The Strand | Vol. 65, Issue 3

An interview with Vic President Dr. Rhonda McEwen

MAX LEES CO-NEWS EDITOR

Dr. McEwen began her term as President and Vice-Chancellor of Victoria University on July 1, 2022. She spoke with The Strand about her plans for her term as President, and her take on import ant issues at Vic.

The Strand: What are some of your main goals for the next five years as President?

President McEwen: I think my goals are built into the Strategic Framework. It was beautifully done, there was a lot of consultation to get voices from students, faculty, staff, and from Indigenous com munities around us. It’s rooted in equity and in clusion. I really encourage every single student to even glimpse it, it's not long, and it's online. The four pillars are just spectacular, but it also gives me a lot of flexibility to fill those buckets with ex citing opportunities. So, my goal in the next few years is to bring to life those pillars of belonging, transforming the space, and bringing signature ac ademic experience and content, in ways that will be meaningful to current and future students.

How do you hope to foster students’ curiosity, and how are you driven by curiosity?

I love that question. I left a very good and fun career in business and technology consulting, which is also a place where curiosity thrives, be cause I didn’t have room to investigate the kinds of questions I saw, like, how do people make use of technology? Who does it serve? Are there ways to design this more inclusively? I'm always curious about the people we're not necessarily thinking about, so curiosity is [at] the heart of who I am as a researcher. I think if you design for people who are

not your typical user, you actually serve everyone.

We’re working on new academic programs at Vic toria College that foster creativity and curiosity, because when you're at your best in your curios ity, you are in a creation mode. I'm also bringing my digital media lab on campus. I love sandboxing things, so we have a lot of equipment, and a place for people to just play with tech. That's part of cu riosity too, to play in a tech sandbox, to generate, and feed that curiosity. It encourages students to engage with things they normally wouldn't.

Last year, UofT announced its plan to divest from fossil fuels, but some financially indepen dent colleges haven't followed suit yet. Do you think that divestment is a priority for Vic, and do you have plans to make it happen?

It’s in all our interests as people on this planet to do everything we can. We have to be focused on this. It’s a big issue for me, but what's very encouraging is that it’s a top priority for the Board of Regents. The new chairperson of the board has already spoken with me about this in my first week here. We've had the first meeting of one of our subcom mittees. I'm reaching out to UofT, to understand some of the steps that they took. The amount of power I have on divestment isn't as high as people think, it’s really the Board of Regents. But it is a core priority, so my job is to work as closely as I can, to keep the pressure on, and to work with the students. I've read the student plan, and I think it's rational. I know a lot of people here thought that it was very well done. So now it's a matter of getting it executed.

How do you feel about the role of student voic es, and how do you intend to incorporate stu dent voices in the future?

I couldn't do the job I'm doing without student voices. It's part of my fundamental belief that I am not just leading the university, but I am bringing together those voices and making sure they are be ing heard. Students write me and come see me all the time, but not everyone will know that. We’re trying to create ways for me to meet more students and for it to be more visible to everyone, but also to be transparent about how it’s translating into action. The biggest part is making sure students understand that they didn't just talk at me, but that I incorporated it, and they can see the output of that. I think that’s really important.

Equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives have clearly been an important focus for you. How do you hope to promote these at Vic?

It’s so cool how much was already being done here. We give more bursaries at Vic for people who come from lower socioeconomic conditions or those who are first-generation university students, than many places at UofT. What I can do is build off that foundation. There was a previous dean who said, it had gotten to a point where everybody wanted ‘one’—one Black professor, one queer the orist, and it started becoming tokenizing. That's not the goal; if we truly believe in inclusion and diversity, we should broaden the question and say, how can we ensure these people will thrive here? I want to create environments where individuals know they’re among people who believe in the val ue they bring. The students are behind that already. I think we have work to do in some other areas.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. The extended version is available online at thestrand.ca

Russia declares partial mobilization against Ukraine: an update

Why Putin wants Ukraine

In the months since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, world leaders and international organizations have widely condemned it as a senseless loss of life. The effect on the Ukrainian population has been devastating, but it’s also part of a calculated long game by the Russian president to reassemble the fomer Soviet Union.

Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, was an officer in the KGB, the main intelligence and security branch of the Soviet government, and was present when the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, an event that signaled the end of the Soviet Union. He hated the fact that Moscow was willing to let go of much of their territory without a fight, and that formative experience has shaped his foreign policy for decades.

He made this clear soon after his elevation to President of Russia, during his 2005 State of the Nation Address. “The demise of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century,” Putin said. “As for the Russian people, it became a genuine tragedy. Tens of millions of our fellow citizens and countrymen found themselves beyond the fringes of Russian territory.”

What’s key here is Putin’s reference to who he deems fellow country-men beyond the Russian border. His stated belief that all ethnic Russians in the former Soviet Union belong in, or are part

of Russia has been the driving force behind many militaristic actions in the recent past. For instance, Russia’s invasion of the territory of Crimea in 2014 was similarly motivated.

Historically, Crimea has had a majority ethnically Russian population, which has since grown even more, with Ukrainians fleeing the occupied territory. According to the country’s official statistics, 247,000 Russians have, simultaneously, moved into the territory. The number is likely much higher, but purposefully altering the demographic make-up of an occupied territory violates the Geneva Convention’s Article 49, either way.

Russia currently occupies at least part of four regions in south and eastern Ukraine, all with a significant ethnically Russian population. In these territories—Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia—a referendum was held at the end of September asking if the population wanted to become a part of Russia.

The referendum was held under coerced circumstances and the international community largely condemned it as fraudulent. Not only did Russian officials go door to door with armed military officers, in what was likely an intimidation tactic, but official reports from Moscow indicated levels of support as high as 99 percent in favour. Still, Putin has signaled his continued intention

to use these fraudulent referendums as proof that his war is one of liberation, not terror.

Recently, Putin called for the partial mobilization of 300,000 reservists to fight in Ukraine, which is significant in two ways. First, it shows just how far Putin is willing to go in pursuit of supposed Russian sovereignty. Men are already fleeing Russia by the thousands, and public protests have erupted. His popularity is rapidly declining, yet he remains strong in his convictions.

Second, it’s a clear indicator that Ukraine is winning. It’s a testament to democracy that one man’s bloody whims—or decades-long beliefs in expanding the Russian state, no matter the cost— are being fought every hour of every day.

Putin wants Ukraine. But Ukrainians are doing everything in their power to make sure he can’t have it.

What you need to know about the Toronto municipal election

New challengers contest mayor’s seat as Mayor Tory seeks third consecutive term

ROY SHI CO-NEWS

On Monday, October 24, voters across Toronto will elect a mayor and 25 city councillors. School board trustee seats are also on the ballot for each of Toronto’s four school boards. Incumbent John Tory is seeking a third term as Mayor of Toronto. If re-elected, Mayor Tory would become the longest-serving mayor in the city’s history, succeeding Mayor Art Eggleton who served as Mayor of Toronto between 1980 and 1991.

The Strand spoke with three mayoral candidates running in the 2022 election. Mayor Tory’s campaign has not yet responded to The Strand’s requests for an interview.

Sarah Climenhaga told The Strand she’s running on “a platform of power to the people, meaning getting people involved in decisions that affect their neighbourhoods.” Before running for mayor, Climenhaga served as the executive director of a non-profit that worked with York University on employee commute programs. As mayor, she promises to prioritise “integrating the environment with the economy and the city’s social well-being” as well as “increased resident participation,” adding that she was concerned

over the “city [...] getting more and more distant for more people.” She described a “lack of media coverage” as a major challenge during her campaign, adding that major news organisations “only [focus on] the current mayor.”

Chloe-Marie Brown works as a policy analyst with a focus on workforce development at the Future Skills Centre, an independent agency sponsored by the Government of Canada. When asked why she was running for mayor, Brown told The Strand that “it was eating at me that John Tory didn’t really put out anything new and Gil Penalosa was just offering to be the voice of the left wing,” adding that “as a policy analyst it’s so underwhelming and frustrating after so many years of division.” She is campaigning on a platform of “community-focused policy,” stating “I want to be able to change labour [and] I want to give people the tools to work things out in their communities.” Brown criticised Mayor Tory, saying “It’s eight years later [since Tory was elected] and all we have is a sign. If John Tory worked for me and blew all this money and all I had was a sign, I’d fire him.”

Gil Penalosa is the founder and chair of 8 80 Cities, a non-profit organisation with a mission

statement of making cities “great for an eight year old and an 80 year old,” a motto that also underlies Penalosa’s mayoral campaign. Penalosa has released a plan to improve transit in Toronto, saying “we need to complement the existing subway lines with high-speed bus lanes that are going to be easy, fast, and cheap to build and that are going to connect the city.” His priorities as mayor include “affordable housing, safe streets, green mobility, and public services,” he told The Strand. “These are not technical or financial issues, they are political issues, meaning they can be changed and improved.” Penalosa has pledged to push through a number of policies in his first 100 days of office, including “legalising and regulating rooming houses” and “letting people drink beer in public parks.”

Toronto voters can register to vote and find more information about candidates and polling locations using the City’s MyVote web application. Polls will be open between 10 am and 8 pm on October 24. Advanced voting days begin on October 7 and end on October 14.

PHOTO | NICHOLAS TAM

Curiouser and curiouser...

On falling down the rabbit hole and knowing when to climb back out

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It’s officially fall, and here at The Strand office we’re noticing a shift in the atmosphere. The weather’s getting colder, our drinks of choice are getting hotter, and our schedules are getting busier (with assignments obviously, and NOT with binge-watching Gilmore Girls for the fifth time). It’s no secret that the start of fall means that the best season of all is upon us: spooky season. And with it, all of its quirks and peculiarities. Here at The Strand, we’re embracing them all.

We don’t know about you, but during the fall, we start to become more curious. Maybe because we consider it our duty to embrace the dark academia aesthetic, being UofT students and all, or because everyone at Robarts is working hard and we want to look like we’re also studying. Or maybe it’s because we’re entering that colourful time of year, filled with falling leaves and chunky knit sweaters, and where we are swallowed by nights that are growing colder, longer, and darker. Who hasn’t been stuck in a three-hour lecture before, only to zone out, open SparkNotes to frantically look up the summary of the book you were supposed to read, and just end up doing their quizzes for an hour? Just us? Okay.

With all this time we’re spending in the shadows, we’re getting more curious about the dark side of the internet, pop culture at Vic, and the (dis)order of our universe. You know that feeling when you Google your stomach ache and

the internet convinces you you’re in your final hours, so you call your friends and family to say goodbye, only for you to realise it was the ice cream you ate despite knowing that you’re lactose intolerant? Remember, curiosity killed the cat; sometimes it’s good to know when to climb back out of the rabbit hole.

Even though we’re asking a lot more questions than usual, the seemingly universal burnout that we are currently feeling is making it difficult for us to explore all the topics and ideas that we’re curious about. If you’re feeling this mental block too, this issue is exactly for you. The Curiosity Issue is a documentation of us coming together as a team, collectively falling down the rabbit hole, and sharing what we found there. In News, Max Lees sits down with Victoria College’s new President, Rhonda McEwen, to talk about her vision for the College. The feature this issue offers a deep dive into languages, family, connection, and curiosity. You can also discover the peculiar objects hidden within The Strand office in Stranded.

You might think we revealed all the cards, that we no longer have any tricks up our sleeves, by letting you in on everything we’ve been curious about. All we can say to that is that we may or may not still have some tricks (and treats) up our chunky knit sweater sleeves—until next issue ;)

P.S. Curious about The Strand? Come visit us during our office hours from 12-1 pm on Tuesdays.

Janna abbas and rion levy EDITORS-IN-ChIEf

ILLUSTRATION | CHELSEY WANG

Don’t Worry Darling? No thanks, I’m pretty concerned

An exhaustive and curious dive into celebrity drama

I’ve never been one to follow celebrity drama meticulously, closely. But all of that changed this past summer with the announcement of Olivia Wilde’s Don’t Worry Darling, starring Florence Pugh and Harry Styles. There was just something about the drama that arose from this movie that turned me into a private investigator. Suddenly, I had newspaper clippings on the walls connected with red string. I spent hours watching a slow motion video of Harry Styles spitting on Chris Pine. I was the restless detective who was unsatisfied with my evidence and obsessed with perfection. There were so many questions that needed answers, and I was going to find all of them.

‘A picture is worth a thousand words,’ but I also think, ‘no picture is worth a thousand words’; especially on social media. Just a couple months before the film’s release, director Olivia Wilde began her online promotion of the film. That same day, Florence Pugh promoted another film that she’s starring in. The curious part though: she was promoting a film that’s being released in a year rather than a film set to release in two months. What Florence posted, and more importantly, what she didn’t post, said all that she needed to say. Everyone on social media instantly read into Florence’s lack of promotion for the film. She didn’t seem very excited about this movie at all, while Olivia was praising Florence’s performance in the film. In an interview with Harper’s Bazaar, Florence discussed her frustration over the movie being “reduced to [the] sex scenes,” with her character. Juxtaposed with Olivia openly talking about how the film focuses on female pleasure, people heard Florence’s actions and statements and concluded that she was not happy with the movie and opposed Olivia’s

direction with the film. The internet is insanely quick to draw conclusions. I felt like I didn’t even have time to form my own opinion, but whatever it was, I was team Florence.

I got so swept up in the petty drama and I was not ready for the storm that was the Venice Film Festival. Everyone was ready for the Don’t Worry Darling cast and crew to make their appearance. A few days before, Florence was reported to be a no-show at the press conference, because her flight was scheduled to land later. However, an hour into the conference, she was taking pictures holding an Aperol Spritz and wearing a purple three-piece set. The ridiculousness set in when people started analyzing her choice of outfit colour. What seemed like a fashionable choice turned into a deliberate statement to convey power. Instead of being awestruck by her outfit, I was rather astonished by the amount of people that were posting about the meaning of the colour purple and the statement that she was making. I’ve always watched celebrity drama from the outside, but this time, it grabbed hold of me and I was along for the ride, whether I liked it or not. I didn’t know why, but some part of it made me want to stay.

The Venice Film Festival produced so much material for media outlets and people to discuss and dissect. The awkward (or strategic) positioning of the cast on the red carpet turned everyone into body language experts.

Harry Styles spitting on Chris Pine turned everyone into a media analyst. Harry claiming that the “movie felt like a movie” didn’t really do anything except provide my new favourite catchphrase. As I’ve sat down to review this drama, I’ve been asking myself: why?

What makes this particular cup of tea stand out from other celebrity tea? How and why does it have me in a chokehold? Someone who normally skims pop culture

drama is now a full-blown investigator, ready to find answers. What started as a casual curiosity transformed into something morbid due to the complexity of the drama. I looked too far into things and now I have a complete timeline on the relationship of Harry and Olivia. I know about Florence’s hair and makeup team and other celebrities they work with. My curiosity got the best of me and turned me into a crazed detective on the brink of insanity. It was definitely a Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde situation. I went looking for answers and obsessed over where these theories came from, but I didn’t even realize that I was making all of this up.

Celebrity drama has such an entertaining aspect to it because we, as a society, are able to peer in and live vicariously through it. We don’t have to face any of the consequences that they have to, so it’s fun being able to watch from afar. It’s like a car crash; there’s nothing much to see, but we keep staring. Since the release of the movie, I have not spoken about the drama once, nor has anyone talked about it. Now, I understand diving into celebrity gossip and discussing theories, but I worry for people who do this every single time something happens. I was only super curious because I happen to be a fan of Florence Pugh and had a general curiosity about the plot of the movie. In the moment, researching and analyzing is exciting, but afterwards I’m just exhausted. It’s fun, but sometimes I fear that people take the public lives of celebrities in its entirety and often omit nuance. There’s a fine line between investigating celebrity drama out of curiosity, and having it engulf your life entirely. Take this as a cautionary tale; the more you know about a mess, the worse it gets. That’s exactly what got Florence Pugh’s character in trouble in the first place. It’s no coincidence that her name was Alice.

The dark side of the internet Does our curiosity sometimes destroy us?

Most people are aware that there are two sides to the internet: the ethical and the unethical. There are things that everyone sees, like funny videos, outfit ideas, tutorials, etc; and there are things that most people try to avoid. While the sensible will steer clear of the gory content available for any who look hard enough, sometimes our curiosity can get the better of us, and when it does, these dark forums are ready to welcome us with open arms—the most notorious of which being the Dark Web.

While not many people I know have been on it, most are aware of its existence. The Dark Web is a part of the internet hidden in an encrypted layer below the normal web, which requires a special tool to access and maintain anonymity. Much like the internet, the Dark Web also has good and bad sides; or, rather, ethical and unethical sides. The ethical being some of its chatrooms—which can be used for private messages to broker deals or send confidential information—or its libraries, with thousands of free online books just a quick search away. But the ethical side is not what draws people in. People’s curiosities are spiked by the potential atrocities they can see; the morbidity within each of us that calls out when we hear of what lurks behind the shadows.

As Paul Dwyer suggested when speaking to The Irish Times, the Dark Web can quickly become too real too fast, and the more you see, the more desensitised you become. The more videos that haunt you, the more gory the next one will have to be to affect you.

Reddit users answered a question regarding their search on the Dark Web, describing the disturbing things they saw. Reddit user @billosito described a page

that claimed to be selling young women and children. Another user by the username of @skere_ik described a video of a man getting stuck in a metal lathe and being chopped into pieces. Multiple users saw cartel members torturing and murdering victims in the most gruesome ways imaginable. These users appeared to regret what they saw, the images haunting them to this day. They did not go out in search of videos like this, but their curiosity regarding the Dark Web drew them in, and they fell down the rabbit hole too fast to stop themselves before seeing what they would come to regret.

@Austinvro on TikTok perfectly encapsulates this thirst for knowledge. His profile is largely just videos covering the darker side of the internet. He has accumulated 4.9 million followers and 78.8 million likes. In one of his series, he delves into the Dark Web, going where commenters ask him to. One of these areas are the Red Rooms, where people can pay to watch, vote on, and control the live torture of another human being (often a woman). Although the authenticity of these rooms has been debated, the sentiment remains. Austin's followers wanted to know more, their own curiosity sending them to potentially very mentally damaging sides of the internet.

Austin, for his own gain, feeds into this interest that the public has for potentially scarring videos and information. Those that are too afraid to enter that side of the web for themselves will find others to do it for them, and there are people who are happy to oblige.

My point is not to shame people who merely seek out this knowledge to understand the Dark Web; instead, my point is to question what draws people there at all. Why do people, who comprehend the potentially damaging content that can be accidentally found, still look for the Dark Web? Have we, as a society, become so used to seeing these types of videos that we no longer feel fear when looking for them? Are we, instead, so afraid of missing out on a part of the

internet others have accessed, that we will risk falling into the worst that it can offer? Most people do not want to see the horrific images present on the Dark Web, but most people still stumble across them during their investigation.

While this can all seem outside of your version of the internet, it is not as far away as you think. Within minutes of research for this article I found the extension I needed to download and multiple tutorials on how to access the Dark Web. While we believe that if we avoid the Dark Web, we will never see the graphic videos and images that one sees there, similar images are on Reddit. These make their way onto other platforms, like TikTok, which then make their way onto unsuspecting people’s “For You” pages.

The Dark Web and Reddit both contain various graphic images that can easily traumatise viewers. Reddit users even boasted about how tame the Dark Web is in comparison to what they have seen on other forums. An odd boast that truly does exemplify the multiple sides to the internet, for all those who are brave enough to go looking.

People will find what they want to, regardless of what forum it is on. The curiosity within each of us sometimes expands out to a darker side for some. This horrific content that individuals can discover will always have a lasting impact, whether users realise it or not. Nobody is immune to the horrific things they see, nor are they supposed to be.

The Dark Web can be a twisted place—while some users are only there for Netflix passwords and drugs, there are other much more twisted individuals hiding behind the anonymity this subset of the internet provides. If you decide to go against your better judgment and search the depths of these forums, make sure you don’t get too lost in it. Although there is lots to be seen, not all of it should be.

ILLUSTRATION | SHELLEY YAO

A deep dive into languages, family, connection, and curiosity

What’s that word?

stefania KucynsKi CONTRIBUTOR

Language and language learning have always been constant and crucial parts of me. I was born into a family of Polish immigrants, the first Canadian born baby in my family. My family, by choosing to teach me Polish from day one, set me on a course that would forever change my life.

Since I was little, my life has been split into two. Polish was spoken at home,with my family, and English was used everywhere else. I watched the same movies repeatedly in both Polish and English; the same deep, rumbling Polish voice over for every Disney and Studio Ghibli movie I watched. I wish I could say I was already curious about languages, but for the first ten years of my life I simply split my time between those two languages. I didn't realize how amazing it was that I spoke Polish at home. I just knew my favourite people in the world were my grandparents, and they all felt more comfortable talking to me in Polish, so I returned the favour. I didn't think about languages as something to actively learn outside my family until I was in the fourth grade. My teacher gave everyone a sheet with the title, “Consider your child for Extended French.” I enrolled myself, much to the hesitancy of my parents.

My mom and dad were excited for me, but I knew they had no way of helping me with a language neither of them knew. Instead of letting that stop them, or me, my parents decided to help me as much as they could with my French. We spent evenings practicing my vocabulary, occasionally watching French movies, and listening to my mom’s favorite french singer, ZAZ. I only realize now that learning a new language can sometimes be an intergenerational effort. My parents wanted me to succeed, and so they took time out of their days to help where they could. With the help of my parents and my teachers, I became dedicated to French and really fell in love with it. I’m now majoring in French language learning. Now it’s my turn to help my brother as he navigates his French classes. I’m glad I can help when he has questions, because I feel like I’m paying back my parents for their efforts.

I was practicing three languages by the time I reached highschool. When I was in grade ten, I noticed I was eligible to take an introductory Italian course. I took the course, because I wanted to impress my uncle’s family next time I visited them. My aunt married into an Italian family, and I thought learning a bit of Italian would be a nice way to connect with them. My curiosity for the language stemmed from a place of connection. I wanted my uncle’s family to laugh and feel that sense of recognition when you hear someone speaking your native language. I also knew it was hard for my uncle’s family to find a community of Italians when they moved to Canada. I fell in love with Italian, and the other side of my double major is Italian studies!

Now you know so far that I have a connection to the languages I decided to learn, usually because of my family. So why bother with this feature? Before

starting on this article, I wanted to write something about intergenerational languages and language loss. When I started English in elementary school, I lost my fluency in Polish. While language meant connection for me, it also meant loss. I love Polish, but I’ve always had such a strange relationship with it. Although I spoke it most of my life, towards high school I began feeling inadequate in the language compared to some classmates who attended Polish school. I like connecting with this part of my identity, but I find I can be incredibly insecure in my Polish and sometimes I don’t even want to try. It wasn’t even until recently that I realized how much I need to actively work at preserving these abilities. This realization came in a few waves. The first wave was my cousins. My Polish cousin and her husband live with us. I want to talk to them in Polish, but I sometimes find I lack the vocabulary I need to express myself the way I would in English, for example. The second wave of realization concerns my grandparents. As I get older, I want to talk to them about the intricate concepts I learn in school, their lives, or anything. In these scenarios, I see myself stumbling over words and using anglicisms.

Many of my family members rely heavily on, or simply prefer using their native language. I need to work on my fluency daily, so I can really cherish moments with my family and make them more comfortable. I need to work on it, because it is so easy to lose a language you don't actively use. I see my parents, born and raised in Poland, occasionally forgetting words in Polish. It’s hard work, but it’s work I've decided to undertake, so I can preserve the language my family has been speaking for generations. I choose to work towards fluency, so my family can tell me who they are in a way that they feel comfortable and confident.

The stories of people in our lives, those who came before us, and those yet to come are rooted in our ability to communicate with the same tongue. Like my professor Dr. Mohammad Jamali cited, “Languages live the lives of their speakers.” It is a privilege to connect with someone on a linguistic level. On a trip to Poland in 2010, I met a lot of my extended family. During those two weeks, I could see how happy my extended family was that their loved ones valued Polish enough to speak it with them and continue speaking it.

On that trip, I was lucky enough to meet my great grandma. When I look back on it, this was the moment I knew I had to keep using Polish. Babcia (grandma in Polish) Stasia was already 80 years old when I met her. She was my grandpa’s mom and she was so happy to meet me. We spent days in her garden, eating wild strawberries, and tending to her chickens. I don’t remember everything from that trip, but I remember my babcia being so kind and making me laugh. To this day I can't describe how happy I am that I got to meet her. I can’t tell you how glad I am that my parents taught me Polish, so I could make those memories with her and hear about her life. She passed away in 2016, may she rest in peace. For me, language means connection and growth. For others, language could be a necessity, a burden, a painful reminder, a hobby, or anything

else. I do think language can be one of the most powerful tools to connect people, like I was able to connect with my family in Poland, with teachers, or my parents.

That being said, no matter how dedicated you are to the study of language, there is the looming obstacle of translation. It is impossible to seamlessly translate. The debate is, do you stick to the most correct version of a translation and risk losing the nuances of the original language? Or do you respect the nuances of the original and risk getting a less than faithful translation in return? In my experience, I really think it depends on the situation. When I translate things for my family, or explain words I learned in another language to them, I try to be as literal as possible, so it makes sense logically. When I’m working academically, I think there are benefits to leaving the nuance, even if it means the translation isn’t perfect.

Here I am talking about connection, languages, and translation, and yet I don’t think you have to have a deep connection to a language to be curious about it. Have you ever heard someone speaking in a foreign language and wanted to know if they were talking about you? Have you ever seen a sign or heard a song you didn't understand? This is the basis of curiosity. Curiosity, a desire to understand, learn, or know something, is deeply entangled with language. Based on what I’ve learned, language learning is especially beneficial when you have a curiosity or desire to learn it. Not everyone is privileged enough to learn a language, because they want to, it can be from necessity, but if you’re into a language as a hobby, curiosity is crucial. Whether it be because of family, academics, or something more personal, the drive to learn a language is already half the battle. I suffer from a persistent curiosity for, and hunger for languages. I live and breathe my languages, both for interpersonal and academic reasons.

The art of learning a language is more complicated than it seems. Languages are their people, cultures, histories, victories, and defeats. Don't let anyone ever tell you that learning a language is a waste of time. At the same time, don’t forget languages are deeply personal. I love learning my languages, but they are tied to painful memories, and I have to keep working at them, so I don’t lose them. Because language is so engrossed in people and their lives, our curiosities have to be taken with caution. With the desire to learn a language, knowing the history and nuances of that language is vital. If a language intrigues you, learn it! But be conscious of the real experiences and connections people have with languages, whether their native tongue or an acquired one. As language learners, it is our job to be respectful of the nuance and power dynamics at play in language.

Entropy: the disorder of the universe

A tree falls in a tropical rainforest, scattering debris in all directions as the sound of parrots squawking in surprise can be heard. Entropy—sounds complicated, doesn’t it? However, you’ve just witnessed it. In fact, you witness it every day. Entropy is simply a measure of randomness.

When your parents tell you to clean up your room because it is too messy, one could say that it is in a state of high entropy because it is disordered. Your room has a lot of matter in it—for example, your prized possessions. It also has a lot of energy. The scientific laws of thermodynamics, which describe the interactions between matter and energy, has a law which state that entropy in an isolated system can only increase and never decrease. An isolated system is defined as a system

in which no matter or energy flows in or out. If Earth is an isolated system, then its entropy should tend to increase. A fallen tree certainly looks more disordered than an upright tree. By making the tree fall, the entropy—or disorder—of the planet has increased.

On the other hand, entropy is also how humans distinguish between natural and man-made structures. If you saw a pile of logs neatly stacked up on the ground, you would probably think that a human— more specifically, a lumberjack—had done it. But why? Because nature tends to push things to become more disordered. A neat pile of logs is not disordered, but randomly strewn-out logs are. Our brains are able to make a distinction between what is and what isn’t natural based on how random it appears.

Entropy is also connected to time. Our world revolves around time, but this comes at a cost.

Remember, nature loves disorder. By accurately measuring time, we are going against nature’s wishes. The more precise our clocks are, the more entropy they emit, and consequently, the more disorder is released into the world. Physicists previously observed a correlation between the precision of a quantum clock and the entropy it emits. However, they wanted to test if this relationship held true for other clocks.

Researchers created a thin clock from a sheet of membrane and suspended it between two fixed points. Electrical signals were then used to make the membrane bend up and down, simulating the ticking of common clocks. As the intensity of the electrical signal was increased, the clock flexed up and down more precisely, and more entropy was emitted. Thus, the researchers were able to conclude that this relationship held true for other clocks.

From wood burning to the chemical reactions that take place inside our bodies, entropy describes the processes of our everyday lives. By studying it, we can begin to understand our world better.

The case for reinventing scientific academia

Academia is mysterious. The inner workings of the world of scientific research are often inaccessible to the public. Its products, like journal articles and experimental data, are frequently met with bewilderment. Prior to the post-secondary level, the education system provides little insight into how academia functions or how people within academia view the field in which they work.

Research and scientific discovery are often challenging. It can be difficult for people to know what to look for if they don't already fully understand it — a situation known as Meno’s paradox. The current difficulties of working in academic fields, however, are so insurmountable that they drive away masses of potential and established researchers alike. This often leads to early and mid-career scientists making the shift towards industry careers. Contributing factors include the lack of funding for reseach, increased workloads that have led to a mental health crisis, political hostility towards academic work in the sciences, and salaries that don’t keep up with the rising cost of living.

The Great Resignation, a phenomenon sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic that has permeated all industries, describes workers voluntarily quitting their jobs en masse due to wage stagnation, limited opportunities for career development, and toxic work environments, amongst other reasons. These underlying and unresolved issues in academia, combined with other effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, have led to the opinion that the Great Resignation has struck research, and that its long-term impacts will be profound. An article by Virginia Gewin in Nature, includes opinions from researchers who have left academia, all of whom deplore severe mismanagement of academic institutions, as well as recent shifts to forprofit models of university funding, as is the case in the United Kingdom. As the number of students enrolled in higher education increases, so too does the number of contract-based academic positions that signify less job security. The pandemic also exacerbated the struggle to fund research, with increased pressure and competition to obtain grants from funding agencies, amid little to no support from institutions. Academics also face pressure to publish as many journal articles as possible,

in order to demonstrate their research productivity and eventually secure coveted tenure-track positions that usually lead to better job security and reliable pay.

Systematic biases often play a role in security in academia; minority groups such as women and people of colour can face inequitable barriers related to career advancement. University departments without explicit criteria for tenure and promotion evaluations implicitly disadvantage minority academics.

The skewed work-life balance typical to academic positions, with their longer and more uncertain work hours compared with their industry counterparts, has also led to a mental health crisis that is particularly dire amongst graduate students. Their stipends often teeter on the minimum wage, or below what is required for the cost of living, even though they do much of the labour within their workplaces. Amongst established academics, the added workload of administrative and increased teaching duties can lead to even more stress.

Though the current state of academia may seem bleak, many scholars are currently working towards

changing institutional practices. An article written by Beronda L. Montgomery for Nature Microbiology highlights the necessity of pushing universities to make equitable hiring decisions to better include underrepresented groups.

Guillermo Campitelli also suggests reinventing how the scientific community evaluates research results and productivity amidst a replication crisis, particularly in psychology, where an alarming majority of published papers are proving to be irreplicable. This is due to the pressure on scientists to publish without checking the replicability of results, in addition to the pressure of publishing statistically significant findings. As such, Campitelli suggests retiring statistical significance as a threshold for results entirely.

Academia was originally a haven for discoveries to satisfy our never-ending curiosity and to make our world a better place. A long road of improvements lies ahead to restore the field to serve its original purpose.

The chaos we witness every day, which resides in the order of the universe

Why the current system fails to retain bright scientific talent, and how we can fix it

mathula

The power of ‘perhaps’

On a chilly September evening, I and more than 100 other guests gathered in the Hart House Great Hall to attend The Story of Democracy: What’s Next?—a moderated panel discussion featuring two highly distinguished speakers sharing their takes on the merits and challenges of a democratic society. The first panelist, Margaret Atwood, is a world-renowned author of more than 50 books—including the hugely successful The Handmaid’s Tale—and recipient of more than 50 literary awards. The second featured panelist is UofT’s own Randy Boyagoda: president of St. Michael’s College, professor in the English department, regular contributor to literary magazines and journals, and the author of five acclaimed novels. Moderating the conversation was Munk School visiting fellow, journalist, and former editor of the New York Times Book Review, Sam Tanenhaus.

Professor Boyagoda begin the conversation by picturing democracy as “[a] place where incompatible realities sit side by side on the bus.” He points to the many places where incompatible realities exist together every day: in the classroom, in a cafeteria, in the very hall we were sitting in. “How do we live together with these incompatible realities? […] Is democracy as a system the best way to do it?”

Professor Boyagoda posits that our current society’s idea of the ‘intellectual’ is far too limited. The title need not be reserved for the select few who

have the money and resources to attend elite academic institutions. Intellectualism, Boyagoda argues, is being “willing and capable of unnecessary thought.” It is exceedingly easy to stay entrenched in our own beliefs, never forcing ourselves to be challenged by critical thought. However, being open to considering the differing beliefs and opinions of others—justified by vastly different values—means making the deliberate choice to perhaps be proven wrong. “Democracy,” as Boyagoda puts it, is all about “having arguments, but still being in the same room. [...] It is unnecessary that we are here. That’s why we’re here. Those are the ways that we counteract erosion.”

When comparing examples of threatened democracies in the past versus the present, Atwood reveals that the dystopian societies she writes of in her books contain nothing in them that hasn’t already happened somewhere before. When asked if she considers authors to be prophets, she echoes the sentiments of another renowned dystopian fiction writer, George Orwell. When rearranged, the title of his most well-known book, 1984, becomes 1948, a period where fascism ran rampant through much of Europe. Orwell’s ‘Big Brother’ was not a mere character in a fictional techno-dystopic surveillance state, but a covert nod to Stalin’s calculated attempts to control the minds of Russian civilians at the time. Like Orwell, Atwood’s deliberate choice to weave truth into her fictions demonstrates the important role that writers and storytellers play in our collective moral consciousness.

Through highlighting these stains in our history books, storytellers show us how easily the mistakes of our past can bleed through to our future.

If democracy is a story, what kind of book could possibly contain its multitudes? We are often taught to view democracy as one written on yellowed paper, sitting on an inaccessibly high shelf, its contents reserved for only a select few of its scribes (and the library’s biggest donors, of course). But perhaps the true nature of democracy is a lot messier: it’s the crossedout and re-written scribbles of profundity on a café napkin, or maybe it’s the collection of centuries’ worth of annotations in the margins of a borrowed book. It may be a work in progress, yes, but a fundamentally important work all the same.

To emphasize the importance of free, democratic discourse with his students, Boyagoda presents a challenge—for everyone, but especially for those who call themselves intellectuals—to reintroduce a neglected word into their vocabulary: perhaps. Perhaps you’re right. Perhaps I hadn’t thought of it that way. Perhaps we may even have some things in common.

Instead of automatically shutting out an opinion different from ours or always seeing things in black and white, we could try to give others the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps we’ll agree on something after all. Perhaps not.

That’s what democracy is, after all—a work in progress. We’ve all got to start somewhere.

School Musical 2 Shadowcast:

College Drama Society, in collaboration with Casting Shadows Theatre Company, I was proven wrong. The event took place at the Cat’s Eye on September 23 and 24 and, in two words, it slayed. Their shadow cast (which is when actors act and dance alongside the movie being projected) was a tightly choreographed, deliciously campy extravaganza.

One of the joys of shadow casting is audience participation. Before the show began, we were given the instructions to laugh, heckle (kindly, of course), groan, and sing along! A stand out was that whenever the movie had water in frame, the audience had to scream “we are gonna get SOOO WET!” in reference to one of the most iconic lines in the film. It created a warm atmosphere of people laughing with the actors, openly sharing their appreciation, and chuckling at comments from fellow hecklers and spectators.

Ryan and Chad finally getting together in “I Don’t Dance,” and replacing Troy’s photo of himself in his room with a blowup sex doll with Zac Efron’s face on it. They also sped up and skipped the highly problematic number “Humuhumu,” which… Thank god.

The performances were so fun to watch; the lip synching was clean and precise, especially for the dialogue, and the dance numbers were amazing. The choreography was a mix of faithful representations of what was happening on screen and reinterpretations that suited the performance space, and it worked wonderfully. The production was wonderful as well! I was blown away by the accuracy of the costumes and adored the small parodic prop pieces. Shout out to Troy’s enormous T-necklace and the little multipurpose pushable car.

High School Musical 2 (HSM2). We all know it. We all love it. We all acknowledge that it is objectively the best HSM movie (argue with the wall). I did not think that it was possible to improve an already perfect product, and yet through the magic of the Victoria

The production took liberties with their presentation of the source material that I believe is in the true spirit of HSM2. Why? Because it was gay as hell! Stand-out moments for me include: Troy, Gabriella, and Kelsi becoming a throuple in “You are the Music in Me,”

All in all, this was a treat. It was a stroke of genius to shadow cast such a well-known and sort of goofy movie, and it was a pleasure to watch a performance that clearly had such passion and care poured into it. Bravo!

Author Margaret Atwood and Professor Randy Boyagoda discuss democracy—and what lies in store for its future

Defending the right to boycott A conversation about the documentary Boycott

For the 15th anniversary of the Toronto Palestine Film Festival (TPFF), my friend Isobel Bird and I agreed to see Boycott, a documentary directed by Julia Bacha, and released in November of 2021. On our way home, we chatted about the film. Here's what we had to say.

The film exposes a shocking piece of current legislation silently passed in 33 states across the United States, that prevents citizens from boycotting Israel. The anti-boycott clause is found at the bottom of every governmental business contract in the state; workers must pledge not to withhold their income from Israeli goods or services if they wish to keep their jobs. Remaining neutral, Bacha shadowed three Americans who refused to sign their contracts and filed a lawsuit against their respective state governments for breaching the 1st Amendment, the right to free speech.

Isobel Bird: I believe [the neutrality of the film] is a good thing.

Kalliopé Anvar McCall: Why?

IB: [In a documentary,] you are trying to [record] reality to bring awareness to [the issue]. The only way to do that is to remain neutral, to maintain credibility. You [can't be] pushing an agenda. Once you start pushing an agenda, people start resisting.

KAM: Hmm, the neutrality kind of bothered me. The film is definitely anti-Israeli, but it's not necessarily proPalestinian. And that's an interesting choice for the TPFF which is proPalestinian. In the interview with Bacha at the end, someone asked, “Why didn't you take a more pro-Palestine stance?” And...

IB: It's true, she completely evaded that question.

KAM: Although, maybe it's because she's using the documentary as a political tool.

IB: Yeah, that's what I think. And I think the reality speaks for itself. The reality and the facts are themselves proPalestinian. You shouldn't need to take

a stance.

KAM: Yeah, I just feel that taking a strong stance is a necessary tool for making change.

IB: I do see that. It was a choice Bacha made as a Brazilian [film]maker.

Of the three Americans Bacha shadowed, Bahia Amawi had the most interesting story. Amawi is a PalestinianAmerican pediatric speech pathologist who filed a suit against the state of Texas. Amawi is doubly affected by the antiboycott law: as an American, it infringes on her right to consume freely, and as a Palestinian, it prevents her from fighting against the apartheid that oppresses her family. In court, however, Amawi chose to defend her rights as an American only, not as a Palestinian.

IB: [Just like] Bacha was neutral, Amawi herself was neutral. She was [just] trying to [make sure her constitutional rights] were being respected. [It was] not about moral judgments, just the law. This entire thing is not about Israel or Palestine for Amawi. It's about American rights and values.

KAM: She had to pick her battles, as a Muslim Palestinian-American woman in America.

Horrifyingly, Boycott reveals that the anti-boycott law is not an isolated piece of legislation. It is a template, and it’s currently being used to prevent other groups, like climate action movements and gun control organizations, from

boycotting industries such as fossil fuel producers and the National Rifle Association (NRA).

Behind this model of duplicable, right-wing legislature is the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a yearly convention for Republican politicians, Christian evangelists, and other like-minded fellows. Anti-free speech legislation that gets developed at the conference is often implemented in state houses across the country.

IB: ALEC is very scary. It's a machine designed to make it easy to turn malicious, stupid ideas into laws. And one [politician] didn't even bother to read about the law before voting on it! That Democratic State Senator, [Greg Leding].

KAM: Oh yeah! Leding was like, yeah, in hindsight, I should have done more research on Israel and Palestine because I would have probably voted differently. That was crazy.

The film, however, did end on a relatively good note. (Spoiler Alert.) Amawi won her lawsuit in Texas and was able to go back to work. So did Jordahl, in Arizona. Unfortunately, Leveritt lost his case in Arkansas, but he remains confident as it is now being brought to the Supreme Court for reconsideration. However, a federal anti-boycott law has also been proposed and will be voted on in January of 2023.

KAM: That was the most heartbreaking part about the whole film.

Amawi, Jordahl, and Leveritt fought so hard for such a tiny win.

IB: Miniscule.

KAM: Although they did something quite valuable. They made this antiboycott law a national issue. It's now in the news. And seeing as it is a template and there are plans to reproduce it, it's good that it's being brought to light.

Find Boycott screenings online at: https://justvision.org/boycott

Down the rabbit hole

A sonically disorienting wonderland of Alice-inspired tunes, old and new.

Main Title (Alice in Wonderland)The Jud Conlon Chorus

White Rabbit - Jefferson Airplane

Alice - Avril Lavigne

Wonderland - Taylor Swift

Painting Flowers - All Time Low Unbirthday Song - Camarata Chorus and Orchestra

Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up) - Florence and the Machine

A Wolf Who Wears Sheeps ClothesMac Demarco

Cheshire - Phoebe Rings

PHOTO

arts and culture team

ILLUSTRATION | SEAVEY VAN WALSUM

Why are there so many big, white trucks?

With the end of pandemic restrictions comes a resurrection of Toronto’s bustling city life, and with it, its surprisingly large film industry. For a variety of reasons—most of them boring, like affordability and tax incentives—the United States tends to outsource its productions up north, and Toronto is one of two major cities that movie makers have their eyes on. The other is Vancouver, nicknamed ‘Hollywood North,' a title that may soon pass to Toronto as its film industry continues to grow. On any given day, a walk through Toronto might take you past truckloads of film equipment or a film set in action. Or, if you’re a student who spends most of their time on campus like me, you might have noticed that the University of Toronto has no shortage of film sets either. Even our own Victoria College has played a role in several cool and popular productions.

A quick search on IMDb for films shot at UofT pulls up a list of 147 titles across all three campuses. Among the top ten are Shape of Water, The Incredible Hulk, Mean Girls, and Shadowhunters, but that’s only

a small fraction of what UofT has hosted. Exploring every one of these films would take a book, so I’d rather give you, dear reader, a tour of the sets located at our beloved Victoria College.

Old Vic is the most popular building on our campus for filmmakers, particularly for more horroresque films. The main floor was used as an old-timey publishing house in Guillermo del Toro’s horror-fantasy Crimson Peak (2015), a movie starring Tom Hiddleston and Jessica Chastain. The exterior of Old Vic, set against an overcast sky, also served as an office building in Hannibal (2013), with a focus on what appears to be the principal’s office as the interior. On a less grim note, Old Vic stood in for Queen’s College in Charlottetown, PEI, in Anne of Green Gables (1985).

Beautiful though it may be, Old Vic isn’t the only Victoria College building to star in film. The 1998 slasher Urban Legend used the outside of Northrop Frye Hall, with Old Vic serving as yet another university. This time, Victoria College stands in for Pendleton University, where the deaths of students parallel deaths of local legends. It’s not all that comforting to think

about when you’re walking across campus at night, but when Vic checks boxes for both ‘gothic-looking’ and ‘haunted,’ it doesn’t come as a surprise that we attract movies like Urban Legend and Crimson Peak. Let’s just hope it never ends up being based on a true story.

On a more cheerful note, the movie that makes the most use of Victoria College’s campus is Almost Adults (2016), an LGBT Canadian comedy starring two friends in their final year of college. The movie makes use of the exteriors of Old Vic, Northrop Frye, Emmanuel College, and E.J. Pratt. Almost Adults is a nice way to round out the list of films that take place at Vic, not only for its representation, but also for being a Canadian production rather than an outsourced Hollywood blockbuster.

Recent projects in and around Victoria College are more up in the air. Last year, a film crew took over the entrance to Kelly Library and transformed it into a consulate for the United States. Since it was set up right across from the Victoria College campus, I often walked past this makeshift American consulate on my way to and from class. At first glance, the set appears to be for a TV show called Ruby Road. I didn’t think much of it until a few days later, when someone told me that Ruby Road is the codename for The Handmaid’s Tale. The giveaway lies in Toronto’s list of ongoing productions: Ruby Road’s production company is called Gilead 5 Productions Inc., Gilead being the name of the republic where The Handmaid’s Tale takes place.

Much more recently, trucks full of filming equipment lined both St Joseph Street and Charles Street, boxing in Victoria College and causing problems for anyone who drives. Among my friends, the theory was that they were filming season four of The Boys, which announced it had begun filming in August. One person thought they might still be filming The Handmaid’s Tale. The right answer? Your guess is as good as mine. Movie makers do love their secrets.

While UofT is a popular spot for filming, the actual UofT population remains in the dark regarding what or who is taking over our campus. If you’re like me, and you can’t wait for answers, your best bets are the City of Toronto’s official production list and the Twitter account called @TorontoFilming. If not, speculate away! Guessing what our campus will transform into makes for good fun.

Stories @ Vic: An interview with ‘Hey, Teach!’ Co-Editor in Chief, Imani King

Taking ‘A Piece of Vic’ in a new direction, and the joys of sharing art

Co-Editor in Chief in both my third and fourth years.

This month, I had the pleasure of interviewing Imani King, a fourth year English major. She has been an active member of the Vic community for four years through her contributions to the Victoria College based magazine Hey, Teach!. King states that Hey, Teach! is “the only UofT publication solely dedicated to the topic of Education." Here are some thoughts of hers on her time at Vic and with the magazine:

What positions have you held at Hey, Teach! throughout your volunteership?

Imani King: I was a Junior Editor in my first year, the Editor in Chief Mentee in my second year, and the

What's one of your favourite memories from your time volunteering?

Seeing the different magazine launches. Publishing our issues is always so satisfying! We also got a lot of readership online, especially with the Fall 2020 issue, "COVID-19: Now What?" as we saw that everyone had something to rightfully express.

What are you hoping to do after undergrad and what skills has volunteering with Hey, Teach! given you that will further your future endeavours?

I'm hoping to enter a career in Student Life and Student Affairs! I'm excited to keep supporting

students, which is what I've gotten to do in a unique way by going through so many submissions over the last few years for each issue. Our contributors always bring amazing perspectives and lived experiences [to their work], so continuously engaging with that further helps me understand [...] what students wish for and need.

How do you think the work you've done has benefitted your readership, community, and college?

Hey, Teach! is open to and made for the UofT community, so I think that the variety of contributors we have reached so far shows how we're all naturally involved in education.

chloe

miKaela moore, imani Kang aSSOCIaTE aRTS aND CUlTURE EDITOR, CONTRIBUTOR

A question for T.S. Eliot

The Intersection

ben murphy CONTRIBUTOR

It’s there,

Darting eyes.

Perked ears.

Right around the corner.

Scampering feet.

Sweat is wiped from foreheads. The drops of dew Are flicked from wrists

And sizzle on the summer’s pavement.

Don’t step on the crack.

Steps, Through beams of sunlight.

The scars of the sidewalk

From winters past.

A flash.

For a moment

KalliopÉ anvar mccall aSSOCIaTE OpINIONS EDITOR

Mr. Eliot, sir, you who taught me about men, and death, and growing old, About cold comings, balding Magi, and trousers rolled, Time has demanded of me to wonder, having lost the innocence of a kid,

Time I ask you, 'Why do dads die, like Dad's dad did?'

Mr. Eliot, sir, you who told me that even men reach a mortal end, I must lament, this, I fail to comprehend, And like J. Alfred Prufrock measured out his life in coffee spoons, Must Dad too, with his dad now dead, sleep away the afternoons?

Mr. Eliot, sir, should I be glad of another death? (Such a morbid statement seems a waste of breath). I, ill at ease in the earthly dispensation of mankind, must confess, Enough life to grieve another Dad, I fear I do not possess.

In the cycle the living come and go, Dying like Michelangelo.

Mr. Eliot, sir, you who warned me that death is inescapable, Time I ask of you now one small miracle, I cannot stand to hear the mourners crying, each to each, Can you make an exception for Dad, my peach?

It’s there,

This tile is from ’67.

Bob Marley stood there, So did Ronald Reagan.

Windshields blind the pedestrian, And shock the driver.

The deer in headlights

Is a person in glare.

An old woman, Dressed for snow, Has seen hotter days, But now only cares about getting to the other side

Before the light changes.

Nervous scuttles.

On the tip of each desert tongue.

A drill. A horn.

A cup of change. A bell.

A breeze of a bike and all is calm. Then thrust back into action

As skin burns, An itch cruises down Spine St.,

Which is experiencing a flood of record levels; Meteorologists expect for the perspiring precipitation to continue As long as The drought remains outside the white t-shirt.

It’s there,

At the front of the mind. But unable to escape past the waiting wall

Of heat that sears the soul

Medium-well.

For God sakes, What was I going to say?

ILLUSTRATION | JENNIFER AMOY FONG LI

Distractions die hard

Reverse psychology, babey!!

I think I’ve spent seven hours at the library today. I said I was gonna do some studying—I even posted on my Insta gram story that I was gonna do my readings—but I always knew it was never gonna happen. There are too many things to see.

Going to the library is like buying a pumpkin. Yes, you could scrape out the guts and plant the seeds of knowledge or whatever the metaphor is… you know what I’m getting at. All this ‘learning is like growing a plant’ nonsense. Oh wow, I just got distracted from my original metaphor right now. Point is, everyone likes pumpkin pie more and I’d rath er make pumpkin pie than plant the seeds.

Today, my pumpkin pie was taking lots of ‘breaks’ via walks around campus and watching Breaking Bad. Going to

the library is like being a meth cook: perhaps it’s safer and smarter to deal in small quantities on the street level, but the money making comes from moving in bulk with crazy and dangerous people. Do you know what I mean? I don’t know what I mean.

You know, I’ve actually compared myself to a pumpkin before. Pumpkins come in all different shapes and sizes and so I can say that’s humanity. I can say that I’m small and tall with a few warts just intriguing enough for the chance of a glance from a buyer. My stem sticks out in a clean swizzle and swoop that I have no problems with. But in the end, it’s the large round pumpkins that are picked from the patch for a Halloween catch. The jack-o-lanterns burn bright on that holiday night. I enjoyed writing those last few sentences actually. They’re cute if not a little nonsensical.

You know what’s a little nonsensical? This piece of writing. I mean, I haven’t really said any thing at all yet. I’m at the library not doing any work because I’m getting distracted and because I’m lazy. That’s a one sen tence summary.

Working backwards for a moment, I think I want to end this piece by concluding that in dulging our distractions can lead to beautiful mo ments. Whether that’s a worthy excuse will be left up to your interpre tation. That’s a reasonable ask from a 700ish-word piece. So how do we get there?

Oh, you know what? I said that the last piece I wrote was gonna be my last weird writing for a while. I told myself that I’d write this as a normal, straightforward story about being a relatable freshman making their way through the world. Well, here we are talking about the nature of a personal essay in the very middle of said personal essay. Old habits die hard, distractions too. There’s a title in there somewhere.

That’s the moment I looked up from my laptop and saw it. A beautiful tree was built broad in the field. My eyes climbed up its wide trunk and into its leaves at the top where, to my surprise, something was growing. I took a step closer to the window and the view shocked me. Right in the nest of the branches and the leaves was a large, seedy, meth-flavoured pumpkin pie.

Okay, look, I’m still at my laptop. I completely made that last bit up, but I wanted to indulge my craving and I did. And you know what? It was kind of fun! I think if I had stuck with the pumpkin throughline, this essay would have ended something like this:

“I’m not a pumpkin, not in the way that I imagined it. We’re to believe that pumpkins are made for October, but in warm climates they can grow year round. Who’s to say I can’t be a pie in March or seeds in May? Who’s to say I have to be the best fucking pumpkin everytime? I am the only pumpkin that is me and all the other pumpkins are the only ones that are them. So we’re all special? And in that case no one is spe cial. Therefore no one is better than anyone else and no one is better than me. That’s a comforting thought.”

Should you indulge your distractions? Did we have a magic little moment with this piece?

I’m leaving the library now because I have dinner plans. This is real life so the meal has nothing to do with seeds, meth, or pumpkins.

10 questions science STILL can't answer

1. Why is the ceiling of Convocation Hall carpet ed?

Seriously, I know that UofT is old and that Convocation Hall has probably been roamed by our Neanderthalic ancestors, but I cannot imagine what kind of gravity-defying crea tures attended lectures in this building. Bats? Vampires? Cursed spirits? Shudders.

2. Where is the hair on my bathroom floor coming from?

I literally just vacuumed. No, I mean like, I literally just vacuumed. Do I have male pattern baldness?

Have I spent enough time with my cat that we’ve merged bodies and I’m shedding just like she does?

I think the only solution at this point is to wear a swimming cap around the apartment. I can’t do this anymore.

3. Why do my posters keep falling down?

One would assume that the blue sticky tack I bought from Dollarama would keep my posters up forever and that they would at least have the

decency to defy gravity. Just out of courtesy, you know. As punishment, I’ve decided to let my fall en poster sit behind my bed in a pile of dust and rethink its life choices (and that’s definitely not be cause I just can’t reach it).

4. When will the construction around King’s Col lege Circle end?

Do you ever feel like you’re trapped in time? Like, it’s just not moving forward? Well, if you’re curi ous about how that feels, schedule a class around King’s College Circle every day! You’ll get to expe rience the blazing glory of a never-ending pile of construction that forces you to take an extra five minute hike to get to your lecture at 10 am. The question of ‘will it ever end?’ is one that science needs a little more time to figure out.

5. Is my morning coffee the thing stimulating my digestive system, or do I have IBS?

Enough said.

6. Why can’t I stop saying the word like?

Like, even if I tried to, I couldn’t stop saying ‘like.’

It’s uncontrollable, it’s pathological, it’s, like, un stoppable. Try it! Once you start saying ‘like’ a lot, you, like, can never go back. It’s a curse.

7. Why do goldfish die after 24 hours?

I guess it might’ve been that I took mine out of its fishbowl and played with it when I was, like, five,

but I just KNOW there’s something fishy going on about goldfish. Not a single former goldfish-owner I’ve spoken to has had one last longer than a day. Truly a mystery.

8. Why do hamsters die such horrific deaths? It’s a genuine mystery to me how every ham ster-owner harbours some sort of unhinged, mind-gobbling, traumatic story about how their little pet passed.

9. How did Rapunzel wash her hair?

After having frolicked through the fields with her hair loose, using it to swing around tree branch es, and going through absolute thick and thin on her adventures with Flynn, HOW is Rapunzel not drowning in the stench of unwashed hair 24/7??

OR, if she is washing it, what’s the secret?? How does she do it?? I want to know.

10. And lastly, why are people always queuing out side the exam center?

It’s a fake line!!! There’s literally nobody at the door checking people in. I’ve walked past the line before and gone through the perfectly available second door right next to the one where people are queu ing up. Is there some sort of mutual agreement be tween them? What’s the gist? I’m curious.

If you have the answers to any of the above ques tions, I’m, like, all ears.

PHOTO | ADRIANA GORAIEB

Curiosity killed the cat

starting to believe they invented new words while I was memorizing my fifteenth anecdote), so it was worth it!

When I started my essay on Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, was being waist deep in informa tion about proper hosting etiquettes on my agen da? Not really.

Did I find myself memorizing each anecdote about Charles Dickens and Hans Christian Andersen’s disastrous host-guest relationship? Yes, as soon as I possibly could actually!

Did I stop there and get back to writing my essay? No.

Did I search up Charles Dickens’s sons, his house, his parties, the guest list, the theme, the outfits, the menu, the weather, and if the chicken really crossed the road? Yes, yes, yes, and yes!

Do I regret it? No. (Yes.) The anecdotes are a hit at parties (I am so behind on my readings that I am

As the English say, please allow me to explain. At age seven, when a girl should be out running in a field, consuming endless hours of cartoon shows, or forcing their little brothers to play house, I found that my time was better spent scratching an inquisitive itch. In particular, how many individ ual kidney beans would be in my serving of rajma if my mom used the whole one kilogram packet? I created a methodology (questionable), set a day (entirely unnecessary), and got to work (if you can even call it that). Needless to say, when my moth er found me on the floor of the storage room be tween my tally chart and kidney beans, she had questions. No matter what her question was, my answer remained, “I just needed to know, Ma, I was curious!”

Something did not add up. I had wasted a pre cious summer day locked inside a storage room…

over a bowl of rajma? Well, the answer came a few months later in the form of a diagnosis: ADHD.

It has been 14 years since then, and I am now an intellectual contributor (seriously). The internet has changed the world, but two things have re mained constant: I still love my mom’s rajma deep ly, and I still find myself (metaphorically) counting kidney beans . I know my role in society is to be productive, and to do that I am not supposed to let myself get distracted with ‘futile’ experiments or anecdotes that add nothing to my critical anal ysis. But I cannot stop! I know it's bad and I can see the sun setting on my empty Google Doc. The question remains: Why do I continue to do it over and over again?

To this, I say, “Great question! Would you like to hear the story of how Hans Christian Andersen invited himself over to Charles Dickens’s estate, Gad’s Hill, and asked one of Dickens’s sons to give him his daily shave because it was apparently a cus tom for hosting male guests in Denmark?”

10 BIZARRE things

This thing is pretty scary, especially given how fast it moves with such little wind up capacity. If any one knows what this animal actually is, please con tact confusededitors@thestrand.ca.

one of Harry Potter!) engaging in spanking ac tivities. If you know, you know. And if you don’t know, come to our office hours and maybe you will ;)

With The Strand’s office under lock and key for more than two years due to the pandemic, some weird stuff has begun to magically appear inside— and oh boy did we find some treasures. Here are the top 10 things we found that we are not afraid to tell you about!

2. Roller blades

The strange thing about these is how dirty they are. We know you can’t ride roller blades through dirt, but it looks like these came out of a ten-foot mud pile. Somehow, the wheels still work.

3. Hana [redacted]’s Awards of Excellence certif icate, framed

This now hangs on The Strand’s wall of fame. If you want your UofT Alumni Association Scholar certificate back, please come pick it up!!

4. 2,300,742 copies of The Strand dating back to 1953

We wish we were kidding, but there are literally this many copies of The Strand. (We counted.)

5. Mold-infested kettle, coffee machine, and French press*

We also found a tub of coffee that expired in 2018… two years before the office got locked down. Sorry, Max and Roy.

1. The magic, wind-up bunny-chicken thing (see image above)

6. Numerous posters of famous (and infamous) figures spanking each other

These include a poster of a previous professor (and

7. A camera without batteries and SD card We would like these back.

8. Leftover masthead sweater from Volume 62 If you or someone you know would like to adopt this sweater, please stage a heist to take it home.

9. A stack of over 40 abandoned books

Among them was a four-volume set of the archae ology of bird houses. If you are looking for next year’s Fathers’ Day present, contact gifts@thes trand.ca.**

10. 57 bank statements from a digital bank let ting us know we have $0 in our account Seriously, we get it. You don’t have to rub it in our faces, bank lords.

*The EICs have confirmed that they replaced the ket tle and French press and that no harm has been in flicted on their masthead.

** Not pictured: The back pain that I (Janna) in curred carrying all these books in 2+ tote bags all the way to Pratt to donate to the book sale.

while cleaning out The Strand office

stole my sanity!

PHOTO | RION LEVY