Thursday, January 28, 2016

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insight

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SINCE 1906

westerngazette.ca THURSDAY, JANUARY 28, 2016 • WESTERN UNIVERSITY’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER • VOLUME 109 ISSUE 34 we regret the error since 1906

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2 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 28, 2016

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PROFILE ROWA MOHAMED

Volume 109, Issue 34 WWW.WESTERNGAZETTE.CA University Community Centre Rm. 263 Western University London, ON, CANADA N6A 3K7 Editorial 519.661.3580 Advertising 519.661.3579

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“I feel more fulfilled when I’m doing activist work or when I’m educating by doing workshops,” says Rowa.

As the political affairs representative for the Black Students’ Association, Rowa was part of the Black Lives Matter campaign at Western and organizes reflections on black identity and intersectionality.

“I try to be as inclusive as possible about all the different aspects of black people who exist at Western,” she explains. “It’s important to draw attention to the way students of colour are treated on this campus.”

Rowa highlights the backlash she received for speaking out against issues such as Western’s White Students’ Union.

GAZETTE ADVERTISING & COMPOSING IAN GREAVES, MANAGER ADVERTISING DIANA WATSON

Fifth-year student Rowa Mohamed may be graduating this year with a degree in health sciences, but her passion has driven her into the arms of social justice.

COMPOSING MAJA ANJOLI-BILIĆ ROBERT ARMSTRONG

“I was worried about being around campus and my friends sensed that because they’d walk with me everywhere,” she says. “They were like ‘Your loud mouth is really going to get you in trouble this time.’ ” Rowa reaches her audience through Facebook posts, where she addresses her opinions she feels many have, but few have the courage to express.

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“Black Lives Matter was the point at which I realized I don’t care for what anyone has to say,” she says. “If I’m going to be around people who are going to justify that other people deserve to die, then we have to have a conversation about that, no matter how hard that conversation is going to be.”

While Rowa stands strong against the negativity surrounding her activism, she recognizes that it has its

downfalls.

“I’ve received all kinds of threats on Twitter, on Facebook,” she says. “I feel like if you bring it upon yourself, you deserve to have your name out there – take responsibility for what you’ve said.”

In light of this, Rowa has recently focused on creating online spaces like Facebook groups for people to engage in conversations separate from oppressive power structures.

“A lot of activism is about going out there and protesting, and those things are super important, but a lot of it is trying to collect people and having them be close to you,” says Rowa.

One of the ways Rowa has done this is by starting her own radio show through Soundcloud and CHRW called “For Black Girls.” In the segment, Rowa brings guests to discuss issues affecting the black community.

Although the platform has been empowering, she feels that more can be done. Working within the Sudanese, black and Muslim communities in London and at Western, Rowa has struggled with her intersectionality.

“I’m too Canadian to fit in back in Sudan, but I’m too Sudanese to really integrate into Canadian society,” she explains. “And add onto that being Muslim, it’s a whole other thing.”

This personal drive for social justice has promise, but Rowa isn’t sure where she’s going to take it.

“My passion is to educate young people, but not through the school system. I’m not sure how I’m going to do it yet, but I’m going to continue along this path and hope that opportunities present themselves.”

■■ROBERT NANNI

WESTERNGAZETTE

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WESTERNGAZETTE

More mature students heading back to school

Green juice is not the key to a slim waist

The Ontario Undergraduate Application Centre reports an increase in mature students applying to university, as education becomes a barrier in career paths.  PG 4

While fad diets seem like a great way to lose weight quickly, many have found themselves hungry, tired and worse off in the end.

WESTERNGAZETTE

All articles, letters, photographs, graphics, illustrations and cartoons published in The Gazette, both in the newspaper and online versions, are the property of The Gazette. By submitting any such material to The Gazette for publication, you grant to The Gazette a non-exclusive, world-wide, royalty-free, irrevocable license to publish such material in perpetuity in any media, including but not limited to, The Gazette‘s hard copy and online archives.

The Gazette is owned and published by the University Students’ Council.

CORRECTIONS FROM TUESDAY’S ISSUE:

 PG 7

The graphic on page 3 incorrectly stated Brandon Palin’s running mate. He is in fact running with Robbie Cohen.

The column on page 9 titled, “Where are all the female candidates?” incorrectly stated the first female president of the USC was Sondra Gibbons.

It was in fact Margaret O’Grady in 1976.

The article on page 10 titled, “McIntosh explores African Canadian identity” incorrectly stated that the Kaufmann family are not from Africa. They are in fact South African.

HIGH 0 LOW -5

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 28, 2016 • 3

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Almost all student council presidents acclaimed HAMZA TARIQ BREAKING NEWS EDITOR @KATIEATGAZETTE

EDDE AVILA / BRANDON PALIN / ROBERT MACMILLAN

PHOTOS: TAYLOR LASOTA / KYLE PORTER / TEAM MACMILLAN

The candidates’ platforms KATIE LEAR NEWS EDITOR @KATIEATGAZETTE

DRISHTI KATARIA NEWS EDITOR @DRISHTATGAZETTE

Team Avila’s platform is built around the motto: “Students for students.”

Released on Monday morning, Eddy Avila and Jamie Cleary’s platform is divided into five main sections: academics, engagement and collaboration, wellness, student life and community.

Each section in the platform is further divided into a “for now” and “for later” portion. Presumably, the “for now” portion consists of items that can be changed in the shortterm future.

A major point in the academics “for now” section is proposed changes to academic counselling. Team Avila envisions a virtual appointment booking system instead of having to call or go in to book an appointment.

Some of Team Avila’s proposed “for later” points include: advocating for the 30 per cent off tuition grant to apply to more students (students who have been out of high school for more than four years); sending out earlier exam schedules; moving the fall reading break to Thanksgiving; implementing a pay-as-you-go system in which students pay per course/course load instead of per year; and modifying the allowance for three exams in 23 hours.

In the student life “for now” section, the team hopes to create a Beerfest 2.0 in Frost Week, bring campus recreation activities to the University Community Centre and increase pedestrian safety.

Additionally, the team hopes to have more indigenous programming including hosting events and conferences.

In the engagement and collaboration “for now” section the team talks about how they would stay in touch with students. Team Avila hopes to have a more user-friendly USC website, the ability for students to meet with the executive team on a weekly basis and have direct engagement.

Finally, in their community section, Team Avila wants bus passes to be extended into September so that students have time to pick up their new ones, more bus shelters so students are not in the cold, more HOCO events in the city and increased awareness about the Mustang Express. n

Social science president Brandon Palin and Huron assistant head soph Robbie Cohen released their platform on Monday afternoon.

Highlighted in their platform includes a focus on the existing soph team structure, and the platform proposes setting aside part of the O-Week budget to “help subsidize the cost of participating in the program for sophs who can demonstrate financial need on a confidential basis.”

Additionally, their platform suggests “there are concerns that changes have been made without proper due diligence,” regarding the current orientation program. They propose working to develop new guidelines for decision-making to include a variety of perspectives when it comes to addressing concerns.

In their full page dedicated to clubs reform, they are critical of the bureaucracy that exists within the current clubs system, suggesting that risk-management is a priority at the expense of customer service.

The platform suggests creating a list of club activities and operations that can be performed without the USC’s approval.

Wellness is another focus of Palin/Cohen’s platform, as they propose introducing “Wellness Wednesdays” – an initiative that would see programming in the UCC every other Wednesday along the lines of puppies in the UCC atrium and yoga in the Mustang Lounge.

They also propose introducing nap rooms as a pilot project aimed at improving on-campus wellness.

Also included in the platform’s hopes for wellness include Palin/ Cohen’s hopes to work on “integrating, improving, and increasing the capacity of mental health resources,” the platform reads, as they aim to advocate for reduced wait times for these on-campus resources and improve accessibility.

Palin/Cohen’s proposed external advocacy will focus on lobbying the provincial government as they go about “redesigning the way it distributes $3.5 billion to the province’s universities to redress a decline in undergraduate education and demand clear and measurable learning outcomes.” n

Team MacMillan launched their USC presidential campaign using a Facebook page and so far, their campaign differs not only in their lack of a campaign website, but also in many of their platform points.

The platform starts on a lighthearted note. Their mandate states they have “a strong belief to make a serious effort to create fun and constructive shenanigans that will aid the undergraduate community in their day-to-day lives.”

With 15 platform points, Team MacMillan’s promises range from tangible goals to unfeasible dreams.

“It’s not really a tangible platform, it’s more of a concept in order to get people to look at the elections, to realize that there are elections happening and a lot of the platforms are the same year after year, or very similar,” said Robert MacMillan.

Regarding the University Students’ Council’s spending, they will hold referendums so all students can vote on how their money is spent. Furthermore, they want to make the USC a publicly traded company.

The late release of exam schedules is a common annoyance amongst Western students, especially those coming from out of province. Team MacMillan seeks to make the exam schedule available at the same time as course registration.

Tackling issues directly related to education, Team MacMillan not only wants to rearrange the floors of Weldon Library so students don’t have to take the elevators or the stairs to reach the fifth floor, they will also have all classes available on a live video stream to accommodate sleepy students.

To encourage faster evacuation times, they want fire alarms on campus to play Rebecca Black’s song Friday. They also propose transporting TD Stadium to away games so we will always have home field advantage.

Team MacMillan claims their campaign platform will continue to be updated during the campaign period based on student response.

“They’re all going be based around building a stronger community and ensuring that students who are feeling alone are a part of everything,” said Robert Armstrong. n

Here’s a list of all acclaimed student council presidents: Faculty of Science NOOR SHAKFA Faculty of Social Science REBECCA AMOAH Faculty of Arts and Humanities CARINA GABRIELE Health Studies Students’ Association: KYLEEN WONG Nursing Students’ Association: HANNAH GREGOR Faculty of Information and Media Studies: KRISTA PEREIRA Faculty of Music: JACLYN SIOU

You don’t have to sit in school to stand among greatness.

› Thomas Edison: The world’s most extraordinary failure never gave up.

Thank goodness.

open. online. everywhere. go.athabascau.ca/online-courses

By Levin C. Handy (per http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cwpbh.04326) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

RITA RAHMATI NEWS EDITOR @RITAATGAZETTE

Seven of nine student council presidents have been acclaimed this year.

Nine University Students’ Council or faculty council positions were acclaimed in total — meaning the person running has automatically been appointed to the role because they were the only candidate vying for the position.

According to USC communications officer Kevin Hurren, the lack of competition for faculty presidents didn’t necessarily indicate a lack of interest.

As for students who may be concerned over the lack of choice available for their faculty president, Hurren encourages students to reach out to the acclaimed candidate and prospective councillors.

“I would say to then engage with the faculty council representatives on the USC because in those we see more competition and [have students] say ‘I will vote for you as

a USC councillor if you support or don’t support certain things that the president is proposing,’ and I think that could also be an interesting dynamic for how students vote for their councillors,” Hurren said. “Will they vote for councillors who are in line with or who are opposed to the president’s vision?”

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4 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 28, 2016

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Mature applications increase AMY O’KRUK NEWS EDITOR @AMYATGAZETTE It’s September 2014, and Kevin Dunklee is going back to school.

Unlike other students returning to Western University, though, Dunklee’s memories of UWO began in 1988.

“I started in economics and then I transferred to the music school,” he said, laughing. “Both with an equally spectacular lack of success!”

After serving as the president of Western’s Marching Band, Dunklee dropped out, confident he’d carve out a career on his own. Over 20 years later, though, Dunklee’s resumé featured everything from journalism gigs to call centres and even a stint as a vacuum salesman.

He realized his lack of post-secondary education was holding him back.

“It takes a little bit of self-honesty to realize ‘OK, I’m not where I need to be, and I need to take two steps back in order to go three steps forward,’ ” Dunklee said. “I made the decision to go back to school at age 42.”

One year later, he enrolled at Fanshawe College in an accounting program. Two years later, he jumped ship to Kings University College as a third-year BMOS student. He’s now pursuing a minor in philosophy, too.

Dunklee’s not alone, according to statistics released from the Ontario Universities’ Application Centre. Their statistics revealed the number of applications from non-high school students is up by more than three per cent to almost 30,000 this year. Non-high school applicants include college students transferring to university, mature students and applicants from other provinces and abroad.

“We … know that research on future employment shows labour shortages for many occupations that require a university degree,” said the president of the Council of Ontario Universities, David Lindsay. “Going back to university in an economic downturn will ensure people have the critical thinking and leadership skills today’s employers are looking for as jobs emerge that we haven’t even dreamed of yet.”

According to Human Resources and Skills Development Canada’s estimates, 70% of new jobs in the coming decade

Over the past 25 years,

the proportion of

will require

18-20-year-old

postsecondary education.

Ontarians that attend university

Between 2011 and 2020, AUCC estimates there will be 2.1 million jobs created for

has increased by about

50%.

university graduates.

The number of non-high school students applying to Ontario universities

is up by more than 3% to almost 30,000.

National research backs Lindsay up. According to Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, 70 per cent of new jobs in the coming decade will require postsecondary education and in 2013, CIBC reported most jobs in high demand in Canada require a university degree.

Alison Adair, communications manager at Western Continuing Studies, agrees. She said the number of adult learners, students who are applying for education programs over 27 years old, is booming.

“We’ve seen a huge increase in adult learners coming back to achieve those soft skills for career promotion,” Adair said. “People who may only have a high school education and have worked somewhere for 20 years, are now finding themselves not employable because they don’t have a skill set.”

It’s also a trend that’s been gaining steam over the last few decades.

In the past 25 years, OUAC reports the proportion of 18- to 20-year-old Ontarians that attend university increased by around 50 per cent.

Further, this year, the number of university applications from high school students stayed at last year’s level despite a dip in the university-aged population. The number of applications only fell 0.1 per cent from 2015.

Overall, almost 88,000 high school students filed more than 404,700 applications for spots at Ontario’s 20 publicly funded universities for the 2016 academic year.

“Like anything in life, you get out of it what you put into it, and I’ve been putting a lot more into it,” Dunklee said. “[Western’s] been a great community so far.” n

Sources: OUAC and Universities Canada as of Jan. 18, 2016

JORDAN MCGAVIN GAZETTE

Solution to puzzle on page 9

TAYLOR LASOTA GAZETTE

Candidates offer different perspective HAMZA TARIQ BREAKING NEWS EDITOR @HAMZAATGAZETTE Fourth-year FIMS students Melissa Peterson and Antoinette Taranets will be running together as a slate for the USC’s top political office in the 2016 elections.

Peterson, current FIMS student council president, has put herself forward for the University Students’ Council president position. Taranets, current FIMSSC vice-president communications, is a candidate for the USC vice-president position. They have decided to call their slate “mel + twon.”

Peterson and Taranets are running because they want to create a dialogue on campus without taking themselves too seriously.

“I think these elections can honestly sometimes be alienating to the general population of students because its the same kind of person with the same resume who is stepping up,” Taranets said.

Peterson and Taranets have known each other from working together on the FIMSSC. With the election season coming up, the two got in conversation and decided to run in December.

“It was a little bit of a cheesy romance … we got burritos and it was set,” Peterson said with a laugh.

Peterson felt that students whose opinions diverge from the usual USC establishment often don’t feel motivated to run for the top positions and that’s what pushed them to put their names on the ballot in this election.

“So often people whose opinion differs from the classic USC opinion may not necessarily feel encouraged to pursue that leadership position because you can already see the friction between what you think is best for the organization and what the organization thinks is best for [itself],” she said.

According to Taranets, their platform will focus more on letting students see their perspective because that ultimately influences decisions on issues that may arise during a slate’s term in office.

“Drafting the platform will be based on what we want to bring to the table and where that comes from is really who we are as people,” Peterson said. “I think it should be more about who the candidates are and how they make their decisions.”

About their own platform, Taranets said, “I think we want to say this is our dialogue, this is our invitation to students to contact us and give us their ideas and hopefully something in that platform is what sparks that conversation.” n

Students saved a life on HOCO RITA RAHMATI NEWS EDITOR @RITAATGAZETTE

Everyone knows Homecoming can get crazy, but no one ever expects it to risk their life. If it wasn’t for two heroic individuals, a young woman may have died following an allergic reaction.

Two students, Sean Hope of EVERY THURSDAY ADVER TISING FEATURE

Fanshawe College and Stacia Pepper of King’s University College, received citizen citations from the London Police Service last Thursday as recognition for saving the victim.

Citizen citations are awarded to members of the community who have assisted the police force by doing something extraordinary, according to Sandasha Bough, LPS media relations.

Hope and Pepper were at a party at Pepper’s house when they heard

someone across the street needed CPR and immediately went to help.

“All of a sudden somebody yells, ‘Does anybody know CPR?’ Sean and I have former training on it so we ran over and we saw that she was completely blue, didn’t have a pulse, so we started taking turns doing CPR,” Pepper said. “And I don’t know how we did it, but we found a way to bring her back.”

When EMS finally arrived they said the patient was close to “expiring” from an allergic reaction and

anaphylactic shock.

Neither Hope or Pepper expected to get recognition for their actions and were happy to have helped save an individual’s life.

“I had no idea we were going to get an award, it’s an amazing feeling," Pepper said. "We’re so thankful that she’s okay too — that’s all that matters.”

“It was really awesome to actually provide help and then to get rewarded for what we actually did,” Hope said. n

&Wellness

Health

Look here on Thursdays for special Western student deals on health and wellness from London businesses

Family and Cosmetic Dentistry New and Emergency Patients Welcome STUDENT AND STAFF DENTAL PLANS ACCEPTED

FREE TEETH WHITENING WITH COMPLETE EXAM AND CLEANING

RITA RAHMATI GAZETTE SAVING A LIFE. Recognized for their efforts in saving someone’s life at last year’s Homecoming were students Sean Hope, centre right, and Stacia Pepper, centre left. They are flanked by London police chief John Pare on the left and Jeannette Eberhard, chair of the police board, on the right.

• www.westerngazette.ca

THURSDAY, JANUARY 28, 2016 • 5

knowsports

Mustang rookie puts P.E.I. behind him SHANE ROBERTS SPORTS EDITOR @SHANEATGAZETTE The odds have always been stacked against Ligrit Sadiku.

Growing up in Prince Edward Island, there were limited opportunities for him to develop his wrestling skills. When he started high school, there was no wrestling team, but by the end of his grade nine year, the interest he and some of his friends showed in the sport influenced his gym teacher to start the school’s first wrestling team.

At the time, the enthusiasm of Sadiku and his friends also helped kickstart the first wrestling club in his hometown of Summerside, P.E.I. Even with the startup of the school team and the club, he did not get to compete very often because of a lack of interest in wrestling throughout the province.

Despite the lack of resources, however, Sadiku was still able to make the provincial team for the Canada Games in 2013.

“I placed fifth [at Canada Games], which I wasn’t happy about,” said Sadiku. “No guy from P.E.I. has ever won a medal there and I wanted to be the first one, so it was kind of disappointing.”

He attributed falling short of his own expectations to the lack of mat time and competition he had in comparison to wrestlers from other provinces. The year after this disappointment at the Canada Games, he decided to make a major change to give himself more of a chance to develop as a wrestler.

“The summer going into grade 12, I thought, ‘If I want to succeed I have to get out of this province,’ ” said Sadiku. “I have some family in London so I came here in September in grade 12 and lived with them and went to a high

school here just for the wrestling.”

A large influence in Sadiku’s decision to take this chance was Nick Cummins, his head coach at the Canada Games. Cummins told Sadiku he had to drop some of his other hobbies: boxing and jiu jitsu. He said he needed to solely focus on wrestling if he wanted to reach his potential. If Sadiku did, opportunities for him included a potential athletic scholarship to a top university in Canada.

Sadiku moved to London, Ont., in 2014 and went to Saunders Secondary School, where he spent much of his spare time practicing with the London Western Wrestling Club on campus. It was at this time that he started to develop a relationship with Western’s longtime wrestling coach Ray Takahashi.

In the short time they’ve worked together, Takahashi has been very helpful in progressing Sadiku. “[Takahashi] is a small guy, too, so he knows how it is,” Sadiku said.

“Big guys and small guys wrestle totally different so he understands my style.”

Recent Western wrestling graduate and Ray’s son, Steven, has also been an integral part in bringing along Western’s next star. Steven is an inspiration for Sadiku and is always available to give him advice.

“I look up to Steven Takahashi for sure,” Sadiku said. “He had a lot of success at the weight I’m at. After practice I always ask him questions. I try to get a question in after every practice.”

Sadiku has also recently received guidance from wrestlers thousands of miles away from London. This past summer he spent a lot of time doing intense wrestling training in Kosovo while visiting family.

“A lot of them were small people like me,” said Sadiku. “They beat on me quite a bit and helped me out

by teaching me new techniques. It’s a totally different style and world over there.”

Sadiku was able to train with some of the top wrestlers in Kosovo. This hardcore training is what Sadiku has attributed to his early success so far this season. But he has a lot of work ahead of him if he wants to achieve his goals.

A couple of weeks ago, Sadiku suffered a hand fracture that prevented him from competing in the Western Open hosted at Alumni Hall this past weekend.

Even though the cast on his hand isn’t scheduled be removed until two days before the Ontario University Athletics championships in Sault Ste. Marie from Feb. 12–13, Sadiku is confident he will be able to compete at a high level.

“Honestly, I might even request to get [the cast] off early, that’s how good it feels,” he said.

After the OUAs, Sadiku said his goal is to take the title in the 57kg weight class at the Canadian Interuniversity Sport wrestling championships on Feb. 26 at Brock University.

Even if he suffers another setback with his hand, Sadiku is not worried because he will have another chance in March to compete against the top wrestlers in Canada at the Junior-Senior National Championships in Fredericton, New Brunswick.

Moving forward from this university season, the confident young rookie has his eyes set on competing on a much larger stage. By either the 2020 or 2024 Olympics, he hopes to be able to wrestle as a member of the Kosovo team.

If Sadiku is able to accomplish his goals and become an Olympian it will be an impressive feat for a small town kid from P.E.I. n

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6 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 28, 2016

knowsports

•

Meet Western’s only student-athlete head coach

TAYLOR LASOTA GAZETTE

SHANE ROBERTS SPORTS EDITOR @SHANEATGAZETTE Younger siblings typically try to differentiate themselves from their older brothers and sisters. But sometimes, this rebellion doesn’t work out, and they often find themselves following in the footsteps of their older siblings.

That is exactly what happened with fourth-year Western kinesiology student Adrianna Giuffre of the Western badminton team. She wanted to be different from her two older siblings, Martin and Christina, who both went to Western to play badminton.

“Originally I was trying to not follow our family tradition that was getting set up of going to Western,” Giuffre explained. “But they have a great kinesiology program and the campus is beautiful.”

Adrianna is now the last Giuffre sibling remaining at Western and she also finds herself in an unusual position: she’s in her second year as head coach of the team. Two years ago, after her second season as a player, former badminton coach Rob Fowler retired and she was approached to take over part of the coaching duties.

It has been an interesting experience thus far for Giuffre. It’s almost unheard of for a student to coach their own varsity team.

“I get to boss people around who are older than me now ... I almost try to forget I’m a student when I walk in the doors,” she explained.

The decision to become a coach was also a difficult transition for Giuffre because it meant giving up another sport she loves: soccer. In her first two years she played on the varsity soccer team.

“For soccer we travel mainly on

weekends,” she explained. “If I was going to coach I didn’t want to be like ‘OK, I’ll be there for the week but on the weekend you’re on your own.’ It was the first time I truly had to pick one or the other and I chose to coach the team. I miss soccer for sure, but it’s a good change.”

The transition to coach was also more challenging because many of the top players on the team graduated the year before she started coaching. Two of these elite players were her older siblings.

But before they graduated, the siblings experienced a memorable moment they will never forget. In their final season together in 2014, the Giuffre clan were an essential part of helping Western win the Ontario University Athletics badminton championship. The tournament was an unique experience for Adrianna because she was able to match off against her older sister Christina in the doubles final. She was able to play her sister because there are only seven teams in OUA badminton. The lack of teams allows each school to put more than one doubles team into the tournament draw.

“My mentality was I need to beat my older sister,” she said. “It was kind of like we weren’t siblings for half a hour.”

In her doubles match victory against her older sister, Giuffre had a lot of help on her side of the court.

Her partner was Canadian Olympic badminton player Alex Bruce. Bruce was her doubles partner for two years and played a large part in inspiring her to reach new heights.

“It wouldn’t have been possible to make World University Games without Alex and without Martin,” she said. “It was unbelievable that I had that opportunity with them supporting and pushing me to get that goal because if they weren’t at Western I probably never would have thought that I would go to World University Games.”

Giuffre competed in the World University Games back in 2013 in

Nickname: Adri

Cats or dogs: Dogs

Favourite colour: Green

Most hated rival: Waterloo Warriors

Pre-game meal: Whatever’s in the fridge Favourite cereal: Frosted Flakes Travel back in time or Favourite pro into the future: sports team: Go back Calgary Flames or in time Calgary Stampeders If you could have a super power what would it be: Invisibility

Dream vacation: Greece

Favourite song: Love Yourself by Justin Bieber CHRISTOPHER MISZCZAK GAZETTE

Kazan, Russia after her first season as a Mustang. Competing at an international event wasn’t anything new for her. She had previously competed at the Junior Pan Am Games, Junior Commonwealth Games and World Juniors for badminton. While competing in all these tournaments, Giuffre quickly realized that badminton is not Canada’s sport.

“You can be good in Canada but once you get out there and you start playing other countries where badminton is their national sport, it’s so different,” she said.

After all her experiences playing internationally, Giuffre has no desire to try and make future international events such as the Olympics.

“For me personally Olympics hasn’t ever really been a goal,” she explained. “I think I never took it into consideration that I’d be able to make it.... For me going to World University Games and doing that I kind of hit my ceiling with badminton and didn’t really want to pursue anything else.”

Instead she has decided to shift

her focus more towards academics in the future. She hopes to attend the University of Calgary in the fall for a master’s program in neuroscience.

She justifies her transition away from badminton as her lack of motivation to commit to the sport all year round. In order to make the Olympics or other major tournaments she says she would have to train at the national training centres all summer in Toronto or Ottawa.

She has always loved badminton but does not want to miss out on other life experiences by dedicating herself solely to the sport.

As for the rest of the season, Giuffre says the team goal is to win the OUA championship again. The championship tournament will be held this year in Hamilton from Feb. 20-21. She also hopes she can help some of her athletes make the World University Games this summer so they can experience playing badminton on the world level just as she has. n

• www.westerngazette.ca

THURSDAY, JANUARY 28, 2016 • 7

insight

CHRW video goes viral SAMAH ALI ARTS & LIFE EDITOR @SAMAHATGAZETTE On Jan. 18 at 10 a.m., CHRW dropped a video that swept Facebook timelines and continues to be shared.

Promoting the Seven Day Sessions program launched by the campus radio station, the video features a poem written by fourth-year medical sciences and psychology student Vandan Jhaveri entitled We Are More.

With over 120 shares and 21,000 views on Facebook, the video is growing into its own series of content that the creators couldn’t even imagine.

“I’ve never been a part of anything that has been so public on social media,” Jhaveri says. “I’ve been getting tons of messages from people I don’t even know and I really appreciate that kind of stuff.”

The three individuals spearheading the Seven Day Sessions project had no idea how popular their video would get, either.

CHRW live sound engineer Alex Lam, production coordinator Alex Foster-Roman and volunteer Yoav Lai wanted to draw attention to CHRW’s new opportunity where students come into the studio, create a project and are featured on CHRW’s morning program Wake Up Western while being documented

that my experience at Western is so radically different than so many others’,” explains Jhaveri. “Being a science student for one, I see a lot of aspects of campus that a lot of students don’t see, and I also don’t see a lot of aspects that a lot of people see.

I tried including stuff that I felt passionate about as well as things that other people feel passionate about that I never come in contact with.”

As the content creator, Jhaveri was incredibly grateful to the three leaders for inviting him onto the project. Lam took care of the audio and visual for the video while FosterRoman produced the charming music to accompany the poem.

For Lam, it was essential that they create a clean video building off the pride of Western students to encourage others to discover the wonders CHRW has to offer.

“What we wanted to promote is how much of a great resource we can be,” says Lam. “All the videos that we’ve done were done here and to the resources of our technology and the resources of the people we have.

We’re very much about having volunteer experience as well.... I think getting more people to volunteer and experience what CHRW has to offer is a good thing.”

The experience has been rather humbling for Lam, who thinks the video is an indication of how much

along the way.

“I had a small idea that, after a while, turned into something much bigger than it originally was,” says Lai, a fourth-year consumer behaviour student. “I wanted to see some kind of video that properly embodied Western spirit and I knew that it could definitely be portrayed in a spoken word piece or poem of some sort, so I just recruited [Jhaveri]. The idea itself just snowballed as it was being produced and it was definitely a big collaborative effort.”

Foster-Roman says it has been a struggle promoting CHRW since students are turning to alternative modes of listening to music, like Spotify and iPods; however, videos seem to be the key.

“It’s hard to promote an establishment to the student body when the student body doesn’t really consume it, so we’re kind of using a backdoor way to promote it so the students are more aware of it,” says Foster-Roman.

Lai brought Jhaveri onto the project and the video went viral after debuting on CHRW’s Facebook page. The video encapsulates the Western experience in varying forms of couplets, read from different students around campus hotspots.

“I just tried pulling on as many experiences that I could personally relate to and I also understand

COURTESY OF YOUTUBE

and online.

“I hope that other people watch the video and see that it’s the opposite of dangerous to put your work out there,” says Jhaveri.

With the success of just the promotional video, students should expect more projects like these to come from CHRW, launching new names into the Western scene.

Go to the CHRW website for more information on the Seven Day Sessions. n

pride the Western student body has.

Based off the video’s success, he says this opens up new avenues of “what CHRW can offer in terms of content and Western pride.”

The team and CHRW look forward to the influx of students seeking to pursue projects with them for the Seven Day Sessions. In addition, the three CHRW members seek to work on more projects like this as well as feature new artists on the CHRW Wake Up Western segment

Fad diets too good to be true ZEHRA CAMILLERI JAFER CONTRIBUTOR @GAZETTECULTURE

Fad diets and cleanses, also known as detoxes, have been growing in popularity for years and with New Year’s resolutions in full swing, they are reaching their peak.

Fad diets are meal plans that promise dramatic weight loss.

Cleanses, sometimes confused as diets, are another health regime promising to boost energy as well as rid your body of unwanted toxins.

Diets and detoxes are notorious for promising the ability to shed a few pounds right before vacations, and magazines, ads and celebrities make them look so simple, fun and easy. With Reading Week quickly approaching, some students may be buying into the hype. But as the old phrase goes: “If it’s too good to be true, it probably is.”

Western alumna Chelsea McIntyre has done numerous fad diets over the years; one she recalls is the three day military diet. McIntyre did the military diet for quick weight

“Fad diets are often very restrictive and make bold weight loss claims that are not proven by scientific evidence. Because they are so restrictive, they are not sustainable, making it difficult for people to stay on them long term,” Docherty says. “So once someone goes back to their usual way of eating, they can be more likely to gain even more weight than they lost, setting up someone on a pattern of yo-yo dieting.”

In addition, Docherty mentions that cleanses are not all they claim to be either.

“Our bodies actually cleanse and detox for us. Our livers, lungs, kidneys and intestines remove waste everyday. However, cleanses and detoxes claim for the need to remove certain ‘toxins’ from our diet or the environment to support this,” explains Docherty. “People may use these as a quick fix after a period of unhealthy eating, or as a way to kick start healthy eating, but like fad diets, there isn’t enough scientific evidence to support the claims that these diets make.”

loss results before a vacation; however, her post-diet results were not all they were cut out to be.

“I lost seven pounds, so I did get decent results,” McIntyre explains.

“I would not do this [diet] again. Yes, I lost weight quick but I was hungry everyday and I hated myself and my body while I was on the diet … I did not feel good after the three days. I just wanted to binge eat, which is not healthy at all and counter-productive to doing the diet in the first place.”

McIntyre’s fad diet results are not uncommon. First-year health studies student Katerina Pankhurst shares her experience, as she experimented with a juice cleanse during exams with her mother.

“I didn’t drink all the juices because I didn’t like them and I felt really tired and had no energy. But my mom loved it. She said she felt great and lost weight,” she says.

Andrea Docherty, registered dietician and sports nutritionist at NutritionRx, explains the negative effect fad diets can have on people.

Eating regular, balanced meals.

Factors that impact your health

Getting enough sleep.

Our bodies actually cleanse and detox for us. Our livers, lungs, kidneys and intestines remove waste everyday. However, cleanses and detoxes claim for the need to remove certain ‘toxins’ from our diet or the environment to support this.

ANDREA DOCHERTY REGISTERED DIETICIAN AND SPORTS NUTRITIONIST

ER

ENT

NOW

purple the

store

Choosing whole, minimally processed foods.

Being physically active.

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Feb, 2

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Drinking enough water.

Source: Andrea Docherty CHRISTOPHER MISZCZAK GAZETTE

to maintain a healthy diet and lifestyle,” Docherty says. n

Docherty does not believe there are any health benefits to either fad diets or cleanses. Rather, she believes they can cause more harm then good. Depending on the duration of the cleanse and its restrictions, it can lead to dehydration, low blood sugar and vitamin and mineral deficiencies, among other complications.

For those still interested in continuing their health kick in a healthy way, Docherty advises on everyday habits, stating that simple changes are the best, including eating regularly and getting enough sleep.

“Simply following cleanses, detoxes or fad diets rarely teaches people the practical skills needed

www.thepurplestore.ca

www.westerngazette.ca

8 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 28, 2016

insightopinions

•

Donald Trump-esque elections poster in poor taste Green Eggs and Hamza

HAMZA TARIQ BREAKING NEWS EDITOR @HAMZAATGAZETTE It’s elections season.

The University Community Centre is busy with slates campaigning in the middle of the atrium.

There are colourful posters on the railings for University Students’ Council positions and, curiously, one of them is modelled after Donald Trump’s elections sign.

The poster is by Harry OrbachMiller, a current Faculty of Information and Media Studies and social science senator who is running for a second term. At first glance, I found the poster to be in poor taste.

I talked to Orbach-Miller before writing this piece to get his side of the story, and I’m sure that his intention wasn’t to offend anyone.

He knows that Trump is a bigot.

He wants to engage students with Senate, an important university body that very few students follow.

“The reason I did it is when you look at that poster in the atrium or throughout campus, whether you like it, you think it’s funny; whether you hate it, you’re outraged or even if you don’t get the reference, my hope is that next week when I do launch my campaign online that you’ll actually come and take the chance to see what it talks about.”

In this case, however, the ends do not justify the means. Getting attention and votes by modelling one’s campaigning after a person like Trump is offensive, even if it’s just attempted parody or satire.

Trump stopped being funny a

long time ago. It wasn’t funny when he repeatedly made sexist comments about a TV anchor. It wasn’t funny when he said he’ll kill families including women and children to curb terrorism. It wasn’t funny when he vowed to ban all Muslims from coming into the United States.

It wasn’t funny when he made racist remarks towards Mexican immigrants and the first black president of the United States.

It’s not funny anymore because despite his incessant bigotry, he continues to climb the polls in the country with a real shot at the U.S. presidency and a real shot at putting his twisted words in actions. As he recently said, he won’t lose voters, even if he shoots someone on Fifth Avenue.

It’s unfortunate to see a student representative using such a person like Trump as a crutch to forward their own agenda, but it’s even more unfortunate to see that the poster was allowed to be put up in the first place. According to the elections committee who approved the poster, it was “very borderline,” but Creative Services, who printed the poster, erred on the side of caution, giving the student the benefit of the doubt.

For a USC whose priority this year has been inclusivity to the point of banning synthetic hair from orientation week so as not to offend or exclude even one student, this was a pretty big lapse of judgment.

At a time when countries are being petitioned to ban Trump because of his views and statements, it’s not difficult to judge distasteful parodies.

It’s a difficult task to get students interested in campus issues and elections. There is a need for novelty in the campaigning to get students passionate and out there to vote.

Orbach-Miller has the right intention but this may not be the best way to go about it. n

TAYLOR LASOTA GAZETTE

A campaign we’ve been waiting for

BY GAZETTE EDITORIAL BOARD Five. Five slates have submitted their paperwork to run for president and vice president of the University Students’ Council. The excitement when the news broke was palpable — this would be the most contested election since 2010 when six candidates threw their hats into the ring.

This year, the candidates are not just plentiful but eclectic as well. There’s a mature student, students with no USC experience, faculty council presidents and USC-lifers. Their ideas range from the recycled platform points we see every year, to off-the-wall points meant to elicit a laugh. Students have ample variety when casting their ballots.

Team MacMillan have dropped their platform, featuring some hilarious policy proposals, such as transforming Talbot Bowl into a giant ball pit and mandating 24.7 per cent of classes be held in Victoria Park. Satirical campaigns like this might seem perplexing but are representative of many students who view the USC itself as a joke, an organization that has failed to represent their interests. The seriousness in these campaigns is that they challenge voter’s perception of the organization as a whole.

They will also surely make the debates an interesting affair. Instead of a bland slog about the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance, there may be more exciting rhetoric. Seeing candidates challenge

the self-importance and over-seriousness of some of these candidates will be refreshing.

Perhaps there needs to be something refreshing about elections. Last year, voter turnout was a paltry 23.6 per cent. More people voted for the Western Marching Band than the president of the organization that collects your ancillary fees. If that seems low, the year before saw president Matt Helfand elected after only 19.6 per cent of students logged on to vote. It wasn’t always like this.

Just four years ago, voter turnout clocked in at 37.8 per cent. There were no candidates and no extraneous three person slates. The abolishment of a slate will hopefully lead to more students voting, just as we have more candidates.

Outsider candidates will hopefully infuse different policy discussion into this election. How many times can we talk about the unfairness of the “three in 23” exam policy? New ideas are necessary for the success of any organization — the USC is no exception.

This election looks to be one of the most exciting in recent memory. Five teams will duke it out for the votes of students and we’re finally going to see “establishment” candidates challenged. We have our fingers crossed, at least. n

KYLE PORTER GAZETTE

Secular school system the way to go Land of Oz

OLIVIA ZOLLINO PRINT MANAGING EDITOR @OLIVIAATGAZETTE Until university, my education was formed in Catholic schools. I attended school masses, took communion and confirmation classes, and was a member of the rosary making club — mostly to get out of outdoor recess during the winter, partly because the threat of hell was so entrenched in religious teachings.

My parents never paid for my primary and secondary education since Catholic schools are publicly funded.

I never realized just how preferentially the religious school system

funding was set up until speaking with a peer who attended a Jewish school out of pocket.

As students, we often complain about the cost of tuition and how it bars many students from attending.

But what about the price of attending faith-based schools?

The debate over funding Catholic schools in Ontario is nothing new and is muddled in a long history dating back to the 18th century. At the time, Christianity was the dominant religion and maintaining the religion in schools was necessary to prevent hostility amongst the population.

Today, however, it seems to be an archaic practice.

If we truly are the diverse and accepting country we claim to be, our educational system should reflect that.

In 2007, then-Progressive Conservative leader John Tory suggested the province should fund

all religious schools, which goes against the constitution that states only Roman Catholic and Protestant schools will be publicly funded.

Then-Liberal Education Minister Kathleen Wynne shot down the idea, citing “The end result of this poorly thought out policy is gutting the publicly funded education system in favour of private religious schools.”

While funding all religious schools is nice in theory, it’s problematic in practice. Segregating children based on faith is not a solution to our educational woes.

In my personal experience, I found my Catholic education to be rather exclusionary. Despite Catholicism teaching inclusion and acceptance, it is up to the individual school board to decide if they will admit non-Catholic students.

For teachers, it is trickier. The Ontario Catholic School Trustees’ Association states they “do not believe it is unjustifiably discriminatory to employ people who are committed to the purpose and goals of the Catholic school system.” It seems as though a publicly funded school board can select applicants based on faith rather than merits. This is unacceptable, considering how many unemployed teachers there are.

Upon becoming premier, Wynne vowed her party would not be making a change in school board funding.

In 1998, Newfoundland and Labrador began their first year with a non-denominational school board, although schools must offer religious courses. Arguably, the move was very

successful and a great compromise — something Ontario could learn from.

I don’t know what I got out of taking religion in school that I couldn’t learn during Sunday mass. Granted, it was my parents’ decision to send me to Catholic school — a decision they would later reconsider. While I learned the same scriptures year after year, I struggled severely with mathematics.

There was never enough class time to fully comprehend algebra and tutoring was rather expensive.

Opting out of religion in favour of math foundation courses would have personally benefitted me. Or perhaps my Catholic math teacher wasn’t the best fit for the job. Sure, he was Catholic, but that never helped his ability to teach math. n

Editorials are decided by a majority of the editorial board and are written by a member of the editorial board but are not necessarily the expressed opinion of each editorial board member. All other opinions are strictly those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the USC, The Gazette, its editors or staff. To submit a letter, go to westerngazette.ca and click on “Contact.”

• www.westerngazette.ca

THURSDAY, JANUARY 28, 2016 • 9

experience

When LinkedIn isn’t enough ANNIE RUETER GAZETTE STAFF @GAZETTECULTURE It’s that time of year when summer job postings are popping up across Indeed, Kijiji and dozens of other job posting sites. Endless scrolling and filtering searches can be discouraging, especially for students hoping to obtain a summer job that connects them to their future professional careers upon graduation.

Monica Giorgini, career program coordinator at Western’s Student Success Centre, provides helpful advice about how to obtain the summer job you want. She encourages students to begin their summer job search by taking inventory of their transferable skills.

“As I always say to students when I am helping them, it isn’t the title that’s important that you take from job to job,” she says. “It’s the transferable skill set you take from job to job.

“It is surprising how much of the time ... jobs one might think are not relevant can actually be very beneficial to professional careers,” Giorgini continues.

Any previous volunteer work, extracurricular activities or paid work can be valuable in terms of providing marketable transferable skills.

After assessing your skills and determining what type of summer employment you want, Giorgini advises students to use a combination of online and in-person networking.

“You should be spending 80 per cent of your time networking and trying to access what is referred to as the ‘hidden job market,’ ” Giorgini explains. “These are potential job

opportunities that one can access through networking, through direct contact with employers.”

Fifth-year biology and philosophy major Joshua Isaacson was able to access this hidden job market — jobs that are never posted publicly — last summer through existing networks. Isaacson obtained the job through family connections.

You should be spending 80 per cent of your time networking and trying to access what is referred to as the ‘hidden job market.’

MONICA GIORGINI STUDENT SUCCESS CENTRE CAREER PROGRAM COORDINATOR

“I don’t think I find networking itself challenging, but there’s a pretty strong element of chance to obtaining jobs through networking,” says Isaacson.

While in-person networking is more intimidating than using online networking sites such as LinkedIn, the value of in-person networking cannot be doubted.

“You can’t always hide behind the computer screen, which is what people tend to prefer because it’s easier,” says Giorgini.

First-year criminology student Nadine Alaloul used online networking to find her last summer job via a Facebook post.

“It is hard because [employers] do ask you some hard questions,” Alaloul says of in-person networking.

“Once I mentioned I was into

social justice … and maybe [employers] think, ‘Oh she’s too political,’ so they don’t want to hire me for that,” she says. “So networking is really important, especially if you know someone who is hiring and asks you to come along.”

Giorgini recognizes these initial interactions with employers can be awkward.

“Get comfortable with the key points you want to mention about yourself,” she advises. “Generally these points include a bit about your education, relevant experience that you have that would help you in this particular type of field that you are now targeting and something about your skills.”

This 30- to 40-second self-introduction to employers is referred to as an elevator pitch.

“Keep it all relevant,” advises Giorgini, “and then mention something that sets you apart.”

Western’s Student Success Centre hosts several different career workshops throughout the winter term, especially leading up to Western’s HireWesternU Job Fair on Jan. 28.

Drop by the SSC for more information or check out success.uwo.ca. n

To place your classifed ad, please contact us at 519-661-3579 or adoffice@uwo.ca

theGazette HOUSING

classifieds

2 MINUTES WALK to UWO. Recently renovated 2 bedroom basement apartment partly furnished.

Large, clean, bright, quiet, private home. Rent includes separate free laundry, TV, Internet, A/C, parking. $500/person including utilities. Separate entrance. 519-434-8164.

EVENTS CALENDAR JANUARY

28

5:00 PM Juried Exhibition VISUAL ARTS CENTRE 8:00 PM Danko Jones LONDON MUSIC HALL

JANUARY

29

12:30 PM Ensemble Made in Canada, St. John MUSIC BUILDING, VON KUSTER HALL 6:00 PM Women’s volleyball vs. Guelph ALUMNI HALL 8:00 PM Men’s volleyball vs. Guelph ALUMNI HALL 8:00 PM Fred Pattison Piano Competition MUSIC BUILDING, VON KUSTER HALL

TAYLOR LASOTA GAZETTE

3 BEDROOM MODERN townhouses close to Masonville area. Close walk to campus and steps to major bus route. Spacious bedrooms, with huge closets and close to all amenities. Contact Stephen to book a viewing; units will rent very quickly. stephenn@londonprop.com 226-236-4409.

3, 4, 5, 6 bed Redbricks on at Sarnia and Western Road, right next to UWO. Massive rooms, huge windows for tonnes of natural light and free parking are just some of the highlights.

Townhouse and apartment styles available. Act fast as they go very quickly. Call or text John at (226) 973-9346 or email johnm@londonprop.com

PAID RESEARCH

UPCOMING EVENTS

SEEKING ROMANTIC COUPLES over 18 years old who have been together for at least 3 months for a study on romantic relationships. Participants will complete questionnaires in the Love Lab at Western University. This should take less than 1 hour, and participants will receive monetary compensation in appreciation for their contribution. If interested, email uworelationshipslab@gmail.com.

2016 CHARITY BALL “AURA” - Saturday Jan. 30, doors open at 9pm in Mustang Lounge, UCC. Tickets $25 at the door or in advance at Mustang Central.

In support of FEMAP (First Episode Mood and Anxiety Program) London. Food included in ticket price.

THE LOVE LAB is recruiting same-sex couples over the age of 18 for a study on discrimination. Participants will complete a set of questionnaires in the Social Science Center at UWO. In addition, participants will be asked to walk through a public space on campus while holding hands, wearing a small hidden camera. This should take no more than 60 minutes, and participants will receive monetary compensation in appreciation for their time. If interested, email couplesuwo@gmail.com .

TIPS ON HOW TO AVOID BEING PHISHED 1. Visit banks' websites by typing the URL into the address bar. Phishers use links within emails to direct victims to a fake site. If you suspect an email is bogus, do not follow any embedded links within it.

2. Keep a regular check on your accounts Regularly log into your online accounts, and check your statements. Report any suspicous transactions to your bank or credit card provider 3. Keep a regular check on your accounts Regularly log into your online accounts, and check your statements. Report any suspicous transactions to your bank or credit card provider.

PUT YOUR SUDOKU SAVVY TO THE TEST! To solve a sudoku, the numbers 1 through 9 must fill each row, column and box. Each number can appear only once in each row, column and box. You can figure out the order in which the numbers will appear by using the numeric clues already provided in the boxes.

For solution, turn to page 4 3-7 BEDROOM HOUSES, townhouses and apartments downtown and close to campus in the best student areas. We have the largest selection of housing for Western students. All units in excellent shape. Call or text John @ (226) 973-9346 or email johnm@londonprop.com with questions or to book a tour.

8:00 PM Falstaff TALBOT COLLEGE, PAUL DAVENPORT THEATRE 10:00 PM The Late Show RUM RUNNERS

4 BED. TOWNHOUSES located on Oxford right by campus. Live in style with 3 floors, 2 washrooms, and very spacious rooms with large closets.

5 appliances, free parking, and 24 hour property management. Contact Sam today 519-495-7661, smaclin@londonprop.com

10:00 PM Green Velvet LONDON MUSIC HALL JANUARY

30

1:00 PM Women’s Basketball vs. Laurier ALUMNI HALL 3:00 PM Men’s Basketball vs. Laurier ALUMNI HALL 6:00 PM Women’s volleyball vs. McMaster ALUMNI HALL 8:00 PM Men’s Volleyball vs. McMaster ALUMNI HALL

4/5 BED RED Bricks Available: BRAND NEW building. Huge rooms, modern open concept layout, 5 main appliances including washer/ dryer in suite. Free parking, 24 hour property maintenance, right on major bus route, 5 minutes from campus. These will go FAST, call Sam 519-495-7661

6 BEDROOMS IN the famous Redbrick apartments and townhouses right next to campus and downtown. Great locations. Huge rooms and closets. Washer/dryer and dishwasher included.

Call or text Stephen @ (226) 236-4409 or email stephenn@londonprop.com with questions or to book a tour.

OWL & Course-Note Printing & Binding Large Format Printing …and more!

ROOM 265, 2ND FLOOR UCC • CREATIVESERVICES-USC.CA

10 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 28, 2016

www.westerngazette.ca

experience

•

Magic is in the cards tonight RICHARD JOSEPH ARTS & LIFE EDITOR @RJATGAZETTE It’s a typical Friday night in London. The streets echo with the sounds of drunken revelry, the pavement rumbles with the booming bass from a freshman’s souped-up Honda Civic and if you listen closely you can hear the plaintive wailing of a group of girls being ejected from Molly Bloom’s.

Behind a small, unassuming storefront at the heart of downtown, there’s a raging battlefield: friends turn on each other, children are shown no mercy and acrid smoke fills the air.

Forget swords and guns; this is combat by cards, and the smoke is from the guy vaping at table four. They’re playing the world’s most popular collectible card game — Magic: The Gathering.

Published in 1993 by the company Wizards of the Coast, Magic was the first game of its kind, and today it has an estimated 20 million players.

That’s the entire population of New York City.

“I started playing Magic in high school,” recalls Colin Kong, second-year business student and vice-president finance for Western’s own Magic: The Gathering Association. “There was a game store in the area and there were always people playing there. I got interested watching it, got some of my friends into it — after that, it just spiralled out of control.”

The Magic club at Western has around 40 registered members and they hold well-attended weekly events for many different types of play. Mostly, though, the club is for casual rather than competitive players — at the end of the day, they’re all friends and they’re playing for fun.

At the most basic level, Magic is fairly easy to understand. Two or more players start with a unique deck and 20 life points, and each card — with a distinct set of rules of its own — can deal damage and take away those life points. A player loses when they have no life points or there are no cards left to draw.

How easy is the game to pick up? Jasmine Lau, third-year sociology student and vice-president communications for the club, says it’s all about who’s teaching you.

“Because I started off in the club in a friendly environment, it was much easier for me to learn the game,” she explains. “If I were to try and learn the game by myself, I would have given up. I had people teaching me and giving me pointers.”

The president of the club, third-year material science student Kadesh Laloo, points out the learning curve at a casual level is fairly easy, but the higher you play competitively, the more complicated the game becomes.

“You can quickly get to a level where you’re comfortable playing after 10 or so games,” he says. “But Magic is a very deep, complicated game when you get to the more advanced levels. At the super competitive levels, the people who play best are those who understand these mechanics.”

Kong, who plays competitively, agrees the learning curve becomes progressively steeper. He began to dominate amongst his friends, went to a tournament and got “absolutely destroyed.” It’s comparable to poker in that respect, and in fact many pro Magic players go on to become high-level poker players, or vice versa.

There are a lot of reasons people are attracted to Magic. Some love the art, some love the story behind the cards, some love the strategy aspect and some play purely to win. And, of course, like any other hobby, there are the collectors.

JENNIFER FELDMAN GAZETTE

• www.westerngazette.ca

THURSDAY, JANUARY 28, 2016 • 11

experience

PHOTOS BY MOSES MONTERROZA GAZETTE

GATHERING FUNDS Augustine Peng, vice-president events for the Magic Association and third-year biology student, is one of those collectors. For him, half the fun is deck-building, personalizing his play style with his own favourites.

In high school, he began his magnum opus: a deck to end all decks. After around a thousand dollars and much meticulous searching, Peng had built up a force to be reckoned with and no doubt laughed maniacally at his own power.

And then, one day — it was all gone.

“Every now and then, Wizards of the Coast release certain cards, and then they say ‘Oh, sorry, that was a mistake,’ ” Peng explains through gritted teeth. “So they ban it. They banned my deck, because it was too powerful. I’m not super salty about it. Do I sound mad?”

Today, Peng’s deck would be worth around $2,000, which doesn’t do much to soften the blow. With the increase in popularity of Magic, combined with the increasing rarity of the older cards, there’s often hundreds to thousands of dollars involved.

Each set of Magic cards has a certain print run every three months, and once they’re sold, they’re sold for good.

That means there’s a limited number of cards out there, and the only way to get them after the initial buy-rush is trading between players. So cards released 10 years ago are incredibly rare today, and as such have enormous price tags attached.

Right now, for example, the infamous Black Lotus card is listed on eBay with 772 offers, with a price of $125,000 USD. It’s an industry like any other and it follows the same rules of the market. If an enterprising collector looks ahead, predicts the market and trades the right cards, there is money to be made.

But spending money doesn’t mean you’ll win, explains Matthew Finch, tournament organizer for Friday Night Magic in London.

“Cheap decks can definitely win,” he says. “One of the most popular deck types is mono-red – fast, aggressive decks which don’t cost too much.”

In fact, the casual player doesn’t have to spend money at all. Lau, in her first year, played entirely on borrowed decks while she was learning the game, and to date she’s only spent about $100 on her deck. Even now, when Kong goes to tournaments, he borrows the cards.

THE COMMUNITY There’s a remarkably active Magic community in London, with eight different stores holding tournaments and selling cards. Friday Night Magic pulls 20 to 30 people every week to the basement of L.A. Mood on Richmond Street.

It’s a fascinating atmosphere. There are people of all ages from all walks of life – schoolkids play grandfathers, both wearing the same expression of concentration and intensity.

There are families with children, bachelors, Western and

Fanshawe students at various different skill levels. They pair off, and communicate in a rapid, cryptic shorthand as they lay down a staggering variety of cards they seem to have memorized.

There is one long table, where the majority of people are playing a “booster draft,” meaning they can only use cards from the last three or four releases.

At another table, they’re playing “legacy;” their decks are made up of the last 25 years of printed Magic. One of the legacy players is Shawn Dhaliwal, second-year biology student and competitive player.

He loses a round, and he’s mildly frustrated — but that’s just what happens, he explains. There’s an element of luck to Magic as well as skill, because you never know what you’re going to draw.

“I missed some simple triggers while I was playing there,” he admits. “There’s so many different things going on at the same time. Beyond the usual rules, you have to bluff, you have to pretend you have a card that you don’t. I’d say I’m very good in London, top 10, but when I go to bigger tournaments I don’t even place.”

Dhaliwal was interested in Magic because of the art, and it shows. In terms of functionality, his deck is worth $3,000, but because there are multiple versions of the same card it’s actually closer to $5,000. For example, a regular card might be $20 where a full art foil could be $250 – functionally identical, but with a significant bling tax.

“As an outsider looking in, it’s excessive,” he says. “You’re thinking, why the hell are they spending hundreds of dollars on a card? But when you think about it, there’s collectors for everything. This is what I like, so I’m going to spend my money on this.”

THE STIGMA In 2014, a series of photos from a Magic: The Gathering tournament skyrocketed to the top of Reddit, Imgur, Gawker and Time.com. The photos featured Magic player Sidney Blair crouching solemnly behind other tournament attendees with an exposed “plumber’s crack.” The phenomenon was dubbed “Crackgate.”

Wizards of the Coast, the company behind Magic, wasless than pleased. Blair received an 18-month ban from the tournaments because he was believed to be perpetuating a damaging stereotype as well as bullying and shaming the subjects of the photos.

“The first time I went to a store to play, I was sort of like, ‘Oh god, this is going to be horrible,’ ” says Peng. “And then it turned out that everyone there was fairly normal. There are always exceptions, but most of them are just university students, highschoolers, just hanging out. Not socially awkward, no ... butt cracks.”

So-called “nerd culture” has become increasingly normalized in recent years through the power of marketing – superhero movies, video games and anime, all

once considered a niche and nerdy market, have become multi-billion dollar industries and extraordinarily popular in the West. Magic: The Gathering is a useful platform to look at that shift, precisely because it’s been around for so long.

The game seems to have gone through the same mainstreaming process. Particularly in the last few years, notes Peng, there has been a sudden surge of new players – driving up the prices of cards, to his dismay. He and the other members of the Western MTG Association often play in the food court and the Spoke, and nobody seems to care.

But then again, we are in Canada, the world capital of courtesy. The club president, Laloo, recalls the issues he had when he tried to play back home in Trinidad.

“There’s definitely a stigma in the Caribbean,” he says. “I would play Magic at a coffee shop and we’d get a lot of jibes.

People walk past, they’d pick up your cards, throw insults at you. I think they view it as a childish thing.... It comes from that mindset where, at a certain age, you have to do certain things. But that’s an antiquated form of thinking, in my opinion.”

Laloo has a diverse group he plays with when he goes back. One is a forensic scientist, another is a doctor, another is a manager of a major tech firm in Trinidad. Some are married with children.

“Everyone has a hobby, right?” he says. “For some people it’s going to a bar and drinking on a Friday, ours is playing cards. Sometimes we do both at the same time.”

GOING PRO There are people who play for fun and there are people who play to win. Magic has increasingly difficult qualifying rounds for competitive players. At the top, there are even people making money from the game — a tournament win is an impressive payout, and stores will often sponsor a particularly promising player.

Both Kong and Dhaliwal are heading to a tournament in February. They have already won the preliminary qualifying round, and this will be the regional one. If either places in the top four, they get a free trip to Spain to compete in the Pro Tour, with a winning payout of $20,000. If you really want to dream big, the world championship after that pays $50,000.

“If do win, I get to be flown out there. That would be a sick experience,” says Dhaliwal. “But beyond that ... you have to put in so much time to get to that level. You actually have to commit your life to Magic.... They make a lot of money, but it’s difficult to do. Me, I’m just trying to do the best I can.”

There’s certainly a high level of skill involved in playing at that level, but there’s always an element of luck, Kong explains. In a 60-card deck, it’s inevitable that sometimes you just won’t draw the right cards.

“It’s a hobby right now,” says Dhaliwal. “I don’t plan on using it to support me or anything. But if, by some miniscule chance, I get lucky — I’ll roll with it.” n

www.westerngazette.ca

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