February 2018

the watch February 2018

Hello King’s, We’ve been spending the last couple of weeks prepping for our upcoming AGM on March 5th.

We’re really excited to see what will come from the elections and to see who we’ll be collaborating with in the next issue and eventually handing over our positions.

Student journalism has been taking some hits in the last few weeks, but we’re doing our best to maintain the best standard of journalism possible.

Unfortunately, there have been other Atlantic publications that have faced a lot of backlash for some poor editorial decisions.

While we’re choosing not to speak too much on the controversy, we do want to make sure that you, our readers, know that we are committed to chasing truth while maintaining our ethical standards for the remaining time we hold our positions.

We’re really proud of the amazing content that we’ve been able to create and for the amazing contributors that we’ve been able to work with.

This year we’ve had more contributors than the Watch has seen in years, and we’re so grateful for their passion, dedication and creativity.

the watch VOL. 35 NO. 6 - FEBRUARY 2018 watchmagazine.ca editors@watchmagazine.ca online@watchmagazine.ca publisher@watchmagazine.ca TWITTER @kingswatch INSTAGRAM @watchmagz

EDITORS-IN-CHIEF

Kristen Thompson Nick Frew

ONLINE EDITOR Hannah Daley

CONTRIBUTORS

Evangeline Freedman Kristen Thompson Nick Frew Isabel Ruitenbeek Alec Martin Luke Churchill Taryn Grant Hayley Frail Heather Norman

PUBLISHER Avi Jacob

TREASURER

Trent Erickson COPY EDITOR Fadila Chater

PUBLISHING BOARD Laura Hardy Mikylah Gillis Isabel Ruitenbeek Zöe Brimacombe David Swick Meredith Dault

LAYOUT

Kristen Thompson Nick Frew

We can’t wait to see you all take this magazine and make it even greater.

Thank you, Kristen & Nick

We welcome your feedback on each issue.

Letters to the editors should be signed. We reserve the right to edit all submissions.

The Watch is owned and operated by the students of the University of King’s College.

But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people not be warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at watchman’s hand.

— Ezekiel 33:6

2 The Watch | February 2018 | @kingswatch

the watch IN THIS ISSUE

ksu elections

page 4

master’s program

page 6

retired jerseys

page 9

energy efficiency

page 10

coconut sometimes

page 12

valentine’s dates

page 15

The Watch | February 2018 | @kingswatch 3

Be the change... or vote for it Taryn Grant

King’s Students’ Union executive and Board of Governors positions are poised to change hands after this month’s upcoming election. Following two days of voting on Feb. 14 and 15, winning candidates will be announced and the transition will begin.

Or not.

New terms for the seven elected positions will start on March 15—that’s a sure thing—but whether or not the positions will be given to fresh faces or to returning student politicians is still to be determined.

The week before nominations opened, The Watch asked King’s students, in an anonymous poll, how they felt about their union’s work—more than half reported being dissatisfied with the KSU this year.

In the fall, KSU executive and Students Advocating Representative Curricula (SNARC) became embroiled in a debate over the Wall of Women. The photo and portrait collection was installed in the Wardroom in 2014, and taken down during renovations in 2016.

SNARC pushed to have the Wall of Women reinstalled last semester, but the project was derailed by concerns around racial and gender equity, voiced by the KSU. The debate culminated in a formal complaint filed against the KSU by SNARC executive Rachel Colquhoun.

The conflict between the KSU and SNARC drew critical attention to the union from King’s student body. One student who was polled by The Watch wrote, “The KSU is usually great—the SNARC debacle, not so much.”

Colquhoun believes her complaint and its aftermath prompted students to examine the KSU more closely.

“I think it enraged people and I think that motivated people to run,” she said in an interview.

People like her? No, she says she’ll remain a critical bystander.

“People have tried to get me to do a bid for the presidency.

I just don’t have the time, as much as I would like to be 4 The Watch | February 2018 | @kingswatch

a force behind the union becoming a more democratic place, I just don’t personally have the time to do it, especially in my thesis year,” she said.

Outgoing KSU President Brennan McCracken said in an interview that pervasive campus conversations, like the one that arose over the Wall of Women, are sure to be on people’s minds at election time. Like Colquhoun, he hopes it encourages more widespread participation in the union.

“I think the exciting thing about elections and the exciting thing about students’ unions as organizations is that students really do have the power to change them and shape them. And running in an election, whether it’s a successful campaign or not, is one of those ways to do that,” McCracken said.

Polling revealed that a large majority of students are hoping the election brings new representation to the KSU. One student who was polled wrote, “We have an executive running the union, not a union running the executive. These people are ignoring their responsibilities and we need change.”

There are few precedents for executives and BOG representatives holding the same position for more than one term, but there are precedents for the same small group of students shuffling between positions within the union.

Of the seven students currently holding KSU executive and BOG representative positions, four held at least one other KSU position before being elected into their current roles.

In last year’s election, experience within the KSU was touted as an asset in the platforms of McCracken, Lianne Xiao (Student Life Vice-President), Zoe Brimacombe (Financial Vice-President), and Julia-Simone Rutgers (BOG representative). All had successful bids.

This year, based on polling results, experience within the KSU could prove to be a liability, more than a virtue.

One student who was polled wrote, “The KSU does great things, the executive does not.” Of course, executive positions are an inextricable part of the KSU.

As always, the 2018-19 executive and BOG representatives will be accountable to King’s students. To be of best service, McCracken said the most important thing a student politician can do is listen.

“Really we do have an onus to represent all students to the best of our abilities, and there’s no way to know what that representation looks like and there’s no way to know what students are looking for if you can’t listen to them,” he said.

say: “I like their mental health initiative.”

“Very happy that the exec voted in favour of a motion to apologize; it is a step in the right direction, I hope it continues.”

“Accountability=equity.”

“KSU could do better at sharing info/putting info out to students. Just to keep people in the know.”

“I got no value for services as a mature day student who doesn’t need insurance.” |w

In case the soon-to-be-elected incumbents are listening, this is what some of the students who were polled had to

The Watch | Febrary 2018 | @kingswatch 5

Masters of deception Kristen Thompson

The journalism school made a major cut in the summer of 2017 by choosing to no longer provide two of the three streams available for the master’s of journalism program (MJ).

Prior to this year, King’s provided both the new ventures program and the data and investigative program for students entering the MJ. The purpose for the new ventures program was to teach students entrepreneurial journalism, giving students the skills that they need to be able to start their own journalism business. Where as the data and investigative program focuses more on the research side of journalism, teaching students to analyze and report on various types of data.

As of now, the journalism school is only running the data and investigative stream, which has left students throughout the journalism school unhappy.

Drew May, a student currently in the data and investigative program, initially applied for the new ventures program in January of last year. Around the time he was accepted into the program, he got a call from the journalism school letting him know that the program was no longer being offered.

“I was told that they were only doing the data program and that they would transfer my application to that, which I was totally fine with. I was a little bummed, but it wasn’t too big of a deal,” he said.

Prior to starting investigative, May had planned to start his own journalism company. Now that he has completed more than half of the program, his goals have shifted to working in the investigative field.

“I’ve had a lot of fun and met some nice people. I don’t have any regrets about coming and I’m not mad that they decided not to include new ventures. Some other people didn’t feel that way though,” May said.

Some students weren’t as accepting as May when it came to the change. Mathew Kahansky, a student who completed a one-year bachelor’s degree last year, planned on continuing into new ventures this year. Similarly to May, he received a call a before the term began, letting 6 The Watch | February 2018 | @kingswatch

him know that this was no longer an option.

“Basically I was put in the spot where I could either do this new program that they offered me or I would have to find something else to do with my life, and they gave me about a month’s notice to figure that out,” Kahansky said.

Expecting to continue on with new ventures prior to getting that call, Kahansky resigned the lease on his apartment and turned down multiple major job opportunities in Toronto. With everything on the line, he decided to continue on and give the data and investigative stream a try.

“I basically put my entire life into doing the master’s. So I was kind of put in a position where I didn’t have too much of a choice,” he said.

He began the MJ in July but quickly found that he had no interest in a career in data. This caused him to leave the program after a few months and follow a career outside of journalism.

“I was starting to have mental health problems, about being stuck in this program that I wasn’t interested in, and when a company I was volunteering for offered me a job, I decided to take the job instead,” he said.

According to Kahansky, he was told that the new ventures program was being cut due to lack of interest, but when he began the program in July, more than half of his classmates were intending to also take the program.

“I was painted a picture of a program really struggling, and then when it looked otherwise I was left with a bit of a sour taste in my mouth,” he said.

So why is the journalism school cutting the program?

King’s journalism school Director Tim Currie mirrored the previous statement, claiming that there was only one student who applied for the new ventures program this year: Kahansky.

When asked further about this, he added that it wasn’t true that the majority of students currently in the master’s program had applied for the new ventures program.

Though he later corrected that statement near the end of his interview, saying that more students had applied to program, but wasn’t able to give an exact number.

Currie also stated that another reason the new ventures program was cut was due to a review lead by Dalhousie’s faculty of graduate studies.

“One of the points made by the reviewers was that the two-stream structure wasn’t really specific relative to other programs, and it was a bit of an anomaly,” he said.

These results have caused the journalism school to change directions, hoping to change the entirety of the master’s program in the next few years.

“One of the conclusions from (the review) is that by offering two very specific streams, we’re maybe a little bit too specific for the job market,” he said.

“One of the things that we tried to do when we launched the program in 2011, was to try and differentiate the program from different ones out there. We didn’t want to compete directly with them, so we may have gone a little bit too specific and this is all part of the process of fixing that.”

According to Currie, the plans for the program will allow for a more generic journalism program, similar to those offered at Carleton and Ryerson.

But is this really the best course of action for the journalism school? For both May and Kahansky, the specialized program is what drew them to King’s, rather than studying at its competitors.

“King’s was my first choice. Even though my first choice was new ventures, this program is still more specialized than Ryerson’s program. I thought that would be more useful than just a general master’s,” May said.

The future for prospective master’s students

to enroll,” he said.

“I would like a specialized degree that would allow me to stand out as having a unique skill set in the job market. A generic master’s of journalism will not fulfill that need as effectively as a specific master’s would.”

Some students that are currently in the one-year bachelor’s program also expressed concerns with the changing program.

Unlike students already enrolled in the master’s program, the one-year bachelor’s program never got a call letting them know that the certain streams were being cut. This has caused many of the students who were planning on continuing into new ventures to look into opportunities elsewhere.

One student currently enrolled in the one-year, Karli Zschogner, initially had planned to join the third stream that King’s had advertised, a journalism and law program, which would provide students with both a journalism master’s and a law degree.

Though Zschogner may not have been able to take this program whether it was still offered or not, she took issue with the fact that it was still being advertised by the university at the time of her application, even though the university had planned on cutting the program.

She also thinks that the stream is a unique and interesting way to pursue the journalism field, which is what caused her to apply for the program in the first place.

As of now, for the upcoming year, the only stream available will be data and investigative, with plans to reboot the entirety of the program in the next couple of years.

Though, if anyone was looking to face some of the issues that Kahansky, May or Zschogner had earlier in the year, you can always apply for new ventures, since the journalism school still hasn’t updated the application.|w

Other students on campus have raised an issue with this development as well. First-year journalism student Avery Mullen plans on continuing into the data master’s once he is finished with his bachelor’s degree, but is concerned that the program is changing.

“As someone who is interested in statistics, data gathering and information technologies, I was looking forward to pursuing data journalism once I finished my bachelor’s degree. I’m disappointed to hear that this particular stream may be discontinued before I have the opportunity The Watch | Febrary 2018 | @kingswatch 7

Raised to the rafters Nick Frew

Two more Blue Devils were honoured last month by getting their jerseys retired in the Kingdome.

said “it’s loosely defined,” but if you’re named all-Canadian multiple times, you’re a strong candidate.

Former men’s basketball player J.D. Howlett and former women’s footballer Marika Mckenzie now join Matt Fegan as the only jerseys in the rafters.

That technically makes Howlett an exception to the rule.

But there was one season where he led the country in scoring for eight weeks and didn’t get voted as an allCanadian, so Hooper (and Trish Miles, King’s athletic coordinator) factored that in their decision.

As a Blue Devil, Mckenzie was unanimously voted as Player of the Year by the coaches in the Atlantic Collegiate Athletic Association (ACAA). She was also named a Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) allCanadian three times. But she only scored one goal in her career.

When asked about the snub, Howlett said he wasn’t upset over it because he won other awards along the way.

However, he “always did want to be MVP of the (ACAA).

That would’ve been nice.”

Neil Hooper, the University of King’s College’s athletic director, says Mckenzie controlled the ball like Sidney Crosby controls the puck. “They ran everything through her.”

Matt Fegan

Mckenzie was part of the 2011 ACAA championship team and made two other conference finals appearances.

People new to King’s would ask “Who’s Fegan?”

J.D. Howlett played his first two years at Acadia University before transferring to King’s. But he ate up the competition as soon as he stepped onto an ACAA court.

Howlett had no clue the jersey was put up until I reached out to him for this piece. “I guess I’m just a thing of the past there now,” he joked.

“It’s a huge honour,” Howlett said about his jersey being retired. “I played in that gym pretty much ever since I started playing basketball.

“I’ve always looked up and there was only the one jersey there. There’s so much history with King’s College, it’s one of the oldest universities in Canada. So just to be forever a part of that university is a big, big honour for me.”

At 6 ft. 7 in., Howlett already had the size needed to be a dominant force. But he had the handles of a guard, and Hooper says he could bury a jump shot from up to 30 feet out. In the ACAA, those are intangibles that create an all-Canadian basketball player — and that’s what he was named, once.

For years, Matt Fegan’s number was the only retired jersey in the gym. His jersey is the one Howlett alluded to.

“I don’t know,” was usually the reply.

It’s an older jersey, so it was tough to tell what sport he played. But Matt Fegan was a soccer player in the late 90s. Hooper says he was born in Scotland, grew up mostly in Japan and came to King’s on a whim because he heard of the school while in Scotland.

Fegan was a three-time all-Canadian, voted the country’s Player of the Year in his final season and is in the CCAA Hall of Fame.

“He pretty much re-wrote the record books around here, in terms of the contribution he made,” Hooper said. “He was probably one of the most exciting soccer players to ever lace up a pair of cleats here.”

Hooper says two former athletes are currently up for consideration to get their jerseys retired. He couldn’t give me any names, but he says they are a former women’s soccer player and men’s basketball player, respectively. |w

When considering who gets their jersey retired, Hooper The Watch | February 2018 | @kingswatch 9

From blue to green Isabel Ruitenbeek

King’s is quietly on track to cut its annual greenhouse gas emissions by 17 per cent, and water use by 50 per cent, thanks to a partnership with Siemens Canada.

Siemens says that’s the same as taking 85 cars off the road, and saving five and a half Olympic pools full of water, per year.

Through an energy performance contract (EPC) signed between the university and the building performance and sustainability division of Siemens Canada, King’s will be saving money on energy costs while reducing environmental impacts.

Alex Doyle, director of facilities at King’s, calls the project “crucial to the university.”

“As a university, we’re supposed to be responsible partners in the environment,” he says.

He believes this contract is a first step in the right direction for King’s.

Energy performance contract An EPC is an agreement between an energy service company and a client. At King’s, the process began with an energy audit done by Siemens in 2015, wherein the company evaluated our energy use and identified possible efficiency improvements.

In the spring of 2017, Siemens and King’s signed the EPC, obligating Siemens to do the work outlined in their audit. Siemens also guaranteed a minimum level of energy savings, $135,593 annually, according to King’s bursar Bonnie Sands. If that number isn’t reached, Siemens is responsible for paying the difference.

Siemens engineered, designed and hired contractors to do the work, while King’s managed the project as a whole. Most of the improvements were done over the summer and fall semester, but some are still ongoing, says Doyle.

Doyle’s waiting for official results to roll in, but says “the numbers are looking really good…we’re going to meet our expectations.”

Environmental impacts At King’s, the biggest savings will come from retrofits to our 10 The Watch | February 2018 | @kingswatch

heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems. In the New Academic Building, Siemens installed a return-air system, so that heat from within the building is recovered instead of wasted.

Our three water-cooled air conditioners, which used city water to cool themselves and then dumped it, were replaced by air-cooled units. That change is a huge part of the 50 per cent slash in water consumption that Siemens projected.

Doyle describes the project as having “touched every inch of the campus.” There’s now low-flow toilets, urinals, shower heads and taps campus-wide, as well as LED lighting.

But, Doyle says, “the bigger part is what you don’t see”—a building automation and control system. Through a central computer program, Doyle can now control and monitor temperatures and systems in every university building.

That’s “the bread and butter” of the system, he says, and it’s what’s still being worked on. With access to our energy use data, Doyle hopes to work out patterns and fluctuations in energy consumption.

Financial savings According to a guide by Natural Resources Canada, EPCs work one of two ways. The energy service company can pay for the work to be done, and pocket the savings until the contract ends; or the client can fund the work and recover the full savings.

King’s opted for option two, financing the work through a $1.375 million loan to be paid back over 20 years.

The loan repayments will come out of the guaranteed annual savings of almost $136,000. That means that for the next 20 years, savings will be “slight” says Sands—likely about $20,000 annually, going towards the university’s debt.

Doyle adds that reduced maintenance costs are another financial bonus coming out of this contract.

Reading the data For an apparently super-positive project, there’s been little pomp and circumstance surrounding the energy efficiency improvements.

Other than an article on the King’s website from April 2017, a low-key event with Siemens in September, and a poster that was—but is no longer—up in the Link, the student body hasn’t heard anything about the EPC. Doyle says that’s because the university is still assembling data from the past six months. Once the numbers are in, there’ll be a promotional event, she says.

When those numbers are made official, Anders Hayden has a few insights into what we should be talking about. Hayden is an associate professor in political science at Dalhousie, who teaches courses in the politics of climate change and environment.

“On the whole [efficiency improvements] are something that we should be doing more of,” he says.

It’s important to remember, though, that increased efficiency isn’t the end of progress.

“I think we do need to raise some bigger questions about consumer values more generally, the pursuit of endless growth,” Hayden says.

King’s, as a place of learning, may be fulfilling that duty simply by furnishing students with the tools to examine and critique the world around them. |w

To measure the success of a project like this, Hayden points to three indicators: 1. Absolute reductions—are emissions decreasing below current levels, or projected levels? King’s will see absolute reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, 405 tonnes of CO2 equivalent below current levels.

2. Cost-effectiveness—are you getting enough emissions reductions for your dollar? At King’s, we’re paying $169.75 per tonne of CO2 equivalent reduced over the next 20 years, not including interest. After that, when the loan is paid off, reductions are free.

3. Rebound effect—efficiency improvements save money, which gets spent, increasing the amount of energy consumed elsewhere. Hayden is careful to point out that efficiency measures can still be worthwhile, even if some benefit is lost.

The direct savings at King’s will be going towards our debt, and not to a new construction project that might increase overall emissions.

Ties to ecological modernization Doyle and Sands see the EPC as a win-win solution, benefitting King’s bank account and the environment. That view is linked to a prominent social theory and political program called ecological modernization.

Hayden describes ecological modernization as a perspective that emphasizes technological and efficiency improvements as solutions to the world’s environmental crisis.

Ecological modernization, says Hayden, offers palatable solutions to environmental issues, without raising difficult questions about dominant values in society. It traffics in “win-win” scenarios, where environment and economy both prosper.

Hayden is quick to say that initiatives falling under ecological modernization may still be worthwhile, on a case by case basis.

The Watch | February 2018 | @kingswatch 11

From dorm room to Wardroom Alec Martin

Chipped, dried body paint peeled from Ezra Tennen’s face as stage lights followed their dissent onto his guitar.

The lights fade from pink to a yellowish green as Ezra looks to his left at his bandmate Chris Oliver carving out a pulse with his cajon.

They exchange a contagious smile before Ezra’s lips are back behind the microphone. He is barely heard over The Wardroom’s audience screaming to a cover of “...Baby one more time.”

Tennen and Oliver, both first year students at Kings, makeup the musical duo Coconut Sometimes. The group formed out of a jam session in front of a few friends last year in mid to late September. The two instantly felt a connection.

“What was great was that Ezra just got down to playing a song, which is what I wanted,” Oliver said.

“I didn’t want him to test the waters, I knew that if he just got playing I could do something over it.”

By the end of their first jam they were stage ready. But, aside from open mics, there were few venues that the pair could readily access. Compelled to play for an audience, Tennen and Oliver decided to risk patrol knocking on their door and hold shows in Tennen’s dorm room.

“The first [dorm show] we played I was getting nervous before it started because there were a lot of people. A lot of people in this case was like 15, which may not be a lot for a normal show but the room was packed.”

Tennen gets up from his bed and walks to the left-hand corner of his room. He picks up his acoustic guitar and tosses the strap over his shoulder as if to re-enact the scene.

“We were playing here and people were sitting within a foot of us, some were leaning on the wall. It was getting hot and some of the people standing started to leave. Everyone was visibly sweating,” he continued.

The group’s minimal set up makes these room shows rather easy. Tennen plays an acoustic guitar and sings, his voice powerful enough that he doesn’t need a microphone. Oliver’s cajon though portable, remains crisp and angular without pulling away from Tennen’s performance.

12 The Watch | Febrary 2018 | @kingswatch

The cajon adds a natural element to the bands sound that a drum kit just cannot. Unlike his musical connection with Tennen however, Oliver did not instantly vibe with the instrument.

“The guy in the music store said, ‘Why don’t you try one of these cajons, it’s like a little drum box.’ and I remember thinking ‘Man, that sounds boring, I just wanna hit my drums’ and then I walked in and tried it out and was like ‘Yeah, this can really work,’” Oliver said.

Even though Austin Soper, Tennen’s roommate, can hear the cajon punching through the wall of their bay dorm room every other day, he still makes it to every show.

“Chris and Ezra are so friendly and eager to put on a good show and make people happy,” Soper said.

“I get a first-hand experience. They will often come to me to take pictures, or ask my opinion on how it sounds. I feel like I’m (almost) a part of the process but I know that I am definitely separate from the band.”

By playing music where ever and when ever they can, Coconut Sometimes has started to make a name for themselves on campus (The name itself, according to Tennen, was “just two weird words that go together) and has played two shows at the Wardroom and one at the Lodge since their first open mic.

But they have no immediate plans for an album.

“We just want to play. People are asking us when are we putting stuff out, which is amazing but it’s also scary. We would like to record, hopefully soon,” Tennen said.

The group has managed to develop a welcoming environment around them, especially among first-year students.

“Both of them are friendly faces and they are always out in the community,” Jessica Cholette said. She’s a fellow first year.

“Everyone knows them, they’re always smiling and they bring everyone together to the to have a good time.”

Oliver believes that it is this aspect of community that makes the band what it is.

“Instead of people getting to know our music and then coming to see us, I’d like to think that they’ve gotten to know us and then come to see our music.”|w

A cynic’s guide to Valentine’s Day Luke Churchill

Valentine’s Day brings out the cynic in me. Having never been in a relationship (or even on a date for that matter) and having spent my entire life around divorced people, when Feb. 14 rolls around each year I tend to feel indifferent. Perhaps even a little sad.

But my circumstances do offer some advantages. Being single every Valentine’s Day has allowed me to develop effective strategies to prevent myself from getting too caught up in my emotions.

One strategy I use is to think about all the people in the world who have been led astray by love. The person who comes to my mind is Amanda Knox.

If you are unfamiliar, Amanda Knox was an American university student who spent a semester abroad in Italy. While overseas, she fell in love with a very handsome Italian man, and one night, after a romantic encounter, was charged with the brutal murder of another student. Knox was eventually acquitted of any wrongdoing, but the whole incident dragged on for several years and did not seem very ‘Orange is the New Black.’ However, Amanda did get to live in Italy for a few years without paying rent, which I find inspiring.

However, this year I chose to forego thinking about Amanda Knox on Valentine’s Day and decided to try out the dating app circuit. If all went well, I would find my perfect match online, go on a date and have a special someone just in time for Valentine’s Day. It really did not seem like a huge challenge.

But all did not go well. In summary, my attempt to find a romantic partner was a bust. As a gay man, I had the option of using Grindr or Tinder and chose Tinder as it seemed geared more towards dating, as opposed to hook-ups. But even Tinder was frustrating.

For some reason, many of the matches I made were with guys in New Brunswick and it was incredibly difficult to maintain a solid conversation with anybody I matched with.

In light of this, I decided that I would go out to a few places around Halifax with a friend – completely platonic – and judge for myself if they would be good places for a date.

The Oval This might be cliché, but ice-skating seems like a romantic way to spend an afternoon. Although the skating itself was fun, the ambience at The Oval was not ideal for a date. I was there on a Sunday, along with large amounts of screaming children who did not help create a romantic atmosphere. It was difficult to have a conversation due to the high noise levels and it can be hard to talk to someone while in constant motion. I also went on a warmer day and the ice was slowly turning into a puddle. Ultimately, The Oval was not a success.

The Toothy Moose The first time I came to Halifax six years ago, there was a stabbing outside The Toothy Moose. But while watching the news report, I laid my eyes on a head of a stoned-looking buck-toothed moose hanging outside a downtown bar and have been fixated on it ever since. Unfortunately, I am under age and could not go inside the bar, but I spoke with someone who had gone and they described it as “low-frills fun.” If both you and your significant other are casual, drinking party-goers, I imagine this would be a decent place to go on a date. Introverts, I would suggest you stay home.

Art Gallery of Nova Scotia Not being an art aficionado, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this art gallery. There is plenty to see, enough to spend a couple of hours, and it only costs seven dollars for students. Clearly, this is a good place for people who appreciate art. And if you are on a first date, the setting of a gallery allows for meaningful conversation, while the quiet atmosphere eases the pressure of having to make too much conversation. Interesting and inexpensive, this is a great date idea.

Seven Bays Bouldering I had never been to Seven Bays Bouldering before, but the combination of rock-climbing and food seemed intriguing. In reality, it’s a mixed bag. The café section of Seven Bays was a bit crowded and, from my perspective, is a place for people who want to relax after work rather than for those looking to spend quality time with a significant other. Despite the busy space, the rock climbing was genuinely fun and would be a good activity for athletic couples.

However, if I were on a first date, there is no way in hell I would want someone to stare at me while I try to climb a wall.

In conclusion, my attempt to put myself out there and actually go on a date did not go as planned. Online dating apps, as it turns out, require a bit more time and effort than it would initially seem. And in hindsight, the places that I went during my mock-dates were not all that creative or exciting. I’m sure a native Haligonian could offer up much better suggestions.

For now, I imagine I will spend Valentine’s Day just like any other day: in lecture and then in my room, watching Judge Judy and Jerry Springer. But I know many people will have a fun and romantic Valentine’s Day – and that is perfectly fine. But as someone who is single and a bit cynical, I would rather not hear about it.|w

The Watch | February 2018 | @kingswatch 15