The Mike, 2014, Issue 11

2

Editorial

THE MIKE

Marching on

3

Editorial Staff

Mini cakes Class

March 13

SMCSU PRESENTS: DINNER WITH CARDINAL COLLINS

Alekzia Hosein

Father Madden Hall, 6:30pm

March 14

managingeditor@readthemike.com

Admission to this event is free for athletes. Everyone else has to pay $5 but thats because you don't bring any glory to our school. You also get a ton of food. For five dollars.

What a deal.

Sam Sorbara Auditorium, 6:30pm

Co-Living Editor

UFashion Presents: Clothing Swap

living@readthemike.com

Sports Editor

Editor-in-Chief

making progress and waiting for exams

only ends up commanding a couple days. The rest of the month ends up being consumed by the transition from winter to spring (or so one can hope) and dreaming of summer. It ends up being a great time to catch up on Oscar films and the end of television series (how will he meet the mother?!)

Ultimately, March is a month of transition. I’m sure that this is a characteristic inscribed in ancient books on the nature of the seasons, but I’m unfamiliar with them. What I do know is that there is a lot going on right now and some of it is school and a lot more of it is not. But soon we will have our exams, and then it will be summer. Hopefully in all that time, eventually winter will decide that it has had enough.

The Mike will only publish one

THE MIKE

Masthead

Letter from the Editor

March is an interesting month on university campuses. It somehow manages to be both the most stressful month and one of the laziest. The stress comes from a culmination of factors. While there aren’t exams à la December and April, there are final projects and midterms (seriously, they aren’t midterms if the terms almost over). However, with exams the next month you don’t get the same ‘grass is greener’ view you would in April. On top of the stress you also have the ‘what am I going to do in the summer?’ stress. Not to mention next year.

That being said, there isn’t actually an insane amount to do in March.

March seems to be a time when there is a lot of work talked about but not a ton actually done. That big essay you have do? It probably

News

issue after this one. Which means that we too are entering a time of transition. We are currently working to select a new staff for next year.

Particularly, we want you to come and join us. So if you are interested, go to BIT.LY/1FY3I3B to apply.

We are looking for excited people to become section editors and help curate content. It is easy to plug The Mike and talk about how great and fulfilling it is, but it’s hard to do so without sounding self-serving. If you are unsure of whether or not to get involved, and are interested in the spiel as to why you should, feel free to e-mail me at editorinchief@ readthemike.com.

One way or another, March is here, and with it all the craziness it brings.

So as the school year winds down, good luck with your ‘midterms’ and

may this winter have end by the time I write to you again.

Micah Gold-Utting

editorinchief@readthemike.com

Managing Editor News Editor Fatima Syed

news@readthemike.com

Micah Gold-Utting | Editorin-chief

Arts Editor Louis Train

Bonnie Gordon College of

March 18

Confectionary Arts, 10am

Brentwood Library, 2pm

In this beginner class, you'll learn how to cut, mask, cover and decorate your tiny cakes. You could trick your friends into thinking they've become giants! Endless possibilities. $160.

This documentary tells the story of man who stabbed a stranger in an episode of psychosis. Twelve years later the victim, the assailant, and his psychiatric professionals are interviewed in an attempt to humanize an ethical debate about mental illness and victim advocacy.

A Voyage through the Solar System

grOCAd's seed bomb workshop

March 19

March 20

March 21

6th Annual Totally Fabulous vegan bake-off

Hart House ECR, 2pm

50 St. George St (AB79), 8pm

Onsite at OCAD (230 Richmond W)

March 23

Need some incentive to spring clean? Bring in your unwanted clothing and accessories to swap them for other people's pieces. All unswapped pieces will be donated at the end of the event. Freeish.

Don't want to live on this planet anymore? Check out some nearby prospects, and learn about Mars' ancient lakes, Mercury's magnetic field, and a hexagonal storm on Saturn. $5.

This hands-on urban agricultural class allows you to create your own seed bombs and learn about the benefits of cultivating native plants wherever you go. All materials are included. Pwyc.

585 Dundas St E., 2pm

If you haven’t met Cardinal Collins, USMC’s Chancellor, this is your chance! (He’s nice). A cocktail reception begins at 6:30 pm, and a three-course-meal follows at 7pm.

All of that for for only $5? Wow.

Opinions Editor Michal Chwalek

opinions@readthemike.com

Franco Recchia

Curtis Panke

sports@readthemike.com

Senior Copy Editor Chelsea Misquith

Illustrations Editor illustrations@readthemike.com

SMC students are invited to join The Mike's Board of Directors

March 16

NCR: Not Criminally Responsible (FILM)

arts@readthemike.com

Vacant

Interested in getting involved?

SMCSU Presents: Athletics Banquet

If you still think you need butter, milk and eggs for sweets, these alternative bakers will show you otherwise. $10 admission includes 4-6 bite-sized desserts.

Web Editor Annum Roshan

Photos Editor Vacant

Writers Catherine Bredin, John Castellarin, Peter Galka, Emma George, Joe Magiapane, Mark Matich, Regan Mcneill, Melissa Morgado, Saad Shah, Alex Wichert, Christine Zelezny

Copy Editors Diane Tam, Jesse Maione, Mark Recto

Business Staff

Apply by email to editorinchief@readthemike.com

Business Manager Yasir Mustafa

business@readthemike.com

Ad Manager Stefano Tesoro

Fatima Syed | News Editor

ads@readthemike.com

Ad Execs Vacant

Kuala Lumpur

The sudden disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 last week still remains shrouded in mystery and conjecture. About 40 ships and 34 aircrafts from 10 countries are searching the seas off Malaysia and Vietnam for the plane that was carrying 239 people on board, two of which were carrying stolen passports. So far, there have been no signs of a mid-air explosion and hijacking has not been ruled out.

Saint-jérôme

Billionaire media baron, Pierre Karl Peladeau, announced over the weekend that he would be running for the Parti Quebecois, raising possibilities for a third referendum on Quebec sovereignty.

Kiev

The confrontation with Russia in Crimea continues as a pro-Russian force opened fire and seized a military base On Monday March 10th.

Ukraine’s new justice authorities have issue arrest warrants for pro-Russian leaders in Crimea, six days before the impending referendum they have called to re-join the region with Russia.

Ottawa

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is heading to South Korea on Sunday to finalise a landmark free-trade deal. The terms and details of this deal have not yet been revealed.

WASHINGTON

According to a recently published article in Nature Medicine, a blood test focusing on 10 fats in the blood could predict, with 90% accuracy, the risk of Alzheimer’s disease coming on in the next three years.

Board of Directors BOD Student Reps.

Adriano Marchese Nicole Rocha Dennis Amoakohene Christopher Sivry

BOD Alumni Rep. Andy Lubinsky

BOD College Rep. Steve Hoselton

@readthemike The Mike is the Official Bi-weekly Student Newspaper of St. Michael’s College in the University of Toronto, publishing since 1947. The Mike has a circulation of 2000, delivered to over 40 newsstands across the University of Toronto: St. George Campus and is published by The Mike Publications Inc. The Mike is printed by MasterWeb Inc on recycled newsprint stock and is a member of Canadian University Press. Copyright: 2012 The Mike Publications Inc. All Rights Reserved. All editorial inquires should be sent to editorinchief@readthemike.com. The Mike reserves the right to edit all submissions

looking to contribute? drop us a line! editorinchief@readthemike.com www.readthemike.com 416-926-7272 • 81 st. mary st.

• toronto on • m5s 1j4 •

4

THE MIKE

THE MIKE

News

55

Faces of St. Mikes – Cristina Peter Getting to know some of the unsung heroes at the college Fatima Syed | News Editor As university students, too often, we read the emails that are sent to us, walk by the millions of posters for a non-stop stream of events, without acknowledging that somebody did that. We are so caught up in our academic lives that we forget to recognise and acknowledge that there are people who are working tirelessly behind the scenes at our College who are working to ensure that we have access to the best student life possible.

Cristina Peter is one of those people. Located at the South Entrance of Brennan Hall, she is a familiar face to most who spend their time there. She is St. Michael’s College’s very first Campus Life/Student Life Coordinator, and has been serving in this role since 2012, and has quickly become the heart and soul of student life at the college. According to Peter, the role of Student Life Coordinator has been around for a long time, the earliest of which can be traces to University College and Victory College almost a decade ago. St. Michael’s College is one of the last colleges at the University of Toronto that is large enough to accommodate a Student Life Coordinator.

Peter’s role as a Student Life Coordinator involves “supporting and initiating student life programming”, be in in the form of student clubs, student council, orientation, mentorship programmes, or the recently set up commuter don programs. Along with this, Peter in also involved in carrying out more housekeeping type responsibilities like alcohol policies, risk assessment, and poster policies.

“My job is a mixed bag that involves supervising, instigating, supporting, programming, training and so on,” explains

Peter.

She has been involved with student life since 2008, first as a resident don at Victoria College and now as a Student Life Coordinator. “I’ve seen different student governments running through and all the concerns and issues that have come up but also the triumphs that are put forward. My job is to support these student initiatives and make them feasible. Whether that involves, from an administration point of view, compromising certain things or reshifting certain structures so we can do things,” says Peter.

She adds, “There is never a hard ‘no’ in my world. It’s more of a discussion. If you come up with a fantastic idea, we will find a way to incorporate the main goal of what you’re trying to do to make student life better.”

This year, Peter has been at the forefront of promoting the Mentor and Academic Peer (MAP) programme as well as beginning the Commuter don initiative, both of which she recognises as a “a learning process”.

“I’m the type of person who has a bunch of ideas and likes putting them in action and seeing what happens. Things will fail, things will really work – it’s an experience. I like to put out something that is formed in a general sense and then allow students to make it their own and allow that organic process to take over. That’s where the strength of the program comes,” explains Peter.

This shows in Peter’s Commuter Don program that is working to include St Mike’s 4000 commuters into student life on campus.

Peter explains that whilst she presented the general outline of how the initiative would take shape, it has largely been defined and succeeded through the work of the students

that have been participating in it. The creation of stay-over space for commuters to leave their bags and books in order to attend events is part of this, as is ensuring the timings are set to be able to allow for a reasonable time for these students to make it home.

As a former commuter student and don, Peter is aware of the isolation of the experience.

She has tried to make inclusivity and equity the foundations of her work, working to ensure that all events at St. Mike’s are as inclusive and welcoming as possible.

“We want to removes as many systemic barriers to access as we can. Does the poster appeal to maybe one group over the other?

Is it affordable to people? Is it accessible for commuters? Can we make it more accessible?” said Peter.

To achieve this Peter recommends all event planning students to ask. “Do you have any dietary requirements? Do you have any accommodations we can take care of ? The amount of time I’ve had people reply saying things like “I’m allergic to shellfish, I’m like “good to know”, because if someone went out for sushi and there’s someone having difficulty breathing I will have an idea of what’s going on,” said Peter.

She adds, “I once got a comment saying ‘No, but thank you for asking, that means a lot’. People really like that you’re asking in advance so you can accommodate them. In a perfect world we would have sign interpreters everywhere and we’d be able to know all these different things. But if you ask you can sometimes do something about it.”

“Everything at university should be a learning experience. Everything is a teachable moment” has been Peter’s slogans for her

2014-2015 Staff Elections Interested in getting involved? work in this role, whether it is in planning orientation or working with SMCSU. Her Ideas folder is brimming with things to keep trying. She is working on integrating her role more closely with student council and make student life better from where ideas start.

“We all have the same goals: to make St Mike’s a great place for students to learn and to educate the whole person. I think that’s part of the Catholicity of the whole college.

We have a catholic tradition, where before we even started the whole student life thing, they were saying its not just academics that we’re teaching: we’re teaching goodness, we’re teaching discipline. Whether you’re catholic or not we’re teaching the whole individual: we’re teaching the head, the heart and the spirit,” she adds.

Her office is the best part of her job: located at Brennan Hall’s South Entrance, Peter says her best meetings happen when students simply walk in. Her door, even when closed, is always open.

Need a job? Stop surfing and start walking LEAH HANSEN | THE EYEOPENER (RYERSON UNIVERSITY) TORONTO (CUP) — When Parth Patel was in his first few years of the engineering program, he found getting a summer job to be quite challenging.

“I applied to more than 60 or 70 jobs,” he said. “I [was] trying to find work [in engineering], but I wasn’t able to.”

The frustration of finding a summer job is something many students have experienced before, especially since the 2008 economic crisis when markets around the world crashed.

Searching through thousands of job listings online, perfecting your resumé and sending it out can take hours.

But if you’re hoping to score that ideal job, going back to the basics is the way to go, said Daniel Kennedy, a career consultant at Ryerson University’s Ted Rogers School of Management careers and employment partnerships centre in Toronto.

“If you go into [the websites] Monster or Workopolis and you type in ‘summer jobs’ you’re going to find job postings,” he said.

“The problem is there are about four million other students across Canada who are going to find those same job postings.”

It often comes down to doing some oldfashioned scouting on the ground, Kennedy said, adding that proactively approaching employers can make a bigger impression than simply sending a resumé by email.

“What students should do if they really want to make a go of it is to look for companies that don’t have the capacity to advertise for those summer jobs,” he said. “If you can identify, and find those companies and approach them proactively, that will give you a much better chance.”

Because finding a job can be so difficult in urban centres and university towns, many students decide to go back to their hometowns for the summer, where the competition is less fierce and jobs are easier to come by.

Laura Hamel, a Ryerson first-year performance acting student said the cost of living in Toronto has helped determine her choice.

“I’m from Regina so I’ll be moving home to find a job,” she said. “It’s a lot cheaper to live at home and I have a solid job at home.”

The summer job market comes down to

basic supply and demand, Kennedy said.

“On the supply side, you have basically a lot of students that are looking for jobs during the summer months and that’s fine as long as the demand’s there,” he said. “The demand really hasn’t been there since 2008.”

Brennan Thompson, undergraduate program director at Ryerson’s school of economics says that the recession of 2008 has brought everyone down a notch when it comes to the job market.

“The guy who was working at the auto assembly plant loses his job and now he’s taking the low paid job at Tim Horton’s,” he said. “Now the young person who used to have that job at Tim Horton’s [doesn't] have anything.”

Kennedy says the market is starting to bounce back. But compared to 10 years ago, finding a

summer job is far more of a challenge. Even in a city as big as Toronto, competition can be fierce because there are so many students looking for temporary employment.

According to Kennedy, even if the job you end up with isn’t at all related to your field, it’s still a good idea to include it on your resumé.

Employers look at how your skills have evolved, even if the job you had was just bussing tables.

The hard skills you gain might not be related to your future career, but the soft skills — like leadership skills, problem solving abilities and customer service experience — will come in handy.

“No one is expecting you to graduate here and have four years of senior project management experience,” he said. “What they want to see is that there’s a progression.”

go to http://bit.ly/1fY3I3b • Editor-in-Chief: Responsible for the management of the content for The Mike. Duties include checking the cohesive nature of the paper, reviewing the content submitted for suitability, managing coordination between section editors, being responsible for the non-production related duties of The Mike and being responsible for The Mike as a whole.

• Web Editor: Responsible for collecting and managing web content and for basic maintenance of the website. Content can include articles printed in The Mike, but position is also responsible for the collection and management of new web-specific content.

• Production Manager: Responsible for the layout and aesthetic look of the paper. Organizes workflow for production days • Editor-at-Large: Responsible for developing larger from start to finish. Production days are Mondays and Tuesdays. stories for the centerfold and cover, in addition to thematic management of the Mike. For example, content could include special event features, such as Halloween or Valentine’s • Senior Copy Editor: Responsible for overall copy editing of the Day themed pieces, or a piece that would take further paper and overseeing copy editing sessions on production days. development, such as a program review or coffee shop review.

• Illustrations Director: Responsible for collecting illustrations • News Editor: Responsible for collecting and managing content and comics forThe Mike,while coordinating with the section editors. related to international and campus news concerning students.

Example: Content could include information about impending strikes, protests that happened on campus, or pieces about • Photo Editor: Responsible for coordinating with the other universities. Also responsible for the News in Brief section. production manager to acquire photos to complement the articles.

• Arts Editor: Responsible for collecting and managing content • Business Manager: Responsible for creating the year’s related to the prolific arts scene in Toronto. For example, budget in cooperation with the Editor in Chief. Manages content can include play reviews, show previews, or other advertisement team and maintains business contacts. art news such as gallery openings, or Kelly’s Corner reviews.

• Ad Manager: Responsible for coordinating the Ad Executives, • Sports Editor: Responsible for collecting and managing content while seeking new advertising partners. Commisson-paid position. related to both professional sports and varsity sports. For example, content could include game reviews, strategy reviews, Varsity Blues results, or larger articles talking about sports scandals, or • Ad Executives: Responsible for building team struggles. Also responsible for the Sports in Brief section. relationships with advertising partners, and finding new advertisements.

Commission-paid position.

• Living Editor: Responsible for collecting and managing content related to student lifestyle. For example, content can include food reviews, trend reports, recent scientific The Mike is always growing its team of designers, discoveries, and interviews with people leading interesting lives. photographers and writers. If you want to get involved, please do not hesitate to email the relevant section editor, or Micah Gold-Utting at the editorinchief@readthemike.com .

• Opinions Editor: Responsible for collecting and managing content related to the opinions section. For example content can include opinions on news, popular beliefs or other topics.

Applications close March 26th

6

Sports

THE MIKE

Mad for March

Peter Galka | Staff Writer American Athletic Conference: The new arrivals: Louisville, Cincinnati, and Connecticut have not been the most gracious of guests to the rest of their conference as the three ex-Big East superpowers have gone (3911) combined over the other teams of the AAC. With the defending champions, the Louisville Cardinals, taking home the regular season conference title, they act as the frontrunners to claim their first ever AAC Championship.

However, the best point guard in America (and possibly the best name too), Shabazz Napier, and the rest of his UConn Husky teammates have other plans on their mind. Shabazz will attempt to channel his inner Kemba Walker and lead these Huskies to victory.

Champion: Connecticut Huskies.

Atlantic Coast Conference: North Carolina and Duke, who typically see the regular season in the ACC as nothing more than a leisurely stroll through the park, had a wake up call this year by being downed in the conference standings by both Virginia and Syracuse. If the tournament was held in a more neutral location I would not hesitate on pulling the trigger on a very talented Virginia squad.

Too bad for them, the tourney will be taking place in Greensboro, NC. Advantage UNC and Duke, with the slight edge given to Duke based on their superior depth and presence of a superstar, Jabari Parker.

Champion: Duke Blue Devils.

Big Ten Conference: This conference should be re-named the Big

Big 12 Conference: To all you NBA aficionados out there, The Big 12 this year is the equivalent to the Western Conference. It seems like every game is a battle of goliaths and in this conference you are probably less likely to get a win on any given night than you are finding a canonized saint at the Brunny. So, how does one select a god among titans? Well, in a conference that may send up to seven teams to the big dance, the squad with the best depth will reign supreme.

Look no further than the Kansas Jayhawks. If you haven’t seen a Jayhawk game this year, I am thrilled to inform you that they have many more weapons other than our Canadian golden boy.

Naadir Tharpe is a name that you may not know, but is the motor on a Kansas team that will enjoy a Big 12 Championship and a number 1 seed going into March madness.

Champion: Kansas Jayhawks.

Big East Conference: Lets face it, this year’s Big East is not the same powerhouse, “I’m going to send ten teams to the tournament” Big East that we have witnessed over the past few years. So lets not waste too much time here because this

7

Kicking tires with sellers and buyers

NCAA basketball conference tournament look-ahead Trouble Conference. I’m talking injuries, people, and plenty of ‘em. First Michigan loses their best player in Mitch McGary at the beginning of the season, then Noah Vonleh of Indiana has to miss multiple games due to a foot injury, and don’t even get me started on The Michigan St. Spartans who can’t seem to get their stars: Keith Appling, Adreian Payne, and Brandon Dawson on the floor at the same time due to injuries.

Sam Dekker and the Wisconsin Badgers will take advantage of others’ misfortune on their way to the Big Ten Championship.

Champion: Wisconsin Badgers.

THE MIKE

Sports

conference is far removed from its days of being the most outstanding. That doesn’t stop this conference from still holding onto a little piece of “outstanding” in a different way. Enter Doug McDermott. This coach’s son is the best scorer in the NCAA and will take home some hefty hardware when the Wooden Award for “The Most Outstanding Player” is awarded at season’s end. You can add a Big East Championship trophy to his and the Creighton Blue Jays’ haul as well.

Champion: Creighton Blue Jays Pac-12 Conference: The much improved Pac-12 has been a landslide all year in Arizona’s favour. They are unquestionably the best team on the entire West coast and are right up there in the conversation with teams like Florida and Kansas for the most lethal starting fives in all of college hoops. So is there an underdog that can bite off the top dog of the Pac-12 in Arizona? No. Not even close.

Wildcats win.

Champion: Arizona Wildcats.

Southeastern Conference: We finally come to the conference that is home to the overall #1 seed and owner of a current 22 game win streak (as of March 6), The Florida Gators. Billy Donovan is a two time NCAA Champion and his team is stock full of upperclassmen, so there’s no way anyone in the SEC could beat them, right? Well, Kentucky is still too inexperienced, and Georgia, who hosts this years Conference Championship, got blown out last time they played the Gators. But maybe, just maybe the Arkansas Razorbacks and their potent and dynamic offense can catch the Gators napping due to their bigger picture goals of a National Title.

Champion: Arkansas Razorbacks.

Curtis Panke | Sports Editor

NFL

The New Orleans Saints are releasing running back Darren Sproles as free agency is set to begin.

NHL

The goalie saga in Vancouver is now over after the Canucks traded goalie Roberto Luongo to the Florida Panthers in exchange for goalie Jacob Markstrom and forward Shawn Matthias.

MLB

The Baltimore Orioles signed former Cy Young Winner Johan Santana to a minor league contract.

NBA

The Los Angeles Clippers handed the Los Angeles Lakers their biggest loss in franchise history after a 142-94 loss at the Staples Center.

Soccer

The 2014 MLS is officially under way with Toronto FC’s first game on March 15 against the Seattle Sounders.

The home opener is on March 22 against D.C. United.

Highlights of the 2014 NHL trade deadline Alex Wichert Staff Writer The NHL Trade Deadline has come and gone. Some postseason hopefuls made large splashes before Wednesday’s 3 PM deadline, while other squads made minor revisions in the hopes that a slight modification was all that was required. All teams, however, are now lining up for the final stretch and hope to sprint right into the Playoffs. Now that the flurry has subsided, it’s time to take a look at some of the winners, losers, and surprises from transaction day. This year’s deadline ended up being much busier than seasons past and was chock-full of big names. What does it all mean going into the final lap?

Winners:

Montreal: A day before the deadline, the Habs picked up depth defenseman Mike Weaver from Florida and added goaltending option Devan Dubnyk from Nashville.

Montreal waited until Wednesday, though, to make their most impressive acquisition.

Flipping prospect Sebastien Collberg and a conditional second-round pick for Islanders’ forward Thomas Vanek, the Canadiens finally have the big scoring winger they’ve been seeking. New York’s General Manager, Garth Snow, knew he had to trade Vanek before the Austrian goal scorer plunged into free agent waters this summer; he was left in the difficult position of trying to trade with 29 other GMs who knew he had to make a deal. Montreal GM Marc Bergevin shrewdly avoided giving up a first rounder in the move and it’s not a foregone conclusion that Vanek is simply a rental player. Even if he leaves after the season, Vanek will provide offence and a spark that says Montreal is serious about competing.

St. Louis: The Blues traded for Buffalo goalie Ryan Miller and, as a result, added an elite talent to an already powerful club. Are you an opposing forward trying to score against the Blues? Great, all you have to do is the following: First, gain possession of the puck against the big, strong, hard-hitting team of St. Louis. Next, manage to get a rush against head coach Ken Hitchcock’s tight-checking, stingy system. Now, try to get past the team’s top defensive duo and Olympic champions Jay Bouwmeester and Alex Pietranglo. No problem? You just need to score on Miller, now. He’s only one of the best goalies in the world.

Buffalo: New GM Tim Murray conducted a fire sale but it was a successful event nonetheless. Making a series of shrewd moves, he continued to stockpile draft picks while building for the future with Kings’ prospects Hudson Fasching and Nicolas Deslauriers. Michael Neuvirth, Washington’s former goalie, is a relatively young player who still may have some untapped potential for the Sabres. Buffalo won’t compete this year but, because of smart decisions by management, is going to use the next few drafts to accumulate a plethora of talent.

Losers:

New York Islanders: Trading Matt Moulson and picks to Buffalo for Thomas Vanek was supposed to surge the Islanders into the Playoff hunt once again. Unfortunately

for fans and players, that’s not how things happened in New York. Vanek’s rejection of a contract extension earlier in the year and his eventual trade to Montreal leaves Garth Snow with relatively nothing. Instead of making smart personnel choices and keeping effective NHL players, such as Moulson, on the team, the Islanders are now not only without captain John Tavares and Vanek but without much hope for the season. Still needing an upgrade on the blueline and in the crease, New York now only has a prospect that might make a difference in a few years.

Vancouver: Trading Roberto Luongo to Florida for Jacob Markstrom and Shawn Matthias shook the fan base and raised questions as to what GM Mike Gillis’s plan even was. The Luongo deal looks even rougher when added to the fact that the Canucks traded Cory Schneider to New Jersey at the deadline, making a statement that Luongo was their man. Add to this storyline the demand Ryan Kesler made to be traded, which did not happen, and Vancouver is left with an excess of distractions. The question remains – where do they go from here?

Surprises:

New York Rangers and Tampa Bay: Sure, there had been rumours that Lightning captain Martin St. Louis had requested a trade.

That couldn’t possibly happen though, right?

St. Louis, as the heart and soul of the team, was the leader on a group that appeared to be trending up. It turns out that there was merit to the reports, as Tampa GM Steve Yzerman dealt St. Louis to the Rangers for captain Ryan Callahan, a 2015 first round pick, and a 2014 second round pick. In a captain-for-captain deal that has never been seen on Deadline Day before, the Rangers and Lightning both picked up something to be excited about. New York gets a significant offensive boost and the security of having St. Louis for at least an extra season. In addition, St. Louis is the reigning NHL scoring leader and makes the Rangers a threat to win it all this year. The Lightning, meanwhile, did well with the fact that Yzerman’s hand was essentially forced.

The 2014 second round pick becomes a first if New York makes the Eastern Conference Final and, although St. Louis’s chemistry with Steven Stamkos will be missed, Tampa has Jonathan Drouin coming up to the big club soon.

It’s often said that the true benefactors of the NHL Trade Deadline, and trades in general, can’t be determined until years later. When the draft picks have been used and the prospects have shown their worth, the decisions involved in transactions can be fully assessed and a “winner” can be given its due. The thing about trades, though, is that there are going to be calculated risks and gambles regardless of who is involved.

Some of the moves that happened this year may lead to results quite different than initially projected but there are some aspects that can be discussed in the present. A good trade can do many things for a team. It can boost fan morale and expectation. It can propel a bubble squad right into the second season.

And, perhaps most significant, it can bring a team that was originally written off, back from the dead(line).

8

THE MIKE

THE MIKE

Emotional baggage

the stories told by the things we carry Everyday carry refers to the things people wear or take with them on a regular basis. Because these things are usually concealed or private, they offer a different perspective to the outside world: a raw, inside look at how we see our needs and ourselves. In each of these photos, SMC students showed off their wares. Although we come from different academic and social

backgrounds, there are common threads here. Many students combine their recreation with what academic activities, carrying at least one item for enjoyment, no matter how many books they’re also bogged down by. For many commuters, a backpack can provide a home-away-from-home experience. Here are some of the things the students we asked have in their bags.

Alekzia 4th year, Book and Media Studies “I started carrying gym stuff with me to guilt myself into going to the gym. Even if I don't go, I carry more weight. Winwin.”

Arjit 2nd year, Criminology “It’s pretty barebones, but everything is on my computer”

Brian 3rd year, English and Visual Studies “I’ve been waiting all my life to have one of these pictures taken. As you can see, I carry my camera with me”

Cassi 2nd year, Celtic Studies “No matter how little I have in my bag, there are always multiple lip products.

Who doesn’t love soft lips?”

9

Alekzia Hosein | Managing Editor

Eli 4th year, Medieval Studies Me: Can I take a picture of your books?

Eli: “Sure, they’re not mine.”

Juliano 4th year, Rotman Commerce “The most interesting thing? I guess I have this small bag of miniature toiletries. You never know what could happen.”

Nick 2nd year, Medieval Studies “I have a lot of garbage in my bag”

Stephen 4th year, Human Biology “I have my DS with me. I’m currently playing the newest Pokémon game. I can’t wait until they do a revamp of Gold and Silver.”

10

Arts

THE MIKE

Arts

THE MIKE

Rhapsody in ‘Blue’

Something to talk about

Some thoughts on ‘Blue Is the Warmest Colour’

The Tarragon Theatre presents love without speach in 'Marry Me a Little'

Mark Matich | Staff Writer

Louis Train | Arts Editor

also heart-breaking moments.

Valentine’s Day has come and gone, and in its absence, a feeling of freedom from romance. 364 days of the year love is a bizarre, complicated thing that cannot be as simple as roses and chocolate hearts. Nowhere is this clearer than at Tarragon Theatre where, from March 5 - April 6, the Sondheim song cycle Marry Me a Little paints a portrait of love that is sometimes dark, sometimes light, often complex, usually ambivalent, and always, inescapably, Sondheimesque. Marry Me a Little offers a peek into the romantic lives and thoughts of two New Yorkers who, in Adam Brazier’s interpretation of the dialogue-free play, meet, flirt, fall in love, and fall out of love.

I had the chance to sit down with Marry Me a Little stars Élodie Gillett and Adrian Marchuk to ask them about what kinds of things an audience can expect to take away from the show.

(This interview has been edited and condensed.)

TM: Is there anything particularly challenging about doing a show that is so up and down?

There has been a lot of controversy surrounding Abdellatif Kechiche’s ‘Blue Is The Warmest Colour’, much of it relating to his direction of the film and his pushing of leads Lea Seydoux and Adele Exarchopoulos to their breaking points, filming hundreds of takes for some scenes. While I am not certain as to the extent that Kechiche used questionable methods in his direction of some parts of the film, he has certainly crafted an excellent art film, and it is a testament to the resolve of both his actresses that they are always stunning in their acting out of the challenging roles they play, not to mention dignified and technically brilliant.

The film represents a number of breakthroughs—of Kechiche as a major auteur to watch and Exarchopoulos and Seydoux as some of the most talented actresses in their age range in film today (I for one look forward to the upcoming projects of both, ‘Voyage vers la mère’ and ‘Diary of a Chambermaid’ respectively). The other breakthrough, which has taken a long time to emerge in the modern art cinema (Steve McQueen’s ‘Shame’ being the only possible forerunner I can think of) is that it is the first NC-17-rated film to present graphic sex in an almost completely un-

sensationalized—butobviously quite stylized and sensualized—manner. But to focus only on this would mean overlooking some of the other key features of Kechiche’s expert handling of the meandering 3-hour-long tale of seduction, lust, love and betrayal that makes up the plot of the film.

A major point of interest stylistically, including in the already famous sex scenes, is how well Kechiche and his cinematographer Sofian El Fani moderate the use of both the female figure and nature on screen, a tradition in art cinema that goes back to Truffaut’s ‘Jules et Jim’. Particularly gorgeous are the scenes where Exarchopoulos’s character (also named Adèle) begins to recover from her break with Emma. For example, one scene is comprised of a series of shots of Adèle bathing in the sea, shot from the vantage point of the camera at a kind of meniscus level in the water. Each shot is taken from a slightly different angle, the overall effect in mise-en-scene terms being a fluid visual sense of Adèle’s sadness and burgeoning feelings of depthlessness after having been so suddenly cast away from her lover. Shots of trees, gates, streetlights and other things of that sort achieve similar ends— and aren’t extraneous art film décor, but rather complement the deeply felt ambience of the picture.

Another thing that to my knowledge hasn’t been pointed out about the film but perhaps should be is that the caliber of the supporting performances is extremely high.

The entire cast really glows, a standout being newcomer Alma Jodorowsky. My overall feeling about this much-lauded, Palme d’Or winner is this: I think what has to be emphasized about the film is not so much the

success of the already established Seydoux, Exarchopoulos, and Kechiche (although it did put them on the map as internationally famous actresses and a potential star director), but the fact that it does something rare in film today.

It presents a risqué adult story in a register of complete emotional honesty, and does so without almost no reservations (stylistically, acting-wise, directorially) whatsoever.

Revolution rap and revelatory release Drake’s repping the 416 in a changing game

Regan McNeill | Staff Writer Despite my semi-hipster appearance, I am a huge fan of rap. As far as I can tell, Canada is lacking a legitimate “rap scene” (if you will).

Our mainstream rap scene is constituted of

those homey guys who don’t quite fit in, like Classified and KardinalOffishall. But let’s be honest here, do we really want these guys to be the figureheads of our rap scene? I certainly do not.

Then one day came Drake. As you probably already know, Drake rolled onto the scene

(pun intended) after playing Jimmy in the Toronto-based show Degrassi. Since his first few hits such as “I Get Paper” and “Best I Ever Had,” Drake has been climbing his way up to be one of the kings of rap. I am a selfadmitted Drake fanatic and I know one thing for sure: people either love or hate him. There is no grey area.

Drake recently released his album “Nothing Was The Same” and arguably it is his best album yet. I pray that from this point on in his career he does not experience “Get Rich or Die Tryin’” Syndrome. I have coined this term as a reference to 50 Cent’s rapping career and the plunge it took after the release of his album “Get Rich or Die Tryin”… nothing was the same for 50 after that album. What I mean to illustrate with this comparison is the state of hip-hop as it stands now. Pretty much all the old guys like Dr. Dre, 50 Cent, and Jay Z have turned down the avenue of production to make way for new artists like Drake.

In my opinion, Drake shoved his mentor Lil Wayne out of the rap scene and paved the way for “nice guys” to make it in the game. Standing alongside Drake are artists like A$AP Rocky, Kendrick Lamar, 2 Chainz, Ab-Soul, ScHoolBoy Q, Iggy Azalea,J. Cole, Joey Bada$$, Danny Brown, and Tyler The Creator, among others. Whether or not all of these artists are “soft” or not is solely based in comparison to actual ex- gangsters turned rappers, like The Game or 50 Cent.

I gauge that we are in a new era of hip-

hop where everything is over produced and smooth, differing from the grainy sound of Wu-Tang or Crooklyn Dodgers. It is an era where artists collaborate with electronic music makers, for instance A$AP Rocky and Clam’s Casino (a much darker beatmaker than the king, J-Dilla). I am seeing more independent rappers like Tech N9ne actually gain recognition. Also I am noticing a tonal shift in the way rap sounds to have a spoken word quality to it. Tyler The Creator’s “Wolf ” is a good example of this. I like to think that hip-hop’s become more inclusive and accepting, which is good but this does have its pitfalls (cough, cough, Macklemore).

Even so, I am enjoying the surge of female rappers like Iggy whose rhymes aren’t overall spectacular but whose fame gives me hope that I too can make it in a business where ladies are the minority.

I see Drake’s career as one that represents a shift in the rap scene. But if he grows older and makes way for a new era of hip-hop, what will the future sound like? As I ponder the implications of changing technologies, changing attitudes toward women and marginalized groups, and the effect of the world-wide-web, I know that all of these factors will have an incalculable impact on music. But it goes without saying that I hope that hip-hop doesn’t lose any more antiquity and turn into something that it’s not. Like Biggie said, “If you don’t know, now you know” SMC.

The Mike: Do you consider this a particularly romantic show?

Adrian Marchuk: I think so. Élodie Gillett: I think it’s pretty realistic.

AM: It’s realistic love. ÉG: It takes us to the highest of highs and the lowest of lows as most relationships do.

AM: Anybody coming to this play will recognize themselves in different points of the relationship they watch on stage. They’ll think, “Oh I remember having a first date like that.

Oh, I remember that fight; that was terrible. Oh, I remember making up.”

They’ll see all the ups and downs.

TM: Would you say it’s more up than down?

AM: Sondheim – his mark is one of complexity. Psychological complexity, emotional complexity, musical and lyrical complexity, so it’s tough to paint this show as just a romantic evening out. There’s wonderful heartwarming moments but there’s

11

AM: We get snapshots of different points in time in the relationship.

So we get first meeting and then we get first date and we get moving in together and then we get they’ve been living together a while. Without any stage time between it, we’re instantly a month ahead, two months ahead, three months ahead…. We have to move very quickly from one place to another. It’s a roller-coaster, but it’s a lot of fun to play. ÉG: It is a lot of fun. It takes a lot out of us. Because of the scale, the emotional range, there’s a lot of adrenaline that comes along with that, so even though this relationship takes place over the course of just over an hour, we’re pretty wiped by the end of it.

AM: Everyone will go through a whole year’s relationship in one hour.

TM: Of these ups and downs - are there any parts of those emotional moments that resonate with you based on experience, based on your own relationships? ÉG: Absolutely. I think that because the material is so open, and because we’ve been given permission to change around the order in which the songs are presented to help us with the story that we want to tell, we as a group all had a lot of input into how do we best play this scene, and our personal experiences absolutely played a big role in those discussions and what the final product has turned out to be.

AM: Everybody’s been through fights and breakups with people that they love, and first dates that make you all giggly and butterflied inside, and the comfort of moving in with somebody and all of the sudden you’re brushing your teeth together.

Where did the romance go? This covers all of those. I think anybody who comes is going to recognize themselves on stage, which is always fun.

TM: What’s something that you changed to suit that? ÉG: We have been given permission to use the song “Rainbows” that has just been written for the upcoming Into the Woods film. So that is very exciting and certainly a Toronto premiere. That is something that is very exciting for us to be able to share with Toronto.

AM: In the way the show was conceived, that the songs just stand alone and they are sort of thematically connected about love and relationships. And the two people in the play – it’s been presented as two men, it’s been presented as two women; we’re doing it as a man and a woman – they never meet, except sometimes as each other’s fantasy date. And what we’re doing,

what our director and our musical director have done, is “let’s make it about these two people.” And so the songs have completely different spins sometimes from how they were originally written in the shows from which they were intended.

TM: This comes at a time when it seems as though everything, even musicals, which used to be so happy, have that really dark side to them now. You ask someone – the biggest musical they can think of is going to be Les Mis, with dying prostitutes everywhere. I want to know what you think of this in the overall context of our views on love, or our views on stories about love. That obsession with the ambiguity and the dark side of things – are we entering the Sondheim age of thought, or that sort of a one-off thing? ÉG: I think we’ve created something because you can relate to it, because things are going wrong, because of the heartbreak, I think that it just gives them a fuller experience than they would have in a different kind of musical theatre, where it is all just happy songs and sunshine and lollipops. I think that it makes the positive love that much more exciting moment, when you get both the top and the bottom of that range of feelings and experiences.

AM: I think there are great pieces, musical and otherwise, that primarily say “love is wonderful, let’s celebrate love.” And that’s totally a worthy thing to do; Adam Guettel’s The

Light in the Piazza, which I’ve been privileged with doing twice, is a huge celebration of love. But even what’s considered the first book musical, Show Boat, had very dark themes in it. So we tend to think of musicals, “Oh they’re usually light, but this one is dark.” And the fact is any play can be light or dark, any form can be light or dark, and the question is, “Do you have joy in some of the dark moments and darkness in some of the joy?” and I think that’s more exciting to watch because it’s realistic, because when we have ambiguity in our relationships, in our lives, we’re not always sure, so Sondheim reflects that really, really well, and unflinchingly, while at the same time he’s a great entertainer. He can write a show tune, that’s for sure.

Gillett and Marchuk star in the same musical, but have different ideas of what makes it so effective.

To Marchuk, the merit of something as complex and unsentimental as Marry Me a Little is the show’s ability to reflect our own lives, which is itself exciting, and which provides a more honest picture of love. But Gillett hinted that the darker moments may be there to highlight the brighter moments; that the highs may be more important than the lows, and that Marry Me a Little might have some closeted sentimentality - a sort of romantically unromantic romance.

Marry Me a Little runs from March 5 – April 6 at the Tarragon Theatre Mainspace.

12

THE MIKE

THE MIKE

Opinions

13

Peace for our time?

Situating Ukraine in its historical context

Rob Mason | Contributor It's often said that history repeats itself, and while there is some truth to this idea, the hard part is knowing which historical lessons to draw upon in any given situation. Just ask Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird.

Baird recently compared the crisis in Crimea to Hitler's occupation of the Sudetenland in 1938, and to the Cold War. Both are clumsy historical analogies that suggest dangerous misconceptions in Baird's outlook on Russian aggression.

On the surface, the Sudetenland comparison seems fitting. Both Hitler and Putin seized neighboring, historically linked territory for the stated purpose of protecting their own ethnic group. If that's the extent of Baird's comparison then it is completely valid and deeply unsettling. However, Canada's NATO allies frequently violate the sovereignty of other states in their global 'War on Terror' without Baird feeling the need to compare drone strikes to blitzkriegs. Baird is not simply pointing out a breach

of international law; by invoking Sudetenland, he is suggesting that Putin's actions are more far-reaching and sinister than they appear.

After all, the Sudetenland crisis is best remembered for the discredited policy of appeasement which conceded to Hitler the time and resources necessary to prepare for total war. While Putin has proven to be hypocritical and untrustworthy there is no reason to believe that he is bent on Nazi-esque world domination. By making this flawed comparison, Baird has suggested the worrying possibility that Canadian diplomacy will be focusing on Ukraine as a geopolitical pawn rather than on the root causes of the Ukrainian crisis.

The failure of appeasement reminded the world that diplomacy can be abused, but overcompensation for this failure in the 1940s and 1950s brought problems of its own. Negotiation and meaningful communication were seen as signs of weakness, and so paranoia and ignorance on both sides dominated early Cold

War decision-making. This was the ultimate legacy of Sudetenland and one hopes that John Baird has taken it into account. Unfortunately his simplistic reference suggests otherwise.

Baird's other historical comparison is equally troubling. He seems to be unaware of the enormous difference between day-to-day geopolitical rivalry and the Cold War as the rest of us understand it. The Cold War was a struggle between two inherently conflicting ideologies, each of which predicted and struggled for the complete demise of the other.

The struggle was global and it was perceived to be of such importance that the continued existence of human civilization was put at stake.

While Putin's actions are certainly troubling, internationally Putinism does not represent a compelling ideological alternative to liberalism, nor does the Crimean crisis appear to be part of a systemic global trend akin to the Cold War. Frankly, it's unlikely that the idea of a new Cold War would have been invoked at all if any other

nation had engaged in similar behavior. Unfortunately, political elites still have a tendency to view Russia through the same rigid and paranoid lens used decades ago. The international community should of course take meaningful action

to stabilize Ukraine and dissuade future breaches of international law. But this should be pursued on a scale proportional to the crisis and with the goal of preventing the perception of a new Cold War from becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Student pricing You’ll also get a free SPC Card to save big at your favourite retailers.*

we make taxes painle$$ hrblock.ca | 800-HRBLOCK (472-5625) Š2014 H&R Block Canada, Inc. *$29.95 valid for student tax preparation only. To qualify, student must present either (i) a T2202a documenting 4 or more months of full-time attendance at a college or university during the applicable tax year or (ii) a valid high school ID card. Students pay $79.99 for Complex/Premier return. Expires 12/31/2014. Valid only at participating locations. Additional fees apply. Some restrictions apply. SPC cards available at participating locations in Canada only. Offers may vary, restrictions may apply. For full terms see www.spccard.ca.

14

THE MIKE

Opinions

Social media anxiety

Your trial period is over

Is technology making us asocial?

John Castellarin | Staff Writer Last month a student at U of T was denied an exemption from graded class participation in response to the claim that he

was “too shy to participate”. The student’s claim was that he was the only male in the class, which made him feel uncomfortable. I’m sure he’s taking a lot of criticism from people claiming he’s asocial or immature but to be honest I think

a lot of us are less social than we think and shouldn’t be so quick to point fingers. That being said, I don’t know what he expected the gender demographic to be when he signed up for Women and Gender studies, but I guess he didn’t read

the course description. Or the name.

Although the above case is an extreme one, I think it’s indicative of a society that’s becoming less and less social. This may seem counter-intuitive given the immense expansion of social media, but as relationships become increasingly digital, person-to-person bonds will inevitably suffer. Everyone has those friends on Facebook or follows someone on Twitter that they would never say hi to if they saw each other in person. The rule should be if you’re not close enough to say hello on the sidewalk then you shouldn’t be friends online.

That’s why I don’t have my Mom on Facebook. (Just kidding, love you Mom!) You know when you go out to dinner and you look at a couple and they’re both on their phones?

It’s terrible. I once saw a person who was out to dinner with a friend and was actually on their ipad the entire time. If I ever went to dinner with someone and they pulled out an ipad I would probably flip the table. If you can’t go out and have a good time with your friends without looking at a screen, I don’t care if you have 3000 followers on Instagram, you’re a complete loser.

We’ve all seen that cool guy at a bar standing by himself staring at his phone. No one looks at that person and says, “Wow, that guy on his

THE MIKE

Opinions

phone right now is probably texting all of his friends. He must be really popular.” What’s the point of going out if you’re going to text the entire time? You might as well stay home.

You aren’t going to meet anyone new either way, but if you stay home you’ll probably save yourself the effort of having to wear pants.

Bringing things back to the student who wanted to be exempted from participating, is the request really that outrageous? Why should he be obliged to be social and participate given the declining importance of social relationships? In high school, I hated not being allowed to use a calculator, because I knew that anytime I’d need to do math for the rest of my life I’d always be able to pull out my trusty Casio. I genuinely believe that in today’s society you can probably get away without ever having to talk to people in person.

A terrifying prospect for sure, but it’s definitely the direction in which society is moving. The nature of relationships is changing and will continue to develop as technology advances. That being said, I think we should still do everything we can to actual spend time with people when we are with them. And if that means you can’t check twitter to see what some random person you met in first year, but no longer talk to, thinks about Leonardo DiCaprio not getting an Oscar, then so be it.

Middling diplomatic meddling

The injustice of unpaid internships

Saad Shah | Staff Writer The silent misfortune sweeping our nation is the issue of unpaid internships. Over 300,000 people across the country have been estimated to be working for absolutely no remuneration in some of the largest and wealthiest companies.

The problem is simple: the government needs to step in and make sure that this practice of unpaid internships is completely eradicated. It may seem like, as it does to the employers, that they are actually doing the economy and the public a service by ‘training’ these people, especially young people with no skills and experience and transforming them into productive participants of the workforce. However nothing good can, or has, come out of these unpaid internships and there needs to be an absolutely serious crackdown to ensure this practice is eliminated at its root.

The problem is the worst in Ontario, where the laws pertaining to internships that are seemingly the most comprehensive, are actually pretty vague and allow employers to come up with loop holes to by-pass these laws.

For example under the Ontario Employment Standards Act a person receiving training is considered ‘employed’; however one of the criteria which exclude people receiving training from the definition of employment states that

if the training is for the benefit of the individual receiving it then that person will in effect not receive remuneration. Employers heavily abuse this clause because it really just lends itself to misuse. Many companies, like Bell, have really big internship programs and they make it sound like they're actually doing people a favour; sadly with the fear of being blacklisted by their current employers a lot of people don’t come forward and address the issue openly. This fear has created an apt environment for exploitation where trainees work just as hard if not harder than their paid counterparts.

The adverse effects of unpaid internships are mostly economic but it does carry some psychological and social weight. First of all, if people are not going to have money paid to them they will not have any money to spend. As a result less of the goods and services provided by the market will actually be purchased. In terms of economic theory the effects are larger than they seem because of what is called the income-expenditure multiplier. Economists have shown that if there is an increase in expenditure, the increase in the GDP of that country is proportionately larger than the nominal increase in spending. What this means is if people spend more the GDP will grow more than what the people spent. However as incomes fall, the demand for goods and services

fall and as we have seen in other recessions in the past as demand declines people producing those goods get laid off and eventually the whole economy spirals into a recession.

Secondly, people, especially young graduates, will tend to look for jobs where they will actually get paid (like coffee shops, grocery stores) until they are able to find jobs they actually want in order to avoid having to do an unpaid job. This is economically inefficient because the employee is more likely to produce a more valuable good or service if he/she is a fresh graduate working at say an engineering firm instead of a convenience store. There’s a cost to everyone as a result of these internships except the employers who are selfishly maximizing their profit.

Unpaid internships also contribute to youth unemployment rates, and prevent young Canadians from fully participating in Canada’s economy. Toronto’s youth employment rate is only 43.5%, the lowest rate in Ontario. This shows how inefficient unpaid internships really are because at the end of the day we are all part of the same economy and if the economy doesn't grow we all suffer. Its very short sighted to save a few hundred dollars a week by not paying unpaid employees because it could very much be the case that those very unpaid employees will not purchase the goods an employer is producing.

The Ministry of Labour and the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities do not track the number of students who are participating in unpaid field placements; neither do federal departments. The cost of obtaining a college/ university degree is rising along with the cost of living and expecting people to work for free after having accumulated student loans is very troubling. The Canadian Federation of Students along with the Ontario Undergraduate Students Alliance and similar bodies should all collaborate to make everyone realize work is work regardless who is doing it.

We need more than considerations of threats to maintain peace

Send better illustrations to editorinchief@readthemike.com

government not to make any hasty, poorly thought out decisions or potentially ruin Russian-U.S. relations.

To reflect back on the theory that Russia is taking advantage of a weak point in Western militaristic support…what is the appropriate response? Obviously, tensions between Russia and the West are a sore point, and avoiding the terrorizing conditions of a state of war is preferable. It should be made clear that occupying a developed nation in the time when the global

order is progressing towards less military engagement is both an irregularity and deeply frightening; however sometimes warnings are not enough. On the other hand, the risk of inciting Putin’s strange temper when he has access to a military might make serious sanctions a dangerous option.

It’s in times like these that we need to really question the strength of diplomacy and international relations – if the rest of the world is hesitant to call out a problem for fear of losing assets, then is maintaining

peaceful global cooperation worth it at all? Russia’s tactics prove how easy it is to fear monger, intimidate and assert dominance when other countries are worried about maintaining fragile relations rather than resolutely preserving peace statements that are the underlining of the major global partnerships.

That’s a real problem. If nothing else – assuming the world failed to acknowledge Putin’s ubiquity after observing his portrait in every hotel room at Sochi – we definitely need to now.

DENTAL CARE Dr. Elon Griffith Cosmetic & General Dentistry

Call: 416-923-3386

or email: drgriffith@rogers.com 25 Charles St. W. Toronto ON M4Y 2R4

BLOOR ST. W. CHARLES ST. W. Our Office

YONGE ST.

According to various ¬selfproclaimed scholars of Russian warfare, the Ukraine crisis is Russia opportunistically responding to Western military cuts and perceived inaction in cases like Syria. As one could reasonably expect, the situation has drawn panicked comparisons to both the Cold War and the Second World War, which has prompted world leaders, particularly Obama, to make public statements. While some spectators are calling for an aggressive response, others seem determined to (hopefully) resolve this mess in as diplomatic terms as possible. After all, if we’re going to reference past East-West tensions, it’s important to remember that one strike from either side blows up everything.

The leading response from the major European countries, the United States, and Canada has been to firmly declare that Russia’s actions are unreasonable and threatening to the state of peace and security intended for international relations.

Secretary of State John Kerry urged Russia to employ restraint or lose any realistic chances of diplomacy.

President Obama authorized larger penalties on those involved in the debacle, while Canada is ostensibly imposing travel bans for individuals who represent a threat to sovereignty in Ukraine. Taking things a step further, Kerry warned of ejecting Russia from the Group of Eight, which triggered Putin to claim that Russia might leave on its own terms.

However, responses to Russia’s military engagement may be muted, if not for the fact of impending international conflict, then for the fact that much of Europe heavily relies on its natural gas, as well as economic interests with prominent Russian companies. As a result, different authoritative bodies, particularly the European Union, are considering sanctions, and warning of intense repercussions for continued military occupation, which only seem to raise Putin’s blood pressure and not much else. These half-hearted attempts at resolve prompted the Russian Foreign Ministry to respond to the United States by urging the American

BAY ST.

Melissa Morgado | Staff Writers

15

16

THEMOCK

Sudoku

(CUP) — Puzzles provided by websudoku.com. Used with permission.

Comic's Corner MICHAEL JOHNSON | THE GATEWAY (UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA)

Horoscopes Pisces | Feb 23 - Mar 22

Cancer | Jun 22 - Jul 22

My Dad has always insisted that people who are Pisces are the best.Along with middle children.

Apparently, the overlap of these two areas makes a person just so simply fantastic that we should all kiss the ground they walk on. I am neither of these things. I still love my Dad, but sometimes I wish there was a way I could be as great as him. Call your dad.

Start counting down to things. It can be rewarding, yet humbling to look at things from that perspective. There may be 50 days left until your exams end, but that means there are only 51 days left until you can leave your miserable dorm room behind.Then 108 days left working at your summer job. See? There's a silver lining for everything.

Aries | Mar 21 - Apr 19

Leo | Jul 23 - Aug 22

Aries, Aries, a pirates life for you! You're smelly and smiley and over achievers. Drink up my 'earties Aries! Aye, but be wary of wild beavers. Drink up my 'earties Aries! Aries, Aries, a pirate life for you! ..... the moral of the story is drink some rum.

My body sometimes shivers and gets cold when I think about sad things. Does that happen to you?

It's okay to ask for a hug from someone you trust. Even if no one in your life knows how to show intimacy, it is the best time of year to invest in cashmere.Who needs people when you have luxury wools?

Taurus | Apr 20 - May 20 Has anybody ever described you as a bull in a china shop?

It's probably because they were reading your aura, and could tell that you were born under the hooves of Taurus. Be careful though, actual bulls will resent the fact you are masquerading with their aura, and will charge at you. Cows love you though.

They're always looking for a new way to bridge that species gap. Gemini | May 21 - Jun 21

want us to feature your art? send poems, photos and drawings to Arts@readthemike.com

Emma George & Alekzia Hosein Co-Future Seers

Once my apartment was on fire and my best friend wrote these horoscopes for me. Then she went on to write them for a year. She is a great friend and has a natural knack for reading the stars. It's easy to lose sight of the important people in your life. Make sure they know you care.

Virgo | Aug 23 - Sept 22 I know it might seem like all your cool friends are going to Coachella and SXSW. It seems so unfair that you're stuck here writing exams and papers while they do drugs and meet musicians. But the truth is,Virgo, they're not your real friends. They're way too cool to be friends with you.

Maybe make some friends at Veld or something this summer. That seems more your pace.

Libra | Sep 23 - Oct 21 I miss you and thinking about it makes me cry. Everything makes me cry, but the thought of you not coming back is perhaps the worst.

Scorpio | Oct 23 - Nov 22 Buy winterproof boots.You won't

regret it. It's always winter here and you'd spend that same $100 on alcohol, drunk food, and a subsequent taxi ride back to North York or wherever. Imagine trading that for months of cozy, comfy fee all winter long. Such an easy trade.

Sagittarius | Nov 23 - Dec 22 With Mercury still sitting in its standard orbit, approximately 48 million miles away from Earth, you can continue to do whatever you want.Though, if you wanted to act irrationally, why not blame is on Mercury? Why stop there! Want to murder somebody? It's because of the moon.Want to be an angry person? It's because of Mars! Can't sit still and feel like you've lost your identity? It's because of pluto!

Capricorn | Dec 23 - Jan 22 Step back and look at the things you're doing, Capricorn.Your behaviour is hurting people.You can't keep using daylight savings time as an excuse for your habits

Aquarius | Jan 23 - Feb 22 Winter is almost over, and you know what that means: you have to start removing body hair you decided to keep over the winter.

You know that you work best when. a game plan, and this task is no exception,Aquarius. Look into your options and get started early.

The polar vortex may be over, but it'll be a while til you have to shed your comfy sheath of leggings.