Incite Magazine - October 2013

INCITE MAGAZINE VOLUME 16, ISSUE 2 ▪ OCTOBER 2013

THE RED ISSUE

EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Stephen Clare Sam Godfrey MANAGING EDITORS Avery Lam (Layout) Jessie Lu (Photography) Ianitza Vassileva (Graphics) ASSISTANT EDITORS Khatija Anjum (Photography) Sarah Conrad (Layout) CONTENT EDITORS Devra Charney Sarah Kanko Julie-Anne Mendoza Kacper Niburski Jessica Teicher

CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE

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WHY GOING TO MARS IS REALLY, REALLY, REALLY HARD Oskar Niburski VIMY RIDGE Christina Vietinghoff SEASONS OF LOVE Talia Jacob RED HISTORY, RED PSYCHOLOGY, RED FACTS Elliott Yee, Kayla Esser, Emily Sheppard MENSTRUATION: MYTHS AND FACTS Kaila Radan THESE REDS ARE SEXY Korry Garvey ART Miguel Chavez, Sam Godfrey, Sarah Paisley, Nikkie To THE FOUR COLOUR CONTROVERSY Nigel Pynn-Coates

CONTRIBUTORS WRITERS Taylor Brown, Curtis Cook, Anthony D’Ambrosio, Kayla Esser, Suzy Flader, Korry Garvey, Talia Jacob, Ronald Leung, Rachel Liu, Oskar Niburski, Nigel PynnCoates, Kaila Radan, Shruti Ramesh, Mackenzie Richardson, Hamnah Shahid, Emile Shen, Emily Sheppard, Lindsay Stitt, Saad Syed, Raluca Topliceanu, Sophia Topper, Christina Vietinghoff, Jason Woo, Elliott Yee, Rachelle Zalter ARTWORK Khatija Anjum, Miguel Chavez, Sarah Conrad, Sam Godfrey, Jessie Lu, Sarah Paisley, Nikkie To, Raluca Topliceanu, Livia Tsang, Ianitza Vassileva

COVERS Jessie Lu

ERRATUM

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The graphic on page 2 of the September 2013 issue was mistakenly credited to Ianitza Vassileva, and is actually by Olivia Rozema.

EDITORIAL

LAYOUT Sarah Conrad, Shicheng (Tony) Jin, Avery Lam, Jason Lau, Rahul Sadavarte, Nikkie To

W

hat is red?

Red is light. Light of about 700 nanometer wavelength, more specifically. Light that darts through the air, reflecting off strawberries and sunburns. The longest wavelength we can see, the lower part of the visual spectrum that gives the world its rainbows.

Red enters your eye and smashes into the rod and cone cells. Photon after photon bombarding your retina which sends that information back into your head.

And now red’s in your brain, where it explodes outwards across your neural pathways, lighting up faint associations, hunting down memories and INCITE MAGAZINE, OCTOBER 2013

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DEAR LADY Rachelle Zalter REDDIT DRAWS BLOOD: THE POWER OF THE HIVE MIND Jason Woo RED HERRINGS AND OTHER FALLACIES Suzy Flader PAINT THE TOWN RED Mackenzie Richardson BLOOD: A MOTHER’S SACRIFICE Curtis Cook & Shruti Ramesh ART Ianitza Vassileva GLOW Taylor Brown FIFTY SHADES OF… GREEN? Lindsay Stitt

25 26 28 29 30 31 32 34

WHY’S WALDO? Emile Shen COLOURFUL PERSONALITIES Anthony D’Ambrosio PLAYING THE VIDEOGAME OF LIFE Saad Syed ART: THE MATRIARCH Livia Tsang LIPSTICK LOVE Sophia Topper LIPSTICK FEMINISM Rachel Liu & Hamnah Shahid THE CARDINAL FLUSH Ronald Leung AMONG THE MAPLES Raluca Topliceanu

feelings and bringing them to your attention. In here, red is not just light, it’s any number of emotions depending on your life experiences. It comes alive as anger, lust, or happiness.

When red was suggested as a possible theme for this edition of Incite, there was a moment of hesitation from our editors. What is red, we found ourselves thinking, and how can you build a whole magazine on an intangible wave that’s just 700 nm long?

But red’s not just a wave, is it? Red is an ocean. It suggests more to us than sight. Red has stories, people, and countries coming together in words, photos, and art. It has life and lies and love. It’s raw, it’s visceral.

Red has flavour.

And though our magazine only comes out periodically, red’s no flavour of the month. From planets to people, hive mind to death metal, lipstick, logic and Waldo, our contributors this month have explored our deep relationship with this lovely, cruel, sexy colour in all its emotional totality.

Red is power. Red is primal.

Are you ready for red?  – Stephen Clare & Sam Godfrey, Editors-in-Chief VOLUME 16, ISSUE 2 3

PHOTOGRAPHY BY KEVIN GILL (FLICKR)

WHY GOING TO MARS IS

Oskar

M

ars One, the space faring foundation set to establish a human colony on Mars by 2022, has recently closed its application process. Over 165,000 individuals applied for the chance to be part of the four-person team that will venture to the Red Planet. Canada had the largest proportion of people from its population apply, at around 0.02%. It is therefore incumbent upon me – an uneducated, unscientific writer by day and astronomer by mid-afternoon – to explain to our best and brightest some of the challenges that they will face during their daring mission.

Mars will try to kill you. Unlike our safe and nurturing Earth, Mars is a violent and unforgiving planet, similar to my last girlfriend, and is named after the Roman God of War, also like my last girlfriend. It is a planet home to large dust storms and lava flow hot enough to make that damned Roman God grin. These dust storms would be especially problematic to any space voyager, as they contain silicate minerals and perchlorates that can interact with the water in our lungs. This makes it hard to breathe, which, or so I’ve been told, makes it hard to live. Moreover, this dust has a knack of entering every nook and cranny

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on the planet, which would almost certainly extend to those “impenetrable” metal tepees where our space cowboy colonists would live. Unfortunately, any efforts to vacuum this persistent dust up have proven terribly ineffective, even when using a Dyson.

What’s more, there’s the tiny issue of radiation. Worried about the rays coming out of your microwave while popping your buttery, extra large popcorn? Mars has two sources of radiation bombardment, and both are terribly lethal. The first is in the form of galactic cosmic rays, which cause severe damage to biological tissues. Because of a lack of substantial atmosphere, Mars also is exposed to solar energetic winds, solar flares, and something whose name only begins to hint at its terrible repercussions: coronal mass injections. It has been reported by the current Wall-Eesque rover on Mars, Curiosity, that radiation exposure on the planet is equivalent to 330 milliSieverts, or a whole body CT scan every five days. Sounds kinda cool, like Fantastic Four, right? Wrong. With exposure to only 30% of the full force of this radiation, it is predicted that in 50 days, 35% of people would die. This is not the

superpower granting kind of radiation. This is the fatal cancer kind.

And I hate to be the party pooper with more bad news, but Mars is exceptionally far away. You will not be able to squeeze in a visit between your morning yoga meditation and lunch. The trip, depending on what shuttle you plan to use, is a 6–8 month trek. And I know exactly what you are thinking looking at that number: I was in the womb for nine months and that was

INCITE MAGAZINE, OCTOBER 2013

REALLY, REALLY, REALLY HARD

Niburski

(AND MAYBE DANGEROUS!)

equally red and claustrophobic. If I did it once, I can do it again!

A trip to Mars, however, is not your mother’s uterus, as comforting an image as that may be. In space, you are victim to microgravity, which is not the cute form of gravity that the prefix ‘micro’ leads you to believe. Nope, with microgravity humans are prone to bone loss of 1% per month, fainting spells, muscle atrophy, general weakness, and cognitive difficulties. Space

ARTWORK COURTESY OF MARS ONE

is trying to beat you up and does a pretty good job at doing it. If the astronauts get injured on Mars or in the shuttles, there are no Martian ambulances to take them to the Martian hospitals where Martian doctors eating Mars bars can operate within the free and well-respected Martian healthcare system. Wake up and smell the stale shuttle air. It would just be the astronauts and a lonely planet, with help being far, far away.

And unlike Chris Hadfield recording Space Oddity, you will face the radiation and microgravity all the while having nothing to do. Think 2001: A Space Odyssey with lots and lots of staring at screens and buttons you aren’t allowed to push for a full eight months. Boredom has been correlated strongly with depression, attention deficiencies, fatigue, and performance errors.

This is especially troublesome when an astronaut’s job is to maintain life-support systems necessary for, you know, living. A slip of the finger and it is the self-destruct button instead of the recycle-our-urine button.

And if you were still looking forward to blast off, then one last warning: you will likely have to be a vegetarian, as no meat can be preserved in space. Yes to the Red Planet equals no to Red Meat. Though

food would be essential for providing vitamins the astronauts lack, radiation destroys these supplies, causing milk to spoil faster than you can say “oxidative tissue damage”.

Yet Mars One applicants believe they can do it. In fact, Mars One is now one of a handful of plans to make a human hotel of the Red Planet. Ignoring the fact that Mars One has projected their success within ten years, and at a questionable cost of only 6 billion dollars (compare this to NASA, which has postulated a similar trip would take 18 years to properly plan at 100 billion USD), there was a large public interest to leave our planet and venture off to other worlds. This seems to me a testament to our exploring and curious nature: we are willing to face ridiculous amounts of danger for posterity’s sake, in order to expand our frontier; to be the first and go where no one has gone before, and to inspire others to do the same. Mars One is a mirroring of John F. Kennedy’s hopeful words, “We travel to the Moon not because it is easy, but because it is hard.” In spite of all the challenges, we will face that Red Planet eventually, because not one of us wants to have to say that Mars won. 

VOLUME 16, ISSUE 2 5

PHOTOGRAPHY BY DRSAT (FLICKR)

VIMY RIDGE Christina Vietinghoff

C

anada’s epic First World War memorial, re-dedicated by the Queen in 2007 and chosen to adorn the new 20 dollar bill in 2010, is a place of reflection and remembrance for some, and for others, a park. People bring picnics featuring elaborate feasts of wine, baguette and cheese. Their children frolic through the pitted ground screaming and laughing. Cyclists speed through in tight spandex while runners labour up the steep ridge.

Vimy Ridge is a Canadian national historic site that commemorates the over 66 000 Canadians who died in the brutal trench warfare of the First World War. It’s difficult to imagine this grim reality when facing the bright blue sky, the rolling green fields peppered with sheep, and the rainbow of kites in the distance town of Lens, France.

Though it has been almost a hundred years since the First World War, the Vimy memorial is still important to Canadians. The Canadian government recently announced a five million dollar contribution towards a new visitor centre, with another several million dollars still to be fundraised. Beyond this invested interest, to many travelers, Vimy represents Canada. For some, it’s their first encounter with Canadians.

In addition to local visitors, thousands of Canadians and others from around the world come to pay their respects and leave in tears, moved by the 11 285 names of soldiers whose bodies were never found in

France. That is, if they aren’t disrupted by the hordes of school children being hurried in by a tired British or French teacher ready to give a quick shpeal, take some group pictures, and scurry off to the next stop on their busy itinerary.

Do the visitors who come for picnics, exercise, or a mandatory stop on a grueling battlefield tour get less out of their visit than the dedicated Canadians? They seem to give the impression that the memorial as-

shells as they till their fields. This is just the reality.

What about those who come with their kids for a Sunday stroll and to take some pictures “in Canada”? Do they appreciate the significance? Visitors cannot be categorized as either the ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ kind.

Even the Canadian students working as guides must make an effort to not become immune to the massive loss represented by the memorial. After repeating the tragic facts dozens of times daily, it’s a challenge not to fall into a robotic voice-recorder mode.

With the hundredth anniversary coming up, undoubtedly there will be a resurgence of First World War commemoration activities. Canadians may become aware of the way Vimy is used by some visitors as a recreational park. Will Canadians be able to reconcile this range of visitor experiences with the classic portrayal of Vimy? It is important to make the distinction between those who are disrespectful and those who are ignorant but may still learn from their experience. Some runners stick to the paths around the periphery of the monument and may pause and read some of the signage out of curiosity. Some of the school children ask questions and seem genuinely moved.

This diversity of visitors demonstrates that the experience and lessons of the First World War remain relevant. Though not everyone approaches with sadness, at least they continue to visit and keep Vimy alive. 

After repeating the tragic facts dozens of times daily, it’s a challenge not to fall into a robotic voicerecorder mode.

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pect of Vimy is no longer relevant. Certainly the school children that climb all over The Mourning Mother and try and sit on The Spirit of Sacrifice don’t have the same experience as the visitor who is related to a soldier whose name is on the monument.

However, context is important. Many of these visitors have grown up in northern France where there are more First World War cemeteries than gas stations along the rural roads. Farmers discover unexploded

INCITE MAGAZINE, OCTOBER 2013

 Seasons of Love Talia Jacob It’s the feeling when you think of that person and it makes your chest go warm like it’s summer and the sun beats down on you, and you smile because there’s a breeze and it’s just so pleasant.

And you feel your shoulders browning, and you love your shoulders when they’re brown, so you start wearing tank-tops to show them off and the sun makes them more brown.

But all this happens inside of you, even in the dead of winter, when you stand outside in the biting wind, waiting for a bus while white flurries land on your hands, frozen and red and swollen, and you think of that person and it’s summer again and your shoulders are brown and your hands are warm.

But you wonder what happens when summer ends and the leaves fall and crunch under your feet and your tan is gone and you wear knit sweaters that cover your shoulders.

What happens then?

Well, you love the fall, the smell of the leaves, the beginning of sting in the air, the colours that shoot out of valleys you pass in the city, areas of green space turned red.

And yet you wonder, is the end coming?

Because mustn’t fall lead to winter? Blanketed in white, can you even discern how you feel any longer when you think of that person and all you feel is the winter you felt while waiting for that bus, when your hands were frozen and red and swollen?

And your heart longs for those breezy days of summer, and you wonder what it will take to melt the snow so it can be spring and you can start again with those brown shoulders. 

PHOTOGRAPHY BY KHATIJA ANJUM VOLUME 16, ISSUE 2 7

REDHIS PSYCHO REDFA Elliott Yee

F

or thousands of years, society has had a special fascination with the colour red. As far back as 170 000 years ago, early humans were painting their bodies with ochre, a red clay containing iron oxide. Throughout the ancient world, red was used to symbolize powerful and important concepts – the Egyptians used the colour

to express ideas of victory and health, but also to represent evil and destruction. In ancient China, craftsmen refined red pigment by heating lead, and used it to colour clothing. Chinese philosophy associated the colour with fire and good fortune, and it was used extensively in weddings and courting ceremonies.

During the European Middle Ages, red symbolized the blood of Christ. As a result, it became the colour of kings and authority.

The wealthy people of this time also wore red – their scarlet clothing was dyed using the boiled shells of certain plant-eating insects.

The colour red also played a signifi-

Kayla Esser

W

hen you think of colour, red is often the first one that comes to mind. It is omnipresent and powerful. But what does that mean? Why are some people more drawn to certain colours than others? Can blue really make you feel calm? Does wearing pink inspire comfort? The field of colour psychology is a fascinating and relatively new exploration of how colours can impact and intensify moods, emotions, and behaviour. Colours can attract you, captivate your senses, and even trigger certain physiological reactions in your body.

The concept of using colours to influence people is a growing area of interest in art, advertising, and decorating, but very little research has been conducted around it. In fact, there is a lot of skepticism surrounding the concept of colour psychology.

Much of how you experience colour stems from your background and upbringing – in Western tradition, yellow has often been used to denote happiness and hope, while many Middle Eastern countries use it for mourning. However, there are some commonalities that have been discovered by researchers across the globe.

Emily Sheppard

Red Hot

Want to impress that hot guy/girl in your basket weaving class? Bring out your red.

Five experiments done by researchers at the University of Rochester have confirmed that wearing the colour red will make individuals more attractive to the opposite sex.

The study found that men subconsciously associate the colour red with lust and sex, making a lady in red more attractive than if they were wearing another colour. Women, on the other hand, will associate the colour red with power and wealth, making them subconsciously more attracted to men wearing it.

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Red, the most intense and stimulating colour, can actually increase your heartbeat and breathing. Red commands attention, which is why it is so popular in today’s media – think of the boldness of a can of Coke, or a tube of red lipstick. Red can even stimulate your appetite. Derek Jarman, an English artist, once remarked that “painters use red like spice” because of its potency.

It represents strength, vitality and speed.

Research shows that drivers of red cars are more aggressive and enjoy driving faster than the average person. Red can also represent passion and lust; it stimulates

Red = Failure

Next time you’re taking an exam, avoid the colour red! Red is often associated with failure in school. This subconscious association is most likely the reason that researchers at the University of Munich have found that even short glimpses of the colour red can lead to poorer performance on written tests!

Red Makes You Hungry

Have you ever noticed that many restaurant chains, like KFC, McDonald’s, and Wendy’s, have red logos? Or that many restaurants are furnished with red cushions and paint?

It’s not just coincidence: red has been proven to induce hunger.

INCITE MAGAZINE, OCTOBER 2013

STORY HOLOGY FACTS cant role in the Italian Renaissance. Artists used red during this time due to its attention-grabbing properties, especially in depictions of Christ and the Virgin Mary.

The colour red later took on a political significance. During the French Revolution, it was used to symbolize liberty; later on in Europe, it came to represent the socialist

movement. Throughout the 20th century, red was the symbolic colour of communism in China, Russia, Cuba, and Vietnam.

Today, red has many different meanings around the world. In Asia, red is associated with good luck and prosperity – red saris are typical among Indian brides, and stock markets in China and Japan use red

to show increases in prices. Wherever one goes in the world, the colour red is used in some symbolic way – for example, 77% of the world’s flags contain the colour. Red has always played a key part in culture and symbolism worldwide, and its boldness and intensity will ensure that it never goes out of fashion. 

more carnal human desires such as hunger and sex. Interestingly, red does not typically connote love, which is a gentler and more affectionate emotion better represented by pink.

Because red is such a dominant colour, it is bound to stir up negative reactions too. Researchers have noted that red can actually increase aggressiveness and feelings of impatience within a person. Red is also a universal symbol for danger, which is why stop signs and traffic lights are red.

The colour red is associated with passionate hate, anger, and violence. Professionals

suggest that it be used sparingly in advertisements because while it is powerful, it can be domineering and overwhelming.

Whether or not colour preference can indicate personality is controversial, but it has been observed that people who like red are usually more confident, action-oriented, and likely to act on impulses and emotions.

Like the colour itself, they have dominant personalities that are quick to anger or excite. In contrast, people who prefer the colour green tend to be more grounded and nurturing, because green represents nature and clarity.

There are still many questions about colour psychology that have not been answered. Where did colour associations originate? Can being surrounded by a certain colour actually alter a person’s habits?

Why do people have favourite colours?

Research in the field of colour psychology is ongoing; because of its dependence on personality and culture, it is difficult to draw concrete conclusions. As scientific exploration continues, we hope to better understand the impact of colour on human psychology. 

Dyed Red

Bull Fighting

We all know that Bulls are sensitive to the colour red, so when they see the Matador waving a red cape around, they get angry and charge. This is a myth: in actuality, bulls are colourblind to red. This means that the bull is probably more agitated by the screaming crowd and obnoxious Matador waving a cape at them than the colour.

One of the main sources for natural red food colouring is extracted from cochineal insects. The female cochineal insects, found in South and Central America, spend their lives drinking from an Opuntia cactus. They use the juices from these cacti to manufacture a deep red pigment that is stored in their bodily fluids and tissues. The female insects are essentially dried and crushed in order to obtain this carminic acid, which is then used as a dye in food colouring and cosmetics.

He Red, She Red

Women can easily differentiate between shades of red such as crimson, maroon, and scarlet, while men often just see red.

It turns out that this is not just stereotype: men and women actually see the colour red differently. Researchers at the University of Arizona have identified the gene that allows us to see the colour red. The gene is located on the X chromosome. Because of the way this gene is expressed, women, with their two X chromosomes, are able to perceive a larger spectrum of the colour red than their male counterparts, who only have one.

VOLUME 16, ISSUE 2 9

MENSTRUATION: MYTHS AND FACTS Kaila Radan

I

n the Ancient world, a menstruating woman was considered to be both sacred and powerful. It was believed that her blood could not only heal the sick but also strip her enemies of their power.

Out of respect and in some cases fear, many cultures had huts set up for the sole purpose of separating women from their communities during their menses. Later, Christianity and Judaism spread the word that menstruation was an evil curse, preaching that it was

It is possible for women’s menstrual cycles to sync.

Answer: Fact.

It is not uncommon for women who live in close proximity to receive their menses around the same time each month. Although there is no accepted theory behind the phenomenon, a study published by Martha McClintock stated that women’s bodies react to the pheromones of other bodies around them. Another postulation is that women’s cycles synchronize with the lunar phase. It is likely that before the invention of artificial lighting, women ovulated together on the full moon and bled on the dark moon. This may have been a survival mechanism, since women on the same cycle would be able to take care of each other. Although we live in a much more individualized society today, it seems that our bodies still respond to the same instinctive cue that they did years ago.

It is impossible to get pregnant while on your period.

Answer: Myth.

Although rare, it is certainly possible for a woman to conceive while menstruating. It is more likely to happen to women with short menstrual cycles, as their time of ovulation is closer to the time when they are bleeding. This means that an egg could be released into the ovary only a few days after the end of a cycle. If a woman takes part in sexual intercourse while on her period, it is possible for the sperm to survive in her body and impregnate her at the time of ovulation.

Hopefully this article provided some insight into the many mysteries surrounding a woman’s menses. Unfortunately, there will always be those who go out of their way to spread ridiculous myths on the topic. Some prime examples include that a female’s dental fillings will fall out if received during menstruation, and that swimming while on one’s period will lead to a certain drowning due to 10

woman’s punishment for Eve’s crime. Sigmund Freud went even further, saying that every time a woman bled it was a reminder of her “loss of a penis, and inferiority to man”. Although science has allowed us to understand the real cause and purpose of menstruation, the topic is still taboo in many countries. In this article I hope to explore and bring to light the facts on some common beliefs surrounding menstruation.

Your period can make you think like a guy.

Answer: Fact.

During menstruation, the estrogen levels in a woman’s body are low and as a result it is possible that an increase in male cognitive skills can occur. Not only can her spatial thinking improve but some women also experience a higher sex drive. This is due to the fact that progesterone, the hormone responsible for controlling one’s libido, is at its lowest during menstruation. However, not all women crave sex while on their periods, and many would much rather put on sweatpants, curl up, and watch a movie.

PMS is all in your head.

Answer: Myth.

Premenstrual syndrome is in fact a real syndrome that many women suffer from one to two weeks before their period. It is caused by hormonal changes that occur in a woman’s body during this time. Symptoms can include breast tenderness, bloating, acne, food cravings, mood swings, and mild forms of depression. Some women take birth control pills or nutritional supplements to cope with the afflictions of PMS, while others simply give in to their cravings and wait out the time before their period arrives.

one’s tampon becoming saturated. Luckily, menstruation is slowly becoming a more socially acceptable topic and many programs are being implemented to educate people on the truth of this healthy bodily function. Only by changing society’s outlook will we be able to overcome some of the fear and mystery that shrouds menstruation today.  INCITE MAGAZINE, OCTOBER 2013

THESE REDS ARE SEXY Korry Garvey

“D

amn girl, those are some nice bearings,” he thinks to himself as she rides past him on her 40 with Bustin Swift 70 mm wheels and Bones Reds Bearings.

Bones Reds Bearings? The beautiful bearings, manufactured in China and inspected twice before being shipped to boarders, with a single, removable rubber shield for easy cleaning and reduced friction? Yes. These bearings are top-notch, have a great reputation, and let you rival the speed of a racehorse.

But as a relatively unskilled long-boarder on campus, is the quality worth the extra investment? The price of these babies ranges from $18 for the basic bearings to $75 dollars for the Ceramic Super Reds. If you speak to the average “campus cruiser” type of boarder, you will find that the extra dollar bills are not necessary. The name may sound good and the Reds may be damn sexy to have on your board, but the thought of spending $8 is more appealing than spending $18. I’m sorry to inform the Reds fans, but Reds are not the new Gangnam.

Cheap is.

Cheap does not entail lack of quality. I use Abec 7’s, which cost about $9. They ride flawlessly and, surprisingly, I have received many compliments on their capabilities.

Quality does not necessarily increase with price, especially considering the fact that a set of more expensive bearings will have little influence over the quality of your ride. In my books, experience is the Golden Ticket, at least for students who use their boards almost entirely for transportation purposes.

The topic of experience is a strange one when talking about skateboarding. I would say I have heaps of experience, but then how could I explain the stunning fall that I had on my way to class this September? I tried to laugh it off, but I really just wanted to go home and not face the world of embarrassment.

Unfortunately, the people who do not come to campus equipped with a set of wheels have to take the brunt of this madness. I will take it upon myself to apologize to everyone who has had to deal with the mishaps of an inexperienced (or possibly an experienced) boarder. Whether this madness means getting rudely cut off, getting your toes run over, or a full-on person-to-person crash, the skateboarding community understands your annoyance. We really do.

Wouldn’t it be great if expensive, name-

brand bearings on your board could prevent this madness? Just imagine the sales pitch: “Fear no more, boarders and non-boarders alike! Bones Reds bearings prevent all of these rookie mistakes. The second a board is equipped with these beauties, experience belongs to the rider. No worries about not having enough space on the sidewalk or enough time to stop before hitting someone or something, the Reds will cover everything!”

I wish. In fact, every time I ride through campus, I am afraid of falling or crashing or tripping or breaking my board. I can describe this fear as being more intense than the fear of falling from a 50-storey building,

or sleeping alone on a raft in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, or even being caught with a knife in a gun fight.

But still, I ride to class every day, and even though my heart is dropping further into my belly, it is the greatest rush I have ever felt.

I feel like an Olympian as I dodge between students in that ten-minute timeframe between classes. I feel free.

The moral of the story: if you are not sure about the board life, buy yourself a cheap board with inexpensive wheels and bearings, and learn to be about the board life. Take the chance to be the sexiest person on campus, overcome the overwhelming fear, and NEVER be late for class. 

I ride to class every day, and even though my heart is dropping further into my belly, it is the greatest rush I have ever felt.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY HANNA FJELLSTEADT (FLICKR)

VOLUME 16, ISSUE 2 11

Sarah Paisley

Sam Godfrey

Nikkie To

Miguel Chavez

THE FOUR COLOUR CONTROVERSY Nigel Pynn-Coates

Mapping The

Four Colour

Computer

Controversy T

hink back to elementary school, when you were assigned to colour in a map of Canada. I trust that there were always enough pencil crayons to ensure that you didn’t have to colour two adjacent regions in the same colour. Did you ever wonder why? Well, it turns out that every map can be coloured without using more than four colours, and you can thank mathematicians for figuring that out.

Mathematicians have known for over 120 years that you can colour a map using no more than five colours, but it was not until the 1970s that they were able to show that only four colours are actually necessary.

This created a good deal of controversy in the mathematical community, as it was the first major use of a computer in a mathematical “proof”.

Before delving into mathematical controversy, I need to be clear about what I mean by a map. Unfortunately, these facts aren’t true if we allow any old map. For this discussion, a map is a division of a plane into simply connected regions – that is, no region can consist of two or more separated pieces and we can’t have any region entirely inside the boundary of another. There are, of course, many countries that consist of at least two separated regions, to which the 14

four colour theorem would not apply.

So we have to deal with idealized maps, big deal. Maybe someday the world will catch up to mathematics and arrange itself into contiguous states.

But for now, let’s think about why the five colour theorem is true.

The proof relies on a technique called mathematical induction. First, we assume something is true for n (where n is an arbitrary whole number), and from that we show it is also true for n+1. Second, we show it’s true for 1. This allows us to conclude that it’s true for all whole numbers. The idea is that assuming 1, we can show it for 2; assuming 2, we can show it for 3, etc. Then, if we show it’s actually true for 1, we can go along the chain so it’s true for all whole numbers.

Assume that we can colour any map with n regions using five colours. Consider a map with n+1 regions. We can use some technical geometry knowledge to show that there has to be one region surrounded by at most five other regions. If the other regions don’t use all five colours, we can colour the surrounded region with the unused colour. If they do make use of all five colours, a careful case analysis allows us to switch one of them, and thus colour all n+1 regions without conflict. We can easily colour a map

that’s a single region (just use one colour!), so by induction we have shown we can colour any map with five colours.

Leaving out a couple of technical details, we proved the five colour theorem in a paragraph. Although the five colour theorem was proved in 1890, the four colour theorem would remain unproven until 1976, when Appel and Haken published their (in)famous computer-assisted proof.

Their strategy was proof by contradiction, so they assumed there was a map requiring five colours. If there’s one, there must be a smallest map and that’s the counter-example they examined.

First, Appel and Haken showed by hand that any map must have a part that looks like one of 1936 special maps. Second, they used a computer to check that for each of the 1936 maps, if you remove it from a five-colourable map, the resulting map is again five-colourable. This contradicts the assumption that we started with the smallest counter-example, so no counter-example could possibly exist.

This generated a lot of controversy in the mathematical community because it was the first proof to make major use of a computer. It was unfeasible to check each of the cases by hand to make sure the proof was correct, so there was doubt as to its legitimacy. Indeed, use of computers is always subject to errors of the source program, compilers, and hardware. Since then, there have been some simplifications made to the proof, and proof-checking programs have apparently verified it.

Today, the four colour theorem is widely accepted, but there is still another, deeper, controversy in its proof. Some argue that reducing a mathematical proof to a computer checking thousands of cases undermines the elegance of mathematics and its emphasis on understanding ideas rather than technical calculation. On the other hand, we are fairly certain you can colour any map with four colours; isn’t that knowledge enough? Is an essential component of a proof’s validity the requirement that any other person is able, with enough effort, to fully comprehend why it is true? Computers can do many things, but right now we can’t outsource understanding.  INCITE MAGAZINE, OCTOBER 2013

 Dear Lady Rachelle Zalter Spitting looks at me in the drug store Do you think that I’m a crack whore?

Am I not supposed to be here?

Your fake smile makes it clear: “Back up. Pack up. Get as far as you can Before my kid becomes part of your clan.”

Stereotype number x+3, That’s what you see when you look at me.

You’re buying a water gun for your ten-foot pool.

I splash in puddles, does that make me a fool?

I used to go to a fountain and play With all the other kids, and I used to say: I’m gonna be like them some day.

How cliché.

When I grew up, I learned the truth From people like you in a restaurant booth.

They proved it when they tipped me thirty And the drunken dad got a bit too flirty.

He wrote down his number as if to say: “I don’t mind if I have to pay.”

You’ve got a raised neck and eyes of doubt A plastic face, so you cannot pout.

But I’ve counted my losses before So save your words, I know the score.

Just take your bags of purchases home— You have your poodle’s hair to comb.

Pretend to care about that girl you saw, The one with the raunchy red push-up bra.

Tell your husband about how lost I seemed But don’t mention me to your kids who dreamed About perfection since their conception.

‘Cause drinks and drugs were my inception.

One day I’ll overdose on uppers— You’ll be having one of your fancy suppers.

Or maybe one day I’ll graduate, While your children eat off a silver plate.

I’ll decide to choose the road not taken; I’ll bring home lean cut veal not bacon. ’Cause maybe (just maybe) there’s more to me Then the trashy mess you choose to see.

From, The druggie in aisle nine 

ARTWORK BY NIKKIE TO VOLUME 16, ISSUE 2 15

REDDIT DRAWS BLOOD Jason Woo

The Power of the Hive Mind

P

eople get riled up. With pitchforks and torches in hand they arrive at the villain’s room in seconds – flooding him with insults, obscenities, and threats.

Violence erupts and blood runs through the streets. Yet the authorities arrest no one.

No one is held responsible, because all this happened in cyberspace.

That is the power of the cyber mob.

The rapid launch of the Reddit hivemind to the forefront of social issues has led to considerable debate of its impact on society.

The general consensus is that it is detrimental in almost every possible way. By placing its focus on instant gratification and reducing complex issues into sweeping generalizations, the hivemind removes any filter for fallacious arguments, offensive jokes, and harassment.

The examples of the Reddit hivemind making mistakes are numerous, with unfounded accusations against Maya Gilsey’s fundraiser and the attempt to remove senator Paul Ryan for supporting SOPA despite not actually supporting it as instances that made it to the headlines. Most recently, and perhaps most disturbingly, was the cyber manhunt for Sunil Tripathi, whom the Reddit community incorrectly believed to be responsible for the Boston bombing based on shady evidence rooted in stereotypes and lack of research.

While these statements are valid, they

ignore the positives of Reddit – or at the very least how the hivemind’s power can be used for good. Reddit’s ability to spread news is only rivaled by Facebook and Twitter. An estimated 6% of all American Internet users are on the site – and a good chunk of the user base is youth. In an age where youth are increasingly uninterested in politics, Reddit has the unique ability of mobilizing this demographic to engage with current affairs.

Reddit is thus well served as a means to spread the word and draw attention to an issue many have not considered before.

Like the recent rise of Kickstarter, Reddit has the ability to turn fundraisers into huge successes. Opponents of SOPA must have been happy campers months ago when GoDaddy withdrew its support for the policy thanks to the Reddit mob. In short, Reddit is good for engaging the masses, but only if it requires minimal engagement, such as signing a petition and making a phone call.

Part of the problem is that for all the hoopla about Reddit bridging the gap between the public and important people in the world through threads like “Ask Me Anything” (AMA), it is practically impossible for users to have meaningful conversations with them. There are simply too many individuals who bring in different baggage to different issues. With the protection afforded by the computer screen, there will also always be

users who speak inappropriately and aggressively. These users make it difficult for the uninitiated to respect the Reddit hivemind. It is thus difficult to talk to or about the Reddit community as a whole without offending them. As a result, no one has been able to effectively communicate with the hivemind, let alone address the issues of the hivemind to its members.

This is all the more frustrating considering that most users have good intentions.

In a study published in Science, researchers note that by up-voting a post, equivalent to liking a video on YouTube, the post’s final score would be boosted by an average of 25%. The reverse does not occur when a post is down-voted. However misguided the actions of some users, it is clear they have the intention to create change for the better.

Ultimately, the problem is misinformation and laziness, but Reddit as a medium cannot solve issues inherent in its own structure and function. Instead, youth should be encouraged to keep up with current affairs and develop their own substantiated viewpoints. Though they may still subscribe to groupthink, at least this way they will understand what they are supporting. Only then can the true potential of the hivemind be realized. For now, an average user may very well fall over from laughing at a meme about a timely subject, but remember, change is not made of memes. 

He said what?!

I can’t believe he said something so disrespectful about her!

This is a violation of her autonomy – of all women’s autonomy.

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INCITE MAGAZINE, OCTOBER 2013

RED HERRINGS AND OTHER FALLACIES Suzy Flader

I

cannot recall a day on which I have not been embroiled in an argument. They come in many different forms, ranging from advertisements to conversations, and are always looking to sway the opinions of those who will listen. While there are some good arguments that have been carefully thought out and obey the rules of logic, far

too many fall into the oh-so-terrifying category of “bad”. Though it is often obvious when an argument is worthy of this shameful title, other times it is not so clear, and so knowledge of logical fallacies becomes useful. The following is a list of some common fallacies to look out for when trying to decide whether an argument is worth believing:

RED HERRING A fallacy in which an irrelevant topic is presented in order to divert attention from the original issue.

Lenore: The Conservative Party needs to spend less money on military endeavors.

Kathleen: Plus Stephen Harper isn’t as hot as Justin Trudeau!

Lenore: True, the Liberals should definitely win the next election!

APPEAL TO POPULARITY A claim is accepted as being true simply because most people are favorably inclined towards it.

Gordon: Dude, how funny was it today when our French teacher tripped and fell on her face in the middle of class!

Leo: I thought it was kind of sad…

Gordon: Yo – everyone else thought it was hilarious!

Leo: Yeah, I guess it was pretty funny.

BEGGING THE QUESTION A fallacy in which the premises include the claim that the conclusion is true or, directly or indirectly, assume that the conclusion is true.

Mindy: Is it true that you spread the rumour about me kissing Stanley!

Lorraine: No way! And if you don’t trust me, ask Clarissa!

Mindy: But how will I know if Clarissa is telling the truth?

Lorraine: She’s like my best friend; you can totally trust her!

Be mindful of these next time you’re looking at an advertisement for some detergent or when arguing against your parents. Un-

HASTY GENERALIZATION A fallacy committed when a person draws a conclusion about a population based on a sample that is not large enough.

Chad: Bro, drunk chicks are so easy.

Brad: You think?

Chad: You know it dude. I was at this one party, and I totally got with this one girl who was wasted out of her mind.

Brad: And have you gotten with any other drunk girls since?

Chad: Well, no. But you know I’m right about this one.

Brad: Yeah man, totally!

(They finish off with an elaborate handshake)

SLIPPERY SLOPE A fallacy in which a person asserts that some event must inevitably follow from another without any argument for the inevitability of the event in question.

Mom: I was looking through your drawers the other day, son, and I found what looks to be a bag of marijuana.

Son: Ummmmm….

Mom: Don’t you understand! Drugs are only the first step! Next thing I know you’ll be playing in one of those “rock and roll” bands with your sole aspiration being to have sexual relations with any and every young lady that asks you to sign her “lady lumps”!

STRAW MAN A fallacy that is committed when a person simply ignores the arguer’s actual position in favour of a distorted, exaggerated, or misrepresented version of that position.

Penelope: This piece of cake is a really nice treat.

Jane: So now you’re going to eat cake everyday? That’s totally going to make you fat.

Penelope: Well, that’s not really what I said…

like what your parents say, they aren’t always right and now you can prove it. Happy arguing! 

VOLUME 16, ISSUE 2 2 17

Paint the Town Mackenzie Richardson

H

amilton is a beautiful city full of interesting and exciting locations. These places are a few of the hidden gems the city has to offer. Whether it’s date night or party night, they are sure to please people of all ages and interests. The city is yours to discover and enjoy.

RED ROLLY ROCKET’S BBQ

THE AVIARY

A bizarre yet wonderful combination of Southern BBQ and Karaoke, Rolly’s promises a night no one can forget. The unique atmosphere and great food combine to keep everyone happy.

Did you know that there is a collection of local and exotic birds located right next to campus? The aviary is a great place for a sunny afternoon date. Nearby is the main trail through Cootes Paradise: during winter, fallen snow and unobscured moonlight furnish a beautiful night time walk.

DOMESTIQUE-CAFÉ An interesting combination of café and cycling culture, Domestique caters to bikers and all beverage consumers. If you desire sandwiches, coffee, or a new bike, Domestique and its beautiful patio are somewhere you should check out.

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INCITE MAGAZINE, OCTOBER 2013

THE CASBAH A great venue for local music, the Casbah also serves some high quality craft beers.

Whether you go for the drinks or the bands does not matter: fun will be had.

CLUB ABSINTHE Every Wednesday night is Motown, a celebration of music from the 70’s and 80’s. Club Absinthe also has amazing events so be sure to check their calendar.

Also, they do serve absinthe.

CHUCK’S BURGER BAR

NàROMA

Meatitarians everywhere will flock to Chuck’s to have some of the greatest burgers ever made, though vegetarian friendly options are also served. The diversity of toppings for the burgers are amazing (avocados to zucchini). Make sure to try the bacon burger – a patty made entirely of bacon!

Located on beautiful Locke Street, NàRoma Pizza crafts some pizza. The Brie et Prosciutto pizza combines savory brie with sweet fig jam – something everyone must try. The pizza is always fresh and always tasty.

VOLUME 16, ISSUE 2 19

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROSS GRADY (FLICKR)

BLOOD: A MOTHER’S SACRIFICE Curtis Cook & Shruti Ramesh

An experiment in fitting an article

into the context of a randomly generated title:

An Exploration Into All (or Some) That Is ‘Metal’ 20

T

he title for this article was anonymously suggested to be used in this red-themed issue and the general consensus is that the title sounded very ‘metal’. Thus this article came to fruition, and since red and black are the colours primarily associated with the metal genre, we figured this article could serve as a little Metal 101 for all of you, as well as some additional information about what’s new in the metal scene.

INCITE MAGAZINE, OCTOBER 2013

The heavy metal music genre first emerged during the late 1960s in the United Kingdom. Its roots are in blues and rock music and was originally considered to be a sub-genre of rock music until it quickly expanded into a genre of its own. Pioneers of the metal genre include Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath.

Metal in general is characterized by its massive sound, highly amplified distortion, extended guitar and other instrumental solos, emphatic beats, and an ear-banging volume. There exist several subgenres of metal, each with unique characteristics that set it apart from the others. Some of these genres include:  Folk Metal Folk metal is essentially a fusion of heavy metal and traditional folk music, which in itself varies from country to country. Lyrics in the genre commonly deal with mythology, history, and nature.

Folk metal has been divided even further into interesting thematic subgenres

such as Pirate Metal, an example of which would be the band Alestorm who will be playing in Toronto on November 28th.  Death Metal Death metal can aptly be described as an extreme subgenre of metal. It employs heavily distorted guitars, deep growling vocals, double kick drumming, minor keys and multiple tempo changes. Death metal vocals are referred to as death growls, not to be confused with screaming found in other genres of music. Examples include the bands Cannibal Corpse and Slayer, the latter who will be playing in Toronto on November 21st. Similar to folk metal, death metal has developed various subgenres as well, such as technical death metal and melodic death metal, which vary not only in sound but also in musical composition.  Symphonic Metal As the name suggests, symphonic metal music is laden with symphonic elements (plot twist right?). It is unique from

most other metal genres because of the emphasis on keyboards and acoustic instruments, and the fact that they often have female vocalists, which is quite unusual in the male-dominated metal genre. Examples include the Finnish band Nightwish and the Dutch band Epica. Sub-sub genres include symphonic power metal and symphonic black metal.  Black Metal Not to be confused with death metal, black metal is another extreme subgenre of metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with blast beat drumming, and unconventional song structures. Black metal is often seen as controversial due to its extreme misanthropic or anti-religious lyrics. For this reason black metal remains a largely underground music scene (i.e. the most hip of the metal genres should you wish to define it). The genre is the most popular in Norway, with bands including Celtic Frost, Immortal, and Mayhem.

NONE SO VILE

Given the wide range and genres of metal music, Canada has also been home to some notable bands. Among them are None so Vile and Gorguts:

When summing up his 750-word encomium to the 1996 masterwork, the Sputnikmusic reviewer for None so Vile got straight down to business: “This is my favourite death metal album.” And while he wouldn’t be the last to praise the Montreal quartet’s sophomore album for its “crushingly heavy riffs” and “vocals made of steel”, he certainly cut into the heart of the matter. If you’re new to death metal, take heed: this is band is

a difficult, complex journey to the heart of darkness at metal’s core. Flo Mounier’s tight but organic drums sound like they’re right next to your ear, while the vocalist howls and the guitarist throws down serrated riffs like steel bear traps. For these reasons, the band has produced unquestionable classics such as “Death’s Symbolic” and “Suffocation’s Effigy of the Forgotten” in the hallowed technical death metal pantheon.

GORGUTS

Every dissonant guitar harmony and unconventional melody contributes to an end result that’s chaotic, but still cohesive.

It’s been fifteen years since the unfortunately-named Quebecois group Gorguts dropped The Album That Changed Everything. Heralded as revolutionary by most everyone in the metal scene, “Obscura” (while garnering instant hipster cred by virtue of its name) has stayed as fresh as the day it was created. Every dissonant guitar harmony and unconventional melody contributes to an

end result that’s chaotic, but still cohesive.

Listen to the strings bending, warping and bouncing in the title track, or the mesmerizing bridges in “Sweet Silence”. There’s a reason why Gorguts’s name is synonymous with innovation in metal circles, and with a new album, “Colored Sands”, just released, there’s never been a better time to get acquainted with these frenzied Francophones.

VOLUME 16, ISSUE 2 21

Ianitza Vassileva

 Glow Taylor Brown [Editor’s Note: The following poem is pretty damn sexy. This is a reader’s advisory, that’s how sexy it is. You’ve been warned.]

Open mouths, tongues touch And I want I want I want Your fingers brush against my skin (Shiver) Lips find cheek, ear, neck Hair brushed to one side First layer of clothes hit the floor Lips find lips again Breath heavy, quick heart Hand slowly skimming up thigh (Gasp) Strong arms hold little me little struggle, more than little lust Dance to the bed, rolling comfort Legs intertwined No need for pants, Skin exposed with door closed And I want I want I want Kisses down bodies (Moan) Mouth between legs (Gasp! Moan) Pause to breathe, to cry out!

Don’t STOP. I want I want I want Turn me to liquid, to a puddle on this bed And you tease, and you test, and you…

Got me (SCREAMING) Kisses up bodies again Crinkled plastic, whispered consent And I want I want I want You wrapped, you in And in (breath suspended) And in (all muscles tense) And OH! My nails biting into your back I crumble, I melt, I shatter The pieces of me across the room You shine light through me And I glow.

I glow. 

ARTWORK BY NIKKIE TO VOLUME 16, ISSUE 2 23

FIFTY SHADES OF… GREEN? Lindsay Stitt

What do you see: a number, or just a design?

H

ave you ever wondered what the world looks like to someone who is colourblind? Or what things look like to someone who is not? Take a look at the circular picture above. What do you see: a number, or just a design? This is a simple colour blindness test, with three possible results. Those who are not colourblind should see the number 8. Those with red-green colour blindness, meaning the inability to distinguish the colours red and green, will see the number 3. Finally, people with complete colour blindness, who can’t differentiate between any colours, will not see a number in the pattern at all. Amazingly, the same image can give a completely different impression of meaning to various people.

Colour blindness is a genetic disorder that is more common than you may think: 24

approximately one in twelve males and one in two hundred females are colourblind. This means that in the big lecture hall in MDCL, about 35 of the students are colourblind.

Do you think the professors consider these students when they show demonstrations or create slides that involve colour?

While colour blindness may not hinder people’s ability to participate in daily activities, it can cause a number of inconveniences. Of course, each individual has differences in the shades they can see, and these examples are not representative of the whole, but they are an important thinking exercise to ensure a culture of inclusivity. Consider coffeemakers: red means the coffee is still dripping, and green means you are good to gulp. The same happens with many dishwashers and washing machines that indicate the cycle is finished by chang-

ing the colour of a light from red to green.

This would not pose any difficulties for the majority of people, but those who cannot see a difference between these shades of red and green will have to find another way to know that the job is finished. Although this may not be a life-altering inconvenience, it is concerning that manufacturers of products needed for everyday life do not accommodate the approximately 226 500 colourblind Canadians.

Arguably, the most crucial need for red-green distinction arises while driving.

From a young age, children learn that green means “go” and red means “stop”. As a result, when driving, it is almost instinct that leads you to step on the brake when you see a red light and touch the gas when you see the light turn green. Have you ever thought of the challenges this might pose for someone who cannot tell the difference between these two colours?

While people who are colourblind can learn the order the lights are placed in, it may take longer for their reaction to the lights to be instinctive, especially because this is not universal. While some cities in Canada have Hamilton’s familiar vertical traffic lights, others have horizontal lights that read red to yellow to green, left to right.

Even more confusingly, when driving from Ontario to Quebec, the traffic lights may vary between the horizontal and vertical alignment. It could be dangerous for a colourblind driver to arrive at an intersection with horizontal traffic lights when they have only been exposed to vertical ones.

Governments try to compensate for this by varying the shapes of each coloured light; red lights are square, yellow are a diamond and green are circle. This additional non-colour-dependent difference allows, with some background research or minimal experience driving in an area, a colourblind person to navigate intersections with ease.

It could, however, be argued that the same research or experience could be enough to help a colourblind driver learn the vertical versus horizontal lights.

It is easy to accommodate someone who is colourblind: it’s just a matter of being aware of how they are affected and conscious of how to help make their lives easier. So, for those of you who saw a number three in the picture above, those of you who picked up this magazine and thought “Why is it called ‘Red’ when everything is green?”, just think of it as irony.  INCITE MAGAZINE, OCTOBER 2013

ARTWORK COURTESY OF MARTIN HANDFORD

WHY’S WALDO? Emile Shen

W

e know what we’re looking for before we’ve even glanced at the page. The iconic cherry red and snow white knit shirt. The vintage, handsewn shoes. The skinny jeans from a secondhand clothing store. The satchel, the coffee, and the Woody Allen glasses.

Waldo is not the world’s most wanted so much as your typical hipster backpacking across the globe. Tradition and individuality are often at odds with each other; one demanding modesty, and the other, well, something more eccentric. He could’ve settled down and taken an average office job, but Waldo needed to satiate his spirit of adventure first. Thus, he has chosen the life of a wanderer, an anonymous, and an original.

Waldo. Zoom out. Men and women in monotonous business suits, children in identical school uniforms, harried women in rumpled skirts heading to their long-awaited doctor’s appointments, or perhaps, running away from lovers. Pan left. A chaotic and industrious railway station that violates an array of health and safety codes.

Why are we always looking for Waldo when he is surrounded by a sea of people, each with their own identity and story?

There must be something out there that is

more intriguing than one man in a striped shirt.

The “Where’s Waldo?” series is itself a contradiction. Each book follows Waldo’s journeys through congested train stations, metropolises, and beaches. Amidst the hustle and bustle of these visually overwhelming scenes, readers have a single goal: to find Waldo. The books highlight society’s fixation with searching for the one right answer, while the twenty-something traveler isn’t looking for anything in particular at all, and is especially not looking to be found by others.

Waldo is just a nomad, embodying the philosophy set out by J.R.R. Tolkien that “[n]ot all those who wander are lost”.

Waldo is a clear juxtaposition of the normality surrounding him; unlike the hundreds of other people in the scene, he is the wanderer who has forsaken a normal life in search of something more – an undefined goal. We are taught to live a linear life from the moment we are born. Study hard in school, get a stable job, marry, have kids, retire. And with this linearity, there are objectives. We strive to graduate with the highest GPA, get into the best college, find the highest paying job, and buy the biggest house. And yet we are not bound to the ob-

ligations of society, only to what our dreams demand. It is admirable to want stability, but when equilibrium is maintained, things become rather monotonous. Since we are so directly influenced by society as it stands, the impact it has on our ambitions is unfathomable. But life doesn’t have to be this way, and Waldo has realized this.

Although “Where’s Waldo?” is a popular book series, Martin Handford, the creator and illustrator, understood the counterculture behind his own work. Handford foresaw that his product would appease society’s desire for clearly defined challenges – in this case, looking for the boy clad in red; there is purposeful irony in choosing a soul-discovering hipster as the poster boy for his project.

Waldo is not lost, and therefore, does not need to be found. However, this is almost always overlooked. All too often, we get so caught up in the challenge of finding Waldo and “winning the game” that other meaningful factors are neglected. I mean, how many people really care about who Waldo is, if everything just leads back to the question…

“So where is Waldo, really?”

That’s none of our business. 

VOLUME 16, ISSUE 2 25

PHOTOGRAPHY BY NIKKIE TO

COLOURFUL PERSONALITIES Anthony D’Ambrosio

Once upon a time, in the small, quiet town of Colourville, there lived a young boy named Red...

O

nce upon a time, in the small, quiet town of Colourville, there lived a young boy named Red. He was a passionate, fierce, strong child, who often let his emotions get the best of him.

Red lived at home with Papa Red, Momma Red, Grandpa Maroon, and Grandma Burgundy. Ever since he was a little boy, Red had been best friends with Blue and Yellow. Blue was a sweet, relaxed, quiet boy, who was always there to calm down Red. Yellow was the friendliest, happiest, little girl in the whole town, whose sunny disposition always brightened up everyone’s day. Together, they were the best of friends.

Every morning, Red would meet Blue and Yellow at the bus stop, and they would go to school together. One day, Red noticed Pink, the prettiest girl in school, walking by on the other side of the street. “Whoa, did you guys check out Pink?” exclaimed a passion26

ate Red. “She is looking mighty fine today. I think I’ll go tell her that she’s smokin’ hot and that I want to….” But he was quickly interrupted by Blue, who said, “Red! What have I told you before about being so aggressive? You can’t act on every impulse. Take a deep breath, relax, and maybe write her a nice poem about your feelings.” “I think Blue is right,” interjected Yellow. “Besides, I think everyone is equally beautiful, inside and out!” Red calmed down, the bus finally arrived, and the three friends were on their way to school.

When Red entered his classroom, he was excited to see all his other classmates. First, he noticed Black, who, like always, was sitting by himself in the corner mumbling about how the rise of some dark lord would bring pain to the unbelievers. Red then caught a glimpse of White, and, turning to Blue, said, “Hey, check out that girl White over there. She’s such a goodie-two-shoes that she’s never even been sent to the principal’s office before!” Blue laughed and replied, “Oh yeah? Someone told me that she’s so innocent that she hasn’t even kissed her boyfriend yet, and they’ve been dating for like two whole recesses! What are they waiting for, marriage?” The boys erupted in laughter, but quickly stopped as their old, wrinkly teacher, Mrs. Grey, entered the room and said, “Alright, children, let’s settle down and open our books to page 74 and begin reading.” Her dull, lifeless, voice bored Red so much that he daydreamed about Pink for the entire period.

At final recess, Red met up with Blue and Yellow, and together they made their way to the tetherball court. They arrived, however, at the same time as classmates Green, Purple, and Orange. Green, according to Red, was one of those tree-hugging know-it-alls who was clearly envious of Red’s status as coolest kid in school. Red didn’t INCITE MAGAZINE, OCTOBER 2013

Green, according to Red, was one of those tree-hugging know-it-alls who was clearly envious of Red’s status as coolest kid in school. like Purple because she considered herself royalty ever since being class president in junior kindergarten, and he despised Orange because he could never think of anything to rhyme with her name when he made fun of her. With fire in his eyes, Red shouted, “Hey dweebs, you better scram! We came first, so get lost!” A confident Green replied, “Oh yeah, how about I challenge you to a game and the winner gets to stay?” Red accepted, and they proceeded to take their places opposite each other on the circular court. Green served first and nailed Red right in the head, knocking him to the ground.

Green, Purple, and Orange all roared with laughter, while Blue had to restrain an irate Red from pouncing on his opponent. After Blue calmed him down, Red ran home in humiliation as Yellow screamed, “Why can’t we all just be friends?!”

Papa Red noticed his son’s frustration as soon as he got home.

“What’s wrong, son?” said the concerned father. Red told the story and then vowed to take revenge. “I’m afraid I can’t let you do that, son. I have something important to tell you. There was a time when

your mother and I weren’t making each other happy anymore, so we decided to see different people. First Daddy went on play dates with your friend Blue’s mommy, and 9 months later little Purple was born.

But Daddy still wasn’t happy, so he went on play dates with Yellow’s mommy, and 9 months later came baby Orange. But then I realized your mother is the only woman who can make me happy, so I gave Purple and Orange up for adoption and convinced your mother to take me back. So you see son, I can’t let you hurt Purple and Orange because they are your half-sisters.”

The next day at school, Red told Blue and Yellow what his father had told him and soon discovered that they had received the same news from their fathers. Apparently, even Green was Blue and Yellow’s half-brother! The three friends approached Green, Purple, and Orange, explained everything, and the six of them made amends and became best friends. “So what shall we do now?” questioned Green. “I know,” replied Red. “Let’s go pick on Beige for being so boring all the time.” And they all lived happily ever after. 

VOLUME 16, ISSUE 2 27

PLAYING THE VIDEOGAME OF LIFE Saad Syed

G N I Y A L P D N U O R A WITH T N E L VIO S E M A G 28

OR G GUN ?

SMOKINLAIN FUN JUST P

F

ollowing in the steps of its highly publicized and successful predecessors, Grand Theft Auto V’s (GTA V) recent arrival into households has been met with vitriol from numerous interest groups attacking the game for its graphic and violent content. This time around, Rockstar Games, the developer and publisher of the GTA series, has pushed boundaries even further, requiring the player to enact a gruesome torture scene. Critics claim to have found a correlation between violent video games like GTA V and an increase in violent behaviour among children.

What they fail to mention, however, is that children do not have access to games like GTA V, which is rated M by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) and therefore requires the buyer to be at least 17. Responsibility for providing children with adult content in games is not on the creators of the content but is, instead, on the parents who supply it.

The longstanding debate over such content in games like GTA V always reminds me of the release of GTA IV when I was 13. Similar to the Pokémon cards craze in elementary school, GTA IV became the main topic of discussion during lunch and recess among my Grade Eight friends. And just like Pokémon cards, kids who did not own or play the game were often left feeling socially excluded. In hindsight, such feelings might seem trivial, especially when compared to the stresses of high school and university life, but to a child they are overwhelming.

It was with these emotions that I, after days of good behaviour, cautiously approached my father and asked him to take me to the store so I could pick up the new video game my friends were playing. He agreed, and with a growing sense of hope, I got into the car and drove down with him to the local games store. He waited for me by the door as I picked up the game from the shelf and proceeded to checkout. Then, everything fell apart. The cashier swiftly informed me that I would need a parent to purchase the game for me. So, still naively holding onto the game, I walked over to my father and haphaz-

ardly handed the game over, requesting that he complete the purchase while already realizing what was about to happen. Of course, he inquired as to why I was unable to buy the game, and the cashier dutifully informed him of the ESRB rating and description on the back. Among many other things, this included drug use, sexual content, and intense violence, none of which are things a parent wants their 13-year-old seeing, let alone simulating in a game.

The outcome of our excursion is embarrassingly obvious. Looking back now, I realize that though my dad had made the correct parenting decision, he was in fact hesitant to do so because he understood that saying no would likely make it more difficult for me to connect with friends, something that parents also don’t want for their children.

Evidently the violence of video games and the childhood conundrum of peers seems to be a catch-22 for parents. Regardless, it is difficult to argue that parents are not the ones responsible for censoring the content their children view due to the precedent set in the movie, music and television industries with their own respective rating systems. The difference between the aforementioned media and video games seems to be parents’ lack of knowledge on the ESRB. Almost every middle class parent in North America knows what ‘R’ or ‘PG’ means on a DVD, but a sizable number still could not tell you what ‘T’ or ‘M’ represents on a game case. Though there are likely numerous reasons for such a discrepancy, I hazard the guess that the rift is primarily based on the relative novelty of the ESRB, a system which wasn’t established until 1994. Most of today’s parents did not grow up in an age where video games were even rated, and therefore there is a definite lack of ingrained familiarity with video game ratings compared to those seen in theatres. Nevertheless, ignorance is not an excuse and the obligation to educate oneself must be on all members of the video game industry, particularly its customers. 

INCITE MAGAZINE, OCTOBER 2013

Livia Tsang 4'Ă—6', acrylic on canvas.

The Matriarch The Matriarch presents the struggle between generations, grandmother and granddaughter. The figure below struggles under the weight of tradition and a culture that is inherently theirs, but has also been lost, as the regal figure above sits poised with the generation that has come directly from her.

VOLUME 16, ISSUE 2 29

LIPSTICK LOVE Sophia Topper

I walked out the door with my pout, with a punch.

I felt like lipstick would invite me into the club I felt so excluded from.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY SARAH CONRAD

I

was never a lipstick girl. My childhood was spent running around outside with a lightning bolt on my forehead, not prancing around inside with nail polish on my fingers. I never broke into Mother’s vanity and played with her powders and glosses. Of course, my mother doesn’t have a vanity, and to this day, I’ve never seen her wearing makeup. I was never exposed to that idea of femininity. Never exposed, that is, until grade six, when I changed schools and changed myself, too.

I was always a lipstick girl. Standing in Shopper’s Aisle 8, drooling over NYC and Wet ‘n Wild, and counting the quarters in my Hello Kitty change purse. We were preparing for the social event of the year, the Polar Games Dance. Our first school dance that was distinctly NOT a ‘family dance’ – no one’s parents or little siblings would

and glommed to my neck. I sat frozen, my eyes boring holes into my computer science teacher. I had learned a lot in that class. I had learned that crowd mentality was a real thing, that people made ‘kitchen’ and ‘sandwich’ jokes in real life, and that power and testosterone could turn the guys I considered my friends into bullies. I was thoroughly broken. I was late to my next class, trying to pick the spitballs out of my hair, and when my teacher asked me to explain, I broke down and told her everything. This is supposed to be where she gives me a hug, takes me to the headmistress’s office and we all sit around drinking tea and talking about sexism. Instead, she told me that I should try and earn the boys’ respect by being a better programmer and to try to stand out less. As a mousy, flat, 14-year-old in a baggy uniform, I don’t know how much more “in” I could stand.

But I wasn’t about to find out.

The next day before class, I dug out that waxy ‘Retro Red’ and smeared some on. A big step – I hadn’t worn makeup offstage before, but I walked out the door with my pout, with a punch. This isn’t a story where I start slinging back scathing retorts, it’s even better. I realized that my femininity didn’t have to be hidden to be respected, and things started rolling off my back instead of sticking to it. I had found my armour.

Lipstick shows where I’ve been.

No one will ever need to guess which wine glass or solo cup I’ve been drinking from, and the cheeks and collars I’ve kissed are there for all the world to see. The labels on my lipstick label me, and it’s bizarre that such a classic girly symbol can become a rebellious and empowering statement with just a different mix of dye. In the end, it’s all just shades of red. 

be getting between us and our first slow dances.

All I wanted was to walk into that stale gymnasium with a slash of bright red lipstick on my retainer-less mouth. In my mind, it was the height of femininity. Lipstick evokes everything from the flirty fifties housewife to the femme fatale, and the hooker on the corner to the CEO in the corner office. I wanted to be part of that, and I felt like lipstick would invite me into the club I felt so excluded from.

My shopping companion was less entranced. She said I was way too young for lipstick, that no one wore lipstick anymore, that it was ‘too much’. She had a point. That day, I bought a tube of NYC ‘Retro Red’. It languished in my drawer for another four years.

Flash forward. Wet, mushy, clumps of paper decorated my hair 30

INCITE MAGAZINE, OCTOBER 2013

LIPSTICK FEMINISM Rachel Liu & Hamnah Shahid

R

obin Thicke’s smash single ‘Blurred Lines’ has firmly established itself as one of the summer’s catchiest tunes. However, it has also made waves of controversy; media critics have lambasted the song’s lyrics and music video for perpetuating rape culture and objectifying women. The lyrics claim to “liberate” women using sex, saying “I know you want it”, while the video shows three almost entirely naked women parading around three fully clothed men. These women aren’t shown in the video for their intelligence or personality – their sole purpose is to provide gratuitous sexuality. Essentially, they are reduced to nothing more than sexual objects, which is exactly what many say is the biggest obstacle to gender equality.

Or is it? One of the models in the videoshoot, Emily Ratajkowski, explained that she was directed to “have a sort of confidence, a sarcastic attitude about the whole situation”, and that “it’s something very important for young women today to have that confidence. [The video] is actually celebrating women and their bodies.” So is this song objectifying women or empowering them? Is deliberate exploitation of one’s own sexuality actually feminism in disguise? Blurred lines, indeed.

This argument is not a new one.

Since the 1990s, a small branch of feminism called ‘lipstick feminism’ has captured attention by trying to paint traditional concepts of femininity as empowering rather than objectifying, especially when it comes to sexuality and appearance. Lipstick feminists seek to take back the negative connotation of the word “slut” and empower it with a definition: that women who enjoy sex, dress provocatively or otherwise, and embrace their sexuality deserve just as much respect as women who do not.

In particular, lipstick feminists took up (metaphorical) arms in 2011 after a Toronto policeman stated that “women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized”. In response, organizers started a “Slutwalk” protest to reappropriate the derogatory word “slut” (similar to the makeovers that were done to the words “butch” and “queer” in the LGBTQ community) and raise awareness for victim-blaming and rape culture. This cause clearly shows that misconceptions about sexual assault victims (“they were asking for it”, “they could’ve avoided it”) are still prevalent, even in the justice system. Fear of being judged in this manner often discourages survivors from ever reporting the crime, perhaps explaining the statistic that 97% of rapists never see a day in jail. In reality, being sexually assaulted isn’t about what the victim was wearing or how she expresses her sexuality – it’s about abuse of power and disrespect towards women.

While there are many advocates for Lipstick Feminism, there are just as many critics, mostly composed of, but not limited to,

second-wave feminists. Their main argument against this brand of feminism is that it caters too much to what females do with their appearance and sexuality, two things that most feminists agree are not (or should not be) central to anyone’s character. These feminists argue that while it is one thing to be liberated or empowered by one’s choice in clothing and sexual behaviour, it is another entirely to be identified primarily regarding those areas. With Lipstick Feminism comes a narrow-minded view of what the real issues for contemporary women are, and can bring about the illusion of progress while no such progress is actually being made. For example, women have historically been complimented for being beautiful or kind but rarely for their intelligence, confidence, or independence.

These images of women as meek, docile creatures to be admired provide roadblocks to feminist movements in areas such as education and the workplace.

By emphasizing the importance of a woman’s appearance and femininity, as the third wave of feminism does, these other, more important attributes of a woman’s character are minimised or ignored altogether. The illusion of progress brought about by Lipstick Feminist movement creates a cycle in which, according to critics of the movement, women unknowingly cater to the sexual desires of men by dressing provocatively under the guise of empowerment and thus fail to truly challenge the patriarchal structure of society.

Lipstick Feminism is not only harmful to women, however, but to men as well. The author of FeministCritics.org argues that many feminists of this kind hold an attitude that is “toxic to men”. In other words, Lipstick Feminism tends to be misandrist, but in a fight for gender equality, bashing the opposite gender seems counterproductive. The stereotype that all feminists are seeking to create a matriarchy or a world dominated by women is entirely false, since the denotation of feminism is advocacy for gender equality. It is this fundamental nature of feminism that third-wave feminists tend to ignore, and thus create an environment that is hostile towards feminists in general. Not only are Lipstick Feminists decreasing the credibility of the movement as a whole, but they are also creating new social challenges for men to overcome while ignoring the challenges that already exist for men today. If the goal of feminism is to create a world of gender equality, then Lipstick Feminism seems to do the exact opposite by reinforcing the gender inequality prevalent in today’s society.

So, many questions remain up in the air – what is the best way to empower women, and can we truly separate personal expression from the gender inequality issues in society? And do women even have the right to be making these decisions for each other? Whatever the answer, lipstick feminists should be praised for at least one reason – they will stand up for victims of sexual assault, and aren’t afraid to show it. 

Women who

enjoy sex, dress provocatively,

and embrace their sexuality deserve just as much

respect as women who do not.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY TANIA SAIZ (FLICKR)

VOLUME 16, ISSUE 2 31

THE CARDINAL FLUSH Ronald Leung

A

quickening pulse and thudding heartbeats announces this crimson culprit. “Not now,” you might say. “I’m presenting. Please not now.” But it continues and the blood flow pounds harder and harder with each passing second. Soon, a slow red bloom is observed across your face, and you look like a plump tomato. An uncomfortable heat is felt in your cheeks. “Am I blushing,” you wonder, and as your lifeblood tattoos itself to your face, you only keep getting redder, much to your chagrin.

Blushing. The word itself heralds the embarrassment of some, and others view the involuntary reddening of the face as an inconvenient problem. But why have humans evolved this reaction, with its obvious mortifying capabilities?

Because it is usually only evoked in societal situations with some form of emotional response, it is not purely a physiological phenomenon. Some think that blushing may be associated with shame, but Charles Darwin mused in an 1827 essay that it is the threat of humiliation, and not shame, that causes the crimson tide: “A man may feel thoroughly ashamed at having told a small falsehood, without blushing, but if he even suspects that he is detected he will instantly blush, especially if detected by one who he reveres.”

However a major problem with Darwin’s postulation is that blushing serves to intensify social embarrassment as a glowing

face seems to only further bring fresh social blunders. A recent theory proposes that blushing is precisely used to inflict embarrassment on oneself. At first, that seems ridiculous – natural selection often weeds out inefficiency, so what benefit does self-embarrassment bring? However as much as we might personally hate to be embarrassed, this red biological signal represents a physiological apology. It reaffirms social connections with other humans by showing humility, and that we take into consideration

Surgeon’s Notes on an Improper Science, Dr. Atul Gawande, a surgeon located in Boston, Massachusetts, describes patients with severe blushing that interferes with daily life.

An interesting case that Dr. Gawande examines in detail is about an aspiring newscaster who seemed doomed to latenight broadcasts due to her unmanageable flaming face that flared whenever the camera started rolling. Though it may seem strange that a chronic blusher aspires to be a news anchor, this was Christine Drury’s life long dream. In its pursuit, she tried numerous non-invasive treatments from internists, psychologists, and doctors, but nothing worked. She gave up caffeine, tried breath-control techniques, and purchased a multitude of self-help books but all these failed. After almost giving up and resigning, she read about a controversial new operation to treat idiopathic craniofacial erythema – the recently coined medical term for frequent, unprovoked, and uncontrollable blushing – that was developed in Sweden. The procedure is called endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy (ETS) and involves severing sections of the autonomic nervous system in the chest area. Despite some complaints about adverse side effects, Christine took the plunge and went under the knife.

At first, Christine found that she could no longer blush, and she quickly held the promise of rising into a daytime news an-

Turning red appears to be a surface biological mechanism, but underneath is a rolling sea of human emotion. the thoughts of others. By reinforcing relationships, it keeps us in good standing with others and ensures survival through strong social bonds.

The threshold required for blushing to be triggered varies wildly in every individual.

Some may turn red at the slightest provocation, while others can comfortably converse with mass audiences without a hint of crimson. Anomalies exist on both ends of the spectrum. In his book Complications: A

Biologically Broadcasting Embarassment 32

INCITE MAGAZINE, OCTOBER 2013

“A man may feel thoroughly ashamed at having told a small falsehood, without blushing, but if he even suspects that he is detected he will instantly blush.” chor, but a different type of fear soon gripped Christine: the fear of others finding out about the medical procedure. She kept the operation a secret until she told a friend over dinner, and was shocked by his reaction. He was appalled that she had medically removed her ability to blush, exclaiming, “People will do anything to get ahead.”

Christine was soon fearful of everyone finding out about her operation, and this daunting thought hovered in her peripheral during any social interaction. She left her promising news anchor position and struggled with finding a direction until she began admitting the news of her surgery to other friends and found that they were supportive.

Labeling problematic blushing as a disorder is a recent concept, so it’s to be expected that it may generate divisive views on how it should be treated. What Christine’s unsupportive friend may not have understood was that her blushing was so much more than a simple physiological phenomenon; her facial flare-ups cranked up her social anxiety, reduced effective social communication, and gave her panic attacks. Christine’s procedure diverges from the realm of plastic surgery, and is ultimately an improvement to her health. The distinction between superficial and deliberating is not black and white, so who are we to judge the decisions of others? Struggling with the threat of negative public opinion, and general misunderstanding about blushing, Christine faced a long road to recovery.

Turning red appears to be a surface biological mechanism, but underneath is a rolling sea of human emotion. While the majority of us see it as an unpleasant and public reminder of our mistakes, less fortunate individuals such as Christine may struggle with chronic blushing and turn to drastic measures to improve their quality of life. At the very least, blushing serves to walk the thin line between humility and arrogance, prompting us to remember that at the end of the day, we are all imperfect beings capable of turning red. 

ARTWORK BY ALICIA GIANSANTE

VOLUME 16, ISSUE 2 33

Raluca Topliceanu 34

INCITE MAGAZINE, OCTOBER 2013

AMONG THE MAPLES Raluca Topliceanu

Y

ou hold my heart in your hands. Do you know that? It flutters when your eyes find mine, stops when your lips pull back in the kind of smile a girl can wait her whole life to find.

In your actions I find hidden messages – the set of your jaw, the angle of your eyebrows, and the way you hold your shoulders becoming the secret language between us. I don’t tell you, though.

The most precious moments are not meant to be shared, not meant to be spoken of, like a worn map showing the way to a long-lost treasure. Only the waning moon peeking through your apartment window could remember our late-night take-out, where I found love written in foreign letters within a fortune cookie. Only the serene maples picked up the tint of my cheeks and the softening of my eyes when I look to see you smiling at me.

For that one night, I was the one by your side and the one that tempted a smile from your lips.

 The trees have changed their colours, adopted their autumn coats. You can sense the season from the crisp scent of the air, the way it tickles the back of your throat as you breathe it in, chills your lungs on its way out and decorates your exhale with a delicate mist.

Ripe leaves crunch underfoot, and with the sound of our clothing shifting we might even detect some sort of rhythm to it all. While we make our way through the collage of auburn and ochre, I tell you that I like blue. Light blue, like the scarf I wrap around my head to hide the short tufts of hair that have just begun to grow out. I viewed everything through a blue-tinted visor, until you pulled me out, and showed me how much more vibrant my view could be if I could add some red to my canvas. Before I knew it, it seemed like all the small fragments I had spent with you were somehow woven together by a thin scarlet thread.

It was a Friday, I think. The memories make a mismatched quilt in my mind: I see a steaming bowl of shrimp cradled by noodles, a pair of plastic chopsticks positioned slightly off-centre on the table, winding escalators, and those decorative shopping bags that boast of expensive purchases. We were weaving our way in and out of corner cafés, tilting our heads to look through fingerprint-coated windows. You did not buy the olive green dress shirt for your sister’s wedding, but for some reason, you bought me a scarlet hat resembling a style from decades ago. I put it over my short blond locks, pushed my thick glasses farther up my nose, and adjusted my ankle-length ebony skirt, nearly bursting out in laughter when, in all seriousness, you said I looked beautiful.  She held your heart for what seemed like a breath-long moment, not waiting long before she broke it in half. I could see the aftermath in the way you kept your shoulders tense, the way you answered questions with little more than three words. Occasionally you would smile, tried to convince others more than yourself that everything was just fine, but soon I would see you retreat into your headphones as you attempted to sort out the thoughts in your head. Taylor Swift’s Red album played for five cycles before you packed away all the pieces of your heart, reassembled them the

best you could.

I took you for a walk that night, and we raced a couple stray shopping carts down a house-dotted incline to the chorus of barking dogs cheering us on. We never quite reached the bottom; the flash of headlights always made us stop prematurely, and only after several windows lit up and the hands on your clock touched at 12 did we abandon the carts a few blocks away from where we found them. We poured our hearts out perched on the swings of an elementary school’s playground, and pondered the answer to life, the universe, and everything, all the while enjoying the cool night air and the silence that came with turning our phones off.

I might not be the girl you remember as being the one you always wanted, but if you remember me for just that one night, I would need nothing else. For that one night, I was the one by your side and the one that tempted a smile from your lips. While we leaned on our backs on the swings, watching the starry night shift in front of our eyes, you spoke to me as if there was not a barrier in existence that stood between us.  You ask me about the crumpled pieces of paper with all the hundreds of words crammed together onto them in neat script. I have an answer ready, but can’t seem to force it past my lips. You hold a tissue to my cheek before I even realize the tingle of salt water trickling down my face. I try to laugh it off, fold the tissue into distorted three dimensional animals, but your arms find their way around my slender frame, pull me to the warmth of your chest. You hold me as if you don’t mind that my hair is short again, or that my skin is pale and cold against yours.

Maybe I should have shown it to you then, let you see the thoughts I dared not voice. I often imagine you coming by that piece of paper after I’m gone, remembering me while you skim over the raw words. You might hear its likeness on the radio someday, sung by Taylor Swift with a banjo playing in the background. They might not mean much to you, those words, but I crossed out all of the blues, replaced them with reds, and here it is, the confession I should have given long ago among the maples. 

VOLUME 16, ISSUE 2 35

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