The Strand | Vol. 65, Issue 7

Students struggle with waiting for final grades

UofT won’t admit to delays in fall term grade postings; students suspect otherwise

MAEVE ELLIS ASSOCIATE COPY EDITOR

Olivia Dans was happy to have completed the first semester of her second year, barring one lingering stress: waiting for her fall term marks.

“They definitely took longer to come out compared to last year,” said Dans, majoring in Psychology and Cinema Studies. “My friends at other universities received their marks prior to the start of winter break, so they were able to enjoy their time off without constantly checking their school’s online portal.” The last of her grades were posted the day before classes resumed.

Dans’ experience is not unique among those reported to The Strand. Students say that what they suspect to be a later-than-usual release of fall term grades affected their stress levels, grad school applications, and ability to plan winter term classes.

UofT did not directly respond to a question from The Strand about whether marks were released at later dates compared to previous years, but a spokesperson told us, “It is not unusual to experience delays with the release of grades for some courses each year due to a variety of reasons such as illness or technical issues.”

They added that “most divisions require instructors to submit grades within five to ten business days from the date the exam was written,” before departments authorize grades and administrators upload them online. The

different programs, campuses, and faculties all have varying time frames for final mark releases, which are usually reported on associated websites.

For many, the wait for winter term marks has even punctured into the new semester. Student Ishika Rishi, co-poetry editor of The Strand, said she “took four classes. Two of them came back around January 4, one of them came back on January 11, and from one of them, I’ve heard nothing,” as of January 13.

“The ones that I got later were the ones that I needed to finish my minor, and for both of those classes I was a little nervous about my grade anyways. It was an impending doom, like when is this going to come?” Rishi currently checks for updates twice daily, saying “it’s the first thing I do when I wake up.”

Discourse on the topic has also sprouted on social media platforms frequented by UofT students. On r/UofT, the school’s main Reddit forum with 95.3 thousand subscribers, two of the top 25 posts from the first week of classes were about not receiving course marks in a timely manner. Some students also say that receiving marks after the start of the winter term has affected their course selection.

One second-year Psychology major, who requested anonymity to protect her professional reputation, told The Strand, “I wasn’t sure whether I would pass my neuroscience class or not, and I would have had to change my plans for

my second semester, depending on whether I’d be retaking the class or taking it in the summer… I would check every couple of days or so.”

A UofT spokesperson from the UofT Media Relations team also told The Strand that students with these issues “are advised to meet with an academic advisor in their faculty/program. Most divisions have a course change period at the start of the term to allow for any necessary changes.”

For others, a possibly longer wait time has not been too stressful. Math major Adam Lam, who is also the managing web editor at The Strand, only received the grade for his History of Law course on the first day of the new semester, but said “for myself, since I enjoyed the course and I wasn’t too worried about the grade, it was alright. But I could see how it would be stressful for my classmates [in different circumstances].”

Most rules for faculty about course organization are listed in the over 23,000 word Academic Handbook for Instructors. It stipulates, among other policies, that all 100-level courses outside of First-Year Foundation seminars and College-sponsored Ones programs must have an exam with a weight of between ⅓ and ⅔ of a final grade.

It adds, “Best practice is to return all term work within at most two weeks of the submission date. [...] The longer the time taken before the feedback is received, the less useful that feedback will be to the student.”

Desire for Profitability Drives Twitter's Steep Decline

Musk announces more political advertising and other measures. How far will he go?

over $130,000 in rent in one of their San Francisco offices. Twitter was unable to publicly respond to other journalists’ questions due to the company no longer having a media relations department, as of January 6.

In a Twitter Spaces call on December 21, Musk defended his cost-cutting measures, saying: “This company is like, basically, you’re in a plane that is headed towards the ground at high speed with the engines on fire and the controls don’t work.”

Recently, Musk has come up with a new strategy to increase Twitter’s profitability of his investment. The company tweeted on January 3 that they were “relaxing their ads policy for cause-based ads in the U.S.” They added that they intend to expand what political advertising they allowed on the platform as well.

Ever since Elon Musk acquired the social media platform Twitter in October 2022, there have been frequent headlines about his perceived mismanagement and lack of vision for the company’s future. His documented missteps have included firing roughly half of the company’s 7500 employees and then failing to pay them severance, which has led to four lawsuits, as of January 6.

This may be a part of Musk’s goal to cut costs as much as possible at Twitter. Since its launch in 2006, Twitter has rarely been a profitable company. From 2012 to 2021, the company only made an annual

profit twice. In 2021, it reported a $221 million net loss. For Musk, who bought the company for $44 billion dollars, the journey to making his large investment profitable is proving difficult.

Musk’s gamble on Twitter has had serious financial consequences for him. Public distrust in his ability to run Twitter has led the stock of another one of his companies, Tesla, to decrease by more than half of its previous value. The vast majority of his wealth was tied up in such stocks, causing him to lose his spot as the world’s wealthiest person.

There have been many arguable missteps in Musk’s journey to make the company more profitable. In early January, it was reported that Twitter had failed to pay

The library is closed

Twitter banned political advertising in 2019 after a growing push to combat political misinformation spreading on social media. The CEO at the time, Jack Dorsey, worried about bringing the effectiveness of internet ads into the political world due to its power “to influence votes to affect the lives of millions.”

Musk has disregarded some moderation policies implemented by his predecessor. Despite Musk originally promising to only reinstate Twitter accounts banned due to their controversy and misinformation based on the rulings of a “content moderation council,” he neglected that promise when he reinstated divisive figures like Donald Trump and Andrew Tate.

Elon Musk’s goal to make Twitter profitable is, as he made clear himself, a difficult task. But in his desire to reclaim his lost fortune, he has made it clear he will suspend norms and fundamentally change the way the widely-used platform opperates. It remains to be seen just how far Musk is willing to go.

A retrospective on the fallout from Z-Lib’s seizure two months on

On November 4, 2022, the FBI seized the popular filesharing site Z-lib, which is self-described as the “world’s largest ebook library.” More than two months after the fact, both faculty and students at UofT continue to express mixed reactions to the takedown. While some argue the library goes far to protect the livelihood of academic writers and publishing houses, others argue that it has proven detrimental to disenfranchised students.

The site’s seizure was carried out on the morning of November 4 of last year, with two Russian citizens living in Argentina, Anton Napolsky and Valeriia Ermakova, having been identified by the FBI as the site’s operators. The pair were discovered when data provided to the FBI by Amazon and Google showed that their emails and phone numbers were connected to those used to manage the site and allegedly receive donations in the form of Amazon gift cards. It seems, from the data released in a report prepared by FBI special agent Brett Dohnal, that neither Napolsky nor Ermakova made any attempt to distance themselves from Z-lib at any point.

Z-lib, which first came online in 2009 as a mirror

site of another shadow library, Libgen, had been subject to DMCA takedown notices earlier in 2021, with the “z-lib.org” domain seized in 2015 and other measures against it in 2021. Hosting an estimated 11 million books and 84 million articles, it was the largest of its kind. As of December 2022, the site was still accessible via a number of clearnet addresses not seized by the FBI and through a .tor domain. Several copycat sites have emerged since Z-lib’s closure.

Due to the illegal nature of the content it hosted— which consisted, in part, of academic texts pirated from digital copies in university libraries, or otherwise digitised and uploaded content—the site attracted the ire of the world of academic publishing. A number of faculty members, who declined requests for interviews with The Strand, noted their distaste for the website as well as others of its kind due to the potential for online piracy to disrupt the academic publishing market and therefore affect the livelihoods of many working within this field. Additionally, some have pointed out that websites like Z-lib are largely redundant for UofT students owing to the size and accessibility of University of Toronto Libraries (UTL).

“We acquire a vast amount of material electronically, almost all journals now are available electronically,” noted UTL’s Chief Librarian, Larry Alford. UofT’s

network of libraries hosts one of the largest collections in the world, a large portion of which is undergoing digitization or comprises digital media. “[There] is something like 26,000 electronic journals, all of which 20 years ago were in print, and something like three and a half to four million electronic books.” Alford also noted that UTL digitises 150,000-500,000 outof-copyright books as well as a significant number of copyright texts that it receives permission to scan.

But many students still saw Z-lib as an important source of literature, both academic and otherwise. It has been pointed out that the site’s main appeal for some was its collection of non-academic titles.

Others have noted that, for students looking for expensive texts not available through the library, or for those studying in institutions without access to extensive library catalogues like those of UofT, Z-lib provided a much-needed lifeline. While University of Toronto Libraries contain an enormous wealth of scholarly resources, a comparable body is lacking in other countries. Compounding that is the fact that some texts available digitally on Z-lib were only held in print form by the library system, and therefore Z-lib provided a more accessible alternative to some.

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PHOTO | WIKIMEDIA COMMON, MIKE BLAKE

Blasting into 2023

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Janna abbas and rion levy EDITORS-In-ChIEF

You may ask why we are in a UFO with Rion’s cat Lucila, mascot of Vol. 65. It’s ‘cause we're blasting off into 2023 with out-of-this-world content for you, our beloved Strand readership. It’s also because we’ve decided to abandon our planet and search for life elsewhere. Can you blame us?! But on our journey beyond the stratosphere, we noticed something: Earth is a scary, beautiful place, full of kittens, and diamonds, and waterfalls, and oil spills, and intercampus rivalries, and maybe even a sprinkle of dread.

We decided we might as well kick off the year with a bang, a Big Bang, and an exploration into the future. The Futuristic Issue is full of deep-dives into explosive, out-of-this-world topics, including tech take-downs, an exposé on subterranean matters, and the loss of the goldmine that was Z-library. The start of 2023 has been an odd mix of tumult and what feels like the calm before the storm. Record warm temperatures in Toronto following the end of 2022’s ‘storm of a decade’ give the illusion that winter arrived and passed in an instant. And yet, the sweaterweather we are all enjoying is a chilling reminder of the greater global climate crisis. On the other side of the globe, Pakistan’s city of Karachi just recorded a record breaking air-quality of 442 AQI on January 12 and it turns out “Exxon made ‘breathtakingly’ accurate predictions in the 1970s and 80s” about how bad carbon dioxide emissions would get.

Meanwhile, Victoria College has been filled with a similar sentiment of eerie calm. Most courses are fully in-person while just a year ago, they were

online for the first six weeks of Winter term; student laughter fills Ned’s Cafe and the Cat’s Eye, and we’re once again able to enjoy the sweet, sweet taste of a Caffiends London fog. Yet, the Fall term wrapped up with a raucous VUSAC caucus, leaving students with more questions than answers, and even though the Winter semester is well underway, rumours are that some are still waiting for their final grades from last term…

In this issue, you will find no shortage of pageturning articles, packed to the brim with everything you need to know to kick off the Winter term. In Opinions, Charmaine Yu exposes the Trinity Times for their questionable editorial practices. Over in Science, Yuna Lee discusses what the new Avatar film tells us about climate change. In Features, your EICs and Features Editor unpack Victoria University’s investments in oil and their attempts to soothe student outrage amidst community calls for divestment.

Speaking of the future, the launch of our Fall Magazine, Fluidity, is happening on Friday, January 20, from 5-7 pm in the Cat’s Eye. By the time you’re reading this, it will have already happened, but we hope to have seen you there anyways! And if we didn’t, we hope you will stay well in the time before our next issue, out on February 7.

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.

Strand flagrantly enjoys its editorial autonomy and is committed to acting as an agent of constructive social change. As such, we will not publish material deemed to exhibit racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, or other oppressive language.

On the globe’s, Vic’s, and The Strand’s climates

Politics in print

How (unchecked) campus newspapers are endangering UofT communities—a response to Trinity Times and the safety of Hong Kong students on campus

Last semester, the student-run Trinity Times published a piece entitled, “Opinion: The Bond Between China and Hong Kong are Akin to That of a Mother and Her Son.” As a member of Trinity College, as well as a student of political science, I was horrified upon reading it. The article implicitly supports violating Hong Kong’s ‘one country, two systems’ status by promoting a mother-child narrative that is, quite literally CCP (Chinese Communist Party) propaganda to justify reunification. The article reduces a complex inter-governmental conflict to a trivial family drama, and, most worryingly, it jeopardizes the safety of many diasporic communities across campus. Although campus newspapers are an integral part of student life, their power can be manipulated when journalistic procedures go unchecked. When students consume their content, consciously or not, papers have the potential to influence their perspective on culture and society, leading to some possibly becoming targets of political assault. Ultimately, this is a prime demonstration of the necessity of journalistic integrity among campus newspapers, especially when exploring socio-political issues with tangible implications for members across the UofT community.

“The bond between China and Hong Kong is comparable to that of an abducted child who has been restored to its mother.” - Trinity Times, 2022

Trinity Times flippantly exploits propagandist narratives to promote the breach of Hong Kong’s semiautonomous status. The article uses language verbatim to that of CCP leader, Xi Jinping, who in his speech during the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover, describes the city as a “long-separated child coming back to the warm embrace of his mother.” This longstanding metaphorical language posits Hong Kong as a naive kid who makes rash decisions and is incapable of self-determination, while China as a wise and magnanimous parental figure. The CCP weaponizes this infamous analogy to justify the reunification of the two. More recently, it explains China’s increasing incursions in the internal affairs of Hong Kong that are 30 years premature to the British’s 50-year agreement of ensuring the city a high degree of autonomy that was enshrined pre-handover.

The author fails to acknowledge any specific political events that have taken place since the 1997 handover, especially some glitter-clad elephants in the room: the 2014 protests for universal suffrage, the 2019 protests against the Extradition Bill, and the subsequent mass emmigration of citizens, which demonstrate whether many feel they are being reunited or abducted. With more than 113,000 residents emigrating from 2019 to 2022, according to government figures, the year-on-year drop between mid-2021 and mid-2022 was the largest percentage decline since records began in 1961.

Upon removing the analogy from the inflated language, instead of the sweet family reunion that the author wants readers to imagine, the piece reaches a rather sinister conclusion, as the writer implies Hong Kong’s submission to authoritarianism is inevitable. While it is true that China has been a victim of imperialism in the past and should pursue post-colonial discourse, it does not negate the role of China’s present violence.

“The child has lived abroad with a wealthy family, who used to look down on the poor, for a long time and has adapted different thinking and behaviour.” - Trinity Times, 2022

Aside from the reckless exploitation of propagandist narratives, unproven statements are delivered like facts

to diminish Hong Kong’s crisis of autonomy. The author defames a distinct and legitimate cultural identity, reducing it to nothing more than elitism and arrogance. Hong Kong’s culture is fundamentally different that of the mainland; under British rule, citizens experienced different ways of life which included greater freedom of speech and the press. This makes it difficult for Hong Kongers to imagine their lives under reunification. The city largely governs itself with its own currency, passport, and judicial systems, unlike typical Chinese cities in the country. Instead it is a territory of unique sovereign power.

The briefest research as to why some Hong Kongers are against reunification would lead to the concern of human rights. For many, Hong Kong’s independence day from colonial rule on July 1 is rarely a celebration among civilians; instead, it is a sombre moment of allyship to remember those who have fallen during the Tiananmen Square Massacre, the Uyghur genocide, or those in Taiwan who face missile threats. Now, under the National Security Law, the government has banned vigils for Tiananmen victims. Since the enactment of the 2020 law, prodemocracy newspapers have been forcibly shut down, protestors have been arrested, and new pro-Beijing curriculums have been implemented across multiple levels of education.

To present a political issue with severe implications for people of varying Sinophone backgrounds as simply familial conflict is not only lazy and neglectful; it demonstrates a fundamental lack of understanding towards the topic that the author tries to imply authority on. It spreads misinformation across campus, which could alter unsuspecting student readers’ political perceptions.

“A sibling rivalry between [Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong] could escalate into a fight, reopening the pain already fossilized in their bones. But it passes: the brothers have too much in common – “we both speak Cantonese, we both like making soup, and we both like drinking tea and eating dim sum” – and it is with their similarities does this bond, once strained, begin to flourish again.” -

Trinity Times, 2022

As pretty as the article’s prose may be, the article contains a conflation of the nation and the state—a rookie mistake that any political science student would have been brutally scolded for by their TA. It is undeniable that a large portion of Hong Kong culture derives from traditions passed down from their Chinese ancestors. For instance, the city does not skimp on Chinese New Year festivities, when citizens often travel to the mainland to visit relatives. But here is glaring question: does historical unity necessitate an eventual entire reunification? Because of the two territories’ deep historical ties, only one out of six Hong Kongers support independence after 2047. Simultaneously, distinct cultural identity under 180 years of separation means a low number supports reunification too, with a majority desiring the maintenance of ‘one country, two systems.’ Indeed, there is some truth to the statements that both territories “speak Cantonese,” “like making soup,” “drinking tea, and eating dim sum.” However, are dumplings really enough to justify the current human rights violations of the CCP government?

The author’s argument in highlighting the overlaps in language and culture, in combination with the mother-child analogy, all pertain to ethno-nationalist rhetoric and are similar to the Russian justification for its current invasion of Ukraine. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin asserts that Crimea is “primordial Russian land,” and constantly reiterates a narrative of historical unity of Ukraine and his country, implying

that Ukraine is an illegitimate state. It is, therefore, especially haunting—and ironic—that the Trinity Times would celebrate the liberation of a Ukrainian city from Russian forces on the same day.

With no statistics, historical evidence, or political reports used to support an opinion on a grave intergovernmental crisis, Trinity Times has published an article that violates multiple aspects of journalistic integrity. The piece pretends to navigate a dilemma of sovereignty and human rights based on propagandist rhetoric, childhood anecdotes, and imagined dialogues between anthropomorphic state actors.

It is truly ignorant to use a newspaper to implicitly advocate for a political crisis that has destroyed a city’s freedom of the press. The status of Hong Kong

is no petty family drama where compromises can be reached through a heart-to-heart conversation between “mother” and “son.” This is no opinion piece about a novel or film where an author can write purely from their own thoughts and feelings. To reduce the horrors of authoritarianism to either of those lighter topics is offensive, irresponsible, and dangerous to students at UofT who are not only from a background of Hong Kong but those with connections to Taiwan, Tibet, Xinjiang, and even those in mainland China facing oppression under the CCP regime. Canada has been a safe haven for Hong Kongers for decades; many civilians, including many at UofT, have had to experience the heartbreak of leaving their homes to seek a safer life in Canada. To leave all that you know behind and be confronted with a peer-written article that essentially advocates for the continued assault on your home can only be described as a distressing and enraging experience.

Indeed, freedom of speech and the press are vital to student life on campus, but unchecked journalism that lacks informed opinions endangers communities. It is therefore integral that papers follow procedures such as fact-checking and high standards of integrity throughout the writing process. Campus newspapers also need to be less afraid of publicly disagreeing with their peers and instead should utilize their platform to give voice to varying perspectives.

There are hundreds of codes covering journalistic ethics globally; while various guides may differ in their content’s detail, all that are reputable share common principles of truthfulness, accuracy, and fact-based communication.

Here, I would like to invite the Trinity Times to reflect on whether they have honoured these journalistic standards.

This piece has been shortened for print purposes—to read it in its entirety, go to https://thestrand.ca/opinions/.

ILUUSTRATION | SHELLEY YAO

The Strand’s 2023 resolutions

Our hopes, dreams, and aspirations for this year

“This year is all about healing and self-care for me. I’m trying to make more time for relaxing and for learning how to take better care of myself. I’m also trying to learn how to cook food that helps heal my body, and learning to cook Filipino foods that I love.” - Alyssa

“Enjoy my time being alive, be nicer to myself, read for fun and enjoyment” - Celena Ho, Staff Writer

“Classified” - Max

New year, new beginnings, new hopes and aspirations –that’s what the turn of a random-middle-year-that’s-apart-of-a-random decade means to us. 60 percent of our team thinks Twitter is going to see its demise, followed by BeReal at 20 percent. A middling 10 percent think Instagram and TikTok will be done by the end of 2023. We know you’ve set your fair share of expectations for what 2023 will hold and we have too! A whopping 38 percent of The Strand’s staff even believe that they will finish the school year off peacefully and relaxed! So, without further ado, allow us to share what we believe is written in the stars for 2023:

Do you set resolutions for the new year? Why or why not?

“Yes, they help me focus on what went well and what didn't with my last year.”- Mikaela Moore, Associate Arts and Culture Editor

“I usually set intentions rather than resolutions; they help me approach my specific goals with an overarching theme or mindset to guide me!” - Faith Wershba, Stranded Editor

“I always set resolutions for the new year. I like going into the new year with some kind of goal or vision for the future.” - Alyssa Fueerte,

Copyeditor

“Normally I do, but this year I'm winging it.”- Kieran Guimond, Science Editor

“More like for the new semester or season” - Max Lees, Co-News Editor

“Nah, I resolve to set resolutions before the winter break, because it’s hard to start working with them due to the busy work periods that happen often at the beginning of January.” - Adam Lam, Managing Web Editor

“Yes, I love feeling disappointed when they inevitably fall through.” - Roensa Salija, Senior Copy Editor

“No, because I will get lazy when I feel the pressure to do it.” - Rion Levy, Co-Editor-in-Chief

“I do, but I don’t write them down or record them! That way if I don’t complete them I can sow doubt and convince myself that I never made them in the first place.” - Sam Martin, Features Editor

If you answered yes, what are some of your resolutions?

“My resolution this year is to be a better advocate for myself and to speak up about things I need or want.”

- Mikaela

“My intention is to be more flexible and open to trying new things! I want to say yes to more opportunities for connection and growth this year by pushing myself beyond the comfort of familiarity.” - Faith

“To get eight hours of sleep every night” - Roensa

“Can’t say, I keep my resolutions close to my chest.”Sam

What campus-related activities are you most looking forward to doing this year?

“Spending rainy spring days at the Emmanuel college library”- Mikaela

“Trying every single drink at Caffiends”- Janna Abbas, Co-Editor-in-Chief

“Caffiends shifts w/ friends <3” - Kieran

“Visiting every single library on campus” - Celena

“Ordering the secret special at Northrop Frye McDonald’s” - Max

“Finding better ways to stay warm while walking between my classes” - Adam

“Attending the CINSSU’s Free Film Fridays” - Roensa

“Trying every single door to get into the Northrop Frye McDonald's” - Rion

Who do you think is gonna be your #1 most listened to artist this year?

“Manëskin or ABBA” - Mikaela

“Probably Alice Phoebe Lou or Peach Pit!” - Faith

“New Jeans (they’re #1 of the past 6 months so far)”Alyssa

“Fall Out Boy and Paramore are releasing new albums so…” - Kieran

“To no one's surprise, Taylor Swift” - Celena

“Probably Mild High Club (again)” - Max

“Selena Pérez” - Adam

“I am trying my best to have it be anyone but Taylor Swift.” - Janna

“Arctic Monkeys (again)” - Roensa

“Taylor Swift (there's no gun to my head)” - Rion

“Big Thief!” - Sam

What foods do you want Ned's to start serving this year?

“Anything, as long as it’s NOT pasta” - Janna “Ooo. maybe burritos….? Quesadillas???” - Faith

“Waffles, like the machine where you pour the cup and make it yourself” - Max

“Carribean food” - Adam

“Waffles” - Rion

“Iced coffee!!!!! Pls” - Sam

Which zodiac sign is going to give you the most trouble in 2023?

“I just know it’s gonna be Libras…” - Janna

“Virgo (as a Libra)” - Mikaela

“Idk astrology uhhh maybe the bull or the ram?? They seem aggressive.” - Faith

“Pisces - because my mom is a Pisces lol” - Alyssa

“Capricorn (I'm a Capricorn, I'm gonna give myself trouble)” - Kieran

“Rabbit (Lunar New Year zodiac)” - Adam

“Libra” - Rion

“Capricorn” - Sam

Give your future self a piece of advice!

“Live Laugh Love” - Mikaela

“Everything gonna be okay lil one <3 trust da process!” - Faith

“CHILL OUT - don’t take on so many responsibilities, you’re not superhuman, slow down!!!!” - Alyssa

“You're doing just fine” - Celena

“Keep practicing foreign languages, it has and will pay off and you will also sound super cool.” - Adam

“When boiling eggs, remember to put the eggs in the pot before boiling the water.” - Roensa

What is one thing you will do your best to prevent happening in 2023?

“The release of the dark, adult version of The Care Bears tv show by the CW” - Mikaela

“Self hate!!!!! All my homies gotta LOVE THEMSELVES this year, or else……” - Faith

“Hitting “TWEET” on my intrusive thoughts” - Alyssa

“I'm gonna solve climate change all by myself.” - Kieran

“I will not ruin my sleep schedule again because I was staying up late texting a boy–I will be going to bed promptly at 10pm, sorry!” - Celena

“Yellow Submarine being my top song a second time” - Max

“I WILL in fact be preventing the Toronto Maple Leafs from losing in round one again; it’s time to take matters into my OWN hands.” - Roensa

“Buying the tuna sandwich from Ned's” - Rion

PHOTO | THE STRAND

The Landmark Project: Geoexchange field and new beginnings UofT taking steps to create a more inviting and beautiful campus

Right now, King’s College Circle isn’t exactly picturesque. For a lot of students flowing to and from Gerstein and Convocation Hall, walking between fenced pathways and heavy machinery has simply become a part of our daily routines. Students can often be caught squeezing between chugging machines and fences. Whilst dodging around the mud crevices, many students are left wondering just what the construction is all for.

UofT’s Landmark Project promises to establish an inviting campus space for students to interact within, surrounded with a beautiful scenery of luscious trees and gardens, as well as new communal areas for a livelier campus experience. The main areas at the St. George campus which are undergoing intensive transformations include both the Front and Back campuses, the Sir Daniel Wilson Quadrangle, Hoskin Avenue, and the fields around Hart House and the Medical Sciences Building.

Most of the construction revolves around the addition of pathways and greenery. However, some areas like Convocation Hall will be undergoing a more rigorous transformation process. The current plan for the surroundings of the building includes the introduction of a new granite plaza, which will replace the current

asphalt grounds, and chairs that will allow for afterclass hangouts or large-scale events. According to the UofT’s Landmark Project site, “a stunning necklace of granite pathways” will stem from King’s College Circle, as well as around “20 new gardens” which will undoubtedly prove to become a new landmark at the heart of downtown Toronto.

The Hart House circle will also become a muchneeded refuge from the busy buzzing of student life. The designers are envisioning an open area of greenery and granite pathways, completely devoid of vehicles. The Hart House area involves a web of granite paths and patches of small gardens between the walking paths.

However, the most ambitious project is the geoexchange project located right beneath King’s College Circle. The developing abyss will grow to be 100 to 200 metres deep, housing the largest urban geoexchange system in Canada. The science behind the field was developed mainly by UofT’s late professor, Frank Hooper, who did work with ground-source heat pumps.

The field itself will have two main functions. First, it will modulate the temperature of existing buildings around the campus. Secondly, it will reduce the release

of greenhouse gas into our atmosphere by 15,000 tonnes per year. The geoexchange field ensures that the temperature of the ground and the interior of the buildings remain between 10 to 12°C by using fluidfilled pumps that capture and release heat. The source and storage of the heat is from the 370 boreholes, which are underground pockets of air that entrap excess heat created from mechanical systems. The field will be functional year-round, as it stores heat in the summer and releases it in the winter cyclically. The geothermal field will also act as both a garage and a subterranean classroom, where engineering students can see the inner workings of this ambitious mechanism firsthand.

Updates and other information on the Landmark Project can be tracked on their website. Thanks to the hard work of everyone on the construction site and behind the scenes, the heart of the UofT St. George campus will certainly become a sight to behold and a beautiful landscape for the memories that will be made on its grounds.

PHOTO | UOFT WEBSITE NICOLAS DEMERS

Vic's sp( oil )ed reputation

On Vic’s investments, student testimonies, and The Strand’s stance

sam rosati martin, Janna abbas, and rion levy FEATuRES EDITOR AnD EDITORS-In-ChIEF

On the evening of November 26, scores of Victoria College students flooded into the Cat’s Eye for Vic’s Fall Caucus, which gives students a chance to ask questions to the leaders of the college. For the first time in years, the President, Principal, Dean of Students, and Head Registrar were all in attendance. Students showed up in red t-shirts en masse, and there was a buzz in the air as members of VUSAC and other students prepared to ask questions and voice demands regarding Vic’s continued investment in fossil fuels. Students were especially concerned about Vic’s ownership of an oil well in Weyburn, Saskatchewan, a town where roughly 55% of homes have high levels of radon. Weyburn’s health region, Sun Country, has higher rates of cancer compared to the rest of province, likely due to its high amounts of radon pollution, which is the leading environmental cause of cancer and is released through oil and natural gas extraction. Vic’s oil well produces an estimated $200,000 in revenue as of 2001, according to the university. Given the prices of oil at the moment, the current figure is likely much higher. The bulk of the profit from the oil well funds the Vic One program.

After an impassioned and thoughtful land acknowledgement addressing the links between the university, settler colonialism, and fossil fuel extraction from VUSAC’s President, Sooyeon Lee, each administrator had the opportunity to make a short statement. Victoria University’s President, Rhonda McEwen, anticipated the caucus’ attention to divesting from fossil fuels and addressed the issue directly in her opening statement. She

expressed solidarity with the students and promised that she was on our side.

In an earlier interview with The Strand, President McEwen shared her commitment to divestment, stating that “It’s in all our interests as people on this planet to do everything we can…. my job is to work as closely as I can, to keep the pressure on.” In her interview, she noted the Board of Regents (BoR) is the real body that will be able to make divestment happen, claiming that “it’s a top priority for [them].” When asked for a comment for this piece, President McEwen affirmed that “These discussions [regarding divestment] are well under way with the Board of Regents and I believe that we should achieve some resolution this year.”

During caucus, President McEwen hinted at the current movement in the BoR to begin to transition from fossil fuel investment. However, she warned that Vic would need to free up funds in other places, as divestment heralds a loss of income for the college that might affect Vic’s ability to sustain their academic and extracurricular activities. While President McEwen vowed that Victoria University would divest from the oil well, she complicated the notion by hinting at processes in the BoR, central to running the college, that students are not privy to. However, this opacity regarding Victoria's investments is precisely the concern that many students came to the caucus to voice.

Student outrage about the oil well among caucus goers did not only stem from the operation of the well, but also, as Vic student, BoR member, and VUSAC councillor Zoë Lazaris explained to The Strand, Vic’s lack of financial transparency and accountability to its students. Lazaris says she recently brought the issue of Vic’s oil well to a BoR meeting only to be met with resistance. The BoR has prevented Lazaris from speaking

more about the BoR’s response to calls for divestment though she maintains that she has abided by BoR’s requirement of confidentiality. She told The Strand that she “initially wanted to give [The Strand] more context than what I wrote here, but when I

informed the BoR’s chair about it, I was called into a meeting about confidentiality…it does not seem like they want me to talk about this at the moment.”

However, Lazaris and Shane Joy, another BoR member, Vice-President External (VPE) of VUSAC and a member on the Victoria College Council and Vic’s Indigenous Advisory Circle, view this opacity as dangerous. Joy writes, “something that must be changed is the accessibility of information coming from the Board of Regents. The most important decision-making body at Victoria University is known by very few of its students.” Victoria College has the power to turn away from fossil fuels, and their hesitation to do so stands in stark contrast to the actions of the wider University.

President Meric Gertler’s 2021 commitment to divestment from fossil fuels by 2030 does not include UofT’s three federated colleges: Trinity College, University of St. Michael’s College, and Victoria University. Starting in 2018, Climate Justice UofT, a group formerly known as LeapUofT, has hosted a series of protests and student events supporting divestment, urging Victoria University to take swift action. These events paused during the pandemic, with the group citing the lack of oncampus student traffic and general student fatigue in light of the pandemic. Nevertheless, by the fall of 2022, the student BoR members collected over 300 signatures on the Divest Vic! Petition.

And yet, five percent of Vic’s $530 million endowment still comes from fossil fuels, an estimated 26.5 million divestable dollars. On March 9, 2022, the student members of the BoR held a special meeting on divestment, presenting Divestment at Vic to mixed reviews from committee members. While some displayed sympathetic remarks toward divestment, others were more hesitant. Even the consulting agency that manages Vic’s finances disagreed with the University’s considerations of divestment.

One of the major questions surrounding divestment at Vic is whether it will cause damage to the financial stability of the college.

Although at first glance full divestment from a $26.5 million portfolio may seem irreparably damaging, evidence suggests that financial portfolios that exclude socially-damaging companies do not tend to face persistent financial

penalties. In the long term, fossil fuels are actually poor economic investments. In fact, studies conducted by Deutsche Bank and Mercer conclude that portfolios that divest from and refuse to invest in socially-injurious investments see a more neutral or positive impact on their returns on investment compared to those that maintain or actively invest in sectors such as fossil fuels. But just because the Investment Committee views climate change as a financial risk does not mean that all of those on the BoR do; to others, climate change is merely an ethical risk the BoR needs to consider.

Nevertheless, the science is clear: there is no future where we simply adapt to climate change that will come from the current, business-as-usual approach. At COP27, António Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations, warned that “we are on a highway to climate hell with our foot on the accelerator.” The past eight years have been the warmest on record, according to a UN report, and there are no projections for this warming to slow down, given the state of fossil fuel consumption. By the end of the decade, the Earth’s surface is expected to heat up by 2.8 degrees Celsius—0.8 degrees higher than the 2015 Paris Agreement’s maximum cap—by the end of the decade. The agreement pledged to maintain global warming below 2.0 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels and preferably below 1.5 degrees Celsius. A study published in Nature found that to not surpass the 1.5 degree goal, an estimated “60 percent of oil and fossil methane gas, and 90 percent of coal must remain unextracted” by 2050. Moreover, “oil and gas production must decline globally by 3 percent each year until 2050.” Though, the researchers behind the study warned that they “probably present an underestimate of the production changes required” to stay below the 1.5 degree goal.

This feature came into existence after students involved with equity and sustainability groups here at Vic approached The Strand. Joy cowrote VUSAC’s Statement on Divestment. When asked how familiar he is with UofT’s plans for divestment, Shane states: “I read President Gertler’s ‘Letter to the Community’ when it was released in October 2021. Although a step in the right direction, it was certainly long overdue, having been pushed for by students for over 7 years by the time of the letter’s publishing.” When it comes to Victoria University specifically, Joy says that he “only became privy to the details of whether [Vic] had made progress on [the] divestment front following [his] election to the Board of Regents in April 2022.”

When The Strand asked VUSAC’s Sustainability Commissioner, Amy Mann, the same question she told us: “I am quite familiar with UofT’s divestment plan… [as] a lot of my work [with Climate Justice UofT] has been around ensuring UofT is accountable to [its divestment] plan and critiquing it where it is warranted.”

Lazaris also co-authored the Vic Divestment Timeline (2018-2022). She shed some light on the work that student representatives on the BoR try to do, stating: “Last year, the other student representatives on the BoR and I advocated for Vic to divest their endowment from fossil fuels…We tried to use UofT’s [divestment] plan to urge Vic to do the same, and we made considerable progress.”

Regarding UofT’s divestment plan, Lazaris adds: “Climate Justice UofT pointed out a number of areas for improvement in a statement [made] last year, such as concern with how long the timeline is.”

We were curious to know these students’ reactions upon finding out about Vic’s ownership and operation of the oil well, as this is a fact that a lot of students do not seem to know about, especially those who are not involved with VUSAC or other equity and sustainability groups. Joy told us: “This [fact] came as quite a surprise to me, as I did not expect the college with which I chose to affiliate, and which has committed to and prides

itself on supporting Indigenous communities, would contribute in such a way to the development of industries which disproportionately negatively impact them.” Similarly, Mann explains: “I have heard rumours about Vic owning an oil [well] since I was elected Sustainability Commissioner last April. However, the idea that Vic would be directly perpetrating the very extractive actions that are jeopardising the lives of its students seemed crazy and conspiratorial. I only learned a few weeks ago that it is in fact true.”

The consensus within the Vic community is clear: Vic needs to divest and it needs to do so sooner rather than later. “The refusal to divest marks a major reversal of the progressive stance Vic has been praised for,” Joy explains. Similarly, Mann believes that “Divestment is an important step towards stigmatising and disempowering fossil fuel companies. It’s the least we can ask of an institution that claims to be a climate leader.” Still not convinced that divestment is necessary? Well, as Lazaris puts it: “Right now, students at Victoria College are attending an institution that, at the same time as educating them, is funding the destruction of their homes, extracting oil on stolen land, and fueling a crisis that is already causing [the] displacement and death of those that live in particularly vulnerable areas.”

There remains the question of what should be done with the oil well should Vic decide to divest. Naturally, there will be many factors to consider when coming up with a solution, but we wanted to get other students’ opinions on the matter. Lazaris explains: “Given [the evidence surrounding climate change], I believe that Victoria College should decommission the oil [well]”; Mann also believes that the well should be decommissioned.

While many students at Vic are passionate about sustainability and want to take part in encouraging Vic’s divestment, it can be hard to think of actionable things that students can do to make a difference. When asked for suggestions, Joy stated that students can sign “the Divest Vic! Petition, follow VUSAC and Climate Justice UofT on their social media pages to keep up with their organising and advocacy efforts, and attend VUSAC meetings to continue discussions with council and other students about the best paths forward.”

Mann adds that students “can also join the VUSAC Sustainability Commission, [which] does advocacy work at Vic,” and Lazaris emphasises: “Talk about this stuff! The people with more power than us at Vic care when we talk about these things. They care about Vic’s reputation as a progressive college.”

The message is clear: Victoria University knows the harm that its endowment portfolio causes. The refusal to discuss the portfolio with students is evidence of its elusiveness. As an institution that prides itself on its progressiveness, inclusion, and intellectual prowess, there’s no doubt that it is aware of the climate catastrophe and yet, by not divesting, it contributes to environmental collapse. Vic cares about its reputation, so it minimises and deflects from conversations about its involvement with fossil fuels. And yet, Vic has yet to make the impact that would ultimately solidify the identity they choose to advertise through radical divestment. The Strand calls upon the institution to divest from fossil fuels, involve student leaders in policy decisions regarding the climate, and promote greater transparency between the BoR and students. They must do this to prove that they care about the future of not only their student body but also of our planet.

With files from Michael Elsaesser.

Climate change at the movies

What Avatar: The Way of Water Tells Us About Our Planet

The story that you remember probably goes something like this: Two lovers embark on a journey of parenthood and go to unmeasurable lengths to keep their loved ones safe. It highlights the beauty in inseparable bonds that creates a family—and the very reason as to why we choose to protect, sacrifice, and fight for the things we love.

intentions are different in Pandora—people enact the mass destruction of ecosystems and commodify species mercilessly.

As of now, the world has already lost one third of its forests, and in January 2023 alone, over a million hectares of forests have been burned and cut down. Species go extinct on a regular basis, and although it is a part of our natural world, an average of 137 of them go extinct per day due to human behaviour. Coastal cities like Miami and Jakarta are sinking—we won’t only lose the land but also the remnants of their culture and history. And speaking of water, our notorious fishing industry manages to make an appearance in the film, to show the interminable urge to commodify everything and to chase luxury, even if it means to completely disregard our ethical or moral values.

If you are anything like me, you have probably been seeing threads of Jake Sully edits on your For You Page lately. Avatar: The Way of Water, whether it is through your TikTok algorithm, or merely the fact that it is a creative cinematic original, has found its way to relentlessly remind you of its story.

But there’s more to this story than just romance. As ironic as it may seem coming from a science fiction film, the story of Avatar: The Way of Water is actually multifaceted with several allusions to the reality of our own planet—and the eerily similar battles that we face on Earth. The film blanatntly depicts the persistent nature of human greed, with its scope being so large that we try to conquer a whole new world called Pandora. There’s really no argument that denies this as a foreshadowed consequence of our future reality. We have Elon Musk and a slowly expiring planet, right? Nothing of our greed or

Silicon dogs of war

Predictions about the military future of machine learning

Jevan Konyar STAFF WRITER

The second half of 2022 was dominated by breakthroughs in machine learning (ML) that, among other things, facilitated systems to produce both visual and written art. In light of this, questions abound concerning the potential military applications of this technology. As the United States Department of Defense (DoD) will have allocated $874 million towards research into artificial intelligence (AI) between last fall and this coming October, there is no shortage of interest from the defence industry, and, commentators say, no shortage of unique paths that development of this technology could take.

To speculate about where military-funded ML systems may go from here, it is important to understand how DoDsponsored research in this field works. While in-house and university-based research are still very prominent, much of the DoD’s recent investments in ML and AI research have been directed towards private companies that occupy a niche between Silicon Valley and traditional defence contractors. Some of these companies are valued at over $1 billion, with some of the youngest companies as less than half a decade old. This group contains companies such as Andruil, Shield AI, and Rebellion Defense, the latter of which Eric Schmidt— former Google CEO—was previously involved.

The dedicated $874 million, which primarily comes from the $2.3 billion that the Pentagon spends on science and technology research, is managed by the DoD’s Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC), founded in 2018. The JAIC usually funnels resources into research projects aimed at improving a general understanding of broad scientific theories that might later lead to practical developments.

Currently, there appear to be two overarching goals and capabilities the DoD is investing in through ‘SHARPE’ cohort companies, that being an initialism for six major startups, including: Shield AI, HawkEye360, Andruil, Rebellion Defense, Palantir, and Epirus. One of these goals is the development of ML-based systems to improve operational knowledge that would aid in strategic tasks carried out by humans; however some have suggested that a totally autonomous strategic AI might be possible in the near-

future. Another function that has garnered DoD attention is autonomous weaponized vehicles, primarily airborne drones.

Rebellion’s flagship product, Nova, and its older counterpart, Iris, both fall into the former camp, with Nova offering “adversary emulation” that would allow for more robust planning of military operations. Iris appears to be an AI-enabled system for analysis of big-data that would prove useful in a military context, serving much the same strategic end as its counterpart. HawkEye360, founded in 2015, is similar in that it provides a satellite surveillance service that may, going forward, be aided by an ML system.

Anduril’s Lattice OS also falls into the first camp, being a technology designed to detect and highlight objects of interest within a given area. While more ‘boots on the ground’ than its counterparts, Rebellion or HawkEye360, it is still, at its core, a military technology company that hopes to utilise ML in the collection and analysis of data. Palantir focuses more on centralising software platforms, according to its website.

Falling into the second DoD goal of airborne technology, Shield AI is invested in the development of autonomous militarised drones, employing an AI pilot ominously titled Hivemind. The prospect of automated militarised robots powered by AI has come under far more scrutiny as of late than data management systems designed for strategic use. Part of the anxiety surrounding tech like this is its potential application in a domestic setting, a fear legitimised by experiments carried out by the New York Police Department formerly leasing a dog-like robot name Spot from Boston Dynamics, another robot corporation, to conduct searches and aid in hostage situations.

While public backlash has rarely deterred the militaryindustrial complex, it is likely that it will compound a preexisting aversion to autonomous militarised robots, for a

Perhaps this is another perspective of the story you should remember. This movie stands as the sixth highest grossing movie of all time. We are at a point at which we bat an eye to the attrition of our planet, which is happening as we speak. For the sake of our planet’s future, I encourage you to let Avatar: The Way of Water remind you of how beautiful our world is—just as much as Pandora. Different cultures and species find significant solace in nature, and our planet is a home we must also fight to protect.

number of reasons: the potential for misuse by enemy forces, the potential for development in this area to lead to a total waste of resources with little to show for it, and a general lack of incentive to name a few. With cheap, unmanned technologies like drones already commonplace and ready to replace human operators, it is most likely that there is little impetus for the military to invest in products like that offered by Shield AI.

ML-enabled strategic management systems capable of interpreting big data are already receiving significant

attention from the defence community as they seem to be a key technology in global ongoing arms races. It appears that, already, the United States Air Force is working towards the realisation of autonomous ML programs to solve complex problems. It is noteworthy that most ‘SHARPE’ companies are dedicated to development in this area, not autonomous weaponized vehicles.

Regardless of its possible employment in future conflicts, investment in machine learning from the defence sector is likely to open the floodgates for developments in the consumer market.

PHOTO | yuna lee ASSOCIATE SCIEnCE EDITOR

PHOTO | 20TH CENTURY STUDIOS OFFICIAL

ILLUSTRATION | CHELSEY WANG

This is what space sounds like Strand readers X alien music

Planet Plantasia Intergalactic Battle of the Bands Set

List:

Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On) - Talking Heads

Plantasia - Mort Garson

Rocketman - Elton John

Space Girl - Frances Forever

Designed to Kill - James Chance and The Contortions

Girlfriend Is Better - Talking Heads

Starman - David Bowie

Dream Sweet in Sea Major - Miracle Musical

Everything in Its Right Place - Radiohead

Act IV: Spaceship - Philip Glass Ensemble

It is a very cold day on the Victoria College campus when you (the average The Strand reader) first discover the alien ship. You are running to Caffiends to see if you can get a lavender London fog and still make it to class in your ten minute gap, when suddenly, a strange, green humanoid in bedazzled blue bell bottoms jumps out at you from behind the Northrop Frye statue!

They're seemingly screaming at you in a language that you can't understand (play song one). Due to the look of extreme confusion on your face, they suddenly hold up a single finger with a suction cup on the end and adjust a dial on their vintage space suit vest. Their universal translator activates with a white flash and they explain that they are part of a race of aliens from the planet Plantasia (song two), and they were travelling across the galaxy in their flying saucer on their way to enter in an intergalactic battle of the bands. Unfortunately, they had to pull over for a rest stop and a snackie because their drummer is experiencing extreme warp speed sickness! They tell you they won't be able to compete now unless they can find another drummer to stand in. Hey… you can play Plantasian drums right?

Before you know it, you're rocketing off from the Vic quad (song three), watching the Pratt library grow smaller and smaller… (Woah! Robarts actually does look like a turkey!) You feel strangely nostalgic for the short story writing class that you'll be missing and hope your professor will forgive you. Maybe if you become an award-winning Milky Way drummer, it won't matter. The rest of the aliens strike up a song to rehearse (song four). Hope you're good at sight-reading sheet music with symbols you've never seen before!

Finally the rocket ship pulls up to a planet that looks like David Bowie and Coachella threw up on it. Aliens covered in feathers, sequins, and grease paint surround you with instruments that look like a series of twisted tubes and strings glitter glued together. All kinds of music in different genres you've never heard before waft towards you from every corner of this outlandish music festival (song five).

Finally, the competition starts—and guess what? You're up next! Better get those drumsticks under control. Why are alien drumsticks sentient and squirmy anyways? Your bandmates play some music on a vintage green iPod nano to hype you guys up (song six). They tell you they found it attached to a small robot on Mars.

You get up on stage with your slightly ill-fitting pink shag jacket and orange, shiny moon boots (you're told they're authentic) and you play your heart out better than you've ever played before (song seven). Even though you, in fact, have never played before.

After your set, the rest of the bands play a flurry of music that sounds so good you swear for a second you're floating (song eight)—could be the lack of gravity on this planet though…

The time has come and the judges eye all the

A letter to my fourth year self

saKura armstrong EDITORIAl ASSISTAnT

Dear Sakura,

When we went to the shrine for New Year’s around two weeks ago, Mommy told us that our Yakudoshi is coming up. According to traditional Japanese beliefs, there are three unlucky ages in every person's lifetime called Yakudoshi. For us, the ages are 19, 33, and 37. The years surrounding those ages aren’t safe either; advice warns us to only make careful changes and to visit the shrine for special ceremonies during the years before and after. This means three years of our university experience should be spent making good

PHOTOS | SAKURA ARMSTRONG

decisions. Mommy said that she thinks it starts at 19 because in the past, 19 was around the age when women would get married and have kids (hence, a fluctuating, unlucky year) and God knows we are (hopefully) not about to start popping out children. So now we have an Omamori (Japanese good luck charm) in our bag at all times, protecting us from bad luck, marriage, and babies. Just kidding. The charm we got this year is dedicated to happiness and it’s a small pink heartshaped silk pouch, tied to the inside zipper of that tote bag an Etsy seller scammed us on. Very joyful indeed.

In four years we will finally be past our unlucky years and entering a new time of change, though just thinking of future jobs or college majors sends us into a spiral now. It’s scary imagining ourselves in four years.

bands up and down. A purple round blob that looks like your great aunt's old carpet stands up and proudly announces something you don't understand! But it doesn't matter, everyone around you bursts into buzzes, toots, humming noises, and shouts. Your bandmate turns on his universal translator to tell you that you've won first place! (Song nine)

You're filled with immense joy but also some sadness because you know the next stop will be home. You pack up your fancy, spangled outfit and signal to your new friends that you're ready for take off (song ten).

You'll always remember your new friends and your exciting adventure. The ten foot bedazzled nano tech statue of you that your new mega fans constructed won't let you forget.

Not just because of big life changes—though maybe the lack thereof would somehow be worse—but because everytime we look back at old pictures of ourself, we die a little inside at how we dressed and acted. Does that disgust with our past self ever end? Maybe this time we can be proud of the current us. This isn’t to say there aren’t perks to growing up, though. I think the best part of getting older is realizing that you can just do a lot of the things that you once thought were cool. Not having to ask permission before buying or doing things is, so far, the best gift of age.

So, by the time this letter is for you, we will be 21 going on 22. There are all the generic questions that I’m obviously curious about, like my love life, friends, family, etc. But those big things are easier to keep track of. When we look back on the past, we’ve always been shocked by how little we remember; the main way that we remember events from four years ago is through the diary we’d written in all of freshman and sophomore year. That’s why one of our resolutions is to start journaling again. It's nice to reminisce and laugh at petty dramas we’d forgotten about. You should look back on this year with that same sense of humour and I hope you love the life you’ve created for me, even through our unlucky years.

Love, Sakura

arts and culture team

ILLUSTRATION | SHELLEY YAO

The future of literature

The printed page's enduring appeal

safiyyah hoda COnTRIbuTOR

There’s nothing quite like print: the feeling of a newspaper in your hands, the sound pages that make as you flip them over, the scent of the paper, or of the binding of a new novel. All of these contribute to an experience that truly can’t be replicated by anything else. But faced with the modern world, what is the future of print? The answer to this question is more complicated than one might think.

Technologies have rapidly developed throughout the past couple of decades, and with this continuous growth comes inevitable change. One of the most prominent innovations has been the digitization of literature that used to be exclusively printed. Unlike physical materials, virtual access to books, magazines, and newspapers is just a few clicks away, and the popularity of this virtual convenience has only skyrocketed. The appeal is understandable; after all, why would one want to go through the hassle of leaving home to purchase a physical copy of a book when a digital version can be procured in seconds, and for a fraction of the cost? This ease, compounded by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic preventing frequent visits to libraries, bookstores, or newspaper distribution areas, has taken a massive toll on printed media in the past few years. According to Statistics Canada, the revenue of newspaper publishers in Canada went down a whopping 21.9 percent from 2018 to 2020, and the trend has only grown since.

Given the above evidence, it’s clear that printed media is on a decline. However, will it ever truly die? From established publishers to average people, most people have reached a consensus: a resounding 'no.' One of the most prevalent responses is the tangible and intimate experience that simply cannot be replicable with digital media. Holding a physical newspaper or magazine allows readers to engage with content distraction-free and more immersively rather than reading from an ad-filled, battery-powered screen. This can be a refreshing step away from using phones or computers to consume media. In addition, according to Norwegian SciTech News, it is easier for some people to read content in print form, especially those who may have difficulty reading from a screen due to visual impairments.

Another reason for print media’s continuation is the better absorption of information and details that comes with reading a physical text. The National Taiwan Normal University conducted a study where 50 participants were split into digital and print reading groups, made to read a six-page article, and were tested afterward on their reading comprehension. Upon completion, the study found that participants who read print copies of the material retained the information significantly better than the ones who read the material digitally. The eye movement and reading of the text from participants who read print copies were also more deliberate and meticulous than the digital readers, which is believed to have led to their higher reading comprehension. This experiment shows that not

only is print easier to read, it’s also better for true retention of material, which enhances reading experience for both leisure and research. The novel appeal, better readability, and superior retention of information from print are not lost on people. According to studies by Statista, around 650 million physical books are sold every year, and over 75 percent of people prefer paper reading materials over digital ones.

Finally, print media in the form of newspapers and magazines is more likely to have a strong sense of identity and community associated with it that is difficult to replicate online, in my opinion. For example, physical newspapers are moreoften associated with a particular geographic region or community, such as Toronto Star or Loudoun Times-Mirror, and readers feel a sense of connection to that community through the paper, based on my observations.

While the rise of digital media has had a significant impact on the print media industry, it has not been able to stop it entirely, and likely never will. The reasons why people continue to read and enjoy print media are endless. As long as digital technology isn’t able to truly replicate that experience, print media will continue to have a significant place in our society.

PHOTO | SARAH WANG

Why is art a recurrent motif across time and space?

In our past, present and future society

For as long as I can remember, I have been drawn to art and beauty, aesthetic eye-candy of any sort. My mom would tell me that I had an eye for choosing the right outfits. I remember, in third grade, one of my classic looks was black yoga pants matched with a white long sleeve top and a pendant. Over the years my love for aesthetics has flourished into enjoying art. I remember wanting to stay inside to draw instead of going out to recess. I remember the chills I would feel hearing the harmony of a choir. I remember the fascination I felt seeing art on Pinterest. As I’ve grown up, this affinity for beauty has stuck and has become part of who I am. During long periods of free time like summer break, I have always felt as if the paint, the paintbrushes, and pencils are alive, tugging me back to them. It was not until recently that I really began to question why I am drawn to these sorts of things and what it all means.

For example, why am I so mad at someone for placing a pack of ketchup on a beautifully arranged dinner table? Why does a good outfit mean so much more to me than just clothes? I have always felt a larger than life connection to beauty and art. I’ve only recently started developing ideas and thinking about scientific explanations to explain this pull. Most importantly, I felt the need to write and reflect on this because I think it is so common to see art as expendable and shallow but the more I think about it, the more I feel as though there is a deep, biological reason as to why art is integral to society.

In the field of cognitive science, there’s the theory of enactivism, which is the idea that living organisms are governed by their environment and continued existence,

or autopoiesis. The latter means that human cognition is derived from a creature’s need for reproduction and the self-maintenance and self-sustenance that ensure that. In this view, the very act of living constantly counteracts the possibility for destruction and chaos. This theory, I guess, is what made me think of the first reason that we are drawn to art and beauty. I think enactivism tells us that there is a biological reason as to why we are drawn to beauty and art. Beauty and art are the direct opposites of death because they require so much energy, effort and attention to be created. There’s a saying that goes “art is the antidote to death.” American visual artist Sherry Rabinowitz writes that “artists need to create on the same scale that society has the capacity to destroy.” I think this means that, because we autopoetic creatures innately want to avoid death, we are attracted to the light, that being art, beauty, etc. I want to highlight that, in all of this, there seems to be an indication that beauty is not surface-level but deeply and biologically rooted in our need for survival.

The second reason that art goes so much deeper than just its surface has to do with the fact that it acts as a connection to a higher source. This idea is well articulated in The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, where she writes “And isn’t the whole point of things—beautiful things—that they connect you to some larger beauty?” The novel continues, “It's not about outward appearances but inward significance. A grandeur in the world but not of the world, a grandeur that the world doesn’t understand. That first glimpse of pure otherness, in whose presence you bloom out and out and out.” I find these passages so interesting because they articulate the way that art is not just art, but a vehicle connecting us to something bigger. Tartt writes, “The painting was the secret that raised me above the surface of life and enabled me to know who I am. And it’s there: in my notebooks, every page, even though it’s not.

Dream and magic, magic and delirium. The unified field theory. A secret about a secret.” This was an important book for me because it made the gears in my head start turning and really think about what art means to me and question our affinity towards it. Prior to reading this book, I had never heard the significance of art articulated. My biggest takeaway from what Tartt writes is that art and beauty act as a portal for connection to source.

Across vastly different time periods and cultures, we see art playing a common, recurrent theme in society. For example, the Medieval Dark Ages ended with sparks of re-inspiration to push the limits of human knowledge and innovation. And, along with this, a big part of the Renaissance was the rebirth of art—the Sistine Chapel ceilings, the Vitruvian man, and the Mona Lisa all being created as a result of Renaissance man Michelangelo’s dedication to pushing the limits. I think that a big part of this pursuit for more knowledge, innovation, etc. was a belief in something larger, that people could evolve to be better. In the same way, I think that art acts as a physical symbol that stands for some higher power. The beauty in the art is that it is a connection to this source of energy. I guess some people may call this source God but really what it boils down to is, I think, that beauty acts as energy which is magnetic to us autopoetic creatures and is what keeps us coming back to art. We face the ever-looming threats of a climate crisis and artificial intelligence to our future society, and while art may not provide direct answers, it may act as a unifying tool to ground society when facing these impending problems.

ILLUSTRATION | SHELLEY YAO

Cityscapes

maX lees CO-nEWS EDITOR

The heartland howls to June bugs’ cries –metallic giants, they chirp and crawl through mazes of boxes that grow straight up from ground that bears the nests of stone.

Below, the millipede rushes to work, it skids to a stop and opens its mouths for clouds of prey that billow and flow, rushing in-out, again and again.

But at night, when the krill face away from the sun, their feet locked in, their eyes falling up, you may catch a glimpse of a skip or a hop, an echo of laughter, a swift exchange –

Guided by fireflies standing still, dreamers walk at their signal –electric

La Lucila

rion levy CO-EDITOR-In-ChIEF

Crossing the border between one quintana and the next

We move from the wild to the obscene

Of private wetlands and forestry, mortar and concrete

Up against the golden River of Silver shoreline, a breathing carcinogen

It funnels the borderland between our place and the sun.

There's a Starbucks now, north of the railway line

Where los Americanos live. Next door to

The disenfranchised burnt-down burgería.

I remember our night-enduring marches there, All 400 meters of them. This was agony

In Martinez live the dogs, San Isidro, the birds, in La Lucila, gasoline, lavender, bananas.

The condors would eat it up, virgin feral creatures. They just want to play.

The artist's tree in the foyer has since died.

Alguien forgot to water it.

It was either that or the class goldfish.

ILLUSTRATION | JENNIFER FONG LI

ILLUSTRATION | JENNIFER FONG LI

The cryptics of cryptocurrency

Don't get crypto? Don't worry, nobody does!

adriana goraieb STAFF WRITER

So, there’s a guy at the table next to you discussing the future of crypto, and NFTs, and ETAs, and NBDs, and HBDs, and whatnot. You’re frustrated because you don’t understand a word he’s saying. You don’t want to ask him out of fear that he will: a) mansplain to you, b) bring forth the wrath of the A*drew T*te fandom, or c) actually explain it to you—with a truly futile effort because you can’t wrap your head around how people are *supposedly* making millions by trading, what… laptop pixels?? Fret not, my dear, normal friend. Here is a quick guide to understanding the world of crypto and NFTs.

Let’s begin by breaking down the word cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency = crypto + currency. Currency = money, moola, the green, you name it. Easy, right? Now, crypto. According to the dictionary on my MacBook, crypto is “short for cryptography.” Duh. Hope this clears that part up for you!

Next, you may ask, how do I buy cryptocurrency? Great question, indeed! I will respond to your question with another, more profound one: how does one buy anything? The

market, of course! Just ~the market~. So, just go to the crypto market and buy some! Simple.

Thirdly, what do you do with crypto? Obviously, you buy it, then you sell it, then you buy some more, then you question the meaning of everything you’re doing, then you show your little cryptocoins (is that what they call them??) to your little crypto buddies for some bonus points and a fruit-scented sticker for doing good crypto work, and then you lose some, win some, cry a little, eat, pray, love, repeat. That’s what I think happens, tbh.

Lastly, you might wonder, “Will I become rich from crypto?” Well, does a baby pig rub sunscreen on its back as the cat plays guitar in the hay? Yeah, me neither.

Listen, just gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss! Someone asks if you trade crypto? Ask them incredulously if you look like the kind of person who wouldn’t be trading crypto. Stupid question. Next. Your neighbour wonders where you bought your bitcoin? At the bitcoin thrift shop, duh. Location? Dunno. Your finance friends want to know how much crypto you’re making? Yes, you say. Yes

Now, on the other hand, some people

2023 Ins and Outs

From UofT’s self-declared trend forecaster

IN: CD Collecting

may be experimenting with NFTs: non-fungible tokens. Now, as a biology student, I perceived the word ‘fungible’ to designate some sort of fungus. But, to my knowledge, NFTs are nothing like yeast infections. I don’t think so, at least. And by ‘token,’ I don’t think they mean those things you present at amusement parks. I’m just clearing the air here, in case you were confused. Let’s get into NFTs now.

I think what you do is you sell a really, um, artistic work of art (?) like a monkey wearing glasses or something that would catch a 13-yearold boy’s attention in 2015, and then sell it for a value equivalent to Jeff Bezos’ net worth. Someone on the NFT market will definitely buy it, don’t worry. And then when you want to buy things in stores or on Amazon, you just show them that you’re an NFT bro and they’ll sell you everything. Of course, of course you’ll be rich. Guaranteed, 100% cashback, no returns—all legit, cold, hard, cash.

I hope this piece has helped you feel educated about the cash of the future! Drop a lil' comment down below about your next crypto adventure. And if you ever really do find out what NFTs are, let me know! Because THAT is the true Agatha Christie mystery of our time.

Yes, she’s a first-year undergraduate student from the Midwest whose music taste is still stuck in 2014, but she's also UofT’s self-declared trend forecaster. This is Audrey Lai’s official and definitive list of what’s hip and cool in 2023 and what’s not.

IN: Watching Family Guy unironically

It starts innocently, with a single clip of Stewie Griffin’s devious antics stitched to a video of Subway Surfers gameplay on your TikTok ‘For You’ page. It ends with watching Season 19, Episode 15: “Customer of the Week” during movie night (which is a fantastic episode, by the way). You tell yourself it’s ironic, but you catch yourself more than slightly amused at Quagmire’s ‘giggitys’ and even shedding a tear watching an edit of Lois Griffin set to a Lana Del Rey song. Admitting that Family Guy is funny is just the tip of the iceberg: I will be binging all 21 seasons and counting this year.

OUT: Checking Quercus

Why let the “Submission Posted” notification on Canvas make you scream, cry, and throw up? Turn those bad boy notifications off and enjoy your academic year. Why should I care that the so-called final paper “deadline” is “tomorrow”? Ignorance truly is bliss—until you have to “apply to an internship” or “go to grad school” or “get a job,” whatever that means.

If you think I’m paying $39.99 for a vinyl, you are out of your mind. I don’t care that the “sound quality” is better; you and I both know that whenever someone asks me a short, simple question I yell “WHAT?” two to three times until I get embarrassed and then just nod excessively like a bobblehead in a car going 80 mph.

OUT: TikToks tricking relatives into thinking their favourite celebrities are dead

This trend was all fun and games until I imagined my future grandchild shoving an iPhone 42 in my face reading, “Taylor Swift dead at 89” and then hysterically laughing when I fall to the floor in distress. Not so funny now, is it?

IN: Panera Charged Lemonade

Who needs sleep when you can down 260mg of caffeine in one regular-sized cup? I can just feel my needs bar going up, like in the hit life-simulation video game The Sims (my Sims addiction might be the cause of my lack of sleep, but that’s besides the point).

OUT: In-N-Out

I’ve actually never been to In-N-Out, but West Coasters always rub it in our faces like it’s all that. Jealous?! I’m not jealous. Does In-N-Out have a Coke Freestyle soda

machine like Five Guys does? No? I didn’t think so. Next time you find a Coke Zero Raspberry anywhere on the West Coast, let me know, because until then, I’m not stepping foot into an In-N-Out out of sheer principle.

IN: Addison Rae

Hear me out. Drop whatever you’re doing, open YouTube right now, and listen to her unreleased song “Nothing On But the Radio.” Her 2022 red carpet looks and Paris Hilton-esque street style prove she’s an “It Girl” in the making and that her TikTok dance career will be considered high camp in a matter of months.

OUT: Ins and Outs Lists

This is the last acceptable one. All other Ins and Outs lists are boring, lame, and OUT.

audrey lai COnTRIbuTER

Seven totally achievable resolutions to kick off 2023

Trade in those old, stereotypical New Year's resolutions and try these instead!

hannah Katherine COnTRIbuTER

Ringing in the new year comes with the satisfaction of a fresh start. It offers a chance to recentre yourself, regain focus, and chase your dreams. For some, New Year’s is a time for self-improvement or personal growth. Resolutions to exercise, eat healthier, and find a good work-life balance, for example, have been around for decades.

Those resolutions are all fine and dandy, but a little… boring. Trade in those dusty old pledges with these unique New Year's resolutions! With these adventurous goals, your 2023 is guaranteed to be action-packed and truly unforgettable.

1. Assemble an army of squirrels to overthrow the forces of evil in this world.

Squirrels are the most under-recognized superheroes of our time. They can run quickly, climb trees, jump great lengths, and still land in a super cool pose. Under the disguise of their cuteness, no evil will ever see them coming.

2. Befriend a unicorn and enjoy a nice spaghetti and veggie-ball dinner. Unicorns may be hard to come by, but that does not mean they do not exist. After all, they are the national animal of Scotland for a reason! After you find your unicorn, treat them to dinner. Being

mindful of a unicorn's vegetarian diet, I believe a spaghetti and veggie-ball meal will set the proper foundation for a long-lasting friendship.

3. Invent a machine that can transport you into any fictional world you love!

Do you want to tilt at windmills with Don Quixote and Rocinante, or bring a monster to life with Dr. Frankenstein? With this machine (patent pending), you can indulge in any fictional world or activity that your heart desires.

4. Create a new word for the dictionary. Invent a new word, like Tacoatoes, and use it among your friends, peers, and coworkers as if it has already existed for ages. Watch as it catches on, and soon everyone will begin to use it in casual conversation. Who knows, maybe it will end up in the dictionary?

P.S. Tacoatoes are tacos in which the hard shell has been replaced with a baked potato.

5. Bring a snowman to life and create the most epic snowball fight in human history. First, perfect the art of making snowmen with your Snow Animation Serum (also patent pending), which not only helps build snowmen with record speed, but brings them to life! Then, call upon your worst enemy: that TA who gave you a hard time, or the barista who purposely got your mildly complex

latte order wrong. With your lively snowman army, they will never know what hit them.

6. Start the latest and greatest must-have fashion trend: fuzzy bunny slippers.

Thousands of fads and new styles come and go throughout the year. Stand apart from the crowd with fuzzy, hopping bunny slippers. These are not your standard bunny slippers. These cuties come equipped with springs allowing you to effortlessly hop your way to class in style.*

*It is not advised to bounce in areas with ceiling heights under four metres. Please bounce responsibly.

7. Regain the honour of all dogs by training them to do your homework.

Remember that old excuse, “My dog ate my homework?” Well, isn’t that a little unfair to all the furry friends that have never committed such a heinous crime against academia? By training your pet to write your essays and answer your calculus equations, these underdogs of education will prove that they too can excel in any field they desire.

Hopefully, this list inspires you to hop out of your comfort zone and have an adventurous 2023!