Vol 42 issue 19

International win on GC

Roosh V “endorsed”?

One confusing reunion

Against ALL odds

An upsetting loss in hockey

News, page 2

Opinion, page 4

Arts, page 5

Features, page 5

Sports, page 11

Liberals make changes to student assistance New provincial Liberal promises increase financial assistance available for postsecondary students NICOLE DANESI NEWS EDITOR Students will soon see several changes made to provincially funded financial support for postsecondary tuition.

Announced as part of the Ontario Liberals’ 2016 provincial budget on Thursday, the Ontario Student Grant will fund postsecondary tuition for students who are part of families with a household income of $50,000 or less.

The new grant comes alongside several changes to postsecondary funding for Ontario students, including the redistribution of the 30 percent off tuition financial assistance initiative and several grants funded by OSAP to fund the new initiative.

The changes also come with the announcement that provincial education tax credits will also come to an end.

Expected to be implemented in 2017, the new initiative will coincide with the four-year morato-

SARAH YASSINE/THE MEDIUM

Several changes to provincially-funded financial support were announced on Thursday. rium on tuition increases instated by the provincial government in 2013. The tuition cap currently prevents tuition from being increased more than an average of

three percent per year.

“The government is building on previous successes to make postsecondary education more accessible and affordable,” read

CUPE and U of T in talks CUPE and U of T meet to mediate over union allegations

Conflicting reports surface about race stats at U of T HIBA TRABOULSI NICOLE DANESI NEWS EDITOR

NICOLE DANESI NEWS EDITOR WITH NOTES FROM MENNA ELNAKA ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR CUPE 3902 and representatives from U of T met last week to discuss claims that CUPE 3902 made publicly against the university last December, alleging that the university negotiated in “bad faith” following last year’s strike.

In an email to The Medium, Ryan Culpepper, chair of CUPE 3902, called Monday’s meeting “productive”.

“We are continuing to work toward a settlement in the hope of avoiding a long and difficult hearing at the Ontario Labour Relations Board. We remain hopeful that U of T will find a way to right the unfair situation it has created for our members.”

Culpepper did not respond to questions about details of the meeting or any outcomes produced.

In a statement released on December 9, CUPE 3902 made claims alleging that the university

the 2016 budget report. “Ontario has incorporated feedback from students to ensure financial assistance has evolved to meet their changing needs.”

MAHMOUD SAROUJI/THE MEDIUM

CUPE and U of T will mediate again in April. provided the union with “inaccurate and misleading data related to the new Graduate Student Bursary Fund”.

The day after the statement was released, U of T’s director of media relations, Althea BlackburnEvans, released a statement to The Medium on behalf of VP human

resources and equity Angela Hildyard to address the claims made by CUPE 3902. The statement denied the claims made by the union.

According to Culpepper, CUPE 3902 and U of T have set an additional three days of mediation this April.

Posted shortly after Thursday’s announcement, UTMSU praised the news on Facebook.

“After years of lobbying the provincial government by your students union in collaboration with student unions across the province through the Canadian Federation of Students—we have a victory to share with you,” read the statement. “The UTM Students’ Union would like to thank the provincial Liberal government for making the following announcement in today’s Ontario’s budget announcement”.

In a statement release by the Canadian Federation of Students, CFS chairperson Bilan Arte also praised the announcement.

“We’re looking to the upcoming federal budget and saying, ‘Your move, Prime Minister Trudeau,’ “ said Arte. “The Ontario Government has sent a clear message with this provincial budget.”

Conflicting reports have surfaced following a meeting held between members of the Black Liberation Collective and U of T senior administration last December, a meeting that resulted in the university’s decision to start collecting data from employees and students based on racial backgrounds.

According to Yusra Khogali, a U of T student and member of the Black Liberation Collective— a group self-defined as “a collective consisting of Black students who are dedicated to transforming institutions of higher education through unity, coalition building, direct action, and political education”—members of the collective’s U of T chapter were promised that the number of black employees at U of T would be increased when the group met with vice-provost, students Sandy Welsh; VP human resources and equity Angela Hildyard; and U of T’s anti-racism and cultural diversity officer, Sandra Carnegie-Douglas.

“They agreed to increase or try to increase the representation of black staff and administration at U of T reflected by the black population in Toronto, which is 8.5 percent,” said Khogali in an interview with The Medium last month when discussing U of T’s decision to collect statistics based on race. “They’re only going to aim to increase the population by 2.9 percent, which is based on Canada’s black population.”

U of T’s director of media relations, Althea Blackburn-Evans, denied that U of T agreed to reach a specified threshold of black employees.

“Numbers were not discussed in the meeting,” said Blackburn-Evans in an email to The Medium last week. “The university does not set numerical targets”.

When asked by The Medium about the claims, Khogali stood by the original statement.

“Those are exactly the promises that were given to us,” said Khogali.

Welsh and Hildyard did not respond to The Medium’s request for comment when asked about the claims made by Khogali.

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«NEWS

THE MEDIUM 02.29.2016

UTM student elected governor Historic election win follows changes to Governing Council

February 18, 4:15 p.m.

Personal Safety Concern Campus Police investigated reports of a suspicious male in the MiWay Inner Circle transit stop.

February 19, 11:08 p.m.

Medical Call Campus Police responded to a report of an intoxicated student in residence. EMS was called and the student was transported to Credit Valley Hospital.

February 19, 8:11 p.m.

Trespass to Property Act A group of males were being loud and obnoxious in the CCT building during Reading Week while other students were trying to study. Two of the males were non-community members and were therefore trespassed from UTM. The group left

the campus without further incident.

February 22, 7:30 p.m.

Personal Safety Concern Campus Police received a report of a suspicious male in the CCT garage.

February 22, 2:55 p.m.

Motor Vehicle Accident A UTM student reported to Campus Police that he witnessed a silver Ford Focus come into contact with another parked vehicle. The driver of the silver Ford Focus failed to remain at the scene of the accident.

February 23, 8:30 a.m.

Bylaw Offences Campus Police received a report of U-Pass misuse. The student was charged under the bylaw by Mississauga Transit.

These reports are those that have been released to The Medium and do not necessarily constitute an exhaustive list.

Students can contact the UTM Campus Police at 905 828 5200, Peel Regional Police at 905 453 3311, or Crime Stoppers at 1 800 222 8477.

Building Bridges to awareness on campus FATIMA ALVI

Last week, the UTM MSA held Islam Awareness Week, featuring informative booths, motivational events, and the opportunity to try on a hijab.

Throughout the week, booths were set up in the CCT atrium, including a popular henna booth.

Nadia Fakhry, second-year criminology major and sociology minor and the sisters’ event coordinator at the UTM MSA, men-

Muslim Talks was the closing event of the week, where six diverse speakers were invited to share their experiences. tioned that many people came out to clear misconceptions and to try on the hijab, with some even wanting to try it on for the day.

“The ‘Try on the hijab’ booth opened up the understanding that it’s really just a piece of cloth. It’s not something to be fearful of, and anyone can try it on and see how it feels,” said Hamza Alikhan, second-year psychology and criminology double major and external relations executive at the UTM MSA. There was a booth showcasing the Qur’an and different pieces of Islamic texts. There were also booths offering coffee and hot chocolate, where participants

could take part in a casual conversation with any of the members of the MSA. The evenings featured lecturestyle events, such as an open mic night, a convert panel, and other discussion-based lectures.

The theme of this year’s IAW was “Building Bridges” in society and in the university environment.

“I’m really happy about the positive feedback we received and it was really nice to know that people support us,” said Fakhry.

Muslim Talks was the closing event of the week, where six speakers from diverse backgrounds were invited to share their experiences.

There were around 100 attendees.

“It’s mainly to inspire students in university who are going to be pursuing a career sooner or later,” said Fakhry. “Whether you know it or not, you look up to people who you can relate to and they’re all successful Muslims. It’s a great way for Muslims and non-Muslims to get inspired in a less expensive and more local way.”

“I thoroughly enjoyed Muslim talks” says Sana Usman, secondyear biology and psychology double major. “Each speaker brought a unique perspective on topics that are relevant for today’s Muslim youth. I thought the topic of the night was refreshing as it focused more on positivity, success, and Muslim unity rather than hatred, extremism, and aggression as the media thinks. Overall, I thought the night was a success and I will definitely be going again next year!”

MAHMOUD SAROUJI/THE MEDIUM

Amin and Shan will begin their terms as governors on July 1.

SIDRA WEQAR At least one international student has been elected as a full-time arts and science undergraduate governor on U of T’s Governing Council following the recent amendment to the University of Toronto Act previously preventing non-Canadian citizens from running on the university’s highest decision making body.

Unofficially announced last Tuesday and confirmed on Friday, UTM student Mohammad Amin is one of two students elected, with 997 votes from a total of 4,259 ballots cast amongst the constituency, totalling 23.4 percent of student support.

“I feel great, it has been an amazing experience, definitely something that I never thought of doing in my university career,” said Amin, a third-year finance specialist and economics major in an interview with The Medium.

According to Amin, an international student, interest to run for a student seat on Governing Council began last year, but candidacy requirements barred Amin from running. As of June 4, 2015, the University of Toronto Act was amended to repeal an item from subsection four that stated, “No person shall serve as a member of the Governing Council unless he is a Canadian citizen.”

“Last year, I thought about running for this position and I wasn’t eligible to run because I was an international student, [but] I still kept

looking and waiting for the emails and I found out that this year was the first year they removed this requirement, thankfully,” said Amin, who also told The Medium that the encouragement of his friends played a pivotal role in his decision to run for the role.

Running on the motto “Trust, Dedication, Leadership, Results”, Amin’s platform promises included his commitment to advocate for additional student seats on the council while also promising to host monthly meetings with students at UTM to ensure student participation and to receive feedback from students.

According to Amin, his experience as a commerce student also contributed to his platform promise to introduce co-op opportunities at UTM as a student governor, an idea he is already working on by creating a proposal for a co-op initiative after reaching out to the co-op department at U of T Scarborough and speaking to upper-year students at UTM. “We are paying deregulated fees and none of us have co-ops, so this is something that I really wanted to change,” said Amin, who also addressed the need for more student involvement at UTM. “Right now, UTM is great. We have a very lively campus, but it’s only inside the campus,” said Aminm who is currently the sponsorship director for both the Muslim Students’ Association and the Egyptian Student

Association, and VP finance for International Medical Relief of Children. “I really want to strengthen the bond between the three campuses and I need students to get involved because they need to realize how important it is to strengthen our voice so our demands are actually met.”

Also winning the second full-time arts and science student seat representing undergraduate students from all three U of T campuses, Tony Shan has been elected with 15.9 percent support, collecting a total of 678 votes.

A third-year New College student specializing in statistics and majoring in actuarial science, Shan hopes to reduce international student tuition while serving as a student governor. “[Our] university has a huge proportion of international student presence,” he said. “[Your] interaction with international students affects you, your friends, and everyone on campus. That is why I think [international student fees] is of concern,” said Shan in an interview with The Medium, also mentioning U of T food services as an issue needing improvement.

“One issue at our [St. George] campus is that the food service can potentially be improved by reducing the amount of lineup time and improving the food quality,” said Shan.

Amin and Shan will begin their terms as governors on July 1.

02.29.2016 THE MEDIUM NEWS

Results pending in transit study Governing Council updated on StudentMoveTO study

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DO YOU HAVE THE UTMSU APP?

Ruxandra Vana 4th year, poli sci and crim

Michael Lopez 4th year, geology

I don’t have the app but I already knew about it.

I don’t have the app and I didn’t know it existed.

Simone D’Sousa 3rd year, chem and bio

Said Elmi 1st year, life sciences

No, I have not downloaded the app because I had not heard of it before.

I don’t have the app and I didn’t know about it.

MAHMOUD SAROUJI/THE MEDIUM

The study is collecting information from students from four GTA universities.

ALICIA BOATTO ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR U of T is participating in a collaborative transit study to examine student travel to schools from across the GTA. Collecting data from students at York University, OCAD, Ryerson, and U of T, the study is to examine if commutes to and from campus influence participation in campus activities, class attendance, or course selection by looking at student responses to survey questions. The survey was delivered over a 64-day period last fall.

According to preliminary results of the survey, 20 percent of students who live within 20 minutes of their school and 70 percent of students who commute over an hour answered yes when asked if their commute affected their likelihood of attending class or being involved on campus. Researchers behind the study are suggesting that schools use this information to adjust class scheduling.

“This project arose from my invitation to the other presidents of the other universities in Toronto to come together to address issues that

affect all of our students, faculty, and staff, so that by working together, we might improve the quality of their daily experiences,” said U of T president Meric Gertler when presenting the initiative in front of the university’s Governing Council meeting held last Thursday.

Professor Matti Siemiatycki and doctoral candidate Chris Harding are heading the project, which has collected a reported 15,000 student surveys across the four institutions.

According to Gertler, the project “was one of the largest surveys of student travel behaviour in history”.

In the survey, students were asked to write a log entry pertaining to their daily commutes, including weekend travel, which, according to Harding, is virtually nonexistent in the Toronto region.

Seeking to implement change not only across the four universities, but also across the region of Toronto, the study focuses on students’ commutes to class and personal transit experiences outside of the classroom.

“This is active research. This is meant to inform change,” said Siemiatycki. “StudentMoveTO is one of these unique initiatives that brings together the four universities to re-

ally model and understand travel behaviour across the entire region.”

With plans to publish study findings at an undisclosed date, Harding and his team hope to expand the initiative to include college statistics, and eventually, provincial and national data.

Also on the agenda at Governing Council, the university’s highest decision making body, a motion was passed by governors to establish a VP international position responsible for international communications, initiatives, and global strategies on behalf of the university.

According to a report presented to Governing Council, current VP international, government, and institutional relations Judith Wolfson is ending her yearlong term this June. Last February, Gertler appointed Professor Janice Stein as senior presidential advisor on international initiatives to conduct consultations across the university pertaining to the university’s international outreach, which resulted in an indicated need for a dedicated position.

It is currently unknown who will fill the VP international position.

McCallion named Sheridan chancellor

UTMSU supports Laurentian students KASSANDRA HANGDAAN ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR Following Laurentian University’s administrative decision to completely close its Barrie campus by May 2019, UTMSU called on its board and staff to partake in a demonstration planned at the Barrie campus earlier this month.

In an email to UTMSU staff, executives, board members, and volunteers, UTMSU executive director Walied Khogali called on the members to attend the full-day February 18 demonstration demanding that Laurentian University allow students to complete their degrees prior to the closure of the campus.

In an email to The Medium, UTMSU president Ebi Agbeyegbe decried the closure of the campus, but did not answer any questions related to the demonstration or how many UTM students traveled to the Barrie campus to take part.

“The University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union proudly stands in solidarity with the students studying at the Laurentian University Barrie campus, who have been given the option to either uproot their lives and move to Sudbury or take courses online in order to finish their degrees,”

LSU claims they were excluded from meetings to decide on the closure of the campus. said Agbeyegbe. “We are appalled that such a dramatic decision was made to terminate classes at the campus without any prior consultation with students.”

According to multiple media reports, the Laurentian Students’ Union claim they were excluded from meet-

ings held by school’s board of governors to decide on the closure of the campus.

In a news release published by Laurentian on February 12, the university made public the way in which students will be able to complete their studies.

“All students currently enrolled in Laurentian’s programs in Barrie will be able to complete their studies and graduate with a Laurentian degree through a combination of oncampus, online, and distance courses.

Individual meetings are being scheduled with every student currently registered at Laurentian in Barrie,” read the release.

In response to the decision, the Laurentian Students’ Union has started an online petition demanding that current students enrolled at the Barrie campus be allowed to complete their education at the campus. The petition has over 1,300 signatures so far.

ANDREEA MIHAI/THE MEDIUM

McCallion will be instated as chancellor this June.

SHEHNOOR KHURRAM NICOLE DANESI NEWS EDITOR Sheridan College has named former Mississauga mayor Hazel McCallion as its first chancellor in the institution’s 49-year history.

It was announced last Tuesday that McCallion will be officially instated this June into the unpaid position spanning a term of three years, which includes responsibilities such as overseeing Sheridan’s convocation. In the interim, McCallion is currently acting as chancellor-designate.

Having ended her term as mayor in 2014, 95-year-old McCallion was welcomed by Jeff Zabudsky, Sheri-

dan’s president and vice chancellor, at the announcement event attended by current Mississauga mayor Bonnie Crombie among other dignitaries.

McCallion will be officially instated this June into the unpaid position spanning a term of three years.

“We can think of no one better suited for this role, and no better ambassador for our institution,” stated Zabudsky.

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02.29.2016

EDITORS

On free speech and endorsements

Editor-in-Chief Maria Iqbal editor@themedium.ca

Last week’s letter on Roosh V raised questions about The Medium’s views

MASTHEAD

Managing Editor Maria Cruz managing@themedium.ca News Nicole Danesi news@themedium.ca A&E Kate Cattell-Daniels arts@themedium.ca Features Farah Qaiser features@themedium.ca Sports Eric Hewitson sports@themedium.ca — Photo Mahmoud Sarouji photos@themedium.ca Design Sarah Yassine design@themedium.ca Copy Akshaya Sharma copy@themedium.ca Online & Blog Corey Belford Kimberly Johnson online@themedium.ca blog@themedium.ca ASSOCIATES News Menna Elnaka Kassandra Hangdaan Alicia Boatto A&E Hailey Mason Features Mahnoor Ayub Sports Daniel Bilyk Photo Christy Tam Olivia Adamczyk Copy Farah Khan Maleeha Iqbal GENERAL STAFF Webmaster Luke Sawczak web@themedium.ca Interim Distribution Manager Eric Hewitson distribution@themedium.ca Ads Manager Mayank Sharma ads@themedium.ca Cartoonist Corey Belford BOARD OF DIRECTORS Maryam Faisal, Jeremy Wu, Leo Jiang, Natalia Ramnarine, Rebecca Xu, Saima Khan (ex-officio), Christine Capewell (ex-officio) COPYRIGHTS All content printed in The Medium is the sole property of its creators, and cannot be used without written consent.

DISCLAIMER Opinions expressed in the pages of The Medium are exclusively of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Medium. Additionally, the opinions expressed in advertisements appearing in The Medium are those of advertisers and not of The Medium.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters to the editor will be edited for spelling, grammar, style and coherence. Letters will not exceed 700 words in print. Letters that incite hatred or violence and letters that are racist, homophobic, sexist, or libelous will not be published.

Anonymous letters will not be published.

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To contribute, email editor@themedium.ca

Freedom of speech has been a difficult topic for me personally to wrap my head around. On the one hand, I’ve generally been opposed to statements that, even if not qualified as hate speech, strictly speaking, promote ignorance and lead to harm.

I’m often reminded of last year’s attacks on Charlie Hebdo and how that created a major discussion about freedom of speech and what, if any, should be its limitations. And while my views on the subject remain anything but simple, I do recognize that forcible censorship of individuals by third parties does at times provoke even worse reactions than what was initially censored.

Furthermore, censoring a person from saying something doesn’t mean that the person will stop holding those views. And in fact, as has often been the case in history, banning or burning specific works doesn’t mean people will stop reading them—in fact, it might just make people more curious about what they say.

So, it was fascinating for me to

read last week’s letter on Roosh V and whether or not he should be given the right to propagate his views. I was pleased to see people engage in debate with the writer in their comments on our website.

After all, at its heart, last week’s letter was about whether or not someone whose views meet with

The point of having an opinion section is to engage in thoughtful debate about topics— not promote a specific ideology. wide disapproval should still be permitted to continue to share those views. So I’m glad to see that several people who disagreed with the letter took the opportunity to share their own views on the topic rather than try to censor the writer.

And yet, there were some who questioned our choice to publish the letter. One person, for ex-

ample, commented on the poor choice of The Medium to “endorse” the letter in Roosh’s defence. To clarify, publication in The Medium does not equate to endorsement.

Indeed, we have a disclaimer in our opinion section that says, “Opinions expressed in the pages of The Medium are exclusively of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Medium.” We have published and continue to publish opinions that we personally do not agree with—the point of having an opinion section is to engage in thoughtful debate about topics, not promote a specific ideology.

Don’t get me wrong: we do have policies for what we will and will not publish. For letters, it’s that we don’t publish ones “that incite hatred or violence and letters that are racist, homophobic, sexist, or libelous”. And for anyone who’s still in doubt, there is indeed a distinction between arguing in favour of a person’s right to speak and indulging in hate speech oneself. In other words, the letter itself was not a form of hate speech.

But if you have any qualms about last week’s letter or about Roosh V or any other subject, you are more than welcome to write us a letter in response. We almost always publish letters, as long as we have space and it adheres to the policy mentioned above. I should add that another part of that policy is that we don’t publish anonymous letters; so, if you have an opinion, you have to have the courage to put your name on it.

After all, if one person’s views are really wrong, why don’t we just respond and prove it?

YOURS, MARIA IQBAL

CORRECTION NOTICE The photo for the Feb. 22 article “Panels, speakers, and more” should have been credited to Andreea Mihai instead of Olivia Adamczyk. The name of the author for the letter “In defence of Roosh V” should have been spelled Philip Rolo.

02.29.2016

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Blackfriar actors have good sea legs Theatre Erindale actors return to the theme of mistaken identity with a shipwreck on the side KATE CATTELL-DANIELS A&E EDITOR I somehow managed to talk myself into the idea that Pericles, Prince of Tyre, the second installment in Theatre Erindale’s Blackfriars Project, would somehow be less confusing than Comedy of Errors.

How wrong I was.

Watch enough of Shakespeare’s plays and some trends start to emerge. The guy likes his shipwrecks.

I mean, he really, really likes his shipwrecks. He likes shipwrecks so much that there are two of them in Pericles.

Shakespeare also has a thing for lost daughters, just-kidding-she’s-notactually-dead mothers, and the old staple of mistaken identity.

Though director Patrick Young impressed upon me in an interview recently that the main thematic link between Comedy of Errors and Pericles is that they are both about lost families who are reunited, I disagree.

I think the biggest similarity is that both plays are such a far stretch from what is actually possible in the world and yet somehow Shakespeare, and both of these productions, manage to pull it off.

Here’s what happens in Pericles.

Pay attention, because there will be a quiz.

After running away from a life-

JIM SMAGATA/PHOTO

Pericles, Prince of Tyre is the second installment in the Blackfriar’s Project. threatening situation involving a very pretty but licentious girl, a young king named Pericles (Brett Houghton) gets shipwrecked. He meets another (more pure) girl (Alma Sarai), whom he marries. She gets pregnant.

On their way back to Pericles’s homeland, they get (almost) shipwrecked again. Thaisa, the wife, dies giving birth on the ship in a storm. Pericles names his daughter Marina (Marissa Otto) and leaves her in the care of another king (Shawn Doyle) and queen (Lauren Wolanski).

Marina grows up and the queen decides she is too much competition for her own biological daughter. A servant is sent to kill Marina, but she is instead kidnapped by pirates and sold to a brothel.

What follows is the gentle pandemonium of everyone, through miraculous coincidences, getting back together. People come back from the dead. They bump into each other pretty much by accident. The gods inform them of each other’s whereabouts. And in the end it all ties up

nicely, with the royal couple reunited and Marina married off to her wouldbe rapist who turns out to be an okay guy (Shawn Doyle).

The production makes excellent use of the set they have. With a raised platform in the middle of the stage and a translucent curtain that pulls across, the set juggles interior and exterior scenes, ships, and all manner of different kingdoms. Like in Comedy of Errors, the biggest changes happen through the use of projections and lighting. These are incredibly useful

in keeping the locations straight.

The whole cast provides solid performances and a good understanding of the (complicated) text.

Special mentions go to Houghton and Wolanski, both of whom provide grounded characters both while playing their own age as well as those same characters some 14 years later.

I was also particularly fond of Jack Comerford’s performance as two murderers, both sent to kill someone and both of whom fail. It’s a moment of clever, almost meta-theatrical doubling.

Bryn Kennedy gets a lot of contrast in her characters: she goes from playing Marina’s sweet and loving nurse to the bawd who buys the same girl from pirates in order to auction off her virginity to the highest bidder.

Pericles as a play strikes me as a mashup between Romeo and Juliet and The Winter’s Tale. It’s a happyending version of the star-crossed lovers and the separated and reunited family. This version, though undoubtedly edited, is still long and at times a little slow. I found myself wanting a little more action-packed speed, especially since there is so much movement already written into this play.

Pericles, Prince of Tyre ran until February 28.

Chaos is king in Hart House Theatre farce The final show of Hart House’s ’15/16 season goes out with a slam of doors and a conflict of fiancées ANTON MYKYTENKO On February 26, Hart House Theatre opened its doors for opening night of Boeing Boeing. This is also the last play of the 2015/16 season, opening on the same stage that brought We the Family and Hamlet to U of T. Boeing Boeing was originally written in French, set in 1960s Paris. The story follows a young architect who keeps three fiancées as a harem. The repeated “Boeing” in the title refers to their professions as flight attendants on three separate airlines.

As the audience shuffled in, the inside of a Paris apartment stood on stage, furnished with a marble minibar, a coffee table, leather seats, and an unusually large painting of the Eiffel Tower. A wall with five doors took up most of the stage. Two more doorways to the immediate left and right of the stage gave the set the feel of a luxurious apartment.

The stage was illuminated with bright yellow light as a man in a suit with neatly-cropped hair began to walk around the apartment rhythmically to upbeat music. A girl sporting a pink nightgown came out of the

CHRISTY TAM/THE MEDIUM

Bernard has a lot on his plate. double doors, greeting the man with a kiss. Lastly, a maid entered from the right doorway, upstage, exclaiming her annoyance with a sigh, timed to the sigh of the singer in the music. Altogether a great opening.

When the music stops, the couple sit down to breakfast and we find out that the girl in the nightgown is Gloria (Eliza Martin), an American with a thick New York accent. But she is only the first in a line of three bright-

ly-dressed, yellow, blue, and green flight attendants that Bernard (Brandon Gillespie) keeps on his schedule.

The play unravels as Robert Lambert (Andrei Preda), an old goofy school friend of Bernard’s from

Wisconsin, shows up while passing through Paris to visit his uncle. When Gloria leaves for her flight, Bernard explains that he is engaged to three flight attendants who fly different routes on different airlines. He describes this as “the perfect number”.

Berthe (Jill McMillan), Bernard’s sassy, stressed out, middle-aged French maid interrupts him multiple times, complaining about how “everyone is always coming and going” around the apartment.

Berthe’s makeup is extremely well done. On first glance, I was absolutely convinced that she was played by a middle-aged woman. The only betrayal was that McMillan’s headshot in the program looked nothing at all like her on-stage character.

Halfway into the first act of the play, Gretchen (Shalyn McFaul)— Bernard’s German girl—arrives eight hours early. What comes next is a hilarious, stressful, and fast-paced series of scenes as Robert, Bernard, and Berthe attempt to navigate between Gretchen and Gabriella (Kate Corbridge)—the Italian.

Farce continued on page 7

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«ARTS

THE MEDIUM 02.29.2016

A murderous good time Singh’s play Blasphemy explores the making of a criminal

KATE CATTELL-DANIELS A&E EDITOR Just Another Ordinary Day starts in a moody place, sounding like your average indie-rock album. Then things get weird. As you might already know, I have a high tolerance for weird. In this case, artist Patrick Watson pushes that tolerance right to the brink of incredulity.

Watson is obviously not a lyricsbased kind of guy. This is my first issue. I realize that it’s entirely personal; I care, and probably some other people don’t. But I can barely understand what Watson is saying, and I’m starting to think that it really doesn’t matter to him. This album is more about mood, tone, and general nightmarish qualities.

The first track on the album and also the title track, “Just Another Ordinary Day”, leaves me unsatisfied. Part of me thinks this is a ploy to make me listen to the rest of the album, but to be honest I get a little exhausted by songs just ending abruptly. There’s no easing in or out, just, “Bang!” and it’s over. But then track two, “Woods”, seems to pick up exactly where “Just Another Ordinary Day” left off. All this makes me wonder if the point was to create a concept album, because if I weren’t following along, I would never have known where one song stopped and the next began.

The genre of Just Another Ordinary Day swings between alternative rock and jazz, strung together with a lot of piano. It’s

Loreena McKennit meets Broken Social Scene—but I’d have felt better about it if everything didn’t blur together.

One song that does stick out to me is “Silent City”. Listening to it, I start to see a movie playing in my head where there’s a ballet dancer walking down alleys in a bad part of town, while big black birds circle overhead. It’s a soundtrack to someone’s nightmare. Maybe mine.

I’m not sure yet. Either way, whoever was in charge of the music in Black Swan would have done well to invest in Watson.

If I weren’t following along, I would never have known where one song stopped and the next began.

The song “Shame” stands out to me because it goes on for nearly eight minutes, further justifying my point about the concept album.

It’s too long. It could be that I’m just a product of a generation with no attention span, but I can handle a really good five- or six-minute song. Seven is pushing it. In eight minutes I could go to the store, buy milk, and make it home again.

Watson would never even know I’d been gone.

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AYMAN KHAN/PHOTO

Singh wrote and directed Blasphemy.

RIAUD ABDUL Last Monday marked the premiere of Siddharth Singh’s Blasphemy, UTM’s annual murder mystery play produced by the EDSS in conjunction with the Forensics Society.

Once the lights dimmed, all that seemed to exist were the devoted actors engaged with each other on set.

The production was not only dark and gritty, but also extremely captivating.

The show implemented elements of CSI, Silence of the Lambs, and Psycho in its characters.

Each character had its own unique traits. Lindsay Wu’s Clarice Fox was portrayed as a powerful, strong detective who wasn’t afraid to speak her mind. Quite often, she clashed in a humorous and dramatic manner with other characters. While this type of character has been seen in the past, this may be the first time an audience has been introduced to one that also identifies as a lesbian, and does so with confidence.

Christian Choi and Tobi Ogude embodied the masculinity that is part of the media’s portrayal of police officers. The detective and sergeant depict a “boy’s club” ideal of policing, which is impinged upon by Fox’s headstrong style.

Marissa Orjalo and Hannah Gilbert, two call girls, also bring the stage to life, each interacting in different ways. Orjalo plays the seductive Sasha, while Gilbert’s performance emits a heartwarming innocence. These characters both complement Lucas Blakely’s Roy Franklin. Franklin is the psychopath of the play, and though each call girl initially interacts with him comfortably, his calm demeanor changes as he deteriorates into an unstable killer. They both react and convey the sense of urgency that one would have in a potentially life-threatening situation. In fact, Orjalo’s scream is likely the most bloodcurdling thing to happen during the show.

This review would simply not be complete without mentioning Blakely’s work. He depicts a character with emotional instability, but amongst the detectives he maintains an extreme calmness and poise. During his flashbacks, he devolves from a distant, quiet individual to something much worse.

With the haunting chants from his deceased mother, Franklin slowly loses control of his temper and snaps on every individual in his presence. One of the highlights of his performance happens when he takes his loss of control and directs it through monologue.

He addresses the audience, engaging

members with eerie stares and an uncomfortable closeness.

This is a project that Singh takes pride in. This story, one year in the making, had initially been adapted for film; logistics made this unlikely and this resulted in a reworked adaptation for live theatre. Singh states that this stage adaptation created the opportunity for the story to be told in a “more intimate fashion”. A psychological murder story had been something he aspired to do for quite some time, and he took the opportunity to pay homage to some of his favourites.

Singh points out that some of his characters carry the names of past killers such as Norman Bates, whose name is reflected in the character of Sergeant Jack Bates. Singh manages to create a vulnerable character with Franklin.

Instead of a character with strength in his insanity, he portrays one where the audience can see his degradation. It is clear that the killer truly has little to no self-control.

Blasphemy possesses depth. Due to the fusion of so many different elements of horror and crime, as well as the diversity of each character, there are no limits to how this play could have concluded, which makes the actual ending even more of a surprise.

Are you smarter than a spelling bee champion?

Musical Theatre Club’s first musical brings laughs, quirky characters, and good music to the stage FATIMA ALVI “Syzygy, S-Y-Z-Y-G-Y, syzygy,” was Rona Lisa Perretti’s winning word in the Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Years later, now that she hosts the spelling bee herself, she makes sure she doesn’t miss a moment to highlight her own victory. So begins the story of the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. The UTM Musical Theatre Club, new to UTM, presented the awardwinning musical Thursday and Friday last week. The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is the Musical Theatre Club’s first production.

A diverse group of sixth graders arrive at the 25th Annual Putnam Spelling Bee eager to win, but all for different reasons. Beautiful and shy Olive (Victoria Ridley) brings her only best friend—the dictionary—to the bee; audacious and hyperallergic William Barfee (Carmellina Anello)

OLIVIA ADAMCZYK/THE MEDIUM

The competition heats up in the Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. uses his “magic foot” to lead him to success; former champion Chip (Lucas Blakeley) struggles with his blooming puberty; overconfident

Leaf (Derek Brockbank) wants to think he is smart enough to be a challenger; disappointed with her consistent success is Marcy (Lindsey Wu),

the overachiever; and politically upto-date Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre (Parnika Celly) only wants to impress her gay dads. With catchy,

appealing, and engaging songs, each speller reveals their hopes, struggles, and passions as they make their way through the competition. The original score is by William Finn and the funny book is written by Rachel Sheinkin.

Director Joana Luchian made some smart choices in her direction.

Transitions between the present scene and flashbacks can be tricky and can easily cause an audience to lose track of the scenes. Luchian plays around with the spotlight colours to indicate whether a scene was taking place in the past or present. Along with the “pandemonium” of the music, the vibrant lights added flavour and life to the performance. Because, as the show tells us, “Life is Pandemonium”, a song that definitely had me tapping my feet and dancing along on the inside.

Bee continued on page 7

02.29.2016 THE MEDIUM ARTS» 7

UTM’s dancing queen Showcase features campus-wide performance groups

REWIND CHRISTINE SHARMA

FACEBOOK.COM/UTMDANCECLUB/PHOTO

Shall we dance?

ZEAHAA REHMAN Friday night delivered a new event to campus: the UTM Dance Showcase, which featured two hours of dancing by six different dance-oriented groups from UTM. The event, hosted by the UTM Dance Club in the MIST Theatre, was packed with students.

The night started at 7:10 p.m.— lucky for me, because I had confused its location with the spelling bee musical that was taking place across the building—with the hosting club performing their opening number to a cover of “Seven Nation Army” by the White Stripes, appropriately titled Seven. Though some of the dancers were a bit out of sync, it was a wonderful ensemble performance choreographed by Marlo Young-Sponga.

They were followed by the UTM Dance Team—not to be confused with the UTM Dance Club, which provides dancing for all levels and does not compete, while the UTM Dance Team does. Consisting of three female dancers performing to the James Bay song “Let It Go”, the UTM Dance Team was simply amazing. They were completely in sync and graceful.

Rhythm Performing Arts, a dance group that focuses on a variety of international dance forms, performed to a medley of international songs, with Enrique Iglesias’s “Bailando” among them. Their performance, Global Flare, was one of my favourites of the night; though they just recreated the original choreography of two of the songs, they flowed together well, were confident, and looked like they were enjoying themselves. They were one of the only two groups with smiles on their

faces throughout their performance.

Next up was a new dance group on campus called Euphoria, which was formed to combine technical training with performance skills. Perhaps because they were new, their group was noticeably out of sync at times and the medley of songs that they performed to did not flow together well. They ended their performance, Not Afraid, with Eminem’s song “Not Afraid”, an appropriate choice.

Though the performance overall was underwhelming, the group definitely shows potential.

The first solo of the night was performed by Mariam Sanchez of the UTM Dance Team—who hadn’t performed during their first routine—to “Cavalier” by James Vincent McMorrow. Her graceful, emotional moves had the entire audience, including me, captivated.

The next performance was my favourite of the night. Three dancers from the Caribbean Connections danced to the sounds of the Caribbean, and their smiles and eye contact with each other combined with their energetic dance moves to create an amazing performance that earned them the biggest round of applause of the night.

They were followed by another solo performance from the UTM Dance Team. Laura Gillis, performing to “My Girl”, put on a terrific performance, with impressive flexibility and poise.

The UTM Dance Club returned with a routine named Avonzado, meaning “advanced” in Spanish, which was dedicated to the choreographer’s grandfather. Their slow, emotion-filled performance won them a large and well deserved round of applause.

Next up was Style and Profyle, whose aim is to raise money and awareness for charity while also showcasing the arts. Their Cha Cha Sway performance to Dean Martin’s “Sway” was awesome, and though the only male dancer’s dancing was a bit off at times, they ended on a good note. Their performance was followed by another performance by the UTM Dance Team, which was on par with their last one.

One of the Euphoria dancers, Morgan Bliss, danced solo to “Tiny Dancer” by Elton John. Though she seemed unsure of herself at times, her routine was well choreographed and impressive.

Rhythm Performing Arts danced to popular pop songs in their final performance, called World of Pop. They danced to “Here” by Alessia Cara, “Sorry” by Justin Bieber and— my favourite—“Bang Bang Bang” by the South Korean group BIGBANG. Their routine was lively, energetic, and earned lots of praise from the audience.

The UTM Dance Team returned for their final performance of the night. The four ladies tap danced to “Sir Duke” by Stevie Wonder and their confident smiles and footwork made the performance a pleasure to watch. It was one of the audience favourites, as well as mine.

The UTM Dance Club ended the show with an energetic hip-hop routine. This performance was better than their first one, and their song of choice—“Lose Control” by Missy Elliott—had the audience cheering and hooting.

This new event at UTM undoubtedly has the potential to continue to be a hit in the future.

Who will bee victorious?

Bee continued from page 6 Luchian couldn’t have had a better transition into the intermission than, “We will be taking a 20-minute break.

There are snacks in the vending machine.” It was hilarious and got the whole crowd to burst into roars of laughter.

Perretti (Kathryn Beisel) made an impression on me. Having held the previous position of winner of the spelling bee and now conducting it as a host for many years, she shows her overloaded passion and dedication to

the bee. With her crisp clothes, upright posture and little-miss-perfect attitude, Perretti is the ideal candidate to take part in a spelling bee. At least, that’s what she thinks.

Every actor brought the production to life in a way that could be felt by the mark each student leaves on you. I enjoyed the witty and quirky remarks of vice-principal Douglas Panch (Mussie Berhane) and Dinah Johnjules’ smooth doubling of characters as she swiftly went from being Leaf ’s mom to being Olive’s mom and singing in her melodic voice.

The eccentric character of Leaf Coneybear stood out to me the most and every remark had me crying of laughter.

In one of the final scenes, William Barfee is declared the champion of the spelling bee after facing off with Olive Ostrovsky. Between the two, a subtle love interest arises.

It is evident that the takeaway from the production is to never underestimate anyone or judge their ability by appearance. Nothing is impossible— you just have to try before demeaning your ability.

As Michael J. Fox’s career-launching movie and one that will keep you in the loop of pop culture references like “make like a tree”, Back to the Future is a classic.

Mad scientist “Doc” Emmett Brown (Christopher Lloyd) creates a time machine out of an old DeLorean, and his teenaged friend Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) accidentally uses it and travels back in time to 1955. Marty encounters his teenaged parents, George and Lorraine, and has to get them to fall in love while his father’s nemesis, Biff Tannen, gets in the way.

What this movie does best is create iconic phrases, characters, symbols, and scenes: a DeLorean will forever be a time machine to viewers, every clock tower is a location for significant events, and Michael J. Fox can’t ever shake the McFly image.

Marty and Doc make an iconic duo with their witty catchphrases and distinct personalities: Doc as the older but not always wiser scientist; Marty as the aloof yet logical

teenager. Their comedic timing and chemistry are still sought after in comedy films today and keep viewers engaged throughout the movie.

A major theme in this movie is relationships, both with family and with friends. The sentimental value of Doc and Marty’s friendship, or Marty’s relationship with his parents and girlfriend, or even his parents’ relationship with one another cannot be overlooked while watching this film—attachment to the characters is inevitable.

Let’s not forget about the second and third parts to this franchise, the second of which created “Back to the Future Day” on October 21, 2015 with the story of Marty’s future, and the third of which is about Doc in the Wild West.

It seems logical that Back to the Future is a cult classic for a reason.

If you haven’t seen it, it’s a wonder you understand any pop culture references at all. Also, maybe you live under a rock. If Back to the Future is still on your list of movies to watch, I’d recommend taking advantage of your next study break to do just that.

MMMM

Please fasten your seatbelts Farce continued from page 5 The few moments before intermission were especially agitating. Robert, panicky and awkward, ran circles around the apartment and told Gabriella wild lies to keep her away from the master bedroom, where Gretchen rested. He told Gabriella that the master bedroom was promised to him by Bernard, that he had unpacked already, and that he would be embarrassed to have a beautiful girl like Gabriella see his belongings.

Bernard was clueless until he opened the bedroom for himself. This lead to a hilarious moment of realization in which Bernard proclaimed “oh my God” in high falsetto.

The hallmark of the entire play would have to be the doors of the apartment. When one fiancée enters the room, the other one leaves almost simultaneously. The suspense of watching these moments kept me on edge.

The apartment was divided into a lower and a higher level with the use of a low stage. This might seem like a random feature, but it gave the set a greater depth of dimension, noticeable when Robert bounds up and down the set to stop one fiancée or another from entering a room.

The second act opens with a dim blue glow on a dark set, followed by blue lighting behind the apartment, indicating that night has descended.

Gloria arrives, revealing that her flight was delayed. She kisses Robert multiple times “for practice”, after telling him that his mouth looks like a little flower when he says, “It’s not im-

possible.” What follows is another set of door-slamming mayhem followed

by Gabriella’s and Bernard’s arrival back to the apartment.

After another round of anxiety, Bernard attempts to run from the apartment but Robert drags him back and pins him to the marble bar. An opportune moment for a scene of homoerotic comedy—which is exactly what happened.

Late into the second act, the unspeakable occurs: Gabriella and Gretchen meet. Rather than confessing the truth, Bernard passes off Gretchen, who is now in love with Robert, as Robert’s fiancée. And Gloria leaves, admitting that she’s engaged to two other men, one of whom just made his first million. Bernard and Robert are made to sleep in the living room by their fiancées since they will soon be married. The two men stumble to the chairs, pillows and champagne in hand. Robert asks Bernard to say, “It’s not impossible,” to which he weighs in on the shape of Bernard’s lips. Robert replies, “It doesn’t look like a flower to me.”

The entire cast performed exceptionally, especially Martin, McMillan, Corbridge, and McFaul, who kept consistent accents throughout with no hint of faltering. The costumes were well designed and kept the scene as animated as the writing. Preda and Gillespie’s chemistry on stage was genuinely fun to watch.

Boeing Boeing is a fun, exciting, panic-inducing play and its performance at Hart House this winter was a perfect way to finish off the season.

Boeing Boeing runs until March 5.

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All in for ALL; survivor returns to UTM Marell Tomeh, an acute lymphoblastic leukemia survivor, speaks about her triumphant return FARAH QAISER FEATURES EDITOR Back in 2012, Marell Tomeh joined UTM intending to pursue an English major. As the end of the second term grew closer, Tomeh had one priority on her mind: to survive her finals.

But there was a lump in her neck.

“I honestly wouldn’t have checked it out,” says Tomeh. “I was supposed to [go to] Cuba with a bunch of my friends following the final. So I decided to check it out before I [flew].”

At that point, Tomeh was working long hours as a supervisor at her workplace. She had shifts that lasted from 4 p.m. to midnight, three days a week. Her long shifts along with school and the approaching finals left her feeling very tired.

“I was really tired at that time and a lot of people—like my work friends— would say that I was pale and lightheaded. I was working very heavy hours […] so I expected to be tired. I was oblivious to all the signs,” she says.

Upon visiting her family doctor, Tomeh was asked to do a blood test and found that she had few to no white blood cells and very few neutrophils. Neutrophils are a type of white blood cell—they are generally the first line of defence against invading microbes during an infection.

OLIVIA ADAMCZYK/THE MEDIUM

Marell Tomeh will be participating in the upcoming Canadian Cancer Society’s Relay for Life event.

Tomeh’s family doctor was startled.

“He told my mom that if I want to get diagnosed faster, [I should] go to the emergency room because [he could] book [me] an appointment with an oncologist, but [the wait would] be very long,” says Tomeh.

So Tomeh took her doctor’s advice and headed to the emergency room.

“Doctor after doctor would say, ‘You

might just be fighting a really bad infection.’ That’s what happens when you’re [fighting an infection]—your [white] blood cells go down. I’d come back, they’d do their tests and scans, and say it might be something worse,” says Tomeh.

After visiting three doctors at the emergency room, Tomeh was finally referred to a female oncologist at the

Credit Valley Hospital.

“To be honest, [this doctor] didn’t really take it too seriously. She asked me how I was and I said I was fine [but] tired,” says Tomeh.

The oncologist did a physical exam, but could not decide upon a diagnosis. She arranged for a follow-up visit.

Tomeh recalls a particular moment from that meeting: her mom begging

the oncologist for an earlier appointment, asking, “Can you do anything?

Can you just do something about this?”

The doctor replied, “Honestly, there are people with more priority.”

By now, Tomeh was studying hard for her finals—in fact, she had written two exams. In the fortunate scenario that she was okay, Tomeh didn’t want a deferred exam to prevent her from going to Cuba. Despite her family doctor’s insistence on deferring exams, Tomeh continued to attend school with appropriate precautions, such as wearing a face mask.

When Tomeh returned to the oncologist, her condition had gotten worse. “By the time I went there, I was completely defenceless—I had no neutrophils or white blood cells,” she says.

Her oncologist believed that she could have one of two potential cancers: either Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which would involve a six-month treatment at Credit Valley Hospital, or acute lymphoblastic leukemia, which would involve being transferred to the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and being treated for two years.

Tomeh’s bone marrow biopsy confirmed that it was ALL. ALL continued on page 10

CEOx1day: getting a taste of the hot seat Odgers Berndston’s program paired UTM student to Aon Hewitt Canada’s managing director KARINA COTRAN After seemingly endless hours of hitting the books at the library and stressing about their future, students often ask themselves if they are on the right track. After all, one of the struggles of being a university student is trying to get some firsthand experience related to their studies. It’s not just about padding resumes—it’s reassuring to know what to expect in the job field following graduation.

With this in mind, a Canadian executive search firm, Odgers Berndston, created a program called CEOx1day. This program is designed to match third- and fourthyear university students with some of Canada’s leading chief executive officers. This experience provides students with a rare opportunity to get an inside look at how complex organizations work and observe leadership in action at the top of the business ladder.

Mohamed Sidibe, a fourth-year commerce student and president of the Undergraduate Commerce

MAHMOUD SAROUJI/THE MEDIUM

Mohamed Sidibe is a fourth-year commerce student and president of UTM UCS. Society, had the chance to shadow Allan Shapira, the managing director of Aon Hewitt Canada, a Toronto-based consulting firm.

On February 11, Sidibe woke up

early in the morning to commute to Toronto. Upon his arrival at the Aon Hewitt office on King Street, Rosa Damonte (the corporate communications leader) warmly

welcomed him. With a busy agenda set for the day ahead, Sidibe sat down and talked with the chief financial officer, Mo Ashore.

“We then met with his team,

where we discussed about more technical stuff, which I really liked as I was able to relate some of my courses to the concept they were talking about,” says Sidibe.

Sidibe was expected to meet and shadow Shapira for the rest of the day. He recalls that he “was really excited and also a bit nervous at the idea of meeting such a great leader”.

Sidibe’s first impression of Shapira was a positive one as Shapira welcomed him “with a great smile and a strong handshake”. Any awkwardness or tension that may have been there immediately vanished when Shapira offered Sidibe a gift bag of AON and Manchester United–sponsored items.

“We then sat down and talked one-on-one, where I had the chance to tell him a bit more about myself, my different experiences, and my diverse background as well as learn more about his career and his path to CEO and his interests,” says Sidibe.

CEO continued on page 9

02.29.2016 THE MEDIUM FEATURES» 9

BidThrone launched: auctions galore The start-up luxury auction website was launched this January, has had a total of 10 auctions MICHAEL JACKMAN WITH NOTES FROM FARAH QAISER FEATURES EDITOR Hassan Nawaz is the founder and sole owner of BidThrone: a start-up luxury auction website that was launched in early January. Currently, the website has approximately 200 members and offers Japanese and citizen-style auctions.

Nawaz, a fourth-year CCIT student who will graduate this year, says that the website has had a total of 10 successful auctions, where the first auction involved a pure one-ounce gold coin that was purchased successfully by a female in India.

The Medium spoke to Nawaz to find out the story behind the startup and what makes this one different from other auction sites.

The Medium: I’m on the website right now and I can see that there’s a leaderboard. What’s that?

Hassan Nawaz: The word “BidThrone” is an interesting term. There’s “bid” like bidding, and then there’s “throne”. As you win auctions, you

HASSAN NAWAZ/THE MEDIUM

Hassan Nawaz, a fourth-year CCIT student, is the founder of the auction website BidThrone. get a rank. If you win the first auction, you’re a joker and it goes all the way up to a king. You can see how well people are doing across the world or compete to become the leader.

TM: How do you choose which items go on your website?

HN: We only put up luxury items and we handpick them. From pre-

cious metals to iPhones, MacBooks, purses—always the best brands out there. We get them directly from the manufacturers with full warranty, so you can be sure of the quality.

TM: Can you tell us about the different auction styles—for example, how are the Japanese and citizen auctions different?

Muslim Talks returns

HN: The way Japanese auctions work is [that] you don’t buy any bids.

There is a private auction and everyone must join before the timer closes.

As soon as the timer runs out, bidding happens at random intervals and the last man standing wins. […] The way it works is that the price goes up in random intervals through algorithms

FACEBOOK.COM/UTMMSA/PHOTO

AYESHA TIRMZI

lights of the event.

Last Friday, UTM MSA ended Islam Awareness Week with their second annual “Muslim Talks” event. Inspired by the concept of TED Talks, Muslim Talks focuses on providing a space for influential and impactful Muslim individuals to come and share their experiences with the general UTM student body.

The lineup consisted of six inspirational speakers who talked about this year’s IAW theme of building bridges between Muslims and the rest of Canadian society. Speakers included Farheen Kahn (the only woman wearing a hijab to run in the 2015 federal election as an MP candidate) and AbuHafsah AbdulMalik Clare (a motivational speaker).

The Medium rounded up the high-

MOHAMMAD FAKIH President of Paramount Finefoods Mohammad Fakih’s tale began with finding a modest restaurant behind a police station in an industrial location, which today has changed to something so paramount that it is currently open in 30 locations around the world. By this December, it will be competing worldwide as the biggest franchise that provides halal Middle Eastern cuisine.

Fakih emphasized how far one could go if their commitment to an idea was strong enough. Using his entrepreneurship skills, Fakih said that he saw investing in this restaurant as an opportunity to alter the way the West looked at Muslims “by presenting our culture and halal food

in an accessible manner to others and our future children”.

When asked about how to stay honest and true to one’s original vision even after achieving so much success, Fakih said to “never allow your ego to stand between you and your success—stay humble and tell others in your team [to do] the same”.

Fakih’s vision for Paramount is to “offer and feed everyone’s children what I would like to feed mine” and to normalize unique Islamic cultural arrangements in the Western world that have not been done before. Examples of these are creating reliable outlets for halal food, offering a range of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisine, and providing prayer spaces in its restaurants.

Talks continued on page 10

Bidding continued on page 10

Sidibe’s day as CEO CEO continued from page 8

Speakers included Farheen Khan, Dr. Hamid Slimi, Mohamed Zeyara, and Mohammad Fakih.

that we don’t even know. Our coders have made it and that is how we are showcasing transparency.

The main difference between both the [Japanese and citizen auctions] is that [in the] citizen [auctions] you buy bids and place them. You can join in any time and the last person standing will win. There’s basically a war happening and we set the clock to 15 seconds […] You have to outbid the other person to win in this [particular] auction [style].

TM: What about the Candle and Pandora auctions—when will those be released?

HN: We’re hoping to launch them in the next six months.

Back in the day, elites would sit in one room with a boxed candle. They would keep bidding until the candle would go out. No one knows when the candle will go out [as] it [is] random. […] I want to take that online [as the Candle style auction]. I was fascinated with that whole approach.

The way it’ll work on our platform is, again, random [time] intervals based on when the candle will go out.

Soon after, Sidibe and Shapira headed to the People Manager’s briefing meeting, which was a preparation for the actual meeting happening later in the afternoon.

The People Manager’s meeting is a meeting that Damonte and Shapira put together in order to communicate to the entire AON team the goals that they have for the year and their future projects and to also update them on their current performance.

“In that meeting, we reviewed the slides for the meeting, and I was told the role that I will be playing during this important meeting as the CEO for the day,” explains Sidibe.

After this, Sidibe had the chance to connect more personally with Shapira, Ashore, and Damonte during lunch at the Ritz.

After lunch, the unlikely group took the subway to the Sheppard and Yonge Corporate Centre, where Sidibe got an inside look into how a business is run.

“I had the chance to learn more about the outsourcing part of the business and visit the call centre, as well as meet the managers and employees there,” says Sidibe.

The People Manager’s meeting comprised more than 200 managers (with 75 in the room and more than 150 via conference call).

Sidibe was sitting next to Shapira, Ashore, and the chief of HR. “My role during the meeting was to introduce myself and explain why I was present there. I also had the chance to introduce the next speakers and the topic they would talk about,” Sidibe says.

He continues that he “was really

impressed by the magnitude of the meeting and was lucky to see firsthand how a leader delivers his message and communicates to his team his goals for the company”.

As the meeting ended, so did Sidibe’s day as a CEO. Overall, Sidibe learned, “Leadership is about communicating the right message to the team you are working with in order to achieve the targeted goals,” and, “Leadership is also a lot about compromising and listening—as [Shapira] told me, we have ‘two ears and one mouth’, so we need to use them proportionally.”

“We have ‘two ears and one mouth’, so we need to use them proportionally.”

—Mohamed Sidibe Sidibe believes that the CEOx1day program offered him an opportunity that a university classroom cannot imitate: an experience in the field and interacting with some of the most influential leaders of Canadian companies.

“The experience was really more than I expected. I knew I was going to learn a great deal about effective leadership, but not to the extent that I did,” he says. By spending the day with [Shapira], I had the chance to learn about effective leadership, the consulting field, [and] the different skills it requires to be a great leader, and I ultimately was able to build great connections for my professional network.”

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THE MEDIUM 02.29.2016

Tomeh emphasizes mental health ALL continued from page 8 With this final diagnosis, Tomeh was told to leave UTM and her job. At the Princess Margaret Centre, a second biopsy revealed that her leukemic cell count had increased from 84 to about 90 cells. She was immediately transferred to treatment.

ALL treatment involves three phases. The first is “remission induction”, where all leukaemia cells present in the blood or bones are destroyed through chemotherapy. This phase lasts for a month. The “consolidation” phase is next, which involves more chemotherapy to prevent the return of leukemia. Finally, “maintenance therapy”, which is carried out to keep leukemia in remission, involves lowdose chemotherapy and steroids for up to two years.

“I didn’t tell a lot of people—I wasn’t very public about it,” says Tomeh. “I also developed really bad anxiety. I never had that before—I was always very social growing up. So for the entire two years, I’ve been under the radar. I deactivated all social media. I didn’t want any part of it—I needed to create my own world.”

When Tomeh was first diagnosed, she had been counting down the days to her return to UTM. “How many courses [could] I take to graduate a little bit earlier? I was so ready to get my life back,” she recalls. “[But] it doesn’t end with the last dose

of chemo—you still have physical recovery and mental recovery. I didn’t anticipate all the struggles I would have [afterwards].”

During her treatment, Tomeh’s friends constantly invited her to spend time with them, but Tomeh declined their invitations.

“If you knew me before, you’d definitely know that I laugh at everything [and that there were] no problems going on […] That was part of the reason that I hid. Instead of telling my friends that I had anxiety and I didn’t want to do this, I just cut them off,” she says.

Tomeh’s treatment came to an end last July. Looking back, Tomeh reflects on the importance of mental health, commenting that she believed it was more difficult for her to cope with mental health than the cancer itself.

“I just want people to understand that even the happiest person has problems [and that] even the strongest person needs help. I say that all the time because before this I was always seen as a rock […] and this time I was completely defenceless. I lost everything that defined me: my work, my school […] It’s one thing to be sick or […] lose your physical health, but once you lose your mental health, you can’t face the world without your mind—without your sense of self,” says Tomeh.

Tomeh considered taking courses

when she was in a lighter part of her treatment and registered as a parttime student to do so. But she decided not to follow through on her studies due to her anxiety. She chose instead to sign up for French classes and to do an online course during the winter 2014 term, as it helped get her back into the school mindset and have something to do at her own comfort level.

Last September, Tomeh returned to UTM. She is once again pursuing an English major, with thoughts of perhaps joining the PWC program too.

Tomeh will also be taking part in the Canadian Cancer Society’s Relay for Life event at the St. George campus on March 11, as part of a team called “ALL for ALL”, and giving a speech about her story.

“It’s significant for me and my supporters […] just [to go] there and see me take a step forward because I know how much I was struggling with everything,” says Tomeh.

However, studying for a career is no longer her top priority.

“Before cancer, I was studying to be a teacher. I was a little disappointed in myself—I thought I could be something more,” says Tomeh. “Now I just don’t care [about] what I do or how much money I make. I literally just want a life where I can come back home, enjoy time with my family and my kids, and invest in life—and not in work.”

Speakers discussed “bad PR” Talks continued from page 8 DR. HAMID SLIMI Founder of Sayeda Khadija Centre Having both traditional and academic education from Morocco, the US, and the UK, Dr. Hamid Slimi’s talk was perhaps the most bridgebuilding talk of the night. With his extensive expertise in interfaith dialogue and knowledge in Islamic studies and law, he claimed that “communities where interfaith is active are healthy”.

By pinpointing the several problems that have caused Islam to have bad PR today, Slimi advocated the plurality of Islam and its openness to other faiths and people. He stated that when certain media moguls choose not to portray the real Islam in the news for fear of it being too boring to sell, they instead opt for the extremist, war-mongering image that can incite fears in others.

But aside from that problem, Muslims amongst themselves also have to deal with their own baggage: cultural barriers that wrongfully take precedence over religious teachings, misinterpretations of texts due to translations that are not contextualized, and failure to integrate the revelation of the religion with the reality of modern day.

Slimi said that Islam as a religion itself does not have problems; it is the Muslims who need to rethink and reform their approach to Islam, taking into account how much justice they are truly giving to the religion itself when they say they are following it. It seems that things are not so simple and there is a lot of work that needs to be done from both inside

and out.

Slimi constantly repeated, “You cannot be a good Muslim until you become a good human being, and you cannot become a good human being until you understand what humanity is all about.” He urged everyone to build bridges by showing respect and concern for others regardless of their various backgrounds and become “someone who is seen by every human as a good person”.

most need to excel in their own sphere and “then venture out of their bubbles to meet other bubbles”. That is where bridge-building can begin.

Farooqi shared her experience of being a professor in a hijab and how being out of her bubble made her anxious at times, but also excited because she got to meet so many curious and interested students who wanted to know more about her bubble, allowing her the chance to build bridges every day in her classes.

NAEEMA FAROOQI Professor of communication and PR at Humber College Toronto’s School of Media and Information Technology

MOHAMED ZEYARA Humanitarian activist and filmmaker Mohamed Zeyara was the youngest speaker of the night. Born in Canada, the 22-year-old is an activist by day and a medical student by night. He is best known for his Inspiration series (currently airing its second season), which has over 300,000 views on YouTube, and his recent documentary, Al-Najwa Villages In Mali, where he and his team carried out a range of charity projects such as building wells, medical facilities, mosques, and spaces for classrooms.

Zeyara’s talk focused on how to reach one’s goals and what he considers success, saying, “As long as there is progress [in your life towards the goal], that within itself is success.”

He also gave tips towards changing one’s habits to reach those goals, saying that the most important takeaway he wanted from his talk was “to have faith in God; that God will help you”, and most of all to “have faith in yourself [and] be persistent enough to reach that goal”.

“Never allow your ego to stand between you and your success—stay humble and tell others in your team the same.”

—Mohammad Fakih As founder and editor-in-chief of The Link Canada Magazine, Professor Naeema Farooqi talked about the unfortunate reality of the portrayal of Muslims in the media and how one could navigate this problem.

She said that human beings function by giving priority to themselves in forming bubbles for themselves— that “it is all about me being comfortable in my social sphere”. But because Muslims are currently only news-generators (instead of newsmakers) who have no control over their own portrayal, Farooqi proposed that Muslims first and fore-

For this week’s Blackboard Special, fourth-

and Connor Fitzpatrick (a fourth-year biol-

year CCIT and English double major Chris-

ogy Ph.D. student). Each student is as-

tine Sharma has provided her recipe for

signed to a specific day—for example,

healthy oatmeal.

Sharma’s first vlog for the season was

Sharma is currently a vlogger for UT-

released last Friday.

Mental’s third season. UTMental is an HCC

So why don’t you kick back—with a

initiative that involves students sharing

bowl of Sharma’s recommended healthy

their thoughts and encouraging conver-

oatmeal—and check out her first vlog? I

sations regarding mental health through

will—as soon as I can find out what chia

vlogs. This year, the vloggers include five

seeds are.

diverse UTM students, including Andrew Fenech (a member of UTM’s Green Team) Easy Oatmeal SERVES 2

INGREDIENTS • ½ cup water • 1/3 cup plain quick oats (any brand)

that water reaches about 1 cm above oat-level.

3. Heat the mixture in the microwave for

• 1 banana

about 1 minute 15 seconds. Peek into

• 1–2 tsp honey

the microwave every few seconds to

• Berries, any kind

ensure that the oats do not overflow.

• Pinch of chia or flax seeds

Remove the container from the micro-

• 1 tbsp peanut butter or seed butter (Sharma recommends seed butter from

wave.

4. Dollop peanut or seed butter and

Bulk Barn, as its “great if you’re allergic

drizzle honey on top of the mixture. Wait

to nuts”.)

for a few seconds to allow the mixture to melt, then mix until smooth.

METHOD

5. Slice a banana over top of oat mixture.

1. Pour plain quick oats into a container

6. Add handful of berries.

(Sharma suggests using your favourite

7. Sprinkle chia or flax seeds.

bowl or a microwavable to-go con-

8. Serve immediately or take to-go! It’s

tainer). Shake slightly to level them out.

best when it’s hot or warm.

2. Pour water evenly over oats, ensuring

Self-funded start-up Bidding continued from page 9 [The Pandora auctions] are for people who are most active on our forum.

We want to give them a last-minute luxury auction on a product that they know nothing about. So it’s a Pandora’s box, basically. We will give hints back and forth on [things such as] the description, the price ranges. They [will] receive enticing hints [and have the chance to bid on these mystery items].

TM: How are you different than something like Quibids or eBay? HN: When you think about auctions, you often think about eBay. One of the things that makes us different from eBay is that eBay is mostly peer to peer—[for example], someone from Scotland or China has an item to sell that’s used or like new. You can check the feedback ratings, but you still have no way of knowing if that item is the one you want.

Quibids has negative connotations associated with their bids. For us, [for a citizen auction], if the auction passes and you did not win, we give 5 percent of all your bids back. If the bids do not pass the minimum sale price, you get all of your bids back plus 5 percent. We are also the first to have multiple auctions under one platform.

TM: What’s the price breakdown like—what percentage do you receive?

HN: [The Japanese auctions] works on basically a buy-in. So based on how many people participate in that auction, we make money out of that. And once they win at a certain price, they have to pay that price to win the product. Most of it, so far, we are breaking even. We’re not making any profits, but soon enough, once we have more people on the platform, that’s where we’re heading.

The second way we’re making money is basically […] [through] paid placements […] [There are] multiple companies that provide luxury products, but are not well known. For [a] specific example, promoting small businesses who are making some exceptional products but are not getting as much a spotlight.

TM: How are you funded?

HN: I’m not funded—I started this platform with my own savings. I put in X amount of money and now it’s basically growing itself.

TM: What inspired you to get into this business?

HN: I’m very into startups. I’m constantly thinking about what I can do with my skill set. I was inspired by the medieval era and found that auctions have happened throughout history.

Auctions were actually one of the most luxurious hobbies. So it reflects in our products.

TM: What was one of the biggest troubles you’ve had on this journey?

HN: Definitely the art of engineering. On the front end, it seems very simple. But on the back end, there were nights and nights of coding. I worked with a team in Ukraine and I helped with debugging. There were many sleepless nights to get it working without any flaws at all.

TM: If you had any advice for any other students who wanted to start their own business, what you would say to them?

HN: Believe in yourself and believe in your idea. Find ways to make your idea happen. The world is full of resources—you just need to know where to find them. You just have to live your dreams and make it happen.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

02.29.2016

»

11

A Cinderella story comes to an end The Varsity Blues men’s hockey playoff run has gone better than expected, upsetting top teams The Blues finished off the regular season in eighth place, barely squeezing into that final playoff spot with a 11-15-2 record.

“We have a good team, and we believe in each other. Even though it hasn’t been a great regular season, [...] I think that we can go a long way,” said Marsh prior to yesterday’s game.

ERIC HEWITSON SPORTS EDITOR The Varsity Blues men’s hockey team have ended their season with an overtime loss to the Western Mustangs on Sunday night, losing 4-3. They were also stomped by the Mustangs Friday night, losing a critical game two playoff matchup at Varsity Stadium 7-3.

The Blues pulled out the first game victory earlier in the week at Thompson Arena in London, winning 3-1. The third and final game of the series was on Sunday.

The Mustangs go on to the next round and the Blues pack their bags and wait for the 2016/17 season.

The Blues upset top-seeded York Lions on February 21, defeating them 4-1 in the decisive game three, sending the Blues to their secondround playoff matchup against the Mustangs.

The Blues didn’t start the first period strong in Friday’s game, letting two early goals in off the sticks of Western forwards Ray Huether and scoring leader Andrew Goldberg.

Though the Blues did respond in the first period after picking up the pace, with Blues Max Lindsay and

OLIVIA ADAMCZYK/THE MEDIUM

The Blues lost to the Western Mustangs at Thompson Arena 4-3 in overtime.

Dean Klomp scoring and notching things back up to even.

It seems as though the Blues couldn’t find their groove in the early moments of the periods—Western capitalized early in the second period off a Cody Brown wrist shot.

Shortly after, Brown scored again, increasing the Mustangs’ lead to 4-2. Brown finished off the evening with his first career OUA hat trick.

Varsity Blues rookie sensation

Matt Campagna gave his team a spark by sending a wrist shot top corner over Greg Dodds’ blocker to make a close 4-3 score. The Mustangs wouldn’t give up, taking advantage of the Blues’ tired legs and notching three more goals past Blues third-year goaltender Andrew Hunt.

“Obviously, Hunt is just solid back there, he’s making so many saves, and he always pulls through

when we need him to,” says Blues forward Patrick Marsh, believing in his goaltender’s abilities coming up for a do-or-die matchup on Sunday.

Both teams found penalty trouble early and often, accumulating a total of 14 infractions for a total of 28 minutes. Western has been outstanding on the power-play— they’re 5-for-18 overall and 92 percent on the penalty kill these playoffs.

WOMEN’S HOCKEY There wasn’t much action happening in Waterloo on Friday night when the Varsity Blues women’s hockey team faced off against the Laurier Golden Hawks for game two of their playoff series. Scoreless throughout the entire game, the Golden Hawks managed to put one past Blues goaltender Valencia Yordanov in overtime, winning 1-0.

This series hasn’t seen a regulation finish yet. The Blues won the first one in overtime 3-2 while the Hawks took game two. Sunday night at Varsity Arena was the third, a decisive game of the series; the Blues lost 2-1 to Laurier after going into the third overtime. With that, the season is over for the Blues, while the Golden Hawks will proceed to the next round.

Are crunches a severe health risk?

The Canadian Armed Forces recently eliminated crunches from their fitness testing ERIC HEWITSON SPORTS EDITOR The UTM group fitness class Core Strength 1 gives students and membership-holders a new full-body training system centred on your core. The objective of the class is to strengthen your midsection through natural movements that your body is designed to do. What your core isn’t designed to do may shock you, and you may have been doing this exercise your whole life thinking it was healthy, but crunches are your new worst enemy.

The Canadian Armed Forces recently cut out the sit-up portion from their fitness tests, claiming that the majority of injuries that occurred during the test happened while doing sit-ups.

In a government-issued article titled “Incidence of acute injury related to fitness testing of U.S. Army personnel”, it was reported that out of 1,532 soldiers who participated in the tests, 117 received an injury.

Fifty-six percent of injuries were attributed to the sit-up event, while 32 percent were attributed to the run event. The conclusion of this study reported, “The push-up, sit-up, and

MAHMOUD SAROUJI/THE MEDIUM

Crunches may not be as good for you as you think. run events do not pose a considerable acute injury risk to active duty soldiers.”

The Canadian Armed Forces do understand the severe risks associated with doing a large number of sit-ups repeatedly. The force associated with the repeated flexing motion can irritate the discs and in the spine.

Over time, the discs begin to bulge, pressing on the nerves and causing, in many cases, an extreme amount of

back pain.

The University of Toronto Varsity Blues football program doesn’t have sit-ups associated with their offseason workout programs because they know the risks involved. Even though the sit-up may give you a temporary aesthetic appeal, the muscles are in no shape to aid you on the battlefield.

The plank is the new way to build front, side, and back muscles, strengthening the core and your

spine unlike any crunching movement. Stabilizing the core gives you the ability to generate more power so you can lift, push, pull, and carry heavy objects, knowing your midsection has a muscle integrity that will not fail.

UTM’s Core Strength 1 program and Varsity Blues athletic programs work the most vital part of the body in a mixture of ways, preventing a strength plateau and injury. Instead

of twisting in the mid-back, twist at the hips, raise your legs, or use natural body movements and keep a strong, flat back. Mix these natural body movements with suspension (TRX Group Fitness class) or resistance training (Cycle Core Fusion Fitness class), and you’ll be sporting the sexiest six-pack at the beach without having done a single crunch.

Strengthening your core isn’t only for the people pursuing an athletic lifestyle—it’s a necessity for everyday acts like bending to put your shoes on, on-the-job tasks, strengthening a weak back due to poor posture, and balance and stability. According to a Harvard health publication titled “The real-world benefits of strengthening your core”, researchers suggest that it’s “unwise to aim all your efforts at developing rippling abs.

Overtraining abdominal muscles while snubbing muscles of the back and hip can set you up for injuries and cut athletic prowess”.

The sit-up test is one-dimensional, unnecessary, and a health risk. You’ll find strength and washboard abdominals through experimenting with other techniques, such as the ones Core Strength 1 offers on Wednesdays from 12:10 to 1 p.m.

12

«SPORTS

THE MEDIUM 02.29.2016

Rally the birdy for bronze

MAHMOUD SAROUJI/THE MEDIUM

Soon, you’ll be able to enjoy the warm outdoor activities with your special someone.

ERIC HEWITSON SPORTS EDITOR It’s so close to becoming warm outside, when you won’t have to spend a lot of money on a simple date idea, where the alternative doesn’t have to be curled up on the couch watching reruns of Friends episodes. The spring and summer are ideal date seasons, and there are many workout date ideas that’ll charm your lady or man into jumping into your bed with a chiselled core.

There are so many benefits to working out or sharing an evening activity outdoors; you’ll feel revitalized, energetic, and enthusiastic. More importantly, Vitamin D will be attained through sun exposure, increasing your mood, ability, and libido. What are some of the best aspects of a relationship?

The closeness, connection, and attraction for someone. Working out outside with your partner will bring a strong foundation to the many important aspects of your relationship. When a couple accomplishes a common goal, like hiking a long trail and looking down from the top of a large waterfall at the end, you’re building a romantic, emotional connection unlike you would sitting in your basement playing COD. I’m assuming most human beings want

to feel sexy—after a long day at the beach playing Frisbee or swimming, you’ll feel more tanned, healthier, and happier.

This summer, plan to go on a hike. You’ll have the chance to open up for that special someone, she or he will find it romantic, and you’ll be appreciated. Try to turn your hike into a fun workout too; climb trails that are more challenging or try something risky.

Bring a backpack with healthy snacks and water and you’ll have a nutritious meal as well.

Working out outside with your partner will bring a strong foundation to the many aspects of your life and relationship.

Go out and shoot some hoops at the local basketball court. Challenge one another to a fun shooting contest—running around and having some laughs will pump up your endorphins, making you feel happier. Exercising with someone you feel secure with will increase that bond.

Run around and play with the dog. The conversation will be simple while the puppy is running around having the time of its life; you can laugh and converse about

what’s happening around you.

Be open to dancing with your date. A lot of cities, especially Toronto in the summer, offer free concerts and festivals, always keeping the action and entertainment alive. You’ll find yourself moving to the beat and burning those calories without being aware of how active you’re being.

Take your beach date to the next level. Instead of sitting back to read a book or listen to your music, set a challenge to accomplish. Walk the entire length of the beach, have a plank or push-up competition, or see who can swim through the waves the quickest.

The beach is the best outdoor activity for resistance training. The sand will be harder to maneuver through, and the water is arguably the greatest piece of training equipment you can have for free.

The goal here is to get outside and even if you do already, try to take it to the next level and be conscious of working for a particular muscle group. You can accomplish these tasks on your own or with a friend or family member, but sometimes doing it with a romantic partner makes it that much more fun and interesting— there are so many perks to feeling accomplished and fit next to the person you adore.

MARTIN BAZYL & ROBERT REYES ONG/PHOTO

Yue Chen (left) stands with his bronze medal.

ERIC HEWITSON SPORTS EDITOR UTM had a strong showing at the OCAA badminton championships at Seneca College on February 19-20, with two teams competing this year.

The UTM women’s doubles team, Kristie Fan and Holly Wong, put in a good effort but didn’t have enough to push them into the elimination rounds.

UTM’s Yue Chen captured the bronze medal over Humber’s Jonathan Young in three sets 22-20, 11-21, 21-18.

Earlier in the month, UTM hosted the OCAA West Regional badminton tournament on February 5-6, where members from several schools filled the RAWC trying to rally their way through the competition to qualify for the championships.

The UTM Varsity Eagles squad is in their second year of competition and doing well. After failing to qualify for the provincials last year, they are pleased with what they accomplished this year.

This year, the program had nine male athletes and four female athletes, plus two coaches. They practiced every Tuesday and Thursday, working on skill and conditioning to make some noise in the OCAA. There were some exceptional performances by UTM athletes this year,.

Men’s singles athlete Yue Chen was a silver medalist at the OCAA regionals. On the women’s doubles team, Kristie Fan and Holly Wong advanced to this year’s OCAA provincial championships. David Zheng finished in third place in his pool at the West regional tournament. Unfortunately, Zheng and Chen had to play one another in the quarterfinals match, allowing only one of UTM’s athletes to go through to the next round.

Head coach Lam Trinh, former Canadian Collegiate Athletic Associate Coach of the Year in 2010 and two-time OCAA Coach of the Year in 2010 and 2011, is very pleased with UTM’s success this year.

“Work hard and play smart, there is always room for improvement, you are your biggest competition, every day is a learning curve, and be proactive and never give up,” says Trinh, speaking about the motivation his athletes bring into every single practice and match. Badminton is both a physically and mentally demanding sport; your hand-eye coordination and agility have to be exceptional to compete against other members playing within the OCAA. Humber College dominated the regional tournament, placing first in men’s doubles, mixed doubles, and women’s singles.