Issue 8, Volume 123

ISSUE 8

XAVERIAN THE WEEKLY xaverian

Thursday Mar 29 2012

Volume 120 Issue 20

EDITORIAL STAFF

Monday, Thursday, January March 21,26, 2012 2015 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Volume 123 Issue158 Volume Issue Sean McEvoy121 xw.eic@stfx.ca | (902) 870-9431

OUR STAFF OUR STAFF

PRODUCT ION MANAGER Emma MacPherson EDITOR-IN-CHIEF EDITORS-IN-CHIEF xw.product@stfx.ca

Sean McEvoy Ron Jeremy MANAGING EDITOR xw.eic@stfx.ca Peter North Joe T hibault

xw.managing@stfx.ca | (902) 867-3732

NEWS Residence Life staff exodus Shannon Travers left scrambling to fill vacant RA positions

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COPY EDITOR MANAGING EDITOR Alexandra Adams Graham Haynes PRODUCT ION MANAGER xw.copy@stfx.ca

SEAN MCEVOY | Editor-in-Chief

xw.managing@stfx.ca Jesus ART IST IC COORDINATOR Marie-Eve Pomerleau xw.product@stfx.ca xw.photo@stfx.ca

"We're on par."

That from StFX Manager of Student Life, Shannon Travers despite having a small exodus of Residence Life Staff in 2015. After losing four members of Res Life team over the holiday break, Travers remained upbeat about the quality of res life service's StFX provides.

"I've been in res life now for twelve years, and every year we lose staff through natural attrition", said Travers in an interview with The Xaverian. " Normally when you're looking at hiring 60[staff members], not all 60 are going to be able to balance the requirements and the responsibilities. This year we've lost four who were here and that's one more than the last two years I've been at StFX." "The quality of what the students are getting is the same. The impact is on the staff themselves. We still have a lot of the same coverage, and same resources said Travers who

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concern on the campus we would address it as a whole and it wouldn't be one RA." An RA who has been directly impacted by the limited residence staff has been Erin Abbott.

"Cam Hall has been short staffed from the beginning [of the school year]", explains Abbott. "Then someone also left to pursue other interests outside of X. Right from the start we've had RA's from other buildings rotate in. Some buildings have four people on weekends, some have three. So I personally haven't felt much pressure, we haven't lost our weekends at all. But it's definitely been a lot of shifting around and asking for more people."

Due to the initial shortage of male RA's, Abbott was placed in Macpherson, traditionally an all male residence. The experience according to Abbott has been nothing but positive. " I love it. They're so nice to me

and they generally respect me like crazy. They actually nicknamed me Mother Duck of the house," Abbott stated.

Another RA who spoke to The Xaverian on the condition of anonymity to protect their job, had a conflicting view of how Res Life staff have handled the shortage of staff, and also called into question Travers and her management style.

"I live in a building in which we're short currently. We've been for the whole year, and basically they've tried a system where they rotate other RA's in which basically makes our job more difficult", they explained.

"Those RA's don't know the residence, they don't know what they're doing because every place is so unique on campus. That's been a definite challenge for all of us, which is not exactly anybody's fault."

SEE XAVERIAN.CA FOR FULL STORY AND MORE COVERAGE.

SU Candidates talk to the Xav We interview the five candidates set to run in Feb 3/4 election LEWIS FORWARD | Features Editor

Who are you, what have you done so far at StFX, and why does that make you a good candidate for your position?

Isaac Turner (P): I’m from the Annapolis Valley originally, I’m a third year student who studied political sciences and aquatic resources. In terms of what I’ve done on campus- I was first year councillor at the Students Union while I was living in lane Hall. I was Upper Campus Councillor in my second year, as well as an RA in MacIsaac, which gave me a lot of insight into residence life.

I’ve seen both sides, the U and residence life. I’ve been involved with Service Learning, Habitat for Humanity, I play XHL, and I recently got back from studying abroad in Wales this fall, which gave me a really neat perspective especially chatting with some of their SU people, to see what they do, which has given me some great ideas that I would like to incorporate here at StFX.

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stated she has not received complaints from students regarding the new RA arrangement in residence.

"Everything's happening as it normally would, it's the staff that it takes a toll on", Travers stated. She went on to explain that some RA's were having to pick up extra shift's on weekends, while other RA's had begun rotating between buildings to address the shortfalls where they were needed the most. Finally, the shortage of RA's has lead to female res life staff being assigned to all male residences such as the TriMac and all male floors of Lane Hall.

In regards to whether she perceived any potential risks of placing female staff in an all male residence, such as sexual assault, Travers had this to say; "No. There haven't been and if there was, well, females are free to walk in male residences right? So we don't have a restriction on females entering. So if there's a safety

Troy Mrazek (P): I’m originally from CB, and I moved to antigonish when I was ten years old. I’m not going to give you the whole background story, but I’m a local, I can say that.

I went to high school in On-

tario, at a school called Applebee college, and graduated there in 2010. I spent a few years travelling around Canada playing hockey, and taking online courses from Mount Allison, believe it or not. Then hockey came to an end, and I decided to focus on my education. So I came back home to Antigonish. My mother’s a professor here. My first year was definitely bumpy, going through a transition from playing hockey, focusing on that one thing then trying to come into a school atmosphere when I was 20 years old. You know. I didn’t live in residence my first year, so that was different. As far as involvement goes, my first thing was my service learning trip to Guatemala. I went with some pretty great people, and had a great time. I had no expectation whatsoever. It turned out that one of the people who went on the trip was a then-current SU executive, Tessa Burns. She was awesome, to say the least.

It was kind of weird, she was a third year, my age, and I was just a first year starting university. She gave me a bit of inspiration, and since that trip I’ve wanted to do more. Just because I was so focused on trying to propel myself with hockey, it felt like I had nothing to grab onto.

I decided to apply to be an off campus leader, my first year off campus with a few of my friends from town. I had a great year with that. I learned the intricacies of how the SU works, and how the school works, and met a lot of people. Following that year, I applied to be the VP Activities and Events. Between my transition from the hockey world to University, I worked for several different entertainment companies in Halifax. Did some security jobs at bars, and bartended, etc. So I had a lot of street sense more than anything, with how events were planned and done. That lead me to my current job. For me to talk about how much I’ve learned this year, compared with my last five years, I couldn’t even measure. This year has been incredible.

Worked with great people, met so many people, learned so many things you would not believe at this university. The systems, and the processes, the way things work: it really fascinates me more than anything.

The thing that really drives me, other than the people I’ve met, is how interesting things are, and the networks in the university system. Learning about that this year has been incredible. I think that is the sole purpose of the students and the

system, and how things work here.

Kevin Sweet (P): I’ve been on the outside looking in. My first year, I was kind of overwhelmed by the whole process.

Seeing so many new people- I knew maybe one or two people when I first came here- I made a whole new friends group. I’ve had so much fun and made so many great friends. I wasn’t thinking of the SU at that time, I was just enjoying myself, and enjoying my frosh experience at X, something nowhere else can really offer. Second year, I thought about running as house president. One of my best friends said he wanted to run, so I told him, you’ll do a great job, and i sat back. I joined the house council- I was involved a bit. I’m always keeping up with what’s going on in the U. I went to the presidential debates last year, I think I was one of six students at one of the debates. That was disappointing to see. At that point, I was thinking, I could make a difference here. I could get more people involved in student politics and what’s going on in the university. This affects everybody, and people don’t care. These things affect your everyday life.

To be ignorant about that, it’s just not me.

The Xaverian-Volume 123 Issue 8

NEWS

3

I don’t want an X-Ring

Devs student launches debate over ethically sourced x-rings with Facebook post JULIA O’HANLEY | News Editor

The x-ring: motivation for students struggling through four years of papers and lab reports coupled with a symbol of community internationally recognized next to rings awarded to the pope and Superbowl champions.

The average StFX student might spend holiday dinners, board meetings, and first dates defending the importance and symbolization behind the ring many claim only StFX grads can understand, but how often do we raise questions among ourselves regarding the alloy engrossing our fourth finger?

Fourth year Development Studies (Devs) student Ashley Duguay challenged the monopoly of positivity surrounding the x-ring in a post in the Facebook shopping group, ‘StFX Buy and Sell.’ Last week, writing to thousands of members of the page, Duguay asked the StFX community for their help in finding alternative resources and manufacturers to format an a-typical ring to commemorate her time at StFX. The original post in which Duguay requested help in creating an xring was initially met with hoards of negative backlash from students, alumni, and members of the community.

“There were three different comments in which previous x-ring recipients told me that I offended them with my post because I didn’t want to get an actual x-ring, that I wanted to get a knock-off, which is not what I was implying.”

Duguay emphasises that while she intended for her post to spark discussion, her plea was not intended to offend anyone. She says she generated the post to start a conversation about what she sees as the unethical side of receiving the highly-coveted class

ring.

“A lot of the comments that I got back, especially from people from the town of Antigonish and alumni seemed more focused on the fact that I wanted an x-ring that wasn’t from Cameron’s Jewelers than on what I was really talking about - the social cost of the gold [used] to make the x-ring. Nobody really commented on that.”

Duguay’s dissatisfaction with the x-ring is her lack of understanding of how and where the gold is extracted, mined, and manufactured for rings at official vendors.

“We don’t know where the gold is coming from and we don’t know how many tonnes of fresh water is needed to produce a single x-ring, plus transportation and all that stuff.”

As for compromises, the fourth year says she is open to different solutions, the first being the obtention of a previously worn x-ring. This idea came about over x-ring weekend last fall when Duguay and her friends happened to run into an older alumnus of StFX with a similar frame of mind on the issue. The two had not met before, but instantly began to chat about their twin idea of breaking the barriers on the typical x-ring experience.

“He told me how he has his x-ring and he is very proud of it, but once he passes away none of his children want it because none of them went to X: they all have their own graduation rings. His wife has no use for it because he said she can fit three fingers

in his one x-ring so what is she going to do with it? That’s when he said ‘why wouldn’t I donate my ring back to the school for another student to use it?’” she explained, noting that this was a concept the man had been pondering for some time. Duguay says the man mentioned that he aspires to eventually negotiate an agreement with the university in which alumni could donate their rings back to the school for future students to obtain in an effort to both cut costs and environmental impact.

The idea of recycling an x-ring is one fourth year student Julie Beadle

knows quite well. On Dec. 3rd, Beadle received a unique, recycled x-ring from her grandfather, and alumnus of 1938. After his recent passing, Beadle’s family chose to keep the ring and as the first grandchild to attend StFX, the senior was offered the ring to be personalized as her own for her x-ring ceremony.

Beadle admits the sentimental value of the ring was the deciding factor in her decision to wear her grandfather’s ring rather than one new, although the cost effectiveness and ethContinued on page 4.

Pres and VP races extremely tight FROM PAGE 2

Ryley Erickson (VP): I’m a second year math and econ student. I live in residence in MacPherson. So far at StFX I’ve been a part of the StFX rowing team. I’ve been a part of the U for two years, during first year as firstyear senator, and second year as Lower Campus councillor. I also work for the SU as a returning officer, which oversees the elections and helps run them. Last year I won male freshman of the year. I was part of six different societies including Habitat for Humanity, the X-Mental Health Society, X-Debate Society, X-Physics Society, the X-Theatre Society. I think I’d be a good fit for this position since I’ve had a wide range of experience around the university, from being involved with athletics to the more academic side- I’m a math major, as well as the theatrical side, I’m currently in a play right now. As well, my two years of experience with the SU have also shown me where the SU can improve, and where they are already doing an excellent job. My experience on the senate, part of my job as

VP Academic would be to oversee the student senators, so I’ve seen the differences between the Senate and the Council side, that’s allowed me to really see that I would also really like to continue pursuing the Senate side of things. I’ve taken a wide variety of classes. I was a physics major until I switched into math and econ, so I’ve taken things from the science side but also the arts side. I’m also a familiar face around campus. I’m really social, and I really like to get to know people.

I’m from MacPherson house, which is not normally the house that is represented on the U. But, I’ve been able to combine social groups- the members of Cameron hall, the members of the SU, the rowing group, the debate social group, the Habitat social group- there are so many social groups around campus, so I believe that I’ll hopefully be able to combine them and encourage people from different social groups to run, to help lower the amount of cliquiness that is present in the SU.

Hannah Stordy (VP): I’m Hannah, I’m a third year Development and Women and Gender Studies student, and I’m running for Vice President of the SU. As far as strictly SU work, in my first year I was on house council, although that’s not really a role you can do a lot with, I definitely tried to see the SU from more of the outside, I was just a first year person in residence who was always involved in high school and was just kind of like, ‘what can I do here?’. In retrospect I should’ve known to run for council or senate or something but I didn’t know about it and I think that’s something that I definitely want to work on.

In my second year I was President of O’Regan Hall which was a really awesome experience. That’s a lot of working directly with students day to day, a lot of small scale student events. This year in a totally different way I’ve been working for the SU more of with advocacy and with the inner workings of the Students’ Union itself. Currently I sit on Senate as the Arts Student Senator, which has been a really incredible experience. If

I’m elected Vice President I’ll be on the Senate again next year, as the Vice President is actually Vice President Academic. That’s part of the reason why I’m interested in this. Senate has been a really good opportunity to engage with profs and learn about academic issues and other things going happening on campus as far as student life. I’m also a Student advocate. So those are two very different ways that I’m doing advocacy work. I’ve also done stuff with the Development Studies society, I’m on the Debate Team, and have been engaged in some different ways and got to go to some different conferences through that and make some connections there. The SU has definitely been a focus of my time while I’m at StFX. My experience within the Students’ Union has been helpful for me, has let me see some issues both externally when I wasn’t working for the Students’ Union about not knowing how to get involved, having no idea what was going on. I could not have told you what the President’s name

CONTINUED ON CENTERFOLD

4 NEWS

Monday, January 26, 2015-The Xaverian

The university responds X-ring debate continued JULIA O’HANLEY | News Editor

ics behind saving the older ring were important to her as well, noting “Growing up in the 90s we were drilled into ‘reuse, recycle,’ so I like that idea too.”

Next to recycling an existing x-ring, Duguay says fashioning a new ring out of local sources by local artisans would be her next best choice, although she admits the process of doing so is proving very difficult.

“I did get a lot of names for local artisans who are willing to do an x-ring for me and who have actually met up with students in the past but have had the deal fall through because StFX would not al-

low their ethically made xring to be handed out at the x-ring ceremony because of copyright infringement or something on the ring. I’m emailing a lot of them now.”

As for copyright infringement, Vice President Advancement Tim Lang explains that there are many rules and guidelines that vendors of the ring must adhere to which effectively rules out the possibility of an artisan production without legal implications.

“The X-Ring is copyright protected and no one is allowed to make anything that even resembles our StFX University symbol. In fact, a major retailer [Forever 21] had to

stop making a product last year because - by accident - it looked like our X-Ring.” Lang emphasized that the university has these strict policies in place to protect their brand, which is why there exists a lengthy process for all interested in becoming a legal, recognized vendor of the ring.

Speaking to Duguay’s initial cause for concern, Lang mentions that the same process used to protect StFX’s image is also in place to ensure an ethical process in the production of x-rings through the existing, recognized sources.

“We ask suppliers to complete an in-depth request for

proposal and we analyze the companies to ensure they can produce the x-ring to our specifications and with great quality and student satisfaction. We have also asked about where it [the gold] is manufactured to ensure the highest of standards and that it [the manufacturing process] is ethical.”

Amy Brierley, another fourth year Devs student also admits her struggles on whether or not she wanted to purchase an x-ring for the ceremony last fall, and if so what she wanted that ring to be. Unlike Duguay and Beadle, Brierley’s initial attempt to produce her version of an ethical x-ring was to bring in used gold to both Rideau and Cameron’s to see if they could fabricate her ring with recycled material.

“I had heard of people who had asked Cameron’s and Rideau to do used gold [rings], so lowering the impact by not mining new gold and silver,” she explained, adding “I called Rideau a couple times and they said they couldn’t do it; they had tried last year and it

was too difficult or something like that. Then Cameron’s said they wouldn’t do it either. So then for a little while I explored getting a used ring, but that’s a really hard thing to do when you don’t know too many people who want to give away their x-ring.”

Achieving no success in her attempts to have a ring made out of recycled material, Brierley decided that in the spirit of what the x-ring itself represented to her, she would come to a compromise by purchasing a silver ring rather than one in gold.

Brierley says her education in the Devs program has been the reason for her concern on the topic, expressing “Being part of that close community in Devs, the people that I’m around are also questioning this and they mean a lot to me and so if I were to go ahead and make a decision like [buying an x-ring] without thinking about or questioning it, I think it would be an affront to that community I have at StFX.” “The silver is no better than gold, but for me another part of it was this whole idea about what the x-ring means,” further commenting “In the end I kind of wanted to get away from the gold just for myself so that when people ask why I didn’t get a gold xring it’s just a jumping-off point for me to explain my time at StFX.” Pending further consultation, we can say at the present time that the university and the students listed disagree on the definition of an ethical x-ring. However, it is safe to say that the door has been opened for further debate on the topic.

OPINIONS 5

The Xaverian-Volume 123 Issue 8

OPINIONS The other side of the door An inside perspective on the nation’s fiercest university house rivalry VICTORIA SANDRE | Contributor

As a meager first year student making the trek down Founder’s Walk, my fellow Burke housemates and I would grow quiet as we approached the turn in front of MacIsaac Hall. From Day One it was engrained in us that the residents of MacIsaac Hall were not to be friended by Burke dwellers such as ourselves. It was evident that a separation existed between the two houses, from the salad bar barriers in meal hall to the hockey game that forced all students to choose sides. However, when I received my assignment to be an RA in the ever-feared MacIsaac Hall, I knew it was time to put on my big girl pants and see what these rumoured hooligans looming behind the football field were all about.

I faced a completely new atmosphere over on Varsity Drive, complete with communal bathrooms and a lack of kitchens. I was unsure of how to adjust to the fast-paced, vibrant community. But when I propped my door open I was always greeted by passers-by on their way to hang out with new friends or plan a time for a group meal hall. I enjoyed meeting such a large group of people, learning their names and hearing their stories.

Before I knew it, Frosh Week had come and gone and midterm season had arrived. Garbage cans were piled high with Mini-Moe’s cups, and residents flooded the busy library and hidden study rooms in Schwatrz, and flocked to the highly-coveted SUB tables. In spite of this, MacIsaac was still alive and thriving as students took advantage of the beautiful fall weather to de-stress and continue building lifelong relationships.

Life as an RA was drastically different than expected. Weekends ran late into the night and early into the morning, but RAs could always be assured to stay awake by a generous donation of Kenny’s pizza or an offer to do a run to the Golden Arches. Weekdays flew by as programs unfolded, bulletin boards were put up (and later ripped down), and students continued excelling in studies and having fun too.

Everywhere I went I was faced with the unavoidable questions: How is Mac? Are you surviving? What is it like compared to Burke? It was only November and already I felt myself being converted to the so-called “dark side.” I began to move with the social and energetic lifestyle that lay beyond MacIsaac’s front doors. Life in MacIsaac was certainly not all sunshine and rainbows; I enjoyed the shower perks of being a member of the swim team (aka daily showers at the Oland Centre), but I was nonetheless surviving the “Jungle.” I still enjoy hanging out with some of my best friends in Burke, and at times I miss the private washrooms, the proximity to meal hall, and the somewhat quieter halls. But whenever I return to my humble abode up on fourth floor Mac, I feel like I’m

home. I embrace the teeth-brushing conversations with my floor mates and seeing the stacks of empty pizza boxes marking the leftovers of a fun weekend. Eating on the “Schwartz-side” of meal hall is still where I feel most comfortable, but I surround myself with an array of friends, from both MacIsaac and Burke.

I know that I will be faced with one of the toughest choices for a StFX student on February 4th. Should I sport the much-loved orange tuque, or don the hard-earned red and blue Snap-

Back? But I am prepared to face that battle when the time comes.

Thus far, I’ve learned that MacIsaac Hall is in no way the scary place I once feared as a frosh, but actually a residence deserving it’s reputation of the most spirited house on campus. Although residents of MacIsaac Hall do like to have their fun Wednesday through Saturday, its rooms are filled with students who excel in a variety of programs and whose fridges are stocked with beverages other than Smirnoff and Captain Morgan. This

residence is undeserving of the stigma that students party more than they sleep and that shoes incessantly stick to the messy hallway floors. I have met some of the funniest, most energetic and kind people in MacIsaac Hall who have definitely shaped my second year at X. So I hope that next time you wander down to Sobeys you take a minute to overlook the garbage and remnants of Halloween pumpkins, and realize that incredible students just like you and me live within those red brick walls.

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6 OPINIONS

Monday, January 26, 2015-The Xaverian

Progressive or compromising?

When religious liberalism betrays religion itself COLTAN THOMPSON | Psychology Columnist

Stereotyping is a two-way street: as religious persons are often stereotyped for their beliefs, so anti-religious individuals are often stereotyped as having simplistic views. Those who genuinely believe there is conflict between religion and science may be seen as close-minded, particularly in an environment like StFX which is sympathetic to its Catholic roots.

The norm in such environments, funnily enough, is to pay religion some small piece of homage, even if one is not a believer themselves.

It is increasingly popular to recognize that it is fundamentalist religion and science that truly come into conflict—the secular and the religious sigh in relief, having pushed the source of conflict onto the perceived out-group.

Particularly in a University setting, there is a notion that the discussion need go no further: religious students tend to be more liberal, science-literate, and accepting of science. “At least I’m not one of those (a fundamentalist)” isn’t good enough, for the limbo of religious liberalism is sorely inconsistent and promotes false confidence in one’s beliefs.

It’s true that fundamental-

ist religion is far more an enemy to science and progress than its liberal counterpart (I polarize the two for the sake of argument). Fundamentalist swaths have opposed gay rights, the teaching of evolutionary theory in schools, and have taken hard-line views on abortion, to name a few. The unyielding, absolutist disposition of religious fundamentalism is of course incompatible with the values of secular democracy.

The seeming compromise, for many religious persons, is to adopt more liberal religious stances that marry well with the values and science of the modern West. This is likely an unconscious process: the individual is able to retain the best religion has to offer (not denying the sincerity of belief) without compromising the values and knowledge that the West has won with time (e.g., a negative view of slavery; equality for women, races, and sexualities; our evolutionary origins...all of which contradict Biblical views and accounts).

The liberalization of religion has been so successful that the cognitive dissonance that ought to arise is no where to be found: the religious liberal avoids stubborn fundamen-

talism by watering down or denying the extreme views inherent to his/her faith.

The Abrahamic religions—Christianity (which I will speak to because I know it best), Judaism, Islam, so named for their common ancestral claims to Abraham of the Bible, Torah, or Koran, respectively, are fundamentalist religions in their original form. This speaks volumes. By our terminology, the first Christians and Christians for centuries qualify as “fundamentalists.” Religious liberalism? Quite the oxymoron.

Let us take an example: it is religiously liberal for Christians to make allowances for non-Christians, supposing that there are ways to get into heaven aside from faith in Jesus Christ. It’s a position that concedes to the troubling fact that there are many religions and many nonbelievers. Yet the loosening of doctrine is insulting to Christianity itself: Jesus states many times in the New Testament that He is the only way to salvation.

Of course, even within the Abrahamic religions, everything varies by sect, even emphasis on foundational Holy Books. Catholicism for in-

stance, for all its rigour and ritualism, all too easily justifies doctrinal changes do to its belief that God’s revelation extends well beyond the Bible—the authority of scripture is made dubious in this way, as it must share with priest and pope. Still, Catholicism does not stray far: the Abrahamic religions are nothing without their Holy Books.

Religious belief has not declined with the rise of science as secularization theory suggests, but it is fair to say, I think, that fundamentalism has.

How authentic is liberal religion, stripped of the conviction of “fundamentalist” views? Religious liberalism represents social compromise; it waters down, it people-pleases. Religious individuals liberalize when they recognize (a) the mismatch between experience and religious belief, or (b) that there are social consequences for absolutist beliefs. Ironically, the fundamentalist is admirable for being consistent to the severe implications of his or her faith. The religious liberal cannot “get off the pot,” so to speak, and unable to take a fully secular or religious stance, forcibly (if un-

consciously) combines the best the religious and secular domains have to offer. Rarely does the religious liberal see the root inconsistency between the combined worldviews. And once one goes religiously liberal, why not go the whole way and leave religion behind? There is the sincerity of religious belief to be sure, and I do not deride it.

But a cost/benefit analysis also puts religion of top: religion offers too much in the way of comfort and direction.

Liberal religion, at its extreme, resembles a system of generalized spirituality, which further begs the question: why not throw out religion altogether?

Frankly, although many religious individuals charge the anti-religious with “throwing the baby out with the bathwater,” tossing religion aside because of a few problems, we must realize that religious liberalism is a slippery slope. After so many concessions, religious liberalism ends in spirituality, and then the benefits of religious belief are nothing that cannot be attained by quasi-secular means. Of course liberal religion and science don’t conflict; the former placates the latter.

Technology has consumed us

It’s 2015 and the future has arrvied, but at what cost?

ANGELA MACKENZIE | Senior Reporter

It’s 2015 and the future has finally arrived. Three decades since the release of the first film, “Back to the Future” has caught up to present day. The famous trilogy had some interesting ideas on what the future could bring. In 'Back to the Future Part II,” the protagonist Marty McFly travels from 1985 to 2015 to piece his family back together. Once there, Marty is brought from his slow paced lifestyle into a rushed electronic world.

The film presents a version of the twenty-first century that is not far from reality. “Back to the Future” shows people surrounded by technology with easy access to videophones, 3D movies, touch screen tablets, and computers that cover their eyes. They are completely consumed by their electronics and rely on them day in and day out. The movie accurately predicted how life would be for the current tenants of 2015.

We have handheld devices that enable trans-continental video calling through the use

of Skype; we regularly visit huge movie theaters that play 3D movies; and Google vision allows people to use technology without using their hands.

Technology has made our lives, and the lives of the characters in the film, a lot easier.

As a result of thirty years of technological advancement, lifestyles have changed. The slow-moving and patient lives of the past have transformed into fast-paced interactions in which attention cannot be held longer than five seconds.

Technology has come a long way. However, what has convenience cost us? Technology surrounds us; instead of meeting someone for coffee we can use Skype and stay in our pajamas. People are barely talking face-to-face because they are so consumed with the electronic device attached to their hip. Group chats on Smartphones have taken the place of conversations among friends.

We have become the first generation that can connect with thousands of people without

leaving our room. People have become so consumed with their technology that they’ve lost a sense of physical reality.

Who would have thought that Back to the Future would be correct?

I had an eye-opening experience this past weekend.

Members of the Xaverian Weekly staff attended a journalism conference in Ottawa hosted by the Canadian University Press. Although t h e r e were hundreds of student journalists attending the conference f r o m across the c o u n t r y, t h e amount of conversation that

took place during meals was minimal. People were constantly tweeting, texting, posting photos, and updating statuses, myself included. It wasn’t until about half way through the trip that one of our staff members scolded us and said, “No phones tonight!” We put our phones away and had hilarious conversations about X-rings, talked about places we’ve travelled, and exchanged

interview stories. It may seem cool that the majority of gadgets from “Back to the Future” actually exist in 2015, but our social interaction with real people has dropped significantly. I think it’s to everyone’s benefit to recognize that while the gadgets are cool and useful, we should use them less frequently in order to experience the future before it passes us by.

OPINIONS 7

The Xaverian-Volume 123 Issue 8

The hottest places on campus Finding warmth at StFX to last the long winter months LINDSAY JOHNSTONE | Staff Writer

Having spent my very first winter in Northern Alberta, I learned from real experience that there is a certain “winter switch” that gets turned off when it comes to enjoying the winter season.

The month of January is officially the dead of winter and my switch for enjoying the great outdoors is frequently off at this time of year. If any of you come from places that are even colder than Antigonish, then bless your souls because I’m sure you have figured out how to survive the winter. For those of you who are from warmer climates, let this serve as your survival guide for the next three to four months in the ‘Nish.

In case you have already gone into hibernation and haven’t been outside recently, let me warn you: it’s freezing. You will now spend your time slipping on black sheets of ice, with the added bonus of blustering wind that will make your eyes water until nothing is visible

except a wash of tears.

It’s too bad that most of us cannot run to class. Yes, running is a convenient way to stay warm. However, if you attempt to run on the StFX campus you are likely to slip and fall head over heels.

So forget the “ploughed” routes around campus. Instead, scan the quickest route that has the most snow because at least walking on snow will give you some traction.

By the time you actually make it to class your eye make up will have practically run down to your chin. Your lips are as chapped as the cracked earth of a desert and the wind has literally taken your breath away. Try wearing sunglasses to protect your eyes from the wind; if you already wear glasses then you’re set. You might actually be able to see provided if it is daylight outside. I would highly suggest leaving for your classes five minutes early in case you

need to visit the nearest lavatory to adjust your appearance before you walk through the classroom door.

With a rather bleak prospect for cold weather ahead, what can you do? Forget the library because the temperature is terribly uncontrolled in there. It is either way too hot, which makes you too uncomfortable or way too cold to put your thoughts towards homework because all your energy is focused on getting warm. Here are some hot places on campus that will help you stay warm. A hidden gem, which is my favourite spot to get warm on campus, is in the PSC. I am not talking about the sub-zero study pods, I am talking about the entrances to the PSC on the lower level. If you walk in the PSC from the bitter cold you will be instantly hit with a wave of Jamaicanlike heat. If you are inconsolably cold, just stay in that little entrance before walking through the next door. It’s a

miracle there is a pint-sized place on campus that will thaw our frozen bodies. Instead of walking on the road beside the PSC, walk through the PSC and be sure to get warm in the hottest place on campus.

If you are fortunate enough to have a class in Immaculata, you can relish in the knowledge that the heat is usually cranked to sauna-like temperatures.

Speaking of saunas did you know StFX has an actual sauna on campus? It is located in the Oland Centre, which gives students the chance to get a dose of heat and the illusion of a tropical oasis.

If you are one of the rare and lucky individuals spent Christmas holidays in southern climates or if you are headed to a nice warm place over the reading week, be very grateful. The rest of us will be thinking of you in our parkas and our tuques. And if you could bring some of the warm air back, that would be nice.

Is my degree worth it?

Education and experience in exchange for tears and all-nighters ERIKA KINACH | Contributor

Get a university degree. Pack up all your belongings and leave home.

Move into residence and revel in the drunken sweat and hormones that come with 100+ eighteen year olds living under one roof. Make friends. Engage them in unsentimental trivialities like the lyrics to Nicki Minaj’s new song or your mutual tolerance of cheap beer. Buy textbooks and cry inwardly.

Let the anxious contract you’ve willingly written evolve slowly not into a declaration of your passion for learning but a declaration of your major. Learn everything, retain nothing of significance. Think critically. Memorize. Write. Let the semesters pass unnoticed. Move out of residence and into a house off campus. Befriend your roommates.

Figure that you should probably apply to graduate because you will have wasted a lot of time and money otherwise. Book a vacation after graduation to an exotic location far beyond your means. Humour yourself by starting to look for a job with your degree. Give up and call your old boss back from last summer and ask if he will still take you (despite the fact you thought you’d be doing better things by now). Cry, and wonder if it was all a waste.

Do these things, darn it, because nothing sucks more than not having a university degree. You will have considerably more knowledge in the subject of your choice than you did when you started, regardless of whether or not you loved it. For the rest of your life you are potentially the most knowledgeable person in the room about brown algae or Gray’s Anatomy or Chaucer or the workings of the bell curve. Among these policies, anato-

mies, and stories a fire of passion may start to develop. Suddenly you find yourself among the small percentage of the population who can unequivocally state they’ve spent four years doing something they enjoy. And if not well god damn it, at least you’ve made some pretty good memories along the way.

Do it, because a university degree will bring you friendships you’d never thought possible. University is an experience best enjoyed with others, even if the majority of those experiences occur whilst perpetually broke and incoherent or sleep-deprived. Or both.

Do it, because a university degree will teach you how to give someone what he or she wants. With each sub-par letter grade you eventually learn to think critically and not take things at face value. The opinion of one, two, or five professors about your academia will not necessarily dictate the path you create for yourself.

Do it, because a university degree means understanding the importance of meeting deadlines. You learn if you are capable of producing your best work either weeks in advance or the final 24-hour stretch before its due.

You discover if this is the kind of thing you really need to stop doing or if you thrive on the thrill of potential failure and 16-hour workdays. You’ve learned how much work is an amount that you consider detrimental to your quality of life.

Do it, because after graduating you can’t expect to waltz off the graduation stage and walk into the career or graduate program of your dreams.

While a degree cannot guarantee you a job, success, money, or person-

al fulfillment, you should be happy anyway. You’re young and slightly smarter than you were before you

started. Whether you like it or not, life’s going to happen. They never said it would be easy – just worth it.

FROM PAGE 3 was, whether they were male or female, what the structure was, I knew nothing about the Students’ Union. In my second year, I got to see more from a Residence Life/ Students’ Union perspective. This year sitting on Senate I got to see more how admin works, and how the conduct process works. I’m also currently sitting on a Community Code review committee.

What are the major features of your platform?

8

Troy: I have three overarching themes. The first I’m calling “Our Legitimacy.” So as a SU, obviously, at our core values are to remain accountable to the students, the people that we serve. Communication and branding is something we really have to work on. Not just communication about events we’re doing or things we’re hosting at the bar, but promoting the services we do have, the services students do use and do value.

So communicating those first, but of course, our communication structure is huge. My full platform will be released in a few days, but really, how and why we communicate and when- I want to stress that in order to provide benefits to students, we have to be better ourselves. That starts with becoming a more legitimate presence on campus, and that how we speak to people, and how we promote things. It’s also our visual representation within the SUB, online, anything like that. It’s about leaving a footprint on the university.

We’re a student organization who represents students on campus.

Next is accessibility. Obviously as a student there are so many services on campus.

That’s something I want to focus on. The availability of services on campus. I’m not even just talking about SU services, I’m talking about university services. The Health and Counselling centre, the Financial Aid office, we kind of cross section with tutoring with themtutoring, the Writing Centre, Co-op, Service Learning- all these different services that are there for students- I feel that even the physical layout of this university restricts access to these services. What I want to focus on is lobbying the university to make it more accessible to students.

Advocacy is an integral role of the SU and particularly the president’s role itself. Within advocacy, I really want to focus on culture more than anything.

Cultures exist on university campuses across the world- it’s not necessarily focusing my efforts, or our effotts, strictly on the StFX campus- it’s much larger than that. It’s through advocating for students on a provincial basis, through Students NS, on a federal basis, through CASA. The different campaigns that we’re actually working on with them. We currently are. But it’s really about advocating for students.

That ties into the communication piece even more- it’s about what we’re actually doing, and how we communicate that. Even the people that are in these roles now. I mean, we’re doing a lot of work, and some more than others, in those roles. It almost seems redundant- you know you’re making a difference because you’re putting so much effort

into it, but people aren’t aware of that.

Student Societies: I’ve seen this through my role now, since societies actually fall under my office. So the 87 societies we do have, I work closely with them through planning events, structuring meetings for them, and giving suggestions. More than anything it’s our allocation method. If you look at any other university our size in Atlantic Canada, they don’t have a measly sum of money we put asidethrowing out 20, 30, 40, or 50 dollars- probably the maximum- to each society. They don’t do that, they have larger pots available, and they have different methods of allocating to societies. In order to make that accessible to students, and increase engagements in societies, what I would love to see is to transition to an event based funding system, so that societies can request funds for different events they’re hosting, and set up a membership fee if they do feel so inclined. I feel like we can use our money to better benefit students.

My final part of my platform I call “Your Future.” I think we’ve done a great job mending relationships with different stakeholders on campus and in town, provincially and nationally. There’s a few different things that we don’t focus on.

One is the future of students after university. I want to focus on the co-op aspects, the SL aspects, advocacy through the vice president’s office, and kind of a heavy push on making relationships with career centres and career development centres, and opportunities to volunteer.

Kevin: We should be focusing on the students. We’re the

Students union. The U is doing a great job right now representing what the people want, but I think in some ways it could be done a little better.

Certain aspects of this- how much money is being spent on certain things for example. I don’t know all the ins and outs of the finance of the SU, but when you look at something like the clothing store, it runs a deficit. How does a clothing store run a deficit? There might be many other things that could be contributing to that. That’s something I think needs to be focused on. The SU does a lot of lobbying municipally, provincially, and federally, and I think we can do a lot of good work.

We’re part of CASA and Students NS. Those two things are important parts. We have to realize we won’t always be at StFX, we won’t always be part of this little family. We’re going to have to enter the real world, and if that world is not too accepting for people with degrees, it’s not going to do much.

We’re going to enter the world, and we’ll have a degree, and this nice ring, but if there’s no jobs, it’s not going to do anything for us. So I think looking at the bigger picture is also a big part of what I stand for.

Sometimes being in rural NS, we get that rural mindset of kind of looking at ourselves, and not looking at the bigger picture.

One thing I think we should also have is more events for people under the age of 19. Everyone hears about Wing night, Mug night, country night, St. Patty’s. I didn’t turn 19 until half way through second year, in the end of October. You get your nice fancy SU calendar, and you look at it, and think,

well, I can’t go to that. There’s all sorts of cool things I think we can do to get the frosh more involved, and other underage students, and get them meeting other people. One thing I did find, and I lived in MacDonald my first year and made a lot of good friends in my house, best friends I’ll have for the rest of my life. But in Lane, in MacIsaac, and Bishops- I knew only one or two people from each residence. I think there could be more programs to get more people under the age of 19 to get out and meet people.

Monday, January 26, 2015-The Xaverian

Isaac: There’s a couple things. Big thing: Student engagement. I was really involved in the provincial election last fall. I was really happy. StFX had the largest turnout on campus at any university, it was over 300 students, which was great, but at the same time I’d like to see more. There are more than 4000 students at StFX, I think we could get at least a quarter of those students out voting. There’s a federal election coming up in 2015, I would really like to get the student vote out. That’s something I would really like to focus on.

Student well being is one thing I take seriously. I deal with the stresses. I’m in debt, like every other student.

Bringing down the price of food on campus. I’ve been meeting with as many people as I can to wrap my head around these things, and I was meeting with a professor today, who told me that he himself goes off campus for lunch because it’s cheaper, and often better.

That’s nothing against Sodexo, there’s room to work with Sodexo, I just think it’s something

we need to start the conversation on, to start looking at ways to develop that.

Another thing I’d like to look at- this is something that Bangor University (in Wales) does really well, is the X Housing Strategy. I’m not sure how active it is at the moment. Something Bangor does really well, is that not only do they help students try to find houses, but they actually provide students with support when they’re dealing with landlords, for example if they need to break their rental contract, or if they have mould in the basement, they act as a kind of middleman. It was indicated to me today by someone I was chatting with that the councillors of the Town of Antigonish are willing to talk to the Students’ Union about this to further this plan, and are willing to help students. I think this is a really good opportunity for the SU and the town to work together and create something that will benefit students. There are lots of other things, but those are the main concerns.

tion as far as what is going on in each office needs to be better facilitated. I currently sit on Senate and I can definitely say that people have no idea what we’re doing. There are people who work so hard and do such great work and no one ever hears about it.

Transparency is an issue. Not that there’s things going on that students wouldn’t like, but that students should know and we should be more accountable as to what’s going on there. For example with Senate, it shouldn’t be the responsibility of The Xaverian to come and live tweet it. That shouldn’t be the only form of communication between the Senate and students.

As far as events go, I think it’s really important to go beyond social media in communicating what’s going on. I think even having a chalk board on 3rd floor SUB, that says something that’s happening every day of the week. I think there’s too much of reliance on following The U on Twitter sometimes to know what’s going on. Not everybody does and that’s not accessible to everyone, I think it only attracts one demographic of students. To really be more accessible and reach more students, I think there has to be different approaches to communication as far as those events go.

Another piece is offering opportunities to students beyond the Inn. I think that The Inn is awesome. I think that The Inn is great. Even trying to extend The Inn hours to 2am is something that I’m looking at as well. Especially as far as a safety issue, there’s an increase in incidents when people are leaving The Inn and then going to the pub, and there’s a lot of reasons to try and keep The Inn open a little longer even if that means that the liquor license isn’t extended until 2am. I think The Inn is fabulous but I think offering other kinds of events to students is really importance.

I know myself, the opportunities and the evenings I’ve really relished or enjoyed or gotten the most out of at StFX haven’t happened at The Inn, it’s been more the conferences. I was in the Humanities Colloquium so some of the evening lec-

The Xaverian-Volume 123 Issue 8

Hannah: One thing is communication, and that is very multi-faceted. So, one of those elements is within the SU itself. The SU first needs to communicate within itself and then obviously communicate with students much more.

I think communication on our campus is a really really huge problem in general.

I want to start an AGM because there’s so much division and I find isolation between offices. Often people are working on the same issue and they’re not talking to each other. Trying to facilitate communication there and working on division, because I definitely feel that there’s a problem with not everyone feeling equal or not knowing each other.

It’s better for the students and it’s better for the SU if everyone talks to each other or gets to know each other and has an opportunity to know what everyone else is doing and support each other. I think communication to the students comes in a few different pieces. One of them is communication about the jobs themselves. Something I want to do is a SU job fair. I also think that communica-

tures or going to professor’s houses afterwards and talking about philosophy with fourth year students until 2 in the morning is such an incredible opportunity. So I think trying to publicize those events to the students to the same extent that we publicize events that are more Inn centered is really good. I even want to look at doing a dis-orientation week. A week that focuses more on engaging both new and returning students in volunteering and social justice.

Events that try to bring people together.

Just creating opportunity for people who may not want to go to a dance.

Ryley: First, the academics. I believe that the first years- they have the program eXcel, but a lot of first years, after talking to them, it seems like the program wasn’t very effective. The switch from high school to university is a very big difference. They’re used to not working and getting good grades- suddenly they find they have to work for their grades. What I would like to do is work on a program that is better functioning than eXcel, which is more tailored to teaching them a proper work ethic than, say, how to write a better paper, because a lot of these people, they’re bright- they got into university, they know how to write a paper, but they might just lack the work ethic to go through and do the proper research and everything. I believe that a program centered around teaching a proper university work ethic and time management schedule would be much more beneficial.

The second point. Student engagement is not very high at StFX. We don’t have a very high voter turnout, and the positions of the SU- not saying whether people do a good or bad job, I think there are people that do good and bad jobs- but they’re mostly from the same social group. The U is still viewed as this other part of StFX, rather than representing the whole of StFX. What I would really like to see is students from different social groups- those who wouldn’t normally run for positions tak-

ing part. Whether elected or not, whether it turns out that the people currently in the SU are the right ones for the job, it will make their presence on the SU seem much more legitimate if you have more people running for these positions.

My third prong is about taking down the drinking culture at StFX a little. In third and fourth year, a lot of students have settled into the groove. The ones who just came for the party probably haven’t been able to sustain it.

But in first and second years, on your average Friday and Saturday night, there isn’t anything to do other than drink. You’ll talk to your friend. What are you up to?

There isn’t really that much to do, might as well get drunk. That’s where a lot of these problems that we’re seeing- exceptionally high damages, write ups, rivalries being taken to new extremes- come from, because these frosh don’t have anything to do.

What I’d like to see, is much like what happens during Frosh Week, where they have the alternate events- like glow frisbee, which was well attended, and provided as an alternate to that night’s dance. That was for the students who maybe didn’t want to go out and party. I’d love to see something like this implemented for the remainder of the year, It wouldn’t be that difficult to organize, you could even have a movie night every friday, etc.

To find out what Students’ Union program each candidate would cut if they had to, and to read the full interview including questions on the Task Force, LGBTQ issues, International students, and SU policy, visit www.xaverian.ca

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10 ARTS & CULTURE

Monday, January 26, 2015-The Xaverian

ARTS & CULTURE My Father’s Collection

The story of Demetrius Ferguson and his growing fashion business DEVON GREENE | Arts & Culture Editor

In a rural university town, campus fashion generally consists of sweatpants or jeans, t-shirts and hoodies. There is the occasional student who, despite long days of academia, athletics and entrepreneurial pursuits, maintains a sharp and classy appearance. Demetrius Ferguson is one such student. Neatly dressed in beige khakis, a dark, button up shirt, complete with a Burberry patterned bowtie, Ferguson presented himself as a true professional, eager to share the vision of his small business selling bowies: My Father’s Collection.

My Father’s Collection officially launched on November 25th 2014 at the SUB and was well received by students and faculty.

The launch was well timed, just over a week before the X-Ring ceremony, attracting many students looking to show off more than their new bling on December 3rd.

Ferguson was happy to receive his own X-Ring alongside many of his recent customers. “Seeing most of the male recipients walking down the aisle with bowties put a smile on my face, and it put a smile on my mom’s face too.” Ferguson’s mother, Nora MacEwen, is not only an active supporter of My Father’s Collection, but is also Ferguson’s business partner, and a large part of the inspiration behind the growing business.

Ferguson says the journey really began when MacEwen, an English instructor at Holland College, wanted to bring back something for her son from a trip she took to China. She decided that a bowtie would be the perfect gift for his style and personality. “I knew that was something he liked and was part of his style. I wanted to get him something cool. I looked everywhere when I was in China.

I was looking for a Burberry one because I knew he would like that one.” Ferguson instantly fell in love with the Burberry bowtie MacEwen eventually found and still cherishes it as his favourite.

On her next trip, MacEwen looked all over Toronto but was unable to find the perfect bowtie to follow her first gift. So she decided to make one herself. Upon returning to her home on Prince Edward Island, MacEwen got some material and a pattern and put her sewing skills to use. “I had to adjust [the pattern] to what I knew he liked.

We did a lot of tweaking on it to get it to something that suited him and met his high standards.” Having made bows for her daughters to wear in their hair when they were young, Ferguson’s mother produced a quality bowtie. “I fell in love with it. I said to myself “’we have something special

here.’”Ferguson says about his first homemade bowtie.

From that moment, the wheels started turning in Ferguson’s highly business oriented mind. A graduate from the Holland College marketing program and current marketing major at StFX, Ferguson had the education to back up his natural business savvy. Ferguson took careful steps to create a brand that matched his high quality product. “The name coming about was kind of a long process. I never really knew my grandfather but I used to see pictures of my great grandfather and my great-great grandfather wearing bowties. That’s where the name came from… It’s classy. I go for an old fashion, retro look and the name really suits that.” The brand is personalized, all the way down to the logo used to stamp each box. The homemade stamp of the logo features a fox, representing Ferguson’s home in P.E.I. where foxes are frequently seen around the neighbourhood, giving it the island touch he was looking for.

Ferguson took his developing his brand, living by the motto “slowly but surely.” My Father’s Collection was sold independently in the beginning. The brand soon started receiving a lot of interest from the Facebook page, shipping orders as far as Ottawa. Ferguson used his good relationships at StFX, especially the Students’ Union to expand his presence. “I set up a booth at the U Shop. I did little pop-ups every now and then and talking to people while I’m selling bowties. That’s how I value myself and my business. I want each customer and each person I interact with in a face-to-face conversation to have a personal experience. I want it to be personalized. They should feel value. I shouldn’t be the one telling them “you’re welcome” I should be the one telling them “thank you” because they are supporting me and I really appreciate everyone’s business.” Ferguson’s approach worked. Word spread quickly over social media and through word of mouth about, not only the quality of the product, but the pleasant and professional customer service My Father’s Collection provided. The collection officially became available at the U Shop on January 19th 2015, less than two months after its debut in November. The brand can also be found at Bodega Boutique in Downtown Dartmouth.

As a student with an overload course load, an athlete on two varsity teams, football and track, Ferguson is grateful for the experiences that taught him how to manage his busy schedule. “Football taught me a lot of things about life, not just the game. Football and my business

program helped me with my whole time management processes… I have long days, but it doesn’t take a toll. I like to stay active. If I’m not active I’d probably lose my mind.” Although MacEwen sometimes wishes her son would take a step back, she is always impressed and at times amazed with his ability to grow the business. “Everything Demetrius does is always first class… doesn’t matter what he does, he brings a lot of credibility to it. As I watched him over the process from day one, seeing what he did with this, coming up with the name, the branding, all the ideas for promotion, its just come naturally to him and it’s hard not to be impressed.”

Despite only having launched two months ago, word has spread quickly about My Father’s Collection with no signs of slowing down. Ferguson says “I love to support Canadian brands” and aims to expand around the Maritime provinces. My Father’s Collection is constantly growing and developing and plans for an upcoming spring and summer line, and even a baby line in the future.

It is clear that this truly is a passion for Ferguson and says “I wouldn’t want to do it with anybody else besides my mom.”He also adds, “I love fashion. The bowtie makes you stick out from everybody else…It’s comfortable, it’s neat, it’s clean, it’s sharp.” The bowtie trend can already be seen making its way through campus and can be expected to be sweeping across the Maritimes as My Father’s Collection continues to grow.”

The Xaverian-Volume 123 Issue 8

ARTS & CULTURE

11

Beyond free speech

Was Charlie Hebdo crossing the line? What it means to rally around #JeSuisCharlie RACHEL REVOY | Senior Reporter

The events of the Charlie Hebdo attack are followed by social retaliation with the hashtag #JeSuisCharlie exploding on twitter. Popular views suggest the act of terrorism was a direct assault on personal free speech, while ignoring the social and political dynamic that surrounds each Islamic extremist attack. Charlie Hebdo was the target that began the three day attack that left the city of Paris in lockdown, and the aftermath has left opinions divided over the core of the issue. Were the Charlie Hebdo murders about freedom of speech or was this an act of pure terrorism against the depictions of the Muslim religion? For the news informationabout the event, see the coverage in the news section of this issue.

The situation boils down to people being killed for their expressions and opinion. Actions speak louder than words, and cartoons, like the ones featured in Charlie Hebdo, do not come anywhere close to the volume of actions. The issue is uncovering the truth of what this attack was truly about, and whether or not the real message differs from what people are saying about it.

These are personal opinions to further the conversation on the differing viewpoints surrounding the “Je Suis Charlie” attack. Another statement that needs to be clear is that the attack on Charlie Hebdo was performed by extreme fundamentalist Islamic terrorists, not affiliated with the vast majority of Muslim people.

Charlie Hebdo originated in the 18th century as a way for French satirist to comment on the royal family. In the 21st century, the magazine serves as an outlet to comment on some of the most pressing and taboo subjects of the modern times. Charlie Hebdo has published explicit cartoons depicting masturbating nuns, Bin Ladin as Elivs. After an attack in 2006 the magazine published images of Muslims making out with Charlie Hebdo. The magazine is bold to say the least.

Charlie Hebdo is a satirical magazine that has no taboo. CharlieHebdo wants to offend, to be in one¹s face, to be provocative. It wants tocriticize the powerful, the famous. It loves to make fun of religion andreligious authorities, all of them. Which is problematic in the case ofIslam.” Says political science professor Dr. Grenier.

The attack on the French magazine Charlie Hebdo has been scrutinized and exploited by numerous news outlets, all differing in views and opinions on what the attack meant. The main questions: was Charlie Hebdo attacked because the extremists wanted to silence free speech or to perform an act of violence against a magazine that wrongfully depicted their prophet Muhammed? Both views are true. For those who were brutally and unjustifiably murdered during the related attacks in Paris from January 7th-9th, the issue at hand is not whether the murders were wrong or right, but instead the question on the

surrounding views and public opinion and reaction after the event occurred.

“On the one hand I want to see the argument on the freedom of speech, absolutely that’s important. On the other hand, the kind of things they are doing and the kind of things Charlie Hebdo was publishing reinforced the stereotypes that people perceive about Islam.

We don’t want to condone the act of killing people. It’s trying to understand the motive. Fundamentalists happen in any culture and any religion, but there is more to the story than these people just speaking and the attack being on what they were saying,”says Professor Donna Trembinski, chair of StFX’s history department.

There is satire to instruct and point out the flaws of political and social issues, and there is derogatory racism.

Satire is justified when it points out the issue and exposes the wrongdoings of the powerful. At what point does free speech turn into an attack on what people hold sacred? The terrorists who carried out the Charlie Hebdo attack used accusatory language directly correlating with the magazine’s depiction of Muslims and specifically the prophet Muhammad (who, according to interpretations of the Quran, should never be visually depicted). One of the magazine's cartoons showed Muhammad fully naked. The terrorists were targeting Charlie Hebdo’s employees for what they had done, but not necessarily about free speech in general; just

speech about Muslim and Islamic representation.

In the aftermath of attack in Paris, “free speech” has been used as a romanticized term to sympathize with the murdered victims at Charlie Hebdo.

What should be remembered is that horrible events such as this are happening frequently all over the globe for various reasons because of extremist religious organizations.

“With the privilege of being able to speak your mind also comes a responsibility to recognize your position of privilege in society and how your words might impact people, especially thinking about the context in which you are writing. The journalists and cartoonists at Charlie Hebdo were writing in a context in which the Muslim population in France was feeling as though their religion as a whole wasn’t being respected,” notes Dr. Trembinski on the Charlie Hebdo attack.

This act of violence was clearly misguided. There are terror attacks happening all over the globe on a very regular basis. Islamic extremists reacted as a way to declare their religious faith, to take down the magazine that mocked them and their prophet Muhammad, and to retaliate against the attacks performed on their religion on a regular basis.

Look for posters and emails for the upcoming roundtable discussion on campus about the Charlie Hebdo attack.

Healthy bodies and healthy minds Celebrating Mental Health Awareness and Literacy at StFX

LANA CAMERON | Contributor

Awareness of the need to address youth mental health continues to spread fast and strong across Canada. Fundamental to all school mental health platforms is “the need to effectively address mental health literacy of students, educators and administrators alike” so as to broaden understanding and recognition of mental illness, and to eliminate oppressing stigmas surrounding it (Kutcher, Education Canada 2010).

From January 26th-30th, St. Francis Xavier University will be hosting a weeklong series of events, workshops and special guest lecturers in support of Mental Health Awareness Week. During this time, the campus and larger Antigonish communities are invited to participate and take part in these events in celebration of mental health and wellness, and in support and acknowledgment of those who suffer from mental illness.

On Monday January 26th, watch for students handing out candy bags around campus! The bags will also contain a schedule of the week’s events and workshops! That evening at 6pm, students, staff, and Antigonish community members are invited to gather at the upper entrance to the Student Union Building for a rally/vigil in support of those living with mental illness. The rally will be led in song by a local com-

munity choir, and we will gather in the Dennis Hall Coady Building after the rally for live music and coffee, tea, and baked goods.

On Tuesday January 27th, community health resource groups will have booths set up from 9:30-1:30 in the SUB. Come check it out, as many students are unaware of many of the great resources available to us both on and off campus! That evening, our annual X Talks event will be taking place at 6:30pm in the Schwartz Auditorium. This will include talks from mental health professionals as well as students sharing their own experience with mental illness.

The Dog Den will be taking place Wednesday January 28th from 1-2pm and 6-7pm in the Gilmora Gym. X Yoga &Zumba will also be taking place in Dennis Hall from 6-8pm that evening. The keynote speaker from Mental Health Awareness Week, a representative from the jack.org network, will be speaking Thursday January 28th, time and location TBA. Finally, each day of the week there will be workshops taking place over lunch hourfrom 12-1pm. Workshops will include yoga, meditation, talks from professionals in the mental health field, and a free skate. Visit the X Mental Health Connection Society Facebook page for more details.

Throughout the course of our lives, we all experience feelings of isolation, loneliness, emotional distress or detachment at times.

These are usually normal, short-term reac-

tions to difficult situations rather than symptoms of mental illness. As we grow, we learn to cope with difficult feelings just as we learn to deal with difficult situations. Sometimes, however, the duration and intensity of painful feelings or unsettling patterns of thought can interfere with our everyday lives. Our ordinary coping skills become overwhelmed and some of us may need assistance in regaining our emotive balance. When feelings of stress, trepidation and unease begin to feel unmanageable and overwhelming—when these feelings interfere in our daily routines and prevent us from living happily and comfortably—it can cause serious health concerns.

No one, regardless of race, social status, economic condition or educational level is immune to mental illness. According to Health Canada’s (2002) “A Report on Mental Illness In Canada,” “one in every five Canadians will face mental illness sometime in his or her life,” and mental illness will “indirectly affect all Canadians through illness in a family member, friend or colleague.” Stigmas attached to mental illnesses present a serious barrier not only to diagnosis and appropriate treatment, but also to acceptance in the community and access to necessary support. Mental health literacy and awareness seeks to educate and inform us of this very issue, and to ultimately break down mental health stigmas.

Akin to any form of literacy, mental health literacy is a foundational component upon which essential initiatives such as mental

health promotion, validated and effective prevention, and readily available access to appropriate mental health care can be achieved.

As outlined by Dr. Stan Kutcher, Sun Life Financial Chair in Adolescent Mental Health and professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the Dalhousie University and IWK Health Centre, mental health literacy seeks to effectively inform people of how to “foster and maintain good mental health; to understand mental disorders and their treatments; decreasing stigmas surrounding mental illness and to educate those who do suffer from mental illness to seek help effectively” (Kutcher et al. 2013).

Under the direction of Faculty Advisor Dr. Chris Gilham, the X Mental Health Connection Student Society at St. FX University is making efforts to integrate Dr. Stan Kutcher’s ideas about mental health literacy into the campus culture. Through fostering an environment which supports and celebrates mental health wellness and awareness, we can enable both the student body and neighbouring communities to fruitfully experience and practice mental health literacy in an interactive, welcoming atmosphere. In this space, people can come together and create meaningful discourse in support and acknowledgement of those who battle mental illness. Together, we can do our part to counter and rise above the stigmas and help provide all with the courage and ability to attain both healthy bodies and healthy minds.

12 ARTS & CULTURE

Monday, January 26, 2015-The Xaverian

Featured artist: Lauren Nevin Bringing StFX artists into the foreground

This week’s featured artist is fourth year psycholog y student Lauren Nevin.

Nevin’s artistic journey began when she was young surrounded by an artistic family. She started exploring art by recreating cartoons and learning how to control lines and colours to produce particular images. She enrolled in art classes throughout high school in her hometown Iqaluit, the capitol of Nunavut. Since that time, Nevin has dabbled in many forms of drawing and painting, including charcoal, water colours and, most commonly, acrylic.

Nevin decided to minor in fine arts at StFX and was disappointed to find that the intro to drawing class was full. Due to her background and natural talent, Nevin was permitted to take the advanced drawing course in her first year of study. From there, her fine arts education took off, enrolling in many more courses over the next few years.

Currently in her fourth and final year of her undergraduate studies, Nevin felt as though she had reached a stalemate with her courses from the fine arts department. “I wasn’t sure what

courses to take, but I still wanted to paint. So that’s when I looked into doing an independent study.” Nevin is in her second semester of her independent study, focusing on acrylic portrait painting. Students have a much greater part in designing the structure and evaluation of an independent study than they do in a traditional academic course.

Nevin decided she wanted to improve her abilities in portrait style painting, that is to say, painting people, while incorporating her love of abstract art. She agreed with her supervisor,Sharon Jan,that she would produce four paintings each semester.

During the first semester, Nevin worked hard to produce her pieces and was thankful to have the accountability of the independent study. She was afraid that without an academic structure, painting would be put on the back burner. This study forced her to make room in her busy schedule to do what she loved. That did not mean that is was always smooth sailing. Nevin is constantly developing her skills and quickly realized, with feedback from Jan, that

her portraits lacked life and expression in their faces.

Nevin knew that this would be a huge task to overcome, which gave birth to the idea for her painting “Wide Range.” This piece features various mouths, each with a different emotion. “With the mouths it came from realizing my paintings have no emotion. So I was just working on the mouth. The mouth the nose the eyes, they all work together to forma an emotion, so I was just working on getting the mouths and then I would move on from there.”

Nevin is still working on her technique and enjoys the challenge of having someone give her valuable feedback and critique on her work.

Fine art does not stop at painting and drawing. Along with her painting, Nevin is also doing a second independent study in theatre production. Here, art takes on a whole new form, learning the ins and outs of lighting, sound and set design at the Bauer Theatre.

Nevin’s involvement at the Bauer Theatre began in her first year at StFX when she attended a meet and

greet, shortly after which she was approached to be the lighting operator for the upcoming production “Play it Again Sam.” She has had a hand in almost every production since then, moving up to stage manager and now onto production. Nevin hopes to continue on in theatre after graduation in May and has applied to theatre schools in Montreal and Halifax for production.

Theatre production is often considered to be more of a technical aspect of theatre, but Nevin insists that there is a strong artistic side as well. “Obviously you have to know how to use the system and the lights but you also learn how to make it look like a dreary afternoon or sunny or an indoor fireplace lit room.” Sound is another important, artistic aspect of behind the scenes production. “It’s really important to get the perfect sound. Sometimes you can find them online because there are lots of files, but you can also record your own and there are lots of different ways to do that.”

Nevin is learning everything from creating the perfect

mood, to designing sets with backdrops and props that are fitting to the story as well as practical for the actors and directors on stage.

It is a fine balance of art and technicality that Nevin plans to explore further with her education in theatre.

Nevin’s unique experience art department shows the lengths to which the faculty at StFX are willing to go to ensure that each student receives the level of challenge and support they need. One of the advantages of this small student population is that the professors get to know their students and are able to help them one-on-one, not only for those in independent study programs, but in the traditional classroom setting as well. When the available classes did not suit her needs, Nevin and the faculty took it upon themselves to create something that worked for her. This also speaks volumes for Nevin’s passion and drive, showing that she is willing to challenge herself in order to improve and go after a career in the field of fine art.

DISTRACTIONS 13

The Xaverian-Volume 123 Issue 8

DISTRACTIONS KURT BROTHERS | NYE Resolution Failure

Spotted’s Say: Hockey Cup Season February is just around the corner, which means that it’s time to start getting your shirts ready, along with creating some new cheers for your house cup! Each house cup is filled with excitement and spirit, however BurMac tops them all. It’s one of those cups where each person takes a side, whether you’re from one of those two residences or not. BurMac is raved about all through the year, and hundreds of related posts have been sent into the page. The popular post of the week was, ““My mom just told me that I was conceived on BurMac & that I would have never been born if Mac hadn’t won as she would have gone home and would have cried herself to sleep instead...Ok Mom. TMI” Now that is a legendary story. So, who will you cheer for? BURmac or burMAC. The decision is yours. -Sincerely, Spotted

StFX’s Hottest App: Yik Yak It’s the new craze (along with Trivia Crack). If you haven’t yik-yaked, you haven’t truly lived. It’s a new “Spotted at StFX-esque” app that allows people to anonymously post and then either up or down vote them. Here are some examples: 1) “Me: how was your weekend professor? Prof: it’s in the syllabus.”

2) “I’m a lot nicer than my ‘walking to class’ face.

I promise.”

3) “The only awkward walk of shame I did over the weekend was from the vending machine with 4 bags of chips..”

4) “Take 3’s... more like wait till Marie isn’t looking and take 3 more items 5) “Single and not sure how to mingle.”

The 5 Types of People at the Gym

1) The New Years Resolution-ers: these people flock to the gym on January, determined to get in shape. They usually have an expiration of 2-3 weeks. Don’t worry, the gym will be deserted in due time.

2) The Gym Rats: almost worse than the previous, these people are territorial about their gym, and take every chance to complain about the new population of gym goers.

3) The Conversationalists: these people love to chat more than actually workout. They can be seen meandering around the weight section, talking to anyone who’ll listen.

4) The Hulk: this person stays exclusively in the weights section. They lift, and scream as they do, making sure everyone in the vicinity knows how strong they are.

5) The Cardio Queens: don’t let the word queen fool you, these could be men too. They stay on either the elliptical or the stair-master and work at a relatively easy pace. Just a tip, if you don’t break a single sweat, you probably aren’t doing it right.

Becca’s Blurb: NYE Resolutions

SPORTS & HEALTH

SPORTS & HEALTH Ensuring sport for all at StFX Adapted Sport Society seeks to make physical activity accessible for all in ‘Nish AARON THORNELL | Sports & Health Editor

Every year I attend St. FX, I learn about the multitude of ways in which members of our student body seek to expand sporting opportunities to all.

Oftentimes, this involves the initiation of new clubs or societies, some of which are missed in the chaos of the September Society Night. One such Society is the Adapted Sport Society, headed up by Zachary MacNeil. Although I was initially unsure what the nature of this society was, Zachary was keen to explain what he and his peers had initiated on campus.

“The Adapted Sport Society is a student led and run society that aims to provide regular physical activity for STFX students and members of the Antigonish community, particularly individuals with disability through the means of adapted sport,” said Zachary in an email exchange we shared. “In so doing, we are looking to advance the inclusion of people with and without disability on-campus through the means of physical activity and sport. This includes sledge hockey, adapted aquatics, and therapeutic skating.

The Adapted Sport Society is fairly new here at St. FX. It is in its second year having been founded last year by a group of students from Dr. Amanda Casey’s HKIN 395 Physical Activity and Sport for People with Disabilities class (Thommy Mayerhofer, Emma

Croken and Mercedes Crawford). These students were seeking to address what they saw as a critical need on St. FX’s campus by advocating for ongoing opportunities for peers with and without disability to engage in regular inclusive physical activity on campus. Therefore, they initiated a wheelchair basketball program last year which is now being run as an independent program in the community and has support from Sport Nova Scotia and Antigonish Minor Basketball. Wheelchair Basketball is held from 9:00 to 11:00 AM on Sundays at the local high school.

I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Zachary and learn a bit more about this burgeoning society at St. FX. What kind of students have gotten involved in the society?

We are a relatively new society and we are reaching out to attract interest among potential student participants with and without disability from across campus. We have a strong showing from Dr. Casey’s Motor Activities at X (MAX) lab as well as interest from local schools and community organizations. Human Kinetics students are keen but we have been approached by

students from other departments as well who have shown interest.

As a self-advocate, I would encourage all students living with disabilities to try our society; our programs are fun, socially exciting, and very worthwhile. For students without disability, there’s a great opportunity to acquire diverse skills and knowledge that comes from working with people with disability in our educational structure as well as the chance to promote inclusion on campus. In fact, research into inclusive physical activity has shown an array of physiological and psychologi-

Students have the chance to interact with community members through adapted sport Photo by Zachary MacNeil

cal benefits for people with and without disability.

What initiatives are you hoping to promote/garner support for in the new year?

We had a Free Skate in the Antigonish Community Arena on November 30th, from 4:30 to 6:00 in collaboration with Antigonish County Recreation’ thrive event. This was our first appearance off-campus. We partnered with Motor Activities at ‘X’, making their sledge hockey equipment to the community in order to give people with and without disability a taste of this popular adapted sport. It has taken five years to recruit participants with disabilities from the community to take part in the sledge hockey program and now we would love for more students with disabilities to become involved in this program as well which is run every Wednesday on the main ice in the Oland Centre (2.15pm).

We are going to continue to support inclusive activities on and off campus. including supporting a therapeutic skating program for children with autism that seeks to promote integrative play every Wednesday (3pm). We are also working with Dr. Casey’s class on a snowshoeing intervention for adults with intellectual disabilities from CACL group homes this term.

If you want to learn more about the Adapted Sport Society, get in touch with Zachary MacNeil at x2012avp@stfx.ca

Why New Year’s Resolutioners deserve your respect in the gym This time of year shouldn’t be about conflict, but support LORRAINE TEASDALE | Contributor

With the holidays over and the students back on campus, the Wellness Centre has become the hot new place to be in the evenings. This was expected by the staff and probably every gym member, but still seems to bring on unnecessary frustration to some. As an employee of the gym, I am getting tired of hearing, “Ah, I give them 2 weeks”, “They’re hogging everything”, and “I can’t stand this time of year”. My goto response to these “It wont last” comments is always, “I hope it does”. Though it may anger some, I truly mean it.

First of all, we do not need to group “them” together as if they are a population so entire-

ly different from ourselves. We are all human. Secondly, we seem to all forget how difficult it is to initiate a change. Every single person has some part of himself or herself that they wish to improve, and who are we to disrupt that process in any way. Commend their efforts instead of demoralizing them.

We seem to quickly ignore that we were all once new to a gym as well, and they can be very intimidating places. Research from the University of Scranton states that while 45% of people make New Year’s Resolutions, only 8% of people actually achieve what they had set out to do. We should be encouraging any and all new comers,

and not expediting their departure.

Here are a few simple ways to do this: 1. If someone appears to be unsure of how to use a machine, show him or her.

2. If someone appears to be lost, guide him or her in the right direction of what they’re looking for.

3. If someone seems to be taking too long on a piece of equipment, offer to work-in with them, and explain what that means if necessary.

4. Do not judge, make comments, or take pictures (not permitted or tolerated).

5. Practice common courtesy.

Believe it or not, the Wellness

Centre was once this busy year round. I remember occasions two years ago when we would have to refuse people because of capacity limitations during this time of year. Yes, the gym wait was once as annoying as the line-up for the Pub. We are now very grateful to have cardio rooms in some of the new residences, amazing St. FX group fitness classes, and an abundance of external fitness programs in this town so that even with this new rush of people we can still accommodate everyone. If you are finding the gym a little too hectic, try using the cardio sign up system or checking with staff to see when it is generally less busy.

For the year-round gym folk, this time of year is a wonderful opportunity for you to teach people what you’ve learned!

Many of the exercises that I know and use have been taught to me by other (very patient) people. For our patrons who are new, keep up the good work!

We all have similar goals for our health so lets support each other. The staff at the Wellness Centre is always there to offer new exercise ideas and equipment demonstrations if needed.

If you need more guidance to get you started, don’t forget to check out the Personal Fitness Services offered by St. FX Recreation for individual or partner training sessions.

SPORTS & HEALTH

The Xaverian-Volume 123 Issue 8

15

X-Women hockey enjoying great success First in the AUS, team has known recent team and individual triumph AARON THORNELL | Sports & Health Editor

Of late, there are few teams in the country experienceing more success than St. FX’s Women’s hockey team.

Sitting comfortably atop their Atlantic University Sport division, the X-Women have won seventeen games in a row after dropping their season opener to UPEI by a score of 2-1. Since that loss, the X-Women have dominated the seven-team league, boasting a league-leading 64 goals for, while only letting up 21 goals in 18 contests. They are currently ranked sixth in the country.

The X-Women are familiar with this kind of success, however, having won the AUS divison regular season titles four years running. Yet, the dominant X-Women are surely looking for some redemption after losing their semi-final playoff matchup against the Mount Allison Mounties.

Prior to that, the team had claimed two of the past four AUS playoff titles.

“The [St. FX] program has continued to attract not only good hockey players, but good people to the program that bring a winning attitude with them,” said interim head coach Ben Berthiaume. “We have also been very fortunate to have excellent staff from the community that always go above and beyong for this program.”

Berthiaume, in his first year at the helm of the powerhouse X-Women, has managed to lead the team to one of its best seasons to date. Berthiaume took over from head coach David Synishin, who took a year off to assume the direction of the women’s hockey program at the Pursuit of Excellence Hockey Academy in Kelowna, B.C. The X-Women assistant coach for nine seasons prior to this one, Berthiaume has shown no issues stepping into the big shoes left bySynishin - although he is quick to shirk any credit for the teams success.

“We have an extremely hard working team that has dedicated itself to improving as a hockey team each practice and game,” said Berthiaume.

Of note, the St. FX goaltending tandem of Pascale Daigle and Sojung Shin have been the best in the league, as both boast superb save percentages of .945 and .950, respectively. The coaching staff and team have shown confidence in both women, as they have played an almost equal number of games over the course of the season.

“We have been very fortunate to

Alex Normore, all-time X-Woman leading scorer have two goaltenders that can get the job done for us each game,” stated Berthiaume. “Our team has also committed to the defensive zone which has made a big difference in our goals against average.”

The team has put up a 1.166 goals against average, and have only let in more than one goal on five occasions over the course of the season. The XWomen have already clinched a playoff birth this year, with six games remaining, along with Moncton, set to begin in February.

“Our team has done a good job focusing on each game we play,” praised Berthiaume. “We try to take a game by game approach and try not to get ahead of ourselves.”

“Our hopes for the playoffs are to go into each game prepared and ready to compete. Our team is a very hard working team that loves to compete, so we will give ourselves a chance to be successful,” said Berthiaume.

The team hopes, of course to find themselves in the CIS finals, where they have represented St. FX eight times in the past twelve years, claiming a silver medal in 2010-11 and a bronze in 2012-13. This year’s finals will be held in Calgary, beginning on March 12th.

“If we are fortunate enough to make it to the CIS finals, nothing will change for us. We will bring our work ethic and compete level to Calgary,” assured Berthiaume.

Aside from the team’s success, the X-Women also had reason for celebration as fifth year veteran Alex Normore, a native of Bedford, N.S. took over the all-time scoring record for the

X-Women hockey team. She recorded an assist in their most recent win over the St. Thomas Tommies on Sunday, January 18th. Normore has recorded 197 points over her five year career at St. FX, one more than forward Brayden Ferguson, who recorded 196 points while representing St. FX from 2004 to 2009.

Normore moved into sole possession of second place in the AUS’s alltime scoring race, finding herself behind Marieve Provost. Provost, who recorded 220 points for the Moncton Aigles Bleues from 2006 till 2011. not only the record holder in the Mari-

times, but also all of Canada. Normore and Ferguson sit fourth and fifth on the CIS list. If all goes well for the blue and white, Normore will have another twelve games in AUS regular season and playoff competition (assuming the X-Women earn a first round bye in the playoffs), as well as a potential three more games in the CIS finals to rack up points.

Normore, the winner of the 2010-11 CIS rookie of the year award and the AUS leading scorer for the past three years. She is also currently leading the league with ten goals and seventeen assists.

“Alex has had an impact on the St. FX program since she arrived here,” said Berthiaume. “She has been one of the hardest working and most dedicated players we have had here at X. She has been a great leader for us, leading by example on and off the ice.

It is not surprising what she has accomplished here. We are extremely proud of what she has done and she continues to lead this team by example.”

Normore and the X-Women will face the St. Thomas Tommies in Fredericton this Saturday at 3:00 PM, followed by a matchup against Mount Alison in Sackville the following day.

Their next home game is scheduled for January 31st, when they will play host to the Moncton Aigles Bleues.

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