W W W .W E STERNGAZETTE.C A • @UW OGAZETTE
BUSTED! London police had a productive day breaking up St. Paddy’s Day parties yesterday — and tweeting photos like this. >> pg. 3
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TUESDAY, MARCH 18, 2014
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CANADA’S ONLY DAILY STUDENT NEWSPAPER • FOUNDED 1906
VOLUME 107, ISSUE 85
2014–15 USC elects new vice-presidents
Photos: Kelly Samuel, Taylor Lasota & Spencer Fairweather Graphics: Mike Laine GAZETTE
Richard Raycraft NEWS EDITOR The 2014–15 University Students’ Council executive is now complete, following the second USC annual general meeting on Saturday. Council has elected Emerson Tithecott, Andrew Lalka and Sam Kilgour as next year’s vice-president communications, finance and student events, respectively. They will join president Matt Helfand, vicepresident internal Emily Addison and vice-president external Jen Carter to form the executive. Last Wednesday, each candidate gave a speech to council at the first half of the AGM. Saturday saw debates between all candidates
for the positions, who fielded questions from councillors. Councillors then voted to determine the elected candidate. “I think it was my focus on empowering councillors specifically,” Emerson Tithecott, vicepresident communications-elect, said about his success. “I think it really showed my experience having been on council and it really demonstrated the importance of giving [councillors] the means to do a lot of things we said we want students to do naturally.” “What I mean by that is giving [councillors] the power to actually facilitate that interaction with students that will allow them to actually be engaged with the USC,” he
continued. Tithecott, currently a student senator-at-large and a former vice-president communications at the Huron University College Students’ Council, faced competition from Sarah Emms, the current Arts and Humanities Students’ Council president. A strong trio of candidates made up the vice-president finance debate. Lalka, the current speaker of council, came out on top over Daniel Bain, a former Social Science councillor, and Fahad Khan, finance commissioner-at-large for the USC. “A big part of my campaign was looking at the VP finance from council’s perspective,” Lalka said. “More than just sort of keeping the wheels
turning and making sure the bills are paid, it’s actually about talking to council and empowering them and making it so they can make the best decision they’re equipped to make.” Lalka added that he looks forward to broadening the scope of the finance portfolio. “There’s a lot that the VP finance does because they have to do it, there’s a couple of things the VP finance can do because they have the ability to do it,” he said. “I’d like to focus more on those and what I can do with my discretion.” Vice-president student events had the most candidates at five. The vote was a blowout, however, with Kilgour, a member of this year’s
orientation staff, taking a significant majority of the votes. “I started out the campaign with the vision of ‘an event for everybody,’” Kilgour said. “I think that really rings true when you’re talking to people and events that they want to see one.” With new associate vice-president positions coming in next year, Kilgour campaigned on the idea that this would free up time for the VPSE to focus on more diverse programming. “I want to make sure we’re leaving it open for commissioners and coordinators and club presidents and faculty councils and students at large to plan events the way they want to plan them,” Kilgour added.
Iain Boekhoff GAZETTE
ALL IN FAVOUR... On Saturday, incoming and outgoing councillors of the University Students’ Council elected the three remaining vicepresidents for the 2014–15 executive. Emerson Tithecott, Sam Kilgour and Andrew Lalka were elected vicepresident communications, student events and finance, respectively. At the end of the meeting, the outgoing council was deratified, and the incoming council was ratified, meaning the councillors elected in February are now officially in power. The six executives will take power in June after a training and turnover period in May.
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thegazette • Tuesday, March 18, 2014
USC wants to see the money Iain Boekhoff NEWS EDITOR A motion to have a report of the actual spending by executives and coordinators included in future budgets for the University Students’ Council was sent to committee at the annual general meeting on Saturday. Jordan Pearson, outgoing Faculty of Information and Media Studies Students’ Council president and Steven Wright, outgoing FIMS vice-president external, were the mover and seconder of the motion, respectively. They, along with several other councillors, were concerned about a change in the way the budget was presented that they thought decreased transparency and accountability of the USC’s spending. The motion called for the internal budgets of each executive portfolio to be publicized for any spending over $1,000. “The USC moved from a budget-line breakdown of programming expenses to a lump-sum model this year,” Pearson said in an e-mail. “Without the motion to provide the internal budgets, council would no longer be able to see or understand why the funding for these programs and events changes from year to year, or how the funds were allocated.” The USC executive was very vocal in their opposition to the motion. They claimed that this request might take a lot of time and manpower that they do not currently have. Council ultimately voted to send the motion to the long-term planning and budget committee because of the lack of information on what effect having to report expenses would have.
News Briefs
Iain Boekhoff GAZETTE
PICK A CARD, ANY CARD. On the first day of the annual general meeting for the USC, outgoing USC president Pat Whelan addressed why a proposed change to the budget would not be feasible to concerned councillors.
Whelan said that there was a lack of research of what the staff cost might be and also that council needs to get specific in their request for information to avoid being flooded with information they couldn’t understand or use. “I think council needs to be selective in saying we want to know what you do with your initiative lines [...] we want to know what you do for programming, how much that costs […]” Whelan said. Through the debate it emerged that not all coordinators prepare budgets, partly because they do not have the financial training necessary to do so. “It was troubling to hear that some coordinators were not regularly creating and maintaining their own budgets,” Wright said in an e-mail. “Publishing these internal budgets will not only compel coordinators to create and maintain their own budgets, but aid councillors in understanding each portfolio and position in more depth by being able to see what kinds of things each coordinator actually spends their money on.”
Whelan argued coordinators are volunteers and to have council scrutinize them is unfair — the scrutiny, he said, should be on the executives. “Their concern shouldn’t be that coordinators don’t have budgets, their concern should be that execs aren’t making sure there are budgets,” Whelan said. Whelan was pleased council was both seeking more accountability and transparency, while also willing to do the research and take the time to consider their actions. “I think that we really needed to follow process and that’s what we did, we sent it to committee who can really investigate what’s the best way to hold executives accountable,” Whelan said. Wright was also satisfied that the motion will be looked at in committee. “Although we would have liked this motion to pass at AGM, its referral back to the [long-term planning and budgeting] committee does at least open the door to a more transparent USC on all levels, which is our main intention with this motion,” Wright said.
CROSSWORD By Eugene Sheffer
Caught on Camera
USC passes budget Last Wednesday the University Students’ Council passed the 2014–15 budget with the majority of the original proposal remaining unchanged. This year’s budget focused on moving costs to users of specific services like clubs, rather than charging as much to all students who might not use the services. The budget also stressed the student advocacy. The budget-making process involved more one-on-one consultations between USC councillors and Spencer Brown, vice-president finance. This allowed for possible revisions and a deeper understanding of the budgeting process for councillors. The extended period for budget allowed councillors to voice their own concerns earlier on and minimized possible last-minute changes to the budget. This was in stark contrast to last year’s budget talks which not only saw a shorter preparation period but a long debate before it eventually passed. — Ali Seven
Solution to puzzle on page 8
The Cryptoquip is a substitution cipher in which one letter stands for another. If you think that X equals O, it will equal O throughout the puzzle. Single letters, short words and words using an apostrophe give you clues to locating vowels. Solution is by trial and error. © 2002 by Kings Features Syndicate, Inc.
Bill Wang GAZETTE
ST. McGHIE. Students were festively dressed outside the entrance to The Spoke and Rim Tavern on St. Patrick’s Day. Rick McGhie’s special performance on Monday attracted a large lineup even before noontime.
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thegazette • Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Committee probes elections problems Christine Bonk GAZETTE STAFF Investigations performed by the University Students’ Council’s elections ad-hoc committee, a body of now-outgoing USC councillors tasked with scrutinizing recurring issues in the past few USC elections, have uncovered systemic issues in Western’s governance office portfolio likely related to these notorious errors. The chief returning officer for the USC elections assumes a large responsibility in the governance office, including chairing the elections committee and bringing information before its members. With the breadth and importance of these tasks, questions have been raised as to whether this structure of power is conducive to the effective running of elections. “Currently, [the governance officer and CRO] are not accountable either to council or the executive [...] they have no oversight or checks and balances within the portfolio itself,â€? said Kyle DeCaluwĂŠ, outgoing USC councillor and member of the elections ad-hoc committee.
“The CRO often doesn’t have enough information to make accurate decisions, which leads to a lot of the going back and forth in this elections period,â€? he continued. Pashv Shah, the current CRO, declined to comment, saying it would be inappropriate to comment while the governance office was under review. Kojo Hayward, the governance officer, also declined to comment. Other findings have pointed to the existence of personal biases affecting elections and general discomfort with the procedures of the elections committee in cases regarding disqualification and reimbursement. “We had multiple students this year talk about how elections committee were like a CIA blackout because [meetings] were held in a broom closet in the basement UCC that was barely lit,â€? DeCaluwĂŠ said. “You came in front of a panel of 14 students and you were presumed guilty, given the verdict and ushered out the door.â€? While the elections ad-hoc committee is not mandated to propose or implement solutions to these issues, suggested recommendations include
creating a new paid internship position to oversee the governance office and exporting USC elections to a private company in order to eliminate personal biases. With the de-ratification of this year’s USC councillors on Saturday at the annual general meeting, the committee has wrapped up the majority of their investigations, although they will continue to review submitted information until March 26. After the committee’s dissolution at the next council meeting, a second committee will be formed among incoming councillors in order to widen the scope of these reviews beyond elections to address larger systemic problems. “The second iteration of the committee is tasked to create recommendations to council to rectify elections and governance problems,� said Jack Litchfield, incoming Social Science Students’ Council president and creator of the elections ad-hoc committee. “The issues that came up during the last election can be attributed in part to bigger structural problems in the governance portfolio.�
Taylor Lasota GAZETTE
GOVERANCE OFFICE INVESTIGATED. An ad-hoc committee has finished the lion’s share of investigation into the USC elections committee and governance office over allegations of systematic USC election problems. The findings will be released officially later this month.
Police tap into eleven kegs
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Bradley Metlin GAZETTE
NINE KEGS SHORT OF A KEGGER. This house near Western was responsible for nine of the 11 total kegs the London Police Service seized on St. Patrick’s Day yesterday.
This year’s St. Patrick’s Day was quieter than most — maybe the frigid temperatures kept leprechauns off the streets. However, by about 3:00 p.m. yesterday, police had managed to seize 11 kegs from student parties near the Richmond gates. Of those 11 kegs, nine were from single party on Westview Drive. Bryan Stringer, one of the hosts of the Westview party, said the police were very respectful while they confiscated all nine of his kegs as well as his house’s keg taps. “The big thing was that we were cooperative with them and they were kind back to us,� Stringer, who is a fourth-year medical science student, said. “It was one of the nicest cops I’ve ever talked to in my life.� His roommate, Adrian Kruger, seconded the sentiment. “It all comes down to respect,� Kruger, a fourth-year economics student, added.
The group was still enjoying the day despite being out nearly $2,000 after the raid. “I’ve still got the biggest smile on my face, but I mean, it could have been better.� Stringer said. Kruger said the problem with their kegger was that they were charging people for entry. “You can have a party as long as you don’t provide alcohol,� Kruger said. “We realized the risk we took on when having this kegger.� Indeed, the London Police Service tweeted a photo of the nine kegs they confiscated from the Westview home with a message not to sell liquor illegally. “For anyone planning on attending the party on Westview Drive, we have just seized 9 kegs. No license to sell liquor,� the tweet from LPS said. The two additional kegs the police seized came from a party on Huron Street — they too received recognition from the police on Twitter. “Two kegs have been seized from a Huron Street party and
one ticket issued. Everyone has departed from this location,� the London Police tweeted. Police chief Brad Duncan livetweeted his force’s St. Patrick’s Day initiatives with a somewhat cheeky tone. He cautioned students about drinking from heights — the roofs of their Broughdale houses — and tweeted the locations of parties his officers were about to seize kegs from. Campus Police had a very quiet St. Patrick’s Day this year. “We haven’t had too many calls that are St. Paddy’s Day-related,� sergeant Loreto Rossi of Western’s campus police said. As of 5:30 p.m., Campus police had only issued one St. Paddy’s related ticket. The colder weather this St. Patrick’s Day may have been responsible for more toned-down celebrations. “‘Pot of Cold’ has helped our efforts today. Support of @fanshawesu and @western_usc in messaging Respect was critical too. #StPatricksDay,� the LPS tweeted.
AT TENTION STUDENTS USING SERVICES FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES We would like to remind you that you must meet with a counsellor at Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD), in the Student Development Centre, to arrange academic accommodation for your 2013/2014 winter courses. If you have not yet requested accommodation for your courses, and you wish to use accommodation for April 2014 exams, you must meet with a counsellor by Friday, March 21st. If requested after this date, accommodation for April 2014 exams cannot be arranged by Exam Services. To book your appointment please call
519-661-2147
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Megan Devlin NEWS EDITOR
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thegazette • Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Arts&Life
tuesdaytweet If I had known the Irish behaved like this I’d have let them stay pagan.
— @TheTweetofGod
Balanced nutrition possible on campus Robert Nanni Jr. GAZETTE STAFF Balancing academics, volunteering, a job, enough sleep and eating healthy can be hard for some individuals, but trying to do so on a budget is even tougher. For students on the Western meal plan, they might find that the amount of money they have may not go as far as they hope. As per the projected residence dollars target usage, individuals on a large meal plan are to spend $8.14 per day, those on a medium meal plan $7.00 and those on a small meal plan, $6.57. Foods rich in protein can quickly burn a hole in students’ pockets: Rosemary lemon chicken will cost $2.95, Louisiana catfish will cost $3.69. “Our healthier entrees are, on average, the same price if not cheaper than our less healthy options,” says Anne Zok, nutrition manager for Western’s Hospitality Services. “For breakfast, the healthier options average out to $0.66 per dish; for lunch, $2.06; for dinner, $2.11. The ‘not as healthy’ options are $0.75, $2.07, and $2.45, respectively.” Although Zok explains that this average was composed based on the first of six menu cycles, she maintains that it “should be representative across the board.” Zok says that Hospitality Services does their best to provide healthy, affordable options in residence and
Taylor Lasota GAZETTE
THE HEALTHIER KIND OF BAR. While finding healthy options on campus can sometimes seem daunting, Hospitality Services is actively trying to provide healthier options, like the salad bar pictured above.
across campus. Despite this, fruit and vegetables still prove to be an issue for some students, like first-year medical sciences student Mary Nguyen, who has struggled to eat well on her meal plan budget. “Fruit is actually very expensive, which is unfortunate because I eat a lot of it,” Nguyen says. “Smoothies
too, especially the bottled ones; it can be pretty tough for someone on a budget.” As a solution to this, she tries to buy her fruits and vegetables off campus in bulk, which she claims to be cheaper in the long run. Anything from the residence fruit and salad bars are self-serve items and are to be paid by weight,
at a price of $0.78 per 100 grams. Heavier items, such as watermelon chunks and pasta salads, can escalate costs rather quickly. “Strategically plan your salad — think sunflower seeds, some spinach, other lighter vegetables — and you’re not going to pay too much for it,” Zok explains. “It’s very economical: You’re paying pennies
for a bowl of spinach, and it’s very, very healthy.” In an effort to implement these healthy options in places where they are currently not as prominent, Zok also spoke of the benefit of implementing healthier options during residence snack bar hours to promote healthier eating. While it may seem that all healthy food on campus costs more than its fried and fatty competition, this is not always the case. Harvest French fries are $0.68 per serving, while market fresh vegetables are $0.58 per serving. “Do you really think it costs us more for French fries than it does for vegetables? It’s just a small amount, but we try to even the ground a little bit,” Zok explains. “We could just nudge the prices of those unhealthier options up a little bit and maybe the healthier options down a little bit, but we already do that on a regular basis.” Evidently there is a lot of work going on behind the scenes, yet Zok notes that perhaps a bit more needs to be done. There are some more expensive healthy options, but there has also been much done to alleviate some of those costs. “The system isn’t perfect — it’s a work in progress,” says Frank Miller, director of Hospitality Services. “We have many initiatives in place to make healthy eating more affordable, and we will continue to work towards the best possible way of doing things.”
Finding good acoustics in the UCC atrium Robert Nanni Jr. GAZETTE STAFF Last Thursday afternoon, three Western alumni returned to their roots and performed musical covers for passing staff and students in the University Community Centre atrium. Banging bongos and strumming guitars, Amir Fishman, Blake Fleishacker and Elan Marko contributed to a positive atmosphere in the UCC. “A decade ago we met in first year university and we’ve been playing music ever since,” Marko explains. “This is where our whole music and friendship started.” Now called The Good Acoustics, the three men compose flash mobesque performances in Toronto subway cars for the general public. “We don’t play for money, we play to boost the vibe in the train, to allow you to enjoy your commute a little bit better,” says Fleishacker. The trio has deemed their movement “Train Reaction,” a series of not-for-profit events to boost the subway atmosphere. “It’s a simple thing: We play music, but it also changes people’s days and their moods,” Marko says. “We get to see that impact immediately — we see it in their physiology.” The band has received incredibly positive responses from daily Torontonian subway commuters,
and has been spotlighted by various media outlets such as CTV. The satisfaction of fulfilling someone’s day is all this group needs to keep on going. “We’ve had people come up to us crying saying that they had the worst day of their life and that particular event changed everything for them,” Fishman says. “It’s unbelievably moving and we never know what to expect.”
It’s a simple thing: We play music, but it also changes people’s days and their moods. — Elan Marko
Member of The Good Acoustics
The impact of this group is most evident in The Good Acoustics’ mailing list. This allows the public to receive dates, times, and subway car information for upcoming performances. “We’ve coined this as Train Reaction: Canada’s underground community builders,” Fleishacker explains. “We loved building community at Western, in residence,
Bill Wang GAZETTE
ACOUSTICALLY AUGMENTED ALUMNI AMELIORATE ATRIUM. The Good Acoustics, a non-profit musical act known for impromptu subway performances, brought their musically-charged good will back to their alma mater.
and we wanted to replicate that after graduating.” From Medway-Sydenham Hall to the Torontonian metropolis, these charitable events have remained donation-free. “Should someone offer us a
record label, I’m sure that’s a discussion we’d entertain, but at the moment we’re not sending out demo tapes or anything like that,” Fishman says. Despite Fleishacker’s joke about being “something like a boy band,”
The Good Acoustics have no desire to turn their operation into a profitable one. With upcoming plans to pursue the East Coast and expand the musicians they perform with, their audience continues to be their primary focus.
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The Coen Brothers don’t folk around Brent Holmes ARTS & ARTS EDITOR GGGHF Inside Llewyn Davis Directors: Joel and Ethan Coen Starring: Oscar Isaacs, Carey Mulligan, John Goodman, Justin Timberlake One of the biggest snubs of the Oscar season this year, Inside Llewyn Davis takes its audience inside the life of a down-on-hisluck folk singer in the 1960s. If you thought the Coen brothers’ severely underrated A Serious Man was too dry, Inside Llewyn Davis spends way more than 40 years wandering the desert. Life is by no means fun for Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaacs) — he has no money, an ex-girlfriend (Carey Mulligan) who wants him to pay for her abortion, refuses to function in a world of sell-out folk musicians (Justin Timberlake), and accidentally loses his neighbour’s cat Ulysses. The film takes place over a week in Davis’ life and if it is any example of how the rest of his life went, the fictional Davis was likely a morose man whose musical talents went largely unnoticed by society and outside of the popular
consciousness — even if the folk revival of the 1960s seems to be just around the corner. Oscar Isaac is compelling as Davis and is able to make a complex character whose actions reveal more than one might think. Mulligan effectively disappears into her character (and her bangs) as his ex-girlfriend Jean, and John Goodman momentarily shows up as an alternate universe version of Walter from The Big Lebowski if he had won the lottery. Justin Timberlake seems to be here just to play off his status as a successful musician to effectively code how he is understood in Davis’ eyes. Inside Llewyn Davis fits right into the Coen brothers’ filmography — it’s the same dry humour mixed with a cynical and depressing outlook on life that makes for a film with a lot more going on than its bleak tone would imply. Unfortunately, its bleak uncommunicative tone is so overwhelming that it becomes hard to care. Does it really matter that Ulysses found his way home at the end of the film? The symbolism is deep but it’s not always engaging. It would be a crime to not mention the music of Inside Llewyn Davis because the folk music of the
Courtesy of CBS Films
film is fantastic — the songs exude a quality unknown to the music of today and the smokey bar room Davis plays has an addictive aesthetic quality. In his review of A Serious Man, Variety writer Todd McCarthy wrote that “this is the kind of picture you get to make after you’ve won an
Oscar.” Inside Llewyn Davis is the kind of film one makes when you stop caring about the Oscars at all. It’s not surprising that it was not on the Best Picture nominee list, but it would have paradoxically livened up the list a bit instead of the throw-away award nominees of Philomena and Captain Phillips.
Spending time with Llewyn Davis would probably feel like spending time with that one guy you know from high school that was unable to do anything with his life after graduating. It evokes a kind of sympathy but at the same time a desire to get outside Llewyn Davis as soon as possible.
Know the three Ps of conflict resolution Aunt Smothy
Cam Smith DEPUTY EDITOR
Courtesy of Reunion Pictures
Continuum Showcase’s hit series, Continuum, returned Sunday night with a thirdseason premiere that unfortunately felt like someone hit the reset button in terms of plot-lines and character development. In fact, the season premiere almost warrants re-watching the entire second season just to realize what is happening. For those not in the loop, Continuum is a Canadian sciencefiction show set in modern day Vancouver. Terrorists from 2077’s corporate dystopia are sent back through time with plans to rewrite history. Unfortunately for them, Kiera (Rachel Nichols), a cop from 2077, is unintentionally sent back with them and teams up with 2077’s version of Bill Gates, Alec Sadler (Eric Knudsen), to try and prevent them from changing the future and to get back home to her family. At the end of the last season, Kiera and her group of time-traveling enemies were all captured by
the mysterious Freelancers after Alec betrayed Kiera to go back in time and rescue his dead girlfriend, Emily (Magda Apanowicz). The subsequent alliances and backstabbings made for a plethora of options for how the series could move forward as Kiera’s ally, Carlos (Victor Webster) joined forces with her nemesis, Theseus (Richard Harmon) against a corporatized police force led by Inspector Dillon (Brian Markinson) — instead, the writers chose to have that timeline collapse and Kiera gets sent to the new timeline Alec created. On the whole, it feels like a lost opportunity — Continuum largely shed its police procedural plot structure in season two and looked to be going through another dramatic change going into season three. It still has the potential to go any number of directions, but season three’s first episode suggests a return to season two’s serialized form. It’s not all bad news — all of a
sudden, characters who died in the climactic events of last season are suddenly alive again and the alliances that last season’s betrayals resulted in have no longer been made — or have not been made yet. The whole episode-long reboot is not totally pointless, as Kiera and the viewer get a lot of the theory of time travel and an understanding of who the Freelancers are and what they are trying to do. This worldbuilding is necessary for the show. In fact, Carlos, Theseus and Dillon are largely absent from the episode putting the focus entirely on Kiera and Alec. Ultimately, with future Kiera becoming a Freelancer and future Alec struggling with having two of him in one timeline, the season is set to provide another great time of political and moral philosophy as well as plot twists and betrayals. Hopefully, Continuum will continue to provide great sci-fi but the future, as always, is not yet written. — Brent Holmes
I’m sure your relationship is perfect and you and your partner have never and will never fight, because your love and mutual respect extends so deeply that you both agree on everything. Just kidding. We all know that conflicts are pretty much a guarantee in any relationship, and sometimes they can get a bit messy if handled improperly, no matter how much you love each other. So here is my list of three Ps to successfully manage the inevitable disagreement you’ll have with your partner. PATIENCE: This is the most impor-
tant “P.” I don’t care who’s at fault, who is upset or what the cause of the conflict is. It is best resolved with patience. If your partner is spitting mad, they may say some pretty hurtful things. While this is unacceptable, getting outraged and being hurtful back won’t resolve anything. Keep your cool, and wait for them to calm down to address their behaviour. They’ll be much more accepting of your criticism when they’ve simmered down a bit. This also applies to you if you’re the one who is upset. Be patient with your partner — If they’re worth being with than they’ll hear you out and understand where you’re coming from much better if you’re able to rationally and calmly share your viewpoint with them. It may take some time, but that’s what patience is for. POLITENESS: Let’s say you’re the “atfault” party in a disagreement. You done goofed, and now you’re facing
a quite indignant partner. Meeting their anger head on is likely to only escalate the situation. It’s best to adopt a polite and respectful tone when dealing with a tense emotional situation. If you remain polite in tone and language used, it will serve to soften the argument and allow for more rational dialogue to occur. Remember, your partner might not feel inclined to be so polite if they’re very upset, and this might make it challenging for you. But if you treat them respectfully, even under emotional pressure, they will most often respond positively and do the same. PRAGMATISM: No matter who pissed off whom, it’s usually best to resolve a conflict by determining what realistic action can be taken. A simple apology may suffice occasionally, but generally when your partner is upset, you want a little more than that. Rather than merely trying to avoid the issue which caused the ire, make an action plan. If it’s your partner who is upset, don’t merely try to placate them with empty promises. Prove to them you take their concerns seriously by outlining your plans for change, be it something as serious as a communication problem, or something as trivial as cleaning up a bit more. Also, if you have taken issue with your partner’s actions or behaviour, don’t be incommunicative about your concerns. Tell them frankly what has bothered you, and help them develop an outline of change which they can reasonably enact.
Every relationship is different, and each argument unique. But by following the three simple Ps of patience, politeness and pragmatism, arguments can be far more rational and productive. They’re inevitable, so it’s best to be prepared to handle them in the most mature way possible.
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thegazette • Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Opinions HAVE YOUR SAY
The Gazette asked students what St. Patrick’s Day means to them.
Kevin Hurren OPINIONS EDITOR
Health Sciences I “It means spending time with friends, having a good time, having a couple drinks, and celebrating the Irish culture”
Marlowe Pecora
Katie Jacobs
Kinesiology II “Unity. Coming together, really having some fun, getting to know people and making some friends […] We went to a couple get-togethers and been playing some ball hockey.”
Criminology I “It is beer, it is green and it is friends! UC Hill should really be full of people.”
thegazette
Volume 107, Issue 85 www.westerngazette.ca
Julian Uzielli Editor-In-Chief Cameron M. Smith Deputy Editor Jason Sinukoff Managing Editor
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The Gazette is owned and published by the University Students’ Council.
There is a certain degree of excitement around “getting in the zone.” In order to excel on an exam you have to get in the zone. To reach maximum performance during a sports game you have to get in the zone. There is one zone, however, that no one wants to be a part of. The Friend Zone. The Friend Zone is a commonly used and widely detested phrase for a relationship between two people where one wants to become romantically involved and the other would rather remain platonic. The term was first notably used in a 1994 episode of the show Friends. Joey tells a pining Ross that he waited too long before acting on his feelings for Rachel, meaning that now he can only be considered a friend. Though we can
all sympathize with Ross having felt the bitter sting of rejection ourselves, there are some interesting things to note about the rhetoric around Friend Zoning. For instance, those perceiving themselves as being placed in the Friend Zone are overwhelmingly male. While this means that Friend Zone humour can create a sense of solidarity and brotherhood among men, it implies two problematic things. First, that the Friend Zone is something that can be overcome or escaped. A number of websites boast strategies on “getting out of the Friend Zone,” but this strips women of their emotional autonomy. As a woman tries to express her disinterest in a relationship kindly by suggesting friendship, that gesture is warped into something cruel. How dare she Friend Zone me? If she appreciates me as a friend, how could she possibly not want to reward me with a relationship? Second, Friend Zoning is often used in reference to men, and implies that women don’t face rejection. The reason there isn’t a lot of discourse online or in pop culture about women being Friend Zoned is because women making
unwanted advances are often framed as crazy, desperate or promiscuous. When a man is rejected on the pretense of friendship, his peers will close ranks — huddling around him and convincing him to not give up just because he’s in the Friend Zone. When a man rejects a woman on the pretense of friendship, it’s because she’s unfit or unworthy. How about instead of inventing imaginary realms, we respect a woman’s — and a man’s — right to say no. Rejection, understandably, is difficult to deal with. It’s part of the reason why the Friend Zone is such an appealing explanation. It shifts the blame away from the person rejected and demonizes this mystical space. Together, we need to learn how to culturally embrace rejection — understanding that it isn’t something to fight, but rather learn how to grow from it. Any relationship that lacks consent and interest from both sides, regardless of why that lack exists, will not be rewarding. Making this shift to will be challenging to do, but it is something we need to work towards accomplishing and we can accomplish, you know, if we get in the zone.
about Israel’s occupation and blockade in Gaza and the West Bank? These crucial subjects regarding the Occupied Territories are consistently ignored. The IOC fails to provide any factual information about these issues, but rather focuses on Israeli innovations and participates in cultural appropriation through “Israeli foods” and such. The student media at Western has never questioned the validity of what IOC presents at its events, which never shed a light on how Israel truly came to be in 1948. It was never an “easy” partition where the land was handed to Israel, and this issue is clearly a lot more complicated. Some things are simple (for example, ongoing military occupation is wrong) while others are more complex. Israeli Apartheid Week consistently presents information which is both complex and well-sourced, but the same cannot be said for IOC’s presentations at Western. What is needed by the academic community and student body is the ability to question the whole piece on IAW. How can we truly understand the issue if we constantly criticize any work that is pro-Palestinian? We know the dangers of telling a single story, so let us be careful and critical when evaluating what is presented to us. Let us question why is it even appropriate to publish a piece criticizing IAW without credibly-sourced information, and yet turn our backs when Israeli awareness week fills up the UCC atrium with one-sided manipulations. Let us question, because it is better to ask open-ended questions than to make false ignorant claims about a struggle for human rights. — Sara Ataya Political Science IV
Gazette plays the game of mistakes
Letters to the Editor
Kinesiology II “It’s just a fun day, everybody’s out and about and it’s just fun to meet a lot of people.”
Justin McManus
– Reddit user thepaleblue
“Friend Zone” not so friendly Seven Minutes in Kevin
Brandon Bedminster
“Women are not vending machines that you put kindness coins in until sex falls out.”
IOC should be critiqued too RE: “Head to Head: Israeli Apartheid Week,” Friday, March 14, 2014 To the Editor: While I applaud The Gazette’s publication regarding a USC club’s annual event, I find it disturbing that focus is always on Palestinian activism. Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights, or SPHR, ran a series of events (March 10–14) during an internationally organized week known as Israeli Apartheid Week. When pro-Palestinian activists present information that is valid, factual and backed up by numerous credible academic sources and human rights organizations, they are criticized for spreading “smears” and “manipulating” the student body. They are even criticized for using a term (Israeli apartheid) that has been used by such reputable international figures as Desmond Tutu. It seems like criticisms are just thrown at this sort of activism in order to detract attention from the overall cause — so I would argue that any sort of opposition against pro-Palestinian activism is a form of manipulation in itself. How is it even appropriate to publish a “head-to-head” piece about IAW when events presented by Israel On Campus (IOC) are not even examined? If we want to talk to about manipulation and skewed information, let us look at what is being presented by IOC. Are discussions focused around the Nakba (catastrophe or ethnic cleansing of Palestine), Palestinian refugees being denied the right to return, and
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.
Gazette Composing & Gazette Advertising Ian Greaves, Manager Robert Armstrong
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Gazette Staff 2013-2014
Christine Bonk, Sarah Botelho, Tabitha Chan, Jonathan Dunn, Spencer Fairweather, Conrad Floryan, Sam Frankel, Jennafer Freeman, Janice Fung, Stephanie Grella, Dorothy Kessler, Kevin Heslop, Jenny Jay, Nathan Kanter, Katie Lear, Emory Liu, Haida Liu, Winnie Lu, Cheryl Madliger, Sara Mai Chitty, Soheil Milani, Mackenzie Morrison, Robert Nanni Jr., Amy O’Kruk, Vidhant Pal, Lily Robinson, Alex Seger, Tiffany Shepherd, Hamza Tariq, Tristan Wu, Olivia Zollino
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RE: “Game of Thrones linguist conquers campus,” Thursday, March 13, 2014 To the Editor: I was very pleased with the Game of Thrones linguist article published last week except for one rather important detail. The article made multiple references to the fact that David Peterson is a “com-liner” when in fact the term is “conlanger.” Conlang is short for a “constructed language,” such as Dothraki or Valyrian, which David Peterson created for Game of Thrones. A conlanger is someone who creates these languages. I want to address this term, both so that those who are interested in the topic are exposed to the proper terminology and to remind the writers of The Gazette that it is alright to ask for explanations or clarifications when they encounter something new. — Meagan Jesmer Linguistics IV Editor’s response: Right you are, Meagan. In hindsight, it was a silly oversight. Thank you for pointing it out — we regret the error.
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• Please recycle this newspaper •
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thegazette • Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Sports
factattack Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay was released yesterday after spending the night in a jail cell. Irsay could face felony charges for failing a sobriety test taken at a police traffic stop. Irsay had numerous prescription drugs in the car when he was pulled over.
Rundown >> The Western Mustangs women’s basketball team received two end-of-season honours this past weekend > Mustangs fifth-year star Jenny Vaughan was named to the Canadian Interuniversity Sport all-Canadian first team for the second time in her CIS career while MacKenzie Puklicz captured a spot on the CIS all-rookie team.
Graphics: Mike Laine GAZETTE
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thegazette • Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Graphics: Mike Laine GAZETTE
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UPCOMING EVENTS THE VISUAL ARTS faculty’s Advanced 4th Year Studio Seminar class welcomes you to Said No One Ever, an exhibition featuring some great art by emerging local talent. The show runs from March 18-21st, at the London Arts Project, 203 Dundas St. Opening reception is from 6-8. Be there or be square!” WESTERN CAMPUS CLEAN Up Tuesday, April 1. Open to all students, staff and faculty. Meeting Point: Concrete Beach (Sunshine), or Mustang Lounge (Rain). Times: 10:30am, 11:30am and 12:30pm. Participants will receive a free BBQ lunch. Send an email to sustainability@uwo.ca, indicating which time slot works best.
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For solution, turn to page 2
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