Tuesday, February 23, 2016

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westerngazette.ca TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2016 • WESTERN UNIVERSITY’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER • VOLUME 109 ISSUE 39 we love you, chrw since 1906

En garde

Western finished third in this past weekend’s OUA fencing tournament, a sport where Canada lags behind internationally.

READ THE FULL STORY ON PAGE 8

TAYLOR LASOTA GAZETTE

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PROFILE CADENCE BAKER

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S

Students are known to enjoy the company of a pet or two, as seen during exam season when students flock together for a chance to play with therapy dogs. The presence and affection of a little furry creature can be rather therapeutic.

But for fourth-year kinesiology student Cadence Baker and her family, their love of animals goes far beyond anything one can imagine.

Cadence grew up on a hobby farm, a project her parents started when she was two, in Oakville. She was surrounded by an abundance of furry friends including three dogs, three cats, horses, a donkey, chickens and rabbits.

To her surprise, when Cadence came home for winter break, her parents gave her a puppy to train as a service animal.

“My parents just set it up for me, I didn’t even know,” Cadence said. “They just handed me a puppy and said ‘you’re going to foster him!’ ” The adorably named Paddington is a four-month old hypo-allergenic poodle and is training to become a service animal for a young woman in the community.

Paddington is one of the many dogs trained through the Thames Centre Service Dogs, a company owned by Cadence’s aunt.

Over the course of six months, Cadence’s role is to train Paddington; teach him simple commands and expose him to different crowds and situations.

At home, Paddintgon is like any other puppy, but out in public, Paddington is “working” and is expected to be on his

best behaviour. Cadence said people can barely tell he’s in a class because he is so calm and quiet — let it be noted that Paddington slept throughout our entire interview.

You may recognize Paddington as one of Team Avila’s cutest supporters as he wore a Team Avila t-shirt throughout the campaign period, which Cadence ironed together. Cadence joked that Paddington got the team all their votes.

Cadence met Eddy Avila, the University Students’ Council president elect, through sophing.

“What I really like about [off-campus sophing] is that there are people you would never meet to begin with because they’re in different programs,” Cadence said.

As a soph, she also helps with a men’s OC recreational flag football team — Paddington also wears a t-shirt representing their team.

When she’s not sophing, Cadence can be found practicing and competing as a member of Western’s varsity figure skating team. Her biggest supporter, of course, is Paddington, donning Western’s purple bandana and all.

People often tell Cadence it will be hard to give up Paddington, but she chooses not to focus on the negative.

“Obviously I know it’s coming, I’ve known since day one,” Cadence said. “I’d rather focus on right now, that I have a puppy. That’s way more fun.”

One of her favourite memories with Paddington is when they were in class and Paddington whimpered during a bad dream, to the surprise of her prof who had no idea there was a dog in the classroom.

Although she isn’t sure if she’ll train more dogs in the future, Cadence will always own pets and love animals.

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USC to debate motion for referendum

Former writer-in-residence turned screenplay writer

We love new Kanye like Kanye loves Kanye

In response to a blog post written by an alumnus, council will debate whether CHRW returns value to students and if the fee should be put to a referendum.  PG 5

Irish-Canadian playwright Emma Donoghue, author of Room novel and screenplay, has critics raving about her work, but she remains humble.  PG 9

The Life of Pablo just dropped and from the various musical collaborations to its kaleidoscopic musical range, you won’t want to miss this album.  PG 11

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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2016 • 3

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Viva Avila!

TAYLOR LASOTA GAZETTE

Team Avila takes the election Team Avila has been elected as the next president and vice-president of the University Students’ Council.

Team Avila’s president-elect Eddy Avila and vice-president elect Jamie Cleary won with 3,968 votes, beating second place slate PalinCohen, who finished with 2,552 votes. The results were announced the Wednesday but not in time for publication .

“It’s honestly just been one of the coolest journeys I think we’ve ever been on,” fourth-year sciene student Eddy Avila said after the win.

“We’re so happy and so grateful.”

“Oh my God, I don’t know what to say I’m so overwhelmed, I’m so happy for Eddy,” said his mom Aida.

“Both of them worked so hard.”

Jamie Cleary, Avila’s running

mate, expressed his excitement with the win.

“We’re so happy,” said Cleary, also a fourth-year science student.

“Thank you to everybody who voted for us and everybody who supported us. We’re really excited to get started.”

Runner-up Brandon Palin said the loss was hard but Team Avila will have a great time next year.

“It’s obviously something that’s hard to take, but Robbie and I put 110 [per cent] into it,” Palin said.

“Looking back, it’s been an incredible experience, and I’m super proud of everything we’ve accomplished, and I’m super excited for Eddy and Jamie.”

Team Roy’s presidential candidate Mike Roy and vice-presidential

candidate Aidan Mckendrick finished a distant third with 451 votes.

“I sort of expected them to win,” said Roy. “It was close, it was good and first thing we said to them was ‘we’re going to make sure we’re gonna hold you guys accountable and we’re gonna be riding your asses.’”

USC vice-president external Lindsee Perkins congratulated all the slates on a good campaign.

“We are so incredibly proud of all three slates,” said Perkins. “This election was more exciting than any that I’ve seen before.

election was 24.1 per cent, beating last year’s turnout. A total of 7,756 votes were cast this year.

Turnout for the PVP slate election was lower at 21.6 per cent and just 19.6 per cent of eligible voters answered the referendum question.

In 2014, voter turnout was 19.6 per cent. Last year, voter turnout was 23.7 per cent, with 7,747 undergraduate students casting their ballots. However, 1,314 of those students didn’t vote for a presidential slate, compared with 785 this year. n

Solution to puzzle on page 11

••••• Voter turnout in this year’s USC

Out of 32,225 eligible undergraduate voters 6,273 voted in referendum

19.5%

6,971 voted in the PVP slate election 7,756 students voted

USC ELECTION

BY THE

21.6%

NUMBERS

24.1%

JORDAN MCGAVIN GAZETTE

Propel looks to future after loss DRISHTI KATARIA NEWS EDITOR @DRISHTATGAZETTE Western students have decided to put entrepreneurship on campus on the back burner, as 64.8 per cent voted “no” to the Propel referendum.

Sophie Helpard, president of University Students’ Council, said it was important to give students the power to make this decision and she is happy that students were able to voice their opinion.

Eaton Asher, fourth-year psychology and medical sciences student and a work-study student at Propel, said the result was a little disappointing but is glad about the increase in voter turnout this year.

In the referendum, Propel was asking for $4.89 in student ancillary fees.

Currently Propel relies heavily on government grants and according to Alex Benac, USC vice-president internal, the provincial government is scaling back their commitment to entrepreneurship on Western’s campus.

Asher said Propel has made him realize that entrepreneurship is integral in today’s world and will be to his career as well.

“It’s equipped me with skills that are very, very useful, ones that I wouldn’t expect to learn in a science degree and it has actually helped me figure out the next 10 years of my life,” said Asher.

According to Asher, had the referendum passed, it would’ve allowed the people working at propel to plan long term.

“This wasn’t going to replace government funding or the funding

on behalf of Western,” he clarified.

Moving forward, Helpard said Propel will be looking at what services and programs it currently delivers to students and how they want to augment those and examine other sources of funding available.

Asher said Propel will be focusing on integrating other faculties into their program and market relevant services to Western students.

Some of these services may include teaching students how to manage club fees and providing financial advice to student leaders.

“We want to make the services more known, make them more available to all students and change students’ perceptions of what entrepreneurship is so that they’re more comfortable coming to us,” he said. n

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4 • TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2016

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Western crushes world record for STI tests in single day AMY O’KRUK NEWS EDITOR @AMYATGAZETTE Eight hundred and twelve Western students can now brag to their friends that they broke a Guinness World Record — by peeing in a cup.

On Feb. 10, #GetTested Western surpassed the previous threshold of 767 participants to claim the title for most people tested for STIs in 24 hours while at the same location.

The old record was set on Valentine’s Day in 2013 in Basingstoke, England.

Mallory White, a second-year science student, said she was happy to help the event’s organizers — Western’s sexual health and consent education committee and the Middlesex-London Health Unit — break the record and the stigma.

“There’s a negative connotation with getting tested [for sexually transmitted infections],” White said.

“It’s like you think you have something if you’re going to get tested, but that’s not the case. You’re just making sure you’re healthy.”

Participation was simple: as stated, all students had to do was pee in a cup. While that may not seem like something over 800 students would be keen on, committee

coordinator and fifth-year Western student Morgan Mackenzie said the turnout likely stems from something else that does rally students: free food.

“The food had a lot to do with it. We didn’t nearly have as much of a spread as last year,” Mackenzie said, adding there was coffee along with platters of pizza, donuts and desserts for attendants, plus contests and prize opportunities, like free T-shirts and the chance to win a pair of Dr. Dre Beats headphones.

With all of the goodies, Mackenzie added LMHU was key to the event’s success, subsidizing a lot of #GetTested Western’s costs by helping cover the cost of the food and prizes.

“We’re trying to break the stigma of STIs and getting tested, and just try to normalize it and make it more fun ... so that people will actually start doing it,” Mackenzie said. “I’m really happy with how it went and that a lot of students came out to help us break the record.”

The clinic is currently processing participants’ urine samples for chlamydia and gonorrhoea, two of the most common STIs for 15–24-yearolds. n

MIKE HENSON LONDON FREE PRESS LEAPING FOR THE STARS. Mackenzie General and Issac Sawyer of Lloyd S King elementary school learn from Western varisty athletes how to jump using the big pole vault mats during Indigenous Services’ annual track and field day on Feb. 17.

Youth indigenous day hopes to attract future students 11th annual track and field day for grade 7/8 students hopes to increase Western enrolment SHANE ROBERTS SPORTS EDITOR @SHANEATGAZETTE

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Back in September, students at indigenous schools were already asking Amanda Myers about Western’s winter track and field day.

Myers is the youth outreach coordinator at Western’s Indigenous Services, who host an annual track and field day for indigenous youth. She explained why the youth look forward to this day so much.

“It’s something different, it’s something where they can run around, be crazy, be wild and the [Western varsity] athletes that are involved do a phenomenal job of facilitating that,” she said. “Some kids from out of town, they don’t come into London that often so that’s exciting too.”

The event was held on the Wednesday over the Reading Week at the Thompson Arena track. All day, you could see the excitement from the 165 First Nation, Métis and Inuit students that were there.

The students were all in grade seven and eight, and came from 12 different schools across southwestern Ontario. All morning and afternoon they rotated around to different stations run by the varsity track and field team.

Erik Mandawe, the indigenous liaison admissions coordinator with Indigenous Services, said the purpose of this event is to introduce these students to the University.

“We put on this event as part of our outreach strategy to attract more indigenous youth to consider Western University when it comes time for them to look at post-secondary,” said Mandawe.

“And we can say that we have a number of current [Western] students that did take part in this event five, six or seven years ago.”

Mandawe added he believes Western is a good fit for indigenous students that live on reserves

close to London.

“We do have a very good relationship at Western with our local indigenous communities,” he said. “A number of the schools today are coming from Chippewas of the Thames, Munsee-Delaware and Oneida Nation of the Thames, which are the three closest local reserves.”

Mandawe a lso explained indigenous students from reserves closest to London are more likely to attend Western compared to other indigenous youth at track and field day.

One of the biggest problems our students face is home sickness when they are pursuing post-secondary, so because we are pretty close to the reserves where their families are from, the likelihood of them coming to Western is more because they have more familial support and that sense of community and belonging here ERIK MANDAWE INDIGENOUS LIAISON ADMISSIONS COORDINATOR

“One of the biggest problems our students face is home sickness when they are pursuing post-secondary, so because we are pretty close to the reserves where their families are from, the likelihood of them coming to Western is more because they have more familial support and that sense of community and belonging here,” Mandawe explained.

Some schools drove as far as two hours to come to the event.

The furthest of these groups came from the Walpole Island First Nation reserve on the border between Ontario and Michigan.

Another school came to the event that does their curriculum in their own Oneida language. This school is known as the Log School and is based out of the Oneida Nation of the Thames. This school has been coming to track and field day since it first started 11 years ago, and Mandawe emphasized the importance of maintaining a close relationship with them.

“It’s really important for us to engage with the young people that are coming from that community as well because they’re not a mainstream school, they’re taught in a different language completely,” he said. “It’s really empowering to see that days like these have made a difference in their selection for post-secondary in general.”

Moving forward, Mandawe wants to see more indigenous students come to Western. As an advocate for indigenous applicants, he helps ensure Western is complying with the Aboriginal admittance policy to help increase access and retention for indigenous learners. This policy is important because it has helped Western increase the number of indigenous students enrolled over the past few years.

Myers also noted that with increasing numbers of indigenous students it is important that these indigenous youth are exposed to the university atmosphere before applying to university.

“It’s an opportunity for them to meet students their age from across southern Ontario because that’s the same kind of experience they would have coming to university as a first-year student,” said Myers. “When we have orientation in the fall, we have our own Indigenous Services orientation because culturally a lot of our students are not comfortable attending the mainstream orientations so they’ll come to Indigenous Services.” n

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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2016 • 5

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Council to debate CHRW referendum, presented with revised USC budget IAIN BOEKHOFF EDITOR-IN-CHIEF @IAINATGAZETTE The University Students’ Council will debate a motion to hold a referendum on CHRW and be presented with a revised budget at tomorrow’s meeting.

The referendum motion comes in response to a blog post written by a former student questioning the return students get from CHRW. Undergraduate students pay $13.15 each to fund CHRW, which is overwhelmingly funded by these revenues. The non-commercial radio station also receives some revenue from advertising and an annual fundraising drive.

The motion notes the CHRW fee hasn’t been reviewed since its inception in 1979–80 and students should have a say in where their student fees are going.

While the vote will put a referendum on the agenda for next year, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s set in stone.

“At a later point in time, like with all motions, council can vote to rescind the decision,” said Jonathan English, secretary-treasurer. “This, however, would require a greater threshold of votes and can only be attempted once. If this motion to rescind fails, then the referendum would have to take place and CHRW would likely need to campaign for their preferred outcome.”

Kevin Hurren, communitcations officer, added that in the event CHRW would lose a referendum, they could still receive funding from

students via a second referendum.

“CHRW could collaborate with council members to introduce a second referendum altering the fee to a lesser amount rather than removing all funding,” Hurren said.

“Alternatively, in the time CHRW has from now to next year, the station could seek other sources of funding.”

The USC’s fiscal 2017 budget will be presented to council by president Sophie Helpard. The budget has been updated since it was first presented to the board of directors earlier in February.

A number of changes were made to the student fees and how the budget was presented after questions from The Gazette. A revised draft of the budget was unavailable in time for publication but changes include an updated presentation of previous budget numbers, a lowered OUSA fee and an explanation of inflationary increases, according to Hurren.

Council will also be debating a reform of their standing committees from the current six down to four.

Also on the agenda for Wednesday is a presentation on Western’s mental health supports, motions on a definitions policy of USC terms, a budget approval policy and council composition procedure, and reports from the executives and standing committees.

The meeting is at 7 p.m. on Wednesday in the community room on the second floor of the UCC. Follow @NewsAtGazette on Twitter for live updates. n

Scripnick takes leave of absence to run again KATIE LEAR NEWS EDITOR @KATIEATGAZETTE Taryn Scripnick, current vice-president student events for the University Students’ Council, will be taking a leave of absence from her position to run for student programs officer.

The officer position is a revised version of her current role’s responsibilities. According to USC president Sophie Helpard, Scripnick will not be paid during her leave.

Imraan Mukri, associate vice-president campus events, and Malasha Dsouza, acting associate vice-president clubs, will be taking care of Scripnick’s portfolio during her leave and will be supervised by various members of the executive.

“We have divided the portfolio amongst the executive but Sophie [Helpard] will be the one in charge of decisions and the key point person for anything in the portfolio,” Scripnick said in an email.

As associate vice-presidents, Mukri and Dsouza are typically only allowed to bill 15 hours of work in a week at $14 an hour, but this cap will

be increased in light of Scripnick’s leave.

“Like all of the students in the USC’s associate program, they will be paid on an hourly basis,” Kevin Hurren, USC communications officer, said in an email. “We’ve increased that cap for Imraan [Mukri] and Malasha [Dsouza], but it’s too early to say how many hours they’ll need to make up for work in the programming portfolio.”

As an existing USC executive, Scripnick is allowed to run for the student programs officer role despite not being a student according to bylaw 1. She is one of seven candidates for the position, joining Allie Adamo, Jared Boland, Trevor Hunt, Craig Minielly, Travis Tetreault and Justin Yeung in the race.

Regardless of whether or not Scripnick is successful, she will be returning to her role as vice-president student events after the election.

Voting for the student programs officer position will take place at the annual general meeting of council on March 13. n

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UWO CHARITY BALL FACEBOOK A LITTLE MORE ROOM FOR DANCING. This year’s Charity Ball only sold 600 tickets and generated a paltry $5,100 for charity, prompting a USC council review of the event. In the past, the event saw over 2,000 attendees and $18,000 donated to charity.

Charity Ball flop prompts review AMY O’KRUK AND GRACE TO @NEWSATGAZETTE

2,200 students attending.

Taryn Scripnick, USC vice-president of student events, explained the poor turnout could be due to Mustang Lounge’s smaller venue capacity versus previous off-campus sites. Aside from the event’s sparse crowd, though, Scripnick said she received positive feedback about the evening, too.

“A lot of people complimented on the décor, which was really great because Mustang Lounge didn’t really look like Mustang Lounge,” Scripnick said. “We had compliments on the food as well because we never had food before.”

If attendance at Western’s largest student formal continues to decline, however, the committee wants council to consider returning to the event’s past as a sit-down dinner or opening it up to the larger student population as a wet/dry event.

According to Charity Ball coordinator Diana Su, this year’s marketing strategy team focused less on the event and more on hooking students up with the local charity.

Ticket sales for this year’s Charity Ball plummeted and now a USC committee is recommending an event program overhaul.

The University Students’ Council’s portfolio service level & program review committee is presenting a motion on Wednesday that will give future Charity Balls better strategic direction. It focuses on hosting the event off-campus, improving the event’s advertising and emphasizing the charity’s promotion over the event’s annual theme.

The recommendations will hopefully remedy this year’s Charity Ball’s low ticket sales. The Jan. 30 event only sold 600 tickets, just over half of last year’s 1,100. The sales also contributed to the USC’s lowest charity donation in at least six years with $5,100 raised for the London’s First Episode Mood and Anxiety Program. In comparison, the USC’s 2013 Charity Ball raised close to $18,000 for charity with over

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“This year, we spent a lot more time focusing on [FEMAP],” said Su. “By trying to provide that resource to the students through social media, dedicating a week ‘Treat Yourself’ [as] promotion for the charity, going to visit the charity, talking to patients and doctors and trying to make that information available to everyone both through our social media presence and at our booth.”

Scripnick also noted that the event’s Mustang Lounge location allowed the USC to address some of past students’ complaints such as lack of transportation to and from the event and long coat check lines. She added the USC is already looking toward next year by reaching out the London Convention Centre to “try to hold a date” for next year, so the organizers will have a choice whether to hold the event on campus or off.

“I think we did amazing with the location we had and the situation we had,” said Scripnick. “I think if it was at the Mustang Lounge again, it would still be a great success.” n

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6 • TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2016

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Origin story: the birth of JW and the Mustangs HALA GHONAIM SPORTS EDITOR @HALAATGAZETTE It isn’t a secret that Western takes pride in its academic and athletic reputation. It also isn’t hard to miss the schools mascot, JW during football games and recreational events on campus with photos flooding the Web. But before being the Mustangs, we were the Colts, and soon after, the Mustangettes.

Bob Barney, a retired professor of kinesiology, invested his time in learning about the history of our mascot. He believes the term “Mustang” first appeared in The Advertiser, a local newspaper, in October 1926.

According to Barney, the article’s intentions were unclear, but it’s believed the term was chosen to portray Western’s “youthful, wild and spirited demeanor — just what young athletic action should reflect.”

The Advertiser referred to Western’s intermediate competitive team as the Mustangs and the junior competitive team as the Colts.

During this time, Western’s women’s teams were also referred to as the Mustangettes to have a more feminine effect, but that was short-lived.

Bob believes after that the Mustang was here to stay.

However, in March 1935, almost 10 years later, The Gazette proposed changing the football team’s name to “the Purples” instead of the Mustangs. The students sided against the “Purple” proposal and appealed it to show how little they liked the name.

“A campus-wide referendum followed in which returned ballots

reflected a 20:1 ratio in favour of Mustangs,” said Barney.

This was when the Mustang name truly left its mark on students.

Conversations about the mascot began several decades later in 1985 to enhance school spirit. At that time, mascots were ubiquitous in the United States, but less prevalent in Canada.

With the help of Jamie Bone, assistant head football coach at the time, Western became one of Canada’s leading schools to adopt the idea of a uniformed mascot making a presence during games and events. Craig Cohen, vice-president promotions for the University Students’ Council at the time, David Lee Tracey, head coach of the cheerleading team, Bone and many other supporters believed it was the best way to connect the University with younger children during games, all while increasing student turnout.

The name “JW” was chosen to honour JW Stadium — now known as TD Stadium — that was named after a prominent family in London who had donated money to build the facility back in 1929.

Prior to JW, however, Bone aided in many other attempts to increase student turnout and audience engagement.

“We did a promotion where we were going to have the largest band ever in Canada,” he said. “We bought thousands and thousands of kazoos ... you know, you hum and it makes a buzzing sound. We handed them out at football games and they did the national anthem. It was amazing.

You should have heard 10,000 people holding kazoos doing the national anthem.”

But nothing worked as well as JW did. The mascot carried out the University name in a positive way not only throughout London, but the nation. The first time Bone travelled in 1985-86 across the country, JW made a big impact amongst the audience members.

“They all want to give him a hug,” he said. “Whenever someone sees that mascot, they know immediately who it is — ‘Hey, that’s Western’s mascot.’ ” Darwin Semotiuk, former football head coach and chairman of the intercollegiate athletic program, recalls Bone being extremely instrumental in coming up with promotional ideas.

Semotiuk believes JW was a huge success due to the high reputation of Western’s athletic program at that time, being the leading edge in the nation. Today, Western lives up to the standards JW maintains. Western’s performance has always topped charts and continues to claim top titles in the country.

JW is not only a fixture in the intercollege athletic program; it’s a fixture associated with the University itself as well. Although he’s had several renditions in the past in an attempt at making him look fiercer, the mascot is now back to the way he looked in the early 2000s, which was less threatening and more appealing.

“We defined a lot of the direction which has currently kept pace with what we started,” Semotiuk said. “[Our mascot] is a pretty good representation of what Western is all about. It’s a little bit funky, it’s a little bit cute — not too formal. It’s meant to be a lot of fun.” n

COURTESY OF JAMIE BONE

Meet the couple that is JW the mascot SERENA QUINN SPORTS EDITOR @SERENAATGAZETTE

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If you’ve been to any big sporting event at Western, chances are you’ve seen JW the Mustang.

JW is the official mascot for the Western Mustangs. He’s a white and purple horse, who gives out hugs, high-fives and is usually being followed by a parade of happy children.

But have you ever wondered who is behind that mask?

Well you might be surprised to learn that it’s a Western couple.

Together, Jason Lee and Jane Meng are JW the mascot.

Lee and Meng are both second year students at Western. Lee studies medical science and Meng studies BMOS and economics.

The couple attended the same high school in Oakville, Ontario, and met when Meng moved to Canada in grade 11.

“I didn’t know anyone,” Meng said. “I was sitting in the hallway eating lunch and then he came to talk to me.”

The relationship blossomed from there and when it came time to choose a university to attend, Lee and Meng decided on Western because it encompassed both of their academic passions.

“Originally she was thinking of going to U of T and I was thinking of going to McMaster, but then I wanted to go to the same university,” Lee said. “ I did some research and convinced her that Western is good for both business and science.”

It was Meng who had the initial

passion for being the body behind the mascot.

While looking for a work study position at the beginning of the school year, Meng came across the mascot position.

Thinking that this would be the perfect role for her Meng filled out an application.

But she never got a response.

As a result, Meng decided to interview for a position within the marketing department for Western athletics.

While there she expressed her desire to be the mascot, and conveniently, the position was open.

“The girl that was supposed to be the mascot graduated,” Meng said. “So they didn’t have a mascot and I was like “yeah I want to be the mascot!’ “ But having just one person wear the mascot suit can be a lot to handle, especially during football season when home games are often half day events.

Luckily for Meng, her boyfriend Lee was looking for a workstudy positions as well.

“I was also looking for a job through workstudy,” Lee said.

“Meng said to go talk to the main person and maybe I’d get an interview.”

Lee took her advice and landed an interview with the marketing department.

“He asked me if I was interested in being a mascot because they only had one,” Lee said. “One isn’t enough because it gets too tiring and you have to switch.

Spending three hours in the mascot suit on a hot day can

leave its occupant dehydrated and light-headed, so having two people available to switch half way through an event is crucial.

“The mascot doesn’t have a ventilation system so it gets really hot,” Lee said.

But having your mascot-mate be your significant other is beneficial for other reasons too.

With hot weather and a lack of ventilation the person behind JW is prone to extensive sweating.

“He sweat in the suit during Homecoming for the first like two to three hours,” Meng said. “When I went in it was all wet.”

And while immersing yourself in the sweat of your significant other isn’t necessarily appealing, it sure beats spending three hours in the sweat of a stranger.

“If it was anyone else they’re not going to switch for you,” Lee said. “And it’s nice that she’s the other one because I always sweat.”

But despite the sweat and exhaustion, the mascot gig has a lot of benefits.

For Lee, the reward of the job comes from getting to parade around and make kids happy.

“The kids love the mascot,” Lee said. “When they chase you around, even though it is sometimes tiring, it’s pretty fun because I feel like everyone is just looking at me and wants to be my friend.”

And Meng feels the same way about being the body behind the mascot.

“It’s like you’re a giant toy and it’s fun,” Meng said. n

• www.westerngazette.ca

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2016 • 7

knowsports

Why the CIS top 10 rankings irk me No Shane No Gain

SHANE ROBERTS SPORTS EDITOR @SHANEATGAZETTE During my four years at Western as a varsity athlete and the past year as a sports editor, I have spent a lot of time looking at the Canadian Interuniversity Sport top 10 weekly rankings.

Over that time I have come to realize how inaccurate and misleading they are.

As a member of the Western cross country team, I felt we were left out of the rankings on multiple occasions when we deserved to be there.

For example, this past year they put the Manitoba Bisons ahead of us at one point during the season.

Do you think they know how to run in Manitoba? The answer is no, the Bisons are slow. We beat them at the CIS cross country championships in Guelph, as did 13 other schools.

Now, the injustices done to my cross country team is not what upsets me. What has, however, is how the CIS top 10 pollsters have treated the women’s volleyball team at Western over the past few weeks.

The rankings for most sports are decided by giving each head coach in the country one vote — the only

exceptions are men’s hockey and football. One would assume the coaches would have a good grasp of where their competition stands, but evidently they don’t.

The Mustangs women’s volleyball team had an 11-game winning streak and finished the season with a record of 16–3, good for first place in the Ontario University Athletics west division. Despite this impressive resumé they are continually left on the outside of the CIS rankings looking in.

This oversight is particularly perplexing when you look at the teams ranked in the top 10 ahead of them.

First off, how are the McMaster Marauders ranked seventh when they recently lost to the Mustangs in four sets and are behind them in the standings? How can it be justified to rank McGill and Sherbrooke in the nine and 10 spots when they each have records of 15–7?

I think this lack of love for the Mustangs may stem from their performance in the regular season last year. They finished the season with a 7–12 record and barely squeaked into the OUA playoffs.

But can this logically be the real reason when you look at how the Mustangs performed in the OUA playoffs last season? In the quarter-final they knocked out OUA west division champions McMaster in four sets and took the eventual OUA champion Toronto Varsity Blues to five sets in the semifinals.

To cap it all off, they made quick

work of Guelph in four sets in the third-place game to take home the OUA bronze medal.

It seems these rankings put too much weight into past success and history. One could argue this year’s Mustangs women’s hockey team should not be in the top 10 rankings due to their mediocre season thus far, having gone 15–8–1, which only has them in fourth place in Ontario.

Yet they sit seventh in the country, according to the weekly poll.

Another timely example is the absence of the Mustangs women’s basketball team from the CIS rankings all season.

This team has received no recognition despite being in first place in the OUA west division and holding an impressive record of 13-5. It should also be noted that this record includes three stand out wins against top teams.

They have beaten the defending CIS champion Windsor Lancers, the number eight-ranked McMaster Marauders and the number seven-ranked Ottawa Gee Gees, all on the road. Again, they are likely left out of the rankings because of their poor record in the regular season last year, when they finished with a record of 7-13 and were eliminated in the first game of the playoffs.

Regardless of this ridiculousness, it doesn’t really matter where all these Mustang teams are ranked.

If they’re the real deal they will all prove themselves in the OUA playoffs. n

SPORTS BRIEFS BADMINTON TAKES BRONZE AT OUAS

Western’s badminton team nabbed third place in this past weekend’s provincial badminton championships.

They went 3–1 in the round robin, which led to a quarter-final date with the Ottawa Gee-Gees on Saturday that Western won convincingly to advance to the semis against the University of Toronto.

In Sunday’s semifinal, the mixed doubles matches ended up being the difference in a 6–4 loss. Western’s Adrianna Giuffre and Bryan Jok fell to Toronto’s Rachel Honderich and Andrew Wilkinson, and Karissa Chan and Jack Hall also came up short for the Mustangs, falling to Bethany So and Jackie Yeung.

Giuffre and Jok bounced back for Western in the bronze medal game against Waterloo, as did both of Western’s men’s doubles teams, which helped Western claim the bronze medal.

MEN’S HOCKEY ADVANCE TO SECOND ROUND

The Mustangs men’s hockey team advanced to the second round of the OUA playoffs by sweeping the Laurier Golden Hawks over the weekend.

They outscored Laurier 12–4 in just two games.

The line of Cody Brown, Shaun Furlong and Andrew Goldberg was particularly impressive in the series, combining for 12

points in two contests.

Western will face the Varsity Blues in the second round, a series that starts Wednesday evening at Thompson Arena.

LADY ’STANGS CLINCH FIRST

After falling well short of upsetting the undefeated Varsity Blues on Friday evening, the women’s volleyball team rebounded well with a straight sets victory on Saturday over the Ryerson Rams.

The win was good enough to lock up the top seed in the OUA west division.

Western is tied for first with McMaster at 16–3, but holds the tiebreaker because they scored more points than McMaster in their two head-to-head matchups.

The women will host the Guelph Gryphons in their first playoff game on Saturday, Feb. 27 at 2 p.m.

MEN’S VOLLEYBALL STUMBLES INTO THE PLAYOFFS

It has been a disappointing season for the men’s volleyball team, who finished their regular season campaign with back-to-back losses on the road to Toronto and Ryerson.

But their 10–10 record was good enough to squeak into the playoffs as the sixth seed.

Their do-or-die playoff opener is this Saturday in Toronto against the 14–6 Ryerson Rams.

From campus to career path Stefanie Del Gobbo is passionate about literacy.

This graduate from Brock University’s Faculty of Education loves books. But the high school students she teaches say streaming movies and online gaming are more fun.

To show them that reading can be just as enjoyable, Stefanie devised the free 2Titles.com web app.

Her app identifies books for young people based on their likes and interests, and has received rave reviews.

“The unique Brock experience and approach gave me a realm of inspiration that I strive to pass on in every classroom I enter,” says Stefanie, “Brock encouraged me to be a creative and critical thinker.”

Choose your path to a fulfilling career from one of Brock University’s undergraduate and graduate programs in Education, Applied Health Sciences, Humanities, Social Sciences, Business, and Math and Science.

Learn more at discover.brocku.ca

Visit our Spring Open House Stefanie Del Gobbo Brock graduate BA English Language and Literature (’09) BEd (’10) High school teacher and literacy web app developer

Sunday, March 6, 2016 · Noon to 4 p.m.

Register at discover.brocku.ca For both sides of the brain.

Brock University | Niagara | Canada

www.westerngazette.ca

8 • TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2016

insight

•

TAYLOR LASOTA GAZETTE

Mental toughness of fencing sets it apart SHANE ROBERTS SPORTS EDITOR @SHANEATGAZETTE One day in high school, a 16-yearold Rainer Hilland picked up the Markham parks and recreation guide and saw an ad for a new local fencing club. He decided to check it out on a whim because it looked interesting and he was bored.

At first, it seemed a bit strange to Hilland because the club had an eclectic mix of people and met late at night, but after a while he started enjoying it. Now, about eight years later, Hilland still finds himself meeting for late nights of fencing, only with the varsity fencing team at Western.

Another veteran on Western’s team, Connor Wilson, found fencing in a similar fashion. While at a volleyball camp at age eight, Wilson was taken aside by the coach and told he wasn’t very good at volleyball. However, the coach also taught fencing and offered to introduce Wilson to the sport. From that point on, Wilson was hooked.

Despite their years of experience

TAYLOR LASOTA GAZETTE

in the sport, Wilson and Hilland are not the focal points of the fencing team this year. The star of the team is Marie Lecoq, an international exchange student from France.

Lecoq won every tournament and every match all season, including the sabre competition at the Ontario University Athletics championship at Thames Hall this past weekend.

Her success can also be attributed to a young start in the sport.

She began fencing with the sabre weapon at the age of nine with her father at a local fencing club in France. Her father has always been passionate about fencing, and it certainly rubbed off on her as she has had a great career in the sport.

Before she finished high school she had already competed for France at multiple European and world championships.

However, in her first year of university in France, Lecoq decided to step away from the sport because it was taking up such a large portion of her time. It was during her time off when she realized how much she loved the sport.

“Even if I stop for one year I will always love fencing,” Lecoq said.

“And [when I did stop] I kind of missed it. I think I will always love fencing and if I can fence until I die, I will fence until I die.”

Lecoq decided to come to Western on exchange partly because her mother is from Toronto and she wanted to be close to relatives. The strong reputation of the Ivey business school was also a drawing point.

But fencing was a factor in the decision, as she wanted to give it another go, despite the fact the Canadian style of fencing appeared a bit strange to her. “[Fencing] is more popular in France than it is in Canada,” Lecoq said. “Also the way of teaching is very different. At the clubs that I’ve been to in Canada they’re very focused on working out and body strength, whereas in France we never do workouts or anything — we just mainly fence. Also it’s not the same type of fencing.... The Canadian style is not as soft and smooth as the French style.”

The lack of specified training in Canada for fencing is not surprising because the sport is generally not very popular here. Many Canadian fencers like Hilland and Wilson came across the sport by luck. In fact, Hilland said the majority of the 50 or so members on the Western fencing team did not have any previous fencing experience before joining the team. Because of this, Canada struggles at the sport in international competitions.

“On the international fencing scene, Canada is not very well represented,” Hilland said. “It’s traditionally been a very European sport — like the Italians and the French and the Germans, they’re the fencing nations. More recently it’s the Chinese and South Koreans dominating. Canada doesn’t really factor in.”

Wilson recently experienced this top-level skill of the Chinese at a tournament a few weeks ago.

After a strong first day, Wilson was quickly humbled by some national team members from China on the second day of competition.

“Everything you do, they’re doing faster, better, stronger and they’re ready for every action with a reaction, and every time you’re getting points it’s when they’re sleeping or just kind of goofing around,” Wilson said. “That skill level jump from a good fencer doing it recreationally to someone that is actually doing it as a career is just huge. The repertoire they have is so much more advanced.”

Squaring off against such extremely skilled fencers is what motivates Wilson to get to the next level. This is reflected through all of the extra the work he’s done in the past year for training. Wilson admits that a large part of this increased training is working on his ability to focus during a match.

“Fencing is physical chess,” he said. “A huge thing is being focused and understanding the dynamics of the sport, and if you’re not focused you won’t be able to do that. You can have fencers that execute really well but if they’re not focused and thinking and breaking down the game all the time they’re going to lose stupid points that should’ve been theirs.”

Wilson also added his mental game is the skill that he needs to work on the most. He admits the

physical component is important too, but it is the mental toughness that separates the best from the rest.

“Personally, the thing I find most challenging is head games,” Wilson said. “I’m not particularly mentally strong; I get frustrated pretty quickly and pretty easily. When you get frustrated when you’re down [in the match] and start throwing all kinds of stuff at them instead of laying back, you lose bouts like that.”

Hilland also said this mental battle between opponents is what differentiates it from other sports like track and field, where the strategy is simplified.

“You have to be able to read what your opponent is going to do and you have to predict what they’re gonna do,” said Hilland. “A normal fencing bout for the first two minutes or so is extremely uninteresting because everybody is doing just little things to see what sort of gut reactions the other guy has. Once you figure out what his patterns are then you can exploit them.”

On the other hand, Hilland and Wilson also explained the physical strain fencing puts on the knees and hips, which can be very painful.

“I think I’m probably going to finish after this year,” Hilland said.

“I’ve done my time in physio and I’m starting to feel like it has taken a toll on my body. You see guys at competitions in their thirties that can’t walk anymore.”

Wilson expressed similar remarks when interviewed this weekend at the OUA fencing tournament in Thames Hall, and pointed to former fencers in the gym as an example to prove his point.

“The way you stand is really bad on knees and hips,” Wilson said.

“If you look at some of the coaches in there, you’ll see them hobbling around. They fenced at an elite level when they were young and didn’t stretch very well, and now the meniscus in their knees and stuff is just shot.”

Even though the OUAs are done and there is no Canadian Interuniversity Sport title for fencing, it is not the end of the season for the Western fencers. A select few will be finishing the university season at the provincials at the beginning of April right before exams start. n

• www.westerngazette.ca

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2016 • 9

insight

Success follows Donoghue wherever she goes SABRINA FRACASSI GAZETTE STAFF @NEWSATGAZETTE Being nominated for an Oscar seems surreal to most people.

When thinking about these award shows, most people picture the A-list actors and actresses whose faces cover almost every big screen. While writing her very first screenplay, Irish-Canadian author Emma Donoghue had no idea she would be nominated for so many prestigious awards.

Regardless of all the success surrounding her novel, Room, and its film’s screenplay, Donoghue attributes the praise to the large network of individuals involved in making the film.

“All sorts of things got changed and that’s all wonderful, that’s part of the film making process, but that just reminds me that everything about film is collaborative,” Donoghue said in a phone interview. “Even though the prizes like to isolate elements, like one person’s performance or one person’s music or one person’s screenplay, in fact all these pieces fit together.”

Donoghue’s 2010 novel follows the story of a young woman named Joy Newsome, played by Brie Larson, who is kidnapped and held in a shed for several years. Her capturer impregnates her and she gives birth to a son, Jack, played

by Jacob Tremblay. Once the novel was published, Donoghue decided to make her first attempt at writing a screenplay. The result is a touching film that has received widespread critical acclaim.

Donoghue, the mother of two, said being a mother is what inspired her to write the novel. She had heard about a high-profile kidnapping case and the thought of how to be a good mother in that situation overwhelmed her.

“It struck me that [Room] was a great metaphor for parenthood in general in that — you’re really tightly bound to your child, and sometimes that feels absolutely magical and sometimes it feels claustrophobic,” Donoghue said.

“This kidnapping premise seemed to me a perfect way to study parenthood in isolation.”

Donoghue has been writing for decades and spent some time writing here in London. Almost 20 years ago she came to work at Western as a writer in residence.

Donoghue came to London in 1998 after her partner, Chris Roulston, got a job teaching French and women’s studies at Western.

Donoghue admitted she didn’t find working as a writer in residence as fulfilling as she had hoped.

“I met some interesting people, but I don’t think it’s my particular vocation to be a creative writing tutor,” Donoghue said. “A lot of people start writing for reasons which have really very little to do with writing and more to do with issues that they want to express. I found it quite a difficult task.”

Donoghue always believed her novel had the potential to be transferred to the big screen.

She had a lot of supporters and her dream ended up becoming a reality. Donoghue teamed up with fellow a Irishman, director Lenny Abrahamson, and the rest was history.

“As soon as I finished the novel I had a sense that this storyline could work on film as well, even though it would make for a pretty eccentrically shaped kind of film,” she said. “I went ahead and drafted the screenplay, but then lots of other people who read the book thought it would be a good film too.

So I was getting a lot of overtures.”

Today, on top of being nominated for an Academy Award, Donoghue is also nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay, the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay and the BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Donoghue was genuinely surprised with all the positive feedback. She had expected the actors to be nominated but never really thought working behind the screen would get her so many nominations.

“I hadn’t been looking out for any of this to happen,” she said. “It is a remarkable position to be in and sometimes I feel like a complete fraud because I am so new to the film business. Sometimes people will talk to me about film jargon and I just have to Google it!”

Now that the film has really taken off, Donoghue has been extremely busy keeping up with public appearances and being a part of the world of Hollywood.

She noted the film industry is very different from the literary world.

“There’s a lot more glitz — they give you a lot more ‘free goodies’ for instance,” Donoghue said. “I got two pairs of shoes free from film festivals this year! So it’s all extremely different from the book world where you might get a mug if you’re lucky.”

Thinking about the differences between publishing a book and watching a film come together, Donoghue can’t help but compare the two experiences.

“When you write a novel it’s your baby, you’re responsible for everything in it,” she said. “And of course, the publishers help you get it out to the world but the line is clear, you made up everything in it; whereas film is team work, and a screen play does not stand on its own, it barely exists on its own, its only a blueprint.”

Aside from her busy travelling schedule between France and L.A., Donoghue still comes and visits London, Ont. “I’ve gotten very fond of [London] over the years,” said Donoghue. “I prefer big cities so it wouldn’t be my top choice if I was just choosing where to live, but since fate happened to bring me to London I think I’ve ended up very happy here.”

Donoghue is working on two new novels that are expected to be published in the next two years. The Wonder, a novel about a girl in 19th-century Ireland who claims not to eat, will be released in September 2016. Donoghue is also working on a book for middle-grade readers called The Lotterys Plus One, which is expected to come out in February 2017. Clearly, Donoghue’s writing career is not even close to being over yet. Fans can expect a lot to come of her over the next couple of years. n

WINNIE LU GAZETTE

Black History Month continues after February SAMAH ALI ARTS & LIFE EDITOR @SAMAHATGAZETTE

As the month of February trickles to a close, Black History Month goes along with it. For some students on campus, the spirit of the month continues throughout the other 11 months of the year.

“For me and for a lot of other black people, Black History Month is every month,” says Rowa Mohamed, co-political affairs officer for the Black Students’ Association. “I don’t think [the month] limits history per se, but makes it a little bit more visible because for the rest of the year everyone is very happy to ignore it.”

With an extra day this year, Black History Month aims to shine a light on the contributions and excellence of black Canadians and Americans to make up for the bloodstained past of slavery and colonization. The month highlights notable figures and activists throughout history to educate future generations and remember the past.

Second-year science student Gabe Onea believes that learning this history is valuable to prevent the same violence from occurring in the future.

“There have been some pretty nasty things in the past that have happened for black people and people of colour really, and it’s key to recognize that and try to change it because history tends to repeat

itself,” says Onea. “But if we’re educated about history then surely the future will be a lot better.”

However, he points out history is not always conveyed through the school system.

When asked if he learned history at school, Onea says, “Absolutely not, which is sad because at school we never really hit it on the head even though we had a pretty multicultural place, but I would definitely be interested in it.”

Mohamed and her fellow BSA executives have worked to change this failure by offering more events during Black History Month.

Even though Mohamed believes the month is a time to bring the focus back to blackness and celebrating people who are often not recognized, the BSA offered presentations, film screenings and discussion series throughout the month to carve out a space for learning and celebrating black culture.

Among the events planned was a presentation put on by activist, writer and educator Kim Katrin Milan. Emphasizing allyship and anti-blackness, Milan shared her powerful presentation to a group of students and encouraged them to share them on a public platform for others to see and continue learning beyond Black History Month.

“I think Black History Month is a double-edged sword, because obviously it’s important for us to create a really intentional space

to talk about blackness, history and our futures, but it’s born out an absence of not being a part of the dialogue constantly,” Milan says.

“I think that in an ideal world, we would be having this conversation all the time — I’m having this conversation all the time — but it’s nice to have an excuse to go really hard in that capacity.”

She adds that the month is a necessity due to the racism prevalent in society.

“It’s necessary because of the way blackness gets marginalized, to have really clear spaces where we can engage in these things politically,” she adds.

Mohamed agrees with Milan, explaining the reason why Black History Month and the BSA exists is to create spaces for people like themselves. She explains the introduction of the movie screenings this year in their Black History Month programming is due to the second year of the #OscarSoWhite controversy.

Onea believes that it’s on the individual to continue learning beyond February.

He says the history is available year round for everyone to learn and one month is the perfect gateway for others to learn more information about how black history and culture and how it affects them every day of the year.

Visit the BSA Facebook page for more events during Black History Month. n

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www.westerngazette.ca

10 • TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2016

insightopinions

•

Extinguish the ’Bern Breaking Brad

BRADLEY METLIN OPINIONS EDITOR @BRADATGAZETTE It’s like a plague has affected my social media timeline as Western students clamour to engage in the United States presidential election. Virtually everyone I’ve seen posting about the next American president has one wish — that Senator Bernie Sanders captures the title.

Of course, Sanders began the campaign as an outlier candidate who most pundits and pollsters thought would be irrelevant.

Throughout the past few months, largely fuelled by young people who are “feeling the Bern,” his polls numbers have drawn closer to frontrunner Hillary Clinton.

The enthusiasm for Sanders baffles me just as much as the energy for businessman Donald Trump’s candidacy. Both offer vague proposals that are unrealistic and reviled by people on the other side of the political spectrum. While Sanders is preaching hope, which is admirable, young people have abandoned a similarly-messaged Clinton.

While Clinton is a well-known policy wonk, Sanders’ proposals have been hacked to pieces.

Predicting five per cent economic growth in the United States is horribly unrealistic. While American universal health care would be great, especially speaking as Canadians who have a system we love, Sanders’ plan would require taxes to rise by a staggering amount. Overall, Sanders’ goals provide a vision for the United States but lack a plan to achieve said goals.

Throughout her career, Clinton has had to constantly reinvent herself. As first lady, she had to convince people she was a sensible centrist and now in 2016, she’s trying to explain that she is the opposite. The truth is Clinton has always been a progressive, but

one who is prone to incremental change. Perhaps this is due to initiatives she undertook that were seen as too liberal, such as the Clinton health care plan of 1993, which ultimately failed.

While Sanders’ message of free public university tuition, universal health care and expanded infrastructure spending are appealing, Clinton knows these grand proposals would fail in the current American political climate just as her healthcare plan failed over 20 years ago. Pragmatism isn’t very sexy, however, and people would much rather gravitate towards ambitious messaging rather than a vision rooted in reality.

Perhaps the most perplexing thing I’ve seen from friends on social media is that Clinton only cares about white people and panders to minorities. I believe all politicians pander to groups of all sorts. During the Nevada caucuses, iconic Latina leader Dolores Heutra was allegedly heckled by Sanders’ supporters to speak in English only.

When Clinton travelled to Harlem to make a speech, she was blunt about America’s race problem in which she delivered these truth bombs: “Black kids get arrested for petty crimes, but white CEOs get away with fleecing our entire country — there is something wrong.”

“Just imagine with me for a minute if white kids were 500 per cent more likely to die from asthma than black kids — 500 percent.”

“Imagine if a white baby in South Carolina were twice as likely to die before her first birthday than an African-American baby.”

I’m not suggesting Sanders doesn’t care about race issues, he certainly does, but Clinton is just as passionate.

Everyone seems to be “feeling the Bern,” but Clinton is the candidate that offers tangible proposals that will move America forward. Even the majority of her plans seemed doomed in the logjammed political process of the United States, but at least she has a chance. n

KELLY SAMUEL GAZETTE

Don’t be so quick to judge CHRW

BY GAZETTE EDITORIAL BOARD

The University Students’ Council is considering sending the CHRW student fee to a referendum in February 2017.

The motion before council at this Wednesday’s meeting would see students decide whether or not to continue CHRW’s annual $13.15 student fee. The motion questions the value students get for their money.

While the desire for student engagement is admirable, it seems like a rush to judgment for something that’s been a campus institution for over 35 years.

It’s not that asking for a referendum of a student fee is wrong — it’s the presumptive nature of the motion that suggests CHRW is hiding information and isn’t benefitting students without a critical examination of what its mandate is, what it does and the variety of ways students interact with the station.

In the modern media landscape, traditional listenership is just one small portion of a radio station’s reach. There’s online streaming, podcasts, written articles, videos and social media reach to consider.

Listenership is no longer the only metric, or even the main metric that radio stations need.

Beyond volunteering and consuming CHRW in some way, students are also prominently featured on CHRW.

hasn’t always seen this need for student feedback on ancillary fees. Just last year they unilaterally decided to discontinue the USC’s membership in the federal student advocacy group Canadian Alliance of Student Associations. Why weren’t students allowed to vote on whether they wanted to lose their voice on a national stage or not? It’s a fee that was instituted by referendum, but it was a fee taken away with virtually no student consultation.

This motion seems like a knee-jerk reaction to something that should get wide consultation and research before a decision is made on the station’s entire student funding.

This motion also comes at a time when the USC’s businesses continuously lose thousands of dollars — we’re looking at you, Western Film, the Wave, the Purple Store, Creative Services — but council doesn’t bat an eye or question whether students should be subsidizing the USC’s losses.

A better alternative for council is to agree that yes, CHRW needs to re-examine its mandate to see if it’s meeting current students’ needs, determine what those needs are and if CHRW can meet them. If it can’t or there is an alternative plan, then the funding should be reassessed. Council has until January to decide if a referendum is necessary. Let’s use that time to find out what CHRW is, what it should be and if it can get there so students can have an informed vote. n

There’s also the problem of precedent; council

Research needed before referendum Cool Story Brokoff

IAIN BOEKHOFF EDITOR IN CHIEF @IAINATGAZETTE In response to a lengthy blog post published during the election campaign that questioned the return on investment students were getting from campus radio station CHRW, USC council will be debating a motion to hold a referendum next year on the station’s funding.

The post touched a nerve with many mainly because it went in depth on a specific topic and went past the superficial, high-level narrative the USC spins every year, generating enough anger to spawn the motion before council.

While the intent of the post was good and I applaud how it started a conversation, this motion is not a good result.

A referendum and subsequent potential for the loss of student fee revenue would almost surely see the end of CHRW. Holding a referendum is a rather extreme response to perceived but largely unsubstantiated dissatisfaction with CHRW. The fact that more practical and proactive

solutions aren’t being considered first is worrisome, and the station can rightfully see itself under an attack from councillors.

Striking a committee, re-examining CHRW’s mandate, hosting town halls, consultations with students, surveys — all of these things should be done before a referendum is considered.

Having a committee of councillors, students-at-large and members of CHRW examine its mandate, its reach with students, how it might improve and whether the cost is worth it is a valuable conversation to have. Research and consultation with students is the most effective and practical solution to a perceived

problem with CHRW. When it becomes clear that CHRW’s mandate should change and there is widespread dissatisfaction with the station, then and only then should a referendum be considered.

No doubt, the station needs to evolve to better serve students and the community — all media does in the digital age. It’s a radio station in an era of declining listenership.

But it’s also trying to innovate — it’s moving more toward video and listeners can now text their questions and comments into shows rather than just phone in.

In a changing media landscape, the struggle to innovate for campus

media can sometimes be too much.

The Gazette faces the same problems CHRW does: how do we stay current with the modern media landscape given the many constraints, particularly financial, we have?

That answer from council, when it came to The Gazette, was to invest in its future and in student opportunities. CHRW should at least be given the same opportunity to pitch its plan for innovation and how much that might cost.

Before considering a referendum, council must consider the alternatives and be open to a broad consultation and research process.

The 36-year old station deserves as much.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.”

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Deadpool delivers raunch and gore AMAL MATAN GAZETTE STAFF @GAZETTECULTURE Director: Tim Miller Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, T.J. Miller Rating: GGGFF In the mood for a great combo of raunchy, R-rated humour and gore?

Deadpool is the movie for you. This Marvel superhero flick stars a protagonist that is anything but the norm, so don’t be surprised by the explicit nature that has caught some non-comic fans off guard.

Longtime devotees and newbies will be pleased with this movie. Unlike X-Men Origins and previous attempts at the character, this film has all the basic components of Deadpool.

From the suit to the humour, Ryan Reynolds’ portrayal of Wade Wilson is far more on point this time around.

The best part of this movie is the detail and attention to the source material. It’s clear from the intro credits the film makers aren’t afraid to break the fourth wall and poke fun at themselves and higher-ups alike. Some of the jokes are hit or miss, especially if you don’t have a lot of background knowledge, but there are plenty to gawk at. Most of the best jokes are given away in the trailer, but there are some decent ones left. Ultimately, nothing and

ALEXANDRA HAWKINS GAZETTE STAFF @GAZETTECULTURE It can be difficult to stand out from the crowd in the winter when it seems like everyone is dressing in the same basic style: dark clothes, outerwear and boots. Fifth-year BMOS student Kishwar Hashmee shows us how to mix colours in order to create a distinct and cohesive outfit that embraces your own style.

Hashmee’s colour choices may seem daring, as he combines colours that at first sight don’t go together.

However, with dark colours on top and lighter shades on the bottom, his colour scheme adds variety to the outfit and makes a statement.

He combines a burgundy double-breasted wool coat with a thin knit navy scarf.

The coat is unique, as most people favour the more modern single-breasted look, and its burgundy colour complements the scarf nicely.

Under neath the coat, he wears a simple black longsleeved shirt and slim-fit light wash j e a n s , w h i c h juxtapose the darker colours in MAAILAH BLACKWOOD GAZETTE

no one is safe from the sassy and sarcastic wrath of the writing room.

However, action scenes, compelling villains and an attention-grabbing plot are necessary for a fantastic movie and Deadpool does deliver, but only so much.

Gore aside, Deadpool doesn’t move with the fantastic choreography of Netflix’s Daredevil or The Winter Soldier. It tends to recycle the same moves and becomes engrossed in slow-mo flips and gun shots. The fights lack a wow factor.

Plot-wise, this movie boils down to a simplistic revenge story with an intriguing villain. Sure, the villain does awful things, speaks in a British accent and has a couple of cool female henchmen, but so what?

He doesn’t make us hate him, fear him or cower in his presence. In the Marvel cinematic universe where we have Apocalypse, Hydra and even Ultron, what makes Ajax (Ed Skrein) important enough to remember as Deadpool’s first major foe? He’s just a wannabe baddie in what would have been a minor character’s role.

When it comes down to it, Deadpool is a very basic, satisfying remake of the unconventional hero.

With a sequel already greenlit, you can definitely look forward to an extension of Deadpool’s hijinks and exploits, hopefully featuring more X-Men and easter eggs. n

the outfit.

His favourite piece, however, are his boots, because of their slim design in a camel colour. This style is a good alternative to bulkier winter boots, but the shearling lining ensures that your feet are kept warm.

Although Hashmee emphasizes the importance of creating one’s own individual style, his advice is to tailor your style to what makes you feel good about yourself.

“I shop mostly slim fit, from Topman or sometimes Zara, but I’m not brand loyal,” he says. “I’d shop anywhere as long as it looks good.”

As a business owner of Evoq (evoqwear.com), a company that currently sells ties and other accessories, Hashmee is a big believer in “looking good to be fashionable” while also shopping for “good deals for what looks good.” Consider Hashmee’s advice and choose items that make you feel both good and fashionable and embrace your individuality — don’t be afraid to make a statement!

WHERE TO GET IT: JACKET: Zara. Double-breasted coats add a slightly more professional, old-fashioned element to any outfit, and are less common due to the increased popularity of single-breasted coats and suit jackets.

SCARF: Danier. A slim knit scarf is a good way to accessorize and keep warm without the bulkiness of a chunkier style.

JEANS: Zara. Light wash jeans, while typically seen during the warmer months, are still appropriate during winter, and can help add contrast to an outfit with their lighter colour.

BOOTS: Palladium. Camel coloured boots are making a comeback and the lighter colour is a great alternative to darker winter boots that are typically seen at this time of year. n

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2016 • 11

experience

Yeezy szn has arrived

OREN WEISFELD GAZETTE STAFF @GAZETTECULTURE Kanye West The Life of Pablo G.O.O.D. Music and Def Jam Records Rating: GGGGH Standout Tracks: Ultralight Beam, Highlights, Waves, Real Friends, Wolves After almost three years of work, countless collaborators, several lastminute name changes and a stir of controversy, Kanye West has finally released his seventh studio album, The Life of Pablo.

The Life of Pablo showcases Kanye’s ability to assemble an eclectic mix of musical styles and genres in one project, recruiting the best talents in the world to contribute.

The opening track, Ultralight Beam, is a beautiful gospel ballad that features artists Kelly Price and Chance the Rapper. Price brings her powerful melodies to the churchlike chorus, while Chance showcases his trademarked spoken-word style rap in the second verse of the song.

These different sounds and styles

come together to form a beautiful and powerful gospel ballad that sets a high standard for the album.

The next two tracks, Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1 & 2, slowly move away from the gospel sound and begin to blur the lines of genre. Part 1 features production from hip-hop mastermind Metro Boomin, while Kid Cudi jumps in with a catchy hook and West spits a verse about a mysterious model.

Part 2 features G.O.O.D. Music’s own Desiigner and comes off as a hard-hitting Atlanta trap song that will surely be a hit at clubs.

The first three tracks showcase The Life of Pablo’s mix different musical artists and genres, and while some critique the album for its lack of consistency, its kaleidoscopic musical range is the precise reason it is so memorable and remarkable.

Other memorable songs include Highlights, a well-produced, constantly beat-switching masterpiece filled with some of West’s best verses on the album and Young Thug and The Dream adding their unique sounds. Waves is a sonically-pleasing Metro Boomin produced track, featuring Chris Brown’s long-lost pop/R&B singing.

The album’s hit singles include Real Friends, Wolves and No More Parties in L.A. The tracks are all unapologetically honest accounts of West’s feelings, where he recruits help from the likes of Boi-1da and Madlib for production and Frank Ocean, Ty Dolla Sign and Kendrick Lamar on the verses. In the songs, West talks about relationship struggles with friends and family, frustrations with Hollywood and fake

celebrities and emotional problems that all listeners can relate to.

It’s no question that The Life of Pablo features some of the best production we have ever heard on any album ever, as West solidifies himself as one of the best producers to ever make music and utilizes various samples and help from countless talents to further enhance the sound. Unfortunately, The Life of Pablo does fall slightly short when it comes to West’s lyricism.

After albums like Late Registration and The College Dropout, fans have witnessed West’s ability to spit bar after bar of hard-hitting rap, but that ability is rarely heard in The Life of Pablo.

Unlike previous Kanye West projects, the rapper that many consider ignorant and rude jokingly admits to some of his mistakes and flaws in The Life of Pablo with such lines as, “I love you like Kanye loves Kanye.”

Though it may be very easy to judge someone as publically criticized as Kanye West, it is important to remember just how influential and talented the Chicago-born rapper is.

And while this album might not be his best, The Life of Pablo showcases Kanye West’s unique ability to bring together a variety of musical styles into one fine-tuned project with legendary production and remarkable talents.

It might be easy to judge Kanye West for the mistakes he’s made and the flaws he has, but as Mr. West exclaims on the The Life of Pablo, “name one genius that ain’t crazy!”

The Life of Pablo is currently available on the music streaming platform TIDAL. n

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

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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.

5 BEDROOM HOUSE Old North. 80 Huron, large living room and dining room, hardwood floors, 2 4piece baths, 2 fridges, stove, dishwasher, microwave. First listing, tenants graduating. $435 + utilities. 5 min walk to Western. Vic 519-857-4232 82 HURON 4 bedroom Old North. 5 min walk to Western, large living room, formal dining room, eatin kitchen, 2 4-piece baths, 2 fridges, 1 deep freeze, stove, dishwasher, washer, dryer. House well maintained inside and out. Tenants graduating. $470 + Utilities. 519-857-4232 Vic. KING’S COLLEGE - HOUSE for rent. 5 bedrooms, $310+/month, May 01 2016, parking, laundry everything. 1061 Patricia St. opposite Kings’ library. Females preferred. Call or TEXT Matt Kennedy 519-317-3023 mattkennedy@rogers.com or martagkennedy@gmail.com 519-719-2449

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 3

UPCOMING EVENTS OPEN TO ALL! London Defeat Depression Walk & Talk Feb. 27th, 2016. Registration begins at 9am. Taking place in Victoria Park, let’s move for mental health!

Sign up or donate online at: mdsc.akaraisin.com/london2016. Proceeds benefit the London & District Distress Centre 24 hour Helplines!

VOLUNTEERS WANTED

SEEKING STUDENT PARTICIPANTS 18-25 years old for thesis study considering mental, emotional, physical experience of art making.

1 hour art/questionnaire session.

No art experience necessary.

Ethically approved.

Monetary compensation.

ArtStudyInquiry@gmail.com

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

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

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12 • TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2016

experiencegames

PHOTO OF THE DAY

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CROSSWORD BY EUGENE SHEFFER

KYLE PORTER GAZETTE BACK OF THE NET. Western’s Andrew Goldberg celebrates a goal in last Wednesday’s playoff win over Laurier. The Mustangs are moving on to the second round of the playoffs after beating Laurier 8–3 and 4–1 last week.

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The SPC CardTM entitles students to immediate and exclusive savings on fashion, dining, lifestyle and more.

The SPC card. Only $9. Available at Mustang Central in the UCC Atrium

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