Openwide v.17.5

OPENWIDE THE FIMS’ A LTERNATIVE ST UDE NT PUBLICATI ON

OPENWIDEZINE.com

VOLUME 17, ISSUE 5

TABLE OF CONTENTS

WORLD 4-5 The Food System’s F***ed, What ReHarvest is Doing About It 6 Sex Costs - Contraception Should Be Free 7 Imagining Complexity- A Student Experience in El Salvador 8 Gamer Girls: Not Just a Myth?

More complicated than “from trash to table”

You know… it really adds up!

Grass Roots activism… to keep the grass green.

Why playing games is about more than just playing games.

Western Life 9- 11 Profile: Cat Williams 12-13 Peterson Gets Played

From MIT to ET – Williams has found a new home While maybe playing you

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT 14-15

The end of GIRLS

And why you should actually give it a chance

16-18 My Two Dads: Logan and Wolverine

Editor’s note It’s the end of the school-year, which means the end of another volume of Openwide. Whether you’re a student, a faculty member, a professor, or a reader from The Outside World, we hope very much that this year has treated you with some degree of respect. Sometimes the grand, inexorable march of global affairs can seem like a pretty big beast to reckon with, but we at Openwide encourage you to remember that change and hope can always be found in the lives of those around us. Perhaps we may not be able to make the world a better place in one day.

But we sure as hell can make the lives of those around us better every time we step out the door of our house, if we choose to. If you ask us, that’s a power that’s worth celebrating.

More than anything, we hope you continue reading. Continue creating. Continue arguing.

The world needs strong, kind, and critical thinkers like you, and we hope that wherever you may find yourself next year, you bring compassion along with you. And maybe a copy of Openwide too.

For one last time, this is Editor-in-Chief Erica, signing off.

Go see this damn movie, Bub!

Creative Consternation

19 20-21 22-23

You’re not alone

Timelessness

Time is a very controlling illusion.

Zine Canada

Like us: Facebook.com/OPENWIDEzine

Follow us:

Twitter.com/openwidezine

Write for us:

writers.openwide@gmail.com

Erica Wallis Editor in Chief Jenna Murphy Managing editor Aidan Warlow World Editor bianca huang

Arts & Entertainment editor

Ksenia Kolodka

western life editor

Rachel Kelly Creative editor Veronica Cheung Graphics Zehra J-c Asst Graphics jhana ellard web editor Sara murphy Asst Graphics & web Tracy xie

Head of promo & Graphics

Hannah Alberga Promotions ElizabetH Ellis Promotions Jocelyn Bick Photography Marie Kamukuny Photography

openWIDE// WORLD

openWIDE// WORLD

The Food System’s F***ed, What ReHarvest is Doing About It

I am a fourth year MPI student who took the Politics and Representations of Food class last semester. Before I took the class, I heeded many warnings that regardless of how I started, I would leave the class as a vegetarian, a vegan, or a paleo-gluten-free-leafeater. I did not. The class did not necessarily change what I eat, but it changed the way I think about what I eat, which in turn impacted my purchasing decisions and what I do with my food.

In the class we discussed every aspect of the food system: standardization and mass-production, labour issues, globalization and colonization, commodity fetishism, advertising, packaging, the supermarket, biological property, speciesism, gender and food, food security, food waste, and environmental pollution. But, as in most FIMS classes, I left the class burdened with all the problems of the food system, few ideas of how to combat these issues, but ultimately a desire to run out into the street and scream “HOW DID WE FUCK THIS UP SO BADLY?”. I tried to make changes in my personal life including buying food locally, and not wasting what I bought. It didn’t feel like nearly enough.

A few weeks after the class finished I came across a student-run non-profit called ReHarvest.

I was impressed that they were working towards changing the food system in tangible ways on a larger scale. I reached out and applied successfully for a marketing executive role, and have been working on their team for the past two months. Our mission is to combat food waste in Canada; specifically, we organize third party volunteer drivers to transport perishables to food literacy programs, as well as engage citizens in conversations about food justice and food systems. I could go on about why I am proud to be part of the organization but I think Jasmine Wang, a cofounder of ReHarvest, should speak to the roots of ReHarvest’s work.

// Ashara Meidell

You could say that it started with a box of donuts.

When I was thirteen, I loved Boston cream donuts with a passion. After getting my first paycheque, the first thing I set out to buy for myself was a donut. From Tim Hortons. I stepped up to the counter, prepared to hand over my hard won cash, and, horror! The Tim Hortons employee threw out an entire tray of fresh donuts in front of me. The impact of that action, struck me hard. Why wasn’t the food being better repurposed? I was sure that there would be other people who would be willing to eat it - people like myself.

I didn’t think again about food until, years later, Edmonton became the first city to legalize Uber.

As I attempted to follow the legalization debates, I became more interested in platform-centred business models accelerating third party involvement. I thought that the topology of Uber’s model could be a useful analogue for food redistribution. Thankfully, this time, I wasn’t so focused on donuts.

Starting in July 2016, my friend Amy and I spent hundreds of hours talking to people. We talked to city councillors, London’s mayor, the National Zero Waste Council, sat in on food working groups, and talked to multiple spreadsheets’ worth of non-profits and businesses. Along the way, we discovered the framework of human-centred design, and tried our best to integrate its tenets of empathy, openness, and prototyping into our growth as well. We asked tons of questions to really dig at the root of how we could help them, and how best to integrate into the non-profit systems that already existed. By November, we had finally established our mission statement: coordinating and maintaining a third party volunteer base of drivers who use their own vehicles to transport fresh produce to non-profits that use it for food education programming. People of all ages learn to cook healthy meals with the food we deliver.

In founding ReHarvest, it was important to us that the shift we were affecting on the current London community was considerate and sustainable. The most important thing for all those who hope to effect social change is to prioritize a deep understanding of problem spaces before finding solutions. In short, we need to take a human-centred approach and think about who we’re trying to serve and who we’re working with. Although a simple idea, ReHarvest fills a hole in the food system by eliminating logistic and value obstacles for businesses who wish to donate, charities without the personnel/vehicles to pick up necessary donations, and food illiteracy for people participating in this programming.

What’s fantastic to see is that this shift in broader systems is already happening, somewhat both at the national level and globally. Our landscape and backdrop of “political constellations, economic cycles, and broad societal trends”, reflects a collective increased consciousness of our impact on this earth and our relationship to other people. It’s interesting, and timely, for youth like ourselves to be asking questions. What would happen if everyone watched their meat consumption, or focused on supporting their local food system? What if our food system was more decentralized and better adapted to local geology and sociology? Our food procurement power as individuals will shape the society we currently inhabit, and the society we’ll grow old in. We’re all stakeholders - and have the ability to make change in this system.

And to make change, we must ask lots and lots of questions, find the answers that resonate with us, and advocate and articulate those answers.

// Jasmine Wang

For more information about ReHarvest, or to learn how to get involved visit: www.reharvest.ca, or email us at londonfoodrescue@gmail.com 4 //v.17.5

v.17.5// 5

openWIDE// WORLD

SEX

COSTS

Contraception Should be Free //Kara Waites In Canada, 15% of heterosexual sexually active individuals do not use any form of contraception. Sure, these odds wouldn’t be terrible in a game of poker, but pregnancy is not a game.. The main reason for this risky behaviour is the cost of contraception, which unfortunately often falls on women. Women bear the responsibility for this cost, and the cost of a unplanned pregnancy. Eliminating the cost of birth control and providing greater access is an extremely important aspect of gender equality, and benefits all of society.

The London-Fanshawe Member of Parliament, Irene Mathyssen has presented a Motion in Parliament (M65) encouraging the Federal government to work with provinces to make prescription contraception free. It is crucial that this motion gains public support in order to be passed; this means we need to start talking about it.

For our final project in MIT 3902 Alternative Media, Kelsey Bush and I intended to get this conversation going. We wanted to talk to people about the cost of contraception for women, the stigma around it, and how it contributes to systemic inequality.

As students, contraception in the form of birth control pills is partially covered by Western’s Student Health Plan or by our parent’s insurance coverage (if we are lucky). Unfortunately, prescription contraceptives can be very costly for those who do not have health

insurance, which means that many go without “the pill”. Women who are least likely to be insured are also least likely to be able to afford contraception. In Canada, youth, indigenous people, immigrants, people living in remote areas, and the working poor are particularly vulnerable populations.

The cycle of poverty is perpetuated when individuals who can’t even afford birth control become pregnant and now have to support a child. Supporting a child may mean leaving school to work and having a limited education may mean being unable to attain a job that pays enough to support a family.

If you aren’t already convinced that making prescription contraception free JUST MAKES SENSE then consider the cost of unplanned pregnancies and abortions on the country. When someone is unable to support a child, than they may rely more heavily on government resources and programs (i.e. your taxes).

As well, birth control is already universally subsidized in countries like Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.

All individuals deserve access to a range of sexual and reproductive health services. Making prescription contraception free in Canada would mean less unplanned pregnancies, less abortions, and giving women more agency. It is important that this change comes alongside greater public education about sexual health and reproduction, and improving the accessibility of health care providers across the country. Please keep this conversation going and support making prescription contraceptives free in Canada by signing and sharing this petition to parliament.

We are repurposing birth control boxes and packages into pins to spark conversation and to re-appropriate something that is private and often goes unseen. We would love to collect your old birth control packages so we can make more pins!

https://petitions.gc.ca/en/Petitions/Details?Petition=e-935 6 //v.17.5

Imagining Complexity

openWIDE// WORLD

A Student Experience in El Salvador

//Erica Wallis

There’s always something strange that happens to me when I step off the plane and arrive in a different country; for some reason, no matter how much I’ve read about it beforehand, I am always a little surprised to find that it really exists. The first time I flew over the Sahara Desert I remember pressing my face to the plane window in silent joy as the previous boundaries of the world broke around me.

the country, and they are well equipped to provide grassroots activism at it’s most foundational level. It was these organizations that Western students were called upon to learn about, as the core of Amanda’s course involved forming a delegation to visit El Salvador, and act as international observers in an anti-mining referendum held in the small mountainous village of Cinquera.

Arriving in El Salvador over this year’s reading week, I was surprised to find that I still was confronted by this feeling, despite having much more knowledge on hand than I usually do. This year, FIMS Professor Amanda Grzyb was testing a new pilot course that placed an anti-mining conflict in El Salvador in the centre of a directed reading. I signed on.

It was the referendum in particular that impressed upon me how urgently it is that we embark on a complex understanding of the world. I only spent a week in El Salvador, so I don’t pretend that I have a holistic idea of the country and the people within it. However, like my flight over the Sarah, my brief visit there pushed another boundary in my imagination; one that allowed me to see for myself the complexity and spirit of a country far removed from my own.

The difficulty I have in picturing the lives and locations of people around the globe may speak to a personal limitation in my imagination, but I am inclined to believe that most people unwittingly have the same trouble. After all, it is difficult to imagine a place that is completely different from our own home, when everything from the food to the placement of the sun in the sky may be foreign. How do we imagine that a place so different to us might actually be the familiar home of someone else? If this is a failing of the imagination however, it is work that each of us need to undertake to remedy it.

While the volcanoes and unbroken views of the Pacific Ocean were certainly things I had never experienced before, it was the community activism and spirited perseverance of Salvadorans that impressed the most vivid image upon me.

A historian in the University of El Salvador (the only public university it in the country) told us that the history of the country is that of struggle (‘la lucha’, as the locals would say). Spanish colonialism has imposed a framework of oppression that has endured for centuries in monocrop-oligarchs, military regimes, and neoliberal corporate practices that shape the ‘third world’ as we understand it today. Currently, Salvadorans are engaged in a fight to reclaim their voice in opposition to the environmental malpractice of mining corporations who treat their land and rivers as mere commodities, instead of a sustainable living partner for those who inhabit the area.

It probably goes without saying that many people around the globe today seem to face an inability, or unwillingness to imagine others at home in a culture that doesn’t quite match their own. While I firmly believe that travel is always the best way to remedy this, not everyone has the funds or the means. And furthermore, some people return from weeks abroad (especially alternative spring breaks) with the misconception that they made a real difference, or really understand a country’s situation. Don’t be too hard on yourself for this; I also fell victim to this way of thinking back when I joined a trip to Tanzania in the eleventh grade.

But I have since become wiser in my thinking, and humbled in the realization that the more you learn, the more you realize there is to know. My advice to Canadians is this: don’t be daunted by this unknowing; be excited. There is an entire planet full of complex people in complex cultures, and they are all worth knowing and believing in. Imagining the world in all of its complexity reminds us that the earth is at once more familiar and more strange then we could ever know. But in imagining compassion, we as a people are able to make a truly meaningful change.

Salvadorans are not intimidated by these corporations however. They are using the same community organizing tactics that have worked on external forces since the beginning of

v.17.5// 7

openWIDE// WORLD

GAMER GIRLS: not just a myth? // HELEN HEIKKILA Women and girls are not invited to the video game party, but if they crash it, they’ll find that they are welcome… most of the time. You are probably wondering, what is this doing in the “World” section of Openwide?

Well, I’ll tell you. Games are about more than just play; games are analogues for social and political action at both the micro and macro levels. By examining how certain groups are granted access (or not) to this medium, a great many broader cultural processes are given context. The community isn’t perfect. If you want to play video games as a woman, you basically need to decide how much sexism you’re willing to tolerate. For me and my friends, the amount of sexism attached to each game is a large part of what determines what we play.

People make the mistake of thinking women just aren’t interested in video games, but that isn’t true. I show women games like Fallout and Warframe and they fall in love, because they can escape to a world where they can do things they’ll never be able to do in this world.

That’s the beauty of video games, and everyone is drawn to that, but it can be ruined for women when they are singled out or excluded by a game’s narrative of by the gaming community.

For example, when I tried speaking on the headset in Xbox Live during Call of Duty: Nazi Zombies, there was so much excitement about me being a woman that some the guys sent me dick pics. That got old fast. Instead of choosing between being harassed for my feminine voice or being silent on Xbox Live, I just gave up that game.

As a safety net, I always pick a gender-neutral gamer tag. That way I choose when I reveal my gender. When the guys playing the game think you’re one of them, it doesn’t get weird. They’ll still be toxic sometimes, but at least you aren’t singled out. At least you feel like you’re part of the crowd. Once your gender is revealed, you’re subject to comments like, “You’re a girl?! That’s so cool!

Are you single?” and “What do you look like?”

Some gaming communities are more toxic than others. League of Legends, for example, is toxic by nature, 8 //v.17.5

so when you add womanhood to the mix, it can get weird. I only play that game with other people and with a gender-neutral name, because sometimes I need backup. My boyfriend is often annoyed by his friends in League of Legends, because when I play with them, his friends who are normally fun to game with become awkwardly sexual and quiet. I realize they fumble because they worry too much about making a bad impression or about looking lame, and I don’t judge them for that, but it’s a drag when all I want to do is play.

Still, there are wonderful people in the gaming community, and that always makes up for any weirdness.

Most of the guys I play with don’t care that I’m a woman, and I have made some great friends through games. I would never give that up just because of some bad experiences.

So, it’s not that women don’t like video games. It’s that they haven’t been invited to the broader gaming community - to the old boy’s club. I’m not sure that can be undone quickly. The industry needs to start introducing young boys and girls to video games.

Perhaps then we could avoid scandals like the harassment filled #GamerGate, which, according to a myriad of FIMS PHD students, served as a catalyst for the birth of the Alt-Right. By being introduced to the idea that games are rated E for everyone, at a young age, video games won’t seem like something only men and boys. For now, women’s video game choices are limited unless they are willing to deal with some sexism. Won’t stop me from kicking ass though.

PROFILE:

openWIDE// WESTERN LIFE

Cat Williams

// SALENA NAZARALI

v.17.5// 9

openWIDE// WESTERN LIFE

Her Instagram biography serves as a condensed resume, giving the online world a brief glimpse at the life and work of Cat Williams. This does not, however, show all of the hard work, ambition, and effort that it has taken to get to where she is today; and where she plans to go.

Six months after graduating from the Media, Information and Technoculture program at Western University, Williams was running an online pop culture website that she co-founded, employed full-time at Entertainment Tonight Canada, and developing her own personal blog.

As an ambitious, rising name in the world of entertainment news, personal branding guru Cat Williams knows how to use social media to her advantage.

Scrolling through Williams’s Instagram feed, @thecatwilliams, you’ll see visually striking, high quality visuals featuring the young professional in varied poses, often sporting a pair of cat-eye sunglasses and looking away from the camera. Travel, fashion and coffee are recurring subjects of her photography and she maintains a consistent personal style that highlights her composed and cool demeanor.

Recently she has been sponsored by companies such as Aveda Canada, Bench, and Le Chateau to promote products on her social media and blog.

“I find with anything you do it’s important to put your own stamp on it,” Williams said. “Even though my focus right now is with Entertainment Tonight Canada, I love fashion and I love travelling. I’ve always been really active on social media and I just wanted to start building my following and get more personal brand for 10 //v.17.5

myself. Potentially, one day I could actually branch off and do my own thing.”

How she got her role at ET Canada so quickly after graduating is a story of its own.

“I took a bit of time off after MIT and I did a bit of travelling. I really took my time applying to certain things- I was very, very selective. I did a ton of information interviews. I messaged everyone I knew in the industry and asked to go for coffee with them, just so I could kind of pick their brain, get some recommendations, and get my face out there. Also through Pop and Press I was able to go to a lot of industry events like Fashion Week and meet a lot of PR contacts.”

Pop and Press was started by Williams and fellow fourth-year MIT student, Stephen Covic, in February of 2015. The website regularly publishes short entertainment articles and interviews with celebrities. Some of their most popular interviews include Francesco Yates, Durrani Popal, and Paul Mason, also known as the “Fashion Santa” of Toronto. “I think it’s really cool what Cat has done with Pop & Press,” said Kimberly Wang, a second-year MIT student at Western and occasional writer for Pop & Press. “It’s nice to see that the MIT program can be used to achieve goals that are interesting and exciting, but also ambitious and challenging.”

In the summer after her third year at Western, Williams completed an academic internship coordinated

by FIMS at CityLine in downtown Toronto. She was able to work behind-the-scenes with City Entertainment and the Toronto International Film Festival.

“Through this I really realized that I love working in entertainment, and it was something I was passionate about,” Williams said. Upon returning to Western to complete her final year of her undergraduate degree, she was set on working in the entertainment industry – Pop and Press was her way in: “We decided to combine our efforts to create this pop culture website that would open the door for us to get to go to all of these events, do interviews, and just start something without having to wait another year to get hired.”

The opportunity to convert all of her effort into a full-time career was anecdotal. Despite not having the five years of required experience, Williams still applied to work at ET Canada as it was the opportunity she was waiting for.

“Two friends of mine, on the same day, both sent me this job application out of the blue for the producer position at ET Canada. I applied for it, but it was really funny because they were two totally separate friends who didn’t know each other. It was, like, meant to be.”

openWIDE// WESTERN LIFE

ticles for publication, but Williams noticed that every day she was given more tasks by her superiors. One and a half months after starting her new position, she was asked to become an online producer.

She’s now on contract with ET Canada. On top of writing articles, her responsibilities include curating social media content, helping to produce segments with celebrities, and doing interviews on the red carpet. One of her first projects was assisting the production of a piece with Canadian pop-rock band, Hedley: “It was the start of their Canadian ‘Hello World’ tour. It was Hedley, Carly Rae Jepsen, and Francesco Yates, and we interviewed them in Newfoundland. We got to hang out with them and that was kind of my first big trip. It was really cool.”

She also produced a few pieces of her own, making use of valuable connections made at Western.

Fellow MIT alumni, Mina Gerges, was interviewed for a “Social Spotlight” segment that was posted on the official ET Canada YouTube account. Gerges runs an Instagram page, @keepingupwithmina, in which he creates parodies of celebrity outfits and photos using household products. His pictures have been re-posted by a few of his celebrity subjects, including Katy Perry and Amber Rose. Williams explains that Gerges is a friend from Western: “I thought it would be fun to bring him in because I know he has a great Instagram following. I actually produced that entire segment- I brought him in, I did the interview, I put it together with our editor.”

Despite being early on in her career, Cat Williams is already making waves in the entertainment sphere.

There’s no way to tell where she’ll be in the future, but with her work ethic and ambition, the possibilities seem limitless.

Needless to say, she was called back for an interview.

They were impressed by her initiative and ambition in starting something new, without prior professional industry experience. Williams emphasized her skills as a quick learner and was hired.

Originally working as a freelance writer for ET Canada, her responsibilities consisted of writing daily ar-

v.17.5// 11

openWIDE// WESTERN LIFE

openWIDE// WESTERN LIFE

Peterson gets played //anonymous

About half a decade ago, Jordan Peterson was a psychology professor at the University of Toronto and clinical psychologist with little international fame and even less infamy. A talented teacher and skilled speaker, he conveyed expertise within his domain and gave prestigious lectures like “The Necessity of Virtue,” which is how I first encountered him. Like any professor, he wasn’t perfect, but largely credible.

Yet after spending many, many hours watching new and old footage of him, I am forced to conclude that his recent messianic quest to “defend free speech”—which, in its purest form, is noble—has destroyed his previous credibility by amassing paranoid and shoddy “evidence” at a great distance from his home domain of psychology (where he has merits). His recent claims about the nature of oppression and the vast conspiracy he alleges is destroying the nonSTEM disciplines are often baseless, tendentious, and would never be corroborated by scholars in the appropriate field from across the political spectrum (history, sociology, philosophy, etc.). His mistakes here are so egregious that even though I share and affirm certain values with him (pro-dialogue, pro-dissent, pro-viewpoint-diversity) I cannot possibly trust him to advocate for these issues in a rigorous way.

The sloppy and inflammatory arguments he now employs befit a YouTube celebrity or provocateur—but not a scholar. And now that he’s increasingly being played by the altright and right-wing media, and craves exposure more than rigour, this is precisely what he’s become. My purpose here is to separate the scholarly Peterson from the conspiratorial Peterson, a balance which has unfortunately shifted towards the paranoid since I first encountered him many years ago.

When Peterson argues far outside the domain of psychology, he wields the confidence of a tenured professor and the ignorance of a first-year student who, when faced with the daunting task of finding evidence from scholarly sources, instead argues with maddening anecdotes and nasty generalizations. For instance: “[Interviewer:] Are you denying the existence of discrimination based on sexuality or race?

[Peterson:] I don’t think women were discriminated against, I think that’s an appalling argument”. Peterson proceeds to use an anecdote about his grandmother (she was too busy to be oppressed) to back up this claim that 99% of historians and sociologists would refute, even right-leaning ones. He moves from a true premise—brutal economics before the 20th century made life oppressive for both genders—to a ridiculous conclusion—women could not be oppressed under

12 //v.17.5

these conditions. A cursory look at the history of suffrage, gendered violence, and the law would stifle this conclusion.

Even vitriolic critics of feminism today often admit that historical oppression was real. As a clinical psychologist, Peterson’s excellence for understanding the individual psyche is rivaled by an ignorance of society: his preference for clinical, personal, and mythological anecdotes leaves him seemingly incapable of drawing correct inferences and generalizations about society at large. His classic move is to say X group cannot be oppressed because either (1) he knows a few individuals from that group who were “oppressing themselves” through a certain psychopathology, or (2) there’s another oppressor Y that somehow negates everything else. Peterson is not all wrong—his advice to be more virtuous in the face of adversity is wonderful for individuals. Yet given the thousands of sociological, economic, and philosophical texts that prove the viciousness of systemic inequalities, Peterson reveals an egregious ignorance of how social science works (problems have more than one cause or factor!).

I will leave commenting on issues of gender to more qualified people (a phrase I wish Peterson would use) and instead critique his rhetorical strategies. He stages himself a nonpartisan or centrist advocate of free speech—which do exist—but then promptly exposes himself as partisan via his implicit assumptions and screeds against the vast SJW/leftist/feminist/marxist conspiracy he alleges is putting us on the path to totalitarianism (for instance, he equates 20% of social scientists with Nazis—since their [“cultural”] marxism is “no better” than Nazism). Even if we trust him that he’s not bigoted, and agree with him that being politically tribal and intellectually homogeneous represent dangers (I do!), he has immolated whatever goodwill he’s amassed through such paranoid slippery slopes. Though Peterson is well studied in the history of totalitarianism, he shares a key intellectual vice of totalitarian thinking: making sweeping statements about one’s ideological enemies, envisioning a grand conspiracy among a group of people who are quite diverse and might have their own internal disagreements and sympathies with him (Peterson’s McCarthyism expands beyond McCarthy’s original purview). On a philosophical level, his thinking is prone to relentless essentialism, the use and abuse of mythic archetypes, false equivalences between “just as bad” groups, and opposes “postmodernism”—a great boogeyman since one can spin it to mean anything: “I’m not saying made up words generated by postmodern

neo-marxists because I despise everything they stand for and so I’m not using those damn words and that’s that”. Though I would agree with him in the harm of treating everything as pure social construct in need of a neologism, Peterson appears remarkably stunted in his ability to negotiate between or synthesize the biological and social levels, or the realm of essences versus representations.

Peterson’s understanding of intellectual history (my research area) is atrocious. Through a series of genetic fallacies and slippery slopes, identity politics and “political correctness” goes back to postmodernism, which goes back to Marx, and then all the way forward to the horrors of Stalinism. This is how, in Peterson’s hysterical strawman of the 20th century, the LGBT movement gets tenuously but deliberately associated with past or future genocide. Mentioning an oppressed group tends to trigger Peterson’s argumentum ad Hitlerum or Stalinum; playing his wild associative games, we may as well blame the holocaust on the teachers who rejected a young Austrian man from art school. It’s no big deal for a psychologist to be ignorant of modern intellectual history— except when a malicious distortion of this history became the lynchpin of his argument. This is how Peterson convicts marginalized groups of being the “real” oppressor, which of course makes him the “real” victim. He deems “postmodern” French intellectuals to be, in effect, evil schemers of identity politics who don’t believe in truth. Had he learned his history better, he’d realize that it was one of his heros, Nietzsche, who wrote a famous essay that became an influential wellspring of “postmodern” thought. Sometimes Peterson gets played, but this time he clearly played himself. Using Peterson’s standards of historical argument, I could “prove” that Nietzsche “lead to” the Nazis, who sometimes read his work, and thus implicate Peterson in a Nazi conspiracy. Though I vehemently reject the Nietzsche-Nazi influence, such fallacies occur when we approach intellectual history with Peterson’s laughable level of rigour.

One of the worst fallacies Peterson sets up is the false dichotomy between the pursuit of truth— pure, scientific, and uncomfortable—and the causes of social justice and its “warriors” (shouldn’t true justice entail, a fortiori, social justice?). Yet there are plenty of hyper-rational, scientific people in STEM disciplines who are sympathetic to the allegedly nefarious causes of social justice— like feminism—that Peterson vilifies.

But the real problem, according to Peterson, are the non-STEM disciplines: “I think huge swaths of the university are irrevocably corrupted … I believe now, with the exception of the science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) branch, that univer-

sities do more harm than good.” His arrogance that he’s knowledgeable enough to make such an assessment, clearly a prejudiced one, is of pathological proportions (but he’s the psychologist, so it’s up to him to figure out the diagnosis). His denial of systemic inequalities and conspiratorial allegations against left-wing academia explain much of his right-wing appeal. Though he hasn’t explicitly endorsed the alt-right, we find him firmly embedded in alt-right and far right recommended viewing and social media networks, interviewing and interacting with outlets who are far more bigoted than he is. It’s a terrible deal for him: he gets a little exposure in exchange for a lot of reputational damage, while giving extremists the “centrist” legitimacy they crave (Trump, as he said in December, is supposedly just a “moderate”).

If we consider ourselves students or scholars, then ultimately we must heed and affirm part of Peterson’s recent message, which is that dissent and debate are crucial pathways to the truth, and that truth can be disturbing, uncomfortable, and even terrifying; kneejerk reactions are bad news (I’d invite his critics to watch his videos without prejudice). Yet out of this same spirit, we must also condemn the willful ignorance, reactionary invectives, and conspiratorial delusions Peterson flaunts when he leaves his area of expertise. Speaking freely is only one of the many values essential to academia; respect and intellectual integrity will be difficult for him to regain. It is disheartening to see him admired and played by right-wing opportunists who are only interested in freedom of speech to the extent that they can advance authoritarian ideas that ultimately result in the suppression of dissent and the end of diversity. If he’s eventually able to heed his own advice—taking to heart opposing viewpoints to improve our grasp on reality—he will inevitably reverse some of his more outrageous and harmful positions. But this will require the judicious and generous use of the same principle where I most agree with Peterson: the necessity of virtue.

* Read the full length article at openwidezine.com

v.17.5// 13

openWIDE// ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

openWIDE// ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

& why you should actually give it a chance

The end of GIRLS //Bianca Huang

I am sure you are familiar with the HBO series Girls, or at least have heard about it from Professor John Reed in first year. Or perhaps you associate it with the headlines about Lena Dunham and her latest problematic musings. I would like to avoid making any conclusions or personal opinions about Lena Dunham because that’s often what makes people stray away from her show. Nevertheless, it would be naive to separate the woman behind the television series that she created, produced, wrote, directed, and stars in herself! Dunham is without a doubt a brilliant woman and writer, and regardless of your reservations about the ways in which she presents herself in the public eye, her voice and perspective is valued in television. We continue to question a woman’s success and point fingers at all the reasons for which she is undeserving of taking up space. Whether or not you believe rumours about her, one thing is most true and that is that Dunham has crafted a television show that engenders a dialogue about what we think about sex, white privilege, body positivity, abortion, mental health, and the female experience. These topical issues, and the ways in which they take shape on-screen, are important to critique as media consumers.

When I recommend the show to friends, they often hesitate and question Girls for appearing “too white” and undeserving of attention. As a woman of colour, I will argue courageously that Girls is an important cultural artifact in beginning to expand and understand the female narrative. Yes, it is a show with many blindsides, to name a few: the privileged gaze, stories featuring WASPS, and no visible POCs (I will also note that these blindsides also exist in cult sitcoms we know and love such as Friends, Seinfeld, and Sex and the City). We mustn’t be passive viewers and believe that Dunham and her cast are praising these narratives.

Girls is highly aware of its contradictions and wears them proudly through stomach-aching satire. As Girls is currently reaching its end in its sixth season this spring, I hope to highlight the brilliance and boldness that lies in the show’s representations of body image, sex, and female identity. In addition, I included some spoiler-free quotes that accompany each theme.

Body Talk

I love nudity on television. I know that may be a very trite statement, but I believe in encouraging on-screen nudity as a tool for breaking the taboos of pubic hair, cellulite, and small breasts. When I talk about nudity on television, I don’t mean gratuitous close-ups of breasts and strip-teases that don’t offer any constructive commentary on our idea of the human body and what we deem ‘beautiful’. Moreover, the nudity everyone should love is untouched and natural. Lena Dunham’s body has unfortunately been scrutinized and vilified throughout her portrayal of Hannah on Girls. Audiences were shocked at Dunham’s openness with revealing herself to millions because her small breasts, curves, large bush, and cellulite. I cringe, and chuckle at

14 //v.17.5

bedroom from a scene at the dinner table, and then afterwards, we return to daily life where everything is normal. There is a particular episode on Girls (if you watch the show you know which one), that resulted in an uproar from audiences and the media news outlets. The episode contained a sex scene between two characters that implied non-consensual behaviour. It personally made me feel uncomfortable and unsettled, but made me reflect about the importance of consent in any sexual context. There are countless sex scenes in Girls where eventually audiences will become normalized by it and not flinch at the sight of two characters naked together in the opening sequence of an episode. the idea that these parts of our bodies are thought of as “gross”.

If the word “vagina” still freaks you out, then it’s best to think about why. Why are real bodies, of all shapes and colours, heavily underrepresented? Aside from dispelling the myths of the female body, Girls has also done a great job casting some male characters, such as Ray or Adam, who reject the expectation that hot men must be dripping with biceps and look traditionally handsome. For both female and male audiences, it is increasingly important to become comfortable and cool with our bodies and stand proud, starkly naked, knowing that they reject everything the media tells us to do.

Hannah attempts role-playing with Adam but clearly fails: “He [Hannah’s fake husband] was scared I’d get bored and go out looking for trouble, and I did get bored, and I did get into trouble, and now I find myself in quite a pickle. Do you have a knife?”

Jessa to Hannah while flipping through an old Playboy magazine of nude women with full bushes: “These women should be really proud because in a way it’s the most noble thing you can do. Help a boy find his sexuality, help a boy become a man, you know?”

Weird Sex

Girls is also a unique piece of television in that it confronts the reality that sex is not as seamlessly sexy and staged as seen in the movies. Some characters are very upfront about what their sexual preferences are, and they make it known. For instance, from the first episode Marnie is adamant about not performing oral sex to her boyfriend Charlie. Conversations about sex are rare on TV. Typically you see characters skip to the

Her Story

Girls proves that there is complexity even within the white feminist narrative, however exclusive and narrow it can be.

Jessa, Shoshanna, Marnie, and Hannah are four twenty-somethings who reveal their roses and thorns to bare. Quite different in their personalities and goals, they all are loveable but also extremely horrible human beings throughout the series. The girls teach us that we can be both contradicting and insightful at times and most importantly, that we can make very poor choices.

As the title of the show says, it is a series about women, but it is important to note that it is about specific type of women: young upper middle class white women. Girls is not documenting the truth of all women everywhere, but it certainly explores new perspectives about the female experience. There are times when I find myself watching Girls and I find solace in the characters that say or do things that reflect parts of my narrative as a growing and complex woman.

Shoshanna reflecting on mistakes: “My life is a mess and I know that was a personal choice, but I feel like maybe it is time for me to unchoose that choice.”

“I think that I may be the voice of my generation. Or at least a voice…of a generation,” Hannah says to reassure her parents that their financial investment in her will not be wasted. This memorable scene of failure and uncertainty is a hallmark in the entirety of Girls, but also a symbol of the brilliant hilarity and brutal frankness in Lena Dunham’s television series. It unfolds with the messy bits and the happy bits that rest in the big enigmatic journey of transitioning from adolescence to adulthood.

While being extremely funny and strange, the characters of Girls humanize the awful and the contradicting parts of being a human being. Jessa, Marnie, Hannah, and Shoshanna will dearly be missed, but their legacy for paving new narratives about body positivity, real sex, and the female experience will remain untouched.

v.17.5// 15

openWIDE// ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

My Two Dads:

Logan and Wolverine

// AIDAN WARLOW

I would like to preface this article by claiming SPOILER WARNING. Additionally, this article will contain discussion of very graphic events from the film Logan (2017).

akimbo, and started growling at eachother before breaking out into a flurry hack-job slashes and kicks.

To say that we did anything less than revel in the film’s violence would be an understatement. Logan was the purest form of carnage I have witnessed on screen in a long while, and that is why it excels not just as entertainment, but as a poignant political statement.

Logan was the purest form of carnage I have witnessed on screen in a long while, and that is why it excels not just as entertainment, but as a poignant political statement.

I’ve been thinking a lot about Logan since I saw it a week ago. I saw the film alone, which is an experience I’d recommend to anyone, and could not shake the feeling of “holy shit.” Initially, all I wanted to do was get in a room with some close friends and fellow X-Men fans to gawk about what we had witnessed, but I had no one to share my excitement with. My roommate saw the movie with his girlfriend later that night; when they got home I walked out into our kitchen in my underwear, my roommate and I both instinctively widened our stances, grit our teeth, threw our arms 16 //v.17.5

Superhero films tend to lack the certain visceral quality that made Logan so enjoyable and powerful. I am tired of the pasteurized violence of The Avengers, where entire cities can be levelled but miraculously few are hurt. I love Batman as well, but sometimes I really do wish he’d just kill some people, because why do so many of us go to see these films if not to watch purps get beat within an inch of their lives and later succumb to internal bleeding off screen. Logan gives us this satisfaction upfront, and not without an appropriate level of gravity. The film’s world is not our own but, to borrow a phrase from Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker, “minutes in the future.” Audiences are presented with a dark but uncannily familiar timeline in which a wall lines the Mexican-American

border and the tiger is extinct. It’s similar to our world, just a bit shittier. It’s not the apocalypse I believed it would be from the trailers, but it is a world informed and colonized by violence nonetheless.

I don’t just mean physical violence and the threat of military authoritarianism, I mean violence on every level. There is a violence in the voices of pastel coloured tuxedo frat boys chanting “USA! USA! USA!” as they drive opposite hundreds of Mexicans trapped at the border. There is violence in the complete cooptation of the food industry into a state-sponsored eugenics project. All of this violence, just below the surface, what is one lonely dying man to do? Bear those adamantium spine-severers and tear it to shreds… one last time.

Perhaps what I enjoyed most about this film is its position as a meta-narrative; it is a comic book movie about comic books. Logan attacks the neon-coloured recollections of his former escapades by stating “only 25% of those things ever happened and none of it happened like that.” Logan is clawing towards his own obsolescence, in a similar way Jackman is acting towards his as well. Both the character and performer are expending every last ounce of effort, of rage, every last cubic centimeter of rippling bicep, towards ushering a new era. The reason that Logan’s violence works so well, politically, is that it doesn’t fit with the rest of the film’s politics. Logan doesn’t fit, a true mutant.

openWIDE// ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Director James Manigold demythologizes superhero violence in Logan to this exact effect; this is made increasingly obvious in a segment where Logan slowly and methodically plunge his claws into the skulls of mercenaries while they are frozen in place. No glory, just what soldiers might call “wet-work.”

In the compassionate world the film argues for, one built upon familial ties, loyalty, honesty, love, and compassion, there is no room for a man like Logan.

This is why Manigold included a sequence from the 1953 classic Hollywood western Shane. The rugged, violent, hero must turn away from society for he cannot adapt to the values he is charged to protect.

My roommate told me Logan was his favourite western, and I said it was my favourite superhero film; I now realize it's a pretty spot-on amalgamation of the two. Logan fights to obliterate himself, both literally and figuratively, he fights and kills and rends and rips so that others will never have to. His showdown with X-24 is a not-so-subtle case of one’s past coming back to haunt them, or you know, impale them on a tree root. The two die together; the fiery, murderous, beast and the reformed, caring, father figure. Enter Laura, played by Dafne Keen, and her new generation of socially conscious, collaborative, youth. A millennial by any other name… right?

I don’t have much to say to wrap up my thoughts here, but just know that I am immensely thankful for films like Logan. A film that uses violence for purposes beyond plot progression and action sequences. Violence is the world that Laura and her friends inherit and it is definitely not a world that they played a hand in crafting. Despite this, the men and women who raised this next generation of mutants instilled a multitude of conflicting values in their charges. Kill, be killed, work, die, live, love, laugh… I am not quite sure I have ever seen a better analogy for the millennial condition than the one presented in Logan. We may not be a perfect generation, but we are the next one, and I hold out hope that pretty soon there will be no more guns in the valley.

v.17.5// 17

openWIDE// CREATIVE

CONSTERNATION // BY REBECCA MCLAREN

Panic A jolt Unplanned Uninvited Unwanted Winding through your entire being Slithering silently in your veins Coiling tightly around your lungs Tempting you to give in An internal fire Burning everything in its path Possibilities melt and scorch The edges char Blazing Smoldering Incinerating Devouring your control Wind does not rustle in the trees nor lungs Fire blazes onwards but breathing is extinguished Trampled, flattened breaths deflate Lungs squashed as if stepped on On display like a mannequin in a store Exposed but ignored Naked but clothed Confliction thrashes inside Willing yourself to remain quiet You howl from within Nobody notices The full moon shines but the night sky cloaks the body in black Sentences pour out unannounced

18 //v.17.5

Ears bleed without being cut Ideas float in an underwater world You only want to drink air A flash of fear Fingers search for something to hold Grasping emptiness The body escapes reality The mind cannot The head floats Words buzz loudly You ask to avoid the sting The mouth replies but detaches from the brain The body lurches forward The soul cannot be identified The stomach makes a fist Terrified to take a breath Terrified to feel again Legs kick Your insides scream The outside hums quietly Transfixed eyes without lids You see in black and white You feel in colour The world moves The mind moves The stomach moves But there is nowhere to run Feet do not pound against the ground Blood pounds Characters and symbols swarm An alarm goes off Chaos And then it stops

TIMELESSNESS Orange Post-it notes cover the glowing green digits of my kitchen, car, and bedroom clocks.

My phone and computer coincide with random time zones. Everyone says, “That’s impossible.”

Maybe it is, but the only way to find out is to live one day without it.

Today, I will function without a clock.

Almost everyday I wake up at 8:00 a.m., go on a run, go to class, work until 7:00p.m., come home, eat dinner, work some more, and go to bed. I judge myself based on productivity. If I work less than three hours, I’m a slacker; if I wake up after 9:00 a.m., I’m lazy; if I don’t go on a run, I’m out of shape. I am a victim to the dictates of time. Yet, the measurement of time is arbitrary and society accepts it as a vital symbol. The world would be lost without it. For one day, I am removing the clock from my life to see how the absence of time will affect me.

Early Morning My eyes aren’t open, but my mind is like a conveyor belt on high-speed. What time is it? I know this daunting question will stalk me today. I listen for my roommates’ footsteps. If I can trace who is up, maybe I can calculate the time based on when they have class. Unsuccessful.

openWIDE// CREATIVE

// BY HANNAH ALBERGA

Sunset As I leave the café, the sun is dwindling and twilight is hovering in the sky. I don’t need a clock to tell me the time.

infect our daily routines. This demanding lifestyle is subconscious, which makes it difficult to change or even recognize.

Sitting at my desk, I can’t help but wonder how much time I’m wasting.

Netflix and Chill At home I’m thinking about my application for Student Exchange, the food blog in need of editing, and my dirty laundry. But my weary body dismisses the to-do list. Instead, I do something rare: Netflix. Bundling myself in grey cotton covers, I numb my mind with an episode of Sex and the City.

Cutting Free I jog in Ann Street Park almost everyday and can calculate how much time has past at certain landmarks. But today, I don’t turn around at the usual spot; I keep going. The lasso of stress and time nearly strangling me is finally cut free. I run until there is no more path, but instead of turning back I create a trail through the trees. This jog isn’t just fulfilling the daily checkmark of physical activity. I’m not even jogging –I’m running and passing people. My internal clock says keep pushing.

Rituals The front door chimes and my roommates are home. I know it’s time to have our crackers and hummus snack when we all sit around the kitchen table. Time and efficiency don’t dictate all routines. Rituals like this are timeless.

Parking Problems I’m driving to Ritual, a café where I like to work. Parking is problematic because I don’t know what time it is, how long I’ll be, and how much money to put in the meter. This is an immaculate example of the unavoidable implementations of time.

As a law, the population must abide time regulations, which the government uses to control society. It is not surprising my daily routine revolves around a precise schedule. I push a toonie into the meter.

Bed Time My roommates divide into their own bedrooms and I do the same. My eyes feel the heavy force of gravity dragging them down. Without much thought, I change into fleece pajamas and shut off the lights.

Phoneless While ordering a coffee, I notice empty plates on tables. But I’m not hungry. Pulling out my phone, it fades to a black screen and dies. A new challenge is added to the equation: no phone.

Waking Up I wake up again and naturally check my phone.

The time is 19:46 p.m., a random time zone my roommate chooses, which tells me absolutely nothing. But a text a friend sent an hour ago says, “Sorry just woke up.” I never sleep in later than my friends, so whatever time it is, it is too late.

24/7 Demand Without a phone it’s easier to thrive because I’m not receiving messages from friends telling me what they are doing; therefore, I can’t predict what time it might be. Because of mobile technology, the workday is 24/7, and we are always able to continue working. Our productivity should be nonstop. My dead phone contributes to my newfound liberation.

Why Is This Happening?

It is official; the clock has made me a programmed robot, hinging my well being on arbitrary monetized digits. I am losing self worth because there is no way to calculate my efficiency or productivity today. My personal feelings are echoing the second industrial revolution, when factories in the Unites States enforced Taylorism and Fordism. The ideals of efficiency and productivity spread beyond the factory walls to 20 //v.17.5

Hunger I’m definitely hungry. Walking over to Convent Garden Market, I duck my head to avoid the massive clock towering over King Street. Even the debit machine at the salad bar has a clock.

Work Time Returning to the café, I work for what feels like a significant amount of time. But it doesn’t feel tedious because I’m not calculating my productivity.

Caffeine Debacle Do I want a snack? Instead I get a latte. But my stomach is rejecting the choice. Maybe it’s the wrong time of day to be drinking caffeine. I push my half full cup to the other side of the table.

The Ticket A man wearing a neon yellow vest is approaching my car. I run outside and blabber, “I- I’m just putting money in the meter.” All of my delusional fears are coming true. “Okay sounds good,” the officer says. I’m surprised and relieved. Maybe time implementation isn’t important to all parking enforcers, even if it is to the government. I can’t stop smiling at the officer.

I won’t lie; I’m still going to have an alarm set tomorrow morning. But I do think having an understanding of the clock’s ubiquitous control is invaluable to avoid living in a shallow present. I am not recommending everyone plasters Post-it notes over their clocks, but the ability to listen to your internal clock and stray from the norm is important. When you can, resist the clock’s control, because timelessness is liberating.

v.17.5// 21

openWIDE// CREATIVE

openWIDE// CREATIVE

ZINE CANADA Delivering the Real Fake News Since 2002

GET OUT REACHES $100 MILLION IN BOX OFFICE SALES White people realize for the first time that racism is scary NAMELESS GECKO SEEKS TREATMENT FOR DARK STRESS CIRCLES FORMING UNDER THE EYES “I have 5 papers to write, 2 videos to film, and 5 mounds of poop to eat in the next 3 days alone!” he wails” LOCAL STUDENT OPENS WATER BOTTLE IN WELDON TO DISCOVER VODKA FROM THE PARTY LAST NIGHT Drinks it anyways STUDENT ATTEMPTS ITR FOR THIRD YEAR AEO Surprised and hurt to learn it isn’t real LOCAL STUDENT LOSES ROLL UP THE RIM FOR THE 10TH TIME IN A ROW Promptly drops out of school in protest CIA ROLLS OUT NEW SECRET TOASTER SURVEILLANCE PROGRAM THIS WEEK Alternative fact: Kellyanne Conway is Inspector Gadget STUDENT OVERWHELMED BY HOW WELL MEMES AND BUZZFEED QUIZZES DESCRIBE HER LIFE @me she comments STUDENT UPSET ABOUT GETTING 69% ON A MIDTERM Recovers quickly through fit of giggles

‘PAINT YOUR OWN CHAKRA’ EVENT DERAILED AFTER STUDENTS SHOW UP WITH GIANT CUTOUTS OF UWO PRESIDENT “This isn’t ‘Paint your own Chakma?” asked confused second year student REPUBLICAN HEALTHCARE PLAN REPORTEDLY INCLUDES INSURANCE FOR NEW SPINES Everyone baffled by this inclusion except Paul Ryan, eagerly awaiting his backbone FEATURE FILM OF JUST EMMA WATSON’S FACE FOR TWO HOURS TO PREMIERE THIS SUMMER Projected to be top-grossing box office draw STUDENT TURNED GAY AND REPUBLICAN AFTER CONSTANT EXPOSURE TO ‘THICC DONALD TRUMP’ MEMES Inside sources label him “bi-curious-partisan” FOURTH YEAR STUDENT CONTEMPLATES GIVING UP A MONTH BEFORE GRADUATION “I just can’t take another finals season.”

MCDONALD’S ALL-DAY BREAKFAST CAUSES PANDEMONIUM Turns out that 11am cut off was a crucial to getting hungover ass out of LOCAL STUDENT RAGES ABOUT THE SEXISM OF ‘BEACH BODY’ bed PROGRAMS BUZZFEED PUBLISHES ACADEMIC PAPER ON HOW EXACTLY Plans to participate anyways, but will THEY KNOW YOUR AGE FROM YOUR FAVOURITE PIZZA NOT post on Instagram Scientific method reportedly involved 22 //v.17.5

DONALD TRUMP USES TWITTER TO ORDER A HOT DOG WITH NO BUN Surveillance footage captures Hillary Clinton standing in the woods screaming BRANGELINA DIVORCE FILE UNCOVERED Reason allegedly the Brad failed to tag Angelina in memes for a full three days.

POLICE CALLED TO WELDON AFTER A SERIES OF HIGH PITCHED SCREAMS REPORTED Turns out someone’s laptop had just died before saving NEWBORN BABY SUES PARENTS AFTER SPENDING 2 MONTHS IN THE WORLD “I didn’t ask to be involved in this nonsense”, reads plaintiff.

STUDENT COUNCILS ACROSS CAMPUS DISSOLVE AS THE YEAR ENDS Inspires new flavour in juice crystals EXAMS CANCELED THIS YEAR AFTER BASILISK IS DEFEATED IN THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS Last minute USC presidential change as Dumbledore declares Gryffindor wins STUDENT VALIANTLY ATTEMPTS STUDYING FOR FINALS, ENDS UP WATCHING THE OFFICE FOR THE 5TH TIME “You don’t to need to pass finals to work at Dunder-Mifflin”

FIRST YEAR STUDENT DISAPPOINTED IN HOW LITTLE HIS COUNCIL ACCOMPLISHED THIS YEAR Cites inability to put beer in the water fountains as main source of concern STUDENT DROPS OUT AFTER WINNING PURPLE STORE DESIGN CONTEST “I can totally build a career on this success” says Franny Champion STUDENT WRITES ENTIRE ESSAY IN AIR QUOTES AFTER BEING INSPIRED BY SEAN SPICER “Bullshit has never been so easy” says the triumphant first year AMERICANS REPORT HAVING DECREASING AMOUNTS OF SEX Studies indicate economic crises and deteriorating environment failing to arouse anyone WELDON EVACUATED FOR FIRE School fined hundreds of dollars for what turned out to be a group of students making a ‘good luck’ satanic bonfire in the stairwells v.17.5// 23