Issue 8, Vol. 151, The Brunswickan

VOLUME 151, ISSUE 8, APRIL 2018

THIS ISSUE OF THE BRUNSWICKAN IS DEDICATED IN MEMORY OF ALASTAIR “AL” JAMES JOHNSTONE (1966-2018), EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF THE BRUNSWICKAN, 1994-1995

Editorial Board

About us

Editorial Policy

Letters to the Editor

Editor-in-Chief Emma McPhee

The Brunswickan, in its 151st year of publication, is Canada’s Oldest Official Student Publication.

While we endeavour to provide an open forum for a variety of viewpoints and ideas, we may refuse any submission considered by the Editorial Board to be racist, sexist, libellous or in any way discriminatory.

Letters must be submitted by e-mail to editor@thebruns.ca.

Include your name, since letters with pseudonyms will not be printed or posted online. Letters must be 500 words at maximum. Deadline for letters is Friday at 5 p.m.

Business Manager Katie Kim News Editor Emma MacDonald Arts Editor Ryan Gaio Sports Editor Caroline Mercier Art Director Book K. Sadprasid Copy Editor Tristan Hallihan Multimedia Editor Cameron Lane

Staff Assistant Art Director Maria Araujo Reporters Erin Sawden Tiziana Zevallos Brad Ackerson Photographer Maria Araujo Book Sadprasid Cameron Lane Ad Manager Pouria Poursaeid

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We are an autonomous student publication owned and operated by Brunswickan Publishing Inc., a nonprofit, independent body.

We are also a founding member of the Canadian University Press.

Now a magazine, we publish monthly during the academic year with a circulation of 4,000. We publish weekly online at Thebruns.ca.

The opinions and views expressed in this publication are those of the individual writers and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Brunswickan, its Editorial Board or its Board of Directors.

All editorial content appearing in The Brunswickan is the property of Brunswickan Publishing Inc. Stories, photographs and artwork contained herein cannot be reproduced without the express, written permission of the Editor-in-Chief.

@Brunswickan Front page: Students gather for tuition hike sit-in protest at UNB Fredericton Senate on March 27.

Photo: Cameron Lane

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Letter from the Editor

by Emma McPhee

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Incoming Thoughts

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by Book Sadprasid

Tuition Reset: The Facts

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Lessons Learned in Lilongwe

by Emma MacDonald

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by Lua Samimi

Putting UNB’s Tuition Hikes in Political Context

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Thoughts from the Arts Editor

by Nate Wallace

by Ryan Gaio

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UNB Newsmakers 2017-2018

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Ten Artsy Things To Do This Month

by Tiziana Zevallos

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A Profile on Emma McPhee, our Editor-in-Chief

by Ryan Gaio

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FLOURISH Fest

by Tiziana Zevallos

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End of the Year Sportsr Recap

by Caroline Mercier

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Bruns Crossword Win Free Pizza!

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To The Bruns, With Love

naturally(?), in the fall of of my first year, I decided to give student journalism a try.

How to describe my time at The Brunswickan?

I could try numbers: 214 articles 94 issues 5.5 years 4 different job positions 2 runs as EIC But the numbers hardly tell the whole story.

They don’t really show all the crazy stories I’ve been able to cover since 2012, from labour disputes to two election seasons, from turmoil at the law school in 2015 and funding projections of the Why UNB? campaign to racist posters and neo-Nazis on campus. The numbers don’t tell of the numerous mental breakdowns that resulted from the coverage of such stories, but neither do they tell of the sense of pride and satisfaction I always get from holding a fresh-off-the-printer copy of The Brunswickan—a physical token of something I’ve had the privilege of playing a role in creating.

The numbers don’t speak of all this and so much more.

You see, however much I might have been able to give to The Bruns, it pales in comparison to what The Brunswickan has given to me.

When I called my mom one weekend in November 2012 to tell her that I had started volunteering for the student newspaper, she said to me, “Emma, you know you will have to phone people and talk to them, right?”

I knew this, of course. But there was good reason for one to be a bit incredulous of my decision to leap into the world of journalism—I was a person with debilitating anxiety, after all. The summer before I came to UNB, I started having panic attacks if I tried to step outside of the driveway at my parents’ house. If the phone rang, I would run and hide. Talking to people made me feel sick to my stomach. Going out in public was next to impossible. So 4

Back at that phone conversation with my mom, I mustered as much enthusiasm as I could. “Yeah. It shouldn’t be a problem!” I said with my fingers crossed.

As it turned out, not only was I able to phone and talk to people, but I actually enjoyed doing it. I enjoyed it so much that once I started, I never looked back—to the point that journalism has gone from being a thing I did on the side to the only thing I could ever imagine doing with my life. Little did I know six years ago how freeing journalism, through The Brunswickan, would be for me.

Journalism became an outlet where my anxiety and depression slipped away. It gave someone who could barely speak above a murmur a voice. It gave me confidence when I thought I didn’t have any. And this is something that I could never possibly quantify.

The Brunswickan is important to me on a personal level, but on a much larger scale, The Brunswickan, and student journalism as a whole, plays a vital role in the current media landscape.

When it comes to community newspapers in Canada, the numbers paint a dire picture.

According to the Public Policy Forum’s 2017 report on the state of journalism in Canada, since 2010, “225 weekly and 27 daily newspapers” have been shuttered.

Even since that report came out, other community newspapers have met with the same fate, including the 36 that were shut down as part of the Torstar-Postmedia swap late last year.

Yes, the numbers paint a dire picture of the future of community newspapers in this country. But the numbers don’t tell the whole story.

You see, student newspapers are community newspapers, too. And while it’s true that The Bruns has been hard-hit by the same trials as all the rest—declining ad sales, increased printing costs, competition with online

news sites, and I could go on and on—somehow The Brunswickan has been able to stick around year after year (151 of them!), and it’s been able to do this on top of the challenges of high turnover rates, an extremely tight budget and staff with little experience in journalism (not to mention the obvious one—that it’s staffed solely by students who are still trying to figure everything out).

From my experience, this “sticking around” is largely due to the fact that The Bruns, like many student newspapers, is filled with a special brand of vibrancy. Sure, we’re all flying by the seats of our pants and making things up as we go, but The Bruns wouldn’t be around today if it weren’t for a lot of people who care deeply about this newspaper. Year after year, The Brunswickan’s masthead is made up of individuals who aren’t afraid to push the envelope and take risks with the stories they cover. In fact, I’d argue that student journalism is unique in the opportunity it affords young journalists to try whatever the hell they want and to run with it as far as they can.

Thank you especially to Dr. Matthew Sears who has always graciously offered a voice of reason to me when life with The Bruns got crazy stressful, and who let me mix journalism and classics together for my thesis topic.

There will always be at least one journalist who doesn’t hate you, no matter what happens on Twitter.

Thank you to Cherise Letson for teaching me the journalism thing, and to fellow Brunsies, Tess Allen, Heather Uhl, Nick Murray, Adam Travis, Sean McCullum and all the others I’ve had the pleasure to work with, for your encouragement, support and advice. I would also like to give a shout-out to the entire staff of The Brunswickan this year. Each and every one of you has done a superb job over the past eight months and I am so proud of you all.

Thank you to my parents and grandparents for always being encouraging, and who never (at least not to my face) questioned my life choices of doing two degrees in Classics while also pursuing my dream of getting into the totally-not-dying industry of print media.

It is this spirit that has kept The Bruns going when so many other community newspapers have stopped. It is this spirit that The Bruns has brought to its reporting on this community on College Hill. It’s this spirit that The Bruns has maintained for 151 years now, and, somehow, I was lucky enough to be a part of it all for 5.5 of them.

Thank you to Johanna and Aaron, who, as siblings and roommates, have had to listen to plenty of venting sessions over the years. You’ve come to my rescue far more times than you know.

And this is something I could never possibly quantify.

And finally, thank you to The Brunswickan for existing. I am a better person for having been a part of this publication.

Some thank yous Thank you to Dr. Megan Woodworth, my Arts 1000 advisor, whose question “Have you considered writing for The Brunswickan?” in response to my request for more writing experience sort of created a monster (or at least a person with an unhealthy obsession with journalism).

Thank you to Dr. Maria Papaioannou for always being a person I can talk to, and who didn’t seem too disappointed when I left archaeology for journalism. (Although I once attended a keynote by Peter Mansbridge, who said that journalism was like archaeology—and if the man Mansbridge himself said it, then it must be true.)

I guess this is where I sign off for the last time. So, Bruns, it’s been a complete privilege these past six years. Thank you.

Emma McPhee The Emma-in-Charge, or the Editor-in-Chief, of The Brunswickan —30—

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In 2019, UNB is set to hike tuition fees for Arts and Science students by 7.09 per cent; Forestry and Environmental Management by 12.19 per cent; Education, Computer Science and Kinesiology by 17.3 per cent; Business, Nursing, Engineering and Renaissance College by 22.4 per cent and Law by a whopping 50.92 per cent.

In his presentation to the Senate, where over 100 students staged a sit-in to protest, vice-president academic George MacLean said that this is effectively a “reset” to put tuition fees where they would be if there hadn’t been tuition increase caps and funding freezes put in place by the provincial government over the last two decades. This is important, because we need to talk about what has happened to post-secondary education over that time period to understand why students are being asked to pay for UNB’s deficit.

When Paul Martin was finance minister under Prime Minister Jean Chretien, he embarked upon the most brutal austerity program Canada has ever seen. He balanced the federal budget by slashing transfers to provinces beginning in 1995, leading to the provinces having to foot most of the bills on big items like healthcare and education. He then turned around and used subsequent large surpluses to cut taxes, a pattern which was followed by Stephen Harper’s government. In 1997, the federal corporate tax rate was 31 per cent. In now stands at less than half that, at 15 per cent.

This led to big cutbacks in terms of public financing of universities from the provinces, and we’ve seen the drastic rise of tuition fees as a result. What this means is an incremental shifting of costs once borne by the government and paid for by corporations, onto individuals. Instead of progressive taxation, we have flat and regressive user fees. Students are effectively being made to pay for years of corporate tax cuts through crippling student debt. New Brunswick undergraduate students carry the highest average student debt in the country, at $35,200, which is almost 50 per cent higher than the Canadian average of $22,300.

The result is the slow transition of the university away from a public good that is financially accessible to the majority of Canadians into elite institutions where rising tuition fees lock out the underprivileged from getting a higher education. According to the Canadian Association of University Business Officers (CAUBO), operating budgets for universities across Canada since 2001 have more than doubled.

This has been mostly financed by rising tuition fees, and 85 8

“administrative bloat” at universities due to the overhead costs these bring. According to CAUBO, the cost of university administrations across Canada has doubled since the year 2000. An increasingly competitive university environment where students must be attracted as consumers and sold their education exacerbates these tensions: rising fees lead to decreased enrolment, which accelerates the need to expand administrative bloat to attract more students.

Moreover, universities continue to compete for an ever-smaller market as students begin to turn away from the prohibitive costs of a post-secondary education.

In this self-destructive policy context, we’ve seen the acceleration of tuition fee inflation that far outpaces wages and the consumer price index. Tuition fee revenue at Canada’s post-secondary institutions has tripled since 2001. Over that period, wages have remained stagnant and so has public funding for universities.

According to the Canadian Federation of Students, undergraduate tuition fees in New Brunswick have increased by approximately 20 per cent since 2010.

“While the recent introduction of the Free Tuition Program & Tuition Relief for the Middle Class initiative does mean an increase in up-front grant assistance available for undergraduate students, the provincial government now spends $20 million less per year on student financial assistance than it did prior to the introduction of these programs,” says their 2018 provincial lobby document.

per cent of the new expenditure has gone into increased compensation such as salary increases for faculty and administration. This is perfectly illustrated by UNB president Eddy Campbell’s generous compensation package, which is worth more than half-a-million dollars—more than the Prime Minister’s. At the same time, compensation for university support staff has actually declined over the same period, according to CAUBO. Increasingly, more complex regulation and financial assistance models, as well as decreasing public funding requiring revenue diversification, has led to significant

In the new memorandum of understanding with the provincial government, NB universities other than STU will receive an annual one per cent increase in operational funding for the first three years followed by a two per cent bump for 2020-21. This is less than inflation, which in 2017 was 2.7 per cent, so it represents a cut in real terms of 1.7 per cent this year.

This is at the same time that the provincial government continues to lose an estimated $33 million a year thanks to the tax cut they gave to the top 1 per cent of income earners in 2016.

There is alternative to the increasing corporatization of the university. The government needs to simply step in with greater public funding and introduce measures to improve transparency, accountability and reduce administrative bloat. Tuition hikes aren’t inevitable, we can reign in the runaway corporatization of the university. All it takes is the political will.

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When I found out I was chosen to be the next Editor-In-Chief of The Brunswickan, I had a flashback to when I was seven.

Every morning of my childhood, I was awakened by the voice of my at-the-time favourite news anchor.

I was often late to school because I refused to leave before the morning news ended. There was not a single day that I walked into school without knowing pretty much everything that was happening in Thailand.

Whenever someone asked me, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I would always respond with a big smile saying, “A journalist.”

Although my answer isn’t the same as what it was when I was younger, I still read the news everyday and love journalism just as much as I did then—if not more.

Over the past four years of being involved in the student press, I have learned and grown a lot. But the most important thing I have come to realize is that words aren’t the only tool for storytelling.

I have been a writer, a photographer and, this year, an art director. Within these roles, I have learned

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that there are many ways to tell a story: photography, painting, design, videography—you name it.

Storytelling is like painting. It is an art, regardless of what type of tools you use to paint the pictures.

Journalism is undergoing a period of change, but I only see that as being an exciting time for us. Newsrooms are forced to change quickly, but we know journalism is not dying, and neither is The Brunswickan. It’s just a sign telling us to leverage all of the storytelling tools and to continuously evolve to match with our readers’ lifestyles.

Next year, I am excited to get creative and push the boundaries a little. I want to explore the different ways The Bruns can become even more connected with its readers, viewers and listeners.

My incredibly talented team and I are going to place more emphasis on multimedia and online content, so you can stay connected with the UNB community wherever you are and in whichever way best fits your lifestyle.

If you have any suggestions, please feel free to email book.sadprasid@thebruns.ca.

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April 19-22: FLOURISH Festival.

Fredericton’s visual arts and music festival returns again this spring with its most ambitious and varied lineup to date, including performances from Belia, Jane Blanchard, Kurtis Eugene, The Olympic Symphonium, Hot Garbage Players and more. Spread across different venues across the city, FLOURISH 2018 brings more than 50 musical acts together with a dozen visual artists and independent filmmakers for a weekend celebration of all things creative.

Various locations.

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Words by Lua Samimi | Photos submitted by Lua Samimi Throughout my four years at UNB, I have had the opportunity to gain incredible cross-cultural experiences both on campus and abroad. Upon entering my first year, I joined the UNB Global Medical Brigades and traveled to Honduras, delivering accessible healthcare to rural communities. Ever since that first encounter with global health, I’ve been hooked.

I wanted to broaden my international experiences—so in my third year, I applied for (and received!) the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Scholarship. This program offers university students a unique opportunity to complete a paid internship in any Commonwealth country.

Although UNB has a number of partnerships around the world, their strongest connection for the scholarship is in Malawi. I was offered a placement at the Africa University of Diplomacy, Counselling and International Relations, to help lead the development and setup of a campus clinic. I also had an opportunity to shadow local physicians in various clinics and hospitals.

Without hesitation, I packed my bags, bid my family farewell and off I went. I boarded the plane to Lilongwe, Malawi with a million expectations in my mind. As a self-proclaimed perfectionist who over-thinks, over-plans and over-exaggerates, I spent countless hours watching videos about Malawi, reading about the dangerous wildlife I could encounter, coming up with my work plan and making lists of places I wanted to visit. I thought I had it all figured out. Spoiler alert: I did not.

If you’ve gone on exchange or have lived abroad, you might recognize the feeling I’m about to describe: it’s the initial feeling after two plus days of travel when your feet finally land on soil and you look up at your new home for the next (approximately) three months. It’s a mixture of excitement, curiosity, joy, fear and “oh-this-isn’t-what-Iexpected.”

Little did I know, my summer would be full of those “thisisn’t-what-I-expected” moments. But looking back, those were the moments that really shaped my internship—and my life. What’s that cheesy quote again? “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” Well, cheesy as it may be, it’s true. So here are some “this-isn’t-what-I-expected” moments from my three months in Malawi: I can truthfully say that I never expected to meet both the Malawian king and Olusegun Obasanjo, the former president of Nigeria, all in one week (or ever, for that matter).

I didn’t expect fancy hotels with casinos and huge swimming pools—nor a vast array of restaurants serving Indian, Asian and Italian foods. I didn’t expect being able to buy just about anything on the side of the road (and that includes phone plans, shoes, puppies and cooked field

mice). And I definitely didn’t expect to be standing a few feet away from a wild African elephant.

That being said, I also learned a lot of lessons while living in Lilongwe (try saying that five times fast). First and foremost, I learned that every country has its strengths and weaknesses. It’s easy to come back to the everyday luxuries we have in Canada and think of how fortunate we are compared to the people of Malawi. And it’s true: we are very fortunate to live in such a beautiful, safe and welcoming country—but it’s important to realize that developing countries have just as much wealth as we do.

Their wealth may not necessarily be financial, but Malawians are some of the happiest, most intelligent and most creative people I have ever met.

On that note, although there are many developed regions in Lilongwe, the economic challenges that many people face cannot be ignored. During my internship, I was lucky enough to collaborate with a number of local physicians, patients and students. The number one concern that was brought up throughout the summer was the Malawian healthcare system.

Just like Canada, Malawi’s healthcare is free and government-funded. From an outsider’s perspective, this sounds great, right? Not quite... Although the hospitals and clinics are equipped with plenty of well-trained healthcare professionals, the shelves are often bare and necessary resources are scarce.

Poor sanitation is also a major concern and causes a large number of avoidable deaths in Malawi. I remember walking down the halls of Kamuzu Central Hospital with one of the local physicians, Dr. McNeil, when he began telling me the story of a teenage boy living with HIV. With recent advances in HIV care, the patient was on a long-term treatment plan and had the potential to live a long, relatively healthy life—until he contracted a hospital-borne infection and sadly passed away as a result. Hearing this story was definitely one of the most eye-opening moments of the summer.

During my internship, I also had a unique opportunity to explore my interest in medicine by participating in rounds on the pediatrics unit. As we were moving from patient to patient, I asked the physician what he believed was the most serious illness in Malawi. We had seen a number of patients with tuberculosis and pneumonia, so I was expecting one of the two—but to my surprise, he said it was malaria.

Up until that point, all I knew about malaria was that it was a mosquito-borne illness and affected a large portion of Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as some countries in South 15

America and Asia. I also knew that I was taking daily antimalarial drugs while living in Malawi…but why?

What exactly is malaria? I’m a Biology student, so let’s jump into the science for a bit!

Malaria is caused by parasites from the genus Plasmodium and is transmitted to humans through the bite of female Anopheles mosquitoes. The mosquito first becomes infected by feeding on a host that already has malaria; then, it continues transferring the parasite from one human to another. Once in our bloodstream, the parasites can travel to our liver—where they multiply and cause some not-so-pleasant symptoms: chills, headache, fever, sweating and nausea. After they have multiplied, Plasmodium parasites can also destroy our red blood cells or stay in the blood and infect the next uninfected mosquito that comes along.

Interestingly, the majority of healthy adults that become infected usually only show minor and flu-like symptoms, so they are treated with basic antimalarial drugs. Even my boss during the internship had malaria while I was there. However, the symptoms can become far more severe and life-threatening for children under five, pregnant women and patients with illnesses that weaken the immune system. In these cases, that same parasite that caused mild flu-like symptoms in a 40 year-old male can now cause convulsions, kidney failure and death in high-risk patients.

So why is malaria such a big problem in Sub-Saharan Africa? Part of the reason has to do with the climate, of course—but economic challenges also play a huge role. While we were fortunate enough to sleep under mosquito nets every night, the majority of Malawians living in rural villages don’t have access to protective nets or insecticides. Malaria is also so normalized (just like the common cold here in Canada) that they don’t see a need to sleep under “annoying” mosquito nets.

And trust me—they can get quite annoying.

Overall, the biggest lesson I learned while living in Malawi was that every problem is multi-dimensional.

Whether it’s struggles that lead to personal growth or a healthcare problem such as malaria, there’s always several factors that play into both the root of the issue and the potential solution. I initially traveled to Malawi in the hopes of learning more about global health; I left with a greater sense of independence, a new outlook on developing countries and health disparities, and a new-found ability to be comfortable in those dreadfully uncomfortable “this-isn’t-what-I-expected” moments.

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I first began my career in journalism working for my hometown paper, the Niagara Advance (RIP).

I was not a reporter, nor a photographer. No, my role was far more distinguished: I was a paperboy.

Each Saturday morning (okay, full disclosure: depending on how lazy I was feeling, it was sometimes Sunday), I dragged my twelve-year old self out of bed, loaded up my red wagon with that week’s issue, then pulled it around my neighbourhood, delivering the news door-to-door. I received a flat rate for my service, and one day I got out a pencil and paper and did a bit of basic arithmetic to discover I was being compensated roughly half a penny per paper. Not exactly a getrich-quick scheme.

Nevertheless, I pressed on, committed to the noble cause (okay, full disclosure once again: there were simply no other forms of employment for a kid my age). Sure, I may have called it quits if I’d sensed there was gold in any other hills, but however altruistic my intentions may or may not have been, the gig did teach me a valuable lesson.

As bitter as I was at the lowly financial benefits my role offered, I quickly realized how significant 18

my work was to others: to Mr. Stewart on the corner of Addison & Chautauqua, who eagerly ripped each new copy from my hands to glance at the garage sale listings; to the woman on Shakespeare Ave. with the wildly overgrown garden, who just as eagerly awaited the obituaries (I found this morbid then, moreso now); and to all the other readers who gratefully flipped through the pages to catch up on the latest news, happenings and goings-on around town.

Because of them, I came to appreciate how important a local newspaper is.

I believe a local newspaper does not just simply relay information. It does that, certainly. And that’s very important. But its greatest worth lies in the fact that a local newspaper can also do so much more: when created with a certain care, passion and enthusiasm, it can also build, nurture and help sustain a community.

It is with such a belief in my heart that I have tried to serve The Brunswickan’s readers. Throughout my stint as Arts Editor this year, I have tried to use this publication—both our online and print incarnations—to tell stories that promote a “com-

munity.” In some cases, this refers to the campus community: I attempted to uncover secrets of the library in the hopes that people might appreciate the building in a new way, for instance; I wrote about concerts and lectures happening here on the hill so that people might become participants themselves, and thus help further this community’s growth. In other cases, this refers to the larger Fredericton community: whether it be The Capital Complex or Pleasures N’ Treasures, I wanted to highlight the key venues in and around this city that make Fredericton a unique and special place to live. Sometimes, by highlighting an event like Bottomless Bingo, I even hoped to contribute to communities that transcend geographical constraints.

Of course, in some respects, this mission had its shortcomings. My natural curiosity and passion for rock n roll led me to focus a great deal on the downtown music scene throughout the year, and though I feel fortunate to have met and discovered many wonderful musical artists (as I write this, I’m listening to The Hypochondriacs’ album “In ¾,” a record whose release show was perhaps the event I most enjoyed covering), I can’t help but feel I let down certain other sectors of Fredericton’s vibrant art community: for instance, I could’ve done more to promote the city’s visual art, film and food. For failing such areas, I sincere-

ly apologize.

Yet this inability to cover everything that deserves coverage mostly reveals the overwhelming difficulty of fostering a community—a difficulty made greater by the fact that “community building” is a perpetually ongoing process. So now it is time I turn to you, dear readers, and express my hope that you will continue this mission.

My time with The Brunswickan is now complete, but the building, nurturing and sustainment of the community naturally continues. And a community is nothing without people willing to keep it vibrant, interesting, alive. So please: in whatever way you can, contribute to this community.

Continue to make this city and this school campus a great place to be.

But before I leave you with such a request, I must, of course, say thank you. To anyone who has flipped through a copy of our monthly magazine or scrolled through an online article: thank you. It has been an honour to work alongside this wonderful staff to bring you this year’s content, and as much as I believe a community benefits from a newspaper, I must humbly recognize that a newspaper is nothing without a community willing to read it. So, from the bottom of my pen, let me say: thank you. I’d do it all again—even for half a penny.

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Ten Artsy Things to Do in Fredericton This Month Words by Tiziana Zevallos Editor’s Note: These ten listings are hardly—hardly!—the only Artsy Things To Do this month; while I have selected ten that I think are interesting and eclectic, always remember that there are many other wonderful things happening in and around the city all month long. To let us know about an upcoming Artsy Thing To Do, email arts@thebruns.ca— we may feature your Thing in an upcoming issue! For more information about any of the following listings, please use your social media lurking skills and/or consult Google. All Artsy Things can be very easily found.

April 13: Art Battle Fredericton Returns.

April 5: Music Runs Through It presents Evan LeBlanc.

Nackawic singer-songwriter Evan LeBlanc will perform an acoustic strippeddown version of songs at the Corked Wine Bar. Known for playing music in the upbeat Fredericton rock band ‘David in the Dark,’ LeBlanc will present a repertoire of happy love songs and songs about being lost and lonely.

Corked Wine Bar, 83 Regent Street, 8 p.m.

April 7: Stand up Comedy Night.

April 7: Motherhood, Jon Mckiel, Construction & Destruction.

Join beloved local heroes Motherhood for a homecoming celebration as they return from a triumphant month-long tour of the United States. Joining them will be two other favourite Maritime acts: Jon Mckiel and Construction & Destruction. Some of the finest music of the Maritimes!

The Capital Complex, 362 Queen Street, Doors at 10 p.m., show at 10:30 p.m.

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The Charlotte Street Arts Centre presents an evening full of laughs. The stand up comedy night will feature comedians Jimmy MacKinley, Mary Green, Maggie Estey, Ben Conoley, Brian Conoley and Courtney Steeves.

Featuring Graystone beer, tickets are $10 and can be purchased online or at the door at the day of the event.

Charlotte Street Arts Centre, 732 Charlotte Street, Doors at 7:30 p.m., show at 8 p.m.

The evening full of live art returns to see painters transform canvases from blank to beautiful in just under 20 minutes. Attend and help vote the winner of the night! General admission is $15 and $10 for students.

Charlotte Street Arts Centre, 732 Charlotte Street, 7:30 p.m.

April 13: Bad & Bougie Ball.

Join Freeda Whales, Hinky Dinky and Heather Silk for Fredericton’s first ever “Bad & Bougie Ball”! Featuring Bottomless Bingo, lip syncing, mini games, an interactive photo booth, deluxe prizes and more, it’s the perfect night to show off your extravagant and sassy side!

Delta Fredericton Ballroom, 225 Woodstock Road, 7 p.m.

April 14: Shivering Songs Presents: Stars with Jenn Grant.

April 14: 20th Annual NBCCD Fashion Show.

This event showcases the NBCCD graduating fashion class of 2018. Presenting their debut lines are Patricia Barlow-Arcaro, Frankie Francis, and Kyle Kirby. The evening will also feature alumni designers and a first year challenge on the theme “20 Years in the Future.” Advanced tickets are on sale for $20 at Read’s Newsstand & Cafe, and are also available at the door at the night of the event for $25.

New Brunswick College of Craft & Design, 457 Queen Street, 7 p.m.

Canadian indie-pop band Stars returns to Fredericton hot off the release of two new tracks, “Privilege” and “We Called It Love.”

Approaching 20 years as a band, Stars has made its career through musical storytelling of the darkest tales we keep in the most hopeful parts of our soul.

Fredericton Boyce Farmers Market, 665 George Street, Doors at 8 p.m., show at 9 p.m.

April 18: Prisoner of Tehran.

April 29: Heather Rankin in concert.

The multidisciplinary performance features spoken word by Marina Nemat, who shares her experience as a political prisoner for two years in Iran as a teenager. The performance is based on her best-selling memoir, Prisoner of Tehran.

The synthesis of dance, theatre and storytelling explores themes of social justice oppression and freedom. Please be advised this performance contains mature themes or subject matter.

After over 25 years of performing with her siblings as part of The Rankin Family, Heather Rankin began her solo career with the debut record A Fine Line released in 2016. She will be performing songs that honour her roots and community of Mabou, Nova Scotia.

Fredericton Playhouse, 686 Queen Street, 7:30 p.m.

Fredericton Playhouse, 686 Queen Street, 7:30 p.m.

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Words by Ryan Gaio | Photos by Book Sadprasid

In November of 2012, a first-year student knocked on the door of The Brunswickan’s office.

“I remember going up to The Bruns office, and I was terrified! I was just a little first year!” the student says now, almost six years later. “But all the editors who were in the room that day were so welcoming, and they just seemed really keen on helping me write.”

The young, timid student agreed to take on a news story about an “angel tree” being organized by the Sociology Society (the first assignment, it would turn out, of many). And, immediately upon completion of the piece, a realization struck—one that would alter not only the course of the student’s time at UNB, but where they would ultimately head after.

“As soon as I filed that story, I knew: This is what I want to do with my life.”

That student’s name? Emma McPhee, our editor-in-chief.

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“Hi, I’m Emma from The Brunswickan!”

It’s possible that McPhee’s path to her present position was preordained. Back in grade 12, she took a journalism class in lieu of AP Bio, and though it turned out to be a bit of a bird course, there were seeds planted of the person she would ultimately become.

There was, for instance, the fact that when the teacher screened the classic 1976 film All The President’s Men, about the reporters who investigated the infamous Watergate scandal, she was the only one of her classmates not bored to tears (“I thought it was the best movie ever!” she exclaims). And, when six of the keenest students were exempted from the final project in exchange for the opportunity to cover a local heritage fair—“A real journalistic assignment!” she jokes—her group mates nominated her to be their cohort’s editor-in-chief.

Nonetheless, the fledgling reporter-to-be did not have a stint with student journalism on her radar when she began her UNB career.

“I have anxiety, and the summer before I came to UNB, it was at an all-time high. I couldn’t pick up a phone to speak to anyone. There was like an invisible line at the end of the driveway outside my parent’s house that I couldn’t cross. I was too scared to leave.

I didn’t like speaking to people.”

But after encouragement from her academic advisor, McPhee decided to give The Bruns a chance, and soon found it was the perfect thing to help her overcome her anxiety.

“By just being able to say ‘Hi, I’m Emma from The Brunswickan’ instead of ‘Hi, I’m Emma

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McPhee—all the shyness, all the anxiety just melted away,” she says. “I didn’t have any anxiety at all, and I thought, ‘This is great. I’ve never felt this way before.’”

For McPhee, The Brunswickan provided an outlet where all her timidness vanished, and she could be a lot more confident. “I’ve always said that student journalism made me an a lot more bolder version of myself,” she recounts. “And that was the start of that.”

And what a start it was: for her first year as a volunteer, McPhee wrote roughly one story a week, which led to her earning a role the following year as news reporter. This, naturally, led her to become the subsequent year’s news editor, until, in her final year of her undergraduate, the Archaeology and Classics major at last reached the publication’s peak position: editor-in-chief.

“I thought it’d be a fitting way to end my undergrad, and I was so excited,” she says. “When I found out I got it, I ended up being late to my Greek class, but I couldn’t help it—I just walked in and said, ‘Sorry I’m late, but I just got editor-in-chief!’ I was just so excited.”

Thrilled as she was, though, the four years’ worth of devotion to the newspaper, combined with some tough issues in her personal life, had started to leave McPhee feeling somewhat burnt out.

“I kind of lost my passion for journalism,” she says. “I had just kind of lost my spark.”

As much joy as student journalism had brought her, she decided it was time to leave journalism behind. The next fall, she’d come back to UNB to start a new degree—a master’s in Classics—but

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this time, she’d be devoted solely to her studies.

days since she’d last been with The Bruns.

“I’m just not going to do journalism for two years,” she told herself. “I’m not going to have any trouble whatsoever with that.”

She knew precisely how much time had passed, to the day.

Or so she thought.

“There’s something you should be doing...and you’re not doing it.”

“I know this is gonna sound super lame,” McPhee warns with a grin. “It sounds super melodramatic, but it happened. I’m serious. That summer [before the start of my master’s] I ended up getting an opportunity to go to Greece for six weeks. And I was by myself, at the Athenian Acropolis, walking around, and I suddenly thought, ‘Man—I’m not going to be a journalist for two years.’”

There’s a certain way McPhee speaks when she’s discussing journalism: bent forward slightly, hands constantly moving to emphasise her points. She’s been speaking this way the whole interview, but now, at this point in the story, her voice goes much softer, and she stills.

“And, [I’m thinking], even though it’s incredible to be here, in Athens, on the Acropolis...I still think I want to be a journalist more than anything to do with this,” she says slowly, like she’s uttering a confession. “It just kind of hit me. And I thought to myself: If I’m on the Acropolis thinking, ‘I’d rather be a journalist’...then maybe there’s something to that. I was starting to realize maybe I hadn’t realized just how passionate I was about journalism.”

Within the first few months back at UNB, she knew she had to return to her true passion—there was no way she could get through her degree and not do The Bruns.

“If I would meet new people, I’d always introduce myself as a journalist. I didn’t even realize I was doing it. I think there was just something subconsciously telling me: There’s something you should be doing, and you’re not doing it.”

She soon switched her thesis topic to focus on how journalistic theory applies to ancient Greek historiography, and spent her spare time constantly coming up with ideas for The Brunswickan, filling pages and pages of notebooks with plans about how she could do better than she had last time, how she could improve the magazine, how she could help The Bruns. When she submitted her application for editor-in-chief, round two, she noted at the top of her cover letter that it had been 318

“Where I find myself” And so, for the past year, McPhee has been back where she belongs: working for The Brunswickan.

Most days, she can be found in her editor-in-chief office, at a worn desk on which books on journalism are scattered, surrounded by shelves containing stacks and stacks of previous issues—the ghosts of EICs past. In this stint as editor-in-chief, she’s had unexpected challenges, both paper-related—“Certainly nothing prepares you for covering Nazis on campus,” she says slyly—and personal, but through it all, The Bruns has given her as much as she has given it.

“The Bruns has always been the best distraction for me. Honestly, it’s like the best therapy ever. I can turn to the work. That’s where I am. That’s where I find myself. It gives me a sense of purpose. I have a role in accurately sending out information to the public. I have to do it very quickly, and I love the challenge of that. It can be very stressful, but at the end of the day... it keeps me grounded.”

This year, however, truly is McPhee’s last hurrah: in September, she’s leaving UNB—and The Brunswickan—to head to the nation’s capital, where she’ll pursue a Master of Journalism degree at Carleton University. It’s a strange time for journalism: the entire industry is rearranging itself, and has yet to figure out exactly how it fits into the digital landscape. For McPhee, this just means another exciting opportunity to follow her passion and see where it leads her.

“I want to help shape the next stage of journalism in Canada. Obviously, there are a lot of people already doing that, but I want to be some part of it.”

Of course, the shifting tides of the journalism industry at large mean that student journalism is undergoing changes of its own, too. But as long as other Emma McPhees come along to pick up where she’s leaving off, the paper will continue running just as smoothly as it has during her time with it.

“I don’t foresee The Brunswickan dying as long as there are people passionate in it. And I hope that there will be many more people as passionate about The Bruns as I am. Because The Bruns is like...my life.

And I hope that there will be people to pick that up, so that it stays strong.”

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Words by Tiziana Zevallos | Photos by Adam Travis FLOURISH is an annual art and music festival in Fredericton, New Brunswick that takes place at the beginning of spring. This year’s iteration will run from April 19 to 22 in different venues around the city.

Jane Blanchard started FLOURISH Festival in 2014 while studying at UNB’s Renaissance College. Although originally for a project management course, she made FLOURISH the subject of an independent study course the following year.

“Initially, I created FLOURISH Festival to fill a market gap in the Fredericton music scene. We did not have a spring music and arts festival—and I thought it would be cool to bring the music and arts communities together to try and make a special weekend,” she said.

That first year, the festival was organized in just a few weeks. Blanchard came up with the idea in February and began organizing it in the last week of March.

“I had never run an event before, let alone a festival—so I was starting from scratch and talking to so many people in the community to point me in the right direction,” she said.

It was with the community’s help that they decided she would focus on the music aspect and Stefan Westner, the festival’s co-director, on the visual art side of things.

Blanchard said organizing a festival is incredibly difficult— and it becomes harder every year as they grow in size and incorporate new skills and opportunities, including grants, funding, sponsors and new venues. But it is all worth it when they see how many amazing artists apply to be part of the event each year.

Her favourite part of running FLOURISH each year is to see the returning faces and their smiles.

“FLOURISH Festival has become a hub for connecting artists and musicians, and it is amazing to have so many creative people in one space. We are really lucky to welcome many people back to Fredericton who used to be a huge

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part of the music and arts scene—who, for some reason or another, have had to leave Fredericton.”

The first FLOURISH Festival took place in two venues and had 20 participating artists; in 2018, however, the festival is presenting over 70 artists across eight different venues. Blanchard said FLOURISH has also grown in terms of partners and connections, since these now include The Capital Complex, Picaroons Traditional Ales, Blackstreet Records, the Government of Canada, the City of Fredericton and the Charlotte Street Arts Centre, among others.

“The main highlights for me every year are the people that I get to know better, hosting artist breakfasts in my dad’s kitchen, and staying up late at the after-parties and chatting to like-minded people. There’s a whole vibe that comes with FLOURISH Festival that just makes you feel so good, and I encourage everyone to join in the experience,” Blanchard said.

This year, Blanchard is organizing the festival from Edinburgh, Scotland. “Working from abroad has been crazy, but a total learning curb. It is becoming a little easier with time, but nothing beats discussing schedules and lineups and installations over beer in [Westner’s] studio.”

Blanchard is looking forward to flying back to Fredericton at the beginning of April, since she’ll be playing sets both as a solo artist and with her band, David in the Dark.

Blanchard started playing music at a very young age. By the time she started high school, she was playing original songs in a band called Margo Margo and participating in festivals around the East Coast. And when she started university, singer-songwriter Evan LeBlanc asked if she’d like to be a part of the new band he was putting together. Blanchard agreed, and began playing keys and doing backup vocals for David in the Dark.

“David in the Dark has been playing for about four years now, and it has been a really exciting journey playing music with my best friends,” Blanchard said.

Thanks to David in the Dark, Blanchard became close friends with Westner, who plays the drums. When she came up FLOURISH, she thought he would be the perfect co-director.

In addition to her own performances, Blanchard is excited to really dig into the festival’s organization and make it come to life. The show she’s most excited about is taking place at Shiftwork Studio, featuring bands WHOOPSzo, The Lonely Parade, Motherhood, The Famines and artist Klarka Weinwurm. According to Blanchard, Shiftwork Studio is the home of everything FLOURISH. WHOOP-Szo are past FLOURISH Festival residents; Motherhood are the creators of the Shifty Bits Circus, an independent music and arts festival in Fredericton that ended a couple years ago—but it was a huge inspiration for FLOURISH. Klarka Weinwurm has played at every FLOURISH since the festival’s inception; The Famines are both musicians and visual artists, and this will be The Lonely Parade’s first time participating in the event.

Other bands and artists presenting at FLOURISH include Platitudes, The Brood, Alexia Avina, Ada Lea, Innes Wilson, The Hypochondriacs, Yess Woah, Justin Wright, and Best Fern.

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Men’s Hockey: The men’s hockey team finished their season at the top of the AUS standings with 24 wins and six losses, four of those losses occurring in overtime. From there, the V-Reds easily won the AUS banner, moving on to the USports Championship, which was hosted by UNB. At the national competition, UNB ploughed through the Concordia Stingers to move on to the semifinal round.

In the semis against St. FX, UNB was unable to get the overtime win necessary for a gold medal bid. This sent them into the bronze medal match—a rematch of last year’s championship final against the University of Saskatchewan Huskies. UNB won against the Huskies 5-4 in overtime, giving the Reds the bronze medal. In the last four years, the Varsity Reds men’s hockey team has won silver, gold twice, and bronze medals at nationals, in that order.

Men’s Basketball: The men’s basketball team won the AUS banner for the first time in 51 years. This outstanding conference performance moved the Reds to the USports national tournament. At the heart of their successful season was the AUS MVP Javon Masters. Masters, after breaking the AUS all-time point record in November against SMU, broke the USports all time point record with a total of 560 points this year, adding to his previous total gained over his first four years of competition with the Varsity Reds.

Men’s Volleyball UNB won the AUS banner against the Dalhousie Tigers advancing them to the USports national tournament.

Despite their shutout loss in the first round against the eventual champions, the UBC Thunderbirds, the Reds won against Queens in the consolation semifinal to earn a spot in the fifth place match. UNB lost to Montreal, placing sixth in the country.

Women’s Hockey The Red Blazers finished their season with the East Coast Women’s Hockey League (ECWHL) championship trophy. In the championship game, the Blazers faced off against the Holland College Hurricanes, winning 3-1.

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Women’s Basketball The V-Reds finished the regular season with an even sheet of ten wins and ten losses. After entering the AUS tournament in sixth place, the Reds lost to the the eventual second-place UPEI team in the quarterfinal.

Women’s Volleyball The V-Reds just missed the AUS championship, finishing the season with a 20-game losing streak.

Curling Varsity Reds curling had strong finishes on the men’s side, managing a second place finish in the AUS conference finals, just behind Dalhousie, with both moving on to the USports championships. At nationals, UNB placed third in the tournament and earning the bronze medal. The women’s team placed 5th at AUS Championships, making them unable to repeat their USports appearance from the previous year.

Track At AUS, the Varsity Reds had 35 total point-scoring performances, leaving the track with 16 medals. The Reds sent three athletes to USports nationals: Liam Turgeon, Victoria Leblanc and Sydney MacDonald. MacDonald placed 11th at USports in the Pentathlon, followed by Leblanc placing 9th in the long jump and Liam Turgeon competing in the weight throw.

Swimming UNB swimming finished of the season at AUS with the men’s team placing fourth and the women’s side placing third. Highlights of the championship for the Reds included medal performances from Noah Horwood and Jennifer Moore, with two silvers and two bronzes respectively.

Wrestling At the USports national wrestling championship, UNB had three top eight performances in Matthew Vilain, Gentrit Sadiku and Jasmine Thebeau. Representing the men’s side, Vilain placed seventh for the 76 kilogram weight class and Sadiku placed seventh for the 90 kilogram weight class. On the women’s side, Thebeau placed fourth in the 67 kilogram category.

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How closely have you been reading the Bruns in the past month? Test yourself with this crossword puzzle, featuring answers from last month’s online stories and this month’s magazine.

Submit your completed crossword to the Brunswickan’s office (Room 35 in the SUB) to win a prize! The first person to submit a correct puzzle will automatically win a free pizza from Domino’s. Everyone else will be entered into a draw for another free pizza, which will be held on April 30. We will draw four winners. Best of luck!

If no one’s in the office, please slip your crossword under the door with the date, time, your name and your email written on it. Thank you!

Across 1 Springtime art and music festival in Fredericton 6 V-Reds men’s hockey team placed third in this tournament 7 New app launched at UNB to help learn this language 10 UNB student traveled here and learned about Malaria Down 2 This organization raised their fees by $1.50 3 Weed 4 Students staged a sit-in at Senate to protest the reset of this 5 This faculty will see its tuition raised by around 50 per cent 8 Name of current Bruns EIC 9 Travel memoir by UNB instructor Tony Robinson-Smith: The _____ Run 31