the watch SEPTEMBER 2013
BACK TO SCHOOL NEW UNION SHOWRUNNERS MINI-QUAD TURNS GARDEN
OCCUPY ISTANBUL THE WATCH GOES TO TURKEY BY JOHN LAST
THE EXTREMITIES | BUS STOP | RICH AUCOIN
INSIDE KING’S
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Photo: Evan McIntyre 1. Dr. Gordon McOuat is a professor at King’s. He co-founded the History of Science and Technology Programme and teaches in the Contemporary Sciences Programme. Also, his oice oten inspires envy and admiration from passers-by. He gave he Watch a tour of his oice, explaining some of the room’s most interesting items.
2. Skulls “One of the areas of my expertise is the rise of idealistic morphology in the 19th century. his one is a very expensive anatomical skull. I measure them and the students get to measure their own heads compared to ideal forms and stuf like that.
3. Metropolis Bobble Head - “It was given to me by Melanie Frappier, because she knows I teach Metropolis (a ilm) in varous classes, but also the situating science cluster.” “We in conjunction with the Halifax Independant Filmmakers Festival showed Metropolis with a live orchestra. It was spectacular and it started a whole series of events where we work with ilmmakers and artists to combine the study of science and technology along with aesthetic engagements.”
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4. heremin - “he theremin was developed by a Russian engineer to create a totally new electronic instrument that had no mechanical parts.” “I’m trying to link it up to detect if there’s students in the room in case I’m ignoring them.”
5. Galilean Telescope - “It’s a replication that I use in my History of Science classes to show that what Galileo claims he saw with his telescope actually requires a whole lot of tacit knowledge to see what he was seeing.” “Galileo, when he pointed his telescope to the heavens, made a bunch of claims about the orbiting of planets and the nature of the moon. He was training his audience to look at a new type of technology to be able to see what the world was like.”
6. Pasteur’s Experiment - “his is used in my Contemporary Studies Class, it’s Louis Pasteur’s famous crucial experiment on spontaneous generation. It was a debate over if spontaneous generation was possible, if life came from non life.”
“To create this elongated swan neck glass, it was blown for me by the Dalhousie gass blower. When we redo the experiement in class and we ind it very hard to replicate.”
7. Stillman Drake’s Chair - “hat chair is the chair that was owned by the greatest Galileo Scholar that ever lived, named Stillman Drake. hat was sent to me by somebody who inherited it because they thought it would be great for the History of Science program to have Stillman Drake’s chair. I feel inspiration in it every once in a while.” “he wearing (on the arm rests) was probably him picking at it while thinking about Galileo” |w
Do you know someone with an awesome room? he Watch is looking to take photos of the coolest rooms at King’s. If you have any tips, e-mail: watcheditors@gmail.com
YOUR NEW EMPLOYEES BY: EMMA DAVIE
Are Nick and Chris The Wright Parsons for the Job? You could say Nick Wright lives in bars. He’s not a party animal, but has worked in pubs and restaurants since he was 14. Now he’s King’s irst hospitality manager. “Quite honestly, I love the Wardroom, and the Galley as well, but the Wardroom … I have a special fondness in my heart for it. When I found out that the position was open … I saw that there was an opportunity to maybe get out of a wait staf position into a management position. I thought I might as well apply and see where that takes me,” Wright said over the phone. he hospitality manager is responsible for the operations of the Galley and the Wardroom – a working atmosphere all too familiar to Wright, who has worked in the service industry for nine years. his will be the irst year with a hospitality manager at King’s, as the responsibilities of the Wardroom and the Galley were previously let to the internal coordinator. “Last year John Adams was doing both that and his job as internal coordinator. So they sort of split the position in two with the internal coordinator being a position which now has more of a focus on stuf within the oice,” Wright said. Anna Dubinski, president of the King’s Student Union, explains that the creation of this position came from the re-imagining of the internal coordinator. While Dubinski was not on the executive committee when the decision was made, she says that it was apparent dividing the two roles would beneit everyone involved. “With the introduction of the Galley into union services it was felt that the time and resources that it took to manage the businesses was such a considerable efort … that the job was a little bit too big,” Dubinski said over the phone.
“I think it was also thought that the Wardroom and the Galley presented - and the management of those businesses - presented a fairly unique skillset that was very easily divisible from the other kinds of services that we ofer, such as the health plan. So I think that it was just very, very clear that that was the way to go.” Dubinski says that apart from managing the day-to-day operations, the hospitality manager is also responsible for keeping the Galley and the Wardroom in line with the vision that the union and the student body have, as well as answering to a board of directors. Wright, who is originally from Charlottetown, PEI, brings an incredible amount of experience to the table. Every summer, Wright worked at bars and restaurants to pay for his tuition, mostly in the front of house, but in the kitchen too. “I have basically done everything within bars and restaurants. So I started out at the age of 14 I was washing dishes and I was also hosting at a restaurant called Fishbones … which was a jazz bar - very nice place … hat was a great, great summer job for me and a great way to start,” Wright said. From there, Wright worked at an Irish pub, and when he turned 19 years old he began serving there. Eventually, he ended up in a place called Peakes Quay. “It was basically during the day a very touristy, deck, patio type thing, but at night it was part of Charlottetown’s answer to the Dome. So it was a sort of club style atmosphere where they pushed, packed as many people in as they could, and got them served as quickly as possible. So on that end I really got experience behind the whole volume service thing.”
Photo: Evan McIntyre Wright worked at Peakes every summer until he graduated from King’s, where he did theFoundation Year Programme and then focused on English literature. Ater graduating in 2012, Wright ended up working at the Carleton, where he still works every Saturday. Ater being shown the ropes by John Adams this spring, Wright began hosting alumni events on campus, and has been opening he Wardroom throughout the summer. “We’ve been open more this summer than we have been in any other year in anybody’s memory, I don’t know if we’ve oicially set a record or not but I’m trying for that” he said. As for the coming year, Wright hopes to continue on the “phenomenal” systems John Adams put in place. “I’m completely indebted to him for that and my plan basically would be to take those systems that he put in there and then improve upon them.” Wright says that Frosh Week is his biggest concern at the moment, and that it will be a “trial by ire” once the students arrive. “My favourite memories probably would have been actually my Frosh Week, which is half the reason I’m so worried about making sure that everything goes of without a hitch.” “Within a week of arriving at King’s, by the time Frosh Week was over, I realized that it was exactly the place for me and exactly the community that I wanted to be a part of,” Wright said. |w
he Watch | September 2013| @kingswatch 5
MEET CHRIS PARSONS BY: SAMED SHAHADU
For the irst time, the KSU has an internal coordinator who is not John Adams. Chris Parsons is the KSU’s new IC and he’s hoping to make your life on campus much easier. he union hired Chris over the summer to manage oice work and students’ services and he has vowed to make the KSU more active and visible on campus. “I thought it was a really good opportunity to help people,” Chris said of his appointment. “I am really excited to try to improve the visibility and usage of the services that the Student Union ofers and make sure people are aware of the degree to which they can take advantage of them.
KNOW YOUR OFFICES! BY: NICK HOLLAND he irst year of university can be overwhelming to some. Costs of education go up and grades tend to drop. But don’t fret because the administrative staf at the University of King’s College is here to help. he three oices, Registrar’s Oice, Bursar’s Oice and the Advancement Oice, each deal with students in diferent ways. As mentioned, one of the big concerns for students in university is the price of tuition. Elizabeth Yeo, Registrar, said students should not be embarrassed to ask for inancial assistance. “We recognize that the majority of students will need some extra funding to come through. Some people are able to cover through part time work and summer savings,” she said. Yeo added there are shortfalls that many students face. For example, instead of studying, students are working part-time to pay of schooling.
Chris wants students to use him to navigate their ways around campus. He plans to keep the KSU oice opened more frequently in the opening weeks of school to help fresh students through student-run services such as the health plan and the international student identiication cards.
“Sometimes unexpected things come up as well,” she explained. “Plans don’t always go according to plan. Families sometimes have to move, (there are) employment changes or illnesses and that’s what the funds are there for.”
“I want people to have easy time accessing whatever they need from the student union,” he says. “I should be the point of contact for students for any concern they have and don’t know where to go.”
Last year, approximately 150 students received bursaries.
Chris is not a new face on campus ater all. He is a King’s alumni and was the External Vice President of the KSU in 2007. He knows how things are done, but admits things might be slightly diferent than when he was a student. “We didn’t have the support of someone to do the administrative work and make follow-ups at required time,” Chris adds. “he KSU now ofers a lot more services and I am here primarily to support these service provisions and make sure things run smoothly.”
However, Yeo said money isn’t the only issue students have in university. GPA’s are a problem too. If a student’s grades go below the course’s minimum mark, they will be recommended for Academic Advising. If a student fears they are failing, they can make an appointment to see the registrar. Yeo said, students can drop a course and make it up later. And depending on the situation, students may be allowed to drop the course without any penalties. “We do a lot of work with students who are moving from irst year into second year. Ater that, our advising is more in line with meeting degree requirements,” Yeo said.
Chris is not the only employee in the KSU oice. here is now a separate administrator to take charge of hospitality management of KSU such as day-to-day running of the wardroom.
“Sometimes a student is struggling academically because they are working too much and in that case they come see us with an academic problem but we can solve it with a inancial aid,” she added.
He believes the duty separation will improve eiciency of the KSU and allow him more time to focus primarily on service provision.
Katie Brousseau, a second year student at King’s, said her experience with the Registrar’s Oice was incredibly helpful.
“I will spend much time promoting the health plan and ensure the oice is modern and up-to-date in terms of getting access to new computers and sotware,” says Chris. “I will also have time to meet with students.”|w
“hey’re generally very knowledgeable and have the answers to my questions, especially concerning course selection and planning out my future in university.”
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The Registrar’s office is located on the first floor of the A&A Building. 6 he Watch | September 2013| @kingswatch
From Page 6 But if grades aren’t an issue, there are plenty of scholarships to go around that award students for their academic excellence. Last year, King’s had $800,000 to give to roughly 200 students. he Bursar’s Oice monitors every cent the university takes in. Jim Fitzpatrick oversees the operation.
“I’m hopeful that in the next year we’re going to see lots of changes in things coming out of the events that can (include) students and young alumni, and keep them connected to King’s once they leave so that it’s a life long relationship and it’s not just the time they’re here,” Miller said.
From scholarships, to staf payments, to inancial assistance, a major contributor to the school is the endowment fund.
he Advancement Oice also ofers scholarships. Last year $8,050 was given out from nine awards.
his fund is “all of the funds that we’ve been receiving over the many decades, that King’s has been around, that are invested,” Fitzpatrick said.
But there’s something else that could bring dollar signs to students’ eyes in the mere future. Miller said, “We’re just going through a planning process now where we’re setting strategic goals for the Alumni Association. One of those goals is to engage current students.”
He added, “he income of which is used to pay for scholarships, bursaries, faculty chairs and all sorts of miscellaneous things.” Every university has an endowment fund to support the operations of the university. “Ours is fairly large, relatively speaking, per capita basis because we’ve been around for so many years,” said Fitzpatrick. Harvard and Yale have massive endowment funds, which is a major part of how they meet their budget each year. Once a King’s student graduates, they are part of the Alumni family. his is where a big part of the Advancement Oice comes into play.
Although details are scarce and everything is still in the planning process, Miller said the Advancement Oice hope to create a job bank for students. If the Alumni Association approves the request, Miller said she hopes to kick-start a job bank. he goal of it would be to help students ind jobs during the summer months.
Miller. She said she would like to have guest speakers come to King’s to discuss budgeting, writing resumes, inding jobs and career planning. Miller assured, “hey’re just in the planning stage right now and we have to get the Alumni to inesse and inalize the document and get them to accept then implement that.” Miller made it clear that if this plan is approved, it will take a few months for a job bank or a lecture series to start up. If there’s one thing to know about the administrative staf, Yeo said, they want students to come ask questions. She said, “We’ve been at this for a long time and students don’t have to recreate the wheel. If things are not going as planned, or if (students) have questions, or if they just want to out know to make the most of this experience, come and see us because we are really happy to sit down, talk to them and give them some ideas about how other students have made it an extraordinary experience.”|w
A lecture series is also something of interest to Miller. She said she would like to have guest speakers come to King’s to discuss budgeting, writing resumes, inding jobs and career planning.
Kathy Miller, Alumni Relations Oicers, said the aim of the oice is to stay in touch with graduates through events such as dinners and golf tournaments.
Photos: Evan McIntyre he Watch | September 2013| @kingswatch 7
From Inside the Quad to the Outer Extremities BY: EVAN MCINTYRE It’s been a while since Andrew “Fresh Kils” Kilgour and Shaun “Uncle Fester” Ryan lived next door to each other in Middle Bay, but their irst year at King’s was life changing. Now, the two of them share a stage instead of a bathroom sink. hey form the Extremities, an instrumental hip hop group. hey create beats and perform them live with Fester using turntables and Kils on the sampler. On stage, Kils is extroverted—he jumps on the mic to stimulate the crowd and he performs routines with gusto. Occasionally, he shares a glance with Fester, who works the 1s and 2s near the back of the stage. He stands on a milk crate to bring him to a proper level with his turntables, and tacitly bobs his head, adding scratches and cuts to the songs. he two of them literally don’t miss a beat. Ater their performance at the Halifax Jazz Festival, he Watch spoke with them about their irst year at King’s. Kils moved to Halifax from Toronto, while Fester grew up near the city. “I really came up in high school observing the Halifax hip hop scene. I went to school just outside the city at Eastern Shore,” Fester said. He spent his high school years driving into the city to ind the latest hip hop records and check out shows at the now-closed all ages venue, Café Ole.
Fester also volunteered for CKDU in high school, where he was tutored by (now Juno winning) folk rap icon, Buck 65. Kils and Fester, or Andrew and Shaun, as they were, bonded over their musical ambitions. hey pooled their equipment and knowledge together to build a recording studio inside Kils’ narrow dorm room.
“We were both aspiring musical engineers at the time and we were more interested in the technical sides of things. I had some experience recording bands and he (Kils) had some recording equipment with him,” said Fester. In the Middle Bay gentlemen tradition, Kils and Fester turned their musical interests into community fun by organizing their own bay party. “We had (rappers) Sixtoo, Buck 65, and Josh Martinez,” said Fester, “We didn’t have the names for parties back then. It was just the Middle Bay party. We hustled a beer sponsor, so we had really cheap beer. We had good security. We did things no one had done at the time for bay parties.” “Steve (Blackman, their don) was the man. He put up with a lot. He was a gracious soul,” said Fester. “He let rap be put on. I’m sure he was not a fan of hip-hop.” As for advice for irst year students, their perspectives difered. Kils said people miss out when they stay with the same group of people they know from home. “For me it was really important to sort of not stick to the people I knew. I wanted to get to know new people,” Kils said. “I was really interested in not being a part of the clique, the Toronto, Ontario clique, which I understand is a kind of thing that happens.” Fester thinks it’s important for day students to push themselves into the community.
Photos: Evan McIntyre 10 he Watch | September 2013| @kingswatch
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MINI QUAD
THE BACKSTORY OF KING’S NEW BACKYARD BY EVAN MCINTYRE 12 he Watch | September 2013| @kingswatch
Halifax Theatre: Adapting to Survive BY: SEAN MOTT At a irst glance, the Bus Stop heatre does not stand out as a major hub of performance art in Halifax. Nestled between apartment buildings, the Bus Stop looks like just another store on Gottingen Street. Once inside, the main foyer does little to change this assumption. A bar is placed next to the bathrooms with its limited menu written in chalk above it. Several empty bottles lay strewn on tables and chairs, along with a layer of dust that has yet to be cleaned. But past this room a pair of doors gives way to a larger space that is entirely dark and ready to be easily changed for any performance. his space is the beating heart of Halifax theatre. “We’re an anti-censorship space,” said King’s alumna Clare Waque, the managing director of the theatre. “We have wonderfully diferent groups that work here.” he Bus Stop rents out its space to any performance group that can aford the rental price, which can run from $155 to over $1 000. “We probably have eight or nine rentals of the Bus Stop heatre every month,” said Waque. “We need to have that level of rentals or we can’t really pay our bills.” Despite the constant low of rentals and the prominent role the theatre plays in the acting community, the Bus Stop lacks the manpower to create bigger business. It relies solely on volunteers for help and, at the moment, Waque is the only consistently working volunteer. “Every position gets illed by me,” she said wearily. he limited nature of the Bus Stop is why Waque has decided to take it to another level.
“An actor can be as busy as he or she wants,” said Keith Morrison, a co-founder of Lions Den heatre, a local company that oten performs at the Bus Stop. “Now, whether or not that’s going to pay the bills, I can’t say. here are very few people who are making a living purely through acting.” While Morrison and his company can pay their actors small wages, larger companies like Neptune heatre, the biggest professional theatre company in Atlantic Canada, are able to provide their actors with higher wages, spending over $700 000 in actors’ wages and consulting fees in 2012. hey are able to do this mostly due to their high box oice revenue, which totaled $3.1 million in 2012 according to a inancial report. Neptune is also supported by securing yearly government grants. Last August Neptune was given $654,860 in government grants in honour of its 50th anniversary. While Neptune can secure grants due to its high proile, smaller companies ind it more diicult. “It’s hard to get a grant unless you produce some work,” Waque said. “If there’s nowhere to do that, people can’t develop themselves as artists. hat’s why the Bus Stop is so important.” While grants can be helpful, some companies would prefer to be independent. “We’re certainly open to government funding but at this point we’d like to be self-suicient,” said Morrison. Morrison is not a native of Halifax; he moved here from Cape Breton three years ago. Immigration is the lifeblood of Halifax theatre as it helps to stem the tide of actors who leave the province for more lucrative opportunities.
“Everyone always wants to go to Toronto for more theatre work,” said Dan Bray, another founder of Lions Den and amateur actor. “I’ve lived there and there’s a lot for you to do, but you’re also competing with a million other people for everything.” “If I wanted to be a professional actor, there are probably more opportunities in Toronto.” he allure of work in other provinces is a problem for all professions in Nova Scotia but one that may not be as dire as it seems. According to a Statistics Canada 2012 report, while 682 people from Nova Scotia leave the province per year, 587 people originally from the province return. his causes luctuation in the acting community but not major changes. “So many people are always coming in,” said Morrison. “We probably lose some very experienced people but that doesn’t seem to afect the overall product. here is such a wonderful mix here.” Due to how the acting community changes so oten, established actors are hesitant to support new companies. “I’d like to see more support from the theatre community for Lions Den,” said Bray. “here are so many new companies that you have to be selective of which ones you support.” “We need a tight community that will support each other,” said Waque of the Bus Stop. While the current situation is not ideal, some are hopeful that the future will be brighter, as Magnetic North, a national theatre festival, is coming to Halifax in 2014. “I think that’ll create a drive to produce quality theatre,” said Bray. “Hopefully there will be more money and opportunities but that’s pretty optimistic.” “I don’t think it can get much worse,” said Waque. “I think it is getting better.” For now, the Bus Stop and the theatre community will continue to survive without sacriicing their principles. “We don’t do parties,” Waque said. “We do art.” |w
“I would love to see the Bus Stop become a co-operative and that’s what we’re doing right now,” she revealed. “If the theatre can come together as an organization, we’ll have a lot more money than through just living of bar tips.” his change at the Bus Stop serves as a perfect example of the overriding theme of Halifax theatre: the constant need to adapt and survive. Actors in Halifax, many of whom are part of the over 900 members of the Atlantic Talent Agency, are constantly searching for diferent ways to get involved in the acting community. While there is an abundance of shows being put on by multiple theatre companies, not many can help to support an actor’s lifestyle.
Photo: Patrick Odell 14 he Watch | September 2013| @kingswatch
The Quad is magical. Halifax is magical. Nova Scotia is equally as incredible and much less on the radar. For those of us from Southern Ontario (you can run but you can’t hide), there are some great hikes and day trips around. Do them. Rebecca Best
Do the reading and show up to tutorial. Read things more than once, from multiple angles. Surprise: It’s easier to write a paper on a book you’ve read and have opinions on. FYP is like a 250 person book club, so milk that and mix work with play. Talk about the books with your friends over wine, over cheese, over breakfast. Granted, this habit will make you insufferable at parties with non-King’s kids and upper-years who can see through your shit, but it will also give you the magical ability to sail through your oral exams and papers without fear. Katie Toth
Take part in societies. I spent three years at Kings knee deep in various KTS productions and part of a lot of other KSU societies some of which I even founded and I wish I had done that in first year because it’s an amazing way to make friends, especially from other years. Laura Holtenbrinck
When everything is over your head, that’s when you know you’re immersed. Never assume what you think you know. Gabrielle Rekai
16 he Watch | September 2013| @kingswatch
THIS COULD BE AD SPACE
FYP Advi c e from The Cl a ss of 2013 I always loved the meal hall conversations, especially breakfast! Wake up early and get those muffins while they’re still warm. All the cool kids have early breakfasts. Lauren Bryant-Monk
I wish I did more readings in first year. They say that the rule of FYP is two thirds - do two of the three between Lectures, Readings, and Tutorial. From my experience of doing basically only Tutorial, I know that the readings are the foundation of the whole program. The lectures are just your profs opinions on the readings, and the tutorials are just your peers’ even stupider interpretations. So do the friggin readings. Do them right after lecture each day and get it over with. Christian Pollard
There is an abundance of pretentiousness during your time here do tolerate it, sometimes revel in the hilarity of it, but don’t add to it more than necessary and you’ll do fine.” Lindsay Logie
The best part of FYP for me was definitely just being together with such an amazing group of people and seeing the world in a whole new way. Just hanging out at the Wardy, talking about the readings at a trivia night, the whole thing is such an amazing experience. Ben Harrison, Watch C0-Editor in Chief 2012-2013