Olivia Matthews new WLUSU president
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A different type of happily ever after Page 6
Powderpuff football sells its players short Page 9
Issue 12 | Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2015 | www.thesputnik.ca
FROSTY FEST
IS COMING TO TOWN LIVE ENTERTAINMENT, CARNIVAL CUISINE, MIDWAY RIDES AND FAMILY SKATING IN DOWNTOWN BRANTFORD
Shreya Shah Staff One of Brantford’s most anticipated annual events is its winter carnival, Frosty Fest. The sixth annual Frosty Fest will be taking place in Harmony Square from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. on the Feb. 14-16 Family Day weekend. The event was created and launched by Brantford’s Freedom House, which is a Church and ministry centre, located on the lower level of Market Square. Dave Carrol, who is a pastor at the Church, fondly recalls how Frosty Fest was conceived, “About a year after Harmony Square was built…we went to Parks and Recs and asked, ‘How do we help fill the square with great things?’ and that’s when we were asked if we could hold a winter carnival”. Presently, Freedom House’s team of over 200 members and volunteers come together every year to help fund, staff, and manage the entire event. Frosty Fest is a part of Freedom House’s Kindness Project. The idea behind this project is that by doing good, the city can be changed for the good. Dave explains, “We realized that kindness was a felt need in our culture. Kindness takes going and doing something first. We wanted to create a context for people to be involved in people’s lives on purpose and with kindness”. The effects of this project are tangible within the community of Brantford. Every year, students within Brantford receive a coupon for a free pancake breakfast and a free carnival ride at Frosty Fest. Most of the events
and features during Frosty Fest are free, ensuring that everyone is able to enjoy the festivities. The impacts of Frosty Fest are felt throughout the community, especially for businesses in the downtown core. Coffee Culture enjoys the extra business brought in by Frosty Fest, and the three-day weekend is one of their busiest times of year. Carrol has also noticed the changes, “More and more people come regionally, we have families driving in from Waterloo, Hamilton, London,”. Over the threeday weekend, the carnival attracts almost 15,000 people and is one of the biggest winter carnivals in Ontario. This year, Frosty Fest is expected to be bigger than ever. Nutella, who is helping to sponsor the event, will be hosting a Nutella café that will feature goodies such as Nutella S’mores and Nutella covered bacon. Brantford Ball Hockey International will be bringing in their mini-rink and setting it up for kids to take free shots. Other features will also include an ice carving competition, free ice-skating, and ice mini putt. The annual Frosty Fest staples, like the street midway, pony rides, inflatables, snow slide and horse drawn trolleys will also be available this year. Programing for kids will also include opportunities such as a day spent at ‘Superhero School’ with Captain Kindness and the Frosty Fest ‘Princess Party’. Canadian Junior National Figure Skating Gold medal winners Mary Orr and Phelan Simpson will also be performing on Harmony Square’s ice-rink. The Trade Bank Artisans Bazaar will be set up, featuring the works of 30 artisans and craftsmen.
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The sixth annual Frosty Fest will be taking place in Harmony Square from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. on the Feb. 14-16 Family Day weekend. Cody Hoffman
Recycling DOES make a difference...thank you!
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The Sputnik
News
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Taylor Berzins | news@thesputnik.ca | @sputnik_news
Black History Month events cut back in Brantford and Brant County
Taylor Berzins News Editor Jacob Dearlove
Staff Black History Month programming has virtually disappeared from Brantford and Brant County this February, leaving the community without access to the diverse celebrations it once knew. In 2014, the Black History Month Planning Committee of Brantford & Brant County, which is run out of the Sydenham St. United Church, hosted an entire month of events, including an art exhibition at Glenhyrst Art Gallery, a family arts day at the Brantford Arts Block, a Film Night at the church, and a closing ceremony on the first day of March. A big part of the month’s events was a panel which was held to talk about both black history and the current issues facing the black community- something that the committee hosts each year. According to Rev. Wayne Beamer of Sydenham St. United Church, the church has had to cut back on its planning this year, but the month has not gone entirely unrecognized. Rev. Beamer explained that committee would not have the same number of events during the month that it has had in the past.
Chair of the planning committee, Yvonne Wright echoed this statement, citing the “transition period” that the church is experiencing as the reason for less planned events. Members of Sydenham St. United Church are recovering from a devastating summer, and the Church is now under new leadership. The planning of annual events, like Black History Month, have suffered since the Church’s former pastor, Barry Pridham, was suspended from the United Church of Canada in September after being charged with sexual exploitation, luring a child and possession of child pornography, upon allegations of sexting a teenage girl. Pridham was an active member within the local community and before his charges, attempted to run for City Council during the 2014 Municipal Election. In an article published by The Expositor during his campaign, Pridham was cited as being “a longtime promoter of Black History Month”. For community members like, Rhinda David, a forth year student and co-ordinator of Laurier Brantford’s SOUL, Brantford could be making more room to celebrate diversity and inclusivity. Despite having seen the local culture of diversity grow since she was in first year, David says, “there’s always room for improvement.” SOUL, which has recently been incorporated into Student Life and Engagement, is a group that works to celebrate and foster racial diversity on campus. Much of its current programing exists to create change and develop community within the student experience, although members, like David, would like to see SOUL have an impact on Brantford at large. In celebration of Black History Month, SOUL organized a Student Life and Engagement ‘Diversity
Certificate’ event at the beginning of the month surrounding the theme of music, this week’s Tshepo Institute lecture by Dr. Idahosa on security issues and development in Africa, as well as a Black History Month Extravaganza taking place on Feb. 25. The Extravaganza will be held in the RCW lobby at 10pm, and will include food, dance and spoken word. “We’re trying to branch out to different community organizations,” David said, explaining that SOUL would have been excited to work with the community on organizing events for Black History Month 2015. “We could have done something really great outside of our University buildings.” Despite the pains of transition, and there being no arts events planned, no films being shown, and no annual panel for the community this February, Sydenham St. United Church did begin their month with celebration. Rev. Beamer launched the month with a special worship service on Sunday Feb. 1. The theme of racial equality ran throughout the service into the postlude, where Rev. Beamer recommended that the congregation could make this month “a time when a congregation makes a commitment to become more culturally sensitive, racially inclusive, and justiceconscious.” Along with prayers and a message from Rev. Beamer, the service featured a southern gospel-centric worship component that differed from the traditional hymns, which are sung each Sunday. It also featured a guest speaker, who has become somewhat of a tradition for the annual Black History service. Natasha Henry, the author of Emancipation Day: Celebrating Freedom in Canada, who is an educational specialist and curriculum consultant in the area of Black History, gave a powerful and informa-
tive guest speech at the service. Yvonne Wright spoke very highly of the information that Henry shared, referring to Henry as an “excellent” educator. Wright, who has been on the planning committee for Black History Month in Brantford and Brant County for 13 years, referred to a “picking up the pieces and moving on” attitude that permeated the service. Rather than focusing on the past, the committee and church have chosen to focus on the contributions and successes of black people in the world today, and what they can do to continue to break down barriers that still exist. Wright spoke fondly of Lincoln Alexander, Canada’s first black member of Parliament; Jean Augustine, the first black woman in Parliament who passed the motion for Black History Month in Canada; and the Carter family from Brantford, who came to Canada via the underground railroad. Although there are fewer celebrations in Brantford this year than others, Wright and Rev. Beamer both attested to the fact that plans are underway to see that there will be more programming next year. In the mean time, Wright stressed the educational value of Black History Month, referencing Speakers of the Dead and Seeking Salvation as two documentaries that provide knowledge and insight into Canadian Black History. For 2015, the government of Canada has aligned its Black History Month celebrations with the Governor General’s proclamation of 2015 as “The Year of Sports”. The Federal government is encouraging communities to engage in narratives of diversity in athletic achievement, celebrating the efforts of Canadian black athletes who have broken down racial barriers in national and international sport.
Brantford and Nutella: A love story Dillon Giancola
A&C Editor Orlaith McDonogh
Contributor Davis Vallesi
Staff To celebrate World Nutella Day, an annual event since 2007, Ferrero Brantford offered a free family fun day, which took place at the Wayne Gretzky Sports Centre on February 5. With its delicious (and perfect) ratio of chocolate to hazelnut, and decadently smooth texture, Nutella is the only chocolate spread to have its own dedicated celebration day. The world-famous chocolate flavoured spread can be used on toast, spread on fruit or even just eaten off the spoon. The event featured a number of community activities such as public skating, Nutella themed games in the gymnasium, a community bake-off featuring local bakeries and eateries, a free pancake supper and even special product giveaways. Following the deindustrialization of Brantford during the 1980’s, the city’s employment rates and economic status dwindled. However, in a short number of years, Brantford has managed to turn itself
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Layla Bozich eic@thesputnik.ca MANAGER OF OPERATIONS Nathanael Lewis nathanael.lewis@wlusp.com PHOTO EDITOR Cody Hoffman photography@thesputnik.ca ART EDITOR Neha Sekhon visual@thesputnik.ca WEB EDITOR Dylan Kellendonk web@thesputnik.ca
Nutella has provided Brantford with a large number of jobs. Marissa White
from a struggling community to a home of huge corporations and a popular university. One key player in the rebuilding of Brantford since 2006 has been Ferrero – makers of Nutella. Located in Brantford’s Northwest Industrial Centre, the Ferraro site that has become the main supplier of Nutella for North America. Ferraro CEO Enrico Carboni applauded the work of Nutella in Brantford saying that its employees were the “pillar of the company”. “We can produce so much Nutella that you could cover the Great Wall of China eight times with the number of jars sold in one year,” Carboni announced to the excited crowd, “We are so proud to be here in Brantford, it is in Brantford that we make
Nutella for all of Canada”. The talk of job growth was rife at the event. “We lost quite a few jobs before, so it is good having new ones coming here, and come on, Nutella! Its awesome,” said Evelyn Skoken, a Brantford local who attended the event with her grandchildren However, Nutella’s time in Brantford has not been without its few hiccups. Hazelnuts today are more popular than ever as they are high in protein, fiber and vitamins. But the cost of hazelnuts rose by more than 60 per cent last year, after crop-killing hailstorms and frosts hit the world’s biggest hazelnut producer, Turkey, who control 70 per cent of the global market. Nutella consumes 25 per cent of the world’s hazelnuts, further contributing to the
COPY EDITORS Roberto Belardi Adrienne Fiander Dana Tenn-Miller
CONTRIBUTORS Jacob Dearlove Anthony Fusco Fatbardha Lajci Christina Manocchio Orlaith McDonogh Jamaal Owusu-Ansah Nadine Saba Shreya Shah Miles Smith Davis Vallesi Melissa Weaver Marissa White
NEWS EDITOR Taylor Berzins news@thesputnik.ca ON CAMPUS EDITOR Josh Adesina oncampus@thesputnik,ca FEATURES EDITOR Karly Rath features@thesputnik.ca ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR Dillon Giancola arts@thesputnik.ca SPORTS EDITOR Kyle Morrison sports@thesputnik.ca OPINION EDITOR Brittany Bennett opinion@thesputnik.ca
WLUSP BRANTFORD 202-171 Colborne St. Branford, ON N3T 2C9 (519) 756-8228 ext. 5948 PRESIDENT Dani Saad (519) 884-0710 ext. 3565 dani.saad@wlusp.com
impending shortage of the coveted nut. However, this was not mentioned by Corbini, who instead expressed that the company uses just 0.001 per cent of Hazelnuts in all its jars of Nutella per year. Carboni also participated as one of the judges in the Nutella bake-off, a competition in which, local eateries such as The Works Gourmet, Maria’s Pizza, Kirby’s and Strodes showcased their best ‘Nutella Recipes’ in an effort to win some coveted awards. Strodes BBQ & Deli went home with the “Top Unique” prize for their Nutella-flavoured sausage, while The Works Gourmet Burger Bistro was awarded “Top Other” for their Nutella and bacon milkshake. The local businesses had their work cut out for them, as an unexpectedly large crowd turned up to the celebrations. “We made 200 slices of pizza at least, and even when we were all finished those there was maybe a hundred people still left in the line,” said Rose Risi, who has worked at Maria’s Pizza since the age of nine. “Using Nutella on a pizza is delicious, but as if we needed one more thing to make pizza bad for you!” Kids had the opportunity to meet-and-greet with a couple of the My Little Pony characters and the Play-Doh character “Doh Doh.” “The turnout is fantastic, clearly everybody loves Nutella! I actually had someone retweet something in Argentina when we first announced the event,” said Sandy Jackson, Recreation Director of the City of Brantford. “We love community events and understand that community events increase the quality of life for our residents, so we’re always looking for ways to enhance the experience of living in Brantford,” said Lori-Dawn Cavin, manager of community recreation development for the City of Brantford. ADVERTISING Tammy Rowe (519) 884-0719 ext. 3560 trowe@wlu.ca FRONT PAGE PHOTO CREDITS Left: Will Huang Middle: Brittany Bennett Right: Luc Daviau Main: Neha Sekhon The Sputnik is a member of the Ontario Press Council, which is an independent ethical organization established to deal with editorial concerns. For additional information or to file a complaint, contact info@ontpress.com of call (416) 340-1981. The Sputnik is an editorially independent newspaper published by Wilfrid Laurier University Student Publications (WLUSP). The Sputnik is a proud member of the Canadian University Press (CUP). Opinions expressed in The Sputnik are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the Editorial staff, The Sputnik, WLUSP, WLU or CanWeb Printing Inc.
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
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The Sputnik
On Campus
Josh Adesina | oncampus@thesputnik.ca | @sputnikoncampus
Olivia Matthews wins WLUSU presidential election. Will Huang
Olivia Matthews wins WLUSU presidential election Josh Adesina On Campus Editor Wilfrid Laurier University’s presidential election has been won by Olivia Matthews. The news was announced on Thursday, February 5th at 11:30pm, with up to
72% of votes going to Matthews. The ballots took place on Feb 4th and 5th. Up to 138 students participated in the voting which was 100 less students than last year. The Senate positions will be occupied by Kanwar Brar and Trevor Thompson. Four positions of the board of directors will be occupied by Abdiasis Issa, Sujaay Jagannathan, Derek Wordon and Ryley Fletch-
er. Toward the beginning of the elections, eight of the board of directors candidates were acclaimed. The acclaimed candidates included Kanwar Brar, Matt DeSumma, Giovanni Guiga, Colin Aitchison, Nick DeSumma, Melody Parton, Jonathan Ricci and Andrew Harrison. In addition, five referendum questions out of eight were given the thumbs up. According to the Cord, the answered ques-
tions involved were; the Brantford student life levy, Brantford faculty association fee increase for journalism, the Daughters for Life fee, both of the constitutional amendments, along with criminology and leadership. Assistant chief returning officer, Kaipa Bharucha and chair of the board, Matt McLean were responsible for the efficient voting system.
Laurier celebrates Chinese Lunar New Year Arnisa Morina
Staff Since December the Laurier community has been preparing to display its culturally diverse population and celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year. The event was created to help students get involved while enjoying Laurier’s diverse culture. It also honored the advantages of a multicultural campus. “Looking around at our students, we are a multicultural campus. It’s important to learn about and be open to different cultures other than our own,” said student and co-ordinator, Dalton Rawcliffe. The celebration featured traditional dancers from TK Olympic Taekwondo Center in Brantford, along with Chinese dumpling making and fireworks. The actual Chinese New Year is on Feb. 19 but the astrological year kicked off Feb. 4, the night of the event. The Chinese calendar runs on a 12-year cycle with an animal representing each year. This year is the year of the goat. Joined with the History Program, Laurier International, LEAF and Student Life & Engagement, the night started off with the making of Chinese dumplings at St. Andrew’s Church, which are part of traditional New Year celebrations. Afterwards, in the RCW lobby, students, instructors and family gathered to watch TK Olympic dancers ranging from seven to twenty five years old perform. The audience watched in awe as the dancers, accompanied by the drum, performed the Chinese lion dance representing prosperity, as well as demonstrations of defense techniques.
The performances displayed the importance of sharing and celebrating diversity on campus. Dr. Han, a history professor at Laurier and co-ordinator for the event, echoed the force behind the event, “Our campus itself is so culturally diverse. It’s important that we recognize this diversity and get to know each other.” The event succeeded in attracting around 100 guests, and all were amazed by the traditional performances. Following the performance, guests attended dinner at St. Andrew’s Church and enjoyed Chinese dumplings. It was an event filled with diverse interactions where students engaged in learning a culture other than their own. The event promoted the value of recognizing and understanding the traditions and customs of different cultures on campus. Students enjoyed witnessing the openness and different celebrations of the Chinese culture. Attendees appreciated the preparation and the opportunity to experience diversity in the Laurier community. Ramona Peng, an international student studying at Laurier, commented on the success of the event. “Events like this get students more involved because they understand the Chinese culture and other cultures better. I hope Laurier organizes many more events like this.” Aside from the performances and dinner, there was also a gift draw for lucky attendees. The New Year festivities concluded with the setting of celebratory fireworks. The event was successful in celebrating the Chinese culture and bringing students together.
The Chinese calendar runs on a 12-year cycle with an animal representing each year. This year is the year of the goat. Neha Sekhon
Students, instructors and family gathered to watch TK Olympic dancers and demonstrations of defense techniques. Christina Manocchio
The Sputnik
4
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
On Campus Josh Adesina | oncampus@thesputnik.ca | @sputnikoncampus
Keep busy in and around Laurier Brantford
of the Cold Shelter. The walk will begin at 6pm, preceding registration at 4pm and opening ceremonies at 5pm and end at 8pm at the Yes Church on 305 West Street. Maps can be found on https://coldestnightoftheyear.org/. So far, groups have raised more than $10,000 and hope to reach $30,000 by the evening of the walk.
Melissa Weaver
Staff Skating in Harmony Square Snow has finally fallen and the ice is ready and waiting for you. Head on down to Harmony Square for free skating from 10 a.m. - 10 p.m. every day, all winter long.
2015 Chilli Cook Off in Harmony Square Join your favourite local restaurants including, Piston Broke, The Works and Strodes and many more in this annual chilli cook off from 11 a.m. - 2 p.m., on February 22. There will also be live music from the Piano Man.
Curtain Call Auditions for Romeo and Juliet Do you like theater? How about Shakespeare? Laurier Brantford’s first ever theater club, Curtain Call, will be holding auditions for their 2016 performance of Romeo and Juliet during the week of February 23-27 in RCW202. Check their Facebook page, Laurier Brantford’s Curtain Call club for audition times and monologue selections.
Never Stop Fighting- Pink Shirt Day There is a wide variety of events taking place in and around Laurier Brantford this semester. Nathanael Lewis
in RCW002.
LB ARK Week
Amnesty- Heave a Heart
Laurier Brantford’s Acts of Random Kindness are holding small events throughout the week of February 10-13 in the Student Centre Lobby every day from 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. Events include; Tuesday - Kindness Care Packages and Hot Chocolate, Wednesday - Free Hugs, high fives and Valentines (or Palentines, if you prefer) and Thursday - Palentines and a positivity quote wall which will end off the week with a showing of Finding Nemo at 10 p.m.
Pair with Amnesty International on February 10th or 13th, in RCW, for their ‘Have a Heart’ event. Write heart shaped letters to Prime Minister Harper to raise awareness about various issues Amnesty is promoting.
OCOA Projects Valentine’s Day Bachelor Auction OCOA Projects is holding their sec-
ond annual Bachelor/Bachelorette Auction with a carnival theme. There will be a ring toss, count the candy jar and toonie toss. Silent auction items include; Boston Pizza gift card, picnic date set, movie passes and more. Come out to SCJ Lobby on Thursday, February 12 from 6 - 8 p.m., to bid on your dream dates with Laurier’s finest.
Coldest Night of the Year Challenge yourself and others to walk a night in the shoes of a homeless person. Participate in this 2, 5 and 10km WALK on Saturday, February 21st to raise money for the Why Not Youth Centre and the Out
Remember Pink Shirt Day from high school? Well, Never Stop Fighting will be selling pink shirts for anti-bullying awareness from February 24-26 in RCW and RCE. Also join them for a Mean Girls movie night with discussion after and later in the month. Their guest speaker, Alexis Jones who will talk about her novel, “I Am That Girl” which will have a discussion and connection between girls and self-esteem. Dates and place to be determined. Check their Facebook page, “Laurier Brantford: Never Stop Fighting” for more details.
LSFL’s monthly challenge for February is a Valentine’s Day themed word scramble! You can e-mail LSFL your answers along with your name at lblsfl@mylaurier.ca or submit it along with your name and email address to the box at the U-desk.
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Features
The Sputnik
5
Karly Rath | features@thesputnik.ca | @sputnikfeatures
A paying practice: Investigating the yoga-pant phenomenon Nadine Saba Staff From $90 lululemon yoga pants to knockoff brands, many people who do not practise yoga, wear ‘yoga’ pants for the fit, the look, or the logo. Yoga, a physical, mental and spiritual discipline, is becoming known for the hip lifestyle it represents rather than its Indian traditions. Simply, yoga is commercialized. Yoga was introduced to the Western world in the late 19th century as a form of physical exercise, spirituality and meditation. More yogis began teaching the discipline throughout the 20th century, leading to a $27 billion industry as of 2014. Prof. John Corr is an English and Society, Culture and Environment professor at Laurier Brantford who does not practise yoga, but is interested in practices of enlightenment. He said he thinks people become fascinated with the ideas of enlightenment, tranquillity and centredness but are not disciplined enough to put in the effort to achieve it in traditional ways. “If you go to a place like Target and see glossy images and sexy packaging, it seems very accessible and very immediate, that you can buy your way into heightened states of mind or being,” Prof. Corr said. Prof. Corr said people are constantly tempted to appear as though they practise the discipline without actually participating. “I think having the products around and having them so readily available means that people [will] want to buy what those products represent,” Prof. Corr said. “But they’ll never get what those products represent without putting in the work and to put in the work, you don’t need those products in the first place.” Prof. Corr referred to sociologist and phi-
Many people pay into the $27 billion yoga industry without gaining the true benefits of traditional yoga. Jamaal Owusu-Ansah
losopher Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of habitus to explain how the image of practising yoga is appealing, and how yoga is seen as a symbol or a higher class identity. “When we think about how our class identity is represented we think that it is only through exterior signs, like our clothes,” Prof. Corr said. “But [Bourdieu explains] that even our whole outlook on something like health and well-being is defined by our class upbringing.” “It is about fitting in, but it is also about excluding,” Prof. Corr said. “It is about distin-
guishing yourself from other people who you think are beneath you … it’s about fitting in, but fitting in with people who are better than you.” Yoga clothing and equipment such as mats and balance balls are not the only products making a profit out of the discipline. Yoga Inc., a 2007 documentary, followed Yogi Bikram Choudhury’s practice of his style of yoga, Bikram Yoga. Bikram Yoga instructors must be certified and are required to complete nine weeks of training authorized by Choudhury.
In the United States, Choudhury attempted to copyright yoga moves that fall under Bikram Yoga but was denied copyright protection in 2012. Christina O’Neill is the founder of Sacred Lotus, a yoga studio near the Odeon building. O’Neill teaches hatha yoga in the lyengar style and does not teach Bikram Yoga. Yoga has many styles, including the traditional hatha yoga which focuses on physical movements, the lyengar style which uses many props and Bikram Yoga which is practised in a heated room with 40 per cent humidity. O’Neill said she does not agree with the idea of copyrighting certain yoga positions since many are ancient. “Yoga has been passed down for centuries”, O’Neill said. “You are trained to teach it and then share it [and] that is the whole point of yoga.” Prof. Corr said that while it is one thing to have a capitalist market system, it is another thing for market forces to dictate ideals, values, social relationships and the pursuit of peace and happiness. “The instructor has to make a living,” Prof. Corr said. “But it’s when the pursuit of that profit replaces pursuits of more noble goals.” Rather than just accessorizing with yoga products, why not take up the practice? “The beauty of yoga is that it treats the body, mind and spirit,” O’Neill said. “We teach people to just focus in the present moment and then the body has the chance to heal.” To experience some of the principles yoga is founded on, Prof. Corr recommended attending an event hosted by the SCE Student Association, a two-hour stress-busting retreat with Derek Bindner, a martial artist and motivational speaker. The event will take place on Wednesday, February 11 from 10 a.m. till noon and will feature a pizza and Q and A session between 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. Contact scestudentassociation@gmail.com for more information.
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The Sputnik
Features
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Karly Rath | news@thesputnik.ca | @sputnik_news
A different type of happily ever after Jessica Dark and Malcolm LeBlanc live a polyamorous relationship filled with BDSM and eroticism. Brittany Bennett
Brittany Bennett
Opinion Editor A single wooden massage bed, slightly larger than average, sits in the middle of the room. It does not look home-made, the wood is mainly covered by the long white sheets. A fluffy white pillow rests right before the face rest. The light peach walls are calming, the air cool, and the smell fresh. Three wide mirrors absorb the room. The one adjacent to the face rest tilts slightly downward, covering a window that looks fully curtained from the outside. Long shelving above one of the mirrors spreads an array of colourful candles and rocks. Two hooks are attached at either end, hanging four robes siding the mirror. To the left hangs a large, fuzzy black house coat, one you could see your dad wearing with his plaid blue slippers when walking down the driveway to pick up the local paper. To the right hangs three more: a thick, soft light pink, on top is one slightly shorter and dark, and covering both is a tiny silk green with off-coloured lace on the sleeves. Beside the door two empty hooks await the clothing of the next client. A glance to the left and eyes fixate on the shelving that holds a coat rack beneath. Various floggers, paddles and crops fill each small, silver hook. Jessica Dark, preferring to go by her stage name, has been an exotic massage provider for over six years now. At the end of each session, Dark puts on one of her robes and texts a simple “done” to Malcolm LeBlanc, her current fiancé, telling him to come back home.
Their monogamous beginning Despite Dark’s career, LeBlanc defines their relationship as being monogamous and even “vanilla” (a relationship devoid of fetish) for about five and a half years. The past two and a half years have gradually led up to a fully polyamorous, BDSM engagement. LeBlanc currently holds a full-time position within Kraus Carpets, but also fell upon an interesting hobby in leather fashion. LeBlanc makes many unique medieval-type creations such as accessories, women’s skirts and corsets. Dark and LeBlanc met online in the summer of 2006, initially as just friends, through Plenty of Fish. Dark mentioned she had needed somewhere to move for school and LeBlanc had a room for rent nearby. Dark moved in that August, coincidentally the day after LeBlanc’s then girlfriend moved out, ending their relationship). It was within the first night they realized their sexual attraction for one another, and by that December they were in an official, monogamous relationship. “All these things were kind of going like, this is what couples do, like this is serious,” explains
Dark. Within their first year together, Dark got her first car, they got their first dog, and LeBlanc was already pushing for an engagement ring; a typical fairy-tale love story. This was only LeBlanc’s second monogamous relationship, all the others being an assortment of open-type relationships in the past. Soon enough, LeBlanc was asking Dark what new things she has wanted to try sexually, and the suggestion of a threesome came about. They began looking for a third-party through Plenty of Fish, a website the couple refers to as a great way to meet friends as well as lovers.
The life of the exotic The first candidate of a three-way night of fun ended up gawking about her own job in exotic massage all night. Dark’s new friend made it sound like the cushiest, easiest, no-brainer job. At that time, Dark had a diploma in massage therapy and was looking into canine massage (of which, most of her family currently believes she does). But once she heard this girl made one thousand dollars a week, Dark had to investigate. Bringing up the interest to LeBlanc was easy, he even encouraged her to go check the place out. Dark was hired on the spot at the same parlor as her friend. She had a tour of the place, soon received her Class D Erotic Massage licence, and sat in on another masseuse’s session before jumping into one on her own. A middle-aged gentleman walked through the door, there was nothing specific about him, just a regular looking guy. The girls all lined up in their club-style outfits, gave a rundown of what the “menu” is for the night, and he pointed at Dark. She could hardly breathe, she was hoping the first girl to be picked would not be her so she could sit it on another session and learn more tactics, but that was not the case. “It’s not just the physical right? It’s like an emotional feeling you have to get over, of being naked in front of someone, or letting them touch you, or anything else like that. I had to kind of be like, ‘Am I going to be okay?’ Because it’s not my boyfriend, or it’s not a guy I’m sleeping with, or it’s not a love interest, it’s somebody else.” To Dark’s surprise, her client loved everything about her. As soon as she dropped her clothes, the compliments began. “‘Ah! I love your boobs! I love your ass! Oh my god, come over here,’” the man exclaimed. Dark was so utterly flattered, she quickly got over her initial fears. At this particular parlor Dark’s income was completely based on whether or not someone came in, and chose her as their masseuse. The first $50 on every half-hour session would go to the owners, which allowed for the gentleman to touch the girls, and have a release. Any extras were tabbed on, with a strict “no fucking, no sucking” policy. The recession hit, and Dark left this parlor about six months later when she realized the better potential in bringing her work home. Unlike most exotic massage providers that realize the money in moving up to an escort position, Dark has never
wanted to have sex with her clients. LeBlanc even informed Dark that he would not mind if she chose to do that, so long as she felt good about herself in the end. Dark says she would rather have sex with someone for herself, not because they have two hundred dollars that day. “The service she provides now is very genuine, she enjoys what she does. Where if it were the other way it wouldn’t be,” explains Leblanc. Dark believes she would come off as fake if she were to include sex in her work. Dark’s job not only provides a sexual release but also a stress release. Dark is one of few exotic massage providers that actually know how to massage properly, and as a substitute for her massages she also offers BDSM and fetish sessions. People come to her because she caters to their needs, sexually and emotionally. “You be who you want to be here, I’m not going to judge you if you want to wear high heels and your pantyhose, or if you want to wear my panties, fine. I’m not that picky,” Dark explains. For many, Dark is their only outlet for trying new things or pursuing specific fetishes. While Dark’s usual clients are the middle-aged business professionals, she has also been with widows, virgins, men that are going through a divorce, men wanting to practice before trying something new with their partner, and even men whose wives are very ill and thus, sexually inactive. Dark explains that there can be a lot of counselling involved in her work, she is also there to listen. “Obviously the stigmas of society have led [people] to believe that there’s only one kind of whore, and it’s not true. There’s so many beautiful people out there that this is something different for them: this is their way of getting through a bay day, or this is their way of dealing with a bad marriage, or their wife dying. It’s just another outlet. And I feel happy helping them.”
Transitioning to polyamory Dark began seeking sexual encounters outside of the relationship in the summer of 2012, four years after LeBlanc proposed, and it was actually his idea. Dark’s sex drive had dropped over the years, she began feeling as if she was just working when in bed with her own fiancé. While brainstorming of when they were the most sexually active, LeBlanc realized it was before they were even official, when they were also seeing other people. So he thought she should give it a go. “I didn’t like it because it wasn’t Malcolm. I couldn’t let go. He felt different, he was a different weight, different size, he smelled different,” Dark confesses. But she soon realized she enjoyed the different. She had to put effort in her appearance again, as if going on a first date, getting those nervous butterflies all over again. There was a long list of rules at the beginning, in writing, but it slowly got shorter over the years. Three of which still stand very important to this day: no other guys in their bed, always wear condoms, and never leave marks. LeBlanc has yet to have sex outside of the relationship, and did not even begin experiment-
ing sexually at all with other girls until last April. “I’m very respectful of her emotional state, and I’m always paying attention to that. And that’s a Dom thing too,” says LeBlanc. LeBlanc has been practicing a fetish lifestyle for 26 years now, and knows how important it is to take things at the right pace. LeBlanc even worked as professional dominant for six years, but did not introduce DS (dominant-submissive) into their relationship until Dark asked. The first girl LeBlanc pursued outside of the relationship was a younger woman, wishing to have his collar: become his submissive. It destroyed Dark. “Any normal feeling that girls’ would have if their boyfriend was talking or touching another girl, that’s sort of what comes up and you just feel sick.” LeBlanc ended that relationship, and instead pursued Dark as his submissive. After seeing the way LeBlanc treated the other girl, Dark wanted that. Since LeBlanc was experienced in open relationships, he did not have to go through the same process as Dark did. “To me I don’t really feel jealous when she’s with someone else, I miss her, but I don’t feel jealous,” LeBlanc explains, whereas Dark felt a lot of anger, towards him and herself. She felt guilty for being angry with him since he had been letting her be with other men for years already. But with baby steps, and talking to one of LeBlanc’s sexual partners that is in a similar situation, Dark slowly got over a lot of the little things. A large factor in helping Dark’s acceptance was when the emotion-factor came into play in her relationships outside of theirs. The couple found the whole point of their open relationship to be unraveling. Dark would come home upset after a bad date, and instead of coming back with an increased sex drive and desire for LeBlanc, he had to pick up the pieces from another guy. But they found a much better consistency while having actual relationships outside of their own, each would come home missing one another and feeling as if they were on top of the world. “I felt super loved and super special and thought, ‘I must be awesome,’” brags Dark. Dark and LeBlanc found their way into a polyamorous relationship within the last three or four months. Dark fell for another guy, she could see having with him what she has with LeBlanc, and it had positive outcomes for hers and LeBlanc’s sex life as well. As of now, Dark has one boyfriend outside of the relationship, LeBlanc has one girlfriend outside of the relationship, and they both share another girlfriend who is included in their DS part of the relationship. “When I met him I was like this little girl going ‘Okay, show me,’” but now Dark sits across from LeBlanc flashing a sexy smile at her partner of over eight years. The couple smiles a lot, even while speaking of the hardships. Their aura is warm, welcoming and accepting. They are a happy couple living a successful life in their polyamorous, fetish lifestyle, as well as their exotic careers and hobbies.
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
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Arts & Culture
Dillon Giancola | arts@thesputnik.ca | @sputnikarts
The best of the best: The Oscar Best Pictures Dillon Giancola
A&C Editor With less than a week to go until the 87th Academy Awards on February 22, the time is right to look critically at the eight films nominated for Best Picture of 2014. You have probably watched a couple of the movies nominated, but perhaps you find yourself stuck, not knowing which ones to try and see before the big show. Fortunately, you will not have to question if you picked a good movie, as this is one of the most stacked Best Picture categories in recent memory. I don’t think I’ve ever had more fun watching movies as I have watching all eight nominees. And while there are usually 3-5 stand-outs a year, all eight are truly belonging this year, with two spots open that could have gone to excellent films like Foxcatcher, Nightcrawler or Interstellar. The nominees fit loosely into two categories: historical drama and experimental/artistic. The former category is made up of Theory of Everything, Selma, The Imitation Game and American Sniper, while Birdman, Whiplash, Boyhood and The Grand Budapest Hotel make up the latter. But what unifies these films is that they all touch on one or two central ideas. Boyhood is a film about the wonder of childhood, showing us something we take for granted in a way never-before seen, while Whiplash is a movie that attempts to answer the question “What does it take to be great?” and analyzes the cost of that venture and the role of the instructor. Likewise, rather than just a movie about Stephen Hawking the physicist, The Theory of Everything is a movie about finding things to hope in when life seems only bad. The Imitation Game uses a story of the man who broke the Nazi war-code to tell us about being a hero in secret, being a homo-sexual in 20th century Great Britain, and the birth of modern computers. Another aspect that is part of the nominees is that they all seem to avoid the old Oscar vice of being extremely slow, longwinded dramas, unless you were amongst those that hated Boyhood and thought that nothing happens in its three-hour running time. Not that any of these films are fastpaced, but Birdman gives that appearance due to its no-cut directorial approach and its brilliant jazz-drum score and Budapest uses quirky characters and beautiful scenes to keep our attention. You could criticize American Sniper for using violence and action as a pro-America money-grab, but those moments are what keep the movie from being as slow as The Hurt Locker. Selma gets by with the sheer weight of its subject material while Theory makes great use of a fantastic classical score to keep its heavier, relational moments from appearing too dry. So which movies should you watch? The lazy answer is all of them, if you have the time, but if not, here is a brief breakdown of each movie, in order of my least to most enjoyed.
The Grand Budapest Hotel Depending on your view of Wes Anderson movies, this will either be your favourite of the group or your least liked. I have always been hit-or-miss when it comes to his films, fully understanding the appeal yet never quite falling for it. However, Budapest is easily the most watchable
of his films yet, which may be why it is his first one to be up for Best Picture. His usual rotating cast of actors is back, with Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Edward Norton and Jeff Goldblum all playing sharp, unique characters, and Ralph Fiennes does a great job taking the reigns as the lead, hotel manager M. Gustave. It is colourful, bizarre, and witty, but the real star is the setting, creating the Republic of Zubrowka and taking our imaginations for a ride. To me it is the least deserving of the group, but that says nothing about its worth as a very good film.
American Sniper Due to its shocking record-setting January box office numbers, there is a good chance you have either seen American Sniper or have sworn to avoid it. I enjoyed it, seeing it as a modern war movie that does a great job of portraying a complex figure in Chris Kyle, while balancing the intense war scenes with authentic family drama on the home front. Although the criticisms of Clint Eastwood’s directing and the script are valid (read Shots Fired in the Feb. 4 issue of The Sputnik), Bradley Cooper’s portrayal of Kyle makes up for the flaws. His performance is very likely to earn him the win for Best Actor, and if the movie wins, it will because it was carried by Cooper’s shoulders. Ultimately, if you have an open mind, you will love American Sniper, but if you are pre-disposed to see it as pro-American propaganda fluff, then you will not.
Boyhood Richard Linklater’s marvelous work of art has been talked about and praised for half a year already, yet that has not taken away the wonder of this film. It will stand for a long time as one of the most memorable pieces of film-making; the 12 years of one-week shooting it took to the make the film paid off superbly. Linklater’s Before trilogy are some of my favourite films, and Boyhood does not disappoint as the latest product from him. However, I am surprised that it has gained this much hype and recognition. Nevertheless, it is just really cool to watch a boy’s life unfold before our eyes, and the true power of it is its ability to transport you back in time to, and through, those everyday yet memorable moments of your childhood. While Ellar Coltrane’s portrayal as Mason is understandably a bit mediocre, Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke both give superb Oscar-
worthy supporting performances. This is a unique film that you simply must see.
The Imitation Game This is a movie that did not create a lot of urgency within me to watch it. I did not really understand the significance of Alan Turing’s accomplishment, and I was a little sick of seeing Benedict Cumberbatch’s strange face everywhere. Yet when I finally sat down and watched it, I was thrilled. This is an excellent movie to go into blind, with little background knowledge of it like I did. While it is a bit formulaic, it has enough unexpected twists and character revelations to make it stand out. This film will leave you with a new respect and fascination for Alan Turing, and that is the sign of an excellent historical drama.
Selma Selma was a movie that I was looking forward to, yet not sure what to expect. To me, Martin Luther King seemed like the most ambitious biopic subject, and I was eager to see him portrayed on the big screen. The film is mesmerizing, leaving you floored emotionally with the gravity of the events featured, which feel ever relevant. What I loved so much about this movie was how it showed the toll that the civil rights campaign took on King’s life and that of his family. More than just an inspirational movie, it is one that shows the personal cost of changing the world. This film takes place in 1965, and we see King dealing with marriage troubles, the expectations of an entire race of people, and his acceptance of the fact that he will probably be assassinated before his dream is realized. It is the perfect background to detail amid the actual march to Selma and negotiations with President Lyndon B. Johnson. David Oyelowo is perfect here, showing King as a man struggling to remain composed while all hell breaks around him, right unto that point where he can confidently proclaim “Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty I’m free at last!”
The Theory of Everything When this movie won best score at the Golden Globes, I was disappointed because it was just seen to be generic, classical music. There were films like Birdman or Interstellar where the score was an integral part of the movie, that I felt were much more deserving. But when I finally watched The Theory of Everything, I was blown away.
The score in this movie is just one of the many things that make it so magical. Beneath all the amazing accolades of Stephen Hawking, this film does an excellent job of showing the relationship of Hawking and his wife Jane, the struggle of staying with a disabled spouse. As well, the tension between her, Hawking, and John, her future second husband, is unforgettable, and behind it all, what holds it together, is the score. Although, the screenplay doesn’t hurt, nor does the outstanding job Eddie Redmayne did in portraying Hawking, and Felicity Jones of playing Jane. Theory probably won’t win Best Picture, although I would not complain if it did, but outside of Bradley Cooper, Redmayne is the probable choice for Best Actor. Early in the movie, Hawking makes a little joke to his wife, saying “I’m just trying to figure out the mathematical probability of happiness.” This line stuck with me for most of the movie, and it seemed to be resolved perfectly with his last words of the film, “Where there is life, there is hope.” That this is the last and most important point this movie makes is why I am such a big fan, and why it had such an impact on me.
Whiplash Definitely the most surprising of the bunch, this movie left me afterwards with the feeling of awe, discussing its themes and message for the rest of the night. Whiplash is a movie about an aspiring drummer in music school, played by Miles Teller, that is driven by his cruel professor, played by J.K. Simmons, to be the absolute best he can be. Simmons is outstanding in this movie, playing a vicious, crude teacher that ultimately might actually have good intentions. He won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor, and will likely win the Oscar in that category as well. It is so cool to see a music school movie, however unrealistic it may be. But the lasting point of this movie is how far will you go to be great, and what are the limits in which you can push someone to be the best. It is a movie that touches on ideas of philosophers, such as Nietzsche’s analysis of morals, and it is a movie that you absolutely have to watch.
Birdman It may not be a big surprise to you that this was my favourite of the bunch, as a lot of people really, really like this movie. But it may not be for everyone. It has everything you want in a memorable film: captivating direction, unreal acting, and a brash, effective score. There is not one camera cut in the movie, there is not one sound in the score that isn’t percussive, and there isn’t one actor that does not deliver a stellar performance. Michael Keaton is phenomenal in this comeback role, one that mirrors real life as an actor that was famous for portraying a superhero, and then blacklisted from any meaningful Hollywood roles. He attempts to produce and star in a Broadway play, and has to deal with existential struggles and finding his own self-worth. As well as it shows the plight of a man trying to believe that what he has to say is valuable, it is also a terrific look at the current state of Hollywood and its version of art. As hard as it is to believe that a movie that takes shots at Hollywood could win its biggest award, it might do just that.
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Arts & Culture
The Sputnik
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Dillon Giancola | arts@thesputnik.ca | @sputnikarts
Is there a more beneficial way to celebrate black history? Shelby Do
Staff The month of February marks the time of the year when Canadians and Americans commemorate Black History Month. We take the time to celebrate significant events and people that have changed the face of history. In a piece written by Dr. Daryl Michael Scott, a history professor at Howard University, Black History Month dates back to 1915 when Carter G. Woodson attended a 50th anniversary celebration of emancipation. This then prompted Woodson to create an organization called the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH) that would work to promote black history. It was through the ASNLH that Woodson created various dates of celebration for black history, before settling on Negro History Week in February 1926. It wasn’t until the 1960s when Negro History week transformed into Black History Month. There is, however, a lot of controversy surrounding Black History Month for a variety of reasons. Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman is among those critics. Freeman criticizes the separation created by Black History Month. In a 2005 interview on 60 Minutes, he inquired as to why black history is only a month, stating, “I don’t want a black history month. Black history’s American history.” He went on to explain that he believes in order to stop racism, society needs to first stop talking about it. By consistently labelling people based on their race, people create barriers and stereotypes of who other people are, rather than getting to know the individual.
The month of February marks the time of the year when Canadians and Americans commemorate Black History Month. Neha Sekhon
In fact, Morgan Freeman is not the only person to criticize the delegation of black history to a specific month. Carter G. Woodson, despite being essential to the creation of Black History Month, constantly advocated for black history to be taught in schools, using Negro History Week as an example to schools of what should be taught all year round.
Alternatively, there are many people who welcome Black History Month as an important part of acknowledging their history, as education has often been criticized for limiting black history to colonization and slavery. When asked by Rolling Out why it is important to continue education on black history, Dr. Johnnetta Betsch Cole, the first black female president of Spelman
College and the current director of the National Museum of African Art at the Smithsonian Institution, answered, “Because if we don’t tell our story, who will?” Cole goes on to say, “If we don’t understand African-American history, we can’t understand American history because we are so deeply, deeply rooted in what this country has been at its worst and what it can be at it’s best.” But what about Black History Month on a local level, both in Brantford and right here at Laurier? For Global Engagement Week at Laurier there was a lecture series on Nelson Mandela that discussed the significance of political and social conflicts in Africa. Brianna DaSilva, a Human Rights student here at Laurier, states in an email that there should also be more of a local focus, as many people already know about Nelson Mandela. When giving suggestions of local history that could be focused on, DaSilva writes, “For example, this could be an opportunity for the Laurier community to learn about the rise of black communities in Brantford and its role as a part of the Underground Rail Road.” By digging into more obscure and less discussed history, the Laurier community could represent the plights of people that didn’t change history on an international scale, but rather a local scale. Ultimately, the question of Black History Month is not why it exists, as it is clear that representation, celebration and education is vital. The question truly is how should society to continue to push forward the representation of black history, and whether it should continue to be labelled as black history, or incorporated into education as American history.
Jack Jackowetz’s Exhibition No. 5 : A Yellow Brick Wall review Miles Smith
Staff Jack Jackowetz shows us the extraordinary beauty of the Brantford commonplace in his new addition to the Yellow Brick Wall: Exhibition No. 5. The Yellow Brick Wall features Exhibition No. 5 from January 5 to February 15. Exhibition No. 5 features a series of photographs of Brantford, each in his selfdescribed “post impression photography” style. All 20 photographs have never been seen before, either in his books or in his galleries. The name Exhibition No. 5 refers to the Yellow Brick Wall itself, Jackowetz being the fifth artist to feature on it. With the effective use of his signature style, Jackowetz aims to return the viewer to their childhood, playing to memories linked to the architecture. “It’s just a matter of paying attention to your surroundings,” says Jackowetz. “There’s always memories associated with different places that you went to, or hung out at, or visited. If you were in Brantford, the federal building, the old post office building, has two lions at the entrance-way. Every kid in Brantford has sat on those lions. It’s just a rite of passage, it’s what you do here.” Jackowetz, living in Brantford himself, saw the Yellow Brick Wall as the perfect venue. Jackowetz is an active player in the community, holding various titles throughout Brantford. “I am past president of the Historical Society, I was on the Board of Directors, I’m the chair of the Brantford Arts Block, I was the chair of the Heritage
Committee, I am the chair of the Tourism Advisory Committee, and I’ve been involved in many things Arts and Culture related in the city,” said Jackowetz. Making his involvement in the city no secret, Jackowetz aims to make Brantford, and culture and history, the best it can be. “I think we need to appreciate where we live and what we have around us, and when we do that, we think ‘you know, this place isn’t so bad after all, this is a really cool place,’ and if I can help with that, that’s satisfying,” said Jackowetz. “Wherever you live, you have a choice to look for the good or look for the bad, and you make the best of a situation or you don’t. If you don’t like what you see, then you have to do something, and that’s why I get involved not only in art but in community initiative, because I want this to be a great place to live, because I think it is.” It is no secret that for some students, Brantford is difficult to call home. Whether it is too cold, too big of a city, too small of a city, too gray, too green, Brantford can’t please everyone. The problem however, doesn’t lie in the size of the city, or the temperature outside, but instead in the viewpoint one views it with. Extraordinary beauty lies in the commonplace, and Exhibition No. 5 is a perfect example of that.
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The Yellow Brick Wall features Exhibition No. 5 from January 5 to February 15. Christina Manocchio
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
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The Sputnik
Sports
Kyle Morrison | sports@thesputnik.ca | @sputniksports
Men’s extramural hockey seeks to impress in final tournament of season Anthony Fusco Staff It’s been a good year hockey-wise for the Laurier Brantford men’s extramural hockey team. Through their tournaments and practices this year, they have experienced success and failure. The team has grown and bonded together over the last few months and are ready to play what for some, will be the final tournament of their university careers. This is not your average tournament for one special reason. These games will be hosted by Laurier Brantford and will take place on home ice at the Wayne Gretzky Sports Centre. It’s a jam-packed tournament that will see 12 different teams take the ice on Friday, February 13. The schedule sees Laurier placed into the red bracket. That means they will face the University of Ontario Institute of Technology’s second team as
well as rivals Mohawk College, whom the Hawks have faced in the past. The top two teams of each pool advance. The way it breaks down, the Golden Hawks, should they advance, will be looking at a date with one of Fanshawe College, Reedmer University College or Bishop’s. All three are familiar foes that the Hawks have faced in the past. The draw has the Hawks playing their two round robin games at 9:30 AM against UOIT and their second at 10:30 AM whee they will face Mohawk College. After playing the last three tournaments on the road, it’s nice for the Golden Hawks to finally have some home ice advantage. “It’s really nice to be able to play at home this time around. There won’t be a long bus ride and this time we’re looking at having a full team. That’s a bonus that I personally can’t wait for,” said Blake Ralston. It’s a chance to make a few things happen. The boys want to put on a show for their home fans who are finally able to make the trek out to one of the tournaments. They all desperately want to win,
for the campus and for themselves. Many of the members are graduating this year. To go out at the top with a triumphant win would be perfect. Having a good showing at these games would also show the younger players on the team what it takes to win. Many of the older guys are moving on and the younger students will need to take up the reins for the coming years and attempt to continue the level of success that the team has had over the past few years. Clay Chalmers, one of the senior members on the team, is determined to put on a good show. “This is definitely a huge tournament for us. It’s our last of the year and we want to impress, both our fans from Laurier and ourselves. A good showing here would really show the young players what we’re all about.” It’s difficult to express what a lot of the players will feel when they take the ice for the last time in their Laurier careers. Ralston, a longtime defenseman tried to sum up his feelings. “We’re all looking forward to this tournament for sure. But it’s going
to be bittersweet. What I mean is I love playing hockey at Laurier. The team is really close and we’ve bonded over the years together. But it’s nearly over. That’s why I want to go out and win this one more than any other I’ve played this year. A win here will make my time here complete.” Captain Blake Dionne echoed those words. “I expect everyone to give it 110%. This could be our last tournament of the year and possibly the last tournament for most of us who are graduating. The boys need to know they have to leave it all out on the ice and play their hardest.” It takes a special breed of person to be an athlete. You need to have the drive to succeed and the ability to handle the pressure that comes with playing the game. The boys know they need to succeed here. For many, it’s their last chance at university hockey glory. They’ll give their best effort, in that hopes that at the end of the day, they will be champions one more time.
Powderpuff football needs a rebranding; this outdated name fails to adequately describe the kind of football played by the women at Laurier and other universities in Canada and the United States. Luc Daviau
Powderpuff football sells its players short Kyle Morrison Sports Editor When you think “powderpuff”, football isn’t what comes to mind. But year in and year out in one of the largest growing women’s sports, that’s what their brand of football is called, and it couldn’t do a worse job describing the game women play. Powderpuff football is flag football; there isn’t any tackling, so instead you have to grab an opposing player’s flag in order for a play to be called dead. But other than that, you need to be just as athletic as anybody playing tackle football, so calling it “powderpuff” demeans not only the players but the sport itself. “I would say [powderpuff football] is extremely outdated,” Golden Hawks powderpuff football team captain, Tamara Skoretz said. “We try to caption it as ‘women’s football’ more than anything because the first reaction whenever we say powderpuff is usu-
ally a giggle or an eye roll or something like that. It doesn’t embody what the sport is all about.” That is one of the main problems with the name; the sport’s origins are from a different time in which women’s sports weren’t taken seriously and based on the dainty, feminine stereotype. According to the Madison Daily Leader, which reported on what is widely considered to be the first powderpuff football game in 1945, “The name was suggested because the women chose to poke fun at themselves by staying on the field at halftime and putting on fresh makeup before the amused spectators.” “[Powderpuff football] is generally a new division of sports for girls in university, especially. It’s only four or five years old, so I kind of think they just embodied whatever name kind of fit a pre-existing structure and went with that,” Skoretz said. She wants to see women taking ownership and re-naming the sport simply, “women’s football” because it is a brand of football played only by women and it’s a game they’ve shaped and made their own, but
she’s not optimistic that a change will occur anytime soon. “I don’t know if it will change because there’s a lot of things associated with powderpuff football and I know that this year they’re doing a lot of work with the Breast Cancer Society and the Make-A-Wish Foundation, so it’s becoming a brand, more or less,” she said. You see the result of this brand in the United States, where there is an annual “Blondes vs. Brunettes” powderpuff football game played to raise money for the Alzheimer’s Association. Since 2005 in the Washington, D.C. area alone, the game has raised over $500,000 and is played in 16 American cities. Although it’s all in the name of fundraising and the event is obviously making a sizeable contribution, players are simply perpetuating the kinds of stereotypes associated with powderpuff football. “I never really understood [powderpuff football] either. I always associated ‘powderpuff’ with the snow, because we’re out playing during the winter, right,” Skoretz said. “So, I went back and looked into it
and it was all about the girls and stuff like that and it’s not like that at all. It kind of sugar-coats it and makes [the sport] seem like a joke. That’s far from it -- it’s a tough, tough game.” Players, especially Laurier’s squad, take great pride in the game they play and are great at it, finishing first at Sheridan in 2014 and they deserve to be seen in such a light. “We’re out there in the middle of the winter with no padding, no protection, nothing and that’s a whole different level … until you’re actually out there on the field or watching a game, it’s not quite the same,” she explained. “Powderpuff football” has always been kind of perplexing; it’s almost an oxymoron. A word like that doesn’t belong with a physically demanding sport like football, regardless of whether it’s men or women playing it. And if you don’t think so, a couple of games will change your mind.
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The Sputnik
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Sports
Kyle Morrison | sports@thesputnik.ca | @sputniksports
The Laurier girls’ hockey team hosted tough competition like Fanshawe College (pictured) this past Friday, Feb. 6. Christina Manocchio
Girls’ hockey team falls in the quarters on home ice Luc Daviau Staff On February 6, Wilfrid Laurier Brantford’s extramural girls’ hockey team faced a disappointing loss in the quarter finals. The tournament, held at the Wayne Gretzky Sports Centre, was the girls’ first tournament at home this year. The girls’ team has proven that they are a strong force, with a first place victory in their first tournament at Humber, and a semi-final appearance in their second tournament in Scarborough last week. However, it is not a complete mystery why they fell short in their latest tournament. “[We] went in with an attitude that we were going to win and that was our default,” said Samantha Keen, a player for the team. In regards to the differences between their successful past and their struggle this tournament, Kelsey Langstaff had an answer. “We had a lot more players for one
After defeating Laurier in the quarter-finals, Georgian College went on to win the tournament at the Wayne Gretzky Sports Centre on Feb. 6. Christina Manocchio
thing,” she commented. At the start of the first game against Georgian, the girls were strong, with a powerful offensive push -- hitting the post early on in the game. However, things
quickly fell apart shortly after, as the Georgian team scored only a minute and ten seconds into the game. “If we scored one goal we would have won the game,” Keen said recalling the early chances Laurier had just before Georgian pulled ahead. “Because as soon as we score a goal our momentum builds and builds.” The girls truly struggled with building any momentum in the first game. Time after time they failed to produce on multiple chances on the powerplay. “Once we’re down, we kind of stay there instead of coming up and rising to the occasion,” said Katrina Moczerad, a right wing player for Laurier. These are tough words, but proved true as the team lost 4-0. “It was a rough start,” Langstaff explained, and the girls all still remained quite hopeful for victory as they knew exactly what they needed to do to start winning again. It was apparent from their fumbling plays that they needed to get everyone back on the same page. “We had to jumble a lot of the lines so none of the lines were the same, so I mean we are playing with new people, so it’s a little different,” said Keen. The pressures
to perform well under the weight of a large injury list proved too heavy for the girls. “[We] really got to work on our positioning, getting it back to our defense, covering those corners, pinching when we need to,” Langstaff said as she listed the essential areas of improvement for their game as they prepared for their second game. The girls’ second game showed glimpses of a much different team than the first. As they faced Fleming, the girls scored two quick goals in response to the early Fleming goal. The Golden Hawks’ first goal was a hard shot to the top left corner. The second goal, Keen jumped on the opportunity of a slowly recovering goaltender, and she deked out the goalie and threw the puck into the back of the net. Laurier faced five penalties in the next two periods, one of the penalties resulting in the game-tying goal for Fleming. The Laurier girls held out defensively throughout the rest of the game as the Fleming offense pressed against them with several powerplay opportunities. The game ultimately went to a shootout where the girls put all three of their shots past the goaltender, securing their place in the quarter finals. In the quarter-finals Laurier was matched up against Durham CollegeUniversity of Ontario Institute of Technology (DC-UOIT). This game was incredibly close. Both teams producing exciting chances to bury the puck, however the strong defensive squads kept the game scoreless for more than half of the game. Unfortunately, DC-UOIT got a lucky break as they snuck one past the glove hand of the Laurier goaltender. Just as Moczerad explained, the team had a hard time “rising to the occasion” and coming back. As time grew thin, DC-UOIT managed to grab control over the game scoring two more goals late in the third period. The girls’ extramural squad fought hard, but their day ended with a loss and only stronger motivation to press forward and improve for their future matchups.
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Opinion
Brittany Bennett | opinion@thesputnik.ca | @sputnikopinion
Listen to Socrates: the reasons you should be a Stoic Tristan Wright
Staff We live in a time of moral decline, humanity is currently struggling to revert to their inner animal nature as so many of its ancestors have fought against. I want all of you to be strong. I want my fellow citizens to be humans, not beasts. Read regularly, improve your mind and physically keep books if you can. It does not matter what the subject is: right or left wing, libertarian or authoritarian, fiction or nonfiction. Only collect older books such as The Hobbit, Starship Troopers, Meditations, Dostoevsky, Dune, or Dante. Read the classics that few people bother to read anymore. Picking up some books on history or philosophy is also important. Do not waste your time with the Hunger Games and modern literature. Every time you take up a modern book it is a risk, it is much safer to trust in the books that have lasted centuries or decades. There is always a reason for such an old piece to last. Love your friends and family, talk with them, and connect as deep as you are able to connect, no matter what. Your friends and family are not simply people, they are an extension of yourself: the same blood that roars through your veins rushes through theirs. Own and maintain weapons, and improve your strength. All humans have the right to own a weapon. You and your loved ones deserve better than to be hurt or killed. If you do not defend yourself nobody else will. Human beings are animals to start, but we are animals that strive to become gods. We have done this by achieving things such as ascending the food chain, claiming the very top. We have risen to the top of the heap by developing abstract languages, and creating incredible technologies. As the philosopher, Socrates of Athens said, we must bend our youth into good pieces of wood, they are not born that way. They eventually cannot be held straight by their elders anymore, soon you will have to stand straight on your own as philosopher, Marcus Aurelius said. The day my dog writes a poem, debates philosophy or sends another dog to a far-off planet, let me know. Until then we are more than just beasts, because we have the potential to master ourselves and the world around us. Animals strive just to survive. A goat grazing in a field is not bettering itself. A wolf stalking the deer is not bettering itself. A man going to work every day is not bettering himself. A student going to school is not necessarily bettering itself. Let me clarify that, with the fact that not all degrees are created equal, some are much more valuable than others. With things such as Philosophy and Computer Engineering being at the very top and gender studies lying at the bottom. A degree that teaches you how to think is much better than one that simply tells you what to think. A student could waste four years and countless dollars and learn nothing with the wrong degree. In fact, they could even damage their soul or mind as Socrates warns us in the novel Protagoras. Physical prowess, education, reason, philosophy and ethics. These have let us rise above the animals and obtain dominion over the earth, to shape it whenever and wherever we want. The ultimate goal is to constantly improve, to achieve something greater than ourselves, so that each generation is better than the one before it. Don’t
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The Sputnik
RANTIN’ & RAVIN’ A column by Opinion Editor Brittany Bennett on the mind blowing occasions that really make her question her faith in humanity. Roundabout failure
Voltaire was a French enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Neha Sekhon
“To be human and to be Stoic is to be in a cycle of perpetual self-improvement. The goal: a hypothetical state of perfection – Who is John Galt?” be cattle as the saying goes, be as self-sufficient and personally responsible as possible, try your best to not rely on the state or others for protection and resources. To be human and to be Stoic is to be in a cycle of perpetual self-improvement. The goal: a hypothetical state of perfection – Who is John Galt? “A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently and die gallantly. Specialization is for insects,” said an American Science Fiction writer, Robert Heinlein. Stoics and philosopher kings like Aurelius tell us to remain calm in the face of any trouble, to develop an immunity to pain, fear or social disapproval. They often sought the hardest life has to offer, with cold baths and hard exercise. They encourage us to live as they did all those centuries past. They thought that by doing so they could grow and progress as human beings. That the only way to become and remain virtuous was to actually exercise virtues in an individual’s life. “Act as if you already possessed them.” The 26th president of the United States, Teddy Roosevelt said, “By acting as if I was not afraid, I gradually ceased to be afraid.” You could choose the path of the majority that is being promoted in academia, school and in the media, the easier path. “You seem to be suggesting a world in which people don’t fulfil their obligations to their children, desert their marriages,
don’t keep to the laws. Are increasingly selfish and follow their own desires and abandon all kinds of ideas of self-restraint and patience is a better world in which those things actually ruled and I don’t agree with you,” said Peter Hitchens, an author, journalist and self-professed obituarist of Western Civilization. He spoke to a simple person who asked him a question, which boiled down to the modern world is better than the old one. What he was getting at is people do not cling to any values like tradition and honour, instead they throw selfrestraint into a box and forget that it even exists. Is this graveyard of spirituality and culture our descendants’ only inheritance? If enough people do not follow the old ways, we will go back to ancient ways, Totalitarian regimes. People will (and have) demanded that the government protects their feelings and maintain them through enforcements (political correctness). Even in the still recent memory event of Je Suis Charlie and our own Contemporary Studies classes. There are students wanting to limit freedom of speech, not old men and politicians, the youth, the voters themselves want to give away their rights. Such rhetoric is merely a very nice way of describing fascism and authoritarianism. For an example of what our society might look like if this continues, look at Sweden or England. As the famous American author, Cormac McCarthy writes it in many of his novels, “carry the fire.”
In my hometown of St. Jacobs, I live right near a small roundabout. It has only two lanes, each of which ends soon after taking one of the four possible exits. I have to use it in order to see many friends, including my boyfriend that live in the town of Elmira. Roundabouts suck. Period. Nobody knows how to use a roundabout, so I shall share a few of the many encounters that just do not make sense whether you know how to use a roundabout or not. Most recently, I was yielding in the right lane out of Elmira that runs directly into the St. Jacob’s exit. I look to make sure the coast is clear to watch an older lady in the outside lane come to a complete stop in the middle of the roundabout in order to let me in. Seriously? Like, I couldn’t even get mad at her because her screw up was out of good intentions. Darn. So I went on my way, and prayed this poor lady doesn’t get herself rear-ended in the near future. I have also witnessed some stupid roundabout screw ups that were definitely with the opposite of intentions. Such as the person that decided to change lanes in the middle of a roundabout to almost completely sideswipe my car when I attempted to enter the roundabout, that’s always fun. The best part is, switching from the inner lane to the outer lane during a roundabout is not only illegal, but completely pointless because that lane ends hardly ten meters after you exit the roundabout anyways. But the very worst was the day I looked in my rear view mirror after exiting the roundabout to see a person going in the absolute wrong direction. Oh shit. Thank goodness this isn’t a very busy roundabout outside of rush-hour.
A frightening local driver Bouncing off this stupid driver topic, I have a Brantford-related story of pure ignorance as well. Can you believe it? After picking up a few things from Walmart with my boyfriend, we headed back towards my place. I was in the passenger seat, minding my own business looking out the window when a vehicle made a left turn exiting a parking lot and almost completely sideswiped us heading down King George Road. Had my boyfriend not changed lanes to the right as quickly as he had, we would have been in the hospital instead of driving beside the idiot. We of course flipped him the bird, sped up to get back in the lane we needed to be in and were on our way. All of the sudden I look to my right and see this guy driving up right beside us absolutely losing his mind. He rolled down his window, was screaming and waving at us to pull over and fight him. Really? This dude was well into his thirties, freaking out like a maniac because we gave him the finger for almost killing us. So, he thinks of a better idea over his crazy-man scene, and grabbed some garbage out of his car to throw at our windshield. Yet again, trying to kill us. Fabulous. I tried to get his license plate down but my boyfriend sped up so fast to get away from him I missed the last number, and the police could not figure it out when we called them. In other words, this guy in still out on the road somewhere with no repercussions. So watch out Brantford, the roads are not safe.
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Opinion
The Sputnik
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Brittany Bennett | opinion@thesputnik.ca | @sputnikopinion
Statistics collected by the RCMP show that indigenous women are at a higher risk to be victims of violence over non-indigenous women. Nathanael Lewis
The state of missing and murdered indigenous women in Canada Fatbardha Lajci
Staff In recent years the rising issue with missing and murdered indigenous women in Canada has been brought to light. Statistics collected by the RCMP show that indigenous women are at a higher risk to be victims of violence over non-indigenous women. Police reports show that incidents of aboriginal female homicides and unresolved missing aboriginal females total 1,181,164 missing and 1,017 homicide victims between the years of 1980 and 2014. As stated by the World Health Organization, it is said to affect one-third of women in the world. Violence against women is a
significant societal issue in an epidemic of proportions. In a General Social Survey on victimization, about 67,000 aboriginals are shown to have been a victim of violence in 2009. Indigenous females are three times higher than non-indigenous females to be murdered or go missing as reported by the RCMP. The National Household Survey reported 1.4 million people identify as aboriginal throughout the world in 2011. Out of that, there are 718,500 aboriginal females in Canada. The RCMP says about 164 indigenous women were reported missing in Canada as of Nov. 4, 2013. Approximately 11.3 per cent of the total number of missing indigenous females has gone unreported due to a variety of factors. For example: the missing female has not been identified as native during the investigation, or a
family member or friend did not report the disappearance to the police. ID375 (Indigenous Community Organization) started a project that will help to support the children of the missing and murdered indigenous women. The whole goal is to inform, or better yet bring this serious topic to the attention of every single person out there. The mission statement for the project is to provide financial support to the children of the missing and murdered indigenous women through bursaries, scholarships and fellowships. Though we have a long way to go before we finish the groundwork of this project, it has been a little difficult. In what way can we put a stop to our women going missing or being murdered? The crimes against women must come to an end. It’s not a subject that people are as familiar
with as they should be. This matter has only been recently catching the attention of the Canadian population through newspapers and news stations. I hope by starting this project there will be decrease in missing and murdered indigenous women. I think it will create support and provide a listening ear to those that have lost an indigenous women in their life. The major solution will hopefully be seen in ID375, media outlets taking initiative, and by traveling in groups; tell someone where you are going, go nowhere with strangers. All those missing and murdered women and girls are daughters, mothers, aunts, and sisters. They are not forgotten by their families. Let’s work together to prevent another one of our precious women and girls from going missing or being murdered.
How to love yourself through everybody else Brittany Bennett On Campus Editor When it comes down to life decisions a common phrase is to put yourself first. Well, I beg to differ. Everything I do, every decision I make is with the conscious thought of the people around me, mainly those that love me. I’m a people pleaser, I admit I feed off the acceptance and recognition of others. Many probably think this sounds pathetic, but here me out first. We are told to love ourselves before anyone else, that we are incapable of loving another before first, loving ourselves. I think this is wrong. I think it is completely the other way around. How can we be put on the spot like that and just pick things of ourselves to love? We are who we are,
and we’ve been that person for so long, how could we possibly know what is to love about ourselves? But it is so easy to fall in love with the people around us, and almost easier to consider loving something about ourselves once someone else has shown their love for it first. “I often feel that our greatest individual challenge is to close the gap between our unflattering selfconcepts and the truth of our magnificence. To see ourselves through the eyes of those who love us,” author Jeff Brown says in his novel, Ascending with Both Feet on the Ground: Words to Awaken your Heart. Just as Brown says, in order to see the truth of our own magnificence we need to see it as an outsider would, the ones that love us. We are told to make decisions for our own self-interest, but I again beg to differ. We all have at least one person we know genuinely cares for us. Whether it be a parent, a sibling, a teacher, a friend, a partner, or even a pet, just think of that one person
now. They want you to succeed in life, they want you to be happy, they think about your self-interest. Now, if you live completely in the direction of that one person, are you not still living for yourself? Maybe you do not decide to go to university because you think it is what’s best for you, maybe you decide to go to university because it will make that person proud. That pride comes from their hope that you do what is best for yourself, so is it not the same thing? Maybe even better. This person is your motivation, they are a reason to keep at it, they are the recognition at the end of the day that makes you feel like you are on top of the world. In an Huffington Post article titled “How to put yourself first” by writer, Emily Williams, she says “I’m not saying that you shouldn’t take care of your friends, your partner or your children, but what about you? Aren’t you just as important? (Maybe even more so!)” But are we really more important than the people around us?
We would not be who we are today without them, we would not have something to live for without them, we would not have so many happy memories without them. So how can we be any better than them, if we could not survive without them? I argue, our loved ones are more important. Now don’t get me wrong, I am not saying do everything this person says, especially if they are manipulating you and do not truly care for you as the way I speak of. The act of ignorance and of being gullible can with tract everything I speak of here. But otherwise, living for the people that truly care about you in the end is living for yourself and beyond. So no, don’t put yourself first, put that certain somebody first because they deserve it.