Fighting for a better age STRANDED | PAGE 15
If this is the end, I’m signing off ARTS AND CULTURE | PAGE 12
Removal of the UTSC Muslim Chaplain, Omar Patel
e Strand: How would you explain the position of CAO and bursar?
Ken Chan: Historically, the bursar was the university’s senior nancial leader. Today, that's been expanded to include areas such as information technology, facilities management, capital projects, and ancillary services. e modern title added to the role of bursar is that of Chief Administrative O cer. So it's an exciting role because you get to be part of di erent projects and operations.
As you settle into this new role, what have been your rst steps?
I think I'll share with you what I said during my interview, and the focus is really on people. In my rst few weeks, I spent a lot of time meeting with people. Not only people who are within the bursar’s area but also across the university campus. I met VUSAC members as well as faculty. e second piece is processes. Di erent places have di erent ways of doing things, so getting a better handle on the processes in how we operate our facilities and nances. e third piece is our policies as they guide our work. e fourth piece is planning for the future. ere are exciting projects coming up. We are now in the early stages of making the best use of the second oor of the Goldring Student Centre. We have the original architects on board, Moriyama Teshima Architects, and we've come up with ideas that incorporate feedback from students. We're turning unused footprints into spaces that academic advisors and counsellors can use when meeting students. We’re putting in comfortable seating for students to socialise and study. Another project is to revitalise the Birge-Carnegie building. We’d like to turn that into a place for students as well, so more places to study and socialise. We’re also looking at a state-of-theart classroom there. ere’ll be open workstations and o ces, smaller meeting rooms, and booths for Zoom calls. My vision is for that to be a very active student life building. So those I would say would be the four pieces in terms of the work that I have been doing in the last eight months now since I've been here. You’ve had signi cant experience working in the provincial government. ere have been rising concerns by post-secondary institutions like Vic and UofT relating to the limited amount of revenue coming from the Ontario government. Based on your experience, how do you view the relationship between the government and the university as it stands now and moving forward?
What universities can do is come together and build a strong business case for the contributions they make to society. In recent years, the provincial government has asked public sector organisations, including universities, hospitals, and school boards, to demonstrate how they make the most e cient use of public funds. As institutions, we have an obligation to demonstrate the value of arts and sciences programs to policymakers. I strongly believe that if you want to be a business leader, or even a senior government o cial, having leaders with a well-rounded background will be helpful. Whether it's in the humanities, or in the social sciences, or the arts, having that background will certainly help shape your thinking. So the advice I have
for my former colleagues is to include outcomes beyond nancial metrics. Ultimately, a more educated society will contribute to a better society, one that also takes into account critical thinking, innovative thinking, and cross-sector collaboration.
At the Winter Caucus, we were introduced to the new head of campus safety and emergency management, and there were some questions regarding Vic's relationship to policing, especially with concerns students have had based on the use of police in mental health crises. How does your o ce view the relationship between Victoria University and the Toronto Police Service as well as Campus Safety?
e rst thing I will say is that mental health is an important topic, and I encourage students, sta , and faculty to get help if they feel that there's a need to. We live in challenging times. For example, in September we saw right here in our backyard, anti-trans, antiLGBTQ2S+ protests. ese impact how we think and feel. It’s important to ensure that as a university, we have the right support. e role of police in mental health calls I think is a complex one. I started my career 25 years ago as a police o cer, and with the minimal training received, I was not well equipped to deal with a mental distress call. I found it helpful to have people who are trained in mental health to be part of the response. With the chronic and systemic historical underfunding of mental health services over decades, the police have become the last resort. In terms of the new campus safety position at Vic, I arrived here around the time of the tragic attack at the University of Waterloo. I know female and queer students felt at risk. Administration has an obligation to ensure that we have the right resources to keep us safe. We study, work, and live in the heart of downtown, which brings an exciting cultural environment, but also some elevated risk. So how do we ensure we protect our people in a way that is measured, balanced, and proportionate? One of the things that I'd like to put in place this year is our own
emergency management plan. What I mean by that is if in the middle of winter, a power outage goes on for days, we have a trained leader on campus who can implement an emergency response protocol. Another example would be if there is an active shooter incident, whether on our campus or a nearby area. How do we deal with that on campus? When I posted the new job vacancy, I was looking for somebody who can relate to students, who is aware of how the police work, and will have credibility with the police to be able to say, “If you come on our campus, do the courtesy of letting us know.” James is somebody who, in addition to his 36 years of policing experience, is a person of colour, has mental health training, is big on de-escalation, and also has credibility when he liaises with the police. I've been on both sides, from being on the front line as an openly gay police o cer of colour in the late 90s and early 2000s, and also as an advisor to the Mayor of London [UK], providing civilian oversight for the Met Police.
What legacy do you hope to leave behind at this institution?
I want to contribute to the long-term sustainability of Victoria University. You touched earlier on the point about the nancial sustainability of institutions with reduced government funding. What I’d like to do is to be able to navigate those rough waters in a way that puts Victoria on a solid nancial footing. Most importantly, I want to do my part personally in making Victoria an exciting, safe, healthy, and fun place for students to study. I'll also be teaching a Vic One Hundred course in September on scienti c evidence in public policy, so I'm really looking forward to that. Another way that I can give back is by taking my background in public policy, politics, government, and nonpro ts into the classroom and sharing my knowledge and experience with students.
is interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Since Israel’s brutal response to the October 7 attacks and threatening militancy, almost 85 percent of Gazans have been displaced and over 30,000 murdered. Furthermore, the stranglehold on Gaza has led to a widespread inaccessibility of basic necessities such as clean water, food, and medical supplies. Such callous actions have led to a warranted uproar in the international community, including UofT.
Among those acknowledged for contributing to the uproar was Mr. Omar Patel, former Muslim Chaplain at UTSC. According
to CBC, Mr. Patel’s role as Chaplain was suspended on December 1, in recent concerns of him allegedly propagating bigotry against the state of Israel. Evidence was provided in the form of a screenshot of Mr. Patel’s Instagram stories. He denies these accusations. In his statement to CBC, Mr. Patel holds the evidence as weak as the image failing to show his Instagram username or pro le picture, two identifying indicators of the account that was posted. In response, after ve days, the administrator sent a screenshot including both features; however, the story ‘tagged’ two fake accounts.
e Strand reached out to UTSC
Acting Vice-President and Principal, Linda Johnston, for a response to these concerns. In her statement, Dr. Johnston claims that the university took a “thorough fact- nding investigation” to reach an “appropriate action.” However, she abstained from providing further details of the investigation “for reasons of con dentiality and people’s privacy.” Dr. Johnston concluded by stating that she “encourage[s] the Muslim Chaplaincy of Toronto to make other chaplains available to our students as soon as possible.” However, the Chaplaincy demands Mr. Patel’s reinstatement and is encouraging UofT students and alumni to email the administration and sign a relevant petition to help accomplish this.
In his interview with CBC, Mr. Patel characterises this investigation as conducted in “bad faith” and is “considering legal action.”
Although Mr. Patel’s removal casts doubt on UofT's investigatory means of addressing campus concerns, it also leaves an underlying impact on student mental health. In recent years, the university has attempted to take drastic steps to ensure student mental well-being such as “eliminating wait times for mental health appointments," “renovating student health and wellness spaces,” and providing “same-day mental health consultations.” Among those who aid in maintaining student mental wellness are the multi-faith chaplains by providing spiritual guidance and psychotherapy counselling. As a trained psychotherapist counsellor and Muslim Chaplain, Mr. Patel was part of this aid.
In addressing this concern, Dr. Johnston holds that the “spiritual support” provided by the chaplains is distinct from “mental health.” As a result, she directs students to receive mental health support from the UTSC Health and Wellness clinic. Furthermore, she characterises the clinic’s services as inclusive by highlighting its “sta that self-identify as Muslim.”
EDITORS-IN-CHIEF editors@thestrand.ca
MANAGING EDITOR managing@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
CHLOE LOUNG
SARA QADOUMI
CHELSEY WANG
MUSKAAN AGGARWAL
ISHA RIZWAN VACANT
Is it possible to engage in civil disobedience while still adhering to respectability politics?
While this question is not often explicitly stated, similar sentiments frequently emerge during moments of mass mobilisation within liberal circles. To contextualise the concept, respectability politics refers to conforming to standards of behaviour that have been deemed to be virtuous. Evidently, these standards of behaviour have been used as a means of regulating racialised, lower-income, and other individuals of marginalised status. Respectability politics is contingent on the idea that there are undesirable behaviours, and thus, to be respected, individuals who present these traits must curate themselves through self-censoring. For racialised populations, this often occurs through code-switching.
ILLUSTRATION | KEITH TYLERSimilar ideas manifest in mobilisation efforts. Respectability politics shape the way protestors mobilise and who protestors mobilise over. Within movements, there is an implicit assumption that mobilising over an ‘unfit’ victim will delegitimise the movement's stance. As the Black academic, Glenn Loury infamously stated amidst the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests in Ferguson, “[Michael] Brown is no Rosa Parks, and he ain’t Emmett Till either” as a reflection on the fact that Brown was not an ‘innocent’ victim. Even throughout the BLM protests of 2020, conservative media sought to criminalise George Floyd, as if a benign offence could justify murder. This was an attempt to undermine increasing support for Floyd and BLM more broadly by questioning his character. Nonetheless, these attempts to undermine the status of police brutality victims are a common tactic as participants in social movements often fear that the legitimacy of their cause will be questioned if the movement’s poster case is not deemed worthy of empathy or respect.
This standard also applies to the behaviour in protests. Amidst the outrage of racial injustice during the BLM protests of 2020, various opeds explicitly condemned riots. Protestors were expected to be angry, but still be respectable in their behaviour. Riots were deemed irrational and unproductive, while peaceful protestors were seen as building sympathy for the cause. Even within peaceful protests, similar logic manifests. Pro-Palestine protestors in Toronto gathered on Avenue Road bridge to engage in an act of civil disobedience by blocking the road. Three protestors were arrested following these events. Beyond law enforcement responses, there was social condemnation. People were frustrated about the disruption that the protests caused. In the eyes of those who subscribe to the logic of respectability politics, there is a respectable way to protest, and interfering with the lives of civilians by blocking roads is not it.
But why are we expecting acts of civil disobedience to be respectful?
There is no denying that civil disobedience disrupts civil order, but that is the objective of such efforts. Social movements rely on a slew of advocacy and activist efforts in an attempt to incite change, some of which may be more or less advantageous to the average, apolitical, and apathetic citizen. If leaders of successful social movements were to consider and accommodate the slight inconveniences their campaigns caused, nothing would ever be changed. Defenders of respectability politics often cite Martin Luther King Jr.’s nonviolent protests during the Civil Rights Movement as the standard for contemporary movements. However, even in his own time, the American public and the government deemed MLK a terrorist who was destructive to the nation’s civil order. The same is true for Nelson Mandela’s anti-apartheid activism and Kwame Nkrumah’s fight for African self-determination. While MLK has become palatable to the general public, this was not always the case. This indicates that adhering to this moral ground does not guarantee respect or dignified treatment.
Respectability politics in social movements is counterproductive and counterintuitive. The objectives of many social movements are not to simply be deemed worthy of respect, but worthy of living a dignified life, and engaging in acts of civil disobedience should not affect this.
There is value in critiquing the organisation of protests to ensure that the most vulnerable populations are protected and that the movement's organisation is efficient. But policing protestors through respectability politics is not productive in moments of mass mobilisation.
The future of transit in TorontoJAMES LAUTENS CONTRIBUTOR
I have a morning ritual that I like to do before I start my commute: I ip a coin. Heads there will be a TTC delay and tails there won’t be. Honestly, it’s better than breakfast (which I don’t eat) and co ee (which I refuse to touch). More often than not I get tails and there is still a delay. Usually a re, or a raccoon electrocuting itself.
When not encountering those seemingly random acts of spontaneous combustion or divine retribution against wildlife, I’m usually almost run down by a black BMW when I attempt to cross at the intersection at Bay and Bloor. Often the driver is spurned to move by some jerk behind them honking like mad. After avoiding that Herculean trial, I’m greeted by my next foe as I cross Queen’s Park: an electric bicycle Uber Eats driver.
is list of transit woes has only gotten worse as we emerge from the pandemic. With a change in municipal government only seven months ago, I thought it would be interesting to re ect on the potential future of transit in this city. To help me in my e orts I recruited three fellow students, two from our own lovely University of Toronto and one from Ontario Tech out in Oshawa.
My rst subject was Elliot Sicheri, a third-year student in the Computer Sciences Program at UofT. We chatted over iMessage about what he thinks the future of transit in Toronto looks like. Sicheri bikes to campus most days, only taking the TTC when the weather is especially terrible but laments how a twenty- ve-minute commute can easily bloat to 35 to 40 minutes, not including delays. It’s no surprise that he prefers to bike as he says he’s “never found [himself] unable to get anywhere, at least” via bike. Next, I asked about how he felt about bike lane expansion. He remarked that he thinks the “construction of bike lanes is great!” yet he was quick to recognise his biases that in the construction of bike lanes “[t] here is a point where it becomes a bit overkill.”
Sicheri relays to me how his ride down Bloor Street, especially the stretch between the ROM and St. George, had its bike lanes expanded to accommodate more bikers while reducing car lanes from two to one. “ ere wasn’t really any need to expand those bike lanes, I had never had trouble riding down Bloor before. If anything, it was more annoying to nd an alternate route during the construction” I nally asked him what he thought the future of transit would look like in Toronto. Instead of focusing on biking, Sicheri ipped the script and talked about the construction of “the new subway line,” in reference to the Ontario Line. He notes that there aren’t any more jokes left to make about how long it’s been taking to build but he ultimately thinks it will be a good improvement to mobility in the city.
My second subject for the interview was Nesta Muthunawagonna, a fourth-year student studying political science at UofT. We met in a crowded Reznikov’s after a class we shared. He, like myself, takes public transit every day to get to campus. So, I start with the most pressing question: does he feel safe while taking the TTC?
“For the most part I feel safe,” he says as more people begin to le into the café for lunch. “No one is really coming up to bother me on the train but I also think it depends on what type of public transit you are taking. e GO Train feels a lot safer than say like the TTC. e time of day also matters. But never do I ride on the TTC and fear for my physical safety.”
I asked him next about whether Toronto should invest in its current public transit infrastructure or if it should continue with its expansion. “ at’s a good question,” he remarks as the room grows louder and louder around us.
“Personally I think expansion to current public transit would be a good thing. Toronto is a really congested city in my opinion, you know? It’s very easy to get stuck in tra c. I think investing in public transit is the way to go. at being said, obviously, that is a very idealistic kind of idea just because things take so long. I don’t even know how long the Eglinton Crosstown has been under construction at this point.”
Finally, I asked him what he thinks about making Toronto a walkable city and if public transit has a role to play in that. “In my opinion, I do think a strong public transit system is necessary for a walkable city. You can’t have people walk for forty minutes or an hour to get where they need to go. Subways, buses, streetcars, they make things a lot easier. If you go to any city in Europe they have light rail or tram or some streetcar. It just makes walking a viable option.”
PHOTO | DIANA TYSZKOWhen asked if bike lanes a ected his commute to campus, he remarks that they haven’t. “I drive next to bike lanes for all of ve minutes. However, I think bike lanes are useful for providing an additional safe option for transportation. Unfortunately, bike lanes are put on roads like Bloor or Danforth which ought to be fast roads with 50 limits to allow people to e ciently use the alternative highways instead of having to feed in DVP, 401, and Gardiner.”
Ra aele soon started talking about public transit and its construction in the city. “Construction is necessary for the transit improvement, however as a driver, our concerns are rarely taken into account with these projects. ese projects keep going over budget and over deadline putting what has already a stress system of streets under further stress. Additionally, these projects put drivers’ time and lives on the line and we do not get to see much bene t.” He goes on to note that the “only theoretical bene t is that fewer cars end up on the road but most of us cannot take transit to get where we are going.” He laments that when car owners decide to do their commute on public transit, time is often doubled.
We concluded our chat with a contemplation on making Toronto more of a walkable city and what the future of mobility looks like in the city. “It is de nitely possible [to make Toronto a walkable city], but I think it is misguided as many proponents place through tra c in direct opposition to walkability.” He notes that by reinforcing through tra c it can create pockets of
e third and nal subject I interviewed was Malcolm Joseph Ra aele who studies computer science, focusing more on data science, at Ontario Tech University in Oshawa. He commutes to his campus via car daily.
We chatted over Discord about how car transit fares in the city. “To be honest Toronto is actually a pretty well laid out city for combined use transportation. Toronto has a good skeleton of high-speed roadways and a solid network of arterial roads with subways (and soon LRTs) tucked nicely out of the way, with street cars and buses picking up the slack. is has been mismanaged on all levels at this point, the TTC is slower than ever and despite cars getting smarter roads aren’t safer or faster.”
walkability that would bene t everyone. He wraps up by remarking that Toronto in the future would be best served by adopting a wired electric and hydrogen-based system of public transport that focuses on short-distance city travel. But, he knows that “[u]nfortunately that probably won’t happen.”
Toronto, much like the rest of the world right now, stands on the precipice of great change. How we approach that change, in my case, improving mobility in the city, will a ect every other decision the city makes. Whether it be housing or mental health, mobility is king.
Description of our Organisation:
e Victoria College Environmental Fashion Show is a collective for students who see fashion as a medium for change in the world. Our 2024 Fashion Shows features the work of over 200 UofT students in a two-day weekend event. Come see “Deliria” on March 30 and 31. Grab your tickets in our Instagram bio @vefs_ before they’re gone!
Deliria is surrealism—an ode to a fantastical land where fashion knows no bounds. It is expression, creativity, and joy; a harkening to the very essence of what makes one fall in love with fashion in the rst place.
For some, this looks like “an ethereal celebration of femininity” (Isa Crumpton) and approaching “the female body as its own work of art” (Kaiden Beskers), while for others, Deliria represents a darker “mental jumble and buzzed excitement” (Marie Kinderman) and “feelings of cyclical and obsessive thinking” (Carmen So a Vega).
In any case, Deliria is rife with possibility, radiating imagination, and exuding artistry.
Deliria also brings forth the importance of sustainable fashion. Are we so delirious in our endless consumption and dizzying trend cycles that we have failed to face the reality of the environmental impact of the fashion industry?
In keeping with the values of sustainability, VEFS designers utilise only pre-loved materials for their collections. is serves as a constant reminder of the excess and waste that has become synonymous with fashion. eir works are in tune with the tragedy of non-sustainable fashion, confronting it head-on with pieces celebrating the “unpredictable beauty of the natural world…transforming the body into a living canvas for mother earth’s design” (Aas Sadeque). e designers wholeheartedly welcome the challenge of creating an “irrational design with a rational use of materials” (Sana McDowell). With intentional choices of materials “as a visual metaphor for the overwhelming impact of humanity’s consumerist ideals” (Emmalyn Tsang), VEFS designers nd beauty in refuse.
Ruminating on the past, through the use of second-hand materials, while welcoming a better future with innovative design is important to VEFS, as collections are dreamed up to reminisce “leaning into the childlike delight of looking through your grandma’s closet” (Meg Butcher) and akin to “a sense of comfort akin to being enveloped into a warm embrace” (Helen Yoon). e designers use this opportunity to re ect on their childhood and their relationship with fashion. In doing this, they free themselves from an endless trend cycle to reinvent lost passions and true aesthetics as "perception and reality waltz to the tune of sweet nostalgia” (Victoria Lee).
In the end, Deliria is a celebration of boundless talent, from designers to models, photographers, hair and makeup artists, set designers, and more to curate three days of beauty and art, driven by the desire to “feel safe and loved by the world at this very moment in time, one of true Deliria” (Marie Kinderman).
e Strand: What year are you and what are your majors?
Samuel Dumas: I’m in my third year, and my major is mathematics.
What is your research?
My research focuses primarily on invertebrate biodiversity. It’s a project in urban ecology and I'm working with the stormwater ponds in Brampton. What's really cool about them is that they're important water structures that also happen to sustain a lot of biodiversity. Because the water sits out in the sun all day and there's not a whole lot of movement, [the stormwater ponds] tend to get very strati ed, which is when the water density shifts to create di erent levels. e conditions end up being very di erent as you go deeper in the layers into the ponds, so you tend to get unique levels of biodiversity at each level. What I'm looking at is how much of these water chemistry conditions can use to predict what that biodiversity looks like and then looking at what the actual biodiversity that we collected from there is and seeing how well we can make that prediction.
Why is this important thing to research and how can this information be used in the future?
Urban ecology in general is a very important eld of study because it's the ecosystems that we have selfmanufactured that we don't usually take the time to address or look after. I think when people think of ecosystems, they imagined a nice little woodland somewhere else isolated from human contact, which is not often the case. ese are the ecosystems that are being directly impacted by our own actions. I think understanding how we're impacting them is arguably very important. As far as invertebrates, they are the ones that are ltering and cleaning all these ponds. If [invertebrates] are abundant, usually that's a sign that there's good health in the water. If there aren’t lot of invertebrates, that's indicative of water conditions getting worse and maybe our ponds are not working in the way that they're supposed to.
How did you get this position?
Getting research as an undergrad is a di cult thing in general, but at the time when I was trying to get this position, I did not know a lot of people in the Ecology department. A lot of it was just emailing professors that I thought were interesting. I had [Professor] Don [Jackson] suggested to me because he does some more statistics stu and so people were like, if you like math,
you might like this person as well. So really, it was a series of emailing various professors, but he was the only prof who got back to me. We met and talked and after that, I applied for NSERC [URSA], and through that, I was able to work with him over the summer and then continue the project as a research course through EEB397.
What advice do you have for students looking to do research?
ere’s going to be a lot of people who are interested. Even if you know you're a great student it's sometimes very di cult to make professors realise that. I think the biggest thing is talking to professors that you have had. Although I didn't know a lot of people in the department, I would participate a lot in class and speak to my professors. Even if I wouldn't be able to work with them directly, they were able to recommend me to people who they thought might be interested in working together, and most of the time that panned out well. A big part of it too is taking the time to build that resume up. It's hard to get more academic experience without necessarily having your feet in the water for research. Even talking about projects that you've done in class and that kind of stu , really marketing yourself as an individual.
is interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Four well-researched anticancer nutrients you should watch out for
A cure for cancer is undoubtedly one of the hottest topics in health for the public, re ected in the $50 million dedicated by the Canadian Cancer Society to cancer research. e hype is all within reason, as the stats are grim—around 40 percent of Canadians will be diagnosed with cancer at some point in their lives, and about 25 percent will die from it. Treatment is expensive, burdensome, and time-consuming, and for all cancers combined, the ve-year survival rate is a mere 64 percent. e importance of working towards declining mortality rates is not subject to debate. But what if we could avoid it altogether?
About 40 percent of cancers are preventable through lifestyle changes—be it through living smoke-free, avoiding direct sun exposure, exercising, and limiting alcohol consumption. While some factors that predispose us to cancers such as genetics and ageing are uncontrollable, other important factors are ubiquitous in our daily lives and much more easily modi able, and you will nd the relevant tools right in the comfort of your kitchen—I’m talking about your diet!
e basics of eating to prevent cancer consist of eating a well-balanced diet rich in whole foods and plant products. It’s not about counting calories as much as it is about focusing on how colourful your plate looks like. is article will list four important nutrients to watch out for if you want to eat your way to cancer prevention, as well as recipe recommendations and resources for further reading.
1. Sulforaphane
Sulforaphane is an organic compound produced in plants under stress (i.e., mechanical stress when you chew them) and is commonly associated with a reduced risk of developing various types of cancer. It exerts its cancerpreventative e ects through numerous pathways. It inhibits cell proliferation through genetic and protein modi cations
(thereby preventing tumour formation), induces cell death in cancerous cells, and enhances the detoxi cation of harmful compounds, preventing them from promoting cancer in the body. Most evidence for sulforaphane as an anticancer nutrient stems from in vitro studies, and more human trials are needed to con rm results, but most of the trials conducted have demonstrated potentially bene cial e ects in lung-related, gastric-related, breast, and prostate cancers, with no major side e ects identi ed. It is found in abundance in broccoli sprouts, Brussels sprouts, and cauli ower—all foods that you de nitely have in your kitchen!
Sulforaphane-rich meals to try out:
- Broccoli-mushroom bubble bake
- Brussels sprout & broccoli pizza
- Broccoli crostini
2. Lycopene
Lycopene is a carotenoid, which is a red-coloured compound and is important for its potent antioxidant properties which allow it to counter the development of oxidative stress-related diseases, including cancer. It exerts its anticancer e ects by reducing oxidative stress and thereby protecting DNA from damage, inhibiting signalling pathways responsible for cancer development and in ammation, and interfering with the development of blood vessels by cancer cells for nourishment. Evidence for lycopene’s cancerpreventative abilities stems mostly from clinical trials that have found profound reductions in prostate cancer incidence in association with lycopene consumption. It is found in abundance in tomatoes (in cooked, raw, and paste form) as well as guava and watermelon.
Lycopene-rich meals to try out:
- Tomato soup
- Watermelon feta salad
- Tomato bruschetta
3. Curcumin
Curcumin is a light orange powder found in the roots
of the plant turmeric, widely used for its anti-in ammatory and antimicrobial properties which have lent way to its investigation as an anticancer nutrient. It blocks the formation of free radical oxygen species (which could cause cancer-driving DNA damage), promotes programmed cell death in abnormal cells, and enhances body levels of tumour suppressor protein. Studies have been conducted in cell lines as well as clinical trials which have demonstrated its bene cial e ects on mitigating the incidence and burden of a variety of cancers. Foods high in curcumin include turmeric powder, curry powder, and mango ginger.
Curcumin-rich meals to try out:
- Chicken Tikka Masala
- Ginger turmeric carrot shots
- Pumpkin soup
4. Vitamin C
Vitamin C, or ascorbic acid, is a micronutrient necessary for immune function and development. Hundreds of studies have investigated its potential bene t as an anticancer agent, and it may serve a function in killing cancer cells or preventing them from forming altogether via the reduction of oxidative stress in the body. It has been primarily investigated in cancer treatment as a pro-oxidant capable of killing cancer cells and depriving them of energy but has also been shown to neutralise harmful radical oxygen species and reduce DNA damage, although the evidence is not wholly conclusive. More studies are needed however to elucidate its cancer-preventative e ects. Vitamin C is found in various plant products, including green hot chilli peppers, kiwi, strawberries, oranges, and, of course, lemons.
Vitamin C-rich meals to try out:
- Beetroot and pomegranate salad
- Chicken broth with quinoa and lemon
- Orange, vanilla, and strawberry juice
For further general information on anticancer nutrition, see https://anticancer.ca.
Just a little while ago in February 2024, a publication was retracted from the well-reputed Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology journal. While the paper aimed to identify the mechanisms of a signalling pathway in a rodent’s sperm stem cells, it included AI-generated gures that were concerningly inaccurate. e most shocking of all included a rat’s penis and testicles that were disproportionately larger than the rest of its body along with inaccurate gures of a rat cell. While the authors of the paper from Xi'an Honghui Hospital and Xi’an Jiaotong University in China credited the AI used to generate the images, it is unclear how these largely awed images slipped through the peer review process. After readers expressed concerns, the journal retracted the paper stating that “concerns were raised regarding the nature of its AI-generated gures. e article does not meet the standards of editorial and scienti c rigour for Frontiers…”. is incident has re-sparked conversations within the scienti c community about the role of AI in making scienti c discoveries. While students use ChatGPT more and more to write their homework, can scientists do the same? How will this a ect research and will it uphold science’s commitment to unveiling truth?
e above article is a good case where a publishing company was able to catch misinformation before it spread. However, what about a typical person’s ability to detect misinformation? In a study published in Science Advances, authors aimed to evaluate if participants
who are not speci cally trained in recognizing disinformation can distinguish disinformation from accurate information. Speci cally, whether they can recognize if a tweet was synthetically generated by GPT3 or by a Twitter user. Interestingly, the authors found that participants can recognize if information is accurate more often in tweets generated by GPT-3 compared to human tweets suggesting that GPT-3 does a better job at clearly conveying information. eir ndings also show that humans can identify disinformation with a 90 percent accuracy rate and evaluate the accuracy of information with a 78 percent success rate. It's important to note that study participants were mostly between the ages of 42 to 76 and the majority of them have a bachelor’s degree. e paper highlights that AI has the capacity for great good and also great harm. e technology is bene cial in that it can produce accurate and more easily-digestible material while at the same time it can produce more compelling disinformation. Large language models (LLMs) such as GPT-3 are statistical models that make use of vast amounts of data to generate results. is means that disinformation is the result of the model’s training set and thus the authors suggest that information entering the training datasets should be veri ed and listed as a reference.
While the spread of misinformation is one of the many other ways that AI is changing science, an even broader and more positive application of this technology is self-driving labs (SDL). In an SDL, AI selects new material formulations aided by robotic arms to synthesise new materials. While this technology is currently limited to discovering new materials, it
relieves researchers of having to grapple with trillions of possible formulations. is greatly improves the labour productivity in science, saving time and money and allowing researchers more time to improve creative aspects such as the experimental design. In fact, in April 2023, UofT was awarded Canada’s largest-ever research grant of $200 million in research funding towards Acceleration Consortium—a UofT-based network that aims to accelerate materials discovery through AI and robotics. rough this funding, autonomous labs are being built at UofT, such as in the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy where AI, automation, and advanced computing are used to iteratively test and develop material combinations for new drug formulations. Not only does this have the potential to save vast amounts of time and money, but it would also speed up the development and production of potentially life-saving drugs.
From looking at the spread of misinformation and automated science—just two ways in which AI is changing scienti c discovery—it’s evident that this tool has the potential for much good and much harm. While it can dramatically increase the rate at which discoveries are made, it can also disrupt society’s ability to trust in scienti c discoveries. is means it’s likely to see a large increase in research and companies that aim to decipher misinformation from accurate information and create LLMs based on revised, peer-reviewed information. How do you envision this technology a ecting your studies?
this is the end, I’m signing
Lana Del Rey. An ever-lasting, prominent, often controversial, and e ervescent musical icon of the 21st century. For many, Lana is a main protagonist of the cultural zeitgeist of the 2010s. Much of her words, her poetry, her eclectic musical leanings, her style, and her Americana aesthetics have been reprised in countless corners of the dominant culture. Her smash cut of a debut, Born to Die (2012), was a cultural reset which pushed the boundaries of alternative and pop music. Replacing an album of Born to Die’s calibre during a single career cycle is no mean feat, but Del Rey is a master at achieving the inconceivable and making it look easy. Her 2019 masterpiece, Norman Fucking Rockwell!, is a nod to the convoluted intersections
between American politics, our degrading environment, and the repercussions of ever-evolving technology. NFR is a story about Del Rey herself, her musings, her connections to California and above all, her art's place within this beautifully convoluted chaos.
Many do not see the power that Del Rey harbours. Without ever truly dominating music charts with catchy overplayed tunes, she has been able to preserve a space in the industry that is speci cally carved out by her, for her. Her cultural signi cance is solidi ed with every album she releases and creative project she takes on. Ever since the beginning of her career, she’s kept a linear progression of artistic growth and has taken us along on that journey. One moment that truly asserted the ascendancy of her worldview
was, like its namesake, “ e Greatest” of it all. Seconds into this surf rock tune, Del Rey speaks light into desperation, melancholy, and longing for something one never even had. She misses Long Beach, but most of all, she misses dancing with someone, replacing the feeling of ‘who’ with ‘where’. Even though I’ve never been to Long Beach or California, I am already there with her and can feel her yearning for her past life. Lana makes love and loss feel both singular and all-encompassing at once. She can make the world stop, change its axis, and mesmerise us in the process.
rough her majestic lyricism, Del Rey asks questions but never o ers answers. Meaning nds itself within her lines in an e ortless manner. She imitates art and with that, art imitates her. One theme that keeps running through “ e Greatest” is destruction. Have the stakes ever been higher? e world is burning. Politicians have never made less sense. We are all overstimulated, yet tired all the time. Where is this all leading? Is joy the same joy it used to be or has that also changed along with everything else? For Lana, even highs don’t hit the same way they used to. It's just not the same as it was. As a person on the precipice of young adulthood, childhood is a fading memory along with all its uncomplicated pleasures. e world of early 2000s kids, playful yet devoid of screens and distractions, has come to an end. And most haven’t even had the time to grieve. With Lana, we are nally given the chance to reminisce on what it is we are truly losing. In that, we nd the strength and resilience to pick ourselves back up and continue building this world. But the longing never disappears.
Yet, in Del Rey’s “ e Greatest,” the simple joys of life have proven not to be enough. Her straightforward existence on the beach with her Californian twin ame, rock and blues music, wasn’t enough for her. She gave up her old life for something bigger and maybe even ‘greater’. e thing that chased her out of her old life is now the thing she wants to run back to. It is also precisely the thing that is being destroyed. Like Del Rey, the world is watching destruction and upheaval with a mixture of desperation and acceptance. As she says, “If this is it, I had a ball.”
Like everything else in Del Rey’s quickly fading world, “ e Greatest” disappears with a list of stunning elegies, substantiating a sense of hope that is, at once, a new and heavy bearing on Lana’s shoulders. Hope is a dangerous thing for her to carry, but she is willing to do it anyway. ere is peace in her voice, wrapping itself like a tight hug around the listener’s body. She nds a humorous quality in how nonsensical world events have gotten, such as billionaires' wanting to colonise Mars and Kanye West dying his hair blonde. Amidst striking lyrics that are both funny and brutal, one thing remains clear: Lana is okay with moving on. She is turning a new page in the story of her life and asking her listeners to do the same—To let go of the past and all the messes we created and move forward along a line of bigger and greater disasters.
Contemporary art is a mosaic of the artworks that existed before it. is statement isn’t meant to undermine the inventiveness and creativity of artists. However, it is important to note that artists do not exist within a vacuum. Naturally, artists are inspired by others, often regardless of the medium used. is inspiration shapes the work they create.
For example, the critically acclaimed playwright Jonathan Larson based his cult classic musical, Rent, loosely on Giacomo Puccini’s opera, La bohème. is opera was based on the book Scenes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger. Similarly, the Broadway musical Spring Awakening was based on a nineteenth-century German play with the same title and plot, which proved to be eerily relevant even a century later. I’m sure I don’t need to cite the inspiration for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Jesus Christ Superstar e genealogy of many contemporary plays, movies, paintings, and literature follows similar patterns. It makes sense; it is valuable to reference and build from older art pieces. is practice allows artists to reimagine a concept or draw parallels between historical events and our contemporary culture.
Despite the value and commonplace nature of the
practice, it is evidently controversial. is is especially true in music. Sampling – the repurposing of preexisting music or other audio clips – is a practice that is heavily critiqued. Artists who use samples are often characterised as plagiarised or unoriginal. In fact, before 2014, songs containing samples could not win a Song of the Year award at the Grammys, illustrating the contentious nature of the practice.
Critiques of sampling are not entirely unfounded; samples should be authorised and properly credited for ethical and legal reasons. Beyond legal considerations, stylistically, sampling may feel lazy when it’s not used creatively. In these instances, the sample operates like a gimmick, carrying the song with its nostalgic value rather than the inventiveness of the newer artist’s work.
However, a lack of creativity amongst some should not contaminate the practice; repurposing an old song is not indicative of bad artistry. Hip-hop, rap, and R&B have been shaped by their inventive uses of samples. In Kendrick Lamar and Jay Rock’s single, “Money Trees,” producer DJ Dahi clipped Beach House’s song, “Silver Soul.” e clip of this song was then reversed, slowed down, and an additional sample was added over. is became the beat of the critically acclaimed rap song. Adding the sample also provided thematic value. While the songs di er in their subject focus, they converge
on their exploration of despair and melancholy, and Dahi used this to shape the song’s ambience. Much of the appeal of this sample comes from the intentionality that went into repurposing Beach House’s work. It wasn’t a gimmick. DJ Dahi transformed the sample into something new while remaining true to the original message.
Another iconic sample is “Ready or Not” by the Fugees. Sampling the Delfonics’ 1968 song of the same title, the Fugees kept their lyrical basis for the chorus and built from there. ey added rap verses and a trap beat, staying true to their brand. While you can still see the homage to the Delfonics, the Fugees added a nineties charm and re-invented this classic.
Despite the controversy surrounding the practice, sampling has revolutionised the way artists can build from their predecessors. ere is so much value and creativity which can emerge from the use of a sample when done right. Hip-hop, R&B, and rap are evidence of this.
me give you half bad poetry mildly therapeutically
i can’t believe i was one of those eye-batting freakstorms come hither boy aren't i gorgeous when i can’t even show o my ittie bitties be a grown ass missie oh that was high school let me give you half bad poetry mildly therapeutically show you i grew up better than chapped lips picked skin pining for patagonia boy what is it about outdoorsy that makes me shiver more than rainstorms where people eat each other like they’re dinner i can’t with the visuals to sum this one up let me be gifted and boring i abhor my ambivalence
It was smaller than the tip of a pen and I crushed it thinking I could move it out of my way. It died in my hands, at my hands, so small that it could have been a speck of dust. I wondered if God had ever felt the way I did in that moment, having ruined creation itself in in nite gentleness. Is that what we are?
I killed a spider before it had a chance to die, and then I pieced together some blind, clumsy, helpless thoughts about innocence and martyrdom and whether spiders could understand death in a way we didn’t. If they can imagine something else after the stomp, the broom, the looming viciousness of the world—if it was better or worse that the spider met me instead of the end of time. e spider was too small to be laid to rest, of course, as so many innocent things are. is spider, it was so small, it looked death in the eye. Death looked like me.
I’m proud of the way I talk; Each word handcrafted by generations before me, Carved from great stone, and shaved of splint edges. Each ow stems from rhythm, Each tone, mother’s tongue.
I am but one square in a quilt, Stretching far beyond the horizon And stitched through long-lost hometowns. My voice booms as it blooms, Cracking like thunder under veiled skies. e power I push through the pipes in my throat; A gift from my father, sewn through his winter coat. Learned to twist and to turn, weaving my fact and my ction, From sandbox friends on the bench before the worlds that we slipped in. Practiced twirling my letters and grouping them well For the teachers who told me I had stories to tell. Here is my voice as I both whisper and yell, I shall promise to lend but never to sell.
KIERAN GUIMOND SCIENCE EDITOR
At some point over the past year, I have become a ‘bird guy.’ I’m still slightly confused about how this has happened (de nitely not because I have asked my friends to be quiet so I can listen to a bird call and try to identify it, why would you assume that???). And over the past year, I have realised that there are some birds that are just plain sexy. Without further ado, I give you an aspiring ornithologist’s opinion on which birds are the sexiest.
Secretary Bird
I don’t know what it is about this bird, but it’s extremely sexy. e sixth image on Google Images is Zootopia fanart, and now that I’m writing that, I’m not actually sure if that’s a pro or a con for its attractiveness. Fun fact about the secretary bird—it’s closely related to raptors such as hawks and eagles, but the secretary bird itself is
mainly a terrestrial bird. It has a beautiful crown and also has some stunning orange eyeshadow, so you know they’ll give you great fashion tips.
Rhinoceros Hornbill
Just Google it, and you’ll understand where I’m coming from. ey have a giant horn on top of their already long toucan-esque beak. It’s kinda a power move, but on the other hand, they might be compensating for something else, if you get my drift.
Frigatebird
e professor who teaches Diversity of Birds said this was his favourite bird, and in ight I agree—they have long elegant wings to help them soar through the air. However, during breeding season, the males will in ate a red pouch near their throat to attract females, which is—dare I say—quite sexy. is man will visibly proclaim his love for you and try to seduce you. e pouch may be red, but this is a green ag for me y’all.
Lyrebird
is bird is a beautiful old dame who de nitely killed her husband for the insurance money and is waltzing around in an old fur coat that she wore when she was a movie star in the 1940s. ey’re named for their long, opulent tail feathers which resemble the shape of a lyre. Maybe she would also kill me, but she would look gorgeous while doing so.
Crows
Hello, fellow students at Vic. I’m here to talk to you about the single most important issue any of you will face in your undergraduate years.
I’m sure that some of you have been involved in activism on campus. Others are probably too tired to do anything but pass out in front of their computers after ten straight hours of studying, regretting all of the life choices they made that brought them to UofT.
is message is for all of you: the socially conscious and the not, the commuters and the people who can somehow a ord downtown rent prices (did you guys sell a kidney? I have questions).
Here it goes: we need Ned’s pasta back.
Everyone at Vic knows and loves Ned’s – the cosy little cafe with its couches and easy snacks you can grab on your way to your next lecture. e atmosphere is amazing which makes up for the fact that campus food plays hopscotch with your bowels.
And the greatest indignity of all: you don’t get to pick your own meal! You’re merely given the illusion of variety with the hot meal—which varies from day to day.
But what if I told you that it hadn’t always been this way and that you had been conditioned to accept mediocrity? e truth the establishment doesn’t want you to know is that once upon a time (during the last school year), you could have had your own personally designed pasta cooked right in front of you in a matter of minutes.
e options were endless. You could pick between di erent pasta types, like penne and linguine. en your options expanded further: did you want marinara sauce or alfredo? Best of all, you could choose your own veggie and meat toppings (three of basically thirty). Was this a paradise hitherto undreamt of on Earth, or a university cafe? It was hard to tell.
One thing I can tell you for sure is that Ned’s pasta made every day better.
e conversations held in the lines of people waiting for pasta were proof that it brought the Vic community together. And although this better form of food was unjustly ripped away from us, that doesn’t mean we have to take it lying down.
is isn’t about appearance, but if you know anything about crows, you know they’re weird as shit, and that’s sexy to me. You know this bird would treat you right— they would bring you shiny gifts as a sign of their a ection and peck out the eyes of anyone who did you wrong. What more could you want from a lover?
Fairy Wren
It’s giving fem twink, it’s giving fashion icon, it’s giving everything. Like a lot of birds, it is sexually dimorphic, with the males having a beautiful blue plumage, and the females being a duller light brown colour (I’m so sorry women, I do think you’re beautiful too). I could see myself buying this bird a drink in a dark club and dancing with him for the rest of the night.
Jacana
is bird is a DILF, I don’t feel like I need to explain myself. e fathers will put their o spring under their wings (which kind of makes them look like some strange eldritch horror) and carry them across wetlands. We stan a man who is there for his children.
Blue Footed Booby
is bird is called the blue-footed booby, I think that’s reason enough.
If you disagree with me about any of these, you can come nd me at e Strand o ce on Tuesdays at 10 am.
Students of Victoria College, the time for revolution is now!
We need to protest the replacement of the pasta that we cherished so deeply, to come out in mass for the most important issue of our undergraduate careers. Go on a hunger strike. Stop going to classes, and join what will soon be the mile-long line of brave souls outside of Ned’s.
Let us all dream of a better, pasta- lled future together.
*these are not fact checked, these are just details that I can recall, I do not claim to be historically accurate
History always gets a bad rep for “being boring,” and to that I say, womp womp :( It’s only boring if you study the boring stu . You gotta study the hot goss, the scandals, the rivalries. History is often clouded in big words, names, and dates that are all too annoying to remember, but not when I tell it!
HIS351 - Russia in the 20th Century
05/03/2024, 19:22
Alright so it was like reaaalllly messy in the Russian Empire during WWI. Nicholas II was the Tsar and was like really bad at his job. He didn’t listen to any of his subjects and literally lied to them when he set up a more “democratic” parliament (me when I lie). After the revolution of 1905, he tried to make some concessions but obviously they were more lies. When the empire joined the war, everyone was in SHAMBLES. Nicholas II joined the frontlines and literally LEFT HIS WIFE and kids at home with Rasputin. You know, the guy with the really good song and giant penis? A lot of historians believe that he was sleeping with the Tsarina because he was “healing” her haemophiliac son, trying to
46 Under the
1
in uence the empire’s politics, and also apparently was really charming (I don’t see the hype but whatever). Also, during his time in the palace, there were MULTIPLE attempts to murder Rasputin but he lived through all of them! What the fuck! ey tried poisoning him AND drowning him but he kept living! Like girl…what??
HIS327
So after the French Revolution, short king Napoleon Bonaparte stormed into Italy, kidnapped Pope Pius the 6th and was like “Hey girl! you’re gonna have to do everything I say and listen to all my demands.” But the Pope was like “Ew, I’d literally rather die.” So he died! And then Napoleon kidnapped Pope Pius the 7th and was like “Hey girl! you’re gonna have to do everything I say and listen to all my demands.” But the Pope was like “Ew, I’d rather die.” But before he could die, Napoleon forced him to attend his coronation, renounce his papacy, and agree to the Concordat. After he was released, the Pope returned to Rome and was like “Aha hey guys… I didn’t actually mean all of those things that I did, that wasn’t me lmao.” ere was a little bit of chaos
52 Child's plaything
56 Continue
58 Chess or scrabble, for example
61 WALL-E or R2-D2, for example
62
63
64
67
68
36
after this and then Gregory XVI emerged from the shadows. However, Rome started slipping into its poverty era and then Greg died. Aw, boo.
HIS379 - Vietnam at War
Lyndon B. Johnson is a LIAR. Okay so like when the Vietnam war was going on, the US was like “Omg you guys what should we do?!” and Eisenhower was like “Idk girl! I’m scared! we shouldn’t get too involved though… so I’m just gonna leave the mess to sexy hot JFK!” So when JFK takes the reins he’s like “Omg you guys we can’t get involved… it's too expensive and we can’t be sending all of our men across seas. it’s not right.” And before anything happens, he dies! aww nooo don’t die you were so sexy aha. So then LBJ comes in and is like “OK guys we need to practise restraint. we’re not gonna get involved!” But then, there’s like a little kerfu e in the Gulf of Tonkin and LBJ is like “Guys I am so scared right now! Vietnam is de nitely attacking us and we need to get completely involved!” Whatever happened to practising restraint? What happened to asking people if they were angry at you?
50 Keats' "___ to a Nightingale"