Tuesday, October 30, 2018

SINCE 1906 TUESDAY OCTOBER 30, 2018 VOLUME 112 ISSUE 9

Western University’s Student Newspaper PCs ponder free tuition PG3

Men’s hockey home-opener PG9

Violence prevention in action PG10 untimely construction projects since 1906

WITCHING OUR RICHMOND ROW

KYRA KARAKATSANIS GAZETTE

Love your smile 20% OFF Western Special New and Emergency Patients Welcome

The Tooth Team 735 Wonderland Rd N, #19

519.657.6767 www.thetoothteam.com

FREE Whitening or Electric Toothbrush with new patient exam and cleaning

profile

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2018 •

• 2

dawn penner

Volume 112, Issue 9 WWW.WESTERNGAZETTE.CA University Community Centre Rm. 263 Western University London, ON, CANADA N6A 3K7 Editorial 519.661.3580 Advertising 519.661.3579

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF MICHAEL CONLEY @MIKECONLEY4 DEPUTY EDITOR LUCAS SONKE @LUCASSONKE MANAGING EDITOR MIKE DEBOER @MIKEDBOER NEWS MARTIN ALLEN LIAM AFONSO JUDY BASMAJI KATRINA MCCALLUM CULTURE CARMEN MALLIA KRISTIN LEE EMILY TAYLER COURTNEY MANN SPORTS CHARLIE MARSHALL STEPHANIE ORLANDO OPINIONS GABRIELLE DROLET WESTERN TV COORDINATOR JOSH MERIFIELD WESTERN TV ASSISTANT COORDINATOR LAUREN COLES

WESTERN TV CONTENT MANAGER REBECCA MCLAREN PHOTO LIAM MCINNIS SAMIT KHALSA LUCY VILLENEUVE VIDEO EMILY CALLAHAN LAURA KELLY BRAND EDITOR SAXON LANE INTERACTIVE MEDIA MAX MAO GRAPHICS SISSI CHEN KYRA KARAKATSANIS COPY ALINA KLEINSASSER KAITLYN LONNEE

GAZETTE ADVERTISING & COMPOSING IAN GREAVES, MANAGER ADVERTISING DIANA WATSON

COMPOSING MAJA ANJOLI-BILIĆ ROBERT ARMSTRONG

W EMILY TAYLOR GAZETTE

When thinking about tarot card readings, the first image that comes to mind is a spooky, dimly lit house where a Harry Potter-esque figure flips a card to reveal that you’re in grave danger.

Dawn went straight to the library to learn more. She emphasizes the importance of poring over tarot books in order to gain more context after developing an intuitive grasp of the cards. She was, and still is, dedicated to learning more.

But Dawn Penner, tarot card reader and Western University alumna, dispels this assumption entirely.

Dawn is friendly and inviting; as I arrive at the cafe, she’s shuffling through her deck of cards — or “toys” as she refers to them. She is easy to connect with and speaks mostly about the rich occult community that helped her form her beliefs. She genuinely cares about the people whose cards she reads.

Dawn moved to London 20 years ago from her home in British Columbia. Upon arriving, she began working at the Mystic Bookshop, which introduced her to a community of people interested in tarot and other elements of mysticism. Groups like these — where people who studied tarot began sharing their knowledge and interpretations — formed online in the early era of internet chat rooms.

For Dawn, tarot is a way to start a conversation without all the small talk.

Dawn believes there’s a connection formed between the tarot card reader and the recipient. She says she enjoys reading tarot cards because each reading gives her a moment of insight into the recipient’s inner thoughts and experiences. Sometimes, the recipient will also experience this moment of clarity — which Dawn describes as beautiful.

Tarot is not meant to tell your future, as many people believe, but instead it’s meant to provide a new perspective on the problems reflected in the cards. Dawn compares the cards to a mirror; they reflect personal difficulties and afford recipients the opportunities to admit truths about themselves.

She also possesses a wealth of knowledge regarding the history and traditions of tarot.

GAZETTE CONTRIBUTORS NOJOUD AL MALLEES

GRIFFEN HELM

ELIZABETH CASCIARO

GREG SIDERIS

ISABELLA ELIAS

VOLUNTEER@WESTERNGAZETTE.CA

WESTERNGAZETTE

UWOGAZETTE

@UWOGAZETTE

WESTERNGAZETTE

WESTERNGAZETTE

WESTERNTV

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.

Dawn first stumbled upon tarot by accident when she was 17. She had found a worn-out deck with cards missing (although she didn’t know that at the time) in a Calgary airport. The first encounter introduced her to a new world and sent her on a mission to study the cards and their history.

“When I first found it, I was sort of enchanted, but I was also a little bit scared of it at the same time. But it really captured my curiosity and my attention,” she explains.

“I played with it and started to learn more about it, and then really just never looked back. I’ve been studying tarot and reading tarot ever since.”

“When I began working at the Mystic Bookshop, that opened up a whole tarot world to me. Not just more access to more books and resources that way, but also to other people who read,” Dawn says. “So a lot of people like me, who had been reading tarot and experimenting with it started to exchange ideas.”

After years of learning the craft and reading her own cards, she opened up and started reading cards for others with the help of this new community. She began reading for her friends and then eventually at parties.

Now Dawn reads tarot cards every Saturday at Brown & Dickson Booksellers on Richmond Row. Dawn has been friends with owners Vanessa Brown and Jason Dickson since her time at Western with Vanessa.

While raising her children, Dawn studied English literature and comparative literature and culture as a mature student. Her dedication to hitting the books translated from tarot traditions to school, as she remained at the top of her class, rivalling Vanessa for high grades.

While her clientele at Brown & Dickson does include students, Dawn reads cards for people from all over London. This means Dawn is able to share her passion and dedication with a variety of Londoners — and perhaps teach them a thing or two about the cards.

“I really like [tarot] because it’s something that you can share with people from all walks of life,” she explains.

“So there are people of different religions or people of no religion that all have an interest in tarot.”

■■EMILY TAYLER

Western by the Numbers

42 per cent of Western students have tried cannabis SISSI CHEN GAZETTE

$805 million raised by Western's decade-long Be Extraordinary campaign

11 shutouts for Mustangs women's soccer goalie Megan Girardi this year

3 •

news

• TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2018

PCs unclear on free tuition MARTIN ALLEN NEWS EDITOR @MTRALLEN Ontario’s post-secondary minister left room for a cut to their free tuition program when pressed by reporters in Toronto on Oct. 24, leaving open the possibility of another PC reversal of a prominent Liberal policy.

When asked twice by Queen’s Park reporters about the program, Merrilee Fullerton, Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities, said the Progressive Conservatives were concerned about the provinces finances and that “[they] need to get Ontario back on track.”

On Tuesday, the provincial government announced they were canceling $307 million in funding for new campus extensions for Ryerson University, Wilfrid Laurier University and York University. The announcement was the latest PC run-in with Ontario universities, after previously mandating free expression policies and campaigning on public spending cuts that could come from post-secondary coffers.

Before meeting with reporters, Fullerton debated the campus cut in the legislature, repeatedly citing the big-government budget they inherited.

“In an election year, [the Liberals] made empty promises to Ontarians for programs and projects they knew they could not afford, leading to a $15 billion deficit,” she said.

The free tuition initiative is a hallmark of the Liberal generosity on education that increased the provincial government’s spending.

Last September, over 200,000 Ontario students from lower-income families received grants upfront to cover their tuition fees.

The Liberal legislation provided students aid —not loans before their fees were due if their family made less than $50,000 annually. At the time, the government estimated 70 per cent of them would receive aid valued above average tuition fees, leaving them with potentially no provincial student debt.

To fund the program, the Liberals canceled a tuition tax credit program that was set to save $145 million throughout the 2017-2018 school year.

In 2017-18, Ontario had Canada’s highest average domestic

tuition fees at $8,454 according to the Higher Education Strategy Associates.

The program is among other Liberal legislation aimed at making post-secondary more financially accessible, such as the three per cent cap on the annual rate of tuition increase that lasts until the end of 2018.

Before the PCs took power in mid-summer, Doug Ford visited Western University on the campaign trail, where he discussed the rising costs of tuition.

“I wish I had a direct answer for you right now ... we’re going to run through it, and we’re going to find out how we can reduce costs for people going to university.”

Western mourns passing of student GAZETTE NEWS Samuel Baker, an Essex Hall resident, passed away on Wednesday, Oct. 24.

He is the son of Ellie Morch and Jason Baker, the brother of Will and Naomi, and grandson of John and Sandy Morch, and Nancy and the late Gerald Baker.

He lived on the building’s 1 North floor. Richard Caccamo, Western University’s coordinator of orientation initiatives, informed sophs of the news in an email on Thursday afternoon.

“Some of your students may be impacted by the news of Samuel’s passing. They may be his classmates, floormates, or high school friends,” he said. “Some may have never met Samuel, but will struggle with the sudden loss of a peer.

Please take care of yourselves, take care of each other, and look out for your students.”

Essex held grief counselling on 1 North that evening, shortly after the announcement.

Samuel’s family invited his friends to celebrate his life with singing and a game of rugby last Saturday at 3 p.m. at North Toronto Collegiate Institute. A memorial service was held the following day at 12:30 p.m. at

Via Samuel Baker’s Facebook page SAMUEL BAKER.

Benjamin’s Park Memorial Chapel in Toronto.

Donation information can be found on the memorial’s website.

“Sam was a shining star who burned so brightly in our lives. He left us far too soon. We will honour his life through our own,” it reads.

The flag atop University College was lowered on Sunday in his honour.

Samuel is the second Western student to pass away this school year.

Support is available to students through individual counselling, crisis contact services, wellness resources and external resources from CMHA Middlesex.

HEY MUSTANGS! ORGANIC, VEGAN MEALS ON A STUDENT BUDGET? YES! STUDENT SPECIAL! GET 15% OFF* WITH A VALID STUDENT CARD AT ANY OF THE PLANT MATTER RESTAURANTS! *OFFER VALID UNTIL THE END OF NOVEMBER. DOES NOT INCLUDE DRINKS.

FINE DINING | CASUAL FARE | GRAB-AND-GO

A FINE DINING EXPERIENCE IN DOWNTOWN LONDON

GREAT FOOD IN THE HEART OF WORTLEY VILLAGE

PLANT-BASED COFFEEHOUSE IN DOWNTOWN LONDON

FINE FOOD FIRST

GOOD FOOD FIRST

EATS, TREATS & BREWS

LUNCH. DINNER. DRINKS.

BREAKFAST. BRUNCH. LUNCH. DINNER. DRINKS.

COFFEE. SNACKS. BREAKFAST. LUNCH.

244 Dundas Street, London, ON N6A 1H3

162 Wortley Road, London, ON N6C 3P7

717 Richmond Street, London, ON N6A 1S2

519.432.3663

519.660.3663

519.601.1200

plantmatterfood.com

news

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2018 •

• 4

Scholastic offences indicate underreporting KATRINA MCCALLUM NEWS EDITOR @KATRINAMCCALLUM The 2017-18 report of scholastic offences at Western reveals that infractions, although up from 150 to 182, are likely still under-reported.

Scholastic offence statistics were presented at the Oct. 19 senate meeting and included all offences that were officially reported to the departments. The last three years have each seen the number of offences stay between 150 and 200.

Each offence is linked to the specific sanction that was given to the student. This ranged from a 20 per cent reduction in the course grade to a failure in the course. These vary based on the nature and severity of the offence. They also take into account the year of the student, as graduate students should be more aware of scholastic rules than first-years.

In terms of total offences, the Faculty of Health Sciences came out on top, with 29, and the Faculty of Social Science was just behind at 28.

Plagiarism made up the bulk of

the offences, with 98 total instances, King’s University College having the most, with 23, and the Faculty of Health Sciences coming second, with 18 counts.

Outside of plagiarism, cheating was the second most common offence. Twelve of these incidents occurred in Social Science.

Some unique instances include one case of impersonating a candidate for an exam at King’s, for which the student received a zero on the final exam.

In Social Science, one student submitted false medical documentation, which awarded them an “F” in the course as punishment. Another student in the faculty submitted a fraudulent academic transcript and was suspended for three years.

Similar offences also occurred twice in the Faculty of Science.

The Ivey Honors Business Administration program had the most notable offence, with five instances of “intentional interference with another student’s scholastic work.” As such, three of the students were deemed ineligible for

graduation distinctions and for the Dean’s Honor List.

John Doerksen, Western’s vice-provost of academic programs, noted an instance 10 years ago where a student purposely misfiled a library book to prevent other students from reading it. However, this offence has not been seen in recent years.

John Hatch, a visual arts professor at Western, said that under-reporting issues stem from instructors who deal with scholastic offences internally through informal processes.

“If we could capture everything that goes on, these numbers would probably be a little bit bigger,” Hatch said.

He also brought forward an idea to give instructors a larger role in deciding the sanctions by streamlining the approach. This would set up a committee to look at the academic offence policy overall to find if there is a more effective way to respond to concerns.

Doerksen hopes that reforming the process would hopefully mitigate issues of under-reporting.

SISSI CHEN GAZETTE The graph outlines the numbers for plagiarism and cheating but does not include other offences.

PhD students’ podcast investigates true crime JUDY BASMAJI NEWS EDITOR @JUDYBASMAJI

USE YOUR WESTERNIZER COUPONS! GET MORE AT

WESTERNIZER.CA/COUPONS CROSSWORD SOLUTION Solution to puzzle on page 10

Three doctorate students from Western University and the University of Toronto combined their love of science and true crime in a new podcast series called Mind on Crime.

In bi-weekly podcast episodes, Kathleen Lyons, Erin Shumlich and Natalie Osborne explore the neuroscience underlying criminal acts by reviewing relevant research, analyzing case studies of notorious murderers and bringing in expert guests.

The idea came to the students as they shared their passion for true crime and true crime podcasts over the course of their graduate studies.

“One of the things we realized is a lot of the time they talk about the crime, but they don’t talk about what the victim experienced or the science behind why people commit crimes or the factors that lead to crime,” said Lyons, a Western doctoral candidate in cognitive neuroscience.

“It’s like a conversation that we would have over beers, but it’s a little bit more formalized in that way, and we do a lot of background research to prepare,” added Shumlich, a Western doctoral candidate in clinical psychology.

The trio published the first episode of their podcast in early October, where they discussed the link between severe head injuries

COURTESY PF ADRIENNE BORRIE

and violent criminality. They presented the cases of two prolific murderers referred to as “The Gorilla Killer” and “The Scorecard Killer.”

“If you look at the statistics, a lot of serial killers have had a childhood traumatic brain injury, so we wanted to look at whether there is actually a causal relationship there,” explained Lyons.

The second episode of Mind on Crime addressed sleep crimes and debated whether crimes that occur due to sleepwalking and other parasomnias deserve a pardon. The episode brings in a special guest to shed light on the latest sleep research and presents the cases of two 19th-century “sleepwalker” killers.

Lyons and Shumlich explained the podcast has been more successful than they expected.

“I thought maybe my mom would listen to it and a couple of my

friends, but so far, we’ve had more than a hundred people listen to the first episode,” said Lyons.

“I think it’s generally a very interesting topic for a lot of people,” added Shumlich. “Even though there are a lot of topics that we’re researching for the episodes, we do have a little bit of background in science, so we’re able to digest that literature maybe a little bit easier than other people without that background would.”

Lyons and Shumlich explained their next episode, to be released on Oct. 31, will be a Halloween special. Other upcoming topics include the relationship between criminal activity and personality disorders, psychopathy, narcissism, witness memory and DNA. New episodes of Mind on Crime are released every other Wednesday on SoundCloud and iTunes.

5 •

opinions

• TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2018

A culture built on outrage is doomed Magic Mike MIKE DEBOER MANAGING EDITOR @MIKEDBOER Moral outrage is a celebrated, valued and commonly expressed emotion in our society. From this has risen a debate that has raged on at the centre of our current culture war: What role, if any, does incivility and hysterical outrage have in Western culture, politics and public life?

Many people, including a former United States presidential candidate, have taken the steadfast position that incivility and outrage should be the driving force of our political and social involvement: that those on the “wrong” side of issues should be subjected to public shaming, harassment and humiliation. With the recent appointment of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court of the United States and the recurring incidents of protesters disrupting politicians’ private lives, this position has returned to the forefront of our social discourse, as though every single policy point and social trend that we disagree with, no matter how minute, is an existential crisis.

This idea is a clear outgrowth of our penchant for placing moral outrage at the centre of our society.

As human beings have set about to define and express our own values, those values have begun to define us. As C. S. Lewis put it, “We are what we believe we are.”

So with this hunger to define and express our values, we’ve observed how our culture, in turn, behaves in order to discern and interpret how it adheres to our own values.

Thus, it is inescapable that, in the very recent past, moral outrage has quietly but authoritatively emerged as the West’s newest and, perhaps, most central core value. In essence, it has become the norm.

This idea is not inherently rightwing or left-wing but affects all sides of the ideological spectrum.

If you don’t constantly voice your fear of mass immigration or vent on the internet about how Justin Trudeau is “ruining our country,” you’re not a real conservative. And if you don’t lose your mind at the anti-abortion protesters down the street, you really should just hand your progressive credentials over at the door. Criticism has even been directed at centrism itself because of its innate tendency for moderation. In essence, the idea is this: if you don’t get mad about everything, you don’t really care about anything.

On the surface, moral outrage appears to reflect an underlying concern with justice. Sending a harshly worded tweet, calling out perceived racism or deleting Kanye’s Ye on Spotify — these behaviours suggest a strong sense of morality and an unwillingness to put up with injustice. Moral outrage is also a social emotion, as it compels people to express their outrage publicly in search of validation and solidarity.

This means that, while outrage remains a response to perceived

injustices for many, it can also be a self-serving mechanism used to alleviate guilt, protect against threats to moral identity and, of course, signal virtue.

Posting politically charged content on social media, condemning family members or friends who harbour political opinions different than yours, or participating in protests or social movements often do more to signal tribal solidarity than accomplish real and meaningful change.

This isn’t to say that participants of these movements can’t be well-intentioned and deeply motivated. There’s nothing wrong with getting mad at the evil in our world; in fact, all the great social movements in history — from 16th and 17th century European opposition to absolute monarchical rule to the American civil rights movement of the 1950s and ‘60s — had, at their core, a sense of outrage.

Without a strong and clear moral vision, the courage to express it and the willingness to sacrifice one’s own life for it, slavery and Jim Crow may have persisted in America for far longer than they did. Without a healthy sense of what’s morally agreeable and what’s morally reprehensible, progress of any kind is nearly impossible.

But it’s important to challenge this commitment to outrage as the ultimate moral signifier, particularly when we consider the adverse effects it has on our cultural psyche. As the bar for offence is lowered, writes The Atlantic’s Shadi Hamid, democratic debate becomes virtually impossible.

Sober critiques of those you disagree with can be just as effective as buzzword-ridden cheap shots.

Bad policy and potentially problematic views aren’t a monolith; they can be defeated if done with a level head. If bad people do things that could eventually bungle society, people will notice.

By elevating outrage to a high position, we have all but guaranteed that, eventually, a purely performative — a nd permanent — reactionary outrage will pervade our society. That is what Twitter has become. It’s what was on last night on cable news networks across the United States in Canada. It’s what leads populist movements to arise and mobs to clash in the streets. It’s what tears families and friendships apart.

The phrase, “If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention,” is perfectly representative of our obsession with outrage: it equates being informed with an obligation to be outraged, turning an emotion into a moral imperative.

A culture that lives by this rule is likely not one that can thrive, as this obligation to be outraged guarantees a never-ending culture war and a future marred by misery and division.

At the risk of seeming outraged at outrage, the health of our society depends on sensible voices rising up above the chorus of anger and incivility and returning us to a place where we can talk with Joe Blow from down the street about tax cuts and healthcare reform without shedding tears or exchanging punches. Because the costs of living in a furious society are unimaginably high.

COURTESY OF ST. THERESA’S CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL A graduation mass and celebration ceremony at St. Theresa’s, June 6, 2017.

Dress codes unfairly impact females

BY GAZETTE EDITORIAL BOARD

A principal and a vice-principal walk into a high school classroom and ask uniform-clad female students to stand up. As the boys watch, the principal ensures that the females’ skirts are long enough for the school’s dress code. As he measures the skirts, he tells the young women that they’re putting male students and faculty in an uncomfortable situation.

This situation is, undoubtedly, uncomfortable for everyone involved — but it seems especially humiliating for the female students being shamed in front of their peers. And while it might sound outlandish, it actually happened at a high school in Midland, Ont., on Oct. 22.

If there’s one thing that seems more inappropriate than skirts hiked up above a school uniform’s required length, it’s the way this situation was handled. But this isn’t the first time Canadian high schools have struggled with enforcing dress codes.

In 2015, both a Moncton and a Toronto high school faced public backlash because of the way they treated female students for code violations.

The endemic mishandling of dress codes seems to raise a lot of questions about whether or not they have a place in high schools at all. And the reality is that they probably do. The issue with dress codes aren’t the restrictions themselves; on paper, the idea of ensuring that students are dressed appropriately for their environment seems important. The issue is that when these dress codes are enforced, those in charge of defining appropriate

versus inappropriate attire tend to target and single out female students.

There are ways to address dress code violations without shaming female students in front of their peers. Students could be pulled aside and talked to privately, or given warnings rather than suspensions and public humiliations. But the way dress codes are currently being handled seems to disproportionately impact female students and often instills sexism rather than simply calling for appropriate attire.

In shaming females for being “distracting” to males or making them feel uncomfortable, school officials perpetuate a culture in which women are deemed responsible for the actions of the men around them. Beyond humiliating and sexualizing female students, the way these dress codes are enforced strengthens the idea that “boys will be boys,” which loosely translates to “boys are incapable of controlling themselves around women, and women should adapt to that.” Instead of teaching boys how to behave, school boards underestimate boys’ ability to learn how to be respectful, putting the onus for respect disproportionately on females.

As of right now, dress codes are slanted in a way that often impacts and regulates female students more than their male counterparts, which isn’t fair to anyone. They underestimate male students and create a culture of blame and humiliation for female students. If schools want to enforce dress codes, they need to do it equally.

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.”

In response to the tragedy in Pittsburgh No words can describe the tragedy that occurred this weekend in Pittsburgh.

My initial response was grief, but not shock. Although 11 people were murdered in an idyllic American community as they attended morning prayer services, it could have happened to anyone. When the shooter proclaimed, “All Jews must die,” he was speaking to all of us.

We are living in an age when anti-Semitism is on the rise. Whether it is Louis Farrakhan calling Jews termites or a swastika being drawn on the elevator of Essex Hall last winter, anti-Semitism has become more

shameless than at any time since the Holocaust. It is not surprising that hateful rhetoric has led to hateful acts. The Anti-Defamation League notes that anti-Semitic hate crimes rose by 57 per cent in 2017.

Despite the troubling statistics, it was inspiring to see so many friends and allies from the wider Western community join us in solidarity Sunday night for our vigil.

Knowing community members are there to support you means more than words can describe. But we cannot let apathy get the best of us.

What we need more than anything is for the entire student body to stand

with the Jewish community and denounce all forms of hate.

With Holocaust Education Week fast approaching, it feels fitting to think about healing. We need to educate one another on what hate truly is and how it manifests, so we can fight it together. Please join us from Nov. 9 to 15 for our Holocaust Education Week programming.

JUSTIN SHAPIRO STUDENT GOVERNOR, SENATOR-AT-LARGE & VICE-PRESIDENT OUTREACH FOR WESTERN HILLEL

feature

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2018 •

The word “witchcraft” conjures up images of pointy hats, blood sacrifices, Victorian clothing and torch-lit rituals conjure up images of witchcraft, but these fantasies have almost nothing to do with how real witches look and act.

Through shows like Netflix’s reboot of Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, which premiered on Oct. 26, stereotypes in the mainstream media have constantly reinforced the idea that witches are wicked devil-worshipers, but covens have refuted their likeness to infamous characters like the Wicked Witch of the West.

Although witches perform rituals, these usually don’t involve blood, sacrifice or devil worship. Rather, they are for celebrating season or life events, performing healing, and divining or casting spells. Despite television shows portraying witches dressed in black robes and holding goat heads to perform rituals, the Pagan Coffee Social, run by Donna Conrad, who identifies as a witch, hosted a ritual known as Samhain (sow-in) which proved otherwise.

The Samhain ritual usually takes place on Oct. 31 — also known as the day people dress up and get into a spooky spirit for Halloween — and it’s a festival of the dead. Often, witches and Pagans perform the Samhain ritual either to let go of the things in their lives that no longer serve them or to welcome their dead ancestors to a feast in their honour. It’s similar to when we make our New Year’s resolutions: new year, new you. It also acts to celebrate the end of the harvest and the start of the coldest half of the year.

“Everyone performs rituals in their daily lives; they just don’t recognize them as such,” says Conrad. “Your morning ritual, getting ready for work, dinner ritual, birthday parties. This is just a formal method, like going to church.”

During the Samhain ritual led by Conrad, a group of 10 to 12 people called upon their ancestors, inviting them for a feast. They also called on the quarters — representations of the four cardinal directions on a compass — to bolster their energy from the four elements: fire, water, earth and air.

To do this, they gathered in the centre of a dimly lit room surrounded by a circle of four tables, which stood as the four quarters and four elements. On the tables were sacred items, including a cauldron of water, candles, a bell, a small chest and a mask. While some people were wearing black robes or long ankle-length dresses, many, including Conrad and her 11-year-old daughter, wore street clothes. The group proceeded to face each quarter at a time, raising one hand and reciting poetic lines, akin to prayers, asking for energy.

“We draw on the energy inherent in everyone and everything,” says Conrad. “This power is available to anyone. Witches have just learned how to use it.”

Conrad teaches her daughter how to do rituals and believes in educating her so that she can make her own informed decisions about religion.

Conrad herself became a Pagan when she was 17. In her younger years, she met the owner of an occult store called Merlin’s Whim, and after meeting

with him many times, she discovered that Paganism was in line with what she already believed.

Conrad may work at a metaphysical shop called Nimue’s Closet and draw the occasional tarot card to see how her day might go, but other than that, her life is almost mundane. She wakes up, drinks coffee, helps her daughter with homeschooling work, makes dinner, watches TV, meditates and goes to bed.

Conrad believes in a universal energy inherent in everything including all living beings. She believes everything is connected, and that affecting one thing, affects everything else, like ripples in a pond.

“While being Pagan is a religion and lifestyle for me, being a witch is just something I practice,” explains Conrad. “Like how a doctor practices medicine or an actor acts. For me, witchcraft is just something I know how to do, like driving a car.”

During the Pagan ritual, Castalia, another witch, participated.

“I started on this path as a child when I was very interested in spirits and ghosts,” says Castalia.

“It’s harder for a Pagan when they want to make connections with people. They could be lonely, but I was really lucky when I was about 18, because I heard about the Wiccan

PHOTOS BY EMILY CALLAHAN, JOSH MERIFIELD AND CAMERON NEMES GAZETTE

By Kristin Lee

• 6

7 •

feature

• TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2018

Church of Canada, and they had a community.”

Castalia describes her first ritual when she was absolutely sure it was her destiny to be a witch. In a big all-black room inside a temple, she recalls an altar in the centre with a lot of incense burning, and she describes candles glowing everywhere. She explains that she felt like she knew the priest and priestess in the centre in her past life, as she was standing in between these two tall men in black robes who were chanting loudly. She says it was a totally different experience from the regular world.

Thirty years later, after being appointed as a priestess of the Wiccan Church of Canada, she now reads tarot cards, and she still provides support to Pagans who seek to worship and need a place to go. But because of school, she is currently very inactive.

“I think my parents thought I was a crazy teenager,” says Castalia. “My mother was confused because she was a strong Protestant Christian.

Eventually, she knew that I had a passion for the Middle Ages, and she tried her best to be supportive, and my dad didn’t say anything; he didn’t want to talk about it.For a long time, witches had been condemned and persecuted because they were thought to be servants of Satan. They were simply misunderstood and feared because not much was known about them.

Even today, many people think witches exhibit odd behaviour.

“I think people are just afraid of what they don’t understand,” says Conrad.

“We do not believe in the Christian concept of Satan.

Saying a witch or Pagan worships Satan would be like saying an atheist worships God. We also do not have orgies or wild parties, and we do not dance naked under the moon.”

These witch and Pagan stereotypes are indeed misconceptions.

However because of widespread myths like these, which are often perpetuated by mainstream media, Conrad has lost jobs and friends over her religious beliefs.

“Stereotypes are mainly annoying, but everyone deals with

them: dentists, people of other cultures, police, young people, old people — it’s part of being in a society,” says Conrad. “However, we do like to dress up that way to make fun of the stereotype and reclaim them as our own.”

Witches and Pagans do cast spells, but they’re similar to reciting prayers.

They’re not the type of spells you’d see in Harry Potter ,where walls open up walls with the wave of a wand, or in magic shows, where rabits are pulled out of hats.

Conrad explains that she’s done spells to help her get to work, to sell her house and to maintain strength during a separation and divorce. Healing spells are also common for people who fall ill. But it’s not a simple “abracadabra.” According to Conrad, spells are meant to be used as a last resort to supplement mundane action.

Liana Mercer, like Conrad, is a witch, but she too leads oan ordinary life.

She goes to the gym, makes her own lunches and dinners, and works as a sales representative for a manufacturing company. She has a fiancée and an 18-month old stepson, and her hobbies are sewing and reading. Her day-today life is just like anyone’s — for the most part. She also performs magick, but she says that not all witches do. Witches like to spell the word “magic” with a “k” because it differentiates their magick with staged magic, (like making a bird disappear from its cage,) which is used for entertainment.

“If I had to cast a spell to get a thief, rapist or murderer caught, that would be classified as ‘black magick’ by many because I am interfering with their will,” says Mercer. “But sometimes it’s worth the cost.”

She explains there is always a cost when you cast a spell, and some call it the rule of three: “What you send out, you get back times three.”

The faithful witch leads a Gardnerian Wicca coven of four people in London called the Forest City Coven. A coven consists of a group of witches who meet regularly, and Mercer believes it’s her role to help members deepen their understanding of the gods, their personal faith and their role within the coven’s path.

“Being a witch is part of me — like my brown eyes, my height or my face,” says Mercer. “I am a woman of deep faith, just like any Christian who is devout.”

She’s been studying Wicca for 22 years and British Traditional Wicca since 2001. To clarify, some view Wicca as the religion and witchcraft as the practice, and according to Mercer, Gardnerians primarily worship in covens rather than in solitude. Additionally, one must be initiated into this Wiccan coven. The difference between Mercer’s British Traditional Wicca coven and others is that hers is very structured, while others are more free-flowing.

The Forest City Coven has an initiation process that is over two years long, and there is a formal structure to the teachings and learnings, similar to how Christians practice their religion through the Bible and prayer.

Each person or coven worships different deities, depending on the path they identify with, such as Greek, Roman, Norse, Celtic and Saxon. Every person has their own experience with the gods, but the end goal is common: to deepen their understanding of their personal faith. To achieve this, they must communicate with these deities, which requires performing rituals and meditation. Some of the gods who are worshiped include Dagda, the Celtic god of fertility, agriculture, strength and wisdom; Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love; Ares, the Greek god of war; Hecate, the Greek goddess of the moon, ghosts and magic; and Persephone, the Greek goddess of the underworld.

Each coven has different requirements, and every individual, whether witch or Pagan, has different experiences, but the main thing to remember is that Wicca is experiential. Each member has to participate to get the full experience.

You won’t have to sacrifice anything, and you won’t have to worship Satan. And no matter how real movies like The Blair Witch Project may seem, they’re all a director’s imagination.

sports

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2018 •

• 8

MEN’S BASKETBALL

High hopes for home opener GREG SIDERIS GAZETTE STAFF @SPORTSATGAZETTE Last Valentine’s Day was heartbreaking for the Western Mustangs men’s basketball team. No, they weren’t collectively dumped and left alone, but they were beaten convincingly by a team that had no business beating them.

It was the Windsor Lancers who defeated the Mustangs that February night, giving the Lancers a berth in the Ontario University Athletics

semifinals — where they were eventually routed by the Carleton Ravens by almost 40 points — and ending the Mustangs season much earlier than expected.

The Mustangs are hoping this season will tell a different tale, as they look to improve their position in the OUA West and win their first playoff game since 2014.

The Mustangs opened their season this past week with a pair of games against the Guelph Gryphons and Laurier Golden Hawks. They

beat the Gryphons 87–77 before falling to Laurier 70–w63.

With their 1–1 start, the Mustangs hope to start their home schedule off strong as they make a run at a playoff position and a potential run at an OUA final four appearance.

“We sat down as a team and created some goals, and our goal is basically to try to finish in the top two in the OUA West and hopefully play a game that has a chance to qualify us for the national championship,” said Mustangs head coach Brad Campbell. “We came close to that last year but fell short in the playoffs. You know we’re going to take one game at a time.”

The Mustangs played an extensive pre-season slate that saw them take on an assortment of NCAA Division III teams, along with Canadian university and college opponents. They went 7–2 over that stretch.

Marko Kovac was a force for much of the pre-season, pressuring players to make mistakes and capitalizing on turnovers. He knows how to use his big frame, often muscling his way to the basket and dominating down low. He scored 13 points in the loss to Laurier, and should continue being an integral piece for the Mustangs on both ends of the court.

In the off-season, Kovac battled through various injuries. Now in his senior year, Kovac, who averaged over 14 points a game last season, hopes to stay healthy while improving his knowledge of the game.

“I think the main part I worked on this off-season was my IQ level,” said Kovac. “I was able to go back and watch older film on myself and realize when I am doing too much and just learning how to make the

game easier on myself.”

Campbell worked to get his younger players minutes in the pre-season and in the first two games of their regular season.

Freshmen Aaron Tennant and Julius Laurinavicius saw extensive minutes in the team’s opening games.

“Well, it’s really important,” said Campbell. “ Getting our new guys integrated into what we are doing, getting those minutes [in] different scenarios that we’re going to see here is very important.”

Another Mustang to watch out for is Omar Shiddo, who led the Mustangs in scoring in the 2017-18 campaign, averaging 14.6 points per game. Along with Kovac, Shiddo is a minutes-eater who can spread the floor with his versatile guard play.

He showed off his stroke against the Gryphons, going four of seven from the three point line. He dropped 27 points in the win against Guelph and 14 points against Laurier. When the Mustangs need a bucket late in a game, Shiddo will be the one with the ball in his hands.

The Mustangs hope to develop depth on the roster this season — particularly at the centre position, which has been a problem area on the court for the Mustangs for years. Six-ten Jacob Van Santen, a second-year returning from injury, and freshman Aaron Tennant have been added to the lineup. Both exhibited physicality and athleticism throughout the pre-season, and Tennant appeared on the court for 30 minutes in the first two games of his U Sports career.

“Our front court right now is pretty young,” said Campbell.

“Aaron was a huge addition for us.

He’s got all kinds of athleticism.

He’s very good in transition, and

We want your input on our mall!

Take our survey and you could win a $50 gift card from METRO grocery stores.

Scan this code NOW to enter.

MICHAEL CONLEY GAZETTE

on offence, he creates all kinds of problems. On the flip side of that, defensively for us, he does all kinds of great stuff. He’s a firstyear guy, so some games are going to look probably a little bit better than others, but we’re looking forward to it.

With Van Santen, Tennant and Julian Walker at the five, Campbell has interesting lineup options that he can throw out on the court. This versatility across the roster is one of the reasons why so much is expected from the Mustangs this season.

At the point guard position, senior Nik Farkic will have the keys to the offence. He averaged 5.5 assists per game last season and is looking to improve that number this year with a number of offensive options for him to get the ball to: Shiddo, Kovac and small forward Eriq Jenkins. Against Guelph, Farkic had nine assists.

“Having those guys on the floor with me makes my job really easy,” said Farkic about his teammates. “They all know I’m looking to put them in a position to score, and just playing together the past two years has allowed us to build that chemistry. Individually, every one of them can shoot the three-ball, but what makes my job easier and makes them really tough to guard is their ability to move without the ball.”

The Mustangs home opener is on Friday as they take on the Queen’s Gaels. The Gaels are currently 1–0 after beating the York Lions 89–76.

The Mustangs will host school children from London elementary schools as part of their “School Day” program. Then, on Saturday, Western will take on York.

9 •

sports

• TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2018

Mustangs go 1–1 over home opening stand CHARLIE MARSHALL SPORTS EDITOR @CWMARSHALL98 The Western Mustangs beat the Concordia Stingers by a score of 4–1 in their home opener Friday night at Thompson Arena, before dropping their second game of the season to the McGill Redmen on Saturday night.

On Friday night, the Stingers came out flying off the opening puck drop. Concordia had scored 17 goals in five games entering Friday and they were determined to add an 18th early against the Mustangs.

However, Western stymied their fast attack by setting a physical tone and taking away space from the Stingers. With help from star goaltender Luke Peressini, Western’s plan worked. The Stingers were held off the scoresheet for the first two periods of play.

In the final minutes of the first periodm Western imposed their will on Concordia, hemming the Stingers deep in their own zone, out-battling them for pucks.

The Mustangs’ strong play was ultimately rewarded when Stephen Desrocher found an open Mitchell Brooks in front of the net. Brooks received the pass cleanly and roofed a backhander up over the stick-side shoulder of the Stingers goalie for the first goal of the game.

The second period was a mess of hard, chippy play as the officials desperately tried to take control of the game. In total, nine penalties were awarded, including a 10-minute misconduct to Concordia forward Chase Harwell. Mustangs assistant coach Patrick Ouellet noted that there has to be a sense of purpose in the physical play for it to be effective.

“The line between intensity and stupidity sometimes is really thin,” explained Ouellet. “I think we handled our own tonight…. There’s no fights in the league, but you have to go to stand up for your players and make sure the other teams know that they’re not going to walk all over us.”

The Mustangs penalty kill, which had been excellent all night, made a massive stand in the second period, killing off consecutive 5-on-3 man advantages. After the game, Ouellet noted that overcoming these penalties shifted momentum in the game.

“I think that was the turning point after going on those three fiveon-threes,” said Ouellet. “I think that gave us the momentum.”

Just over halfway through the secomd period, second-year defenceman Desrocher scored his second goal of the year on a hard shot from the slot. Despite a fair amount of contact and traffic in front of the Stingers netminder, the officials deemed it a good goal.

Concordia mounted a small comeback in the third as Philippe Hudon added a power play goal three minutes into the third period. Concordia’s captain fished out a rebound in front of the net off of a hard point shot from Bradley Lalonde and played the puck past Peressini for the Stingers first and only goal of the game.

Despite allowing a late powerplay goal, the Mustangs penalty killing unit was on fire all game, holding Concordia to a poor 1-for-5 with the man advantage. The Stingers powerplay has been a major focus point in the young season as it has produced nine goals for an impressive 30 per cent conversion rate.

Ouellet explained that pre-game and good game-planning allowed the Mustangs to cool the fire of the Concordia special teams unit.

“[The powerplay is] definitely something we checked on the game tapes,” said Oullet. “We knew it was a shooting power play and that they kind of put everything at the net.”

In order to stop this high volume power play, Ouellet explained that Western’s willingness to block shots was key.

“That’s the plan. Get in the lane— in the shooting lane,” said Ouellet.

“Hopefully it doesn’t get to the net.

And if it does, Peressini makes the first save and then clears the rebound.”

Western cleaned up the game with two more insurance goals from Anthony Stefano and Mitchell Brooks.

Brooks’ two goals on Friday night notched the first and second of his Ontario University Athletics career.

After the game, the first-year player explained that he had predicted his impressive game before puck drop.

“Not going to lie, I had a bet with someone that I would get two goals tonight,” said Brooks. “And that has never happened before, so I’m pretty happy. I can’t tell you what the bet

was, though.”

Along with an important win to even the team’s record at 3–3, the players noted how nice it was to have a solid fan presence for their home opener.

“It was nice to see a couple people in the seats for once,” said Peressini. “Just gets everyone into the game.”

Saturday night saw the Mustangs fall short to McGill, as Western dropped to 3–4 with their 2–1 loss.

Kolten Olynek scored his second of the season for the Mustangs, while both Redmen goals were scored by Nikolas Brouillard.

Both teams went scoreless in the first period, before Brouillard blasted a slap shot from the point just one minute into the second period, off assists from Brendan O’Reilly and Jerome Verrier.

Soon after, Brouillard tried to send another slapshot through Luke Peressini, but the goalie robbed him with a glove save Olynek’s goal wasn’t pretty, as he fell crossing the Redmen blue line before regaining his footing and slipping the puck

COURTESY OF MUSTANG ATHLETICS

past McGill goaltender Louis-Philip Guindon, tying the game up at one goal apiece.

However, Brouillard would score the eventual game-winner on the powerplay, as he sniped the puck past Peressini from the hashmarks

with just over four minutes left in the game.

Next up on the docket, the Mustangs will host the 2–4 Waterloo Warriors on Friday before taking on the 1–6 Laurier Golden Hawks on Saturday.

Western University PRESENTS

Remembrance The nature of how our minds work, how memories define us, and how the past can shape the future.

FEATURING

Eric Peterson Actor (Street Legal, Corner Gas, This is Wonderland)

Eight speakers.

Seven minutes each.

Monday, Nov. 5, 7 p.m.

Iskwé Electronic singer-songwriter

The Grand Theatre 471 Richmond Street, London, ON

Lisa Moore Award-winning author (Open, Alligator, February, Something for Everyone)

Get tickets today! thewalrus.ca /events

culture

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2018 •

• 10

Conversation aids London’s sexual violence prevention EMILY TAYLER CULTURE EDITOR @EMTAYLER16 Content warning: This article discusses sexual violence against women. If you need support, call Anova’s crisis helpline: 519-642-3000.

VAPE & 420

519.601.4700

smokelessjoes.com TUE-FRI 11-8 • SAT-SUN 11-7 208 Piccadilly St., UNIT 4

YOU can

TEACH YOGA

and deepen your practice DevaTree School of Yoga | www.devatree.com

Halloween starts at IT’S MORE FUN IN THE COSTUME COME SEE OUR STORE EXPANSION. THOUSANDS OF COSTUMES TO CHOOSE FROM STARTING AS LOW AS $10!

Special effects and character make-up, Masks, Wigs, decorations and so much more.

519.659.3787 1140 Dundas Street www.mccullochs.on.ca SEE WEBSITE FOR EXTENDED HOURS

PA FR RK EE IN G

As a society, we are more aware than ever when it comes to social movements. Movements like #MeToo have created a culture of awareness that has prompted many women to come forward and share their stories of assault and harassment.

Alongside all of this talk, different groups in London are taking action to bring the community together.

London has many existing resources, from crisis counselling at Western University to the London Abused Women’s Centre. Despite efforts to curtail violence against women, these services are being used more than ever. According to Megan Walker, the executive director of LAWC, in the past year, they have served over 6,000 women, a 56 per cent increase from the previous year. Although it is a positive step that women are utilizing these resources, these numbers illustrate that violence against women remains a prevalent issue.

Sexual assault is rising in our communities. According to the Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability, a group that collects data regarding murdered women across Canada, between January and the end of August of this year, 106 women and girls were killed in Canada, predominantly by men. Fifty per cent

classifieds To place your classifed ad, please contact us at 519.661.3579 or adoffice@uwo.ca

EMPLOYMENT

GYMWORLD Gymnastics club in North/West London has expanded into our new facility at 1712 Hyde Park Rd, and are hiring for gymnastics coaches.

On bus route Days, evenings and/or weekends

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

Work as little as 3 hours per week or as many as 20 hours.

HIRING

GREAT PAY

FOR GYMNASTICS COACHES 519.474.4960 • info@gymworld.ca

SERVICES TUTOR FOR UNDERGRADUATE statistics-for-Psychology courses available. Over 35 years experience and hundreds of excellent testimonials. Reasonable rates either one-on-one or small groups. Call 226-377-3656.

UPCOMING EVENTS DÍA DE LOS MUERTOS (DAY OF THE DEAD) 1 de Noviembre del 2018 En la biblioteca Weldon

ITINERARY 1 - 4 PM Concert by Chilangos Mexican Restaurant Welcome, thanks, and announcements

by Jason Tremblay.

Video of Mexico during the Day of the Dead What is the Day of the Dead?

By Proshat Nouri (English) and ?? (Spanish) Salsa dancing by Shaunley Teymourian The altar and its meanings (Altar Team) Singing by Jason Tremblay Catrina…

Snacks and drinks at Weldon Library R ...

265 & 267 – UCC BUILDING CREATIVESERVICES-USC.CA 519-661-3578

PRICES STARTING AT $5 SQ/Ft.

KYRA KARAKATSANIS GAZETTE

occurred in Ontario and 33 of those women were killed by their intimate partners. According to those statistics, a woman or girl is murdered every other day in Canada.

Walker cites these statistics in a media release, stating they “should be jolting.”

“We can no longer minimize and ignore the lives of women and girls,” Walker says. “We all have a responsibility to reach out and do what we can to ensure that women and girls live their lives in the absence of violence. And that’s really what this campaign is about.”

The LAWC pioneered the Shine the Light on Woman Abuse campaign, which aims to raise awareness and stand in solidarity with survivors of abuse. The LAWC encourages businesses, schools and community centres to “go purple” for the month of November. On Nov. 15, they ask individuals to wear purple to raise awareness for woman abuse. The annual campaign highlights and honours two women who experienced abuse: Shainee Chalk, a survivor of revenge porn, and Maddison Fraser, a young woman who was killed in 2015.

This coincides with the Ontario government’s Woman Abuse Prevention Month. Walker says this is a huge show of support from the government, but she also states the importance of holding the government accountable for their actions.

While it’s important to listen to the experience of survivors, it’s ultimately action that matters.

“We have high expectations of our government, not just to listen and give but to take action,” she states. “We will continue to advocate that very strongly.”

Along with LAWL, Anova, a merger of the Women’s Community House and Sexual Assault Centre London, has partnered with the city of London. Collectively, the pair is working towards making London Canada’s third United Nations safe city.

AnnaLise Trudell, the manager of education, training and research at Anova, explains the project is currently in its first of five years, which involves collecting data about sexual violence in public.

“So that’s putting some numbers and some understanding behind, ‘What do we know about sexual violence in public?’ We know a lot about private. We know about sexual assaults that happen in our homes and our spaces” Trudell says. “But we don’t know as much quantitatively

around what’s going on in terms of street harassment, what’s going on in terms of our workplaces, what’s going on in our classrooms and our schools.”

This data is being collected through a crowd mapping service called Safe City London. Through their website, Londoners can anonymously pinpoint where they feel safe or unsafe on a map of the city. These don’t have to be instances of violence, although those can also be pinned. A spot on the map could be anything from inadequate street lighting to being honked at.

There are anonymous questions to answer after pinning a spot in order to differentiate these incidents, but that information is only available to Safe City London.

Currently, there are over 2,000 dots placed around London. The website will continue to collect data until late December, at which point the data will be presented to city council and inform the next four years of active change in the city.

“Actions can look like mandatory training for all bar staff in local bars.

It can look like different awareness campaigns on our buses,” Trudell explains. “It can look like policing of different areas in a different way.

It can also look like doing different urban design, which is why having the city on board is really important.”

Another goal of this partnership is to bring different groups together for a more coordinated approach.

This means bringing new actors to the table, as the city has not previously been involved. Both Fanshawe College and Western are involved with this project, which is an important step in further integrating the schools into the London community. Trudell believes that this united approach will prompt the action needed to match the increased speech surrounding abuse.

“When I go into classrooms on campus and talk about consent and prevention, people’s knowledge of the topic is way different than it was two years ago, but we’re still having way less people report to the police than we actually were ten years ago,” Trudell explains. “Our available services are going down and being cut. So in terms of actions, we’re not actually seeing enough.”

Trudell encourages students to use the Safe City London website.

With this data, the city of London councillors will be able to turn increased speech and awareness into tangible change.

11 •

culture

• TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2018

Student co. cleans up trashy parties ELIZABETH CASCIARO CONTRIBUTOR @UWOGAZETTE Students have come to accept trashy parties as a part of university life. The FOCO chaos wrought on Broughdale — plastic cups, signs and all manner of waste — stands as the epitome of this. Seeing this wasteful mentality, two Western students set about cleaning up Western’s party scene.

Vicky Qiao and Caylin Sun, two fourth-year students in the Faculty of Information and Media Studies passionate about environmental justice, created Non-Trashy Party.

Designed to reduce the amount of waste that events produce,

Non-Trashy Party will provide environmentally friendly event options like reusable plates, cutlery, drinking mugs and decorations.

Qiao believes “reduce and reuse [should] come before recycling,” and Qiao’s and Sun’s company reflects that.

She goes on to explain that recycling isn’t as efficient as many believe.

“The recycling system is deeply flawed and not effective,” says Qiao.

“Less than 10 per cent of things we throw in the blue bin actually get recycled.”

She also points out that, even though people are aware of environmental issues, convenience is

usually preferred to sustainability.

She says that many people don’t think about how their actions contribute to the problem.

“We’re living on a student budget and stressing over schoolwork, so we tend to be reluctant when choosing the less wasteful options ... because they [require] a little more effort,” Qiao says.

Sun and Qiao realized that just pressing the “share” button on social media isn’t enough. NonTrashy Party enables students to make a difference by letting them take action instead of waiting for someone else to fix the problem.

Qiao says that student-run parties operate on an established

Grad taps weed oil market

model. Partygoers see paper plates and red cups and think parties should look like that, but all that waste ends up somewhere, even if it’s not recycled.

In the summer, Sun was tasked with handing out disposable plates and forks at an event of roughly 100 people. She recognized events like these as unsustainable.

Qiao and Sun believe celebrations can still be fun without running at the expense of the environment, and they’re willing to do the work for anyone who wants to try.

Non-Trashy Party has seen some success: a friend’s house-warming party hosted by Non-Trashy Party

in September was a big hit, as they were able to preview the space beforehand to see how to work with it, which is something they want to do with all of their clients.

Qiao and Sun assess each client’s party to determine how they can best provide them with sustainable options.

Qiao believes this initiative will set a precedent among Western students.

“The best way to raise awareness is through action,” said Qiao.

“We want to show how parties and events can be done in a more sustainable way so, ultimately, they can learn to do it themselves and turn it into part of their lifestyle.”

gazette crossword

CARMEN MALLIA CULTURE EDITOR @CARMMALLIA The Canadian cannabis industry is currently undergoing an unprecedented renaissance: strains are stronger, consumption methods are flourishing and the bud has officially entered the mainstream.

While most entrepreneurs are focused on the flower, Ian Haase has a different business plan: oil extraction.

He’s the co-founder of Motif Cannabis, a cannabis oil extraction company that hopes to produce everything from flavourful edibles and packaged vaporizer products to cannabis-infused cosmetics.

Haase, formerly the director of entrepreneurship at the Propel Entrepreneurship Centre, decided to capitalize on the budding industry once he realized how untapped the market was.

“What we started to see in the legal U.S. states is that consumer demand very quickly shifts away from the flower itself to concentrate products: oil from a vaporizer, edibles, sprays, creams and basically anything else involving cannabis,” says Haase, citing that such demand has arisen because some consumers are searching for other consumption methods outside of smoking.

Giving up a comfortable position on the Sunshine List may seem like a questionable move to some, especially given that extracts are still illegal in Canada, but with Ottawa currently putting together a regulatory framework for edibles and extractions to be released within a year, Haase is confident that Motif Cannabis will be ahead of the game once these products become the norm in Canada.

He knew he had to dabble in the industry after Mario Naric, Western alumnus and former Imperial Oil engineer, approached him with the bright idea of providing licensed producers with high-quality and cost-effective extraction services, since the machinery involved with extraction is too expensive for most large-scale cannabis cultivators to purchase themselves “All of these people with licenses to grow are starting to think about extraction, and as opposed to trying to buy all of the equipment and figure out how to do it in-house, we’re trying to position ourselves as a site where you can send us all of your material, we will make your oil and sell it back to you,” says Haase.

Both entrepreneurs quit their comfortable, stable jobs for an opportunity they couldn’t pass up.

CARMEN MALLIA GAZETTE Cannabis oil is consumed in the form of a “dab,” which involves heating the plant’s oily extracts to inhale THC.

“Sooner or later, I think that all entrepreneurs need to take that dive because it’s the only way to really have the fire in your belly, to not have a backup, to no longer have a salary,” says Haase.

But the industry is still risky business for Motif Cannabis, which is currently in the process of applying to become a Health Canada licensed cannabis producer. And for all of the positives associated with the legalization of cannabis in Canada, it’s nearly impossible to ignore the stigma that’s still associated with joining the industry.

“We don’t have a licence yet.

There’s also a social risk and a stigma risk; I have young kids, and I’m jumping into this industry before it’s mainstream. But overall, I’ve found that people are really excited to talk about it now,” explains Haase.

Currently, cannabis extracts and edibles are being manufactured and sold on the black market in numerous dispensaries and online websites across the country. Illegal oil extraction can be a dangerous production method, since it usually involves a strong solvent like butane or propane to extract THC — the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis — from the flower.

In many cases, illegal producers set up makeshift extraction labs in their homes to create these concentrated, highly potent forms of cannabis. Police and fire departments across Canada are confronted with numerous explosions linked to these illegal labs every year. London officials have dealt with two butane extraction explosions that have destroyed houses since summer 2017, caused by illegal cannabis oil extraction.

Explosions like these give the market a bad reputation and put

lives at risk, but companies like Motif Cannabis are eager for the federal government to release a legalization framework that could take the industry off the black market.

Motif Cannabis’ extraction process involves strict upfront testing protocols so that their products meet all specifications set up by Health Canada, ensuring a clean and safe product.

The company recently submitted a 700-page application to Health Canada to receive a cannabis producers license, which Haase describes as a long, intense and expensive process.

“We’re somewhere in that process with Health Canada, and we’re estimating that we’ll receive our buildout approval in early spring,” says Haase, with the business currently working with three core members of engineers and scientists. They hope to grow to a team of eight to 12 once they’re fully operational, including workers from business and sales to lab technicians.

Currently, Motif Cannabis has solidified a factory at an undisclosed location in Southwestern Ontario, and they’re working under the fourth cohort at Western Accelerator, a full-time program for high-potential startups open to Western faculty, staff and alumni.

Haase is reaching out to investors who are willing to help fund the project, and they’ve received a number of hopeful responses.

Ontario has been a leader in licensed cannabis producers, with 53 licensed producers currently on the market right now. Hasse believes that the potential reward and payoff — given how young the industry is in Canada — is massive in terms of the total number of licences in Canada right now.

CLUES ACROSS 1. As fast as can be done 5. WC’s 9. Religious retreat 11. Warfare 13. One you wouldn’t expect 15. Disease-causing microorganisms 16. For each 17. Grammatical term 19. One point east of southeast 21. __ Dern, actress 22. Popular HBO drama (abbr.)

23. Shampoo 25. Scale drawing of a structure 26. An enclosure for confining livestock 27. Goat-like mammal 29. Cigar 31. Appear 33. “Westworld” actress __ Rachel Wood 34. Leaked through 36. The highest adult male singing voice 38. Musical group __ Soundsystem 39. Aurochs 41. Crazy (Spanish) 43. Swiss river 44. Strains 46. Frock 48. Found in most body tissues 52. Cool!

53. Reasons behind 54. Christian recluse 56. Removes 57. Repents 58. Energy 59. Tailless amphibian

CLUES DOWN 1. Not awake 2. Type of dessert 3. They __ 4. Retired Coast Guard admiral 5. Gene positions 6. Exclude 7. One who is bound 8. Where drinks are served 9. Small vipers 10. Blackbird 11. Adventurer 12. Shade 14. A way to gain 15. A salt or ester of boric acid 18. Monetary units 20. Removed 24. “My country, tis of __” 26. Horses 28. Drives back by force 30. Bold, impudent behavior 32. Rates 34. Types of nerves in males 35. A ridge of sand created by the wind 37. Wind instrument 38. Pakistani city 40. Dry or withered 42. Delivered a speech 43. Peak 45. Small waterbird 47. Days falling in mid-month 49. Elvis’ daughter 50. Flat and smooth 51. Dallas Cowboys great Leon 55. What cows say

For crossword solution, see page 4

265 & 267 – UCC BUILDING CREATIVESERVICES-USC.CA 519-661-3578

PRICES STARTING AT $5 SQ/Ft.

advertisement

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2018 •

Sally Armstrong comes to Western “T

alking is the antidote of oppression,” writes Sally Armstrong in Uprising: A New Age is Dawning for Every Mother’s Daughter.

As a Canadian journalist, activist and humanitarian sharing stories from across the globe, dialogue is Sally’s vehicle for change. Whether it’s writing about female Yazidi soldiers in “Resisting Genocide,” interviewing imprisoned ISIS soldiers in a special report for Maclean’s or captivating global audiences with insights informed by her lived experiences, Sally grows global society’s understanding of one another through speech.

An Officer of the Order of Canada, former member of the International Women’s Commission at the UN and four-time winner of the Amnesty International Canada Media Award, Sally’s dedication

to quality reporting is renowned at the highest levels. By shining a light on vast inequalities in conflict zones around the world, she’s provided those in more privileged locales a glimpse into otherwise unseen spaces.

Taking advantage of the immense reach of today’s media, Sally has improved countless lives with nothing but a pen and a camera. Recognizing the power of media, as Sally has shown, is an invaluable asset in addressing inequality.

And on Nov. 8, the Gazette welcomes Sally to Western University.

In her talk, “The Inside Scoop: Fake news, fake politicians, and how journalists get to the truth,”

Gazette Talks with

SALLY ARMSTRONG

Award-Winning Foreign Correspondent!

7PM NOVEMBER 8, 2018 Mustang Lounge, UCC $10 for students, $12 for community Purchase tickets at

gazette-talks.eventbrite.ca

Sally will bring our campus and local community perspective on today’s current media climate. By cutting through divisive rhetoric and political posturing, she will elaborate on the necessity of a dedicated media source in our rapidly evolving world.

Her experiences, whether from reporting on war-related plights of women in Bosnia during the early ’90s or northern Iraq in 2017, inform a perspective which everyday Canadian life struggles to comprehend.

As today’s society is increasingly divided and the media is often under attack, Sally — and her speech — may be the antidote that our community needs.

• 12