Celebrating International Women`s Day

Thursday, March12, 2015
Issue No. 176.9
Celebrating
International
Women's Day
SEE CENTRE
ILLUSTRATION BY JESSICA AVOLIO
5 DAYS FOR
THE HOMELESS
PAGE 3
GAIN MUSIC FEST
PAGE 12
QUEEN’S
CUP
STACEY ASPINALL
PAGE 13
NEWS 3 • ARTS & CULTURE 8 • SPORTS & HEALTH 13 • LIFE 18 • FEATURE 23 • OPINION 24 • EDITORIAL 25 • FUN PAGE 26
Issue 176.9 • Thursday, March 12, 2015
NEWS
5 Days for the Homeless
University
of Guelph
students take
on national
campaign
ALYSSA OTTEMA
5 Days for the Homeless is a national
campaign, founded as a local initiative of business students at the
University of Alberta. The campaign
was first taken national in 2008.
To date, the campaign has raised
over $1 million for charitable organizations across Canada.
The University of Guelph has been
a part of the initiative for 6 years. This
year, the campaign was organized by
the College of Business and Economics Students’ Association (CBESA),
and is set to run until Friday, March
13.
“We have 5 enthusiastic and energetic business students who are
braving the elements for 5 days and
nights,” said Jonas Postons, Corporate
Relations Manager for the CBESA.
“Our goal is to create awareness for
the growing problem of homelessness
while simultaneously raising money
for the Wyndham House charity in
Guelph that works to combat youth
homelessness.”
The Guelph faction of the initiative has a set goal of raising $10,000
this year. Sponsorship from Ford,
Victoria Park East Golf Club, and
the Cowan Foundation has helped
to make this goal a reality, Postons
noted.
Although the prospects of spending five days and nights outdoors may
be daunting to some, the CBESA
volunteers were happy to step up in
support of such a great cause.
“I didn’t realize homelessness was
such a big problem,” said Spencer
Coetzee, a first-year Marketing Management major. “When I saw a number
of homeless people in the downtown
area […] I decided I wanted to get
involved and help make a difference.”
“It seemed like a great cause,” said
Sarah Douglas, a second-year Hotel
and Food Administration major. “I
just wanted to give back to the Guelph
community before I go away next year
on my co-op.”
Joao Rosa, a second-year Management Economics and Finance
major, had similar reasons for getting
involved.
“It is a good way to give back to
the community and raise awareness to
an issue that people don’t know a lot
about,” said Rosa. “Not many people
know that over 30,000 Canadians are
homeless every night, and sleeping
outside for 5 days is a good way to get
a new perspective on things.”
Though the volunteers were excited
to get involved with the campaign,
their actual experiences with sleeping
outdoors have been interesting, to say
the least.
“It’s only been one night, but it’s
been cold and it hasn’t been easy,”
noted Coetzee on Monday, March 9.
“You really don’t realize how much
you have until you have nothing.”
“Being outside for long periods
of time is something I haven’t really
experienced before,” Douglas agreed.
“Going to bed cold each night is a big
change, and your body never really
warms up.”
Despite these temperature setbacks,
the overall experience has been rewarding so far for the volunteers.
“The experience so far has been awesome; the generosity of the staff and
students has been second to none,”
Douglas said. “Receiving donations
of money and food has been good,
and its great to see that people are
open to the campaign and able to give
3
MOHAMMAD MELEBARI
Students are sleeping in Branion Plaza for five days and nights to raise money and awareness for
the homeless across Canada.
whatever they can.”
Though this year’s campaign has
already begun, there are still plenty
of ways for students and staff to
get involved with the 5 Days for the
Homeless initiative.
“Aside from actually applying to
be a sleeper in future years, we have a
number of events going on throughout the campaign that students can
participate in,” noted Postons, encouraging students to get involved in any
way that they can. “The most important way students can get involved is
by spreading the word and donating
throughout the week. We would really
like to hit our $10,000 goal.”
Interested parties can find more
information, as well as a link
to donate, at the University of
Guelph’s link on the 5 Days for the
Homeless page.
Upcoming events
March 12: Meeting for NATURE GUELPH at 7:30 p.m. in
the Arboretum Centre. “Beneath the ice: The sea mammals
of the Arctic” with Dr. Shoshanah Jacobs, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Integrative Biology, U of G. All welcome.
March 14: College Royal Ball
March 16:
- Blood Donor Clinic, Peter Clark Hall, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- National Cooperative Education Week begins
- Meal Exchange Hunger Week begins
March 17: St. Patrick’s Day
Neighbourhood Nexus is recruiting for professional mentorships Fall/Winter 2015-2016. 3 hrs/week, 2 semester
commitment. Gain skills essential for community development and leadership, and explore themes on diversity
and poverty. Apply on Gryphlife by March 15th or contact
[email protected]
Monday Is Rib-Night
At The Wooly!
$20 Half Rack & a Pint
$25 Full Rack & a Pint
woolwicharrow.ca
Plus $5 Featured Draft Pints All Night Long!
ANNUAL
5PM-10PM
FRIDAY, MARCH 27
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Issue 176.9 • Thursday, March 12, 2015
NEWS
5
Dsquared2 unveils controversial line Frigid temperatures
freeze pipes across city
Torontobased fashion
label draws
controversy
with “Dsquaw”
Oh, the horror!
CONNOR ARSENAULT
SAMEER CHHABRA
Canadian fashion designers Dean and
Dan Caten have recently come under
fire for a clothing line they unveiled
at Milan Fashion Week on Monday,
March, 2. The brothers – the creators of
the Dsquared2 fashion line – unveiled
a line of clothing seemingly inspired by
Aboriginal culture.
According to their Instagram,
Twitter, and Facebook accounts,
the brothers’ clothing line, dubbed
#Dsquaw, was partly inspired by
“Canadian Indian tribes.” However,
the term “squaw” carries a deeply offensive legacy, and is considered a term
of insult or slander directed at North
American Aboriginal people. “Squaw”
is a modified form of an Algonquin
morpheme that means “woman.”
In a post published by Windspeaker
News, an Aboriginal community publication, the term is explained to be a,
“vile offensive slur directed at Native
women.”
According to the Dsquared2
website, the collection of clothes represented “the enchantment of Canadian
Indian tribes” and “the confident attitude of the British aristocracy.”
“In a captivating play on contrasts:
an ode to America’s native tribes meets
the noble spirit of Old Europe,” the
line’s website reads, “magic and mysterious tribal influences meld with royal
references in a bold, quite eccentric
aesthetic, revealing luxurious materials
7:00 PM
OPUS HOTELS VIA CC BY-NC 2.0
Dean and Dan Caten, creators of Dsquared, have come under
fire for their controversial new line.
and high-end, artisanal details.”
However, since the fashion duo
unveiled their fashion line, users
online have been quick to challenge
the designs as racist, and indicative of
a dark past in Canadian, North American history as a whole.
“Make it Dsquaw and voila, it’s a
fashion line full of honour?” said the
same Windspeaker News post. “No, still
vile!”
While some have been harshly
critical of Dsquared2 for their appropriation of Aboriginal culture, others
have been vocal about the sovereignty
of individual nations. To some critics, the fact that Dsquared2 produced
a line of clothing hoping to showcase
the history of Aboriginals in North
America without speaking to the many
individual nations within the “Aboriginal” umbrella is especially insensitive.
In spite of the large amount of
critical backlash levied at the Toronto
fashion duo, some fashion reviewers
have praised the Caten brothers for
their style. Tim Blanks, a writer for
Style.com praised the Catens’ creativity
and “research.”
“The sweeping staircase was a surprisingly stark set for a Dsquared2
show, but Dead and Dan Caten
insisted that, for their next 20 years,
the spectacle will henceforth be concentrated in the clothes,” said Blanks
in his March 2 review. “[The Caten
brothers] made a very good start with
their presentation today.”
At the time of this writing, the
Dsquared2 website contains the line’s
original description text, as well as the
images from the Milan fashion show.
However, there is no mention of the
Dsquaw label.
movies and more
8:00 PM
If you’re reading this, give yourself a
pat on the back. You made it through
February. Renowned in Canada for its
furious bouts of extreme cold, February did not disappoint this year.
Guelph, and a number of neighbouring towns and cities, saw the cold
temperatures manifest themselves
angrily in the form of frozen pipes. As
of March 5, almost 400 water customers in Guelph were without running
water from frozen pipes.
There to help in these frightful
times was the City’s frozen water
assistance program. This program
provides assistance to those affected
by the disaster in the form of gift cards
with which to buy bottled water and
supplies, as well as the use of laundry
and showering facilities.
Rather than trying to thaw out the
frozen pipes, the City opted to instead
focus on installing temporary water
lines. As of March 9, a total of 171 of
these temporary water lines had been
installed. This was seen as a much
faster way to relieve as many people as
possible of the struggles of living with
no running water.
While the water in the temporary
water lines is not for consumption, it
no doubt alleviates some of the pressure faced by those whose pipes have
frozen.
Consistently low temperatures,
especially in the overnight hours, and
a deeper frost layer have contributed
significantly to this problem. The
average temperature in Guelph this
February was roughly -14.3 C, much
lower than the historical average for
February of -6.9 C.
As we all know, last winter was a
harsh one, but the average temperature in February last year was only
-11.6 C, making this February almost
a whole 3 degrees colder on average.
These abysmally cold temperatures
led the frost layer to extend deeper
into the ground, where it was able
to reach a greater number of underground pipes.
It could take a while before water
services are completely back to
normal in Guelph and the other
cities in South-Western Ontario
that have also been affected, like
Cambridge, Collingwood, Owen
Sound, and Toronto. The City of
Guelph is hopeful that warmer
March temperatures will help to
ameliorate the situation.
The community members who
have stepped up to the plate to
help out those in need deserve
our congratulations. Through the
hard work and selfless efforts of
many Guelphites, the burden that
has been placed on many of our
neighbours is being lessened. It is
wonderful that our community is
so ready to deal with unexpected
situations and so eager to lend
a helping hand when adversity
strikes.
As the air warms up again and the
ground begins to thaw, many of the
problems caused by the frozen pipes
will likely disappear. Nonetheless,
people who have been affected by
frozen pipes are being urged to
monitor their water use and check
for leaks, as frozen pipes have the
potential to crack and cause leaks
when water is flowing again.
Anyone experiencing issues
related to frozen pipes is advised
to contact Guelph’s Water Services
department for support.
Visit www.sundaycinema.ca for info on these Central Student Association events.
NOON
7:00 PM
NOON
ajinai
DOCURAMA Thurs Mar 12
SUNDAY CINEMA Mar 15
THORNBROUGH 1200 | FREE
A modern day Grapes of Wrath.
Co-sponsored by the McLaughlin Library.
THORNBROUGH 1200 | $3 UoG stu • $8 gen
One dream can change the world.
Co-sponsored by Interhall.
NOON HOUR Wed Mar 18
UC COURTYARD | FREE
Distinct voices and personal expressions. Co-presented with CFRU 93.3FM.
DOCURAMA Thurs Mar 19
ROZANSKI 105 | FREE
A requiem for a still grand city.
Co-sponsored by the McLaughlin Library.
NOON HOUR Thurs Apr 2
UC COURTYARD | FREE
Experience Mongolian folk-rock live! Co-presented with CFRU 93.3FM.
NEWS
Under the Riker’s Island rescue
Radar
U of G Blue Dot campaign
The Blue Dot campaign is a
national initiative, founded and
run by the David Suzuki Foundation, supporting the movement to
include the right to live in a healthy
environment under judicial regulation in Canada.
“Around the world, more than
110 nations recognize the right to
live in a healthy environment,”
reads the Blue Dot site’s main page,
“but not Canada.”
The campaign looks to highlight the importance of a healthy
environment to the daily lives of
Canadians – because, David Suzuki
asks, “what’s more important than
the right to breath fresh air, drink
clean water, and eat healthy food?”
The Guelph Students for Environmental
Change
(GSEC)
campus organization have thrown
their weight behind the campaign.
Kicking off the local Guelph campaign on Monday, March 9, GSEC
volunteers caught the eye of students passing by with a bright,
cheerful rainbow parachute – a
perfect complement to fresh air
and sunny day.
Running until Friday, March 13
is a competition between universities across Canada, looking to see
who can add the most signatures to
the Blue Dot petition, in support
of change at the local and national
level. To date, almost 70,000
Canadians have signed the Blue
Dot petition.
“The goal is to alter the power
of citizens so that they can defend
their environment in court [and]
improve environmental regulations,” said Kathryn Stasiuk
Riddell, an executive member for
GSEC. The campaign also looks “to
make it possible to move backward
on environmental regulation.”
The University of Guelph
campus Blue Dot challenge has
already garnered 106 signatures of
their 200-signature goal. GSEC is
looking for the City of Guelph to
pass a “municipal declaration in
support of environmental rights.”
Across Canada, local communities are taking action to “encourage
leadership at the provincial and
federal level,” which Blue Dot
and GSEC hope will lead to “recognition for the right to a healthy
environment.”
Above all, GSEC – and the Blue
Dot movement as a whole – hope
that small movements can help to
lift the “rising tide” of environmental health, as “ordinary people
come together to take extraordinary action.”
- Compiled by Alyssa Ottema
Inmates
rescue female
officer at
correctional
facility
TIANN NANTAIS
Riker’s Island, New York City’s
central jail complex and the
second-largest prison facility in
the United States, has been the
subject of recent focus, following the attempted sexual assault
of a female prison guard. On the
evening of Feb. 28, the prison –
which is notorious for inmate
abuse, with over 100 reported
cases of abuse by staff in 2013 –
saw a surprising turn of events.
27 year-old Raleek Young, a
prisoner at the facility, was able
to get inside the watch-post of
the Anna M. Kross Center at
the prison, alone with a female
officer. Young then choked the
officer, according to authorities,
dragging her into an adjoining
bathroom and pulling down his
pants.
From outside the watch-post,
a group of inmates caught a partial view of Young assaulting the
female officer. Young was able
to get inside the watch-post by
asserting his need to pass through
to get a mattress from another
unit. When the group of inmates
witnessed the unsettling altercation, they immediately came to
the aid of the guard.
Several prisoners proceeded to
tear back the plastic protective
glass, leaving enough room for a
“skinny” inmate to sneak inside
and open the security door. After
making their way into the watch
post, the group fought to remove
Young – who weighs nearly 300
lbs – from atop the female prison
guard.
Young had been previously
convicted for raping a 13-year-old
girl and was sentenced to serve up
to 10 years.
Common cents
A look at this
week’s biggest
business
ALEXANDRA GRANT
Sunday, March 8 – International
Women’s Day for 2015 – was
joined by another momentous
occasion, thanks to the Clinton
Foundation and the NotThere.
org. In connection with the day’s
events, the foundation worked
to have female faces and images
removed from known advertisements and billboards across New
York City. Leaving more than 40
different adverts blank all over the
city, the campaign was a symbol of
the gender inequality still present
today – economically and otherwise, women just aren’t there yet.
Despite the European accord
last month to extend a financial lifeline to Greece, Athens
is rapidly running out of cash,
and as such is scrambling to find
new, even radical ways to fill the
shortfall. Greece’s coffers may
be empty before the end of this
month, as tax receipts shrink and
the economy shows signs of lapsing back into recession. Athens
officials have hinted they may
have trouble repaying or refinancing 7 billion Euros owed to
the IMF and other creditors, as
well as government salary and
pension obligations. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has tried to
reassure creditors that Greece will
not default, but in a sign of how
desperately Greece needs money,
his government plans to present
a raft of measures to European
finance ministers in Brussels in
hopes of unlocking aid quickly.
This includes a proposal to enlist
“casual” tax spies – tourists, students, housekeepers, and other
non-professional inspectors – “to
pose, after some basic training, as
customers, on behalf of the tax
authorities, while wired for sound
and video.”
GM declared this week that
it would buy back $5 billion
in company stock this year as
part of a negotiated settlement
with dissident investors. As
part of the deal with the investment group, its leader, Harry J.
Wilson, will withdraw his nomination for election to the G.M.
board, which was negotiated
along with the smaller buyback
plan. The moves avert what could
have been a divisive proxy fight
over how GM would spend its
bulging cash reserves, totaling
more than $25 billion — some of
which is money left over from the
government’s $49 billion bailout
of the automaker in 2009. Last
month, Wilson told GM’s chief
Christian Senger
Riker’s Island prisoners prevented
the rape of a female prison guard.
The New York City Corrections Department confirmed,
shortly following the assault that
“the inmate was arrested” and
“the matter is under investigation.” At his arraignment, Young
faced charges of attempted rape,
sexual abuse, forcible touching,
assault, and harassment.
executive, Mary T. Barra, that he
was heading an effort by hedge
fund investors to prod GM into
spending as much as $8 billion
to buy back shares and help the
company’s stagnant stock price.
However, after negotiations with
the board and Barra, an agreement was reached at $5 billion,
and Wilson’s spot on the board
was released.
NXP Semiconductors declared
last Sunday that it would buy Freescale Semiconductor in an $11.8
billion deal, creating a big maker
of chips for a variety of industries.
Both NXP and Freescale have
benefited from a recent boom, as
companies look to add networking
capabilities to their products. NXP
in particular has had a surge in
demand for near-field communications technology that lets phones
interact wirelessly with equipment
like payment terminals. Richard L.
Clemmer, NXP’s chief executive,
said in a statement, “the combination of NXP and Freescale creates
an industry powerhouse focused
on the high-growth opportunities
in the smarter world.”
“We fully expect to continue
to significantly outgrow the overall market, drive world-class
profitability and generate even
more cash,” concluded Clemmber,
“which, taken together, will maximize value for both Freescale and
NXP shareholders.”
Norman Seabrook, the guards’
union president, paid tribute to
the intervention of the prisoners.
“That could have been their
mother, wife, or sister,” Seabrook
said. Seabrook also added that 90
per cent of the time, inmates are
just “there to do their time and go
home.”
An event such as this raises concerns about the security standards
in prison facilities like Riker’s
Island. With an annual budget of
nearly $1 billion, why is security
on the grounds so lax? How are
members of prison staff getting
away with over 100 cases of inmate
abuse a year, some resulting in the
death of non violent convicts.
Though the welfare of convicted criminals and prison facility
standards may not be the main
concern of the majority, it has
become a serious issue at Riker’s
Island. In the end, it comes down
to the safety of each person who
steps foot in the facility, and without improving conditions for
inmates and staff, no one’s safety
is guaranteed.
TheOntarion.com
6
Issue 176.9 • Thursday, March 12, 2015
Clinton e-mail conundrum
NEWS
Scandal or
manufactured
controversy?
ANJELICA ABARRA
On Monday, March 2, The New
York Times reported that Hillary
Clinton had potentially violated
federal law in her use of a private
email server for both personal and
official business during her time
as Secretary of State. Since then,
Clinton has received intense scrutiny over her use of a personal
email account during her tenure
as Secretary of State.
The Times reported that, “under
federal law, letters and emails
written and received by federal
officials, such as the Secretary of
State, are considered government
records and are supposed to be
retained so that congressional
committees, historians, and members of the news media can find
them.”
The Times coverage set in
motion critical media attention
on Clinton’s lack of transparency.
Many have speculated a link to
national security and her Democratic nomination for president.
On March 3, The Washington
Post asserted that Clinton’s private email “appears to bolster
RONA PROUDFOOT VIA CC BY-SA 2.0
Clinton’s use of a personal email account during her time as Secretary of State has opened up
speculation regarding her Democratic candidacy.
long-standing criticism that Clinton and her husband, former
President Bill Clinton, have not
been transparent.”
On the same day, an article
published on The Atlantic linked
Clinton’s private email to her presidential campaign.
“If the Clintons return to the
White House, we can expect more
suspicious secrets, stonewalling,
and opaqueness, much as we’ve
seen in the past,” wrote Connor
Friedersdorf, a staff writer for the
publication. “Voters have been
given ample warning.”
Compiled research done by
conservative media watchdogs
Media Matters, however, asserts
that the article from The Times
was flawed reporting. The media
frenzy that followed the March
2 Times report has ushered in
Republican partisan analysis.
According to Media Matters
researcher Jeremy Holden, the
media has piled on the scandal
“with innuendo and reckless speculation that is now being cited by
Republicans to justify superfluous Benghazi investigations.”
Amidst the speculative, polarizing discussions surrounding
Co-op Student Awards winners announced
Winners
awarded for
co-op work
achievement
SAMEER CHHABRA
For students looking to gain critical life experience while working on
completing their degrees, the University of Guelph’s co-op program
offers a host of opportunities. The
co-op program affords students the
opportunity to work in a field of
their choice, with employers ranging from small to large in a variety
of businesses, spanning all across
Canada.
Each year, Co-operative Education and Career Services awards three
students for their achievements in
the university’s co-op program.
Third-year Hotel and Food
Administration student Brittany
Ho was awarded as this year’s Co-op
Student of the Year in Commerce
and Social and Applied Human Sciences. She was nominated for her
work at Palm Holdings Inc.
“Brittany has made an outstanding contribution to our company of
many senior executives, department
managers, and front line staff,” said
Angelina Malik, the Regional Director of Sales and Marketing for Palm
Holdings Inc.
Student of the Year in Science
and Engineering was awarded to
fifth-year biological engineering
student, Li (Danny) Liang. For his
placement, Liang worked at FUJIFILM VisualSonics, an ultrasound
company in Toronto that specializes
in developing high frequency ultrasound imaging systems.
“I have been a co-op student for
my entire time at [the University of
Guelph],” explained Liang. “I’ve had
the opportunity to work at a lab, a
start-up biotech company, and a
larger biotech company through
co-op.”
Liang described the experience as
“excellent.” At FUJIFILMS, Liang
had the opportunity to work in a
variety of positions, learning about
mechanical engineering, electrical
engineering, manufacturing, marketing, and even quality assurance.
Liang plans on moving on to medical school, so that “[he] can get more
clinical experience to compliment
[his] engineering education.”
To the students hoping to succeed
in their studies and their careers,
Liang’s advice is, “have less, do more,
be more!”
Tim Martin is the final Co-op Student Award winner, who was awarded
the Collin Cureatz Memorial Award
for Co-op Student Involvement. The
Cureatz award is given to a student
who has contributed to the betterment of the University of Guelph
co-op program or to co-op student
life during the award year. The award
itself was named after a University
of Guelph co-op student, Collin
Cureatz, whose marks, talent, and
enthusiasm changed the co-op program for the better.
Martin, a fourth-year water
resources engineering student, was
awarded the Cureatz Award for his
time at Samaritans Purse Canada,
in Calgary. Though Martin’s nomination for the award comes from
Samaritan’s Purse Canada, a nondenominational evangelical Christian
organization that provides aid to
hurting people all over the world, he
also spent half of his work semester
at Matrix Solutions Inc. – another
Calgary-based company.
“Both of these work experiences
were incredible,” explained Martin.
“I think my time with Samaritan’s
Purse is what really taught me the
most.”
With Samaritan’s Purse, Martin
worked with the Southern Alberta
Restoration Project (SARP), which
assisted families recovering from the
flooding that occurred in Southern
Alberta in 2013.
“A large portion of our work was
in the reconstruction of flood-damaged homes and properties in High
River,” said Martin. “However, we
were also able to assist in some really
exciting community development
projects as well.”
7
Clinton’s
political
running,
[email protected]
was
no secret. The provocative blog
Gawker first revealed Clinton’s
email address in March 2013,
after hacker Guccifer gained
access to the former White House
staff AOL account. Furthermore,
records have shown that the private email was registered on the
day of her confirmation hearing
back in January 2009.
In 2014, when asked by state
representatives for her records,
Clinton sent all 55, 000 pages of
her emails.
The extreme opinions on
Clinton’s use of a private server
notwithstanding, the media
frenzy lacks precedence over the
actual materialization of an email
review. According to State officials, such a review could take
months. Republican and Democrat strategists can only wait for
results.
In the meantime, Clinton’s
email “scandal” can be analyzed
as a double-edged sword in the
presidential running. Thus far,
Clinton stands for above any
other potential candidates running for the Democratic Party.
Controversy surrounding Clinton’s transparency has its practical
impact. With the elections less
than a year away, it is expected of
Clinton to start getting vetted by
real opposition.
Though Martin’s efforts helping the people of Southern Alberta
concluded with his work term, he
is quick to mention that the SARP
is still ongoing. As for Martin, he
will be rejoining Matrix Solutions
for his final work term this May.
“I can’t tell…for sure what the
next few years will look like for me,
but I am really hoping that I will be
able to continue growing my practical skills and knowledge through
working in the industry, while still
staying involved in some development work during my time off.”
All three students, including the
winners of the National Co-op
Employer of the Year and Guelph
Co-op Employer of the Year
Awards – PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and Canadian Solar Inc.,
respectively – will be honoured at
a reception in Cutten Fields on
March 12, 2015.
Students looking to get involved
with the university’s co-op program should consult a program
counsellor to discuss the possible
opportunities.
8
ARTS & CULTURE
The Weekly Scene: Conan the Barbarian (2011)
1.5
Cinematicallyincoherentfever-dreams
out of 4
SAMEER CHHABRA
There’s something wrong with a movie
if a story about a violent, revengeobsessed barbarian is boring. Of all
the possible permutations of all the
possible combinations of stories that
can result from a character’s singleminded quest for retribution, that
Conan the Barbarian is dull casts a dark
shadow over the state of modern action
movies. Make no mistake, Conan the
Barbarian, though based on a pulp
fiction hero from 1932, is a modern
action movie. Filled to the brim with
computer-generated scenes of blood,
enough pointless violence to warrant
a performance of “Kumbaya,” and a
camera that refuses to focus on the subjects of a scene, Marcus Nispel’s film
falls prey to the tropes of the modern
action movie’s cinematic vocabulary.
The film stars Jason Momoa as the
titular barbarian. Intrepid viewers
will note that Momoa’s other acting
credits include the Dothraki warlord
Khal Drogo, from HBO’s Game of
Thrones. For fans expecting a performance worthy of Drogo, be warned:
Momoa’s acting is stiff and his character is nowhere near as interesting.
Joined by Rachel Nichols as the film’s
stereotypical female lead and Stephen
Lang as the story’s requisite villainwith-a-justifiable-purpose,
Nispel’s
film is ripe with cinematic stereotypes
and expected trappings.
This movie features talented actors
in lifeless roles. That none of the
film’s cast chooses to do anything
with their performances is indicative
of a failing of the Stravinsky method.
Perhaps fully immersing one’s self in
one’s character is not advisable when
the character contains no personality?
Regardless, with the sole exception of a
brief cameo by Ron Perlman – whose
talents, sadly, are still not enough to
make a difference – Conan’s cast cashin weak performances.
My earlier comment about method
acting notwithstanding, I recognize the
lack of logic associated with being critical of a film clearly designed to earn
the studio money. This is a sword-andsorcery movie. This is a story about
an angry, shirtless, loincloth-wearing
man’s desire to exact revenge on the
man who burned his village and killed
his father. This movie is in no way a
character study on the nobility of
sacrifice.
Historically,
sword-and-sorcery
films have been one step below fratcomedies on the cinematic ladder.
In fact, even the most ardent fans
of the genre will admit that the best
sword-and-sorcery films are filled with
oddball comedy and cornball goofiness. Direction is typically shoddy at
best, cinematography is practically
nonexistent, and the only thing less
present than production value is strong
acting. However, much like all movies,
sword-and-sorcery stories contain a
powerful, entertaining quality that is
sadly lacking in Nispel’s particular take
on the Conan story.
By no means are sword-and-sorcery movies supposed to push the
boundaries of style, but the action
is still typically framed in a cohesive, comprehensible way. Much
of Conan the Barbarian suffers not
because of its actors or its premise,
but because of the camera’s refusal
COURTESY PHOTO
to situate itself anywhere remotely
near the action. When warriors are
struck – and blood spurts everywhere – for some unintelligible
reason, the camera insists on framing
the scene slightly above or below the
strike. For an R-rated film, Conan
the Barbarian is strangely lacking
in anything explicitly mature. Certainly, warriors, priests, horsemen,
and archers die, but the camera
is either too far away, obscure, or
shaking too much for the audience
to truly discern anything.
There is one scene, however, that
should be added to Nispel’s portfolio.
In an attempt to kill Conan, the witchdaughter of Stephen Lang’s villainous
Khalar Zym summons warriors made
of sand to execute the barbarian. As
Conan strikes and stabs his opponents,
as the sand warriors fall to the ground
– cracking or mixing with the Earth
– the camera rises and falls with each
blow. I wonder, who was behind the
camera during that particular scene?
Why could their work not have been
present more often?
Of course, this is by no means a
deplorable or even a downright wasteful film. Indeed, what the movie lacks
in acting, writing, cinematography,
and direction, it more than makes up
for in pure atmosphere. Tyler Bates,
whose work can be heard in a chorus
of better movies, saves Conan with his
eclectic mix or Middle Eastern strings
and drums crossed with European
symphony. If there is anything that
saves this movie, it’s the fact that closing
one’s eyes – and opening one’s ears
– activates a powerful symphony
of evocative, moving music.
It’s such a shame that Marcus
Nispel has to ruin it by insisting
his actors speak.
Cover to cover
Wild: From
Lost To Found
On the Pacific
Crest Trail
Memoir by
Cheryl Strayed
offers powerful
nonfiction read
DIANA KURZEJA
A number-one national bestseller
and now motion picture, Wild, by
Cheryl Strayed, reaches above and
beyond expectations. A tale of a
woman who loses everything she
loves, Wild captures the journey of
a woman who decides she no longer
has anything to lose, and makes one
of the most difficult decisions of her
life. Wild is the story of a woman
who makes the bold choice to pack
her bag and hike over a thousand
miles along the Pacific Crest Trail,
from the Mojave Desert through
California and Oregon to Washington State, all on her own.
At first, the novel was not at all
what I expected it to be – starting
off a little slow and seemingly selfabsorbed. I was quickly proven
wrong in my assumptions. With
each page I turned, I felt a growing connection with the author I
didn’t think was possible. Cheryl
is forced to deal with the struggle
of finding her sense of identity
after a tragic loss that tears her life
apart, leaving her to pick up the
pieces. Cheryl’s unconventional
behaviours and coping skills left
me confused, angry, and frustrated with her. I wondered why
she chose such a self-destructive
path. What turned my opinion of
Cheryl around was her open honesty in admitting her mistakes.
Cheryl doesn’t run from blame,
but instead forces herself to face
her flaws, her heartbreak, and her
grief.
Wild is a story of joy more than
it is a story of pain. It is a story
about family, heartbreak, and
growing up when you are left with
no other choice. This memoir isn’t
the simple tale of a woman who
goes on a hike, unprepared and
inexperienced, and finds herself
at the end of the trail. It is an
uplifting memoir about strength,
independence, love, and walking
towards your own light through
the pain. Cheryl does not wait for
anyone to come save her, and it is
her unwavering bravery and determination that pulls her out from
her spiralling low.
“...a
heartbreaking,
soul-lifting,
humorous
memoir...”
Wild is beautifully written and
incredibly engaging once Cheryl
reaches the trail and begins her
journey. It may be difficult for
some to stay interested prior to
Cheryl reaching the trail, especially
for those who are solely looking
for a solo-backpacker’s account of
her emotionally-fuelled journey
through the wild, but it is definitely worth the read for when she
reaches this point in the memoir.
Wild is a heartbreaking, soullifting, humorous memoir that I
would highly recommend to any
open-minded reader looking for an
untraditional story of inspiration.
It is a wonderful reminder that,
regardless of how difficult life can
get, there is always the possibility
of change, newfound strength, and
a chance to rebuild.
COURTESY PHOTO
Cheryl Strayed’s memoir, Wild: From Lost to Found on the
Pacific Crest Trail, starts off slow, but picks up quickly with its
considerable depth and sometimes humourous, sometimes
harrowing tone.
“ The most
certain way
to succeed
is always to
try just one
more time.”
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arts supplement
Deadline Thursday March 19, 2015.
Do you have a piece of personal poetry, an artistic photograph,
a favourite sketch or painting that you would like published?
Submit your piece to [email protected] or
[email protected] by Thursday, March 19 at noon
and you could see your work featured in the centre
spread of our arts issue!
› Thomas Edison: Relentless Inventiveness
Failure is no biggie. Just ask Edison. If he stopped
at failure, he would never have moved on to invent
a little thing called the light bulb. So if you’ve failed
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Put your opinions to the test
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You’ll get to Have your opinions
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read all over campus!
10
ARTS & CULTURE
Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret
Moo-ving
toward a
solution
for climate
change?
RACHEL VAN ZEUMEREN
On Friday, March 6, the documentary
Cowspiracy, directed by Kip Anderson, was shown at Silence, leaving
many in the audience shocked. Anita
Krajnc, the founder and co-organizer
of The “Save Movement,” which promotes a vegan lifestyle and en masse
grassroots activism by revealing the
brutal truths about farmed animals,
started the evening with a discussion.
The crowd agreed that climate change
was a massive problem, and many
thought it could mean the end of
human and animal life. Krajnc agreed,
and she was inspired to do something
about the injustice she saw everyday on the highway, in the form of
transport trucks shipping animals to
be slaughtered. She believes you have
to take action in the face of injustice,
and that is what she has done. With a
PhD in political science, and numerous awards and grants for her work in
saving animals, she works on research
about climate change everyday.
Krajnc talked about the lag time
in climate degradation, and worries
immensely about the condition we
will leave the earth in for future generations. After watching Cowspiracy,
most of the people in the room shared
her concerns.
The film reveals that the animal
agriculture business has a large
carbon footprint that is not
addressed by major environmental
activist groups. If nothing is done to
lessen the greenhouse gases emitted
by industrial agriculture, the world
could very well face major extinctions and drought, countries could
become submerged by water, and
future wars could be fought over
natural resources.
A report from the United Nations
warns that livestock is responsible for
65 per cent of all emissions of nitrous
oxide – a greenhouse gas 296 times
more destructive than carbon dioxide
and, one that stays in the atmosphere
for 150 years. The amount of water
used to produce meat, eggs, and other
animal products is shocking as well.
Cutting back and conserving water in
homes seems moot when the Center
for Science in the Public Interest
reveals that five per cent of water consumed in the US is by private homes
and 55 per cent of water consumed in
the US is for animal agriculture. There
are copious peer-reviewed studies
showing that agriculture is the number-one cause of land degradation, the
leading cause of loss rainforest loss,
species extinction, ocean dead zones,
water pollution, and habitat destruction. Environmental groups and
governments are not addressing these
issues, and Anderson had an extremely
hard time getting representatives from
environmental activist groups to speak
to him on the subject. Anderson lost
his financial backing due to the controversial nature of his documentary,
but knew it was extremely important
to finish the project and get his message out.
Thankfully, there was a humorous
tone that lightened the dark subject
of the film. Anderson’s dry sense of
humor was much appreciated, and a
chicken named Carol stole the show.
The end message was clear; if you call
yourself an environmentalist, you
cannot eat animal products. There is
a solution to climate change if we stop
eating animals and animal products.
Transforming how our society eats is
a choice, we can do it but we have to
choose to do it.
Afterwards, a discussion followed.
Some in the crowd questioned some
of Anderson’s calculations in the film,
and felt as though there was oversight
in regards to farmers in the agribusiness. Some audience members
believed that the film was too critical
of certain people or groups. Another
audience member thought the health
benefits of veganism were not mentioned enough, and that by staying
out of the hospital, vegans also help
lessen climate change. There was not
a lot of room in the discussion for
doubters of the film, and the majority
seemed to agree wholeheartedly with
the film’s core message.
Drake - If You’re Reading
This It’s Too Late
“My numbers
don’t lie to me,
baby”
MATTEO CIMELLARO
A month has passed since the
Beyonce-like secret release of Drake’s
If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late
(IYRTITL), and it’s still arguably
the hottest thing out right now. The
numbers prove this – Drake has sold
a shocking 535,000 copies; he has over
17.5 million streams on Spotify, and
the ridiculous thing is: IYRTITL is
only a mixtape.
In the past, Drake has been trying
to prove his worth as the greatest in
the game, and the difference with this
project? He just is. Drake has charted
all 17 tracks of his tape on the Hot
R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. And
Drake has matched a feat reached
only by the Beatles in 1964 by charting 14 songs on the Billboard Top 100.
Let me reiterate something: this is a
mixtape – not even his studio album,
Views from the Six, expected later this
year.
I was working a few Thursday
nights ago when my homie texted:
“Yo, you listening to this Drake tape?”
I proceeded to freak out, and got as
giddy as an adolescent who just had
their first few drinks. I ran home after
my shift, dimmed the lights, and
bumped the whole album straight
through. It was incredible.
The first track, “Legend,” like Tuscan
Leather on Nothing was the Same, was
a statement to the rap game: an assertion that Drake is the best. As the tape
progressed, it revealed Drake is not our
sentimental sad rapper anymore – he’s
something much more. Songs like “10
Bands,” “Know Yourself,” and “Used
To,” are going to be bangers constantly
heard in clubs, and most likely, every
house party you go to until the end of
the year. And I’m okay with that.
The production throughout the
mixtape is insane: the beat-drops of
chilling 808s, complemented by the
echoing samples, graced Drake with
the weapons to reach the throne. From
Canadian producers Boi-1da, 40, and
Wundergirl, the tape will have every
squad mobbing until View from the Six
drops.
The features were strong, too.
OVO-signed PartyNextDoor added a
sensual break after all the fire from the
first nine tracks in “Wednesday Night
Interlude.” He also supplied beats he
was featured on, as did Travi$ Scott on
“Company” — as you can tell by the
gothic keys halfway through the track
introducing Scott to the ensemble.
The tape is also the most Toronto
thing Drake has put out thus far. Allusions to the “six,” (the newest name for
Toronto coined by Drake) run rampant through the tape – just like Drake
NRK P3 VIA CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Reppin’ the 6 like no other on the international hip-hop scene,
beloved Toronto rapper Drake dropped his latest mixtape, If
You’re Reading This It’s Too Late, by surprise on Feb. 13.
does in the six with his woes. Samples
of patois are consistently through the
tape – influenced by Toronto’s large
West Indies community, and Toronto’s
street slang.
The new mixtape is indicative of
Drake’s already huge year. It is yet
another impressive stamp on Drake’s
legacy. And it is another huge step
for Toronto’s growing R&B/hip-hop
scene. It is straight fire: IYRTITL gets
a 6/6 from me. All praises be to the
6 God.
Tim Hicks
& Labelle at
Peter Clark Hall
ASHWIN FREYNE
A plaid, blue-jean, and cowboy-boot
uniform was donned by the majority of concert-goers on Wednesday,
March 4 in Peter Clark Hall (PCH).
The venue was packed with an
enthusiastic crowd to see Tim Hicks
perform. Special guests Labelle
opened and warmed up the crowd.
Labelle played classic country tunes
about drinking beer, chewing tobacco,
and driving trucks, but surprised the
crowd with an unexpected but brilliant mashup of Ludacris, David Lee
Murphy, and everyone in between,
before announcing that the headliner
was to arrive shortly.
Despite an almost 30-minute break
between openers and Tim Hicks, the
crowd hardly seemed to notice. Country standards blared from the speakers
and what can only be described as
a hoedown took place in PCH.
Almost every attendee knew how to
line dance, and one of the most synchronized routines Peter Clark Hall
has ever seen went down just as Tim
Hicks took the stage. To say that Hicks
knows how to work a crowd is an
understatement. He played a mix of
party country classics, and songs from
his new album 5:01, as well one of his
few ballads, “She Don’t Drink Whiskey Anymore.” Between songs, Hicks
bantered well with the crowd, taking
selfies with front row attendees and
sharing stories about the band. Boos
were well received when he admitted
he had attended University of Waterloo (he has a bachelor’s in psychology),
but he quickly reminded the crowd
that he had spent his fair share of
nights crawling out of the Brass Taps
after a few too many. An especially
large cheer went out when he proudly
admitted that the entire band had once
been arrested behind Frank and Stein’s
when they were first getting started.
Hicks’ unique blend of pop sensibilities, and country content was
a great addition to what might have
been another uneventful hump day in
Guelph – or as Hicks put it, the start
to a great long weekend.
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12
ARTS & CULTURE
MOHAMMAD MELEBARI // RYAN PRIDDLE
Presenting 25 bands and musicians across two evenings and an afternoon, the fifth annual GAIN Music at Art Festival (GMAF) offered three floors of high energy
performances and some of Guelph’s most active artists.
GAIN Music and Arts Festival rocks Van Gogh’s Ear
Three floors,
two nights of
metal, indie,
hip-hop
ADRIEN POTVIN
There’s a pretty great pun in
Guelph and Area Independent
and New Music’s (GAIN Music)
acronym. If you’re a musician or
electronics techie, you’ll certainly
get it, but to clarify – in amplifiers, the gain level informs the
ratio of an amplifier’s output/
input magnitude, controlling its
ability to amplify the signal from
the instrument to the amp. Gain
controls an amplifier’s volume
capacity in its purest sense, really.
GAIN Music loves volume – as is
clear from its year-round music
programming – and its love-forloud reaches its apex with a yearly
festival held in March.
Hosted on all three floors
of Van Gogh’s Ear, the annual
GAIN Music and Art Festival (GMAF) was held between
March 6 and 8. With two nights
back to back and an afternoon
in between, the yearly festival’s
fifth installation featured 25
bands and musicians from the
area across the weekend, as well
as an art sale, a drum workshop,
a showcase of young musicians
studying with the JamSchool, and
a breakfast courtesy of Salsateria
on the Saturday afternoon of the
festival. Rebranded as the GAIN
Music and Art Festival (GMAF),
this year’s installation featured a
welcomed presence of the area’s
artists, further represented by
Creative Persistence’s “Bangout” – a weekly live art-making
show and raffle where anyone can
participate.
“Tactfully
organized
to bring out
the most
diverse crowd
possible...”
Tactfully organized to bring out
the most diverse crowd possible,
the Friday and Saturday nights of
the festival split the metal/punk
and more indie-oriented offerings, respectively, almost straight
down the middle. Among the
first night’s heavy-hitting highlights were Say Yes, The Ooh
Baby Gimme Mores (OBGMs),
and Strays. Toronto’s Say Yes,
featuring ex-Alexisonfire drummer Jordan Hastings and ex-Saint
Alvia bassist Adam Michael, performed a set of indie-pop tinged
songs that certainly wears the
influence of their former bands
on its sleeve (namely, the rich
vocal harmonies marking Alexisonfire’s music), but still carves
out decidedly new territory
for the trio’s inclinations. The
OBGMs, always a crowd favourite (as obvious by the mosh
that broke out), performed an
unhinged, wild handful of synthpunk songs, sort of like a blend
of Bad Brains, Freezepop, and
Death From Above 1979. Guitar
and drum duo Strays, based out
of Simcoe County, closed the
night on the third floor with a
set of fuzzy, vaguely blues-influenced songs with a distinctively
70s-metal edge.
The second night of the festival toned it down a bit from the
heaviness of the Friday night sets
– focusing more on indie, folk,
and hip-hop. One of the more
noteworthy aspects of the weekend, the third floor lounge was
almost entirely occupied with hiphop sets by Toronto-based YYZ
(pronounced “Wise”), Guelph’s
Vic the NorthStar, and London’s
A-Fos and the Rude Youth. The
first and second floor’s music
included The Elwins, Fitness
Club Fiasco, The Folk, and Marcellus Wallace, who closed the
night to a raucous crowd.
“...the third
floor lounge was
almost entirely
occupied with
hip-hop sets...”
The music of Keswick-based
The Elwins, fresh off the release
of their latest LP Play For Keeps,
is characterized by breezy indiepop flavours and articulate
melodies, making them a certified crowd favourite. Guelph’s
The Folk performed a set on the
second floor with material off
their latest album We All Say. Perhaps giving the name a certain
tongue-in-cheek irony, the fivepiece’s music is marked by jangly
guitars, heavy drums, and epic
build-ups. Another synth-driven
group, Fitness Club Fiasco, provided more danceable tunes with
80s vibes, strong hooks, and
epic swells. Marcellus Wallace, a
sort of Motown-influenced fivepiece from London, closed the
evening with some soulful, tailfeather-shaking rock, getting the
weekend’s swaths of music fans
leaving DSTRCT on a funky,
fresh note.
Over the past year, DSTRCT
has become a headquarters of
sorts for the GAIN Music organization. Founded in 2011, the
group has done countless concerts year-round, in addition
to their yearly festival, but now
with a venue to call its own, and
a growing online A/V presence,
the three floors of Van Gogh’s/
DSTRCT are quickly becoming
a consistent staple of the area’s
musical talent. There’s something to be said about GAIN’s
representation of the area’s metal
scene as well, which is a quiet-but
not-so-quiet aspect of Guelph’s
music scene. As Guelph’s scene
is often punctuated by folk,
indie, and experimental music,
GAIN Music’s efforts to establish
a locale for the city’s metal and
punk voices were surely highlighted by the weekend’s live
music offerings.
Upcoming events
March 13:
-B.A. Johnson “S**t Sucks” album release. 10 p.m.
at Jimmy Jazz. Free show.
-OPIRG Guelph Presents “Freedom to Learn: Challenging the Education Paradigm in Ontario.” Discussion
panel and presentations. 6 to 7:30 p.m. at Mackinnon
Room 107. Free.
-Making Box presents Head-Liners, with Nile Seguin.
Stand-up comedy. 8 p.m. at Making Box Theatre, 40
Baker St. $10.
March 15: Sweet Talk - NYC Improvisational/experimental music group. 8 p.m. at Silence, 46 Essex. PWYC.
March 18: GSA presents Wines of the World. Comparing Chardonnays and Merlots from around the globe.
5:30 p.m. at the Grad Lounge. Tickets available at the
venue.
Issue 176.9 • Thursday, March 12, 2015
SPORTS & HEALTH
Gryphons capture Queen’s Cup
M en ’s h o c k ey
makes
h is to ry
as OUA
C hampi o n s
STEPHANIE CORATTI
It had been 18 years since
the Guelph Gryphons men’s
hockey team last captured the
Ontario University Athletics
championship.
That all changed on March 7.
A sold out crowd of 1,300 fans
were in attendance at the Gryphon
Centre to witness the Gryphons
put forth a complete, dominating
60-minute performance to down
the L’Université du Québec à
Trois-Rivières (UQTR) Patriotes
4-0 to emerge as the winners in
the 104th Queen’s Cup.
Getting the crowd into the
game early, the Gryphons’ leading point-getter Nick Huard
potted the opening goal on the
first shot of the contest – the
eventual game-winner – just 56
seconds into the match-up. With
the quick 1-0 lead, Guelph never
looked back.
Focused and evidently determined to conclude the night as
champions, the Gryphons held
control of almost every aspect of
the game – everything but the
Patriotes goaltender Francis Desrosiers, who was easily the best
MATTHEW AZEVEDO/THE ONTARION
The Guelph Gryphons men’s hockey team raised the Queen’s Cup as the Ontario University
Athletics (OUA) Champions on March 7 for the first time since 1997.
player for the UQTR. Desrosiers,
who was later relieved after the
fourth and final goal, remained
busy throughout the game, facing
a total of 27 shots in just over 50
minutes of play.
The middle frame prompted
another early period goal for
the Gryphons as Scott Simmonds found the back of the
net just 40 seconds in. Now up
2-0, Guelph would be faced
with a desperate Patriotes squad
attempting to claw back into the
contest. The offense wasn’t the
only thing nearing perfect play
for the Gryphons, however, as the
defence responded strong to keep
the UQTR off the scoreboard.
With less than two minutes
remaining in the second period,
the Gryphons would be tested
with some adversity in the shape
of a double minor for highsticking given to Michael Hasson
– the game’s first penalty.
The penalty kill unit would be
given a lucky break, having the
double minor split by the second
intermission. Nevertheless, the
Gryphons successfully killed off
the four-minute disadvantage
Getting a good night’s sleep
Tips to cash
in on our
favourite pass
time
STEPHANIE CORATTI
For most university and college
students, sleep is high up on our
favourite activities. Yet, for that
same majority, we’re often sacrificing sleep to catch up on school
work, study for that midterm we
procrastinated on preparing for,
or even continue binge watching
that recently available season of a
Netflix exclusive.
All-nighters and nights with
little sleep have become all too
common for students, and we
often don’t realize the effects our
out-of-routine sleep schedules
can have on our grades, other
responsibilities, and, overall, our
health in the long-term.
To make sure you’re getting
the necessary amount of sleep
required to stay healthy, keep up
your grades, and have the energy
to do the things you actually want
to do, follow these simple steps.
Avoid caffeine at night. Students become quickly attached
to coffee and caffeinated drinks,
and that all begins with those
tough mornings. Rolling out of
bed might feel like the end of the
world until you get your caffeine
fix to trudge on through the day,
but if you avoid drinking coffee
late at night to keep you up, and
rather, go to sleep at a reasonable time, you can also avoid the
vicious cycle of needing coffee in
the morning to make it through
the day.
Don’t go to bed hungry. Your
sleep and eating schedule go
hand-in-hand, believe it or not.
Eating right before bed can cause
some irregularities in falling
asleep, while going to bed hungry
can further create a distraction
from sleeping. There’s nothing
worse than thinking about the
feast of a breakfast awaiting you
at 1:00 a.m. Knowing that, keep
up a healthy eating schedule –
have a proper dinner to avoid
laying awake hungry when it’s
time to get some rest.
Create and maintain a sleep
schedule, even on weekends. I
know asking a student to wake up
at a normal time on a Saturday
morning is walking a fine-line
between outrageously unreasonable and insane. However,
and looked to be headed full force
towards grabbing the OUA title
as the final period continued.
Extending the lead would be
Simmonds with his second of the
night as the first-year forward
fired one home to make it a 3-0
game just past the halfway point
of the period.
Nine seconds later, in a fitting
touch, Huard would join the twogoal club as the Gryphons veteran
put one through Desrosiers fivehole to solidify the 4-0 victory.
With just over nine minutes
remaining in the OUA final, all
maintaining a proper sleep schedule will help condition your mind
and body, making it easier to
wake up on those mornings when
the snooze button wins.
Disconnect. If anything will
help in getting a better night’s
rest, it’s keeping your hands off
all electronics – your Instagram
feed can wait until the morning. Of course, we’re all guilty
of the “I can’t sleep” complaint,
yet it would be fairly standard
to assume most of those complaints come paired with a bright
cell phone inches from our face
as we constantly refresh a Twitter feed that hasn’t been updated
since the last time you checked…
three minutes ago. Put down your
phone and close your eyes. It will
do wonders.
Try to avoid naps. We can all
agree that few things are better
13
eyes were on the clock as first-year
netminder Andrew D’Agostini
went to work. The Scarborough,
Ontario native came up with
a flurry of big saves through
the final minutes, including an
impressively quick glove-save and
a solid pad-stop as UQTR was
pushing for anything.
D’Agostini would be perfect on
the night, stopping all 18 shots
for the shutout performance en
route to the OUA Championship. It would be the first time
a goaltender recorded a shutout
against the UQTR throughout
the entire 2014-15 campaign, and
postseason.
The Gryphons went on to
celebrate the program’s eighth
provincial title with the classic flurry of sticks, helmets, and
gloves scattered.
D’Agostini, already named
to the OUA West All-Rookie
team, would earn the Player
of the Game, while Huard was
given Most Valuable Player
honours for his remarkable performance throughout the 2015
OUA Playoffs. Huard concluded
the postseason with seven goals
through nine games played.
With the OUA title in hand, the
Gryphons now look to Nationals
– the Canadian Interuniversity
Sport (CIS) Championship in
Halifax running from March 12
to 15.
The third-ranked Gryphons
will take on the sixth-ranked
Calgary Dinos to begin the tournament on March 12.
than a good nap in the middle
of the day. Nevertheless, if you’re
sleeping enough at night, you
wouldn’t need to split up your
day with that 30-minute power
nap. If you feel you do need those
extra minutes, however, try to
grab them before 3:00 p.m., and
avoid napping longer than 20
minutes. Any later or longer and
you’ll have trouble falling asleep
at a reasonable time that night.
Set an alarm… to go to sleep.
Some of us might be night owls,
so we do a lot of our work late into
the night. If you’re the kind of
person who loses track of the time,
set an alarm to remind yourself to
go to bed. Whatever you’re working on can wait for the morning,
and chances are, the morning will
prove to be a more efficient and
effective work environment after a
good night’s rest.
some of the things
we were thinking abou
on international wom
this year
alyssa ottema
#womenyoushouldhaveheardof
UN PHOTO/MARK GARTEN VIA CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Emma Watson HeForShe Q&A session
On March 8, to celebrate International Women’s Day,
United Nations Women’s HeForShe campaign hosted a
Q&A session with Ambassador Emma Watson, moderated by Greg James.
HeForShe, launched in September of 2014, is a “movement for gender equality that brings together one half of
humanity in support of the other half […] for the benefit
of all.”
When speaking with James about the stigma surrounding the word “feminism,” Watson noted that many
issues with the word are due to a synonymy with “man
hate.”
“That’s really negative,” Watson noted to James and
the 150 in attendance at Facebook’s London headquarters. “But I think that’s changing, which is really cool. […]
People have come back to what the actual definition
means, which is equality – politically, culturally, socially,
economically…that’s it.”
Watson also spoke about being targeted following her
first UN address last fall. A hoax website threatened to
leak nude photos of Watson, which Watson recalled to
be “a wake-up call.”
“This is a real thing; it’s happening now,” Watson
revealed to James of her thoughts following the threat.
“I was just raging. It made me so angry. I was like, ‘this is
why this needs to be! This is why I have to be doing this!’”
Watson also noted that effecting change is not necessarily about grand gestures, but rather about consistent,
small actions.
“It’s everyday, it’s individual, it’s on a case-by-case
basis,” said Watson, “whether it’s speaking up or trying
to change the way someone else thinks about an issue.”
Such a small gesture might be as simple as identifying
as feminist, Watson noted.
“If you stand for equality, then you’re a feminist,” said
Watson, quipping to James, “I’m sorry to tell you, but
you’re a feminist.”
Watson also urged every listener to reach for whatever
they want most, regardless of external pressures.
“Don’t let anyone tell you what you can or cannot do,”
Watson concluded. “Be what you want to be, and prove
them wrong.”
On International Women’s Day, the hashtag “womenyoushouldhaveheardof” trended on Twitter,
championing female pioneers in science and technology. The trend allowed for a reflection of how far
society has come in terms of gender equality, while also giving credit where credit was due to awesome ladies throughout history.
1. Rosalind Franklin, an x-ray crystallographer, helped to discover the structure of DNA. Perhaps
because she passed away before the nomination, Franklin was not included when her colleagues
were awarded the Nobel Prize for this discovery.
2. Katherine Johnson, an American physicist and mathematician, worked with NASA on the Apollo
11 mission and Space Shuttle program, amongst other huge projects. Her work was so accurate that
NASA would ask Johnson to check computer calculations for error.
3. Valentina Tereshkova was the first woman to travel to space, in June of 1963. At just 26, Tereshkova orbited Earth 48 times, spending three full days in space and logging more time than the
combined hours of the American astronauts who had so far travelled to space.
4. A.A.L, also known as Augusta Ada Lovelace, is not only the first female computer programmer,
but also the world’s first computer programmer. In an 1844 paper discussing a “theoretical machine,”
Lovelace wrote a set of commands that would allow the machine to generate Bernoulli numbers.
5. Marie Sklodowska Curie – once rejected admission to university on the basis of her gender – is
perhaps better known than other female scientific pioneers. The extent to which she contributed,
however, is often overlooked. Curie is both the first woman to be awarded a Nobel Prize and the only
person in history to be awarded two Nobel Prizes in two different scientific fields.
Ontario's new sexual violence and harassment legislation
To mark the annual celebration of International Women’s Day, Ontario Premier
Kathleen Wynne unveiled a new, $41 million, three-year initiative on March 6. With
the initiative, Wynne hopes to address
the plaguing social issues of sexual violence and harassment.
The statistics of Wynne’s initiative are
shocking: each year in Canada, there
are 460,000 assaults. For every 1000 of
these, only 33 are reported, only 12 see
charges, only six see prosecution, and
only three see conviction.
In her address announcing the new
ALEX GUIBORD VIA CC BY-ND 2.0
initiative, Wynne noted that her plan
involves everyone – men and women – for its efficacy.
“It doesn’t matter – age or culture or race or sexual orientation,” said Wynne. “None of that is relevant to the fact that these are acts of sexual violence and sexual assault that are unacceptable.”
The 35-page plan, entitled “It’s Never Okay,” looks to raise awareness and educate widely. Under
this, colleges and universities would be required to renew and update a sexual assault policy every
four years, as well as consistently report rates of sexual violence. As well, the two-year statute of limitations on civil sexual assault claims would be eliminated.
“At its core, this is a plan to change behaviours and challenge social norms,” Wynne concluded.
“These are learned behaviours, which means that they can be unlearned – or, better yet, never learned
in the first place.”
t
en's day
If I Were 23: Lessons to My Younger Self
On March 9, Guelph Commerce Women in Business,
in association with the Leadership & Organizational
Management Student Association, hosted “If I Were
23: Lessons to My Younger Self,” in honour of International Women’s Day.
The talk featured four female trailblazers in varying
fields: Anne Sado, President of George Brown College;
Sandra Ayala, Manager of Human Capital Consulting for Deloitte Canada; Saba Rehmani, Engagement
Manager for Oliver Wyman; and Robin Tameshtit,
Director of Kids & Teen Print for Indigo.
The women shared their best advice to those
ALYSSA OTTEMA/THE ONTARION
approaching their impending “careers.”
“Build relationships,” Sado told the audience, citing it as her biggest piece of advice. “The ability to build
strong relationships [is] a driving force behind my success.”
Citing research from the Catalyst organization, Sado also shared that “companies with the highest representation of women on their senior management teams experienced better financial performance.”
“So, it’s been proven that women are good for business,” Sado quipped.
Ayala’s biggest advice was to prepare for the “many ups and downs” of career and personal life, terming the
downs to simply be “valleys of despair” for us to face and climb out of.
“Forget your ego,” Ayala said of the best way to approach these hills and valleys of life. “Try to learn something
different each year [and look for] a new challenge, always.”
Rehmani, Skyping in from a layover at JFK International, encouraged the audience to “do the things that scare
you,” be they more tangible fears, like heights, or more abstract in reaching for things throughout your career.
“It’s going to be difficult and it’s going to be scary, but you’re going to have to do it, so it’s important to just
face your fears,” Rehmani added.
Tameshtit urged the audience to think as big as they like, noting that nothing is too silly to be part of your
dream.
“When someone asked me what my dream job was, I said ‘I’d love to work with Kermit the Frog,’” Tameshtit
quipped.
Concluding on a more serious tone, Tameshtit shared that, “at the end of the day, you have to answer to yourself,” suggesting a “sweet spot” between work and enjoyment, and asking each listener to “find something […]
that speaks to your passions.”
#NotThere
In a collaboration between the Clinton Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, women across
New York – and across the globe on social media – disappeared on March 8.
The No Ceilings initiative involved existing advertisements, posters, and media to cut their featured women
in a campaign drawing attention to gender inequality. Conde Nast, Beats, iHeartMedia, Unilever, and Under
Armour all participated, along with celebrities and political figures worldwide.
The goal was to drive traffic to the Not There website, which features a detailed report on the international
status of women. Not There hones in on troubling data regarding the women’s global issues. With interactive
graphs and maps, the site confronts the reader with statistics: one in four girls is married before 18; only 32
per cent of girls have a protected right to secondary education; one in three women suffer sexual or physical
violence; in 2015, some women are still withheld the right to vote.
The campaign draws attention to the problems facing women and girls across the world. In India, for
example, one in 30 girls will give birth under the age of 18, and 25.9 million child brides reside in the country.
In Iraq, the UN reports an illiteracy rate of more than a quarter of females over 12. Although the nation just
saw the election of Baghdad’s first female mayor – as well as the Middle East’s first female judge, government
minister, and ambassador – only 14 per cent of women are part of the work force.
“This symbolic act reflected what a new analysis of women and girls’ progress says about the state of
gender equality,” the site declares: “We’re not there yet.”
MATTHEW AZEVEDO/THE ONTARION
International Women's Day event at U of G
On March 6, the Guelph Resource Centre
for Gender Empowerment and Diversity
(GRCGED), in partnership with Ontario
Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG)
Guelph, held an event in honour International Women’s Day. Featuring guest
speakers, an art and resource display, and a
mid-day lunch, the event celebrated movement towards equality for all.
The event, set up in the UC, featured
speakers Dr. Sharada Srinivasan and Dr.
Paloma Villegas. Dr. Srinivasan, the Canada
Research Chair in Gender, Justice, and
Development, presented a short lecture
entitled “Daughters and gender transformation in India.”
Her talk focused on the “Daughter deficit”
and gendered experiences of violence and
discrimination in India. Dr. Srinivasan also
tackled broader issues, like female empowerment and activism.
Dr. Villegas, a professor in the department of Sociology and Equity Studies in
Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto,
gave a short presentation entitled “Mexican
Migrants and precarious immigration status
in Toronto.”
The lecture engaged with immigration
status in relation to gender-based violence,
as well as trends of migration, illegal status,
and a “world of internal borders.”
The event also showcased organizations
from across campus and the city. Resources
were available from GRCGED, Guelph-Wellington Women in Crisis, OPIRG-Guelph for
environmental and social justice, United for
Equity, and Guelph’s HIV/Aids Resources
and Community Healthy organization.
16
SPORTS & HEALTH
Women lose OUA final, look to Nationals
A silver medal,
but paired
with a shot at
redemption
MATTHEW AZEVEDO
With a 2-0 loss on March 7,
the Guelph Gryphons women’s
hockey team earned their fourth
Ontario University Athletics
(OUA) silver medal in the past
seven years. The loss came at the
hands of the Western Mustangs
who won their program’s first
OUA title and head to the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS)
National tournament, ranked
second in the country.
MATTHEW AZEVEDO/THE ONTARION
“Needless
to say, the
pressure will
be high...”
Mustangs’ forward Sydney Kidd
opened the scoring 49 seconds
into the middle frame with what
would later be the game-winning
goal. Kendra Broad notched a
second for the Mustangs 6:42
into the third period, and though
the Gryphons fought hard to cut
the lead in half, they couldn’t
beat Mustang’s all-star goaltender
Kelly Campbell. Campbell would
With a 2-0 loss to the Western Mustangs on March 7, the Guelph Gryphons have their fourth OUA
silver medal in seven years. They faceoff against St. Francis Xavier University in Calgary in the CIS
quarter-finals on March 12.
go on to earn her first shutout of the
playoffs in the victory.
“I thought it was a pretty even
game. We had our chances, but
their chances went in,” Head Coach
Scott McMillan offered after the
game. “Today, the coin went up and
came down heads, and next time it’s
going to come down tails.”
“They worked really hard. We’re
proud of the girls. We’re proud of
what they were able to accomplish
in this OUA season.”
It’s been a frustrating stretch for
the Gryphons, who haven’t won
an OUA title since their 199798 season. There’s a silver lining
this year, though, as Guelph has
advanced to the CIS tournament
despite the loss, thanks to a new rule
change that sends both the OUA
champion and finalist to represent
Ontario at Nationals.
Additionally, new to the CIS
tournament is its format: singleelimination. The Gryphons’ first
game, March 12 versus St. Francis Xavier University (St. FX), is a
must-win quarterfinal. Win, and it’s
on to the CIS final four; lose, and
they play for pride in a consolation
match-up. Needless to say, the pressure will be high. However, at least
the Gryphons have been here this
The untouchable Steph Curry
A look at
Curry’s
magisterial
season
EMILIO GHLOUM
Lebron James and Kevin Durant
have dominated the NBA scene
as kings of the court for many
seasons, undeniably leading their
respective teams to tremendous
success. However, a new challenger approaches standing at
six-foot-three, a shooting guard
by the name of Steph Curry.
Haven’t heard of him? He’s
a member of the Golden State
Warriors, who currently hold the
best record in the entire NBA
(as of March 10). Curry is one of
the most electrifying players in
basketball right now. Everybody
is talking about him, and everybody wants him on their team.
His rise to superstardom has been
meteoric; playing in only his
sixth season, Curry has already
established himself as a dominant
force to be reckoned with.
Everything from shooting the
lights out in the three-point contest during All-Star Weekend to
showcasing his ridiculous dribbling skills in regular-season
games, Steph Curry is a classic
two-way point guard. Watching the Golden State Warriors
play is definitely a treat. They
are the most fluid team in the
NBA – with core players like
Klay Thompson, Andrew Bogut,
and Draymond Green, names
that boast a poised assumption to
finish highly in the playoffs.
But you know what the best
part of Curry’s rise to superstardom and his magical season is?
It’s that he knows it. He is confident in his ability, yet remains
humble and continues to work
hard during every game, leading
his team to win after win. This
past week against the Los Angeles Clippers, Curry took a deep
three-pointer late in the third
quarter, and, before the ball went
in, he turned and started walking away. How long as it been
since we’ve seen a player with this
much swagger and confidence?
The closest example I could think
year – in Calgary, that is.
The Gryphons flew out to Calgary for three pre-season games
versus Western Conference teams in
September, knowing that Calgary
was hosting the national tournament this year and next.
“We know we have a really strong
program moving forward, so we
thought: let’s go this year,” explained
Head Coach Rachel Flanagan (currently on maternity leave). She told
her girls to remember everything
from the rink to the hotel rooms,
hoping the exposure would give
them an advantage over teams unfamiliar with Calgary’s facilities.
of is Gilbert Arenas in the ’06-’07
season.
“...Curry
has already
established
himself as a
dominant force
to be reckoned
with.”
It’s refreshing to see a player
like Steph Curry become an NBA
sensation. His popularity in the
league has skyrocketed over the
past few seasons, cementing him
Something else they got exposure to was the rougher style of
play in the Canada West Division.
Flanagan remembers a 5-1 loss at
the hands of University of British
Columbia (UBC).
“They threw us around and we
didn’t know what to do about it,”
Flanagan explained of the matchup. “[But] we’ve been there now,
we’ve seen that style of play [and]
we have to be prepared to play
against [it].”
More fearsome, and immediately pressing, than the West’s
more physical style of play is a
skilled McGill Marlets side that
has won four national titles in
the past 10 years – the most of
any team in that time frame. If
Guelph can get past their first
round opponent, St. FX, they will
likely face McGill, the nation’s top
ranked team (who are favoured
to beat the non-ranked Calgary
in their quarter final match-up).
With three of the country’s top 10
scorers, not including Canadian
Olympic gold medalist Mélodie
Daoust who just returned Feb.
12 from a pre-season injury, the
Marlets will be a team to be reckoned with.
Flanagan knows a tough challenge lies ahead, and admits the
Gryphons are underdogs headed
into Calgary, but has hope.
“We’re young and we have great
leadership,” Flanagan explained.
“If we can build on our experience here today [March 7 loss
to Western] – that feeling, that
‘Yeah we lost today but it’s not
over,’ and [Nationals] is the tournament that means everything
– we could surprise some teams.”
as one of the top caliber players in the league. Averaging 23.8
points-per-game with a 48.5 field
goal percentage, (as of March 10)
Curry is a strong contender for
this season’s MVP award.
With everything from having
his own line of sneakers, to being
referenced in a Drake song, Steph
Curry is at his prime – and he’s
only moving upwards. Players like
Curry are hard to come by – he
is exhilarating, captivating, and
his love for the game of basketball is contagious to all those who
watch him. The outcome of the
playoffs has yet to be determined,
but with the tremendous success
of the Golden State Warriors this
regular season, it is more obvious than ever that Steph Curry is
untouchable.
Issue 176.9 • Thursday, March 12, 2015
SPORTS & HEALTH
The art of alcohol
means not having 10 green jello shots
before flying away from the nest in
caprice. This will help you avoid
getting sick five minutes before the
taxi arrives. On another note, know
yourself. Know when you’re uncomfortable, and try to find comfort in
that situation. You are the creator of
your mental state. Be mindful of your
thoughts and remember that drinking out with friends is about play and
insights. If it’s a toxic place, or if you’re
feeling the toxics ascending, get out of
there. In short, be self-aware: check if
you’re losing balance on your tightrope. Only you can be aware of the
balance of your own universe.
Finding your
balance
MATTEO CIMELLARO
The art of partying, like the universe, is defined by balance. It is
an intoxicated state of equilibrium
– a tightrope that you must sing
and dance across, all the while
avoiding falling into the abyss of
the so-called “black out.”
With St. Patrick’s Day upon
us, having a couple of drinks
– at the very least – will be the
common green-filled activity for
a lot of us. With that, to put it
in a single word, comes liberation. An ability to dance like no
one is watching, when, in reality,
everyone is. It’ll include deep conversations with strangers, personal
accounts of travels from far-away
and exotic lands, and emotional
breakthroughs with your closest
friends. But, for all this to be actualized, you need to be standing
and coherent, clear-headed, and
to put it bluntly, not an asshole.
There are few a tip-and-tricks to
keep your composure during the
day-long fun that comes paired
with St. Patrick’s Day, and, for
your benefit, we share them below.
Eat full meals
Never drink on an empty stomach. Why not start off the day with
some pancakes? St. Patrick’s Day
and morning pancakes certainly,
with a long-standing history, go
hand-in-hand. Eat a good breakfast, lunch, and dinner for that
matter. Fat and proteins work best
to fill the tank. Breads and carbohydrates act as sponges, absorbing
all the evils of the drink, allowing
for clear-headed fun.
SIMON COCKS VIA CC BY 2.0
With St. Patrick’s Day upon us on March 17, it is important to be aware of these helpful tips to
avoid dangers and consequences of drinking without moderation in mind.
Stay hydrated
Fun fact: alcohol dehydrates you,
while water hydrates. Remember
kids, the art of St. Patrick’s Day
is all about balance. With that,
make water your best friend, and
visit her constantly. Water is the
life force. Always remember that. Be responsible for
every member
of your crew.
And your crew is responsible for
you. The buddy system is frivolous when you enter a house
flooded by a sea of people. Be
aware of your friends; watch over
them like an older sibling would.
You’re partying together, you’re
creating memories together, so it
should be obvious that you protect each other.
Upcoming events
March 12 to 14: Track and Field CIS Championships
in Windsor
March 14 & 15: Basic Women’s Self Defence Class,
10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at 404 York Rd. Prioritizing
women & girls of racialized, im/migrant & indigenous backgrounds to attend. $45 (regularly $150).
Contact MaryCarl 226.486.1013,
[email protected]
The LiveOutThere.com scholarship is a $2000 student award that supports any undergraduate student
who is passionate about the outdoors. Details and
applications at liveoutthere.com/scholarship
17
Be responsible for every
member of the party.
We all share one thing: our humanity. Don’t reserve your helpful hand
to your tribe only. The greatest tribe is
humankind. And so, help one another
towards the ultimate goal: a refreshing
and enlightening party. That is to say, a
brief realization of utopia, where everyone has fun, and everyone loves one
another.
Have knowledge of the self.
Know alcohol’s effects on you. This
Be confident.
Assert yourself. Go say “Hi” to that
pretty girl that seems interesting.
Hand out compliments – they’re
free. Dance passionately. You are the
master of your own destiny. Take
control and you will find peace in the
chaos. Be kind.
This is the most important thing to
remember. Enjoying a party with
friends is about love. Love for the
music, love for the people, love
for yourself. Talk to everyone in a
loving way, they will teach you. Be
open-minded.
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18
LIFE
Do it yourself (DIY) projects
Save money
decorating your
house
ARLENE CAMPBELL
Living on a student budget normally means that we can’t splurge
on furniture or décor for our
houses. But, just because we can’t
buy expensive pieces doesn’t mean
we can’t make pieces that look
almost the same. I searched the
internet and found five DIYs that
make your house more homely and
cost a fraction of what they would
in a store.
Vanilla coffee scented candle
Instead of buying a candle that
you’ll eventually finish, make your
own scented candle with coffee
beans, an electric candle, and a
glass jar. Fill the glass jar with the
coffee beans (any flavour – I recommend French vanilla beans) and
put the electric candle on top. The
heat from the candle will make
the room smell like coffee, and the
candle will never run out.
Decorate your own pillows
Decorative pillows can get to be
very expensive. Instead of splurging on them, turn a boring, cheap
pillow into something more decorative. All you need is a plain black
or white pillow, fabric paint, a
foam brush, and painters tape.
You can do something as simple a
as chevron design, or, if you think
you have the skill, a more intricate
design. Use the painter’s tape as an
outline for your design and apply
as many coats of paint as you need.
If you have sewing skills, you can
add little tassels on the sides of the
pillow but, if not, just the chevron
pattern looks really nice on its own.
Pebble shoe mat
During the winter, our front halls
can get really gross with all of the
slush, ice, and salt our shoes track
in. Instead of using a boring, ugly,
rubber mat to place your shoes on,
make your front hall look much
nicer without spending a lot of
money. Take a cookie sheet (or two,
depending on how many shoes you
need to fit on there) – it can be a
metal cookie sheet or one as cheap
as the ones you can buy from a grocery store. Buy some pebbles and
fill the cookie sheets with them.
They look really nice and they keep
all the melted slush and dirt off the
tiles of your front entrance.
Remodel hand-me-downs
Most students at some point get
hand-me-down furniture from
family members when they move
into a house; and half the time,
they don’t really like how the furniture looks. Instead of not using it,
remodel it. The simplest way to do
this is to re-paint it. First, if there
is any hardware on whatever furniture you are remodeling, remove
it so it doesn’t get covered in paint.
Then use sandpaper to sand down
the entire surface area. Next, use a
paintbrush to put a coat of primer
all over the furniture. After the
primer has dried, sand the furniture
again, and then paint it whatever
colour you choose. If you need to
apply more than one coat, wait for
the paint to dry overnight before
you paint the furniture again. You
can add a lacquer after the paint
has dried if you want, this will add
a more polished look to the piece.
After the last coat has dried, put all
of the hardware back on and voila!
You have a brand new piece of
furniture!
Wicker basket storage
The easiest DIY is this one. All you
need is different-sized wicker baskets
and something to hang them with.
If you’re allowed to do this in your
JOHN WARD VIA CC BY 2.0
DIY projects are an excellent way to spruce up your home and
can be done on a budget.
house, nail the wicker baskets to the
wall from smallest on the top to largest on the bottom. That’s it. Now you
have a really cute storage system that
is perfect for holding towels in the
bathroom or books/odds and ends in
When old friends stop being good friends
Stepping away
from unhealthy
friendships
DIANA KURZEJA
Friends are like the family you
choose – they’re the ones who will
pick up when you call hysterical in
the middle of the night, the one’s
who can make you laugh until
you’re on the verge of tears, and,
most importantly, they’re the ones
you can trust to always be there for
you when you need them the most.
Friendships are constantly changing, but there comes a point where
a friendship stops changing for the
better. Friendships stop being the
ones you feel comfortable confiding in, they no longer make you
feel positive when spending time
together, and, slowly, they begin
to fade from your life. The problem is not letting go of old friends
who no longer help you grow in
life, it’s not feeling guilty once you
do.
It’s important to be able to
distinguish feelings of no longer
gaining personal growth or
CIA DE FOTO VIA CC BY 2.0
There comes a time when you need to decide whether it is worth keeping in touch with certain
friends – old friends doesn’t necessarily mean good friends.
happiness from a friendship from
an argument or disagreement that
can be resolved with communication and compromise. In most
situations, you’ve been thinking about letting go of an old
friendship for a very long time,
but haven’t had the courage to act
on your instincts. More often than
not, we hold onto old friendships
in the hopes that the outcome
will be different, and because the
friendships are familiar. The more
self-aware you become, the better
you can look at the friendships
that no longer feel positive and
find out what your connection
with them is built around, and
your bedroom. If you aren’t allowed
to nail things into your walls, you
can always use command hooks to
hang the baskets.
These DIYs will spruce up your
house and save you a lot of money.
whether or not that connection is
something you still wish to keep
in your life. The friendship may
be familiar, but as you grow as a
person—the things that nourish
you and help you stay grounded
can change.
Being friends with someone for
years and sharing countless memories with them can make it seem
like distancing yourself from that
friendship is almost like a betrayal
when in reality, the opposite is
true. Holding onto a friendship
that keeps you secretly harbouring
negative feelings is not only unfair
to the person on the other side of
that friendship, it’s also unfair to
you. We are often aware when it’s
time to step away from a friendship, yet the fear of being alone,
being excluded, or being ridiculed
can make the process a lengthy and
difficult one.
Although it’s a tough move to
make, it’s important to stay true
to yourself and to what makes you
happy in the long run. When you
step away from an old friendship,
you make room in your life for selfawareness, personal growth, and,
most importantly, the chance for
new friends to enter your life who
can change your life for the better.
20
LIFE
On this
day...
Date: March 12,
1947
ALEXANDRA GRANT
On this day with SHAC: President
Harry S. Truman of the United
States of America enacted what
would become known as the Truman
Doctrine, a legal combatant against
the resistance of Communism. The
Truman Doctrine was a response to a
crisis. Behind it lay the Communist/
Soviet takeover of many of the countries of Eastern Europe by “salami
tactics” – which, Truman alleged, was
in breach of Stalin’s promises at the
Yalta Conference. To make matters
worse, in February 1947, the British government – which had been
helping the Greek government resist
Communist rebels – announced that
it could no longer afford to keep its
soldiers in country. It seemed to
Truman and his advisers that, if they
did nothing, it was only a matter of
time before the Communists took
over another country.
Truman began by outlining the
situation in Greece. “Assistance is
imperative if Greece is to survive
as a free nation,” he told Congress.
“Greece must have assistance if it
is to become a self-supporting and
self-respecting democracy.” Without
help, Greece would fall to Communism. Nearby Turkey, he added,
was in a similar situation. Getting
involved in Greece, Truman knew,
would go against the belief of many
Americans that America should not
get involved in European affairs.
Therefore, the key part of his speech
was designed to explain and justify his change in foreign policy to
Congress.
First, he reminded Congress
that the US had fought the Second
World War and joined the United
Nations to protect freedom and
democracy (an involvement which,
he said, had cost the United States
$341 billion). Next, he claimed that
the power of Communism was
growing, and fast. And so, he told
Congress that the nations of the
world were faced with a choice.
This section of the speech is very
famous, in which Truman defined
the Cold War as a conflict between
good and bad, and as a choice
between capitalism and Communism, dictatorship and democracy,
and freedom and oppression. With
all these ideas and choices outlined,
the Truman Doctrine pushed back
against the USSR and the Communists of the Cold War.
Simply authentic: diary of a local foodie
Chicken and
black bean taco
salad
EMILY JONES
On the evening of Sunday, March 8,
I decided to make a salad for dinner.
This isn’t just any salad – this is a
nutrient-packed and deliciously spicy
taco salad. Salads don’t always appeal
to people in the way richer meals may,
but this one is different – it’ll keep you
feeling full, while satisfying your need
for flavour at the same time. After
looking into the ingredients I already
had in my kitchen, I ran out to the
grocery store to pick up the last few
items.
Once I arrived home, I began by
washing a package of spring mix and
placing it in my large salad bowl. I
then rinsed a can of black beans and
set them aside. Typically I cook black
beans before use, but this time around,
I wanted them to keep their cool temperature and natural flavours. Next, I
rubbed the chicken breasts with some
chili powder and used a brush to coat
them in one of my favourite hot sauces.
Once the chicken was seasoned, I
baked the breasts for 35 minutes at 375
degrees, until they reached an internal
temperature of 165 degrees.
While the chicken was cooking, I
prepared the rest of my raw ingredients. I used both yellow and red bell
peppers. Other colours would work
just fine, but it just so happened that
these were the only two I had on hand.
I chopped ¼ of each pepper up into
small cubes. I then minced ¼ of a red
onion, a handful of cherry tomatoes,
and sliced a whole avocado. I also
minced one large clove of garlic for the
dressing, along with a small handful of
fresh cilantro. I grated some medium
cheddar cheese to put on top of the
salad as well.
Mixing the dressing came next. I
mixed ¼ cup of olive oil with the juice
of ½ a lemon into a bowl, added the
minced garlic and chopped cilantro,
then added a touch of kosher salt and
some freshly ground pepper. I did this
while the chicken was cooking, so the
flavours could blend together.
The next step consisted of building the salad. I made enough for
two meal-sized salads. I took out two
dinner plates, and split the spring
mix into two parts first. Then, I put a
handful of black beans on each. Next
came the bell peppers, the onion, the
tomatoes, and the sliced avocado. I
then sprinkled the shredded cheddar
cheese on top of the veggies.
By this time, the chicken was ready.
I allowed it to sit on the cutting board
for a couple of minutes, to allow the
juices to settle before slicing. Once I
had let it sit, I sliced the chicken ¼
of an inch thick in angled slices, and
arranged one sliced chicken breast on
each plate. The final step was to spoon
Shopping list
Chicken breasts
Spring mix
Avocado
Red onion
Grape tomatoes
Yellow bell pepper
Red bell pepper
Lemon
Olive oil
Salt-and-pepper
Cilantro
Garlic
Hot sauce
Chili powder
Cheddar cheese
the dressing on top of the salad.
This salad is lovely to eat on its own,
but is also nice to serve with some tortilla chips and a slice of lime.
You’ve probably seen this on Pinterest
Simple ways to
get some green
in your life
ALYSSA OTTEMA
Spring is almost here, and with the
warmer weather and melting snow
comes this innate desire to brighten
up your green thumb and grow something. Unfortunately, not all of us are
so skilled at fostering the growth of
another living thing. I, for instance,
once managed to destroy a bamboo
plant’s life span, which is apparently
the hardest plant to ruin.
Fret not, my fellow gardeninginept! There is hope yet to turn our
skin-coloured thumbs green. It turns
out that you can do some pretty neat
things with the leftovers of alreadyliving plants.
Grow romaine lettuce or green
onions from a stump
After using the tops of the vegetable, simply use the two or three
inches left at the bottom, placing
the stump in a bowl or jar, submerged a half an inch in water. You
can use rocks, pebbles, marbles, or
pretty much any other non-absorbent small pieces of material to hold
the end up straight.
Check the stump regularly. Make
sure to add fresh water daily, keeping
the water level at a half an inch. Note
that sometimes, the water and green
onion ends will combine for a not-sopleasant smell. You can eliminate the
smell by cleaning the bowl and adding
fresh water.
Leave your stump somewhere
sunny. Within a week, your stump
should be sprouting like nobody’s
business.
Grow herbs in an egg carton
All you need to grow your own
herbs indoors are some seeds, some
soil, an old egg carton, and a lot of
patience.
Choose which herbs you’d like to
grow (basil, parsley, and chives are
almost foolproof, I hear), and grab
some potting soil. Fill each cup of the
egg carton with three or four scoops of
soil; then, place a two or three seeds of
in each cup.
Move your egg carton to a sunny
spot, placing a plate or some plastic
wrap underneath so the water won’t
leak out of the cups. Water each plant
daily, and then wait.
Eventually, your herb plants will get
too big for their tiny egg-cup-houses.
You can then simply plant the entire
cup into more soil in a bowl, jar, or
small pot.
Grow flowers in a glass
cup/jar/vase
If you’re looking for less functionality and more fun in your gardening
experience, try growing a bulb plant,
like tulips, in a glass vase, jar, or cup.
Line the bottom of your glass container with small pebbles or marbles.
This will be the stabilizing base for
your bulb.
Put the bulb root-side down atop
the pebbles. Add a few more rocks
to keep the bulb from tipping or
rolling in the glass.
MICHAEL FLICK VIA CC BY-NC 2.0
With spring on its way, it is time to begin thinking about indoor gardening.
Add water to the container, submerging only the bottom inch of
the bulb. Make sure to keep water
levels at an inch consistently.
Keep the glass somewhere warm,
but not sunny, for the first week or
two. Then, move the glass to direct
sunlight.
Issue 176.9 • Thursday, March 12, 2015
LIFE
Fashion Weekly
Celebrating
motherhood at
Milan Fashion
Week
DIANA KURZEJA
Dolce & Gabbana’s autumn/winter
collection was displayed at Milan
Fashion Week, celebrating mothers around the world. Named
“Viva la Mamma” the show made a
beautiful tribute to mothers everywhere, featuring a model who was
six months pregnant and three
models who carried babies down
the runway. The theme of the show
evolved from the menswear feature
in January, which was dedicated to
family. Dolce & Gabbana raised
waist-lines and adjusted darts of
clothing in order to make torsos
seem trimmer and legs longer
to compliment all body types,
including the very pregnant model
Bianca Balti, who sported her baby
bump in the label’s latest design;
a beautiful pale-rose dress. Eleven
other infants who made it onto the
runway ranged in age from just
Life
LUCIANO CONSOLINI VIA CC BY-NC 2.0
Dolce & Gabana celebrated motherhood recently at Milan Fashion Week.
a few-months to a few-years-old
were unrelated to the models, but
were all smiles to be part of such a
heart-warming show. A few critics
disagreed with Dolce & Gabanna’s
use of children on the runway,
equating the children’s presence to
the use of props, but Stefano Gabanna explains that his inspiration
for the show was much more than
that.
“It’s good to see emotions
on the catwalk,” said Gabbana.
“Domenico and I were talking
about this the other day, and
we decided in a way, our job is
like social reportage. We wanted
to pay tribute to the family and
show how important it is, now
more than ever.”
Mother’s Day isn’t officially
done for the week, but it isn’t until
Monday that I plan out my time.
Monday mornings, before beginning anything, I make a list. This list
consists of what needs to be done,
as well as the when the tasks need to
be done – prioritizing your tasks is
extremely beneficial when it comes
to being productive at school, at
work, and even at home.
as well. You are, after all a priority
in your life. I have begun to plan
time to do my work, and time
to do activities that I like doing
– going for a walk, for instance.
Balancing my to-do list with my
want-to-do list enables me to stay
productive during the times I
need to be so I can enjoy my time
that I have set aside for myself.
a clear head and it also focus on
the tasks I want to accomplish
each day. Making meals yourself
also helps to save money, as we
all know eating out can clean out
our bank accounts quicker than
anything – without us even realizing it.
Early to bed, early to rise
Staying active allows you to have
more energy and is a great way to
release stress – it’s really a winwin situation for everyone. With
the warmer weather approaching, take advantage of this time
by walking somewhere you may
normally ride the bus or drive.
Enjoy the fresh air while doing
something great for yourself!
21
celebrated in Italy until May, but
was such a powerful inspiration
and theme for Gabanna that it
seemed the perfect time to display his tribute.
The celebration of mothers was
even adapted into the clothing
with drawings by the children
of Dolce & Gabanna employees
printed onto silk dresses. Lace
and wool were embroidered into
the clothing with loving messages
including, “Je t’aime maman”
and “Mamma,” as well as roses,
which were seen throughout the
runway and backdrop as a symbol
of motherhood.
Dolce & Gabanna showed
off some of its signature styles,
such as its dainty, tailored jacket
with padding over the hips in a
cream wool. Slim and full skirts
and even a few mini dresses
made their appearance on the
runway, making the season’s fashion statement one of embracing
femininity. By embracing and
celebrating mothers all over the
world, the show ended off with
a positive and inspirational message – everything that we are
and that we do is an extension of
where we came from, and in this
case, it’s our wonderful mothers.
101
Being
productive
EMILY JONES
In the past few months, I have
been trying to challenge myself to
be more productive. Some days,
it works, but other days still need
work, and I think that’s normal.
This week, I would like to discuss
different ways that I have tried to
be more productive with my time
and my efforts.
Everyone is busy – especially
right now. Students are in-between
midterms and finals, some are even
wrapping up their final year of
university, and that can definitely
be stressful. At times, it seems difficult to make the most of your
time and actually be productive.
I want to share some of the ways
that I have worked to stay productive, even when I am overcome by
stressful situations and what feels
like limited time.
Create a plan for each week
On Sundays, I usually mentally
think of everything I need to have
“...be sure
to leave
some time to
take care of
yourself...”
Deciding what needs to be
tackled first is an extremely
important part of constructing
this list. This is how you begin to
prioritize your life – things that
are time-sensitive need to be completed first, so you can move on
to the other things that you need
to accomplish. Plan your time
accordingly, and be sure to leave
some time to take care of yourself
Getting up earlier is something
I also find to be extremely beneficial. Sure, it may mean I go
to bed before the 11 o’clock news
each night, but this allows me to
wake up feeling refreshed. I find
that I am most productive when
I have a whole day ahead of me.
I wake up, make a healthy breakfast, and have time to get myself
ready for the day that lies ahead.
Getting up early allows me to
fully utilize my mornings, take a
break for lunch, and stay focused
throughout the afternoon.
Make healthy meals
Every day, I make every meal I
consume. Staying properly fed
and hydrated allows me to have
Get active
some personal time to partake
in an activity that I enjoy, such
as a relaxing evening in in comfy
clothes, with a good movie and
a glass of wine in hand. Other
times, it’s a trip to the spa to get a
manicure or pedicure. Find something you really enjoy and treat
yourself for a job well done!
your life....
your opinion...
they matter.
Treat yourself
Being sure to treat myself once
in a while allows me to feel
comfortable with the choices
I make on the regular. It helps
to keep focused on what needs
to be accomplished. When you
do accomplish a specific task,
you’ll feel good treating yourself
to something special. For me,
I treat myself by giving myself
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Meetings are held
Thursdays at
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22
LIFE
Science Avenue: Sleep
A dream-like
state obscured
by nightmarish
mechanical
uncertainty
SAMEER CHHABRA
What is Sleep?
Science hinges on the simple
truth that every straight answer
only activates a myriad of deep,
complex, nigh-incomprehensible
questions.
Sleep is one of those paradigms
– one of those baffling natural
processes – that makes sense as
far as we’ve discovered. To put
it simply, sleep only makes sense
because we’ve applied a framework to give the process logic.
Otherwise, there is no comprehensible reason why animals – let
alone humans – sleep. As such,
there is no absolute answer to the
question, “What is Sleep?” as of
yet. There is, however, a simple
answer.
Sleep is a natural state characterized by a loss of consciousness,
inhibited sensory activity, and
the inhibition of all voluntary
muscles. However, one quickly
finds that – when examining the
simple definition of sleep – the
entire process falls apart.
How does Sleep work?
Humans have a firm grasp on
the overall mechanisms behind
falling asleep, except when they
don’t. Typically, animals require
relaxation,
little
excitatory
stimulation, darkness, relative
quiet, and a lack of temperature
JOHN TYLER VIA CC BY 2.0
Sleep, like most biological processes, only really makes sense from a distance. Break down the
components of sleep, and suddenly things fall apart.
fluctuation to fall asleep.
Of course, some people sleep
better with music and light.
Others sleep better when the
ambient temperature is cold
– others sleep better when the
ambient temperature is hot.
Some people need lots of blankets, others need few blankets.
People also seem to disagree on
the firmness of their mattress, as
well as whether to eat or drink
before bed.
Then, of course, there are
insomniacs who simply can’t fall
asleep – or the narcoleptics who
fall asleep all the time. Interestingly enough, the one thing most
people seem to agree on is the fact
that achieving orgasm helps get
humans get to bed sooner.
How, then, does sleep work? It
is a fact that animals need sleep.
It is a fact that sleep increases
serotonin levels and aids in the
formation of long-term memory.
It is also a fact that the human
body begins to enter states of
brief microsleep if an individual
has gone for a significant time
without sleep. These microsleeps
last for up to 30 seconds, and are
almost always a result of sleep
deprivation.
What we do know is that the
animal body enters various stages
during the sleep cycle. Non-rapid
eye movement (Non-REM) sleep,
is followed by rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, which is then
followed by slow wave sleep,
before the cycle begins all over
again at least three to four times
per night. Each stage in the sleep
cycle is a “deeper” sleep, and,
theoretically, it takes more energy
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to wake up an individual the
deeper they sleep. Additionally,
an individual’s neurons exhibit
less extreme activation the deeper
an individual sleeps.
Why is Sleep important?
When it comes to understanding
intrinsic biological mechanisms
– eating, sleeping, drinking,
procreating, and excreting waste
– there are two ways to answer
the question of “Why?” The first
is to treat the mechanism from
the perspective of its causes –
for example, what happens if we
don’t sleep? Tackling a mechanism from this perspective reveals
a simple, circular answer. We get
tired if we don’t sleep; therefore,
we sleep because we get tired.
The second way to treat the
“Why” question is by studying
the mechanism from the perspective of its effects. We know that
we regain energy from sleeping,
so why is there no better way to
regain energy? When animals go
to sleep, their bodies cradle the
face of death without actually
dying. For all intents and purposes, surely there’s a better way
to stabilizing serotonin levels and
neuronal activity than by mimicking death.
Sleep is important because
it allows us to “reset” the body.
Sleep increases serotonin levels,
stabilizes brain activity, aids in
memory formation, and refreshes
an organism. There’s a reason
why sleep deprivation is classified
as an extreme form of torture –
organisms that don’t sleep suffer
from reduced mental capacity,
an inability to focus, an inability
to retain information, and – as if
often the case with insomnia and
other related ailments – actual
physical pain.
However, we still don’t know
precisely why animals enter a
death-like state to regain stable
energy levels.
What is the future of Sleep?
Like all confounding biological
functions, science will one day
propose an explanation to the
underlying nature of sleep. Until
then, future researchers interested
in the subject can look forward to
studying insomnia, sleep apnea,
sleep paralysis, narcolepsy, and
the host of illnesses, processes,
and functions that contribute to
– and are affected by – sleep.
Issue 176.9 • Thursday, March 12, 2015
FEATURE
23
B.C. government plans to sell groundwater for $2.25 per
million litres by 2016
Discussing the
new legislation
act and its
consequences
EMILIO GHLOUM
Since the introduction of Bill 18, public
outcry and large amounts of criticism
have been directed towards the Water
Sustainability Act, recently announced
by the B.C. government. Set to come
into effect in 2016, the Water Sustainability Act is a newly crafted piece of
legislation which aims to increase the
productivity and effectiveness of water
regulation and safety across the province of British Columbia. Bill 18 was
first introduced in 2014, in order to
replace the current standing legislation which is more than a hundred
years old. The B.C. Ministry of the
Environment is setting out to establish
and cultivate sustainable practices and
regulations which will redefine core
tenets of water and resource utilization,
with a priority placed upon authorization and management of groundwater.
“The new Water Sustainability
Act delivers on government’s commitments to modernize B.C.’s water
laws, regulate groundwater use and
strengthen provincial water management in light of growing demands for
water and a changing climate,” said
Mary Polak, B.C.’s Minister of Environment in a news release posted on
the B.C government website. “Water
is our most precious resource and the
proposed Water Sustainability Act will
ensure that our supply of clean fresh
water is sustainable – to meet our needs
today and for generations to come.”
While the Water Sustainability Act
attempts to establish new legislation
to fit modern needs, the criticism
placed upon Bill 18 is founded upon
the pricing for groundwater. The
Water Sustainability Act allows the
government to deal with, and access,
surface and groundwater in new ways,
creating mass tension between the relationship of the B.C. government and
the corporation who are purchasing
these vital resources.
“Under the new Act, government
will manage surface and groundwater
as one resource. Decision makers will
have a broader suite of tools to help
make more informed decisions. Water
users will have greater certainty and
security of their water rights and there
will be clearer rules for managing water
during times of scarcity,” said the B.C.
government in a recent news release.
Before the announcement of the
new legislation, corporations did not
have to pay for groundwater at all
– the old Water Act did not account
for groundwater as a legitimate
resource. If the Water Sustainability
Act now forces corporations to pay a
fee instead of obtaining free groundwater, then what is all the criticism
and public outcry aimed towards?
While the legislation can be seen as
a step forward, the changes being
implemented, specifically towards
the pricing of groundwater, remains
absurdly miniscule.
For every million litres of
groundwater extracted, the B.C. government is charging corporations $2.25
– an insanely low price considering the
amount of water being discussed. Critics feel that the pricing and rental fees
set for groundwater is not an accurate
measurement of the true value of the
resource.
With an online petition posted on
SumOfUs.org, approximately 93,000
people are hoping to have water pricing in the new legislation re-evaluated.
While the number of people petitioning increases, there is a permeating fear
that corporations are getting away with
outrageously low prices.
For B.C. residents, the new legislation will not change affect their bills
tremendously, but there lies a growing
concern around securing the province’s
water resources. While the bill is set to
ALEXANDER KACHKAEV VIA CC BY 2.0
With the Water Sustainability Act coming into effect in January 2016, a corporation can purchase
the amount of water needed to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool for approximately $6.00.
come into effect in January 2016, the
key criticisms of the legislation have
all revolved around the access that corporations have towards B.C.’s natural
resources.
B.C. has the lowest water rental
rates in all of Canada, raising many
questions regarding the effectiveness of
the new bill itself. Some of the prices of
water rental in other provinces include:
Saskatchewan, with $46.25 per million
litres, Quebec, with $70 per million
litres, and Nova Scotia, with $140 per
million litres.
While the new Water Sustainability
Act is building upon a hundred-yearold document, a rare opportunity
is presented through the changing
of legislation on a provincial level,
aimed towards strengthening the bond
between risk and consequence. Under
the old Water Act, companies did not
have to pay any fee whatsoever for the
extraction of groundwater. For many
critics, Bill 18 succeeds in implementing a step towards the right direction,
but the fees just need to be more
accurate.
Nestlé is one of the companies that
benefits from the immensely low prices
the that the new Water Sustainability
Act presents. Operating out of Hope,
B.C., the sheer volume of water that
Nestlé is purchasing further questions
the ruling on the prices of water rental
fees throughout the province.
Dan Fumano, a writer at The Province, unravels the implications of the
new legislation through a look at the
pricing of water rental fees.
“Under the old Water Act, Nestlé,
like other groundwater users, didn’t
need to pay the government anything
for water withdrawals,” emphasized
Fumano in an article published by The
Province. “But under the Water Sustainability Act, Nestlé will start paying
for the hundreds of millions of litres
of groundwater they withdraw, bottle
and sell. That rate of $2.25 per million
litres — the highest industrial rate in
the new price structure — means
Nestlé will pay the government $596.25
a year for 265 million litres.”
When discussing Canada’s natural
resources, especially within the recent
parameters of perpetual environmental
harm and climate change, the price for
such a large amount of water seems
inappropriate. To put the pricing
further into perspective, consider an
Olympic-sized swimming pool, which
holds about 2.5 million litres of water.
Under the new pricing of the Water
Sustainability Act, filling the entire
pool with water would cost roughly
$6.00.
Furthermore, the comparison to an
Olympic-sized swimming pool does
not take into account the enormous
profits Nestl�����������������������
���������������������
would be making. Considering that a bottle of water would
cost $1.25 at a grocery store, the pricing put forward remains extremely
contentious.
Critics are raising concerns specifically with the pricing of rental water,
and demand that corporations should
have to pay larger, more appropriate
fees towards the extraction of a crucial
natural resource.
24
OPINION
Letter to
the Editor
The “Freeze the Fees?” Ontarion
article from last week discussed
the “Rise for Ryerson” campaign.
It said this campaign “supports fee
increases approved through student referendum.” Ancillary fees
and student organizational fees
are approved through referendum
and are different from tuition fees.
Student organizational fees help
students have the power to run their
own organizations, while ancillary
fees can only go towards non-academic aspects of the university.
However, the “Rise for Ryerson”
campaign also supports tuitionfee increases imposed upon us by
the provincial government and the
Board of Governors. These increases
are not approved by student referendum and are different from student
organizational and ancillary fees.
“Rise for Ryerson” argues along
with senior administration that
tuition fees need to rise in order
to maintain the quality of education. This is a bad argument,
designed to deter student action
against budget cuts.
The “Freeze the Fees” campaign
at Ryerson and the “Pay More
Get Less” campaign at Guelph
are both campaigning for quality education by demanding an
end to budget cuts at our schools,
unlike “Rise for Ryerson.” Ryerson students have organized an
alternative budget, which shows
that there do not have to be any
tuition fee increases and budget
cuts at Ryerson University. The
same is true for U of G, where
our institution has had large surpluses since 2011, including a $25
million surplus, and a $26 million
surplus.
When we fight against budget
cuts, we stand for smaller class
sizes, against the slashing of
academic programming, and in
solidarity with workers at our
school whose working conditions
affect our learning conditions.
When “Rise for Ryerson” campaigners say that they are okay
with tuition-fee increases, and
do not campaign against tuitionfee increases and cuts, they side
with senior administration and
governments, which are making
education less accessible and of a
lower quality.
Finally, it should be clarified
that the “Pay More Get Less”
campaign is a coalition that not
only includes the CSA, but also
includes CUPE 1334, CUPE
3913, OPIRG Guelph, and the
Guelph Student Mobilization
Committee.
Changing the Subject: Trolling
The impact of
troll users in the
online world
DANIELLE SUBJECT
The emergence of new media
(blogs, social media, forums,
online gaming, etc.) has brought
with it a new type of audience.
As journalism rapidly makes the
transition from print to digital,
readers are no longer limited to
expressing their opinions in the
privacy of their home, or taking
the time to write letters to various publications. The Digital
Age has given readers the ability
to instantly respond, or “comment,” on any forum, blog post,
YouTube video, and any other
publicly made digital initiative.
Essentially, it has allowed us to
all become critics. Click on an
article on Facebook, and you’re
able to “comment” just about
anything you want, whether it’s
content-related or completely
pointless.
“The Digital
Age has
given readers
the ability
to instantly
respond, or
“comment,” on
any forum, blog
post, YouTube
video, and any
other publicly
made digital
initiative. ”
“Trolling” has been another
result of new media in the Digital Age. Though there is no set
definition, a troll is commonly
known as a user who intentionally spreads negativity in order
to trigger a reaction. By popular
definition, trolls participate in
discussions with the full intent
to hurt other readers. It is a practice commonly associated with
cyberbullying.
YouTube is a platform that
undergoes an ongoing public
battle with trolling. Featuring
CHRISTOPHE VERDIER VIA CC BY-NC 2.0
Internet trolling is the act of writing ignorant comments in the hopes of inciting unproductive
argument.
one of the most cut-throat com- questions
regarding
speech discourages discussion around
ment sections on the web, anyone censorship and the right to ano- less popular posts. The underlywho uses YouTube is not ignorant nymity. Many instances have ing impact of this feature is that
to the negativity and hatred that occurred where popular YouTube it encourages a community-based
spreads throughout the spaces users have disabled their com- response to harmful posts. It
below its videos.
ments sections.
becomes reassuring to see a collecReddit is also a popular plattive of users step in and retaliate
form that supports troll activity,
against negativity. The option
and is part of a constant debate
to rate posts encourages online
within the online community due
communities to reassert certain
to its notorious spread of gallows
values, and reminds readers that
humour.
the majority of online users do
Administrators of blogs and
not condone trolling behaviour.
online publications try to combat
Though trolling can be
the effects of trolling by filtering
extremely detrimental (look at
comments, disabling anonymity,
GamerGate, for instance) banand even blocking certain users
ning anonymity doesn’t seem like
from commenting. However,
In terms of trolling, I often the most logical route to take,
these attempts at censorship are find myself battling with discour- and pushes the possibility of
no match for Facebook, especially agement after creeping through instilling a tyrannical structure
in terms of publications that comment sections and forums. It over the web. What makes the
have a strong social media pres- can be very disheartening to read online world so intriguing is the
ence. Though administrators can relentless comments attached to ability to be anonymous and to
censor the comments and slow an innocent YouTube video. It’s play with identity – the ability to
the extent of trolling on their difficult to find an online article communicate in ways that are not
own websites, once an article about a recent shooting or other possible in person. That being
goes viral on Facebook, it’s open horrible tragedy, read the bigotry said, with anonymity comes those
for attack. In these spaces, trolls that’s expressed in the article’s who will abuse the privilege. How
intervene and make it their mis- comment section, and not want do we then, as users, protect oursion to spark a reaction amongst to lose all faith in humanity. The selves from being attacked by the
readers. Viral videos and arti- internet forms this very weird inevitable trolls? With a hypercles, such as the blue/gold dress illusion that the views that are expanding digital reality, we, as
mystery and other pop culture being expressed by its users are users, have the responsibility to
phenomenon, are fruitful spaces the views of most of the world establish digital social standards
for trolls to thrive in.
– a complete deception, since it in order to protect our online
Trolling is not limited to com- is merely the views of those that selves.
ment sections, and can also take have access to a computer.
the form of Twitter handles. For
However, it is becoming popHave a question, comment
example, during the landfall of ular for forums and blogs to
or complaint?
Hurricane Sandy, a user famously provide an option for users to
Send us a letter to the
took to their Twitter handle to rate other users’ posts. The topeditor at
report fake live stories and photos rated posts are featured at the top
[email protected].
of the incident, to the point that of the discussion. This option
Deadline is Monday at
4 p.m., 300 word max.
legitimate news sources were diverts attention away from troll
retweeting these stories.
posts, as the top-rated posts are
The issue of trolling raises readily available to readers and
“...once an
article goes viral
on Facebook,
it’s open for
attack.”
Issue 176.9 • Thursday, March 12, 2015
EDITORIAL
On living in the “Real World”
The Ontarion Inc.
University Centre
Room 264
University of Guelph
N1G 2W1
[email protected]
A look at
the terrifying
prospect of
being an adult
Phone
519-824-4120
General: x 58265
Editorial: x 58250
Advertising: x 53534
Accounts: x 53534
Editorial Staff
Editor-in-Chief
Emily Jones
Associate Editor
Emilio Ghloum
News Editor
Alyssa Ottema
Arts & Culture Editor
Adrien Potvin
Sports & Health Editor
Stephanie Coratti
Copy Editor
Sameer Chhabra
Web Editor
Danielle Subject
ALYSSA OTTEMA
Can I share a secret?
I’m terrified of the Real World.
I mean, not the television series,
although that is pretty terrifying;
I’m scared of the honest-to-goodness Real World that everyone
seems so excited to send us off to,
like lemmings pushed over a cliff.
Nearing the end of my second
university degree, I’m growing
more and more fearful of this
Real World, potentially poised on
the other side of my graduation
ceremony, ready to devour me
whole.
“Amidst all of
these worries,
costs, and time
commitments,
we’ll apparently
be living the
lives we’ve
always dreamed
of.”
University is really just a bunch
of small, comforting bubbles inside
one larger, also comforting bubble.
There are program bubbles, study
group bubbles, work bubbles,
sports team bubbles, and extracurricular bubbles. We pick one or two
bubbles throughout our time here,
and even if we leave a bubble, or
switch between bubbles, or stretch
ourselves too thin between too
many bubbles, there is that larger,
all-encompassing bubble waiting
to catch us, protecting us from a
Real World rumoured to be rife
with failure and disappointment.
In university, mistakes and
unfavourable outcomes are easily
argued down to lesser consequences, blamed on others, or – in
the worst case scenario – taken with
a grain of salt as “only 10 per cent
of your mark.” Not getting a job
only means having to rely heavily
on OSAP next year. Skipping out
on a whole day of a weekly schedule to lie in bed, eat junk food,
and watch Netflix is a perfectly
acceptable thing to do. Handing an
25
DEREK SCHNAKE VIA CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
When you feel like there’s no way out – like you can’t move forward or backward or even sideways on
the path you’ve set for yourself – remember that you’ll always be too young for it to be “too late.”
assignment in late – or not at all
– is viable for even the weakest of
excuses. In the university bubble,
we can always do our work tomorrow, go to the gym tomorrow, sleep
tomorrow – everything can easily
be put off until tomorrow.
From what I’ve heard about the
Real World, mistakes are no longer
things to shrug off, attempt to
excuse, or learn to live with. Mistakes in the Real World can cost
someone their job, their savings,
their lease, or their relationship.
Being out of work in the Real World
is not so easily solved – banks don’t
just throw loans at people, OSAP
will eventually come to collect,
and a person can only put up with
menial work for so long. A day of
TV and sweat pants will not be an
effective or acceptable excuse for
putting off work – and if you do
put off that work for a day, there
won’t be extra time to complete
within your paid working hours. A
gym membership will drain its fee
from your bank account – even if
the plan is always to use it tomorrow, and even if you haven’t used
it once.
Perhaps the most terrifying
thing about the Real World is this
perceived pressure to have your
whole life figured out. In the Real
World, it seems, we can’t stand
behind a till all day making $11 an
hour, because we’ll have rent, and
healthcare, and groceries, and car
insurance, and life insurance, and
home insurance, and a myriad of
other things grabbing at our wallets that we have to consider. We’ll
have mortgages, and TFSAs, and
RRSPs, and RESPs, and probably
a few other acronyms we currently
don’t understand. We’ll have to pay
back all of the OSAP we spent so
easily just a few years ago. Amidst
all of these worries, costs, and time
commitments, we’ll apparently
be living the lives we’ve always
dreamed of.
At the end of the day, it seems
like worrying about this perceived
pressure does more harm than
good. In fact, maybe the idea of
having a life you’ve always dreamed
of is harmful, too. These are boxes
put around a future that can’t yet
be defined; these are constraints
that contribute to the idea that it is
somehow too late to start anything
new.
We are all far too young to consider it too late to do anything.
You could still do an entire second
undergraduate degree and graduate before 26. You could travel for
years – on a bank account that
you minimally replenish before
heading out to see the world
again – and when you come back
to the Real World, you could
still have a 30-, 40-, 50-year-long
career. You could get an amazing job right out of school in a
field you thought you’d love but
actually hate; you could go back
to school or switch industries or
pack up everything and start an
alpaca farm and still have almost
half of your life ahead of you. You
could still be a doctor, or a fireman, or a ballerina, or an artist,
or a writer, or a side show performer, or whatever it is that you
wanted to be when you allowed
yourself to dream crazy dreams.
These past two, three, four years
inside the university bubble do
not define the rest of our lives.
Instead, they open us up a world
outside of our bubble – a world
of opportunity.
The idea of popping this comforting university bubble – which
magically encases a world of $2
drink nights, sleeping until noon,
forgetting to worry about your
grades, and procrastination – is
certainly scary. I promise you,
even the people who seemed to
have it all figured out – the ones
who won awards and internships
and scholarships and acclaim
– will face the same kinds of
rejection and disappointment
outside in the Real World that
you yourself will face – and that’s
okay. While rejection and disappointment will slam some doors
in our faces, they’ll also open up
other doors and windows; they’ll
strike down walls we didn’t even
realize were holding us back.
When it comes down to it, our
grade point averages, our majors,
and the awards we did or didn’t
win won’t even begin to describe
who we are and who we will be.
We don’t have to allow ourselves to sit idly in the boxes we
think we’ve been handed with
our diplomas. We don’t have to
just accept that it’s too late to
change our minds or start again.
It doesn’t matter how old we are,
or how long we’ve spent working
towards one goal, or how many
years we’re worried about wasting. We’ll always be too young,
with too much promise and passion and possibility ahead, and it
will never be too late.
Production Staff
Photo & Graphics Editor
Matthew Azevedo
Director of Layout & Design
Carly Jenkins
Office Staff
Business Coordinator
Lorrie Taylor
Ad Manager
Al Ladha
Office Manager
Vanessa Tignanelli
Circulation Director
Salvador Moran
Board Of Directors
President
Alex Lefebvre
Chairperson
Patrick Sutherland
Treasurer
Anthony Jehn
Secretary
Sasha Odesse
Directors
Melissa Chong Ah Yan
Bronislaw Szulc
Zina Bibanovic
Patrice Manuel
Erin Knight
Shane Liquornik
Meghan Tennant
Contributors
Anjelica Abarra
Jessica Avolio
Arlene Campbell
Matteo Cimellaro
Ashwin Freyne
Alexandra Grant
Alyssa Hawn
Lara Haines-Love
Connor Hewson
Diana Kurzeja
Matthew Lawson
Mohammad Melebari
Tiann Nantis
Ryan Priddle
Rachel Van Zeumeren
The Ontarion is a non-profit organization governed by
a Board of Directors. Since the Ontarion undertakes the
publishing
of student work, the opinions expressed in this
publication do not necessarily reflect those of the Ontarion
Board of Directors. The Ontarion reserves the right to edit
of refuse all material deemed sexist, racist, homophobic, or
otherwise unfit for publication as determined by the Editorin-Chief. Material of any form appearing in this newspaper
is copyrighted 2015 and cannot be reprinted without the
approval of the Editor-in-Chief. The Ontarion retains the
right of first publication on all material. In the event that
an advertiser is not satisfied with an advertisement in the
newspaper, they must notify the Ontarion within four working
days of publication. The Ontarion will not be held responsible
for advertising mistakes beyond the cost of advertisement.
The Ontarion is printed by Thuroweb.
FUN PAGE
54- Cavern
57- Make a lap
60- Endure
62- Japanese mat
64- Every sixty
minutes
66- Made tighter
68- Author Calvino
69- Gen. Robert
___
70- New Year’s
word
71- Long-tailed
parrot
72- Prophet
73- Soviet news
service
DOWN
1- Neck part
2- Missouri feeder
3- Poisonous fluid
4- Director’s shout
5- The ___ Falcon
6- Enzyme ending
7- Actress Talbot
8- Baffled
9- Prophetess of
Israel
10- Poetic pugilist
11- It’s drawn in a
lavatory
12- Suit to ___
13- Assay
18- Sean of “The
Lord of the Rings”
22- Freeway access
25- Bing Crosby’s
record label
27- “What I Am”
singer Brickell
29- Fit to be tied
31- Edison’s
middle name
32- Appearance
33- Make
34- Mother of
Helen of Troy
35- Designer
Cassini
36- St. Petersburg’s river
38- Rubber gasket
40- Damon of
“Good Will Hunting”
44- Lacking
depth
45- Cheerio!
46- Winter wind
47- Brag
51- Bear witness
53- Adlai’s running mate
55- Country
singer Tucker
56- Portents
57- Leveling
wedge
58- Very small
quantity
59- ___ II (razor
brand)
61- Mah-jongg
piece
63- Bad day for
Caesar
65- Menu words
67- Golly!
TheON
ACROSS
1- PBS science
series
5- “Give that ____
cigar!”
9- Sponge gently
14- Just ___!
15- Be that ___
may...
16- Delight
17- Long drawers
with fancy trimming
19- Seizes with
teeth
20- Self-centered
person
21- Dynamic beginning
23- Worked (up)
24- Chewed the
scenery
26- River in central
Switzerland
28- JapaneseAmerican
30- Title for a
woman
34- Actor Chaney
37- Erotic attraction
to corpses
39- K-6
41- Saturn or Mercury
42- At any time
43- Tending to devastate
48- Abby’s twin
49- First name in
whodunits
50- Name on a
bomber
52- London art gallery
NOehT
26
SUBMIT COMPLETED CROSSWORD TO THE ONTARION OFFICE, UC 264, NO LATER THAN MONDAY MARCH 16TH AT 4 p.m.
FOR YOUR CHANCE TO WIN TWO FREE BOB’S DOGS!
Crossword Winners from
176.8 are…Dylan Cooper
and Jennie Butler!
ANSWERS FROM 176.8
there’s still time to
bounceback
a transition program for 1st year students
what’s holding you back?
join today
e: [email protected]
w: www.gryphlife.ca