Tuesday, March 19, 2019

SINCE 1906 TUESDAY MARCH 19, 2019 VOLUME 112 ISSUE 24

Western University’s Student Newspaper Mature students’ challenges PG 3

U Sports track and field PG 8

eSports on campus PG 10 STILL LOOKING FOR AN INTERNSHIP SINCE 1906

LONDON HOSTS AWARDS

SAXON LANE GAZETTE

profile

TUESDAY, MARCH 19, 2019 •

• 2

kyra keer

Volume 112, Issue 24 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 @UWOGAZETTE NEWS MARTIN ALLEN LIAM AFONSO JUDY BASMAJI KATRINA MCCALLUM CULTURE CARMEN MALLIA KRISTIN LEE EMILY TAYLER 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 DREW MCWHIRTER BRAND EDITOR SAXON LANE INTERACTIVE MEDIA NOAH FAINER GRAPHICS SISSI CHEN KYRA KARAKATSANIS COPY KAITLYN LONNEE

GAZETTE ADVERTISING & COMPOSING IAN GREAVES, MANAGER ADVERTISING DIANA WATSON

COMPOSING MAJA ANJOLI-BILIĆ ROBERT ARMSTRONG

GAZETTE CONTRIBUTORS NOJOUD AL MALLEES KENDRA CAREY SAFIYA CHAGANI AIDAN CURRAN HANNAH DIEBOLD ANASTASIIA FEDOROVA GABBY GLASIER MUDIA IYAYI ALEXANDRA LEDBURY

K

MICHAEL CONLEY GAZETTE

KARINA LEUNG MAGGIE LITTLE HOPE MAHOOD SHELBY RUBIN NOUSHERWAN SIDDIQUE JESSICA SINGER ASH SURI SARAH WALLACE ASHLEY YOUNG

Kyra Keer is a name to remember.

this,” Kyra says.

The fourth-year bachelor of medical sciences student is a driven, self-described people-person. As a Science soph, Kyra found space to connect students around a common purpose. And it’s within this vein that she’s produced a venture built on improving communities well outside of Western University.

But when she did start discussing her grandfather’s diagnosis, it became abundantly clear that many people were in a similar position. As Kyra notes, the disease is a common one — 747,000 Canadians are living with Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia — so it made some sense that others could relate to her experience.

It also showed there was a disconnect in what was happening and what was being discussed.

In fall of 2018, Kyra began Forget Me Not Awareness, a company that sells apparel and other goods with all profits going to the Canadian Alzheimer’s Association.

Her aim is to promote conversation around Alzheimer’s while encouraging people to share their own experiences with the disease.

“That’s what I’m just trying to do; get people to talk and realize they’re not alone,” Kyra says. “And then by sharing stories and hearing other people’s experiences, you can find new ways to cope with your own experiences as well.”

As a medical sciences student, her interest in healthcare started early. Her mother, a nurse, would bring Kyra to the hospital where she learned about its workings. This period, combined with an interest sparked in biology during high school, forged a deep interest in pathology.

But as Kyra explains, it was her own personal experiences with Alzheimer’s that drove her to specifically focus on growing its awareness.

Growing up in Strathmore, Alta., a town of less than 14,000 people, Kyra’s grandparents live two minutes down the road from her. They have a close bond, something Kyra’s grateful for. While in Strathmore, she sees them almost every day.

Kyra’s grandfather, one of her best friends, is at the root of her Forget Me Not drive. It was over the last five years that her family started noticing changes in him.

Kyra says he began forgetting things, had rising anxiety and wouldn’t fully know what was happening around him.

WESTERNGAZETTE

UWOGAZETTE

It was two years ago that her grandfather was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.

@UWOGAZETTE

WESTERNGAZETTE

She didn’t discuss it with anyone for about a year. “I felt like our family was the only family that was dealing with

WESTERNGAZETTE

WESTERNTV

“That kind of led to the question: So why don’t we talk about it more?”

Bouncing off this, Kyra began Forget Me Not. She had her grandfather handwrite the phrase on paper, and now uses that writing as a part of her designs.

Kyra hopes to continue growing the company — of which she is its only employee — into one with a larger consumer base. She wants to hire a graphic designer to produce new designs and refine her own, as well as hire someone with a business background to compliment her own academic base.

As an initiative, Forget Me Not is fresh. But Kyra’s underlying motivation is not.

Since the age of 14, Kyra’s been driven to start a nonprofit or charity.

While in a leadership class at school, she needed to fulfill volunteer hours; there, spending time at women’s shelters and retirement homes, she found an interest in volunteer work.

“I used to snowball ideas off my mom, like, ‘What if we did charity cars washes? What if we did a charity golf tournament?’ ” Kyra says.

Her mom would respond, “OK, but what for?”

These days, it’s safe to say Kyra’s found her “what for.”

“I’ve thought about it for a long time; a million different things have crossed my mind and this was the only one that clicked,” she explains. “I was like, ‘This is important. I know how to do this. And I can do this. So I’m going to do it.’ ” ■ MICHAEL CONLEY

Western by the Numbers

HIGH 6 LOW -2

HIGH 8 LOW 0

TODAY

TOMORROW

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.

95 minutes of play in the Mustangs men's hockey team's playoff loss to Guelph on Sunday SISSI CHEN GAZETTE

$2,000 raised by Western's Zeta Psi fraternity for Make-A-Wish Southwestern Ontario in their Rocktober lip-syncing battle

65 models who participated in the Western Indo-Canadian Students' Association's Navyata fashion show

3 •

news

• TUESDAY, MARCH 19, 2019

The underrepresentation of mature students in academia JUDY BASMAJI NEWS EDITOR @JUDYBASMAJI It’s 5:30 a.m. on a weekday. While most Western students are still fast asleep, 30-year-old Erin Anderson wakes up with her two young children to prepare them for school. Her husband helps make the children breakfast, and Anderson catches up on some last-minute readings for class before heading to campus to attend a full-time schedule.

A third-year creative writing and English honors specialization student, Anderson has been involved with the Society of Mature Students since her first year at Western University, serving as coordinator in her second year. Yet, Western does not consider Anderson to be a mature student since she attended college on a part-time basis years earlier. For this reason, she could neither qualify for any entrance scholarships of Western’s nor access any mature student awards or bursaries.

“I sort of fall into this grey zone where I self-identify as a mature student, but the university doesn’t consider me one, even though I’m older than my cohort,” said Anderson.

“I [had] a non-linear trajectory in my education, to put it lightly, and education was something that was always important to me but always something that had to keep getting put on the backburner.”

While she didn’t receive an admission bursary, she also didn’t qualify for work study in her first year. According to Western’s office of the registrar, work study is not offered to first-years because financial need is supposed to be met through admission bursary assistance. In addition, although Anderson has been financially independent for over a decade, the Student Center’s financial assistance profile requires that she provide her parents’ finances.

These are only a few ways the unique needs of mature students can fall through the cracks, as they remain an afterthought to those of the traditionally aged student population. Others include a lack of mature student spaces on campus and inadequate accommodations for students with children.

These shared challenges create an unwelcome feeling for mature students on campus “like you’re a

square peg trying to fit into a round hole,” Anderson explained.

To address these issues, the current SMS student coordinator Brianne Derrah drafted a motion earlier this year with the aid of science president Frank Ye to start a University Students’ Council ad hoc mature student subcommittee. The motion, which highlighted the concerns of the mature student community, was passed by the USC on Oct. 31, 2018. By that time, five firstyear mature students who started in September had dropped out.

“Part of the reason that I started the ad hoc committee was that I needed an interface with the USC. It’s such a big issue that I just needed another organization on our side, so that it wasn’t just me yelling into the void,” said Derrah, a linguistic anthropology and First Nations studies student. “I think that it’s really important for students to feel like they belong in a place, and as it stands, personally, as a mature student, I don’t feel like I belong.”

CHALLENGES TO INTEGRATION: ‘THINGS AREN’T DESIGNED FOR YOU’ Many of the challenges faced by the mature student community stem from the lack of a standardized, inclusive definition of a mature student among post-secondary institutions. Western officially identifies students as mature if they are 21 years old or over, have no previous university or college education, have not been in full-time attendance at an educational institution within the past four years and have achieved at least a 60 per cent grade in all academic work attempted within the past four years.

According to this definition, Western has a total of 175 undergraduate mature students for the 2018-19 academic year. This number is far from the number of students who identify as mature. The SMS chooses metrics, such as “over 25 years old,” to flag first-year mature students and reach out to them every year. Derrah estimates around 300 emails went out this year.

“Mature students come to Western in a variety of ways,” said Meghan U’Ren, Western’s student engagement programs coordinator. “[This] definition just applies to students who are admitted officially as mature. That has always been our

challenge — how do we connect with mature students?”

In total, U’Ren estimates the number of mature students attending Western can range from 2,000 to 4,000, depending on how they are defined. She added that the majority of mature students study part-time, estimating 60 to 70 per cent. Both Western’s official mature student and total part-time student numbers have been declining for years. It is unclear why this is occurring and how much mature student decline may contribute to part-time student decline due to a lack of research and concrete mature student numbers.

In this way, the lack of a concrete mature student definition impedes outreach efforts to these students as well as data collection on this community. Anderson explained an official self-identification option for mature students might help resolve these issues.

“Whether you’re considered one by the university or not, you may feel like one, so something that we’re really lobbying for with this subcommittee is the ability to self-identify as a mature student,” said Anderson.

“That way, the people who deserve to get the information are able to get it, regardless of whether they’re 61 or 21.”

Another priority of the subcommittee is securing a space on campus designated for mature students.

Anderson and Derrah explained such a space is essential for mature students to come together for both academic and social purposes to build a sense of community.

Currently, the SMS uses the LAMP Office in the University Community Centre Room 251 to hold mature student hours on Mondays from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Mature students also face significant financial barriers while having higher financial expenses, such as familial and childcare costs, and less or no parental support compared to traditionally aged students. As mentioned previously, students not officially admitted as “mature” to Western cannot access entrance scholarships or mature student bursaries. First-years do not qualify for work study, and certain financial forms require parental information.

In addition, events and exam scheduling at university rarely take into consideration the unique circumstances of students with children.

Move closer to your degree.

Get Spring & Summer credits at Brock.

“I’m really lucky I have a supportive partner, so I don’t run into as many scheduling challenges as I know some other mature students with kids can run into,” said Anderson.

Further, university policy is not set up to accommodate student parents: when one mature student’s child became ill, the student had to miss a midterm to pick the child up from school. Academic counselling refused to provide accommodations, and the student received a zero on the midterm.

“Oftentimes, things aren’t designed for you,” said Anderson.

“There’s definitely some gaps, and that’s something that SMS is trying to fill, but we really need more support from the university. We need more representation on campus.”

A SENSE OF WELCOME Every mature student has a unique story for taking an atypical temporal trajectory in pursuit of an education.

“The mature student community is not monolithic,” added Derrah.

“We’re not all just people that were too lazy to do it at the right time.…

It could be that you had a career before, and you’re just coming back because it’s not right for you anymore, because you had to make that decision when you were 13.”

“It could be that we are new to Canada. It could be that we endured trauma or it could be a million things that got in the way,” added Anderson.

Anderson has heard people say that mature students aren’t as dedicated to school work and that they don’t do as well in the classroom.

She explains that, in her experience, mature students are more willing to engage in class and to be wrong because of the higher financial and personal investment involved in being at university.

“There’s just more of that ‘I’ve waited so long to be here, so I’m not going to waste that,’ ” she said.

Derrah added one factor that may deter mature students’ engagement is feeling unwelcome. She explained several mature students were told by sophs during Orientation Week that certain events don’t apply to them, and that they don’t need to attend.“If people come into an environment where they’re already feeling like they’re not going to fit in, having that reinforced externally just sort of makes that feeling that much stronger,” said Anderson.

Further, the age difference creates barriers to forming friendships and relating to younger students.

Anderson explained she has the “privilege” of looking younger than her age, which helps her make friends, but older mature students often feel uncomfortable engaging in conversation with their younger peers.

‘WE ARE AN UNDERUTILIZED RESOURCE’

While most university students have yet to step into the world outside of educational institutions, most mature students have had diverse real-life experiences, and many are more than willing to share it with younger generations, according to Anderson and Derrah.

“The fact that we’re on campus changes the campus perspective,” said Derrah. “For example, I haven’t been unemployed since I was 14 years old. I know what it’s like to go through job interviews. I know what it’s like to have to build and rebuild a resumé. I know what it’s like to have to quit a job when it wasn’t working out. I know what it’s like to pay those bills and to have to choose between bills and to set a goal and try to achieve it in a world that is set up far different than university is.”

“Having that perspective from being outside of an [educational] institution, I think, could be an incredible resource for the university, but it’s so underutilized and underappreciated,” she added.

Derrah explained mature students bring in a variety of experiences that post-secondary institutions could benefit from, if they were to pay more attention to the mature student community and what it has to offer. Through the ad hoc mature student subcommittee, Derrah hopes to bridge the gap between the mature student and traditionally aged student communities to allow mature students to share their hardlearned skills with younger students.

“I’m sure that it will be an uphill battle,” Derrah said. “I’m hoping that there will be a little bit more consideration for mature students and a different understanding of what it means to be a mature student and what that journey looks like, but I also have to hedge my expectations, because sometimes it just doesn’t happen that way, so that’s what I hope for.”

Online and in-class courses in a wide range of programs.

Find your course today.

brocku.ca/springsummer

EXPERIENCE. SPRING & SUMMER AT BROCK.

news

TUESDAY, MARCH 19, 2019 •

• 4

Partner porn use, thinness pressure, related to eating disorder symptoms in women NOJOUD AL MALLEES NEWS INTERN @NOJOUDALMALLEES Partner thinness-related pressure and partner porn use were found to be associated with eating disorder symptoms in women, according to a recent study published by researchers from Western University and Ohio State University.

The study, which was conducted with over 400 women, investigated

the relationship between eating disorder symptoms and male partner porn use, as well as perceived thinness pressure from male partners, friends, family and the media.

Perceived pressure from male partners was more strongly associated with eating disorder symptoms than pressure from other sources.

Perceived thinness pressure, as well as perceived previous porn use, were found to be both indirectly and

Course materials leaving you broke?

directly related to eating disorder symptoms due to thinness idealization. Women may increasingly internalize thin beauty standards when they perceive greater pressure from partners or previous porn use, leading to eating disorder symptoms.

Rachel Calogero, a professor in Western’s department of psychology, suggests that partner perception, which is used to determine partner porn use and thinness pressure, can be an accurate reflection of the state of a relationship.

“We do know that people’s perceptions of what’s happening in their relationship is a pretty strong indicator of what is going on in their relationship and is also predictive of relationship satisfaction and quality,” said Calogero.

While the relationship between diagnosed eating disorders and these variables was not directly investigated, the symptoms measured do relate to disorders, according to Calogero.

“Some of the items we included in the measure of disordered eating do map onto the more severe symptoms in women with eating disorders. So the degree of self-induced

ASHLEY YOUNG GAZETTE

vomiting, for example or binge eating,” said Calogero.

Although previous studies have investigated the relationship of partner porn use to relationship satisfaction, rendering mixed results, very few studies have examined the relationship of partner porn use to eating disorders or eating disorder symptoms.

“Another interesting finding

from these studies is that these effects were found independent of how concerned women were about the porn use. What that suggests is that, even for women who report not being bothered by it,… there was still an effect,” said Calogero.

In the future, Calogero hopes to replicate this study with a more ethnically and socio-economically diverse set of participants.

Researchers discover new information on common spine disease

OPEN LIBRARY At eCampusOntario’s new Open Library, you’ll find high quality resources in key subject areas that you can use or adapt for free. Print a copy or save on your device to read on-the-go!

Browse the open library now at openlibrary.ecampusontario.ca CROSSWORD SOLUTION Solution to puzzle on page 11

JESSICA SINGER NEWS INTERN @UWOGAZETTE Scientists and medical practitioners from Western University’s Bone and Joint Institute have discovered new information about diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis, which could lead to new therapies and treatments for the disease.

DISH is the second most common type of arthritis next to osteoarthritis and is identified by ectopic spinal calcification, where soft tissue-like ligaments develop mineral deposits along the spine.

Although this disease affects 15 to 25 per cent of North Americans over the age of 50, with a greater prevalence among men, DISH is poorly understood, and its causes are unknown.

Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry professor Cheryle Séguin and her team recruited surgeons, radiologists, physiotherapists and patients suffering from DISH to learn more about this disease.

The paper was published in the Journal of Orthopaedic Research on Feb. 12.

In the study, they evaluated 19 human cadavers using advanced micro-CT technology. Physicians who collaborated in the study diagnosed 53 per cent of the cohort, giving researchers a lot of material to

work with, explained Dale Fournier, one of Séguin’s students who helped with the study.

They were able to highlight three distinct presentations that match the criteria of DISH, which may help clinicians classify and categorize different stages of the disease and the patient’s individual treatment plan, said Fournier.

“What we’ve done is use micro-CT that’s very detailed,… and with this advanced imaging, we can look at some of the nittygritty details and see if we can find any differences,” said Fournier. “And that’s where we sort of found three distinct groups or presentations that still fall under the criteria or definition of DISH.” Fournier hopes that finding heterogeneity in DISH’s classification can help develop early-stage detection criteria. This is important in providing treatments for the disease because each presentation may require a different treatment.

The diagnosis of DISH is currently based on radiographic criteria, which is limited to detecting the disease at an advanced stage.

“The problem with standard radiographs or X-rays is that we are only able to detect when these calcifications are quite large and severe,” explained Fournier.

“It’s at that point when patients

will typically have more of the symptoms, and it’s a little too late for anything to happen because it’s more of the advanced late stage of the disease,” he added. “So what’s sort of been the limitation to date is that we’re unable to detect it early enough to try to come up with any therapies.”

Those with DISH may have trouble breathing or swallowing, explained Matthew Veras, another member of Séguin’s research team.

As the ligaments and connective tissues harden along the spine, this also causes back pain and stiffness.

“Since DISH is typically diagnosed later in life, those symptoms of being stiff, for instance, or in pain, is something you’d expect, particularly in an old man, so it kind of goes to the wayside,” explained Veras.

Finding different presentations of DISH, Veras and Fournier are hopeful that they can follow up with treatment interventions and discover which works best with each specific presentation.

Moving forward, they hope to explore DISH at the cellular and tissue level. In collaboration with Veras’ work on the mouse model, they will use this information to compare both human and mice forms of DISH to map out therapeutic strategies to treat the disease in the future.

Western mourns passing of Science student GAZETTE NEWS Sara Ali, a fourth-year bachelor of medical sciences student at Western University, passed away on March 4.

Sara was 21 years old.

The flag atop University College was lowered last Thursday in Sara’s honour.

Sara is survived by her parents, Osman Ali and Nahid Swareldahab, and her brother, Mahmoud Ali. First-year neuroscience student

Maria Abou Taka worked on an advocacy committee with Sara for Active Minds Western, a campus club dedicated to lessening stigma around mental illness through events and discussion.

Abou Taka stated Sara was a hard worker who came to meetings prepared and always had great ideas.

She added that Sara got along with everybody.

“She was really kind and always compassionate about mental

health, whether it’s in a professional aspect or just talking as friends,” said Abou Taka. “That’s how I thought she was like, and I’m sure a lot of others would agree.”

Abou Taka said Active Minds will be having an event on Thursday in remembrance of Sara.

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

5 •

opinions

• TUESDAY, MARCH 19, 2019

we get letters

In response to SNCLavalin editorial To the editor, The editorial begins its argument by intriguing readers, asking: “is the scandal really worth the level of scrutiny it has received?”

Considering that the scandal in question arises from the very real possibility that the highest members of our elected government acted to subvert our judicial system for political gain, the only intrigue here is how to understand the rationale behind opening with such an easily answered question. Of course we should scrutinize potential immoral and possibly illegal actions made by any of our elected officials.

Then, right out of the gate, the editorial board’s first argument: this scandal has only reached such publicity because it involves Trudeau, who ran on transparency and honesty. Again, as answered to the previous question: we should scrutinize potential immoral and possibly illegal actions from any of our elected officials. If it had been Stephen Harper, Jean Chrétien or Pierre Trudeau, it would have been equally scandalous. If it were Conservative Party leader Andrew Scheer or New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh, Liberal Party members of Parliament would be calling for blood, and rightly so.

We then move on to the twopart argument by the editorial board: Trudeau was motivated by protecting Canadian jobs, and because of the importance of these jobs, the particular female and/or Indigenous identity of our ex-attorney general should not be a focal point in this discussion. To the first part, I would say: fair. The motivations of the Prime Minister and his upper echelon are a valid topic of discussion in this issue, and the protection of Canadian jobs is an argument on the side of the PMO’s ethicality. The counterargument is

that political optics and partisanship were the motivators here. This other side is one of the nuances that the editorial is supposedly asking us to examine but fails to discuss or even mention. This is surprising because it is not even really a nuance. It was and is the main talking point of critics during this scandal, and it is an extremely valid criticism, if true. To the second part regarding Jody Wilson-Raybould’s cultural or gender identity being a non-issue, I will say this: Trudeau does not get to acknowledge that his gender-balanced cabinet is a step toward gender equality and then dismiss the optics of his and his office’s persistent questioning and dismissal of the well-informed legal decision of our country’s most senior female lawyer. He does not get to campaign with promises of reconciliation and Indigenous advocacy without being criticized for essentially firing our, by all accounts, extremely competent Indigenous ex-attorney general for no good reason.

The editorial ends on a note I can both agree and disagree with.

Maybe this shouldn’t be the only factor Canadians consider when they go to the polls to vote for their MPs in October. We should consider the ideas and positions of our local MPs and their voting records.

We should consider the party platforms of the Liberals, Green Party, New Democrats and Progressive Conservatives. However, if WilsonRaybould’s allegations are found true, and our prime minister and his closest associates are found to have meddled, influenced, directed or threatened her, some Canadians might find that too unpalatable to support a party that chooses such an unethical leader from its ranks.

ALEXANDER XIAO BACHELOR’S OF MEDICAL SCIENCES ALUM (2018)

we get letters

How changing one word could make a big difference in your life Dr. Rhonda Gilby is a clinical psychologist with a long association with Western University as a student, a psychology professor and a counsellor for Brescia University College students.

Note: A version of this letter was previously posted on Dr. Gilby’s blog.

I am a clinical psychologist. When I work with students who are looking for some help coping with the various concerns in their life, one type of therapy that frequently makes a lot of sense to me is cognitive behaviour therapy.

Cognitive behaviour therapy is based on the idea that our thoughts, beliefs and perceptions about a situation affect how we feel about it and what we subsequently do.

This means that the same event can produce very different reactions in different people depending upon their thoughts and interpretations of the experience. When thoughts about a situation change, emotions and behaviours can change too.

The other day, my sister published the following post on Facebook that illustrates this principle of cognitive behaviour therapy: “Every time you catch yourself saying ‘I have to,’ say I ‘get to’ instead.

Changing that one little word has the power to change everything in your brain.”

A small shift in the way that you think about a situation can have a big impact.

For example, thinking “I have to work out this morning” makes it sound like a chore or an obligation. Thinking “I get to work out this morning” suggests a joy, honour, advantage. “I get to work out this morning” emphasizes that you are well enough to work out and are trying to contribute to your own good health.

For example, “I have to study for my upcoming exam” suggests that you are obligated to do it, but it is not something that you want to do.

Changing your thinking to “I get to study for an upcoming exam” implies that you recognize that you

MICHAEL CONLEY GAZETTE Shopping cart full of unclaimed, expired goods at Food Support Services, Nov. 14, 2017.

Let’s talk about food insecurity

BY GAZETTE EDITORIAL BOARD

Students often joke about their eating habits, especially during times of high stress. It’s common to hear a student say they haven’t eaten anything other than a slice of toast all day or for someone to proclaim they haven’t had the time nor the money to do groceries in weeks. These statements hold more weight than you might think: food insecurity is a real issue on campuses. But some groups are trying to change that.

A 2016 survey across five Canadian university campuses found that nearly two in five students experience some form of food insecurity, citing housing, tuition costs and time as some of the reasons. The issue was found to disproportionately impact students living off-campus and international students.

It’s clear that food insecurity is a problem on Canadian campuse, and that we should discuss it more often. Since the survey came out three years ago, universities have been rolling out plans to better tackle the issue. The initiatives differ based on the university and its students’ needs. For example, Ryerson University is planning to pilot a community meal-sharing program and wants to bring more affordable food options to campus. Last semester, Lakehead University piloted a shuttle program that brought students from their secluded campus to grocery stores.

When the editorial board was discussing campus initiatives to tackle food insecurity, a majority of the Gazette’s staff was unaware of Food Support Services, a service run by the University Students’ Council. FSS runs a food bank in the University Community Centre, as well as a “food-hamper”

program. If students don’t feel comfortable going to the food bank in person, they can fill out an online request form for a hamper filled with food and other essentials, like tampons. But few students seem to even know that FSS exists or that they’re allowed to use it. Though our office is just down the hall from the FSS food bank, even some of our editors didn’t know there was a food bank on campus.

This doesn’t seem to be an issue with our organization specifically, but rather with the way food insecurity is discussed among students. As mentioned earlier, food insecurity is often treated as a passing joke rather than as a real issue. Students tend to discuss food (or a lack thereof) quite casually, brushing off hunger as a symptom of being a student rather than a real problem. This may display a tendency to view struggling as a prerequisite for academic success. Some editors even expressed that though they’ve been in situations where they could have benefited from visiting a food bank, they would feel bad doing so. Because food insecurity is discussed so rarely, students seem to believe that there must be people who have it worse than they do. This mentality is dangerous. Not only does it mean students aren’t accessing services like FSS, but it means those services are being under-utilized.

Food insecurity should be taken seriously. Western University students should start discussing it more openly and highlighting the importance of utilizing services like food banks. Students should never feel embarrassed or guilty about using those services.

Food insecurity is serious, and it’s far too common.

Given our access to services like FSS, we should feel comfortable using them.

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.”

are fortunate to have the opportunity to be at university, to now be learning, in detail, new things that (presumably) interest you and that will help prepare you for a more positive future.

Changing that one little word changes the focus from a complaint to a feeling of gratitude, acknowledging the goodness in your life and feeling appreciation for what you have. Changing that one little word can move you from feeling stressed to feeling blessed.

Gratitude is becoming an important focus of psychology research.

Robert Emmons, a professor of

psychology at the University of California, Davis, is a leading scientific expert on gratitude. His research has found that people who practice gratitude show better physical health (e.g., stronger immune systems, better sleep habits, fewer aches and pains), better psychological functioning (e.g., more joy, pleasure, optimism, happiness and resistance to stress) and social benefits (e.g., more helpfulness, more generosity, less loneliness and a higher sense of self-worth).

Practicing gratitude is good for our bodies, our minds and our relationships. Changing just one little

word, going from “have to” to “get to,” could be a simple practice that you can use to better focus on the gifts that you get to be grateful for in your life.

Take care, and focus on all of the special things in your life that you are getting to do.

Dr. Gilby is writing a blog where she shares tips that she has gathered from her work as a clinical psychologist and her years of teaching psychology courses, that provides information and strategies to help students work on coping with stress. You can check out the blog at drgilby.bresciablog.com.

2019 JUNO AWARDS LIGHT UP THE FOREST CITY

BY EMILY TAYLER

T

he audience chants along with an announcer, counting down the seconds until the show starts. The Western Mustangs Marching Band and Western Mustang cheerleaders wait in the wings, ready to join in symphony alongside the performance of DJ duo and Western alum, Andrew Fedyk and Joe Depace of Loud Luxury.

They burst onto stage clad in purple, accompanied by the JUNO award-winning track “Body” at the Budweiser Gardens. The audience waves purple pom-poms in tune, bringing a Western flare to the show.

The 48th JUNO Awards came to London this year to honour Canada’s best and brightest performers. The award show honours albums, songs and artists from a range of genres, from classical to reggae to pop, each year.

Shawn Mendes was the frontrunner for awards this year, winning five of the six categories he was nominated for, including major sections like Artist of the Year and Album of the Year. Mendes, unfortunately, wasn’t there to receive his awards as he is touring Europe. Instead, the star was streamed in for a video performance.

Host and 12-time JUNO award winner Sarah McLachlan

opened the show poking fun at Canada’s neighbours south of the border. She explained how these bad neighbours go around putting up random walls and how all you can do is hope that they’ll be “gone by 2020” — a criticism for which she only received one critical social media comment, she told the press later. She gave the audience encouraging words of unity and confidence while celebrating the music that comes out of the great white north because, as McLachlan succinctly put it, “Canadian music kicks ass.”

“I just couldn’t imagine living, planting my home and my heart anywhere else,” McLachlan said about her love for her home country. “I get to be me. I think that’s the beautiful thing about Canada: we do really celebrate our diversity and our inclusivity and the fact that we all come from away.”

The stunning host sang alongside husband and wife folk rock duo, White Horse, making a quick costume change from a rose-embellished black suit to a blue, 80s-inspired velvet top and leather pants — just two of the five distinct looks McLachlan wore over the course of the evening.

The official award show night, on March 17, saw a live audience of around 9,000 and reached tens of thousands via national broadcast. The broadcast awarded six JUNOs

SAXON LANE GAZETTE “If I was raised somewhere else or born somewhere else, I feel like I wouldn’t have been as encouraged to wave both flags, but in Canada, you wave your parents’ flag and you wave the Canadian flag,” says Jessie Reyez, winner of the R&B/Soul Record of the Year at the 2019 JUNOs, March 17, 2019.

and inducted Corey Hart, the man behind “I Wear My Sunglasses at Night,” to the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.

The JUNO awards always promise a star-studded night, and Sunday’s show was no exception, bringing Olympic gold medalist Tessa Virtue and Canadian comedian Rick Mercer together to announce the Arkells on stage. However, not every featured guest is ready to be inducted into the hall of fame just yet, as the JUNOs also shone a light on up-and-coming artists in the music industry, such as pop artist bülow, who performed a mashup of her two biggest singles just before receiving the award for Breakthrough Artist of the Year. The ceremony featured 13 performances, nine of which made their debuts at the 2019 JUNOs. The bulk of the awards were given out the previous night at the industry-exclusive Gala Dinner and Awards, co-hosted by the JUNO award-winning lead singer of Billy Talent, Ben Kowalewicz, and Julie Nesrallah from CBC Music. The pair gave out 36 awards and three special achievement awards.

Kowalewicz opened the show, introducing it as “the longest night in Canadian music” and promised that he was there to “Marie Kondo this shit” and keep the pace moving.

7 •

feature

• TUESDAY, MARCH 19, 2019

H

amilton-native band Arkells remained strong and steady, opening the night by winning Group of the Year and closing with a confetti-throwing performance of “Hand Me Downs” off their new album, Rally Cry, which won Rock Album of the Year the night prior. Eric Ratz, who worked with the group on their singles “People’s Champ” and “Relentless,” took home the Jack Richardson Producer of the Year award, giving the band a trifecta of JUNOs. After being awarded Rock Album of the Year, the group brought Jeremy Dutcher, Indigenous Music Album of the Year winner, onstage. Kerman then offered Dutcher the chance to finish his acceptance speech, which had been cut off earlier in the evening, to which he thanked the Arkells for “giving space.”

“This is what it looks like ,you know. We talk about these words all the time — reconciliation — but what does it actually look like?” Dutcher later said, reflecting on the moment. “It’s meaningful relationships; it’s allies holding space so that voices that haven’t been heard for a very long time can come forward.”

He said he is grateful to the Arkells and commended Kerman on his work with the Gord Downie and Chanie Wenjack Fund, which supports Indigenous communities across the country.

Dutcher proceeded to complete his speech, adding that Indigenous music is not niche and should not be siloed into one category as every nomination was vastly different in style and celebrated the culture of different Indigenous communities. He hopes to see Indigenous music nominated in other categories, for example seeing Snotty Nose Rez Kids nominated for the Rap Recording of the Year category.

Dutcher was a captivating speaker with wide eyes and an immense amount of hope for the future. Performing on stage, he said, “feels like possibility.”

“I didn’t have this when I was growing up, representation. These bodies on stage, I didn’t see that. It gives me hope for what’s to come. Kids now, they can go and see queerness, they can see Indigeneity, they can see all of

these beautiful, diverse things on a stage. What kind of possibility does that breathe into their life?”

If the JUNOs gave out an award for best dressed, Dutcher would have stolen the show, donning a mesh bodysuit and tights and cloaked in a cape with a flowing train that needed to be carried down the aisle by his accompanist.

The cape featured an outside layer of beautiful floral, while the inside was a dark blue with white symbols.

“This cape is a representation of the relationship between land and language,” he explained, draping it over his arms. “Outside we have the land, and inside we have Cree syllabics. This was by a designer in Edmonton named Luxx, and it says ‘We will succeed’ in Cree.”

Dutcher performed a number from his JUNO winning album Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa for a nationally broadcasted audience, accompanied by Classical Album of the Year nominee Blake Pouliot on the violin. Pouliot is the first classical album nominee to play the JUNOs main stage in over two decades.

Francophone music also had a night of firsts at the JUNOs. This was the first year a Francophone artist played the main stage at the JUNOs, as nominees Coeur De Pirate and JUNO winner Loud took the stage after being announced by fellow nominee Hubert Lenoir. Lenoir was also nominated for Album of the Year for his jazzy-pop album Darlène, among other nominations. Lenoir performed “Ton Hôtel” from his album at the Gala Award night, running around the stage, kissing his guitarist and flipping off the audience.

“I’m a doll,” Lenoir said, explaining the inspiration for his yellow, clown-like face paint and the rosy circles on his cheeks. “Cause the world is plastic, I decided to embrace that fact.” He did not elaborate.

Afie Jurvanen, better known as Bahamas, performed from his breezy, JUNO award winning album Earthtones.

Jurvanen took home the award for Adult Alternative Album of the Year, and director and puppeteer Ali J Eisner brought home their first JUNO for Video of the Year for the Bahamas song, “No Depression.”

The video only features one scene of Jurvanen, which

SAXON LANE GAZETTE The Arkells posing with their two JUNOs as winners of Group of the Year and Rock Album of the Year, March 17, 2019.

is by design. He explained his favourite music videos are the ones where he is in them the least, and also wanted Eisner to have full creative license. The video featured a puppet version of Jurvanen singing along and wandering through the forest, only to reveal the real Bahamas sitting around a campfire, roasting hotdogs at the end.

Eisner has always been interested in puppets, and was able to make a career out of it after they auditioned to be a host on children’s network YTV. They were able to combine their love of music and puppeteering, appearing with their puppet, Jay the Blue Jay, on TV Ontario to preschool-ify famous songs by Canadian artists for a young audience. Having worked in these fields for years, Eisner said it was a no-brainer when Jurvanen approached them about making a music video.

Eisner explained that Jurvanen was incredibly trusting and gave them full control over the project, giving no notes and only coming onto set for the scenes he needed to film.

“One thing I love about Afie is he’s an authentic, honest performer. He doesn’t like to do the same thing twice.”

Eisner said. “So while I had to get a ‘roasted weenie’ segment, we had to do it a couple times to tweak lighting or camera; he gave me something different every single time.”

The award night came to a close as the Fan Choice Award was announced after viewers were encouraged to vote over the duration of the show. This is the only award Mendes was nominated for that he did not take home, with the award instead going to Avril Lavigne after her triumphant return to the music scene with her latest album Head Above Water.

Newly minted Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductee Hart took the show home with his 80’s hit “I Wear My Sunglasses at Night,” and was met with more than a few audience members pulling out their shades.

As McLachlan told the audience as she opened the show, music is a uniting force. The JUNOs show the world that Canadian music is a force to be reckoned with as Canadian performers make headlines internationally.

A complete list of winners can be found on the JUNOs website.

sports

TUESDAY, MARCH 19, 2019 •

• 8

Stangs’ finish strong at nationals KARINA LEUNG GAZETTE STAFF @SPORTSATGAZETTE After incredible performances at the Ontario University Athletics championships at the end of February and the U Sports Track and Field Championships last weekend, the Western Mustangs track and field teams finished their season nationally ranked as third and fourth in the women’s and men’s divisions, respectively.

The Mustangs put up what head coach Vickie Croley called “an almost perfect performance” at the OUA championships to propel them toward success at the national meet, where the women’s team won bronze by 11 points and the men’s team placed fourth, only 7.5 points behind the host Manitoba Bisons.

Four fifth-year athletes finished in the top four of their respective events, bringing home two medals that highlighted the performances of the women’s team. Graduating athlete Sara Villani, who established a school record at the Bison Classic in January, broke her own personal best by 26 centimetres with a throw of 15.45 metres in the shot put to win a silver medal. Another senior, long-distance runner Kristina Popadich, won her first national medal with a second-place finish in the 3000-metre event.

Sprinter Caroline Stricelj

improved upon her personal best to finish fourth with a time of 38.83 seconds in the 300-metre race and also ran the fastest splits in both the 4x200 metre and 4x400 metre relays, finishing fifth and sixth, respectively. Both high jumper Emilia Grala and rookie weight thrower Hannah Diebold contributed to the team’s strong showing with their own fourth-place finishes in their respective events.

The depth of the women’s team was a strong factor in their success as well, as an additional nine topeight finishes were achieved by shot putters Emily Good and Ashley Amofah, triple jumper Paige Doyle, weight thrower Rachel Campbell, pole vaulter Amanda Reid, runner Kate Current and the relay teams in the 4x200 metre, 4x400 metre and 4x800 metre events.

“Our women moved up significantly in the rankings, where they were tied for sixth going in, and coming away with the bronze medal; that was just outstanding,” said Croley on the women’s team’s performance.

The Mustangs men’s team finished fourth overall, also using their depth to finish 10 points above the Alberta Golden Bears. Pole vaulter Dan Gleason placed third with a height of 4.90 metres, just 10 centimetres behind the Guelph Gryphon’s Brennan Seguin, while triple jumper

Scott Billings won bronze with a personal best of 14.52 centimetres.

Seven additional top-eight finishes came from long jumper Matt Indome, shot putter Stuart Cameron, sprinter Adam Nalywaiko, heptathletes Ryan Evans and Jared Hendricks-Polack, long-distance runner Isaiah Frielink and the 4x400 metre relay team.

“I think on the men’s side, overall we performed OK,” said Croley. “We had some exceptional performances, but we also had a little bit of bad luck with one of our top athletes, who was competing in three events, who came down with the stomach flu.

That hurt, and that probably made the difference in our men finishing fourth instead of third, losing that bronze for the men’s team. So from a team perspective, I think we were a little bit disappointed for the men not to come away with that bronze team medal, but overall both teams did perform well.”

The big story from the men’s team, however, was fifth-year runner Jack Sheffar, who won double gold in the long-distance events.

After two previous U Sports national championship meets that were spoiled by bad luck (an early-rung bell in 2017 and the flu in 2018), the graduating senior finished his collegiate career on a high note.

“When you have adversity, I truly believe that it makes you better

COURTESY OF MUSTANGS ATHLETICS

down the road,” said Croley. “With Jack, this was his last shot at it, and he definitely had a great season, so there were signs showing that he was very capable of winning gold.

His teammates, the coaching staff, his parents, even the track and field world, were happy for Jack.”

While the school season is over, most of the athletes will continue to train and compete at meets with their own clubs over the spring and summer. However, the Mustangs team coming back in the fall will look very different, as new freshmen arrive and graduates leave.

Croley highlighted Popadich and Sheffar as stars of the team who

will be particularly tough to replace, although her program’s recruitment for the upcoming season has already been an improvement from previous years.

“Kristina and Jack really are two of our Western all-time greats, they’re almost irreplaceable,” said Croley. “So what we need is a little bit more depth in some of the events that they’re graduating from, and we’ll work toward that with our current team members continuing to improve. We’ve also actually had an outstanding recruiting year so far, and we’re hoping to sign a few more top recruits in the areas that we need.”

CHARIS HUDDLE

Swimming life in the fast lane

COURTESY OF OLENA KLAHSEN

HANNAH DIEBOLD GAZETTE STAFF @SPORTSATGAZETTE Of the many countries she’s lived in, all of them have had water — and for Charis Huddle, that was where home truly was. The fifthyear Western Mustang and all-star swimmer has carried her passion for swimming all around the world.

At the age of six, Huddle moved from Canada to Zimbabwe; it was there that her Grade 3 teacher

encouraged her to join the local swim team. After joining the Penguins swimming club, Huddle immediately knew she had found something special.

“I fell in love with the sport, and I have been doing it ever since,” said Huddle.

From Zimbabwe, she moved to Singapore, and then to Zambia at the age of 12. She actively swam in every country, but it was in Zambia that Huddle’s swimming career began

London’s Longest Running Street Shop

Addictive Tattoo  •••

519.679.1456 • 234 Dundas St.

AddictiveTattoos.net

VAPE & 420

519.601.4700

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

to flourish. Her talent in the sport certainly didn’t go unnoticed, as she swam for the Zambian national team and made captain in 2014.

Huddle expressed her gratitude for the many unique opportunities she was able to experience while on the national team.

But she claimed it was the high level of enthusiasm and spirit the team had that really resonate with her today. In some ways, Huddle explained that she sees a likeness between the Zambian national team and the Western University team she now competes on.

“We consistently won the spirit award that was awarded at different meets across sub-Saharan Africa,” said Huddle. “It has transitioned me well to be a part of the Western team; We have a lot of camaraderie, we are all cheering for each other, we’re very purple and proud.”

In the fall of 2014, Huddle moved back to Canada to attend school and pursue medical sciences at Western.

Despite her highly impressive athletic resumé, Huddle joined the swimming team as a walk-on. After a month of gruelling training and tryouts, she

made the Mustangs team, and from there, things have only gone up.

In both her third and fourth years, Huddle brought home two bronze medals at the U Sports championships in the women’s 50-metre freestyle and 100-metre freestyle events.

Huddle improved on that performance this year — her fifth and final season of university swimming — as she won two medals of a different colour at the U Sports championships. Day one of the national championship meet saw her handily take the gold medal in the 50-metre women’s freestyle with an impressive time of 25.74 seconds. Her affinity for the podium continued, as she also brought home the silver medal in the women’s 100-metre freestyle event.

She was especially satisfied with her performances at U Sports this year because it was a mark of improvement. Whereas last year she had peak performances at the OUA championships, she was able to taper herself with perfect timing this year, just in time for the national meet.

“I think every season has improved from the one before, so this is a good year to end on,” said Huddle.

But despite her happy ending to this year, leaving a team that she’s devoted five years to won’t be easy. “[Being on the swim team] has made my experience here,” shared Huddle. “I have a very hard time imagining being at Western without the company of the team — the two are virtually inseparable.”

She offered special thanks to her teammates and coach Paul Midgley, who supported her immensely during her career at Western. “[Midgley] has always believed in me, and I just really appreciate his support,” said Huddle. “He has experience and expertise; he challenges me as an athlete and as a person to reflect and improve.”

But as Huddle moves on to bigger and brighter things, she says she will take one very important lesson with her.

“Showing up counts. Just improving a little bit each time you do something — it pays off big time,” said Huddle.

She has exemplified this mantra throughout her swimming career, and it is certainly a winning strategy in all areas of life.

9 •

sports

• TUESDAY, MARCH 19, 2019

Band and cheerleaders rock the JUNOS stage

COURTESY OF WESTERN UNIVERSITY

MIKE DEBOER MANAGING EDITOR @UWOGAZETTE The Western marching band and cheerleading team took the stage on Sunday night for the opening act of the 2019 JUNOs, captivating a packed Budweiser Gardens and tens of thousands of music fans from across the country.

The 85 band members and 35 cheerleaders joined Western alumni Andrew Fedyk and Joe Depace, who make up Canadian music production and DJ duo Loud Luxury, in the evening’s opening act.

The band performed the instrumental section for the performance

of the duo’s hit song “Body,” which won the JUNO Award for Dance Recording of the Year. At the same time, the cheerleaders were on stage and in the crowd, adding energy to the performance.

The band, led by director Quinn Fleming, and the cheerleading team, led by coach David Lee Tracy, learned of the opportunity to perform alongside Loud Luxury in early February and worked hard to prepare for the big stage. According to Fleming, all the stars aligned to make the opportunity possible.

“It’s a huge milestone for the band,” said Fleming. “This is my sixth year being with the band, and

we haven’t done anything even remotely close to this calibre. One of the quotes from the music producer, Orin Isaac, who I worked with, was, ‘It’s crazy how the stars aligned,’ — that the JUNOs were in London, the opening act with their biggest hit went to Western and they asked us to be a part of it, and it’s all those stars that aligned that made it so special and so unique.”

While it was a major task to prepare a performance of such a large scale, Fleming happily admits it was smooth sailing throughout the process. According to Fleming, the professionalism and confidence of the band and the cheerleaders allowed

them to knock the performance out of the park.

“My advice for them was just not to look at the crowd, wait until the end and then you can look at the crowd, and they did a great job,” said Fleming.

Isaacs, a Canadian bass guitarist and television and music producer, worked closely with Fleming to make arrangements on the band’s involvement with the performance.

Fleming quickly sent the music out to band members, and by the time the band held its first rehearsal, they had the music memorized.

According to Western’s director of sports and recreation services, Christine Stapleton, the band and cheerleading team’s involvement with the performance was a perfect showcase of the talent and work ethic exhibited by Western’s student body.

“The opportunity for our students to work with award-winning choreographers, music directors, producers — these are the best people in Canada who do what they do,” said Stapleton. “What is cool is these professionals were equally impressed by our students — impressed by their talent and work ethic. Does anything better sum up our students? And to be able to share that from coast to coast to coast was just another way of sharing what our

student experience means.”

Stapleton also explained the importance of the performance in promoting Western on a national stage.

“Sport can be big. Absolutely.

But this was a different place to showcase Western,” said Stapleton.

“Here was an event that recognized the greatest musicians and artists of this country — and we got to open it with our people, our athletes. It was very exciting.”

The process involved long hours for band members and cheerleaders. They held dress rehearsal on Friday, getting on the bus to Budweiser Gardens at 4 p.m. and returning to Alumni Hall at around 11 p.m. On Sunday, they left campus at 10 a.m. and returned at 11 p.m.

But for Fleming, it was more than worth it for the incredible experience and self-promotion the opportunity provided. With student opt-out ancillary fees set to potentially impact the band moving forward, Sunday night was just another example of the band’s ability and impact.

“The band is in a transition period in its 80-year history toward something even greater, and events like this make my job easy when I advocate for the band and how important it is for the school.”

Clark named All-Canadian MIKE DEBOER MANAGING EDITOR @UWOGAZETTE U Sports held its annual All-Canadian women’s hockey gala on Wednesday evening in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, and Western Mustangs forward April Clark was named to the All-Canadian First Team.

The native of St. Mary’s had a standout campaign for the Mustangs, scoring 20 goals and 33 points in 24 games to lead her team to a 14–7–1–2 record and an Ontario University Athletics semifinal appearance.

“It is such an honour to receive that award, it has been a personal goal of mine all year,” said Clark on the honour. “But I didn’t expect it because there are so many great players in this league.”

For Clark, the individual honours come largely thanks to her teammates and coaches, who have supported her in her development on and off the ice. “[I think] my teammates and my coaching staff,” said Clark. “My team was awesome and supported me all the way and this award goes out to them too, and the coaching staff constantly pushed me to be my best.”

COURTESY OF MUSTANG ATHLETICS

Clark was the lone OUA player to be named to the First Team. She was joined on the First Team by defencemen Lindsey Donovan of the St. Francis Xavier X-Women and Erica Rieder of the Manitoba Bisons, fellow forwards Alex Poznikoff of the Alberta Pandas and Jessica Cormier of the Montreal Carabins, and goaltender Tory Micklash of the UBC Thunderbirds.

The Second Team included defencemen Cristine Chao of the Toronto Varsity Blues and Claudia Fortin of the Concordia Stingers, forwards Katryne Villeneuve of the Moncton Aigles Bleu, Autumn MacDougall of the Pandas and Jade Downie-Landry of the McGill Martlets, and netminder Tricia Deguire of the Martlets.

U Sports also announced its All-Rookie team selections at the gala, honouring defencemen Rylind MacKinnon of the UBC Thunderbirds and New Brunswick Varsity Red Jenna MacLean, forwards Tyra Meropoulis of St.Francis Xavier, Erika Crouse of the Ryerson Rams and Breanne Trotter of the Mount Royal Cougars, and goalie Kendra Woodland of the Varsity Reds.

Clark will return next season for her final campaign with the Mustangs.

COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL COLLEGIATE ATHLETICS ASSOCIATION | FACEBOOK

Gazette Bracketology 2019 MIKE DEBOER MANAGING EDITOR @UWOGAZETTE Ah, March. Spring is in the air, St. Patrick’s Day hangovers have been survived, and the greatest spectacle in all of sports is about to tip off.

There are two kinds of people in this world — those who love March Madness, and those who hate happiness —and those of us on the right side of that binary are printing off our brackets and filing Freedom of Information requests to the Duke athletic department to find out what shoes Zion Williamson is planning on wearing this month.

The madness is set to begin, and I’m here to give you advice on how to win your bracket pool.

DEFENCE MATTERS, BUT NOT AS MUCH AS YOU’D THINK My first tip for increasing your chances of bracket success is becoming familiar with Ken Pomeroy’s advanced stats. Those are the numbers college basketball analysts use when predicting outcomes and judging teams’ merits. You can certainly pick your bracket based on logos, school names or fandom, but a scroll through KenPom can get you prepared to pick games with context and background knowledge, particularly if you haven’t watched college basketball up until

this point.

On that note, since KenPom’s stats became available for public consumption in 2002, the myth that superior defences automatically win championships has been largely debunked. A team with a superior offence is as likely to beat a team with an inferior offence as a team with a superior defence is to beating a team with an inferior defence.

Sorry for making you read that sentence.

This is to say that you’re not doing yourself any favours by blindly picking defensive teams to make deep tournament runs, and you probably won’t be winning Warren Buffet’s cool $1 million by building your bracket that way.

VASTLY IMBALANCED TEAMS CAN’T BE TRUSTED Returning to KenPom, imbalanced teams are statistically more likely to be upset in the NCAA tournament and pull off an upset themselves.

This method can be helpful in a game like eighth-seeded VCU versus ninth-seeded Central Florida, where the former is 172nd on offense and seventh on defense according to KenPom and the latter is a more balanced 58th on offense and 36th on defense. The same goes for seventh-seeded Wofford

(12th on offense, 63rd on defense) against 10th-seeded Seton Hall (74th on offense, 49th on defense).

For toss-up games like these, imbalance can be a guiding principle to “bracketing” correctly.

LOOK FOR 11-SEEDS AS UPSET CANDIDATES If any seed-line has delivered legendary March Madness moments, it’s been the 11s. From George Mason’s epic run to the Final Four in 2006 to VCU’s appearance in the national semifinals in 2011to Sister Jean and Loyola-Chicago’s Cinderella story last year, 11-seeds are your best bet for upset picks. In fact, 11-seeds have pulled off more upsets than any other seed-line, including (surprisingly) nine-seeds.

AVOID OUTLANDISHNESS WHEN PICKING YOUR CHAMP Yes, the best part about March Madness and bracketology are the upset picks. And you’d certainly be remiss to take chalk throughout your bracket. But when you get to the tournament’s final game, pick the better team on paper.

Besides a seventh-seeded Connecticut team in 2014, every champion since 2002 has been a top-three seed. So embrace the madness early in your bracket. But use your head when choosing the last team standing.

culture

TUESDAY, MARCH 19, 2019 •

• 10

NEON RIVALS

Western’s emerging

By Ash Suri

On

a frigid Wednesday evening, Kyle Raposo sits at his desk, back straight, jaw clenched, eyes transfixed to his monitor. His face, illuminated by the harsh glow of his screen, is a portrait of concentration: a quiet visage of monastic stoicism, hard-won through years of failure, victory and practice. A furrowed brow, bated breath and the air of tension that sits ominously in the dimly lit room are all that indicate that this is no ordinary practice; this is no game. Not for Kyle Raposo.

Yet Raposo is not still. With one hand hovering above his keyboard and the other firmly on his mouse, the sound of rapid-fire clicking shatters the room’s sonic void. His eyes dart across the screen, constantly observing and never resting in one place for too long. In Raposo’s world, information is king and speed, its queen. Beyond the chaotic and distorted mural reflected in the lenses of his glasses, his eyes pause, just for a moment, and the realization of victory begins to wash over him: slowly — then all at once.

“He’s over-extended; rush him.

I’m going in,” he says in a cadence more befitting of an auctioneer than a third-year engineering student.

A flash of light, the roar of fire, and the dopamine-inducing cry of “ENEMY SLAIN” confirms his triumph.

What was the slightest of mistakes by his opponent, wandering just a step too far at the promise of greater reward, Raposo turned into a killing blow — all in just under 15 seconds In a League of their own Raposo, long-time captain of the de facto Western University League of Legends collegiate team, takes the game seriously — and he’s not alone. League of Legends is one of the most popular online video games in the world, boasting an estimated player base of 80 million, excluding China (as there is no concrete data available for the country).

Played in teams of five, League pits players against an opposing team with each initially controlling half of the map. To win, players must overrun the enemy team by

destroying powerful fortifications and magical obelisks on their way to the “Nexus,” a monolithic and heavily guarded structure situated at the far end of the enemy’s territory. Over the course of the game, players vie for control by battling their opponents in separated lanes, with each player fulfilling a certain role on the team using one of the game’s hundreds of characters.

League is just one of many massively popular online titles, such as Overwatch, DOTA 2, Starcraft, Counter Strike: Global Offensive and dozens more. And just like in football and basketball, with dedicated positions like quarterback and point guard, players fulfill specific roles on the team, each associated with a different goal or responsibility. In games like League, this can be a core mechanic of the game, where atributes like playable characters excel at speed or strength, making them suited for supporting or attacking other players; in other games like CS: GO, these roles exist in the meta game and are defined best by each player’s individual play style.

The popularity of these games is due in no small part to their highly competitive nature and absurdly popular professional scenes.

Colloquially referred to as eSports, professional competitive gaming has become one of the biggest and most profitable industries of the last decade. Conducted in a “traditional” seasonal format, game publishers hold yearly tournaments all around the globe culminating in audacious world finals. DOTA 2’s 2018 tournament, The International, had a prize pool of almost $35 million with roughly $15 million awarded

to the first-place team.

Becoming a professional eSports player is no small feat; pros are the absolute best of the best in games with literally millions of players. Their skill is a combination of lightning-fast reactions, deep game-knowledge and the ability to adapt to a constantly evolving meta game. Much like how pro football players are the best not just because of their tremendous physical ability, but their knowledge of plays, tactics, and awareness of their opponent’s strengths and weaknesses. eSports players have a highly specialized and intimate knowledge of the games they play.

As with many popular sports, eSports has also inspired a burgeoning collegiate scene around the world with many publishers holding collegiate tournaments with substantial scholarship prizes, and almost a hundred US colleges have established varsity eSports teams across a variety of games. Western’s League of Legends team (although not formally recognized nor supported by the university) performed exceedingly well last June, winning the Eastern Conference finals with a perfect record and competing in the League of Legends College Championship in Los Angeles on the professional stage.

Raposo calls it “the experience of a lifetime.”

“It’s something that, basically since I started running the team in September 2015, I was aiming for” says Raposo. “Being able to make it there and being the best Canadian team in 2018 at the tournament, being one of the top eight in North America, just a group of students

+ SISSI CHEN GAZETTE

run by us with basically no support from outside … was a massive success.”

To secure their spot in the finals, the team had to face some of the best schools in Canada: the University of Waterloo, the University of Toronto, and the University of Ottawa, the latter of which won the 2017 Eastern Conference title. By defeating some of the best teams on the continent, each player received an $11,000 scholarship prize.

While the team is officially under the Western Electronic Gaming Association, the team manages its own practice schedule, administrative activities and finances. Like other varsity athletes at Western, players on the League team practice roughly 12-15 hours a week during the season (mid-January to early-June), not including individual practice time and administrative duties.

“When the season starts, I probably dedicate something like 50, 60 hours a week to the team,” says Raposo. Despite the stereotypical notion that avid video game players tend to shirk their other responsibilities, the Western League team takes their schoolwork and well-being very seriously.

Peter Shi, a third-year medical sciences student and one of the team’s core members, says that despite their drive for success, school is always a priority.

“If someone needs time to prioritize their school[work], they always take that time to do that because school comes first,” explains Shi. “And if we perform a little bit worse in the game, whatever; it’s your second priority and you shouldn’t

put that over your studying or your health.”

A team absent Western’s Overwatch Competitive gaming at Western, however, does not begin and end with the wildly successful League of Legends team. WEGA officially represents both a student Overwatch team and a Counter Strike team in addition to the League team. Belal Howidi, a psychology and pharmacology major in his final year at Western, is a player and internal manager for the Overwatch team and believes that eSports teams at Western could seriously benefit from even the most basic support from the university.

“I think the most important [thing] is official recognition,” says Howidi. “That would really boost [the team’s] self-confidence and make the team a lot more competitive, and I think that would also boost our recognition a lot.”

What’s disconcerting about the situation is not that Western has yet to recognize the teams, but that they appear to deliberately deny the team any sort of public endorsement despite their achievements.

After being crowned League conference champions, London Free Press published an article detailing the team’s achievements and their upcoming trip to L.A. The university, meanwhile, offered no acknowledgements.

While the League team is eager to repeat last year’s achievement and more, they hope that continued success among eSports teams at Western will mean eventual support from the university.

11 •

culture

• TUESDAY, MARCH 19, 2019

eSports dynasty “Last year, by winning the East ern Conference and making it to L.A. we gained a lot of publicity; there was something like 25,000 concurrent viewers on [the final’s] [live] stream,” explains Raposo. “I think the university might take note of that and hopefully open up to the idea of supporting us in one way, shape, or form.”

Due to the games’ online nature, practices are held remotely with players communicating using Voice-Over-IP software like Discord.

Practicing in-person as a team, however, is the standard for the best collegiate teams, who use gaming rooms equipped with 10-12 computers provided by their university.

While the difference between online and in-person practice quality may seem insignificant, Raposo stresses the need for a common gaming room.

“When we were in L.A., we saw the benefits of working in-person with each other,” explains Raposo.

“The quality of our practice and the results that we were getting were a lot higher regardless of the fact that we were sort of out of shape [prior to the championship].”

“Some people don’t have their setups or their computers at Western,” explains Howidi. “They don’t bring them from wherever they live.”

Lack of adequately powerful equipment needed to run the game at full performance, higher input latency as a result of poor internet connection, and broken peripherals such as old keyboards and mice are all factors that can detrimentally affect the performance of competitive gamers. In a competition decided by millisecond reactions and pixel-perfect precision, quality practice space and equipment is essential to top-level play.

The University of British Columbia and the University of Toronto are the most recent additions to the growing list of Canadian schools that openly endorse and are working to support their varsity eSports teams through scholarships, gaming rooms and other financial and academic means — and there’s no wonder why.

The eSports industry is projected to supersede the viewership of all professional sports in North America except for the NFL in two years. Current metrics indicate that the total number of eSports viewers around the world is over 335 million. That kind of publicity, even if the collegiate scene receives only a fraction of the attention, could exponentially increase a university’s exposure worldwide. Almost 51 per cent of North American collegiate League of Legends players are STEM majors; if ever there were an opportunity to increase enrolment through capitalizing on the enormous crossover between prospective STEM majors and video game enthusiasts, it would be through establishing official eSports teams.

St. Clair College, an Ontario school with a school-sponsored eSports program, has fully incorporated the program into the school’s marketing platform and their recruitment booths at university fairs such as the Ontario Universities’ Fair draw massive attention from the high school gaming crowd.

League of Legends is also one of the most popular games in China as publishing tycoon Tencent bought

developer Riot Games for over $530 million in 2011 and oversaw the game’s release there. In fact, roughly 57 per cent of all League of Legends accounts (more than 117 million) are Chinese and the game has a near religious following there. In South Korea, Japan and China, eSports have penetrated mainstream culture much more successfully and rapidly than in the West. With Western’s intense focus on increasing international enrolment, having a prominent eSports program could be a major draw for many students and help bridge the cultural gap between them and the local student population that Western tries to narrow.

Less social students who have a passion for gaming would also be encouraged to involve themselves in the Western community if infrastructure existed around the school’s eSports teams that allowed for televised viewings of major games around campus. With decreasing attendance at varsity games, perhaps Western should try every avenue of increasing school spirit and student involvement — even if it’s in an area that they’re unfamiliar with.

A Counter Strike for the community When it comes to eSports, it’s not a question of if, but when. UBC is currently working on an ongoing scholarship program for their players after the school’s new President Santa Ono took office. The University of Toronto, a notoriously traditional and academically rigorous school, has established an entrance scholarship program without significant achievement from their existing teams. The sheer volume of collegiate eSports viewership and its constant, uninterrupted growth assures that investing in the field now will pay off.

Western prides itself on being a leader in student experience and its heavy, almost unparalleled, support for their immensely successful varsity teams is evidence of that. As such, they should have been one of the first Canadian schools to pounce on such a fiscally and culturally lucrative option.

As stated in the 2018/19 Operating and Capital Budgets, Western has allocated just under $1 million for sports and recreation expenditures for the year. Yearly expenditures on things such as jerseys (which players currently design and purchase by themselves) and a one-time investment in an on-campus gaming room (estimated at $4,000 to $20,000 using figures from similar facilities opened in US college libraries) would be nominal fees in the grand scheme of Western’s collegiate eSports program — a program that does not exist, yet is already more accomplished than many schools with one.

It’s easy to jump to long-held, culturally ingrained opinions of intolerant disapproval when it comes to video games. What many fail to consider, simply out of ignorance or otherwise, is that there is a massive and passionate audience surrounding these games. Competitive video gaming has become something much more accessible and certainly more seductive than the reclusive, sweaty, basement-dweller images of yore.

“A lot of the times, outsiders look in and they say, ‘Oh, it’s just a group of guys playing a game together,’ ” explains Raposo. “But there’s a lot of structure and whatnot that goes

into it that we have to deal with as a team because we don’t have any [university] support.”

There’s a reason that Riot Games sold out the Staples Center for its 2016 World Finals and that tickets for each subsequent final have regularly sold out in seconds: there is a tremendous fan demand for the competition that League and other games provide.

If you’re uncomfortable with the term “eSports,” as it seemingly equates video gaming to the significant physical demands of traditional sports, your feelings are not misplaced. In truth, the term eSports is more of a universal corporate branding to describe competitive video gaming in a manner that’s accessible to a wider audience. eSports is similar to traditional sports in its flair for the dramatic, storied rivalries between teams, and rabid fan-bases; hence the name.

But can eSports really be considered a sport? If we refer to the traditional definition, no — but that’s OK. The success and following eSports has garnered with its own unique blend of a variety of competitive elements has absolved it from any requirement to fulfill the standards of some narrow-minded, quasi-legitimizing definition. eSports is a competition with just as much, if not more, repute than many popular sporting events. Its arbitrary cultural inclusion or feverish exclusion at the hands of gaming mega-corporations and the ever-obstinate traditional sports media does not discount the positive attributes of eSports or traditional sports.

The argument is akin to the notorious and famously inconclusive “is chess a sport?” debate.

Competitive gamers are indeed not required to trudge through muddy fields in heavy downpour while a coach screams at them to run faster, jump higher or throw farther.

With that kind of constant physical exertion comes a unique mental fortitude — and that’s when the line between eSports and traditional sports begins to blur. The mental game and rapid independent decision-making that defines eSports is at a level far beyond traditional sports, and perhaps that’s why they are, and should be, separate fields.

But this debate is inane, and as long as it continues to stand in the way of collegiate eSports players achieving success, it grows ever more pernicious. Whether or not eSports is a sport, there is a massive and rapidly growing audience behind dozens of games that will continue to care about the competitive scene of each one. If publishers are willing

to reward students for their efforts with enormous scholarships to help further their education while still providing an outlet for competition and encouraging the development of universally applicable skills such as communication, team work and leadership, why should the university not directly support that?

“We’re open to working with [the university] in any capacity and being officially recognized as a team because it’s disheartening, at the end of the day, to know that after all this work … we’re just a League of Legends team at Western and not Western’s League of Legends team,” says Raposo.

The collegiate eSports conversation is not about the mainstream opinion regarding eSports. It’s about whether or not the university believes that hard-working students who are exceeding in a highly competitive landscape deserve even a shred of recognition.

I say they do, and 335 million people agree.

STUDENTS ON THE MOVE WE’VE GOT JUST THE VEHICLE FOR YOU

78 Firestone Blvd.

519.455.8296

1225 Hyde Park Rd.

519.473.0064

100% Canadian Owned & Operated • bennetttruckrentals.com A MEMBER OF THE BENNETT AUTOMOTIVE GROUP • SERVING LONDON & AREA FOR OVER 60 YEARS

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

HIRING

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

GREAT PAY

FOR GYMNASTICS COACHES 519.474.4960 • info@gymworld.ca

EVENTS LA NOCHE HERÉTICA A fun and free event to showcase Latin Culture and the talents of the students of the Spanish Department.

• dancing • trivia • free refreshments • free food • singing Friday, March 29 5:30 - 8pm Conron Hall (University College 224)!

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

PRICES STARTING AT $5 SQ/Ft.

community

12 • TUESDAY, MARCH 19, 2019

photo of the day

gazette crossword

CLUES ACROSS 1. Green and yellow citrus fruit 5. Type of clock 10. Die 14. A hammer needs one 15. Leopard (Hebrew) 16. In the Hebrew calendar 17. Away from wind 18. Type of footwear 19. Malaysian coastal city 20. Arm bones 22. A type of diligence 23. Banquets 24. Home of The Beatles 27. Electromotive force 30. Small amount 31. Type of cola 32. Adult female 35. Astronomy unit 37. Hall of Fame 38. Type of gazelle 39. Places 40. Women from the Mayflower 41. Liquid served with food 42. Predatory semiaquatic reptile (abbr.)

43. Angle (abbr.)

44. Touched lightly 45. Cannister 46. Crony 47. Tell on 48. Body of water 49. Sorts out 52. Mammary gland of female cattle 55. Collegiate athletic conference 56. Sword 60. Protein-rich liquids 61. Emaciation 63. Italian seaport 64. Agreement 65. Chinese ethnic group 66. University of Miami’s mascot 67. People who buy and sell securities 68. Genus of mosquitos 69. Holds up your head

MICHAEL CONLEY GAZETTE One of the Festival of the Arts’ Attraction Room backdrops in the UCC atrium, March 18, 2019.

word search

shopping day word search advertisement aisle bags browsing budget cart cash clothing comparison

coupons credit card deals discount electronics employee exchange experience fitting groceries mall membership

•

CLUES DOWN 1. Two-toed sloth 2. Impudent behavior 3. The right to take another’s property 4. Refers to end of small intestine 5. Mandela’s party 6. Inserted strips of fat before cooking 7. Secret love affair 8. Responds to stimulation 9. Wife 10. Desert mammal 11. A nearly horizontal passage from the surface into a mine 12. Uncommon 13. __ Kristofferson, actor 21. Where buildings are built 23. Chain attached to a watch 25. Holiday (informal) 26. Clod 27. Synchronizes solar and lunar time 28. Australian eucalyptus tree 29. Aerosol propellant 32. Coats with a sticky substance 33. Master of ceremonies 34. The venerable __, British theologian 36. A baglike structure in a plant or animal 37. Witch 38. Strike with a light blow 40. The First State 41. Satisfies 43. A way to fish 44. Magnetic tape used to make recordings 46. For each 47. Flower cluster 49. Closes off 50. One who supports fanatically 51. Type of vaccine 52. Approves food 53. Hoofed grazing animal 54. Drearily dull 57. Youngster 58. __ Clapton, musician 59. Take a chance 61. Yearly tonnage (abbr.)

62. Female sibling

For crossword solution, see page 4

More than just

THE BEST WESTERN CLOTHING merchandise packages parking

price purchases queue

retail return sale

tools transaction

shipping stock store

Visit us in UCC main level (atrium)

MOVE OUT CLEANS STUDENT SPECIAL

519.670.9788

on campus Greyhound Tickets • LTC Tickets Locker Rental • Event Tickets

✔ Competitive rates and student discounts ✔ Free in-home consultations ✔ No contracts or hidden fees ✔ Green Certified Cleaning Solutions used ✔ Supervised, dependable & professional staff ✔ All supplies & equipment provided

CHORES A BORE? CA L L

Ramona’s Cleaning Services

www.ramonas.cleaning