The Queen's Journal, Volume 145, Issue 5

the journal

Queen’s University

Vol. 145, Issue 5

Friday Sept 15, 2017

since 1873

Several Con-Ed Teaches de-leadered prior to Orientation Week

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY JUSTICE KING

A Con-Ed orientation leader (teach).

Con Ed students engaged in hickey party, a tradition that was banned by SOARB last year S arina G rewal Assistant News Editor Prior to the start of 2017 Orientation Week, several Concurrent Education faculty orientation leaders were de-leadered due to their alleged participation in a ‘hickey party.’ The tradition, practiced annually by Teaches, was banned last year by the Senate Orientation Activities Review Board (SOARB).

The hickey party is an unsanctioned event that occurs in the days before the start of Orientation Week. At a house party, all participating Teaches give each other hickeys on their necks, which are later incorporated into a chant in the presence of the first year students.

SOARB was made aware of this party during the 2016 Orientation Week. SOARB Co-chairs Brandon Jamieson, ArtSci ‘18, and Bittu George, the Alumni Association

representative on SOARB, discussed the events in question with The Journal.

During the interview, George explained that SOARB met with the 2016 Teach Executive in the fall of last year to confirm the party’s existence. The executive was then allowed the opportunity to justify the continuation of the tradition, via a statement given to SOARB and the Faculty of Education.

Ultimately, this correspondence with the Teach Executive led to SOARB’s decision to ban the party for future years, as, according to George, “members of the board at the time were not satisfied with their response.”

This year’s Teaches were explicitly informed of the ban on the hickey party, as SOARB took issue with the potential for reluctant participation.

“If people feel like they’re [being] coerced and are forced into this, then we have an objection,” George said.

In spite of these warnings, several Teaches reportedly engaged in the party anyway.

Subsequently, SOARB was notified by the Alma Mater Society (AMS) of the suspected incident, alongside the Faculty of Education, the Concurrent Education Students’ Association (CESA) and the Orientation Roundtable (ORT).

6,000 Kingston students receiving free tuition this year with new OSAP

Ontario post-secondary applications increase by 10 per cent, over 200,000 receive grants I ain S herriff -S cott Assistant News Editor

This year more than 6,000 postsecondary students in Kingston received free tuition through new changes to the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP), according to the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development.

The changes were implemented in February 2016, with Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne’s government promising free tuition for most applicants, more grants for low-income students and a streamlined application process.

Under the new program, households with See Teaches on page 4 an income of $50,000 or less are eligible for

free tuition and anyone from a household that makes less than $175,000 is eligible for some sort of funding.

Another notable change to OSAP is the new repayment assistance policy, which gives students more breathing room to pay back their Ontario student loans. Starting in 2018, students will be able to wait until they’re making over $35,000 to begin repaying their loans.

Now with the academic year under way, the results of the new policy are starting to take shape. According to the Ministry’s website, “applications to OSAP grew by more than 10 per cent in 2017, compared to last year,” and “more than 210,000 students will receive free tuition,” across the province this year.

Liberal MPP Sophie Kiwala (Kingston and the Islands), said in a press release that the changes to OSAP will have a “generational impact in the lives of students and in the future of Ontario.”

See OSAP on page 4

WHAT’S INSIDE?

EDITORIALS

OPINIONS

SPORTS

LIFESTYLE

University District signs are unwelcomed during move-in day

Why Queen’s need to do more to support sexual assault survivors

An in-depth look at the decline of fans at not only Queen’s games, but across the OUA as well

Why one student didn’t report her sexual assault to the police

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News

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Friday, sept 15 2017

MOVE-IN DAY

“Daughter Drop off” sign sparks small protest outside of Brock St. house Students, AMS and University speak out against offensive move-in day signs

IaIn SherrIff-Scott Assistant News Editor This article first appeared online on September 12.

One day after Queen’s welcomed the Class of 2021, a group of individuals chose to protest a contentious sign hung outside a Brock Street home from September 3.

Signs made from bed sheets hanging from several houses in the University District have prompted ire from students, the AMS and the University this year. One sign in particular, hung on a Brock Street house, read “Daughter Drop Off.” The message sparked a small protest outside the home, and the outcry continued on Monday as photos of it were posted online.

The story was picked up

by Buzzfeed and has generated articles from The Huffington Post and Global News as well.

Protesters carried signs that read “I am a daughter,” and “You say: funny, I say: sexist.”

Jonathan Shepherd, ArtSci ‘17, attended the Monday protest with a sign that read, “It’s all fun and games until someone gets sexually assaulted.”

“Provide education on the nature and necessity of consent,” Shepherd wrote to The Journal on Monday. “Our reactive response must make it clear that dismissive attitudes toward consent will not be tolerated, as the demonstration showed.”

Mike Young, a former Queen’s Rector who now works in the

The “Daughter Drop Off” sign displayed outside a Brock St. home on move-in day.

University’s Human Rights Office told The Journal that the issue of offensive signage targeting incoming students makes campus a “divided and difficult place to be for many, especially while we debate the merits of these signs and so many people remain steadfastly in support of their presence.”

“And this year, yet again, we’ve had a strong reaction from people who are offering precisely how and why these signs are hurtful and produce often drastically negative consequences,” Young wrote.

The signage from move-in day has also drawn criticism from

the AMS. Ramna Safeer, AMS Commissioner of Social Issues, expressed in a statement on the issue that “these signs, by showing up on people’s porches every year, facilitated by those who put them up and validated by those who fail to intervene, are a signifier of a problem that is much bigger than a piece of paper and some marker.”

“Our work asks that when we see signs like this, we think about the normalizing culture that has led people to believe it is okay to make light of sexual violence,” Safeer wrote.

Though this particular sign drew attention, the problem

PHOTO SUPPLIED VIA TWITTER

of offensive signage aimed at first-year students also has a much darker history than can be seen today.

As The Journal reported in 2015 in an article titled “Frosh week through the ages,” upper-year Queen’s students have consistently displayed offensive signage since before the 1980s.

In fact, photos of move-in day from the 80s show signs that read things like “Welcome to Queen’s freshette, where necrophilia is not dead,” and “How many fingers freshette?”

In 1997, signs hung on Highway 401 before Kingston read “Queen’s fathers: say goodbye to your

daughter’s virginity!” and “Thank you Queen’s parents for dropping off your virgin daughters.”

This year, Principal Woolf spoke out on Twitter in response to the Brock St. sign, saying that he’s “extremely disappointed” with the behavior of some students near campus, and that “inappropriate and offensive signage is unacceptable, will not be tolerated and will be proceeded against under the Code of Conduct.”

In a statement published by the Gazette on Friday, Woolf wrote that it’s “disheartening that we still see [incidents of bad behaviour] despite our ever-intensifying efforts to encourage positive citizenship, respect and inclusion.”

“The words on the signs don’t bear repeating — suffice it to say they constituted a form of sexual violence that will not be tolerated at Queen’s,” Woolf wrote.

Woolf also wrote that these actions will not be “without consequence”, but that “due to significant privacy considerations, and in the interests of the safety and well-being of all students,_ we will not speak publicly about specific students or the individual outcomes of our student conduct and other campus safety processes.”

“While I appreciate that this may be frustrating, I assure everyone that the administration takes the issues of behaviour, respect, and inclusiveness very seriously. I expect all of our students to do the same.”

TECHNOLOGY

Queen’s student launches app to buy and sell home-cooked meals

Kouzina gives users a break from frozen and fast food Though Amaral originally had the idea for the app last year, he only began working on Kouzina After eating frozen food constantly this summer. Since its launch on during his undergrad, Nick August 16, the app has connected Amaral finally got fed up. From his over 100 chefs and customers. In frustration, Kouzina was born – an the last week alone, Kouzina has app that allows users to buy and doubled in users. sell home-cooked meals.

As a current student, Amaral “Living in Kingston, it’s kind has to balance running Kouzina of difficult to get home-cooked with his schoolwork. meals and so we have very few “It’s a balance, I guess, you just options,” Amaral, ArtSci ’17 told go to class, get your work done The Journal. on time, you just have to use your “After days of too much frozen time more wisely I think,” Amaral food it just kind of hit me – people said. “Instead of lounging around could be cooking home-cooked and going through Facebook and foods in the neighborhood YouTube, use those 15 minutes and you can just buy a meal off every hour, every two hours, and of them.” you put them together and you get The app’s name “Kouzina” an extra two hours in your day to comes from the Greek word do work.” for kitchen, which was derived Amaral said starting an app from Amaral’s half Greek, half isn’t as glorious as it seems Portuguese background. to be.

ShIvanI Gonzalez Lifestyle Editor

“I don’t think a lot of people realize how much work you really have to put into it if you don’t have the resources – you need money, you need to make up for all of that with your own work and time,” Amaral said.

“I don’t want to be like ‘it’s impossible and no one can do it’, but it is a commitment.”

Kouzina first launched in Toronto and the GTA to capitalize on the dense populations of both areas. Since there’s no delivery service, it made sense that it would be in a place where people are more concentrated.

According to Amaral, this allowed for food pick-up to be made more easily.

What is next for Amaral and Kouzina? Expansion.

“Since CBC wrote an article I have gotten a lot of messages

The Kouzina app.

with people asking me when it is going to be in their town, so that is something to be excited about,” Amaral said.

“I have gotten expressed interest to expand to university towns which was always part of the plan, but people are asking for it now

PHOTO BY SHIVANI GONZALEZ

so I might as well give them what they want.”

The app will be launching in Kingston next week and Amaral is looking to collaborate with companies like Uber Eats and Skip the Dishes to organize delivery services.

News

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AMS and administration visit Queen’s Park Queen’s faculty and students speak with Premier, MPPs

PHOTO SUPPLIED BY CRAIG LEROUX

Top, from left: Chelsea Hollidge, Palmer Lockridge, Benoit-Antoine Bacon, Ann Tierney, Cam Yung. Bottom: Jenn Li, Kathleen Wynne, Daniel Woolf, Sophie Kiwala.

Maureen o’reIlly News Editor On Monday, several Queen’s students and administrators travelled to Queen’s Park in Toronto to speak with Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs).

According to AMS Vice-President (University Affairs) Palmer Lockridge, the Queen’s at Queen’s Park day was organized by the Office of University Relations as a lobby day to educate legislators and staffers about what’s currently going on at Queen’s.

AMS President Jenn Li and Vice-President (Operations) Chelsea Hollidge were also in attendance,

along with Rector Cam Yung, Principal Daniel Woolf, Provost Benoit-Antoine Bacon, Dean of Student Affairs Ann Tierney and Vice-President (University Relations) Michael Fraser.

Those in attendance had a chance to speak with several MPPs and Premier Kathleen Wynne about Queen’s and the work being done by students and faculty to bring change to the University.

Their conversations with the MPPs mainly pertained to topics like mental health care as well as sexual violence prevention and response, Lockridge said.

Mental health funding and sexual

violence are two of six main lobbying priorities the AMS will bring forward to the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA) during their lobbying week in late November.

During that week, the AMS executive and other Queen’s students will join 150,000 students from seven OUSA member institutions in Toronto for a full week of lobbying. According to Lockridge, the team plans to meet with approximately 55 MPPs. Similar discussions will occur during another Queen’s-organized event in October Queen’s at Parliament Hill day.

Other lobbying priorities on the agenda for this fall include tuition and

funding, experiential learning, open educational resources, data reporting and accessibility.

Looking back on their meeting with Premier Wynne and the MPPs, Lockridge said travelling to Toronto was a useful opportunity to explain what sets Queen’s apart from other universities.

“We had students and faculty there from pretty much every sector of Queen’s, so it was a good introduction,” he said.

“A lot of the staffers and MPPs had actually been Queen’s students, so it was nice to talk to them about what was going on when they were at Queen’s and what has changed.”

News in Brief

studentgrocer.com Debit machine at The Lazy Scholar.

Food retailers accepting debit this year For the 2017-18 school year, several on-campus food vendors will be accepting debit, including the Lazy Scholar in Victoria Hall and Tim Hortons in the JDUC. Located in MackintoshCorry Hall, MC Square is now also accepting debit.

MC Square features a Pizza Pizza, Pita Pit and Chef Michael Smith’s Canadian Grilling Company.

New TAM system replaces meal equivalencies Replacing the meal equivalency system, the Trade a Meal (TAM) system has been introduced on campus. Instead of having

PHOTO BY NICOLE LANGFIELD

around 150 meal equivalencies, students with meal plans are allotted 200 TAMs. TAM options are designated meal combinations that can be “traded” for a regular dining hall meal. TAM meals are available at all 21 retail locations on campus and are made visible through a TAM symbol beside the menu item of choice.

Unlike last year, TAMs won’t equal $8.75, but will instead allow students to substitute a dining hall meal for any TAM meal, regardless of value.

Alongside the 200 TAMs restriction, students are only able to have a maximum of four TAM meals daily.

— Jasnit Pabla

Don’t be a Starving Student Leave your grocery shopping up to us; we’ll make sure your fridge and cupboards are always stocked.

Grocery delivery plans for less than

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New dean of arts and Advanced Education Minister visits science begins five-year Queen’s to talk policy term at Queen’s Continued from front

Faculty seeks to focus on research initiatives for students

Dean Barbara Crow.

Minister of Advanced Education and Skills Development Deb Matthews was in Kingston on Monday to hear from students and to promote the Ontario government’s new policies. In this meeting, Matthews touched on the addition of free pharmacare for students under 25 and the Liberal’s plan to significantly increase the minimum wage.

Matthews also expressed that the government is working to bring British Columbia’s free textbook program to post-secondary schools in Ontario.

Brandon Kober, a Queen’s student and one of 6,000 living in Kingston who receive free tuition told The Journal via email

that having his financial situation already figured out has allowed him to thrive at school.

“It stands to reason that free tuition for low-income students would enhance the accessibility of Queen’s to people of all economic backgrounds,” Kober wrote.

“That’s the ideal, at least.”

“I have used OSAP for the past six years, which has always allowed me financial security. The difference this year, it seems, is the extent to which I will have to pay back a massive amount of loan debt. Now, grants outweigh the loan and I will be trying my best to not touch the loan, if I can avoid it.”

Despite the changes to OSAP, Ontario remains the most expensive province in which to pursue a post-secondary degree,

with the average undergraduate tuition increasing from $8,114 to $8,454, this academic year.

Furthermore, according to a CBC article, the new changes to OSAP don’t take into account a household’s debt level. OSAP forms only ask the number of dependents attending postsecondary education, parental income and student contributions.

As a result, this poses a particularly difficult situation to households with multiple children to put through school and a moderately high income.

“Honestly, I have never felt that Ontario’s tuition fees are unreasonable. I see what Americans pay and feel pretty lucky, particularly with assistance like OSAP,” Kober wrote.

PHOTO SUPPLIED BY JACQUIE JAMIESON

centuries,” she wrote. “Currently, there is significant attention in the post-secondary sector Feminist scholar and on learning outcomes and multidisciplinary researcher employment opportunities for Barbara Crow was appointed dean university graduates.” of the Faculty of Arts and Science in One of her major areas of focus December 2016. Her term, which while settling in as dean includes began in July, brings a fresh start ensuring there are opportunities for both herself and the faculty. and initiatives for students to delve “Although I have really enjoyed further into research. settling into my new role, the Crow mentioned the excitement in the air when existence of the Arts and Science everyone arrives back on campus Undergraduate Research Fund in September, especially in a (ASURF) and the creation of a residential university like Queen’s, new research hub for students is unlike anything else,” Crow in the faculty. The research wrote in an email to The Journal. hub, available through ASUS Crow has extensive experience services, seeks to develop student in innovative teaching, previously researcher profiles while featuring holding administrative positions them online. at York University as dean and “One area where the faculty and associate vice-president in the student learning outcomes have graduate studies department. merged has been to more overtly “There are many differences engage in undergraduate research between the two institutions,” initiatives,” she wrote. she added. “The undergraduate Crow will serve as dean program here is unparalleled, and of the faculty for a five-year I look forward to working with term, replacing interim dean our colleagues in the School of Gordon Smith.

Graduate Studies to ensure it is just When asked if she had any as revered.” concerns entering the faculty, Crow With time spent working as a wrote, “concerns may not be the co-principal investigator for the right word.” She cited admiration ACT Project — a Concordia-based for the university’s recent project seeking to confront digital commitment to issues surrounding ageism — and as a former chair diversity, inclusivity and improving for the Ontario Council of Graduate mental health services on campus.

Studies, Crow has demonstrated “I can already tell the Queen’s a broad spectrum of academic community is unlike any other,” reach. Through her professional she said. “Through working career, Crow’s research is focused with students, staff, and faculty on the social, cultural, political members we can ensure that and economic implications of we are doing everything we can digital technologies. to support each other, to face “Universities are dynamic challenges head-on, and to make institutions – and many demands Queen’s the best place to be.” have been made of them over the

JaSnIt PaBla Assistant News Editor

News in Brief Principal Woolf seeks reappointment to a third and final term On Wednesday, Principal Daniel Woolf expressed his desire to be appointed for his third and final term. As a result, a Joint Board/ Senate Committee to Review the Principalship has been

established to advise the Board of Trustees on this matter. Woolf is currently serving his second term, which is due to end on June 30, 2019.

The committee will include nine Board of Trustee members and nine Senate members, as well as Chancellor Jim Leech, who according to a September

Minister Deb Matthews (center) speaks at round table at the University of Guelph.

PHOTO SUPPLIED BY JASMINE IRWIN

Faculty of Education investigating alleged party Continued from front

to privacy concerns.

Jamieson and George were The Journal contacted ORT unable to comment on any Coordinator Charlotte Corelli and possible ramifications for Con-Ed CESA President Liam Dowling to Orientation Week or further discuss the incident in question. consequences for the leaders Both declined to comment, citing who participated. privacy concerns.

“We’re still in a fact-finding In regards to the Teaches who phase, for sure. We don’t want participated in the hickey party, to be leaping to conclusions or George commented that as far as making decisions without properly SOARB is aware, any orientation consulting and looking into the leaders who self-identified as matter,” Jamieson said. attendees at the alleged party The Faculty of Education, were removed from their positions. led by the Associate Dean of “Our understanding [is] that Undergraduate Studies Peter those individuals were deleadered,” Chin, is currently investigating George said. the matter. As such, Jamieson said Jamieson added that SOARB will likely defer to the deleadering orientation leaders faculty when deciding on a course is a responsibility that falls under of action. the umbrella of ORT and is one George explained that once the that SOARB would defer to faculty’s report is finalized, it will the roundtable. be turned over to SOARB. From 2017 Head Teach Chloe there, they will review it and Demizio was contacted by The decide if any further action will be Journal in regards to the incident, required on their end. but also declined to comment due Dean of Education Rebecca

Luce-Kapler told The Journal via email that, “[The Faculty of Education] will not speak publicly about specific students or the individual outcomes of our student conduct process.”

“All Orientation Leaders are expected to conduct themselves in accordance with their training, Orientation policies and procedures... The university will not tolerate any behaviour that contravenes these policies,” Luce-Kapler wrote.

Jamieson also added that despite this incident, Orientation Week as a whole ran smoothly this year and that all faculty orientation weeks, “met the objectives of orientation week, to help first year students acclimatize and orient themselves to the community.”

“Obviously this is not a cultural issue that threatens the safety and security of all first year students.

This is an isolated incident,” Jamieson said.

13 Queen’s Gazette press release, will “chair the committee as an ex officio member”.

Conventionally, two of the nine Board members are the Rector and the Chair of the Board, while the Senate will consist of five faculty Senators — one of whom is a Dean — as well as three student senators and one staff senator.

The Senate and Board will each

on reappointment to the Board of Trustees by early December.

Chancellor Leech told the Queen’s Gazette that, “The committee will consult widely and thoroughly in order to gather as much input as possible from both the Queen’s and alumni communities.”

approve appointments submitted by respective Governance and Nominating Committees, who will consider “constituency, diversity and gender balance, length of service and availability,” when making appointments.

Once appointed, the committee will begin consultation mid-October, and submit a report with its recommendation

— Sarina Grewal

Friday, Sept 15, 2017

Features

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IN-DEPTH STORIES FROM AROUND CAMPUS AND IN THE COMMUNITY

PHOTO BY JULIA BALAKRISHNAN

Dr. Robert Hickey argues that performing unpaid labour without compensation is exploitative.

The real cost of unpaid internships Growing concern as more students sacrifice pay for experience Brigid Goulem Features Editor Every year, thousands of students in Ontario trade in their sweatpants and backpacks for dress pants and briefcases as they transform into working interns. An increasing amount of students are undertaking internships, often unpaid, to bolster their resumes and increase their chances of getting hired after graduation.

Currently, these unpaid internships are being criticized in the media for exploiting young people for free labour and depressing the job market. Although there may be social consequences, many students feel there’s no other choice but to accept unpaid positions for experience.

Even though this seems like the norm, unpaid internships for the most part aren’t legal in Ontario.

In Ontario, if you perform work for another person or company, you’re considered an employee and are protected under the Employment Standards Act (2000), you’re guaranteed to be paid the minimum wage.

However, there are two exceptions to this rule, both referred to as an internship.

According to the Ontario Ministry of Labour website, one exception is if a worker is receiving training from an employer. However, there are restrictions that must be met for an employer to justify not paying an intern. Training must be educational, interns can’t be promised a job and they can’t be replacing an already-paid position.

The second exception is that students are allowed to work without pay if the internship is run in co-ordinance with a college or university program. This exception is to provide students with work experience without burdening employers with inexperienced employees.

Initially, for Queen’s alumni Charlotte Anderson, ArtSci ’14, taking an unpaid internship was a ticket to gaining experience.

After moving to Los Angeles, Anderson was told if she wanted to find a job she would

need to complete some sort of internship.

Just like in Ontario, California law states that internships must be paid unless you’re a student. To apply for her position, Anderson registered as a student at LA City College in order to have documentation proving she was a student, but never took a class. In the end, she was hired as an unpaid production intern at a creative branding and advertising agency.

Her responsibilities ranged anywhere from being on set to cleaning up after her boss’ dogs. “The CEO of the company had two dogs and he’d bring them into the office everyday and the dogs weren’t toilet-trained and so they would [defecate] in the office everyday and I had to clean up the dog s***, if the dogs peed I had to clean that up,” she said.

Although Anderson feels she didn’t learn anything from her internship, she credits having done one with landing her the job she has now.

“The only reason it helped me is that when I went into the interview for the job I have now, they said ‘do you have any work experience?’ and I said ‘I just finished a three-month internship,’” she said.

The dogs weren’t toilet“trained and so they would [defecate] in the office everyday and I had to clean up the dog s***.

”

— Charlotte Anderson ArtSci ’14

Reuby Staviss, ArtSci ’19, also believed her lack of experience to be a barrier to finding a meaningful summer job. Staviss worked at a food and beverage company as a marketing intern in New York. “They don’t really want to pay someone who has no experience, they don’t know what to expect. I probably would not have gotten the internship if it was paid.”

Karina Esmail, ArtSci ’17, who completed an internship for the UN in Nairobi, is hoping her experience will lead to a full-time

paid job next summer after she graduates.

She worked at the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in the Maritime trafficking department. While Esmail benefitted enormously from the experience, she understands that many others don’t have the same opportunity. “I was really lucky my parents helped me out. It did cost a lot of money, with flights and everything, like $10,000.”

While many students at Queen’s are enthusiastic to gain experience through unpaid internships, Toronto-based labour lawyer Andrew Langille thinks this is largely a result of being privileged. He says that students whose parents can support them don’t feel the same financial burden as students who are paying their own way.

it’s an unpaid internship “ If that means you aren’t providing value to the organization.

”

— Dr. Robert Hickey , Queen’s Professor

In an interview with The Journal, Dr. Robert Hickey from Queen’s Industrial Relations Department agreed with Langille.

He said it’s a privilege to take on precarious work and that those who can’t afford to work for free are being excluded from the job pool.

While many students believe job experience will increase their chances of getting hired, the increasing number of unpaid internships is crowding the job market. Hickey said that whenever there are people willing to accept unpaid internships or work without compensation, it results in a smaller number of entry opportunities for young workers.

Even though students believe unpaid internships are a necessary evil that provide valuable job experience, Hickey argues that they can be considered a form of exploitation.

“If you are not getting educational credit

and you are just getting some promise of being able to put experience on your resume then that’s fundamentally exploitative.”

Despite the fact that many people believe their unpaid experience helped them get jobs, Hickey warns against entering into these working relationships.

“The signal that it provides on the resume is that if it’s an unpaid internship, that means that you aren’t adding value to the organization and the experience will be undermined as a result of that status.”

Unpaid internships have become a huge burden on young people, with Statistics Canada reporting the unemployment rate among 15-24 year-olds at a staggering 15.6 per cent. The unstable employment situation becomes even harder to bear for many when it’s factored in that student debt in Ontario sits among the highest in the country at an average of over $20,000.

The increasing incidences of people willing to work for free is making it difficult for students who can’t afford to work for free to find paying work after graduation.

According to Dr. Hickey, “if you are unable to volunteer, that’s going to crowd out the labour market and make it more difficult for other folks to gain those jobs and that experience.” As jobs become increasingly unavailable, many young people take on unpaid work to boost their resumes so as to become more competitive in the paying job market.

Pamela Simpson, MA ’18, who is working on her Masters in international relations recently discovered that all UN internships are unpaid. Although it’s in the field she eventually wants to work in, her options have now become limited.

“I can’t do [an unpaid position]. I want to go into IR. That’s my field, and I can’t go into an internship for the UN. And many of their internships turn into a real position, so their job pot is limited to people like me, who can’t go in working for free.”

As unpaid internships continue to rise in popularity, students and recent graduates alike will continue to both reap the rewards and pay the price of working without wages.

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EDITORIALS

The Journal’s Perspective

THE QUEEN’S JOURNAL

University needs to do more to get rid of move-in signs

Volume 145 Issue 2 www.queensjournal.ca @queensjournal Publishing since 1873

Editorial Board Joseph Cattana

Editors in Chief

Meg Glover

Managing Editor

Justice King

Production Manager

Lydia Noureldin

Digital Manager

Maureen O’Reilly

News Editor

Sarina Grewal

Assistant News Editors

Iain Sheriff-Scott Jasnit Pabla

Alex Palermo

Features Editors

Brigid Goulem Ashley Rhamey

Editorials Editor

Nick Pearce

Arts Editor Assistant Arts Editor

Clayton Tomlinson Sebastian Bron

Sports Editor

Matt Scace

Assistant Sports Editor

Shivani Gonzalez

Lifestyle Editor

Josh granovsky

Assistant Lifestyle Editor

Julia Balakrishnan

Photo Editor

Move-in day signs in the student district have been targeting and intimidating new students for decades. While the slogans written on them have gotten less explicit, they perpetuate the same message: that at Queen’s, sexual harassment is the norm.

The signs are meant to taunt students and their families dropping their children off at school for the first time, some directly addressing parents. Regardless of the intentions of the students making the signs, the outcome of them is that incoming students are made to feel unsafe in the University District.

Parents dropping their kids off at university often also have the justified concern that their child could be sexually assaulted. The signs feed that fear and taunt parents directly.

For a group of new students, no matter their gender, arriving at Queen’s and seeing signs like this normalizes sexual harassment at Queen’s.

Josh Granovsky

PHOTO BY JULIA BALAKRISHNAN

Revivals should teach us a lesson, other than the dangers of nostalgia

ILLUSTRATION BY STEPHANIE JIANG

Principal Woolf ’s continued condemnation of the move-in day signs is important, but it doesn’t reach far enough to make real change.

The university has kept to what they know on the issue; they decry it as unacceptable but accept it nonetheless.

The signs have been going up for decades because, for decades, the only response to them has been a wagging finger. The reach of discipline for student misconduct needs to extend beyond the borders of campus if Queen’s really wants to make a change in behaviour.

Students get the idea of creating their own signs the day they arrive at Queen’s and see that they’re tolerated. The idea is already in new students’ heads that it’s just something Queen’s students do.

When they see their friends making signs or not speaking up about them, they’re reminded it’s behaviour that’s considered to be acceptable in the Queen’s community.

But there’s a population at Queen’s that doesn’t want to see ‘daughter drop off’ signs.

Fear of being labelled as “oversensitive” holds them back from saying how they really feel. The protest this year did its job of not only drawing media attention, but alerting the Queen’s community to their presence. It can make all the difference for students to know that they aren’t alone and not all of their peers agree with the status quo.

Traditions can be a wonderful thing at a University; they have the power to bond people together and create positive memories.

Unfortunately, they also have the power to do real harm to the students they claim to celebrate.

It’s time for Queen’s to be more discerning of what we allow to represent us, and challenge sexual violence in all of its forms, on and off-campus.

Television is at its best when it takes advantage of its form to teach us something new about our society. It has the unique power of broadcasting fresh observations into our living rooms daily. So why is television’s latest trend to bring the outdated views of shows that ended years ago back to our screens?

In its heyday, Arrested Development broke ground with its breathe-and-youmiss-it punch-lines. Gilmore Girls became a trailblazer for shows depicting complex female characters.

These shows share another commonality aside from their ingenuity: their revivals essentially tarnished the original series’ reputation. How could these shows that once towered over the competition return with no backbone? Simply put, they had nothing new to say.

Arrested felt discombobulated and Gilmore Girls felt flat-out pointless. The reason these revivals were under whelming is that the new editions were just more of the same. Their non-evolved thesis statements couldn’t keep up with the insights of today’s hit shows.

On the other hand, new shows like Black Mirror, Orange is the New Black and Game of Thrones all deftly preach about timely issues such as the dangers of technology, human rights and power struggles.

Revivals undermine this power by recycling worn lessons in a new package.

We jump at these revivals due to an overwhelming sense of nostalgia.

We remember the ease and security

we had when a show was in our lives, so we yearn to wrap it back around ourselves to feel a similar warmth. When we examine these shows today, we often discover they’re insufficient and just don’t provide the same comfort they used to.

Despite these shortcomings, I do still have some genuine faith in the idea of reviving old TV shows. With the entertainment industry more crowded now than ever, familiar faces could easily be used to draw audiences towards a show’s evolved and important message.

Will & Grace, one of many revivals premiering this September, is largely credited with having improved public opinion of the LGBT community and educated the American mainstream on LGBT issues.

Fast forward 200 episodes and 10 years later to today, the LGBT community is now LGBTQ+ and the public remains clueless regarding spectrums of gender and sexuality. If the show’s characters could yield such a large, positive influence on popular culture, maybe they could repeat history and continue enlightening society again today.

Although the show has yet to air, I hope this example will illuminate how revivals can be utilized to teach the world a new lesson without trashing the old one.

Nicole Langfield

Assistant Photo Editor Video Editor

Max Silverberg

Amelia Rankine

Editorial Illustrator

Stephanie Jiang

Assistant Video Editor Graphics Editor

Rebecca Frost Meredith Wilson-Smith Sreya Roy

Copy Editors

Contributing Staff Staff Writers and Photographers Madeline Heinke Zeir Zhou Contributors

Angela Feng Anna Reynolds Landon wilcock

Business Staff Abby Choudhury

Business Manager Head Sales Representative Office Administrator

LeAnn Sverko Faith Villanueva

— Journal Editorial Board

Josh is The Journal’s Assistant Lifestyle Editor. He’s a second-year Film and Media major.

Want to contribute?

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The Queen’s Journal is an editorially autonomous newspaper published by the Alma Mater Society of Queen’s University, Kingston.

Editorial opinions expressed in The Journal are the sole responsibility of The Queen’s Journal Editorial Board, and are not necessarily those of the University, the AMS or their officers.

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Friday, Sept 15, 2017

queensjournal.ca

OPINIONS

•7

Your Perspective

Landon Wilcock on campus.

Five hundred and eighty eight days

PHOTO BY JUSTICE KING

Next steps for the Queen’s community surrounding sexual assault

LANDON WILCOCK, ARTSCI ‘18 This article talks about sexual assault and may be triggering for some readers.

Early last week as I walked through the University District on move-in day, I began noticing bedsheets hanging from my peers’ houses. With obscene phrases and degrading messages on the signs, I was brought back to 588 days ago.

Day zero

It was 4am and everything was blurry, but I remember walking down a busy street.

Maybe it was far down Princess, I can’t remember. I was shaking, unsure of what to do; my mind uncharacteristically scattered. I started calling and texting some close friends.

Half an hour later, a friend answered their phone, but I couldn’t say what had happened — all I could muster was that I had a bad night. I got into my bed two hours after leaving my last location and after I woke up the next morning, I told myself everything was fine.

Day four hundred and eight I was out with friends in the Hub and I had too much to drink.

During my walk home, I finally sent the message to one of my oldest friends and my former partner of four years, “I could never tell you until now, but I got raped.”

This was the first time I had ever disclosed my sexual assault to anyone, or truly accepted the last 18 months of my own reality to myself.

Today

For the last 588 days, I’ve struggled, often denying what had happened.

In my head I wasn’t a victim, or a survivor, because I refused to accept it even occurred. Since then, I’ve created different narratives to

avoid accepting it.

Some days I would tell myself it was just harmless fun that got a little out of control. Other days I would blame myself for not getting out; I am, after all, a male who only a year prior had competed at an elite level of weight-lifting.

These falsely constructed narratives continued to play out until I finally broke.

I’ve gone through many other phases: my depression worsened, I lost more weight, I struggled with intimacy, relationships, bursts of emotion (generally frustration or anger) and holding any trust in the people around me. In many ways, I am in no way healed today.

I’ve twice attended first sessions with mental health professionals and twice not returned for more.

Just two weeks ago, I had an appointment with a professional and I couldn’t get myself to attend.

My struggle to access various sexual assault services on campus and in the community left me wondering if the services for survivors just weren’t accessible as a Queen’s student.

My experience is in no way a rarity — one in four Queen’s students reported to have been a victim or survivor of sexual assault (Queens Climate Survey, 2015).

Despite this, we still treat survivors and victims as statistical outliers, often reacting with shock when it’s brought to the forefront of our campus.

With the development of the Bystander Intervention Program and the hiring of the Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Coordinator Barbara Lotan, Queen’s administration has made progress over the last couple of years. However, if you review the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Working Group Report and Recommendations (SAPRWG), completed in April 2015, it becomes clear that many important recommendations from the report haven’t been implemented.

Perhaps one of the most important recommendations given

by the report was the creation of a Sexual Assault Response and Prevention (SARP) centre on campus. If there was one on campus in the days following my assault, I’m confident I would have sought help much quicker and would have been able to begin working through the symptoms I have suffered from for the last 18 months.

Students who are seeking help after an assault can go to the

to survivors and victims.

This centre would be a better resource for survivors and victims as it would function as “a single point of entry for integrated and holistic sexual assault response, support, advising, counselling, advocacy, and case management services; and a driving force for campus-wide sexual violence prevention education and firstresponse training.”

Although it was considered by

I wrote this as a process of healing and in the “ hopes that it will help in creating the dialogue about

preventing sexual violence that we so badly need on college campuses like ours Sexual Assault Centre of Kingston (SACK). However, this centre is only open on a 9 to 5 work day basis (with a 24 hour telephone crisis line) much like the Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Coordinator. Alternatively, students can consider the Sexual Assault and Family Violence centre located in the Kingston General Hospital.

In my situation, I had no interest in going to a hospital.

I’ve heard horror stories of my friends and peers going in to a hospital after a sexual assault and receiving poor care and support, while being blamed and judged for what happened to them. The SACK is about four kilometres from my campus and it felt daunting to leave. Personally, I viewed it as a risk.

My friends have also struggled with sitting in the same lecture hall or the same residence as their perpetrator. An outside resource can’t navigate this issue. Would they understand the reporting process of Queen’s or do they have a voice or any power at Queen’s?

A campus centre would provide an all-in-one safe place for survivors without having to venture off campus into potentially unwelcoming situations. Survivors exist at Queen’s and this centre would offer solidarity and support

”

the administration where the new Wellness Centre will be, former Provost Alan Harrison didn’t move forward with this recommendation following a Board of Trustees budget meeting in July 2016.

Without an on-campus SARP centre and no plan to resolve this issue, the Queen’s administration has allowed for a large gap to exist for survivor support in our small community.

If schools such as Concordia University, who established their Sexual Assault Resource Centre in 2013, can fund a |sexual assault resource centre, how is Queen’s University, one of the nation’s richest universities — with over one billion dollars in total assets in their endowment fund — unable to provide a centre?

The Queen’s community can’t hold the administration solely responsible for breaking down the culture of sexual violence on campus. Students can make a difference too. Although we have a new sexual violence policy, passionate and amazing individuals involved with the Bystander Intervention Program and student groups such as Consensual Humans, I believe many of us can do a lot more.

We, as students, create the culture we live in — let’s work

together to create a community where everyone can feel safer.

You can write letters and emails to Queen’s administration advocating for the recommendations from SAPRWG to be implemented.

You can independently change the culture by intervening in situations which appear unsafe either through direct intervention, indirect intervention, such as calling campus security, or by alerting someone with greater authority than yourself.

You can unlearn the many things our culture has conditioned us to believe about how and who sexual assault affects. You can believe and support your peers when they disclose an experience of sexual assault to you.

We can also shut down the smaller things that allow rape culture to thrive. When a friend makes a joke about rape, you don’t have to be silent. You should speak up; rape isn’t a punch-line to a stupid joke.

I hope my story allows people to recognize that not every survivor we visualize is the image we’re often taught to believe solely exists.

A survivor can be your brother, your teammate, a classmate or your friend.

I’m not sharing my story as evidence that sexual assault occurs at Queen’s; there’s ample data which proves the far too high rate of sexual assault in our community.

Rather, I wrote this as a process of healing and in hopes that it will help in creating the dialogue about preventing sexual violence that we so badly need on college campuses like ours.

By working together at all levels and holding administration accountable, we can prevent someone in our community from ever having to suffer their day one, or their day 588.

Landon Wilcock is a fourth year Politicial Studies major and Bystander Intervention Facilitator.

8 • queensjournal.ca

Friday, sept 15, 2017

ARTS

PHOTO BY MICHELLE K ALLAN

Said The Whale opens for Mother Mother.

Originally published online on September 11.

Michelle K AllAn Staff Writer

T

he mystery frosh concert has always been a beloved colorful conclusion to Queen’s frosh week.

As a fourth year, I finally wound up coming full circle and returning to the event that kicked off my Queen’s experience.

As per tradition, the headliners are kept a secret until the very last minute to build mystique and excite new students. This year, as always, rumors circled of who the mystery artists might be, but no one knew for sure. According to several frosh, many thought artists Post Malone or even Nickelback would be taking the stage. But like every year, the Orientation leaders somehow managed to keep the secret until

COMMUNITY

Short reads for breaks between readings Five books for busses and breaks AnnA Reynolds Contributor Every reader in university knows the disappointment of putting off pleasure reading because of their schedule.

If you’re like me, you’ve made several New Year’s resolutions over the years to read more books.

Come the following January though, your bookshelf is just as bare.

University students juggling coursework, jobs and social lives often find it hard to read anything that isn’t a textbook or a menu.

Fear not — there are plenty of classic books under 200 pages that can easily fit in your backpack — and schedule.

These books vary in style and

CONCERT REVIEW

Mystery concert wraps up frosh week Mother Mother and Said the Whale welcome Class of 2021

the day of the concert.

Kingstonians Hailiah Knight and Liv Moore got the show started Saturday night on the second side stage with hauntingly beautiful duets that showed off their impressive vocal ranges. The crowd loved their covers of 90’s pop and their RnB songs played as power ballads.

While Liv Moore was wrapping up her goodbye, Toronto singer-songwriter Blaise Moore came out on the main stage.

Teetering around in stiletto boots, Blaise had no problem getting the substance, but are all perfect for a light read on a West Campus bus commute or in between classes.

If Only They Could Talk by James Herriot Animal lovers will be charmed by this collection of true stories written by a veterinary surgeon living in England’s picturesque Yorkshire Dales. Herriot’s memoir showcases the deep connections between humans and their animal companions. This book is the perfect escapist read for anyone else who once loudly proclaimed their dream of becoming a vet when they grew up.

A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle Arthur Conan Doyle’s original Sherlock Holmes novels served as inspiration for the BBC Sherlock series as well as nearly every modern mystery story. These gripping reads have aged incredibly well in the 130 years since their publication dates. A Study in Scarlet, the first installment of the series, is a tight novella that introduces readers to characters Sherlock Holmes, Dr. John Watson and the Victorian-era London in which they reside. The case is a whodunit puzzle, involving Mormons, cabbies and strange rings that will surely keep you on the edge of your seat.

crowd up and moving to her soft and sonorous lyrics. Every track was more affecting than the last, with sultry instrumental undertones and a creeping bass line.

When Vancouver-based Said the Whale took the main stage, the audience cheered in anticipation.

Their shiny synth melodies and bursts of electronic bass laid the perfect foundation for their nostalgic and bittersweet lyrics. When they finished their set, the crowd begged for an encore.

While we didn’t receive another Said the Whale song, A Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor The 10 stories that make up this collection are short and strange, painting a picture of roadside murderers, Catholic guilt and the dark edges of well-mannered Southern society.

O’Connor’s prose is unique and instantly recognizable. This short story collection is a staple of the Southern Gothic literary tradition that includes Truman Capote and Tennessee Williams.

Fun Home by Alison Bechdel Fun Home tells the story of Alison Bechdel, a young woman

Georgia Straits—a Clark Hall band favourite—launched into a loud, energetic set to maintain the crowd’s excitement.

Between songs, the band members shared their nostalgia of meeting in first year and never expecting to get to play the frosh show.

As always, they were loud, sincere and had enough talent and heart to go around.

Also hailing from Vancouver, the seasoned indie-pop group Mother Mother was an undeniable hit with the first year audience. With their who learns more about her father’s hidden life after his suicide. It’s a graphic novel, but don’t expect a fluffy action comic. Bechdel’s illustrated memoir is heartwrenching and deeply personal. It’s a fascinating examination of sexual orientation, family, mental illness and self-discovery.

The Ocean at The End of The Lane by Neil Gaiman Neil Gaiman is probably best known for his landmark novel, American Gods—now a popular television show. But he has also created a deep body of work that similarly combines elements of urban fantasy and surrealism while

toe-tapping rhythms and bold yet playful three-piece harmonies, every person in the venue had their hands up. Lyrical and charming, Mother Mother gave the class of 2021 one hell of a start to their university careers.

The frosh concert was a hit, as it always is. The Orientation leaders and other organizers work tirelessly to put on an incredible concert each year and I can only imagine how much effort went into finding such top quality acts and getting them to campus. Throughout the show, I couldn’t help but feel overwhelming hope and pride for the class of 2021.

They seemed green, full of life and sincerely enjoying themselves.

Events like these are what make Queen’s “Queen’s”.

It would be easy for Queen’s to throw together a shoddy, low budget, dry frosh week, but they went above and beyond to make the newest batch of Gaels feel welcomed and apart of something big. raising complex questions about our everyday lives. The Ocean at the End of the Lane tells the story of a middle-aged man’s homecoming and the darker elements at play in his small English hometown.

All of these books combine humor, tight plotting and gripping subject matter to create easy reads that won’t make you fail your midterms. They’re somewhere to start if you’re looking to increase your pleasure reading as a university student and make you aware of some shorter books that pack the same punch as your lengthy favourites.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY JULIA BALAKRISHNAN

Arts

Friday, sept 15, 2017

queensjournal.ca

•9

COMMENTARY

Arts in Kingston should be accessible to all Different levels of accessibility needs should be met in Kingston arts community shivAni GonzAlez Lifestyle Editor Considering it’s 2017 and self driving cars are already a thing, it’s hard to believe how inaccessible things in the world continue to be for people who have a disability like deafness or blindness.

When we think about accessibility needs, we tend to think of textbooks in braille, wheelchair accessible entrances and computer screen readers, but where do accessibility needs fit in with art and performance?

Kingston is home to a thriving arts community — ranging from art exhibits at the Agnes to musical performances at The Mansion.

There’s almost always something new to see around the city but there are very little options for people with different levels of

accessibility needs.

Outside of Kingston, accessibility accommodation is already becoming present in a range of arts communities.

For example, there continues to be an increasing number of international hip-hop artists using sign language or having interpreters present at their concerts. Recently, a video of a woman doing sign language interpretation for a Snoop Dogg concert went viral.

In the video, the woman — Holly Maniatty — reveals it wasn’t the first time she’s worked with a performer.

Maniatty first did performance sign language at a Beastie Boys concert and since has worked with Wu Tang Clan, Snoop Dogg, Jay-Z, Eminem and more.

And it’s not just concerts.

As well as extending to

ARTS NEWS

The Undergraduate Review’s shaky start

performance artists, different programs around Ontario have been working towards having more accessible arts for everyone.

In a pilot project by the Ontario Nonprofit Network, various plays and performances around the province have been offered for blind/low-vision and deaf/ hard-of-hearing audiences. This is successfully done by having performances accompanied by live “audio described” (AD) headsets or hearing aid plug ins and American sign language (ASL) interpretation.

These are the changes that work to ensure there are no barriers for anyone to enjoy or participate in the arts community.

This pilot project strives to ensure having a disability no longer prevents Ontarians from being able to be involved with the existing arts communities. The same should be true in our community.

Incorporating more accessible art in Kingston could be as simple as making venues like The Mansion

and The Brass ILLUSTRATION BY STEPHANIE JIANG

wheelchair accessible, adding closed captioning to movies at The Screening Room or adding information headsets to art exhibits at the Agnes.

While being deaf or blind seems to be the cause for people to be excluded from attending performances or art shows, we have the technology, knowledge and ability to offer accessible arts.

The strides made in hip-hop performances and accessible theatre productions in Ontario prove there’s a demand to open the arts to a wider audience and these efforts must be reproduced in the Queen’s community.

University isn’t just about

grades and schoolwork, it’s about the experiences you choose to have. Accessibility is something that’s often talked about in the Queen’s community — and there are arguments that Queen’s needs to make major improvements in accessibility. It’s not just the university that needs to make those accommodations, it should be adjusted in Kingston as a whole.

There’s no reason performances or art shows in Kingston can’t make the easy changes necessary to make their event welcoming to as many people possible — including people with accessibility barriers.

A report on the difficulties of Queen’s oldest arts publication clAyton toMlinson Assistant Arts Editor The Undergraduate Review (UR) is the oldest arts publication on campus and is currently preparing for the release of its 30th volume.

But even after running for 30 years, the publication isn’t immune to its issues.

Thanks to its long-standing history at Queen’s, the UR is considered a mainstay on campus by many as it provides an opportunity for students to express their artistic side regardless of background or training. It’s focus on the arts means what you see in its pages explores the thoughts of its everyday contributors as they share their creative output.

Despite its unique artistic focus and enduring history as a Queen’s publication, the UR has had its fair share of complications. Posing a unique challenge for the year ahead, the publication is currently missing an Editor-in-chief and a website.

Last year’s UR Editor-in-chief Ramolen Laruan told The Journal of her initial concerns about how little had been done at the UR so far, especially the current lack of a functioning website.

“During summer it’s important to start getting contributors and posting online to increase awareness,” she said.

Without the summer work, there will be some well-needed catchup to be done.

Laruan added “you might not feel time-pressed right now in September but a lot of things do happen towards the end of the year and it’s best to be comfortable editing people’s work as

early as possible.”

Controlled by the Arts and Science Undergraduate Society (ASUS), the UR is directly under the ASUS Academics Commissioner Bianca Chauhan.

With four years of service at ASUS, Chauhan has a lot of dedication and knowledge for the UR. While she does have many responsibilities as the Academics Commissioner, she predicts the publication will be as strong as ever in the upcoming year despite its early hiccups. “[It is] one of the only arts publications on campus, and not just for writing, but other media as well,” she said. “It’s vital and allows anyone to explore their interests outside of the class, too,” said Chauhan.

She added that “there will 100 per cent be a website this year” but that she was still figuring out the publication’s overall budget which is why the site isn’t currently running.

Chauhan said she couldn’t delve further into the ASUS hiring policies but did say that the year’s Editor-inchief will be chosen next week. The applications for the position close Friday, September 15 at 4pm and can be found on the ASUS website under ‘volunteer opportunities’.

“I am not looking to make too many decisions because it is the editor’s baby” Chauhan said about the seeming lack of progress made on this year’s iteration of the publication.

The oldest arts publication on campus is in poor shape but its creative talent and the prompt hiring of an Editor-in-chief may pull it out of its current slump.

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10 •queensjournal.ca

Friday 15, sept 2017

Sports A deep dive into Queen’s athletics rates

A look at whether home attendance has been declining at Queen’s sporting events — and why they aren’t alone JOURNAL FILE PHOTO

Queen`s had 8,011 people attend their homecoming game in 2016.

SebaStian bron Sports Editor If you’ve attended a Queen’s sporting event within the last decade, often times you’ve probably found yourself in a similar predicament: ‘There’s so many seats I don’t even know which one to take.’

Up until the mid-2000s, drawing crowds into a campus stadium was never a problem.

Mervin Daub, a former Gaels football player and author of Gael Force: A Century of Football at Queen’s, remembers Richardson Stadium in the early 1960s as a place that pulsated with energy.

The heaps of people that filed into the stadium made it seem like there wasn’t room to move.

“It was jammed,” he said of the crowds that filled the venue. “It was literally jammed to capacity for virtually every game.”

With kids trying to sneak in and fans watching the game from the upper floors of the then-neighbouring Victoria Hall because the stadium was so full, coming to Richardson Stadium for a game was an event for all.

The same was true for some away games.

“My first collegiate game [in 1962] we played away at Varsity Stadium in Toronto,” Daub recalled, “and there must’ve been 22,000 people there.”

“I couldn’t believe it.”

Since its move to West Campus in 1971 and its subsequent revitalization in 2016, Richardson Stadium hovers around a capacity of 8,500, per the venue’s website.

During the 2016-17 football season — the first year since the revitalization — the average attendance was 4,612.

If you exclude their home opener and homecoming

game — where the recorded attendance was listed at 5,786 and 8,011 respectively — the average plummets down to 2,839.

The total attendance for the year was 18,448.

By contrast, in 2013 Queen’s had a total attendance number of 27,482.

Football crowd numbers have lowered significantly not only at Queen’s, but across the nation as well.

According to the OUA’s website, the average attendance at a conference football home game dating back to 2010 is roughly 3,200, including home openers and homecomings.

At last year’s Yates Cup — the OUA’s conference championship — the attendance was reported at 4,134. In 2010, it was listed at 7,194.

Hockey and basketball at

Number of Attendees At Queen’s Home Games Homecoming vs Average Other Games

The return of homecoming in 2013 drew a crowd of 9,037.

GRAPHIC BY REBECCA FROST

Queen’s aren’t immune to the declining attendance rates either.

Men’s and women’s hockey games at the Memorial Center — a 20 minute walk from campus — collectively drew in crowds that hovered close to 116 people per game last season. Both basketball teams had a slightly larger crowd, with an average of 168 fans per game in 2016.

Even the NCAA — which in 2015 signed a 12 year, $5.64 billion television deal with ESPN for rights to air their yearly college football playoff — has experienced a decline in game attendance rates.

A 2016 NCAA report tracking attendance data for all 127 Division-I programs in the United States found that the average home football game typically hosts 42,631 fans, their sixth consecutive year suffering a reduction in attendance.

“It’s just a trend across the board,” OUA president Jennifer Myers told The Journal. “In fact, [some] Division-I schools are shrinking their student sections for big TV games because they’re struggling to get students to their games.”

The declining attendance rates across the NCAA could also be accounted for by its sale of tickets.

“They fill their stands with paying customers,” Myers said.

The reasons for the decline in Canada, however, aren’t as obvious.

Ticket prices for students at Queen’s, for example, are free — even for its biggest games, such as homecomings and home openers. Some Canadian schools do charge for tickets, like the Panda Game in Ottawa, but prices are relatively inexpensive (Carleton and UOttawa list their cheapest tickets at $20 per seat). Parking at Richardson Stadium is also free on weekends.

If the tickets and parking are free at Queen’s sporting events — and at most Canadian universities — it begs the question: why don’t fans show up?

Neate Sager, an editor at The Canadian Press and former writerat-large extensively covering the CIS, said one factor to explain the declining attendance rates in Canada is likely a lack of media and market exposure. “[Schools] can’t be a marketing operation the way, say, a junior

hockey franchise or a minor league baseball team can, and sometimes that leads to them being lost in the shuffle,” he said. The way university athletic departments are structured in Canada limits the ways in which they can market games and draw fans, he added.

In 2013, the CIS and Sportsnet announced a six-year broadcasting agreement that would effectively end their weekly airing of nationally televised regular season games.

The partnership instead limited its broadcast coverage to U Sports’ national championship game — the Vanier Cup — and its two semi-final matchups, the Mitchell and Uteck Bowls. The semi-final and final games of basketball and hockey for both men’s and women’s also fell under the mandate of the new agreement.

But even without nationally televised regular season games, students can still keep up with teams through other, more accessible means such as social media.

“I think students want that [live game] experience, I just don’t know if they want it four to six Saturdays out of the fall,” Sager said.

The way people have consumed media products has changed aplenty since the turn of the millennium and sports everywhere have struggled to adapt.

“It’s just become so much easier to watch a game on your phone or on a screen than to go and sit in a stadium,” Sager said. The OUA does livestream its conference’s regular season games, though it doesn’t garner the same viewership as a game nationally televised by TSN would. “[People] have access to more digital media than they ever have … they’re [also] busy and their interest in sports isn’t what it used to be,” Myers said of how the university sporting landscape, in both the US and Canada, has shifted. “They tend to focus on more of the big games.”

So, the next time you attend a sanctioned sporting event at Queen’s and find yourself looking for a seat that is occupied, just remember: almost every student across Canada and the US has experienced a similar feeling.

SportS

Friday 15, sept 2017

queensjournal.ca

• 11

Athletes make impact in the community

Football team travels to local schools looking to make social impact off the field Matt Scace Assistant Sports Editor This past weekend offered the football team some reprieve with a bye weekend, a time most would expect to see the players get rest in the midst of a grueling season. Instead, a large number of players used their Friday to travel to schools in the Kingston area as an act of community service and youth mentorship.

During the day, players made appearances at schools that reached as far as Sydenham.

At the schools, they spoke to audiences that sometimes exceeded 100 kids.

Using their personal experiences as high-level football players, the Gaels told stories about their successes but more importantly, their struggles and how they dealt with adversity.

The day also included chances for the kids to talk with the

players one-on-one, as well as the opportunity to toss the ball around with the players they watch at Richardson Stadium. Third year offensive lineman Emilio Frometa was one of the Gaels that travelled to the schools.

In an interview with The Journal, he touched on the messages he tried to send to the young students.

“It’s this concept of talking Queen’s football players visited local schools during their bye week. about how there are going to be challenges and it’s not so much As a student-athlete, he sees it as event was held, as players from about letting those challenges a responsibility to give back to hockey, football, baseball and affect you in a negative way, but the community that has given so lacrosse visited J.G. Simcoe it’s all about getting up more much to him.

Public School. than you get knocked down…

“Now [I] have the opportunity Even though this has been done and taking these things that are to kind of have a positive influence in the past, Frometa is a strong unplanned and learning from and show that you care, even if it’s believer that more can be done them,” Frometa said. two minutes of your day talking to to by Queen’s athletes to create Frometa is a vocal advocate a kid. You don’t really know what’s impactful, long-lasting change for community initiatives such as going on at home or what’s on to Kingston. this. Last year he participated in their plate but the thing that counts “No matter what, playing the same event and has a desire is listening to them,” Frometa said. football and going to Queen’s to give back to the Kingston These types of events aren’t University is a huge part of community in any way he can. new to Queen’s. In April, a similar Kingston and we do take a lot from

PHOTO SUPPLIED BY QUEEN’S ATHLETICS

it and we benefit a lot from it,” he said. “I think for the most part we’re an under-utilized resource and we have the capacity to have a huge impact on the community…giving back to the youth is something that can have a huge impact on their lives.”

For their upcoming game against Laurier, the Gaels will be providing free tickets to kids under the age of 12.

MEN’S HOCKEY

Gaels get their shot at the NHL with rookie invites Kevin Bailie and Nathan Billitier recently invited to NHL rookie camps

Matt Scace Assistant Sports Editor While the level of University hockey is exceptional, the choice to play it often signals the final stages of a player’s career. With the chances of getting to play in the big leagues starting to dry up, players begin to look at careers off the ice. For two Queen’s players, last weekend gave them one shot at their childhood dream.

Fifth-year veteran goaltender

Kevin Bailie was invited to the Ottawa Senators’ rookie camp while incoming rookie defenceman Nathan Billitier spent his weekend with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

At the camps, the players went through fitness tests, blood work, concussion testing and other evaluations to ensure that they are completely healthy.

After practicing for two days, teams travelled to nearby tournaments to showcase their

Kevin Bailie recently attended the Ottawa Senators’ rookie camp.

talents. For Bailie, the Senators travelled to Toronto to take on the Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens while Billitier made the trip down to Michigan to play the for the Blue Jackets against seven other teams of rookies.

This was Bailie’s first trip around the block at an NHL rookie camp, though he had previously been to numerous high-performance invitationals at the junior level in past

JOURNAL FILE PHOTO

summers. Despite opportunity knocking at the door for years, the NHL hadn’t reached out until this year. With his academics progressing and the years passing, Bailie has had to think about his future.

With offers coming in from European leagues and a select number of organizations reaching out to Bailie, he had to weigh his options between school and hockey.

Choosing to leave Queen’s and play professionally would mean abandoning his career path as a lawyer, which was never an enticing option for Bailie.

“I’ve never valued it enough to leave. Basically what I told the Senators was that I’m very happy with my career path as a lawyer.

It would take a lot to get me off of that,” Baillie said.

With that, Bailie was firm with the fact that he will be using his final year of eligibility to focus solely on the Queen’s hockey team.

“All of my attention is now on the Queen’s team,” Bailie said.

Meanwhile, this was also Billitier’s first go-around in the big leagues.

The 20 year old has youth on his side and hopes the experience will be beneficial for his hockey career down the road. Interestingly, Billitier’s time may come in the next few weeks.

Evidently impressed by his performance at the rookie tournament, on Wednesday Billitier was asked to attend the Blue Jackets’ training camp.

Billitier was pleased with his performance on the weekend and with being selected to the training camp, he has a shot at playing in preseason action for the Blue Jackets.

“It was one of those things where you’re more excited than nervous. It’s a great opportunity to showcase yourself…so you just have fun with it and enjoy the process,” Billitier said.

Though Billitier’s time in Columbus may be longer than expected, it’s still very likely that he will be lacing up for the Gaels at the start of the season.

At the end of it all, the players were only full of gratitude for the opportunity to play at the NHL level.

“It was a great opportunity for me to take advantage of.

I worked hard to make sure I was ready for it and it was definitely a different experience playing for the Blue Jackets,” Billitier said.

Meanwhile, Bailie was sentimental about the experience.

“At this point in my career I’m fairly positive I’m going to be a lawyer, not a hockey player, so the fact that I can say that I got to wear an NHL jersey and got to play against the Toronto Maple Leafs…

I’m looking at it as a life-long memory that I’ll always cherish,” Bailie said.

SportS

12 •queensjournal.ca

Friday, sept 15, 2017

Next Game: Saturday, September 16 QUEEN’S (0-2) VS

PHOTO SUPPLIED BY QUEENS ATHLETICS

Queen`s will be looking for their first win on Saturday.

FOOTBALL PREVIEW

Gaels looks to bounce back against defending OUA Champions 0-2 Gaels face-off against the undefeated Laurier Golden Hawks

SebaStian bron Sports Editor Men’s football will be looking for their first win this weekend — but it’ll without question come with its share of difficulties.

The Gaels will host the reigning Yates Cup champions and sixth-ranked Laurier Golden Hawks on Saturday at 1 PM. When the teams met last year, Queen’s lost 37-18. “Well, of course, we’ve got a tough opponent,� head coach Pat Sheahan said. “But I think we’ve established

ourselves as a tough team.� “I think we can play with anybody.�

Sheahan expressed to The Journal after the team’s loss to UOttawa last week that “[Queen’s] is probably three plays away from going 2-0 right now.,� and it’s seemingly fair to assume so. In both of their opening games, the Gaels led for nearly 27 of a possible 30 fourth quarter minutes.

Despite a 0-2 record to kick off their season, there’s truth to what Sheahan told The Journal over a phone interview — his team can fare with some of the OUA’s best.

WOMEN’S RUGBY

Women’s rugby dominate in home opener Gaels bounce back in home win against Mustangs Matt Scace Assistant Sports Editor This article first appeared online on September 12.

With jet planes flying over Nixon Field, the women’s rugby team put on a show of their own, blowing out the Western Mustangs with a score of 57-12. “It was a really good effort, I thought we put in a pretty complete 60 minutes,� head coach Dan Valley said following his OUA win in front of the home crowd.

The Gaels came into the game looking for some revenge as well. Last year, they were defeated by the Mustangs in the OUA bronze medal game.

Although this matchup appeared to be a back and forth affair, Queen’s cemented their lead mid-way through the first half of the game. With the scores tied at 12, back row Sophie De Goede recorded her second try of the match to put Queen’s in the lead.

From there, the Gaels didn’t look back.

Soon after, player Kara Gani cemented the lead with a strong effort and finished off the try with a somersault — a signature move for the third year fly half. This put the Gaels up 26-12 after the conversion kick, giving the Nixon Field bleachers life as they pushed their team towards a much needed win.

As the game progressed, the Gaels were able to cycle in their younger talent, with numerous rookies making appearances.

Two rookies started for Queen’s while three others entered the game later on, displaying coach Valley’s trust in his younger players. “We’re learning very quickly that one of our strengths is our depth,� said Valley.

Through two games, rookie De Goede leads the way for the Gaels with 32 points.

Perhaps the most visible strength the Gaels put on display was their defence.

Despite multiple deep pushes into the Gaels’ defensive zone, Queen’s showed plenty of resilience as they fended off their rivals. On multiple occasions the Mustangs were just yards away from scoring, only to be pushed away by a sea of tricolour jerseys.

When asked what he was most pleased with about the game, Valley said the Gaels didn’t commit a lot of errors. “I thought we weathered the storm in the first 20. Our set piece was dominant at scrum time for an entire 80 minutes.

For things we need to work on, the biggest thing would be just to continue to fight. We got a little lateral in the second half and we made it work for the most part but I think we could be a little more direct and have our eyes focused on what the defenders are giving us,� said Valley. “All in all, we’re moving in the right direction,� he continued.

At 1-1, the Gaels currently sit third in the OUA Shiels division. They will travel down the 401 this weekend to play against the York Lions on Saturday at 7pm.

And the Gaels’ past two games certainly lend the coach’s statements some credibility.

Queen’s first game saw the team lose a nail biter to Carleton with 18 seconds to play. In their most recent bout, UOttawa beat them by a single point and scored the game winning touchdown with 1:45 left on the ticker.

For Sheahan, the Gaels’ misfortunes — or early setbacks — are more a case of missed plays than anything else. “It’s a matter of whether we can make those key plays when the game is on the line to make the difference,� he said.

Moreover, the Gaels currently rank second in total points allowed in the OUA, just behind Laurier. They are a perfect fivefor-five from the red zone with three field goals and a pair of touchdowns.

With two losses to their name, Sheahan said that room for improvement is

always embraced. “Our guys are determined, they’ve worked hard. [But] we know we can improve, we know we can play better,� he said.

Looking at the opponent, Laurier comes into Kingston this weekend with sevenstraight wins against OUA teams.

With a potential eighth on the line, Sheahan said the team is reluctant to be intimidated by the Golden Hawks’ status as an OUA powerhouse. “I mean, we certainly don’t want to underestimate our opponents. They’re the defending champs and a good team, but we think we can play ‘em,� he said.

An area of strength for Queen’s in their latest matchup was their run game on both sides of the ball. The team effectively rushed for 204 yards last week against Ottawa compared to their 57 versus Carleton, and only let up a mere 83 yards on the ground to their previous 141.

Asked if the team will alter their approach against Laurier — who ranks first in the OUA against the run, allowing only 90 yards per game — Sheahan said he’d like to keep his opponents on their toes and guessing. “Obviously running the football is good, it wears people down. But I don’t think we can feed the diet of one particular thing,� the coach said on exclusively targeting the run offensively. He added that a balanced attack is what the team’s plan is set to be — see what the defense gives them, he said. “We’ve gotta keep [Laurier] off balance,�

Sheahan said. “On any given day, depending on how the game is going, we can switch channels or switch gears and take advantage of what they’re trying to do to us.�

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Friday, Sept 15, 2017

queenSjournal.ca

• 13

RELATIONSHIPS

Journal staff first kiss stories From super cute to downright awkward

Lifestyle PHOTO BY JULIA BALAKRISHNAN

Journal Staff Whether it was with your dream crush in a perfect location or the most awkward encounter at a middle school party, first kiss stories are always great to look back on and laugh about.

These are the stories of some of The Journal staff’s first kisses that they’re willing to share with the world.

My first kiss was around the end of grade seven. A couple things to get out of the way: I had green braces and my girlfriend Emma was basically dating me as a joke. We met near one of the side stairwells at my middle school one day while the most vicious preteens egged us on. My friends pushed me toward Emma and,

still not clear on the concept of human interaction, I went in for an open-mouth kiss, braces and all.

Emma and I don’t talk.

—Nick Pearce, Arts Editor My first kiss was in the sixth grade. My friend Ryan and I were talking about a movie where two people kissed and neither of us understood the hype. So, as two curious 11 year olds do, we decided to investigate and kissed each other. When it was over, we both agreed we still didn’t really get it. But I’m happy to report I get it now.

—Sarina Grewal, Assistant News Editor Me and this girl from Texas went on a geography trip to

Niagara Falls in the first few weeks of high school, and later that week I asked her out. The first time we kissed was on a bench and she used so much teeth, she bit my tongue so hard and we ended up breaking up about a week later.

—Max Silverberg, Video Editor I was at Jewish overnight camp and there was this one girl there.

We had both just finished grade nine, and she was into me, so on the first day we started hooking up. But no one really liked her, so I just completely lied to everyone about it.

—Sebastian Bron, Sports Editor My first kiss was with a boy from my middle school. We both had braces and we were watching Zombieland in his basement.

When it happened, I was very unprepared and now associate the moment with Jesse Eisenberg screaming. No one ever told me you have to close your eyes either so they were wide open for the entire eight seconds. Yes, I counted.

The end.

—Ashley Rhamey, Editorials Editor In grade seven, all my girl

friends were busy one recess, so I went to the park with the boys in our grade. One of the guys there pulled me in for a hug and, as I was letting go, he caught me off guard and kissed me. I turned red because my cousin was there to see the whole thing. My first kiss announced “Dude, I just kissed your cousin!” which was just awkward and unnecessary.

—Maureen O’Reilly, News Editor Grade six had just ended and this girl who started at our school that year told me she loved me. I didn’t really know how to process that so we started dating. We were hanging out in my room waiting for my mom to drive us to see Jaden Smith’s The Karate Kid when I somehow accidentally tripped her. I felt bad so I kissed her really quickly and then laughed. We stayed together for two years after that, which is just WAY too long to date in middle school.

—Josh Granovsky, Assistant Lifestyle Editor When I was 12 I had a crush on this boy in the grade below me. One recess, I had rejected him when people were chanting for us to kiss on the tire swing so I took him to a private spot and kissed

him. The kiss itself wasn’t bad but I don’t think we talked again for a year.

—Shivani Gonzalez, Lifestyle Editor I was a late bloomer. My first kiss was in high school and was very cliché. Late after school one day, one of my close friends wanted to show me his “secret spot” and took me to the elementary school behind our high school. We climbed onto the roof and watched the stars. It started raining after a while and next thing I knew, he grabbed me and kissed me. Now he goes to Queen’s. Guess who!

—Justice King, Production Manager We had just come back from a dinner date and I brought her upstairs to show her the chickens my family raised. I figured it would be endearing. We went for a walk after at a nearby park and ended up at the local playground. We talked for a few minutes before she went in for the kiss. It was fantastic, but I’m still not sure if it happened because she thought I was cute or because she thought the chickens were.

—Matt Scace, Assistant Sports Editor

AROUND KINGSTON

Free things around Kingston this month De-stress from the start of school with these free events Yoga in the meadow with animals Kingston City Hall.

Shivani Gonzalez Lifestyle Editor While we now have to deal with night lectures, readings and longer lines at Starbucks, there’s one major benefit to the start of the school year: clubs around Kingston are offering free trial classes during the month of September.

Here’s a round-up of some of the free things you can try out in Kingston this month.

PHOTO VIA WIKIPEDIA

Women’s self-defense seminar This one is for the ladies only. The Grizzly Gym, located at CrossFit Queen Street, is offering a free self-defense class from 1pm to 4pm on September 30.

The class will teach women basic, proven self-defense tactics for worst-case scenarios they might experience. Just show up to be eligible for this free lesson.

Happy Trails Sanctuary is hosting an afternoon yoga session attended also by their farm animals. The class is 60 minutes long, followed by light refreshments and an opportunity to hang out with the various sheep and goats that reside on the farm. Although the sanctuary is accepting donations (either in money or food for the animals), there is no actual fee for this unique yoga experience. The session will take place on September 16 from 1pm to 4pm at 3225 Wilton Road.

Fall free week at Kingston Bouldering Co-Op From September 25 to 29, the Kingston Bouldering Cooperative is offering open time in their gym for free trial sessions. Teachers at the gym will be instructing and demonstrating proper rock climbing techniques and will give you all the equipment necessary to learn. Just show up any time during the given hours of that week and try out everything the Bouldering Co-Op has to offer.

Queen’s Dance Club From September 16 to September 22, the ARC is offering free dance classes to interested students ranging from advanced ballet to cardio-funk. To participate in classes, simply show up on the second floor of the ARC and sign up with your student card. There’s room for 40 dancers per class, so show up early to secure a spot on the dance floor.

Even though September brings around a busy time of year for students juggling new classes and catching up with friends, make some time to try out all of these experiences.

LIFESTYLE

Friday, Sept 15, 2017

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• 14

SEXUAL ASSAULT

Discouraged to report in the midst of recovery Why one girl chose not to report her sexual assault

Madeline Heinke.

Madeline heinke Staff Writer This article talks about sexual assault and may be triggering for some readers.

The first time I was asked if I wanted to press charges, I sat in a social worker’s office in Kingston General Hospital.

In that moment, I could imagine police at my door, unwanted attention from my neighbours, friends, the media and worst of all, sitting in a courtroom where my story and experience, would be degraded and dismissed.

Horror, disgust and fear flooded me all at once it felt like I was still underneath him, trapped and waiting for it all to be over.

I had no idea what to expect if I made the decision to file my sexual assault with the police. But I knew the statistics were against me — that institutions like the criminal justice system typically benefit

PHOTO BY JULIA BALAKRISHNAN

male-identifying individuals, that they would value the story of a student who simply got himself into a bad situation and dismiss the story of a girl who chose to wear a short skirt, a low cut top and who had too much to drink.

Rape culture on our campus told me it was normal to get drunk and go home with a guy.

That girls who wear little clothing ‘deserve it’ or are ‘asking for it.’

Although knowing little about what was going on all around me in the moment, I was sure of one thing: I wasn’t ready to be painted with this brush and to withstand the criticism that sexual violence victims often face.

So I said no.

The second time I was asked, I was having my rape kit examination. The day before my birthday, I sat in a chair where my blood was drawn, pictures of my bruises were taken and I was tested for STIs. I felt naked, vulnerable and afraid, and most of

all I felt weak.

I couldn’t remember how my bruises got there, why my skin was marked with bites or why my wrists ached every time I picked up a pen. I didn’t know if I couldn’t remember what happened because I was drunk or if I did remember, but subconsciously choose to suppress it.

The nurses who performed my kit informed me this was common for victims of trauma.

Often, what happened is so horrific that your body’s natural instinct is to distance itself as far away from the event as possible. As well as this, being under the influence of alcohol, I couldn’t have consented to sex.

Despite this, I said no.

Who would be believe me if I couldn’t even remember what happened myself?

The last time I was asked if I wanted to press charges was six months after my rape kit exam.

Time was running out for the hospital to hold onto my kit and for physical evidence like the condom, my clothing and my assailant’s DNA to have any value.

Even though it had been six months, I still didn’t know what happened to me. At the time, I was experiencing depression and anxiety. I often felt flooded with self-hate that led me to hurting myself. I would sporadically seek out help from peers to calling counselling services at Queen’s.

I would make appointments but cancel them at the last minute or

decide not to show up at all. I still couldn’t accept what happened, I was still running away.

When I remembered the events of my assault, nobody asked if I wanted to file charges. It was one and a half years later and it was too late.

I blamed myself for so long and made excuses for not confronting what happened. When I eventually entered a relationship with someone who made me feel loved and valued, I learned it was time to understand why I would have anxiety attacks when I heard a belt unbuckle or why I felt like I couldn’t breath when I heard the words ‘sexual violence’ or ‘rape’.

After being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, I was put into contact with a counsellor who specialized in surviving trauma. With her support, and that of my loved ones, the bits and pieces of the day that once triggered me were revisited – but this time in a safe environment where I could understand it and see that it wasn’t my fault.

Finding this strength, courage and resilience didn’t happen in the six months I was given to pursue a criminal case against my assailant.

Often times I regret it, repeating the thought that my perpetrator walks freely pursuing his career

and possibly targeting others. But these thoughts only spur the selfhate and loathing that took a year and a half to overcome.

Every victim and survivor’s experience is different and recovery can take anywhere from a day to a lifetime. But we still face a criminal system that expects us to stand in court where history has shown we may be re-victimized and made to recount a story we might not remember, understand or may still blame ourselves for.

I have to believe there’s a better way; maybe public officials are conscious of these flaws in how justice for survivors is secured or how marginalized groups that face systems of oppression like homophobia, sexism, racism and ableism, continue to experience increased rates of sexual violence.

But it’s a waiting game to see any sign that they’re aware of it, or at least, care.

For the time being, we can provide unconditional support for victims and survivors of sexual violence, refer them to resources and always encourage them to share their stories. It’s my hope that some of us will make our voices heard at the decision-making level and eventually sit in the positions that will make a difference for victims and survivors to come.

MUSIC

I paid to meet my favourite singer for 60 seconds and regret nothing How my minute-long meeting with SZA was for the best JoSh GranovSky Assistant Lifestyle Editor It was never my plan to meet American recording artist SZA. She had been one of my favourite singers for a while, but her debut album CTRL, released in June this year, pushed her right into the number one slot and I knew I had to attend her summer show. Little did I know, I’d be going as more than just an ordinary audience member.

I was on vacation in Israel, dealing with a spotty Internet connection and a seven-hour time difference when I went to buy tickets for her Toronto concert in August. I don’t know if it was stress, exhaustion or excitement, but my eager thumb nicked the ‘meet and greet’ ticket button on the Ticketmaster app. I opened my computer while those tickets were on hold to discover in the minute that had passed since they went on sale, general admission

tickets were already sold out and being retailed at triple the price of my ‘meet and greet’ tickets on StubHub. After weighing my options — buying these tickets or being grumpy for eternity — I bought myself my first ever VIP ticket. I was mortified.

Not only had I already deemed myself unworthy of her presence — this was a woman who counted Rihanna as a ‘fan’, after all — I couldn’t concoct any ideas of how to illustrate my affection for SZA other than straight up proposing to her.

I agonized over the words, gestures or gifts I could utilize to fill our time together for the remainder of my vacation and right up until the day of the concert.

If you’re having a hard time imagining my stress, think of the last public figure you were truly obsessed with — an athlete, a childhood crush or maybe a political figure. Now condense all

your feelings about them into the duration of one short interaction that will most likely be your only chance to make a positive impression on them.

If you’re nervously sweating and haven’t blinked since you started reading this paragraph, you successfully completed that exercise.

I woke up at 8 a.m. the day of the concert to begin rehearsing an appreciative, overthought and mildly self-deprecating speech I planned to present to SZA that night. I got to the concert two hours early and spent my spare time finessing each line.

The concert flew by as only the best concerts do; a daze you don’t realize you entered until it’s over. I floated into a line of a hundred or so people that had also paid extra to meet the woman of my dreams.

I ran over the speech in my head until I was next in line and as I finished my final practice, SZA’s bodyguard pushed my friend and

SZA (middle) with Josh Granovsky (right).

I towards her. We both said hello and SZA said she recognized us from the crowd.

She imitated my dance moves and my jaw dropped to the floor.

My friend hurriedly gifted SZA with a necklace, we took a redeye ridden picture and exited the venue. The whole experience lasted 60 seconds, maybe 90 including travel time.

I loved it more than anything.

You may be thinking, “Josh, I already assumed you were insane based on the rest of this article, but now I have confirmation.” Let me explain.

Though my entire VIP experience may sound like a total rip-off on paper — which I wouldn’t necessarily disagree with — I believe the minuscule duration of the meet and greet was in my best interests. In the 60 seconds of my time with SZA,

SUPPLIED BY JOSH GRANOVSKY

I had no opportunity to give my previously prepared speech or any speech at all. I also had no time to embarrass myself in front of one of my idols. Our time together allowed me to leave the goddesslike image of SZA that I created in my mind undisturbed, in which we’re completely compatible and married. Plus, I got a picture to disperse across my social media channels for years to come. Could I really be upset?

Although this experience may not sound ideal to everyone, I was relieved that I didn’t have to worry about what impression I’d leave on SZA because I didn’t have the chance to make one at all.

She could remain my mental best friend whilst I basked in the satisfaction of meeting one of my favourite artists. If you ask me, that in itself is priceless.

LIFESTYLE

Friday, Sept 15, 2017

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• 15

NOSTALGIA

Revisiting childhood TV shows Life lessons we didn’t know were there

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY JOSH GRANOVSKY

Disney Channel stars.

zier zhou Staff Writer There’s no question as millennials we’re lucky to live in the golden age of children’s television and we can’t help but miss it sometimes.

I’m talking about the shows that would magically capture our attention for hours and make us laugh until our stomachs hurt.

No matter how old we get, they’ll always have a special place in our hearts.

Even now, we love re-watching shows and movies like Lilo and

Stitch and The Suite Life because they bring back a flood of happy memories and remind us of the simpler times of our childhood — that of wonder, imagination and of course, less responsibility.

It can also be pretty funny to look back and finally recognize jokes and references we might have missed from many years ago.

Along with bringing us moments of nostalgia and hilarity years later, they also have good life lessons to gain. We may not have realized it then, but That’s So Raven reminds us our lives don’t always, or perhaps rarely, go as planned

and that it’s okay. Not only did Hannah Montana emphasize that nobody’s perfect, but it showed us the importance of true friendship and the inevitable consequences of keeping secrets.

But I’d like to elaborate on one

my favorite series that proudly defines my youth — Kim Possible.

Following a star cheerleader who lives a double life as a heroine who can do anything, the show tackles gender norms and proves to young girls it’s okay to diverge from the crowd and be an overachiever.

We also learned that it’s cool to be smart and that technology is super useful. Who knew we were gaining so much confidence and empowerment from our beloved cartoon redhead?

It’s fair to say we have quite a few more life experiences now than what we had a decade ago.

By peering into our pasts, we learn more about shows in a new and different light.

There will always be scenes that will make our eyes roll because of how terribly unrealistic they are. And while we would often be expected to root for the hero of the story, we may find ourselves feeling rebellious and occasionally empathize with the villain. Nevertheless, these shows remain to be just as entertaining to us now as when we were eight years old.

The start of a new semester can be overwhelming, and sometimes, it can be absolutely essential to unwind and take a break. What better way to do that than to enjoy a bowl of Cheerios while watching an episode of your favorite TV show from back in the day?

STUDENT START-UPS

Tees for Bees

From mechanical engineering to charity aspirations Shivani Gonzalez Lifestyle Editor This article first appeared online on September 12.

Some of the most interesting alumni stories over the years have come from graduates who have gone on to start their own businesses and watch them thrive.

And that’s exactly what alum Kelly Butler is currently experiencing with her start-up Tees for Bees.

Tees for Bees manufactures tshirts that work to raise awareness of the necessity to protect bees while donating 10 per cent of the profits to the organization Bee City.

Although established as a

charitable start-up, Butler’s road to the company’s creation wasn’t exactly linear.

Butler graduated from mechanical engineering at Queen’s in 2016. Realizing she didn’t want to pursue a career in the same realm as her degree, the Queen’s alum made the decision to go into business management. Following graduation, she worked for a global management training program in Toronto for Labatt Brewing Company. Even though Butler says people often think her work sounded glamourous, she recalled feeling unhappy and stressed-out for the majority of her time with the company.

This is where things took a turn for Butler: “One day at

SUPPLIED BY KELLY BUTLER

Product from tsforbees.com.

work, someone told me about e-commerce and told me about student start-ups out of Queen’s, so I put up a website one day on a whim”, she told The Journal of the start to Tees for Bees.

So why did Butler choose bees?

“I wasn’t really that invested in the bees before starting at Labatt but I loved the environment, wanted to do something with nature, ‘save the bees’ was a big campaign at the time and I thought it would be a great business”, she said.

As of now, Butler has officially quit her job at Labatt and is working on Tees for Bees full-time while waitressing to make some extra money.

Her company has teamed up with Bee City as its official

partner and she’s now working to meet with more registered non-profit organizations. Butler hopes to continue spreading her environmental message and raising money for the cause.

One of her favorite parts of the job is working on the “Queen Bee” section of her website, in which she partners with social media influencers to help promote her brand while simultaneously helping them promote their talents.

Moving forward, Butler is moving to Southeast Asia to take advantage of the inexpensive cost of living and public work places to work on the growth of her company. She’s also looking forward to meeting new people and making connections for her

business abroad.

Butler also plans to expand the Tees for Bees line to offer more apparel including a baseball hat featuring an image of a bee, and shirts in new colours.

“My life has taken a 180 from being in an office in downtown Toronto at 1 A.M. working on Excel spreadsheets.”

In addition to having learned to run an entire business, Butler says the biggest thing she’s learned from her experience is the variety of options available to students after graduation.

“Your options after university are not limited to working for a company – I have all this energy to work and get to work with all these charities, and that is not what I felt at all before.”

Interested in Chiropractic, Law, Business or Engineering?

To learn about the programs offered at the University of South Wales, speak to Barclay Educational Services at the Queen’s University Graduate Fair on September 26, 2017.

Can’t make it to the fair? Visit our website BarclayEdu.com or email JSB@barclayedu.com

LIFESTYLE

16 •queenSjournal.ca

Monday, july 31, 2017

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY JULIA BALAKRISHNAN

POSTSCRIPT

My summer on a social media cleanse The benefits of eliminating social media from your daily routine

anGela fenG Contributor For any millennial, the thought of giving up social media for any period of time most likely sends a chill down your spine thinking about the big news you could be missing without the ability to constantly scroll.

When preparing to go to Beijing this past summer, I worried about two things: my undying, irrational fear of being denied entry at customs despite having a valid Visa and not being able to get my hourly dose of social media. Both very real, critical concerns — to me, at least.

Before I discovered the existence of virtual private networks (VPN), I thought all foreigners living in China had no choice but to live without social media. In reality, they simply download a VPN onto their computer or phone to access many of the search engines, websites and social media channels blocked in the country.

After doing considerable research, I made sure to download two free VPN apps onto my phone and one piece of software onto my computer before my departure. I refused to miss any opportunities to post travel pictures or stalk the summer adventures of my Facebook friends during my stay in China.

The first thing I did after my lengthy plane ride without Internet was unlock my phone to check through Facebook.

Sheer panic ran through me when it wouldn’t refresh. Neither would Snapchat, Instagram or Gmail.

During my first few days in Beijing, I spent a considerable amount of my time relentlessly turning my VPNs on and off, hoping one of my social media apps would refresh.

After a dozen unsuccessful attempts, I accepted my fate. I knew I had descended into a pit of despair where the light of social media could never reach. Thus began my month and a half of an involuntary social media cleanse.

After angrily deleting all my useless VPNs, I was faced with life, even if only

for a few weeks. This was a difficult and uncomfortable adjustment for an excessive Instagram user, avid YouTube binger and obsessive Facebook browser like myself. I suddenly didn’t know what to do with myself or where to invest all my extra attention. I would grab my phone every two minutes to check my Instagram only to be met with the words “Cannot refresh”.

My fingers felt a little out of place when not wrapped around my phone. My thumb twitched from the lack of scrolling. This was the first time I realised, and was willing to admit, I had a slight addiction to social media. This was the first revelation of many throughout my social media detox.

I suddenly didn’t know “what to do with myself or

where to invest all my extra attention.

”

Even though I thought otherwise at the time, looking back, my cleanse was a blessing in disguise. I learned a lot about myself and the impact social media has on my life.

The unrelenting urge to scroll dissolved as the weeks passed. I realised I didn’t actually need the company of social media while doing everyday tasks so I gradually stopped bringing my phone everywhere I went.

My phone no longer needed to be in my pocket 24/7 because, without social media, its purpose seemed minimal. Even so, an unpleasant feeling of anxiety lingered whenever I travelled without it.

Hence, I continued to carry my virtually useless phone on my person for the sense of comfort I was accustomed to.

So what are the positives I learned from this cleanse?

Firstly I noticed was the abundance of extra time I suddenly had. My withdrawal from social media created vacuums of time I could fill with whatever I wanted. I got

significantly more sleep having eliminated the one to two hours I usually spend mindlessly browsing social media before bed. I finally got around to doing things I “never have the time to do”.

I read my summer school readings twice as fast in the absence of distractions from my phone, for example. Without a social media intermission every five minutes, I finished chores at lightening speed. I found myself outside a lot more often, exploring Beijing. It wasn’t until I looked up from my phone and at the world around me that I realised how many precious hours social media eats out of our day.

A few weeks into my cleanse, I found myself generally happier. I realised it was because when I quit my social media, I had removed a principle source of negative emotions in my life. I had stepped out of the vicious cycle of social comparison. This was easy to do without access to social media, the world’s most popular platform for sharing the highlights of one’s life.

didn’t once feel jealous “ofIanother person’s squad or obsess over a jacket I couldn’t afford – simply because I didn’t see it..

”

I didn’t once feel jealous of another person’s squad or obsess over a jacket I couldn’t afford — simply because I didn’t see it. Out of sight, out of mind. I could sit at home on Friday nights, watch television in my pajamas and go to sleep at a reasonable hour without wishing I had gone out after seeing fun Snapchat stories the next morning. I took pride in my friends, my adventures and my life when I stopped comparing myself to others. I realised I don’t need to know what’s happening in everyone else’s life to be happy with my own.

The remainder of my cleanse made me realize the previous negative energy I was accustomed to getting from my social media and helped me change my habits.

I stopped thinking about what I might caption each picture I took or how many likes it might receive.

I was removed from seeing idealist body images perpetuated by social media, which meant I was free to embrace and experiment with my appearance.

I invested my attention into cultivating connections with the people around me and living in the moment. My thoughts and actions were no longer tinted by the lens of social media but, instead, my own. I had reclaimed my mind.

However, I quickly realised the drawback of this experience after arriving home in Canada. I felt disconnected with my friends and the world around me. While I was occupied with escaping the evils of social media, I neglected the benefits it offers.

Social media is undeniably the easiest way individuals can connect with the world. It also plays a key role in creating and advancing the global community we all live in.

Thus, it’s inevitable that social media will touch our lives. However, it’s up to us to determine which aspects of our lives it impacts and to what degree.

From this experience, I’ve learnt the key to social media usage is control. I’m grateful my VPNs didn’t work because I wouldn’t have had the will power to quit social media on my own.

I’ve selected two social media platforms to return to and deleted all the others to avoid slipping back into my bad habits.

I encourage everyone to try a social media cleanse.

Everything I’ve learnt from this experience has helped me improve myself.

Of course, it’s a different experience for everyone and your findings will probably be different from mine.

For most of us, social media is part of our every day lives.

While it can be beneficial for many reasons, it is always a good idea to take a step back and make sure we consider how we let social media influence our lives.