WRITING & PHOTO CONTEST WINNERS PAGES 12 & 13
Strike deadline near
Free to be known
Along for the ride
A spicy meatball
E’s not for “easy”
Sessional instructors have an offer, but TAs are yet to be given anything they can say yes to.
Despite the touted claims of transparency, access to information is sometimes limited here.
Our campus’s heart is exposed for all in a series of lovingly crafted tours open to all for free.
This UTM grad proves it can be done with the success of her and her husband’s restaurant.
It might not look like a sport, but the athletics of gaming are just as intense in League.
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02.23.2015
Four days to strike deadline Unit 3 to vote on tentative agreement on March 2; TAs still negotiating
UNIT 3 TO VOTE ON TENTATIVE AGREEMENT In a memo released Wednesday, Angela Hildyard, U of T’s VP human resources & equity, announced that the university and Unit 3 had reached a tentative agreement. Unit 3 met with university officials last Tuesday, resulting in the agreement after negotiations ended at 2:30 a.m., said CUPE 3902 chair Erin Black. Although Black, who is also a Unit 3 employee, was unable to discuss details about the tentative
launched at UTM
MARIA IQBAL NEWS EDITOR With Unit 3 of CUPE 3902 having reached a tentative agreement with U of T, only four days remain for Unit 1 to reach an agreement before the deadline at midnight this Thursday. Unit 1 represents mostly graduate students employed as TAs and other academic staff. The Unit 3 bargaining team, representing instructors and other staff hired under contracts of less than one year, tentatively settled on an agreement, which must be ratified on March 2. The union as a whole continues strike preparations as the date set for reaching an agreement approaches nearer.
I-CUBE
MAHNOOR AYUB
However, Black clarified that if the agreement is struck down at the meeting, Unit 3 will still go on strike. According to Black, the team is unanimously supporting the tentative agreement. In the meantime, however, she said CUPE 3902 as a whole is continuing its strike preparations since Unit 1 has not yet reached an agreement, adding that the preparations are not specific to any unit.
I-CUBE, a new accelerator designed to help student entrepreneurs launch and commercialize new products or services for the market, opened on February 10 in the Innovation Complex. I-CUBE will offer early-stage business development and commercialization services to students, and will function not only as an economic force but also, as I-CUBE’s faculty lead Professor Nicola Lacetera said, the project is “first and foremost, a learning experience”. At I-CUBE, students can develop their ideas and have their ideas assessed by local business and innovation leaders and alumni. At the accelerator, the foundation of a new start-up will be prepared for commercialization. Mayor Bonnie Crombie also attended the launch along with other notable figures. The accelerator, housed at the Institute for Management & Innovation, was established with $110,000 of $3 million in funding from the province.
Strike continued on page 4
I-CUBE continued on page 3
FACEBOOK.COM/CUPE3902/PHOTO
According to CUPE3902’s Facebook page, U of T admin refused to attend a debate they hosted. agreement, she said that the it reflects progress on the unit’s priority of job security. According to Black, U of T has agreed to make the Sessional Lecturer III rank a “permanent and ongoing” position. Previously, the ranking was limited to the term of each agreement and had to be renewed once the agreement expired. Black says that the tentative settlement, if ratified, will mean that the SLIII rank will continue to exist beyond the length of a specific agreement.
Other concerns addressed by the agreement include improvements to members’ healthcare funding account and “small increases” to compensation. The agreement will be subject to a two-stage ratification process. Members will be asked to vote at a meeting on March 2 on whether to send the tentative agreement to the full membership to ratify. Black explained that if the vote passes at the meeting, an additional couple of days will be given for the wider membership to vote on ratifying the agreement.
U-Pass fee increases recommended Campus Affairs Committee passes UTMSU proposed hikes and other student service fees NICOLE DANESI ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR Motions to recommend higher UTMSU fees and student service fees have been passed by the UTM Campus Affairs Committee. The UTMSU fee increases include an additional $10.08 per term for the summer U-Pass starting this summer, and an additional $7.67 for the part-time U-Pass fee in each of the fall and winter terms, to start in September. The committee also approved a recommendation to increase the summer U-Pass for students enrolled in the Mississauga Academy of Medicine by $4.76. The motions, passed on February 12, will proceed to Campus Council on March 5. If they are approved, the executive committee will consider the final approval on May 11. The proposed increases mean
MAHMOUD SAROUJI/THE MEDIUM
The Campus Affairs Committee approved a recommendation to increase U-Pass and other fees. that all full-time and part-time undergraduate students would be charged $92.82 per term for the UPass, up from $85.15. Additional UTMSU fee increases
approved by the committee—to be charged per semester—include a one-cent increase to ECSPERT, the Erindale College Special Response Team; a one-cent increase to the
food bank; a two-cent increase for academic societies, the spending for which has fluctuated between $37,000 and $50,000 over the last four years; a 26-cent increase to
society; and a two-cent increase to the student refugee program WUSC. As a designated UTM student society, UTMSU must receive approval from the university’s governing bodies in order to implement fee increases. The recommendation of the UTMSU fee increases came on the heels of a rally organized by UTMSU against proposed parking, residence, meal plan, and food service fee increases that were approved by campus council on February 5. UTMSU did not respond when asked why the union is requesting fee increases. UTMSU president Hassan Havili also did not respond when asked for comment on the union’s current assets of $1.15 million.
Fees continued on page 3
02.23.2015 THE MEDIUM NEWS» 3
Support for entrepreneurs Government reps among attendees at accelerator launch
February 9, 8:12 a.m. Parking Related After multiple parking infractions, a vehicle was towed off campus. February 9, 10:00 a.m. Harassment Campus Police investigated a complaint of harassment involving two students. Safety planning was provided and the suspect was cautioned. February 10, 10:03 a.m. Mischief Under $5,000 Campus Police investigated a report of graffiti in the CCT Building. Caretaking was asked to clean up the graffiti. February 10, 10:15 a.m. Bylaw Related A raccoon was in distress and Animal Control Services was called to assist. The raccoon was safely removed from campus. February 10, 12:10 p.m. Theft Under $5,000
Campus Police investigated the theft of several laptops from a classroom. February 10, 9:30 p.m. Theft Under $5,000 A laptop was stolen from an insecure locker in the Davis Building. February 11, 4:00 p.m. Motor Vehicle Accident Campus Police investigated a motor vehicle accident in lot 8. February 14, 4:20 a.m. Driving Offences A male was investigated for impaired care and control of a motor vehicle. February 18, 10:20 a.m. Parking-related After multiple parking infractions, a vehicle was towed off campus. February 18 and 19, 12:00 p.m. Mischief Under $5,000 Graffiti was reported in two stairwells in the Davis Building. Caretaking was asked to clean it up.
These reports are those that have been released to The Medium and do not necessarily constitute an exhaustive list. Students can contact the UTM Campus Police at 905 828 5200, Peel Regional Police at 905 453 3311, or Crime Stoppers at 1 800 222 8477.
Students can register to receive emergency alerts at alert.utoronto.ca.
SKYSCRAPERCITY.COM/PHOTO
I-CUBE was launched on February 10 in UTM’s Innovation Complex. I-CUBE continued from page 2 The funding came as part of U of T’s partnership with the Ontario Centres of Excellence, which is also a member of Ontario Network of Entrepreneurs. “I want to see students graduate from institutions like UTM and use the Innovation Cube as a launching pad to grow their ideas and their promising careers in Mississauga,” Crombie said at the event. She also mentioned the upcoming launch of the Mayor’s Taskforce on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, which will connect investors with job creators and is intended to foster entrepreneurial growth. UTM is one of the organizations that will have a seat on the task force. Moridi, who is also Ontario’s Minister of Research and Innovation, mentioned the development of an entrepreneurial spirit among students as a key component of On-
tario’s Youth Jobs Strategy. Also present at the launch were Tom Corr, president and CEO of OCE, and OCE representative Shantanu Mittal. Deep Saini, UTM principal and vice-president of U of T, spoke at the launch, saying, “I-CUBE offers our student entrepreneurs the chance to brainstorm, develop viable concepts, and proceed through the early stages of commercialization.” Harinder Takhar, MPP for Mississauga-Erindale, who previously headed the Ontario Ministry of Small Business and Entrepreneurship, said that the future growth of business in the province, and especially in Mississauga, will require “new, innovative entrepreneurs”. Development of the I-CUBE project began last July and continued throughout the summer. Co-founder of I-CUBE Hazem Danny Al-Nakib, a fourth-year business management specialist
and the student director and president of I-CUBE, said, “I was lucky and able to form a team of students from different areas of study at the graduate and undergraduate level to help develop and create a business accelerator.” Al-Nakib further emphasized how the partnership between faculty, staff, and students has proven one of I-CUBE’s major strengths. I-CUBE’s major focus, he said, is to provide an opportunity to students for hands-on learning in order to equip them to be future industry and community leaders. Al-Nakib said that the taskforce involved in the project—which includes faculty, staff, and experienced entrepreneurs—plans to help students either develop prototypes and source funding options, or provide guidance from volunteer mentors from the Mississauga Business Community. The five-month summer ICE program begins in March.
Only shuttle fee decreased Fees continued from page 2 Also recommended to Campus Council by the Campus Affairs Committee was the 2015/16 student service operating budget, proposing both increases and decreases to fees for certain student services. The proposed fee increases include a $3.37 athletics and recreation fee increase per session for full-time students and a $0.67 in-
crease per session for part-time students. Currently, full-time students pay $168.39 per session in athletic and recreation fees, compared to $33.68 for part-time students. Student service fees are also on the list of fee hikes. Full-time service fees will rise from their current cost of $142.51 to $151.08. Parttime fees will increase from $28.50 to $30.22. Other increases include an ad-
ditional $2.56 per session for campus health services for full-time students, and a $0.52 increase per session for part-time students. Current health service sessional fees are $33.67 and $6.73 for full-time and part-time students respectively. The only proposed decrease is to shuttle bus fees, which are recommended to be reduced by $0.27 from the current $4.68 fee charged per semester.
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»WHICH FEE WOULD YOU OPT OUT OF?
Transit updates planned UTMSU discusses changes to U-Pass and bus services MENNA ELNAKA ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR
Abdallah Alzoubi 1st year, commerce
Alexandra Stan 2nd year, poli sci & history
Healthcare—I figured out the deadline to opt out too late.
Tuition. It’s too pricey and we get very little in services at this university.
Jodi Buckley 1st year, social sci
Farhan Magray 1st year, commerce
Parking. There should be a small portion of tuition fees allocated for it.
Course refunds. Time is money and it takes time to know if you’ll pass a course.
UTMSU’s seventh Commission Meeting, held on February 10, discussed updates for transit services, with new bus times and new services for GO Transit and Brampton, Oakville, and Mississauga transit. According to UTMSU VP internal Bryan Chelvanaigum, 85% of UTM’s population uses the UPass. He said that UTMSU is initiating a U-Pass merger with the International Student Identity Card—which would include photo ID—expected to take place in September. UTMSU representatives also mentioned plans for introducing Presto technology in the U-Pass, so that students can access both MiWay and Presto services with one card. Chelvanaigum said that UTMSU is holding meetings with Brampton transit, looking into the possibility of options for Brampton commuters, since the U-Pass is not valid on Zum buses. On the subject of Oakville-Mississauga transit services, Chelvan-
aigum said that UTMSU is calling for a new MiWay route to Sheridan College, which would allow UTM students—especially those enrolled in the joint Art and Art History, Drama, and the CCIT programs at Sheridan—to commute without having to pay fare on Oakville transit.
UTMSU also mentioned plans for introducing Presto in the U-Pass, so students can access MiWay and Presto services with one card. Representatives said that they are specifically calling for bus 101 to take on the new route. UTMSU is also looking into connecting GO transit to UTM. Regular meetings between MiWay and UTMSU are also being held to discuss service improvements for the 44 bus at peak times when the bus tends to get full, said Chelvanaigum. There are also discussions for extending the 110N’s hours,
which currently comes to UTM until 10:47 p.m. on weekdays, and which students complain prevents them from staying late on campus to study. The other topics discussed at the meeting included a campus sexual assault policy. UTMSU representatives said they will lobby for better cell phone reception on campus, and said they would be implementing training sessions on sexual assault, one of which was scheduled to be held the day following the commission meeting. Students also expressed their dissatisfaction with food discounts on campus, especially since outlets such as Subway do not accept coupons. There were also complaints that some places do not accept the TCard as proof of student status for discounts since it does not show a date for graduation. Another issue that was raised was the limited space on campus dedicated to students. Attendees and executives did not settle on a solution, but some suggested limiting the library to UTM students. The next Commission Meeting is to be held in March.
U of T vague on requirements for “disruption”
U OF T’S OWN “EMERGENCY MEASURES ACT” In the event of a strike, U of T has the option to declare a “disruption” if administration decides that university operations are unable to continue as normal. If a disruption is declared, U of T’s Policy on Academic Continuity would come into effect, giving administra-
tion greater control over how professors run their classes. In a statement to the Toronto Star, Professor Scott Prudham—president of the U of T Faculty Association, which represents teaching-stream and tenured faculty at U of T’s three campuses—compared the policy to an emergency measures act “that would allow the provost to make fundamental changes to [their] courses just to make sure the trains run on time”. In normal circumstances, U of T’s Assessment and Grading Practices Policy requires course instructors who wish to make changes to syllabi to have students vote on those changes in class. However, the Policy on Academic Continuity can override that requirement and allow courses to be changed without student consultation. Prudham attended a confidential
meeting with university officials on February 12 to discuss the UTFA’s concerns. “We brought our concerns forward because of the potential for the policy to be invoked in ways that undermine academic freedom,” Prudham told The Medium in an email on Friday. Prudham declined to comment on the details of the concerns and the outcome of the meeting, but said that the UTFA was “seeking assurances from the Provost’s Office that academic freedom will be upheld [in the event of a disruption]”, and said that they had received those assurances. U of T spokesperson Althea Blackburn-Evans said in an email on Thursday that the Policy on Academic Continuity was intended to help continue academic programs “in difficult and challenging circumstances”.
She added that the policy gives the Provost and Academic Board the authority to declare a disruption, meaning that U of T’s academic operations would not be “proceeding as normal and that changes may have to be made to aspects of its academic activities”. While she noted that a labour strike would not automatically lead to a university-declared disruption, Blackburn-Evans was vague on what exactly it would take for a disruption to be declared, only saying that the option exists in the event that normal operations become “untenable”. Blackburn-Evans did not answer questions about how the policy would be implemented, including how it purports to maintain the “academic integrity” of a course or how soon instructors would be required to inform students of changes to course syllabi.
Somalian terrorist group threatens West Edmonton Mall
Ukrainian violence is ongoing despite rebels’ claims to be relenting
Phelps to compete after suspension, engagement
Trudeau, Chretien visit UTM to celebrate flag anniversary
FIFA meets in advance of 2022 World Cup to hold it in the winter
In a YouTube video released by the al-Qaeda–linked group al-Shaabab, a member made reference to a Kenyan mall bombing in 2013 and suggested that “brothers” in a number of Western cities, including Edmonton, should bomb their malls. Edmonton police say there is no security threat immediately posed. The mall is owned by an Iranian-Jewish famiy.
The main Russian-backed rebel organization in eastern Ukraine said it would begin moving heavy weaponry away from the front, but new attacks and bomb attacks continue to plague the separatist regions. The government says it is struggling to restrain a “pro-Moscow underground movement”. President Poroshenko is calling the episodes terrorist attacks.
U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps has become engaged, the Olympian announced on Instagram on Sunday. The social media site showed photos of Phelps and his fiancée, the former Miss California Nicole Johnson. Several months ago, Phelps was suspended from USA swimming after being arrested for drinking and driving. He is expected to resume in April.
Liberal Party Leader Justin Trudeau visited UTM on February 15 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Canadian flag. Held at the RAWC gym, the event was also attended by former Prime Minister John Chretien as well as former Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion who introduced Trudeau as “the next Prime Minister of Canada”.
Global soccer executives will meet in Qatar to finalize the decision to hold the event in November and December because the high summer heat was determined to be a high risk for players. The move is likely to go through despite European Club Association opposition and the proximity to the Winter Olympics that will take place in January and February.
Source: CBC
Source: The New York Times
Source: Today
Source: Brampton Guardian
Source: The Globe and Mail
Strike continued from Cover Black encouraged Unit 1 to continue fighting for its members’ needs as negotiations continue. “If that means having to go on strike […] then Unit 3 stands in full support,” she said. UNIT 1 CONTINUES TO FACE DIFFICULTIES As of press time, Unit 1 vice-chair Ryan Culpepper had not responded to The Medium’s requests for an interview on the status of Unit 1’s negotiations with U of T. According to the latest bargaining bulletin on CUPE 3902’s website, dated February 5, the Unit 1 bargaining team was scheduled to meet with U of T last Friday to continue negotiations. As of press time, CUPE 3902’s web-
site did not contain updates on the outcome of its latest meeting. Following the announcement of Unit 3’s tentative agreement, however, Culpepper commented on Facebook that the development did not, “in a strict sense”, affect Unit 1’s bargaining. “We still face the same difficulties and obstacles to reaching that agreement that we did before [Unit 3 reached an agreement],” he said.
02.23.2015 THE MEDIUM OPINION» 5
MASTHEAD EDITORS Editor-in-Chief Luke Sawczak editor@themedium.ca News Maria Iqbal news@themedium.ca A&E Maria Cruz arts@themedium.ca Features Madeleine Brown features@themedium.ca Sports Jason Coelho sports@themedium.ca — Photo Mahmoud Sarouji photos@themedium.ca Design Mubashir Baweja design@themedium.ca Copy Akshaya Sharma copy@themedium.ca Online & Blog Michelle Bonsu Safia Amin blog@themedium.ca online@themedium.ca Video Russell Wu videos@themedium.ca ASSOCIATES News Nicole Danesi Menna Elnaka A&E Kathelene Cattell-Daniels Features Andreea Mihai Sports Eric Hewitson Sihan Zheng Photo Christy Tam Zara Rizwan Nicole Raquinio Copy Tanya Decarie GENERAL STAFF Distribution Manager Ifunanya Paulinus distribution@themedium.ca Comic Artist Corey Belford BOARD OF DIRECTORS Christine Capewell, Larissa Ho, Saima Khan, Denio Lourenco, Jaime Pokhoy, Obaid Said, Ajay Sharma, Luke Sawczak
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Against blockaded knowledge When control of information serves the few, not the many Company secrets are a serious topic at universities these days. One of the most striking cases took place last May, when dean Robert Buckingham at the University of Saskatchewan wrote a public letter declaiming a secrecy policy the president had communicated to the deans and was given the boot. A cost-cutting plan euphemestically titled “TransformUs” by the president sought to reconfigure Buckingham’s School of Public Health, which also risked triggering a review of the accreditation of the school’s MPH. The president had told the deans not to “publicly disagree” with the message of TransformUs or the university, and Buckingham also got a personal email warning him that there should “be no mention in public or to government that changes to internal structures will endanger anyone’s accreditation”. Well, the dean went ahead and wrote his letter, and for that his tenure was revoked, his position terminated, and he himself escorted off the campus by security and told not to return, with a note from the president. Amazingly, the provost’s explanation to The Toronto Star ran: “When it comes to senior leaders in a university, it’s not different than leaders in any other non-profit organization, government, you name it [...As a dean] you can’t lead an organization and oppose it at the same time.” And in the dismissal note, the president accused Buckingham of “damaging the university’s reputation” and failing to demonstrate “integrity and ethical conduct”.
What am I hearing here? How can expressing concern about these ramifications be construed as opposition to the university? When instructed not to mention the endangered accreditation to the public or the government, how would keeping quiet show integrity? How is a university “no different” than any other nonprofit organization in corporate secrets when it’s fundamentally a forum of intellectual freedom? It’s a little like (on a much smaller scale, of course) Edward Snowden’s treatment after exposing the effect the NSA’s massive spying operation has on American citizens: he was labelled a “traitor”, was slapped with criminal charges, and fled the country. It’s very worrying when a university administration makes the same choice, ruling out (as they did in several comments to media) the application of free speech and academic freedom, in favour of brand loyalty. This happens when a body has become more concerned with self-perpetuation than with the good of the public, or—if we really are to say it’s merely an organization—its own stakeholders. Buckingham was given a tenured faculty role again, but not his deanship, one day after the story broke in the wake of academic outcry. A somewhat happy ending. But the incident speaks to the fact that a university is becoming first and foremost a business with its own interests to protect. This is a problem when it comes at the cost of staff, faculty, and above all student interests. And that brings me home to U of T. As we all know, a massive, crippling strike by sessional lec-
turers and TAs (as part of CUPE 3902) has been in the cards for weeks now as negotiations with the university over wages and benefits remain more or less frozen. Well, until five days ago, when sessional lecturers were offered a tentative agreement that sounds like it will be ratified. But TAs are yet to receive such an offer, and as part of CUPE 3902, the whole local would strike if the one unit did. So this week we tried to get at some information about the burning questions on everyone’s mind: What happens if there’s a strike? Where will we and our courses go? And we ran into half a blockade. Nothing near the level of lipzippery as in Saskatchewan, but still. News editor Maria Iqbal called Governing Council for a comment on the Policy on Academic Continuity, which determines what happens to services in the outcome of a disruption, and to understand the university’s interpretation of it. They amicably turned her over to the Provost’s Office. But before she could call them, she got a call from the Media Relations Office telling her that all comment would be routed through them and could not come directly from the persons actually involved. The answers we eventually got were vague and passed over several crucial questions without mention. No need for another tirade. The point is this: it may be procedure, but it’s perplexing and concerning procedure. Access to information is more critical in some cases than others. And they’re not the only ones who block it. Here’s one from a long-time offender, UTMSU (whose lack of ac-
cess to resources such as board meeting minutes is admittedly more often due to neglect). This week while researching an article on plagiarism, one of our associates asked for some statistics on how many students come to the Academic Advocacy Committee. The VP university affairs & academics replied that it was “inappropriate for The Medium to publish the amount of students coming in generally” and shut down the conversation. Is it? That’s funny. As the reporter ably showed from her other findings, the university-wide statistics are freely available online (up to 2013, anyhow). These aren’t personal stories we’re digging for. But as it happens, the practice on plagiarism includes publishing even the details of each ruling for the community’s benefit. Suppressing even the most general information is hardly, as VP Genny Lawen wrote, “self-explanatory”. On the contrary, it’s very bad. Without knowledge we don’t know where we are. And when we don’t know where we are we don’t know where we’re headed. YOURS, LUKE SAWCZAK
CORRECTION NOTICE The Feb. 9 article “The secret life of student parents” mistakenly referred to Clerigo’s ex-partner as her husband. As well, the article “Model UN set back, but carries on” mistakenly said Sandeela was the president of MUN rather than the vice-president.
Re: Food, hiking, res fee hikes passed Dear Editor, UTMSU led a passionate but unsuccessful protest against planned ancillary fee increases for 2015/16 on the Campus Council meeting of February 5. The student leaders also hope for reform of campus governance to give more power to students. However, UTMSU’s VP external, Ebi Agbeyebge, has unfairly criticized the current Campus Council structure by claiming that “only two seats on the council are for undergraduates”. This was unfair for two reasons. Firstly, there is no reason to discount the important voice on the council of graduate student Sara da Silva, who also pays tuition and ancillary fees, just like all graduate and undergraduate students. Secondly, Agbeyebge’s claim that there are only two council seats belonging to undergraduates is simply untrue. As the incumbent of
the third undergraduate UTM council seat, I was surprised to find that the part-time undergraduate UTM perspective seems to have been overlooked by UTMSU. This is unfortunate because we don’t qualify for the government’s so-called 30% tuition discount available to almost all fulltime students and are often very vulnerable to financial pressures. Amid the bullhorns and banners of the “Degree, not Debt” protest, some important facts were overlooked. The fact is that students have meaningful votes not only on Campus Council, but also on its various committees, including the Campus Affairs Committee, which recommended the modest ancillary increases. Also overlooked was the student voice on several advisory committees that had the opportunity to comment and make recommendations concerning ancillary costs. The
Student Housing Advisory Committee, Food Service Advisory Committee, Resident Student Dining Committee, and the Transportation & Parking Advisory Committee all include significant student membership. It simply isn’t true that students
I was surprised that the part-time undergraduate UTM perspective seems to have been overlooked by UTMSU. weren’t adequately consulted, or that we had no say in the decision-making that approved the ancillary cost increases. I applaud UTMSU’s efforts to keep student expenses from rising. However, students also want better cam-
pus services and facilities. More and better services cost money. UTMSU should understand this—the rate of student society fee increases has significantly outpaced both tuition and student services fee increases over the past few decades. They have used their fee increases to deliver exceptional services and facilities to UTM’s students. The modest ancillary fee increases as approved will likewise be used to deliver exceptional services and facilities that UTM’s students want and need. The new parking deck will give us 300 much-needed new parking spaces, for example, and new restaurants and the Davis food court will provide us with better meal options. Let’s just remember that there is no such thing as a free lunch. Leonard Lyn UTM Campus Council
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Discovering UTM’s comfort zones Yan Wu’s upcoming exhibition at the Blackwood Gallery will offer free in-depth tours MARIA CRUZ A&E EDITOR Comfort Zones is an upcoming exhibition at Blackwood Gallery that takes a step back from the traditional style to bring viewers a more in-depth look at the UTM campus. Two stages of Comfort Zones will be presented to the public, the first having taken place back in July 2014 when Cohabitation Strategy members Lucia Babina and Miguel RoblesDurán led a series of workshops at UTM with students, staff, and faculty. The second stage will be a series of four walking tours of the campus led by UTM community members. The campus tours were designed by CohStra and curated by Yan Wu. The Medium sat down with Wu to take a closer look at the exhibition that will be on display from March 10 to 12. Wu describes the project as a result of collaboration—a collective effort by Babina and Robles-Durán, the Blackwood Gallery, all the contributors, and herself. “My curatorial interest is the intersection between public art, architecture, and urban design. Many of my projects explore the territory of this intersection and try to intensify the relationship between the placement of the project and the site,” Wu says. “Also, I had a background in comput-
KAYLA TREMBLETT/PHOTO
CohStra members led workshops last July with UTM students, staff, and faculty. er science and software development before shifting to arts and culture, so I am always curious how to visualize the process and present it to the public.” The research for this project began last summer when Wu and her contributors were preparing for CohStra’s first site visit and their social-spatial workshop on campus, says Wu. “At the time, CohStra did their own
research, which involved an empirical approach. The majority of my research was focused on UTM-related archives: the UTM archive at the library, Heritage Mississauga, archive of master plans on UTM website, and newspaper archives,” she adds. “I also interviewed a lot of UTM community members. This is how we found the tour guides.” Wu explains that the tours are
broken down into four categories based on the observations CohStra made during their first site visit last summer. “Through interviews held over the last few weeks, we selected the ideal tour guide for each group. Fortunately for us, our first picks all agreed to participate,” she says. The decision behind who would lead the tours and what Comfort Zones would be touring came from
several different experiences. “We were impressed by the amount of natural space on campus and were fascinated by the experience of taking that natural trail around Lislehurst,” Wu says. “So we wanted to know how much of this nature is wild, how much of it is built, and the history of the land. The starting point of our research was to look for the evidence of pre-contact that happened on this piece of land.” Wu and company were introduced to Professor Gary Crawford’s work through Brian MacLean at First Story Toronto, a non-profit organization that gave a guided tour of aboriginal history in the Toronto area. “It was Professor Crawford who introduced me to Michael Brand’s work and the interesting digging school he ran around Lislehurst in the past couple of summers,” Wu explains. “Through Michael, I met with historian Matthew Wilkinson at Heritage Mississauga and Professor Thomas Mcilwraith, who has been on campus for 45 years and has developed a fascinating archive of campus history.” Wu hopes to bring all of them to the Natural Traces Tour, with Brand guiding the main thread of the tour but also focusing on the importance of different voices and researchers.
Comfort continued on page 8
Troubadours steal the drama festival UTM falls flat, St. Michael’s College plays it up at the 23rd annual festival at Hart House MARIA CRUZ A&E EDITOR Hart House Theatre and the University of Toronto Drama Coalition presented the 23rd annual U of T Drama Festival last week. The festival ran for three nights with three plays being performed each night and festival adjudicator Banuta Rubess critiquing each play. The first show of the night was Dream, as you like put on by the St. Michael’s College Troubadours, directed and adapted from the original Shakespeare by Shak Haq. The play stars four young women who go through the reordering of Shakespeare’s original text in an attempt to give it new meaning. The play was hard to follow, something Rubess also brought up. She commended the play for its risk-taking and imagery but told the crew to look back and ask why it was written and what story it’s trying to tell.
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The festival filled Hart House for three days. Next was Let My Mind Run Dry by the Hart House Players and was easily the best of the night, arguably of the festival. Written and directed
by Cassidy Sadler, the play tells the story of Lorraine (Remi Long), Warren (Stephen MacDonald), and a young girl, Jane (Charlotte Denis),
trying to accept and understand Eddie’s mental illness. Eddie, the son of Lorraine and Warren, constantly sees two people (Elizabeth Der, Jack
Galligan) who continue to bother him and tell him that he’s nothing. What made this play so impressive and beautiful was that Eddie was an off-stage character, which really allowed every actor a chance to show off their acting chops. There wasn’t one weak character or performance; each actor was heartbreakingly convincing. Rubess addressed the fact that the play was bleak yet gripping, giving special attention to the complex characters, unusual story, and difficulty for the actors. She also praised them for including an off-stage character. She drew attention to how the bar may have been set too high for such a unique play. Sadler should also have tried to explore the question of why Eddie sees these people, said Rubess, though some critics might have enjoyed the ambiguity.
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Hart House puts on six Poetry in motion original one-act plays Festival continued from page 6 Third of the night was the first comedy of the festival by the Victoria College Drama Society, Chase Williams and the Case of the Missing Fixture, written and directed by Frederick Gietz. The play started out very strong with a hilarious story filled with ridiculous and wonderfully performed characters, namely Chase Williams (Caleb Shoihet), Skip Parker (Fateema Miller) and Dr. Connor (Bennett Steinburg). But as the play progressed, the story dragged on and was decreasingly funny. The plot seemed rushed and yet took too long to wrap up. The reach for laughs was also too far with characters like the Chief (Angela Sun), who just seemed to shout lines and engage in “funny” handshakes with Williams. Also, Matt Bobkin (Amy Kalburn) was a character who could do everything and came off as tiring rather than humorous. Rubess commended the play for its comedy and energetic, unafraid characters, but she said she noticed that the genre seemed to change mid-play and suggested that Gietz consider cutting some of the play to make it neater. The first play of the second night was also by the St. Michael’s College Troubadours. Ond was written by Michael S. Marshall and directed by Trevor Barette. One of the standout plays of the evening, Ond follows married couple Frida and Harald Rank (Liz McLoughlin, John Shubat) and their daughter Silje (Madeleine Heaven) as they welcome a wanderer, Andar Linaker (Louis-Alexandre Boulet), into their home so he can escape a storm. Throughout his stay, Linaker is exposed to the crumbling marriage and the tension in the household. The story was beautiful, focusing on the outsider-looking-in mentality. The entire cast was incredible, something Rubess also said in her adjudication. She also gave praise to the dreamlike atmosphere, inventive design, good lighting and set design, great direction, and cast. The only note she had was to touch on the idea of whether or not Linaker was a metaphor. Next was one of my absolute favourites, Guillotin, produced by the Trinity College Drama Society and written and directed by Ilan Tzitrin. The play tells the story of Joseph Guillotin (Anthony Botelho), a man arrested during the Reign of Terror. His name becomes associated with the guillotine and the man himself soon becomes a symbol for the abuse and torture he wanted to abolish. While in prison he meets a young girl, Lucie (Allison Spiegel), who is being sentenced to death for murdering a guard who tried to rape her. The two soon share stories of their lives with each other and eventually be-
friend and learn more about their prison guard, Arsene (Louis-Alexandre Boulet). With such a small cast there was really no room for error. They did a marvellous job of drawing the audience into the wonderful story. Rubess drew attention to the sincere acting and added that the makeup was good (I seriously thought Botelho was an old man and I was sitting in the third row) and that she liked the set, costumes, and wordplay. But she questioned what the play was about, why it was a play, and where the reversal was. Last of the evening was Bacchae put on by the Woodsworth Performing Arts Collective, written by Kate Uniacke and directed by Emma Keil-Vine. I won’t lie, to take on the project of modernizing a Greek tragedy is quite a task and this play didn’t really do it for me. Of the entire cast, the best acting was that of Pentheus (Katarina Prystay) and Dionysus (Shak Haq), although the latter’s voice wasn’t projected enough to reach the back rows.
One of the best plays was centred on a group of young adults living in a zombie infested, post-apocalyptic Toronto. Rubess commended the very strong, committed characters, Pentheus, Dionysus, and the lighting and staging. However, she did note that the lighting was inconsistent and pointed out that it’s very difficult to make an audience believe in madness. The first of the last night was Fanny, Fluff, and Dandruff, produced by the UTM Drama Club. It was written by Jaime Lujan (who starred as Fanny) and directed by Laura McCallum. The play follows the lives of some pretty entertaining characters as they are forced to come to terms with their irrational fears. Froggie (Emily Thorne), the balding hair stylist, and Fanny, the failing stripper, live together and take on uncomfortable jobs to make ends meet. The colourful married couple Jupiter (Roberto Esteves) and Milagros (Hannah Ehman) also star. However, Rubess wasn’t a fan. Commending only Ehman on her performance, she admitted it was hard to find something she liked. She commented on the fact that it’s hard to joke about things like sickness, amputees, and accidental death when so many people have gone through such tragedies. She added that the characters were unsympathetic in an unrealistic world and decried the poor lighting and confusing set objects. She concluded by saying the play had
poor direction and a lot of things needed work. The second of the night was Swim to the Moon by the UC Follies, written by Deborah Lim and directed by Jane A. Smythe. The impressive one-woman show (Margarita Valderrama) was meant to be a ritualistic journey through space and time. Despite Valderrama’s courage, this play was one of my least favourites of the festival. The plot was unbelievably confusing, the set made no sense, and I had trouble figuring out what the purpose was. Rubess also mentioned how challenging the play was to read and how audiences only like confusion at times. She commended Valderrama for her bravery as well as the lighting, projection, and sound. But she argued that there was no conflict or catharsis in the piece and mentioned the lack of music and sound. Finishing the festival was Evening of the Dead, another by the UC Follies, written by Zack Standing and directed by Joey Condello. One of the best plays of the festival, the plot centred on a small group of young adults living in a zombie-infested, post-apocalyptic Toronto. There were wonderful performances by the entire cast and some great humour. It also had actors scattered in the audience to bring the story to life off-stage. My favourite part was when one of the characters was only supposed to pretend to bite one of the others but proceeded to “actually” do so to make it seem as though he were breaking script and actually infected. Rubess commended the play on its believable characters, script, lighting, video, and sound, and said the play was more than a spoof of a zombie apocalypse. To conclude the festival, awards were given out, the Viewers’ Choice Award being the first. The top three were Let My Mind Run Dry, Guillotin, and Evening of the Dead. Guillotin also took home the award of merit for Best Wordplay. Let My Mind Run Dry also cleaned up with the Hedda Gabler Award for Complex Character and Remi Long took home the Donald Sutherland Award for Best Performance. Evening of the Dead also took home the President’s Award for Best Production and the Robertson Davies Playwriting Award. Ond went home with “the Best Ond-semble” award of merit and the Robert Gill Award for Best Direction, while Swim to the Moon also went home with two awards: the IATSE Award for Technical Achievement and the Heart on Your Sleeve Award. The final two awards of merit were Shak Haq’s for “the best Greek god” and the Canadian Theatre Heritage Award for Best Tableau that went to Chase Williams and the Case of the Missing Fixture.
Two slam poets hold workshop at UTM
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Andre Prefontaine and Sabrina Benaim at their free workshop. MARIA CRUZ A&E EDITOR Slam poets Andre Prefontaine and Sabrina Benaim came to UTM earlier this month at a poetry masterclass EDSS held for students. Prefontaine is a slam poet from Calgary who won the 2012 Canadian Underground Slam Championship and captained the Calgary slam team, leading them to fourth place in the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word. Benaim, whose poem “Explaining my Depression to my Mother” has over 1,000,000 views on YouTube, was part of the Toronto Slam Team, which won the national slam poetry championship in October. She will also represent Toronto in New Mexico at the Women of the World Poetry Slam. The afternoon began with a workshop at which students shared their writing. Prefontaine encouraged the “first thought, best thought” principle for students who had trouble coming up with ideas. He said that writers should never sit down and tell themselves that they’re writing a poem; writers should sit down and write something meaningful to them without getting stuck on expectations. Before the students went on to read their pieces, Prefontaine warned them about the downside of slam poetry: the judges. He referred to them as being like icebergs, frigid and stoic. In Prefontaine’s opinion, words like “emotion”, “soul”, and “resolution” should be avoided because they’re words for which people have preassociated images. A slam poet needs to ask herself, “What are you getting at?” and try to move past the
surface meanings of the words. Benaim stepped in to add that poets need to focus on matching the performance to the words. “The intention of what you mean and the delivery of the sentences need to work as one,” she said. In preparation for the workshop, Prefontaine and Benaim delivered some of their poems first, each reading two and taking turns reciting their pieces. Prefontaine, who specializes in character pieces, went first with his poem about Rob Ford and his “mistress”—crack. Benaim went next with “Glass Girl”, a poem that characterized a young boy as a big bad wolf responsible for breaking down a young girl’s self-esteem. Prefontaine’s next poem described an abusive childhood and whether people are born or raised as monsters. Benaim concluded with a poem about the differences between the narrator and a boy in her life. The audience members were then allowed to share their pieces and receive critique on their poem and their delivery. The first poem discussed stereotypes about black youth and was very well received by the crowd. His piece prompted Prefontaine and Benaim to share advice on knowing your musical “bars” and using them to evoke emotion. Two more girls got up from the crowd to share their pieces, one being “The Queen”, which discussed the beauty standards expected of women. Prefontaine cheered on various lines and the students erupted in applause when she was done. The afternoon finished with Benaim and Prefontaine offering some final advice for slam poets who want to attend any contests or improve their skills.
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Stories that don’t usually come out Comfort continued from page 6 The second tour was inspired by the beauty of the UTM campus, Wu says. The natural landscape and modern architectures are what drew Wu and fellow curators to delve further into the campus. “Through studying the master plans provided online, we understand the campus has been significantly expanded since 2000 in terms of the number of buildings and student enrolment,” Wu says. “It’s important to gather the perspective from the administration and to understand the big picture of the development. Coincidentally, I was connected to Paul Donoghue through my outreach to the Chair of Grounds Committee, Professor Linda Kohn.” Wu went on to say that at the time, they were looking for a voice who could introduce them to the infrastructure and financing behind the campus development. “Nobody knows better than Paul does,” Wu admits. “We are very lucky that he is willing to participate.” The third tour is based on Cohabitation Strategies’ on-going concern for labour conditions, Wu says. She and CohStra wanted to know more about the social and working conditions on campus, wanting specifically to hear it through the staff ’s own voice in terms of their experience as opposed to the official rhetoric. “Mary Atkinson from the library gave us an amazing tour of how she used the campus back in the summer as part of the social-spatial workshop ran by Cohabitation Strategies,” she says. “Mary studied at UTM and stayed to work in the library after. She showed us what her routine was like when she was a student and what facilities matter to her now as a staff member and a mother.” For the tour, The Medium’s editorin-chief, Luke Sawczak, suggested
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Two tours were conducted on campus during the CohStra workshops last summer. that Wu should meet with Chartwells employee Linda Stroble at Circuit Break Café, given that she is a wellknown and beloved face on campus. “The tip was priceless,” Wu says. “I have been having lunch breaks with Linda regularly ever since. She has shown me a beautiful way to use the campus that I’ve never thought of.” The last tour is based on student culture. “We wanted to work with a student group who could show us how culture is produced on campus,” Wu says. “We thought about a poetry society, a music appreciation group, or a game club. I have to say, the email list of student clubs provided on the student union’s webpage is somewhat out-of-date. I sent out a whole bunch of emails and nobody replied; some of the email accounts no longer exist.” It was then that Wu decided to try Facebook, though she didn’t have much luck. “I was combing through all the CFRE radio programs and trying to find something there, but Luke introduced me to EDSS TV
and Siddharth Singh,” she says. “We decided to have a behind the scenes tour of a live production of a student movie on campus. It’s perfect. Actually, the title ‘Behind the Scenes’ was inspired by this tour particularly.” The idea for a tour format was a proposal by Cohabitation Strategies, Wu says. “They see the format of a guided walking tour as an effective tool for collective learning. The idea came from the two tours we did during the workshops last summer. According to the participants, the tours were everyone’s favourite experience and the best way to encounter the campus,” she says. The first was led by Atkinson at the library, and the second by Kamila Swiderski and Andrew Wyszkowski, grounds service worker and student. The third was by Brand. “The tour Michael Brand took me on around Lislehurst, learning the history of Lislehurst and Woodham, and seeing the marks left on the ground was a mind-blowing experience for me. One second you thought
you were standing in an urban forest, the next you found out you were actually standing in what was once someone’s private garden,” Wu says. “The other great finding was the press coverage of the expropriation process of the campus land in 1963 from the Toronto Star archive. “One of the most memorable tours was the one I gave to Greg Troy, the founder of The Medium and the [first president of the] student union,” she added. There were several reasons why Wu and CohStra decided to come to UTM to hold these tours. “I decided very early on to work with the Blackwood Gallery because I knew that I wanted to learn more about the campus,” Wu says. “I was first attracted to the modern architectures here, from the mega-structure to state-of-the-art certified LEED, and wondered how it came about.” Wu says that most importantly she’s interested in studying shared spaces on campus and how they are used. “I would like to study the po-
tentials for them to become productive comfort zones, somewhere you don’t need to be pushed out of, and instead you can feel familiar with and can comfortably claim that you are part of it. I see that as an important condition to participate.” Wu says that she also likes the fact that the Blackwood Gallery has a long history of supporting public intervention and site-specific kind of the project and artworks. “I’m interested in Christine Shaw’s work and am curious what she plans to bring to UTM. The best way to find out is to work with her,” she says, alluding to the importance of the experiential aspect of the tours. Despite all the information that came from UTM, there were communication and commuting obstacles for Wu, who doesn’t live in Mississauga. She was away for the fall semester, and admits that a very limited amount of research could be done. “It was frustrating. It made me realize that it’s a project that needs to be produced in field, partly because the research requires local visits and partly because the process requires bodily immersion in the campus to understand its rhythm and pulse,” she says. After each tour, says Wu, there will be experiential mapping exercises in which “everyone at the tour will be invited to contribute their own voice to the map”. The results of the exercises will be compiled and translated into one final map as the publication of the project. “The contribution of the participants is equally important as the tour guides,” she says. “We hope the project can reflect diverse voices of the campus.” More on the free tours can be found online at blackwoodgallery. ca/events/2015/BehindTheScenes. html. To sign up, just email yw.wu@ mail.utoronto.ca.
When you cross star-crossed lovers and fun Theatre Erindale condenses two classic plays into a mere one-act performance KATE CATTELL-DANIELS ASSOCIATE A&E EDITOR Watching theatre is never about checking a play off my list of plays I haven’t seen. As with books and movies, every time I rewatch or reread something, its meaning changes for me. I see things I never saw before. With live theatre, every time a play is staged, a different director takes a different approach with a different group of actors in a different space. That’s why we continue to take on and challenge the classics, as has been done this semester by the third-year class of the Theatre and Drama Studies program with two Shakespeare plays: Romeo and Juliet and Troilus and Cressida. The choice of works is intriguing. I have seen, read, and recited Romeo and Juliet so many times that I’ve lost count. My experiences with Troilus and Cressida, though, can be counted on one hand. Both involve doomed love stories set in a warzone. Under David Matheson’s direction and ad-
aptation, both plays have been edited and reworked into one-act versions titled Occupy Verona and Alms for O, respectively. Though the form of the performance involves two fully developed and independent plays, each answers to the other’s themes. For actors and directors alike, Shakespeare is both a best friend and an ultimate challenger. The text gives you everything: beautiful words, carefully measured rhyme and meter when you need it, and engaging characters and plots that have sung to the masses and the academics for hundreds of years. But speaking Shakespeare requires verbal athleticism comparable to running a half-marathon randomly interspersed with hundred-metre sprints. You can’t half-ass this stuff and expect the audience to follow you. Here’s what worked: this is the first time Theatre Erindale has, in my four years at least, performed this kind of show and taken this kind of conceptual risk. It proves an amazing opportunity for the actors who benefit from
the evenly distributed roles and a chance to tackle two full Shakespeare productions before heading out into the industry. Occupy Verona reinterprets the play everyone studied in Grade 10 English and puts it in the context of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Here, the Montagues are the occupiers and the Capulets the owners of Capulet Incorporated. In a way, the stakes are higher in this version than in the original; it’s not just about family disputes but also ideological differences. And amid the chaotic urban warzone, Romeo (Stuart Hefford) and Juliet (Kira MeyersGuiden) fall in love. As I said above, I learn something new every time I see a play performed. This time, I found myself really listening to parts of the play I had never heard before, notably the infamous Queen Mab speech delivered by Mercutio (Emma Robson) and Capulet’s (Nathaniel Voll) ultimatum on Juliet’s disobedience. The aesthetic of Alms for O is also quite provocative. The play is set in
2015, but as if World War I never ended and has been raging for 101 years. In this dangerous setting of bombs and sandbag shelters, Troilus (Nathaniel Kingan) and Cressida (Tatiana Haas) come to life. Supposedly, this is one of Shakespeare’s “problem plays”, caught somewhere between comedy, tragedy, and history, but the cast makes it look easy. The casting for both plays involves gender-bending, which works because often it doesn’t really matter what gender a character is. The casting is based on how well a personality fills the need. I found that both Benvolio (Chelsea Riesz) and Pandarus (Larissa Crawley) adapted well to their roles. Even though Romeo is flanked by two sexually aware women, I never questioned the fact that his attentions didn’t drift from Rosaline to either of his friends. As for Pandarus, I don’t know why Shakespeare wrote the character as a male. It makes so much sense when played by a woman, and in fact I have never seen it done any
other way. Despite both plays technically being tragedies, Matheson found ways to work in a healthy amount of humour. It’s not about creating jokes where they don’t exist, but rather being attentive to what goes on between and beneath the lines. Shakespeare might possess godlike status, but I really don’t think he took himself that seriously; both plays are riddled with sexual innuendo and opportunities for physical humour. Five hundred years ago or so, Shakespeare’s plays entertained everyone from Queen Elizabeth I to the London rabble that stood in all weather for three-hour performances. That was contemporary theatre. So although Shakespeare is now considered classical, even sacred, I stand firmly behind contemporary interpretation. These plays need to remain accessible so they don’t disappear. Occupy Verona/Alms for O plays at the Erindale Studio Theatre until March 1.
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Success with a side of spaghetti Jessica Iatomasi went from corporate finance to Italian eatery and never looked back MADELEINE BROWN FEATURES EDITOR Just a two-minute walk down Queen Street South from the Organique Juice Bar I wrote about earlier, UTM grad Jessica Iatomasi and her husband Nicola are looking ahead to the seventh birthday of their Italian casual fine-dining restaurant, Mondello. Jessica is the general manager and Nic the executive chef. Like Kanwar Gill of the juice bar, they too know the rollercoaster ride that is opening a restaurant, but unlike him, they never expected they would. “The purpose was never to open a restaurant, really,” says Jessica. Nic worked his way up from apprentice to sous chef at Stage West, the infamous Mississauga dinner theatre that closed almost two years ago after 27 years in business. Then he got his first executive chef gig at a restaurant in Oakville. He and the front of house manager of that restaurant got the idea to open their own place, which eventually became Mondello in May 2008. “At that time I was in the middle, towards the end of my studies of
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Mondello Ristorante has been at the same Streetsville location since its opening in 2008. UTM. So I was very involved in the start-up of this place, but more from the sidelines, more as an advisor. I helped them secure the financing, I advised on the legal matters and tax issues that they might encounter. Just how to manage their cash flow, how to set their books up, things like that that I was strong at,”
says Jessica. But it wasn’t all smooth sailing. “Like many partnerships, it didn’t work out in May 2011 and the business wasn’t doing well at the time. It was a huge financial strain,” she says. Mondello, at the time presenting itself as being on the higher end of fine dining (think white table-
cloths, small portions, and an exotic menu—Italian with a French flair), suffered from the recession. Nic became the sole owner that year and Jessica continued to help out while simultaneously working at Ernst and Young. As the restaurant grew, Jessica found it difficult to balance both, so in November
2012 she ended her time at the big financial firm and became Nic’s official business partner. Jessica had a great deal of experience in hospitality, having worked as a server and bartender. She had a real interest in mixology, the social experience, and the industry itself. When she stepped in, Mondello had a small team, limited cashflow, and a loyal, but small clientele that couldn’t sustain the restaurant. “It was sort of barebones,” she says. “We knew we needed a concept change.” They kept the name, but got a new logo, renovated the space, tossed out the fine dining feel—including the dress code—and overhauled the menu. They started from scratch, using good old comment cards and conversation with customers. “People had so much to say,” says Jessica. “So if I would get 10 requests for a mushroom risotto in a month, we would sit down at the end of the month, look at those comment cards and say, ‘Okay, people are asking for this, so let’s throw it on the menu and see how it flies.’ ”
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Six personal new takes on mental health The Medium goes behind the scenes on the second season of the UTMental vlog series ASSIA MESSAOUDI UTMental kicked off its second season in January with a new group of vloggers. The vlogs show UTM students discussing mental health issues in order to raise awareness and challenge the stigma associated with mental health. This week I corresponded with health education coordinator Chad Jankowski and third-year psychology major, CTEP student, and vlogger Jordan Foster to talk about the program. The Medium: What are you doing to fight the stigma against mental illness? Chad Jankowski: Mental health stigma presents a barrier to students seeking help when needed. The Health and Counselling Centre helps to challenge that stigma by providing mental health training to the UTM community through the outreach of the Peer Health Education team and through projects like UTMental. Jordan Foster: Mental health stigma prevents our families, friends, and peers from seeking
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UTMental is just one of the HCC’s health education initiatives. the help they need. As a UTMental vlogger, it is my intention to challenge that stigma by providing honest insights into my own journey with mental illness.
TM: What made you decide to speak up about mental illness? JF: Mental illness is a topic that is of particular interest to me, as both myself and many people close to me
have struggled with mental health. I wanted to be honest about my experience in the hopes that others in need of help might feel less alone and more inclined to seek help.
TM: What did you do for Bell Let’s Talk Day last month? CJ: The Health and Counselling Centre organized a mental health resource fair that brought together campus and community resources available to support students. The fair included organizations like Good2Talk (Ontario’s 24-hour postsecondary student helpline), Partners for Mental Health, the Canadian Mental Health Association, St. John Ambulance Therapy Dogs, and Peel Public Health. TM: What do you plan to accomplish with the second season of UTMental? How does this season differ from the first? CJ: I see the second season of UTMental as a way to add more student voices to the conversation about mental health. The weekly themes haven’t changed between seasons (introductions, stress, stigma, the “5 Ways to Wellbeing”), but we have an entirely new group of vloggers.
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Host and biologist makes science sexy Dan Riskin speaks to biology students about the importance of science on TV FARAH BADR Dan Riskin, co-host of the The Daily Planet aired daily on Discovery Channel Canada, host of the popular documentary Monster Inside Me, author of Mother Nature Is Trying to Kill You, and serious scientist and researcher who has spoken at many organizations, was invited to UTM before Reading Week by the biology department to give a workshop on communication and professional development in life sciences. The workshop was geared towards students in “BioPath”, a two-year professional development program directed by the department. During his academic research on the biomechanics of bats, first for his master’s at York and then his PhD at Cornell, Riskin was pulled into the TV world after a sudden phone call. “I was sitting in my basement when the phone rang,” he said. “A production company was doing a show about evolution called Evolve for the History Channel and they needed ‘an evolutionary biologist who is not an old man’. They’d gotten my name from someone who had seen me give talks at conferences.” Riskin spoke about his approach to portraying science on TV and how it differs from expression in the scientific community. “In
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Riskin’s career changed completely after an unexpected phone call. scientific conferences, almost everyone in attendance is playing a game called ‘How can what that person’s saying be wrong?’ and if they find a flaw, they will stand up at the end of your talk and announce it to everyone in the form of a question,” he said. “That’s not the case on TV. […] There is much less scrutiny. Besides, your fellow scientists most likely don’t watch TV.” The public success of scientists such as American astrophysicist,
cosmologist, and author Neil deGrasse Tyson of NOVA ScienceNow and Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey derives from the passion and curiosity they project, said Riskin, who calls it “role-modelling curiosity”. “If you make people grossed out and intrigued, they are more likely to ask questions that they wouldn’t have asked otherwise,” he said. He also emphasized the point that science is a “process and not a body of knowledge”. The public and scientific community alike
care more about the yet unexplainable and the incomplete. Much of the workshop was dedicated to language. The scientist, said Riskin, wants to solemnly and accurately inform, and the host wants to entertain. “You should radiate as much energy at the start of your talk as the end; there should be no waiting for the punchline, otherwise you just lost 5,000 viewers.” This was one of four golden rules Riskin listed as the ideal way
to go through interviews for scientists and non-scientists alike: “You should smile early on, lean in, start with high energy, and be excessively passionate.” According to him, the language level should be at Grade 8. “They are bright, but they don’t know the scientific jargon,” he said. “Give them concepts.” Riskin also asked why we should publicize science through TV in the first place. “Publicizing science has two purposes: get kids interested, and make voters appreciate science and scientists,” he said. “This makes them less likely to elect anti-science governments. […] Television is an effective way to reach people outside the ivory tower.” Riskin also shared his adventures stalking sucker-footed bats in Madagascar. He talked about the procedures behind his most influential published paper yet, which involved putting a vampire bat on a treadmill and making it run. This led to the discovery of a previously unrecorded gait that the bat uses to chase its fidgety prey. When Riskin leaned back in his chair and wildly thrashed his limbs to mimic the bat’s gait, I immediately agreed with Craig Ferguson, ex-host of The Late Late Show, on which the scientist appeared more than six times, that Riskin is perhaps “the sexiest evolutionary biologist I know”.
Reading Work Changing perspectives Students volunteer over Reading Week Health continued from page 9 ANTON MYKYTENKO It’s a sunny Tuesday morning during Reading Week at UTM. Students dot the tables of Davis and Kaneff, making use of the time off to do homework. Others chatter away their time in the cafeteria or make up for lost hours in the gym. But in a quiet, closed-off room on the fourth floor of Deerfield sits a small group of volunteers registered in the Department of Student Life’s Alternative Reading Week program, diligently working away on a laptop. “Where should we put the name?” “Why don’t we put the RAWC over here?” “No, here. Here’s another picture.” With the blinds drawn and the door shut, fourth-year economics student Ayesha Nadeem and her group of volunteers work on a presentation for the Canadian Mental Health Association. “We’re trying to make a strategy to encourage the youth to come out to fundraisers and support mental health, because we haven’t being seeing a lot of that in the past,” says Nadeem, the leader of the group. According to the department’s website, the Alternative Reading
Week, recognized on the co-curricular record, aims “to enhance students’ experiences with community engagement, leadership, social change, and community development”. Participants select a theme, such as children and youth or sustainability, before attending a meetand-greet and training at the end of January. In partnership with a variety of local organizations, the program itself ran the Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of Reading Week and will conclude with a reflection, celebration, and online survey. Why would students choose to volunteer during “relaxation time”? “You get to work with organizations you’re interested in,” says Anjali Patel, a third-year psychology student. “And it’s more doable over Reading Week when you don’t have classes to go to.” “It’s nice to be able to learn about issues that you don’t normally see in the classroom and plan your week according to you,” adds Parsheila Narain, a fellow third-year psychology student.
Reading continued on page 11
CJ: Since everyone experiences mental health differently, these new voices offer new stories and new perspectives. Hopefully everyone will be able to find something in their stories that they can either relate to or learn from. TM: Why video blogging? How did you choose which topics to discuss and who was best to vlog about said topics? CJ: I was inspired to create a video blogging project because of the way I’ve seen YouTube communities form around other vloggers (especially the VlogBrothers) and other collaborative channels. The video platform was also appealling because it’s a way viewers can connect with the vloggers by seeing and hearing them share their stories. We also opted for student-driven vlogs rather than scripted videos because we felt it was important that the vloggers speak frankly about their experiences as students rather than being spokespeople for the Health and Counselling Centre. The weekly themes were agreed on by the team ahead of time, but each vlogger chose how they would speak to those themes. TM: What did you find helped
you most in dealing with your own personal journey with mental illness? CJ: As a student, I benefited from the support of one of the personal counsellors on campus and was grateful for the instructors who made accommodations to help me through a difficult time. I’m really fortunate that I now have a job where I can both play a role in connecting people with help and
“My greatest fear is that others will regard me with a patronizing but well-meaning pity. However...this is not often the case.” advocate for greater mental health resources for students. TM: What advice would you give to students dealing with mental illness who are too afraid to speak out because of the negative connotations surrounding the discussion of mental illnesses? CJ: Unfortunately, mental health stigma does exist within our society, so disclosing a mental illness, like coming out, needs to be
a personal decision. There isn’t a need to struggle in silence, though. The services provided at the Health and Counselling Centre are confidential and non-judgmental, so students can seek our personal support there. Another option is to seek out supportive communities like UTMSU’s peer-to-peer support group or UTMental. Online communities can provide greater anonymity, so those can often be great options for students concerned about stigma. JF: It is difficult to disclose a mental health illness and harder still to ask for help. I think that a major barrier to speaking out about one’s mental illness is that others might perceive you as “disordered” or “crazy”. My greatest fear is that others will regard me with a patronizing but well-meaning pity. However, in my experience this is not often the case. Societal perceptions of mental illness are quickly changing and the more we encourage honest conversations around mental health, the more apparent these changes become. I think it is very important that students be honest both with themselves and with others. You can watch the second season of UTMental online at youtube. com/utmHCC.
02.23.2015 THE MEDIUM FEATURES» 11
At home in Streetsville Jessica continued from page 9 Frigid temperatures, top-speed winds,
as traditional barbeque,” says Mullings.
and a lathering of snow... Remember
Most importantly, he’s figured out
those summer days sprawled out on
how to make his beloved barbecue live
a lawn chair in your barest attire with
on in the winter months. “From grilled
a book or a tablet full of Netflix? Then
cauliflower [and] steaks to breads and
gracefully hosing yourself down to cool
chili, I use my barbecue all year round
off or taking advantage of your next-
in unique ways,” he says.
door neighbour’s pool? And, then, of
He’s certainly put a summer spin on
course, there’s the food. the barbecue.
a winter classic by adding the barbecue
Boiled cobs of corn or grilled? Baked
to it: mac and cheese. “This recipe is a
chicken or grilled? Raw peach slices or
favourite of mine, a comfort food with a
grilled? I rest my case.
twist. Feel free to change it up with dif-
Fellow BBQ-lover Dale Mullings, as-
ferent cheeses, woods for smoking, or
sistant dean student and international
add some paprika to make it your own,”
initiatives, gets what I’m talking about.
says Mullings.
“I love barbecue! Specifically, I love
Why give your winter blahs the atten-
charcoal smokers and creating food
tion they don’t deserve? Gimme some
that wouldn’t normally be thought of
good ol’ BBQ and a dose of nostalgia.
Dale’s Smoked Bacon Mac & Cheese MAKES 6 SERVINGS INGREDIENTS • 16 oz macaroni or shell pasta • 6 strips of bacon
on paper towel to cool. Once cooled, crumble into bacon bits. 4. Over direct heat on the barbecue,
• 1 yellow onion, diced
in a large Dutch oven, add olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
and butter. Once the butter is melted,
• 6 tbsp all-purpose flour
add onion and garlic and sauté until
• 2 tbsp red chili flakes • 4 cups milk • 10 oz aged cheddar cheese, grated • 300 g ricotta cheese
browned. 5, Mix in flour and red chili flakes and sauté for another 2 minutes. 6. Add milk, 8 oz of cheddar, ricotta,
• 1 cup breadcrumbs
and 2/3 of the cup of breadcrumbs
• salt
Bring to a boil and let simmer for 5 to
• 1 tbsp olive oil • 2 tbsp butter • ½ tsp coarse black pepper • pecan, cherry, oak, hickory, or apple wood • 2 green onions, chopped (optional)
10 minutes until creamy. 7. Add cooked noodles, most of the bacon bits, and stir. 8. Top with remaining breadcrumbs, bacon bits, cheddar, and some cracked pepper.
METHOD
9. Reduce heat to 250 F, add wood
1. Preheat barbecue to 350 F.
chips for smoking, use indirect heat
2. Meanwhile, cook pasta in salt water
(e.g. a place-setter) and close lid on
until al dente. Then run pasta under cold water and set aside. 3. In a frying pan, cook bacon and place
barbecue. 10. Cook for 45 minutes, then top with green onion and enjoy!
Initially the menu changed every four to six weeks. Since the menu has for the most part settled, it now changes every three to four months to keep it seasonal, cost-effective, and creative. The approach has worked out well. “It’s important to take that very human, common sense approach and build your business tactics around it,” says Jessica. Like Gill, Jessica loves having a business in Streetsville, with its high traffic and small-town feel that provides a solid customer base where everyone knows one another. Jessica sits on the board of the Streetsville Business Improvement Association as the co-chair of promotions and hospitality director. Mondello also started the annual Taste of Streetsville and Jessica continues to run it through the BIA with the involvement of other Streetsville eateries. “The most challenging part about it [running a restaurant] is managing your staff. Hospitality has a bad reputation of high turnover. You get your lifers, but most of the other staff, it’s like a revolving door, in and out. We don’t really have that here at Mondello,” says Jessica. Interestingly, she prefers to hire front-of-house staff that are new to the industry. “I hire friendly people with smiley faces and hospitable natures. People that are hardworking, fast. […] I get a lot of my opinions on [whether] I’m going to give them a shot or not just on how they make me feel sitting down at the interview. I just have them talk to me, because if they’re making me feel good, then chances are they’re going to be good on tables and make my customers feel good,” says Jessica.
It’s clear that Mondello grew in those first four years. But how has it changed since then? “One thing that really strikes me is, I remember when in the very early stages when there would be absolutely nobody in the dining room on the weekend during the day […],” says Jessica. “I would literally be standing in front of the restaurant trying to talk to people walking by on the street, trying to coax them to come into the restaurant. I’d get two or three tables in and then run in and serve them myself. And then when they were done, I would literally go out and fish for [more] tables.
Jessica still remembers her first day at UTM--an evening ECO100 lecture with Professor Lee Bailey. “And then a couple of weeks ago I was standing at the bar. And it just— you get those moments where things just hit you—and I looked around and the place was a zoo. We have 20 people that work for us now; everybody was all dressed up, everybody was scrambling, we had every table full, the phone was ringing, there was a line-up at the door, […] the bartender couldn’t even keep up with all the chips that were coming through, or the wine being poured, and you just stop and you look around and you think, ‘Wow. What happened in three and a half years?’ “How it happened? It really is just about listening to what people want and taking every guest seriously and doing your best every single day. Only
good can come from that.” The Iatomasis don’t have fixed plans but are making the most of the opportunity to just enjoy and improve what they have. “Is opening another place part of our five-year plan? No, but I’ve learned never to rule anything out,” says Jessica. Her advice for students with regards to opening a restaurant: “Don’t do it!” But she does recommend making the most of any feedback. One customer who wrote a negative online review for Mondello turned into a mentor and is now a loyal customer. According to Jessica, mentors are key. So is being motivated by food, service, and entrepreneurship—not money. When Mondello was just starting, Jessica was a mature student at UTM starting her bachelor of commerce. At 27 years old, she decided to get her charted accountant certification. She graduated in 2009 with distinction and offers from three of the “big four” accounting firms. Jessica still remembers her first day at UTM—an evening ECO100 lecture with Professor Lee Bailey. She felt overwhelmed by the odds at first, but she made it “to the top of the mountain” of certification and competition and remembers her parents’ pride on graduate day. She believes it’s never too late to start your undergraduate degree. After all, what she learned during the day in lecture during her undergrad, she brought home and applied to the redevelopment of the restaurant. She remembers sitting down with the department’s associate director, Manfred Schneider, for advice on Mondello—and looks forward to giving back to the institution that played a major role in her now successful business.
Pittance of time Reading continued from page 10 And as for balancing schoolwork and volunteering during reading week, it’s just a matter of time management. “I volunteer in the afternoon. After 5 p.m., that’s when I go to the library and when I get tired, I usually go meet friends,” says Patel. But it’s not just UTM encouraging its students to use their week to volunteer. Another group of students is busy at a small Habitat for Humanity store in Meadowvale.
“...I take online courses, so this is a way for me to work with my hands and make new experiences and connections.” Of the many small businesses that occupy 1705 Argentia Road, Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore seems the busiest. Cars sit alongside the building and banners sway in the front. Customers roam the store, hunting down furniture or china. Between them, small groups of volunteers in green shirts hurry to finish various tasks. “I’m actually a fourth-year student
working on my thesis in interior design,” says Humber student Maya Amalsadia. “So working here is a part of my curriculum and gives me experience in my field.” “I’m less busy because I take online courses, so this is a way for me to work with my hands and make new experiences and connections. It’s better than staying at home, at least,” says Kathryn McTavish, a life sciences student at Waterloo. With this kind of attitude, students don’t have to choose between a social life and volunteering. “I volunteer here three days a week and it’s fun to interact with other volunteers and network with them,” says Chris Purificacion, a first-year nursing student at Humber. Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit corporation that helps build affordable homes and sells used goods at their ReStores to generate funds. Anyone can volunteer at any time (not just during Reading Week!) at a building site or store. University students are especially welcome to bring their friends and family to volunteer with them. If you want another reason to procrastinate, then why not at least do some good for the community at the same time? I’m in.
Master of Education Info Night Apply now for fall MEd programs. Learn more March 3, 2015. OISE, 252 Bloor St. West, Toronto Information and RSVP: www.uoft.me/oisemed
PHOTOJOURNALISM
Ahmed Alkoka POETRY
Apologies Shealyn Ivany
Listen with tears carving lines down our faces we are saying sorry we are watching rocks fall down cliffs we are kneeling under a cross with our sins on our sleeves and saying sorry we are holding hands with ghosts standing over looming headstones forgetting to remember back from the scolding eyes of authorities after praying we are saying sorry after driving cars down roads with forgotten names we are saying sorry with our hands we are saying sorry through windows and in storms and through crooked smiles remembering the stares and the eyes like knives and the nights with no dreaming we are saying sorry in the stores we are saying sorry under the feet of giants who wouldn’t challenge their equals and the screams of those who hate themselves we go on saying sorry with the trees falling down around us and our burning regrets we are saying sorry with children dying and more being born we are saying sorry with the words we can’t say falling frozen on our lips with the buildings getting higher and the grasses getting browner we are saying sorry faster and faster we are saying sorry and laying on a world made of broken bones
STILL LIFE
Ahmed Alkoka
JUDGE’S COMMENTS: FICTION: Git eum quaspici omni uta dolorrovit omniam, nobitatur, in res delest lant aut quassequos sunt vendis in nos dolorer eiurepr ovidellautam sit lab id ut quam, sam facit idunt restistiis es exeriberrum et inulpa invenis
NON-FICTION: Sim nis a vel maio tendus atia nihit quia iste dolorporem. Ut iunt utat essed maximagnat explame ipsus aut occus, veribus qui voluptatio doluptatio. Es reriost dolorrorro cus quiam, ommoluptat.
POETRY: Mendips apicipsunt experit alique prorentio tor accum as ellende lesecum qui volorep tatenes nianim as moluptatem adi quo ommolupta lesecum qui niscietur as mod ma que essum exero etur?
STILL LIFE: conem dus eost, quiam inctati bernatus et placian imolupt atusam fugiae lacepernatur audaectectae natem re invendit aperspe libus, omnimagnia si alique debist volupta quundaes aut dolor rero mod
PHOTOJOURNALISM: sa quis dendunt, aborion nobist etur moloreproris doluptatur ressita spellaniento et ad quissit pligenimodi aut omnis mo quatios et lam volo magni omnim demquam harupti verem reicium
Writing and Photo Contest Winners We put out a call for submissions to uncover creative talent at UTM, and picked a winner and runner-up in each category. We hope you enjoy them as much as we did. Visit themedium.ca for the runners-up in each category. NON-FICTION
Steve and Allen Kristen Loritz
Blessed are the ectomorphs, the skinny minis, and naturally thighgapped women of the world—or so the marketing industry claims. “Toned bodies, we want toned bodies,” they say. New images of thinness promote strength, but still showcase slim ideals. Athletes should represent the pinnacle of fitness and desire, yet magazines like Women’s Health slap these athletes with aesthetic failure. Slender ideals work against what many fitness gurus and athletes need in order to succeed, including the development of thick, strong, muscular—whatever you want to call them— thighs. In Making Sense of Muscle: The Body Experiences of Collegiate Women Athletes, Molly George (2005) says female athletes experience pressure when it comes to physique and strive “to build just the right amount of ‘sexy, feminine’ muscle” (p. 317). The right amount of sexy apparently lies within the pages of newspapers, blogs, and magazines like Women’s Health. With bold fonts, skinny legs, and slim down rhetoric, these articles tickle viewers’ senses and prepare their taste buds to consume an appetizing combination of images and verbosity. Picture your thirteenyearold self gazing in the mirror; what do you see? Braces and pimples? I see sausage legs—thighs bigger than my peers’, warranting an obsession with slimming them. Now look at the perfectly shaped, smooth, and thin legs of the Women’s Health models. Photoshop’s delicate digital surgery appears to bless these babes with a thigh gap. Los Angeles Times writer Mary McNamara (2014) describes the gap and its allure: “A thigh gap, for the six people still unfamiliar with the term, is created by thighs so slender they do not touch when a woman stands with her feet together. One does not have to get all “Da Vinci Code” divinefeminine about it to
argue that it has become the holy grail of female body obsession” (para 3). The difficulty in attaining a thigh gap presents a challenge and challenges fuel athletes and alas, a dangerous mix is born. We forget we do not need to look like the models, we forget why we want to look like models, because we forget the media creates and perpetuates these models and their fictionalized standards. ———— A knife and fork clatters as Carla scrapes at the last morsel of chicken on her plate. The restaurant vibrates with chatter as my teammates inhale their dinner. Sam remains silent amongst the chaos. Across from Carla, I watch Sam lift her napkin and release it. The delicate white edges of the cloth droop and parachute down onto her steaming plate. The fabric drapes over her food, the way a doctor would cover a cadaver. Sam twirls her fork and stares at her napkin. Her grey eyes hang heavy like lead balloons in their socket. Whispers of Sam’s anorexia spread amongst the team. Sam is fifteen. ———— At sixteen, my small figure represents an internal source of pride, allowing me to take on the role of team “guinea pig”. Raised and tossed like a stringless puppet, my teammates lift and contort my small frame above the ice and above their heads. I never hit the ground. For the first time, my legs are the smallest of them all. Then Steve and Allen entered my life; a subtle arrival that spanned several years of late nights at the rink, afternoons at the gym, and sunny weekends running outside along the Toronto lakeshore. At eighteen, the rookie days of soaring above my teammates eventually ceased, thanks to Steve and Allen. No longer would my petiteness receive praise or attention, thanks to Steve and
Allen. Steve and Allen, as my teammates deem them, are my thighs. ———— Black spandex hugs twenty-three pairs of sore legs. I catch a glimpse of the fulllength mirror that runs along the short axis of the arena. The mirror reflects a tall slender figure dressed in black. A narrow crevasse separates her legs into two distinct cylinders. I squint. Maria’s head peaks out from the change room door. “Where the hell did Steve and Allen go?” Maria shouts. “My legs are bigger than yours now!” Instead of fuming from Maria’s words, instead of yearning for another round of squats, instead of crushing my competitive spirit, Maria awoke a voice inside me that said: you are good enough now. Without the strength and endurance of Steve and Allen, I am nothing as an athlete. The fulfillment of a media constructed standard lead to the disintegration of a real standard: being sexy, feminine, and ideal at the cost of my fitness. The less I ran, the skinnier my legs became and the more I succumbed to the very forces that drove Sam into a mental, physical and emotional disorder. Was I on this path too? Shame set in. The shame of knowing I gave into an institutionalized fabrication, the shame of knowing I could not help my friend. In a few weeks, Steve and Allen would grow plump until the next training camp and so the cycle continues; a waxing and waning of faux happiness and athletic dissatisfaction. ———— Women’s Health needs to work out their portrayal of women’s bodies. But hold on! A recent search on their website shows positive signs of change, showcasing articles like Goldman’s (2014) There Are Now “AntiThigh Gap” Jeans and Gueren’s (2013) More Proof That the “ThighGap Trend” Is Ridiculous. The magazine still
provides the latest tips and tricks on how to slim your thighs and features the same gapless models on their cover pages. Thanks for trying, Women’s Health. To my fellow athletes and women: stop seeking these sources as exemplary material and start looking at the people who surround you. Beauty encompasses a vast spectrum and is not a definable point on this continuum. Instead of indulging in a thigh gap, I say fuck that. Time to embrace Steve and Allen as a tool, a foundation, and a source of strength. I am not a showpiece. And I’m okay with that.
Sources George, M. (2005). Making Sense of Muscle: The Body Experiences of Collegiate Women Athletes. Sociological Inquiry, 75(3), 317345. Retrieved from http://journals2.scholarsportal. info.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/ pdf/00380245/v75i0003/317_ms omtbeocwa.xml Goldman, A. (2014, April 25). There Are Now ‘AntiThigh Gap’ Jeans. Women’s Health. Retrieved from https://www.womenshealthmag.com/ life/antithighgapjeans?cm_sp=Hotlist_ Life_ThereAre NowAntiThighGapJeans Gueren, C. (2013, Dec 19). More Proof That the “ThighGap Trend” Is Ridiculous. Women’s Health. Retrieved from http:// www.womenshealthmag.com/weight loss/innerthighgap McNamara, (2014, Feb 22). Athletes pay no mind to ‘gap’; the powerful quads on the women at the sochi games illustrate the beauty in strength. Take that, thigh gap. Los Angeles Times Retrieved from http://search.proquest. com/docview/1500896151?account id=14771.
FICTION
PD Day
Eric Hewitson The basement smelt of old pine, which drifted around in a thick haze. I was nervous to have come here, but Jake said, “Everything’s all right, we’re just going to chill out a bit.” My older brother Jake was supposed to be babysitting me and wasn’t allowed to go out with his friends until Mom got home at four o’clock. I wasn’t able to play with my grade six friends like I do at recess because today is a PD Day. Jake doesn’t seem to have fun with me anymore—he’s more interested in the girls posted on his bedroom wall. He brought me to Daryl’s house, and Mom says he’s not allowed to hang out with him anymore. I sit on an old leather couch that’s ripped all around the edges. A big black cat jumps onto the armrest of the couch, which startles me. It glares at me with its yellow oval eyes. I want to pet it, but I sit with my ankles crossed and hands clasped together so I don’t do anything to embarrass Jake. “We’re going to have fun, okay?” said Jake. “He going to be chill or what?” said Daryl with a half smile. “Yeah, he’s good,” Jake said with his hands clasped together, too. What was I supposed to be good about? While I sit still on the couch, Full House plays on the television. I stare at the screen but can’t concentrate since I can hear more of Jake’s friends coming in
from the upstairs. I look over to the far corner and there’s a mattress lying on the ground, but I don’t see how anyone would want to sleep down here. Wouldn’t they get scared? “Is your brother here?” says a strange voice from upstairs. “Yeah!” yelled Jake nervously. “Sweet! I got the good shit for us,” said the voice, entering the room. I turn my head, trying to be cool, and notice I’ve seen Jake at the park with this guy before, but don’t know his name. I don’t think Mom knows him either. Mom knows all of my friends. He has a bit of a mustache. Not a lot of sixteen-year-olds have mustaches—Dad says you have to wait until you’re eighteen. His lips make it seem like he grins and his shirt smells like my Grandpa’s old liquor cabinet. “Hey Danny, my man!” says Daryl. Now I know his name. Danny pulls out a bag of leaves, but they look funny, like tiny Christmas trees. When he opens the bag, it smells like the basement, but a lot stronger. My eyes sting from the dryness of the room. Jake sits beside me, and two girls sit beside him on the couch, too. They haven’t talked much except to laugh when Jake makes a joke. Both of them are thin with pale white skin. They glare at me like the cat. Daryl lounges in the big black chair and
Danny sits, legs crossed, on the stained yellow carpet. I whisper to Jake, “I don’t think we’re supposed to be here.” I get a terrible feeling, and I think I’m going to get in trouble. “Eric, relax, we’re good—Mom knows we’re here”, but Mom said last week that Daryl wasn’t nice. Danny brings out a big clear tube with yellow waves on it, which was hidden behind the television. He puts some of the leaves inside a small hole. Nobody seems to be scared of what’s happening, but I am. He takes a lighter and lights the leaves, and they go on fire and there’s smoke coming from the big tube part! “Ye,” everyone yells as Daryl sucks in the smoke. Why the heck is he doing that? The two girls suck in the smoke too. Jake grabs the tube, and I don’t want him to do it. I nudge him and glare up at him. He looks right back with a dead stare then looks away and lights the leaves. The girl next to him on the couch giggles as she rests her head on his broad shoulder when he sucks in the smoke. Jake coughs a lot, giving me the tube. “It’s good, man. You’re going to feel funny, and nothing bad happens, I promise. If you don’t do it, I’ll tell Mom that you did.” My hands tremble as I grab the machine; I look at the leaves in the tube with my toes pressed hard into the ground. “I don’t want to do it,” I said with hesitation. I sit there with everyone’s eyes on
me. I sit still but my heart beats so fast. I want to run away. I give the breathing tube back to Jake and stand up feeling so relieved I was making the decision to leave. Jake looks at me with a disappointed smirk. “Don’t be such a pussy,” he says loudly so his friends can hear. “I’m sorry.” I walk to the stairs, alone, holding my breath. I walk up the stairs, and it’s quiet and I know everyone is thinking I’m such a little kid. I grab my shoes and slide open the front screen door and run home. ———— Mom’s car is in the driveway. She’s waiting in the dining room, and I know she’s on the phone with Dad because she’s crying. “Where the hell have you been and where is your brother!” she yells. I stand, not knowing what to do with my hands. I begin to tear up, which is such a relief to my dry eyes. I can hardly concentrate and I’m tired. Mom calmly comes over to hug me. “Jake made me go to Daryl’s. I promise I didn’t do anything bad.” “I know you didn’t, sweetheart. Is he still there?” she says in a sweet voice. “Yeah,” I said. “They’re doing something weird with a tube in the basement.” I felt sorry for telling on Jake because I wanted to be a cool kid.
14
«
02.23.2015
Embracing a new kind of sport E-sports culture is on the rise with popular games like League of Legends at U of T JASON COELHO SPORTS EDITOR Humans are born with a competitive nature; a desire to be the best at something is what guides our lives regardless of what field we are in. Without competition much of our society wouldn’t work, and that holds especially true in sports. The competitiveness of athletes drives them to work on their game and improve throughout their career. But what happens if we take this competitive nature off the field and change the setting to a couch, four controllers, and a TV screen? The rising tide of e-sports might appeal to those who have that same competitive side but prefer gaming over athleticism. At U of T there exist communities dedicated to e-sports culture, such as the Erindale Gaming Organization and—my focus here—the U of T League of Legends Association. League of Legends is an immensely popular online multiplayer game in the tradition of Defense of the Ancients (DotA), based on two teams trying to destroy each other’s bases in battles across three lanes. The club was founded by Vincent Ho in 2012 and is currently managed
LOLNEWSPAPER.COM/PHOTO
Riot Games has created salaried leagues providing players the opportunity to become a pro gamer. by president Jackson Furrow, who wanted to get involved after tracking the growth of e-sports culture. “There has been nothing but good reception from the student body,” says Furrow. “Everyone who isn’t in the know is generally just amazed at how organized and large our events are.” The club holds a number of different events that have drawn large crowds. Most recently, the club held
a tournament in conjunction with UTSU during Frost Week in January, where teams played in a tournament with the chance to win over $1,000 in prizes. The club has also had meet-and-greets with professional gamers—a career some might be surprised exists—and, according to Furrow, around 800 people were in attendance. Furrow was proud of how the Frost
Week tournament went, adding that it became something of a spectator sport, with fans watching while the games were played at Hart House and the games being streamed online leading up to the finals. “There were some people who [were cheering] for their favourite players,” says Furrow. “The community continues to grow with every event you throw and you can begin to craft your own local
gaming identity.” Riot Games, the publisher of League, has even reached out to the club to express its support for the work they’re doing in broadening the e-sports community. But as the community grows, many from the outside may still wonder: what makes a game an e-sport? Furrow thinks this is a difficult question, but that there are some criteria he suggests. First, the game must have ease of understanding and ease of entrance for the average gamer, so that the less experienced can learn to play like the experts. Second, the game must instill passion; it should be something players want to share with friends. Finally, despite the easy entrance level, there needs to be a high ceiling of attainable skill that allows someone to refine their game and master it. Furrow believes the rise in popularity of this form of competition is partly due to the publicity that pro gamers get through online video streaming services like Twitch, which has become a leading broadcaster for e-sports competitions.
E continued on page 16
Salem Aboghodieh’s farewell season Division 1 soccer player and UTMAC VP reflects on his time at UTM and looks ahead to what’s next SIHAN ZHENG ASSOCIATE SPORTS EDITOR As the younger brother of a former UTM athlete of the year, there was no doubt that Salem Aboghodieh would participate in some form of athletics at UTM. A former ball hockey player and a casual basketball player, Aboghodieh is a star player on the UTM soccer team, the VP finance of UTMAC, and a director of UTMSU. On the field, Aboghodieh is a starting striker for the UTM Division 1 soccer team. A creative false nine with three years of playing experience here at UTM, he was the top scorer in Division 1 men’s soccer with six goals and five assists in eight appearances during the 2014/15 season. A very versatile talent, the fourth-year management specialist can score goals, provide critical assists, and backtrack to help his team on defence. He is a critical player on the team—it was his goal and assist in the Division 1 finals that won UTM the title this year for the first time in seven years. UTM’s soccer team will take the field for the first time next season at
MAHMOUD SAROUJI/THE MEDIUM
Aboghodieh had the opportunity to win a Division 1 title in his final year with the team. the varsity level, and Aboghodieh will be hoping to return to his position up top. Aboghodieh believes that the team is more than ready to make the step up. “UTM soccer has a strong foundation of talent as well as a solid coaching and there’s no reason why
UTM cannot put up a strong fight in the OCAA against established competition under the guidance of varsity coach Rob Brown,” Aboghodieh assured The Medium in an interview. As a huge fan of Wayne Rooney, Aboghodieh appreciates the English
forward’s work ethic and drive to succeed. A hard worker himself, he believes that sporting success comes from sticking to a solid workout routine and a healthy nutrition plan. Aboghodieh is very honest about his progression and improvement as
an athlete. He encourages students to try new things and keep good company. “It was a long process, especially since I was chubby, out of shape, and stuck in my comfort zone,” he says. “I really wanted to accomplish my goals, on and off the field. I realized that the only way was to change myself from within, to form better habits while I am young and my personality is still malleable.” Aboghodieh credits his development in soccer to his time spent at former semipro team, Milltown FC. A few years ago, after being scouted by the head coach and undergoing a two-month training camp, Aboghodieh signed with Milltown FC to play in the Peel Halton Soccer League. “The high level of play and training expected by the coaching staff helped me immediately,” he says. The year after that, he continued playing for Milltown FC’s U21 team in the Ontario Soccer League after declining an offer from Erin Mills Soccer Club to play for their U21 OSL team.
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Women’s hockey surges to first place Player interaction is at the heart of the team’s biggest string of successes since the ’90s JASON COELHO SPORTS EDITOR A team’s recipe for success is not easily quantifiable; there is a comingling of factors that determine whether they will succeed once they get on the field, court, or rink together. For all the talent and resources a team may have, if they don’t actually play as a team they will fail. The UTM women’s hockey team is now realizing that their greatest asset is this connection, and if they continue to play for each other with the teamfirst mentality, they can accomplish something great. For the first time since the mid1990s, the women’s Division 1 hockey team is back in first place. With an undefeated 4-0 record that helped earn the team the GP8 Sportwater Team of the Month title in January, the women’s hockey team is finding ways to beat U of T and OCAA competition by stressing the importance of teamwork. Head coach Jasmine Sheehan, a former CIS hockey player now in her third year of coaching UTM, is not surprised. “This is something we’ve been building toward for a while,” she says. “Teams that are successful find a way to win, and that’s something that I try to instill in the girls.” It’s not about being fancy with the puck or finding ways to score highlight-reel goals; according to the head coach, it’s about dictating the pace of the game by controlling possession and “grinding it out”.
JACK KRIST/PHOTO
The women’s Division 1 team has not ranked first since the mid-1990s. The undefeated streak the team has been on will no doubt motivate them once the playoffs begin in March. “I believe we have the capability to win the division finals,” says fourthyear goalie Brooke Smyth. “Chemistry is essential to the success of a team, and that is something that our team possesses.” Now in her third year on the team, Smyth gives two reasons why her team has a good chance of winning the title this season: they’re a highscoring team, one that finds ease in putting pucks in the net, and they work well as a team—something
Smyth believes cannot be taught in practice. “[We] are like a family—we all get along and support each other and this is reflected on the ice,” she said. Recently, the women’s team got a taste of OCAA competition in an extramural tournament at Wilfred Laurier Brantford, where they won the championship. After finding a comeback in the tournament despite early losses to two of the top teams, UTM faced Fleming College in the final, a game that ended in a shootout. Sheehan recalls the stressful shootout situation she found her team in. “The
shootout was definitely a little nervewracking; any time it comes down to a sudden death scenario, you can never be too sure what’s going to happen,” she says. The shootout went for seven rounds, with UTM calling on seven different shooters, before the team secured the win. Sheehan credits goalie Smyth with maintaining her composure and keeping her team in the game. “I couldn’t have been more excited to bring the win home for UTM,” says Smyth. “We heightened our level of play against OCAA opponents.” For Smyth’s teammate and PhD
student Alyssa Molinaro, winning against OCAA teams will hopefully motivate the team in their run for a division title. “Knowing that we can compete at that level and beat some of those teams who have been playing and practising together for much longer than us is really motivating,” she says. One of the biggest motivational factors the team identifies is their head coach, according to fourthyear player Paula Drozdzal. “Our success would not be possible if not for her,” she says. Drozdzal and her teammates agree that Sheehan’s experience and patience have been huge for helping the team play at a consistently high level. Despite the team’s efforts against OCAA competition, there’s little chance of a venture into varsity men’s or women’s hockey anytime soon, not for lack of talent but because the OCAA governing body effectively dissolved the league in 2004 when only three teams were able to participate. “It’s a shame because hockey is our national winter sport,” says Sheehan, who has been integral to the growth of the women’s hockey program. “Regardless, in the meantime we are hoping to participate in more tournaments against OCAA opponents and are going to continue to build upon our foundation.” The team plays their next game before the playoffs against Physical Therapy & Occupational Therapy at 7 p.m. on Sunday, March 1 at Varsity Arena.
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Nothing to LoL about E continued from page 14 The site streams some of the biggest e-sports competitions in the world, like The Tournament, which has taken place in Germany and Seattle, Washington and in which winners can take home over $1 million, or Riot Games’ own League of Legends World Championship, where there is also a million-dollar prize. (A similar game, Dota 2, holds an annual tournament whose prize pool was the largest of any game this year at almost $11 million.) Furrow says that having the online viewing and discussion helps connect the public to the pro gamers by letting them familiarize themselves with the techniques and understand the personalities. As Furrow puts it, “It begins to feel like it’s your friend who is playing up on that big stage.” According to Furrow, Riot Games has set up salaried leagues that provide players the opportunity to commit themselves full-time to becom-
ing a professional gamer—although there is some controversy with this venture into organized leagues, since the league owners who provide the streaming service are making more money off this venture than those who have committed themselves to being pro gamers in League of Legends.
“The amount of time put into their craft is at least equal to that of athletes.” —Jackson Furrow Furrow is no longer a student at U of T; he dropped out while enrolled in an English major after his second year, but stayed on to manage UTLA and pursue a career in e-sports. The community he has formed here, he says, has made him proud to continue his work in this field.
Although the group is not overly concerned with how they are perceived by mainstream culture, Furrow does point out that the dedication of a gamer should be praised like that of an athlete. “I think the term ‘athlete’ is definitely applicable here,” he says. “Though these pro gamers are not held to the same level of physical prowess, the amount of time put into their craft is at least equal to that of athletes.” For Furrow, it doesn’t really matter whether e-sports is considered a sport like the kind played on courts, fields, and rinks. “It depends on your definition of sport,” he says. “At the end of the day, I don’t think we are really calling it a sport—it’s a new era of sports reality.” What matters to him and to the many who proudly participate in these tournaments is their love for the game, because that’s what fuels their competitive side and keeps them coming back for more.
Winning on all fields Salem continued from page 14 Off the pitch, Aboghodieh participates in a wide variety of campus events and student organizations. At the UTM Athletic Council, he oversees the use of the council’s funds and organizes events such as the yearly athletic banquet. He is also a member of the Quality of Services to Students Committee, where he votes on tuition and student service fees. Aboghodieh also serves on the board of UTMSU, trying to represent students’ interests. “I take my responsibility as a student leader and representative very seriously,” he says. “Sometimes that includes
asking the difficult questions and taking a little heat from the university administration, but it’s all part of representing students in a fair and transparent way.” Aboghodieh also represents UTM at various business case competitions across Ontario. This past November, Aboghodieh ranked first place in the Human Resource Management category at DECA U’s Inter-U of T, a business case competition between all three campuses. For the past two years, Aboghodieh has also represented UTM at the provincial level at Canada’s largest business conference for undergraduates, DECA U’s provincials. He also takes time to speak at
high schools and mentor firstyears as well as prospective high school students looking to enter the management program at UTM. “Students entering university are unaware of just how university expectations are different from high school expectations,” he says. So far, the feedback has been very positive. At the end of the day, Aboghodieh lives by an Albert Einstein quote: “Try not to become a man of success, but a man of value.” He believes that anyone can affect their community in a positive way. University is a unique experience, and to this athlete, it’s not enough to spectate.