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NEWS

173.11 • Thursday, MARCH 27, 2014

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Campus Day courts thousands of prospective students

High-schoolers and their families came from far and wide to tour the U of G campus Kelsey Coughlin

Three thousand high school students from across the province flocked to the University of Guelph campus on Sunday, March 23 to get a taste of student life.

Prospective students and their families were treated to a full day of activities that highlighted just what it means to be a Gryphon.

The day began with a walking tour of campus, where U of G student volunteers led large groups of visitors around Guelph’s major landmarks. Following this were academic information sessions, residence drop-in tours, and various resource fairs.

On top of the 3000 visiting students and families, 200 U of G students, staff, and faculty helped to turn campus day into a success. Even Guelph’s mascot, Gryph, was on hand to pose for pictures with guests.

While many of the attending students were eagerly awaiting

an acceptance letter from the U of G, others were still comparisonshopping between universities.

Some younger students were hoping to get a head start on admissions research for next year.

The University of Guelph has consistently been ranked as one of the top comprehensive universities in Canada. According to Maclean’s magazine, the U of G is at the top of its class in student excellence, reputation, and quality of faculty. Having been ranked number one in Canada for campus food for the past ten years doesn’t hurt, either. Families were keen to look for hints that the product matched the hype.

The University of Guelph also prides itself on the diversity of its student body. Sarah Goody, a Campus Day coordinator said, “This event, more than others the university hosts on campus, sees the most diverse group of visitors.”

U of G tour guide Hunter Marshall felt proud to be able to share the experience of visiting the campus for the first time with these students.

“I found that the day was full of great experiences and workshops that will allow potential students to thrive at the university should they choose to call it home in the fall,” said Marshall.

PHOTO BY HEATHER GILMORE

Campus Day volunteers from the Department of Biomedical Science – (from left) John, Gaby, Marnie and Rawy – stand next Ellen (centre-right), a high-school student who came to check out the U of G at Sunday’s campus open house.

The first two rounds of admission offers have already been sent out to prospective students.

Those who have yet to hear back need not (necessarily) worry,

however, as a third official round of offers will be sent out in May. In general, students and families were pleased with their decision to visit the campus and left with a new

perspective on the community that is U of G. Come autumn, a sizable number of them will join the 20,000 or so other students that already call the University of Guelph home.

Student Life banquet honours U of G leaders

Annual award ceremony recognizes exceptional community builders Michael Long

On March 20, the University of Guelph’s most promising student leaders arrived at the Royal City Ballroom at the Delta Hotel and Conference Centre for the annual Student Life Recognition Banquet.

Students mingled with faculty and staff, speeches were read, dinner was served, and awards were bestowed. The mood was at times self-congratulatory, but the occasion called for it.

“I want you to know that what you do as student leaders is unbelievably inspirational,” said President Alastair Summerlee in the opening address.

“It’s the reason why old people like me hang around universities, because vicariously what we get to do is have a sense that tomorrow is going to be better because of the absolutely astonishing people that are coming after us.”

Summerlee recalled a story of going to an award ceremony as a young faculty member and asking himself, “How does anybody in their lifetime manage to do all of the things that these people are talking about?”

That was certainly a question many of the guests were asking

themselves throughout the night, though perhaps no more so than when Anita Acai, who is this year’s winner of the R. P. Gilmor Student Life Award, was singled out for having simultaneously worked on seven extracurricular organizations, worked two part-time jobs, and maintained a full course load.

Eleven awards were given out that night, but the winners (often more than one per award) were so many and their nomination packages so heavy that it would scarcely be possible to recount each winner here.

Brian D. Sullivan, for whom the Brian D. Sullivan Student Leadership Award is named, and who is also a former head of Student Affairs, was in attendance and provided the keynote speech at the banquet. He spoke highly of the extraordinary role students play in building community at the university.

“To a degree you cannot appreciate,” Sullivan said, “Canadian universities… are uniquely provisioned by the attitudes, knowledge and behaviour of their current students taking up leadership.”

“What matters most of all, for Guelph, is that folks like you – student leaders and colleagues – are inside it,” the former vice president added.

Another highlight was the touching tribute to the late Paul

PHOTO BY MICHAEL LONG

The Student Life Recognition Banquet was held at the Delta Hotel and Conference Centre on March 20. Faculty, staff and students – as well as other prominent members of the local community – gathered to celebrate outstanding U of G student leaders.

Gilmor, who was provost from 1967 to 1987 and the person effectively responsible for creating Student Affairs at the University of Guelph. Brenda Whiteside, the current Vice President of Student Affairs, led the tribute and fondly recalled how Gilmor stayed committed

to the office long after he had retired.

“Paul would phone me and say, ‘You did a good job, Brenda – but you could just change this one thing.’ I love that about Paul,” Whiteside said. “He remained connected to this university.”

All in all, the winners were a diverse crowd, reflective of the wide variety of awards on offer. Combined, the recipients really do present the makings of a strong community –having been leaders in accessibility, diversity, governance, academics and much more.

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S. African president’s corruption won’t cost him election South African President Jacob Zuma appears virtually immune to any threat to his political seat.

Despite the release of a scathing 447-page investigation into presidential corruption that highlights millions of dollars of wasted spending, lavish personal expenses paid for by taxpayers, and official wrongdoing – released just weeks before a national election – analysts forecast that the leader of the ruling African National Congress will still accrue more than twice as many votes as his nearest rival.

More than twenty years since the end of apartheid, the ANC still benefits from its reputation as the party that helped defeat the white-led regime. South Africa’s other political parties have struggled to field candidates that have broad appeal and have been largely unable to combat the ANC’s deeply entrenched organizational networks.

President Zuma has been especially criticized for using the public coffers to upgrade his luxurious village home.

Coffee prices set to rise following extreme Brazil drought The worst drought in living memory has rocked Brazil’s coffee belt. In the state of Minas Gerais, prized Arabica beans have begun to shrivel up. Farmers estimate that the harvest will be about 30 per cent less than expected.

“They should be green now, and turning just a little bit yellow,” said Hugo Brito, a fifthgeneration coffee farmer to an Al Jazeera correspondent. “We have already the red beans, that are damaged, and these black ones will fall on the ground by the time we are ready to harvest.”

Brazil is the world’s largest producer of coffee, growing nearly 40 per cent of the world’s supply. But the recent winter months – the growing season – have seen perhaps just 10 per cent of average rainfall. On the coffee commodity exchange in New York, the price for future deliveries of Arabica is skyrocketing: May deliveries are topping two dollars per pound Alexandre Araujo, a veteran coffee broker, says it is impossible to know when consumer prices will rise, but he is sure the drought will result in an inferior quality of and higher costs for producers.

“If we have another dry season like this,” said Brito. “I don’t know what to do.”

Compiled by Michael Long

NEWS

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CollabNow invites student entrepreneurs to join forces

Event fosters student’s entrepreneurial spirit and tests abilities with real life challenge Alexander Lefebvre

The Entrepreneurship Society at the University of Guelph hosted an event on Saturday, March 22 entitled CollabNow: Breaking Barriers.

Facilitated at Innovation Guelph, a hub for start-up businesses and entrepreneurs, the event brought students from multiple academic backgrounds together to start thinking seriously about entrepreneurial ventures.

Lauren Bernardo, president of the Entrepreneurship Society, says the event’s title – “Breaking Barriers” – hints at the most important takeaway from the day: getting aspiring entrepreneurs from all colleges to collaborate to make things happen.

“The focus was to start working toward our goal of collaboration and showing attendees that there are students across our very own campus that they can work with to start their own business,” said Bernardo.

The speakers at the event included Synthesis founder Rob Hannam, and the principal and lead coach at The Achievement Centre, Carly O`Brien.

Hannam kicked off the day speaking to students about his own experience starting and running Synthesis, a consulting company that provides farmers with strategic planning, training, and marketing communications services. His approach to his business is utilitarian in nature, and his employees share both the risks and rewards.

Hannam highlighted the fact

PHOTO BY WENDY SHEPHERD

Carly O’Brien, Lead Coach at the Achievement Centre and local entrepreneur, speaks to a group of students who spent last Saturday at Innovation Guelph learning about the risks and rewards starting your own business. that companies can collaborate to create mutually beneficial business models for each other, like a greenhouse that uses another company’s excess ethanol to heat its operation.

Above all, Hannam stressed that you cannot do everything yourself when starting up a venture or creating an idea. Collaborations and partnerships allow you to reach beyond what you can achieve on your own. He also encouraged students to start sooner rather than later when it comes to launching their own venture and added that he wished he had begun his business earlier.

Carly O’brien discussed pit falls and tips for young entrepreneurs.

Her talk motivated students to take on adventure and leave their

comfort zones throughout their careers. She cited her own decision to leave a well-paying job with a good pension to pursue an entrepreneurial venture.

O’Brien’s tips also reminded students to leave their egos behind and be wary of self-obsession. The market owes you nothing and entrepreneurs must always be thinking of what’s in it for the customer.

O’Brien’s final words of advice encouraged students to pay attention to time, money and energy in their life. If there is purpose in your job, then these will find a natural harmony.

The afternoon also involved a mini case competition. Students from commerce, engineering and agriculture backgrounds were put into

groups and tasked with identifying an entrepreneurial opportunity resulting from the City of Guelph’s rapid projected population growth.

With $500 on the line – and with City of Guelph Clerk Clair Labelle, Professor Dan Gillis and Professor Elliot Currie adjudicating the competition – teams scrambled to come up with a creative idea in the one hour of allowed time.

The teams then had four minutes to present their solution. Ideas included a green roof policy for the city and initiatives to encourage and improve Go Transit usage. Ultimately, though, the winning idea involved a large-scale recycling program that would turn commercial and hospital waste into new objects.

NEWS

173.11 • Thursday, MARCH 27, 2014

5

New CIP course takes students to Dharamsala

Students will get experience working with local human rights groups Sameer Chhabra

The Centre for International Programs will offer a two-part course that includes a fieldwork component in Dharamsala, India for the Winter 2015 semester.

The course will be taught by Dr. Andrea Paras of the Department of Political Science at the University of Guelph.

While the first part of the course is a semester long, the second part is a month-long field-study taught in May. “The purpose of the field-school is to combine the best aspects of classroom and practical learning,” explained Dr. Paras, who joined the University of Guelph in 2012. “In a sense, the second part of the course will be like a onemonth internship.”

Dr. Paras’ course is intended

to teach students about the benefits and consequences of international aid and volunteerism while attempting to answer the difficult questions that arise from the presence of global volunteers.

In many developing nations, volunteers and interns from outside the community often do more harm than good. During the reconstruction of Haiti following the 2010 earthquake, for example, citizens received a flood of help from non-profit organizations. However, once volunteers returned to their home nations, some Haitian people were left in a worse-off state.

Students interested in participating in the course will be able to gain practical experience in India while also understanding more about the role of volunteering and external aid in an increasingly connected world.

“The program is open to students in all programs across

the university, and is suitable for any student that has an interest in gaining international volunteer experience,” said Dr. Paras. “Since we live in an increasingly interconnected and globalized world, it is important for students in all disciplines to improve their ‘Global Literacy.’”

Dharamsala is a city located in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. The Central Tibetan Administration’s headquarters (the Tibetan Government-in-Exile) are located in there.

In addition to learning more about Indian and Tibetan culture, students will be able to visit famous sites like the Taj Mahal in Agra, and the Golden Temple in Amritsar.

Dr. Paras says that students are not required to have any prior international experience, though they are expected to demonstrate a general open-mindedness regarding other cultures.

Dr. Paras has spent significant amount of time in South Asia, with most of her time spent in India and Bangladesh.

Before coming to the university in 2012, she spent a year working at the Asian University for Women in Chittagong, Bangladesh.

“With regards to my personal perspective, I was drawn to Tibetan Buddhist culture after spending time in the Nepali and Indian Himalayas,” explained Dr. Paras. “This, along with my long-standing interest in human rights, led me to Dharamsala in July, 2012.”

Tibet was historically an autonomous region, northeast of the Himalayas, whose government was abolished in 1959 by the People’s Republic of China. The subject of Tibetan sovereignty has been a great source of tension between China and the West. The Central Tibet Administration was created by the 14th (and current) Dalai

Lama, following his exile.

“I have worked for the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), which is a Tibetan human rights organization based in Dharamsala,” explained Dr. Paras. “I have also established a partnership with this organization for the purposes of teaching my fourthyear seminar on human rights and ethics.”

Dr. Paras encourages all students interested in gaining international volunteer experience, in addition to those interested in learning more about Indian and Tibetan culture, to enroll in her course.

“I am excited to have the opportunity to introduce Guelph students this fascinating corner of India,” said Dr. Paras. “I equally hope that this experience will benefit local organizations in Dharamsala, as well as enrich student participants personally and intellectually.”

Green Gryphon Initiative to spend $26M on retrofits

Students have helped fund the project, which will improve water and energy efficiency Michael Long

In a referendum back in 2007, University of Guelph students voted in favour of a $10 per semester student fee that would create a fund to help make campus more sustainable and energy efficient. Those contributions will now start to pay off sas the recently launched Green Gryphon Initiative begins to implement various water and energy consumption retrofits on the fund’s behalf.

A launch party for the Initiative was held on March 20 in the MacDonald Stewart Art Centre.

In the 2007 referendum, students agreed to contribute to the fund for 12 years and will have collectively given close to $4.5 million dollars by 2019. The university has agreed to match those funds along the way.

“That’s a pretty hefty chunk of change,” said Brandon Raco, the university’s sustainability facilitator, crediting students for stepping up to the plate.

Nonetheless, significantly retrofitting the entire campus will require much more than that.

“A consulting company was hired to come through and do a full analysis of the campus, and out of that we found $26.2

million in retrofits that would help lower our water, electricity, and C02 emissions,” said Raco.

The rest of the budget is made up by partnerships with groups like Hydro One, who will assist in funding some of the larger projects.

The university has already implemented several of the proposed retrofits. For example, millions of dollars have already been spent upgrading the lighting in McLaughin Library, the University Centre, and MacNaughton Building.

The Green Gryphon Initiative also plans to install a sophisticated heat recovery loop, low-flow toilets, a grey water recycling system, solar heating,

and an advanced water storage tank that will help regulate the temperature of the university.

The Initiative hopes to finish the upgrades by 2017.

A more visible retrofit will be the new bike shelter next to Bob’s Dogs. It will be equipped with solar panels that help power Raithby House.

Don O’Leary, Vice President of Finance and Administration, has said that the university currently spends about $20 million on electricity, gas and water annually – which adds up to about $1,200 per student. The university is hoping to save $3 million per year through the Green Gryphon Initiative.

Many other universities have student energy retrofit programs

of similar kinds, but the U of G’s is notable for the magnitude of student contribution. Students at the University of Toronto recently had a referendum on the creation of an energy retrofit fund but, even with a far more modest fee of $2 per year, the proposal failed.

By contrast, the University of Guelph’s 2007 referendum passed with a 14 per cent margin.

The steering committee for the Initiative consists of representatives from Physical Resources, Planning, the Sustainability Office, the Student Energy Retrofit Fund, and MCW Custom Energy Solutions, the Toronto-based firm that did the initial evaluation for the project.

ARTS & CULTURE

173.11 • Thursday, MARCH 27, 2014

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SETS presents: The Man of Mode

Will Wellington

The School of English and Theatre Studies’ Winter 2014 Mainstage Production of The Man of Mode underwhelmed, but represented a step in the right direction.

Campus theatre-lovers have few major theatrical occasions to anticipate. They have the directing class, or “409,” festival in the Fall semester; the annual Curtain Call musical; the “Ensemble Festival” in the Winter; and the Mainstage Production every Fall and Winter semester, directed and designed by theatre professors and built and performed by students for course credit. Mainstage Productions often feature large casts and ambitious designs.

They are, presumably, meant to be the best the theatre program has to offer.

Last semester’s 1984: Room 101 was an embarrassment technically, politically, and aesthetically. Turandot, in Winter 2013, took far too much time to deliver far too few laughs. And the Fall 2013 production of If We Were Birds featured a stunning design by Professor Pat Flood that, unfortunately, outshone the lackluster performances.

Despite this spotty track record, I was excited for The Man of Mode. The script, the cast, and the central directorial conceit - namely, the decision to set George Etherege’s 1676 comedy in director John Hughes’ the world of The Breakfast Club - all suggested that this show would be a welcome improvement. The Man of Mode tells the story of

the scoundrel Dorimant (Gordon Harper), who falls in love with the resistant Harriet (Felicity Campbell), but first must shake off his ex-girlfriend, Mrs. Loveit (Kennedy Thompson), and his current mistress, Belinda (Maya Stein), with the help of the chatty Mr. Medley (Jake Fulton) and the clueless Sir Fopling Flutter (Danielle Fernandes).

It sounded like fun, more than one could say for 1984, Turandot, or If We Were Birds. And it was fun. The music was fun. The dancing was fun. The Day-Glo, eighties-kitsch design - for which the crew and the wonderful Pat Flood must be commended - was fun. And a number of very fun performances carried the show for its lengthy duration. Thompson gave the third compelling performance of her first year as the beleaguered Mrs. Loveit, delivering the antiquated dialogue with clarity, variety, and great comic timing. Marc Quintaneiro and Rebecca Kelly played older characters with focus and precision. And Ariel Slack played the daffy Lady Townley with laudable conviction.

Thompson and Slack specifically impressed with performances as loud and tacky as the décor.

Unfortunately, not all of the cast could out-act the scenery, and often the central action was the least interesting thing on stage.

The major performances, with the notable exception of Thompson, were undistinguished. Harper, Fernandes, and Citron (who featured in the subplot) performed competently enough, but they

PHOTO BY STACEY ASPINALL

The School of English and Theatre Studies’ Winter 2014 Mainstage Production presented a modern reimagining of George Etherege’s 1676 comedy, The Man of Mode, influenced by John Hughes’ The Breakfast Club. have all done better. Fulton failed to live up to the comic potential he displayed in last semester’s 409 Festival, barreling through his lines in a monotone, and Campbell was a decidedly bland romantic lead. Director Scott Duchesne’s method for enlivening a flat scene seemed to be to invent some peripheral amusement to distract the audience, often involving the stoned Lady Townley.

It is telling that the biggest laughs went to Ben Williams, whose character had a negligible

influence on the plot and who did little more than saunter on and off stage in a pair of voluminous bell-bottoms and a wig. Regrettably, despite all the engaging marginalia, one could not help noticing the central action and that it was so often dull. Like the early scene where Dorimant and Medley perched in swivel chairs to swap lifeless exposition, the scenes without any background activity tended to droop.

John Hughes never seemed to have trouble with exposition. He may be most remembered for his

affectionate vision, but his best movies (think of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) are so effective because they are so precisely styled, so efficiently choreographed. By uniting style and substance, they imbue even the chore of exposition with pizzazz. The Man of Mode may have had some style, but it had too little substance. In its nifty design, its standout performances, and its sense of fun, it represented a step forward for The School of English and Theatre Studies, but campus theatre-lovers continue to go unsatisfied.

The Weekly Review: Jiro Dreams of Sushi

4 Perfect-Scores out of 4 Sameer Chhabra

David Gelb’s Jiro Dreams of Sushi is my favourite documentary. It’s important to get this fact out of the way, because it gives me the challenge of proving why it’s so amazing. Gelb’s film is a look into the mind and work of Jiro Ono, an 85-year-old sushi chef. It is a biography of a man whose entire life is defined by the simple act of constructing sushi. Roger Ebert called it “a portrait of tunnel-vision;” I call it a documentary that almost perfectly represents its subject’s philosophies.

Before meeting Jiro Ono, Gelb’s intention was to produce a documentary about sushi with the same scope as BBC’s Planet Earth.

After meeting the owner of “Sukiyabashi Jiro,” a three-Michelin star restaurant in the basement of a Tokyo high-rise, Gelb found he was unable to avoid creating Jiro Dreams of Sushi. Jiro is so

captivating – and his work ethic is so fascinating that the audience cannot avoid becoming mesmerized by the man.

Jiro’s philosophy is minimalist by nature. Immerse yourself in your work, fall in love with your job, and dedicate your life to mastering your skill. To Jiro, all it takes to achieve happiness is hard work. Calling him a workaholic is a technical inaccuracy – it would imply there are aspects of his life that he avoids.

The man has spent over 75 years doing nothing but cooking sushi.

What Gelb expertly captures with his camera is how his family, friends, colleagues, co-workers, apprentices, and chroniclers are all forced into Jiro’s world.

With help from Japanese food writer Masuhiro Yamamoto, the intricacies of Jiro’s restaurant, Japanese culture, society, and expectations are all demystified.

Important is Gelb’s decision to showcase Yoshikazu Ono, Jiro’s eldest son who will eventually take on the mantle of his father’s

restaurant and dream. Jiro, however, has two sons. Because the eldest son is expected to succeed the father, little time is spent with Takashi Ono, Jiro’s younger son.

Takashi runs a two-star branch of “Sukiyabashi Jiro” in Roppongi Hills, Tokyo. We know little

COURTESY PHOTO

about what Jiro thinks of Takashi, although we know little of what he thinks of Yoshikazu either.

Gelb’s film raises important questions by simply avoiding the topics altogether. What’s Jiro’s present-day home life like? We know the difference between Jiro now and Jiro 40 years ago is that he quit smoking, but what about his wife – a woman we never actually see or hear about? His parents were absent for much of his childhood, but what about an extended family? Friends? For the duration of 82 minutes, Gelb’s camera obsessively captures every aspect of Jiro’s kitchen and process, but is unable to reveal any notable details about Jiro’s private life. What, then, is of Jiro before he comes to work?

To the audience, Gelb almost shrugs his shoulders and says, “There is no Jiro outside of the restaurant.” That we see Jiro visit his hometown and meet up with old schoolmates is not enough to compensate for the lack of personal details about his life. We

observe a cool glaze of boredom wash over Jiro’s face when he jokes with classmates, almost like he’s counting the minutes before he gets to go back to his counter.

Jiro Ono is a man who lives for his craft. Gelb does not judge his subject, nor does he frame his restaurant or his food with a sinister hue. Instead, Gelb’s camera lovingly captures each glorious piece of sushi with the care and grace of a painter putting brush to canvas.

I would say that Jiro Dreams of Sushi is my favourite documentary because it leaves me in complete awe at its dedication to its subject. If the sign of a strong documentary is not merely the mark it leaves on its audience, then it must surely be the way that the audience is left captivated and mesmerized by the film itself. Gelb accomplishes a supreme level of fascination and intrigue by choosing to frame the greatest of all human qualities: The refusal to give up on the pursuit of perfection.

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ARTS & CULTURE

U of G alum Thomas King wins big

Author of The Inconvenient Indian takes RBC Taylor Prize Erin Roberts

Thomas King won the $25,000 RBC Taylor Prize last week for his non-fiction book, The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Natives in North America.

King taught creative writing and native literature at the University of Guelph until 2010, when he retired to focus on his writing.

King is no stranger to critical acclaim. Because of his work including fifteen published novels and the radio show The Dead Dog Café Comedy Hour - King was made a member of the Order of Canada. His most recent work has been sweeping Canadian literature

awards, including a $40,000 prize for British Columbia non-fiction.

The Inconvenient Indian is a funny, personal take on 500 years of relations between native and non-native people in North America. For King, this work came from seven years of research and a lifetime of contemplation.

It is clear that for a scholar of history like King, knowing where we come from determines how we see ourselves now.

The book begins with a similar sentiment: “Most of us think that history is the past. It’s not. It’s the stories we tell about the past. That’s all it is. Stories. Such a definition might make the enterprise of history seem neutral. Benign. Which, of course, it isn’t,” said King.

Much of King’s previous writing has been fiction, and as such, he used storytelling strategies to tell this history. With that premise,

he examines the roots of common Canadian perceptions of native people. Themes ranged from discussions of Hollywood’s “noble savage” stereotype to the legal basis of Indian status.

In his work to shed light on the untold or unpublicized perspective of First Nations, King stated that, “For the most part, the historical sources are there. It’s just that many historians haven’t used part of the history. So they use one part that they like to use, the part that supports their theories or their thesis or their idea of how the world should be or the way in which they see it. They leave out the other part, but the other part isn’t gone. That part is still there.”

Cara Wehkamp at the Aboriginal Resource Centre (ARC) spoke about the importance of educating oneself about history. “We know about cycles of trauma and

cycles of violence and cycles of poverty. This isn’t always a long history. That’s one thing we hear often, that this happened so long ago, just get over it. The reality is it wasn’t that long ago,” said Wehkamp. “We need to have that historic understanding so that we understand there is a reason why we have the situation today. We need to really critically analyze: are we effectively breaking down those barriers to improve that situation or are we still contributing to those [barriers]?”

Wehkamp further argued that although educating oneself about history is important, so is “acknowledging that we’re not a historic population and starting to engage with aboriginal people in today. Learning more about who we are, how resilient our communities have been, and what our hopes for the future are.”

King’s book came out around the same time as the Idle No More movement began to rise to popularity. King spoke about the difficulty of sustaining political activism, such as public protests like Idle No More. He said that the anger required to rekindle political action “doesn’t disappear, it goes underground. And I think politicians figure, out of sight out of mind. And in that case, they’re wrong about that.”

When asked how his book could contribute to changing Canada’s narrative regarding First Nations, King acknowledged that, “We have a particular mindset in North America and it’s going to take more than one book to get out of it. Will it start a conversation about that? Possibly. Will it sustain a conversation? Not unless something else comes in behind it.”

it is best to buy the freshest and ripest ingredients you can, in order to ensure the quality and taste of the finished product.

Now that you know the most important shopping reminders, it is time to move on to the task of preparing all of the ingredients.

Begin by getting out a large bowl, a knife, and a cutting board. The amount of guacamole you would like to have changes the amount of each ingredient you will need. I typically make guacamole when heading to a get together of some kind, so I usually make enough for 8-15 people to snack on (it’s always better to have a little too much

than not enough!)

Begin by mincing one medium Spanish onion - you want the flavour of the onion, but not giant pieces of it throughout (unless, of course, you like chunky guacamole) - and add the onion to the bowl. Next, mince between four to six cloves of garlic and add to the bowl. Follow by chopping up three Roma tomatoes and add them to the bowl as well.

Slicing and removing the flesh of the avocados is the next step. The easiest way to do this is by cutting the avocado in half and then twisting the two pieces to detach them from each other. To remove the pit, use your knife to grab hold

of the pit and put it in the compost. Next, slice through the flesh in a diagonal manner from one side to the other, and repeat this act of slicing from the other side.

Once you have done this, you are ready to scoop the avocado into the bowl (if your avocados are ripe enough, you may be able to use a spoon to scoop out the flesh on its own) and throw the shell into the compost. Repeat this process to all avocadoes and add them each into the bowl. I typically use six avocados to gain the volume of guacamole I desire to bring to a dinner party.

Next, cut a lemon in half and squeeze the juices from the full

lemon into the bowl. The use of lemon enables the avocado to keep its beautiful green colour for hours. Add salt and pepper to taste and mash everything up using a potato masher, trying to get the guacamole to a smooth consistency. Serve with tortilla chips, or as an addition to any Mexican style dish.

Simply authentic: diary of a local foodie

Homemade guacamole Emily Jones

There is a process involved in making delicious, homemade guacamole – it does take some time, but it is well worth the effort. Let’s begin by discussing the shopping process. When looking for avocados, make sure to choose ones that are ripe and brownish in colour (especially if you are shopping the same day you plan on making the guacamole) so you are able to easily slice into and mash up the avocados. During the shopping trip,

Grocery list: - 6 ripe avocados - 3 Roma tomatoes - 1 medium Spanish onion - 1 head of garlic - 1 lemon - Salt - Pepper

JORDAN RAYCROFT

PHOTO BY WENDY SHEPHERD

Jordan Raycroft played a noon hour concert in the University Centre Wednesday March 19 to a full house. Noon hour concerts do not always attract such a large crowd but Raycroft and his band have made quite the name for themselves in the University community. With his recent Juno nomination, friends and fans alike came to share in the excitement and to show their support for the musicians and sang along to their favourite songs. Many fans stuck around long enough after the show was finished to chat with the band and purchase the self-titled debut album.

ARTS & CULTURE

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173.11 • Thursday, MARCH 27, 2014

Top five shows you should watch this week

Alyssa Ottema

Suits “Heartburn” Next episode airs Thursday, March 27, 2014.

If you are one of the few people on campus who hasn’t started watching this show yet, it’s time to put on your binge-watching glasses and order a few pizzas. In this most recent installment of the third season, the plot thickens as a major character suffers a heart attack while in court.

Is it Harvey? With the “rather unpleasant” work he and Mike have to do for one of the firm’s biggest clients – which TV guide listings are continuously and ominously mentioning – many viewers are speculating yes. However, we all know that writers love a good red herring. While this episode might not beat the Louis/Scottie showdown of last week, it is certainly poised to hold some of the most dramatic moments of the third season.

How I Met Your Mother “Last Forever, Parts I and II” Series finale airs Monday, March 31, 2014.

The nine-season-long story of how Ted met his wife comes to an end on March 31 in a double-episode onehour special. Reeling off of the most recent dramas – notably Robin and Barney’s respective

pre-wedding freak-outs and fan speculation as to the potential of the Mother being dead – this is a series finale you do not want to miss. Of course, Ted’s kids must be excited to finally leave their couch after nearly a decade of perhaps too-detailed stories of their dad’s life, but perhaps the die-hard fans are more excited to finally see Ted have a happy ending.

The Mindy Project “French Me, You Idiot” Return from hiatus on Tuesday, April 1, 2014.

Just renewed for its third season, the sit-com following Dr. Mindy Lahiri is possibly one of the most underrated hilarious shows on television. Returning from an almost two-month long hiatus on April 1, fans will finally see the resolution of the so-called “epic” kiss between Mindy and Danny. The spring premiere will also deal with the terrible timing of Mindy’s email to Cliff, trying to get him back, and what all of this will mean for her relationship-wise.

While it will be hard to beat the “epic-ness” of the winter finale, the fallout might even be more entertaining.

Brooklyn 99 “Charges and Specs” Season finale aired Tuesday, March 25, 2014.

ALBUM OF THE WEEK: APOLLO

COURTESY PHOTO

After dropping out of college and running from a drug deal that went all wrong, Mike Ross, an extremely intelligent young man finds himself in New York City. Ross (played by Patrick J. Adams) begins working alongside an extremely successful New York City lawyer, Harvey Spector (played by Gabriel Macht). Suits has been a success thus far, hooking viewers after the very first watch.

While this has technically already aired, if you haven’t yet experienced the wonder that is Andy Samberg as a cop, you need to go and download every single episode of this show that exists and watch them all. The show is supported by the most perfect comedic timing and a hilarious cast, most notably Andre Braugher as the emotionless Captain Ray Holt, Melissa Fumero as the clumsy Detective Amy Santiago, Joe Lo Truglio as the well-meaning but

ridiculous Detective Charles Boyle, and Terry Crews as… well, essentially, Terry Crews.

It’s hilarious, and you should watch it. Now. Criminal Minds “Blood Relations” Next episode airs Wednesday, April 2, 2014.

While this show has arguably been around a little too long (is it or is it not entering into post-Peter CSI territory?) every episode directed by Matthew

Gray Gubler – better known as Dr. Spencer Reid – promises to be ridiculously engaging while simultaneously making you wish you didn’t have eyes anymore. The latest Gubler creation has what appears to be a Romeo and Juliet-esque plotline, with the BAU team investigating a long-standing feud between two families in a small town in connection with at least two murders. This next episode is poised to be creepy in all of the right ways.

STYLE PICK OF THE WEEK: MATTHEW HERTEL

COURTESY PHOTO

Innovative and experimental musician, composer and visual artist Brian Eno is one of the pioneers behind the ambient music genre. Taking a turn from his role in avant-garde glam rock band Roxy Music in the late ’70s, Eno’s solo work focuses primarily on evocative moods and atmospheric qualities. Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks, released in 1983, was originally recorded for a documentary movie featuring footage of the Apollo moon missions. Apollo is a minimalist masterpiece, featuring subtle and contemplative soundscapes akin to existential lullabies.

PHOTO BY WENDY SHEPHERD

Matthew Hertel was spotted while wandering through the University Centre this past week.

Hertel’s leather boots were eye catching and unique. Shoes either make or break an outfit, and more often than not they break them. People typically put effort in their clothes and forget how important shoes are to tying it all together. Hertel’s boots were classic with some edgy flare, enough that he is stopped all the time as a result. Hertel told us that he is not a student at the University of Guelph but was here for the day doing some research.

A YEAR IN

PHOTOS COURTESY OF

Andrew Donovan

The most dominant varsity team to wear red, black and gold, Guelph’s Cross Country team captured both the men’s and women’s gold medals at the CIS Championships.

The men have won eight gold medals in a row while the women have won nine. If the women win a gold next year, they will share the Canadian university title for most consecutive gold medals (10) in a sporting event with UBC’s swim team.

For the third straight year, gold was in sight for the Gryphons, but a heartbreaking loss in the OUA semi finals to Western meant Guelph played and beat the McMaster Marauders to capture their third consecutive OUA bronze medal. Five Gryphons players were named OUA All-Stars.

FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR

Try rhyming off these accomplishments in one breath: OUA gold in 600m and 800m, OUA silver in 4x400 and 4x800, Dr. Wendy Jerome Trophy for most outstanding female athlete at OUA Championships, nominated for female track and field athlete of the year, CIS bronze in 4x800, second in Canada in 1000m, and CIS rookie of the year…Oh yeah, she won CIS gold in the 1000m but was DQ’s after a trip up on the final lap. Pretty good for a rookie.

Flashback to homecoming 2013: The first monumental varsity event of the year pitted the McMaster Marauders against our Guelph Gryphons at a revamped Alumni Stadium. For the first time in Canadian Football League (CFL) history, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats played an entire season away from Ivor Wynne Stadium, which was being torn down and then rebuilt into Tim Horton’s Field.

Over 12,000 fans packed U of G’s upgraded stadium and braved single-digit

temperatures, hurricane winds, and sideways rain to watch the Gryphons beat the Marauders and go on to finish the season 7-1.

The varsity season ended just as it began – on a high. Gryphons Track and Field brought home a Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) gold medal on the women’s side and a silver medal on the men’s.

Along the way were many marquee moments that made this past year a memorable one, including a Cross Country CIS gold medal, a Canadian University Field Lacrosse gold, a CIS bronze in field hockey, an OUA gold in golf,

PHOTO BY MORGAN BELL (GOLF CANADA) Senior golfer Chris Hemmerich was the leader of the Gryphons golf program, there’s no two-ways about it. This season Hemmerich defended his OUA Championship title after shooting consecutive rounds of two-under-par (69). Moreover, it was announced late last year that Hemmerich would be golfing for the Team Canada 2014 national team.

While there is no central governing body for Canadian university Lacrosse, the Gryphons won the sport’s highest current accolade when they brought home the Baggataway Cup at the Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association (CUFLA) Championships. Guelph also earned six of 10 CUFLA awards for performance in what was a dominating season by Guelph lax.

Coming off an OUA gold for t women, the Gryphons wrestlin bronze medal for the men and a s

COACH OF

After coaching both th cross country team to earning coach of the Thomas’ track and fiel CIS gold as well, earn the year for the second

N REVIEW

F GRYPHON ATHLETICS a CIS silver in women’s rugby, an OUA bronze in men’s rugby, and a CIS bronze in men’s wrestling.

Gryphons baseball had the best season in team history when men went 17-7, and reached the OUA semi finals.

On the women’s side, the hockey and volleyball teams finished atop the standings in their respective divisions, but failed to medal in the playoffs.

In what was Gryphons athletics’ most heartfelt moment of the year, the women’s hockey team organized an event called “Fight for Kevin,” a fundraiser

the men and a bronze for the ng team managed a CIS men’s sixth place finish for the women.

for Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma research, that displayed the U of G community’s solidarity with Kevin Siddall, the 14-year-old brother of senior goaltender Brooke Siddall, who battled with, and eventually succumbed to, cancer.

While it was impossible to fit all of the great moments of teams and athletes that donned the red, black, and gold this past year, we’ve picked the best moments, players, and coach and presented them to you in this year’s installment of the Ontarion’s “Gryphons sports year in review.”

Third best record in the OUA (17-7), third place finish in the OUA playoffs, the league’s best batting average (.529), catcher of the year, and offensive player of the year Justin Interisano, along with OUA pitcher of the year, Brandon Sorichetti, and coach of the year Matt Griffin. Those numbers and accolades speak for themselves in what is being touted as U of G baseball’s best ever season.

The Gryphon’s field hockey team captured their fourth straight bronze medal at the CIS Championships, and continued what is recognized as a longstanding history of excellence in field hockey at the U of G.

The always-dominant Guelph women’s rugby program reached the CIS gold medal game, but were defeated by the U of Alberta Pandas 29-10 to capture a silver medal and the 11th CIS medal in team history.

F THE YEAR

he men’s and women’s o CIS gold medals and year honours, Scottld women’s team won ning him the coach of d time this school year.

MALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR

Guelph’s varsity season rounded out with utter dominance at the CIS level by both the women’s team, who captured a gold medal, and the men’s team, who earned a silver medal. Dave Scott-Thomas won his second coach of the year honour (cross country being the other), proving that when it comes to running events in Canada, there is no better Canadian university than Guelph.

Justin Interisano won Catcher of the Year, Offensive player of the Year, and led the league in batting average (.529). Guelph’s senior slugger was the backbone of Gryphon’s batting lineup and integral to the team’s best season ever.

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Crickets, grasshoppers, and termites, oh my!

Insect-rich diet making its way west Andrew Donovan There was a time, not long ago, when eating insects was reserved for the hit 2000s television show Fear Factor. The show’s host, Joe Rogan – in a time long before commentating for the UFC and suffering from male pattern baldness – would serve squeamish contestants a plate full of live beetles, worms, and in one episode, buffalo testicles. Yes, that was a time where insects were reserved for extreme eating challenges, and for young kids to poke with sticks.

However, in a globalised world, cuisines across the ocean blue are (more and more) making a splash in the North American market.

Sushi restaurants abound, and shawarma shops outside of pubs and clubs – the persuasion of Asian cooking and feasts from the Middle East are a staple in communities across Canada.

So what’s next on the gastronomic agenda? Many say it is insects.

The creepy crawlers, high in protein and populations, are becoming an alternative to a growing niche among Westerners who want to ditch animal proteins.

“Insects are natural sources of protein, and in particular contain a full complement of essential amino acids, the building blocks of protein, in many of the same ways that animal products do. At the same time, their environmental impact is far less substantial,” cited Jennifer Sygo, Life columnist for The National Post.

Comparatively – per 100g – insects provide between 14 and 25g of protein, whereas chicken and fish provide between 16 and 26g. Beyond the protein, insects are a rich source of fats, such as omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids, and have ample iron and zinc, which could assist in preventing malnutrition in areas of the world where ‘traditional’ sources for calories and minerals are lacking.

Moreover, if the world population started accepting insects as a replacement to traditional animal proteins, conservationists attest that it could reduce harm to the environment, so long as we do not over consume particular species of insects to the point where it throws off the equilibrium of insect habitats.

Unlike Fear Factor, however, insects are served in a variety of different methods depending on the culture that’s making them

and the part of your meal they are being served with.

Chef David George Gordon, author of The Eat-a-Bug Cookbook, suggests grinding up bugs for the more squeamish or apprehensive crowds, but is quite fond of his Orthopteran Orzo – a pasta with cricket nymphs that Time magazine called his signature dish – as well as white chocolate and waxworm cookies, and

deep-fried tarantula.

Granted, insects may not become a Canadian dietary staple overnight, but with the nutritional value that grasshoppers, mealworms, or termites provide, it is reasonable to foresee a future where your main course on a lavish night out features a grasshopper on a skewer and a cricket mummified on top of a bed of rich, dark chocolate.

SPORTS & HEALTH

PHOTO BY JOHN TOLVA

Scorpion anyone? Insects as a source of protein and lavish desserts is making its way west. This begs the question: How do you even eat a skewered scorpion?

SPORTS & HEALTH

173.11 • Thursday, MARCH 27, 2014

Is vitamin gum a gimmick?

Vitamin-enhanced chewing gum may boost nutrition Stacey Aspinall COURTESY PHOTO

The snozzberries taste like snozzberries and the gum tastes like vitamin A, C, D, B, and E!

A Canadian company has introduced a vitamin-infused chewing gum with the promise of providing consumers a “healthier

chew.” Vitamingum is a new product that’s following in the footsteps of larger companies who have marketed their products to the health-conscious consumer.

The gum is said to allow for fast and effective absorption of nutrients into the body, and contains 12 essential vitamins, including 10 per cent each of the recommended

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daily intake of Vitamins A, C, D, E, B-complex and Folic acid. It is also sugar and aspartame-free.

Vitamingum’s website emphasizes the health benefits, stating that “Chewing gum is a great delivery vehicle for nutritional ingredients as it allows for faster absorption into the blood stream via the mucous lining in the mouth – scientifically proven!”

With the recent consumer trend towards health-conscious options, brands are now emphasizing the practical health benefits of gum, boasting functional benefits – but is this just a marketing strategy?

“There is some science showing that some vitamins can be absorbed through cells in the mouth,” said Dr. David Ma, Associate Professor in Human Health and Nutritional Sciences at the University of Guelph.

“There is certainly a great deal of controversy currently regarding the benefits of multisupplements, whether they are in traditional pill or vitamin drinks.

There is concern about the degree [to which] supplemental forms of vitamins can be readily absorbed and/or utilized,” explained Ma. It is also interesting to note that gum is currently stuck in a sales rut, according to Ad Age, with U.S. sales declining 11 per cent over the past four years. Many companies have incorporated vitamins in their gum products in recent years, perhaps in an attempt to revitalize sales.

In 2011, Stride and Trident fortified their gum with ingredients like Vitamin C and ginseng. Stride Spark, for example, provides 25 percent of the recommended daily allowance of the vitamins B-6 and B-12. Stride is marketed to teenagers and college students, who may be seeking energyboosting products.

The verdict? Vitamin enhanced gum may provide a slight nutrition boost, although it is debatable whether most individuals require this extra supplementation to meet their daily nutrition needs.

“The benefit is akin to ‘insurance’; thus, a way to make sure that you meet your nutritional needs, and the main downside is a hit to your wallet if in fact you are [already] meeting your needs,” said Ma. “Thus for those that enjoy chewing gum, this may add to their enjoyment, knowing that they have a little insurance against not meeting their daily vitamin requirements.”

There is a proliferation of vitamin-enhanced products on the market, so it’s no surprise that companies are aiming to capitalize on that trend. However, there is no quick fix or shortcut to nutrition; vitamins should be attained through a healthy diet.

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SPORTS & HEALTH

Summer deals abound at the AC

Andrew Donovan In the evolution of fitness, group classes run by an instructor have become a staple in many gyms across Canada. From Zumba to spin classes, people are finding a great deal of satisfaction by performing strenuous exercise in a group setting.

If you are someone who is particularly keen on group fitness, the Athletic Centre – in light of its massive two-year, $60 million expansion and renovation – will be offering registered students and community members extremely reduced pricing for their Fitness Classes PLUS Membership.

“The Department of Athletics will be adding a brand new facility that will include a state of the art fitness centre, event arena, programming spaces, and change room facilities. Site preparation for this facility will begin sometime this summer, and [staff] thought that introducing students and community members to our programming for one very low price will be a great way to celebrate the start of this new phase for the Gryphon athletics, fitness and recreation programming,” boasted Sarah Mau, Fitness, Recreation, and

Client Services Manager for the U of G. The classes being offered will be quite extensive and include group fitness, TRX training, boot camps, yoga, and cycling.

The W.F. Mitchell Athletics Centre has remained relatively the same since its construction in 1941, and the much-needed renovation is being constructed to put Gryphons athletics on the map, and to provide for a continually growing, diverse fitness community on campus.

“A new building is needed to satisfy the needs of the university community, and will allow us to expand programs to our students and the Guelph community,” said Tom Kendall, Director of Athletics of the University of Guelph.

The brass at the U of G that is overseeing this project is looking to make the renovations to the Athletic Centre applicable to a wide range of student-athletes.

The new facility will be more of a social area with ample lighting, an open layout, sleek design, and an atmosphere that Kendall hopes will raise memberships and fitness levels of the Guelph community.

While the renovations are particularly exciting for students

PHOTO BY WENDY SHEPHERD

This will soon be an archived photo of the Athletic Centre as the building is preparing for reno. But before the reno happens take advantage of all the summer fitness deals. who will be on campus for the next couple of years, the university is trying to make the benefits of such a large investment visible right now with these summer blowout deals.

As for students looking to just

use the weight and cardio rooms, it will be business as usual.

“Lots of planning has gone into the timelines and building plan so that the new building is built in a manner that enables us to maintain our programming,”

concluded Mau. If you have ever had inkling to try group classes, or just want to stay in shape for the summer season, now would be the time to stop by the AC and inquire about summer memberships.

Mental toughness redefined

Carleton students take new, grassroots approach to mental health in student-athletes Andrew Donovan

A big theme throughout the pages of the Ontarion this school year has been mental health awareness. From articles on anxiety, to preventative measures the football team is taking to thwart concussions, to the debate on a fall reading week, editors and volunteers have highlighted the ongoing efforts being made on campus and across Canada to prevent and treat mental health disorders.

Recently, two Carleton students, Krista Van Slingerland and Samantha DeLenardo, have garnered national attention with their grassroots Student Athlete Mental Health Initiative (SAMHI), and once again brought mental to the forefront of conversations on the evolution of sports.

The campaign launched on Twitter and Facebook on Friday, March 14, and according to Van Slingerland, the amount of positive feedback she’s been receiving from friends, family, and athletes had been so overwhelming, she woke up crying with joy for a week.

The women addressed the issues around the clichéd sports phrase, “be mentally tough.”

“I wouldn’t say there’s something inherently wrong with

[the phrase]…but growing up an athlete, it is something that we are always striving to build – that mental toughness, which means the ability to perform under pressure consistently, and to come back from an injury or battle through an injury,” commented DeLenardo, a former varsity hockey player for Carleton now writing her Master’s thesis.

You can imagine how difficult it was to compete at a high level in a very physical game when I was just – I was not happy, and I was definitely not healthy.

- Krista Van Slingerland

It’s this constant pressure and incessant anxiety to perform that drove Van Slingerland, a varsity basketball player at Carleton, to take a hiatus from the sport she loved after finding herself taking antidepressants and entering a really “dark” time in her life.

“I was having trouble sleeping, I didn’t want to eat. I didn’t want people to touch me, and so you can imagine how difficult it was to compete at a high level in a very physical game when I was just – I was not happy, and I was definitely not healthy,” said Van Slingerland.

The former Ravens basketball player believes if a program like SAMHI was in existence when she

was playing, her drastic decision to leave a sport she’d been playing since grade two wouldn’t have happened.

“If I had felt that it was okay to have a mental illness and that it didn’t compromise my mental toughness…I could have continued to play, and that is really what SAMHI is about: let athletes play the sport they love through mental illness,” continued Van Slingerland.

While the support for such an initiative has been overwhelming to date, the two women are in the process of seeking funding for their project, which is still in its infancy. “Funding would pay for a centralized mental health e-website that’s tailored for student-athletes,” concluded DeLenardo.

LIFE

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173.11 • Thursday, MARCH 27, 2014

Inside farming: Changing roles for changing times Lauren Benoit, CanACT member Farming is an industry that has long been dominated by men, but that is changing. The presence of women in agriculture has been rapidly increasing over the past few decades, and shows no signs of slowing down any time soon. Historically, the roles of women on the farm have been confined to support functions. However, in a growing number of cases, women are beginning to have influence in leadership roles, as executive members, as farmers, and as researchers.

Since 2006, the proportion of farms under sole female operation has steadily increased from 26.3 per cent to 27.4 per cent in 2011, and this number has continued to rise. On multiple-operator farms, women contribute as much as 40 per cent of the work force.

For young women such as myself, just beginning a career in agriculture, there is no lack of strong female role models. Personally, I am no stranger to the condescending attitude faced by many females in the industry. After a car accident in 2002 that took my mother’s life, I was left as the only

girl in a family of boys, a blessing disguised as a curse. My dad spent most of his time working to support our family, and I was left in the care of some of Huron County’s finest farmwomen. I witnessed these exceptional women working countless hours in the barn or fields, only to turn around and prepare a meal for not only their own families, but my brothers and myself, as well. I learned what hard work was from these women, who were not only mothers but also equal partners on their farms.

“More and more women play a leading role in the agriculture and agri-food industry,” said Kellie Garrett, Senior Vice-President of Strategy, Knowledge and Reputation at Farm Credit Canada.

“Their leadership makes a significant difference to agriculture and their local communities.”

In 2013, Ontario voted in Kathleen Wynne as the first female premier and Minister of Agriculture. Studies published by the Ivey Business Journal state that, “When three or more women sit on a board, the other directors see the women as individuals with views and personality. Gender is no longer a barrier.” Slowly but

surely, we are seeing these kinds of developments across the industry.

In developing countries, women are playing an even bigger part in creating a strong agricultural landscape. In the rural part of India, almost 80 per cent of women work in agricultural settings and are described as the backbone of the industry. Involving more women in agriculture and providing them with the same advantages as men could potentially solve a piece of the world hunger puzzle. It is estimated that farms where women are involved see yield increases between 2.5 to 4 per cent. This potential yield gain could produce enough food to reduce the number of malnourished children in sub-Saharan Africa by almost 1.7 million.

The farmwomen of today are hard working, passionate, and most importantly, have chosen to pursue a career in agriculture.

From the fields of sub-Saharan Africa, to Northeastern Alberta, to executive boardrooms across the country, women are becoming a dominant presence in the agricultural landscape and show no signs of disappearing anytime soon.

PHOTO BY LAUREN BENOIT

Farming has been an industry long dominated by men, but recently women have become a more dominant presence in the agricultural landscape. Pictured here is auther Lauren Benoit.

LIFE

Once upon a time: A question of love

Does love exist or is it just a fairy tale?

Brigitte Grogan

From a first kiss on the playground in kindergarten to the binding one at the altar, love means something different to everybody. Many people fall in love various times throughout their lives with multiple people, and others never know the true feeling of being in love and the vulnerability that comes along with it. Is that because love does not exist – or is it just because some do not get the chance to experience it?

To some, love is walking by a shopping centre and seeing shoes in the window and uttering the words “I’m in love.” To others, love is the butterflies one gets when they know that they have met the person they are going to spend the rest of their life with. It is quite difficult to justify whether love truly does exist because of the many different definitions and feelings associated with it.

Many can recognize the feelings of heartbreak, often associated with the image of someone spending a Friday night curled up on the couch covered in tears and staring into an empty tub of ice cream,

but it is difficult to describe the feelings that lead to the heartbreak. Love is often described an “inexplicable feeling,” which I believe to be true. Nobody can truly explain what love feels like because it is a multitude of emotions that are experienced differently for everyone.

In my opinion, love does exist if one allows it to. It is a matter of being open and understanding of the roller coaster of feelings that follow the words “I love you.”

Movies and television shows seem to use the three little words so loosely and dramatize it as a way to reign in ratings, but this

creates an unattainable goal of what love is and what it should feel like. Just because your favourite character on a television series has a crazy relationship that leaves you gasping at the end of an episode, does not mean that love in the real world will have the same effect.

Love can be the comfort brought to you by your family members or close friends, and how lucky you feel to have them in your life. Love can be the tongue tied words and a warm heart felt when spending time with someone. Love can also be screaming at someone until three in the morning and feeling like

nothing has been accomplished.

Love varies from person to person, but I believe that everyone is able to love and that love does exist for everyone - some may just be closed off to realizing it.

In my opinion, love is used too casually in today’s society, on things such as the restaurant down the street or the new dress in your closet - but the sacred words seem to be scarcely said to the ones who long to hear it most. Love cannot be reduced to a single feeling, but it is something that one just “knows” when it is happening, and something that does exist outside of the “once upon a time” in fairytales.

1) Post pictures of your sexy friends (implied female).

2) They don’t have to be just of cleavage - any sexy picture will do.

3) It must be from Facebook, no exceptions.

4) They must be of legal age noncompliance will result in being banned from the subreddit.

5) Absolutely no names.

There are a number of things that are not OK about this subreddit.

This subreddit requires the abuse of the Facebook friendships in which individuals have decided to trust their “friends” to observe, like, and comment on

their Facebook persona and life.

These supposed friends violate a privacy setting that is stipulated by the subject of each and every photograph when they share that photo on /r/FacebookCleavage.

This cannot and should not be rationalized. Deciding that you want your 500 Facebook friends looking at your photos is very different than someone else making your photos available for the larger reddit community, which receives approximately two million visitors daily. This is especially true when it falls under the context of objectification of women’s bodies, which /r/

FacebookCleavage clearly does.

Unfortunately, privacy on the Internet does not really exist. It would almost seem excusable if it were a large corporation using our pictures for their monetary gain – but our friends?

This subreddit is a blatant example of the falsity of the idea that Facebook friends are similar to actual, trustworthy friends – or that quantity is better than quality.

I think this is a reality that people need to be more aware of.

We supposedly make discerning decisions about who our Facebook friends will be, but maybe no one can be trusted with the power of

anonymity. Looking at something such as /r/FacebookCleavage, we realize that they probably can’t.

This is also a clear example of the shelter and enabler that anonymity can be. To those objectifying others, I say stop, contemplate, and take responsibility. Think about what you are doing and then decide whether it is something you would want done to yourself. Though the Internet is full of anonymity, be accountable – if not to others, then to yourself. If this isn’t something you would feel good about doing if people knew, is it worth doing it just because they don’t?

Discussing /r/FacebookCleavage

Tessa Webb

With over one billion Facebook users, including 500 million female users, a recent discovery of the subreddit /r/FacebookCleavage has really got me thinking about privacy, trust, and friendship. Before I go on, let me elaborate on what this subreddit entails.

It’s very simple: /r/FacebookCleavage is a subreddit on the popular link-dropping site reddit that has created a forum for sharing “sexy pictures” of your Facebook friends.

The five rules are simple.

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OPINION

www.theontarion.com

The conclusion of history

Humanity’s fascination with its own demise Tom Oberle

Over the last few decades or so, an apocalypse, worldwide disasters, zombies, and the destruction of the human race, have all been prevalent themes throughout popular culture.

Movies like World War Z, Zombieland, 28 Days Later, the Book of Eli, and TV shows like The Walking Dead have no shortage of epoch-shattering destruction. Popular literature, music, and video games all present us with the scenario of a zombie apocalypse and how we should equip ourselves to survive it.

All these products of popular culture have two things in common: the end of the world and violence.

In North American culture, and perhaps developed nations more generally, we seem to be fascinated with the idea of our own demise. I would argue that this fascination, paired with violence, is more apparent in Western, developed nations due to their disconnect with most of the violence and conflict that occurs in the world, and also the fact that many poorer, developing nations do not have the same large scale media outlets as developed nations do.

Therefore, on a macro level, I think humanity’s destruction is a concept that most nations and peoples contemplate.

This is apparent not only in fictitious cultural products, but in reality as well.

Dec. 21, 2012 held the world

in a panic with the end of the Mayan long calendar. The millennium in year 2000 did the same. Perhaps more interesting is the Svalbard global seed bank, an initiative to preserve plant seeds in an attempt to insure against the loss of seeds in other gene banks during a potential large-scale regional or global crisis.

Why is humanity, to a large extent, so concerned and utterly fascinated with its own destruction? Does this fascination tell us anything about human nature and reality, or is it simply entertainment and nothing more? I tend to think the former. As human beings, we are fascinated with our origin and our destiny. We are, as far as we know, the only species on earth that questions our own existence. This truth in itself is very profound and thought provoking. We ask questions like, “Why are we here?” “How did we get here?” and, “What is the purpose of life?”

When I take a look at popular culture and see the prevalence of violent, apocalyptic themes, I can’t help but wonder if humanity somehow feels that history is leading to some ultimate conclusion. Upon this thought, the question that immediately comes to my mind is this: is it possible that human beings are more than material beings? I think most of us would like to believe that there is some part of us that is eternal. After all, this view would grant us the things we most truly care about: justice, peace, and seeing our loved ones once more.

However, many philosophers and scientists alike disagree

with this proposition. What we desire does not in itself make it so. However, if humanity does exist for some purpose, and history is not simply an amalgamation of past events, but rather a process that is heading towards an ultimate conclusion, it would then make sense that we would be concerned with the fate of our lives on a personal level and as a species.

Furthermore, it is apparent that this universal concern is evident in our personal lives, popular culture, and even ancient cultures.

Perhaps intrinsic to us all is an innate sense that there is something more to life, something beyond just the physical and the material. And perhaps this intuition manifests itself in various ways – such as our deep curiosity with the world and strong desire for answers – but more specifically in the violent and destructive visions of apocalypse that we construct.

The ultimate question then becomes, “What is the conclusion to history?” From the materialist perspective, it most likely is a bloody and violent end as a result of disease, a comet, or possible self-destruction.

From a theistic perspective, the conclusion of human history is something more meaningful and purposeful, something that ultimately answers the deepest questions that humanity has struggled with over time. Perhaps there is nothing more to life than what we can see, and maybe that would make life easier, exempting us from any moral or divine command theory that would

PHOTO BY LUCAS RYOITI MARUO

Humanity has long been fascinated with their own demise, as often shown with popular apocalypse-type movies and TV shows. But why are we so utterly fascinated with our own destruction? be in effect should a god exist.

Even considering the materialist and theistic explanations of life, I find it hard to dismiss

the strong desire and search for truth that all of humanity has shared throughout its entire history.

Is a stigma still attached to being a single woman?

Suruchi Sharma’s experiences as a single woman in India in relation to North American culture Danielle Subject

An article was recently published on bbc.com titled, “No country for single women.”

In the article, Suruchi Sharma discusses the extreme stigma attached to single women over 25 in India.

“There is a stigma associated with a woman who is single.

When a woman says she is single by choice, it’s more or less assumed that she is not respectable,” Sharma explained.

Being a 28-year-old single woman herself, Sharma discussed the pressure her friends and family place on her to find

a good husband. Within the article, she made it clear that she was not bashing the idea of marriage, and actually looks forward to becoming married someday. Rather, Sharma discussed the distaste she has toward the idea of “Mr. Right,” as she believes finding that right person does not have to occur within a certain time frame. In a place where arranged marriages are still prominent, finding the “right guy” is often a rushed process, often pushed forward by a woman’s family.

“By Indian standards, I’ve left it late and I am probably at the bottom of the pyramid of eligible women. But I still don’t find the idea of ‘settling for’ someone appealing,” wrote Sharma.

Although the stigma attached to women who choose to be single is arguably more acute in Indian

than in North American culture, North American women still manage to feel a similar pressure once they reach a certain age.

“I’ve never understood why it’s so culturally unacceptable to be on your own. It’s become apart of our identity, the first ways in which anyone describes themselves: single or taken,” states Julia Maniccia, a student at York University. “I don’t see how or why being single translates to the ‘there’s something wrong with you’ stigma.”

The media tends to push the idea that in order to find happiness, that “perfect wedding,” or “perfect dress” is necessary.

Growing up, we are bombarded by images of “Mr. Right” and “Prince Charming” in Disney movies. With television shows such as Say Yes to the Dress, we are provided with that fantasy of walking down the aisle in that

perfect dress on our wedding day.

With a flood of Spence Diamonds radio commercials glorifying that “perfect engagement ring,” we are fed the idea that along with that perfect engagement ring comes unlimited amounts of happiness.

With advancements in medicine, our biological clocks are changing, allowing women to reproduce later in life. There is no longer a “rush” to secure a husband in order to have children. With divorce becoming increasingly prominent and common-law becoming a popular option, it is no longer necessary for women to even get married if they don’t want to. With a change in social acceptability, it is not unheard of for women to have children first and choose to get married later. So, why must we continue to find ways to inflict pressure on females to find a

suitor by a certain age?

Some may argue that this pressure to marry does not really exist, and that women maintain complete agency in choosing when to get married – or even not to get married at all. If this is true, why do women continue to confess to feeling the anxieties of not being married after a certain age? It is an issue that remains a popular topic for debate - the ways in which a patriarchal society still attempts to discourage women from exerting complete agency over their own lives.

The views represented in the opinion section do not necessarily reflect the views of the Ontarion nor its staff.

EDITORIAL

Go build a canoe

Although the current weather may not allude to it, our summer vacation is right around the corner. That’s right – we’re one month away from four months of outdoor concerts, backyard barbeques, summer sun, and cottage country traffic.

While the luxuries of summer have probably never been more appealing than they are now – after an eternity of deep freeze and vitamin D deprived here in the Great White North – the four month hiatus from overpriced textbooks and inadequate leg room in lecture halls begs the question: Where are you working this summer?

Yes, times are tougher than they were when we were 13 and (relatively) carefree. Working fulltime for a job we loathe is a typical coming of age story around here, particularly during your university years.

But is summer, perhaps, more than just an opportunity to work a menial job?

This question is especially relevant for the graduating class of 2014 who, when entering the workforce at semester’s end, will presumably be working consistently until the age of 65.

Money makes the world go ’round and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

So go find a job that, at the very least, you can tolerate and will provide you a means to pay back your student debts. But more importantly, invest in the summer. Do something – be it a new hobby

17

173.11 • Thursday, MARCH 27, 2014

or volunteering – that will improve the self-worth of a present and future you.

If you watch the television show Parks and Recreation, you’re familiar with Ron Swanson, the whiskey-loving bacon connoisseur that heads the Parks Department in the bumpkin town of Pawnee, Indiana. Actor Nick Offerman, a small-town country boy from Minooka, Illinois, plays Swanson, and in a recent self-written blog post for the Huffington Post, Offerman offers some sage advice about the value of his lifelong hobby – woodworking: “After teaching myself the fundamentals of heirloom furniture, mostly under the superb guidance of Fine Woodworking Magazine, I have found a discipline to which I can apply myself for the rest of my days, until my hands give out,” writes Offerman. “I’m crazy about the things I have learned to make from wood thus far, starting with furniture pieces (slab-top tables are a shop specialty) and small watercraft, like a mini yacht tender and a couple of canoes, complete with custom paddles. Now my sights are set on some stringed instruments.

I’m preparing to build a line of ukuleles and then graduate to full-size acoustic guitars. I have impending designs for an ocean kayak and an enormous Shaker chest of drawers. My only complaint is that there are not nearly enough hours in the day.”

PHOTO BY KEITH CARVER You see, hobbies have an intrinsic value to them far beyond anything measurable by a dollar sign. I am sure you have a grandparent who you remember being a master sewer, a self-proclaimed mechanic, or a jack-of-all-trades. Learning something just for the sake of learning something seems to be an art for a time past, where a semi-regular job and a savings account could buy you a new Mustang and a down payment on a four-bedroom house.

In what are supposed to be the years where we “find” ourselves and fall in love with life, we are delegated to shoe salespersons, burger flippers, and landscapers, and by the time September rolls around, we’re left wondering what the fuck we have to show for the past

four months of intellectual stagnancy.

So go get a job and help lighten the financial burden of postsecondary education for your debt-ridden parents – because that’s what a good offspring ought to do.

But also take the next four months to create something bigger than the mighty dollar, bigger than a new pair of shoes, and bigger than a self-loathing status update or tweet. Learn a skill that – in between lunch breaks that never seem to last long enough, nights that are consumed with the hypnotic waves of a television set, and weekends of whiskey-soaked escapades that escape memory and morality – allows you to grow as a human being.

Go build a canoe.

The Ontarion Inc. University Centre Room 264 University of Guelph N1G 2W1 ontarion@uoguelph.ca Phone: 519-824-4120 General: x58265 Editorial: x58250 Advertising: x58267 Accounts: x53534 Editorial Staff: Editor-in-Chief Jessica Avolio News Editor Michael Long Arts & Culture Editor Emily Jones Sports & Health Editor Andrew Donovan Associate Editor Stacey Aspinall Copy Editor Alyssa Ottema Production Staff: Photo & Graphics Editor Wendy Shepherd Ad Designer Justin Thomson Layout Director Stephanie Lefebvre Office Staff: Business manager Lorrie Taylor Ad manager Al Ladha Office Coordinator Vanessa Tignanelli Circulation Director Sal Moran Web Editor Alexander Roibas Board of Directors President Heather Luz Treasurer Alex Lefebvre Chairperson Patrick Sutherland Secretary Anthony Jehn Directors Bronek Szulc Harrison Jordan Sohrab Rahmaty Melissa Yan Contributors

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Since the Ontarion undertakes the publishing of student work, the opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of the Ontarion Board of Directors. The Ontarion reserves the right to edit or refuse all material deemed sexist, racist, homophobic, or otherwise unfit for publication as determined by the Editor-in-Chief. Material of any form appearing in this newspaper is copyrighted 2011 and cannot be reprinted without the approval of the Editor-in-Chief. The Ontarion retains the right of first publication on all material. In the event that an advertiser is not satisfied with an advertisement in the newspaper, they must notify the Ontarion within four working days of publication. The Ontarion will not be held responsible for advertising mistakes beyond the cost of advertisement. The Ontarion is printed by the Guelph Mercury.

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www.theontarion.com Across 1- Corpulent 6- Simple rhyme scheme 10- “____ the night before Christmas ...”

14- Cooperative race 15- Granny 16- Barrett of gossip 17- Pertaining to open country 19- Start of a counting rhyme 20- From ___ Z 21- Hideaway 22- Passes by degrees 24- “His and ___” 25- Farming prefix 26- In danger 29- Offhand 33- Long lock of hair 34- Did the butterfly 35- Hammett hound 36- Clue 37- Employ again 38- God of thunder 39- Not fooled by 40- Isn’t wrong?

41- Prolonged attack 42- Knowledge

BestCrosswords.com

FUN PAGE acquired by study 44- Assumed name 45- Actress Skye 46- Incline 47- Swampy 50- Fruit-filled pie 51- Slugger’s stat 54- The King ___ 55- Series of interconnected things 58- Mock 59- Increases 60- Old Testament book 61- Leg joint 62- Spoollike toy 63- Pine Down 1- “Jaws” boat 2- Defeat 3- Red Muppet 4- Plant juice 5- Blind 6- The opposition 7- Roseanne, once 8- Gasteyer of “Saturday Night Live” 9- Baseball 10- Perturbation 11- Troubles

CLASSIFIEDS

THE GUELPH RECORD and CD SHOW - Sunday, March 30th. 10:30am - 4pm at the Royal Canadian Legion. 57 Watson Prkwy S. 25000+ Records. Over 30 vendors. Admission $4. For further information contact: 289-689-2734.

COMMUNITY LISTINGS

Writing the World: The Connie Rooke Conversations. An evening with Michael Ondaatje and guest speakers. Friday March 28, 7-8:30pm at The Atrium. Free admission.

ATTENTION LADIES! FASTBALL PLAYERS WANTED! KW based recreational women’s league is looking for players for the 2014 season. Part-time players welcome! Visit www.kwladiesfastball.com for league and contact info.

Apply for the Shire ADHD Scholarship Program by April 15. The bursary includes $1,500 and one full year of ADHD Coaching ($4,440 value). See here for more details about the scholarship and eligibility: http://www.shireadhdscholarship.com/CA-EN/default.aspx Stress Less for Tests program, 5:30 pm, $5. Learn how to enhance exam performance by decreasing anxiety, improving focus and curbing worry. Part One April 1 & Part Two April 3. Details at www.uoguelph.ca/~ksomers.

University of Guelph CME Concert. Sunday, March 30 at 1:30pm . Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, 358 Gordon Street. Admission $5 Sistas in Soccer outdoor recreational soccer league for women aged 18 and up. Games every Sunday afternoon, end of May until October. No previous soccer experience necessary. Register online at www.sistasinsoccer.com.

12- Diarist Frank 13- Claims 18- Cutty ___ 23- Dadaist Jean 24- Narrate as history 25- As ___ resort 26- Playwright Fugard 27- Triple 28- ___-car 29- Moved back and forth 30- Gray 31- Inexpensive cigar 32- Seraglio 34- Paris divider 37- Future time of need 41- Spasmodic 43- Japanese theatre 44- Ethereal 46- Cow catcher 47- Use a lot 48- ___ even keel 49- Cutting tool 50- Neat 51- Tabula ___ 52- Coffin support 53- ___ uproar 56- Foofaraw 57- Garden tool

Last Week's Solution

SUBMIT your completed crossword by no later than Monday, March 31st at 4pm for a chance to win TWO FREE BOB’S DOGS!

Congratulations to this week's crossword winner: Kate Murphy and Lois Barnes. Stop by the Ontarion office to pick up your prize!