December 5, 2011

THE VARSITY Vol. CXXXII, No. 13

University of Toronto’s Student Newspaper Since 1880

5 December, 2011

Facebook ads… with a bite

Time to get your gift game on

Turn that winter frown upside down

Keepin’ busy during the break

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MONDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2011

VARSITY NEWS

news@thevarsity.ca

Arts and Science course evaluations moving online Students concerned about decreased participation, privacy, and security Dalana Parris ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR

Starting in September 2012, course evaluations for the Faculty of Arts and Science will be administered online, a change that has elicited a mixed response from students.

New online evaluations The Arts and Science Student Union currently distributes course evaluation forms in class to assess the quality of its faculty’s teaching, but critics argue that the current paper surveys are outdated and not environmentally friendly.

“For many years, we have heard from students and faculty that we should move to a modern, online system that doesn’t waste paper,” said Suzanne Stevenson, vice-dean of teaching and learning at the Faculty of Arts and Science.

According to Katharine Ball, president of the Arts and Science Students’ Union, the current evaluations take a lot of work. “[There are] mounds and mounds of paper every year that could really be eliminated,” said Ball. “It’s very time-consuming to go through each individual paper.”

Alan Bewell, professor and chair of the English department, agreed that the build-up of paper surveys is overwhelming.

“As someone who has seen boxes upon boxes of surveys fill our staff offices every year, I think it is about time that we thought of a more ecologically conscious means of eliciting information about our courses,” he said.

Decrease in student participation Despite environmental benefits, there is concern regarding student participation for the online evaluations.

According to Ball, the Faculty of Arts and Science has a 60 per cent completion rate for course evaluations — one of the highest for a faculty at the university. Currently, the surveys are distributed during class time and, as such, are convenient for students. She and others fear a decrease in participation once the survey is taken online.

French language learning majors Julie Nguyen and Yasmeen Absoud said that they prefer the in-class surveys due to convenience and would only complete the online evaluation if they held strong opinions about a course.

Nick Mount, associate professor and associate chair of the English department, acknowledged this issue.

“We know this and are working on and will continue to consider solutions,” he said.

Stevenson confirmed that in the planned online system, students will receive an email linking them to evaluations for all of their courses. Afterwards, they will be instructed to access their evaluations via Blackboard.

“I think students will like it much better than the old paper system. The online system is very user-friendly and easy to navigate,” Mount said.

Customized questions According to Stevenson, some changes have been made to the old questions as students found them confusing and unclear.

Departments will have the ability to customize questions pertaining to professors and TAs that better analyze and reflect student experience in individual courses.

“We are very pleased with the manner in which an online system will allow us to gain richer, more concrete, and more targeted advice about the quality of our courses and their instruction,” said Bewell.

The current form consists of multiple choice questions and a short write-up. WYATT CLOUGH/THe VArsiTY

Privacy and security One of the questions to appear on the new evaluation form pertains to attendance in class. As such, anonymity in the online surveys has been made a priority.

Stevenson confirmed that a secure access system will be put in place to guarantee privacy.

In addition to privacy concerns, there has also been concern regarding accessibility to the information, as well as fraudulent behaviour allowing students to complete multiple evaluations, distorting data.

“There are still outstanding questions about the security of students completing the evaluation online,” said UTSU president Danielle Sandhu. “We are concerned about the privacy of our members and want to ensure each user can only complete one unique evaluation and that the system is secured from fraudulent activity.”

Further revisions Those involved in the process are in agreement that additional revision of the online system is required to ensure efficiency.

The faculty will conduct online pilot evaluations throughout the winter semester in preparation for the launch of the new system.

“Overall, this is an interesting initiative that will be best evaluated when it is slowly rolled out by various divisions,” said Jake Brockman, student representative to the Arts and Science Faculty Council. “In this vein, the real evaluation of online course evaluations can only take place after the system is made available to students. In principle, I think this is a good idea, but the faculty needs to make ease of access a priority on this project.”

U of T occupied?

Students are gearing up for protest, organizers say Akihiko Tse VARSITY STAFF

Students have been informally mobilizing for a U of T version of the Occupy movement, which rallies against inequality, corporate greed, and economic disparity.

“Occupied U of T” is still in the preliminary stages of planning, but Paul Castrodale, one of the facilitators at an assembly on Thursday, said that the movement would be more clearer in its aims.

“I think it was pretty clear that a lot of people [have] specific grievances against the university and believe that this is a forum where we can address those,” said Castrodale, who spent around three nights a week at the Occupy Toronto encampment at St. James Park that began in October.

“This is markedly different from St. James in that this is addressing one specific institu-

tion. This is about the University of Toronto and what its responsibilities are and what we’re going to get the university to do.”

Castrodale, a recent graduate with a double major in political science and history, said that the movement is still very much in its infancy.

Students, faculty, and staff are still being contacted and dialogue with the administration being prepared for when the group is ready.

Approximately 30 people were in attendance at the general assembly between Sidney Smith Hall and the Lash Miller Chemical Labs. Campus police were quick to turn up, to which some people yelled, “Shame, shame.”

They eventually left.

According to Laurie Stephens, St. George’s Director of Media Relations and Stakeholder Communications, anybody seeking use of university property must secure the appropriate permissions.

“We note that the university does not per-

mit overnight camping on campus,” she said in an email.

Asked what contingencies are planned if eviction notices are handed out, Castrodale said, “We’ll work it out; it’s a democratic process. We’re here until we get our demands.”

Ben Hirsch, another U of T alumnus who helped spread word of the meeting, said that the reason for changing the name “Occupy” to “Occupied” was to remove the negative connotations that accompany the word, citing First Nations groups who have had land taken away from them.

“We actually know and take part in that intellectual conversation so we want to be mindful of it,” he said.

Hirsch, who is an international student from the United States and was at St. James Park from its inception, said that the media’s criticisms of the movement’s lack of focus and direction were misguided.

“It was pretty focused down there,” he said.

“Disorganized and unfocused are different.

Maybe we weren’t as organized as we could have been, but we were certainly focused on making the world better and showing different systems of providing for each other.”

Hirsch said that he was particularly inspired by the “democratic, horizontal decision-making process” and wants to bring it to Occupied U of T. “I think we need a solid base of criticism and constructive skepticism existing,” said Curtis McCord, another facilitator and a thirdyear political science and philosophy major.

A Facebook page titled “Occupied U of T” has been created and information will be posted to @OccupiedUofT under the hashtag #occut on Twitter.

The next general assembly is scheduled for Thursday December 8 at 5 pm at New College on Willcocks St.

VARSITY NEWS

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MONDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2011

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THE 100 SERIES: Meet Stephen Wright Once a U of T student, the professor comes full circle by teaching in the ecology department Georgia Williams VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

Professor Stephen Wright is a young, charismatic ecology and evolutionary biology scientist who conducts the large lectures in St. George’s Convocation Hall, the same building that inspired him not so long ago.

“It is fantastic from my perspective. I really got inspired initially to do what I do from being a student here, so it is fantastic to be able to teach and do research at the university,” he says.

Wright points out that not too long ago, he was an indecisive undergrad much like the students he teaches.

“When I started here as a student at the University of Toronto, I had pretty broad interests,” he says.

However, his first-year experience helped him shape the direction of his studies, he shares.

“It was learning about evolutionary biology in Convocation Hall that inspired me to go further on. Then, I took genetics class in second year, and combining genetics with evolution is what got me excited and into my research direction.”

He then went on to work on his PhD in Edinburgh, Scotland and completed it within three years. Newly married at the time, he brought his wife with him to experience life abroad.

“It was fantastic as a cultural experience, and the university was a fantastic place for learning. It was very inspirational,” he says.

His greatest career achievement to date, the professor says, is being able to “take big evolutionary questions and [trying] to address them with new genomic data.”

The university offers the ideal environment for Wright’s continued research.

According to Wright, the big attraction in his field of evolutionary genetics is its real critical mass; there’s a very dynamic and interactive group in that area.

Most of Wright’s studies involve the evolution and reproduction of plants. He noted that plants aren’t regulated by sex when it comes to reproduction.

Wright mentions that they can also help produce a drought-resistant crop for famine-stricken countries.

“A lot of the analysis of plant genomes that we’re doing certainly has the potential to have that applied importance for crop improvement.”

In his lectures, Wright wants his students to be inspired by the functional applications of science, not just its theoretical aspects. “[I like] the idea that we can go out and gather evidence and test hypotheses so students realize that there is still ongoing controversy in the field,” he says.

Asked about his favourite plant, Wright sheepishly replies that it’s Shepherd’s Purse.

“It is one of the most common plants on the planet; you can find it all over the U of T campus as a weed.”

Wyatt clough/the Varsity

No bad blood among language departments Some members worried about changes in upcoming Arts and Science department proposals Rida Fatema Ali VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

Ever since last year’s suggested changes to some of U of T’s language departments, there has been much speculation about their fate.

The changes included the construction of a new School of Languages and Literatures, the termination of programs and centres such as the Centre for Ethics and the Centre for Diaspora and Transnational Studies, and the disestablishment of the Centre for Comparative Literature, which would render it unable to grant degrees.

Departments involved felt that staff and students would be greatly affected and the proposals would hurt the university’s reputation as a prime research institution.

“The real contribution of the program is how it expands small-scale individual work with opportunities for collaboration and creatively working out new ideas on campus, in the city, and internationally,” said Nick Terpstra of the Centre for Diaspora and Transnational Studies.

“That potential would have been lost at a time when many people realize that it’s precisely that potential that is part of this university’s strength and future.”

Similarly, Neil ten Kortenaar of the Centre for Comparative Literature said that the individuality of U of T’s language programs was threatened by the departments’ amalgamation.

“Amalgamation would have posed a threat to the smaller languages and to the reputation of the researchers in literatures and languages at Toronto,” he said.

JeNise cheN/the Varsity

Ever since the proposed changes, Arts and Science dean Meric Gertler says that departments have been working hand-in-hand to pursue initiatives designed to attract more students. “[Extensive consultation] has succeeded in eliciting many constructive suggestions for alternative ways to achieve our academic objectives,” he said. “The spirit of co-operation and

collaboration between individual departments around this issue has been both impressive and heartwarming.”

The departments involved also seem to agree that there is no animosity lingering between the departments and the administration, especially after the deliberation.

“The problem was the lack of consultation,”

said Kortenaar. “I believe that has been corrected and that there is a new spirit of consultation in the administration.”

“There’s a new willingness to work together to see the Centre and Program expand,” said Terpstra.

Joseph Heath, director of the Centre for Ethics, said that time has erased any reason for “bad blood.”

“It’s been almost two years since the initial plan to cut the Centre was put forward, and there’s been a lot of personnel change during that time,” said Heath, who started as a director last July.

Department members also feel that their positions at the university aren’t endangered — at least at the moment.

“I don’t see any immediate threats to the CDTS, but I wouldn’t take anything for granted,” said Kortenaar.

Regardless of all the proposed changes, organizations like the Greek Students Association (GSA) have been petitioning for new language courses at the university.

“The reason why we have started it now is because we are finally ready and have all the resources to do it,” said GSA President Dimitri Kyriakakis, describing that the petition currently has over 1000 student signatures and support from Greece’s Ministry of Education, Hellenic organizations, and American universities.

He explained that the discourse between the administration and the language departments has nothing to do with GSA’s decision to put their petition forward.

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MONDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2011

VARSITY NEWS

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Dental office launches misleading ad campaign Advertisements violate U of T logo copyright and use questonable images of women Morgaine Craven VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

A series of ads entitled “U of T Dental Plan” has cropped up on Facebook, causing concern among University of Toronto students and administration.

College Street Dental is the dental office behind the ads, which display faces of young, attractive women, some showing generous amounts of cleavage and not all of them showing their teeth.

“I feel like they’re exposing females for the wrong reasons,” said U of T student Britnee Lam. “They’re using these images for

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their sex appeal to lure people in so they pay attention to them.

These images are hardly appropriate for what they’re trying to advertise.”

The images clash with the university’s stance on equity, which, according to a statement released by the Status of Women Office, is “gender equity for all women students, staff, and faculty at all three campuses.”

The ads are stamped with the university’s logo and crest, which have confused students into thinking that the campaign is run by the university itself.

“I had thought it was run by U

of T, but the images didn’t fit their character… They don’t seem to look as professional as other U of T images and ads,” said Lam. Despite what the advertising suggests, there is no affiliation between U of T and College Street Dental.

“This dental clinic is not affiliated with U of T and we do not endorse its use of our name in its publicity,” said Laurie Stephens, St. George Campus’ director of news and media relations. “This sort of thing happens periodically, and when we learn about it, we take action. The university will be contacting the clinic and asking them to cease and desist… It’s a breach of copyright.”

Another issue that arose with the ads is their unexplained and incongruous use of celebrity photos. On inspection, images of women like Carrie Underwood, Megan Fox, and Jessica Alba were used in some these promotions.

Doctor David Cheng of College Street Dental said that the promotions on Facebook were something they were “experimenting with.”

“We’re going to be eliminating that,” he said about the use of the university brand and celebrity photographs. “We did it initially just to experiment…

We’re just starting off, we’re trying new things, we’re working things out.”

College Street Dental, near the corner of College and Spadina, gets roughly 60 per cent of its business from students from the University of Toronto.

“I’m trying to reach out to students, help students,” he said, mentioning that many students are so busy they don’t think about their dental hygiene.

According to Cheng, his business was using an unnamed marketing company to generate the ads, and he’s already spoken with them to remove the copyrighted material.

“[The new ads] won’t have any logos or anything like that. We’re maybe using stock photos, just general student pictures. We’re going to change things.”

Despite the promised change, the ad campaign still rubs some students the wrong way.

“I think it is wrong for a company to take advantage of the university by basically making it seem like they are in partnership with the school,” said Kiera Tremblay, a student at the University of Toronto, Scarborough campus. “It is completely misleading to students by pasting our name onto their company.

Students will go there thinking they are supporting their school while getting a great deal, but then realize it is really just some random company benefitting from our school’s name.”

As of Saturday, College Street Dental has taken down all U of T insignia on their ads.

NEWS IN BRIEF U of T returns discovered remains and artifacts to the Huron-Wendat On November 29, the University of Toronto and the Huron-Wendat Nation signed a memorandum of understanding on the repatriation of remains and artifacts back to the nation on the Wendake reserve, near Quebec City.

According to a press release issued by the university, U of T sits on land that the HuronWendat called home until the late 17th century.

Faculty, staff, and students have excavated several archaeological sites that contained remains and artifacts of the Huron-Wendat, all of which are now in university possession.

The transfer will take place once the Huron-Wendat find a final resting place for the remains.

Vice-provost, academic programs Cheryl Regehr signed the agreement on behalf of the university while Grand Chief Konrad Sioui of the Wendake reserve represented the HuronWendat Nation.

—Tichaon Tapambwa

UTM Instructional Centre wins Award of Excellence

CUPE 3902 votes 91 per cent in favour of strike

University of Toronto Mississauga’s Instructional Centre has won an Award of Excellence in Urban Design at the 30th Annual Mississauga Urban Design Awards. The event, which took place on November 22, is Ontario’s longest-running municipal urban design competition.

In an interview with mississauga.com, the judges praised the Instructional Centre, saying, “Although the building is large and stands out, the well-executed design maintains a human scale that is friendly and generous.”

Mississauga Celebration Square also won an Award of Excellence while the Burnhamthorpe Library redevelopment and the recent pool additions to the Clarkson and Malton Community Centres were given Awards of Merit.

Ten other projects were nominated for the Design award. The winning projects are a part of the City of Mississauga’s Infrastructure Stimulus Fund (ISF).

—Maya Akbay

CUPE 3902 members voted 91 per cent in favour of a strike, following negotiations between the union and the university.

The landslide vote claims the highest member turnout in the university’s history and clears the way for a strike declaration as early as the new year.

Grievances listed by the union include growing tutorial sizes, dwindling research funds, and the revocation of a long-standing grant to PhD students.

“This vote reflects the frustration that has been building amongst our members,” said Wayne Dealy, CUPE 3902’s chair.

“We’ve issued a call for the University of Toronto to take our concerns and negotiations seriously.

They would be wise to heed it.”

The latest vote does not necessarily mean that workers will be on the picket lines soon — only that the union has received the go-ahead from its membership if a deal is not reached.

Previous strike votes, most recently in 2008, have put pressure on the university to reach a deal.

—Simon Bredin

VARSITY NEWS

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MONDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2011

Educators call for reforms to education policy Unregistered students in legal limbo after transition from high school to post-secondary Joan Sullivan VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

In fall 2008, U of T student Saad Alam and his family lost their second appeal to remain in Canada and were deported back to Bangladesh.

Alam’s father attempted to secure a study permit to help his son complete a degree — but immigration laws required him to make the application from Bangladesh. Despite university-wide protests and the involvement of advocacy group No One is Illegal, Alams’s studies were derailed and his family was forced to leave Canada in 2008.

Alam’s case is representative of a growing debate surrounding the nature of immigration and education policy in Canada. Currently, students over the age of 18 who do not have legal status in Canada are unable to study at the post-secondary level, a policy that critics argue is both inequitable and outdated.

Undocumented minors can receive a Canadian education as outlined in Memorandum No. 136 of Section 49.1 of the Education Act. However, these provisions don’t apply to the same individuals once they reach the age of 18.

Older Ontario high school graduates without legal status must obtain a study permit from their home countries to attend postsecondary school and must also pay international student fees.

The policy equally applies to refugee claimants who lose their status like Alam.

U of T alumnus Derik Chica, a math and science teacher in a Toronto public high school with a large immigrant population. He is currently collaborating with the Ontario Secondary School Teacher’s Federation District 12 to request the Human Rights Committee’s extension of education access to undocumented postsecondary students.

Francisco Villegas, a PhD candidate at the Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education at OISE, explained that the current policy represents a “discursive gap� in the way that undocumented individuals are perceived: “The current policy affecting K–12 happens because of the liberal ideology of childhood as innocence, and an understanding that the child cannot be at fault for the parent’s sins,� said Villegas. “Once students hit 18 they are no longer these cute kids. They are adults and they are blamed for their status, without taking into consideration the many different barriers and inequities present within the immigration system.�

Chica believes that the current system presents a significant barrier to many of his students. “It’s an unfair policy,� he said. “It limits intelligent kids with enormous potential, many of whom have grown up in Canada and in the public school system.� “If the idea is to educate and prepare newcomers for the Canadian economy through programs like the Canadian Experience Class, then it just makes sense

to allow students to attend Canadian universities and colleges,� said Chica. “It would do the same thing: prepare them for a life in Canada.�

Furthermore, Villegas argued that universities and society as a whole could benefit from a more inclusive policy. “These are individuals who come with a very different world view and understanding, and who create different discussions and different pedagogical interventions within a classroom as well,� he said.�

Very little advocacy or research has been conducted on the issue of access to education for undocumented individuals.

In 2008, Parkdale Community Legal Services produced the only legal analysis to date.

The analysis concluded that a change in policy would benefit Canadian society by: ensuring equal educational opportunities, preventing a permanent underclass of residents in the country and creating a more equitable Canada.

Reform on education policy for undocumented students is not a new phenomenon in North America. Thirteen states in the US have already introduced laws allowing undocumented students to receive undergraduate and graduate education, and financial aid. “It’s interesting that we always think of Canada as being this progressive space, and always in relation to the US, but when it comes to this dynamic, the US is so much farther ahead,� said Villegas.

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Burlesque event accused of female sexualization Event takes a “post-feminist turn,� says co-founder Jonathan Scott VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

Women Out Loud!, Trinity College’s gender relations club, hosted a back-to-back event last November 26: a burlesque class followed by a discussion on the difference between women enjoying their sexuality and sexualization.

Aliah El-houni, the fourth-year club president, organized the excursion to Flirty Girl Fitness gym, where students were taught pole dancing, chair striptease, and burlesque before discussing the question, “Is the sexualisation of women an obstacle to a gender-equal society?�

What was supposed to be a fun event took a wrong turn when founding members of the club objected to the manner in which the class was presented and advertised.

On the Facebook page, El-houni wrote that though the event took issue with the “sexualization of women’s bodies,� it is also “about fun and play.� “It is about the fact that I want to be able to feel and be sexy with my body, but I also want to be the equal of every man who sees me, and that I recognize and want to explore the tension that exists between those to ideas,� she said.

Azrah Manji, a founding member of the club and a women and gender studies major, expressed concern over the event’s premise. “I do question how experiencing sexualization or objectification in order to refute it is necessarily a positive route,â€? she commented. “There’s a difference between sexuality and sexualization ‌ and [this] doesn’t reference that.â€?

Manji said that the event has taken a “post-feminist turn,� which bothers her as a co-founder. “WOL is now trying to make feminism sexy, and it doesn’t need to be packaged [in a] way [that ignores] feminist theory in favour of crowdpleasing activities.�

Another founding member, Haley

Turnbull, dismissed Manji’s concern. “WOL bases a lot of its ability to get funding on its attendance, so it’s a bit unfair to punish them for trying to have popular events,� she said.

El-houni maintained that the event wasn’t rooted in feminist theory, but rather, it’s an attempt to “confront a reality of our world.�

Also, due to funding guidelines, the event was required to open its doors to all Trinity students — including men. “What the event does wrong is allow men into the room, period,� said Turnbull. “All of a sudden something that was personally sexually empowering [became] dependent on the male gaze and [became] sexualized.�

Turnbull added that the number of heterosexual men who went to watch the class but refrained from participating changed what the event stood for. “You are sexualising your body if you allow men into that space.

If it’s women dancing and men watching, [then] you’re no longer doing it for yourself.�

Moreover, Manji and Turnbull thought it especially problematic that female participants specifically called out gay men to join the event.

Manji stressed that she was not trying to undermine the current executive but expressing how she felt the club could more accurately uphold feminist ideals. Her advice was to remember the club’s mandate and use the proper feminist terminology. “WOL was formed to

Bernarda Gospic/THe VarsiTy

make Trinity College a less patriarchal institution, to make women’s voice heard‌ We now have a lot of members of WOL with amazing intentions, but to have executive members without an academic grounding in women and gender studies almost makes us move backwards because they’re not using correct terms and definitions, things that do make significant errors. “I still believe WOL has a place at Trinity,â€? she continued. “The executive just needs to be more careful‌ in their wording so that they don’t accidentally take a postfeminist perspective.â€?

Turnbull was more direct, saying, “While I don’t really like the idea of people being ‘definition police’ so much, I’ll be as sexy as I want — on my own dime, thanks.�

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VARSITY COMMENT

MONDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2011

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Introverts of the world unite!

Getting rid of misconceptions cooked up by extroverts Banafsheh Beizaei Introverts, therefore, VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR are a special breed of Have you ever wondered why alone time is absolutely necessary for some, humans: often more while others seem to simply recoil from it? Or why some people do just intelligent … more fine in one-to-one interactions, but get really quiet in group settings? sensitive, more levelIntroversion and extroversion are part of the mainstream vocabheaded, and better ulary of our age used to categorize people. The terms were coined by early–20th century analytical psy- listeners. Pressure on an chologist Carl Jung and have since come to constitute a central part of introverted individual human personality theories. They are thought to be two extremes to be more extroverted of a continuous spectrum that is largely ambivalent in the middle. can be quite destructive, If neither personality type sounds much like you, you likely belong and often futile. somewhere in the middle.

Introverts find their inner world endlessly stimulating and rewarding. They do welcome — and even sometimes crave — company, but not just any will do. While quite comfortable engaging in meaningful, one-on-one interactions, they don’t really see the point in smalltalk or trying to shout over everybody else in a large gathering to make themselves heard. Introverts think before they talk and don’t comment on something unless they have something to say. Recharging after social situations is often necessary for them.

Extroverts, on the other hand, get bored with themselves quite fast. Generally, if no outside factor

‘‘

Rochelle ARAnhA/The VARsiTy

is interfering, the extrovert would always prefer the company of others to their own company. Extroverts need outside stimuli in order to feel fulfilled and take pleasure in group activities. They often think while they talk, not prior to it. Extroverts are commonly characterized as “energized” and “talkative,” among other things. What’s more, they also constitute the majority of the population. This means the general outlook of the society, and the standards it lives by, are, for the most part, geared towards accommodating the extroverted individual, while leaving little room for the

subtleties of the introverted soul.

Here is yet another largely misunderstood, marginalized group, whose neglected rights and needs require immediate attention.

Comprising roughly 25 per cent of the population, introverts are a minority in the everyday world. There are many misconceptions, some quite damaging, associated with the commonplace understanding of them. Introverts are often branded with labels that bear negative connotations like “loner,” “withdrawn,” or “condescending.” Extrovert characteristics, in contrast, almost always come with positive ones such

as “outgoing,” “people-person,” or “energetic.” These words frequently appear on people’s resumes and are believed to be a sign of guaranteed success in the workplace.

In a society so openly celebrating extroversion in all its forms, it may be quite liberating for introverts to learn that the lines of normalcy have, for the most part, been drawn by the extroverts. Introverts, being observant and reflective by nature, often find it easy to understand extroverts, who are more than ready to wear their hearts on their sleeves. Extroverts, on the other hand, absorbed as they are in talking, talking, and, after

renewing their breath, talking some more, are often oblivious to how introverts function.

In her book The Introvert Advantage: How to Thrive in an Extrovert World, Marti Laney, who holds a PhD in psychology, explains that the introvert brain has a different response to dopamine than the extrovert brain. Introvert brains tend to be much more sensitive to dopamine, and, consequently, too much external stimulation tends to exhaust them. Extroverts, on the other hand, crave large amounts of dopamine, relying on adrenaline for its supply. The book also outlines how Broca’s area in the brain is generally less active in the extroverted brain. This, incidentally, is where most contemplation and “self-talk” takes place.

Introverts, therefore, are a special breed of humans: often more intelligent (various studies have shown that though a minority in the regular population, introverts are a majority in the “gifted” population), more sensitive, more level-headed, and better listeners. Pressure on an introverted individual to be more extroverted can be quite destructive, and often futile.

The extroverted majority needs to start respecting the preferences of introverts and accepting them for who they are. And how can the introverts themselves work towards having their status recognized? As with all struggles for recognition, a call for unity would be a good place to start.

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Food,Agricultural and Resource Economics

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MONDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2011

THEVOL. VARSITY CXXXII

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21 Sussex Avenue, Suite 306 Toronto, ON, M5S 1J6 Phone: 416-946-7600 Fax: 416-946-7606 www.thevarsity.ca

Editorial Board

Editor-in-Chief Tom Cardoso editor@thevarsity.ca design@thevarsity.ca Design Editors Matthew D. H. Gray matthew@thevarsity.ca Mushfiq Ul Huq mushfiq@thevarsity.ca Photo Editor Bernarda Gospic photo@thevarsity.ca Online Editor Sam Bowman online@thevarsity.ca Senior Copy Editor Maayan Adar copy@thevarsity.ca News Editor Sarah Taguiam news@thevarsity.ca Comment Editor Alex Ross comment@thevarsity.ca Features Editor Erene Stergiopoulos features@thevarsity.ca Arts & Culture Editor Ariel Lewis arts@thevarsity.ca Science Editor Bianca Lemus Lavarreda science@thevarsity.ca Sports Editor Murad Hemmadi sports@thevarsity.ca Illustrations Editor Jenny Kim illustrations@thevarsity.ca Associate Design Editor Vacant Associate Photo Editor Wyatt Clough Associate Online Editor Patrick Love Associate Copy Editor Jasmine Pauk Associate News Editor Simon Bredin Dalana Parris Associate Comment Editor Vacant Associate Features Editor Simon Frank Associate A&C Editor Assunta Alegiani Brigit Katz Associate Science Editor Ken Euler Associate Sports Editor Zoë Bedard

Contributors

Rida Fatema Ali, Brandon Bastaldo, Jade Colbert, Morgaine Craven, Dennis Dobrovolsky, Manisha Kaura, Melissa LoParco, Demi Lee, Esther Mendelsohn, Dan Miller, Jordan Rivera, Jonathan Scott, Joan Sullivan, Georgia Williams Copy Editors Robert Boissonneault Emily Dunbar Ryan Hanney Tina Hui Nancy Kanwal Daniel Smeenk Designers Yasi Eftekhari Jenny Kim Suzy Nevins Dan Seljak Cover photo Bernarda Gospic

Fact Checkers Rida Fatema Ali Robert Boissonneault Simon Bredin Ryan Hanney Tina Hui Dalana Parris Photo and Illustration Ellen Chang Jenise Chen Wyatt Clough Bernarda Gospic Wendy Gu Ryan Kelpin Melissa LaParco Joan Sullivan

Board of Directors

Chief Executive Officer Vacant ceo@thevarsity.ca Chief Financial Officer Vacant cfo@thevarsity.ca Chief Operations Officer coo@thevarsity.ca Vacant Editor-in-Chief editor@thevarsity.ca Tom Cardoso Speaker Arman Hamidian speaker@thevarsity.ca Secretary Bethany McKoy secretary@thevarsity.ca Board Members Lauren Ash (St. George) Jessica Denyer (St. George) Eshram Andrew Deonarain (St. George) Michael DiLeo (UTM) Ariel Lewis (Staff) Dylan C. Robertson (UTSC) Andrew Rusk (Staff) Erene Stergiopoulos (Masthead) Davison Thirugnansampanthar (St. George) Vacant (ProFac) Vacant (ProFac)

Business Office

Business Manager Arlene Lu business@thevarsity.ca Advertising Executives ads@thevarsity.ca Jamie C. Liu jamie@thevarsity.ca Kalam Poon kalam@thevarsity.ca ivana@thevarsity.ca Ivana Strajin The Varsity is the University of Toronto's largest student newspaper, publishing since 1880. The Varsity has a circulation of 20,000, and is published by Varsity Publications, Inc., a not-for-profit corporation. It is printed by Master Web Inc. on recycled newsprint stock.

Content © 2011 by The Varsity. All rights reserved. Any editorial inquiries and/or letters should be directed to the sections associated with them; emails listed above.

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VARSITY COMMENT

comment@thevarsity.ca

The truth about final exams Why essays should suffice as the sole method of evaluation Dan Miller VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

I’m writing this article instead of studying for a final exam, of which I have too many. It seems as if the natural progression of any course at U of T involves a looming final exam at its conclusion.

There, students are crammed into some sterile dystopian exam room and forced to regurgitate information from memory (most of which was crammed into their heads in the days before) for two or three hours. While exams make sense for subjects that involve routine testing for many in the humanities, they just seem redundant. All year long, we are graded on essays and coursework, only to have our fates decided in a few hours of furious writing. Exams are often unnecessary, unreflective, and unhelpful towards a humanities education.

Many exams in the humanities are simply in-class essays and nothing else. Often, two or three essays are assigned to us and we are allotted a short amount of time to write them. The quality of these essays is generally much lower than what is written during an actual research paper. So what is the point of even bothering going through with this? Other than the fact that we have to write a final exam, what qualifiable difference is there that makes final exams necessary? Students who cannot come up with good ideas on the spot or who require extensive editing for their writing are at a natural disadvantage. Even though they may eventually be able to write superior essays than their peers,

All year long, we are graded on essays and coursework, only to have our fates decided in a few hours of furious writing. Exams are often unnecessary, unreflective, and unhelpful towards a humanities education.

they will receive a worse mark.

Many final exams in the humanities are unreflective of the actual nature of study. If I pursued graduate study in history, I would be expected to produce research essays. Essays are the largest component of the work done throughout the year yet for the final exam everything changes. The mere fact that exam essays are necessarily rush jobs and often overlygeneralized means that they require a different skill set a what is needed to succeed in the humanities. Although it can be argued that quick thinking is a necessary academic skill set to develop I hardly think it outranks or is even equal to the skill sets tested in actual research papers. But somehow, in the grand scheme of a course, final exams most often outweigh all other coursework.

It is a common fact that students cram in the lead-up to exams, but for those of us who need to write essays, the cramming takes on a whole new level of pointlessness. It is not that the work is too difficult (because for all disciplines, exams are difficult) but rather that cramming for these potential essays we are going to write does nothing to further our education. A culminating assignment, more research, or more heavily weighted coursework are reasonable alternatives to a final exam and might actually be of more service to our education going forward. If the purpose of university is to gain an education, then the most important test for students should help them develop a more discernible skill in their particular field.

Education before nationalism Ensuring that we put students first David Woolley VARSITY STAFF

What is the goal of education? Is it to enrich the lives of students? To provide them with the skills needed to succeed and excel in the modern world? To ensure they have access to a high quality of life once they graduate? Most would say “yes” to all of these questions. Indeed, we would be remiss to claim that the goal of education was anything but.

Then why as a society have we allowed our education system to be hijacked by nationalism rather than embracing positions that would achieve these goals?

Montreal’s public school board has just introduced a new program that would bring in hall and playground monitors to ensure no student is speaking anything but French outside of class. Quebec’s long-established Bill 101 mandates that all children of immigrants attend French-language schools. The justification for now instituting language monitors is that it will help ensure that immigrant children are fluent in French. Indeed, it must be conceded that these children would suffer if they were not sufficiently educated in French, since that is the language of Quebec and, thus, integral to their quality of life in that province.

Quebec’s Bill 101 was adopted because of a fear that, given the option, too many immigrant families would send their children to English-language schools, which would dilute the Francophone population of Quebec. For many Quebecers — and certainly most of Quebec’s politicians — the desire to keep French in the majority was greater than the desire to ready students for the

Wendy Gu/THe VArsiTy

demands of a globalized world. It makes sense that immigrant parents would want their children to attend an English-language school, after all, English is the de facto global language, and anyone fluent in it has a leg up in the global economy. Yet to Quebecers, the desire to maintain their language means more than any economic or educational bonus.

While this style of thinking clearly still exists within Quebec, the actions of the Montreal school board should make the rest of us in English Canada seriously examine how

we handle language education and if we too are blinded by nationalism.

In Ontario, it is a requirement that French be taken in middle school and at least for one year of high school. In my own high school, Latin and German were also offered for anyone who desired to take them. However, none of these languages are integral to the future of the global economy — and one has not been important since the fall of the Roman Empire. Language education, then, should have an eye towards what languages are

going to dominate the future and provide those who speak them with additional economic clout.

In this regard, Utah leads the pack.

Over the past several years, the beehive state has instituted the most rigorous Mandarin Chinese and Arabic language education programs in the developed world. This makes sense: China is already a giant economically and is predicted to overtake the United States within the next decade or so. With huge reserves of oil wealth, exploding populations and many new, blooming democracies, the Arab world is set to hold much power on the global stage in the coming years. Setting students up with the skills to communicate with — and, thus, understand more deeply — these societies will give them boundless advantages over those who do not have such skills.

Unfortunately for the French language, however, none of the countries it dominates appear to be in a position to dominate the world anytime soon. France has a collapsing population and an anemic economy.

In many of the African countries that hold it as their language of government, the languages of trade and culture are decidedly not French; and many of the Caribbean islands where it is spoken by the majority are closely tied to China through financial and foreign aid.

It is our responsibility as a society, then, to shift our focus from the French language education system to those languages that will better position the youth of this country to meet the demands and challenges of the coming years. Language education, as with all education, should focus on equipping students for the future rather than clinging to nationalist ideals of the past.

comment@thevarsity.ca

VARSITY COMMENT

MONDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2011

Just say NO-PIRG!

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Why we should de-fund the Ontario Public Interest Research Group Esther Mendelsohn VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

There have been rumblings recently surrounding the fate of funding for the Ontario Public Interest Research Group. This group collects a $5.00 levy from every U of T graduate student and $1.00 from every undergraduate student.

The University of Toronto Graduate Students’ Union was on the cusp of rescinding their levy agreement with the organization. This is not the first time students have voiced concerns about OPIRG’s funding.

The GSU cited OPIRG’s failure to adhere to their contractual obligation to properly advertise the “opt-out” window, during which students can reclaim the portion of their student fees taken by OPIRG. OPIRG has claimed this breach was the result of a clerical error and has since rectified the situation by providing an opt-out window, during which appointments were not necessary. This should be commended, but even if one accepts this explanation at face value — I would argue in situations like these, such claims are to be viewed with a healthy dose of circumspection — there are still good reasons to de-fund OPIRG. OPIRG supports the looming TA strike that could adversely affect all undergraduate students. It was also one of the organizations behind the hateful anti-Israel week in March — a campaign which creates a toxic atmosphere on campus and has been condemned across party lines in the Ontario Legislature.

It is also involved in bringing in speakers like Ward Churchill who referred to the victims of 9/11 as “little Eichmanns” and preaches “direct” read violent action and supports working groups like the Communist Research Group.

OPIRG claims to be a public interest research group, yet it serves only a politicallyradical fringe minority. Why should student money go towards campaigns and events which are offensive to many, and make some students feel as though they do not belong

The GSU (office pictured above) has taken issue with how OPIRG has advertised its opt-out window. Bernarda gospiC/the Varsity

here? It shouldn’t.

While some of the issues OPIRG raises are valid and indeed, pressing the solutions and methods they suggest are simply too radical to be effective, and certainly do not reflect the opinions or values of the majority of the student body. To be sure, there are many laudable organizations and groups which receive a portion of our student fees, and this should certainly continue. However, OPIRG is not one of them. It has proven, through its sponsorship of misguided and divisive campaigns and events that it is not worthy of the limited resources students have at their disposal.

The opt-out window is small and hard to find. Most students are not aware that they

are being charged additional fees which go to groups like OPIRG, that they can opt-out of or when and how they can do this, due to limited advertising. It is the blissful ignorance, not acquiescence, of students that ensures that OPIRG remains fiscally afloat.

If OPIRG is so adamant about its broad base of student support, it should have no problem offering an opt-in rather than an opt-out. In this manner, we can more accurately gauge student support. If students truly feel that OPIRG is an organization worthy of their money, OPIRG will have no problem meeting its funding needs. If, on the other hand, a sufficient number of students do not opt in, we can say, once and for all, that stu-

dents do not want their money going to organizations whose work is not reflective of the values of the majority.

A nominal amount, you say; a matter of principle says I. When an organization does not reflect the values of the majority of students from whom they are collecting fees, those students should be given a more transparent choice. In the spirit of justice, social change, and popular participation, which OPIRG has so unabashedly misappropriated, I propose we all lobby our student government representatives to act in students’ best interest, and give us the choice in how our money is spent. De-fund OPIRG and give us the choice to opt in, if we are so inclined.

Don’t let exam stress get you down Preparation is the recipe for success Manisha Kaura VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

Wyatt Clough/the Varsity

Feeling stressed about your impending exams? Seeing more of the inside of Robarts than the inside of your own bedroom? If so, perhaps you should consider taking your pre-exam apprehensions and throwing them out the window!

Much of exam preparation —or even school success — is an exercise in conscientiousness. Everyone knows how important it is to stick to a regular schedule, to eat healthy, and to stay active by balancing extracurricular activities with academics. However, a look at the percentage of students who graduate with high distinction as well as the percentage of students who are actively engaged in campus life tells a different tale: people don’t follow their own advice. I’ve compiled a list of recommendations that will help set the stage for you to eventually ace your final exams.

First, stick to a study plan. Go through a list of your fall term final exams and paper and break up big assignments into manageable chunks. Then, for each chunk, assign yourself a reasonable deadline. Spreading out your studying instead of spending the night before the exam in Gerstein is a more productive use of your time and will likely lead to better marks. If it helps, hold yourself accountable by rewarding yourself at the completion of each goal.

Second, take regular breaks. Research has shown that studying in 50 minute chunks followed by a ten-minute break is significantly more productive than studying in a six hour stretch. Bringing your mobile and a snack into the library is fine, so long as you only munch, text, or check Facebook during your 10 minutes off. If you tend to experience an afternoon or mid-morning slump, when you find yourself increasingly drowsy, unfocused, and unproductive,

consider implementing an exercise routine. Working out not only allows you to unwind but also increases the amount of oxygen in your brain, which in turn better enables you to retain what you’re reading.

Third, stay healthy. Tailoring your diet around a significant amount of protein — smoked salmon, fresh meats, beans, lentils — will give you the ability to concentrate for a longer period of time on your work. Try to eliminate simple carbohydrates and instead saturate your diet with as many Vitamin B-rich items to foster brain growth. If getting up and staying up remains a problem, consider buying a sunlamp and stick to a regular schedule.

It may not be easy to stick to all this, but these recommendations will ensure that when it’s crunch time at the end of the semester you’ll be prepared for the worst, and be able to perform at your best. It certainly beats losing your sanity in Robarts.

Get Gift’n 11

1. Retro Desk Bell

$6, Indigo Books, 55 Bloor St. West For the keeners in your Con Hall class who can never get the prof’s attention.

Let ‘em prove just how knowledgeable they really are.

2. Moleskine Red Pocket Plain Notebook $16, Grand & Toy, 180 Bloor St. West

For the friends who should be keeping their thoughts to themselves. If they really need to put it down somewhere, better in this notebook than on the Internet.

3. Twisted Peppermint Scented Candle $23, Bath & Body Works, 100 City Centre Dr., Mississauga

5. Red Velvet Whoopie Pie Mix

7. Canada Re

$22, Williams-Sonoma, 100 Bloor St. West

$10, The Bay, 44

For the U of T a pete at the 2012 be representing you’ll be showin home and native

For the sake of your friends who are always complaining about how bad your room smells. Welcome them back by lighting this festive baby up.

For your mom, who stayed up all night saving your ass time and time again because you forgot about tomorrow’s bake sale. A special thank you to the special mother who stayed up late to make these.

4. U of T Shirt

6. Socks

8. Taste of Be

For your dad, because you can’t afford to give him anything else. Let him show the world what he’s shelling out for. (You may have to promise him something better in the future.)

For your roommate, so that the next time he forgets to do his laundry, he’s not taking yours. Toe the line in these striped wonders.

Brussels may be for the barley bu doesn’t mean th Belgian brew on

$6, U of T Bookstore, 214 College St.

$7, H&M, 1800 Sheppard Ave. East

$20, LCBO, 55 B

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ed Mittens

4 Bloor St. East

athletes looking to com2 Olympics. You may not Canada with them, but ng your support for our e land.

elgium Beer Set

Bay St.

e a plane ticket too far uffs on your list, but that hey can’t savour some this side of the Atlantic.

9. Vanilla Bean Hot Chocolate $9, Second Cup, 170 Bloor St.

For the lush who can’t handle coffee, this tasty treat will make ‘em feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Hangovers from all the alcohol on this page have a new cure.

10. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

11. MezzoMondo Pinot Grigio Chardonnay, 2010 $10, LCBO, 55 Bay St.

Our resident wine snob had this to say: “For those who think rum and eggnog only go so far, this light-bodied white with strong hints of apples and pears is fairly acidic and best served with a hard cheese like Gouda.”

12. U of T Shot Glass

$6, U of T Bookstore, 214 College St.

$11, BMV Books, 471 Bloor St. West For the friend who says they’ve read it but can’t explain to you exactly what it’s about.

The holidays are perfect for catching up on that “should have read” list.

For the friend who’s always drunk on school spirit. Maclean’s may not know how to rank universities properly, but this glass gets it right.

13. Head Massager

$5, Indigo Books, 55 Bloor St. West For those who prefer to stay inside and relish the sensual bliss of a scalp massage. Treat your friends to one quarter of an orgasm — you’ll be an instant favourite.

text by Bernarda Gospic, Murad Hemmadi Andrew Rusk, Erene Stergiopoulos photos by Bernarda Gospic design by Mushfiq Ul Huq

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VARSITY FEATURES

Beating the winter blues With the end of the term approaching, you may be feeling a little overwhelmed. Okay, a lot.

You’ve got exams to worry about and term work to complete, but are the exams and term work really what’s causing your exhaustion?

Consider these symptoms: difficulty waking up in the morning, decreased energy levels, increased carb consumption resulting in weight gain, difficulty concentrating, and less time spent with family and friends.

These symptoms may sound all too familiar to you, especially at this time of the year. But if you find yourself experiencing these symptoms, it might not be just the work-overload. It could be seasonal affective disorder.

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by Demi Lee photos by Bernarda Gospic

Seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, is a form of major depressive disorder that emerges in the winter, though most people experience a less severe form of it called the “winter blues.” SAD affects six per cent of the US adult population, while the milder winter blues strike 14 per cent.

The disorder is linked to reduced light levels in the winter. The amount of light we’re exposed to mediates shifts in our circadian rhythms and results in changes in serotonin metabolism.

Serotonin is a neurotransmitter involved in regulating mood, appetite, and sleep. The body’s inability to break down serotonin is a characteristic of major depressive disorder, which explains why SAD results in the same symptoms.

If you think you’re experiencing the winter blues, here are some ways to brighten your mood.

1 Light therapy

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Light therapy is the most common form of therapy, and 60 to 80 per cent of SAD patients benefit from it. Light therapy can be as effective as certain kinds of antidepressants in relieving SAD. However, like pharmacotherapy, light therapy carries the risk of manic symptoms. The recommended light dose is 30 to 90 minutes (10,000 lux) of light therapy per day. To increase effectiveness, it should be done earlier in the day rather than at night. Lights used for this kind of therapy have a specific amount of brightness and UV filtration.

2 Exercise Regular exercise is proven to help reduce stress and depressive feelings. It also helps improve self-esteem and sleep.

Endorphins, your body’s natural painkillers, are released when you exercise. Those feeling depressed will also benefit from social support, so it’s a good idea to join a group exercise class. Try Hart House or the Athletic Centre for free drop-in classes.

3 Diet

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features@thevarsity.ca

Foods enriched in vitamins are known to improve overall bodily function. Vitamin C is found in berries, broccoli, oranges, and peppers. Margarine, nuts, and vegetable oil contain vitamin E. Insufficient vitamin D levels can put you at risk for depression, and the same occurs when you lack omega-3 fatty acids. Fatty fish, nuts, flaxseed, and green leafy vegetables are good sources of omega-3 fatty acids. If you find it difficult to enrich your diet with these nutrients, consider taking supplements.

4 Seek a psychologist If you’re finding your mood levels are particularly low, you might want to get professional help from a psychologist. Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) helps to treat dysfunctional automatic thoughts and behaviours, behaviour withdrawal, low rates of positive reinforcement, and rumination in patients with major depression. Pharmacotherapy with antidepressants like Zoloft and Prozac can also be used to treat SAD.

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VARSITY ARTS & CULTURE

arts@thevarsity.ca

MONDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2011

A super-cool holiday event guide The Varsity Arts team picks out an assortment of eccentric activities to spice up your winter break A Christmas Carol at the Young Centre for Performing Arts a Thinking of venturing into the world of theatre this holiday season? Well, you’re in luck. Soulpepper is putting on their annual production of A Christmas Carol December 3–15. The classic story of Ebenezer Scrooge and his ghosts of Christmas past will be sure to resonate with students as we recuperate from the haunting horrors of exams past.

Tintin b Does Tintin’s hair naturally stick up or does he use gel or mousse? Judge for yourself while watching Steven Spielberg’s new adaptation of the beloved comic book series, The Adventures of Tintin. With writing and acting talent from Shaun of the Dead and Scott Pilgrim, as well as a gargantuan budget of $135 million, the film will be well worth the ten bucks missing from your wallet.

Next Stage Theatre Festival c If you’ve ever walked out of a Fringe Festival play in July and thought, “I wish it was freezing right now! Also, I wish I hadn’t spent ten bucks on this crap!” you should definitely check out the Next Stage Theatre Festival. It runs January 4–15 at the Factory Theatre and features a jury’s selection of the best shows from past Fringe Festivals.

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Archery at Casa Loma f

Planning New Year’s Eve is the worst: until midnight, commitment to one party is as non-existent as people who take Reetallica’s Lulu seriously. To avoid the usual NYE uncertainty, here is a tip: at the El Mocambo they will be giving out free Steam Whistle when the clock strikes 12 (you’re welcome).

Secondary matters like entertainment will be provided as well, courtesy at Rivers Cuomo’s favourite cover band, Sheezer, and DJ Ben Fox of Dinosaur Bones. But yeah, free booze! December 31, Young Lions Music Club presents YLMC NYE Sheezer, El Mocambo, $25

Trying to keep off the holiday weight? Try it the medieval way. Casa Loma is offering a $31 archery workshop on December 17. Come back to school with the back muscles of Joan of Arc.

Solstice Parade at Kensington g A night for pyromaniacs and parade enthusiasts alike, the December 21 Kensington Market winter solstice parade lights up the darkest night of the year with a massive burning statue, fire breathers, stiltwalkers, and loud beating drums.

Swing Dance at Dovercourt House e As the Dixie Chicks once wisely sang, “We rosin up the fiddle and do the Christmas swing.” So why not pass your holidays with the Saturday Night Swing at Dovercourt House, featuring a live band and an assortment of folks clad in tweed outfits? For $15, you get beginner swing lessons and entrance into the most hoppin’ party in town!

Kosher Jokes for the Halaladays at the Al Green Theatre h If you’ve ever felt left out during the holiday season, Montreal’s Hilarious! brings you “a comedy show for Jews and Muslims for Christmas!” Playing December 22, the $20 show features Canada’s best stand-up Jewish and Muslim comics and sold out Montreal’s Gesu Theatre last year.

Jane Austen Ball i It was Jane Austen who astutely observed “To be fond of dancing was a certain step towards falling in love.” If you’re dreading the loss of lip-lock this New Years Eve, better get dancing. Why not try your luck at the seasonal Jane Austen Ball on Danforth Ave. this December 17. A $30 regency workshop and ball can be the best way to find true romance (reserve at www. janeasutendancing.ca).

Desserts by Lamplight j Have you ever dreamt of eating decadent desserts in a dimly-lit room, while people sing Christmas carols to you? Then check out Desserts by Lamplight at Scarborough Museum on December 10. For $15, you’ll be treated to a magical and energy-efficient night.

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VARSITY ARTS & CULTURE

arts@thevarsity.ca

A stroll into Café de Flore

Québécois director-cum-DJ Jean-Marc Vallée offers another musically-driven film Brandon Bastaldo VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

In a box office filled with teenaged blood suckers, it’s easy to feel like Hollywood is in a season of creative drought. That’s why when I went to see Café de Flore (2011) in a nearly empty theatre (the only other patrons being senior citizens), I was gladly reminded that hope for creativity in an industry that seems to only be interested in sequels and spin-offs is still alive and kicking here in the north. Café is the latest from Québécois-director-turned filmic-DJ Jean-Marc Vallée, who returns to his specific brand of musically driven filmmaking that gathered the world’s attention in 2005 with his earlier release C.R.A.Z.Y. Now, six years later, Café shows that Vallée’s passion for mixing stunning imagery and philosophical flair hasn’t waned one bit.

Café follows three different storylines, often shifting terrains in a ghostly fashion, alternating between various time periods and events that are shown in a wilfully disorienting manner. Vallée is no stranger to having his films span over the course of a lifetime, but this film dashes routine story telling aside in search of a style that is surprisingly more mature than his past work. Café tells the story of middle-aged DJ, Antoine Godin (Kevin Parent) who, after leaving his wife of 20 years for his considerably younger mistress Rose (Evelyne Brochu),

feels that his life is incomplete. Meanwhile, Antoine’s ex-wife (Hélène Florent) is deeply troubled by their divorce and starts to have terrifying nightmares in which what she calls a “little monster” haunts her. Throw in the other narrative about how a strong-willed single mother named Jacqueline (Vanessa Paradis), whose determination for her mollycoddled son with Down syndrome (Lucas Bonin) to have a “normal” life becomes a psychotic obsession, and you have your hands full with this plot. Café makes us work at every twist and turn of the story, and in the process of our connecting the dots, Vallée delivers his own doctrine about the enduringly trangressive nature of love and the odyssey of human existence.

In Café, Vallée maximizes the use of nostalgic songs where most directors who overuse cinematic musical scenes (Zack Snyder, ahem) fall incomparably short. Vallée enlists some big-name sounds (Sigur Rós, Pink Floyd, The Cure) in an effort that helps to translate the film’s moods and thoughts into smooth crystalline scenes. Café asks us: how does one show the multifaceted nature of human relationships and co-dependency? Vallée’s answer, of course: with stark visions and a damn good soundtrack. Café isn’t for everyone, but for those who can deal with the film’s brainteaser style, a true reward is to be had (and sit through the credits for this one).

The $10 Restaurateur with Laura Kathleen Maize Roti Cuisine of India 308 Dupont St. A quick walk north of campus is a restaurant that I consider equivalent to a good therapy session. Roti Cuisine of India is a gem; it’s cheap, fast, and there isn’t one bad dish on the menu — believe me, I’ve tried them all! Indian food is incredible, naturally, but when you put your favourite masala dish on a roti instead of a bed of rice, it becomes a transportable, burrito-like meal that you’ll daydream about for weeks. I should mention that these rotis are huge, and for the seriously budget-conscious (we’ve all been there), they can even last you for two meals.

Nothing is better on a cold winter’s night than a warm roti, filled with saag paneer ($8.99), channa ($7.99), lamb curry ($8.99), or the slightly over-budget butter chicken ($10.99). Bring it home and eat it while watching the newest American Horror Story or Boardwalk Empire: pure bliss. And don’t you need while you slog through all of your essays and exams? If that didn’t sell it to you, a free cup of rice pudding for dessert should tip the scales.

arts@thevarsity.ca

VARSITY ARTS & CULTURE

MONDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2011

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What makes a life story

Alan Hollinghurst on the uses and abuses of biography Jade Colbert VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

Alan Hollinghurst’s latest novel, his first since the 2004 Man Booker–winning Line of Beauty, charts the literary afterlife of a fictional English poet and examines how we construct stories of our lives and the lives of others, according to our own interests.

The Stranger’s Child opens in 1913 when Cecil Valance, author of a collection of poems mostly about his own house, visits Two Acres, the family home of his Cambridge friend George Sawle in Stanmore, then a suburb of London.

Fast-forward to 1926, and Cecil’s life has been cut short by the First World War. Had it been left at that, he would have been remembered, if at all, as a very minor poet. As it happens, Churchill eulogizes him in the Times with a quote from one of his poems, what immediately becomes his best-known work, “Two Acres.” Cecil is promptly reconfigured as a war poet, a representative of the lost promise of his generation, and the Sawle home, those “Two blessèd acres of English ground,” as the pre-war English idyll.

The various personal fictions that ensue are thrown into relief by Paul Bryant, a would-be Valance biographer who senses there is some secret about Cecil’s life that has yet to be revealed. What the reader knows from the first pages of The Stranger’s Child is that at the time of his visit to Two Acres, Cecil was having a passionate affair with George.

The trajectory of the novel was inspired, says Hollinghurst, by the evolutions in the literary biography of the English poet Rupert Brooke.

The public and critical reception of Hollinghurst’s work since his first novel, The Swimming-Pool Library (1988), is itself a study in changing attitudes towards sex and sexuality in English society — exactly the material the author mines in so many of his novels. In his past work, Hollinghurst, who is gay, has focused on gay men as central characters and has described their sex lives in detail. The Stranger’s Child is in these respects a departure from his previous work in that many of its characters are sexually ambiguous and the author has purposefully left more to the reader’s imagination. Whether he is a gay writer or a writer who is gay has, he says, become an increasingly irrelevant question.

The Varsity spoke to Alan Hollinghurst the day after he gave a reading at the Toronto Reference Library in early November. The following is a digest of that conversation.

The Varsity: I thought of starting by discussing the title, The Stranger’s Child, which is taken from In Memoriam. A question running throughout the book is “Who is Cecil?” And so I guess that’s my first question for you: Who is Cecil, and is he the stranger’s child?

Alan Hollinghurst: The thing about that utterly wonderful section of In Memoriam, which he reads to the dinner guests at Two Acres, is the imagining of the future or saying, in effect, how unimaginable the future is, even if it’s going to be taking place in this very landscape that we know and love. Way into the future, this landscape will grow familiar to the stranger’s child, not only to people we don’t know, but to further generations of people we don’t know. So I thought of it being a sort of emblem of the unknowable futurity to which we all willy-nilly have to commend ourselves.

I hadn’t really thought of a particular person being the stranger’s child of the title. I suppose in a sense Paul Bryant, who’s the person who within the extent of the book we see taking up Cecil’s story — he is very much a stranger’s child to him, and in most ways very remote from Cecil.

Cecil has that aristocratic education, unhesitating sense of entitlement, confidence in his own powers and charms. So not altogether a very likable person [laughs]. But the one who

Ryan KELPIn/THE VaRsITy

clearly has a sort of charisma and an impact on the people around him.

TV: One of the reasons why I think the investigation of his biography is interesting is because he didn’t live very long. He lived only to his mid-20s.

AH: George Sawle says, doesn’t he, when they’re talking about Daphne’s 70th birthday party, there’s not enough there for a full biography. I mean, he’s partly saying that because he doesn’t want people looking into it too closely.

Yeah, it’s the strange thing that happens when someone dies young, and particularly in circumstances such as the Somme. The idealizing thing of someone who dies young, and the fact that most of the people that they’ve been intimately involved with are liable to be young, and so the context in which their early life will be seen is one of intense youthful emotions and wasted promise, so that’s the nexus out of which it’s very hard to winkle stern truths.

TV: As time goes by in the novel, Cecil’s work is thought less and less of. Initially it becomes famous because it serves a certain purpose.

AH: Exactly. I think “Two Acres” is very much like Rupert Brooke’s “Old Vicarage, Grantchester,” that poem idealizing a certain view of England written before the war, which after the war takes on a certain dimension of ideality, as does its writer. And so it’s given a significance by context, which it probably wouldn’t have had at the time. With the passing of time, people more widely acknowledge it as not all that great, but by then it had done some other strange thing. Brooke’s beauty — much more than Cecil’s I think — helped him to be turned into this iconic figure of the beautiful, lost, talented generation.

Interesting very much is the role of the mother: Brooke had this very powerful, domineering mother, Mary Brooke. She commissioned Keynes to write a biography to preface Brooke’s poems, which she heavily policed.

There are extraordinary letters by people like Virginia Woolf after it was published, just finding the portrait of Brooke utterly unrecognizable to the person that they’d known.

So all those sort of things were things I’d known about and thought it would be interesting to create another version of, the very slow emerging of a more complicated history. I think of the extraordinary, long letter in which Brooke describes the rather violent sexual episode he had with another man — probably only published in the 1990s. So there may be stuff we’ve yet to find out about him.

TV: Something that has come up in the reviews of this book is that people en-

joy your descriptions of sexual episodes, urges, motives. At the event last night, someone asked why there aren’t more sex scenes in this book. Do you find other books to be prudish?

AH: No, I don’t think it’s really a consideration with me. Yes, I’m sorry people felt sort of cheated.

My first book and so forth are so much seen, told from the point of view of someone who is kind of living for sex. And a lot of the characters that I’ve written about have been.

Cecil might subscribe to that. But I think one can give quite a rich picture of the importance of the sexual life without actually describing it and without retreating into a prudish position of denying it. Henry James, after all, was never especially explicit, but he obviously has a deep sense of the importance of sexuality in people’s lives.

So much of the point of the book was the uncertainty of any of the characters, and by extension, the reader, of just what had happened in intimate scenes between people, and I preferred not to go into it.

TV: There are a lot of sexually ambiguous characters in this book. Why was that important to you?

AH: I think, in a way, it’s the “gay writer” question. I think I felt interested in writing about the sort of vagaries and ambivalences of sexual experience rather than the categories of sexual experience. I can’t say exactly, but I think that must have been something in my mind. I wanted to write about the unknowability of the past and indeed of the lives of others around us. I thought that maintaining a mystery about their sexual lives might be quite effective.

Did Cecil sleep with Daphne? We’ll never know. I could have written a sex scene for them, or have Daphne remember one, but I wanted to create, in quite a thorough-going way, that sense of shared ignorance and uncertainty about the past.

The full interview with Alan Hollinghurst is available at thevarsity.ca.

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VARSITY SCIENCE

The gems of iGEM A look into U of T’s synthetic biology club Dennis Dobrovolsky VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

The most influential man you’ve never heard of “I suspect he’s forgotten as a person, but his influence is all around us.” – Noam Chomsky “There has not been such a convincing, genuine, singular voice in our language since D. H. Lawrence.” – Susan Sontag “Paul Goodman was not ahead of his time but in his time.” – Grace Paley

Philosopher /

Poet /

Writer / Anarchist /

Sociologist /

Educator /

Open

Pacifist /

Psychologist

Bisexual /

Spokesperson for a Generation

PAUL GOODMAN CHANGED MY LIFE 608 College St. West

THE

a film by JONATHAN LEE O N E W E E K O N LY filmswelike.com

ROYAL

STARTS FRI DEC 9

You’re in the kitchen washing dishes and you notice a leak in your drainpipe. Expecting guests in ten minutes and with no time to call a plumber, you reach for a handy bottle of PicoPlumber bacteria mix and pour it down the drain. Why, you ask? Simple: these are not your ordinary bacteria — they have been genetically programmed to clog leaky pipes. These bacteria swim down your drainpipe and localize at the rupture; they are able to sense each other’s presence, and when a critical mass of them accumulates, they all rupture and release a bioglue that quickly seals the crack and stops the dripping, just in time for your guests’ arrival.

Sound cool? Undergrads at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland sure think so; they came up with it.

Projects like these are being brought to life by undergrads all around the world, thanks to an organization called iGEM (International Genetically Engineered Machines). Every November since 2005, iGEM has been hosting an international competition (or “Jamboree” as it’s called) at MIT that allows students to showcase their genetic engineering (or “synthetic biology” when applied to entire cells) projects to the world.

This year, over 200 schools took part in the competition, with projects ranging from synthetic blood made from E. Coli to bacterial factories that can degrade toxic chemicals to engineered yeast that can be used to bake vitamin A-infused bread. This year’s winning team from Washington U devised a clever way to use bacteria for making enzymes that break down gluten, thus giving hope to

gluten-intolerant people everywhere.

“There are so many crazy ideas out there,” says Kenny Zhan, former president of iGEM Toronto, a U of T club built around the iGEM competition. “As long as we have imaginative, creative people, I don’t think there are any limits to iGEM.” Kenny was part of a team of seven other U of T undergrads that worked together over the summer to bring their very own synthetic biology project to life. The U of T team tried to design an E. Coli bacterium whose genes could be controlled with magnets. The idea of using magnets to control cells, in fact, comes from nature, where you can find a certain class of bacteria, called “magnetotactic” bacteria, which have internal compasses made from a mineral called magnetite that allows them to align with the Earth’s magnetic field. Installing the right genetic circuitry into the E. Coli cells could enable the creation of a genetic switch, essentially a way of regulating gene expression via magnetic stimuli.

“We were really ambitious,” Kenny says, “we wanted to make a larger toolbox for biologists to play with.”

Biologists are not the only ones interested in synthetic biology; the field is rife with collaborations among chemists, engineers, physicists, computer scientists, and even artists.

“At the competition, we even had a NASA guy come by and he actually really liked the way we engineered things,” says Kenny. iGEM Toronto is a fairly new club to U of T, but it’s growing and always looking for membership.

“If you have an intrinsic interest in biology or engineering, I absolutely encourage you to come out. All we’re really looking for are people with an open mind and willing to learn,” says

Nicole Cyhelka, third-year chemical engineering student and current president of the club.

She’s sitting with me in a fairly small room brimming with testtubes, pipettes, and bottles of chemicals: the home of iGEM Toronto, a biochemistry lab in the Medical Sciences building converted into a sanctum of synthetic biology. The club takes on new members in the fall and gives them the chance to participate in the Design Competition, a contest held by the club that allows teams of members to plan out their own engineering projects. The best of these is then chosen as the goal, and a smaller subset of members (designated the “wet-lab team”) go on to turn the blueprint to reality, working nearly full-time over the summer in preparation for the Jamboree.

“They were almost completely autonomous in their planning and experiments,” says Dr. Boris Steipe, a U of T biochemistry professor and faculty supervisor of the club. “And given that, I think they got quite far.”

The idea of engineering life forms to do our bidding has been at the heart of science fiction for decades: from modifying humans to blend in with the Na’vi in Avatar, to the creation of clone troopers to defend the reign of the Galactic Republic in Star Wars. We have even seen some of these crazy notions affect our everyday lives in the form of genetically engineered crops that resist insects, and transgenic cattle that produce human enzymes in their milk. By ushering in new genetic systems built from the ground up, with genes being manipulated as easily as Lego pieces, the emerging new field of synthetic biology is about to turn all those ideas on their head. And iGEM sits right in the middle of it all.

SC ENCE N BR EF Male brain not just third testicle

You’ve probably heard the “fact” that males think about sex every six seconds, a theory that makes the male species appear to be sex-crazed.

This long-held assumption about men however, has been disproved, according to a recent study by researchers from the Ohio State University at Mansfield. Using 283 college students as participants, the researchers had them keep track of specific thoughts about food, sleep, or sex for one week with the use of a golf tally counter. As it turns out, there is no significant interaction between sex of participant and type of cognition recorded. This means that males reported thinking about sex more often than females, but also reported thinking more about food and sleep as well. The results suggest a smaller-than-expected difference between males and females in sexual thoughts, which may be influenced by sex role expectations.

—Bianca Lemus Lavarreda Source: Science Daily

Without fear: unlocking the Daredevil in all of us

As we perceive the world, signals from our eyes, ears, touch receptors, and other sources of sensory input combine to give us a comprehensive view of reality. This happens as sensory input content sends messages back and forth to create a reliable conceptualization of the perceived stimulus.

Psychologists at UCLA have discovered, however, that the senses communicate before perception occurs.

Published in the December issue of Psychological Science, participants’ visual perception of the leftward

movement of dots on a screen was enhanced when a leftward-moving sound matched the leftward movement of the dots. These results demonstrate one cool instance in which hearing enhanced visual perception even though it wasn’t necessary.

—Emily Dunbar Source: Science Daily

Impulsive? Check your credit score

If you can hold off on eating marshmallows now if you are promised more later, then you meet the requirements for delayed gratification. This ability to hold off smaller, immediate rewards in order to gain larger rewards in the distant future was initially explored by Stanford psychologist Walter Mischel, who tested children’s ability to delay their desire for the sake of a future reward. An adult version of this test was recently administered to a group of low-to-moderate income earners by two economists from the Federal Reserve’s Center for Behavioral Economics and Decisionmaking in Boston. The experiment posed scenarios such as whether participants would rather have one dollar now or ten dollars six months from now, with variation in the amounts and timeframes offered. Participants who were poorer at delaying gratification, meaning they took the immediate reward when it made rational sense to take the larger reward in the future, also had lower credit scores. These results suggest that people who have difficulty in building and maintaining good credit might be worse at resisting their impulses.

—Emily Dunbar Source: Science Daily

science@thevarsity.ca

VARSITY SCIENCE

MONDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2011

17

Tropepe in the field of view

Vincent Tropepe of the cell and systems biology department talks zebrafish and what it means to be a scientist Bianca Lemus Lavarreda SCIENCE EDITOR

Professor Vincent Tropepe is the go-to scientist for all things related to neurogenesis. The Varsity got a chance to interview him and find out what it’s like to balance lectures, administrative duties, and a passion for research as a top-notch molecular biologist.

Dr. Tropepe’s current research interest in neurogenesis stems from his research experience as an undergraduate at McMaster. There, he worked in a lab that focused on structural brain differences between men and women and between people with different sexual orientations. Since this idea relied on a model based on brain development, it got him interested in the idea of neurogenesis, the process of producing neurons. After undergrad, he came to U of T as a graduate student and worked in a lab that studied neurogenesis and neuron stem cells.

Now, as the sole operator of his lab, located in Ramsay Wright, his research continues in this vein but takes a broad view of this particular problem and studies it in different contexts. A majority of the projects in the lab focus primarily on using zebrafish, a tropical freshwater fish, as a model for research. His lab is currently investigating how neurogenesis works at the level of the gene. This research involves looking at genes that are usually transcription factors, meaning they participate in the transcribing of genetic information from DNA to RNA, but are involved in controlling gene expression. Dr. Tropepe has many projects, including an investigation into whether the early developmental processes and mechanisms of neurogenesis are the same during adult neurogenesis. Are the stem cells in adult neurogenesis utilizing the same programs to make neurons as they did in the young embryo? To answer that question, his team needs to start from scratch and locate the process in the adult fish brain. “[Neurogenesis] is … very widespread throughout the [zebrafish] brain, much more so than in a mammal. We want to try to understand using zebrafish as a model: what is the neurogenesis that’s happening? Can we characterize it, and how does it work? An ultimate question would be why … do you need new neurons in your brain?” says Dr. Tropepe.

A very inquisitive scientist, Dr. Tropepe asks many questions, but perhaps the most burning question of all for him would be the case of neurogenesis in the retina.

“I want to really understand how the stem cells in the eye make the decision to make a photoreceptor instead of something else. How does that actually work? That’s going to be absolutely critical if we’re going to understand stem cell biology in general but also if we’re ever going to be able to exploit this possibility of using stem cells to regenerate tissue. That needs to be solved, and so far, it’s not been solved.”

As a lecturer, the top two lessons Dr. Tropepe

You need to have a very deep desire to understand a particular field or to want to engage in a particular kind of research just because it is personally satisfying. That’s where it all stems from… I think the successful people in science have that as their core.

has learned in trying to be a better teacher is to make course material interesting and relevant.

“I think that’s a big lesson that I’ve had to learn in trying to be a better teacher… Make [course material] very interesting for the audience so that they’re engaged, because if they’re engaged, they get it, they learn it, they understand it. I guess the second thing would be make it

plenty of theories and models that are supported by a lot of evidence, and that’s about as good as we can get.

So we have to be able to tell students ‘these are the important things that you need to know about molecular biology or about neurogenesis. These are the important concepts abut neurogenesis and here’s how we derive that information, but you are allowed to criticize that information — you’re allowed to criticize the way scientists have come to that conclusion because maybe they missed something, maybe they overlooked something, or maybe they’re over interpreting something.’ Now is the time to get students used to the idea [of thinking critically]. So I think those are the two things. Make it interesting and make it relevant.”

When asked on what advice he has to offer for prospective graduate students, Dr. Tropepe hits the nail on the head: “the mentors that I’ve had in my career have always had a common thread which is that they are deeply interested in the problem that they want to try to solve. They’re deeply interested in the science, in the research. For any prospective graduate student, you need that at that time in your life. You need to have a very deep desire to understand a particular field or to want to engage in a particular kind of research just because it is personally satisfying. That’s where it all stems from. From there, if you have that, you will be able to apply that research in many wonderful ways. Either being a great teacher or being someone that liaises with industry or being someone who can adapt that to a clinic, for medial application, whatever it is… But if you don’t have that deep desire for selfsatisfaction, [for] just understanding, then I would say most people are not successful if that’s not the case.

I think the successful people in science have that as their core.”

As for advice for undergraduates, Dr. Tropepe recommends working through examples and problems. “If you’re learning about how transcription factors might bind to a promoter to control transcription, look at some examples. What experiments do people use to show that this protein can stick to DNA, and after it’s stuck to DNA it will cause a gene to turn on? There are very clear experiments that one would do step-by-step to get to that conclusion. If you understand the way that works, then you understand the concept of transcriptional regulation to a great extent.”

Dr. Tropepe has three manuscripts still in the peer-review process. A typical day in his lab is spent doing WYATT CLOUGH/THe VArsiTY small portions from a smorgasbord of tasks. In addition to giving three to four hours of lecture a week, Dr. Trorelevant, so in the courses that I teach, one of pepe has weekly meetings with members of his my philosophies is that it has to be, I’m not lab, reviews and critiques both manuscripts for just going to teach you ‘these are the facts,’ I’m publication in journals as well as grants, does going to teach you why we think these are the all of the financing for his lab, and has a numfacts. What is the actual evidence that allows ber of roles on committees within the departus to draw this conclusion, that A affects B? ment and university-wide. On his downtime That’s an important thing in science because away from work and his family with two small there are really no facts in science — there are children, he enjoys oil painting and jogging.

18

VARSITY SCIENCE

MONDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2011

science@thevarsity.ca

A computer’s touch Technology brings a whole new meaning to Doctor Love VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

Many physicians wish to offer their patients a sympathetic ear but sometimes miss emotional cues in the conversation in order to zone in on the appropriate medical treatment. Physicians may even choose to ignore these cues completely to speed up the conversation and attend to more patients. Then again, it could just be that some physicians don’t know how to acknowledge these emotions.

The Canadian Cancer Society estimates that there will be about 177,800 Canadians diagnosed with cancer in 2011. What those patients will want is a sympathetic ear, something not all physicians know how to provide. But this might be changing soon. A recently-published study in the Annals of Internal Medicine had oncologists, cancer-specializing physicians, learning empathy from a computer. Researchers from Duke University have developed a computer program that teaches physicianpatient empathy courses to cancer specialists. These new computer courses are relatively inexpensive compared to the large $3000 price tag per physician for similar courses.

In a nutshell, the researchers created a baseline to compare pre- and postempathetic behaviour by contrasting an initial audiotaped encounter with later ones between the oncologists and patients with advanced cancer. The responses from the physicians were reviewed and corrected by the computer program, which gave them tips on how to better communicate empathy to patients. The results showed that compared to the control group, physicians who received the computer training responded empathetically twice as often.

The control group received a one-hour lecture on empathetic communication but showed no improvement in response to patients’ emotional concerns or fears.

Physicians who used the computer program learned how to recognize and respond to patients’ unpleasant emotions, such as feelings of sadness, depression, or anxiety. They learned the important skill of how to sensitively convey prognosis, especially for more dangerous illnesses. The physicians improved at encouraging patients to talk about their feelings instead of ignoring and disregarding these discussions. These improved skills strengthened the physician-patient relationship; patients whose physicians

make patients more likely to comply with treatment and less likely to launch malpractice complaints.

So why is a lack of empathy a perennial problem in clinical settings in the first place? It could just be that physicians need to suppress empathetic responses in order to do their job correctly and safely. A 2007 study published in Current Biology investigated this question by having physicians who practice acupuncture undergo functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while watching videos of painful procedures, such as needles being inserted into people’s hands, feet, and areas around their mouth. Physicians showed significantly less response in brain regions involved in empathy and more of a higher cognitive response for pain. These results suggest that physicians may automatically feel empathy for the pain of others but quickly suppress it.

On the other hand, it could be that people who are less empathetic tend to gravitate towards healthcare professions. However, this seems unlikely, as studies have shown that physicians are often the most empathetic and caring towards the beginning of medical school and that they become steadily less empathetic with more clinical training. The most likely explanation may be the nature of medical training and the intrinsic demands of the profession.

Acknowledging human feeling is a skill that is not given as much attention as it should in medical school or resident training. It would help, since empathetic communication clearly improves overall physician–patient experience as well as the effectiveness of treatment.

The technology behind the computer program still needs to be developed and updated for privacy and security concerns. Although the program is not widely available, there are efforts underway for broader distribution.

collage heart bt by ellen chang, hewzitt whatzitt

Jordan Rivera

were trained by the program perceived their doctors to be more empathetic and were more confident that they were being understood.

Many physicians wish to offer their patients a sympathetic ear but sometimes overlook emotional cues in the conversation in order to zone in on the appropriate

medical treatment. Physicians may even choose to ignore these cues completely to speed up the conversation and attend to more patients. Then again, it could just be that some physicians don’t know how to acknowledge these emotions.

Empathy in physician–patient encounters also benefits physicians because they

There’s a Nobel for that Nobel-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman visited U of T to promote his new book (and get hailed by a fire alarm) Erene Stergiopoulos VARSITY STAFF

U of T has its fair share of Nobel Prize winners, but it’s not every day that Daniel Kahneman stops by for a visit. On December 1, the winner of the 2002 Nobel Prize in Economics made an hour-long 8 am appearance at Rotman’s Fleck Atrium for an audience of suit-clad business people and students who managed not to hit the snooze button.

Unfortunately, Toronto welcomed this distinguished guest with a fire alarm before the talk was set to begin. But glitches aside, the talk offered a look at some of psychology’s most intriguing and applicable research. In town to promote his new book, Thinking, Fast

and Slow, Kahneman explained that we humans aren’t as rational as we think. The implications extend to how we make decisions, which are the foundation of managing our social, economic, and political institutions.

As Kahneman explained, we have two broad systems for thinking: System 1 is automatic, intuitive, and fast, while System 2 is effortful, logical, and slow. When we make errors, it’s usually because of System 1.

For example, take the following problem: A bat and a ball together cost $1.10. The bat costs $1.00 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?

You’re probably thinking 10 cents. In fact, that’s how at least 50 per cent of undergraduates at Harvard, Yale, and MIT respond. But

the answer is actually 5 cents.

This question exemplifies just how quickly we jump to conclusions without actually checking our answers (if you still don’t believe me, do the math in your head). That’s System 1 at work when System 2 — a lazy worker, according to Kahneman — doesn’t kick in to check on what System 1 is doing.

“This system is marvelous,” said Kahneman, “and it is flawed.”

But we’re not just bad at riddles. Humans are notoriously bad at statistical thinking when we base ourselves on System 1. We ignore the actual likelihood of events like terrorist attacks or winning the lottery. These errors have a huge bearing on the way we make economic and political decisions, and

they undermine the assumption of rationality on which these institutions are based.

Thinking, Fast and Slow explains decades of Kahneman’s work and goes through the thinking behind his Nobel prize-winning research.

Already touted by the New York Times and Globe and Mail, the book is as entertaining as it is wise — and you would do well to read it.

At 77, Kahneman himself is a firebrand, mingling brilliance with incredible modesty. In his talk, he took a moment to remember his long-time collaborator and friend, the late Amos Tversky. It’s a lesson all scientists and students should take to heart — as Kahneman recalled, “It reminds me how innovative science is done, and it’s done by having fun.”

VARSITY SPORTS

sports@thevarsity.ca

BLUES

BY THE

NUMBERS

92–70 The score by which the Blues women’s swimming team beat the OUA defending champions, the Western Mustangs. The Blues men trounced their counterparts at Western 105–53.

92–70 The Blues men’s hockey team’s powerplay record in the win against the UOIT Ridgebacks in Oshawa on Friday. Goalie Garrett Sheehan made 38 saves in the 3–2 victory.

CLASSIFIEDS WANTED VOLUnTEER The Adult Disabled Downhill Ski Club of Toronto is looking for enthusiastic intermediate-level ski volunteers for our Saturday program, starting January 2012.

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“Playing sports is my other job” Lacrosse captain Taryn Grieder is the next athlete in our End Game series Melissa LoParco VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR

The dedication that Taryn Grider, the Varsity Blues women’s lacrosse team captain, posseses is on a whole other level. The 12th-year University of Toronto student is currently in the process of finishing her PhD at the Institute of Medical Science, but that hasn’t stopped her from doing what she loves: playing sports.

“I think right now I play on seven intramural teams,” Grieder says. “I just love sports so much, and at U of T, it’s the best environment for both intramural and varsity; it’s amazing.”

Grieder started on the Scarborough campus where she studied biology and neuroscience. After playing on the intramural lacrosse team, she was recruited by the Blues coach, and her love affair with the sport began.

“Once I started playing lacrosse, I just loved it. It’s the best sport, it really is,” Grieder explains. “A lot of people haven’t had any experience with it because it’s sort of a lesserplayed sport.

“There is something about it that I just loved so much, because you’re running but you’ve also got hand-eye coordination going, and it’s sort of like hockey and soccer combined.”

Grieder’s participation in athletics, in addition to her PhD work, could be overwhelming, but she finds a way to balance her hefty sports schedule and her research.

“I do feel like [sports] is my other job, like it’s my part-time job playing sports,” Grieder admits. “But I love it, the reason I stayed at Scarborough for a fifth year was just to play intramural sports.

“Lacrosse is only two months, and it is every day for two months, but it goes by so fast … and the lacrosse season is at the very beginning of the year — September and October.

I don’t have courses anymore because I’m doing my PhD, so it’s all lab work. I make my own schedule really, but even for new players it’s at a time where they don’t have too much work to do.”

Last season, the 2009 OUA AllStar was nominated to be a cocaptain of the lacrosse team by

MELISSA LOPARCO/THE VARSITy

her teammates. This year she was officially named captain of the team by the coaching staff.

“Taryn sets the example for her teammates with her outstanding play on the field. She is intelligent, highly motivated, confident, and a very competitive athlete,” women’s lacrosse head coach Todd Pepper comments.

Grieder counts being called upon by her teammates to take on the role of co-captain as one of her greatest moments with the team.

“The players all came together and said that they wanted me as captain,” she explains. “That was really awesome in the sense that they did that for me and they wanted [to name me captain]. So it was a huge honour for that to happen.”

Grieder takes her role as captain seriously on and off the field. Instead of focusing only on helping the team with the sport itself and the skills involved, she makes sure that she helps the younger members

by acting as a role model for them.

“In terms of being a captain, for me, what it meant was being a leader for the new players, setting an example in terms of playing and skills, but also how to succeed in school and how to treat other players and be helpful and [give] constructive criticism,” Grieder says.

“I just to try and be a good role model for the younger players. I’m in [my] 12th year, I’m 29-years-old, and some of the kids on the team are 17 coming in, so for me it was more than being an athletic leader — it was more like being a role model for the other players.”

“Taryn is a person that the younger players on the team can look up to. She really cares about her teammates,” Pepper says of his captain.

Grieder plans on getting her PhD in a few months and will continue to do research in her field, but U of T and the lacrosse team will always have a place in her heart.

“Actually, I’ve been thinking about how I can stay at school even longer. I was even thinking of doing a Master of Education, which I can do in one year. I will be devastated because not only do I play on the varsity team but all those intramural sports that I play — I won’t be able to play them anymore. It’ll be so sad; I don’t want to leave at all.”

Grieder will continue to play lacrosse even after she leaves U of T; she plays on the Toronto Titans team in the summer.

As for her future plans, Grieder reveals, “I’ve got a job in San Diego, a post-doctoral fellowship position lined up to do similar research to what I do now, and then I want to come back to U of T and be a professor and hopefully coach lacrosse.”

Grieder knows what she’ll be taking with her when she leaves Toronto. “It’s been the best part of my university experience, playing sports at U of T.”

The U of T track team crossed the border to compete at Cornell University on Saturday, December 3.

Blues middle-distance runner Ethan Davenport barreled to a first-place finish in the 1000 m race at the Cornell meet last year.

Davenport, a strong contender for Saturday’s meet, has his sights set on the 3000 m event in his fourth year competing at Cornell.

Check out the full story at thevarsity.ca.

BERnARdA GOSPIC/THE VARSITy

DIVERSIONS

20 MONDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2011

Something old Crossword

by Murad Hemmadi

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8 launch ways to

YOUR CAREER POSTGRADUATE CERTIFICATES IN:

Shortened professor Car racing in circles de France Leaky tap Type of fencing sword Incorrect plural of octopus Recently renamed Royal (acronym) Before Teen Mom, there was music Free Elizabethan man owning his own farm Composer Bach’s initials Ontario Association of Pathologists Teasing Taqramiut Nipingat Inc. Final section of small intestine Driving on the ___ side of the road Alberta Soccer Association Harbour city of ancient Rome Where the fat lady sings

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children Basketball Teaches yoga Electroencephalography Gluconeogenesis American Association of Retired Persons Casual “no” World-series winning St. Louis AS x2 Commercial radio format acronym Psych majors gather here Cold-war nuke delivery of apples GM’s Volt Fan tion Camry Multiple big seas More’s ___ RAM and ___ Single to sleep in Outdoor dining space French as a second language Ballpoint pen To catch with New Zealander bird that eats honey Big floppy disk Immunoglobulin E Newman/Haas Racing in IndyCar Toronto + Durham + Halton + Peel + York

send a photo of your solution to contests@thevarsity.ca and win a very special prize

Become a Parliamentary Guide Give guided tours of Parliament

Apply online!

Deadline: Friday, January 13, 2012

Weekly Horoscopes

by Destiny Starr

Aries

March 21 – April 19 All those cakes you’ve been eating are finally catching up to you, Aries. Take it easy this week and eat some salad.

Seriously.

Taurus

April 20 – May 20 Your innate intellectual curiosity will lead to deep self-discovery this week. Show off your profound new insights with a leopard-print onesie.

Gemini

May 21 – June 20 Things will get spicy mid-week as Venus’s sensual influence penetrates the house of Gemini. Call your parents by Thursday for moral support.

Cancer

June 21 – July 22 Meow meow. That’s the sound of a cat in distress, in need of your immediate assistance!

Leo

July 23 – August 22 Things have been stressful these days, so take a breather and relish the warmth of a second-hand snuggie. Consider washing it first.

Virgo

August 23 – September 22 Though Pluto’s influence might bring on considerable tension this week, visit your inner peace garden for wisdom and guidance. Also, watch more Star Trek.

Libra

September 23 – October 22 After last month’s profound insights, take some time off from the deep stuff and work on your night cheese. That, or your essay.

Scorpio

October 23 – November 21 Consider the wisdom of your Scorpio brother this month, Carl Sagan. His badassery is unparalleled, but you can come pretty close.

Sagittarius

November 22 – December 21 Take note this week because Lady Luck’s in town. Buy several thousand Kinder Surprises and you might just win an unpaid trip to Siberia.

Capricorn

Event Management

December 22 – January 19 Hello? Is it Capricorn you’re looking for? Why yes, you sexy thang.

Financial Planning Global Business Management Human Resources Management

Aquarius

International Development

January 20 – February 18 The shadow of Neptune in your celestial sphere will result in moderately good times this week. You’ll also experience surprisingly good bowel movements.

International Marketing Marketing Management Public Administration

Pisces

business.humber.ca

www.parl.gc.ca/guides

February 19 – March 20 If things are going badly, call on the wisdom of the Slipknot classic, “People = Shit.” Also, make a generous donation to the charity of your choosing.