Vol 42 issue 4

UTSU files lawsuit against former execs Claim filed on Monday is suing three former employees for $277,508.62 in special damages MARIA IQBAL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF NICOLE DANESI NEWS EDITOR UTSU filed a civil lawsuit against three of its former employees last Monday and at least one of the defendants has now been served.

According to the statement of claim, the UTSU is suing former president Yolen Bollo-Kamara, former VP internal and services Cameron Wathey, and former executive director Sandra Hudson for $277,508.62 for “amounts improperly paid” to Hudson before her employment was terminated last April.

The lawsuit calls for an additional $200,000 in damages for “breach of fiduciary duty” on the part of the three defendants.

According to the statement of claim, Bollo-Kamara and Wathey were involved in the decision to terminate Hudson last April without cause. According to the termination agreement included in the claim and signed by the three

MAHMOUD SAROUJI/THE MEDIUM

The lawsuit was filed to the Superior Court of Justice on September 21. defendants on April 16, Hudson would be paid two years’ severance, in addition to six weeks’ salary in lieu of notice, five weeks’ vacation, eight weeks in benefit

coverage, and $97,026.93 claimed in overtime hours.

The statement was filed by Monkhouse Law to the Superior Court of Justice on September 21.

A mutual release form signed the same day as the termination agreement stipulates that neither Hudson nor UTSU can enter into legal proceedings related to Hud-

son’s employment or termination.

The current statement of claim however pleads that the court declare this document void.

The claim also accuses Hudson of deleting confidential information from the hard drive of the UTSU executive director’s computer.

None of the allegations have been independently verified and they have yet to be proven in court.

Bollo-Kamara has confirmed to The Medium that she has been served with the statement of claim.

In a statement provided to The Medium, Bollo-Kamara declined to comment on the pending legal action.

“For legal reasons, I’m unable to comment on the specific details of this case,” said Bollo-Kamara.

“However, I want to be very clear that I made a decision that I believed to be in the best interest of the students who elected me, and I did not benefit personally from this in any way,” she said.

Lawsuit continued on page 3

Voting begins for UTMSU board UTMSU to hold referendum on the cost of tuition during board election MENNA ELNAKA ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR

Students will head to the polls this week to elect new members to the UTMSU board of directors, while also voting on whether students believe university access should be provided free of charge.

The referendum will ask students, “Are you in favour of the elimination of tuition fees in the province of Ontario as described in the preamble?” According to UTMSU president Ebi Agbeyegbe, the information will be used to understand student opinions on the issue.

“We’re taking advantage of students coming out to the polling station and establishing where students stand,” said Agbeyegbe. “We hope to take these stands and use it to help with our lobbying efforts as

The face of hunger UTMSU sees an increase in student usage of the food centre on campus.

Medium News, page 3

Did you say “fiduciary”?

The UTSU lawsuit opens a window into the possibility of other problems that we may be unaware of.

Medium Opinion, page 4

Community to art Canadian contemporary artists band together for the art gallery’s latest exhibition.

Medium Arts, page 5

Imposter syndrome MAHMOUD SAROUJI/THE MEDIUM

A total of five positions are to be elected in the UTMSU fall elections. we carry on into the school year.”

Beginning last Monday at 9:00 a.m., the election campaign period ran with five available positions on the UTMSU board of directors.

Two positions are available under UTMSU’s division 1 category allocated for first-year student representation, two positions are for division 4’s part-time directors, and

one position is for division 5, for a representative from the Mississauga Academy of Medicine.

Election continued on page 3

CBC Radio One associate producer and UTM alumna talks about feeling inadequate despite success.

Medium Features, page 8

Sun salutation UTM students were given the unique opportunity to practice the art of yoga outdoors.

Medium Sports, page 11

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«NEWS

THE MEDIUM 09.28.2015

Low turnout for UTMSU OUT@UTM hosts academic advocacy week queer orientation ANTON MYKYTENKO

CHRISTY TAM/THE MEDIUM

There were 46 cases of repeat academic offenders in the 2013/14 year.

MENNA ELNAKA ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR UTMSU’s academic advocacy week launched last week to address academic dishonesty at UTM. According to U of T’s 2013/14 Annual Report on Cases of Academic Discipline, the rates of student offenders at UTM reached 347 cases that year, which was an increase of 44 compared to statistics released in the 2012/13 report.

The number of repeat offenders reached 46 in 2013/14, an increase of 21 cases from 2012/13 statistics.

“Our case load has increased over the years, but so has our student population,” said Lucy Gaspini, manager of Academic Integrity and Affairs at UTM. “Plagiarism and unauthorized assistance are the most common allegations of academic offences. However, we also have cases that involve academic dishonesty or misrepresentation, forgery, impersonation, and other forms of academic offences,” she said.

According to Nour Alideeb, UTMSU’s VP university affairs and academics, students charged with an academic offence continue

to seek assistance from UTMSU. “This past summer, I personally saw at least 15 students, so I would assume that over the past two years UTMSU has helped over 500 students,” said Alideeb. “The sanctions that are imposed are severe and have long-lasting effects, but these situations are preventable with effective advocacy.”

According to Alideeb, UTMSU lobbied to have the academic student rights included in course syl-

The number of repeat offenders reached 46 in 2013/14, an increase by 21 cases from 2012/13 statistics. labi with the help of the Academic Dean’s Office, which approved of the idea and encouraged staff and faculty to add those rights by the beginning of this semester.

“It appears that even though students know the meaning of academic integrity, many individuals find themselves being charged with an academic offence simply

because we do not talk about what academic integrity looks like in everyday life,” said Alideeb. “We want students to know that with rights come responsibilities, but it is important to be informed and to act with academic integrity every day.”

Hosted by UTMSU in collaboration with the Robert Gillespie Academic Skills Centre, academic advocacy week included citation workshops educating students on ASA, APA, and MLA citation rules; information videos; and activities to help students understand of U of T policies, such as the Code on Academic Behavior and the Code of Student Conduct, in order to prevent academic offences.

Although approximately eight students showed up to each event, UTMSU plans to host similar academic integrity events to educate students on the topic.

“We hope to carry out similar events next semester and will continue to advocate for accessible academic policies as well as have discussions about what academic integrity is,” said Alideeb.

All three U of T campuses collaborated to host Queer Orientation Week last week, which hosted 20 crosscampus events for members of the LGBTTIQQ2SA* community and its allies, including some separate events for white and non-white individuals who identify as part of the community.

Zara Rizwan, a third-year art and art history and English student and the executive director of OUT@UTM, said that their goal this year was to provide an introductory week of events for queer and trans-identifying students.

UTM’s portion of these events included a “Questioning Night” for those looking to explore gender, sexuality, expression, and identity. The event was “surprisingly successful”, according to Rizwan.

As part of the week-long festivities, OUT@UTM hosted a select few events for white and non-white members of the LGBTTIQQ2SA* community.

“We had racialized people talking about their experiences as a queer person within racialized spaces and the ways that their identities intersect,” said Rizwan.

She added that the separate meetings were based on the difference in experiences. “White people have different experiences than people of colour who identify as queer. Even though we don’t have the same universal experience, the ways in which we’re discriminated against—there’s a sort of solidarity there where we can show our support,” she said.

When asked about the issue of reverse racism and segregation, Rizwan did not believe the events were a cause for either.

“Segregation is really the wrong word, because we as racialized queer and trans folk cannot oppress straight allies,” said Rizwan.

“Our ally space wasn’t solely for white allies; it was also for people of colour who don’t identify as queer to learn about how they can be an ally to the queer community.”

According to Rizwan, OUT@ UTM stands to normalize the asking of peoples’ pronouns and be inclusive towards everyone while providing a safe space for the LGBTTIQQ2SA* community.

Other LGBTTIQQ2SA* issues include facing transphobia based on the way individuals present themselves and visibility—not being able to “come out”. Last year, OUT@UTM also lobbied to increase the number of gender-neutral washrooms on campus.

“Segregation is really the wrong word, because we as racialized queer and trans folk cannot oppress straight allies,” — Zara Rizwan.

Rizwan also told The Medium that there are talks in progress to recruit professors from the women and gender studies department as ambassadors for the club, but no definitive plans have been laid down yet.

According to Rizwan, OUT@ UTM has a history of being a “clique”, making it harder for new members to integrate.

“We’ll be working to dismantle that this year and make it a lot more welcoming for first-year students, or for older students who just found out about it and want to join,” said Rizwan.

She also told The Medium that the group is considering a name change as their current label insinuates the need to be “out” to participate in the group’s events.

U of T to expand Scholars-at-Risk program EESHA HASAN

IHH HUMANITARIAN RELIEF FOUNDATION/FLICKR/PHOTO

U of T will match donations of up to $500,000.

U of T has announced a goal to give $1 million in bursaries to students affected by the refugee crisis in Syria.

At the Academic Affairs Committee meeting on September 17, U of T president Meric Gertler announced that U of T is expanding the Scholars-at-Risk program with a new bursary intended for students who have been affected by the Syrian refugee crisis.

The program aims to provide “humanitarian assistance for a small number of distinguished academics and outstanding students” in regions affected by strife.

He added that U of T is creating the bursaries to help high-achieving students who wish to study at U of

T. These bursaries would be worth $10,000 each and they will be distributed to at-risk students over the next 10 years.

Gertler said that U of T will match donations up to $500,000 from members of the U of T community.

According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, over the last four years, an estimated nine million Syrians have been displaced from their homes due to the civil war.

Gertler explained that U of T will match donations of up to $500,000 from members of the U of T com-

munity, including students, faculty, and others. These funds will be allocated to serve refugees in Syria as well as other refugees from around the world.

U of T is also participating in the Lifeline Syria Challenge spearheaded by Ryerson University. The challenge aims to bring 25 Syrian families or 100 people who would resettle in the GTA. Ryerson has created 25 sponsorship teams, who have each agreed to support one Syrian family for up to one year. According to Ryerson’s website, the estimated cost of supporting one family is $27,000 and several students will help support the sponsorship teams.

Other GTA institutions involved in the initiative include York and OCAD.

09.28.2015 THE MEDIUM NEWS

Food Centre usage rising

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3

»WHAT IS YOUR

GREATEST FEAR?

Anthony Yiu 4th year, poli sci & history

Aditya Alleear 3rd year, chem & bio

Not able to make a living.

Not knowing my greatest fear.

Ellie Chen 3rd year, forensic bio

Chinonyelum Nwanna 1st year, commerce

Falling from heights.

Getting out of my comfort zone.

JUNAID IMRAN/THE MEDIUM

The Food Centre received 2,370 pounds of food from the Mississauga Food Bank last year.

KARUNA ISRANI Hunger Awareness Week was launched last week to create consciousness about the scope of hunger in the country.

Organized by Food Banks Canada, the foremost goal of the campaign is to spark conversation about hunger and how to alleviate it.

According to the Mississauga Food Bank, thirteen thousand individuals use its services every month, mainly due to insufficient income and the high cost of living. The food bank provides 2.2 million meals to the community through local food banks, breakfast clubs at schools, and other means.

According to the Mississauga Food Bank’s 2015 “The Face of Hunger in Mississauga” report, in 2015 alone, beneficiaries of the Mississauga Food Bank were divided into 40 percent children, seven percent seniors, and 53 percent adults. Of these, eight percent are currently enrolled in postsecondary education.

A 2013 report from the Canadian Federation of Students, “Task Force on Campus Food Services”, noted the existence of food ser-

vice monopolies across campuses in Ontario through companies including Sodexo, Aramark, and Chartwells. The report states that these monopolies create a serious lack of diverse food options for those requiring gluten-free, vegan, vegetarian, halal, or kosher meals.

The food centre on campus, run by UTMSU, provides food to students and their dependents. In 2014, the food centre was visited

The Medium reported that $5,581 was left unspent out of $14,560.32 collected through the levy in the 2014/15 school year.

503 times, a massive increase from just 91 visits in 2013.

UTMSU VP internal Francesco Otello-DeLuca blamed the rising costs of tuition and living as factors, along with increased enrollment, for the increased usage of the food centre.

“The increase in usage is also due to rising food prices, especially on campus. This directly corresponds to the amount of people we get using the food centre service,”

he said.

The UTMSU Food Centre is funded by a student levy. Earlier this month, The Medium reported that $5,581 was left unspent out of $14,560.32 collected through the levy in the 2014/15 school year.

Asked to explain the leftover funds, Otello-DeLuca said that UTMSU has increased the amount of levy funding it plans to use this year.

“We have increased the allocation for food purchases from $6,000 to $9,000 this year, to accommodate a potential increase in student needs by 33 percent,” he said.

“If we do not have so much demand to require an increase in allocation, we have fiduciary responsibility to allocate the unspent resources to the operating budget pending future decisions by the elected members of the board of directors.”

The food centre also received 2,370 pounds of food from the Mississauga Food Bank last year.

The UTM library also provides donations to the UTMSU Food Centre through its annual Food for Fines program. Last year, The Medium reported that 1,244 items were donated as a result of the initiative.

Bollo-Kamara confirms being served lawsuit Lawsuit continued from Cover “It’s unfortunate to find myself named in a lawsuit and the target of hurtful comments on social media and elsewhere as a result, but I am confident that I will be vindicated,” she added.

The defendants will have 20 to 30 days after being served to file a statement of defence. It is unknown if Wathey or Hudson had been served as of press time.

As of press time, Wathey and Hudson did not respond to The

Medium’s request for comment.

According to a statement issued

“I made a decision that I believed to be in the best interest of the students who elected me.”

— Yolen Bollo-Kamara

by UTSU, the union is willing to settle the lawsuit through either

arbitration or mediation.

“We are open to arbitration or mediation as a way of resolving the issue, and would prefer a non-court resolution, but the advice of our legal counsel was to follow this procedure of filing a claim,” said the statement issued on Thursday evening. “The UTSU is pursuing this course of action to ensure that its resources for serving students are protected and so that our members are not limited from informed participation in our union.”

One candidate running for division 5 position

MAHMOUD SAROUJI/THE MEDIUM

Voting begins 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday.

Election continued from cover Candidate names were posted on the UTMSU website last Wednesday, and of the 17 candidates, eight candidate statements were posted online.

The Medium was able to reach two of the division 1 candidates for an interview.

Manuela Arbelaez, a first-year political science student, stated she would lobby for phone companies to provide better reception on campus, and would also lobby to make it easier for first-year students to go into the Student Centre, especially when it’s packed with upperyear students.

Carol Dinno, a first-year student planning on majoring in political science and philosophy, told The Medium her goal is to work with UTMSU to help reduce tuition fees.

Other division 1 candidates include Alexey Maevskiy, Bhajan Gill, Fathama Arshad, Juriza Via Nierva,

Kristopher Ramsammy, Monica Victoria, Niye Khalil, Sarah Mohd Abdel Rahman, Lucas Shuangliu Wang, Victoria Jayne Ridley, Sarah Girgis, Zahira Tasabehji, Oliya Sina, and Zohra Rabail Shaikh.

Ahmed Zaki is the only candidate running for the single position available in UTMSU’s division 5 directors.

“I plan on working closely with the MAM administration and MAM MedSoc VPs to ensure your interests are brought to the attention of the UTMSU,” said Zaki in his candidate statement.

No division 4 candidates are listed in UTMSU’s website as of press time.

The voting period begins at 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday and runs until Thursday at 6:00 pm. Polls will be open daily in Davis, IB, CCT, Deerfield, and HSC. Election results are expected to be released by October 5.

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09.28.2015

MASTHEAD EDITORS Editor-in-Chief Maria Iqbal editor@themedium.ca 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 blog@themedium.ca online@themedium.ca ASSOCIATES News Menna Elnaka A&E TBA Features TBA

Fulfilling fiduciary duty News of UTSU’s lawsuit raises questions about what other problems may exist Last week’s news of the legal case UTSU filed against its former president, VP internal, and executive director brings to the fore an important obligation shared by student representatives across the board: fiduciary duty.

According to the Legal Information Institute at Cornell Law School in New York, fiduciary duty is defined as “a legal duty to act solely in another party’s interests”.

For instance, student union executives are responsible for acting in the best interests of the members of their union (including all full-time undergraduate students at UTM and St. George) including in the way that they handle levy funds provided by the same members.

Obviously, the presence of the lawsuit calls into question whether last year’s executives and executive direc-

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years, and then carried over the leftover amount into its general operating budget at the end of the year.

If you missed when we reported on it two weeks ago, the UTMSU Food Centre is funded by a levy that students agreed to pay through a referendum. That referendum asked students if they agreed to pay the levy for the explicit purpose of supporting the campus food bank.

Otello-DeLuca, however argues, “If we do not have so much demand to require an increase in allocation [of funding for the food bank budget], we have fiduciary responsibility to allocate the unspent resources to the operating budget pending future decisions by the elected members of the board of directors.”

According to that logic, it is okay — and in fact responsible—for UTMSU to deliberately allocate only a portion

of the funding from the food centre levy to the food centre, if there’s not enough demand for the food centre’s services.

Well, as this week’s story on the food centre points out, there’s been a dramatic rise in the use of its services in 2014. At the same time, over a third of its budget was left unspent in 2014/15.

I’m skeptical that that was in the best interests of UTMSU members.

And as long as we don’t know how the rest of that funding ends up being spent, we won’t be able to call that fiduciary responsibility.

Yes, the lawsuit downtown is a major development for all of us. But perhaps it’s only a sneak peek into problems that remain as yet unexplored.

YOURS, MARIA IQBAL

Defining the current wave of feminism Dear Editor,

Sports TBA

tor fulfilled this obligation, calling on the defendants to pay $200,000 for an alleged “breach of fiduciary duty”.

In Yolen Bollo-Kamara’s comment to The Medium in our cover story, she suggests the opposite.

“I want to be very clear that I made a decision that I believed to be in the best interest of the students who elected me, and I did not benefit personally from this in any way,” she says.

Until the case is actually heard, we’ll have no definitive answers on what actually happened.

But what’s also interesting is the coincidental reference to fiduciary duty by another student union representative this week.

Referring to the levy funds for the UTMSU Food Centre, UTMSU VP internal Francesco Otello-DeLuca defends how the union has significantly underspent the funding for several

Given the recent news of the threat against U of T feminists, after which several classes had to be cancelled as a precaution, I’ve penned an article that looks at the way other media address feminist issues, which changed the way I think of feminism.

To start, there’s “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All”, by Anne-Marie Slaughter. This headline originally appeared in The Atlantic when she wrote about her complex decision to quit her job as the first female director of policy planning at the U.S. State Department in order to devote more time to her family. Her oldest son was struggling at school, and with another child to look after, her husband could not cope alone. Slaughter’s demanding and inflexible work schedule was something that is natural in the highest rungs of government jobs. International emergencies do not happen on a set time frame, and thus cannot wait for anyone’s home emergencies to be resolved.

Slaughter voiced her verdict on the working environment currently governing America by saying: “I still strongly believe that women can ‘have it all’ (and that men can too). I believe that we can ‘have it all at the same time’. But not today, not with the way America’s economy and society are currently structured.”

The impact of this article was astronomical. Women were divided over its message—here was Slaughter confessing that her country’s current working environment would not allow her to be the kind of employee and mother that she wanted to be, forcing her to choose one over the other. Being a mother, she chose to sacrifice her job instead of her children.

In this piece I want to look at two

issues, both dealing with the treatment of women in their respective societies: the lives of working mothers in Canada, and the treatment of women in India. Let us start with the first. Slaughter is convinced that even the most regimented jobs out there can be made to be more accommodating to the raising of a family, for both men and women, but only if there are bosses out there who are willing to do that.

Earlier in the year, CBC aired a documentary called The Motherload on its program Doc Zone. What the women interviewed here said about the reality of their working and parenting lives mirrored Slaughter’s observations. Mothers trying to juggle childrearing with work obligations often discovered that “motherhood is the unfinished business of feminism”, in the words of York University professor Andrea O’Reilly, who sums up the inequity by stating: “We’ve had much success for women [through feminism]; we’ve had very little success for mothers.”

Stephanie Coontz, author and historian of family and marriage, states that “the gender revolution has not so much stalled as it has hit the wall, gone as far as it can go without blowing up our families”. What will keep that explosion at bay is changes to the workplace environment.

And these are just our first-world feminist problems. In India, things are worse yet. I am sure that readers are familiar with the 2012 New Delhi gang rape of 23-year-old physiotherapy student Jyoti Singh Pandey by six men while travelling on a private bus.

In March 2015, British director Leslee Udwin released a documentary about the incident titled India’s Daughter, which was promptly banned in India.

Udwin and her team interviewed one

of the accused, Mukesh, who was the bus driver.

When asked about why the rape happened, he acts the dunce before contradicting himself: “I can’t say why this incident—this accident—happened. Mainly to teach them a lesson... When being raped [the girl] shouldn’t fight back... She should be silent and allow the rape.”

Hearing Mukesh speak so candidly, I think it is rather clear what happened. The men were drunk. Pandey resisted. Their rage at being resisted started to look like homicide. I think this type of rape is different from the rapes detailed in The Hunting Ground. In it, the young men raped their fellow college students for personal pleasure, out of the ennui of their daily lives, perhaps. Women on college campuses were portrayed as easy prey for a guy needing to get it off, especially if alcohol was involved.

In both cases, women are viewed as inferior to men, and thus to be taken advantage of, but the Delhi gang rape reeks of having been done out of pure hatred, not pleasure, unless the men were sadists, which of course is a possibility.

Alcohol acted as a lubricant for the men’s deeply held resentment against women who had what they did not: an education, a job that pays enough for leisure activities. Women like Pandey had generally out-succeeded men like Mukesh, and some couldn’t take it. In their rage they not only raped but tortured Pandey, who succumbed to her injuries days later. India was in turmoil, with mass protests breaking out in large cities and people young and old demanding justice and a changed attitude toward women in society.

A few weeks after this documentary came out, my local paper reported that another high-profile rape

had occurred in India—this time of a 70-year-old nun—who was retaliated against when she tried to prevent the robbing of a Christian missionary school in eastern India. Some things never change, it seems, or else change too slowly to notice.

India’s constitution provides for the equality of the sexes, but in practice that remains a goal the country is fearful of achieving due to millennia of cultural norms. Because if you let women be fully autonomous, thus making them equal to men, that would necessarily precipitate the end of a number of India’s cultural cornerstones: arranged marriage, the dowry system, and the absolute sanctity of marriage. Divorce rates would likely rise as more women feel free to leave marriages that have no hope of working out, and the way they exercise their sexuality would be much more in line with how they feel than with what is expected of them. India presently seems unwilling to undergo such pivotal changes, and thus feminism is unlikely to arrive in the country any time soon.

In trying to define the shape of 21st century third-wave feminism, and after labouring through my research, I’ve concluded that the goal of our feminism is to once and for all end the need for it, at least in the West.

When Simone de Beauvoir famously tried to define herself, the first sentence that came to her mind was, “I am a woman.” That was back in 1946.

In 2015, the first sentence that comes to my mind is, “I am a human being.”

Getting from Beauvoir’s example to mine is the shape of 21st century feminism.

Valeria Ryrak Alumna, English

09.28.2015

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AGM rocks the boat of Canadian art Artists showcase the Canadian landscape through both traditional and multimedia designs EMILY MAK

The AGM was quiet when I walked in at 7:20 on a Thursday evening. But as I approached the exhibition hall, I could hear the murmur of voicesgrowing louder and louder as I approached, revealing a great turnout despite the show having only just opened its doors after the VIP reception.

“The things that orient me are the contours of the land,” a girl says as she walks through an unknown city.

This poignant scene plays on the big screen that greets me when I enter.

The screen shows films directed by Canadians of Aboriginal descent. The films ranged from two minutes to 46 minutes long and showcase Aboriginal people, their lifestyles, traditions, and cultures. I watch for 10 minutes and walk into the first exhibition, Beyond the Pines.

Beyond the Pines centres around the works of landscape painter Homer Watson, accompanied by eight contemporary Canadian artists. The AGM partnered with the Homer Watson House and Gallery to showcase his legacy. Watson, according to the press release, was known as “the man who first saw Canada as Canada”. Walking around the hall-

SAMUEL KAN/THE MEDIUM

The AGM is running three exhibits at once, each representing Canadian artists in Mississauga. way displaying his work, I could see Canada as he saw it: an untamed wilderness, which is the truth both now and in the past. His Canada is vast, sombre, and uninhabited. The scenes he painted were not typically charming, yet they contained their own appeal: darkened skies, an abundance of trees, and muddy paths show a Canada before industrialization. The

land before the people. A lost, lonely, yet lovely Canada.

My favourite of the contemporary artists was definitely Jennifer Carvalho. Her painting Unexpected Connections immediately grabbed my attention. It was a very simple work, just the tops of pine trees and the night sky peering out between them.

Despite its mundane subject, I felt

like something was about to happen.

Her following work, The Ruin, shows a similar scene of dark, murky waters and the silhouettes of trees. This piece, however, just didn’t work for me. I was interested to discover that her inspiration was from cinematography and the Anthropocene, the period in time when humans began to have an impact on ecosystems and

geography, but The Ruin contrasted starkly against Watson’s untouched landscapes.

Across from the refreshment stand, another small crowd gathers. They stand in admiration of Mary Grisey’s installation, Sung from the Mouth of Cumae. The story behind the work is interesting—Cumae was an ancient Greek city located in Italy, near Naples.

In some stories, the city contained the entrance to the underworld. But it is best known for the Cumaen Sibyl, a priestess who sung prophecies from the mouth of a cave, hence the title of the exhibit. At the centre of the room is an abstract mass of clay. There is a hole, like a mouthpiece, from which strange sounds emit. Surrounding the clay object are pieces of fabric of various materials and textures that hang from the ceiling. Even without knowing the backstory, the installation invokes an eerie, heavy atmosphere.

I stand there and the pieces of cloth seem to stand with me, listening, suspended in midair.

As I leave the AGM, the murmur of discussion rises. The AGM’s mandate “to bring art to the community and the community to art” has certainly been demonstrated tonight. The three exhibitions serve as an ode to Canada and Canadians have shown up to discover and appreciate it.

Making an entrance on the Toronto stage TDS grad talks about her journey from Theatre Erindale to the Soulpepper company’s theatre scene KATE CATTELL-DANIELS A&E EDITOR Hailey Gillis sits across from me in the lobby of the Young Centre for the Performing Arts. I figured that, at 11:00 in the morning, this wouldn’t be a busy place. I was completely wrong. It’s full of people buying and making coffee, chatting, working, and reading.

Gillis graduated from UTM’s Theatre and Drama Studies program in 2013, after which she attended the Soulpepper Academy, a professional training facility for young artists.

Admission is by audition, and those who complete training at the academy then get to work in the professional acting company.

The Medium: So, what are you working on right now?

Hailey Gillis: We’re working on a show called Marat/Sade, which is an amazing play based on the style of Artaud, so it’s a bit Theatre of Cruelty. Mike Ross, our musical director here at Soulpepper, has written new music for it, but it’s the same text.

We set it behind a fence, like the Pan Am fences, so it’s like an asylum or a prison came in to do a play for

KATE CATTELL-DANIELS/THE MEDIUM

Toronto’s historic and picturesque Distillery District, home of the Soulpepper Theatre Company. the audiences, and we’re behind this cage.

TM: You really walked out of Theatre Erindale and into the Soulpepper Academy—that’s pretty impressive. Where do you go from here?

HG: Well, we graduated from

the academy in June, so right now they’re contracting us on a regular basis. And then we just do what actors do and take auditions elsewhere, but I think that Soulpepper right now is the thing that turns me on the most, creatively speaking. I

love to be here as much as I can.

TM: There are artists who have been here for a long time. Do you see yourself being a resident artist?

HG: Yeah, that would be incredible. I would never say “no” to that, but I understand the positive aspects

of also taking work somewhere else so you get respected and learn so much in different buildings. Just like how at Theatre Erindale, you learn so much from different directors, different shows. But [Soulpepper] is my home now.

TM: Where else do you want to work?

HG: It’s less where and more what. So if a project pops up that’s exciting, I’ll try to let the director know that I’m really interested.

TM: What defines an interesting project for you?

HG: The team, the show, everything sort of fits together in a project that excites you. There are some amazing directors out there. I also really love Toronto right now. I know that everyone always has ambitions to go to New York or go to L.A., but I’m so invested in figuring out what this thing in Toronto is right now. It’s an incredible city with so much to offer. And we’re so vast but also young in our art, compared to other cities. We’re also still trying to figure out what represents us.

Gillis continued on page 6

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THE MEDIUM 09.28.2015

UC Follies rethink the Greek classics Agamemnon moves from old-school classic to new wave feminism with current events on the side LAUREN REEVES

Last weekend, the UC Follies presented Ted Hughes’ translation of Aeschylus’ Agamemnon.

Agamemnon is the story of a man who returned from a 10-year war only to be murdered by his wife, Clytemnestra, as vengeance for the horrible sacrifice of their daughter, a crime that Agamemnon committed after a priest told him it would turn the winds so that he could sail his army against Troy.

It may seem strange that the titular character of a play should appear only briefly in one scene, and die offstage in the next. Part of this may be owed to the fact that this man is a matter of much discussion amongst the other characters even before his appearance, his actions being instrumental in the leading of half of the city’s loved ones to distant graves.

But there are other arguments.

Director Dorcas Chiu describes the written work as “intrinsically misogynistic”, referring mainly to the treatment of Clytemnestra. This was no turn-off to the director, who welcomed the flaws within the work as

JULIA HOWMAN/PHOTO

Striking imagery permeates the landscape of the UC Follies’ Agamemnon. an opportunity for exploration of the relationship between women and power.

The majority of this tale is told by the “home-stayers”, the old, the women, and those who were deemed incapable of fighting. Through words and

jolting pantomimic dance, the women on that stage express the concerns of the people. Clytemnestra commands all the attention: the shocking red cape among otherwise all-black costuming, the entrance from above—descending from a platform upstage whenever she

Gillis reflects on the art of making mistakes Gillis continued from page 5 Theatre Erindale really prepared me for this academy, though. The training that I received there was incredible.

TM: What did you learn?

HG: A: Working really hard. All the time. B: A sense of camaraderie. Especially doing the Collective at Theatre Erindale—[Soulpepper] is such a collective building. They built the academy, they said, not on who the best actors were but who would be the best group to work with.

TM: Were there any classes that you think really carried over?

HG: More how to work with specific directors, and what they need.

That was a big learning curve. If I had to go back to my Theatre Erindale self, I’d say… fuck up more.

Don’t be afraid. I feel like in university it’s like—gotta get it right, gotta get it perfect, so when I get out I can get it more right and I can get it more perfect, which is not how it works. School is such an opportunity to figure out what doesn’t work and then figure out what makes you tick and makes you creatively turned on. That’s what I’d say to myself.

It’s hard though with marks, to not try to get good marks to impress that director or impress that teacher.

TM: Do you find working professionally that you worry less about what other people think?

HG: I’d like to say that, but I don’t know if that’s true. I think at the beginning of the academy I was terrified of what people thought because I had just come out of school and was on stage for the first time here. I think now, when I’m onstage, I can be more focused on the task at hand, and how important that is. And I feel my level of stress not changing but shifting from pleasing people to telling a story.

“We can’t control luck, but we can control our work, so you might as well work really hard on working hard.”

Now when I get in my head and think about what others are thinking, I get mad at myself because I wasn’t in the play.

TM: Do you have a favourite thing about acting? A least favourite thing?

HG: I started as a singer and I was in musical theatre, which I still love, and the one thing about acting was that it was much less clear.

There were so many more ways to achieve what I thought was success.

With a dance move you got that high kick because your foot was in the correct position, and in voice you got that high note because you

hit that note and then you could check it on a piano. But with acting, there’s no marker of right or wrong or success. I like sitting in that grey area.

What don’t I like? I don’t like judgement. I don’t like seeing my amazing peers going to a show and not trying to understand what that show was trying to do. [Actors] don’t spend two months rehearsing and not think about the choices they made. I like theatregoers and actors to be in more of a conversation about theatre rather than judge them as right or wrong.

The type of actor that goes: “Well, I could have played that better,” is not the type of actor that I want to work with.

TM: Do you believe in luck?

HG: I totally believe in luck.

Right place, right time. It’s one of the most frustrating parts about this business. And once you just let go of the fact that it’s going to happen, it’s a bit easier to handle.

TM: Luck or hard work—do you think one matters more than the other?

HG: I think it matters that we understand that we can’t control luck, but we can control our work, so you might as well work really hard on working hard—and work really hard on letting go of the fact that some people might be luckier than others.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

must walk among “the rabble”—and the voice of the actor herself—strong, loud, proud, and full of wit. When her husband returns, she rolls out the carpet, but we don’t see the compassion her words suggest. The movement of man and wife together reveals the

struggle for power within the relationship, one that Clytemnestra must ultimately win as she makes him “tread the crimson path”.

We must not forget Cassandra, either—a seer cursed never to be respected, stolen as a concubine in the sacking of Troy. This may tell enough about the power of women within the society, but we see her internal strength as she foretells the death of Agamemnon. She tugs at her own red bindings, tossing her captors to and fro, revealing who truly pulls the strings.

As evidence of the success of Chiu in their reimagining, when Clytemnestra confesses her crime and offers her murder to the gods, we feel a sense of justice.

By means of introduction, artistic producer Kevin Wong uses his space in the playbill to remind us of the brutal threats against feminists at the start of the semester. The hour-long performance on the UC Quad didn’t solve our problems in that regard, but it aimed to spark the conversation that we so clearly need to have. We may look forward to the UC Follies’ future feminist endeavors, and “remember how wisdom speaks through women”.

REWIND ANDREW PLUMMER

When Reginald Rose’s 12 Angry Men premiered in 1957, I have to wonder what our predecessors thought. Back then, people did not fear homosexuality—they despised it; Jim Crow was both an idea and a man; and “Woman!

Get to a kitchen!” was said for reproach and encouragement.

The scene is a jury room. Ungodly heat radiates from the walls and the 12 jurors note the uncooperative fan pinned in a corner like some depressing donkey poster at a birthday party no one wants to be at.

The case in question concerns a young boy from a slum who murdered his father at midnight. He then left the apartment and returned at three in the morning to retrieve the knife he had used for fear that it would be discovered by an investigator, only to be captured by a police officer waiting for him.

The jurors yearn for a guilty verdict.

However, after hours of deliberation, during which time one juror misses his ball game, the jurors begin to realize that the facts may not be as accurate as they seem.

The boy these men are judging is also a girl. He is also a Negro, a poor man, and a Native American. He is Muslim, homosexual, transgender, Asian, and Jewish. He is the college grad who learned to be a plumber and the university dropout who is now cleaning floors at an Ivy League school.

He is me, and I am him.

“Look, you know how these people lie! It’s born in them!” Juror 10 (Ed Beg-

ley) says about people from the slums.

“Human life doesn’t mean as much to them as it does to us!”

The movie is a mixed bag of different ideas from each juror and Juror 8 (Henry Fonda), the initial opposition in the dissenting jury, does an excellent job at speculation. In the preliminary vote to see where everyone stands on the boy’s conviction, Juror 8 is the only one who asks, “Is it possible that this boy we are about to murder is not guilty?”

Mike D’Angelo and Leo McKinstry—writers for The A.V. Club and The Spectator—argue that the boy is no more innocent than Judas was at Gethsemane.

They may very well be right, but if you focus on whether the boy is guilty or not, then you’re missing a huge chunk of the film’s message.

As A.H. Weiler writes in The New York Times, “Reginald Rose’s excellent film elaboration of his fine television play of 1954, which arrived at the Capitol Saturday, is a penetrating, sensitive, and sometimes shocking dissection of the hearts and minds of men who obviously are something less than gods.”

This is a story of prejudice with an ironic twist. We expect—or at least we hope—that these disciples of the law will adhere to their Lady Justice and be blind to the background and social status of the accused.

However, as 12 Angry Men reveals, that is only a false ideal, which can be unsettling if we consider that these biases could be influencing the courtroom on a daily basis.

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09.28.2015 THE MEDIUM ARTS» 7

Spotlight on the good vibes and good art U of T Spotlight gives performance space and positive energy to up-and-coming artists KATE CATTELL-DANIELS A&E EDITOR U of T Spotlight—formerly the Hart House Players—gathered on Wednesday evening for their first cabaret of the school year.

The strongest part of the event was the variety of acts. I have been to too many of these types of things where all anyone does is sing covers of Top 40 songs. Here, though, the audience was entranced by original music, covers, remixes, stand-up comedy, poetry, and short fiction. The audience turnout was substantial and extremely supportive, and for the most part everyone stuck around to see all the performances.

The evening was divided into two parts: first, the performers who had signed up ahead of time, and following a short break, the open mic.

The first half featured performers Zachariah Musiq and Julia Orsini, who showed off their remixes and Liza Minelli covers, respectively. Musiq is obviously a crowd favourite, and with good reason. Orsini also gave a strong performance, especially given that the microphone gave out on her right at the beginning of her song.

My personal favourite was Leanna Guenther, a singer-songwriter from Rotman. She sang three original

U OF T SPOTLIGHT/PHOTO

The first cabaret night of the school year featured a highly diverse range of talents. songs that widely ranged in tone.

Though the subject matter of the songs remained similar, Guenther tackled each specific issue slightly differently than the one before, from comedy to tragedy to somewhere in between. I also happen to be a sucker for smart lyrics, and it is usually the quality of lyrics, rather than a singer’s

voice or style, that will win me over.

This is one of those cases—Guenther is a good singer, and her acoustic guitar indie-pop style appeals to me, but above all, I was seduced by her lyrics.

I was impressed that Patrick Mannone chose stand-up comedy as his medium—I don’t know if there is anything more challenging than

stand-up. He had some hits and some misses in terms of jokes, and by the end of his set it felt a little as if he had given up on transitions, and we were just jumping from joke to joke without any connecting material.

But maybe I’m not in any position to judge.

After a break, U of T Spotlight

moved on to the open mic portion of the evening. I was a little disappointed that so many people left after the first half, including the performers. I understand that people are busy and free evenings are rare, but it seems like good form to me to stick around to hear what other people are working on after they stayed to listen to you. I also found that the open mic was the stronger half of the event, so if you ever find yourself at one of these cabarets, don’t be the person who leaves halfway through.

Three of the open mic performers delivered spoken word pieces, all of which had beautiful imagery and were quite polished. My favourite from the second half was a musical genius, who matter-of-factly sat himself down at the piano in the corner of the stage and improvised. Following him, Victoria Beales wrapped up the night with a piece of short fiction that lulled listeners into a blissful pre-bedtime ease.

Before the event, my guess was that the signed-up performers would have been a little more polished given that they knew in advance they were performing. There were only minor technical difficulties, and Sammy’s Student Exchange actually makes a pretty comfy venue.

My final verdict? Stay for the open mic.

Big names shine on at TIFF Brilliant performances abound, but plotlines fall through CHRISTOPHER ANTILOPE Is it possible for the good guys and the bad guys to work on the same team? Are the good guys still the good guys when that happens?

Last week at the Elgin Theatre in Toronto, Black Mass—starring Johnny Depp, Joel Edgerton, and Benedict Cumberbatch (among many other talents)—premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Based on Dick Lehr and Gerard O’Neill’s Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob, the movie features Depp as James “Whitey” Bulger: a Boston-based gangster and former boss of the Winter Hill Gang who is still remembered as one of the most notorious criminals of the late 20th century.

Depp has not shied away from roles like this before as he played real-life bank robber and gangster John Dillinger in Public Enemies and real-life undercover FBI agent Joe Pistone in Donnie Brasco.

What is interesting is that in the latter movie, Depp works for the FBI while undercover with the mob. In Black Mass, it’s the other way around—Bulger is a “wise guy” who is working with the FBI in order to take down rival gangs.

However, Depp is lost behind the fierce, piercing eyes of Jimmy

Bulger.

While staring into Bulger’s cold, unchanging gaze, I thought, “He’s got the loyalty of a wolf, he’s as slithery as a snake, he’s as quickto-anger as a shark, and as dangerous as all three combined.”

If that story sounds familiar, it may be because Martin Scorsese loosely based his Academy Award–winning film The Departed on Bulger’s story. Moreover,

[Bulger]’s got the loyalty of a wolf, he’s as slithery as a snake, he’s as quick-to-anger as a shark, and as dangerous as all three combined.

Black Mass is stylized like Scorsese’s Goodfellas—with voiceovers, time-skipping, practical jokes, and end credits explaining the outcomes of the criminals—which creates a lack of originality in the new film. It’s a familiar story with a familiar plot setting.

The film continues the legacy of American mob films, as it shows the sheer, truly unbelievable ruthlessness of human nature. As many audiences have asked and continue to ask while watching mob movies, “How can they do that to someone?” In Black Mass we see

FBI agents fighting the wars of the Irish mob, with Bulger not being “the feds’ informant”, but rather their “business partner”. So who are the good guys in this movie?

What makes this film so great is that you don’t know who to root for. The film is on the fence, and it offers a great debate and history lesson for the late 1970s and 1980s.

Whenever Depp goes “full Johnny Depp” into a character—which he does in all of his movies—talk of his receiving Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations always arises. Will Depp receive nominations? Most likely. Will he win? Although there are many films and months left until awards season, gut instinct tells me that he may not carry the awards home once again (don’t tell him I said that, though).

Nevertheless, Black Mass is a success with its star-studded cast and intriguing plot that outlines historical events. With this movie, TIFF welcomed something familiar and made it new again. I encourage you to watch the performances of Black Mass’ leads for an entertaining and surprisingly educating experience. Or don’t.

Remember, in the words of Depp’s Bulger, “If nobody sees it, it didn’t happen.”

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KEENA AL-WAHAIDI As an English major, it’s always taken me by surprise when other students have expressed their utmost dislike for Ernest Hemingway’s work.

In UTM’s ENG110, I read the syllabus during the first week and realized we were assigned to read “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place”, a short story by Hemingway. Having never read him, I decided that reading his work would allow me to finally develop a conclusion about him.

I fell in love. Although this is the first text of his I’ve read, I couldn’t wait to dig deeper in his works of art.

I didn’t let my peers’ opinions of Hemingway cloud my judgement. I enjoyed Hemingway’s use of simplicity. He prides himself on keeping the text uncomplicated. The trick in his writing, I discovered, is his genius way of subtly making you work for the meaning of the purpose of the story.

I knew something was there, but I couldn’t put my finger on it right at the start.

“A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” tells the story of two waiters who wait on an old, drunken man in their restaurant. Their reactions to the man are unique, and we come to understand the reasons for their actions.

The best part of reading this work was that there has been lots of discussion by critics over a couple of aspects

of the story for years. For example, it is unclear which waiter is speaking when, and how to differentiate between the two.

The story gives an excellent overview of the contrast between light and dark. While one of the waiters has a wife to go home to and a seemingly happy life, the other waiter doesn’t

The trick in [Hemingway’s] writing is his genius way of subtly making you work for the meaning of the story. have anything to look forward to.

When he ends up at a bar in the final paragraph, he simply explains that all anyone needs in life is a clean, welllighted place to sit—to escape the darkness and see the world from a more optimistic angle.

It’s apparent that the second waiter has some sort of existential anxiety, a fear of the unknown. He can’t go home to sleep, because it’s dark and he has no one to turn to.

Of course, Hemingway doesn’t reveal anything explicitly. Instead, he forces his readers to work for the answers. It’s only later that we discover that the simplicities in life can be complicated in their own, twisted ways.

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What to do when you feel like a fraud UTM alumna, CBC Radio One associate producer talks about dealing with the impostor syndrome ANDREEA MIHAI Pacinthe Mattar, HBA ’08 and associate producer at CBC Radio One, shared her experiences dealing with impostor syndrome while following her dreams during last Thursday’s Backpack to Briefcase event.

Impostor syndrome is when an individual feels inadequate, even in the face of success. They attribute their success to luck, feel unqualified, and fear others will find out that they are frauds. Research shows that mostly women, racialized individuals, and individuals from lower incomes suffer from impostor syndrome.

While at UTM, Mattar studied political science, was a residence don, volunteered at the international student resource centre, was a mentor with the Accessibility Centre, and wrote for campus publications including the Bulletin. She received the Gordon Cressey award, the highest award that recognizes student volunteerism, and the Principal’s Award for achievement in and out of class.

Mattar admitted that even as she stood at the podium during Thurs-

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Mattar, UTM alumna, first experienced the syndrome when she was appointed valedictorian. day’s alumni event, she felt unqualified to speak and feared the audience wouldn’t find her speech valuable.

Learning to tell that voice to “shut up” is something that she continues to do.

Mattar said that the first time she felt impostor syndrome was at UTM, when she had been chosen to be the valedictorian.

“Automatically, my reaction was, ‘This can’t be right. I’m not the smartest. I failed math. I got an F in calculus,’ ” she said.

Her response to being valedictorian, Mattar realized, is part of the impostor thought process.

She joked that she chose to do journalism at Ryerson to avoid ever dealing with math again. On her

first assignment, she received a zero.

Mattar had misspelled her main interviewee’s name. “My professor, a veteran from the Wall Street Journal, said to me: ‘If I can’t trust you to spell a name right, how can you be trusted to get other facts right?’ ” she said.

In the second year of the program, the Ryerson journalism students had to find their own internship place-

ments. Mattar applied to the CBC. On the day of her interview, she showed up at the wrong entrance of a large building.

“The person who came to get me told me I’d made of a lot of important people late,” she said. Mattar had imagined they would take it easy on her since she was just a journalism student. Instead, they asked her hard questions.

“I left that interview feeling like I’d been hit by a train. I felt there was no way I’d be working for the CBC,” she said.

However, CBC called and offered Mattar a six-week unpaid internship.

Her job was to pitch and produce three-to-five-minute interviews about the top news stories of the day.

“There’s no handholding. No one sits you down to explain how things are done. You’re thrown in the deep end and you have to figure things out along the way,” she said, adding that it wasn’t until her fifth week that she figured things out.

Impostor continued on page 10

Academics versus religious observances While U of T encourages alternate arrangements, students do not feel that there is a choice at all MAHNOOR AYUB According to the legal and social affairs division within the parliament, “Scarcely a week goes by when some special day or observance is not marked somewhere in Canada.”

The parliament has stated that there is no central authority responsible for the declaration of holidays here in Canada. However, they state that days declared special by any public body, cultural group, or religious institution can be recognized in Canada.

U of T adopts a similar policy in regards to absences owing to religious observances. In fact, it is a policy that is referred to on almost every copy of a course syllabus—that is “to arrange reasonable accommodation of the needs of students who observe religious holy days other than those already accommodated by ordinary scheduling and statutory holidays”.

“In line with the university’s policy on accommodations for religious observances, I have tried to create an environment where the students I supervise feel comfortable asking for adjustments to their work commitments when it overlaps with their holy days and faith-based celebrations,” says Julie Guindon, the student development officer for first generation programs at the Office of Student Transition.

Guindon believes that it is essential to extend support towards students

MAHMOUD SAROUJI/THE MEDIUM

Students are constantly forced to choose between academics and religious observances. beyond their academics or on-campus jobs.

While an attempt towards alternate arrangements is encouraged so that conflicted students may still be able to observe their religious observances, many students find themselves overwhelmed by the deluge of assignments and preparing for upcoming midterms. “[Since this is] my first year, I’m barely getting enough time to settle down in university, [especially] with all the assignments that are suddenly due,” says Shanza Ayub, a first-year life sciences student. “It is sad, but I

just decided to go along with it instead of making an effort to make accommodations for Eid.” While Ayub’s first-year woes are a matter of the past for many of us, rationing our time towards completing work and postponing celebrations may be a situation most of us can relate to.

“I celebrate Diwali and last year, one of my tests fell on that day,” says Rakhee Neebar, a fourth-year sociology and PWC double major. “I had to defer it.”

While Neebar feels frustrated at how Diwali usually falls on a day

during midterms, depending on the lunar calendar, she also recognizes the importance of not only fulfilling a religious obligation, but also taking a break and being together with family.

“The two Eids in the year are not only days of worship and religious obligation, but also days of greetings and happiness,” says Fatima Zahra Hamaimou, a fourth-year major in CCIT and PWC. “I believe that everyone should have the opportunity to celebrate Eid without feeling stressed about missing a day of other commitments, such as work or coursework.”

Hamaimou mentions how this is

achievable by citing New York City as an example, where Eid has recently been declared a holiday for all public schools. New York, just like the GTA, possesses pluralism in ethnic diversity.

However, Hamaimou sympathizes with the experiences of her peers who have not managed to receive a day off to observe Eid for fear of receiving negative responses.

“I also know many who have been blessed with an exceptionally understanding workplace or classroom environment and have managed to celebrate Eid to its full potential,” she adds. “Yes, there is [a] fear of stigma, but there is no harm in asking. Canada prides itself on being ethnically diverse and accepting,” says Hamaimou.

“UTM actually has made observing my religious observances comfortable for me,” says Kiran Siddiqui, a third-year biotechnology specialist.

Siddiqui also notes that on-campus events arranged by different student societies and the students’ union encourage celebration and believes that professors and faculty are generally understanding about the holidays.

In the end, when it comes to the clashing responsibilities of academics and religious observances, it all boils down to what students themselves prefer. Although, it seems that for many students, there is no choice— academics come first.

09.28.2015 THE MEDIUM FEATURES» 9

Fall’s flavour: the Pumpkin Spice Latte The famed drink will now contain pumpkin; the previous version had no traces of pumpkin at all KATHERINE BOOTH As I walk outside in a light jacket, a cool breeze rushes by and vibrant leaves fall to the ground from the trees around campus. I attempt to contain my excitement but let out a squeal of delight. Fall is coming and that can only mean one thing— Pumpkin Spice Lattes are back.

Peter Dukes, Starbucks’ director of espresso and brewed coffee, once said, “When you taste Pumpkin Spice Latte, it tastes just like fall.”

How a drink can be described as tasting like a season is beyond comprehension, but hundreds line up to enjoy this famed beverage every year.

Starbucks first introduced the drink back in 2003 and it quickly became popular due to its resemblance to pumpkin pie. Since then, over 200 million cups have been sold over the past 10 years, and the drink even has its own Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr accounts.

The drink’s popularity amongst UTM students is evident. Kimberly Johnson, a fifth-year English student and Starbucks barista, says that in a single shift “every fourth drink will be pumpkin spice”. She says the popularity of the beverage is due to “the way that Starbucks markets the

JEANLOUIS REBELLO/THE MEDIUM

Previously, this fall drink contained vanilla, nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, milk—but no pumpkin. drink“.

“It exists in the public’s imagination as a kind of tradition come autumn. You think autumn; you think back to school, Thanksgiving, Halloween; and you think Pumpkin Spice Latte,” she says.

The latte, a blend of condensed milk, espresso, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg, has become a fall staple for coffee drinkers all around the world as well as at UTM. Until this year, the drink contained large quantities of artificial flavours, ambiguous natural flavours, sugar, class

IV caramel colouring, and salt. Apart from the obvious lack of nutrition, it’s also important to point out that it contained absolutely no pumpkin whatsoever.

Feeling like your entire life is a lie?

Join the club—thousands of Starbucks customers were appalled by this realization.

In response, Starbucks announced that this fall the latte would actually contain—drumroll please—pumpkin! In addition to removing the caramel colouring, Starbucks has added pumpkin puree to the list of ingredi-

ents that make up the flavoured sauce in the drink.

Elliot Tang, a first-year computer science student, says while the latte has “a good roasted flavour”, he couldn’t taste any pumpkin. However, he feels he is more likely to order the latte knowing that it actually contains pumpkin now.

Students on campus tend to have different opinions about the Pumpkin Spice Latte.

“It is very tasty, but I would only have one every two weeks because it is not very healthy, and a bit too sweet

for my taste,” says Amanda Ramanah, a fourth-year economics student.

On the other hand, Gabrielle Silveira, a second-year digital enterprise management student, doesn’t understand the hype.

“I think it is so overrated—I don’t think it is that great, actually,” she says. When told about the lack of real pumpkin as an ingredient, both Silveira and Ramanah agreed that it wasn’t all that surprising.

It is still unclear whether the change in ingredients will cause any change in flavour, but the latte has already triggered drastic changes in the pumpkin world. Many other stores offer variations of the drink because the flavour has been in such high demand, like the marketing for #PumpkinAtDunkin at Dunkin’ Donuts and Pumpkin Pie Iced Capps that are offered at select Tim Hortons locations.

At Panera, customers can also find a natural and “clean” pumpkin-flavoured latte that contains real pumpkin and no artificial preservatives.

Whether disgruntled customers opt for competitors’ natural versions of the Pumpkin Spice Latte this fall, or the addition of real pumpkin to the Starbucks drink will continue to draw in the crowds at Starbucks UTM remains to be seen.

Walking into outer space Merging academia and volunteerism ZAHRA SINA

JEANLOUIS REBELLO/THE MEDIUM

Bob McDonald, host of Quirks and Quarks, was here at UTM to talk about spacewalkers.

AYESHA HASSAN Recently, Bob McDonald, science journalist and the host of CBC’s radio show Quirks and Quarks, was here at UTM to talk about spacewalkers, his novel Canadian Spacewalkers, and much more.

What exactly is the difference between an astronaut and a spacewalker?

According to McDonald, the main difference is that an astronaut stays inside the spacecraft, whereas a spacewalker goes out of the spacecraft to explore space.

“An astronaut is someone who flies above the altitude of 10,000 feet,” he added.

McDonald said that anyone can apply to become a spacewalker.

“They just have to be strong and [should be] able to perform the tasks assigned,” he said.

Spacewalkers spend years in training to prepare themselves. In fact, as McDonald mentioned, NASA has one of the world’s largest swimming pools.

They use the pool to simulate an experience similar to when the spacewalkers step outside their spacecraft and work while wearing a space suit.

Space suits are like snowsuits that can’t bend. Each space suit weighs around 150 kg. In fact, the space suits are so bulky that the spacewalkers need help putting them on. They are then lowered into the swimming pool, where a group of scientists monitor the suits to ensure that the spacewalkers have the right amount of air and pressure.

McDonald added that “each spacewalker [has been] assigned a specific task to do”. Their tasks can range from experiments to simple craft repairs.

“There have been occasions where spacewalkers have had to go out to do emergency repairs to the space station,” he said, also noting that spacewalks can last seven to eight hours, calling for a lot of endurance.

McDonald recently wrote a novel titled Canadian Spacewalkers, where he interviewed three renowned (and the only) Canadian spacewalkers: Chris Hadfield, Steve MacLean, and Dave Williams—the people who, he believes, “took [traveling to space] to the next level by putting on space suits and stepping outside into the void”.

When asked why he chose to focus

his book solely on Canadian spacewalkers, McDonald said, it was “because it was a piece of Canadian history that had not been documented”.

“I knew that the experience of being outside, alone in the universe wearing nothing but a fabric suit, was a profound experience and I wanted [the spacewalkers] to tell their story. I was not disappointed,” he added.

McDonald has hosted Quirks and Quarks for 23 years.

“I have conducted more than 7,500 interviews, so it is hard to pick just one,” he said when asked about his favourite interview. He did say, though, that he particularly enjoys interviewing the Nobel Prize winners every year. “They are always surprised and excited,” he says.

McDonald has had several adventures, but his own “zero-G flight was one of the best”. While McDonald would love to go spacewalking, his passion remains science.

“Science is like a pair of glasses that you put on and look at the same world as everyone else,” he says. “But you see it in a very different way—you see it in exquisite detail.”

Fourth-year UTM student Karina Merida is a member of Peel Children and Youth Initiative Youth Advisory Council. She has also been one of three youth representatives on PCYI’s board of directors since 2012.

PCYI is a non-profit organization that is committed to improving the lives of children and youth to ensure that youth reach their full potential as they grow from infancy to adulthood.

Merida first found out about an opportunity through the PCYI website.

She then contacted the youth coordinator and learned more about the organization.

“Before they implement any projects or move on with any initiatives regarding youth, they ask the Youth Advisory Council for input,” says Merida. Its reasons like these that led to her volunteering with the organization.

“I wanted to give more time to organizations that had a good cause,” says the biology and computer science double major.

As a member of the council, she brainstorms with her fellow members about ways to address current issues affecting youth and how to bring awareness about such issues.

The council then proposes an initiative, which Merida discusses with the PCYI board.

Merida is one of the youngest members on the board, sitting with representatives, CEOs, and leaders in the youth sector, which include Peel Regional Police, Peel Children’s Aid Society, and ErinoakKids, just to name a few.

“As a youth representative for the board, I fill them in on what the council has been doing and what we think of the initiatives or projects they’ve been working on,” Merida says of her role on the board.

As part of her roles in both the council and the board of directors, Merida has been very involved with many of their initiatives. One such initiative that she helped organize was the Peel Youth Leaders Conference focusing on mental health, held last Saturday here in Mississauga.

“Everyone that I talked to after the conference said [that] they [had] learned a lot,” says Merida.

“We had youth speakers come in and talk about mental health. We also had a lot of representatives from organizations that deal with mental health for youth,” says Merida, adding that the conference was her proudest achievement within the organization.

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«FEATURES

THE MEDIUM 09.28.2015

Being successful doesn’t mean feeling successful Impostor continued from page 8 The internship ended with no indication that Mattar would ever see the inside of the CBC offices again. Days later, her assignment coordinator called. Someone was sick and she asked if Mattar could come in for just that day.

Mattar signed her name to a contract that changed her from an unpaid intern to a paid freelancer.

“Did they really want me? In my head, the justification was that there was no one else to call, so I told myself, ‘Don’t get too comfortable,’ ” she said.

She admitted that she was never comfortable at CBC. It was a pressure cooker of competition, deadlines, and the pressure to get facts accurate. Mattar’s anxiety of screwing up never went away.

“There were days I was told I wasn’t a good producer, that I was too young. I was called into my executive producer’s office and told I wasn’t pulling my weight enough, and they were reconsidering why they’d hired me,” she said.

The work was unpredictable.

Sometimes it was daily—other times, weeks would go by without anything. Mattar describes it as a game of checking her email.

One night at 9:00 p.m., Mattar

got a call. Would she be able to fill in for a producer who came in at 4:00 a.m.?

The next morning found Mattar sitting with the decision-makers who decided what stories to cover.

She proposed covering the pending revolution in Egypt. After the meeting, she contacted an Egyptian journalist she had spoken to on Twitter the night before.

“She told me that no one cared about me because they were busy thinking about themselves.”

–Pacinthe Mattar He agreed to an interview and spoke on that morning’s news. It was the first story the CBC ran about the events in Egypt.

Co-workers who had previously never known who she was asked her how she’d come up with the story. Mattar remembers feeling that she had no credit to take because her contact had been a good interviewee.

Her next step was to apply to As It Happens, an interview show on CBC’s Radio One. She did on-air

translations of the Egyptian coverage. From there, she went to The Current, another CBC Radio One show. While with The Current, Mattar took stories that scared her.

“This is the part where I tell you how I cured myself of the impostor syndrome,” Mattar said towards the end of presentation.

“Truth is, I still haven’t found it.

Only tips l can share with you that I use to deal with it.” Mattar’s advice is to believe people when they compliment you on work well done. Keep a log of past successes.

Say yes to opportunities that scare you. “Scare that inner impostor voice into being quiet forever.”

Mattar said she deactivates her social media sometimes to ground herself. Social media acts as people’s highlight reels and it becomes easy to forget the hard work that goes on behind the scenes.

Mattar remembers reaching out to a senior co-worker on a stressful day.

“I told her how I felt and what I thought,” she said. “She told me that no one cared about me because they were busy thinking about themselves. She said something that changed the way I think: ‘No one cares about you except you.’ ”

This week was Science Literacy week: a

I’m traipsing back and forth between the

Canada-wide event created by U of T grad

buildings where I teach,” she says. “I’ll see

Jesse Hildebrand to celebrate science.

the silhouette of a pine tree, and that is

UTM also celebrated the event in various

enough to take me back to the shores of

ways—the most noticeable being the huddle

Lake Simcoe or to any number of lakes in

of students around the library entrance as

Lanark County, southeastern Ontario.

they carried out DNA extraction and took a look at fossils and 3D-printed objects.

Now for me, as fall approaches, there’s one thing on my mind (and possibly the

In the spirit of Science Literacy week, I

minds of the entire UTM student population

decided to reach out to the members of the

too): midterms. But as a close second, I re-

team responsible for bringing the event to

member the salmon run down at the Credit

UTM. Joanna Szurmak, the digital initiatives

River in Erindale Park. Now when I’m talk-

and science liaison librarian, co-organized

ing about salmon, I’m referring to dozens

the event; she has shared her maple-glazed

of 20-plus-pound fish “running” against the

trout (or salmon) recipe for this week’s

river current. It isn’t just salmon though—

Blackboard Special.

there are over 79 fish species in the river,

“This time of the year, just when summer

including rainbow and brown trout. I’ve had

officially moves over and ushers in autumn,

the chance to see the salmon run, but I’ve

is the busiest time at work for me and for

never actually had maple-glazed salmon. So

many of my colleagues at UTM,” says Szur-

without further ado, let’s take a look at this

mak. “However, when I look around me as

recipe.

Maple-Glazed Trout (or Salmon) SERVES 4

INGREDIENTS • 500 g fresh trout or salmon fillet (with skin on) • 2 tbsp lemon juice

Cover well and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

5. Preheat the oven to 400 F. 6. Pour the excess marinade into a small

• 2 tbsp olive oil

container and baste the fish with it oc-

• 1 tbsp maple syrup

casionally. Alternatively, baste the fish

• 3 tbsp good quality maple mustard (alternatively, 1 tsp chipotle mustard or 2 tsp Dijon mustard) • Salt and fresh pepper to taste

and leave everything in the pan.

7. Cover the pan loosely with a piece of aluminium foil and put in the preheated oven.

8. If using trout, bake for 10 minutes, then

METHOD

reduce the temperature to 350 F. If using

1. Pour all the ingredients of the marinade,

salmon, bake 20 minutes or so, then

except the salt and pepper, into a small jar; shake until the mixture is uniform.

reduce the temperature to 350 F. 9. Uncover the fish and baste it, then bake

2. Spray a baking pan with olive oil.

10–15 more minutes, or until the edges

3. Place the fish skin side down in the pan.

of the fish get a browned look, and the

4. For best results, gently salt the fish and pour the marinade over the fillet(s).

flesh separates easily.

10. Add salt and pepper to taste.

09.28.2015

»

11

Outdoor yoga is a breath of fresh air Physically active students unrolled their yoga mats on UTM’s upper green lawn ERIC HEWITSON SPORTS EDITOR

turning this relaxing move into a blinding situation.

Last Thursday, a dozen students attended UTMAC’s first outdoor yoga session. Students had the chance to show off their flexibility—and falling-over skills—on the beautiful green front lawn at UTM. UTM’s professional yoga instructor, who teaches the indoor classes in the RAWC, instructed the students with an enthusiastic and patient attitude.

BRIDGE POSE “Oh my God, this feels amazing,” said everyone in their thoughts, lying on the floor with knees bent, pressing feet into the floor to lift the hips.

“We wanted to give back to students and do something different at the same time. Having yoga outdoors is a unique experience for students; it’s refreshing having it out here on the beautiful campus like this,” said UTMAC president Bilal Rifai.

Originally, the event was planned to take place on the South Field, but having it on the front lawn beside Davis gives the activity more visibility.

“We’re planning on doing it again in a couple of weeks before it starts to get cold outside. It’ll be an excellent opportunity for students to stay active before midterms,” said Rifai.

Students left their yoga mats feeling mentally refreshed and physically loose as they grabbed their free snack and drink and headed to class.

DOWNWARD DOG Starting on all fours with hands directly under your shoulders, knees under your hips, butt in the air—like a twerk—you begin to contemplate why you even came to this yoga session. See-through tights are not recommended for this exercise.

WARRIOR You thought you were coming out for a light stretch before class, but now you’re sweating like you just ran around the track 20 times.

Bending your right knee 90 degrees, keeping your knee over your ankle with arms extending out to the sides, is the easy part. The hard

JEANLOUIS REBELLO/THE MEDIUM

There are plans to have another outdoor yoga session before the temperature cools down. part is gazing—yes, gazing. Who knew concentration would make you tumble like a line of dominoes.

TREE POSE Tree pose is the most deceiving yoga name—balancing on one leg with your other foot curled up into

your standing thigh should be an Olympic sport. Hands in prayer pose actually means you’re praying for the pose to end.

COBRA Now this is what students came for: lying facedown on the floor,

legs extended. With palms flat on the ground, you push your chest up looking straight towards the instructor. The instructor asks you to relax your breathing, but you’re hyperventilating. Since your hands are occupied on the floor, a drip of sweat sneaks its way into your eye,

Moving into a healthy active lifestyle Students who attended the MoveU Motivator benefited from Krull’s “life balance” presentation ERIC HEWITSON SPORTS EDITOR Last Friday was a day to get physically active in the RAWC. Students who attended the MoveU Motivator explored activities that are readily available to them on campus, discovering that people who engage in regular exercise feel and function better.

Starting the event was Ulrich Krull, UTM’s acting principal and analytical chemistry professor.

“Professor Krull is also a champion of healthy active living. He regularly promotes the physical, emotional, social, and mental wellbeing benefits that come from being active, and points out that being active at UTM can also be a great way for students to connect with their peers and their professors,” says Chad Jankowski, UTM’s health education coordinator, who helped organize the event.

Krull shared many key strategies and facts based on extensive research on how to lead a healthier active lifestyle. He emphasized that “life balance” is the key ingredient.

Going to the gym once on a random day of the week because

FACEBOOK.COM/UTMHCC/PHOTO

Students enjoyed pick-up badminton, circuit training, and Quidditch spin off “Beater Battle”. you feel guilty for eating an unhealthy meal is not an effective plan to combat the extra pounds.

Your time spent with your friends, parents, school, work, and family should all incorporate a level of healthy eating and physical activity. Even if one of those aspects

don’t resemble a healthy active lifestyle, take the effort to fix it— you’ll be helping others along the way, too.

“It’s so rewarding to see students who usually don’t get involved in social, physical activities coming out and having fun together,” says

Jankowski.

The event was packed with fun, accessible activities. Different from last year, newer events quickly turned into crowd favourites: pickup badminton, circuit training with one of the RAWC’s personal trainers, and “Beater Battle” drills

run by UTM’s Quidditch Club. Students tried up to three 20-minute mini-classes that let you go at your own pace.

The organizers were happy with the turnout at the event. According to Mary Anne Aliazon, a team leader for the MoveU Crew, over 100 students attended the event, including many first-years.

Organizers expect students to teach their friends and family members the same values they learned that afternoon.

“Many of the trainers who facilitated the activities commented that they saw a lot of new faces and a great deal of excitement being able to explore ways of staying active on campus,” Jankowski says.

After the cooldown stretch, participants left with a fitness starter kit, including a gym bag, towel, and a Frisbee. A few lucky participants walked away with one of five grand prizes.

Next up for MoveU is Sneaker Squad, which takes place on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the RAWC. Time to get those running shoes dirty now that the leaves are officially falling.

12

«SPORTS

THE MEDIUM 09.28.2015

Striding ahead of the OCAA competition Five UTM cross country runners finish in top 50 at Fanshawe’s 8-km meet KARINA COTRAN UTM Eagles varsity cross country has beguns its second varsity season as a member of the Ontario College Athletic Association.

The 2015 Eagles squad has 14 men and women. Since the end of August, their 12 practices have prepared them well for their upcoming meets.

Their first event was on September 19 at Fanshawe College in London. Based on the results, the team has shown improvement from last year. The top runner for the men’s team is Haseeb Malik, a first-year computer science student. Malik finished 11th out of the 69 participants; as a result of his performance, the men’s team landed fifth place overall.

“This is the highest UTM has placed since it first started participating in the OCAA,” says Malik.

“My goal is to finish in the top 25 individually in the men’s 8-km.

“Our women’s team is looking very strong with the track and field runners like first-year Katie Hill and returning runner Ayah Abdeldayam,” he adds.

Women’s runner Katie Hill, a first-year majoring in sociology, expresses her enthusiasm for the team, saying, “It is a fantastic opportunity to represent UTM’s varsity cross country team at such a competitive level.”

When doing an extracurricular activity such as a varsity sport, it is understandable that students will face some difficulties in balancing

MAHMOUD SAROUJI/THE MEDIUM

The cross country team has two more OCAA invitational events happening October 3 and 17. academics and their extracurriculars. Both Malik and Hill are firstyear students that are not only going through a big transition from high school to university, but are also faced with the challenges of balancing schoolwork and cross country.

“As a first-year student, it can be difficult handling school work and training while trying to adjust to a new school environment. However, the team and coaches are both engaging and understanding and help guide managing training and classes,” says Hill.

Malik emphasizes that teamwork is essential when it comes to time management. “Considering most

“This is the highest UTM has placed since it first started participating in the OCAA.” — Haseeb Malik of our team are first-year students, having student athletes that are also trying to balance their time and

studies is beneficial because we can communicate strategies and tips between each other that may be useful,” he says.

According to both runners, the varsity cross country team introduced them to a way to socialize at UTM, making the adjustment to university enjoyable.

The team trains Monday and Thursday evenings. Returning runner Ayah Abdeldayam, a third-year biology student, says, “Being on a running team can have its difficulties because a lot of the running

you have to do is on your own time.

Aside from the twice-a-week practices, we are expected to run on our own for the other days as well.”

With this type of physical exertion on the body, injuries are part of the challenges athletes face in this sport. Malik says, “We run a lot of mileage during practice and outside of practice—I run about 70–80 km a week in total.”

Abdeldayam is an injury-prone athlete and tends to get injured a lot; these injuries prevented her from going on to nationals, and she only raced at provincials.

“I’ve been having trouble with shin splints, and do cross-training to prepare for races,” she says. “The team, coaches, and the athletic department are very supportive.”

Malik says that in case of injury, “we have the athletic therapist at the clinic in the RAWC available for us if aid is required”.

The cross country team is scheduled to head out to St. Lawrence College in Brockville on Saturday and to Seneca King Campus in Toronto on October 24. Based on the results from those two meets, the coach, Adam Hassen, will select his final six men and six women to compete in the OCAA and CCAA championships.

The OCAA championship will be held at Sault College in Sault Ste. Marie on October 31. The CCAA championships (top five teams and top 25 individuals) will be at St. Lawrence College in Brockville on November 14.

UTM hosts frisbee tourney

JILLIAN SEGOVIA/THE MEDIUM

Tournaments are played on the North Field at UTM.

JILLIAN SEGOVIA With a strong third-place finish, the coed ultimate team completed their first tournament with high hopes for the future.

The UTM Invitational Tournament hosted George Brown, UTSC, Humber Lakeshore, and Humber North this past Friday. Although the team suffered two losses against Humber Lakeshore and George Brown, they managed to qualify for the semifinals with a win against UTSC and Humber North.

Despite their previous success and evening the score within the last four minutes, the UTM ultimate team lost

in overtime against Humber North.

Humber North had the lead during the finals, but George Brown managed to make a comeback to win the tournament.

Ultimately, the team came together well, “despite only having one practice together”, said Matthew Fraschetti, coach and captain of the team. This year, eight veterans and six freshmen represented the team at the tournament.

With a history that includes the title of 2014 Fall Ultimate Division 2 Champions, the team hopes to continue doing well for the rest of their season, with games taking place on Saturdays.