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Scholars study winter cycling page 3
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ryersonian.ca Volume 72 Number 15
Produced by the Ryerson School of Journalism
TRSS wants students’ OK for fees hike BIANCA BHARTI RYERSONIAN
The Ted Rogers Students’ Society (TRSS) is seeking approval to hold a referendum for students, asking if they will support a levy increase of $25 per semester, indexed to Toronto’s inflation. Students in the Ted Rogers School of Management (TRSM) currently pay $60 to TRSS in their yearly tuition. If they vote yes, their levy will increase by 83 per cent for a total payment of $110. The society conducted an online survey of students where 62 per cent of respondents said they would support a levy increase. Of that 62 per cent, 38 per cent “indicated willingness to pay $25 more a term to expand the services and programs offered by TRSS.” “This effort will continue to
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enrich our membership experience,” TRSS president Nav Marwah said in an email. “(It) will be an opportunity to increase the number of co-ops and internships we can subsidize for our membership. It will also increase the number of bursaries we offer.” According to a presentation at the Jan. 29 board of governors meeting, 27 per cent of the levy would go to group funding, 30 per cent to experiential learning, 16 per cent to events, five per cent to conferences and competitions, five per cent to marketing and three percent to bursaries. If the board of governors approve the vote, TRSS will hold it sometime this semester. If the majority vote yes, the increase takes effect in September 2019.
What’s online
Check out ryersonian.ca to read about how tough dating as a commuter can be, and how an upcoming U-Pass campaign could change the equation for all Ryerson commuters.
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ANDERS MARSHALL | RYERSONIAN
Leafs at the MAC
The Toronto Maple Leafs hit the ice at the Mattamy Athletic Centre Tuesday, 19 years to the day since the team last practised at Maple Leaf Gardens See more at the ryersonian.ca
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News
RSU debate breakdown page 4 Wednesday, February 14, 2018
Menstrual products for homeless SAMANTHA CUMERLATO RYERSONIAN
Ryerson students are collecting menstrual hygiene products to donate to homeless women and transgender people who may be unable to afford them. The Homeless Period Project launched on Feb. 5. Products such as pads, tampons, and wipes, among others, will be collected on campus during the month-long fundraiser, and donated to shelters around Ryerson. This is the second year the fundraiser will be running. The drive is a collaborative effort between the School of Occupational and Public Health Course Union (SOPHe), Women in Information Technology Management (WITM) and Environment and Urban Sustainability Students’ Association (EUSSA), and will be funded by the Rotaract Club of Ryerson University (RCRU). In addition to physical
donations, the project is accepting monetary donations online. So far they have raised $330, and the RCRU will be matching donations up to $500. Ryerson student Allysson Linis is spearheading the event. Linis founded the Homeless Period Project last year after seeing a video that illustrated the struggles many homeless people face when dealing with their periods. “A lot of them have to improvise, so they would use napkins or plastic sometimes,” said Linis. She said the more she thought about it, the more she felt she had to do something. “I think it’s super important because this issue is so overlooked by so many of us,” said Linis. “You have organizations that openly support and donate food, clothing, all that stuff, but not a lot of people actually think about donating pads or tampons.” According to Nina Gorka, director of shelters and girls and family programs at YWCA Toronto, menstrual products are
TREVOR HEWITT | RYERSONIAN
always in demand at their shelters because “they are a necessity and expensive to purchase.” There is some debate about the actual cost of a period. In an article from 2017, Chatelaine estimated products cost around $65 a year. Jezebel put the cost at
Rhino party grows up JACK HOPKINS RYERSONIAN
Ryerson’s annual student union elections come to a close on Thursday and it will be clear how well each slate’s campaign translated into votes. When walking around campus, one thing quickly becomes quite clear. It’s that team Unify, led by Ram Ganesh, and team Elevate, led by Susanne Nyaga, are the two slates with the most vocal support and biggest campaign budgets. But there’s another slate in these elections, one whose posters you may not see plastered on every wall. That is team Rhino, led by
Matthew Smith. When a group of people run in any election under a banner with the word “Rhino,” expectations may crop up that such a group isn’t entirely serious in their run for office. Previous RSU elections had “Rhino” teams take a crack at fielding candidates. However, their statements on the campaign trail and answers during interviews all suggested that they weren’t serious about winning seats on the RSU’s executive . But this year, Rhino’s presidential candidate has taken a different tack. Smith, a computer engineering student, has highlighted in debates what he describes as his
slate’s newfound mission: to seriously tackle the problems they see in the RSU. “A lot of the complaints we’ve heard about the RSU focus around, ‘why am I paying the RSU this money, where is it going?’ So, we’ve simply chosen (our) core theme to be 100 per cent transparent with campaign points. Like, ‘here is where your money’s going, here’s how it does benefit you, here’s how it should benefit you,’ ” he said. Smith doesn’t hesitate to point out that his slate’s website is currently the only one that’s kept an updated list of campaign spending. He also has no qualms talking about the silly, flippant perception of his slate in the past.
roughly $60. “Once people leave the shelter, or before they access the shelter, they have to figure out how to purchase their own menstrual supplies,” said Gorka. “This can mean choosing between a meal to eat or other basic necessities, or
choosing to purchase menstrual products. This is not a choice a woman should be forced to make.”
“We ran the Rhino party during Transform (an RSU slate in previous years) as a full-on joke, and then the following year, I was helping with Impact (another former slate). But at a certain point, it was like, ‘this isn’t right, something needs to change,’ and that’s when we started transitioning to more of a serious thing,” Smith said. During the RSU’s debate Monday evening, it was clear from the pep-rally style audience, and from some candidates themselves who thanked “both parties” for attending, despite the Rhino’s presence, that Unify and Elevate were widely considered to be the front-running teams. While their slate may not be taken as seriously by other candidates in the election, the Rhino’s new, transparent approach to their campaign is evident when hearing Smith tell the story of how he tried to run for the Rhino
slate as the director of the Faculty of Engineering and Architectural Science (FEAS) in previous years. “I lost my form on the way to the RSU office. I was carrying a stack of 10 forms through Kerr Hall, and mine slipped out. So I got to the office and handed it in, I wasn’t paying much attention, and then got an email a few days later like, ‘you’re not running’ and I’m just like ‘Interesting!’” Such an open admission of an amusing mistake might be hard to imagine coming from other executive candidates. Whether students like or loathe such an approach in their student leaders, the Rhino slate still remains unique in the RSU elections, even with their newfound mission.
@theJhops
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BUSINESS
Lecture highlights importance of Bitcoin MELISSA VERGE RYERSONIAN
It’s the future of finance and the future of technology. That’s what Antony Chiesa, a third-year business management technology student, had to say about cryptocurrency during his lecture on Monday afternoon. Chiesa is giving six lectures on the topic at Ryerson, and said that it’s better than our current monetary system in so many ways. “A lot of people don’t trust banks,” he said. “The thing about cryptocurrencies that are focused on making transactions between people and sending money, is that you don’t need to have money. Blockchains go beyond sending money between point A and point B. They can facilitate statistics resources, they can facilitate supply chain resources, games, web hosting, cloud storage. They can do basically anything we already have, but more secure, more verifiable, (in a) more distributed fashion.” Chiesa has been interested in cryptocurrency for a long time. Cryptocurrency refers to digital currencies such as Bitcoin. He read the “Bitcoin white paper” back in late 2009, which he said is the key to understanding Bitcoin and cryptocurrency for people who have never heard anything about it before. Chiesa started mining Bitcoin in late 2010, when he almost mined a full coin. He’s also done work online, in which he’s been paid entirely with Bitcoin. It’s as much a part of his life as traditional money is a part of ours. “I’ve purchased a lot of digital items (with Bitcoin), I went to a restaurant and paid with Bitcoin. In Florida there’s this bar down there, they take payment in bitcoin,” Chiesa said. “Whenever I want to settle scores with friends, oftentimes we just use Bitcoin.”
Wednesday, February 14, 2018
COMMUTING
Researchers study cycling in the winter NOELLA OVID RYERSONIAN
Although it’s cold, snowy and messy, some Torontonians continue to bike from point A to point B, even in the winter. Ryerson graduate Tamara Nahal is one of those people. She cycled to campus throughout the winter season, despite the conditions. “It’s a good way to start and end your day,” she said. “I liked that it saved me money, I liked that it was a good way to exercise every single day without really trying, I liked the bike ride itself – it’s a nice way to sort of get out of your head.” It took Nahal 30 minutes to cycle to campus when she was a student at Ryerson, and she still
continues to bike to work today. “Our climate is such that we have snowy winters, but I kept biking throughout the year and I found that it was really weather for me – like anecdotally speaking, weather was a big determinant on whether I cycled,” she said. “If I like the weather, I’ll bike in the winter.” As part of her master’s thesis, Nahal conducted research on factors contributing to winter cycling. She did the study with urban and regional planning professor Raktim Mitra. The study identified ways to bridge the seasonal gap in cycling rates and was presented to the annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board in Washington, D.C., last month.
“I think winter cycling is discussed a lot but very understudied, and it’s really relevant in the whole discussion of transportation planning in Canada and North America,” said Nahal. The study combined two surveys that examined staff and students who cycled to Ryerson and determined factors that caused mode shifts from cycling to other forms of transportation in the winter. The dataset included 279 students, staff and faculty. Mitra said they wanted to challenge the perception that “no one cycles in the winter,” which is a barrier in advancing active transportation planning. This can cause a significant decrease in cycling rates and add to traffic congestion during the winter. “Oftentimes, cycling is seen as a recreational activity by many and as a result, it’s seen as a transportation option that is perhaps only feasible in good weather conditions,” Mitra said. “We see that there are many cities in the world, particularly in Europe, that have very similar weather conditions but there a lot of people (who) bike throughout the year. So, there is this lack of culture (when it comes to cycling) that needs to be improved.” Twenty-seven per cent reported biking through the
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winter. “I think that’s a high number if you don’t think anyone cycles in the winter. If you never thought about it, that probably seems pretty high,” said Nahal. “But on the other hand, there’s a lot of potential to increase that.” Among those, women and transit pass holders were less likely to cycle year-round. Students were more likely than faculty and staff members to cycle during the winter, although cycling was more popular among staff (13 per cent) than students (five per cent). “They’re more likely to cycle during the winter because they’re captive users of cheaper transportation options,” Nahal said. The study found that cycling in the winter was associated with increased access to cycling facilities such as bike lanes and cycle tracks. “We plotted out the shortest route from each respondent’s home to campus and if there was a high amount of dedicated cycling infrastructure within that shortest route, they were more likely to bike to campus,” said Nahal. “I’m talking about stuff like bike lanes and cycle tracks so things like Sherbourne, Richmond, Adelaide (streets) – that’s dedicated bicycle infrastructure.”
@melverge5 COURTESY CLIFTON LI
Graduate Tamara Nahal (left) and urban regional planning professor Raktim Mitra (right) walking their bicycles.
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Wednesday, February 14, 2018
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RSU budget troubles, CFS, take centre stage at candidates’ debate OLIVIA MAEDER RASHA REHMAN RYERSONIAN
Financial plans, Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) membership and improving toxic work environments were front and centre at the Ryerson Students’ Union’s (RSU) 2018 student election debate Monday evening. The Elevate, Rhino and Unify slates all came out to the Eaton Lecture Theatre in the Rogers Communications Centre to pitch their final message to students and their supporters before voting kicked off yesterday. Although the event was advertised across campus, it attracted a small crowd of approximately 20 students who were not obvious supporters of any slate. They raised questions that revealed the different plans each executive team has to eliminate the RSU’s current operating budget deficit of nearly $1 million, a hotly debated issue in this year’s election. Unify’s vice-president operations candidate, Savreen Gosal, said that if elected, she would implement an operations audit and secure corporate partnerships. On the other hand, Elevate’s vice-president operations candidate, Adam Asmar, said that if elected, he would focus on student-run task forces and bringing back internal businesses like CopyRITE to generate revenue. Rhino’s vice-president operations candidate, Domenic Marchese, said that budget cuts would be inevitable. Another popular topic for candidates was the relationship between the RSU and the CFS. The CFS is a federal organization that represents more than 650,000 students across Canada. Matthew Smith, running for president on the Rhino slate, said he is not interested in being a part of the CFS. “The CFS does not appeal to me in the least,” Smith said. “Past experience and working with other slates who’ve run against CFS slates, and also just looking at just any organization that’s not transparent with their finances and their student members, like
it’s just not a good organization.” Unify’s presidential candidate Ram Ganesh said he views the federation differently. “I feel very, very strongly about the CFS. “It is an organization that was created to voice the opinions of students, a very noble cause. But I feel like it got lost in the sauce,” said Ganesh. “We really expect them to do a lot more than what they’re currently doing – improved transparency, more accountability and better voting policies.” Susanne Nyaga, the current
RSU president, who is running for re-election with Elevate, said she believes the potential to unite students on campus isn’t being maximized and that Ryerson needs spaces that acknowledge all students’ experiences. However, she also agreed with the decision to reject the Men’s Issue Awareness Society’s application for campus group status. “They had three chances, I believe, to present some form of safety plan or to address these concerns which they felt didn’t associate with them,” Nyaga said. “We know systemic misogyny
is very real and we know that sexism is very real so when you’re not centralizing student safety, that’s not something RSU can support.” While there were some sneaky jabs here and there during the two-hour debate, the candidates overall kept it clean, broadcasting their messages of devoting themselves to students by budgeting money, communicating better with other members of the executive and being honest. Voting began Tuesday and will continue until Thursday, Feb. 15. Students can vote in polling stations across campus at George
Vari Engineering and Computing Centre, Rogers Communications Centre, Student Learning Centre, Mattamy Athletic Centre, Sally Horsfall Eaton Centre for Studies in Community Health, Podium, Kerr Hall East and the Student Campus Centre. Polling stations will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Thursday. @Olivia_Maeder @rashareh
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Wednesday, February 14, 2018
Walk away from the Church St. walkway Students slip on the pedestrian bridge between the Rogers Communications Centre and Kerr Hall NIDA OMAR RYERSONIAN
For a good chunk of the school year, Ryerson’s campus is covered with massive amounts of snow, ice and slush. While the pedestrian walkway that runs above Church Street between Kerr Hall and the Rogers Communications Centre should be a way to avoid that, students might be better off taking the outside route after all. Since the beginning of the semester, the bridge has
frequently been partly covered by patches of ice. “I’ve slipped on the bridge three times since the semester started,” said Sabrina Scalfo, a second-year early childhood studies student. “The first two times I managed to catch myself. Last (time), a guy tried catching me but I still went down on one knee pretty hard. It hurt for the rest of the day,” said Scalfo. “There’s a leak somewhere up there,”said a member of the Tim Hortons staff who works on the Kerr Hall side of the bridge. “It’s been happening all season.” Laura Baker, a third-year professional communications student, also found herself slipping while on the bridge several weeks ago. “I fell while I was walking across and hit an icy patch along the edge,” said Baker. Unfortunately, the bridge got the best of me.” Salt is laid out on the bridge
on a regular basis. However, the cause of the leak remains a mystery. The Ryersonian reached out to media relations for a comment, but they did not respond in time for publication. In January, two archways in Kerr Hall were closed off due to unsafe weather conditions. A notice was put out saying the entrance to the North Kerr Hall was closed off at 43 Gerrard St. E, as well as the Southeast Kerr Hall entrance on 50 Gould St. Despite the warning sign on the door to the Church Street bridge, and the numerous caution pylons laid out in the path, students still find themselves slipping on the ice. “I don’t know why there’s so much water on the bridge,” said fourth-year political science student Amal Khalid. “Like, when will they fix it?” @nidaomar
NIDA OMAR | RYERSONIAN
The ice buildup on Monday afternoon on the Church Street pedestrian bridge.
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Nothing last
Ryerson grads’ temporary tattoo business, inkbox, is th Things and Dragons’ Den. MADDIE BINNING RYERSONIAN
MADDIE BINNING | RYERSONIAN
Above: White backings for making pre-designed tattoos sit in a machine in the laser area, waiting to combined with other supplies. Left: The laser machine cut an intricate design into a white card, which will later be added to an adhesive pad and filled with ink for application. Artist designs as well as custom designs are available.
MADDIE BINNING | RYERSONIAN
Right: Laser technician Tyler Rehberg places a white backing into the laser machine to be cut into a design and later made into a prepared tattoo. Below: Employees sit at desks and work in the front area of inkbox’s office on King Street, working on the company’s fulfilment and customer service alongside the rest of team making and shipping tattoos.
MADDIE BINNING | RYERSONIAN
MADDIE BINNING | RYERSONIAN
Just above the streets of the entertainment district sits an office, humming with the sound of lasers and laughter. The atmosphere is calm, as employees sit at computers while others swirl around the open, white office packaging shipments and making products. There are tables that hold half-made tattoos that are starting to soak in ink, while more are being laser cut across the room. This is inkbox, a semi-permanent tattoo company on King Street. It’s like its own ecosystem, and it just turned three. In 2015, brothers Tyler and Braden Handley created inkbox and its first product, a $15 tattoo kit, through the Ryerson Fashion Zone. The ink was developed after looking into semi-permanent tattoo options and finding groups in Panama that had been using the pulp of a plant called Genipa Americana for decades. The ink creates a black tattoo that looks like a permanent tattoo but lasts for eight to 18 days. After bringing their project to the Fashion Zone, they used crowdfunding through Kickstarter to raise money, setting a goal of $20,000 for lab and manufacturing costs and shattering that goal by raising $300,000. That’s when co-founder Tyler said they knew they had something, and Fashion Zone director Andrea Romero agreed. “There was no 14-day tattoo,” Romero said. “Yes, there was henna, there were different forms, but this was something that was so easy to commercialize because it was a need that people didn’t even know that they had.” Most people were either committed to getting tattoos or against them, said Romero. But inkbox gives people who aren’t so sure about whether they want tattoos the opportunity to test run before committing. Their company is unique. The Fashion Zone hadn’t seen a startup like it. “We often get a few companies that are very similar,” said Romero. “But their industry, no one seems to have even tried in Canada.” And their influence is growing. Since the Fashion Zone, the brothers have been featured on Dragons’ Den, where they received a deal that helped them grow from six employees to around 40. In the fall of last year, the Handley brothers moved into a new office on King Street connected to a storefront for their semi-tattoo parlour, the first of its kind in Canada. “People are always going to want real life experiences, and I think the key word there is experiences,” said Tyler. “We’ve set out to create an
Tyler (left) and Braden (right) Handley with their team.
COURTESY INKBOX
Freehand tattoos made using one of inkbox’s products from last year, freehand ink bottles.
A model w loaded ont
interesting new experience for body art and tattoos.” Tyler said going to the parlour is a chance for customers to learn about the products and experience the inclusivity of tattoos. They are open on weekends for now but will open full time in the warmer months. He said inclusivity was something he and his brother learned about after releasing the product
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hriving, with television appearances on Stranger
COURTESY INKBOX
COURTESY INKBOX
wears two pre-designed inkbox tattoos. New designs are to inkbox’s website every week.
and witnessing customers using it for religious, cultural, or medical reasons. Another use they didn’t anticipate was television makeup, which led to their tattoos being featured on the second season of Stranger Things. “The makeup department reached out to us, asked us to send them some of the ink, and then asked some questions about it, where they should be applying it and tricks,” said Tyler.
The brothers gave the team a call to answer their questions and were later told that they’d be featured heavily in Episode 7. Fans of the show may recognize Eleven’s wrist tattoo right away, but when El runs into the mohawked rebel Axel, inkbox’s tattoos get more screen time. For the most part, inkbox’s collaborations are with artists, like actress and singer Debby Ryan, tattoo artist Curt Montgomery and a number of Canadian artists of all types. Tyler said their future work revolves around the idea of ecosystems, and one ecosystem they hope to develop is around artists helping them promote inkbox while also making a cut of the profit. One of those artists is Ryerson alumna Andra Bogdan, who found the company through ads on Facebook and Instagram. Since reaching out, Bogdan has enjoyed being a part of inkbox’s artist community, especially considering their shared alma mater. “It makes me proud that we have Ryerson in common,” said Bogdan. “I contacted inkbox directly because I was interested in collaborating right away and didn’t know how the process would work. They took a look at my portfolio, set me up with an artist account, and I’ve been uploading designs at my own leisure.” Bogdan said she likes the flexibility of collaborating with inkbox and also appreciates that artists receive a commission from each sale in addition to retaining the copyrights to their designs. “I’ve made custom tattoos for people in the past,” she said, “but this is the first time a company was offering me a platform to actually sell my designs to a broader audience.” Beyond giving artists a broader audience, inkbox is also planning to continue expanding its products to help artists create the best work possible. Last year, they released their freehand ink bottles in the fall, and this year they released packs of multiple-sized tips and shaded ink. Tyler said they eventually hope to host “ink and drink nights,” similar to paint and wine events, where customers can receive freehand work from artists while enjoying the event. “One of our core values at inkbox is, ‘good enough never is,’” said Tyler. “We’re always trying to improve on the product because there’s a lot of blue ocean for us to attack.” Their future plans include expanding on their work involving freehand products, Tyler said. They also have a research and development team working on coloured ink, tattoo longevity, ink application, and more. “In the next year, you’re going to see a lot of new things coming from us,” said Tyler. @mgbinning
Wednesday, February 14, 2018
Comparing tattoos From temporary to permanent, read about your options for ink below
Temporary or “Flash” tattoos Temporary tattoos often last only a day or two, sometimes just a few hours. Often used with children, temporary tattoos are screen-printed decals that are transferred to the skin using water. They sit on top of the skin, so they come off more easily though they do come in all types of colours, designs and finishes. A new trend of temporary tattoos called “flash” tattoos, which are often metallic, have made temporary tattoos popular among young adults, especially at festivals.
Semi-permanent tattoos Semi-permanent tattoos, like those offered by inkbox, are tattoos applied with ink that lasts for about eight to 18 days. The ink, which is similar to henna but black, is made of the the Genipa Americana plant and can be applied in premade designs or using a freehand method. The ink sits in the top layer of skin, making it last longer than temporary options.
Henna Henna is a paste made from henna leaves used to make freehand designs that last about one to four weeks. Though the colour varies slightly, the result is typically a reddish-brown, which often fades to orange and yellow hues. Henna has been used around the world for body art for thousands of years, especially in India and throughout the Middle East.
Specialty permanent tattoos Specialty permanent tattoos like white or UV tattoos aren’t necessarily considered less permanent than typical tattoos, but they’re much more subject to fading. Most tattoo artists suggest finding an artist experienced in using the ink to get the right look the first time around and consider touch-ups to maintain the design.
Permanent tattoos Traditional tattoos are permanent. Ink is applied into deep layers of the skin using a tattoo gun or machine. They may be black or various colours and require touchups to keep the design dark or vibrant enough.
Credits Infographic by Maddie Binning Model photo by Billie Chiasson, used courtesy of inkbox Flash tattoo photo courtesy of Flickr user Tatt It/ CC BY-NC 2.0 inkbox product photos by Keenan Orange, courtesy of inkbox Henna photo courtesy of Flickr user anandasata staarshyne/ CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 Tattoo gun and ink courtesy of Flickr user diegoservelion/CC BY-NC 2.0
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Arts & Life
Relationship horror stories ryersonian.ca Wednesday, February 14, 2018
Ryerson on the big stage TREVOR HEWITT RYERSONIAN
Even in her first year at Ryerson, Andrea Pestana could tell something was missing. Opportunity. The third-year School of Performance student says that, while she enjoys her program, it became clear from the get-go that there was too much talent and not enough roles to go around. So what’s an aspiring director to do? Create her own performance company, of course. “One day we were just like sitting there, you know, talking about different things that we wanted to do. We had recently put on a show with another group, and we thought to ourselves, ‘that was good but it could have been better, we can do better.’” And so Ghost Light Players, a Ryerson-based performance company, was born. Created by Pestana as well as classmates Emilie Trimbee and Scott Phyper, the group was made to offer opportunities to students interested in theatre – ones who might not be getting them otherwise. “Community theatre sometimes has a bit of a bad rap for being like not very good, like the acting’s subpar, the sets are just like painted cardboard trees or something like that, but really it can and should be much more,” Pestana says. “I think theatre and the arts … that’s what really feeds the soul of the community, not just the individuals who participate in it but like the actual space, the community.” Fast forward two and a half years later and Ghost Light Players has just finished its first production, Frank Wedekind’s Spring Awakening. Pestana says that, in keeping with their mandate, the performance was very much a multi-program effort. “It was really important for us to make sure that this wasn’t just another
TREVOR HEWITT | RYERSONIAN
Oliver Daniel as Melchior in Ghost Light Players’ production of Frank Wedekind’s Spring Awakening at the University of Toronto’s George Ignatieff theatre on Feb. 8.
project for the theatre students,” she says. The group has students from many different programs outside of the performing arts, including the business and engineering programs. But, after finding a cast and crew by last October, the company was faced with another challenge – finding a theatre to perform in. “There’s no way we’d be able to do it here on campus,” says Pestana. “There just aren’t the resources. The theatre school itself doesn’t even have enough studios to rehearse their shows as well as they would like sometimes.” According to Daniella Altobelli, the public relations manager at the Ryerson Communication and Design Society (RCDS), this is a common complaint, and
not just from theatre students. “It has come up at different events and, I mean, it’s not only theatre spaces we’re lacking. I noticed that journalism students are lacking spaces, RTA students are lacking spaces, everybody’s sort of lacking space,” Altobelli says. Enter the University of Toronto’s George Ignatieff Theatre, an intimate, 178-seat offering with a slight stage thrust. Exactly what Pestana was looking for. “If I had all the money in the world, I wouldn’t do it at the Princess of Wales because you need to be close,” she says. “It’s about the characters and how they develop and interact.” Putting together the production did not come without challenges. When she first pitched the idea to the RCDS, which funds the group in part, they were worried
about the mature subject matter of the play. Spring Awakening deals with topics like self-harm, mental illness and rape. “When we were first getting approval to get this play they told us, ‘you can’t do it, pick something else, or else we won’t fund you,’” Pestana explains. “So my response was, ‘yes, they’re difficult themes, but all the more reason to talk about it and all the more reason to treat (them) as respectfully as possible.” The number of students from different programs also made getting everyone together in a room very hard. Rehearsals began in October, but Pestana says that, before moving into the theatre, the group had only two rehearsals where the entire cast was present. “But (then) we had our dress (rehearsal) last night and it all just finally came together after two
and a half years. It was crazy.” What’s next for Ghost Light Players? Pestana says she’d like to explore collaborating with some other Ryerson-centric theatre groups, like the Ryerson Musical Theatre Company and the school’s community theatre group. “I’d really like to do some more crossover work with them, like almost do like a Mirvish thing and sell like a subscription, pay this much up front and you get a ticket for all these shows,” she says. “I think it’s much more beneficial for us to be working together and to help each other grow than to think of ourselves as competition, which I don’t particularly see ourselves as because we offer such different experiences.” @trevhew92
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Sports
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open ice skate ryersonian.ca Wednesday, February 14, 2018
SOFTBALL
No fast cash for fastpitch team The Ryerson women’s fastpitch team hopes to raise $5,000 as it enters its third season. Ryerson Athletics has funded them once before, but will not write a cheque this year. SAMANTHA CUMERLATO RYERSONIAN
As the Ryerson women’s fastpitch team gears up for its third season, head coach Wayne Nishihama said their focus is on building the team, both professionally and financially. The softball club launched its first online fundraiser through GoFundMe last August, as it does not receive funding through Ryerson Athletics. After securing fifth place in the Ontario Intercollegiate Women’s Fastpitch Association playoffs (OIWFA) last October, in the club’s second season of existence, they’ve raised $1,710 of their $5,000 goal. That money is earmarked for operational items, such as uniforms, travel costs and league fees. The fastpitch team is a club under the Ryerson Athletics banner, not a varsity team. According to Rams varsity operations co-ordinator, Nick Asquini, only varsity teams are funded by the school. Ryerson Athletics uses a tiered system of funding for their sports teams and clubs, which determines how much money each type of team receives. Athletics did not disclose to the Ryersonian exactly how their funds are allocated to teams, and did not provide documentation after multiple requests prior to press time. “The model for our clubs is that they are self-funded, self-sustaining,” Asquini said. He added that teams may receive funding from what Athletics calls a “one-time
TREVOR HEWITT | RYERSONIAN
only case,” in which extenuating circumstances regarding money present themselves to the affected club. The fastpitch team did receive a one-time grant from Ryerson Athletics this past season, when they made the playoffs. They have also recently applied for a grant from the Ryerson Students’ Union (RSU), which is offered to clubs and other student initiatives. Most of the fundraising will be done by the team this year,
through the online drive as well as other initiatives. “(The players) have to be part of building the team all year-round,” said Nishihama. “Doing fundraising, showing their presence at school and in the community.” The team is planning to volunteer at Brampton Ribfest in May, earning tips to put towards the fund. Pitcher Samantha Jackson said the players often find creative ways to raise money. Jackson and her teammate Vanessa
Flacco both live in campus residences. They try to collect bottles for recycling money. According to Jackson, the team’s efforts to make a name for itself has worked. Jackson heard about the fastpitch team when she was first applying to Ryerson while living in British Columbia, and sent Nishihama clips of her pitching and batting. She was recruited to the team before landing in Toronto. Recruiting players out of high
school is something new to the team, but something that Nishihama said they are now able to do more often. “With a little bit of recruiting we can get the right players in there,” said Nishihama. “We’re going to try to go top three in our division, if not top two.” Emily Rickson, one of the captains of the team, has high hopes moving forward. “I think we’re going to have even more of a breakthrough than we did this year,” she said. “We’re working really hard this year to improve our skills and our team as a whole.” The women’s fastpitch team is considered a competitive club under the Ryerson Athletics tier system, but Asquini said that club teams have the opportunity to be considered for funding, depending on how long the team has been around and how successful they’ve been while competing. “It’s a conversation we kind of anticipate having in the next few years with pretty much all the clubs that have been operating and competing for the university for a number of years,” said Asquini. Jackson said she is optimistic about the club’s future. “After I graduate, it’s going to keep going on and moving in the right direction,” she said. The fast pitch season begins in September, giving the team a few months to raise what it needs. @SamCumerlato
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Editorial
Read more Opinions online ryersonian.ca Wednesday, February 14, 2018
EDITORIAL
Election season: poster pollution and voter apathy It’s that time of year again, when the hallways of our campus are victim to poster pollution, and student drama breezes through. The Ryerson Students’ Union elections are here, and whether you’re a freshman or a senior, we predict that most of you couldn’t care less. Student politics are like family relatives that pop up only for the winter holidays. They come around once a year, tell you all the things you want to hear, promise to make an effort to stay in contact and be there for you, give you a spark of hope, and then disappear after opening the gift you got them. Our presidential candidates continue to make open-ended promises to us each year. Their slates pledge to help with campus costs, improve budgeting and fundraising, plan awesome community events, and ultimately use their voice to make change. However, we have seen student unions plan a concert, change the dates, and then fail to refund customers in a timely matter. We have seen them use their budgets to fund environmental destruction through printing a nuisance amount of posters. And most notably, we have witnessed the slate members who we voted for to work collectively as a team and help boost our university experience, resign because they themselves were unable to make it through the chaos. The election polls have been open since yesterday and will be until tomorrow, but how many students know this? If you are an active Facebook user, then most likely throughout your years here at Ryerson, you have joined one of the graduating class group pages. On these pages,
students from specific graduating years or programs have access to posting questions and information. Some of these pages have up to 13,000 members. In the past, all of these individual group pages were monitored by students of that graduating year. Now, the newest group, Accepted - Ryerson University Class of 2021, is administered by a social media specialist in the admissions and recruitment department. The administrator of the group has posted a reminder that no students or members of the group can openly discuss anything relating to the Ryerson Students’ Union elections. How are any of the first-year students going to get any sense of the slates, problems from the past, or any voting information if they are not able to discuss it with their new peers? Whether it be school, municipal, or any other level of government, politics will always be one of those topics that boosts voices and opinions. Students should not be discouraged from voicing their concerns about our university’s political system, or restricted from informative resources. The 2016-17 school year elections saw only 20 per cent of the student body vote. With numbers that low, campaigns are winning with no real indication that our school fully supports them. Do students know enough to be able to take a stance and vote? Ryerson University is an institution that should be fostering students from all programs to build a unified community that is aware of all that is happening, and able to contribute or speak up. If we have the right to vote, we should have the right to all the resources to help us vote.
SAWYER BOGDAN | RYERSONIAN
OPINION
Putting a price tag on love AMANDA WOODROW RYERSONIAN
I love Valentine’s Day. I get this warm feeling inside when I think of heart-shaped chocolates, fresh roses, and seeing couples showing their love for each other. But like a wedding or prom, it could be an expensive day, and seems to imply big and beautiful expectations, which supersede reality. You’re supposed to find rose petals at your feet when you wake up, walk on water all day, and then spend the best date night ever with your significant other before having the most intimate encounter with them before you fall asleep. For some people, that’s exactly how the story goes. But for others, it’s not all lovey-dovey and fantastic.
I think it’s all so romantic —but it’s also very expensive. According to an annual survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics, the National Retail Federation disclosed that the total spending in America last year for Valentine’s Day was $18.2 billion, an average of $136.57 spent by the average U.S. consumer. In Canada, according to a study by MasterCard, the total spending for Valentine’s Day was approximately one-third of America’s. Still, that’s a lot of money for one day of the year. But, why is it just that one day? Some critics say that Valentine’s Day is a social construct that markets love and profits from the romantic ideologies and associations it carries. Why is that relevant? I shouldn’t care about what a few nay-sayers think. But the truth is, Valentine’s Day wasn’t always so cheerful and heartwarming. In fact, it has bloody origins that many people aren’t aware of. The earliest histories can be traced to ancient Rome when the Romans celebrated the feast of Lupercalia (festival of purification and fertility) from Feb. 13 to Feb. 15. During this celebration, men would whip women with
goat and dog hides to make them fertile and young men drew the names of women from a clay jar to be paired together during (and sometimes after) the festival. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you early romance. In AD 300 Emperor Claudius II killed two martyrs by the same name on Feb. 14: Saint Valentine. One execution resulted from Saint Valentine ministering to Christians persecuted under the Roman Empire, and the other resulted from Saint Valentine secretly performing weddings for soldiers who were forbidden to marry under the emperor’s reign. The Catholic Church honoured these martyrs every year after on the same day. It wasn’t until the 14th and 16th centuries when Geoffrey Chaucer and William Shakespeare romanticized the day in their works. By the 18th century, Valentine’s Day evolved from a bloody remembrance of martyrdom to an occasion for lovers. From sour to sweet, we now get back to the commercialization of the day we circle on our calendars every year. Some can argue that it’s cheesy, but I’d like to say that it’s a sweet gesture.
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Voices
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Read more Voices online ryersonian.ca Wednesday, February 14, 2018
I found my fantasyland on the ice ‘I sweat, bled, cried and pushed for this sport for 365 days, every year, for 16 years’ CHELSEA LECCE RYERSONIAN
Joannie Rochette, Nancy Kerrigan, Kristi Yamaguchi, Tessa Virtue; I wish I could add my name to the list of figure skaters who made it to the Olympics. I was only four years old when my feet were laced up into white boots with thin razor sharp blades to stand on. My nose was runny, my hands were numb, but my smile never left. Figure skating became my life. For years I dedicated every ounce of energy I had to the sport. Waking up at 4 a.m. to make it to practice for 6 a.m., head to school late afterwards, and then back to the arena once that final bell rang.
the dreams I was missing out on because this was my fantasyland. I’ve been to massage therapists, yoga classes and tropical island beaches, but still to this day nothing has made me feel more relieved than the rush of adrenaline as my blades carve the ice as my body flows with the edges. Skating is the greatest gift I’ve ever received. It made me so much more than just a national champion. It gave me the opportunity to travel all across Canada, coaches who became my role models and a team of sisters to grow up with. Like any sport, skating wasn’t easy on my body, though I gave it everything I had in me. It beat me up some days. After hours of flinging my body in to the air trying to get revolutions complete and falling time after time, I would walk onto the playgrounds during recess the next day with both knees swollen from bruises. I ended up on a first-name basis with the fracture clinic at the hospital. Sixteen broken bones, unaligned hips, stitches, two concussions, kidneys pushed up against my ribs and a sore back never kept me away from the
It beat me up some days... I ended up on a first-name basis with the fracture clinic at the hospital.
I remember being dropped off at the arena by my mom and walking in when the facility lights hadn’t even been turned on yet. While my friends were cozied up in bed, I was bracing myself through the winds on the ice, lapping around not even caring for
rink. I competed with heavy plaster casts on my arms and with blood dripping down my knee from cuts. I’ve sat in a wheelchair at the boards, with a cast from my hip to my toes. Being an athlete goes beyond just the sport. Through my years
COURTESY CHELSEA LECCE
Chelsea Lecce, front row second from right, with her synchronized skating team, Gold Ice, at Regionals Competition in 2013.
confined to a schedule of dry land training, on-ice practice, personal training sessions, and doing homework while eating dinner during my commute back and forth between it all, is why I am the person I am today. I owe my organizational skills, dedication, confidence, compassion, patience and multi-tasking characteristics to the sport. I have skated individually, with a partner and on a team with 16 other girls. I have done jumps, spins, ice dance and synchronized skating. Without a doubt, synchronized skating will always be my favourite part of it all. My teammates were always there for each other, spending almost 20 hours a week together, sometimes more. From Grade 4 to second-year university, I skated alongside girls all going through different things in life. Despite it all, we would meet on the ice, to be bonded by arm holds and the timing of our steps to the music, looking like twins with our makeup and dresses. “One more time” my coaches
would say for the 20th time in a row. “Point your toes, watch your shoulders, keep your head up and show me your faces,” became the critical phrases drilled into my brain. I pushed my legs around the ice, relying on my core strength to keep me from falling as I twizzled, jumped and spun until my head was dizzy. I sweat, bled, cried and pushed for this sport for 365 days, every year, for 16 years. To others, skating is considered a winter sport, something to do during the holiday season. For me, it was my favourite pair of shoes no matter what the season. I was young when I knew that I was never going to be an Olympic skater. But I never had any problems with that, and it never made me want to train less or give up on skating. Skating was my life because it gave me something to define myself by. I was always a shy girl, keeping to myself and only socializing with a small group of friends at school. But somehow I was
able to perform in front of hundreds, with cameras filming, and a panel of stern-faced judges analyzing my every move, and actually enjoy the rush of nerves. Nothing was more exciting than locking eyes with my family as I came around the corner of the ice during my performance and seeing them cheer me on. The ice made me a whole different person full of personality. Skating was there for me when I was in pain and felt like I was going to faint from overdoing it, when I was crying out of frustration on bad skate days, when I perfectly executed an element, and when I won or lost. I can’t repay my parents for all the sacrifices they made so I could have custom skates, Swarovski-embellished dresses and coaches. I missed out on birthday parties, Halloween trick-or-treating and whatever else other kids did. But I will never regret being a figure skater. @Chelsea_ahh
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Full story available at Ryersonian.ca
Wednesday, February 14, 2018
Campus Connection
Campus Comment How do you stay happy on Valentine’s Day?
“Doing cutesy stuff with my girlfriend, watching Romcoms and eating ice cream.”
–
Romario Messam
“I’m getting together with my best friend. We’re baking cupcakes, drinking wine and watching John Tucker Must Die.” AUGUSTINE NG | RYERSONIAN
“I don’t really think of it as any other day.”
For commuter students, the mission to and from school just to get to class on time can be tiring and time-consuming. Between class schedules and train schedules, where can students find time for love? Meeting people at Ryerson can be tough when the thought of a busy commute home is always looming. With Valentine’s Day here, what do you do when your closest relationship is with the pole on the TTC? Online this week, the Ryersonian takes a look at the dating struggles of commuter students.
Newsroom Manager Trevor Hewitt
Managing Editors Engagement
Managing Editor Print
Kathleen Francisco Jessica Valeny
Jack Hopkins
Managing Editors Digital Miriam Valdes-Carletti Ashley Puch
Managing Editor Video Zeinab Saidoun
Managing Editor Audio Sawyer Bogdan
News Editors Noella Ovid Jack Hopkins
– David Matta
Features Editors Adriana Parente Maddie Binning
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Arts & Life Editors Trevor Hewitt Sam Staples
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Photo & Graphic Editors Augustine Ng Anna Cianni Amanda Skrabucha
Reporters Amanda Woodrow Jenna Miguel Nida Omar Olivia Maeder Prescylla Mizinga Rasha Rehman Swikar Oli
Feb. 15: Architecture and Engineering Market Place 12 - 2 p.m. POD60 Lounge Feb. 16: Social Media and Technology: Helping or Hindering Our Well-Being? 12 - 1 p.m. Heaslip House, 7th floor Feb. 17-18: Ryerson Entertainment Conference 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. The Globe and Mail Centre
– Monika Zerbe
The dating life of a commuter
Events
Instructors Peter Bakogeorge Sonya Fatah
Publisher Janice Neil
Ad Sales Support Julia Dodge
Production Co-ordinator/Ad Sales Steven Goetz 416-979-5000 ext. 7424
Feb. 25: Raptors 905 Game with Ryerson alumnus, Aaron Best 5 - 8 p.m. Air Canada Centre
Contact Us We would like to hear from you. Please include your name, program and year. Unsigned letters will not be published. We reserve the right to edit letters for length. Ryerson University 80 Gould Street Toronto, Ontario M5B 2K3 Newsroom: 416-979-5323 Email: sonian@ryerson.ca
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