The Ontarion - 199.2

3. Guelph hosts 45th anniversary of the Terry Fox Run Saving American chestnut trees on the brink

4. Students explore the Guelph community with Project Serve

5. Eats and Treats O-Week event was a success

6. National Day for Truth and Reconciliation: Past and present

7. Rooms for thee and not for me October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

8. Local community workshop ramping up accessibility at Guelph businesses

9. Aberfoyle Fall Fair baaah-ck at it again

10. The Paper premiered Sept. 4

11. “Emerge!” presents MFA students

12. A review of Beecarbonize

13. Democracy, documents, deadlines: A review of All the President's Men

14. Superhero movies continue to soar

15. Em is Busy Reading: Dystopian books that feel like 2025

16. Five ways to be more whimsical House music trends in and out of the home

17. The Hammer of Witches

18. The underdog sport that deserves more recognition

19. Gryphons kick-off the 2025-26 year

20. The NHL season begins How to survive midterm mania

21. Student Athlete Mentors share their insights Five niche NRG classes to try this fall

22 & 23. Annual jazz festival returns to downtown Guelph

24. Terence Crawford: The new face of boxing

25. The Guelph Guru Series: Media mindfulness

28. Pumpkin carving 101

29. Bewitching fall-inspired recipes

30. Guelph’s infamous ghost stories

31. Celebrating “Friendsgiving” Cozy games for fall

32. Your ultimate fall watchlist

33. Stories from Satan’s Invisible World Discovered

34. Sleeman Breweries, Guelph legends

Guelph hosts 45th anniversary of the Terry Fox Run

The event raised $45,000 for cancer research

ARTICLE & PHOTOS BY MADELYN

YOUNG

On Sept. 14, the City of Guelph hosted its annual Terry Fox Run in Silvercreek Park. The nearly 2.5 km loop followed the Royal Recreation Trail across the bridge at Edinburgh Rd. S and back. Along this route, there were inspirational quotes, volunteers cheering and lots of friendly faces.

This year, the city raised over $45,000 for cancer research. To date, the Terry Fox Foundation has raised over $900 million in support of Fox’s initiative. While there is not yet a cure for cancer; treatment development, identification meth-

ods and knowledge of the disease have come a long way and continue to advance. Contributions, even small amounts, help fund the research and make the demand for a cure more attainable.

Every year, Canadians and people around the globe show up with the goal to help achieve Fox's mission of finding a cure for cancer.

Before his passing, Fox shared the message, “I believe in miracles, I have to,” a quote that could be found along the running route during the event.

Saving American chestnut trees on the brink of extinction

U of G researchers work to save the American chestnut and the forests it once supported

A. HERRMANN

One hundred years ago, the forests of Southern Ontario would have looked quite different. The towering giants known as American chestnuts, often nicknamed “Redwoods of the East,” reach 10 feet in diameter and once covered up to 70 per cent of the forest canopy of Southern Ontario. Eye-catching with their long, serrated, bright green leaves and spiky seeds, few trees can be confused with the American chestnut (Castanea dentata). But now, less than 1 per cent of American chestnuts remain. Without intervention, these trees will likely go extinct in the next 150 years.

U of G scientists are fighting to stop this disappearance. This

summer, undergraduate students Caitlin Barton and Katerina Trieselmann set out to survey some of the remaining trees previously recorded in 2001-2002 and 2014-2015.

To blame for the near extinction of American chestnuts is the chestnut blight. Formally known as Cryphonectria parasitica, this non-native airborne fungus species was introduced to North America in the early 1900s. The fungus causes cankers and sores in the bark, eventually killing most trees and often leaving the survivors scarred and weak.

The research goal was to observe how the population is trending, and hunt for clues for possible cures. Dr. Brian Husband, a profes-

sor in the Department of Integrative Biology, has been guiding this research project for over 20 years.

In a press release, Husband said, “The first survey was an eye-opener as we saw the poor health of the trees dealing with the blight… Following it up has allowed us to further track the disease and get some sense of change from one survey to the next, while projecting the future state of the population.”

The survey this year continues this research in a new way, looking for the reasons why some infected trees survive, while others perish. As a part of this research, samples from the remaining trees are being studied for possible in-

dications of future treatments or solutions. An area of this research involves studying hypovirus, a virus family which infects fungi and could potentially slow or kill the blight.

In the face of climate change, having diversity in forests provides a line of defence against weather changes or new diseases facing other tree species. It would be a huge win for environmental conservation to begin returning American chestnut trees to their pre-blight range. Research projects like this provide hope for the chestnut’s return.

“It’s important for people to understand what’s at stake,” Trieselmann noted.

“There are so many people and projects committed to saving

trees,” Barton added.

Thankfully, this research has thus far shown there is genetic diversity left across the remaining living trees, which increases the chances of a robust return of the American chestnut to North America.

Hopefully, American chestnuts will once again spread their branches across Ontario’s forests. Until then, researchers will continue their search for ways to fight back against the blight. Want to learn more about these fascinating trees? Check out the Canadian Chestnut Council. To read more about this project, see “Into the Woods: Monitoring Health of Nearly Extinct American Chestnut Trees” at news.uoguelph.ca.

Gryphons continue to support Terry Fox's Run For Hope.

This year experienced a large turnout of community members.

American chestnut trees are easily identified by their leaves, including this specimen in the Arboretum. Aditya Parameswaran/THE ONTARION

Students explore the Guelph community with Project Serve

A turnout of over 300 volunteers makes for a day full of hard work

ARTICLE & PHOTOS BY ELISE FREDERIKSEN

Student Volunteer Connections, (SVC), successfully hosted their 28th Annual Project Serve Day on Sept. 13. Students volunteered their time at locations across Guelph, including the Guelph Food Bank, Guelph-Wellington Women In Crisis, and Royal City Mission.

Saturday started off with free coffee and cookies for the volunteers and an announcement by SVC staff Helen Keen. She thanked everyone for coming, prepared volunteers for what the day would entail, acknowledged the

land’s Indigenous ancestry and asked everyone to reflect on the importance of shared responsibility to the environment and community.

With 20 organizations involved, there were lots of work opportunities for volunteers; maintaining the boardwalk on the Hanlon Creek Trail, helping out at the Fergus Fall Fair, transplanting trees at The Green Legacy tree nursery and keeping outdoor play areas tidy for the Guelph Humane Society. By the end of the event, a total of 1,000

volunteer hours were contributed to the community.

Many volunteers stated that they were drawn to the event in the hopes of making new friends at the University of Guelph. Having just moved to the city this fall, graduate student Muskan Prafulkumar Tandel was not only excited to help the community, but also to get to know other people in Guelph.

With most of the work being team-based, students were able to bond with neighbouring volunteers in their group through collaboration. The randomized project assignment helped volunteers build new relationships on and off campus, all while contributing to a project that encourages community strength and connection.

At The Green Legacy, volunteers help keep the program running. Community Outreach Coordinator Adam McDowell explained the history of the tree nursery while giving students a tour of the property. McDowell prepared each volunteer for an afternoon full of transplanting seedlings—which were then stored in a greenhouse until they are ready to be distributed within the community in the spring.

The Green Legacy has planted over 3 million trees in the past 21 years. Through Project Serve,

volunteers were able to transplant a total of 3,015 trees in only a few hours.

Upon their return to campus, pizza and pop was provided for Project Serve volunteers to enjoy while they browsed the Volunteer Fair in the University Centre. Due to the planning of the SVC team, those who were interested in finding more longterm volunteer opportunities did not have to travel far. Local organizations set up booths for anyone interested in grabbing a flyer and learning more about

the available work.

With the hopes of finding something in their field; food science students Sarana Kadado and Punya Manju were excited to explore the fair after volunteering with the Guelph Tool Library Community Garden. Many students expressed an interest in returning to Project Serve in future years and were appreciative of the opportunity to make new friends, further personal career interests and, most importantly, contribute to the Guelph community.

Volunteers file into the greenhouse to transplant trees that will one day be spread across the city.

Greenhouses provide a warm, wet environment, perfect for saplings to overwinter in.

Volunteers transplanted over 3,000 trees by the end of the day.

Eats and Treats O-Week event was a success

Cultural Diversity Services offered students a chance to explore the vast culinary options that the city has to offer

ARTICLE & PHOTOS BY RACHEL

FIORET

On Tuesday, Sept. 2, Cultural Diversity Services hosted the Eats and Treats tour as an O-Week event to encourage students about the diverse food options available across the city of Guelph.

Event organizers Yolanda Grant, Amelia Kezaabu and Akierah Binns waited in the south end of the University Centre to gather the group together before taking the bus to the first stop on the tour: Ethnic Supermarket.

The tour saw a turnout of about 15 students, all of which were there to explore and learn.

The tour spanned across the city of Guelph and included seven stops: Ethnic Supermarket, Red Papaya Thai and Grill, Jans Guelph Latin Market, Mama Favourite Kitchen, Market Co., SAFA Middle Eastern, and The Alley.

Binns shared that the Cultural Diversity team was “thrilled to welcome both domestic and international students, including attendees from Mexico, Texas and California.”

“It was especially encouraging to see a mix of graduate and undergraduate students show up, some even deciding to join spontaneously on the day,” said the

cultural diversity services coordinator.

During the first stop at Ethnic Supermarket, attendees shared their thoughts with The Ontarion.

“I’m here to find out more and to engage with other people,” said Marie-Gabrielle, a molecular and cellular biology graduate student.

“I thought it would be a great way to see the different cuisines around Guelph because I haven’t really done much exploring myself yet,” said Sofia Elizarraras, a graduate student in integrative biology.

“I want to have some go-to take out options and see what the town has to offer,” she said.

Ethnic Supermarket offers a variety of diverse foods from Asia, Europe, and North and South America.

Here you can find fresh produce, meat, dairy, baked goods, as well as a wide selection of diverse candies. The store also provides a food court with freshly made meals.

“Students shared that they really appreciated the opportunity to explore Guelph in a way that felt safe and supported. Many said

they wouldn’t have ventured out on their own, so this event helped them feel more confident navigating public transit and discovering local spots,” said Binns.

Cultural Diversity offers a variety of events to Black and Racialized students, with Eats and Treats being one of the first to begin the new academic year.

“There’s always events going on, and they’re very great

events to build a community on campus,” said Ethie Iluebbey, a fourth year student in CJPP.

Providing students with knowledge about culturally diverse food options within the city is important to ensure they can create a home and community in Guelph.

“In addition to events and programming, the Cultural Diversity unit also offers one-on-one

advising for Black and Racialized students. This includes support with academic navigation, identity-based concerns and connecting students to campus and community resources,” said Binns.

For a list of Black and Racialized-owned businesses, visit: uoguelph.ca/studentexperience/ cultural-diversity/black-racialized-businesses

Ethie Iluebbey and Marie-Gabrielle pose inside Ethnic Supermarket as they mingle and shop amongst other students.

International student Sofia Elizarraras attended the tour to find some go-to places for weekends in Guelph.

Students and coordinators pose outside the first stop on the tour, Ethnic Supermarket.

Yolanda Grant, facilitator, Cultural Diversity Programs and Amelia Kezaabu, coordinator, Cultural Diversity Programs wait for participting students near the UC bus loop at the beginning of the Eats and Treats tour.

National Day for Truth and Reconciliation: Past and present

U of G to honour survivors and lost victims

SIENNA G. GEISSLER

This year, U of G’s National Truth and Reconciliation Week runs from Sept. 22 to Sept. 26. The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation was created in 2021 as a statutory holiday to commemorate both the survivors and the lost victims of the Canadian residential school system.

This year for National Truth and Reconciliation Week, the University of Guelph will be raising the Survivor’s Flag and lighting Johnston Hall in orange from Sept. 22 to 30. Many other activities will also be taking place during this week, such as the Orange T-Shirt Pin Workshop taking place on Tuesday, Sept. 23 at the John F. Wood Centre MakerSpace.

The University of Guelph invites the campus community to gather on Tuesday, Sept. 30 to honour the survivors and children who never returned home. The day’s

activities are as follows:

From 9:30-10 a.m. there will be a walk from Circle Mound at the Art Gallery of Guelph to Branion Plaza, followed by a 30 minute reflection starting at 10 a.m. on what Truth and Reconciliation means. Then, from 1-2 p.m. there will be a chance to pay homage to the victims of the Canadian residential school system at Johnston Hall.

On Thursday, Oct. 2 from 6-8 p.m. in the University Centre Basement 001B, you can join Cree-Métis artist Marissa Magneson in making beaded dot art and listening as she shares stories of herself and her ancestors.

The community of Guelph is also putting on a Truth and Reconciliation Day After School Event at the Guelph Civic Museum on Sept. 30 from 3:30-5:30 p.m.,

inviting everyone in the area to come together for a Sacred Fire, activities and a special presentation.

Indigenous Initiatives and the Indigenous Student Society have collaborated with The University Bookstore to sell a unique orange shirt in honour of residential school survivors. Five dollars from each purchase will be donated to Survivors’ Secretariat, an organization that supports the uncovering and preserving of what oc-

curred at the Mohawk Institute residential school.

The university provides additional support for Indigenous students at the Indigenous Student Centre in the Federal Building at 620 Gordon St. On Sept. 30 from 9 a.m.-4 p.m., drop-ins are available for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis students at the Indigenous Student Centre. To connect for support please email indigenous.student@ uoguelph.ca.

ANYTIME!

This memorial outside of the Summerlee Science Complex exists to remind us of the harm colonialism has done to the indigenous population. Aditya Parameswaran/THE ONTARION

Rooms for thee and not for me

A year after the University of Guelph’s record high of first-year enrolments, students are still struggling to access housing

KYLE SALTER

Last year, the University of Guelph made headlines for its record-breaking enrollment of 7,849 students. This was a dramatic increase of 52 per cent over the number of students admitted the year prior, according to statistics published by the Ontario Universities’ Application Centre. This increase led to both a shortage of residence spaces and a prolonged residence waitlist.

The University of Guelph published a press release following the release of the 2024 admissions data, citing “aims to enhance the university’s financial sustainability and support academic and research excellence, and an enriched student experience” as an explanation for the dramatic increase in enrollment. This fall, another 7,483 students were admitted and a similar number were met with being waitlisted. The university claims approximately 95 per cent of the 5,000 residence spaces are reserved

for first-year students. This paints a bleak picture for prospective students as close to 3,000 first years won’t be able to secure a place in residence. The university is working to address this residence shortage by offering 160 additional spaces at the former Days Inn hotel, which is now Gordon Hall Residence.

In December of 2024, the university published another press release where they outlined “aims to add more than 4,000 new student housing beds by 2035.” This may sound promising to future incoming first-year students, but the needs of many current students are still not being met with these plans. More students year over year will be relocating to Guelph only to find a highly competitive housing market; Guelph is the 18th most expensive city for rentals in Canada, according to Rentals.ca’s national rent report.

In an interview with The On-

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Join the global movement to raise awareness

Each year, there is a global campaign to raise awareness and understanding of breast cancer. Breast cancer is the most common cancer found in women with an estimate of 30,500 Canadian women diagnosed in 2024. Though they make up less than one per cent of all breast cancer diagnoses, men can also be impacted, with an estimate of 290 Canadian men diagnosed in 2024.

The Canadian Cancer Society was founded in 1938 and has been working tirelessly to ensure that Canadians don’t have to fear can-

tarion, second-year student Ava Vender noted that she was overall pleased with her time living in residence, but she would not want to live in residence again. Vender cited concerns about her sleep being disrupted and wanting greater separation between her school and personal life.

Vender also commented on the difficulty she faced searching for a rental unit for the 2025 academic year. She said that the lack of available choices in the market compelled her to “give our landlords an enthusiastic decision on the spot,” because “waiting any longer would have made us lose the place.”

Commuting students face entirely different challenges related to overenrollment. Madelynne Mitchell, a commuting student from Waterloo, is concerned about the availability of parking spaces to accommodate students. Mitchell was surprised to learn that the

school generated $5.5 million in parking revenue last year. Mitchell said that parking was expensive, but not unreasonable. Her biggest concern with regards to parking was the lack of space available. At the time this article was written, there was a waitlist for both Red Zone and Yellow Zone parking passes.

Beyond campus, the City of Guelph is facing the same issues in offering affordable housing. In their 2023 report State of Housing in Guelph, the city found that “half of all households in Guelph cannot afford housing at the affordable benchmark amounts,” with the benchmark for renting being $1,434 per month. The same report found that “over 34 per cent of all households in Guelph are renter households. This figure has been steadily increasing since 2011, when only 30 per cent of households were renter households. The increase in the proportion of

renter households in Guelph is attributed to homeownership becoming increasingly unaffordable.”

Regardless of the growing need for rentals, new building projects are overwhelmingly geared towards the shrinking market of homeowners. In 2024, Ontario reported the building of 94,753 new homes across the province. Not only is that short of their target of 125,000 homes for the year, but that figure includes 73,462 traditional housing starts and just 2,807 beds for post-secondary student housing.

This points to a broader trend behind the housing crisis across Canada. In a paper published by Toronto Metropolitan University, economist Frank Clayton wrote, “Homeowners remain by far the biggest beneficiaries of tax expenditures on housing from the federal government, accounting for nearly 90 per cent of the national total of $18.2 billion in 2017.”

cer. Today, most of the research is funded by fundraising programs, the most prominent being the Canadian Cancer Society’s CIBC Run for the Cure, an initiative that has been running for over 30 years.

Early detection through self-examination and mammograms is important because it increases the chance of successful breast cancer treatment. A breast self-exam is a visual and physical way to check for signs and symptoms of breast cancer at home. Self-examinations can be done at

least once a month, ideally on the same day each month, but they should be avoided during menstruation, when hormonal fluctuations can cause changes in the breasts.

Self-exams can be done in the shower, in front of a mirror or lying down. The most common sign of breast cancer to look out for is a firm or hard lump that doesn’t get smaller or go away during menstruation.

Genetics and lifestyle factors can increase the risk of developing breast cancer. People with a family history of breast cancer

should speak to their doctor to explore risk mitigation strategies like early screening. Key ways to reduce the risk of breast cancer through lifestyle changes include being physically active, maintaining a healthy weight, not smoking, limiting alcohol and eating a balanced diet.

For detailed instructions on self-exams, visit: nationalbreastcancer.org/breast-self-exam. Report any changes to your breasts to your healthcare provider. You can also book an appointment with a physician at Student Health Services on campus.

Want to get involved in spreading awareness? You can participate in the Guelph CIBC Run for the Cure. For this event, you can sign up to walk or run either a 5k or a 1k. This year's event will run on Sunday, Oct. 5. You can either register by yourself or with a team.

Awareness is the first step, but action saves lives. Do your screenings, talk to your doctor and encourage your loved ones to do the same. Want to learn more about breast cancer? Visit cancer. ca, breastcancer.org and nationalbreastcancer.org

The surge in residence applications has left a number of students behind, and forced them to take bad deals from landlords. Aditya Parameswaran/THE ONTARION

The CIBC Run For The Cure in 2023 downtown Guelph. Rachel Fioret/THE ONTARION

Local community workshop ramping up accessibility at Guelph businesses

Diyode Makerspace begins building ramps after City Council’s decision to make accessibility project community-led

ARTICLE & PHOTOS BY ABBY COUNAHAN

Following council’s decision to opt for a “community-led approach” to improving accessibility infrastructure, Diyode Makerspace has begun a project where they will be working with local businesses to improve entrance accessibility. The community workshop will be using their resources to design, build and install entrance ramps throughout the City of Guelph.

the first goal,” Lameront said. “We’re also getting sponsorships for some of the supplies from other businesses that we’re talking with right now, and going to go from there.”

The first business Diyode worked with to initiate the project is Consign Your Curves, a consignment store located in downtown Guelph. Diyode installed the ramp at Consign Your Curves on Friday, Sept. 19.

Diyode Makerspace is a non-profit organization that offers a workshop where members can access tools and supplies for wood working, metal working, electronics, prototyping and crafting.

Klassen, who was in attendance at the ramp installation, spoke on the progress of the initiative.

“It’s really exciting to see the power of community coming together to actually execute on a program like this,” Klassen said. “What I’m excited about is the opportunity to extend this now [that] Diyode has proven that this is something that can be done.”

The project began when members at Diyode became aware of City Council’s recent decision to hold off on funding the proposed three-year pilot project that would aim to improve the accessibility of mobile ramps for local businesses. This decision makes building owners solely responsible for procuring ramps to improve their entrance accessibility infrastructure.

The Ontarion spoke with Patrick Lameront, Director of Marketing and Outreach at Diyode Makerspace, about the project:

“We’re a community workshop, so we definitely can fill a role of community leadership as well,” Lameront said. “We have all the tools and the expertise to build those ramps, so that’s kind of what led us to initially start brainstorming.”

Lameront reached out to Ward 2 Councillor Carly Klassen, who initially proposed the three-year pilot project, to further discuss the project:

“[Klassen] has been really wonderful with connecting us to different people and helping us develop the plan,” Lameront said.

Lameront says that the initial plan is to construct and install one ramp to confirm that Diyode is capable of carrying out the project. From there, they will conduct a survey with Guelph businesses to gather more insight into where accessibility ramps are needed. The final step is to then propose a plan back to the City to see what potential grant opportunities may be available to further fund the project.

“That’s the plan right now. It may develop, it may change, but I think that’s

“We’re going to hopefully extend the program and offer it to more organizations and businesses in Guelph, and we’re looking for grants to do so.” Klassen said.

“So, contact Diyode if you want to fund some ramps in Guelph, and contact us if you have a ramp that needs to get built.”

Lameront shared his thoughts on the success of the first ramp installation. “It’s been a learning process for sure, and, you know, having it finally followed through on, it gives me a lot of confidence that we can deliver on the next 50, 100 ramps around Guelph,” he said.

If your business or organization is in need of an entrance ramp, contact either Klassen or Lameront to inquire about the possibilities. Lameront also encourages anyone who might be interested in this project, or starting a project of their own, to check out what Diyode offers and get involved.

If you are interested in joining Diyode, or are in need of a ramp, you can find more information on Diyode’s Instagram, @diyodemakerspace, or on their website, diyode.com.

Lameront encourages anyone interested in joining to attend the workshop open houses that are hosted every Monday night at 8 p.m., located at 700 York Rd., Guelph.

Diyode’s first ramp installation at Consign Your Curves was a success.

“It’s really exciting to see the power of community coming together to actually execute on a project like this,” said Ward 2 Councillor Carly Klassen.

Aberfoyle Fall Fair baaah-ck at it again

The Aberfoyle Agricultural Society hosts the 183rd annual Aberfoyle Fall Fair

ARTICLE BY MARTIN LIMA & PHOTOS BY STEPHEN DOIG

Have you ever wondered what it takes to win the award for weirdest vegetable? The answer is a carrot shaped like Patrick Star.

This past Sept. 5-6, the town of Aberfoyle hosted one of Canada’s longest-standing agricultural traditions: the Aberfoyle Fall Fair.

Dating back to 1842, the former Puslinch Agricultural Society, now recognized as the Aberfoyle Agricultural Society, (AAS), started an annual fair as a means to preserve agricultural practices. The fair formerly showcased many branches of food production, such as livestock and vegetable shows. In recent years, the fair has adapted to keep agriculture alive.

For a cover charge of $15 for individuals 13 years and older, attendees can access a plethora of events all happening simultaneously. With events like axe throwing and building your own zucchini car, the fair’s focus group is families with young children.

Despite its engagement with young families, the fair also ensures teenagers and young adults are not

excluded from the fun. Live music, creative interactive games and an impressive horticulture show are definitely worth your time.

Amusingly, the local soccer club, Puslinch Predators, convinced a police officer to spend the day with a radar speed gun (typically used to monitor the speed of cars) to measure the velocity of free kicks. Unbelievably, someone managed to set a record of 108 km/h, a great reminder to never skip leg day.

A portion of the ticket sale proceeds were allocated to the winners of the contests hosted at the fair. Students from Aberfoyle Public School had the opportunity to submit their arts and crafts to be judged for prize money. The prizes ranged from $2 for first place, $1 for second and 25 cents for third.

One parent reported that their child won $14 from these contests.

The vegetable displays followed a similar system. An array of vegetables were rated by judges based on colour, shape and other quantitative traits such as weight or

length. Unfortunately, these types of agricultural contests are in decline.

In an interview with The Ontarion, Charlie Tilt, former president of the AAS, provided insight into the “good old days.” He emphasized a pressing concern for the loss of agricultural shows, highlighting the loss of cattle, horses and sheep at the fair.

When asked why the livestock shows disappeared, Tilt said, “Not enough entries; most people head towards the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto, or the agriculture fair in Arthur."

Tilt noted that these fairs attract more contestants because they offer greater prize money.

Former 4-H Beef Club leader Hugh MacDonald said that he observed up to 65 calf showings in the 90s, compared to none today.

Remarkably, the Aberfoyle Fall Fair predates Canada’s confederation and naturally, it has survived many turning points in history. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Tilt described adapting the fair to run as a decorative fallthemed drive-through. Tilt hopes to see a revival of more agricultural contests come back to the fair. He smiled over the fact that the sheep contest might return next year.

Agriculture deserves serious admiration for what farmers go through to keep our grocery stores stocked. After all, they are the reason we can focus on our midterms without worrying about yielding our crops first.

If you missed the fair this year, try to attend next year and show your support for your local farmers. Who would have thought that there was money in weird-looking vegetables?

From honey, to sweets, to handmade quilts, the Aberfoyle Fall Fair has something for everyone.

Radar guns aren’t just for catching speeding cars, they’re also useful for soccer practice.

Jesse’s Band provided live music.

Making statues with a chainsaw is a delicate, if noisy, artform.

Polo, but with hockey sticks sounds like a lot more fun.

The Aberfoyle Fall Fair features many activities, such as axe throwing.

Rides with little ponies are fun for all ages. Unfortunately, only kids could ride on this one.

A proud child is showing off his zucchini car.

A bouncy castle and bubbles sounds like the perfect combination for children and everyone else.

ARTS & CULTURE

The Paper premiered Sept. 4

The new The Office U.S. spinoff portrays the hardships of the journalism industry, offering something both nostalgic and original

SARAH D'AVILA ALEMAN

The film and TV industry has grown comfortable with constantly producing remakes, reboots, prequels, sequels—you name it. But despite it being a spin-off of the beloved The Office U.S., The Paper offers something both nostalgic and fresh.

At the time of its announcement, there was much discourse online about The Paper’s impending doom. After all, spin-offs have almost always experienced less success than their predecessors. Think of series such as Better Call Saul (from 2008’s Breaking Bad) or Ashes to Ashes (from 2006’s Life on Mars). These are iconic pieces of media, but they will always be compared to the original series.

A hardship that The Paper might experience is finding a solid audience outside of existing The Office fans. A real issue with this is that most of the time, loyal fanbases don’t want a spin-off, they simply want the real deal. Unfortunately, this is something that won’t happen, but the closest alternative is a spin-off that takes similar elements of what made the original successful and uses those to create something new.

The Paper uses the mockumentary style of shows like its predecessor, but also other treasured sitcoms of the time like Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Modern Family. And it also uses the famous dry, awkward humour which is favourable to the structure of the show because it feels as though you are watching real people in a real workplace.

The series offers a lot of potential despite mixed reviews circulating in the media. Of course, the series is not without its flaws, but at the very core of it is a heartfelt message that is important to remember: it takes a person to spark change, but it takes a community to make it. Paired with that, there are lovable characters, a messy villain and a charming

sense of humour.

The Paper follows the story of a floundering newspaper in Toledo, Ohio. When a new, eager and slightly naive Editor-in-Chief, Ned Sampson (Domhnall Gleeson) gets hired, he decides to pour all his energy into reinstating the Toledo Truth Teller to its former glory days. However, there is one major challenge ahead of him and that is the fact that not many people pay attention to newspapers anymore. Through this, he also has to navigate personal problems, an unmotivated team of reporters and a dwindling budget.

On the third floor of the Toledo Truth Teller—the same and other floors being currently occupied by a toilet paper company–we have a motley crew with key members being a former military reporter (Chelsea Frei), a conniving and outranked managing editor (Sabrina Impacciatore) and a returning and beloved accountant Oscar Martinez (Oscar Nunez). Additionally, we also have six coworkers who have been lightly pushed into becoming journalists for the sake of keeping their jobs and seeing the success of the Toledo Truth Teller.

Somehow, all these characters fit together incredibly well. Their forced-by-proximity, mismatched relationships makes for something relatable and maintains a key element of why The Office was so successful. Mixed between all these coworkers we have various dynamics of mentorships, crushes, rivalries and more that all make for an enjoyable viewing experience.

Of course, all stories must have a good old-fashioned villain. The managing editor, named Esmeralda Grand, is an ambitious and jealous Italian woman. At the very beginning of the series, she was considered the head of the newspaper, but with the arrival

of Ned Sampson, she finds herself effectively replaced and outranked. Ned’s arrival results in her resolving to make Ned’s job as hard as possible. In her arc, the viewer sees her tricking and at times blackmailing others. This makes for constant conflict and friction because it seems as that is her sole purpose in the series, leaving her character little to no room for growth.

This becomes problematic for the viewer because her actions become plainly frustrating to watch. The series already presents the main conflict as a ‘will they, won’t they’ find success in a dying industry. At a certain point, Esmeralda’s chaos and jealousy become annoying to watch because she acts purely based on whims–which is a trait like that of the beloved Michael Scott. But why was Michael Scott so beloved? It was because despite being a messy and childish man, he almost never preyed on the downfall of the people around him. His screwing himself over was similarly frustrating to watch but ultimately you sympathized with him.

The show does try to do that to a certain extent. Esmeralda is presented as a single mother which might make it easier to sympathize with her; and more than that, she is working in an

already unstable industry. These two factors in the character’s life create a sense of confusion as to why she would want this newspaper to fail, apart from simply being upset that she’s been outranked. There seems to be a plot hole there that has not been explored thus far. If by the end of the series, The Paper doesn’t give the viewer more insight into Esmeralda’s conflicting motivations, then it might be more feasible to remove her character or at the very least, reduce her impact and explore other character dynamics more–since there is a lot of potential there.

One highlight of the series is that it doesn’t try to replicate character dynamics or prototypes from the original. There isn’t a Dwight variant, or a Jim and Pam replica. For a spin-off, this is probably the smarter route to take because it prevents the audience from constantly referring to the original and finding flaws in the successor. There are budding love stories, dynamic duos, rivalries and comedic reliefs that are completely different to that of the original, but offer the same amount of enjoyability.

At the end of the day, using the humour and charm of the series, The Paper advocates for the importance of journalism, team-

work and striving for change. Regardless of how social media and the digital era have changed the landscape of journalism, newspapers are still important. This is the message that the show and Ned alike are trying to express to their audience.

So, just like the Toledo Truth Teller, The Paper is still working out the kinks, but it has the potential to have a rewarding arc whereby at the end you feel connected to the characters, understand the message, and overall feel like you had a good time. In an era of TV where pilot episodes and multiple-season runs aren’t so common anymore, we need to give TV shows an opportunity to find their footing and run their course. Even The Office U.K. didn’t perform incredibly in its initial run, and The Office U.S. was criticized by British fans of the original. But it only took a little bit of faith from the viewers to find success.

If thought of outside a The Office U.S. spin-off, the series stands on its own two feet and has the potential to bring back the classic, beloved era of the 90s-2010’s sitcom. It has hilarious and lovable characters, a good plot and a whole lot of heart. If this article sparked a curiosity in The Paper, it is well worth checking out.

The Paper offers their audience a glimpse into the newspaper industry. Emmerson Jull/THE ONTARION

“Emerge!” presents MFA students

Guelph writers read their work at the Eden Mills Writers’ Festival

ARTICLE & PHOTOS BY RACHEL FIORET

The Eden Mills Writers’ Festival took place on Sept. 7, offering hundreds of visitors a variety of sessions to attend.

One of the first sessions, “Emerge! New and Emerging Writers to Watch” began at 10:30 a.m. in The Mill. Six Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing (MFA) students from the University of Guelph program read a piece of their work.

Between the students, there was a variety of creative non-fiction, fiction and poetry, offering all listeners something of interest.

A crowd of approximately 50 people of all ages attended the session and were engaged in the readings.

Presenting a non-fiction piece, MFA student Unice Liem shared that “when I say social issues, I think a lot of it is because I am a trans, neurodivergent, queer person. I think that is the lens I’m putting on politics around that.”

In their thesis, Liem’s writing explores themes around the pressures that society puts on women to become mothers and wives, and the challenge of either not wanting children or not being able to have them.

“The issue of family is very important because we grew up

with a picture of that as heteronormative. That is kind of outdated in many ways.”

Liem added that “it’s interesting to explore what it means for queer people, what it means to make a family.”

“I think the older you get the more you see how different family can be, but the concept of family is so universal, so I like that it’s a universal concept that has so many different ways of being.”

Liem hopes to reach a lot of people with their writing.

“The core of my audience is queer and trans people, but I do hope that someone who reads, for example, the non-fiction piece that I read today about my top surgery, I hope that it furthers the understanding for people who are interested and open-minded and want to learn more.”

Liem added that they want to provide representation for gender identities similar to their own because they have only more recently seen it talked about in the media.

Another MFA student, Jackie George, focuses on fiction writing in the form of short stories.

"In my short stories, they’re mostly dealing with themes of belonging,” George shared in an in-

terview with The Ontarion after the reading.

“I’ve been writing for a really long time, so it’s hard to pinpoint exactly when that started. Ever since I was a kid, I read a lot of books and so I think one day I decided I had my own stories I wanted to share, so I just started writing.”

She shared that she hasn’t yet written long form content, but that she hopes the MFA will help her venture to that style of writing.

“Right now I’m working on a lot of short stories. For my thesis, I’m hoping to write a fantasy novel, so I’ll be branching out into new territory, which is exciting and nerve wracking. But right now, a lot of short stories.”

Her long term goal is to become a professor of creative writing, and she hopes to get published along the way.

She concluded that attending the “Emerge!” session was a “super nice first public reading appearance.”

“It was really great, it was a small crowd so I was not too nervous and looking out into the audience, everyone was engaged and smiling and very invested, so a very welcoming crowd,” she said.

“I’m so excited to be here,” shared Alexandra McKay, MFA student, as she read an excerpt from her novel project, exploring mature themes.

Hundreds gathered on York St. to explore the books and merchandise for sale.

Unice Liem poses near The Mill after sharing a piece of their creative non-fiction work.

MFA student Jackie George reading her short story, Sea Glass, to a crowd of about 50 people.

A review of Beecarbonize

Playing games can help people understand global warming and climate change

AMIR BENKELAI

Beecarbonize is a video game developed by Charles Games, which was released on Aug. 1, 2023 on Steam for MacOS and Windows. It is a strategy-based card game that simulates the effects of climate change based on the actions taken by players. Upon loading, the player is met with a table-like setup featuring four coloured groups: Industry (pink), Ecosystems (green), People (yellow) and Science (blue). Each of these groups create resources visualised as colourful coins.

The game’s premise is for players to “research cutting-edge technologies, enact policies, protect ecosystems, and modernize industry to avert climate catastrophe.”

A yellow bar fills as carbon emissions from the Industry group rise. As the bar fills, catastrophes occur, slowly worsening. Each catastrophe builds on the others. There is an area where catastrophe cards are placed, and here, random world events can occur outside the catastrophe, as in, for example, a tornado. World events need resolving as they can worsen the effect of a

catastrophe or cause one preemptively.

Overall, some catastrophes and random world events can be resolved. However, if the player acts too late, it becomes permanent, making the game harder. Once too many are accumulated, the game ends.

The goal of the game is to work towards a cleaner and more sustainable society through enacting ecoconservation policies whilst balancing the effects of carbon emissions and random world events. Cards are created in each group, and with each card created, several upgrades or additional cards that help the player reach their goal are available for purchase. The player wins once they have moved to that cleaner and more sustainable society.

Where Beecarbonize succeeds

With its nomination for an Apple Design Award in 2023 and thousands of incredibly positive reviews, it is clear Beecarbonize is a beloved and well made game. First and foremost is the game’s education-

al component. It explains and showcases climate catastrophes in a simulated environment, then reveals all the possible solutions. These solutions are visible in the different ways a player can win, like through nuclear fusion or very strong conservation efforts. With many ways to win, the game has fantastic replayability. Players can attempt multiple different roads to victory and figure out better strategies of play.

In terms of user experience, Beecarbonize features an easy-to-follow tutorial that

can be enabled in the settings menu after the first game, in case the player needs a refresher. The mechanics feature pause and speed-up buttons to either stop the game to take time to strategise or speed things along. It also is available in many languages, making it possible for a diverse audience of players to take on the game and learn some environmental science.

Overall, if you are interested in learning more about climate change and global warming in an interactive way, Beecarbonize is a great game to get into.

The gardens around the university should be a first stop for the avid beewatcher. Aditya Parameswaran/ THE ONTARION

It takes over 500 worker bees to make one pound of honey. Aditya Parameswaran/THE ONTARION

Democracy, documents, deadlines: A review of All the President's Men

“Nothing's riding on this except the first amendment to the Constitution, freedom of the press, and maybe the future of the country.”

NED BARR

Robert Redford, an actor, director, producer and activist, passed away on Sept. 16. His belief in the powers of storytelling and truth shaped the production of All the President’s Men as well as a generation of viewers. It was his dogged desperation to bring the story of Watergate to the big screen that resulted in the creation of this investigative thriller, and his performance was filled with the sort of quiet integrity that to this day makes audiences believe the world can still be changed by decency.

All the President’s Men has maintained cultural relevance and resonance long after its 1976 release, drawing parallels to the modern landscape. It’s clear Redford’s legacy is not just in the roles he played, but in the care he took in telling stories that mattered. Viewers should count themselves lucky that he told this one.

Based on the 1974 book of the same name by Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, All the President’s Men follows the early days of their uncovering of the Watergate scandal. For those unaware: on June 17, 1972, burglars broke into the Democratic National Committee office at the Watergate Hotel and attempted to plant listening devices. Woodward and Bernstein uncover throughout All the President’s Men that high-ranking White House officials conducted or approved various modes of sabotage against Democratic causes, all paid for with campaign money.

Pakula’s film starts with the bang of a typewriter. There is one soaring speech and few explosive

revelations. Meanwhile, the acting, with Redford portraying Woodward and Dustin Hoffman as Bernstein, is quiet, unglamorous and grounded. In fact, Redford and Hoffman memorized one another’s lines so they could interrupt each other and create a lifelike rhythm and chemistry to elevate writer William Goldman’s already clever script.

From the beginning, the story follows two paths: the investigative and the personal. All the President’s Men is by no means a buddy movie, instead we see the two leads practically intertwined to the point where there is little sense of self. Even their boss, executive editor Benjamin C. Bradlee (whom the excellent Jason Robards portrays in a performance so incredible, it won him a Best Supporting Actor award despite being on screen for fewer than 30 minutes), repeatedly refers to them as the combined surname “Woodstein.”

The portmanteau of their last names does not strip them of individuality so much as acknowledge how the dogged investigative work has forced them into one another’s lives. Woodward and Bernstein go from door to door, phone call to phone call and office to office, getting denied and ridiculed by opposition and allies at once. By tooth and nail, they trail the story all the way to the White House chief of staff, the second most powerful man in America.

Impressive film techniques, such as a “split diopter,” in which half the lens is focused on the foreground and the other

on the background, make various appearances throughout the film, a testament to cinematographer Gordon Willis’s talent. Willis is known in the industry as the “Prince of Darkness,” a title he earned through his work on The Godfather and other Pakula films, such as The Parallax View and Klute, and made a name for himself by using a specific shadowy cinematographic style that is simultaneously aggressive and soothing.

The Washington Post newsroom is lit by irritating fluorescents that reflect off the multicoloured desks, representing how within the walls of that room the truth will be uncovered and come to light. In contrast, the parking garage where Woodward repeatedly meets with his shadowy source nicknamed “Deep Throat,” who utters the famous phrase “follow the money,” is so dark it appears as if the characters are being swallowed by shadow.

Woodward and Bernstein, when outside of the newsroom, are made miniscule against towering buildings such as the Library of Congress. This serves as

a visual representation of their struggle against the overpowering multi-headed beast of the government.

With a staggering runtime of just under two and a half hours, one would expect a critique of All the President’s Men to mainly revolve around what could have been shaved off to make a shorter film, but this is not the case.

The film leaves us after the two reporters misunderstand a source and publish it. They are blown apart on live television by the White House press secretary, threatened with removal from the story, and essentially left to watch what they have uncovered get swallowed up by a singular mistake. And the film ends there, with President Richard Nixon’s re-election.

Actually, not quite. The film cuts to a teleprinter that begins to rattle off information about various figures resigning and getting imprisoned for Watergate-related crimes, ending with the resignation of Nixon on Aug. 9, 1974. This is about the halfway point of the book. Of course, no one

expects a four-hour-long feature film, but perhaps some scenes could have been condensed in order to create a longer, denser version that ends with the resignation of the president. While the film’s length is justified, it’s not hard to imagine what a slightly longer version could have achieved.

It is no wonder this movie remains so firmly implanted among the psyches of those who have seen it.

This film is pertinent to our current time because journalism is dying, and with it, the ability to hold the government accountable. A free press and free judiciary stand as the last two lines of defense against the sort of fascist takeover we see in history books. It is therefore important to watch films that remind us it is possible to hold a neglectful or malicious administration accountable, that their wrongdoing is significant and justice can be served.

Perhaps as a daydream, perhaps as a demand. And All the President’s Men is the perfect example of one of these films.

All the President’s Men movie is based on the 1974 book. Rachel Fioret/THE ONTARION

Superhero movies continue to soar

Reviews of Marvel and DC’s latest features

HANNAH

DICKHOFF

Superhero movies have been a beloved film genre for years, producing many iconic moments, lines, themes and recognizable stars over time. Their high-stakes storylines, witty characters and punchy, action-packed atmospheres have captured audiences for decades, bringing comic and film lovers together.

The summer of 2025 was particularly strong for superhero films, bringing the release of three movies that inspire and uplift viewers alike. Marvel Studios’ Thunderbolts*, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, and DC Comics’ Superman, each released within the past 5 months, received greatly positive feedback due to their thematic messages and inspirational impact.

Marvel Studios’ Thunderbolts* was released on May 2. It is the sixth, and last, film installment of Phase Five of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Based on the Marvel Comics team of the same name, Thunderbolts* brings a group of beloved

MCU characters together, including Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Ava Starr/Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian (David Harbour) and more.

The film follows the rag-tag group of anti-heroes as they attempt to escape a deadly trap set by shady politician Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Lous-Dreyfus). Reluctantly, our protagonists must work together to do so, forcing them to dive into their past experiences and mistakes along the way.

With a strong focus on mental health, Thunderbolts* highlights the unique struggles that each character has faced in their lives, allowing viewers to get a close look at who these heroes truly are. Loneliness, depression, childhood trauma and familial struggles are among the topics portrayed through the characters’ many memories, showing that superhumans are still human,

and it is human to struggle. Overall, Thunderbolts*’ unlikely group of heroes reflect the daily struggles of real people, spreading a resounding message of “You’re not alone.”

“The past doesn’t go away. So you can either live with it forever…or do something about it."

- Bucky Barnes, Thunderbolts* (2025)

DC Comics’ Superman (2025) released on July 11 directed by James Gunn (known for the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy and The Suicide Squad (2021)). This film is a reboot of the widely beloved Superman character, starring David Corenswet as Clark Kent/ Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor and several other recognizable stars.

The story follows Superman as he faces his billionaire arch-nemesis Luthor, who orchestrates a mastermind strategy to frame him as a global threat to humanity. Luthor succeeds in destroying Superman’s reputation as a hero, breaking down his enemy to manipulate the government into helping him build a geopolitical empire. As Superman makes unfortunate discoveries about his past and faces widespread hate from the public, he grapples with his identity as a heroic figure.

The film delves into themes of kindness, compassion and what it means to be a good person, highlighting the importance of actions and choice. Superman’s character consistently chooses to be kind every day of his life, striving to make the world a better place, even if it’s against him. This film as a whole is a colourful, fun, punk-rock-spirited exploration of what it means to be kind, spreading a message that is all-too important to remember in the modern world.

“Your choices. Your actions. That’s what makes you who you are.”

- Jonathan Kent, Superman (2025)

On July 25 Marvel Studios released The Fantastic Four: First Steps in theatres. Starring Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards/ Mr. Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm/ Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm/Human Torch and Ebon MossBachrach as Ben Grimm/The Thing, it is the first film installment of Phase Six of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps was a highly anticipated release for fans of The Fantastic Four due to it being the third live-action version of the group and set in a comic-based 1960s retro-futuristic world. The film follows the famous family as they defend Earth from Galactus—a powerful, hungry space god trying to consume the planet. Unfortunately, the only way Galactus will spare Earth is if Reed Richards and Sue Storm surrender their infant son. The film dives into this moral dilemma, effectively exploring the importance of parenthood and love in the face of unimaginable circumstances.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps highlights family as its central theme, both recognizing personal relations and wider communities as families. In a beautiful display of compassion and togetherness, The Fantastic Four bring the entire world together to save the planet—as one big family.

“That’s what family is. It’s about fighting for something bigger than yourself. Connecting to something bigger than yourself.”

- Sue Storm, The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025)

The superhero films of 2025 have been greatly inspirational for many, spreading messages of love and compassion. Thunderbolts*, Superman and The Fantastic Four: First Steps may differ in plot and topical discussion, but overall, they are a strong, wonderful trio of films that succeed in doing exactly what superheroes were originally created for: spreading hope.

Summer 2025's superhero movies share messages of hope in dark times. DC Studios / Warner Bros. Pictures

Em is Busy Reading: Dystopian books that feel like 2025

Four disturbing reads eerily similar to our world today

EMMERSON JULL

Introducing Busy Reading, a monthly column for bookworms and library lovers. Look forward to our Associate Editor Emmerson Jull profiling local writers, exploring emerging genres, compiling book reviews and recommending a new read each month.

These four dystopian novels present unnerving explorations of corruption and widespread social unrest. Whether read as cautionary tales or guides to surviving unthinkable circumstances, you’re sure to find these books eerily prophetic.

1984 by George Orwell

“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” (Orwell, 1949)

1984 is the most obvious addition to this list, and for some, it will be the most resonant. The Party’s slogan reads like a training manual for present-day authoritative governments: “War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength.”

In this not-so-distant dystopia, privacy is nonexistent, citizens are under constant surveillance and even their deepest inner thoughts are monitored by the Thought Police.

1984’s protagonist Winston Smith lives under the Party’s totalitarian rule of Oceania. His life is dull and grey, walled in by screens that scrutinize his every breath. Winston is disillusioned by the Party’s propaganda and finds himself sympathizing with the Brotherhood, a body of anti-state conspirators. As such, Winston has committed the ultimate act of treason, “thoughtcrime.” Winston's dissidence grows as he falls in love with Julia, a member of the Junior Anti-Sex League.

The terrifying world envisioned by Orwell is one of blinding fealty, extreme paranoia and a total lack of empathy. Today, we sign our rights away to social media conglomerates, outfit ourselves with computers and cameras, consume manipulative on-screen propaganda—and even facial recognition technology has

surpassed Orwell’s darkest imaginations. Maybe it’s time to make Orwell fictitious again?

Parable of the Sower

by Octavia E. Butler

“That’s all anybody can do right now. Live. Hold out. Survive. I don’t know whether good times are coming back again. But I know that won’t matter if we don’t survive these times.” (Butler, 1993)

Parable of the Sower is a brilliant work of science fiction. At 15-years-old, Lauren Olamina has so far survived the climate apocalypse and the depravity of life in California. While Lauren’s neighbours live in denial about the chaos leeching into their gated community, she prepares to protect her loved ones and spread word of a new faith: the Earthseed.

Parable of the Sower is set in a post-apocalyptic America in the early 2020s. The country has been overwhelmed with social unrest, accelerated by environmental crises and steep economic inequality. Education systems have collapsed, money is near-worthless due to inflation and the only things people really need—clean water and food—are rare enough to kill for. If that’s not shocking enough, in the novel’s sequel, Butler writes of a presidential candidate—a racist and religious fanatic—who promises to “make America great again” (seriously).

Butler is not merely prescient. She saw the world in the 1990s with startling clarity and imagined how a deliberately ignorant society might fare in a future ravaged by global warming and oppression. Our world may be past reading Butler’s work as a warning. Instead, we should learn from Lauren’s method of survival by embracing change and building community, with trust and faith for a better future.

Severance by Ling Ma

“The End begins before you are ever aware of it. It passes as ordinary.” (Ma, 2018)

Severance is set in an alternate history of the U.S. and traces the life of Candace Chen before and during Shen Fever, an incurable fungal infection originating in China. Candace hardly looks up from her work as the world succumbs to Shen Fever, even as her employer mandates N-95 masks and the streets of New York empty around her.

Ma’s nonlinear narration style exposes parallels between Candace's past and her present. We learn of Candace’s parents emigrating from Fuzhou, China, to Salt Lake City, Utah. By postgrad, both of her parents are deceased. With few friends and no relatives in America, Candace is only tethered to the present by the ins and outs of her unfulfilling job. Once Shen Fever has decimated society, Candace seeks permanent shelter with a group of fellow survivors, led by a power-hungry man.

Severance describes a world decaying as office workers toil away, labouring until their last breaths to answer phones and meet deadlines. The “fevered” are compelled to mindlessly relive their routines until their bodies yield to sickness, not unlike the living.

Read Severance for an uncomfortably familiar story about weathering the end of the world under capitalism. With astute commentary on immigration, relationships, family and faith, Ma illustrates the human tendency to grasp onto nostalgia until it’s all we have left.

sues hit a boiling point and rightwing fundamentalists took over the state. Her answer was the legendary feminist dystopia, The Handmaid’s Tale.

In the Republic of Gilead, with a majority of the population infertile, women are indoctrinated and forcibly bred to repopulate the state. Bodily autonomy is nonexistent, and women not selected for childrearing are relegated to caretaking and matronly roles.

Our narrator, Offred, is separated from her family during an attempt to escape to Canada and then forced to become

a Handmaid. As such, her sole purpose is to bear a child for Commander Fred Waterford and his barren wife, Serena Wharton. Offred lives out most of her days incarcerated, except for when she must collect food or attend public executions; worse, when she is forced to participate in a monthly, semi-religious ritual of mass rape. As ultraconservatism and religious extremism infiltrate world governments, and waves of anti-abortion legislation sweep the U.S., our society bears more resemblance than ever to the violent patriarchy and racism in The Handmaid’s Tale.

Busy Reading Book Club: This Monster of Mine by

Shalini Abeysekara

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret

Atwood

“Better never means better for everyone... It always means worse, for some.” (Atwood, 1985)

While researching for her novel in the 1980s, Atwood collected a box of newspaper clippings describing a world rife with religious and racial tension, infertility caused by environmental pollution and state-sponsored efforts to increase births while attacking abortion and women’s rights. She imagined what the U.S. might look like if those is-

To keep you “Busy Reading”, Jull will select a book club pick each month, with an emphasis on diverse voices and thoughtful stories. We’d love to connect with fellow readers to share the joy of great books, so if you’re reading along, let us know what you think by emailing ae@theontarion.com.

For October, we’re reading This Monster of Mine by Canadian author Shalini Abeysekara. It’s a delightfully thrilling romantasy inspired by ancient Rome and Abeysekara’s firsthand knowledge of the flawed justice system as a former corporate lawyer. 18-year-old Sarai, who is seeking vengeance against the man who attempted to murder her, returns to the Academiae of Ur Dinyé to train as a magical prosecutor and investigate her unknown assailant. She’s assigned to work with Kadra, a ruthless judge—and the most likely suspect in her case. Though Sarai plans to take down Kadra, she finds herself drawn towards him instead, and their slow-burning fatal attraction evolves against a backdrop of mystery and deceit in a complex world of politics and magic.

. ILLUSTRATION PROVIDED BY PAIGE STAMPATORI

Five ways to be more whimsical

The cure to people being chronically online starts with being present in their surroundings

ANDREEA BURLACU

Everyone seems to be addicted to their phones; scrolling through social media in times of social awkwardness, texting and tapping away the boredom. If you relate to this, finding novelty in your surroundings can become your new goal. Here are five things to try to bring whimsy back into your life.

1: Bring back the casual friend hangout

Everyone is busy, but we need to stop treating our friendships like regularly scheduled appointments. Maybe you ask your friends when they’re free, and then pencil it into your Google Calendar, but it’s fun to be spontaneous, and people always have more time than they think. Little, essential tasks, like running errands, exercising

and making meals, feel way more whimsical and fun when joined by friends.

2: Touch some grass

Getting out there can be hard, but there is so much more to explore just outside your door, and off your screen. Guelph has so many hiking trails and parks where you can get in touch with nature, not to mention the entire Arboretum. The outdoors is the perfect whimsical setting, whether it be having a picnic, reading in the park or even talking to squirrels.

3: Find a funky hobby

Taking the time to learn something niche is the definition of whimsy. Knit a scarf, play the

flute, take up fencing or juggling or even try Irish dance, which is now offered as a dance class at U of G. These hobbies can let your creativity shine while also looking super impressive. Like birds dance to win over potential mates, people can show off their skills to their Tinder date. Now you're great at something and lucky in love!

4: Spice things up

Trying new things is the spice of life! It’s fun to switch things up by checking out events, listening to a new genre of music or chat-

ting up new people. There’s so much to learn and take in with our senses. Especially with food— people eat everyday, so why not spice meals up? You can do this by trying new recipes and unique fruits like dragonfruit, starfruit, goldenberries and mulberries.

5: Make your everyday more magical Life is so customizable—you can make it anything you want it to be. You can set little holidays or traditions: every Saturday, get a fancy coffee and read in the park. You can also take your creative

ideas and make them real. An example is making everyone that enters your house draw themselves on a Post-it and hang it as a souvenir. Little things like this brighten a person’s day, making it feel festive.

Above all, being whimsical is a mindset that everyone has deep within themselves. Once it emerges, you can see your surroundings in a different light. Small coincidences will feel serendipitous. And little by little, the real world may feel more novel than the digital one.

House music trends in and out of the home

A guide to the genre and its origins

House music is absolutely everywhere. Whether you’re a casual listener of radio pop or a house enthusiast, there is no way you haven’t heard it somewhere. It is heavily influential within the sphere of electronic music, as well as in music genres ranging from pop, R&B and hiphop.

Beyonce won a Grammy for "Break My Soul” from her 2022 studio album, Renaissance. Troye Sivan’s summer anthem “Rush” (2023) featured house instrumentals. Charli xcx’s “Talk Talk” from her critically acclaimed 2024 studio album BRAT is heavily influenced by classic 90s house. It can be heard in the rhythmic claps and the four-on-the-floor beat. The sustained violin note that plays throughout the track is an interpolation from an older house song, “Vogue" by Madonna (1990).

As ubiquitous as the genre

is, few know that house music originates from the queer, Black, and Latino club scene. But before house, there was disco. It all started at the advent of the Disco Demolition Night in 1979, when Chicago DJ Steve Dahl held a rally at a White Sox game to destroy disco as a genre. The entrance fee was any disco record that participants wanted gone. Dahl wanted disco off the airwaves, and rock and roll in its stead.

A crowd of 50,000 male onlookers chanted "Disco sucks!” as thousands of disco records were blown up in a heap on the stadium field. Dahl stated the rally was in no way an attack against music made by gay, Black, and Latino people, but producer Vince Lawrence who was an usher for the event said, “People were bringing records. And some of the records were disco records… And some of

SHARON HUANG

those records were just Black records. They weren’t disco—they were just Black records, R&B records... It felt very racial to me.”

After the Disco Demolition, labels stopped making disco records, and the genre had all but disappeared from the mainstream. Still, disco continued to be played underground.

“House music is disco’s revenge,” said New York DJ Frankie Knuckles.

The first time house music was ever played was in 1977 at a gay club just outside downtown Chicago—The Warehouse—when club owner Robert Williams invited Knuckles to play. He remixed disco records with four-on-the-floor beats to create a new genre of music, and his groovy beats brought in crowds night after night.

After five years as resident DJ of The Warehouse, Knuckles left

to start his own club, the Power Plant, in 1982. Patrons lost interest in visiting The Warehouse after Knuckles left, and Williams had no choice but to close the club. He opened a new club, Music Box, installing Ron Hardy as the new resident DJ.

“We used to just dig in crates and find something that people forgot about and bring it back,” said DJ and producer Steve “Silk” Hurley.

DJs got more creative and experimented with different techniques when they started to run out of disco records. They began to create new genres of house music. Ron Hardy remixed Phuture’s “Acid Tracks” in 1987, the same year Music Box was shuttered, to create acid house, a subgenre of house.

House music laid the groundwork for all other electronic music

genres that came after it. A reworking of the genre with funky special effects and a faster beats per minute created what we now know as techno. The use of bass drums, and a stripped down, fast-paced rhythm turned house into drum and bass.

Today, the breath of disco continues to live on through house music and all its predecessors in nightclubs, raves and afterhours all over the world.

Using your favourite mug is a fun way to add whimsy to your morning routine. Rachel Fioret/THE ONTARION

ICON BY FREEPIK

The Hammer of Witches

Exploring the history of witch-hunts with Ted Cowan, former U of G professor

ALYSSA CUNNINGHAM

I

n 1981, local radio personality

Gus Hazelaar sat down with University of Guelph history professor Ted Cowan for a taped interview on CKLA-FM. Hazelaar was known for broadcasting conversations with U of G professors on a wide range of topics. Sometimes about the economy, sometimes about music, and on one particular cassette, about something much darker. Side A of the tape included three edited segments titled “The Great Witch Hunt,” “Way Out of the Current Economic Mess?” and “A Bunch of Old Drums Can Make Beautiful Music.” Side B, however, held a raw, uncut conversation regarding the centuries of superstition, misogyny and mass hysteria surrounding witch-hunting.

It started, as these things often do, with a book. Not the kind of book you’d tuck into your tote bag and read with a cup of tea, but a manual written by two churchmen who fancied themselves experts in evil. They called it the Malleus Maleficarum, or otherwise known as The Hammer of Witches, a late fifteenth-century guide to spotting and destroying witches.

“It’s full of the most gross, sometimes pornographic information,” Cowan told Hazelaar in the recorded interview. The Malleus insisted witches were best found among women, and gave its readers a perverse how-to manual for finding them.

From there, the fire spread. Germany burned first with the witch craze, then France, Scotland, England, Switzerland, and Scandinavia. The hunts began to surge and recede over centuries, with waves of suspicion breaking across Europe. During this time, thousands were accused, tortured, drowned, broken, and burned.

“One country in particular which never really experienced much of a witch hunt at all was Spain, and we think it's because the Inquisition was so strong, they sort of stamped out any signs of witchcraft before it even got going,” said Cowan.

Hazelaar asked the question we’d all be tempted to: was any of this earnest? Were people really

looking for witches or just trying to get rid of people they didn’t like? Cowan’s answer isn’t very comforting.

“Belief was real,” he said, “and popular.” People thought neighbours flew through the night on bundles of straw, met in Sabbats and struck deals with the devil. At the same time, however, witch hunts became a pressure valve for a disoriented society.

“It’s probably even more important to note that the witch hunt was a means of channelling popular discontent,” Cowan explained. When societies go through a period of rapid social and economic change, people become disoriented, thus fear seeks a target for stability.

And if that sounds familiar, it should. Cowan draws on the United States in the ‘50s during the McCarthy era, as an example of a more modern form of “witch-hunting,” just swap witches for communists, and the same machinery is at work. The same goes for the Roman Empire, however, it was Christians who were hunted. Their midnight gatherings twisted into rumours of infant sacrifice and cannibalistic rites. Different centuries, same story. In the end, it’s all very simple: when the ground shifts under our feet, we look for someone to burn.

The brutality of those centuries makes today’s Halloween caricatures feel obscene. The victims weren’t cartoon hags in pointed hats. They were neighbours, often elderly women living alone, sometimes young and “comely,” and sometimes men. Their real crime was being vulnerable, inconvenient or unlucky enough to catch someone’s eye.

And the tortures weren’t folklore either, they were policy. Victims were stretched on the rack, fingernails ripped out, bodies dunked into cold water in the infamous “swimming test.”

“The idea was that if the person floated, [they were a witch], but if [they] sank, then [they were] innocent, and well, that was a real catch-22 situation, because you couldn't win either way. In fact, we now know that they usually did take some care

to stand by with hooks and rings to fish out the person if [they] sank,” Cowan stated.

“Scotland,” Cowan added, “contributed its own innovation of sleep deprivation.” The logic was as twisted as it was simple. People believed witches were unnatural creatures, incapable of crying and not dependent on sleep. Their nights were already spent selling their souls to the devil, why would they need rest? By keeping a suspected witch awake, people thought they could prove guilt. Of course, in reality, the endless sleep deprivation broke the mind, and eventually the victim would confess to anything just to make the torment stop.

Hazelaar questioned how we went from medieval torture to the modern concept of witches today. What of the broomstick, the silhouette plastered on October posters and candy wrappers? The short answer: fiction.

Cowan insisted he’d never seen a single trial record mentioning the stereotypical witchy symbols of today. Cowan believed the image was a nineteenth-century invention, popularized by Grimms' fairy tales and later by Walt Disney. In reality, accused witches were said to ride straw bundles, bottles, even cats, but never broomsticks.

If anything, the real stories were much harder to document. Cowan explained to Hazelaar that there were two kinds of witchcraft: white and black. White witchcraft was usually believed to be practiced by village healers and herbalists offering charms, remedies and the occasional blessing for not only the sick, but also the livestock. They weren’t usually persecuted, but those who used black witchcraft, on the other hand, were believed to be destructive and lacking a moral conscience.

Cowan admitted he isn’t en-

tirely convinced there weren’t a few “Hellfire Club” types who gathered in secret as a form of release. Belief in witches may have been delusion, but it was consistent with something deeper: when life is unrelenting with plague and famine, it’s easy to believe evil is stronger than good. So where does that leave us, three centuries on? The image of the witch has become softened and turned into an aesthetic, with people using pointy black hats and straw brooms to dress up as them for Halloween. But the historical context, alongside Cowan’s present-day warning, is hard to ignore.

Witch hunts never really end, they just shift their shape. Fear always needs an outlet, and history has shown we’re all too willing to hand it one. Call them witches. Call them communists. Call them whatever suits the moment. The masks change, but the ideology stays the same.

Witches were believed to fly on brooms and pitchforks, and cause thunderstorms. Source: Library of Congress, Rare Book and Special Collections Division

The underdog sport that deserves more recognition

A discussion with the University of Guelph’s Artistic Swimming Club

AVA VENDER

What qualifies somebody as an athlete? Artistic swimming is wholly undervalued in the realm of sports, and deserves more credit for the amount of effort, precision, physique, details and much more that is incorporated into it. From the mix of dance, gymnastics and endurance swimming to creating bold makeup looks, artistic swimming is one of the most diverse sports out there.

In an interview with The Ontarion , Emma Tosh and Ashley Sharpe, two members of the University of Guelph’s Artistic Swimming Team, discussed what it really means to be in their sport.

“I always wanted to do swimming, dancing and gymnastics but never really found my place in all of them,” said Tosh.

“But then, after being injured for a long time, I felt like it was time to come back to the sport I’ve felt most at home in.”

This sport is not your typical one—it combines elements of art and dance into an athletic team environment. This makes it an incredibly inclusive and versatile activity, which can accommodate all different kinds of people, with all different kinds of talents.

Despite its diversity as a sport, the skills required to be an artistic swimmer do not come easily.

“We have a couple weeks of intense training, and then a week of rest just so we don't overexert ourselves going into a competition,” Sharpe said, when asked how the team physically prepares for shows.

“We do a lot of ‘unders’, which is just a full length underwater, and then breath exercises. Stretching to make sure we're loose, and routine workouts where we swim the routine back to back.”

To be an artistic swimmer, one must be very comfortable in the water and have lots of pri-

or experience with swimming skills. On top of these basic swimming skills, the sport requires its athletes to expertly execute gymnastic and dance moves.

The team also must be prudent to create routines based on judging criteria.

“How in sync everybody is, presentation is a big one, having your shoulders back and if you're smiling,” Sharpe said.

“Height is a big one, so how high you can get out of the water, and they look for different positions too, different ones are worth a different value.”

All of these aspects of an artistic swimming routine, when added on top of the physical endurance, creates a unique skill of its own. These swimmers have the ability to move just as gracefully through the water as a ballerina does on land, but with their heads underwater for multiple minutes at a time, while also treading to keep themselves afloat.

The last artistic element that Tosh and Sharpe touched on is how they represent their team and routine with makeup, costumes and hair styles. The most complicated aspect of their look that these athletes have to focus on is the hair—they don't want it getting into their faces and risk messing up the routine.

Sharpe makes a hair mask out of “max gelatin mixed with hot water until it gets liquidy, and [brushes] it out over a tight bun,” she said. Sometimes multiple layers of the mask are required in order to keep all of her hair in place. “It feels like a helmet,” Sharpe said.

Out of everything that an athlete can get out of the practice of artistic swimming, Tosh and Sharpe were the most enthusiastic about the sense of community they found in their team, and the escapism they find in their love for swimming.

“All my problems I’m hav-

ing, once I touch that water it’s like they all disappear,” Tosh said. “I love this sport and the community I’ve found in it, how close you get with your team. Even if there are mess ups in routines, we all come together to fix them, and make sure we are all on the same page.”

Since artistic swimming teams work so closely with each other, relying on one another to carry through with the routine, a tight bond is formed, where one can feel comfortable making mistakes and learning from them.

“The team environment is the most important part for me, personally,” said Sharpe, answering to why she decided to stick with artistic swimming.

“It's something that's been consistent from all my years in artistic swimming, my best friends have come from it.”

As for University of Guelph students who want to get involved with the artistic swimming team—both Tosh and Sharpe expressed the team’s enthusiasm about recruiting new athletes.

“We accept people of all

skills and encourage people to do their best,” says Tosh. “We just want people to have fun while they are learning these skills in the pool.”

Students can reach out to the team about tryout inquiries @gryphonsartisticswim on Instagram, or sending an email to artisticswim@uoguelph.ca or by consulting their website. As for students who would like to attend their games for this upcoming season, they can look out for poster advertisements or announcements on their social media or websites.

The Artistic Swim Club welcomes people of any skill level to try out the sport. Photo provided by Emma Tosh

Gryphons kick-off the 2025-26 year

Sept. 8: U Sports top 10 rankings include three Gryphon’s varsity teams

ABBY COUNAHAN

An exciting year of sports is upon Gryphon athletics as three teams have started their seasons placed in the U Sports top 10 rankings: women’s rugby at No. 1, women’s soccer at No. 10; and men’s football at No. 10.

After defeating the Queen’s Gaels to claim their Ontario University Athletics (OUA), title victory last season, the Guelph Gryphons women’s rugby team returns for another season as defending conference champions. The Gryphons finished the regular season with a record of 5-1 (W-L) before placing fifth at nationals.

This year, the Gryphons kicked-off the season with two wins: 36-21 versus the Brock Badgers on Aug. 30, and 59-9 versus the McMaster Marauders on Sept. 6. The team took an unfortunate 54-31 loss on Sept. 13 to the Queen’s Gaels, but still have lots of season left to make up for it.

The Gryphons women's rugby team is set to play two more games in September, and one in October: Sept. 21 versus Waterloo Warriors (away), Sept. 27 versus University of Toronto Varsity Blues (home), and Oct. 4 versus Western Mustangs (away).

If the Gryphons win again at the conference finals, they will

continue to play at nationals, which is being held at the University of British Columbia from Oct. 29-Nov. 2.

After finishing the last season with an impressive record of 9-3-2 (wins-losses-draws), the Guelph Gryphons women’s soccer team takes the No. 10 spot in the U Sports ranking after defeating the Algoma Thunderbirds 6-0 and 2-0 earlier in the season.

The team has since gained two more victories; one against the Brock Badgers 1-0 on Sept. 12, and the other against the McMaster Marauders 4-1 on Sept. 14. The team is set to play the York Lions on Sept. 22, Waterloo Warriors on Sept. 26 and 28, Western Mustangs on Oct. 3 and 5, and Laurier Golden Hawks on Oct. 10. The fall home games include: Sept. 26 versus Waterloo Warriors, Oct. 3 versus Western Mustangs, and Oct. 10 versus Laurier Golden Hawks.

If the Gryphons place top six in the OUA West division, they will earn a bye into the OUA quarter finals. If they win the remaining semi final and championship games, they will earn a spot at the U Sports women’s Soccer Championships where they will play for the national championship title. The national championships are being held at

McMaster University from Nov. 6-9.

After coming back from the 2024 season that boasted an impressive 6-2 record, the Guelph Gryphons men’s football team returned to the top 10 U Sports rankings at spot No. 10 following their 31-17 win against the Windsor Lancers on Sept. 6.

The team took an unfortunate 30-23 loss on Sept. 13 to the Ottawa Gee-Gees, costing them their spot in the top 10. Fortunately, there is still lots of season left to make up for it.

The remaining fall schedule

includes Sept. 20 versus McMaster Marauders, Sept. 27 versus Carleton Ravens, Oct. 4 versus Queen’s Gaels, and Oct. 18 versus York Lions. The fall home games include: Sept. 13 versus Ottawa Gee-Gees, Oct. 4 versus Queen’s Gaels (homecoming), and Oct. 18 versus York Lions.

If the Gryphons place top seven in their conference, they can earn a first round bye into the OUA semifinals. If they win the semifinals, they will compete for their fifth Yates Cup in program history on Nov. 8.

A win from here would see the

Gryphons play the Canada West champion in the Mitchell Bowl on Nov. 15, and the champion of that game will play for the national title, the Vanier Cup, on Nov. 22.

Some more exciting Gryphons home games to look forward to this fall include: women’s hockey home opener on Oct. 8, men’s hockey home opener on Oct. 9, women’s and men’s volleyball exhibition games on Oct. 9, men’s basketball exhibition game on Oct. 17, and the OUA swimming invitational on Oct. 18.

The Gryphon's Men's Varsity Soccer team played Brock on Sept. 12, winning 2-0. Aditya Parameswaran/THE ONTARION

The NHL season begins

What to expect from this year's season

OWEN TSIPTSIS

As the summer ends, the days tick by until the NHL season officially begins. With the first preseason game beginning on Sept. 20 and the first regular season game starting on Oct. 7, now is the perfect time to start getting excited for hockey to be back.

Although a somewhat underwhelming free agency this summer, there were still a few notable players changing teams such as Mitch Marner heading to Vegas, as well as Nikolaj Ehlers to the Hurricanes. Looking ahead to next year, a lot of the top players are expected to be free agents, such as Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel and Kirill Kaprizov.

Following the Panthers' Stanley Cup victory last year, they

open the year as the clear favourites to repeat and claim three cups in a row. Other notable favourites include last year's runner-up, the Edmonton Oilers, as well as the Colorado Avalanche and Carolina Hurricanes. The Toronto Maple Leafs have had to completely change their forward core with Mitch Marner leaving.

The Leafs have attempted to do so with the additions of Dakota Joshua, Matias Macelli and Nicolas Roy in trades. As well as trades, they also re-signed stars John Tavares and Matthew Knies, with Tavares taking an extremely team-friendly deal.

In terms of awards, Ivan Demidov is the clear favourite for the Calder with his odds placed at

How to survive midterm mania

Tips and tricks to manage stress and crush midterms

As fall sweeps in, the temperature drops, the colour of the leaves morphs and the spookiness of the season creeps in like a thick fog. And nothing is scarier than midterm mania.

Filled with endless all-nighters cramming brains until near explosion and writing countless assignments until the words practically melt together, midterm mania is a non-stop faucet spewing stress until everyone is overflowing. Thankfully, The Ontarion has curated the perfect list to drain that stress so students can build immunity toward midterm mania.

U of G Library Resources

Located right on campus, with dozens of free resources to choose from, the U of G library offers something for everyone.

Supported Learning Groups (SLGs)

SLGs are a student-run program designed to support students currently taking courses that are known for being challenging. The program offers weekly student-run study groups allowing students to examine course content in smaller groups. Since the program is peer-led, it eliminates the anxiety some feel when approaching professors. Additionally, the smaller group sizes let students work at their own pace, unlike many inclass lectures.

Academic Coaching and Appointments

These appointments are individual and completely anonymous—great for anyone looking for individualized support. These appointments are an opportunity for students to develop plans on

+190. Connor McDavid will hope to claim his fourth Hart Trophy as he opens as the favourite at +200, followed closely behind by Mackinnon at +430. As well as the already mentioned Demidov, there are a lot of other rookies who will be playing this year.

Former first overall pick Matthew Schaefer will make his debut with the Islanders, as well as Michael Misa on the Sharks. The Leafs will be looking to their own rookie, Easton Cowan, to see what he can produce after winning the Memorial Cup last year with the London Knights.

Overall, this season looks to be exciting with many narratives and players’ skill levels at the highest they have ever been.

how to achieve their academic ambitions. Students can choose from booking a single appointment to address their concerns, or if they prefer, they can meet throughout the semester to checkin and receive ongoing feedback. Academic coaches are experts at assisting students in developing and enhancing their time management, studying and/or presentation skills.

Online Resources

The U of G library website provides boundless online resources broken down into active and integrative study strategies, reading and note-taking, online learning and writing and studying. With all these resources, students are guaranteed to find the right resource and study method for them.

Using AI

With technology constantly advancing, AI can be an extremely useful tool for students. While it is important to acknowledge that using AI on coursework can lead to serious consequences, and should never be passed on as one’s original work, AI can be used safely in study settings. For example, students can utilize AI to explain course content to develop a deeper understanding. Additionally, AI can create practice tests students can use to prepare for exams. Remember, AI can be an unpredictable tool, so always check course outlines and review policies before using it to ensure your academic and professional reputation and safety.

It is easy to lose yourself in midterm mania. Even with the support of the best studying resources and techniques, students rarely perform as well without taking care of their health. Selfcare is always important, especially during stressful times. Remember to prioritize your well-being during midterm season by eating meals regularly, staying hydrated, taking breaks and getting well-deserved sleep. And of course, once the season is over, be sure to celebrate your hard work. Catch a movie with friends, treat yourself to a delicious meal or fall into a peaceful hibernation. Whatever you decide, a reward is well-earned. Good luck to everyone battling midterm mania!

Looking forward to the NHL regular season beginning on Oct.7. Rachel Fioret/ THE ONTARION

Learning about the resources available to you as a student is an important step in juggling midterm season. Rachel Fioret/THE ONTARION

Advice from Athavi

Student Athlete Mentors share their insights

First year students learn from their upper year mentors on juggling academics with a varsity sport schedule

MADELEINE ESSERY

“I

wanted to help and give back to the community,” said Isaiah Smith, fourth-year Human Kinetics student and running back on the football team. His passion for helping people is why he became a Student-Athlete Mentor, (SAM).

Upper-year SAMs provide study spaces and resources to firstyear student athletes. For a minimum of three hours a week, upcoming athletes dedicate time to study sessions with their SAM and attend workshops. This time held by the athletes is an uplifting environment to support the academics of the younger students.

“It gets pretty busy in there,

but [the first-years] end up meeting friends on other teams that are in the same classes as them, and it turns into them running around the room with their laptop,” said Lara Jorgensen, fifth-year microbiology student and rugby player.

When practice is at five in the morning, but you have a midterm at 8 a.m., and you haven’t called your mom in three days, game day pressure is no longer about how you perform on the court, but also off. Thankfully, SAMs are team players and are there to help first-year athletes win in all aspects.

As student-athletes themselves, Smith and Jorgensen under-

Five niche NRG classes to try this fall

Testing and recommending unique activity formats at the Guelph

Gryphons Athletics Centre

EMMERSON JULL

Candlelit Yoga

When: Mondays from 6:15-7:15 p.m.

For a restorative wind-down after a tough Monday, try out the new Candlelit Yoga class. Students will lean into meditative breathwork as they are guided through a gentle sequence of asanas (yoga poses), surrounded by the ambiance of flickering candles. This class will reduce stress and encourage stillness of the body and mind through breath. Take this class if you want a way to unwind and forge a mind-body connection without a 10-step wellness routine.

stand the difficult transition from high school to university.

Jorgensen advises her mentees to “stay organized and manage your time as best as possible… you need to look each week at all of your assignments, and if something's worth 30 per cent when something's worth 2 per cent... focus on that assignment that's worth 30 per cent.”

It takes practice to find the right methods, just like how it takes many attempts to perfect a new play. Eventually, deadlines will feel less like a huge NFL linebacker taking you down and more like landing the buzzer-beater touchdown.

While SAMs are academic mentors, passing on their wisdom to help athletes is the reason Jorgensen and Smith became SAMs.

Jorgensen said she loves “when [her] mentees come and have so much to say, asking [her] ‘What do I do?’” She gets to say, “Okay, everything that I've learned is actually going to be valued by somebody, and I can provide the tools I’ve learned.”

Earlier in his football career, Smith tore his ACL. Stuck sitting on the bench for the rest of the semester, he also found himself wanting to take a backseat in his own academics.

“I’ve had lots of highs and lows

academically, especially because of my injury,” he said.

Smith said he “had a hard time finding motivation to go to classes, because [he] thought, ‘what was the point if I wasn’t doing my sport?’”

He learned how to keep pushing forward despite these challenges, to get back on the field and in the classroom, giving it his all. Having a mentor back in high school, his old coach taught him lessons that he carries to this day—lessons that helped him years later, during his injury.

Understanding the importance of having someone on your side of the court, and having many lessons to teach, he wanted to become the

same encouraging influence for Guelph rookies.

With the 2025-2026 year being his second as a SAM, he gets to tell his students to keep trying and pass on what he’s learned to athletes going through similar struggles.

Smith and Jorgensen are two of the many SAMs who help ease the stress of many first-year athletes. By providing an academic and social network, SAMs are major influences in cultivating an environment for athletes to become the best they can be. Every day, SAMs help their rookies face their challenges in and out of their gear, making a difference on the University of Guelph campus.

Bellydance Fit

When: Mondays from 7:15-8:15 p.m. (Women’s only), Fridays from 9:30-10:30 a.m.

Bellydance Fit incorporates classic bellydance moves and sequences into a low impact class. This fusion workout is untraditional, but draws upon a richly layered history of art and culture, Arabic music and folklore. While dressed in a sparkly hip scarf, you’ll build self-confidence through rhythmic, sensual dance. Take this class if you have a signature jewelry stack and enjoy studying classic literature and art history.

Pop Pilates

When: Tuesdays from 10-11 a.m.

Pop Pilates is a step up from typical mat pilates for those who love upbeat pop music. Pilates is a full-body workout that builds posture, balance, joint stability and

core strength. In this class, students flow through a sequence of intentional, core-focused exercises choreographed to the hottest pop songs.

Take this class if you workout in matching sets and your gym playlist is a mix of Tate McRae and Sabrina Carpenter.

Cycle Strength

When: Tuesdays from 6:15-7:15 p.m.

Cycle Strength is a high-intensity, low-impact hybrid workout that promises you’ll be dripping sweat before you step off the stationary bike. Students will spend about half the class on the bike completing challenging drills before hitting the mat to rep out full-body exercises. This class will get your heart pumping and challenge your strength as it pushes you close to fatigue.

Take this class if your dorm fridge is stocked with energy drinks and your ideal Saturday night includes a live DJ set.

Barre Burn

When: Multiple times per week, check the NRG class schedule

Inspired by the training of ballet dancers, barre utilizes low-weight, high-repetition exercises to sculpt and condition the entire body. Students will use a variety of props, including light dumbbells, pilates balls, resistance bands and the ballet bar itself, for a workout that looks far easier than it is. Hot tip: check out the Sunday morning class to avoid the crowds!

Take this class if you drink matcha for the caffeine, not the aesthetic; and Black Swan is one of your favourite movies.

Gryphon varsity teams foster a community of support and sportsmanship. Aditya Parameswaran/THE ONTARION

Students can unwind in the ambiance of flickering candlelight. Emmerson Jull/THE ONTARION

Annual Jazz returns downtown

The local community joined together for a weekend-long celebration

On the weekend of Sept. 12-14, the Guelph Jazz Festival returned to celebrate the talent and passion of jazz musicians across Canada. The festival was held at venues throughout the downtown area, primarily the Royal City Mission and St George’s Square, with additional performances at the Guelph Collegiate Vocational Institute (GCVI) and the Guelph Youth Music Centre (GYMC).

Festivities began the evening of Friday Sept. 12 at the Royal City Mission, where five artists performed over the course of the night. Each brought a unique sound that echoed through the Mission and resonated with the audience. The performances included a mix of instruments, dance, electronics and spoken word to communicate with listeners, offering something for everyone to enjoy. The crowd was a lively mix of friends, families, locals and visitors, all connected through the power of music.

The evening featured 50/50

raffle ticket sales to help keep events like the annual Guelph festival free and accessible. Artistic Director, Joe Sorbara, added that seeing the Mission full of people affirmed the decision to make the event free of charge.

“There were kids there, there were students there, and people of all different ages and from all walks of life,” Sorbara reflected.

The welcoming environment created a space for each person that entered to have their own unique experience, ensuring nobody left the festival a stranger.

Saturday, Sept. 13, was the busiest and longest day of the festival. The opening parade kicked off the morning, bringing joy to the downtown streets and welcoming a long day of creative celebration. The parade’s theme, "Odwalla", is a song composed by Roscoe Mitchell of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, who first participated in the Guelph Jazz Festival two decades ago. The march commenced with a

drumbeat from Sorbara, a Guelphborn musician, composer and longtime friend of the festival.

Following to the beat was a crowd of more than 50 supporters, musicians and local artists, along with curious onlookers scattered along the route. Instruments ranged from the sousaphone, trumpet and guitar to tambourine, while others simply danced and clapped to the beat of Mitchell’s Odwalla. The parade started at the Guelph Farmer’s Market and ended in the heart of St George’s Square, where afternoon performances soon began. 14 artists performed throughout the day in the Square and the Royal City Mission, with music being heard from early afternoon to midnight on Saturday. One highlight among Saturday’s performers was Trash Panda Brass.

Sorbara described this year's festival in two words: “Live creativity,” reflecting on its deeper meaning to the music community.

“It’s not opposed to uncreative

ARTICLE & PHOTOS BY

Jazz Festival returns to downtown Guelph

celebration of music and creativity in the spirit of jazz music

BY MADISON BOUTILIER

music, which of course doesn’t exist, but the point is that the creativity happens in performance,” they explained.

A specific artist spotlight was Trash Panda Brass. They got the crowd on their feet as Saturday’s first performance, playing familiar favourites and upbeat originals that energized the crowd for the rest of the day. The group formed on the streets of Toronto in the summer of 2022, quickly making a name for themselves for their positive energy and joyful performances. As a proudly queer and inclusive band, they spread queer joy through their music, festival appearances, workshops and magazine features, with the goal of engaging audiences everywhere they play.

On Sunday morning, the final day of the festival, the community gathered for an interactive performance by Six Turntables, a project that engages youth to collectively listen to and remix audio archives into new compositions. The demon-

stration, held at Guelph Collegiate Vocational Institute, displayed how a blend of individuality and unity in music can produce indefinite possibilities.

The closing performance was held at the Guelph Youth Music Centre and began with a Q&A panel discussion featuring Montreal experimental pop artist Thanya Iyer, and North Sumatran sound artist and ecological activist, Rani Jambak.

The conversation was guided by Sorbara and host Shalaka Jadhav and covered themes of climate, ancestry and belonging, and how these ideas shape the artists’ music. Jambak shared her story and perspectives before performing with a mix of electronic music, soundscapes and the Kincia Aia, a miniature water wheel she designed, inspired by the traditional Minangkabau watermill.

“I hope everybody showed up and felt cared for,” said Sorbara in an interview, “and [felt] that they

were here for a bit of adventure. The music that we present has always been on the more adventurous side of what the word jazz might mean.”

Sobara also emphasized the vision of the festival, hoping that “people who came were intrigued by witnessing real-time live invention.”

The festival was made possible through the dedication of its management team, sponsors, volunteers, videographers and the spirit of the audience. The event was documented by Community Threads, the festival’s media and production partner, with cinematographers Weldon Hovey and Bobby Mendoza capturing every moment. More information on artists and highlights can be found on Instagram @guelphjazz or at guelphjazzfestival.com.

The soulful sounds will linger in the hearts of festivalgoers until the Guelph Jazz Festival returns next year for its 33rd annual celebration.

SHIFT YOGA COLLECTIVE

Terence Crawford: The new face of boxing

Terence Crawford beats Canelo Álvarez by unanimous decision to become undisputed supermiddleweight champion

BEN SEATON

As the final bell rang on Sept. 13, there was no doubt about it: Terence Crawford had toppled the giant that is Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez, and cemented himself as one of the greatest boxers of this generation. Crawford raised both hands above his head in celebration, while Álvarez raised one hand in what appeared to be a solemn farewell to a familiar Las Vegas crowd that had become his second home over his 20year career.

Though Crawford is two years Álvarez’s elder, he is by no means the more experienced fighter. Álvarez, having turned pro at 15, has built perhaps the most impressive resume of any boxer hailing from Mexico. His path to victory against Crawford was clear; he would have to pressure and wear down the smaller fighter by picking him apart with well-timed counter punches and slashing hooks to the body.

But Crawford is no slouch either, and even though his most notable victories have come by knockout, he has an incredible ability to out-box his opponents. His key success would follow from this exact game plan. He would need to land quickly, then get on his bicycle immediately to avoid being pinned down by Álvarez’s superior pow-

As the first round started, Crawford seemed to follow his game plan to a tee. He established a strong jab early, something that Álvarez has never seemed to add to his toolbelt. His jab was quick and piercing, akin to a flowing rapier. Álvarez struggled to adapt against the nimble southpaw in the early minutes of the fight.

Those who have followed Álvarez’s career know that this is nothing new. He is a notorious slow starter, content on losing early rounds while feeling out his opponent before eventually targeting them with strong counter-punches upstairs. He has also historically struggled against southpaws and superior boxers, notably winning a controversial decision over Erislandy

By the fourth round, questions about what would happen when Álvarez eventually landed clean on Crawford were answered. Álvarez hammered a hard right hand towards Crawford and landed flush on his chin, but Crawford answered the call. He snapped out a quick right hand, got back on his horse and went on to win the round by out-boxing Álvarez. Crawford

was beginning to pull away from Álvarez with a sizable lead early in the fight, and he showed no signs of slowing.

Álvarez found success in the fifth round through attacks to the body. For a moment, the tide of the fight seemed as if it might change. Álvarez has recovered from point deficits countless times in the past, coming back to win by knockout in the mid to late stages of the fight. This wouldn’t be the case against Crawford, who came back with a strong seventh round, making a loud statement that he would not be bullied by the larger fighter.

The ninth and tenth rounds went to Álvarez, but the picture was already starting to form. Crawford was ahead by too many rounds; Álvarez could not win with anything short of a knockout or a blatant robbery on the scorecards, and his chances were beginning to look slim.

As the twelfth round began, all Crawford needed to do to win was survive. Whether he ran, fought or simply held on for dear life, as long as he survived, he had won. Crawford wasn’t content to coast to victory; instead, he opted to fight hard and leave no doubts in the minds of the judges and audience. He stood toe-to-toe with Álvarez, narrowly avoiding his power punches, while countering with his own in return.

A minute into the round, Crawford slipped under a strong straight right from Canelo and came back over the top with a straight left. The shot spun Álvarez’s head around, causing him to stare out at a gasping Las Vegas crowd. Crawford continued to stand in front of Álvarez, avoiding the last wind of the fading champion, and landing at will with hooks of his own.

The round had ended; Crawford’s victory was undeniable. The three judges scored the fight a unanimous decision, one 116-112 scorecard, and two 115-113 scorecards, all in Crawford's favour. After it was all said and done, Álvarez accepted his defeat gracefully, praising Crawford as the superior boxer. Crawford similarly praised Álvarez as an excellent champion and tough opponent. His victory was well-earned, and the face of boxing has forever changed. The 37-yearold veteran from Omaha had beaten the best boxer of the past decade and etched his name forever in the history books. An era has ended, and a new golden age of boxing has been ushered in.

Terence Crawford's victory has ushered in a new golden age of boxing. Emmerson Jull/THE ONTARION

The Guelph Guru Series: Media mindfulness

Limit

screen time and embrace meaningful content to escape the 'attention economy'

JORJA ALLEN

Hello again, Gurus!

Welcome back to school, welcome back to campus and welcome back to my column! If you are new here, this column is your go-to guide for health and wellness with the aim of inspiring you to nurture your mental, physical and spiritual health.

Last year, we covered the fundamental habits of sleep, exercise and nutrition that are crucial for consistent, balanced and energized days, which lead to a fulfilling life. We then began exploring healthy hobbies that complemented our mindfulness practice to reinvigorate a purpose-driven lifestyle of ultimate enrichment.

As we continue this process and embrace the start of a new school year, I think it is important to reconnect with mindfulness be-

fore we continue to develop and ex plore the benefits of health-centred hobbies.

As such, this month’s focus will be on media consumption and media mindfulness—exploring what goes on in your brain with increased screen time, and how me dia consumption affects your mood, focus and energy levels, ending with some healthy sources of media which I call ‘motivation meals’.

To inform this discussion, I am going to reference content from my favourite podcaster of all time, Mel Robbins. For those of you who don’t know her, she interviews world-renowned experts and provides research-backed hacks, practical wisdom and inspiring insights that remain relevant long after you’ve hit pause. She has several books, such as The Let Them Theory, The 5 Second Rule and The High 5 Hab-

it; plus a viral TED Talk and an extensive library of podcast episodes.

The reason why I want to reference Robbins is because her podcast is part of what is known as the ‘attention economy’. The attention economy is designed to capture your attention and energy in a way where all the time you spend scrolling and watching online content actually serves big tech companies and their wallets. In fact, the more time you spend scrolling, the more

you might as well be consuming content that will encourage you and keep you on track.

Content I find useful is podcasts, music, and news. In terms of my favourite podcasts, I would recommend Jay Shetty’s On Purpose podcast, which provides advice, stories and ancient wisdom for building better habits, cultivating inner peace, improving one’s mindset and creating a purposeful life. He actually spent three years of his life after graduation as a monk, which I think is so cool! Alternatively, if I’m feeling like I need some bold encouragement and empowerment, I’ll turn to Kacia Ghetmiri’s EmpowerHER podcast, which feels like life advice from your best friend: raw, real and robust.

money people make off of your attention and your time—something that is supposed to be inherent and innate to you.

Aside from the fact that the majority of the media we consume is filtered and fragmented reality, which contributes to our overall sense of self-worth and our worldview; constant screentime and scrolling activates the stress response in the area of the brain known as the amygdala, which drains dopamine stores with the more content we consume, leading us to be less productive as the day goes on.

Dr. Alok Kanojia describes this process as a cycle of pleasure and release that depletes the reserves responsible for deeper pleasure and motivation. Additionally, he said the “constant stimulation from the colours and moving elements on the phone creates an attention-draining effect, leaving you feeling exhausted and unmotivated for other activities, as your brain becomes conditioned to seek constant, shallow rewards.”

This phenomenon is important because it means that the content we consume is not only designed to our detriment—to keep us engaged in a toxic cycle and disconnected from the world around us—but it is also manipulative in the sense that the more we engage, the more money big tech companies acquire.

That's why it is important that if you do choose to engage in this attention economy, which many people do, that you do so in a way that is meaningful to you and your future. Especially since “where you put your time is where your life is,” Robbins said. So, if you are going to spend seven hours a day consuming media on your phone,

Content like this can be helpful for personal development and growth, but hours spent scrolling early in the morning and late at night are not. In fact, these times are the most damaging for subsequent productivity throughout the day and are detrimental to a good night's sleep. Once again, this scrolling only serves to activate the amygdala, which is the brain’s stress response, leaving you feeling exhausted and unfulfilled. Why would you choose to start or end your day like that?

In order to stop this cycle, we must instill healthy boundaries like periods of no screentime for the first hour after waking and the last hour before bed. Use this buffer time instead to wake up or unwind naturally, reflect and set yourself up for success. Don’t let your phone distract and distress you. This is your time. You get to choose how you spend it.

Another way to limit screen time is by creating screen time app limits for apps you find yourself losing big chunks of the day to. For me, this would be apps like Instagram and TikTok. With daily time limits for each app, you can ensure that half the day is not wasted on scrolling. If that doesn’t work and you still find yourself drawn to your phone, try greyscaling. This will remove all colour from your screen and apps temporarily, making your screen way less colourful and engaging, enabling you to put your phone down entirely.

Overall, the goal is not to be a cellphone stickler but rather, more media conscious and present in our daily lives. These tips are just suggestions, but I hope you take them to heart and make the most of your time to connect with yourself, others and the world around you. There's so much to discover beyond the screen!

Until next time.

Lots of love, Jorja

The Mel Robbins Podcast inspires and motivates listeners about self worth and developing strong habits. Emmerson Jull/THE ONTARION

ILLUSTRATION BY PAIGE STAMPATORI

ChatGPT costs more than a monthly subscription

Students are accumulating cognitive debt by relying on AI for everything

EMMERSON

JULL

Generative AI is an open secret on university campuses; many students use it indiscriminately to save time completing coursework while they juggle classes. For all we stand to gain from the widespread adoption of AI in academia, I think students should also confront what they stand to lose.

As a writer and editor, I have dutifully held out against using ChatGPT for my work, even though consulting the tool would likely save me hours of mental tinkering. ChatGPT works as a superpowered search engine, idea generator, reader, summarizer, translator, writer and copyeditor. What’s not to love?

I’m definitely not a traditionalist. I take notes on an iPad, write using a laptop and Google questions I could easily ask a human being.

Nevertheless, I struggle to hand over any part of the writing process to AI. ChatGPT costs more than a monthly subscription—it

stifles what makes us uniquely human by diminishing our capacity for critical thinking, creativity, memory and agency.

Last year, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) conducted an experiment to measure the brain activity of students writing an essay. Participants were split into three groups and given different tools to complete their assignments. One group used ChatGPT, the second used Google Search, and the third could only use their brains.

The results of the MIT study were revealing: those who used ChatGPT to write their essays exhibited significantly less brain activity than the other groups.

Participants from the study’s ChatGPT group were the most efficient writers, unsurprisingly, considering that ChatGPT can spit out essays in seconds that would take humans hours to research and

write.

Despite their efficiency, the ChatGPT group showed the least widespread connectivity across their brains. They struggled to quote from their own essays, which was not observed in the search-engine or brain-only groups, and they internalized information less. ChatGPT users also demonstrated less agency over their work.

Perhaps the most intriguing finding of the MIT study was that essays written with ChatGPT were noticeably homogenous, exhibiting a narrower scope of ideas and perhaps even less critical thinking than the others.

AI can adapt its tone, and with a human’s careful editing and prompting, it can produce half-decent writing. Even with these tweaks, ChatGPT’s writing skews towards the bland and mediocre. It takes billions of webpages worth of training data and reduces

thought-provoking questions to predictable, average answers. Of all the losses that we incur by outsourcing our writing tasks to AI, the diversity of thought is one of the greatest.

What the MIT study and anecdotes from regular ChatGPT users tell us is that cognitive debt accumulates each time we ask AI to think and write for us.

Our memory is reduced. Our creativity is sapped. Our ability to approach topics with a critical eye and unique perspective is diminished.

We dissociate from the work we produce and think a little bit more like everyone else. We lose respect for the process of creation, not just for writing, because we fall out of touch with how ideas are generated and nursed to fruition.

Of course, with diligent use, generative AI tools can accelerate learning and increase equity in higher education. Multiple studies

suggest that ChatGPT helps undergraduate students overcome language barriers, improving English fluency and writing skills in foreign language learners.

ChatGPT also opens avenues for individualised learning support. Neurodivergent students and students with disabilities may find the tool useful for understanding assignment instructions, creating schedules, transcribing lectures or developing study materials.

That’s to say that the cognitive risks of ChatGPT are not intrinsic. They result from dependency on a tool that should be used to enhance, not replace, our intellectual abilities.

If you insist on using ChatGPT to do your assignments, use it scrupulously, and avoid relinquishing all of your cognitive functioning to your computer. The discomfort of thinking is what makes us human.

Dairy waste gets a second life

U of G professors offer “game changing” research with multidisciplinary research program

GABRIELLE LOCKMAN

The dairy industry plays an important role in the Canadian economy, having produced 96.6 million hectoliters of milk in 2024 alone. This is equivalent to filling roughly 19.3 billion standard plastic water bottles of milk.

Unfortunately, not all that is produced in a dairy facility can currently be valorized, leaving certain byproducts to be discarded. With dairy waste being decentralized, most processes in a dairy farm produce “unusable” byproducts, making it difficult to valorize or treat these waste streams.

Dr. Bassim Abbassi and Ping Wu are Engineering professors at the University of Guelph. Completing his PhD in environmental process engineering at the University of Bremen in Germany, Abbassi, a life cycle assessment specialist, has contributed significantly to the world of sustainability research as he analyzes both wastewater treatment and waste management.

Wu completed his degree at the University of Guelph in biological engineering. Since then, he has worked in the private sector of food processing, process engineering design and food inspection equipment. He joined the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness, and is a full time food safety advisor, engineer. He has been a part-time faculty member at the University of Guelph since 2012, teaching courses primarily in engineering and, recently, in food science.

Upon meeting on campus, the two professors joined forces with the shared goal of, as stated by Wu, “[wanting] to use what we produce.”

This will reduce both the cost and environmental impact required for producing dairy products, leading to a more sustainable dairy industry.

“In engineering what we really do for any project is to identify the problem [and] make sure we are working on the correct problem,” said Wu.

Abbassi and Wu recognize that the disposal of dairy waste, such as cheese whey, lactose and minerals are the “problem”. With their current research project focusing on valorizing liquid waste, they are examining how to separate the waste stream into usable components.

Let's break it down:

The waste stream can contain casein or whey proteins, which can be used as a source of animal feed. Similarly, lactose is a form of energy, and although difficult to separate when dissolved, it could prove useful. The microbes found in this liquid waste could be used to generate energy

through microbial fuel cells. Lastly, dissolved inorganic minerals, such as calcium or calcium phosphate, could be made into supplements. Wu explained that although the problem involved the need to dispose of these products, their aim is to keep an open mind on an ultimate solution and find a way to valorize these byproducts.

“We can achieve these objectives and our goal,” Abbassi said. “We have a lot of objectives, and I'm pretty sure over the next five years we should be very busy.”

Despite their current optimistic tone, the two researchers faced challenges in the beginning. As a researcher it can be difficult to prove the concept and value of your research. With almost four months of trial and error, a small budget and no success in providing any conclusion, they certainly experienced this.

Nonetheless, Abbassi and Wu’s hard work is paying off; a new idea allowed for their goals to come to life like magic. They are hopeful that they are now on track to find the most cost effective and easiest way to treat these liquid waste streams.

Wu shared that “this is just for the first step... or maybe the second step.”

Eventually their solution to valorize dairy waste will feed into the bigger picture of environmental sustainability, reducing food scarcity in local communities.

With newfound optimism, their current obstacle is finding the time and researchers to dedicate to this project. They express that they are very fortunate to have a strong and motivated team working with them. Their team is composed of individuals from many faculties including engineering, food science, animal science and members of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness (OMAFA) and Dairy Farmers of Ontario (DFO). They express that this collaborative effort is a driving force in their success. Nonetheless, they are always looking for more passionate master’s and PhD students to join their team.

Both successful researchers and professors, a large part of their focus is to ensure that future engineers and scientists have the right mindset.

“For a new researcher, never give up, you keep trying…it might take maybe months until you get to what you want to achieve,” Abbassi said.

The professors put a strong emphasis on being open-minded and having a strong multidisciplinary team to help along the way. There are many angles to look at one problem and in the world of dairy waste, innovation is key to success.

ARE MORE THAN A PAPER

Dairy waste management is an important field of research. Emmerson Jull/THE ONTARION

Pumpkin carving 101

How will you carve your pumpkin this Halloween?

ASHLEY MAROZSAN

It’s that time of year again. As the sun sets on summer, the moon rises on the occasion to embrace what many consider to be the best season of all–spooky season! Everywhere you turn, there are creepy creatures and terrifying trinkets decorating every nook and cranny. The only thing spookier than a jack-o’-lantern is not making one for yourself! Fret not, fiendish friends, for The Ontarion has the inside scoop!

The most important thing you’ll need before carving your very own pumpkin is, of course, a pumpkin. First, make sure you get a carving pumpkin as opposed to a pie pumpkin, unless you prefer to paint your pumpkin or dress it up in costume, then you can opt for a pie pumpkin and reuse the filling to make some delicious pumpkin-themed recipes. Pumpkin hunting can also serve as an opportunity to visit a cutesy patch

with your friends or family. When choosing a pumpkin, keep these tips in mind: aim to grab a pumpkin that has a flat or even bottom, which will prevent it from tipping over. Investigate your little orange friend for bruises, bite marks or other abnormalities that may contribute to premature rotting. Finally, choose a shape that best suits your planned design. A traditional pumpkin is round and symmetrical, but an ugly or warty pumpkin could provide a fun, creative challenge.

If you can’t keep pumpkins at home, whether that be due to rental restrictions or a lack of space, don’t tune out just yet! If you still want to join in on the pumpkin carving fun, try carving an apple instead! A few days out in the open will really put the “granny” in Granny Smith.

In the 24 hours approaching your spooky carving session, keep

History break: the tradition of Halloween is based on the old Irish celebration of Samhain. People would carve lanterns out of turnips to scare wandering souls, as well as dress in disguises to hide themselves. Remember that if you’re participating in any fall-themed trivia this year.

your pumpkin inside to prevent it from getting too cold. This will make your pumpkin-carving experience much more enjoyable, and your hands will surely thank you. Planning your design ahead of time will make your life much easier and your final product look more cohesive. Don’t worry if you’re not an artist; creativity, fun and humour are all things that make for a great design. After all, the whole point is to enjoy yourself, not to be perfect. Gathering your tools ahead of time will prevent you from scrambling when the time comes to get your hands dirty. Some tools might include a carving kit, a bowl, paint, paper towels, candles and whatever other supplies you might need.

When it comes time to cut the top of the pumpkin off, don’t cut it in a perfect circle. Instead, try making a small notch or indent in your circle. This way, when you need to put the top back on, you’ll know in a heartbeat where it lines up. Next, cut the excess goop off the pumpkin top.

Now comes the fun part: scooping out the innards (or disembowelling if you’re feeling particularly spooky). Scoop the goop into a bowl until the inside of the pumpkin is smooth and goopfree.

The moment you’ve been waiting for is finally here. With your amazing pumpkin adequately prepared, you can carefully carve your beautiful design. Make sure you are following proper knife-handling techniques and reading the instructions on the back of the carving kit. A hospital visit is absolutely spooky, but definitely not fun.

When your creation has come to life, it’s time to display it for your friends and neighbours to see. Keep in mind, many apartments and residences prohibit the use of candles. If this is the case, opt for a battery-operated candle to light your jacko’-lantern, which can be found at most craft or dollar stores.

Make sure to take lots of pictures of your new friend! It will be a nice memory to look back on, and their lifespans are rela-

tively short, which makes it all the more special. When the time has come for your little friends to join the afterlife, there are many options. Some regions and municipalities allow you to leave the pumpkin in wild spaces for the critters to feast on. Provided your region allows this and you don’t use any paint or other toxic materials on your pumpkins, this is an excellent way to let your creation go out with a bang (or a munch). Otherwise, pumpkins can be composted in the green bin or disposed of in the garbage if they have been mixed with any non-compostable materials, such as paint or glitter.

Most importantly, have lots of fun during this spook-tacular time of year. Take advantage of this opportunity and make lots of frightening fall memories. Stay safe and happy carving!

Snack idea: instead of throwing out your perfectly good seeds, why not make a tasty snack? Rinse off the seeds, toss in a bit of oil and add any seasonings you like. For a savoury option, try garlic powder, paprika, salt and pepper. If you prefer sweet treats, cinnamon sugar is both delicious and festive. Lay the seeds out flat on a tray, bake until lightly browned, and voila!

Pumpkins are a symbol of fall, from pies to spices in coffee. Aditya Parameswaran/THE ONTARION

Bewitching fallinspired recipes

Feast on these snacks and elixirs, plus disturbingly realistic Jell-O shots for your Halloween party

EMMERSON JULL

Chai candy apple steamer

Ingredients

• ½ cup chai concentrate, homemade or store bought

• ½ cup apple cider

• 1 tbsp caramel syrup, homemade or store bought

Preparation

1. Combine all ingredients in a large glass measuring cup. A bowl also works, but a cup will be easier to pour from.

2. Microwave the mixture for about a minute, or until warmed through (you’re aiming for drinking temperature, so hot, but not scalding).

3. Using a handheld milk frother, froth the mixture until foamy. Pour into a mug and enjoy!

Pumpkin spice energy balls

Ingredients

• 1 cup natural peanut butter

• ½ cup pumpkin puree

• ½ cup maple syrup

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 1 ½ cups rolled oats

• 3 tbsp chia seeds

• 1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice

• ½ tsp salt

• ½ cup dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preparation

1. In a large mixing bowl, add the peanut butter, pumpkin puree, maple syrup and vanilla extract. Stir with a large spoon or spatula until combined.

2. In a separate bowl, stir together the oats, chia seeds, pumpkin spice and salt.

3. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until no dry spots are remaining. The texture should be similar to that of cookie dough.

4. Fold the chocolate chips into the dough.

5. Chill the mixture in the refrigerator for 10 to 15 minutes.

6. Remove from the refrigerator and roll the mixture into bitesized balls. If the mixture is

too wet, add more oats; if the mixture is too dry, add an extra dash of vanilla or peanut butter. Store in an airtight container in the fridge.

Earl Grey syrup

Ingredients

• 1 cup water

• 1 cup sugar

• 4 Earl Grey tea bags

Preparation

1. Add the water and sugar into a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Stir until the sugar is dissolved.

2. Turn the heat down to low. Add the Earl Grey tea bags and steep for 10 minutes.

3. When removing the tea bags, squeeze them slightly to extract the remaining liquid.

4. Let the syrup cool before transferring to a mason jar or other container with a lid. The syrup can be stored in the fridge for up to three weeks. Use in matcha, coffee, cocktails and more!

Pumpkin chai tiramisu

Ingredients

• 3 chai tea bags

• 1 cup boiling water

• 1 cup mascarpone cheese

• ⅓ cup pumpkin puree

• ¼ cup granulated sugar

• 2 large egg yolks, cold

• 2 tbsp whipping cream, cold

• 1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste

• 2 packages of ladyfingers (amount needed varies depending on dish size)

• 1 tbsp cocoa powder

• 1 tsp cinnamon

Preparation

1. Steep chai tea bags in boiled water and let sit until cool.

2. In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, or with a handheld mixer, beat the mascarpone, pumpkin puree, granulated sugar, egg yolks, whipping cream and vanilla on high until the filling is light and fluffy, around three minutes. This will create your

pumpkin mascarpone.

3. Set out the chai, ladyfingers, pumpkin mascarpone and your chosen serving dish for assembly. One by one, quickly dip a ladyfinger in the chai and flip it to coat, then place in the bottom of the serving dish. Repeat until the bottom of the dish is covered in a single layer.

4. Cover the ladyfingers with half of the pumpkin mascarpone mixture, using a spatula to gently spread it across. Repeat the process of dipping and placing the ladyfingers to form a second layer. Cover with the remaining pumpkin mascarpone and smooth out evenly.

5. Cover the tiramisu with a lid or plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least six hours or overnight. Before serving, mix the cocoa powder and cinnamon. Uncover the tiramisu and sift the cocoa-cinnamon blend over the top until cov-

ered. Serve immediately.

Petri dish Jell-O shots

Special supplies

• Set of sterile plastic petri dishes (we purchased a 10pack for $15 from Amazon). Alternatively, these can be served in any disposable plastic containers like regular Jell-O shots.

Ingredients

• ½ cup vodka or other liquor (or replace with cold water for non-alcoholic)

• ½ cup cold water*, plus 1 cup boiling water

• 1 (85g) package of flavoured gelatin mix (strawberry or cherry for the classic red colour)

• 1 package of rainbow Nerds

• 1 package of Gushers, any flavour or colour

• *To make the shots non-alcoholic, omit the vodka and increase the cold water to 1 cup.

Preparation

1. In a medium bowl, combine ½ cup of cold water and ½ cup vodka.

2. Pour the flavoured gelatin powder into a heat-safe mixing bowl or measuring cup. Slowly add the 1 cup of boiling water and whisk until the gelatin is completely dissolved.

3. Pour the gelatin mixture into the bowl with the cold water and vodka and stir to combine.

4. Divide the mixture among the petri dishes. Refrigerate for 30 minutes so the mixture sets slightly.

5. Add a single gusher to the bottom of each petri dish, and put back into the refrigerator until the gelatin is completely set. Leave it overnight for the best results.

6. Before serving, top the petri dishes with a few Nerds candies to emulate growing spores.

Petri dish Jell-O shots taste delightful but look biohazardous. Emmerson Jull/THE ONTARION

Guelph’s infamous ghost stories

The local lore behind allegedly haunted spots across the city

GHOST HILL

The first and perhaps most conspicuous haunted location in Guelph is known as Ghost Hill. On the outskirts of town, Ghost Hill has become the source of some of Guelph’s most chilling stories.

The origins of this site are debated, though according to paranormal enthusiasts, the story is linked to gruesome tragedies from the 1940s. Later, the area became a cemetery enclosed in wrought iron fencing, which some say is the only way to contain restless spirits. In the 1970s, the cemetery was reportedly vandalized by a group of bikers who tore up the gravestones and scattered the remains. All but one of the grave markers were destroyed. That gravemarker belonged to William and Alexander Critch-

ton, a father and son who died together in a car accident not far from the cemetery. Urban legends suggest that their ghosts haunt the road that winds past the old gravesite.

Countless stories of strange occurrences around Ghost Hill are still shared to this day. Visitors have claimed to see a purple light hovering at the entrance, offering a warning to those brave enough to enter. Those who have chosen to ignore it have reported seeing a ghostly car appearing behind them, flashing its headlights as it chases intruders away.

Others have reported seeing the ghost of a teenage boy wandering the grounds, or a pale face pressing against car windows as they drove by. Some say that each sighting is the manifestation of the souls who still remain in that cemetery, waiting for the peace that was promised in the afterlife.

GABRIEL BERTUOLA

Whether you’re a skeptic or a believer, the legend of Ghost Hill remains one of Guelph’s most talked-about haunted locations,

Long before Guelph gained recognition for its university, this

city had a different reputation—one laced with mobsters, booze runners and urban legends. The Albion Hotel, now simply The Albion, stands at the centre of these colourful tales.

According to local lore, the infamous Chicago mobster Al Capone frequented the hotel during the Prohibition era. Allegedly, Al Capone used hidden tunnels beneath The Albion Hotel, which lead to the outskirts of Guelph, as secret routes to smuggle alcohol across the border. While the presence of Capone in our city has yet to be confirmed by historians, the legend remains.

What’s attracted even more attention to this historic location isn’t the mobster tales, but the ghost stories. Certain accounts say that Capone was linked to the tragic death of a young woman, said to be the hotel owner's daughter, who fell into a romance with the infamous criminal. The tragedy

occurred when the young woman was found dead in her private room on the top floor. While we can’t be sure whether her death was due to heartbreak, foul play or something much more unusual, many believe that her spirit still roams the halls of the hotel.

Over the years, staff and patrons have reported strange events within the hotel walls. Sounds of high-heeled footsteps shuffling on the old wooden floors and sights of a woman dressed all in white standing by the doorway of the women's washroom are just some of the stories surrounding this ominous establishment.

Today, the Albion remains one of Guelph's oldest and most fabled institutions. To those who choose to visit, whether it be for the mobster myths or supernatural stories, make sure to appreciate the atmosphere, even if it does have a slight chill to it.

Celebrating “Friendsgiving”

Enjoy Thanksgiving dinner with your chosen family

ERIKA BEKKERING

Friendship is one of the greatest gifts in life, so why not celebrate it during the holiday of gratitude? Friendsgiving can be an alternate or a secondary Thanksgiving dinner that brings together your chosen family, big or small. It’s a great occasion to get people together and express gratitude for one another in the form of food, conversation, games and quality time. If we do it with relatives, why not do it with the other important people in our lives?

Here are some suggestions for making Friendsgiving a memorable night:

Theme:

Whether you want it to be a formal event or something more laid-back, it is important to embrace the theme. Don’t shy away from tacky dollar store decorations, silly Thanksgiving arts and crafts, or even coordinated outfits to make everything just a bit more whimsical and fun! This holiday is about being grateful for the time you have with each other, so don’t put too much pressure on

making everything perfect. Let it be a little eccentric, you’re with your friends!

Food:

A common tradition of Friendsgiving is to have each party member bring a dish to add to the meal. This way, the burden of preparing dinner doesn’t fall on just one person, and it is also a great way to incorporate different cultures and personal traditions! Encourage guests to bring homemade dishes instead of storebought. Even if it is something simple, it makes it feel a bit more personal and creates a little story behind each dish. And if you aren’t much of a cook, get creative! Intricately-arranged charcuterie boards or fall-themed cocktails would be a great addition to the party. There are a lot of ways to make something personalized!

Activities:

Friendsgiving isn’t all about the dinner, so don’t let the night end there. Time afterwards can be spent talking, playing games, watching movies or going on a

Are you a Gryphon looking to de-stress during midterm season? Do you like to play video games in your spare time?

Immerse yourself in the wild world of fishing, bug catching and digging up rare finds with the Animal Crossing franchise. With each passing season, you can watch your town’s trees change colours in real time as you complete your day-to-day tasks. For those of you interested in the critters, note that the species of bugs and fish change seasonally too, so be on the lookout for rare catches like ladybugs and yellow perch this October!

If the gritty outdoors aren’t really your style, Animal Crossing

THE ONTARION

walk. Mario Kart, karaoke and a game of “guess that song” are great suggestions. You can also play “most likely to,” by finding a list of questions online. If you want to keep answers anonymous, you can make a Google form beforehand and go through the answers together to see who got the most votes.

Another way to really make Friendsgiving special is by using a disposable camera! Either use this as an opportunity to

put away phones and be present but still capture the moment, or just as a fun way to rekindle the memory later when the photos are developed.

Lastly, if you use Spotify, create a shared or blended playlist. By sharing a blended playlist with your friends, Spotify will create a perfect mixture of all the members' most recently played songs. This is the perfect way to mix everyone's music tastes together and find songs that ev-

Cozy games for fall

Enjoy the season with these autumnal recommendations

also has an extensive variety of furniture to collect and place in your home. You can even decorate for in-game holidays, such as “Turkey Day” and Halloween, and celebrate them by doing themed tasks for your furry (and sometimes feathery) town residents. After a hard day of collecting goods for your town’s special guests, you can trick-or-treat or indulge in a tasty “Turkey Day” feast.

While all these cozy activities are enjoyable, the best feature of the game has to be its multiplayer network. When you and your friends need a break from studying, you can escape your midterm hardships in the cute and colour-

JASPER ROY

ful world of Animal Crossing by visiting each other’s towns.

For some, Animal Crossing may not be quite your speed. Maybe you prefer a little bit of action thrown into your relaxation. Luckily, a game similar in nature but with a little more of an edge is Stardew Valley

Experience autumn from the perspective of a farmer who has just arrived in the mysterious town of Stardew Valley to escape a corporate lifestyle. Raise crops based on the season, such as cranberries, yams and wheat, or take the rancher route and raise a variety of classic farm animals. Like Animal Crossing, what you can forage changes

with the weather, so make sure to explore the vast forests, mountain range and even the beach for interesting items to collect.

In the fall, there are plenty of exciting happenings in town. Show off your best produce at the annual Stardew Valley Fair to compete against your neighbours for token prizes, or take part in the corn maze on Spirit’s Eve for a spooky surprise.

If you really want to set the Halloween mood, head down into the depths of the mines in search of ores for crafting. But beware and bring a sword! Monsters lurk beneath the mountains, waiting for a lonely farmer to cross their paths.

drinks. Aditya

eryone will love. It’s also just a fun conversation starter and can be engaging if any of you are interested in music.

Friendsgiving can be whatever you want it to be. It is about bringing together the people you choose to surround yourself with and expressing gratitude for each other. It can be a big group, or a group of two–there are no rules at Friendsgiving but to eat good food and spend quality time with the people you care about.

Whether you’re just starting out at the University of Guelph or you’re a returning student, midterm season catches up to us all. Video games can be a great way to relax, so remember to take breaks from studying and have some fun.

Cooling temperatures are a perfect excuse to gather with friends with good food and hot

Parameswaran/

Your ultimate fall watchlist

The perfect movies and TV shows to get in the

fall spirit

EMMA WILSON

As the leaves change colour and the temperature drops, the urge to cuddle up inside with a hot drink and a spooky movie takes hold of many students across campus. In between studying and catching up with friends, it’s important to let the fall spirit comfort you. Below is the ultimate fall watchlist, with movies and TV shows perfect for any mood.

For the romantics

1. When Harry Met Sally (1989), directed by Rob Reiner

Witness recent graduates Harry (Billy Crystal) and Sally (Meg Ryan) find themselves entwined in each other’s lives for years after a chance shared car ride to New York.

2. Practical Magic (1998), directed by Griffin Dunne, based on the book by Alice Hoffman

Two sister witches Sally and Gillian (Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman), long

ignorant of their magical abilities, must come to terms with them after Gillian’s boyfriend dies unexpectedly and the police begin looking at the pair as suspects.

3. Twilight (2008), directed by Catherine Hardwicke, based on the book by Stephenie Meyer

Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) moves from Arizona to a small town called Forks to live with her father. Unsuspectingly, she meets a handsome vampire (Robert Pattinson) and his family, while also discovering secrets about people close to her.

For the horror lovers

1. Scream (1996), directed by Wes Craven

This slasher is a classic for good reason. Scream follows a masked killer taking out fellow Woodsboro High classmates, pursued by a keen journalist and student trying to unveil the knife-wielding individual before another student winds up dead.

2. Nosferatu, a Symphony of Horror (1922) directed by F.W. Murnau

While you might be more familiar with the 2024 remake starring Lily-Rose Depp, the original story of Count Orlok and his obsession with Ellen and her husband Thomas is definitely worth the watch. Although old, the highly influential German expressionist film still packs a punch for being unsettling and spooky.

3. The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025) directed by Michael Chaves

The newest installment in The Conjuring series follows Ed and Lorraine Warren as they encounter the Smurl family’s haunting and work through communicating with and attempting to banish the evil spirits from the home. This movie is sure to include solid jumpscares and scenes that might make it difficult to sleep.

For cozy vibes

1. Clue (1985), directed by Jonathan Lynn

Six strangers are invited to a mysterious dinner where they discover that they are being blackmailed by someone who knows a secret about each of them. When the blackmailer is murdered, everyone becomes a suspect in this humorous murder-mystery inspired by the board game of the same name.

2. Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), directed by Wes Anderson

Mr. Fox (voiced by George Clooney) and his family live deep underground after he breaks his promise of civility with the farmers next door and eats their crops. He must then try to reconcile the situation and the retaliating ways of the farmers.

3. Knives Out (2019), directed by Rian Johnson Knives Out is a murder mystery with cozy Clue-esque vibes, a cast of interesting characters, humour, and a beautiful mansion in which amurder takes place. Crime author Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) winds up dead, and Detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) tries to solve the case by looking into the troublesome Thrombey family and Harlan’s nurse, Marta (Ana de Armas).

For when you’re craving nostalgia

1. Coraline (2009), directed by Henry Selick

Coraline (voiced by Dakota Fanning) is a pre-teen girl who has just moved into a house she dislikes. Unhappy with her parents and her life, she discovers a magic door in her bedroom leading to an alternate and seemingly utopic world. However, she soon realizes that everything isn’t as perfect as it seems.

2. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (television series, 1997-2003), created by Joss Whedon

Based on the 1992 movie of the same name, this television series starring Sarah Michelle Gellar offers a classic 90s drama about friendship and a found family that works together to slay vampires and all other creatures that flock to the hellmouth in the town of Sunnydale.

3. The Addams Family (1991), directed by Barry Sonnenfeld

With its instantly recognizable theme song, this 1991 movie evokes images of Halloween as a child, as we watch the curious and unique Addams family try to protect their fortune from a Fester-impersonator and find the real lost cousin.

Curl up on a cozy chair for a season filled with good movies. Rachel Fioret/THE ONTARION

Stories from Satan’s Invisible World Discovered

Inside U of G’s archives, a 17th-century chapbook reveals tales of murder, apparitions and devilish pranks

ALYSSA CUNNINGHAM

There’s a certain thrill in holding something old, something that has outlasted its time. The feeling and smell of opening up those books that transport you outside of the 21st century is like no other. It’s a great feeling yearround, but it's particularly satisfying during the months of autumn. This October, The Ontarion brings you two stories meant to satisfy your appetite for the uncanny, straight from the pages of the Scottish chapbooks.

The Scottish Chapbooks Project, a collaboration between U of G’s Archival & Special Collections and the Department of History, has made the university’s collection of chapbooks accessible to the public. These small pamphlets, typically only eight to 24 pages long, were cheaply printed and widely sold in the 18th and 19th centuries. They contained stories of romance, travel, politics, fairy tales, religion and superstition, and were particularly popular in Scotland, where the population was highly literate by European standards.

Many chapbooks have disappeared over the centuries, but those preserved in the U of G archives offer a window into the fears, morals and imaginations of centuries past. Among these, one stands out for its tales of the supernatural and the devil himself: Satan's Invisible World Discovered.

A Wonderful Discovery of Murder by an Apparition

It's a cold winter night in 1632 near Chester England, when a miller named James Graham is working late, tending to his corn alone, the grind of the millstones the only sound. It’s past midnight when he descends the stairs, lantern in hand, only to find he is no longer alone.

Standing in the middle of the room is a woman. Her hair hangs loose and tangled, her face pale, her clothes soaked in blood. Five great wounds gape across her head. Graham freezes, terror lock-

ing his body in place, until at last he manages to stammer, “Who are you? What do you want?”

The wounded woman lifts her eyes. “I am the spirit of a woman who lived with Walker,” she says. Walker—a yeoman of good estate, respectable and trusted—had kept a young kinswoman in his household, Anna Walker. The neighbours had whispered she was with child. Walker promised her secrecy and a safe place to deliver. Instead, she recounts, “I was one night late, then sent away with one Mark Sharp, who upon a muir slew me with a pick, and gave me these five wounds.”

Her voice does not waver. She tells Graham her body lies thrown in a coal pit and how Sharp tried to wash the blood from his stockings, only to hide them when they would not come clean. “You must reveal it,” she warns him, “or else I must still appear and haunt you.”

Graham flees the mill that night, shaken to his core, but he says nothing. Days pass, then weeks. He avoids the mill after dark, but it does not save him. The spirit comes again, fiercer, crueller, her wounds still bleeding. Anna threatens the miller to reveal the truth, or she will not leave. Still, he keeps silent, afraid of ridicule, of danger, of the uncanny.

It is not until a few nights before Christmas, when walking in his garden after dusk, that the apparition returns with such force that Graham breaks. He promises her he will speak. And so the next morning, trembling, he goes to the magistrate.

The search begins. Every detail the ghost of Anna gave is found to be true: the body lying in the coal pit, the five wounds in her skull, the pick hidden under a bank, the stockings still stained with blood. Walker and Sharp are arrested, tried at Durham, and condemned. Though they never confess, the evidence and the testimony of the dead were enough to end them both at the gallows.

"There are many persons

yet alive that can remember this strange murder for it was, and sometimes yet is, as much discoursed of in the North of England as any thing that almost hath ever been heard of, and the relation was printed, though now not to be gotten.”

The haunting became legend, told and retold across the North of England of a murder discovered not by witnesses or courts, but by the restless persistence of the dead.

Strange Pranks

Played by the Devil at Woodstock

Woodstock Manor was never meant to be theirs. Once it had belonged to kings, its halls heavy with history and the weight of royal presence. But in October of 1649, the monarchy was gone, the king executed and Parliament’s commissioners moved in to take possession. They made themselves comfortable in the king’s own rooms. The bedchamber became their kitchen, the council hall their brew-house, the chamber of presence their meeting room. Even the King’s Oak, a massive tree long known to the people of Woodstock, was uprooted and chopped to pieces, its remains stacked in the manor as firewood.

poor commissioner, sticking his head out to investigate the noise, was rewarded with a trencher thrown directly at him.

By the 20th, beds shook violently, curtains were yanked open and shut, dishes were flown about as if hurled by invisible hands. The men swore they heard a whole armful of the wood of the King’s Oak crashing into their chambers, though by morning, nothing had moved. When the disturbances paused on the 21st, they credited their peace to the presence of a dog that had lain with them. But the following night proved otherwise. The poor animal whined in fear as the spirit returned, leaving the commissioners and their four-legged companion in fear once again.

For the first two nights, all was quiet. But by the 16th of October, everything had changed. The disturbances began as small intrusions. In the bedchamber where two commissioners and their servants slept, something entered the room in the form of a dog. It crawled under their beds, gnawing noisily at the ropes that held them together. In the morning, however, the cords were untouched, a quarter of beef nearby lay unspoiled, and the men began to suspect they were not alone.

The next night, the chopped wood of the King’s Oak, stacked neatly in the dining room, was somehow dragged across the manor to the presence chamber, where chairs and stools were flung violently about. In the bedchambers, the invisible hand grew bolder, hoisting the men’s beds so high to the point their feet pitched higher than their heads before slamming them back down.

Each night, the haunting escalated. On the 18th, something paced up and down the bedchamber, clattering the warming-pan so loudly they thought five ringing bells could not have made more noise. On the 19th, trenchers—wooden plates—were hurled across the dining room and at the men themselves. One

The haunting took on a mocking tone. Clothes were stripped from the men as they slept. Bricks fell from the chimney into the chamber. One commissioner, rushing to check on his companions after hearing a crash, returned to find his own bed neatly made with two or three dozen trenchers thrown into it, and neatly covered with the bedclothes, as though the Devil himself had tucked them in.

In their desperation, the men turned to prayer. They gathered in the presence chamber, reading out loud to drown out the chaos, but the thundering noise still continued in other rooms. When one of them lit a candle in the doorway, another swore he saw “the similitude of a hoof striking the candle and candlestick into the middle of the bed-chamber, and afterwards making three scrapes on the snuff to put it out.” One man drew his sword, only to feel an invisible hand seize it. The weapon was wrenched away, and he was struck so violently that he reeled from the blow.

The commissioners had come to Woodstock to dismantle the remnants of the monarchy, to grind down its memory into a pile of papers and firewood. Instead, they found themselves under siege.

“The Devil”—as they called their nightly guest— tormented them without pause until, broken and terrified, they abandoned the manor altogether.

Sleeman Breweries, Guelph legends

The business of brewing and bootlegging

ELYSE ARMSTRONG

How does an Ontario mayor supposedly become involved in a bootlegging operation with notorious gangster Al Capone? It all begins in Guelph.

Every Canadian has heard of Sleeman beer. Stepping into any LCBO, Beer Store or Circle K, one can find the signature gray cans lining the shelves. Since their humble beginnings in the late 1980s, Sleeman Breweries has carved quite a name for themselves and become Canada’s third largest beer producer. What many do not know, however, is that the Sleeman legacy actually started almost 150 years prior.

In 1834, John H. Sleeman immigrated to Upper Canada (now Ontario) from Cornwall, England, originally establishing the Stamford Springs Brewery in St. David’s, Ontario. John eventually moved to Guelph because of its high-quality water and founded the Silver Creek Brewery on Waterloo Avenue in 1851. In 1859, John’s son George Sleeman joined his father’s company, taking ownership in 1867 at 26-years-old.

For the next decade, things were steady for George and the Silver Creek Brewery. He spent his free time playing baseball with the Guelph Maple Leaf Baseball

Club, and started adding sodium bisulfate to his beer recipe, permanently altering the future of brewing. Business was good until 1878, when Canada’s Temperance Act was passed, giving local governments the option to ban sales of alcohol. Fortunately for the company, George fought against the prohibitionists and was able to continue production.

In 1879, George was elected to the local council and helped Guelph transition from a town to a city, and in 1880, he was elected as the second mayor of Guelph, serving multiple terms over his lifetime. During this time, he developed and founded the Guelph Railway Company, which provided streetcar services for employees of the brewery and the entire public. In 1898, George’s son George A. Sleeman joined the business and created a detailed Sleeman recipe book. Then, in 1903, George Sr. opened Spring Bank Brewery, incorporated under the name “Sleeman and Sons.”

In 1920, the Prohibition era began in the United States, which brought with it a new form of revenue: bootlegging, the illegal manufacturing and selling of goods. According to rumour, the Sleeman company began an illegal

operation with famous bootlegger, Al Capone. Capone’s favourite Canadian beer was Sleeman’s, so he worked with the company to smuggle cases over the border and distribute them to demanding Americans. Unfortunately, the law caught up with the Sleemans in 1933 when the Canadian government discovered unpaid taxes on the exported beer. While Capone's involvement is unconfirmed, the Sleemans were definitely bootlegging, so the government forced the Sleeman family to shut down the brewery and placed a 50-year ban on their brewing license.

The Sleeman family was forced to sell many of their assets to pay back the Canadian government. One of these assets was George Sr.’s Guelph home, which still stands on Silvercreek Parkway, right off the Hanlon. Though

CFRU's MONTHLY TOP 10

now it has a different purpose: once the house of a highly respected politician is now the city’s only strip club, known as The Manor.

In 1984, John W. Sleeman, great-grandson of founder John H. Sleeman, was visited by his aunt. It had been exactly 51 years since the Canadian government had placed the suspension on the Sleeman’s brewing license. She revealed his family’s nefarious bootlegging past and gave him George Jr.'s recipe book with the direction to reopen the Sleeman brewery. The next tasks included buying back the “Sleeman” name and perfecting the old recipes. Once those obstacles were conquered, John was able to re-establish the Sleeman Brewing and Malting Company in 1988.

Over the next few decades, the Sleeman company was able to purchase other breweries and

expand their business, climbing their way back to the top of Canada’s beer market. In 2006, they sold the brewery to the Japanese company Sapporo for around $400 million, however, John remained as CEO.

Since the late 80s, Sleeman has become a household name across Canada, but the company’s local origins are still easily traced around the city. From The Manor to the naming of Silvercreek Parkway, the Sleeman family have really left their mark on Guelph–a legacy that continues to grow.

In recent years, John Sleeman and his sons have opened a distillery in one of the family’s original buildings on Arthur Street and have begun producing whiskey. The Sleeman legacy will forever stay tied to Guelph.

QUADECA Vanisher, Horizon Scraper (X8 Music)

FORTUNATO DURUTTI MARINETTI*

Sweet, Sweet Bitter (We Are Time)

BLANKET SHORE*

Present Sleeman Brewery on Southgate Dr., Guelph. Rachel Fioret/THE ONTARION

OCTOBER TO-DO LIST

THURS OCT 2 WED OCT 15

A Very Irish Bake Sale

• 11:30 a.m. - 4 p.m.

• UC Courtyard

• Kick off the fall season with yummy Celtic cookies

FRI OCT 3

Wander & Wonder: Tree Bingo

• 1 - 2:30 p.m.

• Arboretum Kiosk

• Locate trees while learning about their traditional uses

TUES OCT 7

START Skills: Preparing for Midterms

• 1 - 2 p.m.

• Online

• Gain study strategies and tips so you can go into midterm season feeling confident

WED OCT 8

Astronomy 101

• 5:30 - 7 p.m.

• MACN 317

• Learn the basics of observational astronomy

THURS OCT 9

Guelph Butter Tart Festival

• 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.

• UC Courtyard

• Enjoy delicious butter tarts from a variety of local vendors

Black-Owned Vendor Market

• 12 - 5 p.m.

• UC Courtyard

• Shop artisan-made clothing, jewelry, food, and so much more while supporting small, local, Blackowned businesses

BEGINS MON OCT 20

Take the Stress out of IBS

• Five session program

• Online

• Gain tips on decreasing IBS symptoms through diet regulation and stress management

WED OCT 22

Two-Spirit Ask Me Anything with Seán Kinsella

• 5 - 7 p.m.

• Indigenous Student Centre

• Join poet and storyteller Seán Kinsella as they answer any and all questions regarding being Two-Spirit

• Submit questions until October 20 at 4 p.m. via the form on the event’s page at gryphlife.uoguelph.ca

THURS OCT 23

Inuit Elder Minnie Akparook Shares Her Journey

• 1 - 2:30 p.m.

• Indigenous Student Centre

• Learn about the life of Minnie Akparook, one of the first Inuk nurses to practice in Nunavik, survivor of governmental relocation, and now cultural advisor

FRI OCT 24 - SAT OCT 25

Wicked Witches Halloween Market

• 6 - 10 p.m. Friday, 4 - 9 p.m. Saturday

• Royal Canadian Legion (57 Watson Pky. S.)

• Celebrate Halloween with two nights of shopping, trick-or-treating, tarot readings, a costume contest, and potion bar

TUES OCT 28

START Spooky Event

• 5 - 7:30 p.m.

• UC Rm 442

• Enjoy Halloween treats, scary movies, and creepy crafts while hanging out with friends

THURS OCT 30

Decades Halloween Drag Bingo

• 7 - 10 p.m.

• Atmosphere Cafe + Etc. (24 Carden St.)

• Dress like you’re in your favourite decade and dance the night away

• Enjoy fierce performances and compete for prizes

WHAT TYPE OF OPINION STORY SHOULD YOU WRITE?

To determine the topic of opinion article you want to write, you might ask yourself questions like the ones in the flowchart.

How are you feeling today?

A campus issue

a. Frustrated about something

What's bothering you?

A social or political issue

What bothers you on campus that you think other students should care about, too?

An every day annoyance

What's your story about?

Trends or a debate b. Inspired to share a story c. Want to change minds and raise awareness

A lesson or realization

What part of your daily routine feels like a nuisance? Do you think others can relate to it?

What's a challenge you've overcome? Who do you want to reach with this story? Are you or someone you care about directly impacted by a social issue?

Consider writing about these topics: climate initiatives in Guelph, mental health as a student.

Consider topics like: parking on campus, the cost of tuition, meal plan barriers.

Something awesome that deserves attention

What should people learn about?

Consider topics like: overcoming anxiety about exams, dealing with a breakup.

Consider these topics: spending money on gas, when your laptop loses battery during class.

Consider positive topics like: making friends on campus, a student club that changed your life, a lecture you found inspiring.

Feeling inspired to write an opinion or want to learn more? Email the Editor-in-Chief, Rachel, to share your ideas. editor@theontarion.com

What experience can you share with others?

What issue do you care about?

Social justice or a world event

Do you have experience using or challenging a campus policy? What should the university community know about it?

Consider writing about: the student health plan, mental health policies for students, opportunities for graduate students.

Consider these topics: studying abroad, speaking a new language, lessons from your volunteer role.

Do you have any evidence or knowledge about a current event?

Are you writing for fellow students? Professors? Who do you want to reach?

Consider writing about: your connection to a social justice or global event.

Consider topics like: what style of hoodies students want to see at the bookstore, what type of exams students prefer.

ZOOMING IN: Fall style trends and accessories on campus

What U of G students are wearing this month

PHOTOS BY LUCCA MAGGIOLO AND EMMERSON JULL

“I’m going to the Lumineers tonight.”

Stella Frankovitch 2nd year, Neuro Science with a minor in Computer Science

"You know I had to rep the jersey a little bit."

Moses Amaning 1st year, Biological Science

"I wanted something with a white base and the black letters."

Kareem Diab 1st year, Biomedical Science

"He picked out my outfit today."

Madison Tracze 4th year, Creative Writing

"I got [the hat] at the Canadian Open."

Noah Mcdonald 3rd year, Management

“I think brown is a really nice fall transitional colour.”

Lauryn Alexander 3rd year, Sociology

“I’m always looking for a little staple piece that stands out.”

Kai Kumazawa 2nd year, Marketing Management

“I just kind of picked it in a rush.”

Moby Olasupo 2nd year, Computer Science

What 2025 horror movie should you watch this Halloween?

2025 has been a year of great spooky cinema! If you haven’t had the chance to keep up with new releases, or you’ve simply been waiting for the eeriest time of the year to indulge in the horror genre, take this quiz to discover what your next watch should be!

1. How are you celebrating Halloween?

a. By watching scary movies, duh

b. I’m not

c. By exploring the creepiest haunted houses

d. By scaring my friends as much as I can

e. By dressing up as a classic horror movie monster

2. A masked, axe-wielding killer breaks into your room, what do you do?

a. Utilize whatever survival tactics I’ve learned from the movies

b. Curl up in a ball and cry

c. Lure the killer away from loved ones

d. Kill the killer

e. Run for dear life

You’re a horror movie aficionado. Some may call you a snob, but really you’re just passionate. You’ve already seen all the classics, as well as all the most popular films that came out this year, so for you we recommend Bone Lake, a tense and chaotic film that flew under the radar of many horror fans.

If you’ve already seen it, you could also watch: Went Up the Hill

3. You’re passed the candy bucket, which are you reaching for?

a. This candy is too mainstream, good thing I brought my own

b. Starbursts

c. Something with a kick, like Extreme Sour Warheads

d. Gushers

e. Something classic, like a KitKat

4. Your friends want to do a group costume, what do you suggest?

a. The witches from Suspiria

b. Our favourite pop stars

c. Classic horror villains

d. Something covered in blood and special effects makeup

e. The cast of Jurassic Park

5. What are you looking forward to most this fall season?

a. New scary movie releases

b. I don’t like the fall, it’s too spooky

c. Throwing spooky parties

d. The eerie atmosphere

e. Carving pumpkins

6. Which horror villain is your “hear me out”?

a. Nosferatu from the original 1922 film

b. Does Elphaba count?

c. Michael Myers from the Halloween franchise

d. Art the Clown from the Terrifier franchise

e. Xenomorphs from the Predator franchise

7. How would you describe your relationship with horror movies?

a. I like to spend as much time as I can watching them

b. We don’t get along

c. I love how they make my heart race

d. The scares don’t phase me much anymore

e. I especially like the action-packed, monsterfighting blockbusters

8. What’s your favourite movie genre, besides horror?

a. I don’t know, I reallyyy like horror

b. Comedy

c. Thriller

d. True crime

e. Action adventure

9. Which animal would you choose to be your spooky companion?

a. Crow

b. Black cat

c. Spider

d. Snake

e. Vampire bat

10. Who has had the best horror movie performance?

a. Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs

b. Matthew Lillard in Scooby-Doo

c. Toni Collette in Hereditary

d. Demi Moore in The Substance

e. Sigourney Weaver in the Alien franchise

You don’t love horror, but that’s okay! If you’re willing to dip your toe into the genre, Death of a Unicorn is a unique, funny, and relatively unscary film in which a father and daughter (played by Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega, respectively) are met by the consequences of accidentally killing a unicorn.

If you're looking for a “horror” that is totally unserious, you could also watch: Megan 2.0

You’re really looking to get scared this Halloween. You love the experience of being harmlessly frightened: the screams, hiding behind your friends, jumping out of your seat. Bring Her Back is a chilling and highly-rated horror about grief and possession that will have you sweating.

If that doesn’t bring you enough scares, you could also watch: Weapons

You’re a big fan of gore, the friend most likely to have convinced others to watch the Terrifier movies in theatres, and the least likely to have passed out while doing so. In this Cinderella retelling, Elvira will do anything to achieve beauty… Anything.

If this body horror isn’t gruesome enough for you, you could also watch: Together

You love action-packed plots and watching beefy protagonists fight off all types of monsters. Sinners is an intense Southern gothic tale involving vampires, violence, and so much more. Michael B. Jordan steals the screen in this fight-for-your-life epic.

If Sinners leaves you craving more action horror, you could also watch: 28 Years Later

BECAUSE WE ASKED...

What is your favourite fall rewatch?

"Hocus Pocus"

Ally Poechman 3rd year, Geography

"Gilmore Girls"

Marla Mastronrdi

1st year, Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Real Estate

Niki Quintana 1st year, Marine Biology

"Good Will Hunting"

Benjamin Carr

3rd year, English major with a French minor

Kiarah Rainford 1st year, Marketing Management

"All the Scary Movie series "

Kennedy Clark 3rd year, French major with a minor in Sociology

"Coraline"

"Halloweentown"

PETS OF THE MONTH

MEET LEO!

Breed: Mini goldendoodle

Photo: Gianluca & Alexa Paliyannis Age: 6 months

Fun Fact: Leo loves ice cubes and socks

MEET DAISY!

Breed: Australian mini labradoodle

Photo: Maia Galletta Age: 8

Fun Fact: She loves being wrapped up like a burrito in blankets

MEET PHINEAS!

Breed: Miniature schnauzer

Photo: Amelia Bajor Age: 13

Fun Fact: He loves sleeping like a cat, curled up on top of the back couch cushions

Nature on campus

MEET BLUE!

Breed: Bernadoodle

Photo: Amelia Bajor Age: 4

Fun Fact: He is a sock bandit! He lives for stealing (and eating) everyone’s socks

Photos by ADITYA PARAmeswaran

The odds of being watched by a deer in the Arboretum are low. But never zero.

Chipmunks are everywhere on campus. See how many you can find the next time you’re out and about.

A green heron enjoying lunch in the Arboretum.

The finches in Branion Plaza love sitting around and judging students.

The Ontarion's Fall Playlist

HAUNTED HOROSCOPES

LIBRA AQUARIUS GEMINI

September 23 - October 23

Libra, you’ll find yourself in a love triangle with a vampire and a werewolf this month. Good luck choosing just one.

January 20 - February 18 May 21 - June 21

Aquarius, don’t worry too much about the future. But definitely don’t ask a fortune teller to read your palms.

Gemini, avoid going out late this month. You’re cursed to repeat the “Thriller” dance from midnight until dawn.

SCORPIO PISCES CANCER

October 24 - November 21 February 19 - March 20 June 22 - July 22

Scorpio, the dishes in your sink aren’t from your roommate—at least, not the one you know. Check your attic.

Pisces, try meditation this month. You’ll need it after going through a very spooky situationship.

Cancer, your house will be covered in cobwebs this month. No matter how much you dust, they’ll keep reappearing!

SAGITTARIUS ARIES LEO

November 22 - December 21

Sagittarius, beware of magicians this month. They tend to disappear after casting love spells.

March 21 - April 19

Aries, make sure you’re eating enough iron this month. You seem a bit ghostly!

July 23 - August 22

Leo, if you carve a jack-olantern this month, it will come to life and demand to be fed—with blood!

CAPRICORN TAURUS VIRGO

December 22 - January 19 April 20 - May 20

Capricorn, the only treat you’ll get this month is candy corn. Ugh!

Taurus, adopt a black cat and name it Salem. He’s a loyal companion, but don’t listen to his advice.

August 23 - September 22

Virgo, make sure to avoid bedhead this month—you might look like a mad scientist in your morning lab.

CROSSWORD

Across 1–Short nail

5–Computer add-on?

8–Shoe ties

13–Fully qualified

14–The big picture?

15–Relative by marriage

16–Have a hunch

17–Diner's card

18–Cordwood measure

19–Razed

21–Rocky hilltop

22–German "a"

23–Blue

24–Hotel offering

28–Dutch navigator

30–School founded by Henry VI

31–Sign of a hit on Broadway

32–Lend ___ (listen)

33–Busy

34–16th letter of the Hebrew alphabet

35–Clinically delusional

38–Puts to work

41–Long time

42–Cathedral

46–___-en-Provence, France

47–Prohibitionists

48–Flat-bottomed rowboat

49–Answer in words

51–O.T. book

52–Summer hrs.

53–Baby’s sound

54–Financial considerations

57–Unable to see

59–Peter Fonda role

60–___ the crack of dawn

61–Utah's ___ Mountains

62–1/100 of a monetary unit

63–Teegan and ___

64–Yielded

65–10th letter of the Hebrew alphabet

66–Kill

Down

1–Lustrous fabric of silk 2–System of Algebra 3–Make pure 4–Salmon that has spawned 5–Edit 6–All there

7–Discharge of blood into the tissues 8–Pay attention 9–Composer Bruckner 10–Literati 11–Musical gift 12–Nor. neighbour 14–That is to say... 20–Former Russian rulers 25–Feminist Lucretia

26–Prefix with angle

27–Over there

29–Charts

30–Community spirit

33–Form of backgammon

34–___ above

36–Aggregate of fibers

37–Boise's state

38–Short-lived Mideast union

39–Sprechen ___ Deutsch?

40–Cut out

43–Like a certain complex

44–Eyelash cosmetic

45–Remain longer

47–Gadget

48–"John Brown's Body" poet

50–Florence's ___ Vecchio

51–Very much

55–Singer Laine

56–Rumple

57–Tampa Bay player, for short

58–Golf ball position

BOB'S DOGS CROSSWORD CONTEST

For your chance to win two Bobs dog’s and two pops, just complete the crossword, snap a picture, and send it to puzzles@theontarion.com by October 23 at 3 p.m. Winners are announced in each issue and can arrange a pickup of their voucher by emailing the same address.

Last issue’s winning puzzle was submitted by

SUDOKU

University Centre Room 264

University of Guelph N1G 2W1

ontarion@uoguelph.ca

519-824-4120

Editorial: x 58250

Advertising: x 58267

Accounts: x 53534

EDITORIAL STAFF

Editor-in-Chief

Rachel Fioret

Associate Editor

Emmerson Jull

News Editor

Abby Counahan

Arts & Culture Editor

Andreea Burlacu

Copy Editor & Fact Checker

Olivia Strutt

Digital Editor

Alyssa Cunningham

PRODUCTION STAFF

Graphic Designer/Art Director

Paige Stampatori

Photo & Graphics Editor

Aditya Parameswaran

OFFICE STAFF

Executive Director

Patrick Sutherland

Accountant

Laurie Arnold

Marketing Coordinator

Lucca Maggiolo

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Chair

Katelynn Huong

Vice Chair

Paula Henry-Duru

Treasurer

Denver Bubelich

Secretary OPEN POSITION

DIRECTORS

Mariana Erazo

Oliver Bullingham

Simran Aujla

Maia Galletta

CONTRIBUTORS

JORJA ALLEN

ELYSE ARMSTRONG

NED BARR

ERIKA BEKKERING

AMIR BENKELAI

GABRIEL BERTUOLA

MADISON BOUTILIER

SARAH D'AVILA ALEMAN

HANNAH DICKHOFF

STEPHEN DOIG

MADELEINE ESSERY

ELISE FREDERIKSEN

SIENNA G. GEISSLER

A. HERRMANN

SHARON HUANG

MARTIN LIMA

GABRIELLE LOCKMAN

ASHLEY MAROZSAN

ATHAVI NISHAANTHAN

JASPER ROY

KYLE SALTER

EMILY SCOTT

BEN SEATON

OWEN TSIPTSIS

AVA VENDER

EMMA WILSON

MADELYN YOUNG