the watch
From the editors To incoming students, hello and welcome to King’s! For returning students, welcome back! We are looking forward to the year ahead with you all! This year, we are going to be doing our best to expand the Watch into being a campus magazine that really focuses on that, the campus. Throughout the year, we’re hoping to team up and coordinate with societies, teams, and groups across campus to provide a new kind of magazine that will be more interesting, more news worthy, and will reach a further audience. By doing this we hope to have more coverage on sports, student politics, student societies and student life, while still exploring the more difficult questions that need to be asked across our campus. This is only something we can do with your help. Keep an eye out this year for ways that you can get involved with the Watch. We’d love to see you at our contributor’s meetings or at our events around the school.
the watch VOL. 35 NO. 1 - SEPTEMBER 2017 watchmagazine.ca editors@watchmagazine.ca online@watchmagazine.ca publisher@watchmagazine.ca TWITTER @kingswatch INSTAGRAM @watchmagz
EDITORS-IN-CHIEF
Kristen Thompson Nick Frew
ONLINE EDITOR Hannah Daley
CONTRIBUTORS
Jen Hall Evangeline Freedman Hannah Daley Day Students’ Society Kristen Thompson
PUBLISHER Avi Jacob
TREASURER TBD
COPY EDITOR TBD STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Daniel Wesser
PUBLISHING BOARD TBD LAYOUT
Kristen Thompson
For our new students, take a look at your o-week schedules and join us for our movie screening where you can get a chance to get to know some of the team, eat some snacks, and watch one of our favourite flicks. We’re looking forward to another great year with you, King’s. So let’s get going! Kristen & Nick. We welcome your feedback on each issue. Letters to the editors should be signed. We reserve the right to edit all submissions. The Watch is owned and operated by the students of the University of King’s College.
But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people not be warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at watchman’s hand. — Ezekiel 33:6
2 The Watch | September 2017 | @kingswatch
the watch IN THIS ISSUE
tips for day students
page 4
welcoming a new kind of meal hall
pages 6-7
important FYP dates
pages 8-10
meet some of the residence staff
pages 12-13
a comic just for you!
pages 14-15
The Watch | September 2017 | @kingswatch 3
Dear day student King’s Day Students’ Society
Dear Day Student, Whether you walk, bike, drive or transfer from three different bus routes every morning, being a day student—especially in FYP—isn’t always a piece of cake. Despite daily rotary/bridge/102 traffic, there are lots of ways you can make being a day student easier and more fun!
worth it. You should ask your residence friends if you can crash with them and use their meal guest passes!! Also, if you’re from the HRM, don’t forget to hang out with your high school/local pals and your fam! These support systems are super important!
Academic hacks: Talk to your frickin’ tutor before and after every essay!! It is their literal job to help Commute tips: Take advantage of express routes you and they love you. Go to general tutorial. If if you can, especially in the morning; they can cut you’re commuting to campus, try to get to King’s an your commute down drastically. Finding someone hour early on the day your essay is due, and have to bus to lecture with also makes the commute your essay saved online and also on a memory less of a chore and more of a social thing—bus stick in case you forget your printed copy at home!! buddies are legit lifesavers. If you’re even luckier, No one wants to bus back to Sackville to get the finding someone to carpool with is the real jackpot! physical copy of your essay. Overnight essays are not good. Start thinking about your essay as Food tips: You are always welcome to buy a meal soon as your get your essay questions! Talk to in Prince Hall—you can pay at the door or buy a your friends about what you’re learning. Skype “community plan.” If you tend to arrive to lecture your fellow day students about it if you can’t get an hour early every morning because of bus together after class to brainstorm. And remember: scheduling, pop over and have a hearty breakfast everyone wants the best for you so don’t be afraid before FYP. There’s also a kettle and microwave in to ask for help! the Wardroom. Many a day student has heated up their leftovers or cooked up some delicious instant Thus, dear Day Student, ends our imparting of noodles or instant oatmeal between classes. wisdom. We hope your journey at King’s will be long, successful and not too full of existential Bonus food tip: Mason jars are microwavable dread about the nature of the universe. |w and leak-proof!!! Social tips: Getting involved on campus is one of the best things you can do to bridge the gap between you and the person who lives 50 feet away from lecture hall. Pick a society or two you’re interested in—or start your own! — and hang out with the likeminded FYPers promised in every King’s brochure ever. The Wardy is another great place to hang out and mingle with upper year day students and residence students galore. Don’t be afraid to commit to evening events on campus — bring your supper with you or get some eats in Prince Hall. The late night commuting is 100% 4 The Watch | September 2017 | @kingswatch
See you later, Sodexo Hannah Daley
Food services at King’s have gone through a bit of Not only will students have to opportunity to cook a switch-up. for themselves or learn from others, they will also be able to request food items that they would like Earlier this year, a food services contract search to have stocked in the pantry. committee was taking proposals from food service providers and a company named Chartwells was There’s also catering available, just to students. chosen for King’s; a move away from Sodexo. They can order full pizzas while the meal hall is still open and pick them up from there for themselves Since July, Chartwells has been prepping for the and friends. influx of students in September while also working larger events like weddings in Prince Hall, despite Many of the staff members who worked with renovations. Béland and Sodexo opted to stay on at King’s with Chartwells, with some changing job positions. The kitchen area was renovated within the last ten years, so Chartwells is focusing more on the food “Making sure they’re happy has been an important pick up area, which will now be lighter and more part for us, something we’ve been conscious of open. since the very start of the process because they’re part of our community too,” says Nicholas Hatt, One of the biggest improvements being worked Dean of Students. on in the renovations will be the new “My Pantry” area, which Chartwells has found success with In the changeover, King’s has gained chef Jamie at schools like Acadia and Mount St. Vincent. It England, who actually started work at King’s about is located in a space that was once an office. It 20 years ago before moving on to other positions. will be a fully-equipped area with a stocked pantry at the full disposal of students who pay to enter Béland is one of the many members of the food Prince Hall. services staff who chose to stay at King’s with Chartwells rather than move on with Sodexo or “My Pantry is a little kitchen where you cook for other offers. She says that part of the reason she yourself. If you want a stir fry on a day where it’s stayed was how close she feels to everyone here. not already offered, you can check out what’s in the pantry and make yourself one,” says Céline “I’m really, really in love with King’s. With the Béland, dining services director with Chartwells. students, the faculty, staff, everybody here is likeit’s a big family,” she says. “It’s family away “If on the weekend you want to sleep in but you from home.” really want to have this nice omelette when you wake up, you come here during the day and it’s wide open.” The Watch | September 2017 | @kingswatch 6
Hatt hopes that changes like the My Pantry offering will be one more way to foster more of those relationships. “Celine is a wonderful chef herself and she loves getting in there and cooking with students,” says Hatt. “I think it’ll be a great way to build even stronger relationships between the dining hall and the students.” What might be the most beneficial changes for King’s students is the new set of extended hours for dining. In a survey sent to students, faculty and staff last year, those who responded made it clear that they need more time to eat every day. Starting in September, Prince Hall will open for the day at 7:30 am and then close at 9 pm. Fridays it will be open from 7:30 am to 7 pm, and weekends 9 am to 7 pm. In the past, some students were finding it difficult to get to Prince Hall before closing with sports team practices and late classes. Now, the extended hours may make that less of a problem.
including the King’s Day Students’ Society. Libby Schofield, communications vice-president of the society, says they hope that Prince Hall and Chartwells’ food services will benefit day students, especially those in first-year. “One of the biggest struggles of being a day student, especially in your first year, is missing out on the community that revolves around one: living in residence and two: living together,” says Schofield. While things like the My Pantry may seem to cater towards students in residence who like to take care of themselves, it is meant for everyone. Schofield says that the meal plans and other options offered by Chartwells seem like they will be beneficial to day students. Schofield continued, “We’re hoping to take advantage of anything they have to offer and they seem pretty willing to give us whatever they can.” |w
“The dining hall is such an important social centre for campus and so anything we can do to make it more accessible, to as many people as possible, is only going to be a benefit to campus,” says Hatt. Many of those who responded to the survey also indicated that they care about sustainable, local food - a standard that Chartwells holds for themselves. They source their coffee from Just Us! and other items from a distributor in the valley. The need for student involvement in food services is also being taken into consideration. In September, an advisory committee will be established, says Hatt, and it will have student reps within it. There are also still employment opportunities for students with Chartwells, including a new position titled “student engagement coordinator.” In the interest of keeping up with the wants and needs of King’s students, Chartwells has also been meeting with various groups on campus, 7 The Watch | September 2017 | @kingswatch
FYP lectures to look out for Jen Hall
As an upper-year student, the urge to redo the Foundation Year Programme (FYP) has followed me throughout my undergraduate degree.
Considered by many to be a proto-feminist text, the book upholds women and celebrates their achievements - a bit of a first.
The nagging feeling that I just didn’t get something, the desire to go back and spend more time with texts that intrigued me the first time around - and perhaps a bit of masochism on my part - has pulled me back to several FYP lectures over the past few years.
Section 2 also brings us the first of the divine Jannette Vusich’s lectures on art, beginning with Christian Art in the Middle Ages on October 26th.
In that spirit, I’m looking ahead to this coming year with plans to indulge in nostalgia in a more organized fashion. Here are a few of the upcoming lectures that I am really looking forward to.
Come for the questionable political advice, stay for the puns. Kow will lecture on Machiavelli’s famous work, The Prince, in what promises to be an entertaining lecture. Was Machiavelli giving serious advice, or trying to bring the Medicis down with his work dedicated to them? Kow’s lecture will surely leave deep imprince of wisdom in us.
Thursday, September 14: Eli Diamond on Sappho and the Song of Songs Sappho was introduced to the FYP curriculum last year, after extensive work by students to bring greater diversity to the FYP curriculum. Eli Diamond’s lecture promises to be full of insights about this poet, and Anne Carson’s translation is pretty great too. Diamond will later lecture on Plato’s Symposium (September 22, 25 and 27). In the past, he has been known to dress up for his lectures on Plato. Will there be costumes? Who knows? Thursday, November 2: Elizabeth Edwards on Late Medieval Politics and the “Women Question”
Monday, November 20: Machiavelli’s The Prince
Later in Section 3, I’m looking forward to hearing Yolana Wassersug’s lecture on Elizabeth I (Monday, November 27), as well as Laura Penny’s lecture on Montaigne (Friday, December 1). Wednesday, November 29, also promises to be an important day. In the morning, a lecture by Nicol on the Jamestown settlement in America, then a Night FYP lecture, “Storytelling on Unceded Mi’kmaq Territory.” It’s really excellent to see FYP starting to include worldviews and voices from outside the European canon - especially the voices of those on whose land we learn.
Edwards will be lecturing on Christine de Pisan’s Continued on page 10... Book of the City of Ladies; a compendium of women throughout history - at least up to that point. The Watch | September 2017 | @kingswatch 8
Simon Kow on
Monday, January 29: Debate over Slavery
Chike Jeffers on The
On Monday, March 12, Daniel Brandes will lecture on Kafka, followed by Kait Pindar on Virginia Woolf (again, a relatively new addition to FYP) the following week.
The brilliant Jeffers will be lecturing on the Enlightenment debate over slavery - a debate with ramifications that are only too clear in our own day. Eli Diamond will return to discuss Simone Weil on March 22 and Penny will lecture on Simone de Like Sappho, the topic of slavery is a (shockingly) Beauvoir on March 26. new addition to FYP. Come and get educated on a part of history that too much of America has Clift will return as well on March 29 - this time to ignored or wilfully distorted. discuss Hannah Arendt’s work on totalitarianism. There will even be animals (D. Brandes, April 9), Other lectures I’m looking forward to include environmentalists (Boos, April 5) and Suzan LoriKathryn Morris’s take on Margaret Cavendish Park’s amazing but brutal Venus: A Play (D. T. (January 18) and Neil Robertson’s lecture on Brandes, April 6). Elisabeth of Bohemia’s correspondence with Descartes. In the words of Donnie Dumpfy, we’ll be having a time. Friday, February 9: Sarah Clift on Capitalism Workers vs. Owners To the incoming FYPsters of 2017: a warm welcome and get ready for a wild ride. I’m so The witty and brilliant Clift will introduce us to the excited to follow along! |w dynamic duo, Marx and Engels. Wear red and prepare to have your mind blown. In literature this section, Susan Dodd will lecture on Frankenstein (February 7) and on Dostoevsky (February 12). If that’s not an incentive to read some substantial literature before February, I don’t know what is. Later on, Penny lectures on everyone’s favorite poet of modernity, Baudelaire (February 15), and Vusich returns to talk about Impressionism and Post-Impressionism (March 1). On March 8, Jeffers will return to discuss W.E.B Du Bois, an early civil rights activist and important figure in the fight for racial equality in the United States. This is the point where I give myself away as a Contemporary Studies Program (CSP) student and admit that I am looking forward to practically every lecture in Section Six. Will I skip all my other classes for the months of March and April just to come to these lectures? Quite possibly. The Watch | September 2017 | @kingswatch 10
People of King’s: residence edition Kristen Thompson
Aaron - Alex Hall Basement Don Aaron is looking forward to being a part of the King’s community again, and looks forward to fostering a conversation around consent on campus. If he were a slice of pizza, he would be deluxe.
Maria - Middle Bay Don Maria is looking forward to being back on King’s campus after finishing FYP a few years ago. She is also very much looking forward to being near the ocean again. If she were a slice of pizza, she would be a veggie pizza with extra veggies and extra sauce.
Nafisa - 3rd Floor Alex Hall Don Nafisa is just starting her PHD in political science at Dalhousie, and is looking forward to spending her seventh year in a residence community. She is also looking forward to being near the ocean. If she were a slice of pizza, she would be BBQ chicken.
Nick - Dean of Students Nick is looking forward to another year with King’s, meeting new students and being able to engage in the FYP community all over again. If he were a slice of pizza, he would be the works.
Emma - 3rd Floor Alex Hall Junior Don Emma is looking forward to reintergrating herself in the campus community again in a meaningful way. She is also very much looking forward to being back on the third floor, which was where she lived while in FYP. If she were a slice of pizza, she would be Margirita.