Friday, January 25, 2013 by Western Gazette

Kaitlyn McGrath Associate Editor Alexander Martin has insisted to his grandparents, despite their kind offerings, that he doesn’t need a cat. “Don’t you want company?” they ask. “No, not really,” he replies. Their kind feline offering arises from their concerns that their grandson may be lonely, because this year, rather than search for a new roommate after finding out his former one would be moving away to pursue an internship, Martin opted to live alone. He explains he thought it would be easier than searching for new housemates, plus he’s always wanted to try it. Now, with his newfound freedom, he has a full fridge to himself, complete jurisdiction of cupboard space and can even lick his plate without having to be subjected to judgemental stares. He loves it. Yet there is a downside. “You do have to be the one that takes out the garbage every time,” he says. However, especially among undergraduates, living alone is not the common choice, and the fate still carries the perception that living alone equals being lonely. Although, truthfully, Martin had a difficult time coming up with a downside to living the solo life, explaining he initially feared he would be lonely. However, nearly five months into his singleton tenure, he’s yet to experience that. Danielle Tassone, a former Fanshawe student who lived by herself in an apartment all through post-secondary, agrees she rarely wished she lived with company, aside from the first time she spotted a spider. “I wish I had a roommate to help me,” she jokes. “I got over that fear fast.” Martin and Tassone are among a growing segment of the population choosing to live alone. According to the 2011 Canadian census, between 2001 and 2011, the proportion of one-person households increased from 25.7 per cent to 27.6 per cent. Even more interesting is that, for the first time ever, there were more one-occupant households than couple households with children. Rod Beaujot, a professor emeritus in sociology at Western and demographer, explains this trend has been consistently rising for decades and expects it to continue among young people. “As people invest more and more in their education, and as they struggle to get established, people are delaying their entry into unions, especially into marriage,” he says. “So there’s more time during in which they might well live alone.” But while the charming allure of full control of a space may be tempting, the cost of living alone is substantially more than sharing a home, making it a less viable choice for many. “If you live with other people, you’re probably going to pay less money, and if you live on your

own, you’re going to pay a higher amount,” Glenn Matthews, housing mediation officer for Western, says. According to the off-campus housing listings, the average rent for an inclusive one-bedroom apartment in London is $655—however, if you limit the search to areas around campus that number jumps to $783. Compare that to renting a room in a four-bedroom, which would average around $496, and it’s a difference of $287 per month. Living alone may be easy, but it certainly isn’t cheap. However, both Martin and Tassone insist that, for them, avoiding the headache of potential spats with roommates outweighed the steep cost it entails. “I always find when I’m living with somebody, even if they’re my good friend, there always ends up being friction by the end of it,” Martin admits. “It’s just easier this way to maintain close relationships.” Though before a student decides whether they’re best suited for a life with roommates or without, Tom Murphy, a professor of sociology at Western, explains he or she must think deeply about whether living alone is the right choice. “If you’re going to live alone, then you need to have actually a reasonable, healthy state of mind,” he says, adding it’s important to schedule in time when you will be social. “The other group of people on the flip side of this are people who may already have pre-existing conditions, for example a tendency toward depression, a tendency toward feeling the need to get away from it all. [Living alone] is probably not a good idea [for this group].” Murphy adds it’s not a question of whether it’s a good choice or bad, it simply depends on the individual. Martin agrees the lifestyle isn’t for everyone, and explains he prioritizes preserving an active social life, spending a large chunk of his time interacting with people on campus. In a way, his life is the best of both worlds. “I’m not even alone that often, it’s just that when I want to be, there’s a space where I can be and I don’t have to worry about my roommate in the next room blaring music.” And that need for privacy, a contributing factor to why students opt to live alone, may increase with age. According to a 2006 survey administered by Western housing services, 52 per cent of students live with four or more roommates during their second year, while that number falls to 34 per cent by fourth year. Matthews explains survey results have consistently shown a decrease in roommates the further a student is in their education. As far as Martin is concerned, although it may not be the popular choice, he is happy he chose to live alone this year. Roommates or cats need not inquire.

Naira Ahmed Gazette

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thegazette • Friday, January 25, 2013

Caught on Camera

Andrei Calinescu GAZETTE

RECORD HIGH. Western and United Way revealed their 2012 campaign total in the Mustang Lounge Wednesday. The school raised a whopping $746,101, beating its own record.

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News Brief

Crossword By Eugene Sheffer

Global youth unemployment on the rise The United Nations’ International Labour Organization recently released an annual report stating the global youth unemployment rate has climbed to 12.6 per cent, with 74 million global youth out of work. That number is set to increase in 2013 by at least half a million. According to Statistics Canada, youth unemployment in the country has sat at 14.7 per cent for two years. Katrina McIntosh, resource coordinator at Western’s Student Success Centre, elaborated, saying “the millennial generation has become increasingly interested in the specifics of what they want, but there is a disconnect between what they’re interested in and real life skills.” The study found a third of the recorded 15- to 24-year-olds have been unemployed for more than a year and are becoming increasingly discouraged with the mismatch of their gained skills with job requirements. Long dry spells outside of the labour market early on in youths’ careers correlated to career pains when searching for future long-term prospects. The report suggested governments must alleviate labour market mismatches in skills by stepping up efforts in supporting emerging market skills anf retraining youth with targeted programs. McIntosh was adamant unemployment numbers provided by the ILO and Statistics Canada should be taken with a grain of salt and argued a lack of awareness of on-campus student programs is a huge problem. “It’s important that students look for those opportunities on campus, which partner with different initiatives, companies and the city,” McIntosh said. “The services are mostly free, but unfortunately no one knows about them.” —Jeremiah Rodriguez

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thegazette • Friday, January 25, 2013

A smoke-free province CSA to focus efforts on mental health Jacqueline Ting Gazette Staff

Carol Cao Gazette

Iain Boekhoff Gazette Staff The Ontario provincial government is launching new innovative smoking cessation initiatives across the province to help more people quit smoking. Forty-one community health centres across the province will now provide over-the-counter nicotine cessation aids and counselling, at no cost to smokers. The province will also be partnering with select workplaces to reduce smoking among workers in the industrial and service sectors. Deb Matthews, MPP for London North Centre and Ontario minister of Health and Long-Term Care, announced the initiatives Wednesday in recognition of National Non-Smoking Day at Regent Park Community Health Centre. “Smoking rates in Ontario have been steadily dropping over the years and I know that we can keep building on our progress and supporting each other to become smoke-free,” Matthews said in a statement released Tuesday. At hospitals, patients will receive both brief and intensive counselling, and there will be improved care for patients with chronic conditions such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cardiovascular disease, lung cancer and diabetes. Workplace initiatives include

training peer educators to deliver brief counselling interventions, distributing smoking cessation aids to individuals and counselling through telephone services. Smoking cessation aids can also now be prescribed by pharmacists. Furthermore, free nicotine replacement therapy is offered at 122 family health teams across the province. “Our government is committed to protecting the health of our residents by providing them with the help they need to quit,” Matthews said. The province will spend $810,000 on the quit smoking campaign at the selected workplaces, as well as a further $2 million that will go to helping patients at hospitals quit smoking. These initiatives are part of the government’s goal of having the lowest smoking rate in Canada. “The hospital cessation project has the potential to reach 20,000 smokers in the hospital setting over two years,” David Jensen, media relations coordinator for the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, said. Smoking is the number one cause of death and disease in Ontario, killing 13,000 Ontarians each year, which is equivalent to 36 lives every day. Students who wish to stop smoking are encouraged to contact Leave The Pack Behind, a student-run team that provides peer-to-peer personalized support.

The College Student Alliance hopes to make mental health in post-secondary schools a trending topic. On Monday, the advocacy organization consisting of 16 colleges and 23 student associations launched the #Blue2013 campaign, opening the discussion among students about mental health issues. Throughout the day, the CSA Twitter account periodically tweeted selected messages from anonymous senders, using the hashtag ‘#Blue2013.’ According to Tyler Epp, director of advocacy for the CSA, the goal for the campaign was to break down the stigma surrounding mental health and allow students to feel more comfortable in sharing their experiences. The campaign was prompted by the alliance’s policy paper “Mental

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Health in Ontario’s Post-Secondary Education System,” which was released last May. Included in the policy paper was a list of several recommendations for the further development and expansion of these services. Since its release, the policy paper has prompted the provincial government to create the Mental Health Innovation Fund—a $7 million pledge toward the creation of new programs within post-secondary schools for mental health initiatives. “It has never been the mandate of post-secondary institutions to be the service provider of mental health, it has always been the general practitioners and community agencies,” Epp said. “Our goal is to bring the services together, bring the community organizations into the universities and colleges in order to make their services more accessible to students.” Donna Dennis, a health sciences

professor at Western, said the discourse on mental health and new policies becomes complex and stunted because it is unclear of whose responsibility the implementation of mental health services is in education. “Who is providing [mental health services], especially when it happens in an education context? Is it the education facility’s responsibility, or is it a health responsibility?” Dennis asked. “I think that’s a part of the difficulty of why it’s so complicated to easily fix and improve.” According to Dennis, the government should be focusing more attention on mental health services in schools. “I think it’s a growing focus that the government needs to be aware on how limited our services are, and how much more we need in this area,” Dennis said. “It is an area where there is a lot of lack and a lot of need.”

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thegazette • Friday, January 25, 2013

Arts&Life

funfact The coldest temperature ever recorded in the world was -128 degrees Celsius, in Vostok Station in Antarctica in 1983.

Western musician goes viral in Israel Kaitlyn McGrath Associate Editor Local musician and fourth-year Western student, Gareth Bush has been recording and posting covers on YouTube for a few years now. But Bush doesn’t simply cover a song—he reinvents it. “What I love to do is take a song that sounds like something and completely change it,” he explains. “That will catch people’s attention.” With only the use of his guitar and his own beatboxing abilities, he recorded his own version of will. i. am and Britney Spears’ hit “Scream & Shout.” Bush hoped viewers would notice his fresh take on the track— or at the very least ask, “How the hell could anybody turn that into an acoustic song?” After a few days of being on YouTube, Bush noticed a spike in views. Next, he began receiving several comments from people living in Israel claiming they’d heard his song in a soccer commercial. Confused, Bush immediately asked those

commenting to send a recording of the advertisement to verify it was, in fact, his voice. Thanks to some Israeli viewers who recorded it on their cellphones, Bush was sent the video and was able to confirm Sport One, a sports network in Israel, mashed his acoustic version with the original for a soccer ad. And while his initial reaction was “awesome,” Bush immediately contacted the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada to inquire about the legality of a station using his song without his consent. However, according to Bush, because he did not have permission from Spears or will.i.am to record the song, he was in the wrong and the network had the right to use his version. But even without royalties, Bush maintains it’s one of the coolest things to happen in his music career. Bush’s cover has also been making waves here in North America as well. Just last Saturday, Bush received a comment on his Facebook fanpage from Z100, a radio station in New

Courtesy of Corey Stanford

York, awarding him “Web Celeb of the Week” for his cover. Again, caught by surprise from the unlikely response, Bush investigated and realized with this radio station’s endorsement, his song had been exposed to thousands of new fans. “This must be some sort of satellite station that has a ton of affiliates because it’s this one major New York radio station and they said they’re played it across the country,” Bush

explains. As of press time, Bush’s video has received 22,684 views. And this online buzz could not come at a better time for the budding musician who is set to release his first CD this Tuesday. The album, titled This is For Keeps has been a project the criminology student has been working on for years, admitting one of the songs was even penned when he was only 16 years old.

Having nursed this project for years, Bush admits he’s excited to finally release it out to the public. “I’m hiring a manager right now and I send her the EP Sunday night,” he explains. “And I was shaking in my chair because after two years someone finally heard it.” Bush’s debut album will be available to download on sites such as iTunes, amazon.ca and Bandcamp on January 29.

Level Grounds very dynamic Comedy at the end of the universe Aleks Dalek Contributor

Courtesy of Kelly Wallace

Jenna Monteith Contributor An artist working with colour inherently faces the challenge of representation through a medium that is truly subjective. This can be a good thing, but if the artist means to convey a particular message or emotion, it risks being misinterpreted. London artist Kelly Wallace avoids this challenge altogether. In his exhibit Level Grounds, Wallace constructs drawings in lead, a clean and accessible approach for viewers. A selection of grey allows the viewer more opportunity to dive into the detail and explore a rare perspective of scenes of wreckage and natural settings composed strictly from memory and imagination. But black and white doesn’t necessarily make the image conceptually easier to pounce on. Wallace’s works are involving and somewhat riddling. In “Spira, Mira, Bella,” “Level Grounds 3” and “Smithereens,” the level ground is dismissed. The point of view from which the image is constructed is indeterminate. A close-up analysis reveals that each drawing is done in a selected

and complex layering of vertical lines. “I speed up and slow down the viewer through the spacing of vertical lines and how far apart or how close together I space them,” Wallace explains. “Closer together you see representation—further apart you see atmosphere.” But why drawing? Why choose a less recognized and arguably less commercially viable art form? “Drawing is a language,” Wallace states. “As much as my entire generation was embracing video and multimedia installation, I thought, ‘I need to ground this whole process, so I’m going to go back to the simplest materials—that was 15 years ago’.” The materials may be simple, but the process is incredibly complex and meticulous. Wallace builds each work from the ground up. “My panels and my surfaces are a rarity. There are 20 to 50 hours [of labour] in making each surface before I draw on it,” Wallace explains. Wallace works on paper on wood, finished with Gesso, a binding formula that strengthens the surface. The result is a solid and smooth surface, comparable to

marble. More intriguingly, Wallace approaches each template with solely vintage lead. “There’s 300-plus kilometres of vintage lead in the largest drawings,” he says. “Modern art supplies are not time tested, I’ve got to have a certain amount of stability, archival integrity.” Some of his lead dates as far back as the 1930s. In, “Light Mass,” “Silver Lining” and “River No. 5,” you imagine Wallace drawing somewhere scenic, or sketching from a photograph taken on vacation. But Wallace imagines his settings. They’re places in his mind, which may just blow the viewer’s mind. He takes particular interest in water. “The rivers are suspensions between surface and structure,” he explains. Wallace’s disciplined practice has lead to drawings that present some serious competition for the more common fine arts—painting and sculpture. “When my drawings are fully realized, they are objects as much as a painting or sculpture,” he says. Kelly Wallace’s exhibit, Level Grounds, will run at Michael Gibson Gallery until February 2.

This Saturday, London-born comedian Jeff Leeson will be headlining Post-Apocalyptic Comedy put on by Doctor Feelfunny’s Comedy Cavern. Joining him will be David Heti with his first ever London show. The duo will be accompanied by several smaller acts, including a few performers right here from London. Leeson, born and raised in London and currently residing in Toronto, will be performing with a more improv, ad-lib-type style. The typical stand-up comedy routine includes a setup, a joke, a punchline—and all involving a prepared set and routine. “I kind of let the audience dictate the pace of the show. Lots of crowd work, lots of interaction,” Leeson says. Inspired as a child, Leeson became hooked on stand-up comedy after being voted valedictorian for his grade eight graduating class. “I did the speech, threw in some comedy and I ended up getting a standing ovation, and really was hooked from there,” Leeson says. “I loved the feeling and the rush of being on stage, and the feeling of making people laugh, and pursued it from then on.” Lesson has quite a bit of experience performing for crowds of Western students. His first shows were here in London, at his mother’s workplace. “[She worked] at CNIB, the Canadian National Institute for the Blind,” he says. “They have a nice auditorium so I threw my own shows.” After some initial successes, Leeson recalls touring around Ontario, performing in bars, clubs, universities, at corporate

events—really anywhere he could go where he could simply do what he loved. While Leeson’s comedy routines are described as more unexpected and ad lib, compared to the likes of David Letterman and Mike Bullard, Heti, the comedian accompanying Leeson on the main stage, carries himself and his shows much differently. Described as a darker Woody Allen, Heti prides himself on his uniqueness. “I guess the comedic interpretation of life always spoke to me. I would see comics, and I would think that I could do that better than they could,” Heti says. Heti has performed in many countries spanning several continents. The only London he’s ever performed in, however, has been in England, so this is a first-time for him. But while he may not have ever performed for a London audience, Heti has experienced college and university audiences in the past. He says he’s expecting a young, active crowd. “I have friends who went to Western,” Heti recalls. “They told me it was a pretty fun place to go to school, so I expect there to be a little bit more of a ruckus than usual.” Comparing himself to Maria Bamford, although citing Rodney Dangerfield as his first true inspiration in comedy, Heti has a darker, more intelligently written style than that of typical mainstream comedians. His performance this Saturday may be one of his last shows in Canada. Along with Leeson and several others, prepare to experience the first major comedy event since “the apocalypse.” Post-Apocalyptic Comedy with Jeff Lesson will be happening this Saturday, January 26 at 9:30 p.m. at The Wits End Pub & Grill. Tickets are $10 or $12 at the door.

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thegazette • Friday, January 25, 2013

Historical drama on the Hudson worth hiding from Aleks Dalek Contributor GGHFF Hyde Park on Hudson Director: Roger Michell Starring: Bill Murray, Laura Linney, Samuel West, Olivia Colman, Elizabeth Marvel Hyde Park on Hudson is a British biographical comedic drama directed by Roger Michell. The film, set in June 1939, is based on the alleged love affair between Franklin D. Roosevelt (Bill Murray) and his distant cousin, Daisy Suckley (Laura Linney). The script, written by Richard Nelson, is based on diaries and letters found in a suitcase under Daisy’s bed following her death in 1991.

In Hyde Park on Hudson, King George VI (Samuel West) and Queen Elizabeth (Olivia Colman) visit FDR’s home as Britain prepares for war against Germany. In their visit, the royal couple hopes to convince FDR to provide American support to Britain, while FDR hopes he can use the king and queen’s visit to rally Americans behind the British. While a seemingly political and historical plot, this is precisely where Hyde Park on Hudson suffers most. The primary plot concerns the affair between FDR—at this point, paralyzed waist-down from polio— and Daisy. This plagues the film with its greatest downfall—its inability to balance a light, sexual comedy with a serious, biographical and historically accurate drama. The focus on the affair over the political matters depicts a historically incorrect

setting and characters. The film portrays FDR as a very sexually involved individual, who spends a majority of his time admiring his stamp collection and trying to advance his sex life. However, there are positives to the film—its light, comedic tone makes it a not-so-serious movie one can relax to on a uneventful Sunday night. Murray, while likely not portraying the most historically accurate Roosevelt, has an incredible performance and easily convinces any viewer of his internal and external struggles dealing with polio. This may actually be the pinnacle of the film’s performances. While not an awful movie, there is little overall praise to award Hyde Park on Hudson. Its two central plot lines—one historically accurate, the other’s legitimacy debated by

file photo

historians—don’t exactly click well with each other. While they don’t necessarily contrast each other, relative to each other, they are irrelevant. Greater complications arise when the plot focuses on the affair, neglecting the politics. FDR is

incorrectly portrayed as a politically ignorant or apathetic person, and surely not a man who once dominated American politics. Hyde Park on Hudson is currently playing at Hyland Cinema, located at 240 Wharncliffe Road South.

Not a play for chickens Preparing to bring Killer Joe to the stage

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Mary Ann Ciosk Gazette Staff “This is theatre that punches you in the stomach,” Kevin Milne, playing Killer Joe in the play of the same name, comments. “It gets your adrenaline going.” Killer Joe is a 1993 play by Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy Letts dealing with the questions of how much you’d give up for money, and the horrifying consequences of a plan gone awry. Chris and his father, Ansel, hatch a scheme to hire a hit man, Killer Joe, in order to get the life insurance money from Chris’ mom, Ansel’s ex-wife. Unfortunately, they don’t have the immediate funds for a retainer so Dottie, Chris’ sister, is sacrificed to Killer Joe in place of money. Richmond and Tower Productions is putting on their theatrical rendition at The ARTS Project. The entirety of the play is set inside a grungy trailer park in Dallas, Texas, adding to the audience’s feeling of intimacy with the characters and action. “You’re in the trailer with us,” Milne says. “[Our director] Ryan Cole is trying to reduce the idea that you’re watching a play, we want the audience to be a fly on the wall, watching this mayhem happen.” Although Killer Joe is best known for its film adaptation starring Matthew McConaughey, Cole advocated for the power of theatre over movies. “I’m trying to get university-aged students to come see the show so

my competition is their iPod. What can I give them that they can’t get from their iPod? I will do crazy stuff to people four feet from the front row,” Cole promises. There are several haunting scenes in Killer Joe that are not for the faint of heart. The extent of the gore and explicit sexual violence are more difficult to show on stage versus on film, but Cole argues a theatrical production is more disturbing. “When you watch it on the screen, you’re separated from that world, but when you watch it on stage, you’re part of it, you’re complicit in the act,” he notes. Despite the intensity of the subject matter, audience members may have mixed feelings during the production. “People should leave feeling a little guilty that they’ve been a witness to this crime. At the same time, it’s hilarious—you sit back and think, am I really laughing at this? That’s terrible!” Cole says. Continuing with its theme of ambiguity, it is difficult to pinpoint which characters are good at heart and merely misguided, and which are truly malevolent. Beyond the density and horror of the content, Killer Joe will be an impressive spectacle as well. “We’ve thrown everything that we’ve got into this, it’s going to be our biggest set—we’re building the inside of a trailer at The ARTS Project, found appliances and junk and I’ve got one of my art designers working on a six-foot cactus,” Cole says. The cast has been working

equally hard to perfect their accents, Texan characteristics and fight choreography. “[The accents are] exhausting. There are so many dialects within the same region and it’s difficult to hear whether you’re doing it right,” Kalina Hada-Lemon, playing Dottie, comments. “It made it so much dirtier. Once we started using the accents it made it so much more disgusting for some reason.” An additional difficulty of translating the gory play to the stage is how to incorporate blood. However, Cole came up with an innovative solution by replicating a technique used by none other than Quentin Tarantino. “It’s really challenging to hide where the blood comes from,” Cole notes. “When he was shooting Kill Bill, he refused to use any technology for the blood so they ended up putting fake blood in Chinese condoms and popping them.” Despite, or perhaps due to, the intensity of the subject matter, it is a unique production that is not to be missed. “I put my audience through a lot, but people talk about it afterwards, which is something you don’t get from a lot of theatre, especially student theatre,” Cole concludes. “They do the easy stuff—cookiecutter musicals. I want my audience to go to bed thinking of Killer Joe.” Killer Joe will run at The ARTS Project from January 31 until February 9. Tickets are $20. For showtimes visit artsproject.ca.

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thegazette • Friday, January 25, 2013

Opinions

The freedom of the press is one of the great bulwarks of liberty, and can never be restrained but by a despotic government.

—Thomas Jefferson, third American president

Slates offer Golden girls need exciting twist not be segregated to elections It’s the most wonderful time of the year, everyone. Campaign season is almost upon us. Starting Monday, the familiar rat race of rave cards, bag tags, voting booths and passive aggressive Facebook posts will once again ring through the halls of our beloved campus. And while we at The Gazette all love the two-and-a-half week circus, we’re also hopeful the recent change to a slate-based elections system will translate into positive changes for candidates’ campaigns as well. To start, candidates need to continue the University Students’ Council executive’s current push to educate students-at-large about the new structure. While the presidential slates are simple enough, not everyone, regrettably, reads The Gazette, or walks through the University Community Centre atrium on a regular basis—the candidates and the current executive need to work together to provide alternative methods of education to students who exist outside the student government bubble. A big plus about the slate lies in the fact that students can now pose questions directly to the vice-presidents who do quite a bit of the actual dirty work during a president’s term in office. That is, of course, so long as candidates don’t play hot potato with their team members when confronted with a question they don’t particularly want to answer. This year’s batch of candidates should also make sure to address the logistics of next year’s Orientation Week. With Ontario Hall opening its doors and bringing with it 500 extra incoming frosh, whoever takes the helm of the USC better have a good plan to accommodate them. Another thing we’d like to see is for candidates to acknowledge their inability to accomplish major platform points within their one-year term. If candidates are going to make a big promise, they can’t fully realize while they are in office, they should let students know exactly what that platform point amounts to—a promise to lay ground work, and then hope next year’s president follows through. It will be interesting to see how the three-candidate slate plays out for voters. Will a charismatic president make up for any running mate deficiencies, and viceversa? Or will a bad vice-presidential pick send us back to 2008 and the days of Sarah Palin? Only time—and the votes—will tell.

Smoth soundin’ off Cam Smith News Editor In just under a month, friends and families alike will gather around a flickering alter to pray to the cinematic gods our culture so fervently worships. Yes, the 85th Academy Awards are quickly approaching, and with them, the powerful regressive and archaic ideology they propagate. In almost every area of our society, gender segregation in frowned upon and avidly opposed. Not at the Oscars—it’s mandated. The distinction between ‘Best Actor’ and ‘Best Actress’ is one of the most superfluous and absurd gender binaries ever created. In athletics, men and women are separated for biological reasons. With additional fast-twitch muscle fibres and body mass, it makes sense that male athletes tend to achieve different results than women in sports. While even this gender distinction remains problematic, at least there is some justification. Let it be known that there is no such thing as a fast-twitch acting fibre. Women, men and individuals who do not identify as either gender should be eligible to win an Oscar for best acting ability, regardless of their genitalia or social assignation. By creating this binary, especially in a field where there is no quantifiable measure of talent, the Academy is enforcing negative, regressive ideology and televising it to an audience numbering in the millions. This leads me to wonder, why is there

only gender separation for acting and not the myriad of other fields? Why isn’t there an award for ‘Best Female Director’ or ‘Best Male Sound-Mixer?’ The reason for this appears to be a systematic exclusion of women from recognition in film. Though the Oscars have been awarded since 1929, no woman was even nominated for Best Director until 1976, and no woman won until 2009. In fact, in the 85 years the Academy Awards have existed, only four women have even been nominated for this award. Thus, it appears to me that the gender distinction exists in the acting Oscars because this was the only part in film women have traditionally been afforded recognition, whereas the other categories had a presupposition that the awardee would so certainly be male that making a separate category for females was unnecessary. One might argue this is because there are more men than women in the film industry, and this is reflected at the Awards. However, it is because of cultural impositions and expectations that fewer women pursue cinematic careers, and receive less recognition. To change this, cultural juggernauts like the Oscars need to instigate the revolution. It’s high time for this archaic and negative tradition to stop. Acting is a human talent—not one distinguished by gender. The Academy Awards possess enormous social impact and should be at the vanguard of progress, not clinging to antiquated habits. It is paramount the Academy overhauls its system and stops the propagation of gender binaries and the negative ideologies that accompany them. Removing the separate categories for best actors is one important step. Yet, many more will need to be taken before the Academy Awards can truly be taken seriously as a progressive institution.

weeklypoll

—The Gazette Editorial Board

How did the NHL lockout change your hockey viewing habits? It didn’t affect my viewing habits. 51%

Volume 106, Issue 63 www.westerngazette.ca

Gloria Dickie Editor-In-Chief Nicole Gibillini Deputy Editor Cam Parkes Managing Editor

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Dear Life, Smokers should not be permitted to smoke while walking. That way no one can get stuck walking behind one. Dear Life, It’s been a while—bumwiping technology is due for an advance. Dear Life, Why do so many people hate feet? Dear Life, I want to apply for a job but I’m afraid to click ‘Forgot my password’ on the company’s website because I don’t want them to think I’m irresponsible. Dear Life, Western has a post office? Dear Life, Why can I sleep without pants, but I can’t sleep if I’m wearing a shirt? Dear Life, Have you ever seen a pizza delivery girl? Dear Life, I just heard that after Movember, people are now growing beards for Manuary. What’s next? March-chops? Junibrow?

It made me more excited to watch! 19%

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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.” 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.

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Gazette Staff 2012-2013

Iain Boekhoff, Danielle Bozinoff, Mary Ann Ciosk, David Czosniak, Megan Devlin, Jonathan Dunn, Chelsea Gauthier, Ross Hamilton, Amanda Law, Logan Ly, Sarah Mai Chitty, Sarah Manning, Bradley Metlin, Kaitlyn Oh, John Petrella, Sarah Prince, Chen Rao, Herb Richardson, Nathan Robbins-Kanter, Lily Robinson, Katie Roseman, Nathan TeBokkel, Jacqueline Ting, Kate Wilkinson, Zoe Woods, Kartikeya Vishal, Usman Zahid, Mason Zimmer

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thegazette • Friday, January 25, 2013

Sports

gameday The men’s hockey team will host the UOIT Ridgebacks tonight at 7 p.m. With a win tonight, the Mustangs will improve to a 19–4 record. On Saturday, the women’s hockey team will host the Ryerson Rams.

Rundown >> The men’s basketball team travelled to St. Catharines yesterday to duel with the Brock Badgers > This game was a back-and-forth affair—with neither team keeping the lead for more than a quarter at a time > In the end though, the Badgers were too much to handle—winning by a score of 83–78.

Mustangs face tough competition this weekend Kreuter’s return great help for Western in double-header Jason Sinukoff Sports Editor After splitting their double-header against the Queen’s Gaels and Royal Military College Paladins last weekend, the road to the playoffs only gets harder for the Mustangs women’s volleyball team this weekend, when they battle the York Lions and McMaster Marauders for Ontario University Athletics supremacy this weekend. First off for the ‘Stangs will be the 6–7 Marauders this evening, a team that the purple and white have already faced off against this season. “We played Mac at their tournament. We won that in five,” Dave Edwards, head coach for the Mustangs, said. “It seems the last three or four games against Mac, we’ve gone to five. We’re always very competitive.” And this game should be no different. Anchored by Kierstyn Bakker, the Marauders boast a similar offensive system to the purple and white and will be sure to keep pace with the surging Mustangs. “For [McMaster], I think we’re evenly balanced, I think both teams were relying on our setters, we have very dominant middles, I believe,” Edwards said. The second game of the

double-header will take place tomorrow, when the Mustangs head to Toronto to take on the second-seeded York Lions. The Lions are one of the few teams in the OUA the Mustangs have not yet competed against and will bring their near-spotless record to the volleyball court.

York plays very well at home, but we’re comfortable on the road. Our record this year has been positive on the road and hopefully that will continue. —Dave Edwards

Mustangs head coach

“York is playing very well, they’re one [of the best] in the province right now,” Edwards said. “[They are] very well coached. They play a very similar offence that we do.” Adding to the difficulty of this match is the fact the Lions will be playing on their home court. However, Coach Edwards doesn’t think that should be too much of a factor.

“York plays very well at home, but we’re comfortable on the road,” he said. “Our record this year has been positive on the road and hopefully that will continue.” A very important factor for the Mustangs going into this weekend will be the return of superstar Stephanie Kreuter. Before her injury, Kreuter was tearing it up for Western, averaging 2.84 kills per game and 3.49 points per game. “Steph Kreuter was down for a little bit, this will be her first weekend back, she’s a key player for us,” Edwards said. Additionally, Danielle Marshall is recovering nicely from her should injury. “Danielle [Marshall] has had some shoulder problems […] she’s getting stronger each day,” Edwards said. With two wins this weekend, the Mustangs will be in a prime position to enter the top three seeded teams in the OUA and leave themselves with some breathing room against the teams close behind them in the standings. “If we are able to get the outcomes that we want, we’ll certainly provide greater separation between ourselves and McMaster and some the teams coming up behind us,” Edwards concluded.

Julian Uzielli Gazette

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thegazette • Friday, January 25, 2013

Australian Open predictions

Naira Ahmed Gazette

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