The Fulcrum - Vol 75 Issue 25

VOL. 75 ISSUE 26

APril 2, 2015 Jeremy Dias is leading a legacy of Canadian LGBTQ rights P.6

IN THIS ISSUE Failure to communicate P.4

Vp comms position still a question mark

Blood everlasting P.5 Research finds blood doesn’t expire

Trans beauty P.9

Laverne Cox speaks to U of O students

Arkells affirmation P.10

Student’s cover chosen in YouTube contest

Delivering drones into the future P.12

Benefits of commercial and recreational drones

Galloping into the championship P.15

Equestrian team puts up great show in finals

Weighing in on the GA p.17 Apathy and a failure to engage

Bluesfest bringing more blues P.19 Organizers address festival critics

NEWS

NEWS EDITOR

Nadia Drissi El-Bouzaidi news@thefulcrum.ca (613) 562-5260

Vacant exec post a burden for SFUO

President-elect asks what took so long to get things moving Nadia Drissi El-Bouzaidi News Editor

T

he Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO) put out an ad looking For next year’s vicepresident of services and communication, but president-elect of the SFUO, David Gakwerere, said the application period “could have easily been two or three weeks earlier.”

He said he’s been kept out of the loop for the past few weeks when it came to filling the job opening, and his questions were met with “vague” responses.

Members of all three slates campaigning during the SFUO general elections in February emphasized a need for improved communication with the student population.

However the only two prospective candidates for the vice-president of services and communications post, from the

The vp services and communication position became vacant in late January, following the publication of the SFUO elections candidates .

Photo: Rémi Yuan

“The bottom line is, it has been something that has been known since during the elections … We knew that the position was empty, and it’s only coming out at the end of March? That’s my biggest problem,” —David Gakwerere, president-elect of the SFUO Impact and ABC slates, failed to pass their bilingualism tests, leaving the post vacant.

The SFUO put out an ad for the position March 27 with an April 1 deadline.

“The bottom line is, it has been something that has been known since during the elections … We knew that the position was empty, and it’s only coming out at the end

of March? That’s my biggest problem,” said Gakwerere.

Since the SFUO general elections, the five-person selection committee has been looking through the constitution to

confirm they are following the rules, drafting terms of reference, and writing up the online callout, said Chris Hynes, vicepresident of university affairs and a member of the elections and selection committees.

“Not having one of the executive members during the summer is a burden,” said Hynes, “so we’re really hoping we will be able to fill the position. I’m not super convinced that we necessarily will. We might not be able to fill the position.”

Gakwerere said he’s also concerned that the late application period has meant students who were previously interested in the job had to pass it up.

“People who had been looking at perhaps applying for the job had decisions to make,” he said, adding that potential candidates may have picked up summer jobs, for example, rather than “wait indefinitely.”

The SFUO had to deal without a vice-president of services and communication just last year, after Brad LaFortune resigned from his position in October. Ikram Hamoud, this year’s current vice-president social, was voted into the communications position in the

SFUO postpones rape culture workshops

fall 2013 by-election.

After the application deadline closes on April 1, the selection committee, which is comprised of Chris Hynes, Dave Eaton, Nicole Desnoyers, Quinn Blue, and Emily McBain-Ashfield, will have seven days to present their candidate to the Board of Administration (BOA) at the last meeting of the current term on April 8.

Gakwerere said he’s skeptical about whether that gives the selection committee enough time to interview the candidates and conduct the bilingualism testing.

Hynes said the selection committee has already begun preparing for the testing process. “I definitely think we can conduct interviews in that time. There’s no problem,” he said. According to Hynes, if the selection committee doesn’t have a candidate ratified by the BOA by April 8, they most likely won’t have a candidate by May 1.

In that case, filling the position will be up to the new BOA that takes office May 1, however it’s likely a new vice-president of services and communication won’t take office until after the fall by-elections, he said.

Fed body reps say they were prepared to host them despite earlier criticism Nadia Drissi El-Bouzaidi News Editor

The Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO) revealed at last week’s general assembly that the rape culture workshops that federated bodies were required to undergo earlier in the year didn’t end up happening because of logistical issues.

The workshops were criticized in October because of their many requirements and threat of financial penalty if fed bodies did not meet those requirements.

The rules stipulated that all elected representatives attend the workshops, which were to be held within two months of a student election period, open to the rest of the faculty, and promoted for at least three weeks leading up to the event.

Now at the end of the term, fed body officials are saying

4 | NEWS

they were in fact prepared to hold the workshops, but the SFUO wasn’t.

“I don’t see why there were any logistical issues,” said Christine Backs, vicepresident social of the Engineering Students’ Society (ESS).

“I know for a fact that the ESS told the SFUO an exact time, date, and location in which we would participate in the workshop. They had to do no planning on their side except (to) send someone to lead the workshop.”

“Despite my interest in hosting them, they never happened,” said Colin Guldimann, vice-president social of the Economics Students Association.

Guldimann said they tried to prepare presentation materials to use in the workshops, but were told all resources had to come from the Women’s Resource Centre.

“We definitely tried to hold them, but we were shut down by the fed multiple times.”

The decision not to host the workshops because of “a number of logistical challenges that we could not have foreseen” was relayed through the presidents’ round table, said Maya McDonald, vice-president of equity of the SFUO. McDonald wrote in an email to the Fulcrum that the special committee charged with running the workshops had “a lengthy discussion about how to structure the workshops in order to make them uniform enough to be easy to replicate, while also acknowledging the differences that each student association might seek.”

Their discussions also highlighted timeline challenges, and confusion around who was running the workshops that hindered the progress of the workshops. McDonald said

the committee will use information gathered this year “in order to better prepare next year’s federated body executives to host these workshops.”

McDonald said the SFUO’s task force on sexualized violence tried to create an ad hoc committee in the summer that “would take the lead on the rape culture workshops,” but it was struck down at the August meeting of the Board of Administration.

The workshops were part of the mandate of the student federation’s task force created last spring in response to the alleged sexual assault of a woman in Thunder Bay by members of the men’s hockey team, and the exposure of a sexually graphic conversation between student officials that discussed SFUO president Anne-Marie Roy. According to McDonald, the task force has successfully

The federated bodies were previously required to host the workshops according to guidelines issued by the Women’s Resource Centre. Photo: Mackenzie Powell

implemented sexual assault training as a part of 101 Week guide training and has engaged in ongoing discussions with Housing Service to extend their work within residences.

“The federated bodies were all really engaged in the discussions surrounding the workshops,” said McDonald, “and it would be a disservice to them and to our membership

to have rushed through them simply to say that they had been hosted.”

Backs questioned whether the workshops are even necessary for the federated bodies, whose representatives go through rape culture training at other times throughout the year.

“We’ve already attended this type of workshop many times,” she said.

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Jer’s Vision rings in 10th anniversary with rebrand

Centre to show off world’s ‘first and only gay object’ at gala Lindsay MacMillan Associate News Editor

Jer’s Vision, an Ottawabased non-profit organization that advocates for LGBTQ+ rights, has renamed itself as the Canadian Centre for Gender and Sexual Diversity (CCGSD), recognizing its national outreach.

University of Ottawa graduate Jeremy Dias founded the CCGSD in 2005. Dias spoke to the Fulcrum about the 10th anniversary of the CCGSD, its different projects, and the significance of a name.

“It was time for a change,” said Dias. “It’s not just about me or my vision.”

In 2000, Dias took the Algoma District School Board in Sault Ste. Marie to the Ontario Human Rights Commission because he wasn’t allowed to create a gay social club in school. The case dragged on

for five years, leading to a $5,000 settlement for Dias, the second-largest human rights settlement awarded in Canada.

“I didn’t want the money,” said Dias. “This is money that my school board should have spent on a gay-straight alliance or something to make lives better. This is not good enough, it’s not what I wanted: the world to be a better place.”

With the money, Dias and six friends founded Jer’s Vision in 2005. Originally, it was just a scholarship fund, but has expanded into various programs, workshops, research, and initiatives like the Day of Pink.

Dias said the organization had been reflecting on a name change for a while to better reflect the organization. “We’ve gone from this small Little Engine That Could to Canada’s largest LGBTQ charity,” he said.

“I have people on my team who do really amazing work,

and the truth is it’s not my vision anymore. It was the vision and embodiment of hundreds of people. We’ve always been this and we want people to recognize us as this,” said Dias.

Lukayo Estrella, CCGSD team leader, reflected on the process of renaming in a press release.

“Names can hurt and heal. I’ve had painful names screamed at me, but my name is a healing name. I chose it because I’ve always been Lukayo, and I want people to know me as Lukayo. The renaming of the organization is similar.”

Dias described the projects the CCGSD is undertaking, including one that’s attracted significant public attention, the gay sweater.

“The world’s first and only gay object,” according to Dias.

“It’s the idea of a number of people,” said Dias. “It’s tiring when you’re walking down the street and someone says your sweater or shoes are gay.

“It’s tiring when you’re walking down the street and someone says your sweater or shoes are gay. It’s not, I am. It’s not cool when people use transphobic and homophobic language.”

—Jeremy Dias, founder of the Canadian Centre for Gender and Sexual Diversity

Jeremy Dias, left, sitting next to Lukayo Estrella, is wearing the world’s “first and only gay object”, a sweater made from the hairs of people from the LGBTQ+

It’s not, I am. It’s not cool when people use transphobic and homophobic language.”

The 20-pound sweater, created by textile artists Brenna MacDonald and Amelia Lyon, is made from the hair of hundreds of LGBTQ+ Canadians.

A video about the project has racked up more than 60,000 YouTube views since March 23. Dias said he’s received requests from numerous organizations, schools, and museums

community.

Photo: Adam Feibel

in New York and Toronto to present the sweater.

“This is our personal experience, the lives of people literally and metaphorically woven together,” said Dias.

“One kid wore the sweater and complained about how itchy and heavy it was. Eventually, he got used to it, and he realized that it was like homophobia. It didn’t hurt as much, but it was still there. Another kid pulled out some of his

hair and literally tied it to the sweater, because he wanted to be part of it.”

The CCGSD will officially unveil the sweater in Ottawa at the Day of Pink Gala on April 8, which also serves as a celebration of the group’s 10th anniversary.

Looking forward, Dias said the CCGSD wants to increase and produce more research, and work more with adults, and service providers.

2,430 person study, 423 people who received the fresher blood passed away after 90 days, while 398 people who received older blood died.

The findings are groundbreaking, considering 1 million units of blood are transfused every year in Canada, and 198 million units are transfused worldwide.

Without an expiration date, donated blood won’t have to go to waste.

Blood transfusions typically are used to treat people suffering from heart disease, cancer, or leukemia, or people who are injured in car crashes or other accidents.

According to Dr. Fergusson, the average patient who needs a transfusion requires two to three units of blood, with each unit totalling 450 mL of blood.

Many doctors believe fresher blood is more effective than older blood, meaning they

would ask for fresher blood believing it would be beneficial to patients. However due to high demand, and limited supply, Canadian blood agencies have to use the oldest blood first to avoid wastage.

Canadian Blood Services currently stores donated blood for up to 42 days before disposing of it. The findings means blood agencies don’t need to worry about supplying fresher blood to patients.

“There was growing pressure on the blood banks and on the blood system,” said Dr. Fergusson, adding that health practitioners in Canada would’ve had to make changes to their system and focus on sending fresher blood to hospitals sooner, if the study had shown more positive results from fresh blood.

Dr. Fergusson’s next project will be to study the effects of different ages of blood transfusions on paediatric patients.

U of O prof finds there’s no best-before date for blood

Study findings indicate a major breakthrough in blood transfusions

One million units of blood are transfused in Canada annually, and 198 million units worldwide.

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Photo: DUP Photos, CC, flickr.com

David Campion-Smith Staff Contributor

A new study by researchers at the University of Ottawa is changing the way doctors look at blood transfusions.

The study compared the recovery rates of two groups of patients, one group given fresh blood and the other given older blood, and found no link between recovery and the age of the blood being transfused.

“Our trial directly tested that hypothesis and found that fresh blood actually wasn’t better for you,” said study leader Dr. Dean Fergusson, director of the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute’s clinical epidemiology program and a medical professor at the U of O. The scientists’ study compared mortality rates of patients who received older and newer transfusions after 90 days in intensive care. In the

NEWS | 5

Research speeds up TB treatment in Nunavut Higher incidence of TB, with understaffed hospitals

News Briefs

Telfer alumnus gives another $1.5M to his alma mater

The University of Ottawa announced this month that alumnus Camille Villeneuve donated another $1.5 million to the Telfer School of Management.

Villeneuve graduated from the U of O almost 50 years ago and is now the president of Multivesco, an Outaouais, Que. development company. The alumnus, who has donated almost $1.85 million to Telfer so far, is a strong supporter of the institution.

“The University of Ottawa gave me the theoretical knowledge needed to succeed … it also enabled me to build a network of contacts that was decisive throughout my more than 40-year career,” he said, according to the Ottawa Citizen.

University president Allan Rock said Villeneuve’s donation will provide Telfer

students with “the means to make a difference in our community and beyond,” thus enhancing the student experience.

According to the U of O, $150,000 of the funds will be given to Telfer’s pre-existing Villeneuve Student Activity Fund, which provides financial assistance to U of O students who participate in academic events such as workshops and conferences.

Another $350,000 of the donation will be used to create the Camille Villeneuve Fund for Entrepreneurship. This new fund will aid Telfer students with enterprise startups, and provide networking opportunities with fellow entrepreneurs.

The remaining $1 million will be used to support future Telfer endeavours.

—Carolyn Mutis

Canada changes airline safety following Germanwings crash Dr. Gonzalo Alavarez speaks to members of the Nunavut community about tuberculosis.

Savannah Awde Proofreader

Despite tuberculosis (TB) rates being 50 times higher than the rest of Canada, patients in Nunavut wait anywhere from a week to a month to receive their TB diagnostic test results.

A study done in Iqaluit by University of Ottawa scientist Dr. Gonzalo Alvarez has put a focus on the lack of proper treatment up north.

Alvarez, a respirologist at the Ottawa Hospital, and professor in the Faculty of Medicine, used a DNA test that has been used in other parts of the world, speeding up the diagnostic process.

“Imagine we saw a patient before with active TB … for that person to be able to come into your office and by the next day have a diagnosis and be able to start them on treatment by the next day, is really a significant improvement from where we were before,” said Dr. Alvarez.

Following the publication of the study, the government of Nunavut released a new health budget that includes funding for the implementation and use of the new TB

diagnostic technology.

In 2011, when Dr. Alvarez first began the study, the test was not yet approved by Health Canada. Since then, studies on the efficacy of the test have been done in places such as India, China, and Africa. He explained that despite the international success of these studies, there weren’t any publications in Canada to evaluate the procedure.

Dr. Alvarez described the subject of his three-year long study as a TB test based on a polymerase chain reaction, a process that functions to amplify the genetic material within the bacteria to detect the disease.

“We wanted to see if the accuracy was maintained, like the other studies done around the world, and … if there was a patient effect.” The findings were promising.

“We found that it was feasible, that it was accurate, and that the time to initiating treatment really came down,” said Dr. Alvarez. “This test could make a diagnosis and get someone started on treatment by the next day, compared to the standard of therapy which (is) anywhere between next week or next month.”

Photo: Courtesy Deborah Van Dyk

Receiving these results earlier also helps “break the cycle of transmission,” he said, which in turn limits the spread of disease.

Dr. Alvarez said the study has also garnered a warm reception from the community in Nunavut.

“It’s really important in all the studies that we do that there’s first and foremost interest from the community,” he said. “We like to integrate the community into the design process, the analysis process, and even the interpretation of those results.”

Although Dr. Alvarez said he hopes the TB test will become common practice up north, he noted that there are definite barriers to the procedure’s implementation.

“Without a doubt the barriers are with the infrastructure capacity available, specifically in human resources,” he said. “The North without a doubt is understaffed in many ways, and often one person is doing the job of what 10 people would be doing here in Ottawa.”

Dr. Alvarez did say he is hopeful abou the test’s implementation in Northen Canada.

“Imagine we saw a patient before with active TB... for that person to be able to come into your office and by the next day have a diagnosis and be able to start them on treatment by the next day, is really a significant improvement from where we were before.” —Dr. Gonzalo Alvarez— 6 | NEWS

Federal Transport Minister Lisa Raitt issued an emergency order requiring Canadian airlines to have two crew members in the cockpit at all times on March 26. The order applies to all commercial flights.

The new regulation is a direct result of reports that the co-pilot of Germanwings Flight 9525 deliberately crashed the plane in the French Alps after locking his pilot out of the cockpit.

Raitt told reporters that the “order is seeking to fill a gap that is in the rules.” The new rule allows a member of the cabin crew to take the place of a pilot if they leave the cockpit.

Air Canada, WestJet, and Air Transat con-

firmed they would now require two crewmembers in the cockpit. Porter said its policy always required two members of the crew in the cockpit during flight. Air Canada said the airline is monitoring the investigation of the crash and will make further policy changes if required.

Since 9/11, the standard American operating procedure is that when a pilot leaves the cockpit a flight attendant must take their place.

Airlines in Europe are not required to have two people in the cockpit at all times.

However, many airlines are amending policies to implement a similar rule.

—Lindsay MacMillan

Girls behind banned gay rights project to receive award

Quinn Maloney-Tavares, left, and Polly Hamilton, were surprised when their principal put a stop to their gay rights’ project last fall.

The Canadian Centre of Gender and Sexual Diversity (CCGSD) will be honouring two Ottawa girls who were told they couldn’t do their school project on gay rights.

Quinn Maloney-Tavares and Polly Hamilton will receive the award at the CCGSD’s 10th annual Ottawa Pink Gala.

Ontario Education Minister Liz Sandals congratulated the girls on the receipt of the award. “In Ontario, we believe in a safe and inclusive school environment where all students feel safe and accepted, and I’m proud to see these students putting this belief into practice,” said Sandals, according to the Ottawa Citizen.

The girls’ story made headlines after the principal at St. George Elementary School told them to pick a different topic for the

Photo: Ottawa Citizen

school’s social justice fair.

The Ottawa Catholic School Board reviewed the matter and invited the girls and their parents to meet with principal Anne Beauchamp to work out the issue.

After the meeting, Ann Maloney, one of the girls’ mothers, said the girls did their project on how a Catholic high school’s equity club addresses gay rights.

Maloney said the two girls have been affected by the controversy, having received both praise and criticism over their project.

“There was a loss of innocence. They realized there are grownup people who don’t see the world the same way that they see it,” she said.

—Nadia Drissi El-Bouzaidi

thefulcrum.ca

National News

Montreal students ramp B.C. may deny driver’s licenses up anti-austerity protests to student debt defaulters

Concordia accommodates supporters but marches clash with police

Students march through Montreal on March 27 in protest of Quebec’s austerity measures.

Andrej Ivanov & Milos Kovacevic The Concordian

MONTREAL (CUP) — What seemed to be a relatively peaceful protest ended abruptly when riot police engaged protesting students by deploying pepper spray, tear gas, and stun grenades to break up a March 27 demonstration in Montreal.

Protestors met with riot police at Dominion Square during Friday’s march after the protest was deemed illegal, an hour after it started.

Riot police were sent in to split up and disperse the thousands of protestors that gathered. Police officers later kettled in three small groups of protestors around Sainte Catherine Street and got them to disperse.

According to the Montreal Gazette, one arrest has been confirmed for assault of an officer.

March 23 was the first day of student anti-austerity strikes in Montreal, with five Concordia University faculties boycotting their classes and having their act partially validated by the university’s decision to cancel classes.

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Undergraduate classes for the fine arts, philosophy, geography, women’s studies, and community and public affairs were cancelled by the school, which billed the move as a “day of dialogue.” Graduate students in philosophy were also part of the strike.

The university administration said the first strike would be the only one officially sanctioned.

A previous altercation happened when a march stopped in the middle of an intersection, with a group of people taunting officers with police tape. The scuffle ended as quickly as it started, with police officers pepper-spraying the crowd and the protestors pushing into them, but finally stepping back.

The protest started peacefully at Parc Émilie-Gamelin, where students gathered to start the second night of protests against austerity measures. Many crowded around the entrance of a metro station, chatting and playing music. As protestors gathered to start the march, the protest was deemed legal, as long as the direction of traffic was obeyed. The crowd

Photo: Andrej Ivanov,The Concordian

met the police announcement with jeering and curses.

Protestors marched, chanting and singing through the streets of Montreal. One of those chants included a French translation of “We stole nothing! You steal lives!” The chant, directed at police, is a new twist on the protestors’ previous chant. It mirrors the motto of the public syndicates’ protest against cuts in their retirement funds.

The march snaked through the streets, winding across Montreal’s downtown core, sometimes following the direction of traffic, and other times walking amongst the cars. At times, drivers were honking and cheering in support.

Montreal has seen many protests in the last week with many more scheduled, including a major march on April 2.

Larger province-wide public protests are ramping up for April and May, and student organizations will have plenty of time to either continue with additional strikes or join the movement.

How this will affect the successful completion of the semester for certain faculties is unknown.

Cameron Welch CUP Contributor

OKANAGAN (CUP) — Those who default on their student loans could lose their driver’s license if new legislation proposed

by British Columbia’s finance ministry passes.

Under the proposed law, Insurance Claims British Columbia (ICBC) would receive a “refuseto-issue” notification on the accounts of people who had been out of good standing for over a year on their government student loans.

ICBC is a crown corporation that controls all driver licensing, registration, and basic insurance in BC. According to Finance Minister Mike de Jong, who announced the proposal Feb. 26, the move is intended to put a dent in the $185 million in overdue student loans owed to the B.C. government, and aims to recoup an additional $3 million per year.

Last year the crown brought in a total of $17 million from defaulted loans.

ICBC currently denies new licenses or license renewals based on a number of debt evasions, including those for motor-related infractions and crimes, transit fare-evasion fines, bridge tolls, and child support and alimony payments.

De Jong cited ICBC’s regular and province-wide contact with citizens as the reason the corporation makes an effective and

efficient debt collector.

The proposal has drawn criticism, particularly from the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) BC. According to CFS BC chair Zachary Crispin, withholding licenses due to student debt is “just poor public policy.”

“If you take away someone’s driver’s license and they lose their job, they’re just going to default further,” he said.

But the Ministry of Finance disagrees, saying the penalty would only affect license renewals once every five years and would allow recipients to get the notice withdrawn by proving financial hardship.

“It is not in the interests of government to put a debtor into a position where they have less ability to pay,” said Brennan Clarke, the ministry’s senior public affairs officer. “The refuseto-issue hold will only be applied or maintained where it improves the likelihood of repayment.”

BC is tied for the highest rate of interest on student loans in the country (prime plus 2.5 per cent), and is second-highest when it comes to average government student loan debt, measured three years after graduation.

The province provides several means for student debt alleviation, primarily through its Repayment Assistance Plan. Under that plan, borrowers can qualify for a reduction or removal of their monthly payments based on their income and family size.

According to the Ministry of Finance, of the 113,000 borrowers currently in repayment there are 26,000 people in default, and at any given time 1,500 of those defaulters have resumed repayment or would qualify for a financial exemption. To meet the goal of $3 million, the refuseto-issue plan would have to get 2,250 of the remaining defaulters to complete their yearly payments.

The ministry wasn’t able to provide a dollar figure on how much is currently brought in by the existing types of refuse-toissue notices, and ICBC did not have any information on how many drivers repay and get their notices lifted, or how quickly they repay.

“We don’t have a business need for that (information),” said ICBC senior communication specialist Leslie Dickson, explaining that notices from the government just appear on drivers’ ICBC files when there is an outstanding debt, and go away when the government receives payment and withdraws the notice.

ICBC does however record how many notices there are and what each is for. As of Feb. 26 there were 55,000 active notices: 42,000 for bridge toll debt, 9,300 for family maintenance, and 4,200 for public transit fines.

The proposed law is before the House and is expected to undergo a final vote by May 28.

If passed, it would take effect in late 2015 or early 2016.

B.C.’s insurance claims agency currently denies new licenses or license renewals based on a number of debt evasions.

Photo: Courtesy epSos.de, CC, flickr.com

NEWS | 7

ARTS &CULTURE

A&C EDITOR Jessica Eritou arts@thefulcrum.ca (613) 562-5260

Standing ovation for Laverne Cox

Sold-out SFUO event explores racism, classicism, transmisogyny Allegra Morgado Staff Contributor

M

ost people who receive a standing ovation do so when they finish a speech, not before they start.

But Laverne Cox is not most people.

The actress and LGBTQ+ advocate, best known for her role as Sophia Burset in Orange Is the New Black, spoke to a sold-out crowd on March 25 at the Bronson Centre.

The event was part of her Ain’t I a Woman: My Journey to Womanhood tour, hosted here by the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO) as part of their United Against Racism Week campaign.

Cox’s hour-long talk revolved around her experiences as a black, transgender, workingclass woman growing up in Mobile, Ala., and later moving to New York City. She used those experiences to touch on issues in the transgender community today, such

as shame, violence, and transmisogyny.

Cox said she recognized there was something different about herself as a child. She explained that although born physically a male, she was often bullied for “acting like a girl,” and reached a tipping point in third grade when her teacher called home after Cox brought a fan to school, reminiscent of Scarlett O’Hara’s from Gone With the Wind. Her teacher suggested therapy to her mother to prevent this behaviour from getting worse, to which her mother promptly agreed.

During one of her first therapy sessions her therapist asked her if she knew the difference between a boy and a girl, and she replied, “There is no difference.” As a third grader she felt that this must be the answer, since she looked like a boy but felt like a girl.

In sixth grade she began to realize she liked boys, and although she loved church because it presented her with opportunities to perform, she said the teachings about homosexuality made her feel more ashamed of herself.

It was around that time

One of Annie Thinngowes’ looks for her lastest drag performance was inspired by the Disney film, The Emperor’s New Groove. Photos: Allegra Morgado

Laverne Cox explored the issues faced being transgendered and a woman of colour in a sold out show at the Bronson Centre.

that shame drove her to attempt suicide.

“Guilt is ‘I did something wrong,” she said. “Shame is ‘I am wrong.’”

While discussing her experience, Cox pointed to statistics that indicate that 41 per cent of transgender people in the United States report attempting suicide.

In Canada, the number is 43 per cent.

Cox also touched on

The benefits of breaking up Psychotherapist Kimberly Moffit urges students to move on from bad relationships Andrew Hawley General Manager

Breaking up is hard to do.

Ending a relationship is never easy, whether it’s with a romantic partner, a friend, or even school or work. But moving on is ultimately what’s best for your health, according to Toronto psychotherapist Kimberly Moffit.

The media commentator explained why during “Break Up and Move,” a discussion on lifestyle detoxing that took place March 26 at Montpetit Hall.

Moffit was joined by Ottawa gynecologist Dr. Tania Dumont.

The psychotherapist identi-

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fied several aspects of students’ lives that could use cleansing because they end up becoming negative forces.

“The most common thing I see students breaking up with is a romantic relationship. But it can also be from their program at the university or their part-time job,” said Moffit. “Social media, dieting, self-criticism, and stress are all really high on the list of what I’ve heard from students.”

Breaking up from the pill is another one. Dr. Dumont described alternative and longerlasting birth control options available, such as birth control patches, vaginal rings, injections, and long-acting revers-

ible contraceptions (LARCs), which are intrauterine devices (IUDs) and intrauterine systems (IUSs). She said that while inserting the LARCs can be uncomfortable and lead to some side effects, the discomfort is short-lived and most people tolerate them very well.

“People come back for second and third IUDs and IUSs,” she said. “And then you can forget about them for quite a few years after that.”

Dr. Dumont recommended that students touch base with a family doctor, gynecologist, or sexual health clinic first to talk about the options and determine the best method for them.

racism and classicism that she encountered while studying as a dance major at the Alabama School of Fine Arts. The school’s population was mostly affluent and white, and while living in the dorms she was called a racial slur for the first time in her life.

After moving to New York City in her 20s, Cox said she finally began to feel proud of her gender

expression. This was where she made the decision to transition, as she was inspired and supported by her transgender friends she had met in New York.

The transition did not come without its own challenges, though.

She became emotional when discussing the case of Alon Nettles, a black transgender woman who was beaten to death in Harlem.

Photo: Allegra Morgado

She also mentioned important ways to support transgender people, such as using proper pronouns and supporting all transgender people, not just those who are passing as cisgendered.

“When a transgender woman is called a man, it is an act of violence,” said Cox. “Pronouns matter when talkingtoandabouttransgender people,” she said. “‘Trans’ (the word) is beautiful.”

“If something feels wrong, it probably is wrong, and people should find something that appreciates them more or is more of a fit.”

—Kimberly Moffit, psychotherapist

Similar to moving on from the pill, the decision of why to break up from other things is highly personal.

“You don’t want to take everyone’s opinion so seriously,” said Moffit. “If something feels wrong, it probably is wrong, and people should find something that appreciates them more or is more of a fit.”

Though the process is indi-

A lecture was given at the U of O to discuss toxic relationships, diets, and how to live your life in peace.

Photo: Vic, CC, flickr.com

vidualized, Moffit described common signs that indicate someone’s ready for a change.

“You start finding yourself thinking about other options, doing some research, and talking to family and friends about it,” she said. “Then there’s an emotional distance, followed by the breakup. You expect to feel depressed but you actually

feel really happy.”

If you’re looking to change relationships or shift things around this spring, Moffit advised to start small. By removing items that aren’t working such as in your fridge or closet, you’ll gain confidence for when it comes time to breaking up with the things in your life that are bringing you down.

ARTS & CULTURE | 9

Balancing style and ethics Golden ticket with the Arkells

Local social enterprise wants to show you how your clothes are made

Student asked to record with band after winning YouTube contest

Rachel Farewell holds the organization’s latest t-shirt.

Singer Drew Taylor is happy about her recent success in music all due to a YouTube contest.

Jessica Eritou

Arts & Culture Editor As much as we enjoy cheap T-shirts and jeans, fast fashion comes with a hefty ethical price.

A group of University of Ottawa students knows this, and they’re looking to invest in overseas development with their new social enterprise, The Balance Project.

Founded in December by Kim Kirton and Levena Galpoulous, both in second year studying international development and globalization, the initiative’s mission is to educate and inform consumers about better clothing choices. Its sister company, simply called Balance, plans to offer T-shirts that are eco-friendly, sustainable, and ethically-sourced.

When the founders starting attending sustainability conferences, Kirton says she started to look for an alternative outlet to shop for her clothes. Since she couldn’t find anything herself, she decided to do it on her own by launching the label.

Rachel Farewell, co-director of communications, director of

10 | ARTS & CULTURE

web design, and a fellow student in the same year and program, says it’s about providing a clothing alternative that’s both fashionable and ethical.

“The cool thing about social entrepreneurship is that you’re profiting businesswise but you’re also profiting for the development of the communities as well,” says Farewell.

The team believes that every aspect of a garment should be traceable to where it was manufactured. The Balance Project website features an interactive map with details about the organic cotton farms where their shirt material originates, the workshops for cotton ginning, and the camels that help transport their goods from a rural farm in India.

Balance sources local artists to provide artwork for their silk-screened T-shirts. Farewell says when they’re made, each tag on a Balance shirt will likely mention the featured artist along with background on how the shirt was made.

“You can go to the mall and just purchase any product you want, but it’s a matter of knowing exactly where your shirt and where your product

Photo: Jessica Eritou

comes from, which is different for us because there’s more to it than just purchasing it at the mall for a (low) price,” she says.

“It’s about the process and the steps involved.”

Although the group invested their own money into the bootstrapped startup, The Balance Project received support from businesses such as Freshii and Bridgehead and a successful Kickstarter campaign that raised more than $7,100, exceeding its target goal of $6,800.

Part of the funding will be used to make the first 300 T-shirts. T-shirts will cost $20–25, and 20 per cent of the profits will be micro-financed back into India’s agricultural organic cotton farming sector. The farmers will take the funding, grow their businesses, and reimburse the money back to The Balance Project, and the cycle will start again with another farmer.

After the T-shirts, Farewell says tank tops are the next project on the horizon.

“Each step involved is true to what we wanted to become as a company,” says Farewell.

“To be a part of that is really cool.”

Jessica Eritou

Arts & Culture Editor On a quiet evening during her psychology lecture at the University of Ottawa, student Drew Taylor’s life got a little more exciting.

Since last May, she has been uploading cover songs onto YouTube from her bedroom.

And in February, one of today’s most popular Canadian bands took notice.

During class, Taylor received a message from Arkells vocalist Max Kerman telling her she had won the Leather Jacket Golden Ticket contest, where fans upload a cover of their popular song “Leather Jacket” to YouTube. Winners of the contest are given free entrance to any concert or festival the Juno-winning Hamilton band plays in 2015.

As exciting as it was for Taylor, that wasn’t the end of it.

“You have the voice of an angel, here’s my cell number,” she recalls Kerman telling her on the phone. The band wanted to record a version of “Leather Jacket” featuring Taylor, but unfortunately the band’s tour dates clashed with her school schedule. Although the studio recording fell through, Taylor says she’s flattered for the opportunity and the personal connection she now has with the band.

“I was like, OK, I have Max Kerman’s number,” she says.

“Maybe that’s the best present ever.”

With more than 4,600 hits on her cover video and more subscribers each day, Taylor has since uploaded covers of Vance Joy and Tokyo Police Club that she says have been

Photo: Jessica Eritou

well received.

Due to her popular online presence, Taylor now has another musical outlet to show off her talent. As a result of her YouTube cover, Jack Hopkins from 92.7 FM CFFF Trent Radio contacted Taylor to play her cover on their show, Alt Power. The station also asked her to do promotion for the Arkells’ upcoming show in Peterborough, Ont. “I obviously said yes,” says Taylor, “and now I send (them) covers and originals weekly.”

It all inspired Taylor to book studio time to record a proper EP when she’s back in Muskoka, Ont., this summer.

As for her shot with the band, the relationship isn’t over and out, says Taylor. “My plan is to convince them (to let me) open for them.”

“I was like, OK, I have Max Kerman’s number. Maybe that’s the best present ever” —Winner of the Arkells’ Leather Jacket Golden Ticket contest, Drew Taylor

thefulcrum.ca

An artistic eye on racism

systems are poisonous, the systems are unjust. It’s the systems that need to be abolished, not the people that they protect.”

Iliza, who has written since high school, discussed during her spoken word performance what people see when they look at her mainly the “angry black woman” label that has become overly used to describe a woman of colour. She said she hopes that the event will serve to encourage those who feel alone in their racial struggles.

“When people hear you speak about things they relate to, it gives them the courage to speak up for themselves as well.”

The night ended with a call to action from poet Louise Boileau, a third-year social sciences student, who said that people of colour are in a “state of emergency” and that all people need to be there for each other.

“We continue to be told that these lives don’t matter, but it is crucial that we protect each other,” she said.

“We need to speak loudly and clearly that our lives do matter.”

viewed people I knew, but because I was an active member of the Japan YouTube community, I had a network of some very interesting friends,” O’Shea says in an email to the Fulcrum.

O’Shea then turned to social media to help him find interesting people for the show. He used Twitter to connect with them, and as the show has grown, people have begun to reach out to him with their stories.

Within 50 episodes, the podcast has become a hit, developing a significant following and even resulting in a nomination at the 2015 Podcast Awards in the travel category. For the host, this has been a welcome

journey.

“I’m happy,” says O’Shea.

“In podcast terms, a year is a short time. In just a little more than a year I have grown from a few dozen listeners on the first episode to almost 16,000 downloads this month alone.

I’m excited.”

Given the variety of guests on the podcast there have been some interesting people with amazing stories.

One of his favourite guests was Brian Waters, who came to Japan as an English teacher, and left to become a criminalist with the L.A. County Coroner’s office. O’Shea also interviewed someone who skateboarded across Japan to

raise money to support tsunami victims.

It isn’t always easy to be the single person behind an entire podcast. With tasks like seeking out and setting up interviews, recording, and editing, the job is solely in O’Shea’s hands. He says his work has been well-rewarded by the response.

“So many listeners thank me for making their commutes or workday go by easier and that’s awesome.”

O’Shea is still teaching, but has bigger plans for his show.

Podcasting started as just a small hobby, but now he hopes to start his own podcast network one day.

Contributor

SFUO event gathers performers to share their message on race

Amy Iilza, left, Anny Sam, and Rashidi shared their art surrounding racial politics.

People have countless different ways to express their struggles.

Students showcased a variety of their at a performance event called Responding to Racism Through Art on March 27. The event closed off United Against Racism Week, hosted by the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa. It allowed students to partake in artistic dialogue regarding racial issues and their everyday struggles with discrimination.

Kicking the night off, rapper Rashidi Kabamba, a Carleton University student, walked students through a black history lesson, verse after verse, reminding all to take pride in their roots.

Following on the same path, hip-hop duo Patrick Michel and Eddyson Pierre took their music style back to the ‘90s, an era when hiphop was a voice for the oppressed, they said. For them, hip-hop was more than a vehicle for hedonistic promotion, but an instrument for

social change.

A poetic performance by U of O sociology and anthropology alumnus Anny Sam detailed vivid feelings of internalized racism, and how it pushed her to minimize cultural aspects of her upbringing in the hopes of blending into her surroundings. It was a theme that resonated with many performers that night, who said that at one time or another they stopped themselves from being all that they were because of feelings of inadequacy and selfhatred.

Several poetics used artistic wordplay to emphasize how people who have been marginalized are portrayed in the media, and the importance of peeling back the layers of the system that continues to perpetuate these inaccuracies. Amy Iliza, a thirdyear student in international development, described this phenomenon.

“I believe that it’s difficult to not point the finger towards the people who belong to the race who has pointed their fingers at us,” said Iliza. “But it is primordial to remember that the

Christelle Musambi

Photos: Christelle Musambi.

Famous in Japan

Just Japan host and U of O alum finds success talking about life in a foreign land

Kevin O’Shea, with his son, below, went overseas to teach English and found himself involved in a new hobby, podcasting.

Photo: Courtesy of Kevin O’Shea

Spencer Murdock Staff Reporter

A University of Ottawa alumnus has become a rising star in Japanese podcasting.

Kevin O’Shea’s journey to success in the podcast world began while working in South Korea in between his years of undergrad and

thefulcrum.ca

teachers college. It was while teaching English there that he met the woman he would marry. She was from Japan and he from Canada, and after O’Shea finished his teaching degree in 2008, he moved to start a life in Kobe, Japan.

It was not until his roots were aptly set that he would

use the audience he built video-blogging on YouTube to launch a podcast about what it’s like to live and work in Japan. The podcast is called Just Japan, and features either a guest or a co-host coming on to talk with O’Shea about various aspects of their life in the country.

“In the beginning I inter-

ARTS & CULTURE | 11

D

ippin’ Dots. Microwaves.

Menstrual pads.

The Internet. GPS. Cargo pants.

Some of the wonders of modern life—and an unflattering fashion trend of the late ‘90s—all started as military innovation and were later adapted for commercial and recreational use.

For technological innovators working with the military, making their creations commercially viable is the ultimate success.

While the military pays for development, adaptations from commercialization mean the product can be made more cheaply and quickly, and distributed more widely, all without that nasty association with death and violence. The military in turn benefits from the lower cost of commercial adaptations and is more likely to fund the innovators’ next projects. Everybody wins.

Unless you can’t quite get past that affiliation with war.

This is one of the problems facing commercial and recreational drones.

The drone market

According to Clay Dillow of Fortune, the global market for non-military drones has skyrocketed into a $2.5-billion industry, with 15 to 20 per cent annual growth. The numbers are all the more impressive when you consider that current laws and regulatory hurdles in the United States and Canada have prevented non-military drones from reaching their full potential.

Some of these regulations stem from the association we have between unmanned aerial vehicles and drone strikes.

Not that the association is unfounded. Drones were first used by the American military and the CIA for targeted killing after Sept.

11, 2001, and by 2012 more than 20,000 drones were being used in conflicts around the world.

In 2013, the Pew Research Center found that 61 per cent of Americans and 43 per cent of Canadians support the use of drones against terrorists abroad. Meanwhile, 63 per cent

of Americans are opposed to personal and commercial drones being allowed to fly through U.S. airspace.

“The first reaction from people to drones is always emotional,” said Jonathan Ledgard, director of AfroTech, an initiative to help pioneer advanced technologies in Africa, in an interview with NPR. Ledgard believes drones can help build trade in Africa by providing easy transport solutions in areas where very little infrastructure is in place.

“We need to develop them in a way that humans don’t feel threatened,” he said.

Another roadblock for drones is airspace. Air traffic control is responsible for ensuring that each aircraft has a minimum amount of space around it to prevent collision. In order to facilitate this, air traffic controllers need to know the locations of all aircraft within their airspace.

While most recreational and commercial drones aren’t powerful enough to get in the way of planes, as the technology develops there are concerns that they could cause collisions. Air traffic controllers already have a difficult job regulating aircrafts without adding potential delivery drone interference on top of that.

The United States has been hesitant to allow commercial or recreational drone use at all. Currently, the commercial use of drones is banned in the U.S. unless a company gets an exemption, and thus far the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has granted exemptions to just 24 of 342 applicants for the commercial use of drones.

Delivering the future

In Canada the rules are more lenient. Any person or company looking to operate a drone for commercial purposes must apply for a Special Flight Operations Certificate (SFOC) through Transport Canada. Operators are required to list the times, dates and areas in which their drones

will fly. SFOCs also contain safety regulations regarding line-of-sight and flying distances over populated areas. In 2014, Transport Canada issued 1,672 SFOCs. An SFOC is essential for any company looking to incorporate drone technology into its business model.

Amazon has been trying to use drones for their rapid delivery service, Amazon Prime, but have been unable to get approval from the U.S. government to test their project. On March 30, the Globe and Mail reported that Amazon is “rapidly experimenting” with unmanned aircrafts in Chilliwack, B.C., after the company received an SFOC to test the new delivery service, which would use lowflying drones to deliver small packages in the U.S., U.K., and Israel.

Brendan Schulman, a New York-based lawyer and drone expert, told the Globe and Mail that the FAA has already announced new draft rules for commercial drones that would make it easier for companies like Amazon to gain approval, but the regulations could take two years to come into effect and could still force pilots to maintain eyesight with each drone—making Amazon’s plan highly improbable anytime soon.

Alan Gardner is a University of Ottawa computer engineering alumnus and a local recreational drone user. He founded Ottawa Drones, a group of programmers who meet to develop software for unmanned aerial vehicles called quadcopters. He says he’s not very optimistic about delivery projects like Amazon’s.

“I actually am not terribly bullish on the value of drones commercially,” he said. “The problem that I see for these delivery ones is that when everyone wants drone delivery, it’s going to get terribly complicated and then when things go wrong, they fall out of the sky and hit you in the head.”

Gardner says the technology simply isn’t good enough yet.

Most of the models available for commercial and recreational use have a limited range and

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battery life. Amazon will have to prove their drones have much higher reliability than anything currently on the market.

This unreliability is present in military drone use as well. The machines are meant to target individuals yet they don’t seem to be very good at it. The technology is more precise than a bombing or a rocket, but too often we hear of drone strikes leaving hundreds of innocents dead as collateral damage.

According to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, between 2004 and 2015, U.S.-led drone strikes in Pakistan alone have killed nearly 1,000 civilians, including more than 200 children.

This is a relatively small number compared to a military practice like carpet bombing, but for a method that’s meant to be precise, it suggests a rather large margin for error.

This problem is compounded by a lack of responsibility. While someone somewhere is remotely controlling a military drone, they aren’t physically present for the act of violence. The secrecy of the U.S. military’s drone strikes further compounds this—it is unclear who is responsible for the deaths.

Regulating responsibility

Some warn that recreational drones provide a component of secrecy that may soon result in a privacy issue in Canada.

An article by Maclean’s stated that drones weighing less than 35 kilograms do not require a SFOC, and thus are unregulated

by Canadian law. The Canadian privacy commissioner’s office has published a new study that says these smaller recreational drones are problematic because they could make it easier for people to use drone technology to survey fellow citizens. It’s a problem that could become largescale as companies have begun selling small, inexpensive drones than can stream live video to smartphones.

The problem of responsibility in commercial use, like delivery

service, may seem to have lower stakes than a drone strike, but if drones are falling out of the sky and potentially injuring people or causing traffic accidents, accountability for their actions becomes difficult to delegate.

Kristen Thomasen, currently working on her doctorate on the regulation of domestic drones at the University of Ottawa’s Centre for Technology, Law and Society, wrote in an article contributed to the Globe and Mail that the Canadian government needs to build a better regulatory architecture to ensure drones are used safely and accountably in the future.

“Licencing requirements can ensure skilled pilots, performance standards requirements can ensure properly built drones, flying parameters will help manage air traffic and protect the serenity of certain public spaces, and criminal laws can prohibit and punish for the more nefarious surveillance or armed uses of drones,” she said.

“And perhaps more significantly, through collaboration with innovators, governments might be able to control the ability of drones to carry certain objects, transmit personal information, verify their owners’ identities, or fly in certain locations, by design. Laws that set out design requirements, like the ones we use for cars, can help mitigate the harms caused by drones without relying on users to fly them correctly.”

Perhaps in the coming months and years Amazon or other companies will be able to create a product that can meet a basic standard of reliability, and it will revolutionize commercial drone use. For now, drones have many applications beyond military drone strikes that are only starting to come into use.

Drones are beginning to be used to track and manage animal populations so scientists can see where the animals are going, observe and prevent poaching, and monitor habitat loss. Drones with sensors can scan homes

for leaks and structural damage.

Some have begun taking photos of crime scenes and traffic accidents for the RCMP. Others film TV shows and movies from new angles. Some are even being sold as toys.

Gardner says he doesn’t agree that a military association in the minds of the public is holding back regulation.

He says, “Even though we use the same terminology, there’s very little in common between the one that I’ve got and like a Predator that’s flying over Yemen.”

But until more of the public sees unmanned aerial vehicles in the public sphere, military drones are still the first thing most people think of in relation to the technology. And some of the concerns raised by that association are legitimate. If the technology isn’t reliable and operators can’t be held accountable, drones don’t have to be killing anyone to be problematic.

However, like any military technology that ends up in recreational and commercial spheres, it will take development to get to a level where people can trust drones to fly over their heads safely. And development is only possible through repeated tests, not by making the technology illegal.

“On the one hand, the FAA wants to see that this technology is safe, but they don’t allow companies to test properly to show that the technology is safe,” said Ottawa lawyer and drone expert Diana Cooper in an interview with the Globe and Mail.

The more we see unmanned aerial vehicles doing everyday things, the less we associate them with warfare. And the more companies are forced to prove their technology is safe and reliable, the more it will open up space for the development of that technology. It may take time to solve the more complicated problem of airspace, and to bring moral reasonability to the technology, but if and when that happens, the sky’s the limit.

—with files from Jesse Colautti

SPORTS Gee-Gees year in review SPORTS EDITOR Sarah Nolette sports@thefulcrum.ca (613) 562-5260

It was a fulfilling year for the garnet and grey varsity teams Spencer Murdock Staff Reporter

Y

et another year is in the books— with several entries into the history books— for Gee-Gees varsity athletics.

During September, football and women’s soccer, two of the university’s landmark programs, began a new year with high hopes.

The soccer team sustained a surprise loss in their first match of the season to University of Ontario Institute of Technology but recovered in valiant fashion, as they would not lose another game until the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) national semifinal.

Led by all-Canadian striker Pilar Khoury and goalkeeper Cynthia Leblanc, the Gee-Gees won the CIS bronze medal and cemented their place as one of the best teams in the nation.

The Ontario University Athletics (OUA) champion’s squad finished with a 19-2 overall record and Khoury tied for fifth in the nation with 14 goals on the year.

The football season was a rollercoaster ride, equal parts fun, exciting, and scary.

The Gees got a fantastic start to the year, downing York and Queen’s before getting stunned at the last second of the Panda Game by their archrival Carleton Ravens in front of a crowd

of 12,000 at TD Place. It was from there that the Gees’ season started trending upward. During playoffs, the Gees took down Windsor only to let a lead slip against the McMaster Marauders in a game that would have sent them to the Yates Cup. Ultimately, there were breakout performances all over the field for the Gees. Quarterback Derek Wendel established himself among the nation’s best, and freshmen Bryce Vieira and Jackson Bennett had fantastic rookie campaigns.

Defensive lineman Ettore Lattanzio also took home the J.P. Metras Award for best lineman in the country, and will likely be drafted to the Canadian Football League in May. Following the strength of the soccer and football teams, the women’s rugby team also had great success.

The team rode a perfect regular season into the playoffs and was crowned Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) champions. But the GeeGees did not have the showing they were hoping for at nationals as they made their way to the bronze medal game, where they could not overcome Western for the medal.

Head coach Jennifer Boyd was also the first U of O recipient of the CIS Jim Atkinson coach of the year award. In less than two years, she made a name for herself as a great coach, leading her team in a perfect 7-0 season.

As always, the women’s vol-

leyball team had a great season.

The team had minor ups and downs before making it to the OUA final where they were narrowly bested by Toronto.

At nationals, the team lost their first match to Alberta, ending their bid for a gold medal. The team graduates Kelsey and Myriam English, but as their careers come to a close, second-year Kaly Soro looks to be the Gee-Gees’ star in waiting.

For swimming, cross country, and track and field, there were various bright spots throughout the season. But during nationals, the teams could not breakout of the middle of the pack to take home any medals.

Both swimming teams placed in the top 10 at the CIS championship. The men’s team finished ninth, the best result the team has ever had in national standings, and the women finished 10th overall and third among Ontario universities.

Women’s hockey struggled in the RSEQ, unable to make any significant moves during the playoffs; the team is still young and looks to improve next season with the majority of their players returning.

For Gee-Gees basketball there were two tales this year: the women’s team that was up and down all season and the men’s team that spent weeks as the number one team in the nation.

On the women’s side, midseason injuries killed the momentum of the team before

they rallied to make the second round of the OUA playoffs before falling to Ryerson.

There were memorable moments throughout the year, like Kellie Ring’s performance on an injured knee, willing the Gees to victory at the Capital Hoops Classic. During the last games of regular season, Jen Stoqua broke the single-game record for three-pointers, sinking 10 threes.

On the men’s side, 2014–15 was the best year in Gee-Gees basketball history. A night no one will forget will be the first Bytown battle, with the Gees taking down the Ravens for the top spot in the nation with a last-second basket from Johnny Berhanemeskel.

With a record-breaking 10,780 crowd at Capital Hoops, the Ravens ended the Gees’ perfect season, which put Ottawa in the number-two spot once again. Then, with a shocking loss in the Wilson Cup playoffs, Berhanemeskel avenged with a 39-point performance to give the Gees the OUA bronze. At nationals, the team fell short of the championship once again to the Ravens, to finish with a silver medal.

Berhanemeskel was named the CIS player of the year and first team All-Canadian, while James Derouin was named coach of the year.

Looking back from the sidelines, this year evokes a brief feeling of satisfaction that’s quickly overtaken by a hunger to see the Gee-Gees on top.

Photos: Rémi Yuan & Marta Kierkus

14 | SPORTS

thefulcrum.ca

Equestrian team saddled up their best season in history

Gee-Gees win East Ontario University Equestrian championship Sarah Nolette Sports Editor

For the first time in history, the Gee-Gees equestrian team won the Ontario University Equestrian Association (OUEA) championship in the East zone, as well as in Ontario.

The University of Ottawa conquered this year with a fine finish during the finals March 21–22 at Meadowlarke Stables in Mississauga.

The team took home the East Zone High Point Team trophy—the award given to the team with the most points accumulated throughout the final from their events—and many individual ribbons during the finals March 21.

The OUEA year-end winners included Maura Tse, who placed fifth in the open under saddle, and Tori Turner, fifth in the intermediate over fences. Pippa Heinlein came in second and Christine Bolik in fourth during the novice over fences. Bolik also finished fourth in the novice under saddle.

First-year political science student Alexa Kirkey took

home gold in the entry-level over fences category and first in the entry level under saddle.

The weekend continued during the gala when the Gee-Gees were awarded with Heinlein winning the Reserve High Point Rider award. This achievement is given out to the rider who garnered the most points throughout the finals in her event.

Riley Boyes was presented with the Fall of the Year, also known as the “unplanned dismount.”

Boyes rode a pony during competition that didn’t always like to jump all the jumps. The pony stopped at the first jump and Boyes slid up out of the saddle. After getting back in the saddle, she made the pony jump the jump, and turned to the second hurdle. Again, the pony stopped. Boyes went flying sideways and landed on a flower box, leaving bruising on her ribs and arms.

“Riley was nominated for the award because of her terrible time on the pony that did not want to play that day, and for being a good sport about the situation,” said Turner,

the team’s president. “Unfortunately horses don’t always want to behave for us, and taking it all in with a grain of salt is extremely important on our circuits.”

Turner says the team was together throughout the entire year to win their title.

“I think it comes down to the members we have. This year every single member was 100 per cent committed to the team and the team’s success,” said Turner.

The equestrian team’s new goal for next season will be to work toward a national championship in the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA). Getting to this level requires the squad to defeat two teams in their region who are already national champions.

“We will have our work cut out for us, having to compete against two reigning national champion teams during the regular season,” said Turner.

The team also wants to defend their Ontario High Point Team title during the 20152016 season. Two capable goals for the strong Gee-Gees next year.

The equestrian team all dressed up at the awards gala on Sunday March 22. Photos: Courtesy of Tori Turner

Building sports law at Thompson Rivers University

TRU home to niche law expert who now wants to expand the university’s law offerings Tayla Scott The Omega

Photo: Eltpics, CC, flickr.com

thefulcrum.ca

KAMPLOOPS (CUP) — Associate dean of law Jon Heshka created and teaches two sports law courses at Thompson Rivers University (TRU), which is more than any other Canadian university offers, and he’s not stopping there. In the next few years, he plans to create a centre for excellence in sports law and make a sports law certificate available at the university.

Coming to TRU was “almost too good to be true” for Heshka, who started as an adventure studies professor in 2002.

It was a position he was well suited for, having lived an adventurous lifestyle.

After graduating high school in Winnipeg, Heshka moved to Brazil and played semi-pro volleyball for a year.

It was there he had his first taste of worldly adventure, but it certainly wasn’t his last.

Between pursuing a bachelor’s degree in science and in arts, a master’s degree in education and in law, Heshka has had multiple careers relating to adventure sport. He worked as a climbing guide at Canada West Mountain School and as

a search and rescue co-ordinator for the Justice Institute of British Columbia.

“In 1989 I began the first of a series of big mountain climbing expeditions. That took me to South America three times, then Europe and what was then the Soviet Union, Alaska and the Yukon,” Heshka said.

“In the late ‘80s, I could see that adventure and climbing was where I was destined.”

Heshka’s interest, experience and education in extreme sports liability law and risk management has made him one of the few experts on the subject in Canada and the United States. He has written more than 50 articles about extreme sports, and has been hired as an expert witness around the world in cases involving adventure sport risk management. He has also worked as a consultant for municipal, provincial and national levels of Canadian government regarding risk management.

Today, Heshka is focused on building sports law opportunities for the students at TRU. “We have two courses in sports law. No other Canadian university has two. For those universities that do offer some-

thing in it, it’s always combined with entertainment law,” Heshka said. “[Students] will certainly have a leg up in approaching any professional, semi-pro or amateur franchise.”

“I’d like to build up other courses or modules so that, if a person takes [both courses], they can be rounded out with a certificate in sports law,” Heshka said.

It’s Heshka’s goal to have a certificate created for students who take sports law courses, although it is too early to say if this will definitely be the form in which students receive recognition. Heshka also plans to start a centre of excellence in sports law in the next few years. This will provide mentoring and training in sports law practices.

“There would be some research opportunities that come along with it and publishing opportunities not just with ourselves here, but elsewhere, for students and faculty,” Heshka said.

One the students who learned sports law under Heshka is Mitchell Smith, a thirdyear law student.

“The class centered around liability and his expertise

within the actual law and we did a big section on doping,” Smith said.

“He’s probably one of the most approachable profs. It’s kind of nice to get his ear because he’s actually so busy as associate dean,” Smith said. “He would be approachable with any ideas or if you had a draft ready he’d be more than helpful to have it read and provide feedback.”

Smith has an interest in hockey and enjoys coaching youth teams. He was glad for the chance to incorporate his law studies with his interest in sports.

So far Heshka has had roughly 20 students enrolled in each sports law course. He would like to see that number rise in the future.

“Sport itself is ubiquitous, that is, it’s everywhere. It’s the oxygen we breathe. When you combine the ubiquity of sport from amateur to professional levels and the amount of money at play, it almost creates the perfect conditions for there to be conflict. And where there’s conflict, there are lawyers,” said Heshka. “So why is sports law important? Because there’s a market demand for it.”

SPORTS | 15

Sports movie review Friday Night Lights (2006–2011) The show, not the movie

You don’t have to understand football to understand what football means to the people of Dillon, Texas. An absorbing television show populated with flawed, multi-dimensional, and memorable characters in a sleepy small town that lights up once a week to experience American football. The series expertly stages the sport and injects it with such heart and soul, you’ll forget it centres around high school students and staff. At appropriate times gripping and intense, this series shoots its sport with an in-there documentary film angle and is able to make you laugh, cry, and cringe for the best reasons. Bringing together everything one could hope for in a sporting subject, Friday Night Lights simply can’t be missed. Look no further than the first episode, heralded among many as one of the best pilots of the last decade.

Remember the Titans (2000)

—William Hume

Strong side, left side—the Titans are on the right side It may have been the number of times my high school football coach played it, or it may just be the story, but Remember the Titans is my favourite. With a cast full of stars, headed by a fantastic performance from Denzel Washington, this movie has it all. The film is an inspiring story about race relations in America, and features heartbreak, happiness, and great football scenes. The movie is based on the true story of the 1971 Virginia state champions from T.C. Williams High School going through the struggles of an integrated school system. When it’s over, you’ll be chanting their catchy tune: “We are the Titans, the mighty, mighty Titans.”

—Spencer Murdock

Hoop Dreams (1994) Two players, one dream

Legendary film critic Roger Ebert once wrote, “A film like Hoop Dreams is what the movies are for. It takes us, shakes us, and makes us think in new ways about the world around us. It gives us the impression of having touched life itself.”

The documentary, which follows the high school careers of two young basketball players in Chicago in the early ‘90s, hits every right note as an inspiring sports movie, a cautionary tale of the American dream, and a critique of modern social roles and structures we take for granted. Hoop Dreams floored me, and left me thinking for weeks about the lives of its two protagonists and their troubled families.

It’s why many consider it to be one of the best documentaries of all-time. While so many other sports films depend on tired clichés, exaggerated speeches, and fictitious last plays, Hoop Dreams’ director Steve James lets the gut-wrenching twists and turns of real life do all the talking—and as always, the ball don’t lie.

—Jesse Colautti

Happy Gilmore (1996) Are you too good for the game of golf?

This film is what first got me hooked on the beautiful game of golf. Happy Gilmore is full of laughs from the very start, and is one of Adam Sandler’s first films that made him the star he is today. Sandler plays a wannabe hockey player who discovers he has a powerful golf drive. He joins the PGA Tour in hopes of making money to save his grandmother’s house from being put up on the market. Happy is an extraordinary player with foul language, unique cheers, and an unorthodox style that some love and others hate.

With scenes like Happy’s golf coach Chubbs and his wooden hand, and, of course, Happy fighting Bob Barker, this film is vulgar but amazing. I have seen Happy Gilmore more than 100 times, and each time I laugh as if it were the first all over again.

—Sarah Nolette

16 | SPORTS

thefulcrum.ca

OPINIONS

OPINIONS EDITOR Kyle Darbyson

opinions@thefulcrum.ca (613) 562-5260

A welcome return of the red squares U of O students take note: this is how to inspire political change

Justin Dallaire Staff Contributor

E

ven though Quebec students are facing heavy criticism for spearheading another series of politically charged protests, their passion for instigating change should be admired.

The power of political dissent was made clear during Quebec’s Maple Spring in 2012, when around half the province’s 400,000 students came together to protest the government’s plan to raise tuition fees by 75 per cent over five years.

The movement was not without its critics and setbacks.

Swaths of protesters were arrested when the controversial Bill 78 was passed in May of 2012, and public opinion shifted against students as the protests dragged on. Students in other provinces scoffed at the movement’s ultimate aim to freeze tuition fees, basically saying, “You guys pay far less than the rest of us, so stop your whining.”

But when the protests finally came to an end, Pauline Marois’ Parti Québécois replaced the Liberals and tuition fees re-

mained far below the national average, with increases no longer on the table. It was a true victory for students in Quebec.

Some might say it was a victory for students everywhere.

The latest Quebec student strike, which began March 23, promises to be as divisive as the last.

The overriding goal of the 50,000 students who have already joined the strike seems even more unrealistic: putting an end to the province’s planned austerity measures, including provincial wide cuts to public services. But, once again, with enough support the movement may succeed in forcing Phillipe Couillard’s Liberals into action.

It might be tempting for us to criticize the apparent “whininess” of our francophone neighbours, but we must resist our urge to do so. We in Ontario have our own problems: high tuition fees, high unemployment, and massive provincial debt, to name a few. The difference is that we, unlike the students in Quebec, are doing little to change things.

The University of Ottawa is but one increasingly sad example of this phenomenon.

In February 2014, the Stu-

Quebec students are protesting against the province’s plans to make cuts to social services such as health care and education.

dent Federation of the University of Ottawa finally succeeded in instating general assemblies as the highest decision-making body of the student federation after two referendums. But after two attempts, the GAs have garnered such little interest from students that they have yet to make quorum. The blame could be placed on a number of shoulders, but the bottom line is no one showed up.

This kind of political apathy even extends to the act of electing our student government, where only around 11 per cent of the student body bothered

Photo: Andrej Ivanov, The Concordian

We don’t all have to be in solidarity with the students in Quebec. But we should at least be inspired by them. to vote during the last general election.

Our disenchantment with student politics, and politics in general, does not bode well for the future of our province or our country.

Duff Conacher, a visiting professor at the U of O, perfectly summed up this problem in last week’s Fulcrum feature

story: “If any group in society does not vote then politicians will not address that group’s concerns.”

In Ontario, it’s a notion that sounds surprisingly fresh because we’ve kept our wheels greased for far too long. In Quebec, the message was never lost, and in light of this latest student strike it is clearer

than ever: Get off your ass and make yourself heard.

We don’t all have to be in solidarity with the students in Quebec. But we should at least be inspired by them. The last time they took to the streets they achieved what seemed like an impossible goal. Who is to say things will be different this time?

Time to move away from the GAs Student assemblies are not the best way to promote ‘direct democracy’ Madison McSweeney Contributor

It’s time to admit that general assemblies at the University of Ottawa have been a failed experiment.

Following the success of the GA referendum last February, the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO) has hosted two GAs this academic year, both of which failed to meet quorum.

Each event cost approximately $5,000 to run, including hefty venue rental fees for the Shaw Centre and translation/sign language services.

Altogether that’s $10,000 spent, countless hours wasted, and no motions passed.

Even if the November

thefulcrum.ca

GA could be said to be a disappointing first attempt, the most recent one was undoubtedly a gong show.

The Fulcrum reported that while the first GA was short fewer than a dozen students, this year’s GA only attracted 107 people out of 337 needed for quorum.

Fulcrum reporters tweeted throughout the event that attendees left in droves as it became apparent that the event wouldn’t come close to quorum, and the small crowd that stayed until the end shouted down the chair for refusing to extend the question period.

Even the Revolutionary Students’ Movement (RSM)—the driving force behind the creation of the GA—eventually

decided to walk out.

Afterwards, SFUO President Anne-Marie Roy sunk to a new low by blaming the drafters of motions—arguably the ones who cared about this process the most—for not doing their part to bring more students out. After these students put so much work into creating and soliciting support for motions that weren’t voted on, Roy’s comments were very disrespectful.

Considering how low voter turnout is for general student elections, I don’t see how anyone expected a GA to get anywhere close to quorum. Most citizens—including students— have neither the time nor the inclination to perform in-depth research into every

The costs are unsustainable, the concept is flawed, and the format is impractical.

The SFUO has hosted two general assemblies so far, both of which have failed to meet quorum.

policy and vote on them individually. That’s why we use a representative democracy.

Apathy isn’t the only issue here. The GA format itself disenfranchises students, many of whom have to attend class or work at the same time, a fact that isn’t helped by the complete absence of proxy or online voting. Many students were unable to attend the GA for legitimate reasons, and it’s ignorant to blame them for lack of quorum.

Academic amnesty—as has been suggested by the RSM

and incoming SFUO president David Gakwerere—isn’t the answer, either.

While this policy would prevent students from being officially penalized for their absence in class, it wouldn’t compensate them for the inconvenience of missing an important lecture. Additionally, it doesn’t do anything to accommodate students who have conflicts with work or other mandatory commitments.

Say what you want about general elections, but at least they give students the option

Photo: Rémi Yuan

to vote at a time and location that’s convenient for them.

Are there reforms that could make the GAs slightly more effective? Probably. But that still doesn’t change the fact that these student assemblies are an inherently bad idea. The costs are unsustainable, the concept is flawed, and the format is impractical. If we really want to foster direct democracy at the U of O, there are better avenues to take, including an increased use of referendums.

There’s no salvaging this sinking ship. It’s time to move on.

OPINIONS | 17

Let’s trim down on skinny-shaming

Body positivity isn’t just for one body type Mariam Zohouri & Kyle darbyson

Contributor & Opinions editor I started my teen years understanding that my desire

to lose weight and gain people’s acceptance was sparked by society’s definition of “pretty.” I wanted to be skinny. But now the gears have shifted. Suddenly, curves are in.

And for some reason, along with the anti-fat-shaming movement that has rejected idealized images of beauty there has emerged an almost equally aggressive antithesis: the ridicule of women considered too slim, too unnatural, an act or ideology referred to as skinny-shaming.

Images of little girls and women with their ribs poking out and razor-sharp collarbones spark tons of Internet outrage. “What has society done to these young people?”

Heckles

How not to act during final exams

proclaim concerned mothers on Facebook. “What image has the media been propagating to these children? Why can’t that actress eat some more damn food so my daughter will stop skipping meals?”

This kind of rhetoric has become really personal, and it has crossed the line from being socially conscious into being just plain mean. Suddenly, slimmer women are bad role models worthy of contempt, even though a lot of them might be naturally skinny.

When the casting of a new cinematic Wonder Woman was finally announced, fans took to criticizing actress Gal Gadot for her petite frame.

Many people asked how this skinny thing could possibly portray the majestic, superhuman Amazonian princess, with her smaller chest being a particular point of contention.

Constantly stuck in the shadow of Lara Croft’s busty physique, Angelina Jolie also falls victim to these comments all the time, with her thin legs being the latest object of ire in an article for the Mirror.

Recent pop music has taken things to the next level. While curvaceous artists like Meaghan Trainor and Nicki Minaj are both promoting the big-booty sisterhood, they are doing so at the expense of slimmer women

Illustration: Marta Kierkus

with lyrics like “I’m bringin booty back/Go ‘head and tell them skinny bitches that” and “Fuck those skinny bitches.”

Because of this, it seems like we’ve hit a new beauty double standard where we are more likely to assume a person is skinny because they don’t eat enough. Rather than take attention away from a person’s weight as a symbol of their self-worth and human value, we have given that idea more strength than ever.

With that being said, the fash-

ion and entertainment industries do propagate an image of beauty that is unattainable and unrealistic for the average individual. But if certain individuals aren’t harming themselves, and if they are happy, how is their size anyone else’s business?

Shaming women’s bodies— whether big or small—is not cool or constructive. While this sounds totally clichéd, we should celebrate bodies of all shapes and sizes, whether or not they have love handles or sharp collarbones.

Final exams turn students into the worst possible versions of themselves.

Ophelia John Contributor

There are so many good things that accompany the arrival of April: the weather stops being –30 degrees, your lease ends, and, most importantly, the school year is finally over. But before then, we must face final exams.

I don’t have anything against writing a final exam— obviously I need to prove that I learned something over the course of four months—but I have a huge problem with the way people act at the end of the semester.

At this point in our education, most of us should know how to study, stay organized, and focus on goals during exams. But these days, it seems that more and more students don’t know how to do these things without temporarily losing a bit of their sanity.

Final exams turn students into the worst possible versions of themselves—people who cannot go through a short stressful period without showing signs of jealousy, irritability, selfishness, and a general lack of con-

18 | OPINIONS

sideration for fellow human beings.

It is ridiculous the number of times I’ve heard the phrase, “Sorry, I’m just stressed over finals,” used as an excuse for snapping at a friend. Apparently, being stressed gives you free reign to be a total jerk bag.

Irritability is a terrible quality to possess, and anyone who is sleep deprived thinks it’s OK to act like that, especially if you haven’t had any coffee. Grow up, people.

Everyone is functioning on less than a recommended amount of sleep and if we can do it while maintaining a little bit of social gravitas, so can you.

Now, think about how you react when you find out your friend got a higher grade in a course you both take.

Instead of feeling proud of your friend, chances are you immediately think, “How is that even possible? They didn’t go to class half the time.” We all hear this voice of jealousy loud and clear when we write finals, which speaks volumes about how this exam mentality poisons

our minds.

The selfishness put on display during the actual writing of finals is probably the worst thing I’ve seen among my fellow students. If your classmate’s calculator, pencil, or pen is not working during a final and you see them about to break down, do you ask the teacher’s assistant to pass along your extra writing utensils? Based on what I’ve seen, the answer is no.

Due to the exam season’s dog-eat-dog survival mentality, most people just keep to themselves and guiltily finish their final. Not cool.

If you are someone who knows how to endure finals season without turning into a jealous, irritable, and selfish bag of nerves, then you have my thanks.

However, if during finals you turn into the typical nail-biting psychopath who is two bubble sheets away from launching a verbal tirade against your friends, then I would recommend that you at least keep it to yourself and try not to annoy the hell out of all the people around you.

thefulcrum.ca

Ottawa’s pothole season garners controversy

“Fixing up these potholes would be the equivalent of demolishing the Taj Mahal or turning Stonehenge into a waterpark.”

—Mike Moore, Potholes Forever

Road maintenance complicated by pothole preservation society

Stephanie Piamonte Staff Contributor A new City of Ottawa program that looks to identify the worst potholes in the city is facing opposition from a cultural conservation group that wants to preserve these potholes as historical landmarks.

The new city program, dubbed Spot the Pot, was unveiled to coincide with Ottawa’s annual pothole season, which begins as soon as the snow melts and lasts until the following winter.

“Some years the roads are so bad there’s no point weaving maniacally in and out of traffic lanes to avoid the potholes. They’re everywhere,”

said one city official. “So we came up with Spot the Pot to help identify these road conditions by encouraging people to upload photos online and direct city workers towards the most dangerous areas of the city.”

However, not all Ottawa residents are happy with the new program. Critics have said that it does nothing but devalue Ottawa’s oldest and most prominent landmarks.

An organization called Potholes Forever is actively protesting Spot the Pot. The cultural conservation group is dedicated to raising awareness about the benefits of maintaining potholes in Ottawa.

The group says potholes are

a local tradition that stretches back as far as the early 20th century, and that potholes lend the nation’s capital ambiance and character.

“We object to people who want to label potholes as being ‘dangerous’ or ‘life-threatening road hazards,’ Mike Moore, president of Potholes Forever, said in an interview with the Tomato.

“These road inconsistencies are naturally beautiful and we feel that programs like Spot the Pot diminish the variety of potholes we have here in Ottawa, which is unrivalled.”

Moore gave the example of a recent pothole discovered near the Canadian Tire Centre that

Local pothole conservation group looks to establish Carling Avenue potholes as a World Heritage Site. Photo: Rémi Yuan. Edits: Marta Kierkus & Adam Gibbard

resembles the Hamburglar.

“I mean, with such miraculous appearances, how can Spot the Pot truly capture the essence of the pothole phenomenon here in Ottawa? Potholes like the Hamburglar give people hope—even Sens fans.”

In order to bring awareness to the pothole phenomenon, Potholes Forever has petitioned the Guinness Book of World Records for the title of most potholes in a capital city.

The colour blue takes over Bluesfest

Event organizers cave in to public demand for more ‘blues’

David Campio n-Smit

h

butor St aff Contri This summer’s Bluesfest will be undergoing a radical thematic change now that event organizers are finally giving in to calls to incorporate more “blues” into the festival.

“Every year people ask for

more blues and I think it’s time we finally give them what they want,” said the event’s head organizer Marc Gotaband.

After it was revealed that this year’s line-up once again does not contain many traditional blues acts, fans of the music genre were quick to make their feelings known.

“It’s called ‘Bluesfest’ so why

The English rock band Deep Purple has already expressed concerns about performing at this new ‘blue centric’ Bluesfest. Photo: Marta Kierkus

thefulcrum.ca

are there rappers and rock groups performing?” said Linda King, chair of Ottawa’s Blues Music Appreciation Society.

This desire for more blues has not gone unheeded by organizers like Gotaband, who are now committed to providing as much blue as possible.

“We’re planning to put up blue signs, blue stages, blue

lights, we’re even asking our vendors if they can dye their food blue for us,” he said.

He says this motif will even extend to this year’s musical acts, who will be required to dress in blue clothing and perform songs that relate to the colour blue. But this decision is not without its detractors.

Garth Bennett, an expert on the colour blue, says the event organizers are missing some crucial information when it comes to their new colour scheme.

“All they’ve said is ‘more blue,’ but that could mean anything,” he said in a recent interview with the Tomato. “Music fans deserve to know if they are going to be walking around in festival grounds full of navy, indigo, or teal.

“While it’s encouraging to see them finally listening to their audience, they need to give more information on the shade of blue they’ve chosen.”

This move to an exclusively

“We’re also considering applying for World Heritage Site status,” said Moore. “I mean, we have tourists coming from all over the world to get a glimpse of our famous potholes. We even have potholes over on Carling Avenue that reappear in the same place year after year, just like magic.”

To cement their commitment to pothole preservation, members of Potholes Forever are planning to stage a large-

scale sit-in protest on Carling, hoping to garner enough public attention to spread their message nation-wide.

“Just because these road conditions are ‘dangerous’ and ‘structurally unsound’ doesn’t mean they should be changed,” said Moore. “In our minds, fixing up these potholes would be the equivalent of demolishing the Taj Mahal or turning Stonehenge into a waterpark.”

“We’re planning to put up blue signs, blue stages, blue lights, we’re even asking our vendors if they can dye their food blue for us.”

—Marc Gotaband, head organizer for Bluesfest blue colour scheme has predictably offended local fans of blues music.

Yesterday, the Blues Music Appreciation Society published a news release calling the colour change “a gross slight against blues music, since everyone knows that the blues sound best when played against a red background.”

The release goes on to say the event’s new look “clearly shows that the festival has once again turned their back on blues music by using a colour scheme that’s more suited to hip hop and rock music.”

While community members and music experts are all up in arms, the performing artists themselves have joined this chorus of dissent.

Shaun Mockett, band manager for the southern rock group Lynyrd Skynyrd, said “the guys will not play if the organizers are so focused on blue. It’s not part of their image. These guys are rednecks, not bluenecks.”

Similar colour-related concerns have been raised by the group Deep Purple, who are also scheduled to perform this summer.

However, the country rock band Blue Rodeo has yet to vocalize any objections.

While organizers assure the new singular colour scheme won’t negatively affect the lineup, they’re still in the process of looking to recruit more bluecentric acts like the Blues Brothers and Blue Man Group.

THE TOMATO | 19

DISTRACTIONS Dear Di,

I have a fantasy about whipped cream. I want to cover my partner in it and lick it off, but I also want it all over—and in— my partner. I know it isn’t the safest, but I think eating out my partner with a little sweet taste (and maybe a cherry on top) would be the hottest thing ever. How can I fulfill this erotic urge?

—Sealed with Sweetness

Dear SWS,

Dear Di

Whipped cream in your partner’s privates might sound incredibly sexy—and tasty—but it probably isn’t the best idea for keeping it clean down there.

I mean, the cherry on top is a nice touch, but your partner might get another kind of surprise—like a yeast infection from the sugary whipped cream.

If you’re set on la crème de la crème, I recommend experimenting with whipped cream on the body everywhere except your genitalia. This will keep your privates perky and pleasant. A little post-whip tip that you might want to consider is that dairy products tend not to leave the most appealing odour once they dry on your skin. But I’ll leave that decision in your capable hands (and mouth).

Your other options are pretty darn exciting if you’re willing to sub in something else in place of the whip. Edible body paint will let you have more safe sexual play with an equally tasty flavour. There’s a wide variety of fun flavours for you to try out that are also much safer to apply down south.

I hope that answers your question, SWS! Get sampling and you’ll seal in the sweetness just fine.

Love, Di

Dear Di,

My girlfriend and I are long-distance, so whenever we get the chance to see each other over the holidays is like a dream come true, and our sex is mutually pleasing. However, while we’re apart, the sex is basically non-existent, mostly because I suck at phone sex. I just can’t get off the same, or give my girl any verbal stimulation without her beside me. Lately it’s been putting a real downer on our relationship. Any tips to improve my phone sexing?

—Fire Over the Wire

FEATURES EDITOR Jesse Colautti

features@thefulcrum.ca (613) 562-5260

Dear FOTW,

I’m glad you two are seeking to spice it up through a phone call. It’s all too often that our desires are communicated more through a text—or a dick pic—than face to face, and much can get lost in the translation.

Your question is a good one, though, because longdistance is never easy. There truly is no replacement for your partner in the flesh, and when you’re alone without a cuddle buddy beside you, it can seem awfully hard to get your juices and words flowing.

You seem to know how to please your girl when she’s with you, so maybe thinking about how you get her off will help heat up your vocal cords. Confidence is key, but be yourself—you want to come across as certain in your sexual convictions, but say things that you would actually say when the two of you are together. It might also help to exchange an article of clothing next time you’re together: scents are very powerful at stimulating emotions and desires.

Phone sex works both ways, so it’s up to both you and your partner to communicate what you want to hear to give you those feel-good feels. Phone sex can also give you that little extra push: You can ask her what she’d like you to do to her, but sometimes it’s more thrilling when you take the reins and tell your partner what your body is craving. Do you two have a special sexy move that you do every time you’re together? Talk about it! You can slowly turn off lights in your room to get more comfortable, undress, and start to stoke your own fires. As you get going, feel free to moan and make the sounds you usually would with your partner. You could also consider phone sex as an orgasmic opportunity to explore fantasies together— even those you haven’t tried in person yet!

Phone sex should take you to a place where touching yourself is almost as good as the real thing. With a little practice and imagination, you’ll create the perfect storm.

Love, Di

20 | DISTRACTIONS

thefulcrum.ca

Mar.19 to Apr.11, 2015

THRYLLABUS

Thursday, Mar. 19 The Naughty Bits Book Club, Venus Envy — 7:30 p.m.

Free gathering to discuss the best of Venus Envy’s guides, fiction, and erotica.

Friday, Mar. 20 The Royal Streets, Weird with Cats, The Brook, Zaphod Beeblebrox — 8 p.m.

Mo Kenney, National Arts Centre — 8 p.m.

Saturday, Mar. 21 All-You-Can-Eat-Cereal Cartoon Party, Mayfair Theatre — 10 a.m.

Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts begins at the Bytowne Cinema

Sports

Thinking

thefulcrum.ca

Thursday, Apr. 2

Friday, Mar. 27

The Duke of Burgundy begins playing at the Bytowne Cinema

Timbuktu begins playing at the Bytowne Cinema

From Backpack to Briefcase, Desmarais Building, Room 12102 — 5:30 p.m.

The Campaign Against ISIS, Faculty of Social Sciences Building — 12:30 p.m.

Who Are You: The Music of Tommy by The Who, Centrepoint Theatre — 8 p.m.

BA JOHNSTON + Dead Weights + Sailor Jupiter + The Unknown Wrestler, House of TARG — 9 p.m.

Saturday, Mar. 28

DIGICOM Ottawa | How to Be Heard in a Digital World, Algonquin College — 1 p.m.

Eddie Shaw and the Wolf Gang, The Rainbow Bistro — 10 p.m.

Seminar and networking event for those interested in working with social media, $30 for students.

12 Monkeys, Bytowne Cinema — 9 p.m.

Google Tech Talk with alumnus Patrick Wisking, SITE, Room A150 — 6 p.m.

Free, but registration is required. Visit uocal for more information.

Tuesday, Mar. 24 VERSeFest, Ottawa’s International Poetry Festival begins across the city Visit versefest.ca for more details.

FUN

Kenny vs. Spenny, Algonquin Commons Theatre — 8 p.m.

‘90s Punk Cover Night, House of TARG — 9 p.m.

Monday, Mar. 23

arts

Lisa LeBlanc, Ritual Nightclub — 8:30 p.m.

The Marriage of Figaro begins its run at the National Arts Centre

Sunday, Mar. 22

MUSIC

A Most Violent Year begins at the Bytowne Cinema

Thursday, Mar. 26 Doctors Without Borders Canada presents : Ebola Frontline, Mayfair Theatre — 6:30 p.m.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Mayfair Theatre — 11 p.m.

Sunday, Mar. 29 The Slackers, The Beatdown, Cardboard Crowns, & The Sentries, Mavericks Bar — 9 p.m.

Monday, Mar. 30 Addressing HCV in Marginalized Populations, Guindon Hall, Room 1007 — 11:45 a.m.

Poetry Reading by Lorna Crozier, Simard Hall, Room 129 — 1 p.m.

Free presentation of VERSeFest.

Wednesday, Apr. 1 Cheers to Charity Beer Sampling, Lowertown Brewery — 7 p.m.

Tickets are $15 and include a beer sample.

Patrick Watson, Black Sheep Inn — 8:30 p.m.

Free networking event, registration required. Visit uocal for more information.

Ottawa Senators vs. Tampa Bay Lightning, Canadian Tire Centre — 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, Apr. 4 Ashley MacIssac, Neat Coffee Shop — 8 p.m.

Bey Bey All Beyoncé Dance Party, Babylon Club — 11 p.m.

Tuesday, Apr. 7 Imperialism, Today and Yesterday, Faculty of Social Sciences Building — 3 p.m.

Wednesday, Apr. 8 Danny Brooks, Irene’s Pub — 8 p.m.

Thursday, Apr. 9 Citizenfour, Bytowne Cinema — 6:45 p.m.

Free screening.

Birds of Chicago, Neat Coffee Shop — 7:30 p.m.

Screaming Females, House of TARG — 9:30 p.m.

Friday, Apr. 10 Kacey Musgraves, Centrepoint Theatre — 8 p.m.

Saturday, Apr. 11 Electric Pow Wow, Babylon Club — 10 p.m.

DISTRACTIONS | 21

LETTER TO THE EDITOR After the first general assembly of the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO) almost ended in flames and the second was somewhat of an apathetic flop, it seems as if our experiment with direct democracy has been rather unsuccessful. It shouldn’t be. If the GA has so far failed, that is probably because it has been poorly conceived, and not because students don’t care.

Our president justly pointed out that the six members of the executive cannot, by themselves, gather 400 students to a GA. However, there is an important note to make: the executive members of the SFUO have the paid job of managing the SFUO; they have made a commitment. However, there is something deeply disturbing about the highest decision making body of the SFUO being essentially dependent upon the lower bodies in order to function properly: it is a massive conflict of interest. In order to have a GA that is truly representative of the will of the student body, it must be independent of the other decision-making bodies of the SFUO. It is generally recognized that elections should be run by a body independent of the organization: elections should represent the incarnation of the will of the population; the same goes for GAs, who therefore should be independent of the SFUO. In essence, the inmates shouldn’t be running the asylum.

To that end, be it proposed that the GA be managed by a body of student volunteers, none of whom are under contract or hold an elected position with the SFUO. This committee would, of course, have to be representative of the student population: it could be composed of two volunteers from each faculty, for instance. That committee would have to be chosen at least a year in advance of each GA, and could perhaps be chosen through the help of the federated bodies or perhaps an election. In the same gist, the chair of the GA should not be the chair of the Board of Administration (BOA). The chair of the GA and the agenda of the GA should be chosen by the GA, for the GA. As well, there is a small problem as regards to motions at a GA: every motion requires 100 signatures to be presented at a GA, except for motions regarding the impeachment of elected members of the SFUO. At the GA, I was told by our president that the reason for this is that it should be hard for the GA to overturn the democratic will of the population as represented through elections. However, the GA should also be the incarnation of the democratic will of the population, and, as such, should have full power to impeach elected officials just as it would to change the Constitution (for example).

Remember, the fundamental concept behind the SFUO is that it is the incarnation of the will of student population. As such, we, as students, have absolute authority over the SFUO. The GA, as the highest decision making body of the SFUO, is the body closest to having absolute authority, and should have more power than any other body of the SFUO, especially the BOA and the executive. To have a successful general assembly, it must be independent, engaging, and, most of all, it must come from the students, for the students. We, and only we, must light the flame of our democracy.

Nicholas Robinson

The Fulcrum Publishing Society (FPS) is hiring a General Manager for a one-year term running from June 1, 2015, to May 31, 2016.

If you have experience or interest in basic business administration, accounting, financial management, and enjoy working in a student environment, you may be our ideal candidate.

Applications must consist of a cover letter and resume. They can be submitted electronically by email to board@thefulcrum.ca or by hard copy to the Fulcrum office at 631 King Edward Avenue.

Applications must be received by Friday, April 17, 2015 by 5 p.m.

EST. Late applications will not be considered. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact Keeton Wilcock at board@thefulcrum. ca. You can find out more about the position at http:// thefulcrum.ca/were-hiring/

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thefulcrum.ca

EDITORIAL

Volume 75, Issue 26, April 2, 2015 Taking over the neighbourhood since 1942.

Phone: (613) 695-0061 | Fax: (613) 695-9006 631 King Edward Ave. Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5 Recycle this or we’ll geocache you.

staff

Sabrina “Templeton” Nemis Editor-in-Chief editor@thefulcum.ca Adam “Chapel” Ashby Gibbard Production Manager production@thefulcrum.ca Adam “Malborough” Feibel Managing Editor content@thefulcrum.ca Marta “Nelson” Kierkus Visual Editor visual@thefulcrum.ca Nadia “Range” Drissi El-Bouzaidi News Editor news@thefulcrum.ca Jessica “Goulburn” Eritou Arts & Culture Editor arts@thefulcrum.ca Jesse “Osgoode” Colautti Features Editor features@thefulcrum.ca Sarah “Somerset” Nolette Sports Editor sports@thefulcrum.ca Kyle “Rideau” Darbyson Opinions Editor opinions@thefulcrum.ca Spencer “Sweetland” Van Dyk Online Editor online@thefulcrum.ca Spencer “Mann” Murdock Staff Reporter Remi “Blackburn” Yuan Staff Photographer Lindsay “Wiggins” MacMillan Associate News Editor Moussa “Daly” Sangaré-Ponce Associate Online Editor Annalise “Stewart” Mathers Associate Features Editor Savannah “Wilbrod” Awde Staff Proofreader Chantale “Laurier” Streeting Webmaster Deidre “Friel” Butters Ad Manager ads@thefulcrum.ca Andrew “Cumberland” Hawley General Manager manager@thefulcrum.ca

Contributors L. A. “Besserer” Bonte Brennan “Augusta” Bova David “Robinson” Campion-Smith Carolyn “Lees” Mutis Christelle “Ring” Musambi Allegra “Waller” Morgado Garry “Henderson” Balaganthan Mackenzie “Copernicus” Powell William “Louis-Pasteur” Hume Justin “Marie-Curie” Dallaire Madison “Jean-Jacques-Lussier” McSweeney Ophelia “Nicholas” John Stephanie “Calixa Lavallee” Piamonte

Cover art Photo: Adam Feibel

thefulcrum.ca

The sound of one hand quietly gesticulating I

f you’re happy and you know it, don’t clap your hands—that’s been banned.

On March 24, organizers of the National Union of Students (NUS) Women’s Conference in the U.K. asked delegates not to applaud , but to use “jazz hands” instead.

Clapping was said to be a trigger for some attendees with anxiety.

Trigger warnings are meant to be a way of recognizing the traumatic experiences of others and being sensitive to their needs. In the case of the NUS, the organizers were trying to provide a safe space for their attendees.

It’s a notion that’s been widely embraced on university campuses, with student groups banning actions, events, and speakers that some students— often but not always the ones in student government—find objectionable.

These bans are well-intended and some are absolutely necessary. For example, a ban on rape chants at 101 Week is something that shouldn’t even warrant debate. Joking about violently assaulting other people isn’t acceptable behaviour.

But banning actions as benign as hand clapping is a sign that we’ve waded too far afield.

At private events, it is certainly up to organizers to define what a safe space is for their environment. Ostensibly, lessening the likelihood of exposure to triggers for people with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) seems like a kindness. Safe environments are one of the first things a therapist establishes to help someone who has undergone trauma.

However, there is no scientific data to support the idea that PTSD survivors require their entire world to be a safe space. Furthermore, the avoidance of triggers has actually been found to increase anxiety and prolong the ef-

Photo: Rémi Yuan

fects of PTSD. Professor Metin Basoglu, head of trauma studies at the Istanbul Centre for Behaviour Research and Therapy in Turkey, has researched survivors of torture, war, and natural disasters. His work focuses on exposure intervention, finding that exposing people to triggers related to what caused their PTSD decreases traumatic stress in more than 80 per cent of cases.

Being exposed to a trigger at a conference is not the same as being exposed within a therapy context. But that’s why this kind of therapy exists: so that people with PTSD can go through everyday experiences, like sitting in an audience where people are clapping for speakers.

More importantly, a ban on hand clapping is symptomatic of a larger issue. Every person who goes through trauma will have triggers. This is unfortunate and terrible. But learning how to survive in the world after trauma is a reality of continuing on with life.

The best way that student leaders can support those who have survived trauma is not to insulate them from

the world, but to ensure that universities are spaces where everyone can get the support they need to deal with anxiety. Rather than pretending a conference can stand in for the safe space provided by a trained therapist, they should ensure that resources available on campus are wellknown and accessible.

Furthermore, no one suffers from PTSD because they were exposed to contrary ideas.

At the University of Ottawa, student groups have shut down speaker events because they didn’t agree with what those speakers were going to say. This includes Ann Coulter, Janice Fiamengo, and pro-life groups.

Student governments are shutting down speakers they disagree with all over. In a New York Times op-ed, Judith Shulevitz writes about students protesting a debate about rape culture between Jessica Valenti and Wendy McElroy. The students created a “safe space” filled with toys and other items intended to provide comfort to anyone who found the debate upsetting.

While discussions of rape

can be triggering for rape survivors, the students interviewed were not upset that rape itself was being discussed, but that their ideas were being challenged.

According to the New York Times, one student, a sexual assault peer educator, said she had to leave the debate because, “I was feeling bombarded by a lot of viewpoints that really go against my dearly and closely held beliefs.”

This is not what safe spaces are for. Being able to hear dissent is a function of existing in the world. Being able to hear dissent and not feel personally attacked is a life skill. It’s considered a part of thinking critically, one of those things you’re supposed to learn how to do in university.

The decision to ban hand clapping comes from a good place, but it’s misguided. Banning innocent actions and controversial speakers isn’t inclusive, it’s censorship. And this isn’t the direction the modern university should be moving in. Universities should strive to be places where conflicting ideas can coexist, not get picketed off-campus, or silenced by jazz hands.

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