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Thursday, March 3, 2016 McMaster University’s Student Newspaper

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EDITORIAL BOARD editor-in-chief | thesil@thesil.ca

Amanda Watkins @whatthekins managing editor | managing@thesil.ca

Ana Qarri @anaqarri production editor | production@thesil.ca Michael Gallagher @michaelradar online editor | online@thesil.ca Shane Madill @shanemadill sections

Rachel Katz @RachAlbertaKatz news reporter Patrick Kim @patrickmkim news reporter Alex Florescu @alexxflorescu features reporter Daniel Arauz @DanielArauzz opinions editor Talia Kollek @TaliaKollek sports editor Sofia Mohamed @itssofiaAM sports reporter Jaycee Cruz @_jayceecruz lifestyle editor Jason Woo lifestyle reporter Michelle Yeung @yeung_m andy editor Tomi Milos @tomimilos andy reporter Vannessa Barnier @vjbarnier news editor

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Sunanna Bhasin, Nick Bommarito, Steven Chen, Christine Chow, Charlie CoĂŤ, Trisha Gregorio, Madeline Neumann sales

MAY 12, 1982

Marching for peace At the start of the summer of 1982, 30 Canadian students from across the province banded together to send a message to the United Nations. The group, including McMaster students, walked from Toronto to the UN Special Session on Disarmament in New York to let the globe know they were against nuclear arms. The above photo was taken when they passed through Hamilton.

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Celebrating artists in Hamilton’s Black community Page 5

The Silhouette

News

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Film screening hopes to foster discssion about Canada’s past Page 7

Model citizens

Canadian campus news

McMaster’s first Model United Nations conference proves to be a valuable learning experience

Emma Mulholland Contributor

Dalhousie agriculture students protest tuition hikes

Students gathered at the David Braley Health Sciences Centre from Feb. 26 to 28 for McMaster’s first Model United Nations.

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Patrick Kim News Reporter

From Feb. 26-28, approximately 150 McMaster students gathered at the David Braley Health Sciences Centre to discuss and find solutions to global issues.

Acting as delegates representing nations around the world, the weekend was the first large-scale effort in hosting a Model United Nations at McMaster University. Model UNs serve as both a conference and simulation to allow students to immerse themselves in numerous complex issues that they can debate and learn about from other students.

Saad Ejaz was one of these students and a delegate for the United States at the Economic and Social Council, one of three groups that discussed recommendations on economic, social and environmental issues. “ I learned a lot from this conference ... all the delegates that came were well-informed

about their topics,” he said.

“I had to defend different topics that I didn’t necessarily agree with, topics that certain countries had strong stances on.”

Each student delegate was assigned a country whose stances they had to defend. In preparation for the conference, they had to research its policies and produce a paper on the subject.

Teddy Saull and Ramya Kancherla, the Secretary General and Director General at the conference, respectively, echoed the value of defending an unfamiliar country’s position; in many ways, this was the cornerstone in hosting a model UN. “The reason why it is important ... is because it provides the opportunity for student dialogue through a mechanism they haven’t [used] before,” said Kancherla.

“When you’re given a country to represent that isn’t necessarily aligned with your own views, it truly allows you to empathize and get a better un-

derstanding of views that may not be similar to your own,” she said.

The conference was the latest milestone in the Perspectives on Peace initiative that McMaster President and Vice-Chancellor Patrick Deane has worked on with Saull since late 2014.

Originally started as a project under Forward With Integrity, Perspectives on Peace has grown to involve various events and speakers on understanding different cultures and issues in the world. Previous Perspectives on Peace events have recently included speakers like Marc Kielburger, a co-founder of Free The Children, and Samantha Nutt, the director of War Child Canada.

As Saull explained regarding the focus on a model UN, “it fits well with the idea of coming to know other people’s perspectives. This campaign is all about trying to complicate people’s world views and trying to come to understand the world as something that everyone sees in a different way.”

Kancherla expressed her excitement for the students at McMaster’s first model UN, having been a veteran of seven previous model UNs herself throughout high school and university.

“Those experiences through those opportunities really allowed me to get a better perspective of world issues and how that is so important in an ever-globalizing world,” she said.

Despite her experience, she said that the enthusiasm and diversity of the students surprised her, even after all these years.

“A lot of these events, it’s mainly political science students, individuals who are really passionate about these issues based on their undergraduate program. However, we had such a diverse planning team of people in Health Sciences, Arts & Sciences, Life Sciences, Communications ... it brought together a diversity of individuals.” @patrickmkim

Last month, over 100 students from Dalhousie University’s agricultural campus protested a proposed 18.9 percent tuition hike. The protest took place before a budget consultation meeting at the school. The suggested increase will be presented to the university’s Board of Governors later in April.

Institutional sustainability strategy implemented at uCalgary The University of Calgary has begun a new strategy to further research and facilitate developments in sustainability. Part of the strategy includes a new certificate program in interdisciplinary sustainability, targeted towards giving students the skills to solve difficult social and environmental problems faced around the world.

New international education campaign in Canada Canada has introduced its new international education branding, including a new logo and slogan. The designs are part of a campaign to increase the number of international students studying in Canada and will appear on all printed material from provincial, territorial, and federal governments as well as on the material of any Canadian universities that operate internationally.

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NEWS

Thursday, March 3, 2016 | www.thesil.ca

Generating discussion within our generation McMaster student creates online platform to “InkSpire” younger generations

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If Frank Ong's Inkspire initiative takes off any further, he may have to publicly attribute his success to the Hamilton Street Railway buses.

"It started as an idea just outside the [Health Sciences] bus stop, waiting for the really slow Hamilton buses," said Ong, laughing.

So you could argue that, if the HSR came more frequently, InkSpire might never have happened.

It's a simple idea with a clean presentation: an online publishing platform for young individuals to share and explore topics in the world relating to social issues, the sciences and the arts.

Ong realized that many of the outlets he and his friends on current and global issues were turning to for information were not targeted for their demographic.

"Sometimes they're not too relevant to young people today," he said. "If I talk about ... politics, you have a lot of old people in politics, you don't have a strong youth voice in there."

"A lot of the issues that they'll be discussing are for an older generation."

Ong himself is a Master’s student in Medical Sciences at McMaster. His passion for this venture is continuing to grow along with the success it's seen so far.

Only launched in January, the initiative has seen a lot of support and success on platforms like Kickstarter already. In the span of a month, InkSpire managed to raise over $10,000 on Kickstarter, and the project recently received an endorsement on Kickstarter's home page as a "project we love." Ong explained that the majority of the budget will be going to help market the platform in Ontario, but they've

received funding from all over the world, including places like the Netherlands and India.

A lot of the work on the infrastructure of the website has also come free of charge, an amount that Ong estimates would've otherwise cost far beyond the $10,000 they raised.

"Our CTO is covering the website platform pro bono," he said. "She worked about 400 hours from September to January, which was our launch."

And who would be so generous with their time?

“Actually, my sister," Ong explained, laughing again. "So that's $25,000, in kind support, which is pretty good."

Frank Ong is one of three co-founders of InkSpire, along with his sister, Joanna Ong, and Ellier Leng. While it's difficult to evaluate just how much work has gone into their platform so far, the team at InkSpire have spent a tireless amount of time trying to bring this project to life.

"It's a great experience. I now have experience in marketing, experience in finance, budget planning, legal aspects, anything in starting a start-up," he said.

He's ultimately hoping it's a platform that youth — defined as individuals ranging from 14-29 — will identify with and even come to contribute to it over time.

As he put it, "as long as you have a context behind it," the platform is open to all kinds of submissions that could range from traditional articles to videos to more artistic contributions like photos.”

Still in its nascent stages, InkSpire's first topic of the month is mental health, and they've had a variety of contributors from both the featured organization and members of the InkSpire team. Although the initiative is still young, Ong has high hopes for where the project will end up.

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NEWS

Thursday, March 3, 2016 | www.thesil.ca

Tuition advocacy comes to fruition After years of lobbying the provincial government, Ontario introduces free tuition for low-income students

Rachel Katz News Editor

The end of reading week and the return to midterms and papers is never pleasant. However, the end of first week back from the break for Ontario universities was punctuated with a surprise from the provincial government. With the release of the budget for the upcoming year, the province introduced a free tuition policy for low-income students.

According to the budget, students from families with a collective annual income of $50,000 or less are entitled to a grant that covers the average cost of tuition in Ontario. “If you're a student coming from a low-income family and you're paying average or below-average tuition, that's where that free tuition designation comes from,” explained Spencer Nestico-Semianiw, VP (Education) of the MSU, and President of the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance. For university students, that grant is worth a little over $6,000 a year while college students will see a grant of around $2,000.

The money required to fund this initiative is already being used within the postsecondary education sector. The government is repurposing several smaller grants, including the Ontario Student Opportunity Grant, the Ontario Student Access Grant and the 30 percent off tuition grant. However, the majority of the funding comes from the elimination of the tuition and education tax credit, something OUSA has advocated for over the course of the last decade.

“That was something that we are absolutely ecstatic about because we're now using the money that was previously used for tax credits, which wasn't up-front, it was going more towards higher-income families and students who didn't need it and so now the money's being repackaged and put into the hands of students who need it most,” said Nestico-Semianiw.

For long-term advocates of affordable tuition, the new bud-

get marks a significant victory.

“These were recommendations that OUSA has clearly had in our policy papers for a number of years and we've seen a large number of those recommendations in this budget … For any student that was benefitting under the 30 percent off tuition grant previously, they are still going to be receiving at least the same amount of money now and the students who need it the most are going to be benefitting even more,” explained Nestico-Semianiw. He added that the OUSA’s advocacy week in December launched a renewed interest in discussing tuition in the province.

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne visited the McMaster campus last winter.

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“These were recommendations that OUSA has clearly had in our policy papers for a nubmer of years and we’ve seen a large number of those recommendations in this budget.

Spencer NesticoSemianiw President Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance Despite the perks, the free tuition plan has left many skeptical. Some articles published misleading headlines implying the total erasure of tuition, and others raised the concern that the constant inflation of tuition means that the $6,000 calculation will likely be inaccurate just a few years into the future.

The calculation of the grant also only considers the base price of tuition. Universities and colleges require students to pay mandatory fees beyond the cost of classes, including books, student union membership fees and living expenses.

Additionally, the new grant is calculated based on the average tuition for students

in general arts and science programs, meaning thousands of students, such as those in engineering programs whose parents make less than $50,000, might still have to cover some of their own tuition depending on the amount of money they are granted.

Despite the concerns that have been raised, Nestico-Semianiw stressed his excitement over the policy changes. “To be completely frank they're absolutely fantastic,” he said.

“Obviously [OUSA is] going to continue working with the government to make sure that tuition is affordable for students

and that it doesn't outpace what we've seen in this budget … [but] I'm optimistic that we'll be able to work so that the next tuition framework doesn't lessen the impact of these changes but that's a conversation that still has to happen.”

While the new tuition policy is something for OUSA to be proud of, work remains to be done. The organization is currently occupied with helping the Ontario government finalize the specifics of the new grant.

This will be followed up by more work on the new tuition framework, a task OUSA began to work on in January — a let-

ter-writing campaign asking for a tuition freeze was one of their first advocacy efforts related to the framework.

For his part, Nestico-Semianiw thinks these are positive changes and hopes that his successors in the organization will continue to advocate for affordable tuition. “I think this opens up another very good conversation, but I think the next student executive will have to have those conversations too.” @RachAlbertaKatz

www.thesil.ca | Thursday, March 3, 2016

NEWS

Talking about why Black words matter

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Black Words Matter celebrates literary achieviements through an evening filled with music, art and live readings

Steven Chen News Reporter

If the pen is mightier than the sword, then the reception of some of Canada’s most esteemed Black writers is surely influential. On Feb. 26, the National Reading Campaign hosted an evening of performances, readings and panel discussions in celebration of Black literary achievement.

The event, held at the Art Gallery of Hamilton, was arranged in partnership with TD Bank to help proliferate Black Canadian literature in the lives of every citizen. ‘Black Works Matter: Celebrating Black Literary Achievement’ was also done in parallel in Ottawa at the National Gallery of Canada earlier in the week.

Considering the Art Gallery as its venue, the event’s artistic vision did not fall short, with a special spoken word performance by Faduma Mohamed of RISE Poetry and a live painting by Camille Lauren.

Black Words Matter also featured a number of distinguished African Canadian writers who shared excerpts from their works and engaged in a dynamic discussion with the audience. The panelists included a diverse range of writers such as Canada’s Poet Laureate George Elliot Clarke, internationally renowned poet Lillian Allen, novelist and children’s author Pamela Mordecai and award-winning playwright Djanet Sears.

George Elliot Clarke spoke up regarding the frustrations

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Black Words Matter featured a night of performances, paintings . readings and panel discussions.

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of Black Canadians being underrepresented in literature.

“Growing up, I didn't really see myself reflected in literature until I read African-American poetry. African-American poetry was about police harassment, poverty, racism, all things I recognized in Halifax.

It was bizarre connecting to African-American literature in Halifax and not connecting as much to Canadian Literature, so that told me that I needed to have Black Canadian Literature.”

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Clarke went on to writing numerous works in poetry and plays to narrate his experiences as a Black Canadian, such as his Execution Poems (2001), Beatrice Chancy (2009) and Black (2006).

“What really made me recognize myself as a writer,” noted Clark, “was reading about other Black people, reading books by Black authors, books with Black characters and relating this to myself.”

Despite the heightened emphasis on literary achievement for the evening, Clarke

makes the careful distinction between awards and literary merit. “There doesn't have to be an easy one-to-one correlation between talent, creativity and the winning of awards. We are in a market that is fueled in part by popularity and prizes which may be richly deserved. At the same time, writers cannot write merely for prizes, writers write for readers and for the joy of expressing ourselves,” he said.

Bridging the topic of reading to the McMaster student body, Clark is supportive of the role that post-secondary

education plays in fostering a critical perspective on society.

“Because it is only with [education], that the citizens at large can be empowered to make positive decisions about the direction they want to take their society in.”

“I would like to reinforce the idea that reading is a democratic duty of citizens, and on top of all that, it is a very radical act. It is a link to the material, a link to the author. It connects the authors to our own souls, our own body — very richly, deeply and organically.”

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NEWS

www.thesil.ca | Thursday, March 3, 2016

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Revisiting the pass A new documentary will be screened at McMaster this week. Its director hopes it will spark dialogue about the Indigenous experience in Canada Rafik El Werfalli Contributor

For over 60 years, the Indigenous population of Canada has been denied the freedom of choosing where to live. Under a government-run “pass system,” Indigenous peoples were forced to live on reserves. Any who wanted to leave required written documentation — a pass — issued by their reserve’s government-appointed “Indian agent,” that outlined the reasons for and duration of the leave.

First introduced by Sir John A. Macdonald in the 1880s, the pass system restricted the rights of the Indigenous people of Canada and was implemented without going through Parliament.

Alex Williams’ new documentary film, The Pass System, explores the history of the government effort to further segregate and limit the freedoms of Indigenous communities. Williams highlights the different perspectives on the discriminatory system and includes stories of First Nation Elders from these Indigenous communities that illustrate the impact of the system on their lives.

Williams was raised in Treaty 6 territory, Saskatchewan, and grew up in a society that he saw as racist. Growing up in a low-income neighbourhood, he witnessed many people that were pushed out economically. According to Williams, “social and structural racism” was common in his hometown. “[The pass system] was intended to keep people of colour out and control the indigenous population, restraining and confining them to reserves as much as possible,” he explained.

Ian Mosby, a Postdoctoral Fellow in the L.R. Wilson Institute for Canadian History at McMaster University added, “Canada has a problem with their attitudes towards indigenous people, not just the government, but also Canadians themselves. We need to really look deep down at dealing with this issue and dealing with the structural racism that Indigenous people faced and are

“Canadians in general have been taught a very selective version of their history and many historians have been working to change that.“ Alex Williams DIrector

currently facing.”

Williams agrees with Mosby. “Canadians in general have been taught a very selective version of their history and many historians have been working to change that,” said Williams. “I am hoping that it can be some help in understanding the roots of this very Canadian kind of racism, colonization and genocide.”

Mosby added that many Canadian aren’t aware of their past and don’t realize the true scale of racial segregation and discrimination that Indigenous people have and continue to experience.

The film has received wide coverage, including from the Toronto Star and CBC. The film has screened at numerous locations including the Toronto International Film Festival, Vancouver International Film Festival and at least 20 more screenings across Canada.

“This is a story that I think is really important for people to know, and hopefully come to this documentary, and hearing from the director, people will start to get a sense of how much they don’t know about Indigenous people” said Mosby.

The Pass System will be screened at McMaster University on Mar. 4 at 2:30 PM at the Michael DeGroote Centre for Learning and Discovery (MDCL) in room 1105.

Alex Williams hopes to educate Canadians on the reality of the country’s historical and present treatment of Indigenous peoples.

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HUMANS

Thursday, March 3, 2016 | www.thesil.ca

Bariya Dogar (left) and Simrah Puri (right) PoliSci I and Health and Aging II

What do you admire most about each other?

When I asked, they both said “She speaks her mind,” at the same time.

Bariya: She’s always been able to speak her mind, even when she knows I’m not gonna like it, but I think that’s how friends should be. You should be able to say anything to them.

Simrah: She knows how to speak her mind and doesn’t let others’ opinions affect her, which I think is quite admirable in a world where perceptions are based on judgments. I know I can always be myself around her.

Madeline Neumann Photo Contributor

What’s something you’ve accomplished recently that you’re proud of?

I successfully established a Facebook page for my photography, and lately that page has received a lot of recognition. It brings me great pleasure knowing that my peers have taken the time to notice and value the time and effort I put into my work. I enjoy taking pictures, and it’s been a hobby of mine since 2014. My future aspirations include expanding my photography page, increasing the popularity of my work, and improving on my skill.

William Dang Commerce I

What’s something you’re looking forward to?

I’m looking forward to this term ending.

I’ll be going to Europe and Africa this summer with my friends, and we’ll be backpacking through Spain, Portugal, and Morocco.

I’ve never actually travelled outside of North America, so I’m going to see what the world is like.

facebook.com/

MADELINE NEUMANN/ PHOTO CONTRIBUTOR

HumansOfMcMaster

Thursday, Mar. 3, 2016 | www.thesil.ca

The McMaster Students Union

PRESIDENT’S PAGE

The MSU General Assembly (GA) is the constitutionally mandated annual meeting of all full-time undergraduate students. GA is the highest governing body of the McMaster Students Union and provides a venue for students to participate directly in the decisions and actions of the MSU. This year’s General Assembly will be held Monday, March 14 from 5:00pm–7:00pm and will take place in Burridge Gym. Registration for

the event will commence at 4:00pm outside the gym doors.

Participants at GA do not have to be involved with the MSU or have any experience in student government.

Any full-time student can submit a motion or a topic for discussion at GA and speak in favour of, or against that topic. Motions must be submitted by email to the MSU Administrative Assistant and Speaker (via asstadmin@msu.mcmaster.ca and speaker@msu.mcmaster.ca, respectively) before noon on March 7, 2016. In previous years, topics have included increased inclusivity at Bridges Cafe, divestment from fossil fuels, ethical purchasing policies, and fair trade practices.

Three percent (3%) of the membership of the MSU constitutes quorum for a meeting of the General Assembly. This means that at least three percent of all MSU members must attend GA for the motions or resolutions passed at GA to be binding on the MSU. That said, if a motion passes at GA, but quorum is not achieved, that motion will be brought before the next Student Representative Assembly for further discussion.

This year, improvements have

The President’s Page is a space sponsored and used by the McMaster Students Union (MSU) Board of Directors (BoD) to communicate with the student body. It functions to highlight the Board’s projects, goals, and agenda for the year, as well as the general happenings of the MSU.

Students vote at the 2015 General Assembly. This year’s GA will feature i>clickers for improved efficiency and anonymity.

been made to make General Assembly easier for students. The biggest change is the introduction of i>clickers which students will use to vote. This change will make voting smoother, faster, and easier. Cheat sheets summarizing GA rules and procedures will also be distributed to participants in order to make the event accessible for those who lack experience with the formal meeting format. Please note: do not

bring your own i>clicker to GA. One will be provided to you.

GA allows students to participate directly in the democratic process at the end of a term filled with election campaigns. I encourage you to attend and bring a friend, especially if you have not previously considered yourself involved in student government.

Please visit msumcmaster.ca/ga for more information.

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EDITORIAL

Thursday, March 3, 2016 | www.thesil.ca

Editorial Sacrificing my editorial this week to bring you some important information - Amanda Watkins, Editor-in-Chief

@whatthekins

SILVISION SILVISION The Silhouette presents...

WHAT’S YOUR VISION FOR YOUR CAMPUS PAPER? The Silhouette is launching a reader feedback survey and hosting a public forum to find out what you would like to see happen with your campus paper. Do you wish there were more racks in the library? Do you wish certain sections were longer or had more of a certain type of content? Have you been a dedicated Snapchat follower but want to see more? Now is the chance to let us know!

Our online survey will be availble via Twitter on Monday, March 7 Our public forum will be taking place on Monday, March 21 (location TBD)

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Can’t wait for Silvision to get started? Come to one of our meetings and pitch your articles to us (no application process necessary)

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Who talks in your tutorials?

The Silhouette

Opinion

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Mosaic: a help or hiderance?

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ow ou kn y d i d ake “Billy, only m r l l i w a sister y doll your r ever o f s t n o?”

74 ce you d The author thinks we should stop praising white men for doing things the rest of us have been doing for years, such as parenting and recognizing the wage gap.

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Praise for the stunningly ordinary Or five things we need to stop praising white guys for Talia Kollek Opinions Editor

I breathed a sigh of relief Sunday night. Leonardo DiCaprio has officially received his Oscar.

You may have seen the deluge of memes, gifs, and video compilations all protesting his lack of Academy recognition. I have never seen the Internet collectively want something so badly.

“Please God,” I said, eyes skyward, “let this be the last I hear about how mean the Academy has been to little Leo.” Don’t get me wrong, I think DiCaprio is a brilliant actor, but in a year that the Oscars have been boycotted for being unapologetically and overwhelmingly white, all the fanfare surrounding one white dude left a bad taste in my mouth. Now that we can all sleep soundly knowing Leo has finally made his parents proud, the time has come to stop praising white guys for things that the rest of

us do without fanfare. Here to help is my list of five places to start: 1) Winning awards Yeah, we get it. White guys are good at being awarded stuff.

When almost everyone winning an award looks pretty much the same, why are we still excited over a predictable result? Things may be looking up; I take solace in the fact that the proposed scholarship intended for white heterosexual people at the University of Western and the University of Windsor was struck down by the Ontario Superior Court last week. Progress.

2) Stay at home dads Or for that matter, Dads who help with parenting at all. You do not get brownie points for doing things that women have been obliged to do for centuries.

Frankly, I don’t care if you are overcoming gender stigma to be an effective parent, because

you are not the only one doing so (see also: single mothers).

Dads who change diapers are not heroes for dealing with the same crap we do.

3) Embracing their dad bods Look, I am all for body positivity. Regardless of who you are, you deserve to feel happy in your skin. However, I am pissed that when people of color and women accept (or even dare to celebrate) their appearances it is considered egotistical and vain, while when white dads do it, it is amusing and charming.

Congratulations on inviting yourselves to the feminist body positivity party, just don’t expect me to be ecstatic when you are praised for arriving late and partying harder than we do.

4) Not being sexist/racist/ etc.

I’m looking at you Matt McGorry. If this list were in any

meaningful order, this would be number one. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen men praised for simply not being the-biggest-douche-to-everdouche. I absolutely refuse to praise you for not using that racist word, I won’t give you kudos for not committing sexual assault, you are not my personal Jesus for using someone’s correct pronouns.

Recognizing your privilege and working to overcome it makes you a half-decent human being.

Welcome to the club.

5) Teaching us stuff I’m really happy that you read that article or saw that documentary, but please stop trying to teach people how they are oppressed. As someone who has had firsthand experience with sexism, I’m not going to be impressed when you try and tell me about the intricacies of the wage gap. This by the way is not a dude-exclusive problem; white feminists have a long history of

lecturing down to, or “teaching” people of color about racism.

Rule of thumb: teach those who need to hear it most, i.e. other people with your privileges who refuse to recognize there is a problem. I promise you will get significantly less praise than you do preaching to the choir, but instead you will potentially make a difference.

In the end, making that difference is exactly what this comes down to. Would you rather enact change by addressing your own privilege?

Or be angry at this article for stereotyping all white men? It is difficult to reject what you have been told your entire life — that you have earned every one of your victories without an unearned advantage. If you do manage to do the right thing, just know I’m not lining up to thank you for your decency.

@TaliaKollek

12 |

OPINION

Thursday, March 3, 2016 | www.thesil.ca

Not-so-social media Sunanna Bhasin Opinions Columnist

We’ve all heard the criticism regarding social media — that, as a generation, we’ve lost the art of conversation and are too self-absorbed and caught up with our social media accounts to connect with each other. I have to disagree. Social media is not inherently restrictive and isolating; it is the way that you choose to use it that determines how you connect with the outside world. You could just as well isolate yourself by immersing yourself in a novel or movie, so why does social media have such a bad rap among older generations?

Contrary to popular belief, we have not lost the art of conversation, we’ve simply come up with new ways to engage in it. I have a few friends who are international students and use platforms like FaceTime and

Skype to communicate with family abroad. Just because the conversation occurs through non-traditional media doesn’t mean we shouldn’t embrace the fact that we are able to stay in touch with people miles away.

Even class assignments make use of social media to improve productivity. Think of how many of your Facebook groups are dedicated to schoolwork. Organizing meetings in person is not always feasible.

Of course, in-person interaction is a different experience and does help you form bonds with people you may otherwise forget about after the course is complete. However, the reality is that a commuter student, for example,

would benefit from an online meeting through sites such as Facebook or Google Hangouts as opposed to altering his or her schedule. Rather than try to find a different time and potentially cancelling meetings altogether, social media provides flexibility for everyone involved.

I’m not advocating that all contact be limited to social media, because that would really limit our communication. Faceto-face interaction ensures that body language is visible and can be interpreted. It can be difficult to get the same intuitive understanding of how someone is feeling through emojis and text. Despite the fact that video chat is available, it is certainly not perfect.

While

What are the benefits of Facebook replacing face-to-face communication? it is important to be able to communicate effectively in person, why shun technology that works in favour of those who prefer to convey their thoughts through a different medium?

Social media not only offers a platform that can accommodate busy and conflicting schedules, but it also serves as a comfortable space for people with more introverted personalities who might prefer to communicate online. At the same time, what social media allows us to share with others is probably one of its most innovative and valuable aspects.

We all know what it’s like to have an indescribable experience. When I try to describe my summer vacation to my friends, I tend to repeat how amazing, fantastic and wonderful it was, but those words hardly capture the experience ac-

Contrary to popular belief, we have not lost the art of conversation, we’ve simply come up with new ways to engage in it. curately. Social media platforms like Snapchat and YouTube take words out of the equation and make experiences shareable without overusing clichéd terms to attempt to explain them.

Conversation is important, and contrary to popular belief, millennials do engage in it. Yet, the traditional conversation is not always the best way to communicate. Social media gives us the means to communicate beyond words and to share experiences as they happen rather than after the fact. At the end of the day, social media does not hinder conversation if it is used appropriately. Rather, it connects us with people in unique and valuable ways and enhances our experiences of the world as we share them with people across the globe. @SunannaB

Have you found that your conversations have improved or worsened with social media use? Do you replace face-toface with online interactions?

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OPINION | 13

www.thesil.ca | Thursday, March 3, 2016

A vicious cycle Benita Van Miltenburg Contributor

As both a Hamiltonian and a bicycle user, I was deeply troubled by the recent death of Jay Keddy. Keddy was a well-prepared and thoroughly practiced cyclist, equipped with bicycle lights and a helmet, obeying the rules of the road. Despite his diligent behavior, he was struck by a car and left lifeless on his commute home from work this past December. No one emerged from the horror of Keddy’s death unscathed — his friends, family and acquaintances, not the kindergarten students whom he taught, and not the members of the wider Hamilton community.

Around the same time Keddy was killed, two pedestrians were struck in our city, one killed and the other seriously injured. These realities indicate that we must demand safer transportation infrastructure.

Not only have the lives of these individuals and their families been forever affected, but the lives of those responsible have also been irreparably damaged.

These were preventable accidents that mustn’t be forgotten a mere two months later.

They were needless accidents with immense consequences.

This type of tragedy must not happen again.

Currently, the rules of the road mandate that a bicycle and a three thousand pound vehicle

I see myself settling in a community I can safely enjoy by way of foot or bicycle, not just by car or bus. As it stands, Hamilton is evidently not the place for me. occupy shared road space.

When accidents happen, the ones who suffer most are almost always the more vulnerable road users. This is not a system that is safe for people on bikes, and it is likewise not a system that works well for automobiles.

Many residents of this city regularly make use of multiple means of transport, and nearly all road users understand the difficulties inherent to this outdated system. We, as citizens of this city, as shared users of the road, must demand more.

We should ask ourselves: what kind of city do we desire?

What sort of community are we presently fostering, building for our children, for ourselves and for our seniors? Where do we see this city in five, fifteen and fifty years? I see myself settling in a community I can safely enjoy by way of foot or bicycle, not just by car or bus. As it

stands, Hamilton is evidently not the place for me.

In Hamilton, pedestrians have a 42 percent higher risk for injury than the provincial average. Hop on a bike and that figure doubles to 81 percent.

This is wholly unacceptable.

Hamilton is blessed with abundant potential. Situated between Lake Ontario and the beautiful Niagara Escarpment, Hamilton is home to several fantastic post-secondary institutions, vibrant art, music and culinary communities, outstanding social programs, and just enough character to keep things interesting. However, the city is currently doing itself a terrible injustice by consistently catering to one road user over others, sometimes at the expense of residents’ lives. As such, we are bypassing the opportunity to create a socially inclusive community in which residents can truly enjoy spending their time.

Transportation modes such as walking and bicycle riding allow the individual to move at a leisurely pace, stop and start with ease and engage with their environment in a way that is

Our streets are unsafe for cyclists.

Creating safe alternatives to cars and busses is important for our city’s future simply not possible from the isolated box of the automobile.

I say this not to demonize car ownership, but to encourage planning that supports multiple forms of transportation.

This is a call to all residents of our community to work with city planners and legislators to make desperately needed improvements to our active transport infrastructure.

Improvements that will in turn put all road users at greater ease, and ensure not one more life is needlessly cut short on account of poor planning or lack of action.

With the city-wide

Local kindergarden teacher Jay Keddy was killed in a Hamilton cycling accident in December.

C/O CBC HAMILTON

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Transportation Master Plan in review and a notice of motion put forth to adopt Vision Zero, Hamiltonians have some crucial decisions to make. Are we to accept this subpar status quo?

Are we to remain Ontario’s second most dangerous city to walk in? Can we risk any more unnecessary tragedies?

Or will all road users — pedestrians, cyclists, car drivers and transit goers alike — come together and support positive change? We need change that caters to all forms of transportation equally, change that fully protects all residents from risk of injury and as such, protects all residents from the risk of injuring others. Let’s come together and insist on safer active transportation options in 2016. We all have the right, to enjoy our city out of harms way.

14 |

OPINION

Thursday, March 3, 2016 | www.thesil.ca

Tackling tutorials Emily Current Contributor

When we take part in a group discussion we pay so much attention to what people are saying that we don’t really think about who is speaking. It wasn’t until I talked to a classmate of mine one day about classroom dynamics that I noticed that our tutorial often ended up being male dominated.

One of the reasons why it can be so difficult to see how gender dynamics play into classroom discussions is because these sort of interactions play into all aspects of our lives.

Girls are taught from a young age that we should remain silent if we’re unsure of what we have to say. And when we are sure of what we have to say and do assert our thoughts, we often get criticized for doing so. Our society sends the message to girls and women that we are not welcome to say what we think, and this message has translated into university classroom

discussions.

I’ve started to pay more attention to the way gender dynamics play out in class discussions and I’ve noticed that, overall, men seem more confident speaking in this sort of setting than women. I’ve noticed that men are more assertive when they contribute, and respond more confidently when another student argues with what they have said.

While guys will simply assert their thoughts, girls seem to couch what they have to say with phrases like “I don’t know but…” or “this may just be my opinion…” adding an element of uncertainty to what they’re saying. Not only do men speak more confidently, they also speak more frequently. In one tutorial I took a tally of how frequently class members of different genders spoke, and found that there were similar numbers of girls and guys that spoke during the discussion. While this initially makes it seem like there is no issue, in the class

Your gender is shaping the way you participate in the classroom

there are twice as many girls as there are guys, meaning that in my tutorial, female students were speaking half as often as their male counterparts. Granted, I only tallied up one tutorial, but it is indicative of a larger problem.

Clearly these ideas are based on generalizations, because there are of course girls who do speak up in conversations and who make their claims confidently, just as I’m sure there are guys who don’t feel so confident speaking up.

I think that it is important to be aware of our classroom dynamics regardless. There is no easy way to address the way that gender dynamics play into classroom discussions; therefore, it is crucial that at the very least we recognize the impact that they have. Even if nothing else can immediately be done, we should at least aim for an increased awareness of the space we take up in class discussions, and ask why we might participate the way we do.

C/O MCMASTER.CA

Mosaic, mo’ problems Nicholas Moore Contributor

From their course selection experience this summer, most of the student body is aware that Mosaic has not been implemented properly. These problems extend into graduate student payroll, and there have been a plethora of problems resulting from this faulty and poorly managed program.

These issues were, and are, far from trivial.

On Oct. 10, dental benefits for Teaching Assistants and Research Assistants were suspended because McMaster University had not remitted premiums it had collected for the insurance company for a period of four months. The premiums were paid quickly after the suspension of benefits, but this situation, which never should have happened in the first place, was laid at the feet of Mosaic.

There have been innumerable instances of general mismanagement. Anecdotally, I was charged double the correct amount of tuition in

Administration proposes a “standing loan” program to “bridge graduate student needs between payments.”

Ludicrous. Will they charge interest on these loans? Most likely.

September, which took a few weeks to fix. A friend of mine was charged two-thirds of the correct amount. Another friend of mine has not been paid the full amount of scholarship the University promised.

On Nov. 3, a letter was sent to graduate students from the Acting Provost and Vice President (Administration) which attempted to address the ongoing problems with Mosaic’s payroll system. In this letter,

they acknowledge that there has been “ongoing confusion around ... scholarships, payments and benefits.” It is mostly a loose collection of vapid buzzwords, but somewhat sinister in its implications.

First, all they propose to do is improve “communication” with grad students and the throughput on our complaints. This includes setting up an email address for complaints, hiring staff to handle complaints, sending us emails more frequently and having “a series of open meetings” where we will be permitted to ask questions. They also propose to hand this functionality over to a brand new “customer service unit” that will handle this type of inquiry. This is a very telling Freudian slip, betraying the degree to which McMaster administration prefers to see graduate students as income units, rather than employees. No amount of communication, or “managing expectations,” will fix Mosaic.

Particularly egregious is the proposed “long term solution” to changes they made to our payroll system that have

Mosaic’s new technical difficulties have impacted student finances

resulted in grad students going for entire semesters with only a couple thousand dollars in compensation. Students who don’t have a TA or RA position immediately after starting their grad studies have a particularly bad time. The old system compensated for this, and spread our pay more equally throughout the year. University administration proposes a “standing loan” program to “bridge graduate student needs between payments.” Ludicrous. Will they charge interest on these loans?

Most likely. This is being paid in currency only tenable at the company store. This is WalMart holding a food drive for its own employees.

The letter says they will “continue working on the technical and system issues underlying some of the problems.”

Insofar as this is a circuitous, partial acknowledgment of faults in Mosaic, nothing further is promised, except to continue patching a broken system. No mention of increasing their efforts to get to the root of the problem, a fundamentally incompetent implementation

of otherwise useful software system. I was shocked to learn that the University of Waterloo uses the same software package for the same purpose, but having implemented it competently, it is free from the deluge of ridiculous problems we have experienced with Mosaic. We educate software engineers here.

It is not beyond the capability of this school to properly configure software.

Yet, here we are. Perhaps our administration is ensnared by the sunk cost fallacy, but they seem incapable of acknowledging something that anyone with a background in software (such as myself), and many with no background in software will tell you: Mosaic is a redo. Mosaic is a terminal patient, and the complaints resolution process is an iron lung. Mosaic is a hurdles runner hitting every hurdle because it has stale pretzel sticks for legs.

Mosaic is a plantar wart; unless you crack it open and get to the root of the problem, it’s just going to get uglier and uglier.

Bridges - MacBEAT Jam

McMaster Womanists! Highlights include two

When: March 03, 2016 from 08:00PM

demics, a workshop from Sandra Filetti, and a

When: March 09, 2016 from 01:30PM until

until 11:00PM

Feminist Club Night!

02:20PM

Where: Bridges Cafe

Visit our Facebook page and follow us on Twit-

Where: McMaster Museum of Art – base-

MacBEAT invites you to a musical get-together

ter to check out the events!

ment Educational Library

Feminism workshops, a panel of female aca-

wherein students collaboratively create music!

All music lovers, players, and singers are wel-

Creativity Circle

Whether you are already an engaged creative-

Meditation Circle

ly, or are beginning to explore your creative

come! For more information, contact macmusicnet@gmail.com and check out our Facebook

When: March 07, 2016 from 02:30PM

thing for you. Learn from each other to live all

group here for more information on the event.

until 03:20PM

of life creatively, whether through an artistic

McMaster Dance Marathon

Where: SWELL meeting room

When: March 04, 2016 at 07:00PM until March 05, 2016 at 01:00AM Where: TwelvEighty Dance Marathon is an international movement involving college and high school students at

work Hospital in their community. During the event, participants will be asked to be on their feet for six hours straight, dancing, exercising,

medium or through how you raise questions and engage society and your inner life.

(MUSC B118) All are welcome, whether you are interested in are already engaging in reflection or spiritu-

Bridges - Life Science Society Coffee House

al practices and looking for the support of a

When: March 10, 2016 from 08:00PM until

group.

11:00PM

meditation but don’t know where to begin, or

more than 300 schools across North America, all raising money for the Children’s Miracle Net-

journey for the first time, this group has some-

Bridges - Labour Studies Student Association Coffee House

Where: Bridges Cafe Come out for a night of music, food, and good company with the McMaster Life Science Society! Meet and greet with other students in the

and participating in various other physical

When: March 08, 2016 from

program while listening to some tunes. Contact

activities - all in order to help improve the lives

08:00PM until 11:00PM

schevene@schevene.com for more information!

of patients and families staying at McMaster

Where: Bridges Cafe

Children’s Hospital.

WGEN presents International Women’s Week

The Labour Studies Student Association presents Coffee House. Please join us for some great music, great food and great company!

Please contact kangsa@mcmaster.ca for more information!

When: March 07, 2016 at 09:00AM until March 11, 2016 at 11:58PM Where: Various Join WGEN for a jam-packed week of events featuring groups such as MISCA, and the

Visit msumcmaster.ca for a full calendar of events!

16 |

GAMES

Thursday, March 3, 2016 | www.thesil.ca

Win a Pizza Pizza gift card!

Tweet us a photo at @thesilhouette. The first ten people* to answer all correctly will win a $15 gift card!

At which location was the “Black Words Matter”

During which weekend did McMaster Figure

event hosted?

Skating win at the OUA championships?

_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

How much is the maximum recommended daily

How many stars did Andy give Zootopia?

caffeine intake? _____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

* You cannot be a Silhouette staff member, member of the Board of Publications, full-time MSU employee or a previous winner to enter.

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www.thesil.ca | Thursday, March 3, 2016

The Silhouette | 17

Lifestyle

Footwear says a lot about a person

Do you drink too much coffee?

Page 19

Page 20

PAINTLOUNGE

MODERN SOCIAL

THERAPY

C/O SHANNON ALMANZAR Jennifer La Grassa Contributor

Escape rooms, ping pong bars, board game cafés and now paint lounges—Unique social activity locations seem to be in great demand.

Over reading week, myself and a few friends went to one of Paintlounge’s downtown Toronto locations. My housemate and I had become obsessed with the idea of social painting after watching fashion blogger Tess Christine vlog about her painting experience. Within the short time that I discovered Paintlounge, I began to see friends on my Instagram feed posting about their adventure.

Upcoming Paint Nites in #HamOnt

Paintlounge is exactly what it sounds like, a small lounge area with a café and a painting section filled with easels, brushes, paints and fresh white canvases, all ready for the beginner or expert painter to get down and dirty. The walls, stools, easels and painting smocks are splattered with paint — whether deliberately done or by mistake, the ambiance it created assisted my ability to immerse myself within the role of a creatively troubled painter.

We had signed up online for the “Winter’s Night” class, a moderate level adult painting workshop. Right at the beginning, the instructor told the class that she would not be

>>

Tues. March 8 at Montana’s Cookhouse

walking us through the painting process step by step, which was great as it allowed everyone to work at their own pace.

Instead, the instructor provided us with her expert advice, like which section of the painting to start with, the paint brushes we would want to use and the colours that matched those in the sample piece. Her words of advice were to get creative, the end goal didn’t have to be identical to the sample painting. My internal mantra was “you paid $40.00 for this Jennifer, don’t screw it up.”

Even without an artistic bone in my body, the final product didn’t turn out as bad as I feared. By the end it wasn’t even

>>

about the painting, it was about the experience as a whole. Performing a creative activity within a social setting was extremely therapeutic. After the first few brush strokes, I suddenly felt at ease and became fully absorbed in the painting process. The many mistakes I made along the way were laughed off amongst my friends and after almost three hours we stepped back from our easels to admire the paintings that we had collectively created.

Looking back, the experience has helped me appreciate the current fad of adult colouring books serving as stress relievers. Colouring and painting engages areas of the brain

Wed. March 9 at Coach & Lantern Pub

>>

that deal with problem solving and organizational processes, along with the motor cortex. As well, it’s known to help reduce anxiety and employ positive thinking.

If Toronto is too far, a number of similar sessions are hosted in numerous cities, including Hamilton, called “Paint Nite.”

So McMaster, I urge you to put away the books, the phone, the laptop and the problems of your everyday life and sign up for a therapy session at the Paintlounge in exchange for the bar or pick up a colouring book if you lack the motivation to go to the gym. Creative or not, your mind will thank you for the artistic break.

Wed. March 9 at Montana’s Cookhouse

Visit paintnite.com for more info

18 |

LIFESTYLE

THE SKINNY Michelle Yeung Lifestyle Reporter Chris Rock falls short in his attempt to champion for diversity at Oscars 2016

Thursday, March 3, 2016 | www.thesil.ca

The four commandments of lecture hall etiquette There’s more to being a good student than just hitting the books.

Consider these rules to become more respectful in lecture

Although Oscars 2016 took place this past Sunday, the awards show has been at the centre of a media storm ever since the Academy released a list that contained no Black nominees. While Chris Rock, who was this year’s host, did a commendable job in addressing #OscarsSoWhite through a comedic medium, he also decided to make a few cheap jokes out of Asian-American stereotypes.

Bringing to stage three children of Asian heritage, Rock introduced them as accountants and later made a joke about how these children double as sweatshop workers. On an evening where diversity was such a large focal point, playing on stereotypes of other POC was vastly disappointing.

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Trump is real, and it’s time we do something about him.

Christine Chow Lifestyle Writer

Thou shalt not sit at the edge of the row

Thou shalt not hog half the row of seats

Thou shalt not leave drinks on the floor

Thou shalt not speak over the professor

Shimmying past a group of seated people is as difficult as an Olympic-grade obstacle course.

You have to avoid knocking knees, impaling yourself against the back of the row in front of you and stepping on valuable belongings in the attempt to flail your way to an empty seat.

All the while, you’re stiffly leaning forward and praying to God that your backpack won’t accidentally smack someone in the face and give them cause to sue. While there are some exceptions to this golden rule (say, if you happen to be left-handed, or if all the seats in the middle have already been taken, in which case this rule is void), be considerate and move in. Otherwise, if someone backpacks you in the face, it’s only karma.

While it’s definitely nice to be surrounded by your friends, remember that you’re not in lecture to have a reunion. You’re there to learn, which can be done no matter where you sit, and regardless of whether everyone in your crew is accounted for. Your obligation is not to be the designated usher for everyone you know, but to be considerate of the general public (i.e. your class). So if you decide to look out for your friends, then please, for the love of all that is good, divide and conquer. Don’t be that one person who takes up seven seats.

Limit yourself to maybe one or two seats beside you, and meet up with everyone else after class is over. If that ends your friendship, then good riddance.

This is Murphy’s Law in action.

You’re placing your half-finished coffee in the vicinity of a bunch of limbs whose main purpose is to kick things over.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what happens next. Once you spill your coffee (and you will, inevitably, spill your coffee), it becomes a nuisance for you to clean it up. Since a lot of lecture halls are slanted, you’ve not only effectively forced all the following classes held in that lecture hall to wonder which jerk committed this indecency, but you’ve allowed it to spread. So either put it on the seat’s desk beside you or hold it securely. It might even be less of a hassle to wait until after class, where you can actually enjoy your beverage.

Nothing is worse than making the commendable feat of actually going to lecture, only to find that you can hardly hear anything the prof is saying. No one wants to hear you gossip about how wasted you got last weekend or whether so-and-so is interested in you. If a lack of general privacy for your personal affairs doesn’t concern you, then ask yourself why you’re in lecture in the first place if you don’t intend to learn. You are in a room filled with bleary-eyed faces, all of whom are copying down notes in attempt to actually be effective with their time.

It’s time to have some respect for your peers. So put on your keener jeans and kindly zip it, or take the rest of your conversation outside.

LIFESTYLE

www.thesil.ca | Thursday, March 3, 2016

These boots were made for talking

| 19

Studies show that the shoes you wear are pretty indicative of your personality.

Take a look at this list to find your sole mate

Mitali Chaudhary and Christina Ugge Lifestyle Contributors

ATHLETIC SNEAKERS VS. CANVAS SHOES

KITTEN HEELS VS. PUMPS

KNEE-HIGH BOOTS VS. BOOTIES

FLIP-FLOPS VS. SANDALS

BALLET FLATS VS. TOMS

Are athletic sneakers your thing? If so, comfort for you is obviously key. You care more about keeping your feet snug, as you choose to not jam them into a pair of strappy, pointy little heels. You might be sporty, laid back and you definitely don’t mind a little bit of travelling and exploring. Unlike your other friends, you don’t have to worry about blisters, or any other uncomfortable foot issues.

If you’re a canvas shoe person, you still care about comfort, but value aesthetics a little more. You’re a person who loves variety, and made the smart decision of buying these because they look good paired with virtually everything. You’re also on the cutesy side, and really loved elementary school.

Your appreciation of pattern, colour, fabric and glitter might have stemmed from there, which is apparent from the diverse types of canvas shoes you love and wear.

If you love kitten heels (let’s be real) you’re probably on the taller side, yet still go for the professional and classy look, since it matches your personality seamlessly. You value comfort a little more, and might think that platform stilettos is a death sentence (how does one even walk on thin sticks?). You tend to dress business casual, are focused on what you want from life and are determined to get it.

Ladies who can rock pumps are fierce, and this measure increases with every extra inch added to the heel. If this is you, you’re probably outgoing, love wearing high ponytails and dressing in all black. Style matters to you more than comfort, and you look like you’ve got your shit together, also because your nails are never chipped.

You’re definitely a great friend to have because you always have their back and you’re honest when they act in a less-than-intelligent manner.

If your boots of choice are kneehigh in length, you’re definitely a perceptive one. You realize that these boots are a wardrobe staple, and you use them to make dresses work in the winter, or instantly makes leggings look appropriate. You might be a little bit more reserved and uptight, but that also means you’re a perfectionist, and you get things done on time.

Booties imply that you didn’t want to commit to kneehighs, but couldn’t decide if you wanted to wear shoes either.

You might be a little indecisive as a person, but having booties allow for that, and you sure are on trend. With these, you can dress on the casual side, or dress it up and can explore a variety of sartorial tastes. You also probably go to farmers markets, sip on lattes in cute coffee shops on the weekends and wear hip ripped jeans, then post it all on Instagram.

As a lover of flip-flops, you might be classified as a little lazy since they are the easiest shoes to slip on. But you don’t care because who has so much time to think about shoes?

You’re out there learning and adventuring, giving your feet some sun time and thinking about the beach. Unfortunately, all this daydreaming might be getting you late a little too often, which is why you choose to slip into your flip-flops every time you run out the door.

If you love wearing sandals of any kind (the strappier the better!), you’re a more summery and whimsical person. You probably enjoy going to music festivals, and wearing feminine dresses. As an individual, you have no problems committing to a decision; you paint your toenails regularly and upkeep them for as long as summer lasts. You’ve got your shit together too, sandal-wearers.

Is a pair of ballet flats your favourite? If so, you’re more of a gentle, old soul; you’re the quintessential girl next door. To any of your outfits, your flats provide a feminine and dainty take, which perfectly describes who you are as well. You probably enjoy all-day shopping trips, but are equally at home in a quiet library.

Do you enjoy having your feet mummified by a cute pair of TOMS? You’re definitely an individual that’s more playful, and loves to laugh and have a good time. You might be just a tad basic (but who secretly isn’t?), have many friends who love life as much as you and Snapchat a lot. Dressing on the casual side is your thing, which means you’re always ready to hit up the new sushi bar in town.

20 |

LIFESTYLE

Thursday, March 3, 2016 | www.thesil.ca

Caffeine alternatives Green Tea The most well known alternative has less caffeine than coffee and contains catechin, an antioxidant and disease fighter.

Licorice Tea This caffeine free tea also replenishes adrenal glands, organs that respond to stress.

Prune Juice Need something sweet?

Prunes replenish your electrolytes, which can lead to increased stamina.

Do I drink too much coffee?

Michal Coret SHEC

University students are recommended to sleep seven to nine hours a night. Ha! That’s funny. Thanks, science. With increasing sleep debts due to schoolwork, social life and other obligations, many of us turn to caffeine as a solution to stay awake. Caffeine is the most popular substance on university campuses, and also worldwide, with approximately 70 percent of university students addicted.

So how much is too much?

The maximum daily caffeine intake is often cited as 400 mg.

An eight-ounce cup of coffee, depending on its intensity, can contain 40-200 mg of caffeine.

When consumed within this margin, caffeine improves attention, memory, wakefulness, reaction time and athletic performance for some. Additional evidence suggests that that caffeine, in moderation, has positive effects on mood, and may play a role in weight loss.

Sounds great, right?

Unfortunately, many coffee

drinkers exceed this safety margin. Two cups is just with breakfast. Almost unconsciously, another three or four may be consumed to stay awake during lectures, meetings and assignments. But what are the consequences? Most of the detrimental effects of caffeine are long-term. These include heart problems, deteriorated bone health and even diabetes.

Caffeine may also have effects on the dopaminergic reward system of the brain.

This is a pathway involved in drug addiction and a possible explanation for why coffee is so addictive. Withdrawal symptoms (which might appear all too familiar) include sleepiness, poor concentration, headaches and nausea. Studies done specifically on undergraduate students showed that those who drink over six cups of coffee a day sleep significantly fewer hours than their peers. It seems to be a vicious cycle.

Another consideration is that brain development related to planning and emotional control is also critical in the early

20s. Caffeine may have an adverse impact on how these brain functions develop and lead to long-term cognitive changes.

If one were to try the daunting task of leaving coffee behind, the best way to start is a gradual reduction in daily amounts of coffee. This, combined with caffeine alternatives may effectively promote long-term caffeine reduction. If you’re going for a cleanse, cold water and stretching are also good options.

But let’s not paint such a dark (roast) picture of coffee consumption. The bottom line is that caffeine — like most things in life — is best in moderation. If you are drinking three or more cups of coffee a day, running to the washroom frequently and/or wanting to reduce caffeine, there may be merit in evaluating your daily schedule and priorities to see what can be changed. Also, stress is a major hindrance to sleep. In days when sleep seems far away, considering various outlets for stress can improve your nighttime zzzs.

Chai Tea A creamy chai tea latte will trick your body into thinking that you’re drinking coffee.

Mac students get

on orders over $20 (must show Mac ID)

India Village

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www.thesil.ca | Thursday, March 3, 2016

The Silhouette | 21

Sports It starts at home

CIS No. 2 McMaster to host the OUA Final Four

LEAGUE AT LARGE Men’s Basketball CIS Top Ten 6. UBC 7. McGILL 8. BROCK 9. MANITOBA 10. DALHOUSIE

1. CARLETON 2. OTTAWA 3. RYERSON 4. CALGARY 5. McMASTER

Women’s Basketball CIS Top Ten 1. McGILL 2. SASKATCHEWAN 3. SAINT MARY’S 4. RYERSON 5. REGINA

6. OTTAWA 7. ALBERTA 8. McMASTER 9. CALGARY 10. WINDSOR

Men’s Volleyball CIS Top Ten 6. TRINITY WESTERN 7. LAVAL 8. SASKATCHEWAN 9. QUEEN’S T10. RYERSON T10. MOUNT ROYAL

1. ALBERTA 2. McMASTER 3. MANITOBA 4. CALGARY 5. WINNIPEG

Women’s Volleyball CIS Top Ten 1. UBC-OKANAGAN 2. TORONTO 3. ALBERTA 4. TRINITY WESTERN T5. MONTREAL

T5. UBC 7. McMASTER 8. DALHOUSIE 9. McGILL 10. BRANDON

Men’s Wrestling CIS Top Ten

JON WHITE/ PHOTO EDITOR

Jaycee Cruz Sports Reporter

When I first started covering McMaster Men’s Volleyball regularly in the fall, I was aware of the high expectations that came from both inside and outside of the program. However, I only became aware of our volleyball excellence by watching games and walking through the David Braley Athletic Centre. Mac volleyball isn’t heavily advertised beyond the walls of the building so it took some effort to realize that our school has a championship-calibre volleyball program.

McMaster Men’s Volleyball has become a household name in the CIS and Head Coach Dave Preston is the mastermind behind the perennial powerhouse. McMaster has appeared and medaled in each of the past three CIS National Championships. From 2013 to 2015, the Marauders have come home

with silver and two bronzes. I have asked players what they think about those accomplishments and I have gotten the same response.

Nobody wants silver or bronze.

To them, it’s nothing to smile about. I have never seen a team with such a healthy dissatisfaction over medaling at nationals. Some schools would throw a parade for those outcomes, but at McMaster the standard is different. Second is “first worst” and third looks like a pity consolation.

After returning from the CIS Nationals in Saskatoon last February, McMaster was already thinking about the new season. They didn’t win gold in 2015. That’s all they remember.

Since Feb. 27, 2015 when they lost in a CIS semifinal to Trinity Western, McMaster has had their eyes on the 2016 gold.

The lining looked sterling silver for this season with a lot of last year’s players returning

along with the addition of several skilled rookie recruits. McMaster has made their presence felt across the country from October until now. The target was and is still on their back.

Everyone wants a piece of them.

Their season started with a trip to Poland where they had the unique opportunity to play high-level club teams. Then they beat reigning national champion Alberta, dominated the OUA and stole a couple of wins at Ohio State somewhere in between.

Now they are entering the postseason 18-2 with some defined battle scars. This team is not waltzing in blindly about to get blindsided. What’s even more encouraging is that the second half of their season has seen the emergence of their younger players. Second-years Calvin Lee, Connor Santoni, Jeff Driediger, Peter Khodkevych, Ebbasa Dugassa and first years Craig Ireland and Matt Pas-

salent have produced quality volleyball when called upon.

Coach Preston says they’ve come to a point where they can execute Mac’s gameplan like the normal starters would. Not many teams can say that about their bench.

The fact that this team is entering the playoffs battle-tested is scary. They know what it’s like to be down on the road.

They know what it’s like to win without some of their best players. They know what it’s like to get punched in the mouth.

But they also know how to get back up and then knock you out.

I know I speak for this team and their coaching staff when I say this: Give them your best shot. They want it.

The postseason has arrived and it starts this weekend at home in the Burridge Gym. McMaster plays Waterloo in an OUA semifinal on March 3 at 8 p.m. @_jayceecruz

1. BROCK 2. McMASTER 3. ALBERTA 4. GUELPH 5. CONCORDIA

6. WINNIPEG T7. SASKATCHEWAN T7. CALGARY 9. REGINA 10. WESTERN

Athletes of the Week Ahmed Shamiya, McMaster Men’s Wrestling > Shamiya’s dominating performance at the CIS Wrestling Championships led him to a gold medal for a second year in a row. He was the sole gold medalist from the Marauder team.

Rebecca Steckle, McMaster Women’s Volleyball > Steckle earned her second Athlete of the Week nomination this month due to her excellent performance against Windsor last Friday. Stecks scored match-high 18.5 points while hitting .323.

OUA Figure Skating Championships On the Feb. 22-23 weekend McMaster participated in the OUA Figure Skating Championships at Varsity Arena in Toronto.

McMaster placed third overall with 65 points and won the team synchro event in addition to setting record breaking results for the program. Western finished second and Toronto took home gold.

22 |

SPORTS

Thursday, March 3, 2016 | www.thesil.ca

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

MEN’S BASKETBALL There is no doubt that the McMaster Men’s Basketball team was quite a sight to witness this year. They won huge games against Windsor, Ottawa and Brock and were placed in the country’s Top 10 all season long.

The team has big dreams and before they look to compete on the national stage for the CIS Championship banner, they need to focus on the match-up they have on Saturday, March 5.

They will find out their opponent after Windsor and Laurentian play each other in the preliminary round taking place on March 2. McMaster defeated both Laurentian and Windsor in the regular season at home.

This is the last season for three talented veterans — Aaron Redpath, Leon Alexander and Troy Joseph. Look for the usual veteran leadership to help set this team up for greatness. The team is competing to take it all this year. Game time for the OUA quarter-finals is set for 2 p.m. at the Burridge Gym.

Ending the regular season with a 71-69 win in Guelph this past weekend, the McMaster Women’s Basketball team is preparing to host the OUA quarterfinal playoff game on Saturday, March 5. After a year of personal records and personal battles, the team is looking to see their hard work amount to a chance to claim the OUA banner. With a talented roster of veterans and help from the bench, the McMaster Women’s Basketball team knows that the pieces need to come together for them to win. With a record of 15 wins and four losses for the season, the Marauders will look to defend home court as they face the winner of the firstround playoff game between Queen’s and Laurentian. The Marauders faced both Queen’s and Laurentian during the regular season and walked away from both with victories. The first game of the playoff season will either make or break their dream to compete for the OUA banner. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m. in the Burridge Gym.

JON WHITE-DEBOER/ PHOTO EDITOR

THAT TIME OF THE YEAR

With playoff season upon us, see which Marauder teams claimed medals and which ones are still competing

MEN’S VOLLEYBALL

WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL

The Marauders have a unique postseason ahead of them.

They are hosting both the OUA Final Four and the CIS National Championship. Both the conference and national championships will be played on home floor. The stars appear to be slowly aligning for this McMaster team that has been chasing a national championship for years. With the depth built through the season, the younger unit’s ability should not be underestimated. Look for upperclassmen like Jayson McCarthy, Danny Demyanenko, Andrew Kocur, Stephen Maar, Brandon Koppers and Pawel Jedrzejewski to play some of the best volleyball of their careers. Expect second-year standout Andrew Richards to do the same. These guys have been getting healthy for the biggest moment of their Mac careers and they won’t go down easy.

This team is graduating several great players in Alicia Jack, Khira Adams, Taylor Brisebois, Mira Krunic and Lauren Mastroluisi, almost a third of the team. These players have been the core of the team and have also helped bring home an OUA banner in 2014. The team understands that to get closer to winning an OUA banner and making a trip to nationals, they need to beat Toronto in their OUA Final this weekend. The road is not easy, but the team is coming into Final Four weekend with momentum after a huge win over Windsor last Friday. Firstyears Michelle Chelladurai and Rachel Woock are playing solid and second-year Jill Eisenhauer has been getting more reps at middle. If their best players play lights out against Toronto this weekend, McMaster could be one step closer to their banner dreams.

TRACK & FIELD This past weekend, the Track and Field team brought home three bronze medals from the OUA Track and Field Championships hosted by the Windsor Lancers. McMaster’s Jeff Tweedle claimed a bronze medal from the 1000m event and beat the CIS standard with a time of 2:24.13. The men also collected another bronze medal in the 4x800m relays with Tweedle, Connor Darling, Nick Kondrat and Matt Napier as they beat the CIS standard with a time of 7:40.43. The women’s team — Chelsea Mackinnon, Emily Nowak, Kaitlyn Pansegrau and Maddie Benjamin — rounded off the weekend by winning a bronze of their own. The team will enjoy a week away from the track before heading to Toronto to participate in the CIS Championships hosted by York from March 10-12.

WRESTLING It was a medal weekend for the McMaster wrestling team. The men finished second at the 2016 CIS Wrestling Championships and brought home silver for a second consecutive season.

The Marauders ended with 52 points, while host Brock won the men’s title with 80 points. Six Marauder wrestlers advanced to medal matches and Omar Ahmed and Joban Phulka won bronze medals.

However, the highlight of the weekend was Ahmed Shamiya who finished with a CIS gold for the second year in a row.

On the women’s team, Monica Wood had the top performance, finishing fourth in the 48kg class. The Marauders placed 12th overall in the women’s standings.

www.thesil.ca | Thursday, March 3, 2016

SPORTS | 23

24 |

SPORTS

Thursday, March 3, 2016 | www.thesil.ca

Doing it for the thrill No. 7 McMaster Women’s Volleyball heads to the OUA Final Four Jaycee Cruz Sports Reporter

Ask anyone who was in Burridge last Friday night and they will tell you that the gym was shaking with energy. The enthusiasm of the large audience of maroon-clad fans provided the Marauders with that “seventh man” that they’ve yearned for JON WHITE/ PHOTO EDITOR the home crowd to be all year.

The intensity and noise were consistent throughout the match, but peaked in what was arguably the best set I have ever witnessed in my three years here at McMaster.

Fourth-year outside hitter Rebecca Steckle recounts the big playoff win, but insists Mac’s impressive showing was no accident.

“I think thrilling is a perfect description. We were prepared and had a great week of practice. We were on another level and just ready to win,” said Steckle. “I think that we went out and controlled the game from start to finish. There was never a moment where I felt as though Windsor was controlling the momentum.”

McMaster sent Windsor packing all three sets, but the most memorable was their 36-34 score in the second set that the relentless Marauders wrestled away from the grips of the persistent Lancers.

The latter part of the second set was like a heated fight between two prizefighters throwing their best haymakers at each other. Windsor set Melissa Smyth several times and Mac relied on the powerful one to eight bedroom homes • minutes to MAC and steady hands of Maicee Sorensen and Steckle.

Steckle finished with 18.5 points and Sorensen landed 14.5 of her own. The two front court players were disruptive and authoritative at the net all night long.

The Mac fans in Burridge were taken on an emotional CALL TODAY! roller coaster; each Lancer point elicited stressful gasps and each Marauder score incited faithful Marauders to their feet.

“The rowdy crowd made it that much more fun and we wanted to entertain them,” said Email: houses@machousing.com Sorensen.

Windsor had Mac backed

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up against the wall many times in that second set as they wanted to take a match point, but the Marauders kept swinging back and hitting floor.

Eventually they broke through and that was the turning point of the match.

“That second set was absolutely absurd,” said Steckle.

Even though it was incredibly stressful and the stakes were high, Steckle had no doubt in her team’s ability to come through.

“When I think back, the part I am actually astounded by is that there was never a moment where I stepped into our huddle after a point and wondered if we would lose,” Steckle said.

“Every time I looked into the eyes of my teammates, I honestly believed we would win.

Windsor had several set points in the second, but it didn’t matter to us. We believed and we chose not to stop fighting.”

Sorensen provides insight into the depth of that fight.

“We fought off 10 set points to win the second,” said Sorensen.

After winning the toughest part of the match, McMaster won the third set and punched their ticket to the OUA Final Four — which they failed to do last season.

The Marauders will travel to Toronto this weekend along with Ryerson and Western.

McMaster enters with a 17-3 record and a 7-2 road record.

McMaster plays Toronto in an OUA semifinal at 6 p.m. this Friday at the Goldring Centre on the campus of U of T. The team played Toronto twice this season and lost both matches.

The Friday night match promises to be a tense one, as McMaster and Toronto are the only OUA teams in the CIS Top 10. The winner will play Ryerson or Western in the OUA title game.

Head Coach Tim Louks was blunt about the reality of the weekend.

“I told the girls that there are going to be tears either way,” said Louks. “The question is, ‘What kind of tears are they going to be?’ ” @_jayceecruz

www.thesil.ca | Thursday, March 3, 2016

Coming in #HamOnt Page 26

The Silhouette | 25

andy

Review: Macbeth

Review: Zootopia Page 28

Justin Kurzel’s Macbeth might boast an A-list cast, but its silence is its loudest achievement

Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard star in Justin Kurzel’s Macbeth.

Trisha Gregorio Andy Writer

When the list of nominees for the 2015 Cannes Film Festival came out, I was as excited for Justin Kurzel’s Macbeth as I was for Mark Osborne’s Le Petit Prince. Having closely watched both Roman Polanski’s 1971 Macbeth and the modernized 2010 British television adaptation, you’d think I’d be tired of the play by now, but Shakespeare’s Scottish tragedy once again proves itself a whirlwind of a masterpiece regardless of how it’s delivered.

If I had to describe the film in one word it would be “desolate.” The film begins in the silence of a haunting funeral, and while a battle cry eventually breaks the startling quiet, the monotony is never quite shaken off. For most of the movie, lines are murmured under breaths, sound effects are scarce and background music far in between, and the end result produces scenes eerily

reminiscent of the earliest days of Soviet Montage. With scenes flashing by — shots of the three witches, brief flashes of the apparitions — without a single note or word in the background, Macbeth is almost suffocating in its dark and dismal emptiness as the strange sombre mood is maintained to the very end.

Director Justin Kurzel, however, uses the monotony in the first half to his advantage.

As with the battle cry shattering the silence in the film’s first act, this pattern continues in its most significant scenes.

A personal favourite is the subdued music that underlines Macbeth’s soliloquy as he walks, dagger in hand, to King Duncan’s room — music that escalates to a discordant peak as the stabbing scene plays out, effectively silencing the actors and drowning out the sounds of the struggle. By the end of the scene, the music fades, the film plunges back into its unsettling silence, and Macbeth’s bloody hands and King Duncan’s dead body soundlessly dominate the screen. The dissonance of

quiet and sound reappears in the second half, when the loud cries of “Hail Macbeth!” are juxtaposed with the silence in between each cry. The startling juxtaposition frames the movie in a psychological context I haven’t seen in another adaptation, with Macbeth’s rapidly loosening grasp on reality spiralling blatantly out of his control with each sudden burst of sound in what is otherwise a silent scene.

This time, it is not Macbeth unleashing the sounds of fury, and instead he is the one left in a suffocating, artificial silence.

With Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart and James McAvoy all having previously tackled the controversial role of the thaneturned-king, Michael Fassbender is the last of the X-Men Professor X and Magneto quartet to take his turn at Macbeth.

Fassbender’s Macbeth is fierce and savage, more unhinged than Patrick Stewart’s war period Macbeth and devoid of Jon Finch’s complex vulnerability in the 1971 film. This Macbeth is beast-like even in the deafening silence. By the last act, however,

he is despaired and half-gone, his furious soliloquies that are usually spoken in rising volume are instead delivered barely above a whisper. The end product is mystifying, as rare as it is to see a Macbeth whose madness was not depicted to equal rabid screaming, and with this, Fassbender makes the role his and his alone. Alongside him is French actress Marion Cotillard, whose own Lady Macbeth is quiet but terrifying. She plays the role with a subdued, tender weariness, and her exhausted delivery seals the fatigued atmosphere of the film.

What this version appears to lack in consistent cacophony, it nevertheless made up for with its diegetic elements. Scenes alternate between high contrast and low contrast, and the film does not hold back in the required depiction of brutality.

Kurzel’s Macbeth is not hesitant with its visual design and symbolism is laid on thick. It plays with symbolic colours, from the dark blacks and browns of Macbeth’s scenes to the blood red saturation of the finale that

ultimately defined the film for me. Death hangs above the narrative constantly, setting up for the intended catharsis Macbeth’s death is meant to trigger. As the film reaches its end, the music rises, and the colours become increasingly saturated, until the dark red credits start rolling on screen.

For all that the movie was remotely and desolately silent, it kept me on edge. I was always leaning in to see more and hear more, and with that in mind, I’d like to say Kurzel’s Macbeth delivered more than it disappointed. “It is a tale told by an idiot,” goes one of the most famous lines in the play, despairingly whispered in this one, “Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” What this adaptation of Macbeth appeared to lack in sound, it made up for in silent fury, resulting in a version that may be a walking shadow of the story, but one that definitely does not signify nothing. @tngregorio

26 |

ANDY

Thursday, March 3, 2016 | www.thesil.ca

The Andy approval matrix

COMING UP IN HAMILTON

The best and worst in arts and culture. This is a concept borrowed from New York Magazine. We hope they don’t mind.

MUSIC

BALTIMORE HOUSE MAR 5 > Night Drive MAR 11 > Altobeelays MAR 13 > Father Christmas THE CASBAH

MAR 5 > Wintersleep MAR 6 > KO

HIGHBROW Jenny Bevan won an Oscar for Best Costume Design, but some of her peers (ahem, Alejandro Iñárritu, Tom McCarthy, and others) refused to clap for her and instead appeared to judge her for breaking with the Oscar dress code.

Renowned Canadian playwright Hannah Moscovitch recently won the Windham-Campbell prize, a prestigious literary award.

Leo finally got the monkey off his back when he won an Oscar for Best Actor in The Revenant this past weekend.

THIS AIN’T HOLLYWOOD

FEB 12 > Sianspheric FEB 13 > Cam Abstract

FILM WESTDALE THEATRE

> Spotlight

> Room This week’s quick pick

M83

“Do It, Try It” Anthony Gonzales is back with his first album since 2011’s Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming. Entitled Junk, the first single is already out and available to stream via YouTube.

DESPICABLE

MAR 4 - 10

Jeremy Lin slammed Chris Rock for his racist portrayal of AsianAmericans at the Oscars.

Pending rezoning, the person who bought 50 Cent’s mansion will convert it to an old-age home. Dibs on the infinity pool.

Disney is set to revive High School Musical after issuing a casting call for the fourth iteration. Let it die.

Adele helped a woman at her Belfast show propose to her boyfriend, who obviously felt put on the spot and didn’t give a definite answer.

Let’s abolish public proposals for good measure.

Tony Warren, creator of Coronation Street, has passed away after a short illness.

A recent screenshot revealed Kanye was torrenting a $200 piece of music software. C’mon fam, just flip a pair of Yeezy’s if you’re that stingy with your wallet.

LOWBROW

It’s Britney, bitch. Mario Testino directed his lens at the famous pop singer for V Magazine’s 100th issue.

BRILLIANT

Father Robert Sirico berated the Oscars for being hypocritical and awarding Spotlight Best Picture while the Academy had previously lauded noted pedophile Roman Polanski back in 2003, the same time the Boston Globe stories were breaking.

www.thesil.ca | Thursday, March 3, 2016

Wanted: Season three

ANDY | 27

After viewers flocked to Young Justice on Netflix, networks consider bringing it back

The popular animated series stars a group of young heroes branching out on their own.

Hess Sahlollbey Contributor

Since it began in 2010, Young Justice has been critically acclaimed and has garnered a passionate following. However, it wasn’t until Young Justice was added to Netflix at the start of February that the fandom has set the internet ablaze in a bid to push for a third season. When series creator Greg Weisman tweeted that Netflix was looking at viewing numbers to create a third season, I decided to pitch in and marathon it myself to help out with the campaign.

The show aired on Cartoon Network until it was cancelled in 2013. The main characters of the show are a group of sidekicks attempting to separate from their mentors and prove themselves as superheroes. In the first season, Robin, Kid Flash, Superboy, Miss Martian, Artemis and Aqualad come together to form the eponymous team with Zatanna and Rocket joining them later on. The team works together under the authority of the Justice League to battle a team of super villains known only as “The Light.” In the second season, the series jumps forward five years as we’re introduced to an even larger and more diverse cast of heroes and villains.

While grounded somewhat in reality, the show still keeps things consistent with the tradi-

tional DC Universe continuity.

If you’re not well versed in the rich history of DC Comics, the show will ease you into this world gently with plenty of explanations as well as thorough introductions to characters.

Young Justice is also not afraid to explore the subjects that terrify adults. Whether it’s a father’s inability to protect his daughter from super villains, the terrors of parents being separated from their children, or a darker storyline of child abduction that involves non-consensual experimentation.

In addition to beautiful graphics, the show has a strong soundtrack that fits perfectly with the tone of the storyline.

In fact, it won an Emmy for animation not long after its initial premiere.

It should be mentioned that the show is not without its controversies. In 2013, Paul Dini appeared on Kevin Smith’s podcast Fatman on Batman where he claimed that network executives cancelled it due to too many girls watching the show.

However, Greg Weiseman has stated on multiple occasions since then that the show was cancelled due to toy sales being too low to fund additional seasons. Whatever the reason may be, if there ever was a television show that could benefit from one more season, it’s Young Justice.

28 |

ANDY

Thursday, March 3, 2016 | www.thesil.ca

Four books by and about women of colour Amanda Watkins Editor-in-Chief

Growing up, I always found it difficult to fully empathize with the leading characters in young adult novels. Often starring an ambiguously White female lead with a token Black or Latina BFF, the books of my childhood didn’t mirror my coming of age experiences. While most of these stories were set in some North American city or town, and I could often relate to that element, the plot lines were portrayed through White eyes and never touched upon the challenges I faced growing up, or the simple quirks and differences between my childhood and that of someone White growing up in a White home and a White world.

Now that I’m a grown adult who has constant access to the Internet, I’ve recently started to spend a considerable amount of

my free time looking into books that feature lead characters that I can relate to. Below are four of my choices if you’re looking for a similarly diverse reading experience:

acceptance changed across the family’s male, female, racialized and white characters.

and cross-dressing. I recommend the book for all ages with an interest in intersectionality.

Born Confused

by Tanuja Desai Hidier

The Star Side of Bird Hill by Naomi Jackson

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

This was the first book I ever read that was by and about a woman of colour. It is technically young adult fiction, and I did read it when I was 13, but that doesn’t make it any less well written and relatable. The novel follows the teenage journey of Dimple Lala, an Indian-American girl growing up in New Jersey in the early 2000s. It spends a lot of time addressing issues among social circles, especially those related to having friends from different backgrounds, and therefore being treated differently by peers. The book also spends a considerable amount of time reflecting on the choice to pursue a career in the arts when coming from an immigrant American family, and even touches on gender fluidity

Only released this past spring, The Star Side of Bird Hill tells the story of two teenage sisters from Brooklyn. They are uprooted from their home and sent to live with their grandmother in Barbados when their mother can no longer care for them. The story is relatable for anyone who feels they have two homes — the one where they grew up and the one that answers the question, “where are you really from?” The two sisters learn about their family history when they move to Barbados and are able to learn about aspects of their grandmother and mother’s lives they could never have imagined. But at the end of the day, they are torn between choosing which country is truly their “home.”

Set in 1970s small town Ohio, Everything I Never Told You tells the story of a mixed race Chinese-American family with three children. The story is centered on the family’s dynamics after the death of one of their children, alternating narrators between the parents and children. While I don’t come from a directly mixed race home, I did grow up in a family that has a long history of mixed race ancestry and what I’ve grown to refer to as decades of cross-cultural pollination.

For this reason, the book did hit home. It touches on the intricacies of family and cultural burdens, and how the notion of

If You Could Be Mine

by Sara Farizan I will admit, I have not actually read this book but it has been on my reading list for the last few months and I have read the pages in the Amazon free preview. If You Could Be Mine tells the story of two queer women living and falling in love in 20th century Iran. This book is different from the other three on the list because it does not directly touch upon North American culture and race relations.

It does however deal with the queer identity in third-world communities, and eventually touches upon the prospect of gender reassignment surgery as a method to bypass unjust laws against same-sex marriage.

This is also considered a young adult novel, but it is still on my reading list. @whatthekins

REVIEW

Zootopia Joe Jodoin Contributor

As the first movie from Disney Animation since 2014’s Big Hero Six, Zootopia is a welcome return for the studio. The film possesses many of the same qualities as Disney’s other classics: top-notch animation, lovable characters and a powerful message for children and adults alike.

The film takes place in a world of anthropomorphic animals, and follows a young bunny named Judy Hopps. Judy has wanted to be a police officer her whole life, but after finally getting accepted to the force, she faces discrimination and exclusion from all her coworkers for being nothing but a cute little bunny. To prove herself a worthy cop, she sets out to solve a conspiracy involving 14 missing mammals, and enlists the help of a con artist fox named Nick Wilde to help her solve the case.

The brilliance of this premise is that it contains so much potential. It can work as an amalgamation of crime drama tropes, a parody of modern lifestyles in an anthropomorphized world and explore serious discrimination problems that peo-

Zootopia boasts an impressive cast, graphics and a compelling moral lesson

ple face in the real world. For the most part, Zootopia achieves all of these things, but also bites off more than it can chew.

The voice cast is incredible, featuring the voices of Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Idris Elba, J. K. Simmons and Alan Tudyk among others. Goodwin is the voice of Judy Hopps, and has a vast majority of the dialogue in the movie. She does an incredible job, and it’s almost impossible to imagine anyone else as the voice of Judy.

The film definitely would not have been nearly as good if it wasn’t for her incredible vocal performance, in scenes that are both heart-wrenching and heart-warming.

The story is definitely more about what it takes to overcome discrimination, and the importance of treating everyone as equals, than it is about a conspiracy. The film satirizes racism with incredibly strong parallels between how different species of animals treat each other and how people of different skin colors treat each other.

It also tackles sexism and stereotypes, arguing that a woman can do anything that a man can do. In the film’s third act, it goes even further, and shows how people can be discriminatory

against a certain group without even realizing it because of how engrained stereotypes are in our collective consciousness.

The way it confronts real world issues in such a blunt and powerful way is the main reason this film could go down in history as a Disney classic.

Furthermore, the attention to detail in Zootopia is astonishing.

When Judy goes to a neighbourhood of mice, she looks like a giant relative to all the buildings. However, she looks tiny when at the police station, since everyone there is a larger animal like a rhino or elephant.

The way the movie works with scale and environment is very clever. More highlights include scenes from the trailers, such as the sloth scene at the DMV, the godfather parody scene and a fox committing a con with popsicles and a fake baby.

Sadly, due to the film’s incredible scope and amount of potential, it can feel disjointed and jumbled, moving from one place to another every few minutes. It is normally a good thing when a film has a fast pace, but Zootopia moves so fast that it stumbles often. Some scenes will be working very well, but then will move onto

the next scene too quickly. This takes away from some of the emotional impact that the film aimed to have, and also made it less funny as it was almost exhausting keeping up with everything that was going on. To put this in perspective, the villain isn’t even revealed until the last 15 minutes of the movie, and the whole climax, denouement and conclusion all occur incredibly fast. It would definitely have been more enjoyable if it was over two hours long, but that’s not the worst complaint to have about a movie.

Overall, Zootopia is a fun and original addition to the Disney cannon, and is almost impossible not to like. It has a great message that all kids should hear, tons of pop-culture references and a balance of character and heart. However, the whole isn’t quite as strong as the sum of its parts, making it feel like a minor disappointment.

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HAMILTON SPECULATOR Land of the Free -ish Edition

Pretending to be Spotlight since 1934

MARCH 3, 2016

NOTSPEC.COM

University begins preparations for sudden influx of American students The new American dream is to leave America before shit hits the fan. And by shit, we mean Donald Trump. And by fan, we mean -- ok you know what we mean

Dining on campus

TwelvEighty

Quarters

Extracurriculars

Volunteer for The Sil

Run for the SRA

If you don’t understand these memes, you just probably aren’t smart.

MARY KROLL-SNOW Immigration Predictor

After recent poll results suggest the country is gearing up to welcome Donald Trump as their new Head of State, many young Americans are preparing themselves for a move to the North.

“We used to call your country North Montana, now we’re hoping to call it home,” said Bobby Nebraska, a 19-year-old Nebraskan hoping to relocate to the great north in the near future.

“I know I’ve said some shit about Canada in the past, but please forgive me. I love poutine.

Go Leafs go,” he continued.

The University is hoping

to help with this sudden wave of incoming Americans, but is choosing only to support those from states that have welcomed other refugees in the past.

“It did not occur to me that karma might actually apply to me one day,” said Nebraska.

The University is taking extreme measures by increasing their student body population to accomodate, and lowering a few standards to let in as many new American students as possible.

“We want to help those brave enough to leave the home of the brave before everything craps out,” said a University spokesperson.

The next steps in helping our neighbours involves building a wall

The Speculator is a work of satire. It does not claim to be real, nor should you think it is. Please don’t harass us on social media.

made of Trump-proof materials including tolerance, taste, and fake tan remover.

The University and its incoming students alike are particularly disturbed by his hate speech and want to make sure he hears their message when they leave the country.

“I hope he knows that if he starts deporting Mexican people we’re taking everything Mexican with us. Including tacos,” said Nebraska.

“And does he know that Alexis Bledel is also Mexican? Yeah, that’s right, we’re taking Gilmore Girls with us too.”

“I could never trust a man whose hair looks like bread. Not to mention the whole Islamophobia thing.”

Bobby Nebraska Former American citizen

INSIDE CONFUSING CROSSWORD A3 WIARTON WILLIE WAS FULL OF SHIT A4 LIKE SERIOUSLY, WE NEED TO STOP TRUSTING A RODENT WITH THE WEATHER B2 PRIMATES, PRIMATES ARE WHO WE SHOULD TRUST B6

PER ISSUE: Be kind with Silvision.

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