OPENWIDE v.16.4

OPENWIDE THE FIMS’ A LTERNATIVE ST UDE NT PUBLICATI ON

OPENWIDEZINE.com

VOLUME 16, ISSUE 4

Table of Contents 5-6 Crossing the line between

Issue Quote

business and morality

Why ousted drug CEO should still be the most hated man in America

*dabs* 7-10 VISUAL AND FROZEN

Interview: the legacy and the future of visual art.

About the cover

Art done by Tracy Xie

The recent USC election, despite its increased (but still mediocre) attention, doesn’t appear to initiate real change in student concern.

The conventional, superficial love message crafted through candy hearts is much like the generic messages pumped out of USC platforms; as a result, attitudes from the student body will most likely continue its residency in apathy.

11 #OscarsSoWhite 8 simple reminders to 18-19 12 evolution of the groupie check yourself 13 No Rest ‘Til Macklemore Lets Others Speak caisa fashion show: a history 20 #DownWithTheEntertainmentIndustry

Be careful what you wish for.

A checklist for the self-proclaimed woke person.

Transform into a social activist with this one simple song.

CAISA is where the hot, artistic kids go.

14-15 president to slate to A Bus Love Story 21 That person on the bus who is totally the one

pvp: where are they going next?

22 16-17 alternative spring Campaign Speech 23 break= why Volunteering Aboard Won’t Fix Your White

Saviour Complex ExperimentalFIMS Facebook Poem 24-25 ZINE CANADA26-27 OP for Prez: Inspire. Lead. Synergy

The USC is low key a dictatorship.

Let’s implement this innovative cultural enterprise!

Think an Obama speech, but Canadian. And by a person who can eat 40 mozza sticks in one go

Sum up FIMS using only messages from the facebook group?

Doesn’t get more meta than that

You’re not actually making a difference.

The REAL owner of Western humour. Suck it Western Beet

Editor’s Note I should probably take these editor’s notes more seriously. What a privilege it is to have a platform that reaches out to so many. Sometimes, I’m so aware of it, it becomes daunting. But then I remind myself that—like a Youtube video description box, no one really reads these, and I begin typing. Making my way downtown, walking fast, faces pass, and I’m home bound. If you could read one article in this issue, I want you to take a look at the 8 Simple Reminders to Check Yourself. #staywoke This issue is dedicated to past editor-in-chiefs: Eugene Gutierrez, Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood, Chris Ling, and Travis Welowszky. Thank you for lending your compelling words to Openwide’s multi-year funding proposal. A special thanks goes out to all the contributors, editors, Liam, and graphics team that dedicated their reading break days to this issue.

Letters to the editors

like Follow Write for

--------> US

Facebook.com/OPENWIDEzine

Twitter.com/openwidezine writers.openwide@gmail.com

STephanie Gordon Editor in Chief Marwa Hassan Managing editor liam Dorey World Editor ksenia kolodka

Arts & Entertainment editor

samah ali western life editor

Erica Wallis Creative editor neal Mcauley Promotions Veronica Cheung Graphics Sarah Lovering Asst Graphics jhana ellard web editor Tracy xie Photograpy

Disclaimer: The sole responsibility of this publication lies with its authors. Contents do not reflect the opinions of the University Students’ Council of Western University (“USC”). The USC assumes no responsibility or liability for any error, inaccuracy, omission, or comment contained in this publication or for any use that may be made of such information by the reader.

openWIDE// LETTERS TO THE EDITORS

LETTERS TO THE EDITORS

Let’s have a conversation. See something in this issue you want to respond to? E-mail your thoughts, musings, comments, concerns to openwidezine@gmail.com and we’ll either publish them on our site [openwidezine.com] or in our next issue.

Re: Fuck Your Flag (Openwide, V.16, Issue 3)

Hello, I wanted to express my unease and disappointment with Openwide’s treatment of the terror attacks which rocked France in 2015. A publication which aspires to be progressive and open-minded should rethink their apathetic stance on terrorism. Your articles for the Charlie Hebdo shootings and the Paris attacks, respectively, were entitled ‘I Am Not Charlie’ and ‘Fuck Your Flag’. Such callous and insensitive behaviour is hardly becoming of university students and the articles presented were strictly polemic.

I take particular exception at the ‘Fuck Your Flag’ piece. What country would fulfill the author’s criterion? Rather troubling is that were identical attacks carried out against China or Russia, I wager, no similar vitriol would have sprung forth. Apparently, in the author’s estimation France is a grotesque country. Again, I would like to ask the author ‘how many countries guarantee the civil liberties which France does?’ What country meets the author’s idealistic and utopian conception of an unmarked history and a perfect society?

Alas, the author’s thinly-veiled contempt and antagonization of France leaves the reader with a sense of justification for the terrorist attacks. At a time of crisis, France’s worst in decades, that the global response was solidarity in the form of the French flag is not abhorrent. Yes, France is an imperfect society which is struggling with integrating different cultures. Yet, the flag for the majority of people does not represent just that. It represents the Napoleonic code, egalitarianism, French philosophy and art, and Foucault and post-Modernism.

Regards, Ari

4 //v.16.4

Crossing the line

openWIDE// WORLD

Between Business and Morality

“I would have raised the prices higher.”

Months ago, Forbes Magazine declared that pharmaceutical CEO Martin Shkreli had become sole proprietor of the title “Most Hated Man in America.”

Shkreli gained attention when his company Turing Pharmaceuticals purchased a drug called Daraprim, which primarily serves as a treatment to a fatal disease, toxoplasmosis, found in HIV patients. Upon purchase, Turing Pharmaceuticals and Shkreli made the executive decision to increase the price of the drug for profit, from just above thirteen dollars for the treatment, to over seven hundred and fifty dollars per tablet. That is an increase of over five thousand percent, and he would have done it again – and then some.

The Turing charades span far beyond his search for economic growth mixed with greed, as Shkreli resigned from the company this past September; following multiple congressional accusations of fraud towards him, forcing him to step down.

All the spare time unemployment brought Shkreli, revealed to the media the true side of the multi-million-dollar CEO’s villain ability to be the biggest prick in the room. An online chat room that is.

Shkreli embraces his villain persona by live streaming online the day after leaving Turing, speaking with viewers about grandiose plans to

//LIAM DOREY

purchase more drugs for profit. During the times of his YouTube live stream where his microphone was not muted, Shkreli painted a picture of a childish sociopath who is driven by selfish ideologies beyond just money.

Shkreli consistently updates Twitter appealing to those who sympathise, or are simply infatuated with his story - tweeting about political taste and his own investment in music. Boasting about purchases, Shkreli paid over two million dollars for a one-off Wu-Tang Clan album – tweeting “Hey, fuck you, look at me, I got this $2M album,” saying “Guys do it all the time, there are a lot of things rich guys do to show off.”

Throughout this entire bout of egotism, Shkreli insists his sole intention was to make money for his shareholders as any businessman would.

“My shareholders expect me to make the most profit.”

Here is where the dilemma lies, Martin Shkreli is tasked with leading Turing Pharmaceuticals to a successful quarter, year, etc.

However, where the disconnect exists between business and morality, in that Shkreli cannot make a happy medium between earning his pay, and earning himself a dark hole to hide into.

However, this ‘dilemma’ for Shkreli - that between business success and morality – is nonv.16.4// 5

openWIDE// WORLD existent, as the ex-pharmaceutical CEO has done this before, using price influx of commonly used drugs to make money.

Prior to his time at Turing Pharmaceutical, Martin Shkreli owned and earned his wealth from his own company, Retrophin, sought out old, rarely used drugs and raised their prices—a drug to treat kidney stones, for instance, was raised from under two dollars to over thirty.

During the Daraprim uproar, Shkreli was often represented as a kind of evil genius. But what’s striking about most of the offenses the government says he committed earlier in his career is just how straightforward and unsophisticated they seem. After he started a hedge fund called MSMB Capital, in 2009, the government alleges, Shkreli didn’t tell potential investors that at a previous hedge fund, Elea Capital, he had lost all of the money that he managed. He also reportedly told investors that MSMB had an independent external auditor, which it didn’t. And when his investments at MSMB failed, the government says, Shkreli raised more money by lying about the fund’s performance.

For instance, he allegedly told one investor that the fund had thirty-five million dollars in assets, when at the time it actually had seven hundred dollars in the bank. Even after MSMB had lost all of its money and had stopped trading, Shkreli was still telling his investors that the fund was doing exceptionally well. And the government alleges that he made similar misrepresentations to investors in a second hedge fund he started, this one called MSMB Healthcare.

By early 2013, he was under some pressure. Investors in both of his hedge funds wanted their money back, but Shkreli didn’t have it, even though he’d been telling them that their investments had returned healthy profits. At this point, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (S.E.C.) had started nosing around. So, apparently in order to settle with the investors and avoid the prospect of his fraud becoming public, the government says that Shkreli used money and stock from Retrophin to pay them off.

At first, according to the indictment, he tried to do this by having the company enter into settlements with the investors. But when Retrophin’s auditor, quite reasonably, questioned this—since Retrophin bore no responsibility for Shkreli’s hedge-fund losses—Shkreli allegedly came up with a different scheme. He had Retrophin sign sham consulting contracts with his investors and paid them off that way.

The story continues further with Martin Shkreli eventually being forced to resign from Retrophin, similarly as to his reasons behind leaving Turning Pharmaceuticals. The amounted pressures from fraudulent deals and angry clientele led to additional government sanctions leading Shkreli out the door, onto the footsteps of Turing Pharmaceuticals.

The more the Martin Shkreli story develops, the more this deranged CEO progresses into pure villain.

It is certain most individuals disagree with his choices to make money by increasing prices, however that is not where Shkreli earned the title of most hated person.

Martin Shkreli has become the master of douchery, drawing and embracing hate from his pharmaceutical decisions, and throwing it back in our faces and then some. Mocking the media, and generating distain through Twitter and live streaming has created an rude beyond belief.

The best thing that will happen to this story, is when it is not on the headlines. Martin Shkreli will be reduced to nothing, and we will only remember ‘that one guy who raised prices’ and that’s it. And if we are lucky, there will not be a rock dark enough to hide under, as nobody will be looking for him anyways.

6 //v.16.4

Visual & frozen // Samir Kashyap

openWIDE// ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

I keep pieces of locally-produced art that I’ve bought at poster sales over the years, and looking at these works breeds a sort of tension inside me because I don’t know the artists. It’s weird that I’ve had them for so long yet any time someone presses me on their importance, I can’t articulate it. Knowing virtually nothing about art, I don’t keep these pieces to confer some great lie about perceived tastes that I have. Like most people who own original pieces, I simply like the feeling they elicit, and the sort of liberation having no source material offers - the only referents being human experience.

This made me wonder about visual art as a medium of expression, especially as one young people undertake. I know young musicians, film producers, photographers, graphic designers, and comic artists, but I only know one person who actively curates visual art. So, I spoke to her about it. What follows is a thorough dialogue on visual art’s place in youth culture, the space young artists can enter, the future of visual art, the conditions which allow it to prosper, and those that see it wither. I want to thank Anu for allowing me some time to speak with her as a student artist.

We conducted this interview in a booth at McCabe’s. I had a hot chocolate and she had two cups of coffee. In the effort of full disclosure, I’ve shortened our conversation to meet the word parameters of this piece. I hope you take something from this, whatever that may be.

(sarah) visual and frozen

ME: Anu, why do you think people our age have so much trouble discussing visual art?

ANU: Poetry and visual arts are almost forgotten. If we’re talking about something like fine art or highbrow art, then people don’t have the capacity to discuss these things. It’s the same thing with music. [People are able to talk about] whatever is available to [them] in popular culture, so ... in terms of what they’re exposed to. I don’t have the capacity to speak to you about music, but I still have my preferences.

In terms of art, maybe it’s been appropriated and it’s available in different streams? There is so much visual clutter everywhere and we already have a stimulus for visuals, so art is pushed to the side or incorporated in brands. So for example, OBEY. Do you remember the Obama Hope Campaign?

ME: Yeah.

8 //v.16.4

ANU: So Shepard Fairey, he did that whole thing. He made the poster, and then eventually he got launched as a brand.

So he was an artist and we see that and we talk about that and the reason we do that is because it is incorporated into pop culture, and if art isn’t incorporated into pop culture then it’s just forgotten.

ME: So you don’t think that there’s a space available for uncommercialized art to be its own thing? Where people can talk about it the way they want? Because sure I agree with the point about music where one might not have the capacity to talk about it at length, but everyone has their own preferences. I think it’s a little bit different with visual art though, because even if I don’t have the capacity, I also maybe don’t have my preferences. Like I don’t know … There are no common youth artists that people are talking about. The most relevant you can get is Banksy, which is not enough, you know what I mean? Not enough, when you stack it up against how commonplace directors are or how well people know

openWIDE// ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT different music artists even if they don’t listen to them. There’s not that sort of awareness I’ve noticed that’s cultivated.

that they work with is similar to the initial artist. So I have a specific preference and then branching off from there. Just the fact that I’m finding them on social media brings up a ANU: So exposure? There’s a limited exposure to art? Because discussion on high culture versus low culture. Even when I otherwise, everyone is exposed to music – it’s just a thing. appreciate someone’s work on Instagram, does it make it less It’s a social thing. Same with movies, it’s a social activity to genuine? And if the only platform that someone is displaying indulge in. It’s a social activity to indulge in music. Art is more their work on is Instagram and that brings them traffic, is that personal, so we could be seeing the same exact thing and I kitschy? might have no feelings towards it, but you might have a strong feeling. So, you can’t, it’s not relatable on a universal level.

ME: I don’t think so, but then I guess that brings up the question of why there isn’t a more dedicated platform of ME: Okay, so what are some of the things you’ve made? What visual artists of all sorts to network. do you do? What have you done?

ANU: There is! There’s something called DeviantART, but the ANU: A lot of acrylic paintings, that’s how it all started. only way that you would go on this is if you knew about it in Actually, it was taking artists that I enjoy and trying to replicate the first place or if you have an interest in coming across it. their work. So initially it was impressionism, But on something like Instagram or Facebook, anyone just a lot scrolling through their newsfeed can come across your work.

Using tags to reach people,

“ART IS MO RE PERSO NAL, SO W ING THE S E COULD AME EXA CT THING B NO FEEL AND I MIG E SEEINGS TO HT HAVE WA HAVE A S TRONG F RDS IT, BUT YOU EELING. S MIGHT NOT RELA O , Y O TABLE ON U CAN’T, ITS A UNIVER of SAL LEVE bold colours L” and things like that. And then I decided to make it more specific to things that I enjoy. So I went the abstract route: exploring watercolours, changing a canvas, and manipulating a canvas what I mean?

Whether it be putting other pastes on it, tissue or gesso and letting that dictate where I apply the paint. And also, other artists I enjoy, sculptors, I wanted to get into sculpting. A lot of work with steel wire, and because I’m in Health Sci so kind of sculpting anatomical things. So whether it be a hand and an arm, or a foot, something like that. And light sculptures with wheatpaste and translucent paper. And that was Mary Button because I enjoy her work. So again, replicating work that is visually appealing to me and then going from there.

ME: How do you find out about new artists? Other than a classroom setting, I feel like you could just go online and Google young artists and get a ton of people. How do you filter them out? Because you’re obviously not able to go to wherever they are to see their art so you would be faced with pictures of their work.

ANU: Finding new young artists, for sure social media. There’s a group of artists that I follow and based on who they’re promoting or who they’re bringing into the spotlight, finding others, oftentimes the medium that they use or the styles

even when I make something and I want to share it, I only started doing this a couple months ago. With Instagram I found that I could reach out to people that were interested in this specific subgenre of art. Other than that, the more that I’m speaking about this, I feel like you can only find these artists if you’re interested in it to begin with. If I’m ever sharing my work at an artist marketplace or something like that, or going out of my way to attend an art opening, sometimes it’s just an interesting thing to do. And then there are other people looking at other people’s work. Usually the artists are there speaking to other people about their work and learning about other artists through them.

ME: Being in Health Sci, what are the merits in the connection between art and science? Are you fascinated by it? Do you incorporate that fascination into your own work?

ANU: Oh my God, that’s a very deep soul-searching question! I think both of these things compliment very different interests that I have. People come to you, whether you’re a chiropractor, physician or whatever, and the act of

v.16.4// 9

openWIDE// ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

seeking help puts them in a very vulnerable position, that’s where I’d like to intervene. So that’s why I’m interested in health, and a lot of the art I enjoy, they tend to be anatomical drawings or like the artists that I’d share with you, Mary Button and Fernando Vincente, they’re kind of biological. So maybe I’m drawn to that art because I know molecular biology.

ME: Do you think in the case with Mary Button, the intent to make it biological, is that a purposeful thing? Or is that what you read into it?

ANU: I think the comparison is made, but she started off playing with shadow and translucent versus opaque textures and then it turned into something.

ME: Do you think one of the issues with spreading visual art like you would with music or film is that inherent meaning plays less of a role in the work? Do you think there is more appreciation for other contemporary art because at the end of the day, there’s some definitive basis people can grapple with and discuss on an even playing field? The safety net being the inherent meaning injected within whichever contemporary art.

themselves with their words and not necessarily their art.

There are giant canvasses with a stroke of paint that will sell for tens of thousands of dollars and people are questioning whether or not there is skill behind that. And then there are other really, really skilled artists – whether they are working on realism or pushing boundaries or experimenting with sculpture or whatever it may be – they’re kind of left on the sidelines. So whatever is known as Big Art right now, a lot of it falls into that category of being pretentious, and you’re questioning whether it took skill to produce that. Since forever, the style of art has been changing. For a couple of decades it was pop art, and now it’s contemporary art. But what does contemporary art mean?

ME: What do visual arts look like 50 years from now? After pop art, is it just contemporary art into infinity? Whatever contemporary art is?

ANU: I have no idea.

ME: Are there any emergent styles now or is that something that the internet might have sort of destroyed?

ANU: Not destroyed, but it’s taking it in a completely ANU: Definitely. You can say that with listening to music, different direction. Digital art, or digital drawing, or it brings out a feeling, but oftentimes it’s accompanied with animation. No one aims to be a painter when they grow up, words that are telling you how to feel; whereas with art, the and that’s kind of odd. Either you’ll take that kind of art, goal is often to be as ambiguous as possible. The idea is people whatever you’re interested in, and apply it to architecture, or interpret it differently and people get frustrated with that. starting a clothing design, fashion design, or advertisement.

I know I’ve gotten frustrated with it. I guess it could either So there are a lot of different sectors that take art and apply be for expression or just to produce something aesthetically it in different ways, but not necessarily the act of painting or appealing. Going back to Banksy, and he’s a big a name, but his drawing. intention wasn’t to become known – his intention was to just create and provide a commentary on what’s going on in society ME: So do you think it’ll be around in a hundred years? and he just happened to be found, so that’s still considered authentic. But when you’re going out with the purpose of ANU: I think so. making it big in the art world, that’s pretentious in itself; but you have to be pretentious in that way in order to get clients.

ME: Why? ME: I don’t know the big names. Any time we refer to an artist, it’s usually a Picasso or a Rembrandt. Anyone who’s old and dead and their art is still being filtered around through auctions versus young artists. The notion that these old artists are more valuable than anything you would come out with or that any youth artist would come up with, why is that? How do you combat that?

ANU: Just people wanting to create something. Make something with their hands. But then maybe there’ll be some sort of virtual reality where you can create in that way so you’re not actually creating something, but you have this Oculus Rift thing on your head and making something in a different reality. Maybe that’s where art’s going to go.

Anu showcases her work on her Instagram,

ANU: I think there are probably going to be a couple names @anu.paint. Check it out and support the culture. that we don’t know at the time that might come forth in the future because in a lot of big cities, the artists who are making installations will remain. Like the Chicago Bean. But that again takes visual art and puts it into another category of architecture and that’s why it’s going to stick around. Things like music videos, and advertisements, art in mass media, and the way it’s displayed there. But again, I don’t see any big names. A lot of artists today that are making it are people who can sell

10 //v.16.4

openWIDE// ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

e t i h w o s s r a sc

#o //

h a W n a h C e l l Miche

On January 14th, #OscarsSoWhite exploded onto everyone’s Twitter feeds in response to the announcement of nominees for the 88th Academy Awards. Outrage sparked as not a single person of colour was nominated within the six main categories — Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Director — save for Mexican-descent Alejandro G. Iñárritu, director of The Revenant.

“However, while the hashtag ignited heated debates and criticisms, the issue goes far deeper than award

shows and nominations — lack of diversity is a

problem embedded in the very roots of the movie industry.”

#OscarsSoWhite cast shade and shame on the Academy for their historical lack of diversity and representation. “How is it possible for the second consecutive year [that] all twenty contenders under the acting category are white?” says Spike Lee on an Instagram post, “the Academy Awards is not where the ‘real’ battle is. It’s in the executive offices of the Hollywood Studios and the TV and cable networks. This is where the gatekeepers decide what gets made and what gets…scrap heap[ed].” Lee’s words highlight that the Oscars are a reflection of the stories that are selected and produced within the entertainment industry. The entertainment industry and leading production companies are notoriously headed by white middle-aged men. As a result, the stories that get the green-light are the ones that they can identify with and they believe will be profitable— which are often white narratives and stereotypic portrayals of minority groups. As a result, narratives that address black culture or introduce a person of colour as a main character are usually disregarded and sidestepped. If they are made, they’re few and far between.

In an interview with The Guardian, actress, singer, and model Zoë Kravitz points out the silent prejudice and blindness that saturate the industry: “I ask writers and producers: ‘Why don’t you have any black people in your film? Why do stories happen to white people and everyone else is a punchline?’ … [A] lot of people don’t see it’s an issue because it’s not their story, unless they’re black or a minority.”

The issue of lack of representation lies partially in the inability to see minority groups outside of their preconceived stereotypes. Whether intentionally or not, creators relegate actors of colour to roles that confirm and reproduce stereotypes, while white actors are capable of fitting into the mould of characters in many different stories. In his speech on diversity in the media, Idris Elba touches on this issue; “[W]hen a script called for a ‘black male,’ it wasn’t describing a character. It was describing a skin colour. A white man was described as a ‘man with a twinkle in his eye.’” The issue then lies in the idea that the white man or woman is capable of filling hundreds of roles and perspectives, while the person of colour can only fit the roles that parallel their stereotype: the slave, the token friend, the gangbanger, the maid, etc. When an actor of colour is capable of breaking through as a main character over a white actor, a chorus of ‘why’ soon follow; why cast a person of colour for the role? This phenomena has been demonstrated time and time again — most famously when Quvenzhané Wallis was casted to play Annie. It becomes clear that white becomes the default unless race is a relevant point in the story.

These representations, or lack thereof, represent the inability of the producers and writers to see past the wall of race.

But it also reveals a society in which systematic oppression based on race is reproduced in all facets, including culture and entertainment. #OscarsSoWhite is symptomatic of greater issues of lack of representation and should spark conversations that go beyond a critique of an “all white selection committee.” It is important to look at the structures that produce these films, the media environment that allows them to thrive, and finally the Academy that reinforces everyone’s choices.

“In the words of Viola Davis: “You can change

the Academy, but if there are no black films being produced, what is there to vote for?””

The Oscars deserve to be scrutinized, so it is necessary to take a critical look at the films and narratives that are being made, awarded, and reproduced. #OscarsSoWhite is a movement that shows consumers are ready to see a change in the white default; but it’s up to the critics and producers to catch up with the rest of us.

v.16.4// 11

openWIDE// ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

EVOLUTION OF THE GROUPIE // allie hafner

What comes to mind when we hear the term ‘groupie’? Most people think of a girl in the 60s or 70s that hangs around rock bands and sleeps with its members. Realistically, that’s not that far from the truth – but groupies actually did have a substantial impact on rock and roll culture. They were motivated by their love for the music; some inspired famous songs such as “Layla” by Eric Clapton and “Something” by The Beatles.

Eventually, people started to question groupie culture, and it came to have a negative connotation. This shift led to the rise of a feminist groupie counter-culture movement, Riot Grrrl. Nowadays, groupies are able to connect through online forums to support and advise each other through new communications media.

When rock music started gaining popularity in the 1960s and 70s, it attracted a mob of young groupies who followed bands on tour. One of the most popular groupies of that time was Pamela Des Barres, who wrote a memoir titled “I’m With the Band” (1987). In her memoir she details her time as Frank Zappa’s nanny and as the lover of both Jimmy Page and Mick Jagger.

Coming into the 1970s, a new kind of groupie culture started emerging – the ‘baby groupie.’ One such groupie was Lori Maddox, who had relations with David Bowie at the age of just 13. As groupies started getting younger and younger, people began to question whether groupie culture should be celebrated. In 1978, groupie Nancy Spungen was found dead in her bathroom at the Hotel Chelsea, where she was staying with her thenboyfriend – Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols. Spungen had been diagnosed with schizophrenia at age 15, and became known as “Nauseating Nancy” because of her frequent public displays of verbal abuse and violence.

After Spungen’s death in 1978, the connotation associated with the word ‘groupie’ took a turn for the worse.

Groupie now meant someone who is obsessed with fame and who is a negative influence on music commonly associated with hard drugs and bad behaviour.

The Riot Grrrl movement was initiated in the early 90s by women who felt they didn’t have a space in the culture of

12 //v.16.4

punk rock. The movement combined feminism and punk rock. These women felt they were pushed into the roles of ‘girlfriends’ of male rock stars – as the term ‘groupie’ developed a negative connotation, women wanted to stray away from their roles as romantic playthings of rock stars they worshipped. Women began creating their own fanzines, music, and art surrounding rock culture. They used these media to make political statements about issues such as double standards against women, domestic abuse, and female empowerment. This movement came to an end with the rise of the ‘Spice Girls’ era, but the pursuit of a place for women in the music industry is an ongoing movement.

With the rise of information and communications technology, modern groupies have many ways to connect with each other. Online forums allow groupies to warn each other about which musicians to stay away from, and also provide a place for groupies to give each other advice on how to safely and confidently pursue one’s groupie dreams. Tumblr blogs such as rockgroupies.tumblr.com bear the title “Life as A Rock Groupie” and give a brief bio: “Here we try to educate and help others on their way to groupiedom, as well as sharing some stories along the way!” People submit questions about how to initiate romantic flings with musicians as well as how to avoid vulnerability when involved in such flings. These forums give modern groupies access to a community that wasn’t available for groupies in the 60s and 70s. Women like Des Barres and Maddox still faced a lot of public criticism in the days when groupie culture was celebrated. Now, groupies can find refuge in these online forums where they can confide in each other. Before the Riot Grrrl movement, groupies weren’t as supportive of each other, and often fought over rock stars and developed feuds. In this new age of communication, women have more ways to support and encourage each other. This, in turn, fosters a community of women who can guide each other to avoid the concerns groupie lifestyles may present.

openWIDE// ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

no rest:

Macklemore recently released “White Privilege II,” a song that is so painfully hypocritical that it is almost unbearable. As a black student activist, I tried to ignore the song when I saw it trending: I highly doubted the guy who wrote “Thrift Shop” could tell me something about racism that I did not already know. Lo and behold, leave it to one of my friends, who, despite a few enlightening conversations, has never attended a Black Student Association event, to send me the link because it was a “good song.” I made it through the first minute, and closed it.

Listening to Macklemore navel-gaze for almost nine minutes seemed a little excessive. Listening to the song and some of Macklemore’s interviews, I find myself uninterested. This is not the first time Macklemore has spoken about white privilege, nor is it the first time, as a cisgender heterosexual white man, that he has used other people’s struggles to create pop anthems to buttress his own legacy and line his pockets.

Although, to be fair, they have a vague mission statement that says they are “[investing] our time, resources, finances and creative capacities towards

‘TIL MACKELMORE LETS OTHERS SPEAK //ALLAYNA EIZENGA

supporting black-led organizing and anti-racist education & discourse.”

Regardless, there is something deeply patronizing about someone from a privileged position speaking for the oppressed (or, whitesplaining, if you will). It’s like sitting in a meeting where your boss keeps ignoring your ideas until the douchebag with the terrible haircut starts pitching them and getting praised for it. “They were her ideas,” your douchebag coworker mentions offhandedly, while accepting a raise.

The thing is, while Macklemore is actually the worst, what hurts more is how well he is received in the media (something he even brings up in “White Privilege II”). It is a glaring reminder that no matter how many black people speak about white privilege, no one will take it seriously until a white guy says it.

The issue with racism, classism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, colourism, and the plethora of different dimensions of oppression that are ideologically ingrained in us is that they are hard to shake.

Within activist movements, hierarchical patterns become recreated so that even within these alleged “safe spaces,”

certain lived experiences are rendered silent, while others are amplified. A perfect example of this is within the Black Lives Matter movement and the misogynoir it exemplifies by focusing on solely cisgender black men.

I am not angry that Macklemore decided to speak about an issue I care about; I am angry because it forces me to acknowledge two things.

Firstly, the blatant disparity between whose voices have social gravitas and whose do not. Secondly, the fact that there are some people in the world who might learn about white privilege, for the first time ever, from a subpar rap by a white man who appropriates black culture.

It becomes especially salient when one thinks about how many other people have explained the basic tenets of anti-racism, only to have it fall on deaf ears.

The question becomes not what are you listening to, but who are you listening to?

Who are you rewarding for speaking up about certain issues, and who are you marginalizing further into silence? v.16.4// 13

openWIDE// WESTERN LIFE

USC President to Slate to PVP: where are they going next?

University Students’ Council elections is an annual event that happens on campus in January-February. It would be nice to say it’s a big event with many students engaged, discussing and debating platforms, but alas, that’s not the case. Since 2012, the system to elect USC executives has changed quite a bit with many different proposals.

The Evolution of the Slate System In 2012, then-USC president, Adam Fearnall decided to radically change the USC executive structure. He proposed students elect a slate of three candidates (President, Vice President Internal, and Vice President External) together instead of just electing the USC President. This means, if a candidate wants to run for President, they need to find two people to run alongside.

Also, it was proposed that the winning slate have the power to hire the rest of their executive: Vice President Communications, Vice President Finance, and Vice President Student Events. The idea to have the elected slate hire their executive team was strongly criticized

by The Gazette and was rejected by council after a heavy debate. The three executive positions remained to be elected by USC council (made up of faculty and affiliate presidents, councillors, and executives) until 2014.

Fast forward to 2014, then-USC president, Matt Helfand wanted to have the executive selection altered again. He proposed that the VP Communications position and the Chief of Staff intern position be merged in the role of Communications Officer. He further proposed VP Finance be given more governance responsibility and the position be called Secretary14 //v.16.4

// Arjun Singh Treasurer. After much debate, this passed at Council.

This year, the three person slate system celebrated three years of existence, but no one was actually celebrating but instead brainstorming its removal. So currentUSC president Sophie Helpard proposed to change the system again. The new system asked students to elect a slate of two candidates, President and Vice President.

The Vice President would advocate for students to all levels of government and campus administration. It would combine a lot of the responsibilities held by VP Internal and VP External bringing the USC executive from a team of six to a team of five.

A lot of the responsibilities held by VP Internal dealt with the front-end delivery of services reducing the time left for advocacy. In the proposal, these responsibilities will be passed on to the new role of Student Programming Officer (SPO) so the new combined Vice President role can focus solely on internal and external advocacy efforts. The SPO blends the current role of VP Student Events with the role of supervising any programming and services offered by the USC. The executive wanted the position to be hired through a “community hiring” process where anyone in the campus community could interview candidates in a town hall facilitated by Human Resources. This would replace the previous internal council election method where incoming and outgoing councillors would cast their votes.

In my four years at Western, there has been some kind of governance change every year. Now has it worked?

Let’s see.

openWIDE// WESTERN LIFE

2012/ 2013 2013/ 2014

There were 3 slates with only one female president candidate. Voter turnout was low and there was a system hack that led to revoting and a delayed announcement of election results.

There were only two slates with one slate candidate being a graduate student who found a loophole in the bylaw to be eligible to run. Voter turnout was 19.6%.

2014/ 2015

There were only two slates again, but there was more gender parity with three men and three women. The winning slate won by 32 votes and was disqualified two months after an appeals board recalculated election rule violations. Voter turnout was 23.7% with more people voting for the Marching Band referendum than a USC slate - in fact, 1,314 voters out of a total 7,747 abstained from voting for in the USC slate category altogether.

2015/ 2016

The most recent election started out unpromising when in the last week of nominations, there was still only one slate running. This was the first election with the two person slate model. As the deadline approached, four more slates signed up, some within hours of the deadline. It was going to be the most exciting race since the arrival of the slate system, but a few days into the election, two slates withdrew. Voter turnout was 24.1% and 10.1% abstained from voting in the USC presidential election.

What happened to democracy?

Before the era of the slate system, voter turnout averaged around 30%. It was not great, but it was definitely better than what we see now. Pre-slate system era, the USC elections saw more candidates running for president, and more diversity among candidates.

One could argue students needed time to warm up to the slate system which is why voter turnout was so low.

But voter turnout for the USC executive still stands out as low despite this - especially when people are actively choosing to abstain. More and more students seem frustrated with the lack of diverse candidates on campus.

The USC walks a fine line between being a council and being a corporation. There needs to be a balance between picking competent executives that meet the job requirements and executives that work for and represent the students and were chosen through a form of democracy.

The slate system limits how much say a student has in who represents them by bundling executives together.

Often times, students say they’d rather pick one person

from one slate but not their running mate. Unable to exert full independence over their decision, it becomes really easy to be apathetic about it all. If the USC wants to engage students, it has to provide students the independence to pick their representatives and not be entangled in a “Buy One, Get One/Two Free” scheme. However, in practise to have students be fully content with their representatives is a dream. We should acknowledge not everyone will be pleased with the election results. It is a valid concern when students feel forced to compromise for the “lesser of the two evils” when picking a slate. It is important to draw attention to how more students choose to not vote at all or skip the USC slate category. The system isn’t perfect, but it needs to be willing to change and adapt to what the students are saying.

v.16.4// 15

openWIDE//WESTERN WESTERNLIFE LIFE openWIDE//

Alternative Spring Break: Why Volunteering Aboard Won’t Fix Your White Saviour Complex // Maailah Blackwood 16 //v.16.4

It’s that time of year again; it’s Alternative Spring Break Season (ASB) — a program run by several universities across North America that gives students the opportunity to travel and volunteer their time toward helping the “less fortunate”. Groups of wide eyed and eager students who are ready to actively engage in community service projects venture off for a weeklong project intended to enrich one’s cultural experience, as well as provide some much needed help.

The campaign features millennials – usually Caucasians – building houses, teaching children how to read, or spending their time playing with these children in the hopes of making them feel better about their “unfortunate” circumstances. Occasionally, you’ll see a person of colour on the posters, undoubtedly there to give the impression that, “ASB isn’t about white saviour complex, because people of colour do it too.”

One of the many problems with this ASB is “white guilt” masquerading as altruism. It’s the epitome of the white man’s need to save these poor people living in the developing world. The proof is in the pudding.

All the countries featured are located in the global south; Jamaica, Peru, Ghana, Mexico, and so on. Country selection has nothing to do with the fact that they have lower standards of living, but with the people and how “At the culmination of this trip the student must think, ”Wow, thank God this isn’t my life.” This begs the question: Are you there to truly appreciate this new cultural opportunity or are you there to make yourself feel guilty about having all these luxuries that they don’t have?”

they are perceived. It is easy to look outside the Western bubble and pinpoint the poor Jamaican kid that needs clean water and proper education. In fact, it is quite lazy. An Indigenous child in Canada is in as much need for help as a Jamaican child. While the Indigenous peoples of Canada struggle to acquire clean water, it is still seen as more charitable to fly halfway across the world to build wells in African villages. If a student truly wants to make a difference, it would be a lot less expensive and much more helpful to start in Canada.

openWIDE// WESTERN LIFE

your mind and experience the beauty of a country with over 100 ethnic groups, each with its own unique history, a place so rich with natural resources that it was once referred to as “the golden coast,” and the friendly, hospitable people willing to open their arms and share their experience with you. You did not fly miles to appreciate the culture, you flew miles to appreciate your own.

Now, let’s get to the most ridiculous part of ASB: the cost. On top of the $40,000 you will likely spend at the end of your ungrad, you are also willing to spend $4,000 on a weeklong trip with the hope of impacting the lives of the people you help? How does that make sense? Sure, it’s experience that ASB is nothing more than will make your résumé standout from those of other students a facade designed to make who’ve only got a degree, but is it worth it? Now that you’ve Western teenagers and young received your volunteer experience, do you actually care adults feel better about their own about the people who were suppose to be receiving this living situations, while pitying “help”? It was nothing more than an attempt at providing aid, so at the end of the day you could pat yourself on the presumably “needy children.” back for being a philanthropic saviour. If you are so hung up on volunteering during spring break, ASB also runs local programs designed to spread altruism domestically — An ASB trip can cost between $2,000 and you can spend your spring break helping at home, or even $4,000 – nearly half a year’s tuition – for a donating half of what you would spend on ASB to a local food weeklong program that is intended to help bank. These are some ways you can actually help those in “impact a community,” while exploring need. What? Are the tax receipts you get back from donations and taking part in a new culture. That’s one not as gratifying as sharing that photo of the poor smiling expensive impact. During this week students African kid? ASB is nothing more than a facade designed to are expected to live like the locals. This make Western teenagers and young adults feel better about means sleeping in a rural village, eating local their own living situations, while pitying presumably “needy cuisine – often a small portion to represent children”. It is a convenient excuse to forget the pain and the lack of food these people have – and suffering faced by Indigenous people in their own land and working hard to get a glimpse of the tough a waste of money to superficially explore cultures. People in life these people lead. The point of this Jamaica, Ghana, Mexico, and Argentina don’t need your pity aspect of the trip is to instill gratitude and or your pseudo-altruism. They need your country and your humility within these privileged Western government to stop enforcing unfair international economic visitors. At the culmination of this trip policies designed to keep them dependant on these kinds of the student must think, ”Wow, thank God “aid”; they need access and control to their own resources this isn’t my life.” This begs the question: to foster economic growth; and they need the West to stop Are you there to truly appreciate this new painting this picture of victimhood. cultural opportunity or are you there to make yourself feel guilty about having all I know I’d rather see a bunch of privileged kids actually these luxuries that they don’t have? When changing the system that’s keeping the third world children you spend a week and $4,000 in Ghana and from prospering. Wouldn’t you? all you can remember is poverty and sadness then you did not gain anything the culture has to offer. You missed a chance to open v.16.4// 17

8

openWIDE// WESTERN LIFE

Simple Reminders To Check Yourself

// amal matan

If you can sit through a theory-based class and you’re still not able to turn said ‘theories’ into a practical life approach, then please feel free to tattoo all these reminders to your face.

1

It’s not just a theory, it’s someone’s life.

Race, gender identity, and sexuality are all layers of everyone’s identity. We live in a world where oppressive structures give some people more privileges than others. When the theories you learn aren’t applied, the roots of oppression aren’t addressed. This directly affects someone’s safety, quality of life, and, at times, whether they may live or die. The theories “Dismissing the you learn in class and the examples you see with your eyes are something you may never fully understand or experience, but that doesn’t mean you should disregard them. real experiences of Dismissing the real experiences of oppressed peoples as a theory or a concept is an exercise oppressed peoples as of your privilege, and guess what: it’s showing. Dismissing the real experiences of oppressed a theory or a concept peoples as a theory or a concept is an exercise of your privilege, and guess what: it’s showing.

It's not about you

“It’s not about you getting educated on these issues so you can look good. This is about the betterment of society for all, not a select few.”

3

is an exercise of your privilege, and guess what: it’s showing.”

Let’s say that again, it’s not about you. This is one of the simplest things to wrap around your head. Oppression is a system. It exists around individuals and not within individuals. Structures that affect our ideas of race and gender impact both the underprivileged and privileged alike through our perceptions of each other. For a privileged individual to disregard the existence of oppressive structures for a variety of reasons (having a black president, Caitlyn Jenner’s vogue cover, etc) is another way to be passive. Understand that being non-racist is not the same as being anti-racist. Being a decent human being isn’t too much to ask. Your personal inconvenience does not matter. It’s not about you getting educated on these issues so you can look good. This is about the betterment of society for all, not a select few.

2

get out your perspective right now and look at your own bias.

Stop adhering to what’s comfortable. Get out of that status quo view. Don’t tell someone who’s marginalized to look through the standard white, patriarchal, heteronormative gaze. And please, don’t even think about saying “relax” or “chill” or even dismissing someone as that angry emotional person of colour. When you do, you become one of the various reasons why they’re frustrated.

18 //v.16.4

4

realize that you feeling offended when people call out your privilege perpetuates the status quo.

If you feel offended with that call out, then you might have some of your soul left to salvage. Now it’s time to use your head as an adult. If you can’t reconcile with the fact that you have privilege then that means you’re not recognizing the fact that you benefit from a system built for you. It also means you aren’t fully recognizing that the same system works through the oppression of others.

6

blanket statements [humanists, all lives matter, etc] are lazy and dismissive.

They’re bullshit dodges around real issues that need to be addressed. It disregards privileges given to individuals by oppressive structures that value certain lives, cultures, religions, gender identities, sexual orientations over others in a hierarchy. It’s the equivalent of sending a fire truck to hose down the entire street rather than the one burning house because #ALLHOUSESMATTER.

8

stop asking people of colour, members of of the queer community, and others for undue and unsolicited intellectual labour.

I am not your Google. Google is there for you – it’s alive and well. However, I will say Google isn’t always too accurate and you as a university student should be able to find good resources and great information on whatever pleases you. You are capable of differentiating the FOX News stats (or CNN aka Diet FOX News) from Gloria Steinham from Kim Katrin from Malcolm X. So go do it, awake yourself and never stop.

REVERSE RACISM DOES NOT EXIST. Some person of colour calling you out for your BS, making you feel slightly uncomfortable, doesn’t equate to a systematic backing of racist history.

European peoples have not been oppressed in the same way as people of colour considering colonization. Don’t bring up the Irish. Just shush. Stop there. Enough. Let it sink in, and if it still hasn’t then watch Aamer Rahman’s Fear of a Brown Planet sketch “Reverse Racism” on YouTube. If that still doesn’t work for you.

Lather, rinse and repeat if necessary.

5

Don't take up space for marginalized individuals to speak. Be a good ally If you want to be a decent ally, the first step is realizing that you know nothing about lots of things. That’s all. If you walk into a space with a know-it-all woke attitude about marginalization you haven’t experienced than why are you there? With that kind of attitude you’re more likely to be problematic than progressive.

7

When a privileged person comes in and takes space up from others, it looks like they’re either: A) Commending their own wokeness B) Fulfilling some kind of saviour narrative C) Trying to fulfill some guilt through patronizing/ liberating the group D) Looking for a gold star and a cookie for being a decent human being capable of reason E) All of the above.

There is always something to learn. Your role as an ally is to listen and support, first and foremost. Part of being an ally means hushing up so affected groups can speak when they need to speak. It’s knowing when and how to speak with your privilege in mind.

“Part of being an ally means hushing up so affected groups can speak when they need to speak. It’s knowing when and how to speak with your privilege in mind”

v.16.4// 19

openWIDE// CREATIVE WESTERN LIFE

CAISA FASHION SHOW: A HISTORY // SAMAH ALI This article offers a glimpse into CAISA Fashion Show, one of many clubs on campus making small but significant impacts in their community and London.

18 years ago, a certain someone on the Canadian Asian International Student Association (CAISA) led and produced the first ever CAISA production. Earning its name as the largest student run fashion show in Ontario, CAISA Fashion Show (CFS) is known for its cutting edge production and elaborate performances. Carving a distinct space and name for itself, CFS is arguably the most influential fashion show Western has to offer, operating under 60 executive members and 60 models to make one unforgettable spectacle.

Starting off as the hallmark event within the identity group, CFS eventually grew

“The fashion show works towards a $30,000 donation going towards a different designated branch of the foundation every year— this year’s being personalized medical research.” to have its own executive branch with members in three sections: front house, back house, and design. Although the team may not fit under the same identity group that started it all, they still give homage to their history and shared beginnings.

CFS also shows immense loyalty with their humanitarian efforts to the same organization for the past 18 years, the Children’s Health Foundation.

The fashion show works towards a $30,000 donation going towards a different designated branch of the foundation every year— this year’s being personalized medical research. Their longtime contribution has earned themselves the CAISA room within the foundation and has also attracted other vendors and students to participate with their dedicated efforts and relationships. CFS has also been known to boost student talent and local businesses.

20 //v.16.4

Collaborations with Western clubs like UWO Breakers and Hip Hop Western are often brought in to help out with choreography and models have booked shoots with local businesses. Local aerial artists and magicians have also been booked depending on the year’s theme as well as clothing from local entrepreneurs and student fashion designers are selected for scenes in the show. With connections all over town through sponsorships and promotion, CFS values their relationships with London businesses and organizations and makes efforts to break out of the notorious Western bubble in their impact.

With this year’s sponsors being Social Science Student Council, Virgin Radio, and Lexus of London and partnering with

“With connections all over town through sponsorships and promotion, CFS values their relationships with London businesses and organizations and makes efforts to break out of the notorious Western bubble in their impact.”

Centennial Hall again, CFS looks to put on their 18th show called Paragon — set in a dystopian society where one rebel decides to lead a revolution. The show will take place on one night only, March 19th. It’s the accumulation of all the efforts from their 120-membered team and clocks should be set for the assured night of entertainment. Funding a branch of medicine that will pioneer the way kids live for the future, the show only looks to serve the Children’s Health Foundation justice for the 18th year in a row. It’ll be the event of the year, perfectly timed in the middle of March, and it’s definitely something to do on the Western Bucket list. If you’re going, get ready. If you’re not, change your mind. CAISA Fashion show is an experience you don’t want to miss and, considering the theme, you definitely want to be a part of this revolution.

openWIDE// CREATIVE

//AJ WINECK

Simon Frimble left Taylor Library at closing time.

He lazily pushed his way through the exit. The winter winds welcomed him outside. The cold bit at his cheek. He stood alone amongst the crowd, anxiously waiting for the 6 bus.

And then he saw her. Hair the colour of autumn spilled out from her toque, skin as white as the snow on the ground, eyes as icy as the frozen Thames River. Holy shit. She was the one.

As the 6 pulled in, he inched closer to her, hoping to be near her as they boarded. But as the bus stopped in front of the building, she stepped back. She wasn’t boarding the 6 at all. She was one of them 10 Wonderland randoms.

Better to lose love than to have it at all... or something like that. No ya, that’s what that phrase is, thought Simon as he sheepishly boarded the bus. He was crushed. His chance to meet his “one” was gone forever. He slumped down into a seat at the top of the stairs, then brought his head up to scan the crowd, looking for hope. And then he saw her. Hair black as the night, flecks of snow dispersed throughout like stars in the sky. Eyes green as grapes. Green grapes. Her smile was inviting as a wedding invitation. There was something mischievous about her. Simon couldn’t explain it. But he liked it. She had to be the one.

He yearned to speak with her, but she was a full three meters away, and across a sea of bus riders. So he stared and stared, hoping their eyes would meet so they could exchange a smile, a wink, anything. But nothing came. She exited the bus at the Gates, and that was it. Simon was defeated by circumstance again. Another chance at his soulmate, his “one,” lost forever. Hey God, it’s me, Simon. Same question as last time. Can you just make like one girl think I’m hot enough to be at least looked at or something I dunno. That would be really great. Please.

Right then, his prayers were answered. He heard the voice of an angel call down to him. “Is this seat taken?” she asked, gesturing towards the seat currently occupied by his bag. He lifted his head out of his hands and looked up to her.

“Thank you,” he blurted out in a sigh of relief. Oh shit was that out loud.

“Huh?” Yep.

“Hmm? Oh, uh no,” Simon nervously said. He moved his bag on to the floor in front of him and shifted over.

“Great, thanks!” she sang to him, or at least that’s how Simon heard it. She was beautiful. Features as soft as the season’s first snowfall. Eyes as brown as the slush on the ground. He watched her as she sat down, peeking at her phone to see what she was listening to. “Coming Home” by Leon Bridges.

Oh man. This was actually it. She was the one. He began to imagine their life together. How many kids they would have, what they would name them, where they would live, what their first fight would be about, how they would dread visiting the in-laws. Everything. It was magnificent. And within his grasp. He suddenly snapped back to reality when she reached over him to pull the yellow wire, signalling the bus to stop. He was running out of time. Now was his chance.

He looked over to her and tried to improvise a big romantic monologue. But the words never came. She got up, smiled down to him, and went out into the night. And that was it.

This cycle repeated itself a few more times before Simon got off the bus at Central. It’s OK, Simon thought, this isn’t a movie. That’s not how people actually meet. If I saw those girls out it would be different. I’d slay. He went home, told his roommates he saw the hottest girls on the bus, and that was that. He never thought of those “ones” again. So it goes.

v.16.4// 21

openWIDE// CREATIVE

Lead. Inspire. Synergy. // stephanie gordon Having had been part of the USC for so long, I feel best equipped to be your next USC president because I have no work experience elsewhere. I hope you read through an exhaustive list of all my platform points and goals on how I plan to improve issues with student engagement.

Advocacy I will support students by communicating their concerns and suggestions to an administration that has been doing the same thing for years. But I’m different.

Having your voice heard I love students! I am a student! I want to hear your voices, so I will install MEGAPHONES across campus so your complaints can be amplified and HEARD! Volume is the biggest barrier to having your concerns listened to, so let’s HEAR THE VOICES OF WESTERN.

OUSA Who cares?!

LTC I will pull money out of thin air and give it to the most grossly underfunded public transport system within a 200 mile radius. I take the bus! I know what it’s like to wait – and I, as President of a Corporation within a larger for-profit Corporation, will affect change on the municipal affairs of a city I only plan on spending 5 years in.

O-WEEK SOPHS! I will give $5 honorarium to all sophs so they’ll tell their frosh to vote for me. I was a soph once so I’ll make a great president because I <3 WESTERN and I once paid $80 to help kids move their luggage into residence.

London + You You’re all stuck in the Western Bubble! I will help burst it for you by making sure that there are jobs once you graduate! I have the power to change the economic climate!

The Spoke As the most prominent food establishment on campus, I had to put in somewhere in my platform to appear relatable.

Thank you for reading my platform, I’m excited to reach 1 in 5 of you.

Mental Health Nothing cures depression faster than throwing money at the problem! Your anxiety will go away as I add AN EXTRA FLOOR to the UCC for all things mental health.

The floor will feature three new bean-bag chairs and an extension of the Purple Store: The Purple Store Express.

None of this will be accomplished or even started during my time as president though!

New USC Website Students are online and I know that. I plan to make a new costly interactive website and hopefully this technological initiative makes the USC seem more approachable to students. I mean we’re just a click away just like all the other sites you have meaningful relationships with!

22 //v.16.4

Be an informed voter! Check out my music video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=noTuruscvPX Finally, don’t forget to vote – because student government single-handedly has the biggest effect on your post-secondary experience.

openWIDE// CREATIVE

MY FELLOW MUSTANGS

// paige ozvald

My name is Paige Ozvald. Most of you ask; Who am I? Well...I am a student of this fine orifice. Just like you. So I know what shit is good.

When I look around this conglomeration of knowledge, I see the promised land. But I guess you could say, I also see the PROBLEM land. Amirite ladies?

It was just the other day, I was talking with a dear, dear friend of mine. That friend was talking about the setup of the mental health wellness center on campus; the lines are so long that it is nearly impossible to see someone at an appropriate time. That friend also spoke about how many literary based courses are giving out Scantron exams in order for the TA’s to return them quicker, yet they all still look overworked and you get the feeling that they are grossly underpaid. That, my fellow Mustangs was when I decided to run for USC president; because it was then, that my eyes widened, and I started to see the real problems on this campus.

Because the lines at the mental health wellness center are too long, I propose that we build the Western University Mental Health Services Addition; an entirely new state of the art waiting building. Spend those 1-5 months waiting for your appointment in complete comfort. We’ll even put in showers so you never have to leave the windowless building. Boom, problem solved. Lead. Inspire. Synergy.

When your MIT professors give you a Scantron to test your knowledge of Marx and Foucault, I propose that we simply re-upholster the seats in the lecture hall to make that grueling time a little more comfortable. For all TAs who look weary, we will give you the opportunity to buy more Tim Horton’s so you can get your food quicker.

Because consumerism is a privilege, not a right. Boom.

Lead. Inspire. Synergy.

Furthermore there are certain issues, which all students face and only students can understand. The USC president should not speak on behalf of the world’s most powerful Atlantic mining companies, nor on behalf of Mazda or DANONE, nor on behalf of the drug front being run out of the UCC basement protein store; they should speak on behalf of the people. But at the end of the day someone needs to pay for something, so they’re fine as is and we’re very grateful for all they do for us. Hashtag bless amirite.

But we, my dear Mustangs, are strong as horses, and we will not quit when moments turn rough. When the Spoke runs out of bacon bits, we will buy more pigs and hire unskilled, underpaid laborers to make more!

When AEO statuses are lost, we will get them back! When the entire school is put on an austerity budget, we won’t do anything because it is totally and completely fine. Mustangs we are not a group that will go silently into the night. We are not a group that will stop! Mostly because with all of these labs and essays we do not have time to stop! This is our school, our home. It deserves to be controlled by us. So on election day, for Paige for Prez, vote for democracy, and most of all, vote for soda in the drinking fountains.

Pce & luv & synergy -P

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openWIDE// CREATIVE

EXPERIMENTAL POEM SELLING: Captains of Consciousness Consuming life SELLING: Desire, Postwar Democracy, Politics, and History SELLING: the American Dream Selling: public opinion, public opinion Critical Anxiety Consumer Society Philosophical Questions: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Lowering Higher Lies 2nd edition 3rd edition 4th edition

Manufacturing Guilt. Classic. anyone selling the law?

BUYING culture consciousness noise consciousness, back when they existed just for some nostalgia SELLING: LOTS Slaughterhouse to Women’s War Understanding FREE Resistance Utopia, Utopia, Optimism, Utopia Questions Selling killer Journalism

BUYING: Public Opinion Looking to buy Money for Nothing Selling Critical Thinking for 50 dollars. really good condition See translation Looking for a third female to fill Western Fight Club!

Brand new hasn’t been used. message me Hey MIT folks, help a friend out and complete our content Selling Love Hey guys! graduate tomorrow night.

Open to all FIMS students get your questions answered!

Are you a sexual teen! keep an eye out for another night to remember. contact any of our representatives

24 //v.16.4

Are you a sexual teen! keep an eye out for another night to remember. contact any of our representatives wear white.

There will be a photo booth, prizes!

We’re all searching for diverse experiences whats up please do my survey MIT students remain undefeated. Their success continued. the centre - is actually the centre!

Western student invested in the student’s point of view and Awakening everyone little kids telling Donald Trump to f*** off!

Guys, I’m an inventor now. Just call me Newton.

Time is running out! favourite professor John Reed: doing more smile emoticon Don’t forget to be heard.

If any wants to get into work I’ll be abke to give you a job after your graduate buying experience Need MIT Hero, plus $20 AMAZING explore interactive panels on discounted vodka, Jager, Sol, and Canadian. a free BBQ get hype and get your freak on $5 $9 $3.75 $100 Having problems? Check Communication In Context !! Urgent Hey MIT! Ivey Obtaining $30MM funding Could someone message me please!! I will buy you starbucks!

openWIDE// CREATIVE

Taken from Posts in Media, Information, and Technoculture — Open Group within Western //REBECCA SERENA

buying: American Born Chinese Buying: Global Power Please inbox me if SELLING

Claims to Intelligent World Media Critiquing Women Advertising The American Dream 9780195430189 Evil 041524207X Canadian 9780195446746 Evil M11217 Globalization 9781118687123 SELLING Palestine BUYING Women SELLING: MIT FIRST YEAR (msg for price) Selling prof Aitken Entertainment Influences Popular Perspectives, Power, and Inequality the MIT condition The Intelligent Claims to SELLING Media Are Prisons SELLING Musems and history smile emoticon BUYING: Social Media Also Buying MIT 3000 tongue emoticon Buying: MIT 3000 - Media Effects Research BUYING: MIT 3000 BUYING: MIT 300 Buying: MIT 3000 BUYING MIT 3000 Media Effects Research Selling Voices of Sheeps The business of depression over $20 for the 1st session and more is expected selling: society SELLING: Humans $70 - $30 - $20

Bananas $30 - $15 BUYING: Kids, Women smile emoticon SELLING: David - Philip - Svetlana - Garald - Maria - Tom

you know you want it..

SELLING!! — Dream Voices from Citizens in Canada BUYING: Kids, Women smile emoticon SELLING: David - Philip - Svetlana - Garald - Maria - Tom

you know you want it..

Canadian Communication is creative, passionate, and ambitious.

Our goal is to make a more accessible Nation Kids Fight Androids and Democracy Ghost Nations Read Memes in Voices Representing The Gendered Society they are all in very good condition! smile emoticon [Great condition.] Selling for cheap, need gone asap! good condition. awesome condition. good condition. awesome condition.

America Claims Contemporary America The Intelligent Critiquing Absolutely no Truth After We Kill You smile emoticon Love/Narrative of the Life Fight (Introducing Imagination) Designing & Redesigning The American Dream Join the idea we want to make everyone Enjoy!! Consumption + Captains of Society Merciii

v.16.4// 25

openWIDE// CREATIVE

ZINE CANADA

SILENTLY WONDERING, “WHY BOTHER?” SINCE 1906

ZINE CANADA EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

RESIGNS IN LIGHT OF MORE POPULAR COOLER SATIRE PLATFORM, THE WESTERN BEET

Established to be a parody of The Gazette back in 2011, Zine Canada is now in its last days. The semi-well known satirical newspaper admirably fought to bring punchy headlines in every issue of Openwide. Recently, the exponential growth of the infinitely cooler online news source The Western Beet has cast a shadow over the writers’ room for the Zine. When asked for comment Erica Wallis, current Openwide creative editor and subsequent Zine Canada editor-in-chief, replied, “I don’t want to talk about it.” We shall respect her wishes and leave her to be during this time of grief.

The strain on the print world and their impending dismissal have current Zine writing staff looking for more lucrative positions. Fortunately, they have been offered massive signing bonuses to lend their proven talents to The Western Beet. Their salaries will be heavily subsidized by a bribe given to the Beet by Palin-Cohen during the USC Elections campaign in exchange for an endorsement. Zine Canada staff reassure Openwide staff that they shall not comprise their critical stance in light of being funded by the intelligent, dashing, and superior Team Palin-Cohen.

In the meantime, for all your satire needs, visit thewesternbeet.com because fuck it, we give up.

REJECTED USC

CAMPAIGN SLOGANS

DEATH BY FIRING SQUAD BECOMES NEW PUNISHMENT FOR PLAGARISM

Librarians: Guardians of Citations are armed and ready

AMIT CHAKMA TO RECEIVE $490

• Peace. Land. Bread.

MILLION DOLLARS AS VACATION PAY 315% increase in tuition reportedly unrelated • Just like your Big Brother ANCIENT GODS NOT PLEASED WITH SLATE SELECTION; SKIES DARKEN, • Maximizing your return USC FIRE AND BRIMSTONE RAIN DOWN ON CAMPUS must appease our Lords with a token sacrifice” on investment through “We Chakma streamlined synergistic HILLARY CLINTON WINS USC ELECTION operational efficiencies Publicist comments “Well it’s not the right country, but at least it’s the millennial vote” • Y U NO VOTE WRAPS THEMSELVES IN DEAD • Swipe right for progress STUDENT MUSTANG CARCASS TO KEEP WARM AFTER 26 //v.16.4

HIKE UP UC HILL

Western University chosen as location for Revenant 2

openWIDE// CREATIVE

STUDENT SPOTS MUSTANG EXPRESS LATE SATURDAY NIGHT

FACULTY OF FLACONRY

LTC FUNDED STUDY FINDS BUSES

New Bird Courses to be revealed in the 2016-17 Academic Calender

Turns out it is an actual herd of mustangs

ALWAYS ON TIME AND IT IS US WHO ARE WRONG Figures show the 18 bus is “not useless”

THERAPY SNAKES CANCELLED AS CHAMBER OF SECRETS IS OPENED Enemies of the heir beware

NUTRITION STORE IN UCC BASEMENT

BUSTED AS A DRUG FRONT AFTER STUDENT PURCHASES PROTEIN CONTAINER FILLED

WITH METHAMPHETAMINES

“Best workout of my goddamn life” - Chad Roberts Jr. (3rd year Kin)

GROUNDHOG DAY REVEALED SPRING COMES EARLY Just like your ex-boyfriend

STUDENT DEEPLY UNDERSTANDS THE VALUE OF VOLUNTEER

WORK JUST IN TIME FOR APPLICATION DEADLINE

“It feels good to give back to the country of Africa” - Student wrote

630 GALLONS OF PURPLE FOOD DYE

TO BE DUMPED IN POOL, REC CENTRE SHOWERS, AND THAMES RIVER FOR NEXT FOUNDERS DAY Engineering students revolt #purpleandplagarism

TO BE INAUGURATED

NEXT YEAR

WELLNESS EVENT: EXAMS

Main Advice: Do Well on Your Exams

MAFIA DONS TO REPLACE

RESIDENCE DONS IN SAUGEEN TO CRACK

DOWN ON CRIME Red velvet ropes mark out territory in the cafeteria

IVEY BUILDING CONTINUES TO SINK

Architects didn’t take into account the weight of egos

STUDENT RAISED BY WOLVES BIDS TO

RECLAIM WORD ‘SAVAGE’ Everyone gently advised to avoid wolf den in ravine behind NCB

FOOT PATROL DITCHES HOVERBOARD TRUDEAU LEGALIZES FLEET FOLLOWING BUDGET CUTS MURDER Resorts to light up shoes instead RICK MCGHIE SIGNS LIFETIME DEAL TO

DEF JAM RECORDS “About fucking time” - Rick

FREE TUITION OFFERED IN TIM HORTON’S

ROLL UP THE RIM

Student goes broke buying coffee

“Because it’s 2016”

STUDENT THINKS

GOING ON REDDIT

MAKES HIM INTELLIGENT Raises hand in first-year tutorial constantly

FIMS STUDENTS PROTEST “FIMSSC OFFICE PARTY”

ARGUING IT PROMOTES CAPITALISTIC IDEALS

“Why are we celebrating the alienation of labour in the modern office?”

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