Gazette Spotlight Magazine, November 25, 2015

NOVEMBER 2015 • VOLUME 1 • ISSUE 2

GAZETTE PRESENTS...

LETTING GO OF YOUR INHIBITIONS

STUDENTS FIND THEMSELVES THROUGH THE ART OF DANCE

▼ INSIDE

PATH TO GREATNESS

FOR MUSICIANS, IT TAKES MORE THAN NATURAL TALENT AND DEDICATION

SEARCH FOR A VACCINE

HIV/AIDS TEAM OFFERS HOPE

Are you passionate about writing?

Write for the next Gazette Spotlight magazine!

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INSIDE NOV 2015 • VOLUME 1 • ISSUE 2

STUDY WHAT YOU LOVE, NOT WHAT YOU’RE TOLD

3

THE DIFFICULTY IN FINDING YOUR PASSION

5

DANCERS TELL THEIR STORY WITH MOVEMENT

8

THE LIFE OF A PROFESSIONAL MUSICIAN

14

WESTERN RESEARCHERS LEAD THE WAY IN HIV VACCINE

22

FOOTBALL RUNS IN CRAIG BUTLER’S VEINS

28

CATCHING THE (SERIAL) KILLER

32

JACK OF ALL TRADES

34 36

HELPING OUR FURRY FRIENDS

14

22

32

36

GMagazine Housing

IAIN BOEKHOFF EDITOR-IN-CHIEF @IAINATGAZETTE

OLIVIA ZOLLINO PRINT MANAGING EDITOR @OLIVIAATGAZETTE

NATHAN KANTER DIGITAL MANAGING EDITOR @NATHANATGAZETTE

CONTRIBUTORS JENNY JAY RICHARD JOSEPH KATIE LEAR MOSES MONTERROZA AMY O’KRUK RITA RAHMATI SHANE ROBERTS MICHELLE CHAN WAH OLIVIA ZOLLINO COPY EDITORS CLAIRE CHRISTOPHER RUI SHI PHOTO EDITORS JENNY JAY TAYLOR LASOTA KYLE PORTER GRAPHIC EDITORS CHRISTOPHER MISZCZAK JORDAN MCGAVIN COMPOSING IAN GREAVES, MANAGER MAJA ANJOLI-BILIC ROBERT ARMSTRONG DIANA WATSON, ADVERTISING FRONT COVER PHOTO MOSES MONTERROZA BACK COVER ILLUSTRATION JORDAN MCGAVIN

Dear Readers, Welcome to the second edition of Spotlight Magazine. In this issue, we explore some of the many passions of the Western and London community.

Passion is a powerful emotion. It can be a feeling of extreme excitement and desire, a strong pull towards an issue or an agent of compelling change.

Most people either have something they are passionate about that motivates them, or are looking for a passion that drives them.

The Western community is extraordinarily talented and dedicated in many areas, including arts, academia, philanthropy, athletics and the sciences. Students and faculty are constantly on the verge of breaking the mould — motivated by their passions to go further and do better than ever before.

The cover photo features two dancers who are part of a vibrant community at Western, featured in the story, “ They are dancers,” on page 8. Strong and athletic yet incredibly graceful, these dancers have dedicated their lives towards their passion for dance. Like many dancers, they have sacrificed countless hours practicing, taking dance lessons and auditioning for gigs that often don’t pay well. However, the hard work and commitment pays off when they’re on stage performing and when they’re off stage contributing to the community.

On page 14, the musicians of the prestigious Don Wright Faculty of Music tell of the trials and tribulations of being a full-time musician and performer. Opera singer Theodore Baerg notes that his 40 years in the industry have been fulfilling yet difficult, and without the combination of passion and hard work, he would have never been as successful as he has been. Marjorie Maltais opens up about the difficulties of her life as a freelance musician, full of impromptu travel plans and uncertainty.

On the academic side, “Western researchers lead the way” on page 22 explores the world-renowned team of researchers at Western who are working towards creating an effective HIV/AIDS vaccine. Dr. Chil-Yong Kang and Dr. Eric Arts are two of those researchers who have dedicated their lives to finding out more about one of the world’s deadliest diseases. Those living with the virus are fighting their own battle at home, trying to alleviate the stigma associated with being HIV positive.

There is also a story about a professor who dedicates his life to solving crimes, what to do when you have more than one passion and studying what you love vs. what you’re told.

These are just a fraction of the passions of the Western community.

What’s yours passion?

Some students get a degree in what their parents tell them to or study something so they can get a “good” job.

Other students defy expectations and follow their passion.

W

estern is home to a variety of programs, but some are often deemed more valuable than others. Some students may find themselves in a program just to please their parents or because they’re seeking a stable career after their studies. Some students refuse to follow the norm and instead follow their passion — no matter how unpredictable their future career is.

“If you’re interested in it, then you should pursue it. It doesn’t matter what your parents or others think,” said John Reed, a media, information and technoculture professor. “But at the same time you should be open to change, to accidents, to the plan that

you have in mind not quite working out the way that you thought.”

Mackenzie McIlroy is a fourth-year film studies student and Tara Magloire is a third-year MIT student minoring in visual arts. Both are trying to follow their creative passions and are optimistic about their future.

“I would only go to a program that would allow me to be intensely creative,” Magloire said. “I’d fail everything else and there’s no point in becoming a dropout because I wanted to go for law. Someone’s going to look at me and say, ‘Why did you go for law when all you like to do is art?’ ” Both women continually hear people critique their choice of study.

“Oh my God, everyone always says ‘What are you going to do with that?’ ” McIlroy said.

McIlroy remembers one instance when a guy flirting with her changed his tone when he found out she was in film studies.

“Why the hell would you be in film studies?” he asked. Needless to say, their relationship ended right then and there.

English Professor Kim Solga has helped revive Western’s theatre program and has seen great success in her career. While she was in school, a lot of people asked her what she would do with her degrees, but she never paid any attention to their negativity. ❱❱

Courtesy of Tara Magloire

SPOTLIGHT Passions Parents’ views on a child’s program can have a significant impact on the child. McIlroy and Solga were lucky to have parents who supported their decision to follow their passion.

McIlroy said her parents played a pivotal role in her decision to study film.

“Do something you love in school and then you’ll find something from there,” they told her. They didn’t want her to study something she’d dislike because then she’d dislike her life.

On the other hand, Magloire and Reed weren’t as lucky. Reed’s parents thought he was hiding out in school and questioned what he would do when he got out into the real world.

“It was a very sad time for about 10 years where I didn’t connect with my parents,” Reed said.

After four years of being a professor, Reed’s parents finally realized they were wrong about his career choice and said they were proud of him.

“I would tell people, just stick with your heart. It will all work out in the end,” Reed said.

Magloire’s mother didn’t fully support her daughter’s field either and would have preferred her to be in a field like law.

English Professor Kim Solga Photo by Kyle Porter

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“I looked [my mom] in the eye one day and I said, ‘Regardless of what you tell me to do, there is no point in me going and doing it and not liking [it],’ ” she said. “For me, the only thing that lets me maintain my identity is doing the things that I like.”

All of these individuals are in programs that entail far more than artfulness and creativity, however.

McIlroy chose her program because she could use both creativity and business. As she explained, film studies isn’t just about studying art – it also involves politics, philosophy and history. Anyone in MIT knows it’s about far more than just the artistic side of media. One of the reasons Reed went into MIT was his interest in social justice and what he saw behind the scenes while working for big corporations.

The same can be said for theatre, says Solga.

“Drama is connecting to literature but it’s more than that.… It’s like architecture — you build a show the way you build a building,” Solga said. “I’m a big believer in the fact that theatre can have impact, it can do things in the world, it can help students discover whole new aspects of themselves.”

Careers aren’t very straightforward for students in arts-related programs as both Solga and Reed found out.

Solga studied English literature in her undergraduate and master’s programs until she finally realized theatre was her main passion. Reed didn’t go to university straight after high school, but dived right into the workforce, working for large companies like Disney before deciding to go back to school.

For today’s students, the path is still not straightforward. McIlroy was unsure about what she wanted to do when she started university but now she’s very interested in event planning and hopes to work for organizations like TIFF or Corus Entertainment.

Magloire isn’t exactly sure what she wants to do yet but she’s confident that she’ll be doing something she loves. After all, Magloire’s response to what she’s going to do after university is “I’m going to be going into something that is 100 per cent me.”

As a final piece of advice for students wanting to follow their passions, Solga said, “You need to have a sense of what it is you love and that what you love can get you where you want to go.… Trust that it’s possible.” ■

The difficulty in finding your passion By: Michelle Chan Wah

What happened when I answered the question “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

PHOTOS: JENNY JAY GAZETTE

I

f you asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, a bright-eyed seven-year-old me would have responded with something along the lines of an artist, or maybe a writer.

Ask any child this question and I can guarantee every response will be bold, confident and passionate.

I am grown up now and my response no longer rings with the conviction of childhood.

When someone asks me what I want to be, the reply trips on my tongue as I stammer out the word “psychologist” with the inflection of a question at the end.

All of my interests and personal attributes find themselves hidden and unattended in the shadow of this title.

As a child, I didn’t know what a psychologist was. I

knew I liked to draw, I loved to write and I was good at English. I couldn’t say I was overwhelmingly passionate about all of my hobbies, but I enjoyed them. Somewhere between then and now, I learned what a psychologist was and thought, “Well, that doesn’t sound too bad.”

So I put away my coloured pencils and my notebooks and made the choice to focus on one career goal: becoming a psychologist. There was no longer any room for these extra things that I liked. I could not be an artist, a writer and a psychologist. I could only be one because the question of what I wanted to be required only one answer, and that one answer had to be something that would get me a viable job and a substantial salary. ❱❱

November, 2015 SPOTLIGHT 5

SPOTLIGHT Passions By high school, that answer was solidified in an acceptance to Western University for a program in psychology. At 20 years old and three years into university, society tells me that I should have my career planned out in a linear path from point A to B — from high school to university to graduation. Tertiary education has been upgraded from an optional education path to a mandatory career stepping stone.

The thing is, the career that I had decided to commit myself to in 2012 as a high school sophomore no longer interests me as a thirdyear university student in 2015.

The anxiety of adulthood reared its head in second year as my interests began to claw their way out of the graves I had put them in.

I decided to entertain them and paired off my criminology minor with creative writing.

By third year, I had dropped it.

You would assume that I would be happy to be in a class that fostered my interests, but I wasn’t. The hobby that so many people told me I had a calling for was a lot less appealing when my grades hung in a subjective balance and every creative risk was met with mark deductions. I felt like if I was going to write anything worth reading, it would not be under the constraints of academic achievements, international tuition fees or three-hour lectures.

In the end, I had become as apathetic towards creative writing as I had been towards every other class.

Defeated, I dragged myself into a double major in psychology and criminology and killed what was left of my desire to write. This is where I am now, between abnormal psychology and criminal justice classes, and both make me want to rip my hair out in individual strands.

I find myself groaning in unison with my fellow classmates about the dreary, unending repetition of exams, quizzes, essays and mandatory attendance marks. There is no engagement and no motivation other than to verbally vomit up what I had passively learned in the hopes of being rewarded with an above-average mark.

When I tell adults my dilemma, most respond with something that boils down to happiness depending on following my passions, or other cheesy one-liners about knowing your one true calling when it hits you in the face.

In reality, telling me to follow my passion is one of the worst pieces of advice anyone could give me.

It sounds enthralling because of the sim6 SPOTLIGHT November, 2015

plicity and boldness of such a statement. The idea that a person could drop everything that makes them unhappy and to snatch life by the proverbial horns is certainly attractive, but it is highly unrealistic.

To tell me to start following my passion presupposes that I already have an inkling as to what that passion is and what it entails. It assumes that I can tell the difference between a fleeting inspiration and a deep-seated drive towards something.

Most importantly, it claims that I have not tried to find my passion before.

At the age of 20, I hardly know what I’m eating for dinner tomorrow, let alone what I want to do with the next 20 years of my life. I was no better prepared at the age of 17 to make the decision of what I wanted to academically commit myself to.

The hard truth is that there is most likely no one true passion waiting on the horizon to be awakened. I most likely won’t wake up one morning with an epiphany as to what I want to do with myself.

In reality, after a series of failures and fumbles, I will somehow find myself in a position that fulfills me and it most likely won’t be because I blindly followed a passion I had in high school. It will be because I learned enough from my 10-second inspirations and wavering passions to carry on with an open mind.

As my time as an undergrad trickles away, I find myself going back to the question of what I want to be as an adult. Some people seem to assume that we come out of the womb with an ingrained passion towards one thing or the other, that you are born with a stamp on the bottom of your foot that will direct you down your chosen path.

I’m still learning that sometimes finding your passion isn’t always a straight and narrow path — sometimes it’s a dirt road with dips and detours and unexpected dead ends.

Some passions awaken slowly and sometimes, when you nurse one, you find others or find that you have none at all. Passions can change and evolve as you grow into adulthood.

A lucky few do find their way in life with a clear vision of what they are drawn to and how they plan to achieve it. But others, like myself, seem to stumble along the way.

Honestly, I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up.

And I’m coming to terms with being perfectly fine with that. ■

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November, 2015 SPOTLIGHT  7

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f o . s s n ines ir mea p p he ke. ha t d d n ey fi ent an hey ma ead, h t re em eps t e v nst I h o . w e t m t is nd s and s or prid h a g i s. otl rhythm turn ntion s p e s n the , atte happi the age is r o t e Und langu bound money ve and s y ir The ession i riven b ssion, lo r d exp aren’t d by pa e y The ’re fuell they

They are da ncers Moses Monterroza

Photos by Moses Monterroza

8 SPOTLIGHT November, 2015

I

t’s an art form embedded in the idea of letting go, of taking your inhibitions and liberating them from your life. Dance allows you to turn off your brain and move, create and simply feel. It’s a wholly kinetic experience, a sort of bliss that fills whatever void you might feel.

Like many art forms, dance is much more than just moving to a beat and keeping up with a rhythm. It’s transcendent of itself, sometimes acting as a bridge between worlds. In fact, many dancers find themselves connecting with people they never thought to have ties with.

This is what Jim Han experienced when he moved from South Korea to Canada. As a new immigrant, he was a bit intimidated by the language and customs.

“I was 14 years old when I moved here,” Han says. “It was a lot to adapt to and definitely a bit of a culture shock. Language was a big issue for me. Back then I didn’t speak as well and I didn’t have the confidence that I gained from dancing.

“I was a scared teenager in a new country and no friends,” he continues. “Around that time, too, when you’re a teenager you deal with a lot of stuff that’s not easy. So I think I was holding back a lot as well.”

It was difficult at first, but when Han began to further explore dance, he found it helped him assimilate much easier.

“It’s like a global language,” he says. “When you get to travel to other parts of the world and dance with other people in the same circle and on the same floor, exchanging moves and vibes, you quickly build a connection with that person.”

Han would later use his experience to become a teacher and co-founder of the crew Ill at Will – a breakdancing group that is not

“It’s like a global language, when you get to travel to other parts of the world and dance with other people in the same circle and on the same floor, exchanging moves and vibes, you quickly build a connection with that person.”

Jim Han

only involved in performance but also in the community. Han says the group gave him the brothers he never had.

“Being in the crew is like having 10 brothers,” he says. “It’s a big commitment and it’s like an enterprise that we’re running. We’re trying to leave a legacy in London and so we work really hard.”

The group has made great strides in helping the disenfranchised. They’ve even gone so far as to travel to the Wapaminakoskak reserve in northern Manitoba to teach dance and hip-hop.

It was an eye-opening experience for Han, but also one that has resonated with him greatly.

“It’s one of those experiences that stays with you,” Han says. “It was about two years ago with the crew in the winter-time and we got hired to drive up to teach and perform a workshop at the reserve.

“It was an eight-hour drive and when we ended up there it just felt really nice to be isolated and to bring that kind of lifestyle and culture into such a remote environment where there’s nothing else — no Facebook, no gas stations every other corner and no cars,” Han continues.

As Han was teaching the people of Wapaminakoskak the history and techniques of his dance style, he realized just how important his role as a teacher was. He found that providing them with a sense of community and purpose was something he had always wanted growing up. ❱❱

November, 2015 SPOTLIGHT 9

SPOTLIGHT Passions

❝

When I was 18 and a student, I don’t think I was fully aware of what I was committing to and passionate about,” says Han. “I was constantly seeking out something that would allow me to be free.

“Even if it’s three kids out of 300 that we’re teaching, there’s got to be a least one kid that’s going to learn something, and hopefully it will be something that will resonate with him [or] her in many ways,” says Han. “I do it for that one little bit of inspiration.”

Han continues to work with the London community, pushing to make his dreams come true. He has a vision of creating a greater dance scene in London and to provide people with the means to breakdance. In his eyes, anything is possible, as long as there is passion and drive.

T

•••••

here’s also a common conception amongst dancers regarding career opportunities. Many dancers find themselves straying away from the craft simply because it’s not a viable way to sustain yourself.

Only the best of the best can make a living out of it and even then they have to obtain some sort of secondary income.

Take Mia Salaveria, a fourth-year media theory and production student and president of Hip Hop Western.

She’s been dancing ever since she was a child and has always dreamed of making a lifestyle out of it. For her, though it’s extremely difficult since it’s such an incredibly competitive industry.

10 SPOTLIGHT November, 2015

❝

The horrible thing about dance is if you want to get into it, you’re not going to make money. That’s the reality of it and it’s so sad,” Salaveria says. “I know people who have danced at the MMVAs and they’ve only made like a couple hundred dollars dancing for people like Ariana Grande, a multi-million-dollar artist.”

Even the best choreographers in bigger cities like Toronto have to hold some sort of part-time job to keep them afloat. In anticipation of this, Salaveria knows she’ll have to rely on her degree to obtain another job.

“Hopefully after I graduate I can land some paid gigs here and there and just really make a name for myself in the Toronto dance community,” she says. “But I’m definitely going to have to have a job on top of all of that.... You can’t really live on dance.”

Andy Nguyen, a fourth-year English and political sciences student, also expects to work parttime in order to keep doing what he loves to do.

“It’s really hard out there for a dancer. Salaries are awful and there are limited jobs,” Nguyen says. “It’s hard but I know for a fact [dance] is going to stay with me no matter what. I’m not going to give up even when I become older … or I guess an ‘adult.’ But it’s definitely going to be there, guaranteed.”

Despite the dim prospects, people have managed to create a lifestyle out of it — people like Ken Pham, a former Western student who is now professional dancer. He’s travelled across 14 countries working as a commercial dancer with renowned choreographers and in professional productions.

How did he do it? Well, he just went for it.

After spending just one year at Western, Pham decided to drop out and pursue dance as a career instead of business.

“I wanted to try dance first and see how the year went and if it went really well, then I would stick to it,” Pham says. “If it didn’t, I would go back to school and get started in business. My parents told me that they were okay with it as long as I eventually went back to school and finished my business degree.”

Pham has yet to return to business since his nce career has been successful thus far. ❱❱

November, 2015 SPOTLIGHT 11

SPOTLIGHT Passions

❝

I moved to Toronto and joined a professional dance company called Conteur,” he says. “It was intense; my days were like contemporary, modern, jazz from nine to four.

And then I would go to hip-hop training classes during nights.”

He would later drop out of the company and pursue commercial work, dancing on a cruise ship and travelling to places like Dubai, Japan, Italy and Spain.

As much as it is a passion, dance is also an enterprise for Pham. It’s imperative to market yourself and put your best foot forward when it comes to breaking into the industry.

“As a dancer, you are your own business,” he says. “You have to get an agent that will get you closed and open auditions. People think you can’t really do anything with dance, but there are many different things that you can do with dance.”

F

•••••

or Barb Sarma, part-time lecturer at the Don Wright Faculty of Music, dance has not only been an outlet for her feelings but also a means of changing the lives of her students.

“It’s humbling and exciting at the same time,” she says.

“Having that kind of impact, it’s amazing to see them change. To hear people years later saying ‘I will always remember that’ — it has impacted my life and it’s absolutely thrilling to see it happen.”

A former gymnast and Western alumna, Sarma spent the bulk of her life engaged in sports and physical education.

Prior to teaching at Western, she taught fitness; upon discovering dance, however, she immediately knew that it was unlike anything else.

“I would always choose sports or gymnastics,” Sarma says. “In fact I was a gymnast for a very long time. I taught fitness, but dance just allowed me to create and engage in ways I couldn’t have done before.

“It’s kept me sane,” she continues. “It has given me purpose when everything around me looks crazy. I’ve been able to fulfill a desire to give, especially to the students — to give them the passion, drive and the vision to see beyond whatever their circumstances are.”

Sarma teaches a second-year improvisational dance class that focuses on creating dance as it happens, whether it be solo improvisation or collaborative improv.

Brooke Gilmour, a health sciences and biology major and avid dancer, is a student in Sarma’s class. Her favourite part about improv is how it can fully embody whatever feelings

12 SPOTLIGHT November, 2015

you may be experiencing.

“Improv is very free; it’s really up to you and how you take it and interpret it,” Gilmour says. “The opportunities are endless, you can do anything in improv. I feel like it’s a good way to balance everything else in my life with all the science and things going on. It’s a place where I can be completely myself.”

Gilmour has danced ever since she can remember. As a child, however, she had no idea how important dance would become and how much it would shape her life.

“When I was younger I didn’t really take as much dance as I did when I got older,” she says.

“As a little kid, I was doing gymnastics and dance so I wasn’t very focused on what I wanted to do.”

It was only until her late high school years when dance began developing into a real passion — something that Gilmour wanted to pursue to the end.

“I really started understanding that this is what I wanted to do and this is what I loved and what I was passionate about,” she says. “Then I asked myself, ‘Is this something that I can live without?’ And the answer was a definite no.”

Gilmour went on to join the Conteur Dance Academy in Toronto where she danced in professional shows and at a competitive level. Because of dance, she was able to discover aspects of herself that were once hidden.

“I feel it’s made me the person I am today,” says Gilmour. “I feel like it’s something that defines me. It’s not something that’s a hobby, it’s like a part of me.

“It’s taught me a lot,” Gilmour continues. “It’s taught me hard work ethic, it’s taught me to never give up, it’s taught me to be compassionate and passionate about everything you do and every move you make, and to be honest with yourself. At the end of the day it helped me grow not just as a dancer, but as a person.” n

“I feel it’s made me the person I am today, I feel like it’s something that defines me. It’s not something that’s a hobby, it’s like a part of me.”

Brooke Gilmour

November, 2015 SPOTLIGHT 13

If mus i c the food be of love SPOTLIGHT Passions

Richa Phot rd Jo os by seph Taylo r Las ota

14  SPOTLIGHT November, 2015

Frequent travel, uncertain and sporadic job opportunities, and months of preparation for one performance — this is the life of a professional musician.

W

alking through the fourth floor of the newly-renovated Music Building is an odd, almost surreal experience. To your left and right, a series of doors lead to single tiny rooms with a piano and a music stand, meant for students to practice in.

Each door affords a brief glimpse into the lives of student musicians — one is pummelling the piano keys as she reaches a crescendo, another is intensely focused on a delicate piece for clarinet and yet another is belting out a major scale at the top of his lungs. A muffled jumble of singing, string and wind instruments washes over you like a discordant orchestra made up of a hundred individual students honing their musical skills.

At the end of the hallway is the office of Theodore Baerg, masterclass professor of voice and coordinator of operatic studies at Western. Decades of experience performing opera have given him a deep, stentorian voice that might bowl you over if you’re not ready for it.

He gestures at his tidy office, a piano taking up a good half of it. “They’ve soundproofed it,” he says, shrugging.

Last year, there were 457 undergraduate students enrolled at the Don Wright Faculty of Music, which might seem like a drop in the ocean compared to the 22,573 undergraduates who were enrolled at Western in total. But the faculty is comprehensive, with three separate departments: music education, music research and composition, and music performance studies.

“What really makes us stand out, for one

thing, are the opportunities for diverse music making,” says Betty Younker, dean of the faculty. “On top of that, it’s the strength and commitment of the faculty.”

Baerg is without a doubt one of those prestigious members of faculty and even his appointment at the University attracts students. He’s done two seasons at the renowned Stratford Festival and has performed over 75 operatic roles across America, Europe and Asia.

“It’s good for the students to have someone who has performed a lot in the real world,” he says. “My idea of my job here is to be as professionally relevant as possible. They say, ‘Oh, somebody teaches there who actually did it, that’s great.’ ” While it is a part of Western, the faculty is a very tight-knit community, Younker explains. For one thing, most of the music on campus is based around Talbot College and the Music Building; for another, the students spend an enormous amount of time in the same classes and ensembles, so the sense of community is inevitable.

And make no mistake — students spend an enormous amount of time practicing. Natural talent is certainly a factor in musical performance, but the prodigies are few and far between and the vast majority of musicians establish themselves through hard work and commitment.

“I do think some people are just more naturally adept at music, for whatever reason,” says Bryce Lansdell, currently doing his master’s in piano performance. “But it’s a trade, at the end of the day. I’ve never met anyone with so much natural talent they don’t have to practice at least a few hours a day.” ❱❱

November, 2015 SPOTLIGHT 15

SPOTLIGHT Passions

Performing P

erformance musicians often have to prepare for shows months — and occasionally years — in advance. Lansdell frequently has his music picked out four to eight months beforehand and practices for hours every day. He moves from a “macro” focus, understanding what the piece is about at a broader level of message and theme, to a “micro” focus, concentrating on the integrity of each individual note.

It’s not a matter of just getting up there and reading off the sheet. Not only do performers have to get a technical grasp of the piece, but they have to understand its significance in order to communicate it. A performer must be able to sing in six or seven different languages, as operas are rarely written in English, as well as understand the words themselves.

The process for opera is similar. Margie Bernal, a PhD student who received her master’s in voice performance from Western and has performed numerous operatic roles, explains the arduous months before the show are not just about

16 SPOTLIGHT November, 2015

learning the notes and singing them correctly, “but also knowing all the historical and musical background to what I am singing. ” No matter how much preparation goes into the piece, there’s always a distinct feeling of nervousness right before the show. Even Baerg, who has been singing for 40 years, isn’t completely calm before he goes onstage.

Marjorie Maltais, a recent graduate from the voice program who just competed with the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto, says it’s not quite stage fright — habitual performance dulls that edge — but a feeling of nervous anticipation.

“I feel butterflies every time those curtains open,” she admits. “It’s always scary to put yourself out there and let people think whatever they want to think about you.”

Singing, Maltais points out, is an especially personal art form. If the critics don’t like a piano performance, it’s still an external instrument and they’re concerned with the pianist’s interpretation of the piece.

“

But when people say they don’t like you as a singer, they can hate your tone or the colour of your voice,” she explains. “That’s not something you can change, unfortunately. Or fortunately, depending on how you look at it.”

On-stage, performance is about communicating your piece emotionally to your audience, whether in terms of humour, struggle or excitement; it’s delivering a unique message with skill and dexterity.

“There’s a million things going through my mind on-stage,” says Maltais. “Sometimes I can really get into, really feel the moment and be close to the poetry of the words. Other times, it’s more like ‘when am I going to take this breath?’ or ‘be careful, there’s a high note approaching.’ Or ‘oh my God, this prop is not supposed to be here, I have to move it!’

“Mainly, I try to commit to the character,” she continues. “I succeed maybe 30 per cent of the time in completely committing. And there are things that happen that I need to fix on the spot, that’s part of my job.” ❱❱

“I feel butterflies every time those curtains open, it’s always scary to put yourself out there and let people think whatever they want to think about you.”

Marjorie Maltais

November, 2015 SPOTLIGHT 17

SPOTLIGHT Passions

Music as a career M

altais began as an organ player in Quebec City, but participated in a voice competition on a whim. Sophie Roland, the chair of music performance studies at Western, told her she had potential as a singer, but her voice needed proper training if she was interested. Within two months, Maltais had sold everything she owned in Quebec, rented out her apartment and moved to London. Her English, she recalls, was very limited, so her first few classes were an incomprehensible blur.

Today, she works as a freelance performance musician and that lifestyle of sudden travel continues. Her agent gets calls from opera houses and conductors

18 SPOTLIGHT November, 2015

around the world for positions in Maltais’ voice type, mezzo-soprano, and she has to make those auditions — it’s like having another job interview with every gig.

“I like traveling,” says Maltais. “It’s just that I’m paying for most of it myself now and it requires an insane amount of planning. I’m leaving for Montreal soon — I’ll be there for five days and then I have to come back here and then go to New York. You do auditions … and you might get callbacks the day after or you might not. I might be in New York for one day, or two or three.”

On top of that, contract work is fickle. Maltais might audition now for parts available in 2018. She might go months without any activity and then suddenly have to travel across the world three times in a week. Sometimes she’ll get a nice hotel paid for by the company and it’s like a vacation; other times, she’s sleeping on couches.

“

And that’s okay,” she says. “It’s not glamorous, by any means, but I like it.

It’s about keeping your options open and making the most of those trips.”

There’s also a business-savvy element to being a full-time musician. In fact, Maltais is the exception to the rule; most students entering the world of performance don’t have an agent, according to Lansdell.

“You have to go well beyond the degree to establish yourself, which means having an eye for networking, knowing who to meet and how to meet them,” he explains. “Part of that stems from being comfortable, engaging people and just knowing yourself. You’re an entrepreneur if you’re a musician – a self-employed performer.”

For singers, their entire livelihood depends on their voice and that can be a difficult thing to

“You have to go well beyond the degree to establish yourself, which means having an eye for networking, knowing who to meet and how to meet them.”

Bryce Landsdell

deal with. But music is a merciless industry and stress is par for the course. Baerg often has to explain to students that if they’re suffering from extreme anxiety or stress and getting sick because of that, performance is not the job for them.

“I tell students, ‘I can get you that audition, but once you’re on-stage I can’t help you,’ ” he says.

“That’s just the way the industry is. If you can’t handle the heat, get out of the kitchen.” ❱❱

November, 2015 SPOTLIGHT 19

SPOTLIGHT Passions

e g a t s e h t f f O O

f course, there’s more than just performance and even performers sometimes have other interests. Bernal, for instance, is the associate artistic and general administrator for the Canadian Operatic Arts Academy and the Accademia Europea Dell’Opera, which run programs for singers and instrumentalists both in Canada and in Italy. She organizes everything from the auditions to the selection process and the casting, and she’s the bridge of communication between the artistic and musical directors.

“I really enjoy my work in music administration because my skills as a performer help me to understand what all sides need,” she explains. “I help connect the needs of the participants and performers with the artistic demands and make sure it’s all working in balance.”

In searching for talent, Bernal explains, the academies look for passion above all. They appreciate beautiful voices and engaging performers, but they also understand there are promising students starting out who may not have as much expertise or who may not have developed the tools to express that passion quite yet.

“We help them through that,” she says. “We look for the person who is completely committed to this journey and willing to take certain risks.”

Lansdell, off the stage, uses his musical skills for social work. He’s a community music facilitator at Sanctuary London, working with the homeless. He organizes a weekly drop-in music session consisting of drum circles and guitar circles. They might accompany familiar songs or

20 SPOTLIGHT November, 2015

Photo by Kyle Porter

improvise music. The idea is to create a place of welcoming and belonging where the poor and marginalized are particularly valued.

“The approach is to create multiple points of access,” he explains. “We want music to be inclusive and we want genuine participation, not just playing a shaker while everyone else is a rock band. Through music, we’re becoming community, even family.”

Music, in Lansdell’s experience, can help a great deal with the issue of social isolation. It’s a problem that often engenders more problems like a sense of apathy, for example, because there is nobody to encourage the socially isolated. The goal of the music drop-ins is to deal with that, whether the participants have no home or they can’t go home.

“It’s multifaceted,” he continues. “It’s to have fun and try new things, but the deeper philosophy is that when we are creative, we become more fully human and we also connect more readily with others, experience empathy, encouragement and support.”

When the curtains close I

n the end, music extends far beyond the stage alone — it’s a lifestyle. The curtain might close and the applause might end, but those with the lifelong passion live and breathe music. Bernal is currently doing her doctorate at Western on Spanish opera, putting together an anthology of opera arias for sopranos that are written by Spanish composers. She’s able to sing or has already performed a lot of that material, so she feels a fundamental connection with her work.

“It’s a life project. At some point, I would like to do the same for the other voices — for mezzo, tenor, baritone,” says Bernall. “It’s pretty amazing, I’ve been exposed to so much operatic repertoire…. I got the chance to travel to Spain for research. It’s exciting, because I get to put my hands on all this music, perform it and put it out there for the world.”

Baerg, who once did an “awful lot” of traveling, finds himself staying at home more now that he’s a tenured professor. That’s primarily by choice, of course; he likes his job, he likes his motorcycle and he wants to spend more time with his family.

“I can still do what I did, but I don’t want to travel that much anymore,” says Baerg. “My sons are both musicians and my wife is a musician. I couldn’t get away from music if I wanted to.

“I’m going to be 64 in a few weeks,” he continues, in a vague tone of disbelief. “My whole life has been doing for a career what I would have done for fun anyway. I can’t see it being better than that. There are times when it gets busy and it’s tiring, perhaps more tiring than it was 20

years ago. But you don’t look at [music] as hard work if you enjoy it.”

Baerg isn’t done with opera by any means — his voice is rich and powerful as ever — but after 40 years of operatic performance, he is slowly transitioning away from the lifestyle of unpredictable globetrotting and constant gigs. At the same time, Maltais is poised to begin that journey.

“It’s hard after graduating, it’s extremely hard,” she admits. “And they tell you that, but it really hits you in the face. It’s not a nine to five job.

Right now my schedule is insane until December and then I have nothing until March. Finding an agent [and] getting rejection letters is very hard.

You need to be so resilient in order to succeed.

But if you’re passionate about what you’re doing, you can get through it.”

Above all, music is an unpredictable field and it pays to keep an open mind for new possibilities.

Maltais has no concrete plans because it’s not an industry where you can afford to make plans that early. You take what comes your way, excel in your field and try your hardest to move up.

“I have hopes, of course, I have dreams,” she says. “But even if I told you I’m going to be singing at the Met in five years, it may happen and it may not, and I will be happy either way.

I’m just going to keep auditioning and hopefully I’ll get noticed by more and more people and things will just fall in place. Maybe one day I’ll be booked three years in advance. I’ll deal with it as it comes; it’s a week-by-week, if not-day-byday life I’m living right now.” n

November, 2015 SPOTLIGHT 21

SPOTLIGHT Passions

The search for a vaccine AMY O’KRUK

PHOTO BY JENNY JAY

22 SPOTLIGHT November, 2015

ve ed he a h ect h t s e l p inf wit live o e are ng ir p e i n v h e llio eopl tly li ted t rld’s i 9 m n p rren dica e wo 3 n illio cu de f th a th o m are ave e o e r o . Tw ople rs h r on m 1, IDS pe rche e fo s.

8 19 IV/A llion sea ccin ease e c H mi n re va dis n i m S ro 5 er tive st 3 f nd est en ie l d d die ear a se W prev dea y he a y T g r . n e ev ease findi dis to

I

t’s November 7, 1991.

Light bulbs flash in a Los Angeles press room and Earvin “Magic” Johnson walks in wearing a dark suit.

The legendary U.S. basketball player steps up to the microphone.

“Because of the HIV virus I have obtained,” he begins, “I will have to retire from the Lakers today.” For a moment, the room falls silent. “You think it could never happen to you,” he adds, and for the millions around the world left in disbelief, the message hits home.

“We went public the same day that Magic Johnson went public,” says Robert Newman, sitting cross-legged in his office chair at London’s Regional HIV/AIDS Connection. “Somebody picked up on it, and all hell broke loose … The headline in the Toronto Sun says, ‘Family’s last Christmas together: 4 out of 5 have AIDS.’” In the early ‘90s, the outlook for HIV-infected patients was grim. The average time to develop AIDS was 10 years, with patients generally passing away soon afterward. According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 39 million people have died since the first cases were reported

in 1981, with more than two million people infected every year.

“We were told … go home, don’t tell anybody and prepare to die — that was the message, in a nutshell,” Newman explains.

Remarkably, Robert and Kim Newman did the opposite. Aside from the married couple’s own positive diagnoses, their two sons tested positive for HIV in January 1991. Only Robert Newman’s daughter from a previous marriage tested negative.

“Any parent who has a child that’s diagnosed with a chronic or terminal illness … you’re going to hide because somebody told you to,” Newman says. “My wife and I started volunteering and speaking publically … I had children I had to fight for.”

It’s a fight that still wages behind-thescenes, too. Now, after almost 35 years since the discovery of HIV/AIDS, faculty and researchers in Western’s department of microbiology and immunology are closer than ever to winning the war against the deadly virus. With the largest HIV/AIDS research department in Canada, Western is garnering international recognition for its passionate scientists and their medical breakthroughs — especially on the vaccine front. ❱❱

November, 2015 SPOTLIGHT 23

SPOTLIGHT Passions

Dr.

Chil-Yong Kang and his research team at the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry sparked global attention in 2011 when they created the first preventive HIV vaccine using a dead version of the genetically modified HIV-1, called SAV001. The phase I human clinical trial — a test of the vaccine’s safety — was completed in August 2013 and the results showed no serious adverse effects in 33 participants.

In addition to the preventative vaccine, Kang explains that there’s also a therapeutic vaccine in development, although he’s hopeful the preventative vaccine could also be an effective therapy for HIV-positive patients.

“Current [combination antiretroviral therapy] can prolong the lives of humans, but they can never get rid of the infected cells,” Kang says. “Our newly developed therapeutic vaccine based on recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus … can educate [a subset of white blood cells known as CD8+ T cells] to recognize virus-infected cells and clear them … Our animal data shows very promising results.”

These breakthroughs, among others, have helped attract internationally renowned HIV/AIDS scholars like Dr. Eric Arts, a Western alumnus and chair of the department of microbiology and immunology. He returned to Western in June 2014, 24 years after finishing his undergrad. Arts believes the key to creating an effective vaccine is through collaboration between researchers.

“It used to be that we, as professors, were small silos,” Arts says. “We had our research team and our grants, and collaborations were somewhat limited.

In the last 10 or 15 years, that’s not the way research has run anymore. You really need expertise in many different areas to compliment the larger project.”

Arts’ actions back up his words. He’ll be leading Schulich’s contributions to the newly established European AIDS Vaccine Initiative (EAVI2020), which launched at the beginning of November. The $32-million cooperation aims to accelerate the search for an effective HIV vaccine and unite the knowledge of 22 worldwide institutions and their researchers. Currently, Western is the only North American collaborator involved in EAVI2020.

Stages of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Infection

HIV’s worldwide impact

Acute HIV Infection

✹✹ 35 million people worldwide living with HIV/AIDS in 2013.

✹✹ Begins 2-4 weeks after exposure

✹✹ A n estimated 2.1 million individuals worldwide became newly infected with HIV in 2013.

✹✹ L arge amounts of the virus are produced in the body; many people develop flu-like symptoms. ✹✹ Amount of CD4 cells falls rapidly

Clinical latency ✹✹ HIV reproduces at very low levels ✹✹ Without treatment, this stage lasts on average 10 years

AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) ✹✹ W hen a person gets opportunistic diseases diseases and their CD4+ count is less than 200 cells/mm3 of blood ✹✹ People who progress to AIDS typically survive about 3 years

24 SPOTLIGHT November, 2015

✹✹ 1 9 million of the 35 million people living with HIV today do not know that they have the virus. ✹✹ H IV is the world’s leading infectious killer. An estimated 39 million people have died since the first cases were reported in 1981 and 1.5 million people died of AIDS-related causes in 2013. ✹✹ A t the end of 2013, 12.9 million people living with HIV were receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) globally. Almost 22 million other people living with HIV, or 3 of 5 people living with HIV, are still not accessing ART.

SOURCES: www.who.int/topics/hiv_aids/en; http://aidsinfo.unaids.org; www.aids.gov

Western’s contributions to EAVI2020, however, wouldn’t exist without students’ passion in the labs. Colin Venner, a second-year Western microbiology and immunology PhD candidate, started out researching plant biology, before bouncing to human genomics and eventually pathology. For the last two years, he’s worked in Dr. Arts’ lab, conducting novel investigations on HIV subtype diversity.

“The study centre that Dr. Arts established with Stuart LeGrice … in Uganda and their work with clinical centres in Zimbawe, the accesss to patients there and their samples are incredible resources,” Venner says. “Eric has this unique access to these [samples] that allows you to actually do this work.”

A

•••••

fter Arts joined the faculty in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio in 1998, he helped set up a new clinical and molecular virology laboratory in Kampala, Uganda. The laboratory maintains a sample repository on over

300 patients from a 10-year cohort study in Uganda and Zimbabwe.

“There’s a certain passion I’ve developed over the years based on my experiences in Uganda, seeing populations with HIV/AIDS and trying to do … more than just the basic science,” Arts says.

Microbiology and immunology master’s student Jessica Hill, who also works in Arts’ lab, added Western’s other faculty members and cutting-edge facilities are essential assets to Western’s HIV/AIDS work.

“I read about … the collaboration [Dr. Arts] would have with scientists already [at Western] like Dr. Kang, Dr. [ Jimmy] Dikeakos and Dr. [Stephen] Barr, and their plans for building a new facility,” Hill says. “I’m at the right place. I’m right at the centre of the latest thinking.” ❱❱

PHOTO BY KYLE PORTER

November, 2015 SPOTLIGHT 25

SPOTLIGHT Passions

Why finding an HIV/AIDS vaccine is so challenging “We hope to have such a vaccine ready for testing in approximately two years,” Margaret Heckler, U.S. secretary of health and human services, declared in 1984 shortly after the virus that causes AIDS was identified. Twenty-six years later, researchers around the world are still looking for a possible vaccine. What makes finding a vaccine so difficult?

How vaccines typically work

Vaccines have been developed for some of the world’s deadliest diseases, including polio, smallpox, measles and yellow fever.

Vaccines are typically preventive, designed for people who are not infected with the targeted disease.

According to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, these vaccines work by presenting non-infectious components of the virus to the body’s immune system, causing an immune reaction. This “primes” the immune system so that when it is exposed to the real pathogen, the body’s immune system can aggressively attack the virus or bacteria since it will already recognize key parts of the pathogen that was first introduced in the vaccine.

Another type of vaccine is therapeutic, which would be designed to reduce the impact of a disease in individuals already infected with the disease in question.

The problems in developing an HIV/AIDS vaccine

A vaccine for the HIV virus would either prevent someone from being infected when exposed to HIV or, if infection does occur, stop the disease from progressing as quickly to AIDS, according to the Cana-

26 SPOTLIGHT November, 2015

dian HIV Vaccine Initiative.

There are six major problems researchers have in developing an effective HIV vaccine, according to the NIAID. The first is that HIV attacks the very immune system that is required to combat infection. HIV attacks and destroys CD4+ T cells and a vaccine would need to be able to activate these cells.

Another problem is that scientists have not been able to find the appropriate immune response necessary for protection because there are no documented cases of complete recovery from HIV infection, unlike other diseases for which vaccines have been successful.

HIV is also a very diverse virus and continually mutates and recombines in an infected person to evolve into new strains that differ slightly from the original infecting virus.

An effective HIV vaccine will have two kinds of immune responses to fight HIV: T cells and antibodies secreted by B cells, which would prevent the spread of the virus and decrease its effect. Scientists, however, have not been able to stimulate both types of responses, only weak T cell responses.

Researchers also lack knowledge about which pieces of HIV used to make a vaccine will get the immune system to recognize HIV during an actual encounter and protect against the disease.

Finally, in testing the effectiveness of an HIV vaccine for people, there is no practical animal model researchers can use.

Experiments use SIV, a simian cousin of HIV, and an engineered combination of the two, called SHIV. Evaluating vaccine effectiveness then relies on these analogs rather than the actual HIV vaccine used in clinical trials on humans. n

Last December, Western announced plans to build a new $5-million facility, called the Imaging Pathogen and Knowledge Translation Facility (ImPaKT), the first of its kind in Canada.

The facility, scheduled for completion at the end of 2015, will be notable for its advanced imaging technology that allows scientists to track the real-time progression of pathogens without dissecting lab animals.

It will also feature a world-class bio-containment facility able to study airborne pathogens, something that’s not currently feasible.

O

•••••

utside of campus, there’s more work to be done in the London community, though.

Between 2000-07, an average of 19 new patients per year tested positive for HIV in London. In 2015, thanks to widespread access to medical care, HIV/AIDS in many Canadians is no longer a matter of imminent death, but it’s the HIV/ AIDS stigma’s damage that reverberates.

“It’s not the virus that kills people as much as the stigma of the virus,” Newman says, explaining how medication compliance is a huge treatment obstacle. “You have this stigmatized virus in your body and then three times a day you have to take pills that reminds you, you have this stigmatized virus,” Newman added. “People take drug holidays for a myriad of reasons, but maybe they just don’t like to be reminded three times a day that they have HIV.” Newman goes on, sharing other stories of clients who wind up in jail without access to their medications. Whether it’s for the weekend or months, they’re too afraid to speak up and disclose their HIV-status because of the shame. If it were diabetes, he points out, an individual would ask for insulin almost immediately.

“I could hide it for a couple months, nobody needs to know that I’m putting my health at risk,” he emphasizes.

“It’s not the virus that kills people as much as the stigma of the virus. You have this stigmatized virus in your body and then three times a day you have to take pills that reminds you, you have this stigmatized virus.”

Robert Newman

The birthplace of HIV stigma, he says, is rooted in “how’d you get it?”

“It seems to be the most delicious question that people ask, and really … they’re looking for dirt,” he says. “If I told you I had cancer you wouldn’t ask me how I got it, but if I told you I have a sexually transmitted infection that you can get through having sex or doing drugs and people want to know.

Nobody asks about any other disease, except for [HIV/AIDS].”

While Newman’s wife passed away in 1993, followed by his oldest son in 1995, he credits their memories as the motivation for the work he does, supporting HIV-infected individuals and working as an advocate in the community and beyond.

Back on the research side, Kang says he predicts a vaccine could be available in about six or seven years’ time, although hopefully sooner.

“I think everybody who works on human disease, really in the end just wants to help people,” Venner says. “There’s a lot of [research] where you feel really removed from people, like all the plant research I did. With HIV and human disease … our study centres actually see patients.

They have clinicians that come in and I’m working with samples straight from these patients. There’s a much more direct connection in this work.”

“We are at a turning point,” Kang adds. “The outcomes could be enormous.

We could save millions of lives and that excites us.” n

November, 2015 SPOTLIGHT 27

SPOTLIGHT Passions

By Shane Roberts

Craig Butler’s passion for football was ignited at four years old and he hasn’t looked back since. Now playing in the CFL, Butler has won many trophies throughout his life, including three Yates Cups during his time at Western. Today, he has his eyes set on the next trophy: a second Grey Cup. PHOTO BY: COREY STANFORD

28 SPOTLIGHT November, 2015

O

ver 20 years ago, a passion for football sparked in a fouryear-old boy’s eyes on the Hazelden soccer field in West London.

That boy was future Western Mustang Craig Butler.

“Before Craig could play for tyke London minor, they would just let Craig come out to the practices and run around the field and put pads on him and [he] pretended that he was playing football,” says Craig’s mother, Diane.

Don Nicholson, Butler’s stepfather, was the coach of his London minor football team. Before Butler played, Nicholson also coached his two older siblings, Erin and Dean.

After a couple of years hanging around at practices, Butler was allowed to play London minor football for the Hazelden Braves. “[My] passion for football probably started when I was young, playing LMFA,” says Butler, now 26. “My brother played, my sister played. It really just began when I was young....

Football was just the sport I always played and what I got the most joy out of.”

Under the leadership of Nicholson, the Braves won city championship after city championship with Butler at the helm as quarterback. Nicholson, a former football player himself, was glad to pass on his passion to Butler.

Once his career in London minor

CRAIG BUTLER FACEBOOK

football wrapped up, Butler and many of his teammates went on to play high school football for the St. Thomas Aquinas Flames. Playing for the Flames was a new challenge for Butler, as they didn’t have nearly as much success as the Braves and did not win as many championships — year after year they would fall victim to their cross-town rivals, either the Catholic Central Crusaders or the Lucas Vikings.

Butler also switched positions to the defensive side of football; he would start his high school football career as a defensive back and linebacker.

While playing for the Flames, Butler also played in the summers for the London Falcons of the Ontario Varsity Football League. Before his grade 12 season in August 2005, the Falcons made it all the way to the final against a team from Ottawa. The Falcons beat Ottawa and secured the title, but Butler seriously injured his knee in the process.

Due to his knee injury, Butler had to sit out the 2005 high school football season. While on the sidelines, he saw his team fall short once again in the city semifinals against the Lucas Vikings, so Butler decided to come back for a fifth year of high school.

It was during this year that Butler stepped up in a major way. Despite solely playing defence his first four years of high school, Butler filled the

hole at quarterback for the Flames.

With Butler now on both sides of the ball, the Flames were a force to be reckoned with.

Fast forward to the city semifinals with the Flames facing off against their arch-rival, the Catholic Central Crusaders. The Crusaders had made the city final 19 years in a row and were the clear favourite heading into the game against the Flames. The Flames found themselves trailing in the fourth quarter before Butler threw two touchdown passes and intercepted a pass in the last minute of the game to clinch the victory.

In the city finals, the Flames faced off against their other top rival, the Lucas Vikings. It was a tight matchup between the two squads that came down to defence. Butler helped the Flames shut down the Vikings as the game ended in a 9–7 victory for the Flames — a huge breakthrough. The football-crazed high school finally had their first title.

Even though they were excited about the victory, the work was not done yet. Next up, they played the St. Joseph’s Rams, the county champions from just outside of London. The Flames easily rolled over the Rams and found themselves in the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations semifinal against Sarnia Northern. ❱❱

SUE REEVES LONDON FREE PRESS

November, 2015 SPOTLIGHT 29

SPOTLIGHT Passions The game against Sarnia was a nail-biter. The Flames were in a 28–28 deadlock late in the game. Luckily, they were able to punt the ball through the end zone for a rouge to squeeze out a one-point victory and a berth in the OFSAA West Bowl.

Their game against Guelph Collegiate in the bowl game was over very quickly. Riding their momentum from their last few victories, the Flames steamrolled Guelph and won the game 40–7.

At the end of the season, Butler won the Bob Gooder Award as the most outstanding high school football player in the city.

Once his high school days had come to an end, Butler had an important decision to make. Where would he play university football? After considering all his options, the decision to come play for the Western Mustangs was an easy one.

“Western had a lot of new things going for it,” he says. “They had a new coach and a new stadium and a lot of good recruits so just a lot of good positive vibes going on.... I’m from London, [so] it was nice to be able to play in front of home friends and all that. Western was just one of those fits that seemed right when it happened.”

In his four seasons as a Mustang, the team won three Yates Cups.

In his first season in 2007, the team beat the Guelph Gryphons in the final. In his rookie season he had a lot of players to look up to who inspired him.

Hazelden Braves London Minor Football

1995

“When I came in it was [Matthew] Carapella and all those guys, and [Corey] McNair, and there were guys that really battled. And there was Michael Faulds.... I could go on and name many people,” he says. “When I was a rookie it was just how hard guys played. Guys that had been on the team for four years and only played a couple games. Those guys that are still into it and fighting and they wanted to win just as much as the guys who started [for] four years.”

The next year, the Mustangs beat Ottawa in the Yates Cup final and went on to face the St. Mary’s Huskies in the Mitchell Bowl. Butler played an outstanding game in the Mitchell Bowl, recording a 57-yard interception return for a touchdown in addition to notching 126 yards on eight punt returns. His performance earned him Mitchell Bowl MVP honours.

Western moved on to the Vanier Cup to face the Laval Rouge et Or but unfortunately fell short in the game 44–21.

In Butler’s final season, Western won the Yates Cup again, but lost to Laval in the Uteck Bowl. After his final season, Butler won the Dr. Claude Brown Memorial trophy for graduating top male athlete of the year at Western.

After graduating, Butler was drafted into the Canadian Football League by the Saskatchewan Roughriders. In his first season with the Roughriders, he recorded five interceptions and 47 tackles, and was subsequently named to the west division all-star team.

London Falcons Ontario Varsity Football League

2001

JORDAN MCGAVIN GAZETTE

30 SPOTLIGHT November, 2015

Western Mustangs Ontario University Athletics

2007 2002

2006

St. Thomas Aquinas Flames High School Football

In 2013, the Roughriders went all the way and won the Grey Cup over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, a memorable moment for Diane Butler.

“We were all there and it was just amazing,” she says. “We went down on the field and the highlight of my life to this moment I think was when they won that Grey Cup.” Of all the championships Butler has won at the minor league, high school, university and professional levels, this one was the most special.

“The Grey Cup is definitely one that I’d say I’d have to be the most proud of,” he says. “It’s something that I’m in pursuit of right now, I’m looking to get another one, but all those memories I have — memories in high school — they’re obviously great, because you’re just out there with guys that were your buddies and it was awesome. So definitely the Grey Cup, but I’m not resting on the last one — I’m looking for the next one.”

After winning the Grey Cup with the Roughriders, Butler signed a contract with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, the only CFL team he followed as a child.

“I always got to go to a Tiger-Cats game at Ivor Wynne [Stadium] at least once a year, so playing for [them] was something that I definitely thought of when I was younger,” he says.

As Butler’s professional career continues, his passion and love for the game of football will drive him towards his next goal — another Grey Cup. ■

Hamilton Tiger Cats Canadian Football League

2010

2014 2011

2013

Saskatchewan Roughriders Canadian Football League

2015

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November, 2015 SPOTLIGHT 31

SPOTLIGHT Passions

Catching the killer By: Katie Lear

Piecing together and getting it right drives Prof. Mike Arntfield to examine cold cases and give hope to families. His passion is passed on to his students, who look to him for guidance in class and beyond.

PHOTO BY: TAYLOR LASOTA GAZETTE

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ike Arntfield isn’t what you’d expect of an accomplished academic. No stranger to media attention from his time spent in front of the camera, Arntfield has enjoyed a varied career that has permitted him to enjoy all the complexities of solving crimes, the drama of producing a true crime television show and the brainy nature of academic life. Tucked away in a hard-to-find corner of the Social Science Centre, the well-spoken professor is thoughtful as he speaks.

He began teaching at Western in 2009 on a part-time basis, moving to full-time in 2013 as he developed courses on police and the media, and another on serial killers. His passion for criminology began with his work with the London Police Service, where he served for 15 years working in a variety of fields including robbery, arson and homicide.

“They say there are three things that are required to make a good cop: common sense, a sense of humour and empathy, and I thought that at the time, that was really the career that spoke to me,” Arntfield explains. “The ideological elements of it: going out and trying to do right and catching bad guys was very appealing. Within 10 years, it became obvious that that was

32 SPOTLIGHT November, 2015

one per cent of the job and I started to look for an escape hatch and academia was it.”

Arntfield currently teaches a number of courses at Western including Crime Writing: Black Dahlias, Red Herrings and Tequila Sunrises, and Crime Scene to Courtroom: Forensic Writing that are well-enjoyed by his students, such as fourth-year English literature and creative writing student Jacqueline Angelakis.

“I had taken his crime writing class initially and like any other student I went online and checked those sites where you can find out things about professors, see if they’re great and he had awesome reviews, so I was really excited to take the class,” Angelakis says. “He ended up being – and still is – one of my favourite professors and I had to take another one of his classes for a second semester.”

Angelakis explains that it’s Arntfield’s engagement with the material and how he communicates with students that earned him such high praise.

“He connects with students on a personal level and a scholarly level, which is really cool,” she says. “He’s never speaking down to students. He’s always getting students engaged, getting

their own opinion and getting their own insight on things. It’s never just him teaching and saying ‘everything has to be a certain way.’ ” In addition to Arntfield’s coursework, he also supervises a think tank called the Western Cold Case Society where faculty members and handpicked students review cold criminal cases provided to them by a variety of sources. The society uses new technologies and students from various disciplines to find new avenues of investigation to solve cases previously left unsolved.

Karen Pollo was a case manager within the Cold Case Society in the 2014–15 school year and speaks highly of her time working with Arntfield.

While her academic background was in health sciences, the Cold Case Society allowed her to explore an interest she had.

“His passion for criminology and the field translated into me being more knowledgeable and being able to learn and experience a field I was interested in but not accustomed to,” she says. “It encouraged me to do more research on criminology.”

According to Arntfield, it’s the combination of narrative, history and crime as well as a desire to bring closure to

the affected families that fuels his work.

“It’s in my DNA that I don’t like unanswered questions and especially when there are alternative ways of doing things better,” he says. “It really is the spirit of innovation that’s here at Western and I’m applying that to helping crime victims as opposed to building a better mousetrap, per se.”

Arntfield explains that his work as a police officer has primed him for thinking of his work as not just a job, but a vocation.

“I can’t easily define when I’m on the clock or when I’m doing this because it’s a passion for me. What I’m doing is by its very nature the type of thing where you need to go all in. It’s not a matter that it became more than a job – from the beginning it was a passion and I’m lucky enough to be in a situation where I can have a job contoured around a passion.”

Arntfield’s most recently published book, Murder City, explores how London could hold the title of most serial killers per capita from 1959 to 1984.

He suggests that London’s unique combination of demography, geography and partisan police factionalism contributes to the city’s 25-year streak.

His current project has him working on what he hopes will become the definitive textbook on criminology. “[It] will conjoin university crim-

inology with police academy studies and college curricula, whether it’s paralegal or police foundations, so you can have criminology for people who are actually doing the work,” Arntfield details. “I made it my ambition to make criminology something that had greater applied practicality to front-line people doing the work. Because I did [policing] for 15 years, the books I was reading didn’t really resonate with me and didn’t speak to my daily experience.”

Currently, Arntfield is preparing to move to Nashville, Tenn., for his sabbatical, where he will accept a yearlong position as the Fulbright chair of Vanderbilt University’s law school starting next term. While in Nashville, Arntfield’s courses will be put on hold but the Cold Case Society will continue, supervised by faculty and graduate students, while Arntfield plans to start a new Cold Case Society at Vanderbilt.

Even with his upcoming sabbatical, it’s clear that his tutelage has left a lasting impact on his students. While the details of the cold cases they’ve worked on have to remain confidential, Pollo explained the work she participated in was not only rewarding in and of itself but helped foster a lasting relationship between her and Arntfield.

“I had the opportunity to talk with him every so often as I was the case manager and part of my duties were to

relay information from the group,” Pollo says. “However, outside of CCS, he gave me a lot of school advice in terms of grad programs and opportunities.”

Pollo isn’t the only student that Arntfield has impacted – Angelakis attributes her law school aspirations to her time spent with Arntfield and is even using him as one of her academic references.

“I find there’s a lot of classes where I feel like just another number in the class, [but] he really gets to know you,” Angelakis explains. “He knows his students, he knows how to help each and every student in their own way. I was able to really engage and get an interest in crime and courtroom and that’s why I’m currently doing my applications for law school.”

As much as Arntfield’s students receive from working with him, he explains how they in turn motivate him to continue his work.

“My motivation every day comes from the emails I get from family members who’ve looked to me who are exasperated with conventional routes, from people who read my work and are inspired to go on and be advocates for victims, who go on and try to reform police, who want to go on to forensic sciences and take how we apprehend people to the next level, who want to go on to law school to advocate for these people,” Arntfield says. ■

November, 2015 SPOTLIGHT 33

SPOTLIGHT Passions

JACK OF ALL TRADES BY: JENNY JAY

Photo by Taylor Lasota

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y grandpa had this saying — don’t be a jack of all trades and a master of none.

I never quite understood it.

I remember leaving grade 12, positive that my planned major in film and minor in creative writing would lead me to a job that followed my passions.

I can get a job with a production company. I can write a novel in my spare time and I can also work as a photographer whenever I get the chance. People have day jobs and work on side hobbies all the time, right? I am paving myself a solid future fuelled by what I love.

Fast forward. It’s my first year at Western University. My first month in the city, I go to my first poetry slam and realize I am a closet spoken word poet. In the span of a single Friday night, I have found a new passion in a kind of poetry I had been subconsciously writing for years.

Fast forward. I’m halfway through first year. I’m a staff writer and intern for The Gazette. I am realizing a little too late that I am becoming the Marilyn Monroe of possibilities — having too many loves and wondering if it’s even necessary to find the true one. The world of interviewing sources, transcribing and writing articles is already beckoning the ache of my writer’s fingertips.

Fast forward. I’m in second year, working as an arts and life editor. I think I want to be a celebrity journalist. I decide I hate my major; film is really film theory and all I really want is to work with production — to work behind the camera, rather than spending three hours in lecture learning about neo-realism. Perhaps university isn’t for me. I want to climb mountains and write poetry — maybe I’ll drop out and pursue a career as a full-time spoken word artist.

A long, late-night, tear-filled conversation with my roommates makes me realize that I shouldn’t just drop out and leave university. Why don’t you change your major? They com-

fort my lost, second-year soul. Spend time working on your ideas — what do you need to do to get there?

I think about it long and hard. I finally decide to change my degree to a major in English and a minor in creative writing. Maybe I could do a master’s of journalism. I am hopeful.

I start writing a chapbook of poetry and try promoting my performances. I perform at City Hall. I come second in a national poetry competition. I create a Facebook page. I call it a collective. I am starting to realize that I’m not just a photographer.

I am not just a poet. I am not just a journalist. I self-publish my first draft of my book of poetry.

I call it, This is for the Pen. It even has a dedication to Ben at Starbucks who supplied me with caffeine.

Fast forward. I am now in third year. I still don’t know where I will end up, but I know where I want to be. I am a jack of multiple trades but I am learning that it’s hard work to be a master of all of them.

For the longest time, all of these ideas were never really a possibility.

I didn’t have the resources or the connections, but now that these possibilities are just beyond my reach, it’s harder. There are no longer any excuses I can search for. I’m realizing the caveat of being a creative soul sometimes means there are multiple creative outlets, but there are also people who spend years or decades specializing in just one. One of my friends tells me that perhaps I’m simply indecisive. Another friend tells me they can see my passions spread out like a bright, interconnected mind map.

I am the mind map.

My mom always told me that she was happy with whatever I did as long as I loved what I was doing.

After a long time, I’m realizing I’m allowed to love more than one specific field as long as I throw my heart into it.

We are so quick to divide ourselves

into specific niches that we forget it’s OK to diversify our talents. In this world, science students aren’t allowed to be writers and mathematicians aren’t allowed to be painters.

We have created a world where we focus on the fact that we must specialize, forgetting that great thinkers were mathematicians and poets, scientists and musicians.

We forget that genres of passions should not be — and are not — mutually exclusive.

I now get photography gigs doing individual photo shoots. I travel when I can. I’m working on a website that will showcase all of it: my photography, the travel blogs and the poetry. I have an idea for a global short film series that I want to pursue.

I have so many ideas.

I recently had someone tell me that I need to remind myself that I am doing enough. I have so many goals and projects I want to be pursuing and to do them all while being a full-time student is a lot to expect out of myself. However, for the first time in years, I realize that I’m the most driven I’ve ever been because I’m realizing it’s okay to have more than one passion.

I probably won’t be able to do them all at the same time, but it doesn’t mean I can’t continue to develop the different creative outlets I yearn for. Some days I am more of a writer. Other days my fingers spray ink in the form of poetry. Autumn afternoons I ache for the click of my camera. It’s hard work that requires little sleep and lots of motivation, but when my love for every one of my projects fuels me like gasoline to a fire, motivation comes easy.

Fast forward. My name is Jenny. I am 20 years old.

I am a writer. I am a photographer.

I am a journalist. I am a poet. I am a videographer. I am a blogger. I am an artist. I am a jack of all these trades, pending master in all.

But above all, I am passionate. ■

November, 2015 SPOTLIGHT 35

SPOTLIGHT Passions

Helping our furry friends By: Olivia Zollino Photos by: Jenny Jay

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Staff and volunteers dedicate their time and energy to saving, socializing and finding homes for thousands of animals every year. It doesn’t matter their age or background, it’s a love for animals that binds them.

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rom the moment you enter the door, you can hear the noise coming from the residents. The dim lights flicker as you walk up to the front desk and ask the receptionist where to go. The second you speak, the clamouring becomes louder — they know you’re here. You’re directed down the hallway towards the source of the noise. With each step you take, the sound becomes increasingly louder to the point that it’s almost unbearable. As you turn into the open space of the metal doorframe, the choir of voices reaches its threshold. Your eyes pace the room in a zigzag formation, wall to wall, not knowing where to begin. Eyes stare back at you, mouths yelling in your direction, barking at you to come to them, their furry tails wagging.

Welcome to the humane society.

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ichelle Lidka, a fourth-year interdisciplinary medical sciences student at Western, spent her summer volunteering at the Burlington Humane Society.

“When I started doing it, I just loved it so much,” says Lidka. “I loved being around all the cats and dogs.”

In third-year, Lidka went to an academic counsellor to seek help in narrowing down a career path. The counsellor began by asking her what she loved. Her response?

“I love my dogs,” she recalls with a chuckle. “That’s my favourite thing.”

Lidka began volunteering at the humane society while home for the summer break after deciding she wanted to pursue veterinary sciences as a career. She dedicated two to three days a week volunteering with both the cats and the dogs at the shelter. Each shift, Lidka would look after the animals, clean their cages and spend time playing with them. While each shift was supposed to last for four hours, she found herself there longer, just caring for the animals.

“At the humane society, [volunteering] is a lot of playing with [the animals], so there I’m usually very happy,” she says, smiling. “I’ll take the cats out and I spend so much time with them, cuddling them and playing with them.”

She says that her love for animals grew out of their unconditional love for humans.

“I just love animals because they’re so non-judgemental and don’t hold grudges,” says Lidka.

Spending time with animals has a therapeutic effect on Lidka. She says that while she finds herself stressed out often, being around animals and taking care of them has a calming effect on her.

“When I’m around animals, I don’t know what it is about them but I find I’m much calmer,” says Lidka. “I stress myself out very easily but every time I’m around animals I don’t think about that. They’re a big de-stresser for me, which helps a lot.”

In September, Lidka moved back to London for school and began volunteering at the Masonville Animal Hospital, assisting veterinarians and cleaning-up after the animals. Her shifts at the hospital begin at 8 a.m., an early morning for Lidka; however, she finds it easier to wake up to volunteer at the hospital than it is for her classes.

“At the animal hospital, it’s the same thing — I’m in a much happier mood,” she says. “For me, the fact that I can get up early and go says a lot, because during the week I struggle to get up for 9:30 a.m. classes.”

Lidka looks forward to becoming a veterinarian one day and working with like-minded people who are as concerned about animal welfare as she is. She thoroughly enjoys observing the different medical situations at the animal hospital. Despite the early morning volunteer shifts, she cannot wait to be able to help hands-on.

“Knowing that they don’t have that voice to speak up for themselves, I want to be able to help them,” says Lidka.

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ccording to the Canadian Federation of Humane Soci-

eties, as of 2013, there are 172 humane societies and societies for the prevention of cruelty to animals across Canada. Ontario has the most of any province with 47.

In London, Ontario, the London Humane Society serves London and surrounding area. Established in 1899 as a non-profit organization, the LHS runs entirely on donations and adoption fees. The shelter currently has seven full-time staff and employs part-time staff to deal with its seven-days-a-week operating schedule. Additionally, vets and clinics all over the city work with the shelter, with many vets working pro bono. Approximately 250 Londoners volunteer for the shelter throughout the year according to Judy Foster, executive director for the LHS. Volunteers will spend their time in-shelter, at adoption events and at off-site fundraiser locations. ❱❱

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November, 2015 SPOTLIGHT 37

SPOTLIGHT Passions Barry Clark, a retiree living in London, has been a volunteer with the LHS for over a year and a half now.

While the animals are living in the shelter, they are unable to leave their cages for long periods of time unless they have supervision. As a result, Clark, like many Londoners, volunteers to spend time with the animals and play with them, giving them time to stretch their legs. The human contact aids the animals and helps them learn how to properly interact with people, thus giving them a high success rate of bonding with their future family. Clark works specifically with the cats, helping to socialize them.

“I’ve always had a fondness for animals. I like dogs but I do prefer cats personally,” Clark says with a chuckle.

Clark decided to begin volunteering after losing his own cat. Over the years, he has been a contributor to the London Humane Society, a cause he feels is underfunded but substantial to the community. Since retiring, Clark found he had spare time and decided that he wanted to take a more active role with the shelter.

Every week, Clark takes the cats out of their cages one-by-one. He marks each cat’s name off of a checklist, making sure that he does not miss giving his undivided

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attention to any feline. He’ll bring each cat into a designated room full of toys, scratching posts and room for the cats to get some exercise. Some run around the room sporadically, excited at the chance to leave their cages. Others sit content in the beds provided, purring incessantly while Clark pets them.

Clark recalls his family adopting his first pet in 1967 from the very same shelter he now volunteers for.

“We came out here and looked at some cats and saw a little black kitten… I kind of fell in love with her,” he recalls. “She turned out to be my cat — there were other people in my family, but I was the one she kind of went to for everything.”

While volunteering a few months ago, Clark found a new feline friend that just happened to be a perfect fit for his home.

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he shelter is home to a variety of animals, including

cats, dogs of all sizes, rabbits, gerbils and hamsters, all looking for their forever home. According to Foster,

the shelter takes in animals from a variety of situations.

“We remove animals from situations of distress, neglect, abandonment and abuse,” says Foster.

She adds that not every situation is entirely negative, as often comes to mind when one thinks of animal shelters and that the LHS is the only shelter in London where owned animals can go. For example, if someone cannot afford veterinary care for their animal, they can surrender the dog to LHS, she says.

On this particular day, a beautiful eight-year-old Beagle named Mandy is sitting patiently in the kennels. She’s new to the building, brought here after the death of her owner.

However, not every animal is so lucky to have come from a loving and nurturing home. That’s where Chris Chew comes in.

Chew, one of two agents at the LHS, has been doing active investigations for the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals for upwards of 10 years now.

The LHS is affiliated with the OSPCA, meaning they are recognized in legislation and as a result, may enforce four sections of the federal criminal code related to animal abuse.

Chew took a police foundations course and after graduation, he began looking for his next career step. That’s when Chew saw a job opening with the London Humane Society that he felt would fit his education and allow him to play an active role in the welfare of animals. “[When I was] looking how to pursue a career, being in a job that allows me to do enforcement and work with animals seemed like a perfect idea,” says Chew.

As a child, animals had always been a part of his life. He says that he was raised to treat animals with kindness and respect, a mandate that would stick with him in his career as an agent at the LHS. On the job, Chew sees animals in a variety of states and situations. He recalls situations where he’s been called to homes and has found exotic animals that are banned from Ontario, ranging from snakes and alligators to the largest cats in the animal kingdom.

“We found a lion in the spare bedroom of a home, so that was a moment of awe when you’re dealing with that,” he recalls.

While the situations are rare, LHS staff does their best to transfer the exotic and banned animals out of the province.

“We work with sanctuaries, we work with specialists so that they’re removed safely,” says Foster. “It’s not the alligator’s fault that they landed in London, Ontario.”

While the process of removing and transferring exotic animals is costly, the LHS completely funds the projects rather than electing to euthanize the animals. Chew is glad that these animals are receiving the help they need.

“Going out and seeing how other people can and can’t, and what they do and don’t with their pets, it is an important thing that there’s somebody out there who can help correct those issues,” he says. ❱❱

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SPOTLIGHT Passions While Chew is passionate about animal welfare, he acknowledges the sensitivity inherent in the job description and notes that not every animal lover can handle the day-to-day demands of the job.

“You’ve got to have a personality that fits for it,” he says.

“There are a lot of people who are like, ‘this cannot be. I’m super upset because I’ve just seen this situation’ and you want to take it out on somebody sometimes, but you have to be diplomatic and you have to be able to keep your cool and composure on it.”

Despite the wide variety of situations Chew deals with on a daily basis, he makes sure that every animal he meets is treated with a basic standard of care — the same care he was taught growing up.

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he London Humane Society works tirelessly to find

suitable homes for both the animals and the owners.

Foster calls their adoption process “rigorous,” explaining that the application to adopt acts as an educational process for the potential adopter in terms of discovering what it will take to raise an animal.

Additionally, everyone in the household must come to the shelter and meet the animal in order to ensure the

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animal is the right fit for the household. There is no such thing as “surprise pets,” nor is there a first-come, first-serve rule at LHS. Once an adopter is approved, they will meet with staff and go over any information the shelter has about the pet.

“We set everyone up for success — we set the pet up for success, we set the adopter up for success,” Foster says.

In the event that something does not work out between the owner and the pet, the shelter will take the animal back and work towards rehoming them again. Foster has noted that in the past, people have been unaware of an allergy in the home and that new adopters have had to unfortunately return their new pet. While the situation is sad, Foster wants to ensure any animal through the London Humane Society finds a suitable home.

“We stand behind our process and we want to make sure our animals have a happy ending,” she says.

The LHS estimates 45,000 people have come to the shelter this year. All in all, this has resulted in the adoption of over 1,000 animals between January and the end of October.

Between the staff, veterinarians, OSPCA agents, volunteers and generous Londoners, it certainly takes a village to raise the animals of London and these animal lovers are happy to help their furry friends. U

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SPOTLIGHT Identities

4 SPOTLIGHT Wednesday, October 28, 2015