The Strand | Vol. 65, Issue 6

Bill 23

(More Homes Built Faster Act, 2022)

On October 25, 2022, the Government of Ontario proposed Bill 23, the More Homes Built Faster Act, 2022. The Bill proposes significant changes to several of Ontario’s building and land acts. If passed, it could provide faster access to homes amidst growing costs of living and population growth, but it also may put certain environmental conservation efforts at risk.

The act would make it easier for homeowners to change the number of residential dwellings on their property, without needing to rezone the land up to three dwelling units. It would encourage higher residential density around “major transit station areas,” as approved by the minister. Bill 23 would also remove the requirement for certain public meetings for draft plans of new subdivisions. All these changes suggest the move toward a streamlined process for increasing residential dwelling units across the province, but they also minimize the community’s ability to discuss and impact the development process. The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing hopes the Bill will offer “positive … impacts on the land development and construction industry and homeowners.”

Outside of the Toronto core, Bill 23 plans to “reenact provisions that are not yet in force but would limit conservation authority (CA) appeals of land

use planning decisions. CAs would continue to be able to appeal matters where they are the applicant. When acting as a public body, CAs would only be able to appeal with respect to matters related to natural hazard policies in provincial policy statements.” In other words, the Bill would make it more difficult for CAs to appeal land changes.

This limitation on conservation authorities in the province will not only mean that CA permits are no longer required in all cases, but they may also be prohibited from entering into agreements with municipalities when developing land and building plans. Bill 23 proposes to remove the Provincial Policy Statement, which would remove and/or streamline the protections currently in place for Ontario’s farm and conservation land. Critics say the Bill would make it more difficult for Ontario’s 36 conservation authorities to collaborate, taking significant steps backward from the past two years of the Conservation Authority Working Group that the Ministry led.

Further, the Bill proposes to redesignate some of the Greenbelt’s land. It plans to remove 7,400 acres from the Greenbelt for home construction

while designating the same area of the Urban River Valley, and 2,000 acres from the Paris Galt Moraine Lands to the protected Greenbelt. The Bill also plans to redesignate the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan Area as a “Settlement Area.”

If Bill 23 passes, developers and landowners would have faster access to developing their land, possibly at the cost of community deliberation and environmental protections.

Guelph’s city council voiced its opposition to the Bill on November 22, with Mayor Cam Guthrie referring to the Bill as “just very, very disappointing.” Demonstrations against Bill 23 have already begun with a protest at Queen’s Park on November 18. More demonstrations have been scheduled across the province throughout November.

Bill 28 repealed as education workers agree to tentative agreement

Ontario withdraws use of notwithstanding clause to suspend workers’ rights

ROY SHI CO-NEWS EDITOR

On November 21, Ontario Minister for Education Stephen Lecce announced that a tentative agreement had been reached with the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), following weeks of tensions between the Ontario government and frontline education workers across the province. Education workers represented by CUPE had been in talks with the provincial government since the end of August, when their previous contract expired. Union bargainers pushed the province for a number of issues, including employee benefits, job security provisions, and wage increases to combat rising costs of living due to inflation.

Talks broke down over the summer as the Ontario government refused to consider CUPE’s request for 11.7% wage increases per year, despite inflation rates reaching a recent record high of 6.9%. Instead, the province offered a 2% raise for workers earning less than $40,000 and a 1.25% raise for all other CUPE-represented education workers. In response, CUPE workers voted to strike on October 3, with 96.5% of union employees voting in favour of the action. A strike notice was

issued by the union on October 30 informing the province CUPE workers would strike in five days if no deal was reached, prompting the Ontario government to introduce Bill 28, the Keeping Students in Class Act, in the Ontario legislature the next day.

The Bill, which the province admitted to being unconstitutional under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, unilaterally imposed a contract on CUPE education workers and prohibited education workers to strike under threat of fines of up to $4,000 per individual employee per day and $500,000 per day for the union. The Bill invoked the notwithstanding clause, a power in the Charter allowing provincial and federal legislatures to override rights enshrined in the Charter for a temporary period of five years. The use of the clause without a court challenge was unprecedented and sparked significant controversy, including from Prime Minister Justin Trudueau who slammed the bill as an “overuse of the notwithstanding clause to suspend people’s rights and freedoms.”

Despite the law gaining royal assent, CUPE employees continued plans to strike on November

4, with the union promising to pay any fines levied against members as individuals. Following negotiations over the weekend, the province agreed to repeal Bill 28 the following Monday in exchange for a temporary end to CUPE’s strike action. More tense negotiations followed, leading to another notice to strike issued by CUPE workers to begin on November 21. However, a second strike was averted by a tentative agreement following last-minute weekend negotiations. CUPE will now vote online to ratify the tentative agreement between November 24 and December 5.

Despite the repeal of Bill 28, labour and civil rights groups have continued to criticise the Ontario government’s attempt to use the bill, calling it “dangerous,” “draconian” and a “nuclear approach to collective bargaining.” At the same time frontline education workers were fighting for bargaining rights in public schools, CUPE 3261 representing service workers at UofT’s three campuses was also engaged in collective bargaining with UofT to fight contracting out service jobs at the University, issuing a notice to strike on November 21. The strike was averted on November 18 following a tentative agreement.

Ford government proposes redesignation of protected land as “settlement areas”

PHOTO | GREENBELT OFFICIAL WEBSITE

UofT students required to enroll in multi-factor authentication for UTORID (UTORMFA)

Logins require the use of a mobile app to mitigate security breaches

MAX LEES CO-NEWS EDITOR

UofT staff and students will soon be required to enroll in UTORMFA, a multi-factor authentication process, which adds a layer of security for sites that use a UTORid login. The recommended option requires downloading an app on an Apple or Android mobile device. Enrollment in UTORMFA is already required for new students as of October; all students are required to enroll by February 28, 2023, and are ‘strongly encouraged’ to do so as soon as possible.

As most students are aware, there have recently been a number of phishing attacks sent from hacked UofT email accounts; implementing multi-factor authentication should make security breaches like this much less likely. However, many are unsure as to what happens

if they don’t have a compatible device, or how the system is going to work. Students are encouraged to download the Duo Mobile app, which sends push notifications to verify logins; however, other options include requesting a hardware token, generating a login code with Duo, and using an emergency bypass code in the event of a lost or unavailable mobile device.

Duo Mobile supports Android 8.0 or greater and iOS 13.0 or greater. To begin the process, simply download the app and go to enroll. utormfa.utoronto.ca. It shouldn’t take longer than ten minutes, and students are advised to complete it all at once; leaving mid-process will lead to your account being locked.

Students who do not have a compatible device can pick up a hardware token at the help desk at Robarts Library; the hardware

The Fall of Twitter

token generates codes to verify logins. The first token is free, but a second would cost $25 if the first is lost or stolen. Students who are not on campus and cannot use a mobile device would have to order a hardware token by visiting the help desk website. For those who have the app but don’t have wifi or data, there is also an option to generate codes with the app instead of sending a push notification. Some services only require UTORMFA for off-campus logins, and will only ask every seven days on a trusted device, whereas others require authentication for every login. The policy depends on the security level of the application, but it is not entirely clear which services fall into which category.

For questions and support, students can visit the Information Commons Help Desk at Robarts Library or contact them by email.

Musk’s new user verification policy leads to fake accounts and misinformation

MAYA HUTZUL CONTRIBUTOR

Elon Musk garnered recognition in the late 2010s for his eccentric business practices — particularly Tesla electric cars and SpaceX extraterrestrial ventures. His estimated net worth is over $180 billion, making him the wealthiest man in the world, according to the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List.

However, a third company of his is making the current headlines. Many have criticized his takeover of the social media platform, Twitter, and how he has subsequently managed it. In particular, on November 9, he allowed any user to pay $8 in exchange for new features and a blue checkmark next to their username, which Twitter users call “verification status.” This feature was previously only for notable or verified public figures and organizations.

Twitter says it traditionally only gave verification status to accounts that are “active, notable, and authentic.” Celebrities, large corporations, and government officials could use their official status on Twitter to reach a larger audience, advertise, and connect directly with the public. In Canada, social media is increasingly becoming a way through which government officials communicate with their constituents. In 2019, only five Members of Canadian Parliament didn’t have Twitter accounts.

This form of communication allows users to reach a wider audience, and verification status used to solely indicate those who the company considers influential enough to be listened to. However, it did not always mean trustworthiness. For instance, former United States President Donald Trump’s Twitter account received extensive media coverage and social media attention prior to his ban after the January 6 insurrection.

Musk has criticized Twitter in the past regarding its misinformation policies, which he and other critics of the site see as restrictions on free speech. He says implementing more free speech principles as one of his main reasons for purchasing Twitter back in April 2022, saying that “the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form.”

Following the verification policy change, numerous parody accounts were created and verified by an eight dollar purchase, which some users may have found confusing. One fake Twitter account for Nintendo America posted a picture of the character Mario holding up the middle finger. A verified parody account of Eli Lilly, a major pharmaceutical company, tweeted “we are excited to announce insulin is free now.” The tweet was up for over three hours before the company clarified their actual username.

Twitter’s new verification system has also led to instances of political impersonation. Fake accounts pretending to be United States President Joe Biden and former President George W. Bush were also removed, as well as one parodying Ontario Premier Doug Ford. The BBC has also found at least three QAnon influencer accounts who purchased verified status.

The company has since paused the new system, but Twitter could be in serious financial trouble going forward. Around 90 percent of its revenue comes from advertisers, who these policies have affected. The political and economic consequences of Musk’s mismanagement could be severe, even beyond the screen.

editors in chief editors@thestrand.ca production manager production@thestrand.ca business manager business@thestrand.ca web web@thestrand.ca news news@thestrand.ca opinions opinions@thestrand.ca features features@thestrand.ca science science@thestrand.ca arts and culture artsandculture@thestrand.ca stranded stranded@thestrand.ca poetry poetry@thestrand.ca copyediting copy@thestrand.ca design design@thestrand.ca photo photo@thestrand.ca art art@thestrand.ca podcast strandcast@thestrand.ca social media socialmedia@thestrand.ca editorial assistants

Unthemed, unfazed, unbothered

Wrapping up the year with reflections and an announcement

ableism, or other oppressive language.

BREAKING NEWS: The Strand is very excited to announce the official inauguration of Volume 65’s mascot: Rion’s cat, Lucila (see above). She fits The Strand’s ethos in every way: fluffiness, unnecessary ankle biting, and nom nom noms on dehydrated chicken treats. She has been a background member of the paper’s community for four months now, and is finally ready to make her public debut beyond the #random Slack channel. She would like the greater Vic community to know that her office door is always open and she encourages everyone to please pick up that stick with bells and feathers so she can practise her jumps.

At this point in the semester, we are already missing the blissful, class-free days of reading week, and are anxiously awaiting the winter break. Like most students, we’re doing everything we can to procrastinate studying for finals, so we thought this would be the perfect opportunity to reflect on the first half of Volume 65, tell you a couple of riveting stories, give you a review of our office’s Halloween candy, and introduce you to our manifestation board—this is an unthemed issue after all!

Across the board, our masthead was ecstatic to have access to office Halloween candy; after all, most members of the paper hadn’t stepped foot into our office before this fall. Of all the office perks, chocolatey goodness wrapped in fun-sized packaging was one of the year’s most anticipated. But, as we sit here with

nearly empty serving bowls on our tables, we’ve come to notice that Wonderbar, Mr. Big, and Crispy Crunch are just… awful, and so disappointing. They’re way too crunchy, and crunchy caramel is, just, so bad. Trust us. We will not be buying these again next year.

Our manifestation board remains mostly empty, save for one item that has withstood the test of several board erasures: “Manifesting that Rion & Faith come to their senses and become Swifties!” I (Rion), can promise that this manifestation board is not the most effective way of turning us into the Queen of Pop’s biggest fans, and I (Janna) whole-heartedly disagree. There’s even a kind arrow pointing out to the phrase, “no. <3” letting newcomers to the office know of the board’s success rate.

This issue is our final publication this 2022. We welcome you to explore our team’s take on 2022 in Arts and Culture. In News, Maya Hutzul reports on Twitter’s acquisition deal. Elaine Lee’s “Extension Request” in Poetry is a phenomenal piece to wrap up the year, and we are honoured to be the first to publish such a work.

We don’t know about you, but we’re certainly glad to be putting 2022 behind us. We can’t wait for you to see all the Strand-things we have planned for next year, including the launch of our Fluidity Magazine. We’ve run out of time to tell you our stories, so we hope you will keep your eyes peeled for our first issue of 2023— all we can say is that we’re feeling very futuristic about it.

The Strand has been the newspaper of record for Victoria University since 1953. It is published 12 times a year with a circulation of 800 and is distributed in Victoria University buildings and across the University of Toronto’s St. George campus.

ILLUSTRATION | SHELLEY YAO

Janna abbas and rion levy EDITORS-IN-CHIEF

Doug Ford’s populist vendetta strikes again

LOGAN LIUT CONTRIBUTER

It seems that the flames of Doug Ford’s vendetta against public education have been re-lit. We’ve watched in the past couple of weeks as his backwards, populist government tries for the umpteenth time to make education workers and their unions a scapegoat.

Ford was re-elected not with a triumphant mandate, but the whimper of an apathetic electorate. He won due to an outdated system of electoral distribution, not by popular vote, and not with the great enthusiasm of the public. Although he claims to represent Ontarians, almost 60 percent of voters said no to him this last election. This is not—by any standards of accurate, representative democracy—a government with a real mandate.

We know, by now, who Ford is. We know that he supported Donald Trump through much of his presidency, calling his support of the former president “unwavering.” We know that, although he claims to be of the people, he remains a wealthy member of a political dynasty. He does not know the struggles of day-to-day life for a working-class family in Sudbury, or of a single mother in Ottawa, or of students trying to build a life in Toronto, which The Globe and Mail has recently advised young professionals to abandon due to sky-high costs of living.

Ford has struggled in convincing the public, but his favourite project is to try and turn education workers and teachers into his political scapegoat. All longlasting populist movements need one eventually. Their new tactic is communicating to the public that teachers’ unions and education workers’ unions are deliberately not cooperating with the government and striking. Ford and his cronies claim that this causes children to fall further behind in school. In short, the new tactic is

to pit families against teachers.

The job of public sector unions like the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) is expressly not to “cooperate” with the government—it is to push back against it, to bargain, to gain rights for their members. If a union is cooperating with government, something is gravely wrong. Ford whines about union executives not representing their members. If this were true, tens of thousands of CUPE workers wouldn’t have shown up at the picket lines–but they did.

Furthermore, why are children in this province so behind? Firstly, it is because Ontario had such a botched COVID-19 response, with the government preferring to listen to self-interested corporations and businesspeople instead of scientists, resulting in longer (and many more) lockdowns. It’s also because education funding is not up to par, which is something only Ford can fix.

For Doug Ford, there appears to be an ulterior motive. The fact that unions are defying him is an affront. Another hallmark of populist strongmen like Ford is that the opposition is not only undesirable, they also consider it against the popular interest. Ford wants to have his cake and eat it too—he wants CUPE to just take whatever he gives them.

That’s how Bill 28 came about. The courts have recognized that the Canadian Constitution protects collective bargaining. It’s the same for striking. This left Ford with one option: to suspend the Constitution itself by using the “notwithstanding” clause, depriving Ontarians—the people he claims to be “for”—of their court-recognized constitutional rights. This is never what this clause was meant for. What Ford tried to do was change institutions to fit his whimsy. As we’ve seen in Europe, when weak populist governments are constrained by courts and the rule of law, they don’t respect that limit—they instead aim to destroy the

authority of both.

What Ford did by depriving workers of fundamental rights was un-Canadian. It went against our most sacred of national values: “peace, order, and good government.” This was not an emergency, nor a matter of national security—it is a strike for underpaid workers, of which too many are sentenced by this government to poverty wages of $39,000. It did not merit the abrogation of people’s rights. You can’t live in Toronto or in any of the major Canadian suburbs on that paycheque. CUPE members know that and are fighting to change it.

Ford is still counting on middle-class parents who too often view public education as daycare to turn against education workers out of pure convenience. However, it seems that the public also knows this isn’t education workers’ fault. It’s Ford’s. Trying to brazenly take away their rights with draconian legislation made that clear.

To be clear, I don’t think a strike is what workers want. They don’t want to be out on days that are increasingly colder and colder, living on strike pay. They’re not having fun or relaxing.

Although this time, CUPE and other unions stopped Ford and made him repeal Bill 28 or face a general strike, they can’t always save us. Right-wing populism is rearing its ugly head in Canada. The self-proclaimed protector of freedom Pierre Poilievre remained silent when actual rights were being infringed on, while illegal blockades run in conjunction with those who advocate the end of democratic rule get his full endorsement.

It’s up to us to oppose Ford now. Let’s stand behind CUPE and get it right this time.

For a politician that claims to be “for the people,” suspending their rights seems off-brand

ILUUSTRATION | SHELLEY YAO

Let them buy concert tickets!

Concerts

JANNA ABBAS CO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

As someone who’s been going to concerts since before the pandemic, I am deeply disheartened (but not surprised) by what the ticket-buying and concert-going process has turned into. What once was a joyful and fairly priced experience is now a stressful game of fate and yet another chance to exploit the working class.

For starters, Ticketmaster’s verified fan presale and its unavoidability is largely the root of the problem. While Ticketmaster says that the verified fan presale is to ensure that musician-devotees have a chance to buy tickets before the bots and scalpers, in reality, Ticketmaster and the artist end up making a large profit at the expense of the biggest fans. A lot of the time, dynamic pricing is turned on for most large artists’ presales, which defeats the whole purpose of wanting to make sure fans, not scalpers and bots, have a chance to buy tickets first. What does getting in during presale do for me if the prices for tickets have already skyrocketed by the time I get into my respective virtual venue? Often, fans will end up feeling pressured to spend more than they initially planned to because they waited in the queue for so long and are worried that if they don’t buy a ticket at that moment, they won’t get another chance to — and the thing is, they’re probably right. It’s gotten to a point where if you are not able to buy tickets during the presale period for a popular artist, you can be fairly certain that you won’t be able to get tickets during general sale, unless you’re prepared to spend an exorbitant amount. This is often not just the fault of dynamic pricing, though, as some people will go in to buy tickets just to resell them at unreasonably-high prices, but Ticketmaster and artists rarely do anything

to prevent this from happening.

Additionally, many fans who get into verified fan presales but aren’t able to buy tickets often say they’ve been a fan of [insert artist] since the beginning, in order to justify why they were more deserving of tickets. I find this so ridiculously sad. First of all, being a fan of an artist for a long time does not make you more deserving of tickets, and people holding this belief only further support the greedy capitalist corporations who benefit from exploiting us. This is because making such a statement implies that those fans are largely upset by presales going sour because it impacted them, failing to realise that this should not be happening to anyone, long-time fan or not. It also implies that had all those long-term fans managed to buy tickets during presale, they likely would not have been as upset by the pricegouging and nearly-sold-out venues, because it hadn’t happened to them. Instead, they would have likely rejoiced, and claimed that the presale system works, if you work hard enough to prove you’re a loyal fan. Remind you of anything?

It’s always ‘eat the rich’ this, ‘eat the rich’ that, but when it truly comes down to it, we end up feeding on each other. Fans need to realise that we can’t have our cake and eat it, too, when we don’t have a cake to begin with.

What also leaves me feeling very confused, is that as much as people love to complain about the absurdly high prices that resellers ask for, they still end up paying them. People acknowledge that these prices are too high, they’re being exploited, and the only way resellers and Ticketmaster will stop doing this is if people stop buying those tickets; and yet they still buy these tickets. How are they able to maintain this

cognitive dissonance? It’s like those people who say, “there’s no ethical consumption under capitalism” and then go spend $500 on Shein. They try and justify this by saying, “well it’s my favourite artist,” but what I don’t understand is, why would you want to pay $1000+ to see an artist who was fine with letting you pay $1000+ to see them? You might say, “well it’s not the artist’s fault if resellers hike up the prices,” but to that I say, if they’re not actively trying to prevent this from happening, then they’re at least partially to blame. As much as it’s hard to admit, we need to come to the realisation that a lot of big artists do not actually care about us as people. All they care about is how much money they can squeeze out of us. The question is, what do we plan to do about it?

While I don’t have all the answers, I do know that, on the current track, things will only keep getting worse; concerts will gradually become a distant memory for many because they have become a luxury they can no longer afford, unless we, as the working class, band together and do something about it. The reality is, artists and corporations likely aren’t going to make a change to the way tickets are being sold right now because it benefits them, so let’s make it not benefit them.

Stop buying overpriced tickets. Stop buying tickets that are being resold at ridiculous fees. Stop giving these corporations incentive to keep exploiting us. If not, then I hope you’re prepared for when you’re no longer able to keep up with the skyrocketing prices, when you have to turn to your favourite artist in a desperate attempt to get them to act, and I hope you can recover when they look down on you from their pile of gold, laugh in your face, and say: “Let them buy concert tickets!”

PHOTO | JANNA ABBAS

aren’t so fun when you're being suffocated by the unrelenting weight of capitalism

The Order of Colonial Violence

KALLIOPÉ ANVAR MCCALL ASSOCIATE OPINIONS EDITOR

The Order of Ontario is the highest honour an Ontarian can receive. The award is appointed once yearly to outstanding individuals from across the province for their commitment to improving their communities. It celebrates the best of the best of Ontario—so why was David McKay, the CEO of the country's dirtiest bank, the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), among those to receive the award this year?

The Order of Ontario awards ceremony took place last week, on November 21, at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM). The location and time of the event, which were kept private from the public but not from journalists, were leaked to a group of activists— members of Banking on a Better Future, and other Toronto grassroots groups—who gathered outside to object to David McKay receiving the award. Protestors staged a mock ceremony where they awarded a 15-foot blow-up David McKay doll the 'Order of Colonial Violence,' a more appropriate award for such a figure than the Order of Ontario.

McKay is complicit in countless acts of colonial violence against Indigenous nations. McKay authorised the construction of Coastal Gaslink (CGL), a pipeline that was forcibly built last year across the unceded, sovereign land of the Wet'suwet'en nation. In fact, it was almost a year ago today that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) first invaded Wet'suwet'en land to build the pipeline. Including CGL, McKay has approved more than $262 billion in fossil fuel development projects since 2016, which makes RBC the dirtiest bank—the biggest investor in climate destruction—in Canada.

The Order of Ontario is allegedly awarded to individuals who "... have played an important role in building a stronger province, country, and world." In addition, the Chancellor of the Order, the Honourable Elizabeth Dowdeswell, states that the award celebrates "the good deeds and dedication" of outstanding Ontarians. Tell me, Ms. Dowdeswell, what good deeds is David McKay responsible for? How is he helping to build a stronger Ontario? If by good deeds you mean actions that place profit above people, then sure, he has done a lifetime of good deeds. But if we use the real definition of ‘good,’ and the real definition of ‘help,’ then David McKay should be the absolute last person to be appointed to the Order of Ontario. The fact that he received the award after such negligence towards global warming, and around the anniversary of the invasion of Wet'suwet'en nation by the RCMP, is appallingly shameful.

To me, two truths are evident from the fact that McKay received this honour at this time: (1) he is scared, (2) the Order of Ontario is deeply corrupt. For the past four years, McKay has been under public scrutiny for his complicity in climate destruction and colonial violence. Several grassroots organisations have coalesced with the intent to publicly protest and disrupt his harmful agenda. I see this award as a strategic attempt to salvage McKay's public image. I believe he is scared, and is counting on this PR move to drown out the bad press. But his plan failed: activists came like clockwork to protest him once again, this time at the doors of the ROM.

In addition, the fact that McKay received the Order of Ontario shows that the award is a corrupt, archaic, and performative distinction. Twenty-four individuals were appointed the Order this year; among them are four university professors (including Payam Akhavan and Aimée Craft), a police chief (Nishan Duraiappah), a multidisciplinary Indigenous artist (Sandra Laronde), and, of course, David McKay. It is evident by this

curiously varied list that the award may tokenize some of its appointees to cover up for others, and to portray themselves favourably.

For example, Payam Akhavan is an IranianCanadian lawyer and professor at the University of Toronto, who has objected to the Islamic Republic's human rights abuses in international courts. Another appointee, Aimée Craft, is a Anishinaabe-Métis lawyer and researcher at the University of Ottawa in Indigenous land and water governance. Here are two individuals truly worth celebrating. But why are they being awarded the Order of Ontario alongside McKay and Duraiappah?

Rewarding them together assumes their contributions are equal in value. This is simply not the case. McKay is not contributing anything positive to Ontario in his role as CEO of RBC. In fact, he is directly destroying the province by continuing to fund fossil fuels and approving the invasion of unceded land. On the other hand, Akhavan and Craft are actively helping their communities in Ontario by centering justice, knowledge, activism, and environmentalism,

among other things, in their work.

Ms. Dowdeswell, does this not seem like a contradiction? I assume both Akhavan and Craft are very unhappy to know they are sharing their award with McKay, who is complicit in human rights and environmental abuses, the very things they have spent their lifetimes fighting against. Does this mean the appointment of Akhavan and Craft to the Order is merely a performative act, a tool to deflect attention away from the horrors committed by other appointees such as McKay and Duraiappah? Or is it genuine? Ms. Dowdeswell, what do you stand for? What does the Order of Ontario stand for?

I’m sure whoever leaked confidential information about the awards ceremony to local climate justice activists has no regrets. The Order of Ontario must be protested. David McKay must be protested. It is appalling that among those receiving the highest honour in all of Ontario is a CEO who sanctions violence and exploitation. Ms. Dowdeswell, there is nothing here to be proud of.

Why did David McKay, the CEO of the country's dirtiest bank, RBC, receive the Order of Ontario?

PHOTO | BANKING ON A BETTER FUTURE

House music and House music and economic recession House music and economic recession House music and economic recession

eugene Kim aSSOCIaTE FEaTURES EDITOR

house market.”

I attended a dear friend’s birthday party last week, and as all the guests sat amicably chatting with one another around the elegantly arranged dining table, the topic of clubbing came up. I thought that the conversation might head in the direction of ‘We should all go sometime!’ One of my brilliant friends instead decided to give us all a serious case of auditory whiplash: ‘Did you know there’s a connection between house music and recessions?'

During periods of economic downturn, house music and clubbing surge in popularity. On its own, such a statement is predicated on an absurdity. Was my friend pulling my leg? Then I thought about it a little harder, brow crinkled and all. It’s true that clubbing is an especially popular activity, and it’s also true that the economy is a little beaten up right now. Not to mention music serves as a linchpin of culture, and there certainly exists an intersection between culture and economics. I was starting to see cartoon birds from all this rumination. Fortunately for my winded brain, another friend jumped in with a potential explanation: The anxieties caused by recessions cause the population to turn to positive forms of cultural expression as escapism, upbeat music being one of these outlets.

The argument was convincing, but I still wasn’t sold. In order to scratch that increasingly bothersome itch at the back of my mind, I had to get to the bottom of this claim.

Googling “house music and recessions” unsurprisingly gets you very few results. In fact, the first thing I could find was this tweet from @ redseashawty with zero evidence to back its claim (in typical tweet fashion): “house/dance music is always popular when the recession is BIG and NASTY.”

cementing the genre firmly in the eyes (and ears!) of a mainstream audience. A double-edged sword, a substantial anti-disco movement entered hot on the heels of its newfound fame, its apogee found in 1979 Chicago during what was called “Disco Demolition Night.” Lured by the sickly sweet promise of dirt cheap baseball tickets, 59,000 people, lead by vengeful DJ Steve Dahl, destroyed thousands of disco records and ultimately Comiskey Park itself. Disco plummeted off of the music charts following this incident, losing its popularity almost overnight.

Disco would not remain dead, however. It reincarnated into a new form: house music. DJs in the Chicago underground scene had already begun to pioneer innovative ways of remixing music, and disco’s precipitous demise forced them to wade into new waters. Commingled with the advent of new technology—synthesizers, drum machines, and samplers—a nascent sound started to take shape. The 80s saw increased accessibility to music production, allowing for characteristics, such as “tempo, deeper basslines, arpeggios, arrangement, the style of vocals, recognizable sounds from drum machines and synths” to define the sound of house music we know very well today. Following an initial diffusion to New York and Detroit, house music became an internationally recognized genre by the 90s, an era of globalization and unprecedented connection.

House music carries the remnants of a musical sound left behind in the dust of history, its proponents a vast network of DJs hidden safe from the scrutinous eyes of the mainstream music scene. It is no surprise that a connection exists between periods of financial duress and a resilient genre of music, considering the origins of the sound. Maybe house really does serve as an instrument of solace; perhaps people can attain a kind of peace, their consciousness drowning deep into the sea of pounding bass and frenzied rhythms.

Queen’s “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” described as a “snappy, infectious ditty.” A Medium blog notes how the average tempo of songs released in 2019 are significantly slower than those released in 2010, and we all know what happened only a few years prior!

The data seems to back my friends’ claims. Honestly, I’d take this rationale as it is, but I can’t yet brush aside the groan-inducing phrase “correlation does not equal causation.” Sure, people seem to seek out happier sounds when the world around them is falling apart, but then what? Music, like any other experience, has evolved into a unit of consumption. Songs, concerts, and nightclubs are commodities in one sense or another. They can be utilized as a means of mediating the relations between people and the predominant means of life. If the major music conglomerates are aware of consumers’ tendencies to gravitate towards uplifting songs and high-energy activity when experiencing financial difficulty, they can emphasize production of songs that fit this criterion in order to maintain an economic homeostasis. In other words, the correlation can be capitalized upon in order to keep consumers sated despite their condition, tranquilized by the intoxicating pleasure generated by dopamineactivating music.

However, unlike binge-watching several seasons of a show, music (especially house music) necessitates a far more active manner of consumption. Music also attracts a heterogenous base of consumers. Oftentimes, you will see a diverse group of concertgoers, ravers, or clubbers united solely by their shared enjoyment of the music. Through these two characteristics, the correlation between house music and recession can be steered in the opposite direction. Rather than bolster undiscerning passivity, it can be transmogrified—though still passive—into a kind of participation.

Attacking the beast head on is an ill strategy; there must be a more clever method. Indeed, a better way to unravel this purported connection is to first understand how house music came to be.

“Born from the ashes of disco,” house music is a direct successor to the legendary disco movement. The late 70s brought forth a deluge of popularity for disco, with films such as Saturday Night Fever

A study published in the Journal of Cultural Economics argues that people prefer positive songs when unemployment is high. The paper argued for the existence of “initial evidence regarding use of cultural consumption to offset business cycle oscillations.” When a recession engulfs the economy, no element of everyday life is spared from its maws. A significant change in unemployment, income, and prices will drastically affect the choices individuals make. Interestingly, what is known as the “lipstick effect” is also observed, wherein “consumption increases due to a search for hedonic pleasure or mood regulation.” In tandem, the consumption of pleasurable, mood-boosting music increases, because consumption doesn’t exclusively refer to the purchasing of tangible goods—it can refer to the type of media and recreation you engage with, especially in a landscape where a rapidly growing group of individuals who define their identity within the bounds and extents of their consumption. The study collected data on popular songs throughout the years, the valence of each song, and their lyrics before then comparing this aggregation with the unemployment and inflation rates of the same years. As it turns out, when the economic situation worsens, people seek out more positive music— not just in tune, but also lyrics—to neutralize their circumstances. This is further corroborated by various sources. An NPR podcast notes how in 1980, when the unemployment rate was a whopping eight percent, the song dominating the charts was

A 2010 study from the University of Bath argues for consumption as a form of passive political participation, with electronic music used as the primary example, claiming it fosters “community, sociality, pleasure, hedonism and freedom of expression.” Cubbing, raving, and partying involve a large number of people enclosed in a small venue, and are events that occur on a recurring basis, the interactions, events, and relations that arise emulate that of a properly sized community. This can establish a temporary sense of sovereignty and freedom typically unavailable in greater society, especially during economic crises. You drink, you dance, you douse yourself with the ecstasy of the collective joie de vivre, and at that moment you exist as an entirely separate being from the troubling realities of the external world. It may be self-contained, but it’s certainly a kind of freedom, a step up from the pleasure offered in more positive songs. In that seemingly reckless act of pleasure, you are able to circumvent the omnipresent decisions made in the favour of the current way of life—a way that accepts unemployment and financial struggle as part of the business cycle. It may seem small, insignificant, and even jejune, but in that moment of now, nestled within the tempo of the music, you’ve escaped.

PHOTO | TWITTER OFFICIAL WEBSITE

“We need to keep an eye on the

What is stimming?

A layperson’s introduction to what it is and why (we think) people do it

also engaged in RRBs; in other words, non-autistic adults also stimmed. According to this study, stimming is a selfregulatory mechanism that helps people cope with stress or calm themselves when overwhelmed.

Sensory overload is often the explanation given as to why people stim; the concept features heavily, and sometimes problematically, in fields dealing with ASD. As the name suggests, sensory overload refers to a situation in which somebody is unable to filter sensory stimuli in a way that gives them a comforting and manageable sense of the world around them. Many individuals with autism or issues like Sensory Processing Disorder describe stimming as a way for them to process overpowering feelings.

In a study published in Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, entitled “Autistic and non-autistic adults accounts of sensory experiences and stimming,” one 40 year old woman participant said, “it feels like I have ants crawling under my skin.” A 33 year old non-binary participant noted that “Everything hurts and … everything is electric [and] I'm hot.”

The sight of a person rocking back and forth during their daily commute or blowing on their fingers compulsively as they walk down the street is increasingly more common. Due to recent destigmatisation efforts, neurodivergence— when somebody’s brain functions in a way that’s not typical of most people—has become more visible over the past few decades.

These mannerisms, such as rocking, often imply that

somebody is neurodivergent, and the movements tend to garner scientific names like “stereotyped or repetitive motor movements” or “restricted repetitive behaviours” (RRBs). Recently, however, the term “stimming,” derived from “stimulate,” has grown in popularity.

Stimming is largely associated with those diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD); however, recent research has shown that to be a misconception. In an article published in 2019, a team of researchers from both the University of Exeter and University College London in the United Kingdom noted that non-autistic adults

Stimming is, from what we know, a source of short-term comfort. Though it can appear unsettling or off-putting to those unfamiliar with it, stimming is a way for neurodivergent people to manage stress when overwhelmed. This ignorance, though gradually giving way to greater awareness, pressures people to keep their stims under wraps. This has led some to develop what some researchers call “substitute stims,” where people are forced to consciously swap out a very noticeable stim for a more subtle one. The study mentions that a failure to understand this can contribute to the social barriers many—neurodivergent or otherwise—face.

The new COVID-19 bivalent vaccine

Toronto Public Health’s Dr. Vinita Dubey answers questions

CONTRIBUTOR

On Tuesday, November 1, GTA residents tuned in to a virtual TaxTO town hall hosted by Toronto Public Health to listen and ask questions about the new COVID-19 bivalent vaccine and the fall respiratory season. The online session consisted of a 90-minute question and answer period with Dr. Vinita Dubey the Associate Medical Officer of Health for Toronto Public Health and a faculty member at UofT’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health. Dr. Dubey said that with flu season and COVID-19 among us, it is important to understand methods by which we can protect ourselves from serious illness. This includes receiving the new COVID-19 bivalent booster vaccine. The following are questions asked by citizens surrounding the bivalent vaccine and answered by Dr. Dubey.

How long should you wait to get the new bivalent vaccine if you got the original booster and have had COVID-19 since then?

Dr. Dubey: Not everyone needs to get a booster dose right away. The recommendation is to wait about six months before getting the bivalent dose after receiving a booster shot or having COVID-19. The minimum is to wait three months after an infection or booster dose before getting another because that allows you to get the best response from the vaccine and have the antibodies last as long as they can.

Is there any advantage in the bivalent vaccine over the original vaccine? Is the original vaccine now outdated?

The COVID-19 vaccines are made to try and boost our immune system; they are not trying to match the vaccine to the strain that is circulating around like they do with the flu vaccine each year. The original COVID-19 vaccine has been around for almost two years—which targeted the original strain—and it has provided us protection against every variant that has circulated around our city. Even with the Omicron variant, the original vaccine kept people from getting seriously ill, it would still work. ‘Bivalent’ means that the new vaccine directly targets two strains instead of one; you have protection against the original strain and Omicronspecific strains. The bivalent vaccine is the booster dose they

are recommending everyone to get because its purpose is to provide an immune boost for Omicron-type strains. The future variants are expected to be some sort of cousin to Omicron.

Does getting the Moderna bivalent vaccine give you better protection after receiving a Pfizer booster dose?

With the primary series (the first two doses), many people got two different brands of vaccine, which was deemed the ‘mixed’ schedule—for example, the first dose being Pfizer and the second dose, being Moderna. They actually found that the mixed schedule turned out to be a very good move. They cannot say if it will be better to get a mixed schedule dose for your booster, but they can certainly say it will not be worse; you do not have to match your bivalent dose with your first booster dose. The best bivalent vaccine is whatever

is available to you.

I received my bivalent booster dose about a month ago. Is it safe for me to get the seasonal flu vaccine?

Yes—there is no time interval recommended to wait in between a COVID-19 vaccine and a flu vaccine; you can even get both in the same visit.

If you are interested in learning more about or attending a public health town hall, you can visit toronto.ca/covid-19/ To book a COVID-19 vaccine appointment through the Provincial Vaccine Contact Centre, you can call 1-833-9433900. There are also pop-up locations around the city that do not require calling in advance.

Dr. Dubey’s responses have been edited and condensed for clarity.

PHOTO | NICHOLAS TAM

Jevan Konyar CONTRIBUTOR

emilie nero

Reflecting and reminiscing with The Strand

Feeling our feelings about 2022

Although it’s only November, with our final issue of 2022, we here at A&C thought it would be fun to ask our fellow masthead members to provide their thoughts and feelings about the many things this year has presented us with!

To start, we collected some data on pressing popculture related concerns:

Was Harry Styles' performance worse in Don't Worry Darling or My Policeman?

36 percent - My Policeman

64 percent - Don’t Worry Darling

Will Taylor Swift recover in 2023 from The Great Ticketmaster Debacle?

36 percent - Yes (she is the music industry)

64 percent - No (she’s the problem, it’s her)

Should Saturday exams be abolished from 2023? (If you don't say yes, you're wrong).

Unsurprisingly, 100% of our masthead voted to ban Saturday exams.

But in terms of this year as a whole, apparently, The Strand masthead has learned a lot about themselves…

Describe your 2022 as a click-bait headline

- “Girl who thinks things are getting better gets a shocking surprise!” ~ Janna Abbas, Co-EIC

- “Heartbreaking: Local guy realises they must do things for things to happen!” ~ Shelley, Art Editor

- “Ladies and Gentlemen, a new member has been added to the circus for clowning too much (#real)” ~ Isha, Social Media Manager

- “Wow! This university student signed up for hard courses and is surprised when they're hard!” ~ Kieran Guimond, Science Editor

- “Stressed student realises that dying your hair does not actually fix your life” ~ Janus Kwong, Production Manager

- “Girl Who Thought She Couldn't Possibly Go Through Any More Character Development Somehow Goes Through Even More Character Development” ~ Abi Akinlade, Opinions Editor

- “Burnout in 3D: a guide to doing too much” ~ Rion Levy, Co-EIC

- “Local Man Breaks Records With Infinite Swag” ~ Soup, Associate Web Editor

- “Girlboss! This woman is still existing despite the literal dumpster fire of her life!”~ Faith Wershba, Stranded Editor

- “SHOCKING turn of events! Student suffers the consequences of his own actions” ~ Max Lees, Co-News Editor

- “Local woman thinks her mental health couldn't be worse post-pandemic – you'll never believe what happens next!” ~ Mikaela Moore, Associate Arts and Culture Editor

- “Stupefied by Toronto weather, student makes scarves a personality trait” ~ Ishika Rishi, Co-Poetry Editor

- “Girl Bursts into A Flame From Roller Coaster Ride” ~ Maeve Ellis, Associate Copy Editor

Best streaming service original movie?

- “Wendell and Wild on Netflix” ~ Kieran

- “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story on The Roku Channel” ~ Mikaela

Who is (or do you predict to be) your top listened-to artist of 2022?

- “Arctic Monkeys for sure” ~ Roensa Salija, Senior Copy Editor

- “I wish I could experience the thrill that comes with waiting for your Spotify wrapped, but my top artist is gonna be Taylor Swift and I know that for a fact.” ~ Janna

- “Taemin :)” ~ Shelley

- “Either Lizzy McAlpine or Joshua Bassett” ~ Isha - “The Amazing Devil” ~ Kieran - “Tswift” ~ Janus

- “Elton John” ~ Rion - “Brent Faiyaz or Beyoncé” ~ Abi - “Coldplay” ~ Soup - “Feng Suave” ~ Faith - “It’s definitely gonna be whatever lofi music I’ve conditioned myself to write papers to… or The 1975”Sarah Abernethy, Arts & Culture Editor

- “Mother Mother or Stromae” ~ Max - “Måneskin” ~ Mikaela - “Radiohead” ~ Maeve

Most overused/overdone TikTok sound or trend

- “This is a hot take, but the 'Bejewelled' trend (I’m sorry). It's because I’m a little disappointed by Taylor due the whole tour tickets debacle!!!!” ~ Isha - “The MBTI personalities (I'm an INFP)” ~ Janus - “Sped-up versions of songs (I like them! It was just a lot)” ~ Abi

- “A negroni… sbagliato, with Prosecco in it” ~ Rion - “OH NO. OH NO. OH NO NO NO NO NO”Soup

- "I wanna gooooo home" - Faith - “They go by really fast, before you get sick of them”Maeve - “The “Oh no’s” for sure” ~ Sarah

Worst moment on campus

- “Ned's NEVER serving anything other than pasta — please I need some variety” ~ Janna - “Finding some mystery substance on my coat after lying down on the Vic quad” ~ Shelley

- “Every single lecture this semester” ~ Isha - “Spent five minutes trying to unlock a door and one of my professors definitely saw me” ~ Kieran

- “Stepping into the biggest snow slushie outside robarts with my white sneakers” ~ Janus

- “The main UC entrance closing </3” ~ Abi

- “Accidentally coming to class one hour too early” ~ Roensa

- “Paying $150 on Ubers in a week when I broke my toe” ~ Rion

- “Partying too hard dressed as a squid” ~ Soup

- “Getting covid on the literal second day of school” ~ Faith

- “Being in class during Caffiends open hours all semester” - Mikaela

- “The construction. We all know it.” ~ Sarah

Share your biggest 2023 resolution

- “Trying to sleep more” ~ Roensa

- “To be more grateful!” ~ Shelley

- “Sorting my life out!! (It’s a big mess right now)” ~ Isha

- “Not stress out about what I'm gonna do after undergrad” ~ Kieran

- “Actually read my readings” ~ Janus

- “To let go of all my academic guilt after I graduate lol” ~ Abi

- “To not kill any more plants” ~ Rion - “Camping trip!” ~ Maeve

Something you hope gets left in 2022

- “Ticketmaster (derogatory)” ~ Janna

- “The self-consciousness that stops me from trying new things” ~ Shelley

- “Instagram Reels” ~ Isha

- “Elon Musk >:(“ ~ Kieran

- “Negativity” ~ Rion

- “Harry Styles and Taylor Swift and their vehicular manslaughter” ~ Soup

- “The maze of construction site closures throughout campus” ~ Ishika

- “A year without going on a camping trip :/” ~ Maeve

miKaela moore aSSOCIaTE aRTS aND CUlTURE EDITOR

Sofia Vega combines her passions for fashion and music to produce amazing works of art in her free time. By day, she runs a clothing design business featuring unique crocheted pieces, taking commission requests through @vegafibre on Instagram. By night, she plays the guitar, bass, and sings to produce her own music on SoundCloud (@Sofi Vega), as well as her band’s music, which can be found on Instagram, Spotify, and Apple Music (@skullscandream). She finds that her emotions

and music can be very powerful tools in inspiring her craft. Speaking on her process, she told The Strand:

“My best inspiration comes from… works that engage different senses than whatever project I’ll be working on. So, for a lot of clothing reworks or originals, I’ll start with a song I really like. I’ll list what colours, shapes, textures, or imagery from my own life I hear, then collage those tidbits.

“When it comes to inspiration from my feelings, I’ll usually work in another medium before approaching yarn or fabric. I also do music, so I’ll write a song first, or, I’ll paint what I see in my feelings. I don’t like to

plan too much. My pieces make themselves as long as my brain is engaging with the right stimulation.

“I work with the same few textures and symbols (and, honestly, the same colours, most times). This allows me to mix and match in a controlled environment. This preset tool situation ensures I don’t get overwhelmed.”

One of Sofia's favourite aspects of her work is how much freedom it gives her to express herself and how educational it is to be involved in a variety of artistic communities. When I asked Sofia what the coolest part of being a designer and musician was, she said, "Being earnest is cool. Making earnest work is cool."

ILLUSTRATION | SHELLEY YAO

The Magic of Studio Ghibli

My love letter to Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki

The day I decided to watch a Studio Ghibli movie was the day my life changed forever. Although I’d been watching since I was three, I wasn’t really conscious of the decision until one day when I was six. I was set to sleep over at my grandparent’s place so we went to the library to pick out a DVD. While scanning the kids section, I came across the cutest cover of a girl, a cat, and a handsome boy leaning out of a window. I knew it would be a good movie so we got it, and that is how Whisper of The Heart became my favourite film ever. Since then, I’ve become consciously enamoured and borderline obsessed with Studio Ghibli movies. It’s been almost 15 years now and I have made these movies my entire personality.

Studio Ghibli is a Japanese animation studio that was started by three men, the most important for me being Hayao Miyazaki, who also acts as a director and

writer. The studio has released 23 movies to date, such as Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, and My Neighbour Totoro. If you haven’t seen any yet, I highly recommend you do! There is something extremely addictive about these movies. The landscapes are gorgeously full of rich colours, beautiful architecture and foliage, and pristine detail. Paired with incredible music from incredible composers, it’s a recipe for perfect movies every time. That being said, maybe more important than the awardwinning animation and soundtracks are the stories and characters.

While the stories are seemingly simple, talking about life and love, the deeper you go, the more profound the narrative becomes. It’s clear Miyazaki is dedicated to filmmaking and his young audience. He says he must be fair with children, that life is not all perfect, yet: “I would like to make a film to tell children “it's good to be alive.” I think everyone should watch a Studio Ghibli film, especially for the characters. The characters are powerful. They each embark on a journey of self

discovery, self-love, and an appreciation for the world around them. Miyazaki writes real people, imperfect yet strong. I think everyone can find themselves in someone, from Shizuku to Howl, Ashitaka to Kiki, Fio, Chihiro, you name it.

It’s an incredible privilege to have such inspiring characters and powerful storylines at our fingertips. There is something about watching lives play out on screen that makes us want to connect with the screen, with our loved ones, and with ourselves. I think the reason films like those from Studio Ghibli have such an impact on us is the validation of connection. I personally find it comforting to see characters struggling yet persevering. In my times of desperation, happiness, sadness, you name it, I simply put on Studio Ghibli and suddenly, I’m okay. To you dear reader, watch a Studio Ghibli movie if you haven’t. It might change your life. To Hayao Miyazaki, thank you for changing mine for the better, and thank you for coming out of retirement for one more movie: How Do You Live (2026).

“At the end, after such tangible silence and laughter that came from the whole house … 2000 people stood and clapped loud and long. Total, uncluttered acclaim for something that had reached them very directly.”

This quote is from the book Madly, Deeply, a compilation of the diaries of late actor Alan Rickman. Rickman has been celebrated for his roles in films such as Die Hard, Sense and Sensibility, and, most famously, as Serverus Snape in Harry Potter. After a year-long battle with pancreatic cancer, Rickman passed away in 2016 at the age of 69. Seven years after his death, the reserved actor’s innermost thoughts were revealed with the publication of Madly, Deeply

The response to the release of Rickman’s entries was sweeping and immediate. #AlanRickman was trending on Twitter in October with countless sites reporting on the late actor’s thoughts, particularly concerning his Harry Potter co-stars Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson. Across the internet, people were participating in a commentary on his private opinions and memories.

This was not unlike the response to My Mind & Me, a documentary released this past month detailing singer Selena Gomez’s mental health journey. The film catalogues Gomez’s ‘behind closed doors’ reactions to pivotal moments over the last six years, including the cancellation of her tour, the end of a toxic relationship, her kidney transplant, and pursuit of entrepreneurial projects. Upon release, a substantive number of public reactions focused on the singer's breakdowns. Many

headlines extrapolated a lot from the details of Selena’s relationships with other public figures.

These responses reveal a deep societal interest in the personal feelings and relationships of celebrities offscreen. We want to know the personal aspects of our favourite stars even if they don’t bring us any closer to the people themselves. The documentary Framing Britney Spears states, “with the rise of Instagram, it’s no longer the tabloids who choose how the world sees Britney… [she] can show us parts of her life that she wants us to see.” While social media can show us a celebrity’s live location and viewpoint, there is an element of curation in what celebrities choose to exhibit to the public.

However, as UofT Professor Jennifer Harris from the Department for the Study of Religion explains, this absence of personal connection is exactly what we as a

PHOTO | FILM DAILY

stefania KucZynsKi CONTRIBUTOR

ashvini giridaran CONTRIBUTOR

Meet me at Midnight?

For the people who know 11:59 pm all too well

stare, the more distorted your reflection becomes looking back at you. The self-realization of “It’s me, Hi. I’m the problem, it’s me,” was also incredibly relatable. You don’t want to bother anyone with your issues, but you can’t help but feel like a burden in everyone’s life.

The relatability of Taylor’s songs has been praised time and time again, but what sets her apart is her expert use of analogies that cloak her lyrics. I don’t know how she does it, but she always manages to describe exactly how people feel in the most poetic way possible. In 'Labyrinth', it’s a late-night journal entry about someone with anxiousattachment falling in love again. Upon my first listen, this one lyric echoed in my head: “You know how scared I am of elevators. Never trust if it rises fast. It can’t last.” You can’t control how fast elevators move up and down between the floors. After you’ve been in a couple that have fallen with you inside of them, you’re nervous for the next time you’re in one. Just like how people “fall in love,” it can be scary falling for someone faster than you anticipated because sometimes you end up slamming into the ground. The lyrics that I’m referencing here are merely a hint of the genius that is the rest of the album.

celena ho CONTRIBUTOR

At 12 am sharp on October 21, Taylor Swift crashed Spotify with her newest album, Midnights. Like all the other Swifties on the planet, I was excited to finally listen to something other than the ten-minute version of All Too Well on repeat. I was also particularly excited because she had described Midnights as a “concept album,” drawing from 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout her life. This album was for the people who write poetry in the notes app late at night because their minds are racing with thoughts. In her own words, the album is “for all of us who have tossed and turned and decided to keep the lanterns lit and go searching - hoping that just maybe, when the clock

strikes twelve… we’ll meet ourselves.”

This album was for everyone. There are songs for when you’ve just met someone and you’re excited about what’s to come, for when you’re plotting revenge, or even for your most insecure moments. In a video on her Instagram, she explains the message of 'Anti-Hero', the first single of the album. “It’s the things we like and dislike about ourselves that we have to come to terms with.” Despite the upbeat nature of the song, the lyrics resonated deeply with listeners. How was she able to describe everyone’s insecurities so succinctly? One particular lyric that rocked me was “I’ll stare directly at the sun but never in the mirror.” She would rather look into the sun than at herself because that’s less painful? I could not believe my ears. I refuse to have a mirror in my room for this exact reason. The longer you

Midnights felt like Taylor read all of our journals and picked out thoughts and fears that chase each other before we fall asleep, and she pieced them together to create a cohesive album. I think there’s nothing more comforting than being seen and heard, and to have someone describe the exact same situation so beautifully makes the experience less overwhelming. Staying up past midnight to have alone time isn’t necessarily a lonely activity but sometimes you might feel that way. There’s a difference between feeling lonely and being alone and I think that Taylor’s music accompanies people in their choices to be either one. I think what resonates with a lot of people is that they can revisit any of her songs and find exactly how they’re feeling. I never personally related to Taylor Swift’s breakup songs, but now I come back to find them waiting for me.

Midnights is a collection of our bedtime thoughts, the ones we write in journals in scribbles or leave swirling around in our heads for the next night. There’s something for everyone. 'The Anti-heroes', the 'Masterminds', the Bejeweled, and the ones that love 'Karma'. There's a lot more to say about this album and it’s difficult to talk about Midnights without comparing it to her older work, but I think Midnights is strong enough to hold its own against lyrically heavier albums like folklore and evermore. This grown up version of 1989 has an expanded vocabulary and a much later bedtime. It’s the perfect album for the people who know 11:59 all too well.

society “fill … with our own hopes and dreams.” Our desire to know the insider details of celebrity life stems from wanting a “connection that transcends our own social [circles].” Our 2015 obsession with Taylor Swift’s “squad” emerged from our own internal goals. It was a projection of personal desires about what a ‘dream’ life and ‘friend group’ should look like.

Celebrity culture can also be a powerful bonding tool. In the aftermath of My Mind & Me, social media platforms flooded with edits of Selena Gomez, emphasising her strength. Created by self-identified ‘Selenators’ from numerous nations, these posts were liked, commented on, and shared. Fandom culture that idolises celebrities and celebrates their personal and professional lives helps us relate to one another. In a viral TikTok last month, a lecture hall of students at Brown University were seen reacting to Taylor Swift’s new album released at midnight together. Shared rituals over celebrity culture create overarching cohesion.

We care about celebrity culture because it gives us meaning. In some ways, watching celebrity life unfold is not very different from watching films; they “[reach us] very directly,” and our dissection of their lives provides us with sadness and joy, or “silence and laughter.”

PHOTO | BETH GARRABRANT

ILLUSTRATION | SHELLEY YAO

Extension Request

Dear Professor / I hope you are well / I hope you are splendid / I hope you are in whichever headspace permits you to accept my humble extension request / I hope that your kids are getting good grades / that your oatmeal is plentiful with berries / that the 5K you ran over the weekend contributed to the noble cause of breast cancer research / that your breath still sways in and out as steady as a crib / even when you are insurmountably / cataclysmically sad / or angry or scared / or unable to write

The truth is my grandmother died / my home crumbled in a terrible fire / followed by an even more terrible tsunami / my best friend literally stabbed me in the back / three cars hit me at once / and then each other / the truth is I had a bad day / a bad week / the truth is under the given conditions / I do not have the tenacity of rubber bands / but rather the brittle collapse of dry spaghetti / the endurance of a bubble

The truth is / my dog ate my paper / or at least / something gnawed / undid / it into indiscrete ideas / which meander sheep-like behind vague fog / or maybe my paper was never formed / still caught as an embryo / pushing at my abdomen / the way nausea teases at catharsis

Sometimes under pressure / I find there are no more ideas to reap / no more sentences to forge / no more takes to give / everything that I have thought and ever will think / has been thought / I have dreamed / of the things I could one day think / and still / I write to you on the brink of a shapeless great precipice / I am certain that any day now / a thought will be born from me / fluttering / alert / attuned to the world and its many granular inflections

Ghost's Town

Mornings I drive through a lesion in memory from County Road Five until Bedford. The shadow of a history only half forgotten slips between bricks and sidewalk cracks.

I could be window shopping for realities both lost in time and still waiting in my rear-view mirror, but I’m already running late— a child makes a dash for the bus and I hit the brakes.

At half past noon, rusty limbs turn in sockets like clockwork and pause as a freight train loudly announces its continued departure toward eternity.

The sun’s setting face sits pale and pink, and I wonder if she is tired of the perennial performance. I turn to the shuttered eyes next door— Aren’t you tired too?

It is dark by the time I have wrapped up my unfinished thoughts and stuffed them raw into the bottom of my suitcase. The price of gas fills the empty air and the radio guides me, finally

Into brutalist jungles of scattered light where the ground rolls with my footsteps to the beat and the buzz of the bustling landscape. Unfamiliarity welcomes me with a thousand eyes looking elsewhere.

How was your summer? I told you yesterday. (There is nothing to say.) Where are you going? I’m walking home.

ILLUSTRATION | JENNIFER AMOY FONG LI

ILLUSTRATION | JENNIFER AMOY FONG LI

maX lees CO-NEWS EDITOR

Cinema studies student faces grueling schedule

In a shocking story developing from the University of Toronto campus, 19-year-old cinema studies student Clara Davis describes an incredibly grueling schedule: seven hours worth of assignments in a single day.

“I heard this school was tough, but I didn’t know it was this tough,” said Davis, who began to cry. “There go my UofTears.”

Despite Davis’ statements, others present opposing views.

“She just had to finish watching The Twilight Saga,” said Davis’ roommate, Life Sciences student Zoe Reed. “I mean, they did hold a screening, but she said she was too ‘stressed out’ to go. That baseball scene really shook her up. After the ‘Bella! Where the hell have you been, loca?’ line, Clara said she ‘had to sit down and really let the film sink in.’ She said that only a film connoisseur would understand that kind of feeling.”

“We’ve actually only had one assignment so far,

so I’m not sure why it took her that long,” said Clara’s cinema studies professor, Joseph Romano. “Clara requested a one-week extension and ended up turning in a one page Word document which consisted solely of the words ‘this was really deep.’”

Nevertheless, Davis remains staunchly committed to her position.

“Between watching movies every week, updating my Letterboxd, and trying to ignore the film bros in my classes who keep asking me if I know who Quentin Tarantino is, I’m constantly swamped,” Davis said. “And that’s just something that other students wouldn’t understand.

Especially my roommate. While she’s learning about useless conceptual crap like ‘molecular cell biology,’ I’m thinking about the real stuff. Like that one time the camera tilted in a weird way in that one movie, and it meant that life has no inherent meaning. Or something like that, I don’t know.

I just read the blurb on IMDb.”

At press time, Davis was seen in Robarts Commons, though it was unclear whether she was finishing her work or scrolling mindlessly through film Twitter.

When reached for comment, Davis’ TAs report that they have “never seen this person in [their] entire lives.”

Hot mad scientists rated by me, a hot mad scientist

Kieran guimond SCIENCE EDITOR

As a self-proclaimed mad scientist (I spent most of last year trapped in a UofT lab analysing fly wings), I believe that this 100 percent gives me the right to comment on the attractiveness of various mad scientists, both those from fictional media and those who exist in real life. Being a scientist myself, I have very scientifically stratified my ratings into ‘madness’ and ‘hotness.’ This is visualised in the graph provided (BIO220 is really coming in clutch here with the Excel skills).

Hermann Joseph Muller from real life

I had never heard of this man until taking my Principles of Evolution class, where it was mentioned that this man did some wack shit. Muller worked on X-ray mutagenesis in fruit flies. The context in which I learned about him regarded the accumulation of genetic loads in

asexual lineages. Honestly, he’s only in this ranking because the photo of him that was used in our class looks like the villain of a 1940s horror movie, and I’m kind of into that.

Madness: 4 Hotness: 7

Victor Frankenstein from Frankenstein Ah yes, the mad scientist blueprint. He literally dropped out of university so that he could build a person using corpses that he dug out of graves. And honestly? That’s relatable—I’m about two lab reports away from doing the same thing. I have a personal soft spot for him and for Mary Shelley in general. However, seeing that he 1) is a terrible father, 2) repressed his homoerotic tendencies, and 3) married his sister/cousin, that docks him quite a few points in the hotness category.

Madness: 8 Hotness: 6

Dr. Frank-N-Furter from The Rocky Horror Picture Show

I mean… what more can you want from a mad scientist? He’s “just a sweet transvestite from Transexual, Transylvania.” He’s basically if Victor Frankenstein wasn’t a coward, fell in love with the person he created, and was also very bisexual. Tim Curry had no reason to be so hot in this role, but I thank him for it every day.

Madness: 9 Hotness: 10

Dr Jekyll from Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

This dude wasn’t a coward. He didn’t waste time conducting science-y schemes on other people— he cut right to the chase and experimented on himself. Dr. Jekyll was a real doctor (take that, Victor) who created a serum that allowed himself to change into his evil alter ego, allowing him to “indulge his vices without fear of detection.” He gets low points on hotness because he is a 50 year old man, but scores very high on madness because he fucked around and found out (i.e., he died).

Madness: 9 Hotness: 2

Doctor

Carmilla

from The Mechanisms

This is actually not Carmilla from the book Carmilla, but is in fact the in-universe creator of The Mechanisms, which is a steampunk band composed of humans who have been altered with various mechanical body parts. Doctor Carmilla is a lesbian vampire, just like her namesake, so that’s fun, I guess. Also, she cloned herself and raised a moon who became a spaceship? Good for her.

Madness: 8 Hotness: 9

Willy Wonka from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

In conducting my research for this article (which entailed reading the TV Tropes website on Mad Scientists), I was shocked to see Willy Wonka listed. But if you think about it, it checks out. He killed so many children just for funsies and built multiple death traps inside his factory. I kinda wish I could lock myself in a building and perform unethical experiments, tbh.

Madness: 10 Hotness: 5

Proven by science!

‘I have three movies to watch by 11:59’

PHOTO | NICHOLAS TAM

Mama, I’m in love with a criminal

A good girl’s guide to being a SINfluencer

isha riZwan SOCIal mEDIa maNagER

Ever feel like a literal criminal when doing something unhinged? Like, if you were being watched and got caught in the middle of it, you would be arrested? Here’s my list of things that feel illegal but actually aren’t. If you enjoy doing any of these things, I’m seriously judging you. (Just kidding...or am I?)

1. Submitting an assignment multiple days before it’s due So, you’re telling me that people actually complete their assignments days before the due date? What, you mean they don’t struggle to press that submit button at 11:59 pm exactly? This feels very illegal to me.

2. YouTubers writing books

Who thought it was a good idea for YouTubers to write and publish books? I still haven’t recovered from the whole Zoella-ghostwriter fiasco. Haven’t we suffered enough as a society?

3. Watching videos at full volume in public places

Excuse me sir, please turn down your volume. I'm trying (and failing) to enjoy a peaceful commute! There is no reason

to have your volume at full blast in a public place—especially on the TTC. Straight. To. Jail.

4. Buying concert tickets on Ticketmaster Buying tickets on Ticketmaster is so stressful. How do you justify queuing for hours and still failing to buy any?? Also, the resale prices on there are insane—I’m sorry, I’m not paying $2K+ just to see Harry Styles live. Ticketmaster is my mortal enemy; it gives me war flashbacks. For this reason alone, it should be considered illegal and banned immediately.

5. Using salt and pepper as your only seasonings Are you ever just sitting around and then suddenly remember how, back in 2017, Niall Horan posted a picture of his VERY unseasoned chicken on Snapchat, and all hell broke loose? It always reminds me that there are people who only use salt and pepper to season their food and call it a day. This is 100% criminal behaviour to me.

6. The blue checkmark on Twitter

You’re telling me that I can now buy the blue checkmark on Twitter for $8/month?? We have reached a new height of impersonation, everyone!! People are having a lot of fun with this, and as much as I support it, it feels kind of illegal to pay for verification. Also, it gave me a mini heart attack

when a random, checkmarked account impersonating One Direction announced a reunion. Truly evil.

7.

Drinking whole milk

I don’t know if it's just me personally or if alternative milks are objectively superior (yes, I’m talking about oat milk), but it just feels sinful to intentionally chug down a glass of whole milk. Like, how do you cope with the aftermath of it?

8.

Lectures with no breaks

Some professors have the audacity of having TWO hour lectures with ZERO breaks. Isn’t this considered torture?? Why aren’t they being fined for this outrageous behaviour? Who allowed them to do this?!?!

And finally, an honorary mention of a few things that didn’t make it to the list but are equally important (and illegal):

Sleeping with socks on, pouring milk before cereal, skipping out on the trailers before the movie at a theatre, preferring Pepsi over Coke, and the existence of Instagram Reels.

This is my official attempt to convince everyone who still thinks they’re too good for BeReal to download the app. For those of you who (somehow?) don’t know what BeReal is, it's an app that notifies you once a day at a random time to take a picture using your front and back cameras. It’s fun! It’s silly! It also helps me remember when the last time I did my laundry was. To reflect on the six months I’ve had BeReal, here are the best and worst moments I’ve captured:

October 31, 2022

This was on Halloween night when my friends and I did our second annual bar crawl. I always love it when the BeReal goes off when we’re all together because all of our pictures are the exact same but at different angles. It’s like Spider-Man pointing at himself, but in real life.

October 14, 2022

I waited for my dentist for ten minutes only for her to come in, stick her fingers in my mouth, and tell me that I need to floss more. Where are you supposed to look when they do that? Should you gaze longingly into their eyes? I wanna show that I’m listening to them. On the plus side, she gave me these sick sunglasses.

October 8, 2022

I am insanely proud of this one. BeReal went off super late, right as I was getting settled in, and instead of a boring picture, I decided to spice things up and throw my phone. This took about twelve tries (which isn’t very real of me, I know) but it’s one of my absolute favourite BeReals I’ve ever taken. As you can see, October was a good month for me.

March 29, 2022

This was a legendary day for me. I was super hungover and couldn’t stomach any food. Sounds were too loud and I wore sunglasses in the shower because it was too bright in there. I was also going to an Olivia Rodrigo concert that night. (In case you’re wondering, I was fine and I had a great time! I sobbed through “drivers license.”)

July 19, 2022

July 27, 2022

I went to the washroom, sat down, and opened my phone. Ding! This is probably the most real I’ve been.

Ah yes, I’ll always remember July 19 thanks to this BeReal. My boyfriend broke up with me on this day! Luckily, I was prepared because I listened to “All Too Well (Sad Girl Autumn Version) (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault)” beforehand.

Aug 12, 2022

My friends and I have an inside joke on BeReal where once in a while, I’ll post one with my feet in it (yes, for free… but only when engagement is low). On this day, my friends and I went to the beach and BeReal went off at the exact moment we decided to dip our dawgs in the water. If you direct your eyes towards me (on the right), my smile is filled with pure deviousness. (I’ve censored our feet for the sake of everyone reading.)

celena ho CONTRIBUTOR