don’t know it, there’s a good chance it’ll win you over once you’ve seen a single mom navigate three past lovers on the day of her daughter’s wedding, or the groomsmen dancing in their speedos, snorkels, and flippers— both to the undeniably catchy tunes of ABBA. And, again, who the hell doesn’t like ABBA? July TD Ottawa Jazz Festival: July 1 Why go to a pop concert, when you could be so much classier and have an intimate brush by candlelight with the world of jazz music? Ok, well admittedly, candlelight may be in short supply at Confederation Park, but use your imagination! Just bring your ticket, your lawn chair, and your jazz hands.

Carivibe Reach the Beach Party: June 15-17 It might not be the rambunctious Full Moon party every party goer dreams of, but for anyone sticking to Ottawa this summer this is a

Savannah Awde Features Editor

solid alternative. You’ll be met with opportunities to drink, be surrounded by vivacious colours, and get your freak on to some good music. For those who have youngins in tow, there are also kid-friendly events during the day.

But, as the event warns, be sure to bring your “stamina” for this one!

August Asinabka Film & Media Arts Festival: Aug. 1-5 Film and art lovers, rejoice!

This one-of-a-kind festival is a showcase of Indigenous arts and storytelling in the Algonquin region. For all of you film junkies who are too cool to go to the Cineplex theatre, all works featured at this festival are by independent artists. With such a range of submissions, it’ll be hard not to fall in love with at least one of these films.

Capital Pride Festival: Aug. 20-26 If you’ve been to Capital Pride, you know the deal. Get loud, get proud, and stand up for LGBTQ+ rights. If you’ve never been, yeah, that might sound like a daunting task. But Capital Pride offers something for literally everyone, from parties, to picnics, to comedy nights. Your pride is what you want to make it, so get political, get partying, or get educated. It’s a month of your own design.

DISTRACTIONS | 29

30 | LETTERS THEFULCRUM.CA

EDITORIAL Volume 78, Issue 25, apr. 2, 2018 Travelling the world since 1942.

Phone: (613) 695-0061 | Fax: (613) 695-9006 631 King Edward Ave. Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5 Recycle this paper or we rip up your plane ticket.

Eric “Tahiti” Davidson Editor-in-Chief editor@thefulcrum.ca Jaclyn “Great Barrier Reef” McRaeSadik Production Manager production@thefulcrum.ca Graham “New York City” Robertson Managing Editor content@thefulcrum.ca Anchal “Montserrat” Sharma News Editor news@thefulcrum.ca Ryan “Machu Picchu” Pepper Arts and Culture Editor arts@thefulcrum.ca Savannah “Phuket” Awde Features Editor features@thefulcrum.ca Daniel “Monaco” Birru Sports Editor sports@thefulcrum.ca David “San Sebastian” Campion-Smith Opinions Editor opinions@thefulcrum.ca Christine “Sukiyabashi Jiro” Wang Visual Editor visual@thefulcrum.ca Social Media Manager social@thefulcrum.ca Ellie “Honolulu-Oahu” Sabourin Associate News Editor associate.news@thefulcrum.ca Nadia “Bali” Drissi El-Bouzaidi Associate Features Editor Zack “Yosemite National Park” Goobie Associate Sports Editor associate.sports@thefulcrum.ca

KEEPING UP WITH UNIVERSITY AND STUDENT POLITICS OVER THE SUMMER It’s been a busy year in university and student politics.

From tuition increases to controversial GAs, there has been a lot going on. However, student and university politics don’t stop just because the school year does.

Unfortunately, it turns out some pretty big things can happen during the summer. For one, the university’s Board of Governors (BOA) passes its new budget. This is important for many reasons, as it lays out a plan for how teachers and academic resources will be employed in the coming years.

It’s also the time when the BOG votes on whether or not to increase your tuition. What are the chances of that happening? Well, tuition for U of O students has been increasing for the last eleven years, especially for international students. And in an interview with the Fulcrum this year, U of O president Jacques Frémont has stated that it’s likely the university will be hiking tuition yet again.

It’s an important issue for

students to get involved in and pay attention to, unfortunately, it happens over the summer, when no one wants to think about school.

And then there’s student politics. The Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO) does, of course, hold meetings of its Board of Administration (BOA) during the school year, along with events like the General Assembly (GA).

However, they can also hold BOA meetings as April winds down, when exams start to take over the minds of students. This happened just last year. At a last-minute meeting on April 26 of last year, the BOA voted to increase the salaries of its executive, after a similar motion was defeated at the earlier GA. They also voted on other matters that students care about, like increasing the amount students paid for their health plan, and voting to withhold pay from the outgoing president.

Over the summer is also when the new executive and new board members start their

terms, so it’s worth keeping up to date with how the transition is going. Again, last summer serves as a good example.

Before summer had ended, the newly-elected vice-president social of the SFUO had resigned after frictions with the other members of the executive.

The end of the summer can also be when the board starts to debate the federations budget for the year. This includes how much funding clubs will get, as well as the finances for social events like 101 week, as well as the federation’s businesses services.

The faculty representatives on the board are there to support the students in their faculty, and they’ll be better equipped to debate the budget if they have feedback from them, even if it does have to come in the summer.

So how do you keep up with all of this? And how do you make your voice heard?

Of course, the Fulcrum will have up-to-date news on campus happenings. But what if

you want to get more involved in the process? You can talk to your representatives.

The university’s BOG page lists all of the board’s members, including the two undergraduate student representatives and the one graduate student representative. They can bring issues and even motions to the board on your behalf, and answer pressing questions you may have about university policy.

And the SFUO site lists all the members of the board of administration broken down by faculty, so you can find out who your faculty directors are.

Just like the BOG reps, they can bring motions and answer your questions.

It won’t take much of your time to keep up with student and university politics over the summer, and it will pay off to stay in the loop for important issues.

And who knows, getting angry about the university raising tuition or the SFUO budget might actually help ease you into the next school year.

Parker “Santorini” Townes Staff Photographer photographer@thefulcrum.ca Eric “Dubai” Davison Videographer videographer@thefulcrum.ca Chafik “Amalfi Coast” Kassis Head Web Architect webmaster@thefulcrum.ca Dorian “Porto” Ghosn General Manager manager@thefulcrum.ca Kaylum “Prague” Bobal Advertising Representative ads@thefulcrum.ca

Contributors

Alina “Paris” Wang Jean-Luc “London” Duchamp Alexei “St. Lucia” Kazakov Lucas “Sydney” Barroso Iain “Rome” Sellers Marissa “Cape Town” Phul Candide “Florence” Uyanze Aarthi “Grand Canyon” Ganesh

Board of Directors

Raghad “Costa Rica“ Sheikh-Khalil Katelyn “British Virgin Islands” Murray Jonathan “Šolta” Rausseo Fadi “Buenos Aires” Azzi Maggie “Marrakesh” Gollish Cover Credits: Dasser Kamran.

THEFULCRUM.CA

Photo: Christine Wang.

EDITORIAL | 31

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