The Independent Student Newspaper of the University of Toronto Mississauga since 1974
Issue 17 Volume 49
February 6 2023
themedium.ca
WRITER’S BLOCK
ROLLING STONE’S LIST
ETHAN WILLIAMS
I loved essays—until I sat down to write one. A blank stare at a Word document with only my name and course code welcomed me into university. I was hit head-on with an unfortunate affliction: writer’s block.
Rolling Stone upholds their decision to focus on artists who “had significant careers as crossover stars making popular music for the masses.” So, if their rankings are not solely reliant on vocal abilities, what are they determined by?
Growing up in a family of multi-sport athletes, Ethan Williams miscellaneously dabbled in sports until he eventually found success in track and field, cross-country, and especially basketball.
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NEWS
Former mayor of Mississauga Hazel McCallion passes away Larry Lau News Editor
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n the morning of January 29, 2023, Hazel McCallion, the City of Mississauga’s first female mayor, passed away at the age of 101. Her service as mayor started in November of 1978, when McCallion won the first of her twelve terms. Under her leadership, Mississauga grew into a prosperous and welcoming city, now home to more than 700,000 people. After serving as Mississauga’s mayor for 36 years—the longest in the city’s history, McCallion retired from her position in November 0f 2014 at the age of 93. >> MCCALLION continues on page 02
CNW GROUP/CITY NATALIEOF NG/THE MISSISSAUGA MEDIUM
ARTS
OPINION
My Year of Rest and Relaxation—the white woman’s American Psycho?
U of T to implement two-factor authentication on student accounts Bilaal Mohamed Contributor
Lina Tupak-Karim Contributor Trigger Warning: This article mentions sexual assault, suicide, and self-harm.
F
or years, I used sleep as a means of avoiding discontent. Dysthymia— a serious state of chronic depression—had rendered me uninterested in and unhappy with the affairs of everyday life. Every menial yet tedious task I engaged in—from eating, to filling my car with gas, to clocking in at work—was accompanied by a longing to return to the comfort of my bed. This troubled lifestyle drew me to read Otessa Moshfegh’s My Year of Rest and Relaxation. The novel follows an unnamed young woman burdened with symptoms of severe mental illness. In a state of fatigue-induced dissociation, she navigates through pre-9/11 New York City, passing the days by frequenting the bodega, going to work, and grudgingly tolerating her best friend, Reva. The novel—and interestingly, its reception—demonstrates that there is a clear disconnect between public understandings of female versus male distress. Throughout the novel, the protagonist is enamoured with sleep. To express her feelings about sleep, she narrates, “Nothing else could ever bring me such pleasure, such freedom, the power to feel and move and think and imagine, safe from the miseries of my waking consciousness.” >> BETWEEN THE LINES continues on page 09
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y February 28, 2023, all students will be required to sign up for the mandatory UTORMFA program, University of Toronto’s very own two-factor authentication system to protect Acorn, Outlook, and Quercus accounts. The University of Toronto Mississauga’s (UTM) campus population sees this move as another way to inconvenience students, who are already dealing with a depressing university experience. However, The Medium has spoken to the university’s dean, who has been the main driver of this move and believes that two-factor authentication is a step towards protecting students from the rise of phishing emails. Over the years, U of T students have been receiving scam emails in their inboxes. Usually, these emails are from someone with a U of T email address, offering a lucrative job offer with flexible hours and a salary of $700 per week. All students have to do is click the “link” and sign in to “Acorn” in order to apply for this once of a lifetime opportunity. “These kinds of emails are harmful to our dear students,” said the dean with a concerned look. “These
emails are showing students that there are opportunities to further their career outside of university. We need them to keep blindly pouring thousands of dollars into achieving a degree that might help them get a job at Forever 21.” Because of this, UTORMFA will serve as an added security measure for students’ data and privacy. The Medium also spoke with the head of U of T’s cybersecurity department on how two-factor authentication works. “There were discussions about how we should proceed with the two-factor authentication, but since we’re U of T, we didn’t want to do something normal and reasonable… We wanted to do something boundless. So, every time a student logs into Acorn, they will be presented with a real-world problem that they will have to solve in a limited amount of time.” We were then shown a demonstration of how UTFORMA works. We logged into Acorn, and then were taken to the next web page, where we were presented with a question about how to solve Canada’s housing crisis. If the answer wasn’t submitted in 15 seconds, loud sirens blared from the computer speakers and an animation of prison bars closed down on the webpage. The account was then locked for 24 hours. >> AUTHENTICATION continues on page 05