Volume 57 Issue9

Hot Dates

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VICTORIA UNIVERSITY’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER

Hot Takes Valentine's outings

VOL. 57 ISSUE 9 • FEB. 11 2015 • WWW.THESTRAND.CA

Date The Strand

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CaFFEINDS: dilemas

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bill c-51

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on the ta strike

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student playspace

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feminism in pop

staying involved and keeping it together ...

ONTARIO'S EXPENSIVE BEER ...

VALENTINES FROM THE STRAND ... advice from a sexpert ...

BASQUIAT LAUNCH AT THE AGO ...

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CAFFIENDS’ ONGOING LOCATION DILEMMA

VICTORIA CHUEN

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GABRIEL ZOLTAN-JOHAN CONTRIBUTOR Over the summer of 2014, Caffiends was the center of attention for the Victoria College community as the administration made effor ts to remove the lev y group from its location in Old Vic. Victoria students launched a large campaign in opposition, and as a result Victoria College administration agreed to put the issue on the table. Discussions have been ongoing throughout the semester among Caffiends, Victoria administration, and VUSAC, with the proceedings carried out behind closed doors.

These discussions that have occurred between the administration, VUSAC, and Caffiends have included a gag order for those par ticipating. Dean of Students Kelly Castle, a key decision maker, claims that this was justified “so that ever yone had a chance to be for thright and explore all the different issues.”

This gag order has resulted in a total lack of transparency, even towards the other players in the negotiations, Caffiends and VUSAC, neither of whom has direct input on the administration’s deliberations.

What has been made clear to both groups is that ever y option is on the table, with Victoria administration stating that they are entering the discussion with no preference for any par ticular option. “[Caffiends] has many qualities that are so ver y ‘Vic’... If a move would deny Caffiends its oppor tunity to thrive, we would give serious pause to any move whatsoever,” noted Castle.

Some of the options discussed include potential renovations of current Goldring spaces or the Old Vic space. The priority for Caffiends is “a solution that would allow us to continue to thrive and grow, as we have been doing steadily,” note co-managers Linh Nguyen and Anna McElcheran. Ideally, this would all occur “while maintaining our characteristically cozy atmosphere of students, faculty, and friends, brought together.”

With the beginning of the new semester, negotiations will soon be bolstered by the creation of and consultation with focus groups. These groups will only include nominated representatives from each group involved in the negotiations, and will present recommendations to Victoria University’s President Paul Gooch.

These focus groups were created by the administration without consultation with the other involved par ties. Castle shed some light on the function of the groups, claiming that “[the focus groups] aren’t to vote on options, but to give texture to possibilities.

We want to do some harder work [to find out] what specifically students want.”

The focus groups, in their current form, do not involve students not involved in VUSAC or Caffiends.

This seems like a narrow approach, considering the scope of 2014’s “Save Caffiends” movement, which saw students, and alumni such as Margaret Atwood,

campaigning on social media and in person against the administration’s attempt to move Caffiends without student consultation.

Nguyen and McElcheran warn against students advocating for a specific location, an action that they view as potentially spoiling the progress made in the ongoing negotiations. “Right now we are still engaged in discussion,” notes Nguyen. “Until we have a more concrete idea of each possibility, we can’t ask anyone to advocate for a specific choice, because nothing has been discussed in enough detail.”

The situation has so far been a victor y for Vic students, going from unilateral administrative action to active discussion which involves the students’ and Caffiends’ best interests. It seems that an average Victorian who wasn’t selected to par ticipate in these focus groups would have difficulty making their voice hear, but Vic administration have stated that students can send e-mails or visit them in person to become involved in the discussions.

It remains to be seen whether a viable solution can be reached before the end of the academic year.

If not, future Caffiends co-managers, VUSAC, and administration members will have to ensure that negotiations continue, lest there be a repeat of last year’s unilateral actions.

With files from Benjamin Atkins.

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CFS-O SPEAK TO PREMIER KATHLEEN WYNNE ABOUT SEXUAL ASSAULT POLICIES JACKIE HONG THE RYERSONIAN FOR CUPWIRE TORONTO (CUP) — Members of the Canadian Federation of Student s Ontar io (CFS-O) met with Premiere Kathleen Wynne at Queen’s Park on Jan. 14 for a roundtable on sexual assault policies on post-secondar y campuses.

T he meeting comes week s before the Ontar io gover nment present s an “ac tion plan” against sexual violence and harassment on March 8.

Ryerson Student s’ Union (RSU) Vice-President Equit y Pascale Diverlus, who is also the constituency commissioner for the CFS-O, said the conversation was long overdue.

“T he Canadian Federation of Student s Ontar io and different student unions have been work ing on this issue for years and years,” Diverlus said.

“We have been advocating for [a] sexual assault policy and we have had ver y lit tle response … so, it’s nice to see [Wynne] put this at the forefront.”

Twent y-one members of the CFS-O at tended the meeting and each member talked about how sexual assault and harassment are handled on his or her respec tive campus.

Members also suggested what they thought should be included in future policies dealing with sexual violence, such as prevention and consent education, accountabilit y and including student s in policymak ing processes.

Diverlus said Wynne did not make any commitment s but “just listened to our exper iences.”

Anna Goldfinch, national executive represen-

tative of the CFS-O, said Wynne approached the CFS-O because the group is an “exper t” on how to prevent and handle sexual assault and harassment.

“We’ve been work ing on this issue for decades now. We’ve been r unning our ‘No Means No’ campaign since the ’80s,” Goldfinch said.

“T he media is paying at tention and the public is paying at tention now,” Goldfinch said, explain-

“We have been advocating for [a] sexual assault policy and we have had very little response … so, it’s nice to see [Wynne] put this at the forefront.” ing that the lack of sexual assault policies at postsecondar y schools rose to the spotlight in late 2014 after a Toronto Star ar ticle revealed that only nine of 78 Canadian universities had guidelines in place to deal with sexual assault and harassment on campus.

Ryerson cur rently does not have a specific pol-

icy dealing with sexual assault, but instead relies on point s from other policies to deal with the issue.

RSU President Rajean Hoilet t previously said that pushing administration to get a protocol in place would be one of the student union’s top pr ior ities for the winter 2015 semester.

Ryerson President Sheldon Lev y said a “big process” is under way at the administrative level to get a policy in place.

“We’re work ing with the other universities … and a lot of groups have been brought in, including the student union,” Lev y said.

In December, he asked Vice-Provost Student s Heather L ane Vetere to “lead a thorough examination of Ryerson’s policies, procedures, approaches and responses” to sexual assault.

Vetere has since had a number of meetings with Ryerson communit y members, including staff, the Continuing Education Student s’ Association of Ryerson (CESAR) and the RSU, and is expec ted to repor t back on how Ryerson should proceed on how it handles sexual violence on campus. “[Administration’s] been great and wanting to meet with us [the RSU] and set up a policy commit tee to review what we already have,” Diverlus said. “We are just hoping to get student representation on [the policy mak ing] commit tee.”

CANADA BRACES FOR “ANTI-TERROR” BILL Amid human-rights consternations, Harper staunchly supports bill EMILY POLLOCK EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Canada’s law enforcement agencies are poised to gain unprecedented powers as par t of a bill that the Conser vative gover nment unveiled on Januar y 30. T he bill, k nown as Bill C-51, has been framed as an impor tant development in the fight against homegrown ter ror. W hile the gover nment is enthusiastic about the powers that this new bill will give law enforcement officials, civil r ight s exper t s are concer ned that these new powers represent an abuse of Canada’s Char ter of R ight s and Freedoms.

Unlike the gover nment’s past omnibus bills, Bill C-51 focuses solely on giving gover nment agencies greater powers in combating ter ror attack s. T he bill’s creation was prompted by the attack on Parliament Hill in Oc tober, when a lone gunman k illed Canadian soldier Cor poral Nathan Cir illo at the National War Memor ial. If passed, the bill will grant greater liber ties to Canadian law enforcement and CSIS, the Canadian Secret Intelligence Ser vice.

Proposed changes to Canada’s Cr iminal Code include giving the police broader powers to ar rest people suspec ted of ter ror ist ac tivities and allow police to hold people suspec ted of ter ror ist ac tivit y for seven days without charge (this is up from

the previous three-day limit). T he new bill will also grant judges the power to “order the removal of ter ror ist propaganda” from the inter net and order inter net ser vice providers to hand over infor mation on the person who posted the mater ial.

Questions remain as to what exac tly constitutes “the promotion of ter ror” and how the RCMP will provide the staff necessar y to comb the inter net for ter ror ist mater ial.

T he bill will also increase CSIS’s power to gather and disseminate infor mation and their capacit y to “disr upt” potential ter ror threat s. CSIS agent s will be allowed to cancel the travel reser vations of Canadians suspec ted of intention to join extremist groups abroad, block financial transac tions linked to ter ror ism, and intercept Canadian equipment and mater ials suspec ted of being direc ted towards suppor t of ter ror ist groups. T he bill does forbid CSIS from k illing, ser iously injur ing, or sexually violating suspec t s. T he bill does not mention psychological abuse or enhanced inter rogation techniques.

Human r ight s ac tivist s have expressed concer n about multiple par t s of the bill, par ticularly the provision allowing for longer detention without charges. T he Br itish Columbia Civil Liber ties As-

sociation said in an official statement, “Canada has ut terly failed to respond to the urgent need for national secur it y oversight and instead proposes an unprecedented expansion of powers that will har m innocent Canadians [without increasing] our public safet y.”

W hen asked about how the bill will increase CSIS’s infor mation-gather ing abilities, Roch Tassé, a spokesperson for the Inter national Civil Liberties Monitor ing Group, was even more blunt: “Basically, they’ll be allowed to break the law. T hey’ll go to a judge to get per mission to break the law.”

Opposition Leader T homas Mulcair is still unsure whether his par t y will suppor t the legislation. He believes that the bill includes some useful measures, but that there is not enough proposed oversight. Talk ing to the press after Har per’s announcement, Mulcair said, “Canadians are going to demand that we take care of their safet y at the same time that we respec t their freedoms and their r ight s. Mr. Har per doesn’t get that yet; he’s going to eventually have to understand.”

Liberal leader Justin Tr udeau says his par t y will vote for the bill whether or not the proposed oversight is added, stating that “mat ters of national secur it y should be beyond par tisanship.”

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BILL C-51 AND THE DEATH OF CIVIL LIBERTIES

REEMA KUREISHY ASSOCIATE OPINIONS EDITOR What is the difference between being struck by lightning and being attacked by terrorists?

Okay, so there are quite a few differences between the two. But in Canada, you probably have more to fear from a bolt of lightning than from a terrorist attack, according to prominent law yer and Guardian journalist, Glenn Greenwald.

And yet, in the past few months, we have seen our government encourage the idea that terrorism poses a serious threat to Canadian society. Last October, the federal government planned to broaden the powers of the Canadian Secret Intelligence Ser vice (CSIS) to track suspected terrorists. Then, after the shooting at Parliament Hill and the attack on two Canadian Forces members in Montreal, there was suddenly a greater urgency to investigate terrorist activities in Canada. This finally led to the Conser vative Par ty’s recent proposal of a new anti-terror bill in Parliament called Bill C-51.

C-51 promotes greater sur veillance over Canadians through spy agencies. It grants enormous powers to CSIS to act against anyone they think may be promoting terrorist activities in Canada. Previously, CSIS collected information and passed it on to police forces, who would then take any required action.

With this bill, CSIS is given the same powers as the police, where they can directly act on any information that they obtain.

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This bill has reason to cause more fear than the terrorist threats it wants to protect Canadian citizens from. There is little to no system of accountability for CSIS, and the organization can take actions such as arresting people without the regular procedures that need to be followed by police forces. But the bill is being promoted for the safety of Canadians against the new terrorist threat that Canada is facing, so that’s supposed to make it okay.

The vague and all-encompassing language of the bill is also a cause for worr y. The bill states that action will be taken against anyone who inter feres with “the economic or financial stability of Canada,” while adding that this does not include lawful protest or dissent. But this bill essentially allows CSIS to break the law if it chooses to. Who decides whether a protest is lawful or not, then?

Allowing C-51 to pass would suggest that terrorism is indeed a huge threat to Canada and that our rights should be given up in favour of security. When seen within the larger context of increased terrorist activities in the world, C-51 is paraded as a step in the right direction. But in reality, the bill only infringes on the basic rights of Canadians without really addressing the issue of terrorism and instead overplays the terrorist threat in Canada.

It begs the question: what is the bill actually about? Is it simply a well-timed attempt to garner

public suppor t before the federal elections in October? The Conser vatives have already gone up in the polls following the announcement of this bill. And, other than Elizabeth May (who explicitly opposed Bill C-51), the opposition par ties haven’t condemned this infringement of rights. In fact, the Liberal par ty has even suppor ted the bill, while promising more accountability for actions taken by CSIS—if they are voted into power, that is.

Or is C-51 also concerned with other activities, such as citizen protests against extractive industries?

Technically, these protests fall within the wording of the new bill, as “terrorist activity” can be interpreted ver y loosely. If environmental groups choose to protest a pipeline, then they are causing inter ference with Canada’s economic pursuits, and CSIS may take direct action against them.

Whatever the case, the bill doesn’t truly seem to be about the actual safety of Canadians. The lack of accountability for CSIS is a major cause for concern. It also shows shor t-sightedness on the par t of the government when they react in extreme ways to isolated attacks of violence. Negative perceptions of cer tain communities and other kinds of xenophobia will no doubt also follow. This bill needs to be questioned much more by both political par ty members as well as Canadians in general; there is a lot to lose if C-51 is passed.

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WHERE DO OUR ALLEGIANCES LIE? The desire to strike is noble, but teaching assistants should stay on the job for undergraduates’s sake JONAH LETOVSKY OPINIONS As liberal arts students in Canada, we should be pro-labour. In theory. We’ve learned all about the destruction wreaked by neoliberalism over the past 40 years, and we’ve seen first-hand the impact of university corporatization: steep and rising tuition fees, increasing class sizes, and declining quality of teaching. It should be easy for us to find motive to organize ourselves and stand in solidarity with similarly affected groups, like teaching assistants, facilities staff, lecturers, and faculty—all of whom find themselves increasingly squeezed by those at the top.

At first glance, this should be the case with the looming TA and sessional lecturer strike here at Uof T. Our TAs haven’t seen a pay raise in years, enjoy few benefits, and pay unreasonably high tuition considering that their studies are only part-time. Sessional lecturers, meanwhile, are paid poorly for their hundreds of hours of work per course and have little-to-no job security.

Sometimes, they’re hired no more than a week before classes begin, with little time for preparation.

And yet the feeling on campus is far from the militant activism of the 1960s. Anecdotal experiences, online and in-person, suggest that most undergrads are

concerned about the potential strike—worried about the potential impact on their grades and tentative graduation dates. There isn’t even a great deal of sympathy for the motivations driving the strike; many have trotted out the high hourly wage that TAs are paid (forgetting that TAs work much fewer than 40 hours per week).

These undergrads are wrong. Teaching and support staff at Uof T have genuine grievances. Uof T has suppressed their wages, relied increasingly upon their precarious labour for central teaching duties, and negotiated in bad faith.

In that sense, I think the motivations behind the strike are justified.

I also happen to agree with most of campus. The strategy the TAs plan to use is a zero-sum game that attempts to extract gains by making a victim of undergraduates. They plan to use us as third-party hostages, robbing us of time and, possibly, money in lost tuition, in their dispute with university administration. To me, this represents a larger trend in the current labour movement, which consists of small groups fighting for larger and larger slices of an increasingly shrinking pie—fighting for scraps. From blue collar workers fighting for a

factory to relocate from one run-down rust-belt city to their own run-down rust-belt city, to automobile workers accepting two-tier union agreements—great pay and benefits for senior workers, but peanuts for junior workers—labour has become dog-eat-dog. Everyone loses.

It’s no surprise, then, that most undergrads aren’t on board with the strike. The corporatization of Uof T has squeezed us just as much as the TAs—and now the TAs propose to squeeze us more, for their own benefit?

That’s unacceptable. Stage protests in front of Simcoe Hall, send letters to administrators, gain the support of MPPs—but don’t make undergrads suffer and claim that there’s no other choice.

If modern labour is to survive, it has to set its sights on nothing less than solidarity. Students, contract and temp workers, blue-collar workers—all must work for greater redistribution from society’s wealthiest through more progressive taxation and greater public investment. That would expand everyone’s slice of the pie.

I understand the frustration and I understand the desire to strike—but for the sake of undergraduates, stay on the job.

ONTARIO’S MYTH OF CHEAP BEER ERIK PRESTON STAFF WRITER In recent years, there has been a great deal of controversy surrounding the way beer is sold in Ontario. The evil Beer Store monopoly is said to be robbing consumers of their hard-earned beer dollars because, well, it can.

But when you dig deeper, you find that the issue of beer and alcohol prices in Ontario is much more nuanced than it first appears.

As an employee of Brewers Retail Inc., otherwise known as The Beer Store, I may seem biased because I wish to keep my job. However, there are many valid reasons why we should keep The Beer Store around.

First, the idea that The Beer Store takes advantage of small micro-brewers through their listing and processing fees is a misunderstanding. If you make a product, any product, and wish to sell it in a competitive retail environment, you will be hard-pressed to find an avenue which will not cost you a large chunk of your profits.

It is a false assumption to think that privatizing beer sales will improve the availability and cost of beers from local brewers. The Beer Store does not discriminate against any brewer anywhere—as long as they can pay, they can list their beer.

The Beer Store sells a total of 447 brands of beer

from 104 different brewers. This variety would be nearly impossible to find in any convenience store in a free market system, as the facilities and infrastructure would simply be too hard to sustain in a cost-effective manner given smaller-scale retail environments.

Second, by getting rid of The Beer Store, you would be getting rid of one of the most eco-friendly retailers in Canada. The Beer Store, through its immense recycling program, took the equivalent of 40,210 cars off the road in 2011-2012 (when looking at total greenhouse gas emissions saved).

Furthermore, the program saved Ontario taxpayers $40 million in waste management costs due to its operation in a privatized environment. Without The Beer Store, this recycling program would be nearly impossible to replicate.

Lastly, the idea that beer would be cheaper if you could buy it in a convenience store in Ontario is also incorrect. This emerges from the fact beer is comparable to tobacco in Ontario in terms of how it is taxed. On a 24pack of beer, the government collects $7.80 in basic beer tax and volume tax (both based on quantity, not price), on top of the already included 13% HST. Coupled with

the deposit fee of $0.10 per bottle, if you were to buy a 24-pack at the cost of $32.00, $14.36 of that consists of taxes and costs rather than profit for brewers. The remaining $17.64, in the current system, goes straight to the individual brewers, not The Beer Store. In a private system, this remaining $17.64 would have to be divided between the retailer and the brewer.

If the government (through the LCBO) were to lose this revenue, in light of its 20% market share on the sale of beer, these taxes would surely go up as well, resulting in even higher beer costs. With the loss of the profits available through The Beer Store to the brewers themselves, coupled with increased distribution and other logistical costs, the price of beer would increase even further.

So before hopping on the anti-Beer Store bandwagon, take a moment to understand the issue from all angles. While beer and liquor are expensive in Ontario, simply privatizing the system will not immediately lead to lower prices. In fact, it may very well lead to higher prices, detrimental effects on the environment, and higher taxes for consumers—things we can all agree are negative outcomes.

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Contributors Sarah Crawley, Ros Deibert, Clarrie Feinstein, Ashley Harripersad, Jackie Hong, Jaewuk Kim, Neil MacIsaac, Farah Mannan, Erik Preston, Cara Schacter, Angela Sun, Gabriel ZoltanJohan Copy Editors Marlee Burton, Olivia Dziwak, Alexandra Jones, Jacob McNair, Bronwyn Nisbet-Gray Illustrations Ros Deibert, Lynn Seolim Hong, Emily Pollock, Cara Schacter Photos Victoria Chuen, Sam Feldman, Genevieve Wakutz Cover Photo Genevieve Wakutz The Strand has been the newspaper of record for Victoria University since 1953. It is published 12 times a year with a circulation of 2000 and is distributed in Victoria University buildings and across the University of Toronto’s St. George campus.

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PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE:

EMILY POLLOCK EDITOR-IN-CHIEF A s you probably k now by now, CUPE 3902 (t he union repre s ent ing Uof T’s t e ach ing a ssis t a nt s a nd s e s siona l le c t urer s) is p ois e d to s t r ike at t he end of t he mont h.

Uof T adm inis t r at ion have brought t h is s t r ike up on t hem s elve s. Our TA s have s a la r ie s fa r b elow t he p over t y line (a co ol $15,000 a ye a r, wh ile t he cur rent p over t y line in Ont a r io is $23,000 for a single p ers on), a nd our s e s siona l le c t urer s have a profe s s or’s cour s e lo ad w it hout a profe s s or’s s a la r y or job s e cur it y. T he univer sit y ha s b ehave d t er r ibly dur ing negot iat ions, s tonewa lling dis cus sions a nd ref using to add new ba rga ining dat e s. T hey’re e s s ent ia lly playing a ga me of ch icken w it h t he union, t r y ing to forc e t hem into c av ing w it hout a ny improvement s in wage s or wor k ing condit ions.

So why a ren’t Uof T s t udent s supp or t ing t he union? On s o cia l me dia a nd in da ily conver s at ion, s t udent s have la id t he bla me for t he s t r ike at t he union’s fe et, ent irely ig noring t he adm inis t r at ion’s role.

T he simple a ns wer is t hat Ca nadia n s t udent s to day a ren’t int ere s t e d in t a lk ing ab out lab our. W h ile our gener at ion is engag ing w it h imp or t a nt is sue s like dis c r im inat ion a nd env ironment a l ac t iv ism, lab our is sue s a re t a lke d ab out fa r le s s. But t h is p erc eive d obs ole s c enc e isn’t jus t t he re sult of a gener at iona l sh ift—it’s c aus e d by a p er fe c t s tor m of fe a r a nd prop aga nda.

Pa r t of t he problem is t hat, b e c aus e of t he Ca nadia n e conomy’s slow re cover y, t he job ma r ket is t enuous for a lmos t ever yone.

T hough t he gover nment is cons t a nt ly touting t he suc c e s s of t heir E conom ic Ac t ion Pla n, ma ny a re s t ill unemploye d or underemploye d. A nd when p e ople a re af r a id for t heir ow n e conom ic sur v iva l, t hey’re fa r le s s likely to supp or t t he wor k plac e s olida r it y of ot her s. T hough ma ny g roups a re ha rd-h it by t he cur rent e conom ic ma r ket, s t udent s a re in a n e sp e cia lly bad p osit ion. We’re c aught b e-

t we en r ising t uit ion cos t s a nd a ble a k lab our ma r ket, where t he s er v ic e jobs mos t re adily ava ilable to us a re t emp or a r y a nd ins e cure.

T h is ins e cur it y ha s made s t udent s re s ent f ul, af r a id, a nd much le s s likely to lo ok k indly on t he s t r ug gle s of unioniz e d wor ker s.

But it’s not jus t t he p o or e conomy dr iving a mbiva lenc e towa rd lab our is sue s. Canadia n s t udent s have b e en t aught t hat we ne e d to wor k in opp osit ion to e ach ot her, not w it h e ach ot her, to sur v ive in t he wor kplac e. We’re told t hat even bad jobs don’t come e a sily, t hat we’ll have to bat t le our p e er s for what ever s c r aps we c a n get. We bat t le e ach ot her at s cho ol to come out on top of t he g r ading cur ve, a nd we bat t le e ach ot her out side of s cho ol for unp a id int er nsh ips to ma ke our s elve s more app e a ling t ha n our p e er s to (p ot ent ia l) f ut ure employer s.

Our s chola s t ic a nd e conom ic s ys t em s have a lways b e en r a mp a nt ly indiv idua lis t ic, but t he cur rent e conomy ha s t ur ne d it up to a fever pit ch.

T h is cult ure of fe a r isn’t conducive to lab our orga niz at ion, a nd it c er t a inly isn’t conducive to emp at hy for ot her p e ople’s union ac t iv it ie s. On t he sur fac e, it s e em s p er ver s e for s t udent s not to supp or t t heir TA s—aft er a ll, ma ny of us w ill b e g r aduat e s t udent s our s elve s a nd w ill b enef it f rom t he job s ecur it y t hat t he union w ill (hop ef ully) at t a in.

But we’ve b e en s old a v ision of t he world t hat ma ke s t h is k ind of s olida r it y ne a rly imp os sible. W hen we’re told t hat t he pie is only s o big, we t ur n on t hos e who s e em to b e get t ing a (ma rg ina lly) big ger slic e.

To to day’s s t udent s, t a lk ing ab out lab our a nd unions s e em s a lmos t out dat e d, br ing ing to m ind pic t ure s of D epre s sion-er a s t e elwor ker s sing ing “Solida r it y Forever” a round t r a shc a n f ire s. But in to day’s g r im e conomy, where big busine s s e s s e em to hold a ll of t he c a rd s, lab our ac t iv ism is more ne c e s s a r y t ha n ever.

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advice for keeping it real between the sheets...

PHALLUS BIGBOOTY SEXPERT It’s t hat t ime of ye a r where couple s f lo ck to re s t aur a nt s, conc er t s, a nd what ever ot her plac e t he young p e ople m ight f re quent for a roma nt ic evening nowadays. Per s ona lly, I’m more of a n “e at a burger out do or s t hen smoke t h re e ciga r s a nd never s top smelling like t he inside of a t a x i” k ind of ga l, but hey—to e ach t heir ow n.

Wit h Va lent ine’s Day com ing up, I’m using my (lack of) c re dent ia ls a s a n inc re dibly (in)ex p er ienc e d p er s on to g ive ad v ic e on topic s of a sex ua l nat ure. W h ile s ome of you w ill b e lo ok ing de eply into e ach ot her’s eye s a nd p ay ing way to o much money for t h ings w r app e d in re d t infoil t h is Febr ua r y 14, ot her s have bur ning que s t ions ab out get t ing f re a k y b et we en t he she et s.

I’ll have you k now t hat I wa s lis t ening to Ger r y Raffer t y’s “Ba ker St re et” wh ile coming up w it h t he s e a ns wer s, s o t here’s no way I c a n b e w rong ab out a ny t h ing (t hat s a x don’t lie).

1) My p a r tner an d I re cen tly foun d a certa in role-play dynam ic tha t ge ts us going, bu t it’s s ta r te d to ma ke an app ea rance a t ever y ren dez vous. How do I tell h im to p u t the brea k s on some th ing tha t work s so well?

So you’ve ma nage d to unlo ck a sp e cia l int ere s t t hat you b ot h sha re. Cong r at ulat ions! A s for ke eping t h is sp e cia l role-play d y na m ic, well, sp e cia l, you c a n let your p a r t ner k now t hat you wa nt to ke ep t he play ac t ing to a m inimum s o a s to not we a r out t he novelt y. Be cle a r in your it ent ions, a nd b e p olit e.

It t a ke s a lot of cour age to bre a k out t he dr a ma chops a nd br ing t he t he at re into t he b oudoir, s o t a ke t hat into consider at ion. If t he role-play ing ha s b e en ke eping t h ings spic y, t hen may b e lo ok to ot her novelt ie s to t a ke s ome of t he pre s sure off your lat e s t dis cover y.

2) I like wa tch ing p orn a s a way to wa rm up, bu t my p a r tner an d I ten d to hesita te when pick ing videos. How do I brea k down the awk wa rdness an d le t my p a r tner know tha t I’m not s ca re d o f wha t she m igh t pick?

Rememb er t hat one epis o de of Curb Your En thusia sm where L a r r y Dav id got into a n a rg ument w it h h is w ife? T h is is like t hat.

I n t hat epis o de, L a r r y ex pla ins t hat t he world of h is int imat e fa nt a sie s is s ep a r at e f rom t he roma nt ic ide a s of h is w ife. W h ile t he epis o de had more yelling t ha n ever ne ce s s a r y, it did br ing up a s exua l d y na m ic t hat ma ny p a r t ner s m ight ex p er ienc e: pr ivat e s exua lit y ver sus sha re d int imac y.

W het her or not s ome one is w illing to sha re t heir pr ivat e s exua l habit s is ent irely up to t hat p er s on, a nd it come s a s no s e c ret t hat p or n isn’t for ever y b o d y.

T he key here is to com munic at e cle a rly w it h your p a r t ner ab out your int ent ions: let t hem k now t hat you’re op en to k nowing more ab out what t ur ns t hem on t ha n dis cover ing t heir pr ivat e like s. Be sure t hat you have e s t ablishe d a judg ment-f re e zone b efore you c r ack op en t he laptop, but s t ay op en to t he ide a t hat v isua l a id s a ren’t for ever yone. If it fa ils, move on to a not her for m of show a nd t ell.

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Paula Razuri

Emily Pollock

Position: Whatever Dame Maggie Smith is in Downton Abbey Biggest Turn-On: I’m a simple girl of simple tastes who, like everyone, likes a good old triangle with one single eye, hot damn!

Deepest, darkest secret: I don’t, understand, commas Valentine’s Day Plans: Sitting down and doing tax prep with my spouse of 47 years Tinder Horror Story: I only matched with Shrek

Position: Tolkien-Nerd-In-Chief Guilty Pleasure: THERE IS NO GUILT THERE IS NO SHAME THERE IS ONLY POWER AND THOSE TOO WEAK TO SEEK IT Hobbies & Interests: Making Richard Dawkins cry with my blatant misuse/overuse of the word “meme” Hottest Place on Campus: The portal to Hell under Convocation Hall Tinder Horror Story: what the fuck is a tinder.

Position: Satan Hobbies & Interests: Screaming, “I AM AN ANARCHIST” at brunch Ideal First Date: I come up to your door with a special book in hand and start to preach about purity. You shut the door in my face. I go up to the next door and…

Favourite Pick-up Line: The entirety of George W. Bush’s “2003 Mission Accomplished” speech Guilty Pleasure: White people

CHANTAL DUCHESNE

HOLLY MCKENZIE-SUTTER

CLAIRE WILKINS

Position: Centerfold Hobbies & Interests: My duvet Biggest Turn-On: Mansplaining What’s your type? Yourllbeanboyfriend. tumblr.com Tinder Horror Story: “I don’t like avocados.”

Position: A&C (Ass & C U Next Tuesday) Majors/Minors: Major in dark stares, minor in laughing at my own inner monologue Guilty Pleasure: Saying no to people Deal Breaker: Weak social media presence Valentine’s Day Plans: Waiting to purchase discounted chocolate the next day

Rachel Gordon Position: Associate Editor, Features Favourite Pick-up Line: Did you know the G-string originated from the cello?

What’s your type? Tall, sexy, strong, empowered, family-oriented, feminist, flawless… Beyoncé. Just become Beyoncé Biggest Turn-On: The ability to eat an entire cheese pizza in half an hour Biggest Regret: That time I tried to eat an entire cheese pizza in half an hour

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Amanda Aziz

Position: Large and in charge What’s your type? Nice guys who like good movies like The Matrix Biggest Turn-On: Donuts Ideal First Date: Donuts Biggest Regret: Donuts

Lily Wang Position: Editorial Assistant Favourite Pick-up Line: If you can sing it like Trey Songz, it doesn’t even matter what your line is Hobbies & Interests: Sports, music, TV, travelling, food, food, food…

Hottest Place on Campus: AC Biggest Regret: #noregretz

Date The Strand...

JUST SOME SAD HIPSTER NERDS LOOKING FOR LOVE...

What does it take to devote an unreasonable amount of your time to a student publication? A lot of despair and sarcasm, apparently. Here we have some brief profiles from The Strand’s most eligible editors. Who knows, maybe you’ll find that special someone... the next part is getting them to get out of bed and actually interact with other humans. Happy Valentine’s Day from The Strand!

RHIANNA JACKSON-KELSO Position: Benevolent Copy Dictator.

Biggest Turn-On: I like a guy who can identify dangling modifiers.

Biggest Regret: That un-bolded period from the Frosh issue.

Deal Breaker: Not using the Oxford comma (seriously).

Tinder Horror Story: Ended up in a serious relationship!

OLESYA LYUZNA Position: Stranded Co-ed Majors/Minors: Economics, French, and Occult Studies Favourite Pick-up Line: “I’d ask if you come here often, but I already stalk you on Foursquare.”

What’s your type? American Typewriter, but if you can pull off Helvetica un-ironically, hit me up Tinder Horror Story: Our only shared interest was American Psycho

BRONWYN NISBET-GRAY Position: Word Bitch Majors/Minors: Major smart-ass, minor ass What’s your type? Don Draper minus the misogyny and alcoholism Valentine’s Day Plans: A steamy night in with Netflix and my self-pity Tinder Horror Story: “I’m a foodie”

GRACE QUINSEY Position: Looking Good aka Design Majors/Minors: Specializing in English Cliterature Guilty Pleasure: Writing fake responses to Craiglist’s “Missed Connections” Ideal First Date: They pay for dinner, and I change my phone number Valentine’s Day Plans: Going to see Fifty Shades of Grey alone while more than slightly intoxicated

ANTHONY BURTON Position: Consigliere Guilty Pleasure: Sitting in Queen’s Park and letting the pigeons crawl all over me Biggest Regret: This Ideal First Date: Dinner (Taco Bell) and a movie (You Don’t Mess With the Zohan) Deal Breaker: If you mess with the Zohan

EMILY DEIBERT Position: Fetal Position Majors/Minors: Astrophysics and English Guilty Pleasure: Pretty Little Liars reruns Deepest, darkest secret: I didn’t take Grade 12 physics Deal Breaker: Not reading Stranded

PORTRAITS COURTESY OF SARAH CRAWLEY 9

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FIRST DATES VIVIAN CHE

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Getting a reservation anywhere on Valentine’s Day is notoriously difficult, so why not celebrate before the 14th? This week’s article is an info dump of how to get cheap access to some of Toronto’s best attractions for Valentine’s Week so you can impress without having to stress! Hit it!

STAYING IN… (ON CAMPUS) There’s a lot of great art on our campus, but did you know that we have two galleries that are absolutely free for you and your artsy date? The Justina M. Barnicke Gallery (http://harthouse.ca/justina-m-barnicke-gallery) is located in Hart House, and the University of Toronto Art Centre (www.utac.utoronto.ca) is located around the corner at University College.

Uof T’s swing dancing club, UT-Swing (http://utswing.info), offers fun and romantic dancing every Wednesday night. Each night begins with a drop-in beginners’ lesson at 7 PM and then opens up for social dancing. You don’t even need a partner, so this is great for everyone—couples, singletons, and even those of us currently suffering in long-distance relationships If you and your sweetie want to catch some campus theatre, there is no better time to do so than this weekend! All Uof T campus theatre societies will be presenting student-written one-act plays in competition at the annual Uof T Drama Festival (http://drama. sa.utoronto.ca/drama-festival/) in Hart House Theatre.

There are three shows every night beginning at 7:30 PM, and tickets are $10 for students.

There’s no better place to get some quality campus

grub than at our very own campus food co-op/café, Harvest Noon (http://harvestnoon.com). Not only do they serve healthy dishes made from local, sustainable, and organic ingredients, but most of their prices are around $5. However, they’re not open evenings or weekends, so you’ll have to settle for a pre-Valentine’s lunch.

A NIGHT OUT ON THE TOWN! As a staunch feminist, I’m super excited about two exhibits right now: The Gardiner Museum’s (www. gardinermuseum.on.ca) “Women, Art, and Social Change: The Newcomb Pottery Enterprise,” and the Ryerson Image Centre’s (www.ryerson.ca/ric) “AntiGlamour: Portraits of Women.” Both focus on female representation in art and feature women making art. The Gardiner Museum is free for post-secondary students on Tuesdays and has half-price admission on Fridays after 4 PM. Admission is always free for Vic students with a sticker from VUSAC. The Ryerson Image Centre is absolutely free!

Students have access to $5 tickets to some of the best theatre shows around Toronto from independent companies such as Tarragon and Factory Theatre via the hipTix (www.totix.ca/totix_ca/hiptix_information) program. Soulpepper Theatre also offers $21 to $24 tickets to those between the ages of 21-30 for select performances via their StagePlay program (https:// stageplay.ca). Similarly, Canadian Stage (www. canadianstage.com) offers $15 tickets to those under 30 through their C-Stage program. Theatre Passe Muraille (http://passemuraille.ca) offers $17 under-30 tickets and PWYC Saturday and Sunday matinees.

If you or your date is between the ages of 15 to 35, you can sign-up for TSOUNDCHECK to get tickets to Toronto Symphony Orchestra (www.tso.ca) shows for

only $16!

The Canadian Opera Company (www.coc.ca) offers $22 and $35 tickets for people under 30. Currently on offer is Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Wagner’s Die Walküre. They also offer free concerts at lunchtime and afternoons.

The Museum of Inuit Art (miamuseum.ca) is a great little museum down by the Harbourfront which is devoted exclusively to art made by Inuit peoples. Their admission is only $3 for students.

For fashion-conscious dates: The Textile Museum of Canada (www.textilemuseum.ca) charges $6 for student admissions and offers PWYC admission on Wednesday evenings.

For literarily-inclined dates: The Toronto Public Library also offers its own exhibits and attractions: The Lillian H. Smith branch (right across from Uof T campus) houses the Osborne Children’s Book Collection (www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/osborne/events.jsp). This collection is perfect for fans of children’s literature, and if you’re nice they might even talk you through the exhibit.

History buffs will enjoy the current TD Gallery exhibit, “Four Families, One War,” at the Toronto Reference Library (www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/programs-andclasses/exhibits/trl-exhibits.jsp). Both are, of course, free.

For dates who like their brews, the Amsterdam BrewHouse (http://amsterdambrewhouse.com) on the Harbourfront offers FREE tours and tastings Wednesday to Friday and on weekends. Did we mention that this is down by the lake? SO romantic!

If you need a little breather after the pressures of Valentine’s Week, the Mountain Equipment Co-op store on King offers a free Yoga Jam (http://events.mec.ca/) for all experience levels on Sunday mornings at 9:45 AM.

BASQUIAT LAUNCH AT THE AGO SARAH CRAWLEY STAFF ARTIST Jean Michel-Basquiat: Now’s the Time at the AGO was February’s “First Thursdays” event. It featured a preview of the upcoming Basquiat exhibit alongside a panel discussion on art and activism regarding racial justice and a concert by hip-hop pioneer Grandmaster Flash.

Further performances by choreographer Dana Michel and dancehall-soul duo Bonjay were included, as well as multiple collaborative site-specific installations. The sold-out event explored issues of time in art and activism: framing community history and imagining its future.

Basquiat was a New York-based artist whose graffiti work and paintings gained extraordinary international recognition in the ‘80s. Examining dualities and social issues through a combination of poetry, painting, and drawing, his work analyzed and critiqued power structures of racial and class struggle. He produced a large amount of work in collaboration with artists like Andy Warhol, yet died at the young age of 27 from a heroin overdose. Basquiat’s individual contributions were acknowledged by members of the panel discussion, while emphasis was also placed on new ways that we can think about the role of artists within the context of change. “‘It Could Have Been Me’: Perspectives on the Fight for Racial Justice and the Legacy of Jean-Michel

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Basquiat” was arguably the most important part of the evening. This panel connected Basquiat’s work to the other performances and to the significance of such work in an institution like the AGO. Organized in collaboration with the Black Lives Matter Toronto Coalition, the panel was moderated by artist, activist, and educator Kim Katrin Milan. It featured Mustafa the Poet, artist/ educator Randell Adjei, social justice educator janaya (j) khan, and artist/activist Syrus Marcus Ware.

As the opening remarks by Black Lives Matter Toronto Coalition member Alexandria Williams and AGO Chief Curator Stephanie Smith highlighted, opening space and accessibility to the AGO as an institution was a key goal of the event. Central seating at the talk was reserved for members of the coalition and those identifying as part of Toronto’s black community. The occupation of physical space represented the call for new spaces by all panel members, who stressed this as a responsibility of artists.

Spaces of accessibility, safety, and identity are crucial in the context of continued racial issues, even within the little-talked-of Canadian context (undergoing the largest prison expansion in the world, with Toronto already seeing an increasing rate of incarceration of black people). Randell Adjei noted it is “through art [that we can] create spaces where we can be heard or represented.” On her role as individual artist, janaya (j) khan added: “My job is to either bring attention to [those not represented here]... or give up my own space... when

SAM FELDMAN

ANGELA SUN STAFF WRITER

you get there, you bring your people with you. We have to ask what areas and pathways are going to let people into that space, what organizational memory are you leaving behind to let people through.”

And the time for doing so is now. As Syrus Marcus Ware said, “If we somehow believe that there is a later time, we will have lost it,” to which Randell Adjei added that “There’s a time 30 years ago, yesterday, today.” In reference to the literary/cultural Afrofuturism movement, janaya (j) khan also argued, “It is not [as much] Black history but Black future... there is nothing more radical than imagining ourselves in the future.”

Grandmaster Flash’s concluding set seemed out of sync with the extraordinary vision of the discussion and exhibit, revolving around modern pop hits rather than the rich hip-hop selection that was expected. Regardless, in many ways the event stimulated ideas about new art and space, giving participants the chance to engage with these concepts and hopefully setting up crucial discussions about the Basquiat exhibit for weeks to come.

Catch the AGO Basquiat Special Exhibit from February 7 to May 10, 2015. Listen to the “‘It Could Have Been Me’: Perspectives on the Fight for Racial Justice and the Legacy of Jean-Michel Basquiat” talk online at: http://new. livestream.com/AGO/events/3778904

VICTORIA CHUEN

SO, YOU WANT TO STAY INVOLVED? ASHLEY HARRIPERSAD CONTRIBUTOR Are you an upper year student who feels like they have fallen off the radar of student involvement?

In first year, you have anything and everything thrown at you. Clubs are looking to recruit new members, elections are underway, work-study positions are available, and volunteering just seems like the thing to do. So, you end up signing up for almost everything at a clubs fair, and before you know it, you find your inbox flooded with Listservs. Do you even remember signing up for UT-Swing? You feel like you are in demand, because you are!

Then you find yourself on that journey we like to call undergrad, and even though you’re still interested in staying involved on campus, you don’t know where to begin. Well, no need to fret; there are plenty of opportunities available.

Before you go searching, give yourself a bit of time to figure out what kind of involvement you are interested

in. Have you thought about where your interests lie? Do you enjoy arts and crafts? Maybe debating? How about playing a round (or five) of Werewolf? Once you identify what you’re curious about, you’ve dealt with the most difficult part of the process. All it takes from there is a couple of searches and signups. What you sign up for is totally up to you. Take advantage of all the opportunities out there, and also try to keep an open mind during your searches. What about trying something new? You may find that you have secret talents, interests, and skills.

Don’t be afraid to explore!

Here are three ways to help kick-start your journey to involvement:

Well, what are you waiting for?

2. Are you interested in campus life? How about checking out what your college or faculty has to offer.

For example, are you a commuter? If so, you should check out what commuter resources are available. You might even find that you have commuter dons and an Off-Campus Association.

3. So, you know that new mysterious co-curricular thing, the CCR (if not, you can find out more about it here: https://ccr.utoronto.ca/about-ccr/about.htm)? Well, believe it or not, it can be quite useful! On the CCR, you can search from a database of co-curricular activities and track your involvement through the years.

1. The UTSU Clubs Directory is super handy.

There may be over a hundred pages, but hey, CTRL + F exists for a reason. Maybe you’re a really big Harry Potter fan: have you tried searching “Quidditch”? No?

So, you want to stay involved, eh? Well, remember: you are not alone in this battle to stay connected on campus.

Good luck!

HAVING FUN ISN’T HARD...

UofT Campaign For Community offers Playspace for students CLARRIE FEINSTEIN STAFF WRITER The lack of community at Uof T has long been an issue felt by the student body. One of the reasons for this problem has been the reality of there being no shared, creative student space where students can interact and simply have fun.

In an effort to fill this void, on January 23 a group of 15 psychology students created Playspace as part of an independent study. They reclaimed the usually bland Sidney Smith lounge by transforming it into a vibrant and interactive area. As I walked in, I saw that the once studiously quiet, student-filled room was now occupied by groups of people playing board games and jamming on guitars. The most inviting noise was the surprisingly loud sound of laughter.

David Fishbayn and Daniel Jubas-Malz, who are part of this independent study, discussed the intention behind the Uof T Campaign For Community group and what exactly they hope to achieve.

“This is what students want,” said David, the organizer of the event. “All students want more interaction. Students feel alienated and isolated. We want to make some progress and deal with this problem.

There is a divide that is created because of the college system, which is bound to have a psychological impact.

We come into this school and inherit the norm, which is

to not be openly friendly, but to stick to the people we know. We go through our days by attending class, then going to the library, and then we commute. You have to make a real conscious effort to meet people.”

Daniel also mentioned the difficulties he has experienced as a commuter: “It’s pretty hard to socialize, and you feel like you’re not part of a community.”

So, where is Uof T going wrong? Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) offers assistance to students struggling with mental health issues and stress, providing one-on-one counseling in a secure and safe environment. However, due to the large size of the university, students often have to wait weeks before getting an appointment.

As Daniel says, “There are 50,000 kids in this campus. There’s no way they can address all our needs.”

However, the lack of mental health support might not just be a Uof T problem. Daniel wants to conduct research by comparing the attitudes of this school in comparison to other universities, since stress and mental health issues are increasing—not just in Uof T students, but in all young adults of our generation.

One factor that would greatly assist in enriching the student experience would be to have open and friendly environments where interaction with new acquaintances

and peers can happen in a carefree manner.

“Rooms inform you what to do,” David says. “We want to tell the room what to do. Physical spaces can change. This is now a leisure space, which will hopefully happen on a weekly basis.”

There are student lounges and spaces designated in colleges to provide students with a space they can “call their own.” However, these spaces usually involve individuals or groups of friends studying. The creativity of music and crafts, on the other hand, automatically introduces the notion of a play space.

When I was asked if I would hang around, I responded with the usual, “Sure, but I’ll have to do some readings…” I was then shown a sign that said: While You Are Here in this Room: 1. No thinking about school 2. No worrying about your future 3. No thinking about your homework 4. No cynicism about Uof T 5. No worrying about your GPA I can say that for the two hours I stayed, I never thought about any of that. In fact, I relaxed and had fun.

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POP FEMINISM’S IMAGE PROBLEM EMILY POLLOCK EDITOR-IN-CHIEF One of 2014’s best pop music moments was Beyoncé’s per formance of her song “Flawless” at the VMAs. She per formed the song backlit by a neon sign of the word “feminist.” The message was entirely appropriate, as an entire verse of the song was sampled from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s TED talk about feminism.

“Feminism” has been a buzzword in the pop music scene for the last year. When asked whether they were feminists, plent y of the year’s char t-topping female ar tists responded in the affirmative, or at least played coy enough to get fans’ hopes up. But so far (with the notable exception of Beyoncé), pop music’s feminism has been rooted more in generic gestures of empowerment than any real pretensions toward addressing gender inequalit y.

Obviously this is better than the usual “I’m not a feminist because I don’t hate men” conga line en-

dorsed by stars like Shailene Woodley, but it seems as though pop culture has assimilated feminism and left its substance behind. Miley Cyrus, one of pop feminism’s biggest faces, says “I feel like I’m one of the biggest feminists in the world because I tell women to not be scared of any thing.” While one may applaud her intent in branding herself a feminist, this quote doesn’t really say any thing at all about what her feminism means.

The vapidit y of this feminism isn’t just a minor irritant to the feminist audience; it allows these ar tists to look cool and progressive while remaining complicit in unequal power structures. While Miley Cyrus might genuinely be a feminist, her tacky appropriation of black culture and use of black women as props in her music video are decidedly un-revolutionar y. Lily Allen’s “Hard Out Here” is even more tone-deaf and cluelessly racist. Although Allen is an outspoken feminist, and although the song derides the power that men have over women in the music industr y, the video re-creates the same dynamic be-

tween Allen and her group of (mostly black) backup dancers. The video features her surrounded by twerking black dancers right after she sings, “Don’t need to shake my ass for you ‘cuz I got a brain.”

There is also inequalit y in who is allowed to call themselves feminist within the pop sphere. While Miley was hailed as a feminist hero for her appropriative twerking, Beyoncé was slammed as “not feminist enough” for taking her husband’s last name.

Pop-feminism allows ar tists and listeners to perpetuate this kind of racism, because it doesn’t examine any of the structures it exists in.

Feminism doesn’t have to be angr y, but it does have to be critical. The way we talk about “feminist” pop ar tists reduces feminism to a generic symbol of “girl power” while ignoring the issues that feminism is tr ying to combat. Yeah, it’s great that we have a dialogue about feminism in pop-culture, but if we don’t use it to have serious conversations, it’s just a big neon sign without the talk to back it up.

STATE OF THE LOU-NION Louis CK’s Live At The Comedy Store and not cheating death NEIL MACISAAC ASSOCIATE STRANDED EDITOR Since 2007’s Shameless, there has been a new hour-long Louis CK album or special basically every year. Each has its own quirks, its own subtleties, and its own visual style. Together they track one of the most interesting entertainment careers of the 21st century, during which Louis CK has consistently worked to become more interesting and relevant with each passing year. Live At The Comedy Store, released online on January 27, has no duty or need to acquaint us with Louis CK. Despite this, CK runs contrary to his usual zero-fanfare walkon and has opening act Jay London introduce him after performing some of his own material.

London’s work is basically all one-liners, and it foreshadows the stated goal of the special: to make comedy that felt more like CK’s pre-Shameless act, which combined observational and absurd elements.

The setting of The Comedy Store also suggests this; CK is not making the sweeping rants and stories that fit with Carnegie Hall or the Beacon Theatre. I had become personally concerned after 2013’s Oh My God, which featured a circular stage (usually a sign of peak

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popularity and about-to-collapse creativity), that CK’s stunning reign at the top was concluding. In a sense, I was correct.

In Live At The Beacon Theatre, CK feels overly eager to be shocking and impressive, shooting in the style of his TV show and making his most inflammatory jokes.

The Comedy Store feels like the creation of a workaholic taking pressure off himself—not the pressure to be funny, but the pressure to be home-run-out-of-the-park funny. This attitude comes across in how he seems to relish the building blocks of his act—his different voices, faces, and postures. Beacon, for all its bravado, didn’t change joke-telling styles much; it all felt confined to his angry ranting style. He has a steady audience now and he likely realizes that revisiting an idea is better than trying to replicate the feel of an act. The result is a more mature and, in my opinion, improved approach.

What is remarkable is that this is done with basically no drop in quality. The subtle shift in confidence allows for different kinds of stories. A particular one about a friend that takes place in moments over decades couldn’t

have been done by an up-and-coming or blockbuster comedian. It’s made of the kind of dots only a veteran can connect well, by virtue of a longer life and a sharp eye for smaller things that make people laugh. And of all comedians, it makes sense for CK to be the one that does it—his mentality of honesty and humanity never ages or grows stale. It’s the kind of career appeal that can go on indefinitely, like George Carlin (one of CK’s influences), or other journeyman entertainers like Bob Dylan or Elaine Stritch.

The bottom line is that the special is fresh and bellylaugh funny. The jokes shock you more by where they go than with their content, and the special updates CK’s worldview much like season four of Louie did. One of the few longer stories—and, for my money, the best bit—is his description of discovering that all people die, and his perverse joy in breaking the news to another child. CK makes the inevitability of nothingness worth a laugh, and in doing so he shows that that’s the only thing that will stop him.

A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT: Boundaries and geography in genre fiction FARAH MANNAN CONTRIBUTOR surprise the audience with well-known visual cues lifted from the reper toire of well-loved Nor th American film. For instance, Arash plays a James Dean-like miscreant, leaning against a well-polished ‘50s-era vehicle in jeans and a white t-shir t—the epitome of silver screen cool. Vand’s chador-wearing vampire is listlessly aloof as she roams the streets at night, and equally as terrifying once she has set her eyes on her next victim. Rather than just existing as a monster to be feared by the audience, The Girl fits the role of the anti-hero: the tall, broad-shouldered sheriff of a John Ford western is replaced by the waif-like figure of a young Iranian woman with fangs. Amirpour is not the first to blend genre elements together, but she is cer tainly debuting her film career by venturing into territor y occupied by the venerable Boys’ Club of “genre” directors in Holly wood.

Though one should approach the politics of Girl Walks Home with caution (the director herself has been quite apathetic about overly political interpretations of the film), it is wor th noting that what Amirpour achieves with this film comes after a long line of critically and commercially celebrated male directors. We have all been familiarized with the infusion of spaghetti-western filmmaking techniques in Tarantino f licks that have proved to be incredibly financially successful. In a less commercially viable mode, the work of Jim Jarmusch has been regularly noted to contain distinct blends of film st yle. Critical praise of Girl Walks Home continually references the inspiration of these two directors in Amirpour’s work, as well as the surrealist inf luences of David Lynch, the editing st yle of Sergio Leone, and a num-

ber of other recognizable masters of the medium.

However, Amirpour’s creation is far more than simple imitation or tribute to well-known directors.

What she has created on-screen is a vampire film unlike any other, with a lead whose dedicated amoralit y is a rare deviation for female characters in film.

A woman on-screen doesn’t need to be representative of either the top or bottom rung on the moralit y scale, as is the tired trend in too many horror films we see popping up in cinema these days. There are moments when The Girl’s harshness appalls and alienates the viewer, but also moments so tender that we forget the fangs are hidden away, ready to strike at any given moment. Vand’s vampire thus becomes, funnily enough, one of the most human por trayals of a creature of the night to date.

A Girl Walks Home A lone at Night may not be for ever yone, as it cer tainly focuses more on st yle than substance. Plot mobilit y is far from the main concern of Amirpour’s directing—think of it as a slice of life vampire drama, with no discernable beginning or end to The Girl’s stor y. The dreamy pacing and master fully crafted shots are enough to grab the attention of most viewers. Both the soundtrack and Vand’s per formance are hypnotic and pair per fectly with the relaxed pace of the film. This film, one of the most unique interpretations of vampires to date, is one that shouldn’t be missed by fans of the genre, or those simply in need of the per fect anti-hero. It is currently being screened at TIFF’s Bell Lightbox until the end of Februar y.

LYNN HONG

While this may be the first Iranian vampire-western you will see this year, it is cer tainly not for pure novelt y’s sake that A Girl Walks Home A lone at Night is wor th watching. Sur fing down the empt y streets of a seedy crime-filled neighbourhood on a stolen skateboard in a cape-like chador, the titular character may just be the coolest member of the undead on the silver screen.

The directorial debut of Iranian-American filmmaker Ana Lily Amirpour, Girl Walks Home first premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. The fictional Iranian town aptly called “Bad Cit y” ser ves as the bleak industrial backdrop for a handful of residents that roam the near-empt y streets at night. We follow the stor y of Arash (Arash Marandi), a handyman working to suppor t his drug-addicted father, Hossein (Marshall Manesh), whilst dealing with the death of his mother. There is also the heavily tattooed Saeed (Dominic Rains), who runs the town’s drug trade through unscrupulous acts of violence and intimidation, and Atti (Mozhan Marnò), whose life as a sex worker bitterly roaming the streets often attracts the company of her fellow night crawler, The Girl (Sheila Vand of A rgo).

An exercise in the ar t of crossing boundaries, Girl Walks Home both embraces and challenges viewers’ conceptions of what the genre film entails. Filmed in striking black and white, the movie’s eclectic mix of st ylistic choices—ever y thing from the use of twanging spaghetti-western music to a Hitchcockian blend of humour and suspense—positions itself as more than just an experiment in genre. With all the dialogue in Farsi, the film manages to amuse and

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LYNN HONG

F/M

MOMS IN MUSIC JAEWUK KIM CONTRIBUTOR Most listeners of Kanye West will know—from his music or from inter views—that he had a ver y close and special relationship with his mother. After the release of his latest album, Yeezus, people babbled on about how he had sold his soul to the devil and had changed from the “old Kanye.” There was also all that Illuminati baloney (though who knows, maybe he is par t of the Illuminati). But this so-called “new Kanye” is more daring and complex than the old one. He has begun to break free from the dour persona he’s built up over the past several albums; this especially comes through in his latest single, the stirring ballad “Only One.” This song, a tribute to his daughter, Nor th “Nori” West, echoes the sentiments of Kanye’s Late Registration ballad, “Hey Mama.” It is layered with and the inter woven perspectives of Kanye and his late mother, Donda West. Donda acts almost as a frame narrator, lyrically dominating the song after Kanye has introduced her presence in the first two lines.

This is only appropriate: the mind does not simply function in a singular narrative, but is much more complex, with f loating thoughts and inner voices. In this spiritual conversation, Donda’s words are spoken through Kanye.

The first line, the children’s bedtime prayer

“Now I lay me down to sleep,” is fitting since the song is dedicated to his daughter. However, the following line, “I hear her speak to me,” conversely presents Kanye, now a father, as a little boy before the gentle presence of his mother.

This transformation, or stripping-down, from his radical “Yeezus-I-am-a-God” persona to an ordinar y father figure, reminds us again that Kanye is simply a musician—an actor who per forms his songs with var ying attitudes and approaches. In this par ticular single, he is the same young man who sang “Hey Mama” at the 2008 Grammys, wanting nothing more than to see and speak to his mother again. Does this remind you of anyone?

It doesn’t take much to draw the connection between the ambience and the content of the track, and Kanye’s deliberate decision to collaborate with none other than Paul McCar tney, the Beatle who composed the chef-d’œuvre record, Let It Be. It seems that both musicians, in times of hardship, found comfor t through the presence of their mothers in the liminal space of the dream. Perhaps it is this mutual loss and longing to speak to their late mothers that kindled this collaboration.

Just as Paul’s late mother, Mar y, spoke to him in a dream that inspired the song “Let It Be,” Kanye’s spiritual, in-song conversation with his mother takes

place in a dream, and consoles the hear ts of the listeners who might’ve experienced the mutual pain of a loss so greatly ineffable.

The song is special in that it breaks Kanye’s long hiatus from writing songs about hope, healing, and happiness. Through his marriage, the bir th of his daughter, and this spiritual conversation, Kanye seems to have found a peaceful closure of the void he had felt without his loving mother. With the goal of expressing this acceptance, Kanye is dead-on in his decision to feature Paul McCar tney in the song.

There are people who wag their fingers at Kanye for making arrogant remarks in inter views, or for aggressively pushing away the paparazzi out of frustration stemming from the lack of privacy in his life.

Perhaps at times he does go a bit too far, but this should not be a reason to put down good music. Ar t is ar t, and we don’t have to love an ar tist to admire their work. I’ve heard people say, “Who does he think he is, comparing himself to The Beatles with this song?” Perhaps Kanye is casting a shadow over his own record with his explicit allusion to The Beatles’ hit. Regardless, the depth and warmth of this new release is rich and even literar y, and Kanye is definitely pushing the boundaries of the mercurial music industr y.

REVIEW: THEORY OF EVERYTHING CLARRIE FEINSTEIN STAFF WRITER The biopic genre has amassed a filmmaker cult following. Films such as Walk the Line, Ray, Chaplin, The Imitation Game, The King’s Speech, The Butler, Diana, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, and many others immediately come to mind. There is nothing particularly wrong with these films, but they are completely formulaic. Often what has made these films so popular at the Oscars is the Hollywood aesthetic: they draw in big Hollywood actors and play it safe when it comes to content, maybe eliciting a drug plotline or sex scene.

Once again, this year’s biopics have snagged numerous Oscar nominations and managed to infiltrate the moviegoers’ film watching experience.

One of these nominees is The Theory of Every thing, a film focusing on the relationship between renowned physicist Stephen Hawking (Eddie Redmayne) and his valiant wife, Jane Hawking (Felicity Jones). The film is directed by James Marsh and adapted from Jane Hawking’s book My Life with Stephen. It spans the couple’s lives over 25 years, from their first encounter to their eventual separation.

The film focuses primarily on Stephen Hawking’s

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private life rather than his scientific feats, which are crowded into the beginning of the film when Hawking attends Cambridge. The subsequent struggle that both Jane and Stephen endure is palpable and provides a glimpse into this amazing man’s internal struggle to be seen as a regular person rather than pitied for his illness. However, despite the emotional punch, the film lacked depth. I ultimately felt underwhelmed—the beginning of the film was the best part for me, because it had energy and momentum.

What made this film feel bland was its stereotypical biopic arc. It begins with a young Stephen Hawking, without a care in the world, as he meets the love of his life—showcasing his scientific talent with a couple of scribbles on paper and chalkboard, coming up with his black hole theory. It shows the period of Hawking’s life when he is diagnosed with ALS, and the tension with his wife that follows. Eventually, the film ends with Stephen giving a speech to a crowded hall, demonstrating his legacy and popularity amongst scientists and the public.

However, the absolute highlight of this film is the acting by Redmayne and Jones and their undeniable, genuine chemistry—not only as husband and wife, but also as friends and confidantes. Redmayne completely

transforms himself into Hawking, portraying the physicality with strenuous articulation and detail. He manages to communicate uninhibited emotion through a very inhibited physical range of expression. Jones portrays Jane Hawking—a strong, resilient woman who raised three children and was caretaker to her husband for years while pursuing her own academic endeavours and eventually earning her PhD—with exceptional skill.

The Theory of Every thing can be compared to films like 12 Years A Slave, which follows the life of Solomon Northrop, or this year’s Mr. Turner, which focuses on English painter J. M. W. Turner. These films manage to take the biopic genre and turn it into something more.

The directors and screenwriters take out sentimentality and infuse artistic vision and realistic character arcs.

They believe in the intelligence of the audience and manage to give a glimpse into the lives of extraordinary figures, who in reality were no different than you or me.

Great films are hard to come by. While The Theory of Every thing is not a great movie, it is a good movie. It is worth seeing for the actors who completely embody their characters. However, the traditional and streamlined biopic style only places this film with the countless other biopic films that are never remembered after the year they were released.

NICE THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

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CARA SCHACTER CONTRIBUTOR

HAVE TAYLOR SWIFT’S COPYRIGHT CLAIMS GONE TOO FAR? ROS DEIBERT CONTRIBUTOR Earlier this month, award-winning musician Taylor Swift placed copyrights on numerous phrases from her most recent album, 1989. The news of the copyright on phrases such as “we never go out of style” and “this sick beat” was already creating an uproar of public opinion, but another phrase that Swift recently decided to add to the list seems to pose even more problems for our friends south of the border.

The first track on 1989 is called “Welcome to New York,” and just last week it was announced that Swift

has put a copyright on the name of the song itself. This has already caused multiple problems: just 72 hours after the copyright was made official, Swift and her lawyers announced plans to sue the state of New York for all 48 “Welcome to New York” signs around both the state and New York City itself, the subject of Swift’s song.

The state has managed to scramble 700 construction workers together to quickly remove the signs before the lawsuit becomes official. State representatives are now deciding whether they will change the signs to read,

“Hello, You Are in New York,” or just change the name of the state entirely.

There are also rumours that a citizen of a small Pennsylvania town was taken into custody by Swift’s security guards after shouting “Welcome to New York!” while getting off a train with friends at Grand Central Station, New York City. These rumours have been neither confirmed nor denied by Swift’s agents, who also refused to comment on the subject when questioned by Strand reporters.

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LOVE, STRANDED:

Stranded send out Valentines to the special people in their lives Dear OSAP, I don’t know why I still haven’t received any money from you. You can’t hide behind your bureaucracy any longer. I’ve complained to my registrar, I’ve cried to Enrolment Services, and I’ve spent countless hours on the phone with National Student Loan Services. All for you.

What more do you want me to do? I need you so badly, but I don’t know if I can take it anymore. I just don’t know how else I can prove my financial need to you. I feel like you won’t be happy until I have maxed out my credit card on instant noodles.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------Dear Goldring Athletic Centre, Don’t think I haven’t heard your siren’s call. I see those buff athletes flexing in front of your shiny windows, running on your sleek new treadmills, making me think that if I just enter your doors, I could be as fit as them.

But I know the truth. You will make me breathless. You will make me sweat. And you will make me regret eating that burger on Monday.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------Dear Uof T Bookstore,

Who knew that within that hard, grey exterior of granite lay shelves rendered in rich redwood, softly lit by dim lights? I just want to run my fingers all over the cracked spines of your rare books. But, alas, you hide them behind an alarm-activated glass wall, and the only part that you let me visit is your current exhibition on “Judaic Treasures from the Fisher Library.” But these “treasures” are not enough! I vow that one day I will enroll in a class where I can make a retrieval request so I will finally be allowed to gently push aside the glass doors that keep me from your warm, temperature-controlled embrace!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------Dear ROSI,

something out or check my financial accounts, you are always undergoing some sort of maintenance. You don’t have to be insecure like that—I love you just the way you are. In fact, any changes made to any Student Web Services just seem to make everything worse. Just be you, bae.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------Dear Lit For Our Time, You are so fucking cool. I love you. Please marry me.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------Dear Internet, I really need to write an essay and this stupid article for Stranded, but I just can’t stop thinking about you. I keep telling myself that I should log off Facebook and that I really don’t need to check my email one last time, but I just don’t know how to quit you. You know exactly how to turn me on with all these sexy seasons of my favourite shows. All my instructors and studious friends tell me that you are no good for me and that I should just exit your tabs, but I can’t stop myself from loading another Harry Potter fanvid. I know what we have is real.

I just want to assure you that you are so important to me, because you contain my transcript and tuition fee information. But lately I’ve been feeling like you aren’t there for me when I need you. Whenever I need to print

ROS DEIBERT

I know I’ve been buying my textbooks elsewhere lately, but I can’t help but be enticed by the cheaper prices at

BMV. I know you are mad at me, but that’s no reason for you to delay the order of mandatory texts that I need to read for my test tomorrow! Can’t we just be mature adults and acknowledge that sometimes you mark your prices a little too high?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------Dear Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library,

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