March 28, 2018 Issue by On the Record News (Formerly the Ryersonian)

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‘Even Canada calls B.S.’ in the past three years.” Fox said better legislation is needed to address the issue, including “changes to the background checks of those wanting to obtain a gun licence and purchase a gun; limiting the number of weapons a person can (obtain); ensuring that the purchasers are properly storing their weapons; (and) ensuring retailers keep solid records of guns purchased.” Beyond changes to gun laws, she said the justice system needs to be tougher on those convicted of weapons-related offences and that more funding should be dedicated to community-based youth programs that intervene before youth enter the criminal justice system.

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Evelyn Fox says she never thought gun violence would affect her family, until her son was killed by a stray bullet in 2016. “It has devastated all of us,” she said. Fox is now an advocate for gun violence prevention and was one of the organizers of last Saturday’s March For Our Lives in Toronto. The march, sparked by last month’s school shooting in Parkand, Fla., was one of approximately 800 marches held around the world in support of victims of gun violence. While attention is often placed on gun violence south of the border, Fox says Canada is not immune to the problem. “I think so many Canadians marched because they are tired of hearing about the escalating violence in their neighbourhoods. They see people who are not the “targeted” person being killed and are scared for the safety of their children. Gun violence on the streets of Toronto has escalated

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RU to fix how fixit requests handled BRANDON BUECHLER RYERSONIAN

Ryerson’s Facilities Management and Development (FMD) department is set to both digitize and reorganize its work order system after two critical maintenance issues were not adequately addressed for several months. It was revealed that students in the Victoria Building had been dealing with bed bugs for at least four months while grad students in a Monetary Times office had been without heating for the majority of winter, despite repeated complaints of both.

“We are putting a new process in place for both short-term and long-term issues,” said Ryerson president Mohamed Lachemi. “My understanding is that not all work requests have been handled to the satisfaction of our students, and I will take responsibility for that.” Saher Fazilat, FMD’s assistant vice-president, said the department will be moving towards a streamlined digital system and away from the current system that saw each work order printed on a physical piece of paper. “If you open the door (now), you’ll see a stack of pink slips,”

Fazilat said. “We’re moving from a paper-based system to an electronic-based system . . . after doing an evaluation of our processes.” The new system will also bring greater oversight to not only custodial requests (spills, broken glass, chemical spills), but also to maintenance and operations requests such as those involved in Ryerson’s bed bug and lack of heating complaints. “We have started right away, upon discovering these two issues, a daily review process,” said Alp Amasya, FMD’s director of operations. “At the end of the day, we look at all the open work

orders . . . and understand, number one, what was done to close it and if they were not closed, why.” Students and staff who submit work orders will now also receive more comprehensive updates regarding the status of their requests, including estimated timelines and when FMD staff have visited the repair site. However, not much will change in how repairs are requested. “On the initial, ‘I found something, and I need to have it fixed,’ the same mechanics will continue to be the way they can reach us, either electronically through

Fixit, or by phone,” said Janet Hercz, FMD’s director of business operations. “What will improve is our ability to push back information . . . around the status of their query.” Fazilat stressed that the full changeover will take time though. “Moving from a paper-based system for a trades person to an electronic-based system takes (time),” she said. “We’re taking baby steps to get to where we have to, but we’re getting there.” @bueky21

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Signs protest new planters

CATERINA AMARAL RYERSONIAN

The Downtown Yonge Business Improvement Area (BIA) installed planters in front of the Tim Hortons at Victoria and Dundas streets last week, where a man named Jason had been living for many years. “The short of if it (is that they’re) putting the planters in. The long of it, I don’t even wanna think about it,” Jason said. Jason, who is experiencing homelessness, has resided outside that Tim Hortons on and off for the last seven to 10 years, according to Mark Garner, COO of the BIA, an association that works with the city to develop local businesses. As for where he will live now, Jason said, “(I’ll) just put this stuff on my back.” Three signs have also been placed in the area in protest,

reading: ““Somebody lived here between these pillars and we just threw him away.” Community members have taken to social media to express their dissapointment with the BIA’s actions. Scott Dudman is a familiar face in the area, as well — he opens the door at Tim Hortons for people entering. He said what happened to Jason is nothing new to Toronto. “It’s just like anything that’s been happening in the city now,” Dudman said. “They’re moving the poor people farther out from the centre core.” Pascal Murphy, a Ryerson instructor who teaches in the area of homelessness, said this is what gentrification is. “Gentrification is when we plan and develop spaces for only particular populations. Those particular populations are those with (a) significant degree of wealth.”

He said that cities are being planned with wealthy communities in mind and that pushes others outside of the downtown core. “We are planning for cities that don’t include the breath of our human community,” he said. However, Garner says the move was for Jason’s own safety. Since February, Garner has been working with numerous organizations to get Jason into supported housing, which has recently become available. “Not only the Downtown Yonge BIA, but Streets to Homes (a referral centre for people facing homelessness to get into housing), police, outreach workers, mental health (organizations). Numerous organizations have been working with Jason for years,” he said. Garner said Jason had originally agreed to be relocated to housing, but has since changed his mind. “We have housing assigned for

him. We’re currently holding two residential spots for him to move into.” But Murphy said the reasoning behind moving Jason is less about getting him shelter and more about removing those facing homelessness from the downtown core. “I think there’s a very strong

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distinction between removing homelessness from our sight and actually ending homelessness,” Murphy said. “The two might look the same to some members of the population, but they’re critically different.” @caterinamarie_

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Being a woman in politics MELISSA ORO AND HARLEEN SIDHU RYERSONIAN

#MeToo and Time’s Up have made their mark on Hollywood, but these movements are also bringing change for women in Canadian politics. On Monday, three female politicians discussed the challenges of being a woman in politics at the “Why Elections Matter to Women” panel at Ryerson University. Due to the effects of these campaigns, Kitchener-Waterloo MPP Catherine Fife says she was recently able to rebuke a male colleague after he criticized a woman’s appearance on TV. She says she never would have done something like this two years ago. “(It) always surprises me that legislators need a code of conduct to remember that they shouldn’t be saying sexist and misogynistic things or (making) racist or

discriminatory comments,” Fife said. During her first run for office in 2007, Fife was forced to focus on her appearance. She was given a clothing allowance and her hair expenses were covered. “If I showed up looking like I just rolled out of bed, people would talk about it, whereas they don’t talk about it with men,” she said. With initiatives like #MeToo and Time’s Up however, Fife says we’re amid a cultural shift: men are being held accountable for their actions and safe spaces for women are on the rise. “When I first came to the Ontario legislature, I was genuinely shocked at some of the conduct,” she said. “You’re dealing with a workplace where there is a lot of networking — networking is what we do — there are receptions all the time, there is alcohol, there are power imbalances that exist.” In Ontario, only 36 per cent of MPPs are women. Equal Voice, a

multi-partisan organization dedicated to electing more women in Canada, estimates that it will take 90 years before the legislature can achieve gender parity in the House of Commons. Ryerson PhD candidate Bhutila Karpoche is the NDP candidate for the Parkdale-High Park riding. Karpoche has been campaigning for the upcoming June 7 provincial election, which she says has left her little time to spend with her husband and three-year-old daughter. “It’s a lot of hard work and you’re out there campaigning long hours,” Karpoche said. Karpoche’s experience is shared by women politicians across the board. If she is elected for the upcoming term, she will join the MPP “sisterhood.” “The most valuable part of having a sisterhood is there is a camaraderie,” Fife said. “Regardless of what party we’re from, we have this shared experience of working as MPPs.”

MELISSA ORO | RYERSONIAN

Still, women are often reluctant to run for political positions. Scarborough-Agincourt MPP, Soo Wong, said young women who take on leadership roles in high school and university are less likely to pursue politics professionally. “So what happens after they leave post-secondary, or leave high school? They stop,” Wong said. Karpoche’s advice for young

women who want to pursue a political career: go for it. “You always feel like you need to have all these qualifications and experience before running, but guess what? You don’t,” Karpoche said. “All you need to be is 18 years old and a Canadian citizen.” @melissaedre @harleennsidhu

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It’s a match! The app Tinder has a reputation for casual hookups, but for some Ryerson students, it’s how they found love

JANINE MARAL TASCIOGLU | RYERSONIAN

Matthaus Vasquez and Sydney Wong laugh together outside of City Hall on March 12, 2018. The couple met a year and half ago through the dating app Tinder. HANNA LEE RYERSONIAN

Alexandar Cheah and Jenn Lee’s first date was dinner and a movie. Sydney Wong and Matthaus Vasquez’s was dinner and drinks. Alison and David (whose names have been changed for privacy) went to the aquarium and had a coffee. In all scenarios, these happy couples have followed wellestablished rituals of most happy couples before them — meeting, getting to know one another and spending more time together until, finally, becoming official. Except for one detail: they all met on Tinder. It’s easy to demonize young people for ruining, among other things, classic dating traditions — the millennials have killed the first date; the millennials have killed commitment. Monogamy is out, casual sex is in! These assertions aren’t very accurate — they actually tend to be sexist and judgmental in nature. But it’s fair to say that casual sex has become a more accepted part of modern dating culture than it was before. An act that once transpired surreptitiously and was only talked about, for the most part, in whispers, is now easily accessible and acceptable to anyone with a smartphone.

Through apps known for facilitating hookups, like Tinder, a couple of swipes in the right direction can now lead a person to hundreds of young, (hopefully) single people nearby. However, one study in the interdisciplinary journal Telematics and Informatics found that young adults were using Tinder for six main reasons — among those, the top two were love and casual sex. And, interestingly enough, contrary to the app’s reputation, love seemed to be a stronger motivation to use the app than casual sex. The findings point to a larger trend: young people — Ryerson students included — are getting into serious monogamous relationships as a result of using Tinder, and seem all the better for it. “Honestly, I was just bored,” said Wong, a fourth-year professional communications student at Ryerson University, on why she started using the app. “My last serious relationship (had been) over a year (at) that point, so I was casually on Tinder just meeting people, talking to people on and off, here and there. “At that point in time, I was very firm on wanting to move after I finished school, so I wasn’t really looking for anything that might change my mind,” she said. “I really wanted to move to Vancouver.”

Wong met her now-boyfriend Vasquez a year and a half ago. After matching on Tinder, they went to the chain restaurant Joey’s for dinner and downtown Toronto bar Track & Field for drinks. They’ve been together ever since. First impressions are somewhat different when your first encounter with a person is through their curated online profile. Vasquez said the first thing he noticed about Wong was her “lit Instagram.” Wong remembered the first message Vasquez sent her was, “Yo, Sydney!” to which she replied, “Uh, do I know you?” The couple’s conversations are littered with slang and references to memes and move fast, as they bounce ideas and memories off each other. As a whole, their relationship — both in how they met and how they interact — is a reflection of the quickly changing times. “Especially on social media, you see a lot of tweets that are like, ‘Oh god, when our generation has children, they’re going to be like, “Mom and Dad met on Tinder.”’ You see a lot of memes with that shit,” said Wong. “I think about this a lot, actually.” She mentioned that with the growing acceptance of feminist theory — and, similarly, movements like #MeToo — it’s becoming frowned upon to approach a stranger in public

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and ask them out. Wong said dating apps are easier to use because of their “implicit consent”— where, because they digitally “matched,” both parties knows that the other is at least somewhat interested. Still, the app doesn’t fix all issues of consent, as sexual assault cases continue to affect the app’s reputation. And while it’s a good sign for a generation calling for enthusiastic consent in the dating scene, detractors may argue that these apps kill the mystery in the beginning of a relationship. For second-year business management student Cheah and his girlfriend, second-year McMaster health sciences student Lee, the lack of “mystery” wasn’t a bad thing. “I kind of thought she was interested in me from the beginning,” said Cheah, to which Lee laughed and defended herself by saying, “I already thought so, too.” Cheah mentioned that Tinder made it easier for the two to start talking. He said, “I’m a very awkward person sometimes. On our first date, it was kind of awkward for maybe the first half-hour.” And they say it would have somewhat changed the course of their relationship had the two first met in person. “There’s so many students always around us, so when you’re going to classes with someone and constantly seeing them, you end up seeing them as more of a classmate,” said Cheah. “But when you meet them on Tinder, clearly, if you’re talking to someone, you definitely have intentions of some sort.” Those intentions didn’t totally change how they interacted. On their first date, Cheah recalled, “I was trying to flirt with her and I told her, ‘Do you want to know a fun fact? Water goes counterclockwise above the equator.’” Lee burst out laughing. “In the middle of dinner. I pretended to laugh.”

*** Some couples, no matter how happy, do still feel the stigma of having met on Tinder — which is the case for Alison and David. The couple met on the app two years ago, but only their close friends know that. The majority of their other friends

Wednesday, March 28, 2018

and meeting people non-traditionally,” said Laura Bilotta, a dating coach and matchmaker at Toronto-based online dating service Single in the City. “However, I think it’s created a collective sense of ‘the grass is always greener.’ People have so many choices at their fingertips and … ultimately don’t give people a chance. It focuses on physical appearance rather than substance.” Certainly having access to hundreds of people a swipe away can make dating more approachable, but also more complicated at the same time. There are no shortage of Tinder horror stories, both online and anecdotally. Amongst users, there have been reports of sexism, racism and racial fetishization. At the same time, it’s difficult to posit Tinder as the main cause of these issues — racism and sexism have always existed on a societal level. Dating apps, like most modern technology, have just quickened the pace that these problems are revealed.

*** Despite the expectations and stereotypes still associated with the app, Wong said Tinder didn’t ruin the romance of dating for her. “I definitely liked him more than he liked me when we first met,” she said. Graphic by Janine She mentioned that while Maral Tascioglu she knew he was interested, it or acquaintances have no idea. was still unclear exactly what he was interested in. “So “I think because it’s seen as an app to bang on, and we don’t you still can have that same kind of chase game where you’re want to be associated with that kind of connotation,” said still trying to figure out how everything’s going to play out.” Alison, a third-year Ryerson business management student. Vasquez disagreed. “When you both swipe right, you know (you’re both interested). I guess it’s not like you have to Although meeting on Tinder is becoming increasingly play those games.” common in long-term relationships, the stigma that many But is one way better than the other? couples feel points to the app’s still murky reputation. Part of “They’re both fun either way. Both a good time.” that reputation comes from accusations of sexual harassment and gender inequality against the company itself. @hanlllee “Tinder is great because it’s normalized online dating

JANINE MARAL TASCIOGLU | RYERSONIAN

Alexandar Cheah and Jenn Lee on Gould Street at Ryerson University on March 13, 2018.

JANINE MARAL TASCIOGLU | RYERSONIAN

Matthaus Vasquez and Sydney Wong outside of City Hall on March 12, 2018.

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Expressing culture through fashion NOUSHIN ZIAFATI AND RASHMIYA ILANKESWARAN RYERSONIAN

Indigenous fashion is hardly in the spotlight, but that’s starting to change. “Fashion today is in crisis, I think. Our systems of clothing production and consumption are really environmentally destructive and socially exploitative,” said Riley Kucheran, a communication and culture student at Ryerson and a member of the Pic River First Nation. Kucheran worked closely with Angela DeMontigny, a Cree/ Metis fashion designer, for three months to explore how Indigenous designers are reconciling their ethics and values with the western fashion industry. What he found is that Indigenous worldviews typically don’t mix with western fashion. This is because Indigenous designers like DeMontigny are “all about respect for the environment and for Mother Earth, whereas western fashion is all about being fast.” “You don’t really know who’s producing your clothing, for example, but (DeMontigny) is really about establishing personal connections and community,” he said. “Fashion needs to change and I think Indigenous fashion and what Angela is doing is one possible future.” DeMontigny’s work is characterized by an integration of Indigenous themes with contemporary lines and high-end materials. She recently presented her capsule collection at London Fashion Week in February. The collection was inspired by the ancient Anishinaabe creation story – The Seven Daughters of the Stars (Pleiades). Accordingly, DeMontigny’s designs are embellished with sun, moon and star symbols. Her collection made its Toronto debut at Ryerson’s Image Arts Centre on March 26. Proceeds from the event will go to the Toronto Native Women’s Centre.

The fashion show, titled Of the Stars, featured leather and suede-centric designs, paired with metallic accessories and statement jewelry. A diverse set of models marched down the runway to pulsing music, sporting “classic, but edgy” ensembles. Emma Cooper, a third-year creative industries student and a member of the Delaware First Nation, said she’s really proud that she walked the show. “It’s not very often that Indigenous clothing is really given the platform where it hasn’t been appropriated. Usually . . . (Indigenous fashion) is taken for high fashion purposes; it loses all cultural value,” Cooper said. “With this project, we actually get the cultural value back because it’s an Indigenous designer . . . we understand the significance behind it. It’s so much more valuable of an experience and it’s actually amazing to be a part of.” The event was organized by the Ryerson School of Fashion, specifically by students in an event planning course taught by assistant professor Henry

RASHMIYA ILANKESWARAN | RYERSONIAN

Navarro Delgado. To Navarro Delgado, it was important to not only talk about diversity and inclusion as a topic, but to immerse his students in the Indigenous experience. “I think the best way to do that was to integrate Indigenous principles within the course work and then showing the work of an Indigenous designer that would close the circle,” he said. Navarro Delgado’s students

helped organize the runway show to present DeMontigny’s designs and brand to fashion-goers and to educate them about Indigenous fashion principles. “You have ideas like slow fashion, for example, having a consciousness of protecting the environment. But Indigenous societies, Indigenous cultures, they have been the stewards of our environment . . . for millennia,” said Navarro Delgado.

“I think there is a good opportunity to utilize, to tap into that knowledge . . . I think this shows the opportunities and the possibilities and the potential there is inherent in going this way.”

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Flying to nationals MADDIE BINNING RYERSONIAN

Muggles on campus no longer have to read Harry Potter novels to connect with the wizarding world. The Ryerson Quidditch team is headed to the national championships at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton next week, and while they may not have Harry on their team, the real-world version of Quidditch – a full-contact combination of rugby, dodgeball, wrestling, flag football and other sports – has continued to grow in popularity since the club was founded in 2010. Being 12th out of 14 Eastern conference teams and with a record of zero wins and nine losses, Ryerson’s team hopes to

play well, but isn’t focused on winning. As a smaller, more casual team, captain and coach Benjamin Légere said they don’t have any major goals for nationals. But a near-win at regionals in the fall has given them motivation to secure a victory. “Coming off of that, being so close and knowing that our team has the potential to push through, we’re hoping to beat a few of the teams that are more in our pool,” said Légere. Quidditch is played by a team of at least seven people with four roles: chaser, keeper, beater and seeker. The chasers use a ball called a quaffle (volleyball) to score points through hoops situated on stands, while keepers try to defend against them and beaters use bludgers (dodgeballs) to

disrupt the flow of the game. All the while, seekers are trying to remove the snitch ball from the snitch runner to get 30 points and end the period. The teams are mixed-gender and players are required to hold brooms between their legs for the entirety of the game. Though they play under a national organization, Quidditch Canada, the team has struggled to secure its place at Ryerson. Since its founding, confusion over whether or not it’s a sports team has sent them back and forth between the Ryerson Students’ Union and Ryerson Athletics. “Usually they’re kind of shocked that the sport exists in the first place, and when you tell them that it’s full contact, you just get another weird reaction,” said

beater Amina Bejtić, laughing. But regardless of their status at Ryerson, Bejtić said the main goal is to have fun. “Being a small team, we’re not

always winning games,” Bejtić said. “It’s just about having fun because it’s a weird sport and we’re just doing what we like.” @mbinning

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Beater Amina Bejtić eyes a victim to hit with her bludger.

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Editorial

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EDITORIAL

Whose lives are we really marching for?

Millions of students, teachers and civilians marched this past weekend in Washington, D.C., to commemorate the 17 students who lost their lives in the Parkland, Fla., school shooting last month. March for Our Lives was held not only to honour the lives lost, but also to demand gun control. Toronto hosted a march of its own on March 24 in solidarity with those in D.C. and the message was clear: young people have had enough. March for Our Lives allows young people to take matters into their own hands. This march symbolizes the power of their voices and the strength they have when united. However, it’s important to acknowledge that although March for Our Lives has sparked this international outrage, groups like Black Lives Matter have been advocating for stricter gun laws long before the shooting in Parkland. This is not to minimize the devastation of the Parkland shooting or to say that March for Our Lives wasn’t trying to be intersectional. Eleven-year-old Naomi Wadler was there to, “represent the African American girls whose stories don’t make the front page.” People of colour are victims of systemic racism and have been trying to change laws and protocols for years, but have not been given the same spotlight as white activists, even in Toronto. Black Lives Matter did not get the same opportunity to march on D.C. ground, black youth have not been given the same media attention, and high-profile celebrity

activists have not helped fund, or raise the profile of the countless protests that have occurred on the loss of black lives. Even last year, when Alexandre Bissonnette planned and executed a mass shooting at the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec City, killing six Muslim men and critically injuring five others, there was no global outrage. Where was the international, or even national, march? Moving forward, while fighting for stricter gun laws, we must think about the people who more often than not fall victim to these shootings. The fight for gun control should not end with this march. High school students have now begun to advocate on a grand scale and are becoming conscious about the state of gun violence, politics and social justice, and this is just the beginning. The voices of people of colour must be acknowledged in order for gun laws to be intersectional and incorporate the struggles of racialized communities. Racialized students fighting for change must be given the opportunity to weigh in on what safety looks like for them and to deconstruct the stereotypes attached to their safety concerns, like how people associate violence with racialized communities. Students have the ability to empower one another, and that’s why it’s important for non-racialized students to openly support and show allyship to racialized students who are fighting to be heard. And we can start right here, on campus at Ryerson.

MELISSA ORO | RYERSONIAN

OPINION

The major downside of working a desk job

JANINE MARAL TASCIOGLU RYERSONIAN

The only thing I gained from working a nine-to-five job was weight. I thought having the nine-tofive routine at two fantastic companies for my internship would make me more productive, and for the most part, it did. I got more work done than if I

had worked on my own hours. But the major downside is the harm it does to our bodies over time, and for me, that was losing muscle and gaining fat. Just a month prior to starting my desk job, I was on my feet doing something every day that required me to be on the go. The contrast between being active every day and sitting at a desk was harsh, and the side effects weren’t immediate. Gaining weight is a slow process. I was eating well, packing my own lunches and doing my best to get some sort of exercise in once a week. But that wasn’t enough. I was at this point where I was sitting for sometimes over 40 hours per week at a desk with little to no activity. I started to feel more sluggish than usual. I was doing less with my time outside of work and just wanted to go home, sit on my couch and watch Netflix with popcorn. An article from the New York Times suggests that even if we

work out daily either before or after work, the act of sitting for a large part of the day still harms our health and metabolism — which, as a result, does way more damage to our bodies than we think. When our body feels the consequence, we spend the money we earned for a gym membership or $30 Orangetheory classes to make up for it. It’s a constant cycle. I don’t regret working those jobs because it’s what I needed to do and ultimately they were genuinely great experiences. And for me, I felt the consequences only after five months. I couldn’t imagine the toll this lifestyle would take on my body after a year or more. Regardless, I’m determined to get my health back in shape. Is my health going to suffer for another desk job that we are told is necessary after graduation? I really hope not. @JanineMaral

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Voices

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Falling hair, don’t care ‘When I saw that large bald spot on my head I didn’t know what I was going to do’

KRIZIA RAMOS RYERSONIAN

close and in slow motion. Alopecia areata is an autoimmune disease where smooth and completely hairless patches show up when clumps of hair fall out. Nail beds also become thin and white dents appear – something that I didn’t realize was the result of my alopecia. And the hair loss is due to your immune system mistakenly attacking hair follicles. According to the Genetic and Rare Diseases Information Centre, between one and two per cent of the population will develop alopecia areata at some point in their lifetime. For years, it had been a habit of mine to grow out my hair, chop it and then donate it to those who needed it. It was heartbreaking to think that I might be one of those people who needed it. I knew I had to do something to get my hair to grow back. So every two months, for half a year, I got treatments where

I realized that having alopecia isn’t the end of the world, as I thought it was four years ago. I’ve learned to just accept having it because I know it’s never going away; my hair does grow back. Yes, sometimes I still feel a bit caught off guard when I can see a huge patch of baldness underneath the hair on my head, but I’ve started paying less attention and not touching it as much as I did before. I don’t physically look any less healthy than the average person who doesn’t have alopecia. People don’t treat me differently when I tell them I have it. It makes me feel good about myself knowing that I can now look in the mirror and still feel confident and ready to take on the day. @kriziaramoss

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corticosteroid was injected into the bald patches of skin on my head. They were a bit painful – but worth it. Alopecia areata can’t be cured but it can be treated and eventually the hair grows back. I did everything I could outside the injections and went for a more natural route – applying castor oil on my bald spots, rubbing garlic on my eyebrows, and using a shampoo that promotes hair growth. I’ve had alopecia for over four years now and I haven’t done the corticosteroid treatments in around two years. To be honest, I don’t know when I’m going to go back. But even for a period of having a full head of hair and my eyebrows fully grown, it’s only a matter of time before slowly but surely, my hair starts to fall out again. And that’s OK with me.

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I started to lose my hair when I was 17 years old. I was at the mall with my hair in a top-knot half-down hairstyle, not realizing that there was a reason why some people were giving me strange looks. I had a bald spot the size of the bottom of a plastic water bottle, dead centre in the back of my head. I remember feeling a whirlwind of emotions when my mom looked at me when I came home that day, with a worried and concerned face as she inspected the spot. Confused, shocked, scared; I really wanted to cry. My hair has always been considered a safety blanket. I grew up having thick, virgin, straight hair, so when I saw that large bald spot on my head, I didn’t know what I was going to do. My hair was falling out excessively in the shower and I started

to get bald spots on different areas of my head. I had one behind my ear, and the low posterior hairline. My brush housed so much hair that it genuinely grossed me out to see it. I was also losing the hair on my legs, my arms and my eyebrows. My thick eyebrows looked thinned out and it was alarming. It was obvious that I didn’t have thick hair anymore. Those who were very close to me started to take notice of my appearance. I didn’t feel normal. I knew I had to do something about the excessive hair loss I was experiencing so I went to the doctor. “You have alopecia areata,” he told me. I never knew what it was or what it meant – and neither did my parents. But hearing those words was like being in a movie where the mouth of the bearer of bad news is always shown up

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Wednesday, March 28, 2018

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