Issue 8 Volume 50

The Peterborough & Trent University

Independent Press

INside:

Volume 50 | Issue 8 | November 9, 2015

RINGO! Hit up your local open mics

trent researches salamanders

theatre reviews: crime city

this weeks ad astra comic

Contents Page 3-4 Opinion

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RINGO Cards inside!

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Submission guidelines

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Pages11-15: Community

Opinion

Open letter to Nona Robinson and Trent administration

Editor’s Note: The screenshots pictured below may be triggering to some people. This is a warning that this article as well as the accompanying images discuss sensitive topics that may offend, shock, or trouble some. Please feel free to respond to this letter with your own take.

The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect Arthur Newspaper, as this is an opinion piece.

By Community and Race Relations Committee Of Peterborough and Courage Peterborough/Hollaback

Your contribution to Volume 50 Issue 7 of Arthur Newspaper entitled “Conflict, Social Media, and the Trent Community” was surprising, disappointing, and concerning for many community members including the authors of this letter.

It was surprising to see that nowhere within your letter to Trent University students did you mention that you are Vice President of Student Affairs.

We wonder, how many students realize that this letter is a reflection of how Trent Administration will respond to students bringing forth their experiences of violence, concerns for their safety and well-being while at Trent University?

Which leads us to why we are disappointed and concerned.

Your letter and the press release published on the university’s website has been the extent in which Trent administration has responded to racialized and gendered violence taking place on Facebook groups operated by Trent community members and bearing the University’s name.

These responses have made it clear that the University’s priority is its reputation and that they are quick to clarify these Facebook groups have no direct affiliation with the University.

Furthermore, both these responses ultimately put the responsibility of making a campus community free from discrimination and harassment on the students, who are experiencing the violence themselves.

We, too, commend students that have been responding to racism, transphobia, sexism, and other forms of violence in our communities, but we certainly don’t see this as solely their responsibility.

Instead, as people and organizations with power in this community, we understand that addressing violence and maintaining a safer space for students to thrive and learn is our responsibility.

The reputation that Trent administration is so adamant on maintaining is clearly not one that they are interested in contributing to. Instead, Trent wants to benefit from this marketable image, which is the result of students fighting to survive in a community that fails to respond to oppression and violence in any sustainable way.

What did and is taking place on the “Trent University” and “Trent University Colonial Heritage Society” Facebook pages is not a debate. It wasn’t an exchange of opinions that lacked empathy or active listening skills. And it certainly wasn’t an opportunity for members to share information or offer different points of view.

Instead, it was a group of entitled students set out to attack anyone who shared their personal experiences of marginalization or spoke out against oppressive violence.

The administrators of these pages went as far as to make individuals who live far from Peterborough and have no affiliation (or likely knowledge) of Trent University, administrators of the group.

One of these individuals was Lauren Southern who, while living in Vancouver, is “internet famous” for attacking people and instigating violence with her hateful views.

Southern, while celebrated by many supporting violent comments on the Facebook page, contributed nothing but disgusting, transphobic, sarcastic comments that undermined trans people’s existence. She also posted a picture of herself in a sombrero,

her Halloween costume, according to her.

Ms. Robinson, are you familiar with “troll culture”? If not, you can learn quickly from the images taken from this Facebook group that were shared with you by members of the Trent community. A troll is a contributor to an online discussion whose participation is intent on offending and upsetting others.

Many participants in these Facebook pages had no desire to actually engage in a dialogue; their only interest in the person on the other side of the screen was their personal relationship to the topics, insofar that it granted the trolls greater opportunity to hurt them.

Southern’s participation in this Facebook group is a great example of internet trolling as her goal of inciting violence against trans people is made apparent when she announced that her pronouns are “I” and “me” and that she identifies as a helicopter.

She proceeds to only respond to people by correcting any pronoun they use to refer to her, including “you”, demanding that they respect her by using “I” instead.

This isn’t funny and it is absolutely violent in that Southern encourages others to make a mockery of trans people and to disrespect their identity.

This contributes to an attitude that produces a society in which trans people disproportionately experience physical violence and discrimination in our communities.

While Southern is not invested in our communities or even present to respond to our comments, it seems quite obvious that her invitation to join in on the violence on the Trent University Facebook group was an attempt for the Trent students who were participating to distances themselves while still igniting violence and hate in our communities.

Fortunately, they did not hide their identities despite their best attempts, and most of the Trent students who participated in the violence (even those that hid behind fake Facebook profiles) are known to us, and to you, Ms. Robinson.

Your letter calling for Trent University students to engage in empathic dialogue undermines the reality that these issues of violence on already marginalized students are not new at Trent, nor are they limited to social media.

What has previously been labelled as political disagreements and differing ideologies between “left students” and “conservative students” is in actuality purposeful attacks to further marginalized students already existing in the margins.

In particular, this violence has been directed towards students of colour, Indigenous students, trans students, queer students, and women. Whether or not such violence is committed online, the impacts are very real.

There are tremendous impacts on individuals’ mental health, feelings of safety and security in our communities, and ultimately, this violence affects one’s ability to access their education and participate in the Trent community.

Students who are writing violent comments on Facebook are in our classrooms, on our buses, in our communities.

Their violent beliefs and attitudes don’t disappear when they sign offline; they impact the ways in which they interact with one another every day.

We would like to extend respect and appreciation to the First Peoples House of Learning for making a counselor available to Indigenous students who have been impacted by this online violence, and our organizations will continue to offer any type of support to students who are experiencing this sort of violence in the Trent and Peterborough communities.

So, Ms. Robinson and all the members of Trent’s administration, it is not too late to respond in ways that actually address violence in our communities.

It is not too late to recognize that this is not an issue of encouraging students to be empathetic when engaging with differing ideas and opinions. That this is not an issue of how the anonymity of the Internet creates a kind of dialogue that results in people lashing out and making assumptions.

That this is not an issue of freedom of speech; the right to voice your opinion does not triumph a person’s right to live without discrimination and violence.

And that this is certainly not an issue of maintaining Trent’s reputation.

No, this is about safety. This is about our commitment to building a space in which students of all different experiences can learn within the inclusive environment, dedicated to social change that Trent University promises.

What follows below are screenshots taken from the “Trent University” and “Trent University Colonial Heritage Society” Facebook pages. Please be advised that the content is violent and disturbing.

Volume 50 | Issue 8 | November 9, 2015

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Opinion Proportional representation in Parliament One of Justin Trudeau’s promises is electoral reform.

According to the Liberal Party website, in 18 months, an all-party parliamentary committee will be formed to discuss our current single-member plurality (SMP) system and first-past-the-post (FPTP) voting (the most votes in a constituency wins).

Trudeau recommends preferential or ranked ballots, or some form of proportional representation (PR).

The committee will also consider online voting and mandatory voting.

Electoral reform is long overdue. While the first-past-the-post system assures simplicity and majority governments, the disparities between the popular vote and seat distribution are blatantly undemocratic.

In fact, there have only been three occasions in which a majority government also received more than 50% of the popular vote (1940, 1958, and 1984).

In a strange twist, on three occasions the party that received the second-most votes formed the minority government (1957, 1962, and 1979).

Historically, it should be noted, Canada’s leading left party, CCF/NDP, was usually underrepresented by FPTP. As much as we like to tout that we didn’t elect the previous Conservative government – Harper received about 40% of the popular vote and 54% of the seats – a majority of Canadians didn’t elect the Liberals either; the numbers played out to be about the same in 2015.

In Ontario, FPTP was hugely beneficial for the Liberals. They received 66% of the seats with 45% of the vote.

The Conservative Party was not that far behind with 35% of the vote but received only 27% of the seats. Indeed, when we compare the national popular votes of the Liberals (40%) and Conservatives (32%), we see that almost a third of Canada still

followed, news articles appeared indicating that many of the voters had little or no idea what they were voting on.

What is the MMP system? In some ridings, seats will be selected by FPTP while other seats are allocated based on the popular vote.

According to a model discussed by John L. Hiemstra and Harold J. Jansen, half the seats in each province would retain FPTP voting: “The other half would be chosen from party lists provided by the parties and would be awarded to each party in such a way as to ensure that each party’s representation in Parliament matches its share of the popular vote in that province.”

Voters would actually vote twice, one for their riding (thus maintaining community investment) and a second for a party.

MMP thus ensures that every vote may count. We need not vote strategically because our chosen party may stand a reasonable chance of gaining seats, even if their candidate did not win our riding (and we need not even have selected that particular candidate, just the party as a whole).

For many individuals in Peterborough, including myself, this system would have helped us choose more wisely in October’s election.

The support for Maryam Monsef was astounding, but I think many were quite concerned about what her party had to offer.

With the MMP system, we could have voted for Monsef to represent Peterborough as well as a party, such as the NDP, to represent us provincially/nationally. Thus Hiemstra and Jansen argue that MMP heightens a sense of national unity, not just regionalism.

MMP more accurately reflects the will of the Canadian individual, this much seems clear. In Ontario, during this last election, both Conservatives and the NDP would have received more seats.

If the aim of the three major parties is to win seats, it is undeniable that MMP is the

believes in the Harper government.

Assessing FPTP in these terms certainly reflects poorly on representation across the provinces; some provinces appear to value one party when the popular vote suggests something different.

Since the Liberal Party largely benefitted from the unequal system, the question is whether those in power will be willing to give up a share of the seats in future elections.

In 2001, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty (Liberal) established an all-party committee to examine FPTP, and it took six years before it was put to a referendum.

The all-party committee collectively decided that a mixed-member proportional (MMP) system would be best for Ontario, but the effort was in vain: 63% of Ontario voters decided against it. In the days that

better system to support.

However, given the time it took an Ontario committee to decide upon a new system, and the portion of uninformed individuals that voted down their proposal, I fear that Trudeau’s 18-month timeline to form an electoral reform committee is too strategically-timed.

If it took six years to hold an Ontario referendum, any future reform that takes place may not be implemented for the next election.

Or, more appropriately, the decision about electoral reform will arrive just in time for Trudeau to waver on his original promise and then make new ones to appeal to the 2019/2020 voters.

I will remain skeptical on the promise of electoral reform until I see Trudeau in action.

By Troy Bordun

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www.trentarthur.ca

Campus

Trent University saves lives through blood donations

By Ugyen Wangmo

Over the years Trent university, the largest Partner for Life in the Peterborough area, has helped save thousands of lives by collecting thousand of units of blood.

Partners for Life is a Canadian Blood Services program that makes it easy to donate blood as a team.

Trent University and Canadian Blood Services together celebrated the power that everyone has in them to buy time, and give life to others during an event which was hosted by Trent University on 4 November 2015.

Stem cell donors Audrey Massender and Eddie Delaney gifted Elsa Norton and her mother Nadine Norton with life.

This was an event that awaked emotions of compassion, and gratitude. .

Also present was Kim and Mike Smyth, parents of the late David Smyth, a Trent student who was lost to leukemia at age 20 in 2010 due to a failure in finding a match for his bone marrow transplant.

Michael Betel, Canadian Blood Services Director of Donor Relations, Dr. Leo Groarke President of Trent University, volunteers, and supporters also joined to encourage everyone, and evoke in everyone the innate will to save life.

The guest of honour was only six years old. Looking at her, anyone would think that she is like any other kid her age.

However Elsa Norton’s life has been, and

continues to be, unlike others in so many ways, says mother Nadine Norton. Elsa came into this world with a defective bone marrow that made her unable to produce normal counts of blood platelets, the cells that allow blood to clot.

At only 15 months of age she received her bone marrow transplant from a young lady in Germany, a match that was found through stem cell registry.

Young Elsa just celebrated her five year anniversary on the 16th of October as a

survivor of stem cell recipient.

“She is a happy little girl, goes to school with her peers, and she is full of life.

Elsa is alive today because of countless people who donated blood and volunteered to help the process of Canadian blood services,” sincerely expressed Nadine Norton.

“We can never repay you for what you have done, and are doing. From the bottom of our heart please accept our thanks and gratitude,” Nadine poured out her heart.

Photo by Ugyen Wangmo

“I would like to challenge everyone to donate blood for their first time, or again,” she added.

Talking to Arthur, one of the stem cell donors present, Audrey Massender, a 21year- old Trent student who is in her third year of nursing program stated, “anybody who goes in the database has a potential to save someone’s life, but to know that I was able to actually be a part of that was great.”

The main question that so many people have, according to her is, “did it hurt?”

She said, “Yes, it did hurt, but it was completely worth it, and any pain I felt was only temporary.”

“You are giving someone time to love, time to make memories, and time to grow,” she expressed.

Massender had only been on the stem cell registry for four weeks when she was found to be a match.

Eddie Delaney, a 24- year- old Trent alumni who graduated from Trent teachers’ college, had been on the stem cell registry for about four years till he was found to be a match and donated his stem cells in 2014.

Trent University has committed to collecting 450 units of blood this year.

Trent is to host two great events, a blood donor clinic on Friday, November 13 at the Trent Athletic Complex, Gym from 12PM to 3PM. As well, OneMatch Clinic on Thursday, November 19 at Otonabee College Commons from 10 AM to 2 PM.

Volume 50 | Issue 8 | November 9, 2015

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Campus

Writers Reading: Frances Itani Photo by Jenny Fisher

By Jenny Fisher

On Tuesday, November 3, Frances Itani presented at Trent’s Writers Reading Series in front of a full audience.

Itani has won a large number of awards, including three CBC awards and the Common Wealth Award. Event host Professor Lewis MacLeod referred to her as “one of Canada’s most respected and admired writers,” as well as a “member of the Order of Canada, international sensation, humanitarian [and a] sponsor of the youth flute award.”

Itani presented a “special smorgasbord talk about the function of music in three of her most loved novels: Requiem, Deafening, and Tell.”

MacLeod mentioned that there is a connection between music and literature.

He continued to say that Itani is “a lyrical writer” and “a straight-up musical person.”

In order to make her stories especially musical, Itani listens to a collection of music as research for every novel. Sometimes she evens listens to music while writing.

Itani explained that, while writing her books, she has “to find a way to put music into words.”

Her story, Deafening, is about a deaf woman who surprises her significant other when she tells him she can still hear music by watching body language and feeling vibrations.

She could also tell her significant other’s heartbeat from another beat. This book is “inspired by the experiences of her deaf grandmother.” Itani spoke very highly

about deaf history and language.

She even gave the audience a brief history of the deaf school in Belleville.

Right now, Itani is currently researching the human brain for a novel she is planning to write after her next one is published. She even mentioned that she never hires anyone to do research for her because she feels the need to really “sink” into her research.

The audience was spoiled by Itani when she gave away secrets on how she finds the inspiration to her stories – including admitting that she doesn’t always know what she is looking for when she starts.

Often, she gets her ideas while talking to someone about their interests and advice.

One of the audience members asked, “Do you have any advice for Trent students who want to learn how to write and publish novels?”

She answered with this story: “When I was your age listening to an author in Toronto, the same question was asked and the author said: ‘Never give up!’ ” Itani continued her answer by explaining that, along with persevering, “the biggest job of the author/writer is to read.”

Itani’s next project is working on a book that will be the third book to her trilogy.

The book takes place just prior to WWII and follows the lost infant child in one of the earlier books in the trilogy.

The Trent Bookstore was selling Itani’s three novels at the event. In fact, the Trent Bookstore attends every Writers Reading event and sells the works of the night’s guest author.

Writers Reading: Sean Michaels with special guest Nick Ferrio

By Jenny Fisher

On Thursday October 15 at the Junior Common Room on Trail College, Sean Michaels came to Trent University to present at a Writers Reading.

Sean Michaels is a Giller-Prize winner as well as “a musician, novelist, newspaper columnist and a founding member of an absurdist improv theatre group.”

Professor Lewis Macleod introduced Sean Michaels to the audience as “a man who can compose high quality literature while listening to music with lyrics.”

To follow up on the Writers Reading, special guest and Trent alumni Nick Ferrio played with his band His Feelings at the Trend. As advertised for this event it was promised that “Nick will tell you what it’s like to get arrested by Swiss transit cops.”

At the beginning of the event Sean Michaels wanted to give thanks, “I want to thank everyone in Trent who helped bring me here, I want to thank my good friend Nick Ferrio.”

Sean Michaels read passages from his book Us Conductors and then explained a deeper meaning to his book: “This book is about true love, untrue love and when an untrue love is the only thing keeping you alive.”

To make this Writers Reading very unique, Sean Michaels brought a Theremin with him to the event.

The Theremin is a very unique musical

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www.trentarthur.ca

instrument that has been commonly used in sci-fi movies for things like UFOs landing. Sean brought the instrument because there are many Theremins in his book, which helped give the audience a better visual and audio understanding.

Not only did Sean Michaels explain how to play the instrument, but gave a demonstration by playing “Happy Birthday” for one of the audience members.

Sean Michaels gave some inside views of what it is like to write a book: “If your going to write a book, it takes a lot of stuff ... a lot of characters, individual moments, so many pages, so many chapters.

You have to try to find a story that is rich enough and alive enough in your imagination to make a book.”

Sean even gave advice to student at Trent who are trying to write and get published,“Start things and finish them, the hardest part is always the finish.

To get in the habit of finishing the things you start. Learn to live on very little money wise, the less it is to keep costs down the easier it is to keep writing.”

After the event, the band His Feelings was playing at the Trend with special guest, singer Nick Ferrio.

Ferrio had the opportunity to tell his story about being arrested in Switzerland in 2010.

“I was on tour for another band called Burning Hell. We were on tour in Switzerland. They were speaking German the

All photos by Jenny Fisher whole time and they took me in. I stayed over night. In the morning they took me to the bank, and made me take out some money … 400 Swiss francs which is about 450$ Canadian.” Nick continued to say that he was never given a reason for his arrest.

However this arrest did not stop Nick from going on tours in Europe: “I pretty much go to Europe every year … I’m going to Germany this April.”

Nick and Sean are good friends and it was Nick who strongly encouraged Sean to make this appearance at Trent, “I tried talking him into coming with Trent. It took some time since he won his award to come here, so I’m glad he could find the time.”

Catch the next Writers Reading:

Campus

Trent International Program hosts Diversity Talks

By Adriana Sierra

This past Wednesday, November 4, Champlain College in collaboration with the Trent International Program hosted the first of a four-part series of talks centered on diversity and fostering community. The first talk, ‘Diversity and Friendship,’ was discussion-based with the purpose of providing a space for students and faculty to talk about their experiences in multicultural settings and learn from each other.

The talk was led by Kyllie Jansen, the International Student Advisor at Trent University and a self-defined ‘thirdculture kid.’ Both domestic and international students were in attendance, providing for an enriching and diverse setting that incorporated a range of experiences and perspectives.

The first activity, one that has become a staple for the Trent International Program’s events, asked students to split into groups of five and find ten things that all members of the group had in common.

The activity allowed students to identify shared experiences and relate on various levels, demonstrating that despite having diverse backgrounds, there is room for commonalities. These commonalities focused on how we are alike, rather than on how we are different.

One of the most significant issues discussed was cultural context. Cultural

context is defined as the rules placed around interaction and communication, and is often the root cause of barriers to cross-cultural interaction. The cultural context is responsible for the subtle, yet significant cues that dictate how we communicate within our own culture and that cause misinterpretations in everyday forms of interaction with others.

For example, for many international students the phrase, “Hey, how are you?” warrants a genuine response that transcends “fine.” “Hey, how are you?” requires a conversation. However, in Canada, the phrase is often equated with “hello,” and requires no detailed response.

Students suggested that overcoming the differences within the cultural context, especially in communication, is often a difficult and lengthy process. International students tend to form bonds over the difficulties in communication with other international students struggling with the same difficulty, and expressed that communication simply takes more work with someone from a different culture.

It is because of the ease of relating with those from a similar culture that strong bonds are created within a particular group. In other words, a shared culture in a foreign place forges friendships that would otherwise have not emerged between individuals of that same culture.

However, overcoming cultural barriers is essential as multicultural interactions have the potential of enhancing

world-views and promoting inclusivity and cooperation. Students noted that forging meaningful relationships with people of different backgrounds requires effort on both ends.

When meeting someone new, we often tend to first see the culture and then the person, and yet, when students were asked to define their culture, their answers included personal aspects of their upbringing, their families, their beliefs, and lastly the overarching culture of the locality or group with which they identified. They first described their individuality, and then their general culture identity.

Overcoming cultural context barriers requires a recognition of individuals as individuals, and then of their cultures and backgrounds. This recognition is applied to both domestic and international students alike. Students pointed out that cross-cultural interaction requires openness to identifying similarities and accepting differences.

This kind of interaction necessitates space for asking questions and making mistakes. In other words, cross-cultural interaction entails talking about cultural differences themselves in order to better understand them.

As Kyllie Jansen noted, groups that tend to be more diverse are more comfortable when it comes to ‘making fun’ of differences. They allow room for noting differences, accepting them, and add humour to the inevitable cultural con-

trasts. Recognizing difference and celebrating it, rather than tiptoeing around political correctness is a trait that these diverse groups of friends share. Recognizing the multiplicity of cultural contexts allows for these to be talked about and accepted.

Jansen provided an example of two students whose culture was substantially different when it came to interpreting time.

They would make plans to go to the movies every Tuesday and one student would always be half an hour early, as in his culture, this was a sign of respect. The other student would always be half an hour late, and likewise, within his cultural context, this was the socially acceptable manner.

Every Wednesday, both students would arrive at the office talking about the irreconcilable nature of their interpretations of time, and yet, every Tuesday they would again go to the cinema and face the same dilemma. They both recognized the difference in cultural context, and yet they overcame it.

The example of friendship, despite inherent cultural differences, proves that a different cultural context is a barrier that can be broken down. It demonstrates that meaningful friendships can be forged across cultures.

The following three talks of this series will focus on diverse communities, Islamophobia and the political divide by the construction of a fear-based agenda, and inter-faith dialogues with the purpose of fostering more inclusive communities.

of having policies and procedures in places to address human rights issues, and how essential it is to engage with the evolving issues within human rights. When asked how his Trent experience had been, he replied, “I love Trent, it is great to see a community engaged in human rights issues.”

This event came into fruition as a result of the annual PACHREA meeting. “We realized that, as the Center of Human Rights, Equity and Accessibility (CHREA), we needed to do more as a result of the amount of interest shown by the Trent community at our annual general meeting,” explained Andy Craig, a staff member at the CHREA. “Therefore we decided to invite keynote speakers to address issues in Human Rights, Equity and Accessibility.

Such events have enabled us to educate Trent’s students, staff, and faculty on issues

of human rights, accessibility, and more.”

Craig also mentioned how pleased he was that the event was well-attended by staff, and acknowledges that more effort will be made to better engage with students.

The conclusion of the keynote address was followed by three workshops. Hershel Russel, an experienced psychotherapist who has been counseling transgender people and their family, was one of the three workshop leaders. Russel’s workshop was entitled “The Joy of Gender: Understanding Transgender lives in Context, Historical, Cross Cultural, and Biological.

The workshop was “lively and thoughtprovoking workshop that presented the transgender experience as ordinary, if unusual, aspect of human diversity rather than a medical diagnosis.” Nadine Changfoot led the workshop that discussed Project Re.

Vision, a project that seeks to mobilize arts-based approaches to create deeper understandings of difference, which disrupt dominant narratives and open up possibilities. Through three- to four-minute videos made by disabled-identified persons and health care providers, audiences were challenged to re-think stereotypical understandings of ability and disability.

The third workshop was led by Karleen Pendleton-Jiménez, the workshop was titled “They Say I have Girl Knees: Gender Transgression All Around”.

For two years, Pendleton-Jiménez conducted gender justice workshops, asking students to document what they knew to be true about gender in their communities. She presented words, perceptions, and instincts about gender diversity as articulated by grade 4-12 students in the region.

Trent celebrates Human Rights Day

By Betelhem Wondimu

On October 21, 2015, Trent celebrated Human Rights Day. The day was launched by the Presidential Council on Human Rights, Equity, and Accessibility (PACHREA) meeting at 12:30PM, followed by the keynote address from Raj Anand, Human Rights Lawyer and former Chief Commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission. The day was concluded by workshops that focused on gender identities and gender rights.

Anand shared insight on current and emerging issues in human rights in Canada, particularly in a university context. Anand spoke of the complexity of human right issues and discussed specific cases such as the Dalhousie Dentistry case as well as others.

He placed an emphasis on the importance

comic by Ad Astra comix

Volume 50 | Issue 8 | November 9, 2015

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Campus

Student Center: new developments and controversy

By Reba Harrison Student Carmen Meyette is the former Student Centre Project Coordinator of the Trent Central Student Association (TCSA).

During the summer semester, Meyette assisted in the development and design process of the Student Centre, alongside Teeple Architects Inc. She analyzed the prioritization and budget of the Student Centre construction. Meyette researched about other campus student centres across the province, tailoring existing ideas to fit Trent’s student culture.

In May, Teeple Architects Inc. provided Meyette with three different designs of the upcoming Centre. Meyette hosted open forums to gather the input of the student community, who was largely not in Peterborough, but were advertised on TCSA social media outlets.

Meyette further reached out to students by attending TCSA Board meetings and creating open communication with the College Cabinets on campus.

Meyette made herself available for student appointments by request and had hoped to continue hosting forums for student input on the Student Centre designs throughout the academic school year.

Her involvement in the Student Centre project began with the referendum in 2012 while a member of the Gzowski College Cabinet, until her contract ended prematurely this month of October.

The TCSA has been contacted but has no comment regarding why the position was terminated. Meyette explains that complications around the new student position existed since her hiring in April 2015.

She believes the TCSA executive team

felt uncertain and uneasy about the coordinator position. The direction that the executive team has decided to take on the Student Centre will no longer involve a student project coordinator. No details were given about the complications or new direction of the TCSA. Without a TCSA Student Centre Project Coordinator, it is difficult to know if the student voice will be represented at all.

On one hand, the executive team of the Association could have complete control of this incredibly large project with the elimination of the position.

On the other hand, the TCSA may be losing all control over the project.

Regardless, the opaque event appears to fall in line with the fashion of questionable methods regarding the Student Centre project.

Arthur writer Ugyen Wangmo described a poor turn-out to the January focus groups for staff, alumni, faculty (SAF), and students in an article published February 2, 2015. These focus groups aimed to gather the opinion of the Trent community on the direction of the Student Centre designs.

According to the Consultation Report, published February 12, a total of 163 students and 67 SAF participated in the online surveys. The report states that just over 200 students and 80 staff members participated in total. Therefore, only about 13 SAF attended between the two focus groups dedicated to their group, and only about 37 students attended between the five separate focus groups.

With a population of 10,612 students in Peterborough (according to Trent University’s website and including graduate students), only 2.1% of students attended any type of Student Centre consultation.

Trent Excalibur

By Matt Douglas

Wo m e n’s Lacrosse Tr e n t’s Wo m e n’s Lacrosse finished t h e i r s eas on on a winning note, beating McMaster 10-3 to claim fifth place in the province.

The team’s prospects were looking bleak three games into the season when they found themselves without a win, however they kept working and finished the season 6-7, which was good enough to get them to the OUA Championships.

Their winning ways continued at the championship tournament, where their sole loss of the weekend was against Western, 15-6. Western went on to win the OUA championship, making it their fifth title in a row.

This recent success is impressive for a Women’s Lacrosse team that started up only three ago. Leah Oglive, a third-year student-athlete, attributed their success to couple factors. “It’s been really interesting, seeing the development of the team.

Coming into first year we had a lot of players who had never played before. It’s been exciting to see them develop their skills and to have a fifth place finish, it’s been quite rewarding.”

Then this year we had two first years Mikayla Hicks and Lexi Hill come onto the team with a lot of experience,” said

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Oglive “for them to come on the team was a huge asset, but all the newer players have just been really motivated.”

Another important facet of the success for team is Peterborough, itself says Oglive. “Peterborough is a great lacrosse town and you see that on our team, a lot of our players are from Peterborough.”

Besides the strong team effort, the Excalibur cleaned up in the individual awards at OUAs. Leah Oglive was named the top offensive player, Denise Miller, the team’s goalie, was awarded Defensive MVP and Rookie of the Year went to Mikayla Hicks.

In Women’s Lacrosse Action, the OUA Championships brought a final challenge for the team. Playing well all season, the team felt well-prepared for what was ahead. The team unfortunately did not make the medal round, but made a showing in the final awards ceremony and earning fifth place overall.

Collecting the Offensive MVP of the Year, Defensive MVP of the year, and the Rookie of the Year titles were Leah Ogilvie, Denise Miller, and Mikayla Hicks, respectively.

Men’s Lacrosse The Men’s Lacrosse team overcame rival Queen’s last weekend, beating them for the first time this season, to move on to nationals The Baggaway Cup will be played over the weekend. They will play Brock in the Quarterfinals.

Rugby The Rugby team has held their undefeated season and are set to play Conestoga in the Semi-Finals. This comes on the heels of a perfect 6-0 regular season that seen them trounce their competitors, 393 to 52 throughout the six games.

Out of full-time Canadian undergraduate students at Trent, the attendance was at an improved 24.6%.

The Student Centre project overview states that the TCSA will receive expanded offices and host additional services for students. During a phone interview, TCSA President Alaine Spiwak explained that office space is a large issue. While commissioners are provided with desks, Directors of the Board often have trouble finding space to fulfill their office hours.

A single meeting room exists within the office, seating four people. The room makes meetings crowded for the executive team of five. Spiwak says that a larger meeting room will allow the TCSA to invite more student and community involvement in future meetings. She further expressed concern for the TCSA’s Human Resource position, explaining that no office exists to foster confidential conversations. Currently, such conversations are held in a single pre-occupied office when it is not in use.

Storage space is an issue as well. While the TCSA is happy to provide students with care packages for exams and orientation, this means large boxes sit throughout the office for up to a month and members crowd in corners to put packages together for students. The expanded space of the Student Centre will resolve this issue.

The Board has not yet discussed the “additional services” to be provided, but Spiwak hopes the TCSA will expand its Direct2U program and consignment book sales. The success of both programs require more space to grow.

The construction date was originally planned to begin in April 2016, as stated in the Request of Proposal; however, the Consultation Report published on February 12

states that construction has been advanced to begin in January. With the building being erected in parking lot H of Bata Library, students are concerned that they will no longer be able to use the lot come second semester.

Lot H requires a Red Permit for parking which is $490 for the year. It is also one of the largest of the 17 red-permit lots on Symons Campus. If parking becomes unavailable at Lot H before next August, it will become a financial issue to those who paid for the space in September.

Upon calling Trent Parking Services, a representative said that the Department has no idea whether or not construction will begin in January or whether students and staff will be able to use Lot H at all second semester. The Department has no immediate plans to construct another parking lot as many further lots are rarely filled to capacity.

Interestingly, Architecture Counsel Inc. posted its proposed design plans for the Trent U Student Centre over a year before the Request for Proposal was released on December 8, 2014. The Student Centre was on the Board’s agenda for a long time.

Whether the Board cared or not about students’ opinions on creating a Student Centre, they seem to care about the “student experience”. The Student Centre will allow student groups to operate more efficiently.

However, the number of articles, reports, and press releases offered by Trent University does not thoroughly inform the stakeholders about the advances of the Student Centre project.

The student body is left unaware of what is happening within the TCSA in regards to the Student Centre that they are essentially funding through their tuition fees.

Meet the team: Charlotte Hannah

By Trent Fashion Show

My name is Charlotte Hannah and I am in my third year majoring in a Bachelor of Arts General Degree in Cultural Studies.

I am currently on the Trent Fashion Show executive team and my position is Backstage Technician Coordinator. I was involved in Trent Fashion Show as a model for the show, back in 2013, during my first year at Trent and since then I have decided I wanted to be apart of Trent Fashion Show again.

I’ve always had an interest in fashion and community related opportunities to be in-

volved in a school group. One of my favourite memories of Trent Fashion Show since I have been involved would be from this year when I had the chance to do lighting, sound and videography (recording the show on film) for the last previous show. My favourite part of Trent Fashion Show so far has been the meetings the group has and collaborating with other executive members. I like opportunities to work and share ideas as well as hear new ideas with executive members involved in this group. Currently, my long-term goals after graduating Trent University are to attend post secondary school or get a job.

Campus

Symons seminar series: graduate research All Photos by Samantha Moss

By Jade Wilton-Watson

On November 4, 2015, the Symons seminar series on Graduate Research held their second presentations.

With people following the “homework assignment” of last month to bring a friend, the audience was a decent size. They all listened as Tessa Nasca and Cristen Watt presented their research thus far in their fields within a maximum allowed time of 20 minutes.

Nasca and Watt explained what they’d done in the past, what they are currently working on, and what they will be doing in the future, with a little help from the audience on that last one.

The over arching theme of this month’s presentation was behavioral impacts of the physical land. Keeping that in mind, the Symons Series chose Nasca and Watt based on their differences within the field. While one focused on human, the other focused on animal.

The first presenter was Tessa Nasca who is in her second year of her MA studies in Sustainability. Within her 24-slide presentation, she discussed her involvement in a program called Active Neighbourhoods Canada (ANC) and their project in Peterborough.

Active Neighbourhoods Canada works with citizens to plan and design their dream neighbourhood with an emphasis on streets and sidewalks. Using a three-step process, the program plans to get many community members involved, but as one audience member pointed out, they are not getting everybody’s voice as she lives in the area where the survey is being done and Wednesday was the first time she heard of it.

Regardless, the three-step program is as follows: Step 1 is Portrait, when everybody sees what it currently looks like, citizens and ANC alike; Step 2 is Vision, when they let the citizens’ imaginations run wild of what the perfect town would include. In this phase, ANC brings in designers to help

with the process; Step 3 is the final plan phase which is a document to help the vision come alive.

In Peterborough, ANC has currently finished its first phase and is on the second phase now. In Peterborough, ANC is working on an area approximately 20

forth very staggering results. 62.1% of people had never attended a public consultation, yet 55.2% of people surveyed were interested in attending events to benefit their town. However, she pointed out some barriers of why they are not doing so. The first is trust and skepticism that an organization

square blocks. The areas’ boundary lines are George street, King Street, Reid Street, and Townsend Park at Stewart street. They also have a major focus on a park within the perimeters, which was commonly associated with criminal activity. In order to make it more appealing to the average user and citizens, they created a garden and park set within it.

In addition to talking about ANC, Nasca also pointed out her involvement in Peterborough and what her job is within the ANC. In her presentation, she stated she is a great fit for the program since she has embedded herself within many programs in Peterborough and currently attends all events that the ANC put on. Her job within the ANC is as a researcher. Her job entails bringing focus groups and surveys forward. One survey she conducted brought

will actually do their job. A few others are resource availability, established process, and policy.

When Nasca was done, we took a quick fifteen minute break to grab refreshments before coming back to hear Watt talk about her research.

Watt, an M. Sc. candidate and current environmental and life sciences student, presented her research on lynx dispersal across Canada in four sections: intro, methods, results, and conclusions.

Another important fact, before getting into content, is that she is doing her research out of Trent’s Dennis Murray lab.

Now, onto the content.

This talk focused on the boundaries that affect lynx. Her research was focused within Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon, and Alaska. Her thesis question was: Do

the Rockies restrict dispersal of Canada’s lynx?

Besides the obvious physical boundaries that affect the lynx population, there are three other boundaries: cryptic, environment, and habitat. Together, these majorly affect lynx. The importance of noticing these problems is so that there can be a lower extinction rate. Although they are not currently on the list, they will be there soon if we continue to treat them as we do. Some reasons why we need to care for this problem is species interaction, genetic diversity, and environmental change.

The lynx is very closely related to the snow hare. The hare accounts for almost 100% of their [lynx’s] diet. This led up to the audience agreeing that Watt’s next project should be studying the relationship between hares and lynx with some very specific suggestions of how to go about doing so. Watt did agree that every ten years, the population of the lynx and hare do dissipate, but then come back. Currently, there is a high population of both.

The lynx itself can have a very wide dispersal as they can travel up to 1,500 kilometres. The example given was, “Imagine walking a straight line from Traill College to Florida.” This is the lynx dispersal.

Thus, the answer to her thesis question was “somewhat”, as it only relates to some locations on the wide dispersal.

Thus the next thing to look for is a corridor. A corridor is the area that connects two separate habitats. The surprising fact about this was that the most important issue with corridors was snow cover and then terrain roughness. Surprisingly, the least important problems were habitat sustainability and forest cover.

The next Symons series talk will be on Wednesday, December 3, 2015 with a theme of “Past Shapes the Present”. Grad students Chad Andrews and Paul Meredith will present their findings at Traill College starting at 7PM. So, come on out and participate in the homework assignment: bring a friend or two!

Volume 50 | Issue 8 | November 9, 2015

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Feature

Trent funded to study endangered Salamander species

By Keila MacPherson

When it comes to conservation biology, Trent University has the advantage of housing a few of the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR)’s research labs.

While that gives us a one-up on other universities, Dr. Craig Brunetti, Chair of the Biology Department, said that “private funding is much more variable.”

A relatively new study led by Dr. Dennis Murray has just received funding from the Species At Risk Stewardship Fund (SARSF) to look into the population of smallmouthed salamanders on Pelee Island, a small island in Ontario on Lake Erie.

Dr. Thomas Hossie, a post-doctoral fellow at Trent and one of the researchers in the salamander project, talked to Arthur about what they hope to achieve over the next few years with their recent funding and what challenges they will face.

Tell me more about the funding from SARSF and what it means for Trent’s biology department?

The SARSF was created under the Endangered Species Act to encourage people to get involved in protecting and recovering [at-risk] species through stewardship activities.

They are one of many grants and incentives available to help protect and recover plants and animals that are in danger of disappearing in Ontario.

Trent has decades of research expertise in environmental research including in the areas of environmental modelling, genetics and molecular biology, and wildlife conservation. As such, this project is a natural fit for our institution.

This SARSF grant provides new opportunities for us to contribute to the protection of endangered wildlife, while simultaneously investigating ecological questions, and training our students.

For more information on SARSF, please visit:http://www.ontario.ca/document/ species-risk-stewardship-fund-application-guidelines Does Trent get funding like this often?

Other research groups at Trent have probably received funding through the SARSF program before, but this is the first time that our research group (Integrative Wildlife Conservation) has received funding of this kind.

What will you be doing with the money?

In Canada, small-mouthed salamanders occur only on Pelee Island, where they reach their northern range limit. The recent loss of some identified breeding ponds combined with the lack of data on this population has resulted in this species being listed as “Endangered” under the

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Species At Risk Act (SARA).

Our multi-year project will fill critical knowledge gaps about the small-mouthed salamander.

Specifically, we will provide the first population size estimates for the small-mouthed salamander population on Pelee Island, study the genetic structure and composition of these salamanders, and characterize the aquatic and terrestrial habitat used by smallmouthed salamanders. We also seek to develop a genetic mark-recapture technique for “pure” small-mouthed salamanders.

How do the techniques and research methods for the salamander project compare to other population studies done either by Trent or population researchers in general?

Generating an estimate of population size for a natural population of mobile animals typically relies on a mark-recapture program, and this is the case with us as well.

Briefly, mark-recapture involves collecting a subset of individuals from a population, marking these individuals, releasing them back into the wild, then returning and re-sampling the population.

Your re-sample is made up of marked and unmarked individuals and this ratio can be used to estimate the population size.

Marking amphibians however poses a set of unique challenges. With turtles, you can notch their shells, paint on an alphanumeric code, or affix an external tag. With mammals, you can affix an ear-tag or a collar, and with birds you can add a ring or band around their leg. For frogs and salamanders, though, most of these techniques don’t really work.

Some researchers have used toe-clipping (removing certain combinations of toes from the fore and hind legs) to individually mark frogs or toads, but even this fares

poorly for salamanders because of their incredible ability to quickly regenerate and repair damaged tissue (i.e., the salamanders re-grow their toes before researchers are able to come back and re-sample the population!).

Pattern recognition has proven effective for species with distinctive dorsal or ventral [back or stomach] colour patterns (e.g., Fowler’s Toads), but many smallmouth salamanders lack conspicuous and highly distinctive patterns.

More recently, biologists have started to use visible implant elastomer (VIE), a flexible and brightly coloured material that is injected just below the skin. We give each individual four small injections of VIE and the various combinations of colour and location of these marks allows us to individually mark hundreds of salamanders.

These VIE tags fluoresce under UV light and remain visible to the researcher for the lifetime of the animal.

Combining these unique marks with our genetic samples means that we can track their habitat use and never have to mark or take a tissue sample from those individuals ever again! This is great because these salamanders can live over 13 years!

What is meant in the press release when you say “state-of-the-art sampling and analytical methods”?

Our population estimate will be generated using the same general mark-recapture approach outlined above, but takes advantage of more sophisticated analytical techniques which can account for systematic differences in our ability to capture certain individuals (e.g., different genotypes, ageclasses, sex), any environmental conditions that affect catch-ability, as well as any behavioural changes that result from having been captured (i.e., individuals may be easier or harder to find after having been captured once).

Are you collecting DNA from the population for analysis and how is that being done?

We collect DNA in two ways. First we collect a “swab sample” using a cytology brush to collect skin cells and second, we taking a small tissue sample from the tip of the salamander’s tail.

The tail tip tissue provides us with a genetic sample that we can use to reliably distinguish unisexuals and small-mouthed salamanders.

We hope that we can cross-validate this with our swab samples and re-identify individual small-mouthed salamanders using their unique microsatellite [a genetic marker] signatures.

If this is possible, then we could track the survival and habitat use (e.g. what ponds they breed in) of individual salamanders without having to mark them, or take tail tip tissue samples. Using the genetic information we can sort out which

Photos provided by Dr. Thomas Hossie

Feature

MPP Jeff Leal announces extension of Spring bear hunt pilot project

salamanders are unisexuals and which are small-mouthed salamanders.

Importantly, once the genetics have been run, we then also know the true identity of each recaptured salamander!

Could you explain the concept of the unisexual salamanders and why they are difficult to distinguish from pure smallmouthed salamanders?

Within the Great Lakes region, the distribution of blue-spotted salamander (Ambystoma laterale) and the small-mouthed salamanders (A. texanum) overlap, and in these areas of sympatry [two species living in the same geographic area], we also find “unisexual” Ambystoma salamanders that possess genetic material from multiple species. These all-female unisexuals differ from conventional hybrids in that they require sperm from a sympatric male to initiate egg development, but rarely incorporate the male’s DNA into that of her offspring (i.e., kleptogenesis).

Analysis of their mitochondrial DNA, however, has revealed that unisexuals are not a recent by-product of human-induced habitat change, but instead appear to have been evolving independently alongside other Ambystoma for more than three to five million years. Unisexual salamanders can have anywhere from two to five sets of chromosomes.

On Pelee Island, all unisexuals have at least one set of chromosomes from each the blue-spotted and small-mouthed salamanders. In fact, Pelee Island is the largest of chain of islands in southwestern Lake Erie and retains populations of A. laterale, A. texanum, and at least six unisexual genotypes with nuclear DNA from both species. In terms of their external appearance, it is not possible to distinguish small-mouthed salamanders from unisexuals. We are, however, taking photos and morphological data when we process the salamanders.

Another island in Lake Erie called Kelley’s Island has unisexuals that could have DNA from as many as three species!

Some people may be familiar with the unisexuals in mainland Canada that have DNA from both Jefferson’s salamanders and Blue-spotted salamanders.

What will you be doing with the project going forward once you get your results on the increase or decrease of the population of salamanders?

Amphibian populations receive a surprisingly low amount of monitoring, especially given the fact that they are among the most threatened groups on the planet. Assessing whether a given amphibian population is in decline is made even more difficult by the typically high amount of year-to-year variation in population size.

My hope is that once we establish this mark-recapture program, we can implement some form of baseline population motioning to track further changes in the population over the longer-term.

Because Pelee Island is located both at the southern range limit for A. laterale and the northern range limit for A. texanum, monitoring these populations in particular could provide key insights into the effect of climate change on amphibian populations.

Brunetti shared with Arthur that the Biology Department at Trent usually receives a tri-council funding from the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), and the Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).

There are also many other conservation research projects being conducted by Trent faculty on an ongoing basis.

“Maggie Xenopoulos, Paul Frost, and Chris Metcalfe (ERS) have projects at the Experimental Lakes Area. Paul Wilson has a number of collaborations on caribou conservation,” said Brunetti.

By Jordan Porter

On October 30, MPP Jeff Leal, Minister of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs, made an announcement at the Peterborough Hunters and Anglers Club that caused Ontario bear hunters to come out of the woodwork.

In 1999, the Ontario government announced that it would be abolishing the spring season hunt, leaving fall as the only permitted time to hunt for bears in Ontario.

In 2013, a two-year pilot project to reinstate the spring hunt was passed for a total of 8 out of 95 wildlife areas in Ontario.

On Friday, Minister Leal announced that this project was approved to be extended for an additional five years through to 2020, and will now include all Ontario wildlife areas.

A representative from the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters (OFAH) took to the podium before introducing Minister Leal and presented a brief outline of the benefits that would come subsequent to the implementation of the spring bear hunt in Ontario. “[The spring bear hunt] will benefit the hunting community across the province, it will increase economic opportunities for northern and rural Ontario, as well as promote and enhance tourism opportunities, while at the same time, assist in the conservation of our valued natural resources,” Minister Leal explained.

According to an information sheet that was handed out to media personnel prior to the announcement, the Ontario spring hunt, in 1996 alone, generated $43 million

in revenue for the province. This number is inclusive of factors such as the visiting (or local) hunters’ need for fuel, permits, bait, equipment, etc., as well as also contributed to the employment of over 3,000 people in Ontario.

Minister Leal goes on to highlight the issue in Ontario of a growing overpopulation of black bears after the spring hunt season was abolished in 1999. The

bears (specifically) are having on farmers’ crops and residents’ homes.

Another area of concern that has been addressed by the OFAH is the allegations of orphaning bear cubs during the hunt in the spring season.

The OFAH claims that, of 25,000 bear cubs, approximately 10,000 will die due to either starvation or cannibalism at the hand of adult male bears.

Pictured: MPP Jeff Leal- Minister of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs Photo by Samantha Moss

OFAH described this pilot project as a proactive way of controlling what they would now consider an “invasive species.”

“We have come to the conclusion, in the time since 1999, that there is a problem with safety of humans, with the safety of schoolyards, and certainly the impact on tourism, particularly in northern Ontario,” said Minister Leal. He went on to emphasize the destructive implications that black

The OFAH goes on to deny the allegations set forth by undisclosed animal rights activists who claim 270 bear cubs are orphaned each year due to the spring bear hunt, claiming this number was fabricated under blatant misinterpretation of government data, and on the basis of a number of “what-if ” scenarios.

The OFAH took some time to reiterate some basic rules of the bear hunt, which

include a maximum of one bear per year whether it be in the spring or fall (except where second seals are available). The Federation also made it clear that there are harsh repercussions for any violators, which include a fine of up to $25,000 and/ or one year in prison.

However, despite these harsh penalties, there are inevitably cases where bear cubs are orphaned due to hunting. The problem here is the process, or lack thereof, of investigation tied to these cases.

When speaking with a representative of the OFAH following the announcement, I inquired on how, if a hunter had accidentally killed a female bear that turned out to have some cubs in tow, that hunter would proceed? The representative informed me that there is a high degree of stewardship and honour among the hunting community, and this hunter would likely report the mishap to the ministry.

My question, to which I received no answer, was, “If there are such strict repercussions, and virtually no investigation process, why would anyone report themselves?” The orphaning of bear cubs due to the spring season hunt may be something the OFAH would want to pay close attention to when reviewing this project in 2020.

Minister Leal and OFAH closed off by stating how stewardship within the hunting community always has, and always will be paramount in the efforts to ensure Ontario’s hunting and fishing resources will be available for generations to come.

These changes will be enacted immediately, and the first spring bear hunt for the remaining wildlife areas in Ontario will be open on May 1, 2016.

Volume 50 | Issue 8 | November 9, 2015

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community

Andy Culkeen: a Trent Radio veteran

By Hayley Raymond

This past Monday, I met up with Andy Culkeen, a seasoned veteran of Trent Radio to talk about, well, Trent Radio.

Although he hadn’t been inside Trent Radio house in the past three years before I saw him there on Monday, he was previously a programmer, operator, and even secretary on the Board of Directors. I was happy to have the chance to ask a member of a former generation of Trent Radio some impromptu questions, even through my post-reading break brainfog.

So, have you ever heard anything beautiful at Trent Radio?

Culkeen: Oh, many things. Something beautiful about Trent Radio is you hear it, and then it’s gone, and you’ll never find it again. I’ve heard many beautiful things at Trent Radio. For example, my sister used to run a show and she would use the remote key, which plays, like, the previous four-and-a-half seconds or so on a loop, and she would do, like, spoken-word/noise/

musical art. Occasionally, it was really, really, really stinking good. She just layered her own voice on top of itself, and I think she’s a very talented singer, and that’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever heard at Trent Radio. Also, it’s not beautiful in the classical sense, but [in] the way that you learn a lot from your programmers while you’re operating – they open up all kinds of new doors to musical genres and experiences that you’ve never considered.

Are there specific kinds of opportunities Trent Radio provides for people that they might not otherwise have access to?

Culkeen: Well, like, take today for example.

I’m not on the operators-at-large list. I am the last back-up of all back-ups. My sister couldn’t make her operating shift today so she called me in. She was, like, “Andrew, I know you know how to do this, I know that you are capable, I know that you are competent, and I know that you are rusty, but it’s Trent Radio, you’ll be fine.” I haven’t been at Trent Radio for three years.

But I’m getting an interview right now!

Because I showed up to cover someone’s shift. It’s nuts! Trent Radio leads to bizarre, fun places.

One of the ways people’s legacies tend to live on at Trent Radio is through the Station IDs that are played on air at the top of every hour. Were you involved in the creation of any IDs in your time?

Culkeen: Yes, Anthony Gulston’s “The Microphones Work” ID. We had a power outage one night in the middle of my programme and Anthony Gulston was my operator at the time. We were all in a panic and we had gone to the off-air programming since it just automatically clicks over when the power goes out so there’s no dead air.

When everything came back on, we were booting up the computer and just, like, killing time checking the microphones, going, “Check mic one… the microphone works. Check mic two… the microphone works… (in sing-song voice) Check mic three… the microphone works!” And that was

Anthony Gulston, and it got turned into a station ID. That’s a pretty classic ID. Lastly, Andy, what would you want to tell somebody who hasn’t yet been involved in Trent Radio to let them know about the kinds of experiences that can be had there?

Culkeen: Well, Trent Radio is a great space.

Always remember CFFF: Fuck it, Forget it, and Forge ahead, and, as per the station ID, nobody’s listening and nobody cares… you can mess up. It’s a learning experience; you’re there to get your feet wet. And you can screw up, that’s okay… you can’t really break it. You can’t break Trent Radio.

You have an opportunity to get your interests out on the air and get your voice heard, and get your tunes out there, and just take the things that you love and share them with people. It’s great. I mean, I got brought back here after a three-year hiatus and I solidly screwed up twice today. Seasoned vet over here, and I just screwed the pooch! But you know what? Nobody noticed, and nobody cared. Fuck it, forget it, and forge ahead.

Hot Dish: bangers and mash with creamy pan gravy creamy potatoes and salty sausages. Feel free to use any kind of sausage you like.

Prepare to be delighted by this common, fabulously named, British staple.

Ingredients: I large onion (cut in half and then sliced into crescent shapes) 4-6 sausages 5 large potatoes peeled and diced 1Tbsp Butter(or more) 1Tbsp. oil 1 cup chicken stock 1 cup milk A dash Worcestershire sauce 1tsp. cornstarch ½ tsp dried thyme ½ tsp dried parsley Salt and pepper to taste

By Marina Wilke

British food usually gets a bad rap and rightfully so. If you have any idea what an aspic is you will agree with me; however, one thing they get right is sau-

Trent Radio

By Jeff Stewart

On October 14th, Fred Batley, the Produces of the St. James Players, came to Trent Radio. Daniel O’ Donnell sung Edleweiss from The Sound of Music.

It was special, and we had a great time.

In December, Hank and I are having our Christmas show on December 8th. We hope to have lots of Christmas music for you to enjoy.

The Country Cousins are doing a Radio Special in March of 2016 for International Women’s Week. We are doing it on Maria Von Trapp, Julie Andrews and Julia Nee Mr. Songale O’Donnell, to find out about them and what they mean to us in our lives.

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sages and potatoes. This is one of the cheapest, easiest dishes to make and it delivers on comfort and flavor. I like to add caramelized onion to my pan gravy which gives it a savory-sweet flavor to balance out the

Instructions: 1. Peel and dice your potatoes and place them in a pot of boiling salted water. Boil until soft, drain and mash with butter, salt, pepper and half the milk (*start on the onions while the potatoes

are boiling).

2. Slice your onion and put it in a large frying pan with the oil. Sautee the onions on medium to low heat for about 20 minutes until they start to caramelize.

3. Add the sausages to the pan and fry until they are browned. Once the outside of the sausages have browned, add the chicken stock, parsley, thyme and Worcestershire sauce. Scrape up all the brown goodness which collected on the bottom of the pan. This all adds flavor!

Bring the stock to a light simmer for 5-7 minutes until the sausages are cooked through.

4. In a separate cup mix the tsp of cornstarch and milk and add it to the pan.

Stir well and simmer (DO NOT BOIL!!!) until the sauce thickens. Remove from heat and serve sausages and gravy over the potatoes.

Hint: You can add mushrooms to this recipe for extra texture and flavor in your gravy.

arts

Evening Hymns: complex emotion and inspiration What are the origins of you as a musician, and your sound?

I guess the above kind of answers that. I was making multi-track recordings early on in high school and playing around with sounds and writing songs.

Where does the name Evening Hymns come from?

By Tyler Majer

Evening Hymns is the moniker of musician Jonas Bonnetta. Playing a mellow singer songwriter stuff that evokes a plethora of complex emotion, Jonas is a musician to see while you still can. Before this amazing show, Jonas answered some questions for the Arthur about his sound, and inspiration.

I guess the first question is, what is your inspiration for music? And how far does music go back in your life?

I grew up around a lot of music in a pretty passive way. We listened to music growing up.

It was never a focus but I clearly remember music always being on in our house. For some reason, and I can’t put my finger on exactly what it was, I felt like I wanted to write lyrics.

This eventually led to writing some songs with my friend Kyle in high school, and then I eventually learned some guitar and bought an 8-track and started making little recordings in my parent’s house.

I wanted to come up with a name that kind of hinted towards the sound of the music. At the time I was making really gentle music. I guess that’s all it is still really. Just louder gentle music.

Have you ever played Peterborough before? And if so, what do you think Peterborough has to offer that other cities don’t?

I’ve played Peterborough many times. I actually lived here for 3-4 years when I was in my early twenties so I’ve done my time.

I love going back to Peterborough to play because so many of these songs I play were written in the city or have characters connected to Peterborough.

Can you tell us a little bit about your upcoming album, and its creation?

I recorded it in the country east of Peterborough, in a little town called Mountain Grove, where I live. I have a home studio there and my long-time collaborator friend James Bunton engineered it. These were all songs that I wrote after touring my last record Spectral Dusk for two years. That record was about my Dad who passed away in 2009 and touring it really took its toll on

me, emotionally and physically. I went back to the studio and really wanted to write about what that experience was like. In a lot of ways it feels like a continuation of my story and my mourning process and helped me gain some perspective on where I’m at with everything.

Do you think as a songwriter that there is a large emphasis on ‘progress’ from album to album, be it a change of sound, mood, subject matter, etc. I find that lots of reviews will be critical of a new album that has the same themes, or sounds of a previous album. Do you see any pros or cons in this approach?

I think we put instruments in our hands and sing songs and then we try and sequence them into records. I’ve never been in the studio and asked myself “are we doing the same thing as the last record?” as all these records are documentations of a time and a place. It’s not really an “approach” by any means. Some bands make 5 records that sound the same and if you happen to like that sound then you’re in luck but if they all of a sudden change their sound it disappoints their fans so it can go both ways. As long as I can hear integrity in a record and I think they’re saying something genuine and I like the way it sounds then I’m going to listen to it.

Your music seems to have a lot of physical imagery, and even sometimes, uses field recording, how does the physicality of where you’re from, and nature play into the formation of your music?

It’s very important to me. I always think that I’m not writing songs but trying to cre-

ate an environment for someone to exist in for 5 minutes. You paint these little pictures and tell these stories and hope that a listener can lean in close enough to become part of the song.

On the general, could you nail down a few influences?

Mojave 3, Tom Petty, Sam Amidon.

If you had to choose one song that you’ve written as introduction to a new listener, what song would that be?

One of my favourite songs on the new record is Connect The Lines. Mostly because I really enjoyed the process of recording it.

It was a folky guitar song that turned into a moody piano jam at the eleventh hour and I’m really happy with its transformation.

Can you speak on your upcoming show at The Gordon Best Theatre?

It’s such a special room to play, and like I said earlier, so many of these songs are haunted by ghosts of my Peterborough past and that always makes it more engaging for me to play there.

Finally, Favorite beer? And/or Alcoholic Beverage?

I do like Lagunitas IPA in the spring-fall and a Duvel in the dead of winter and an Old-Fashioned pretty much anytime.

Evening Hymns plays the Gordon Best Theatre on November 13th with opener Kalle Mattson. Be sure to check out this line-up of musicians!

BA Johnston is coming to The Pigs Ear of degree from there, though to be honest it was long time ago. I really enjoyed living in Peterborough. Hell of a town. Taught me how to drink as well as conditioned my body to exist sorely on pigs ear draft and night kitchen cheese slices.

How did that experience play into your music, and your general outlook on life?

By Tyler Majer

BA Johnston is one crazy mother f*****, and his live show is in the same vein as his general character. Luckily, I got a hold of BA, and below is the correspondence that we had.

Can you describe yourself in a few sentences or less?

stuff. Bad wise, I don’t really take much influence from anyone mostly because I lack the skill to actually play an instrument well enough to rip anyone off.

I guess lyrics wise, I do at times find inspiration from crummy punk bands that open for me in bars, the Burning hell and Daniel Johnston

Sad, tired old nostalgia act playing the same bars for decades.

I have heard that your live show is quite the event; can you describe what people should expect?

Where does the inspiration for your music come from?

Expect to be nominally entertained for a nominal fee.

I guess the inspiration really just comes from everyday life and everyday, crummy life experiences. As I age, I’ve started to write more songs about stuff that happened to me as a young dolt.

Are there a few tips or warnings that you can offer to people looking to attend your show?

How would you describe your sound? Are there any bands that you take influence from?

I’m not sure how to really describe it. I guess the records are kind of weird pop music

Drink heavily and wear clothes that can get dirty..

You reference Trent in your music, I assume you attended Trent U. Can you talk a bit about your experience there?

I did attend Trent and did get some kind

I’m not sure it has any direct effect though I imagine living in Peterborough has contributed to the general crusty stew of my being.

What does the Peterborough music scene have to offer that other towns lack?

Peterborough is kinda unique in Canada as it has a large number of live music venues (Kingston for example really only has like 2 and Guelph has maybe 3), and the number of quality bands coming out of this tiny town is astounding. The number of bands tends to rise and fall with people graduating or leaving town, but at the moment has a ton of really good acts.

Where is your favourite place to play?

I really like playing bars that don’t treat musicians like turds and have a decent working sound system. Love the pig’s Ear, love the Red Dog. In the country my favourite bars right now are in no particular order 1) Esquire tavern in Moncton NB 2) The ship in St. Johns NFLD 3) Moejoes in Whistler BC 4) This Aint Hollywood in Hamilton ON 5) Gus Pub in Halifax NS

Some people have described you as one of the most hard-working touring musicians.

Do you enjoy that distinction?

I do tour a lot I think, but I’m not sure I tour anymore than anyone else. There are a lot of bands on the road, they just tour Europe and the states more than they do Regina, unlike myself who is always playing Regina How do you tour so much, and not get tired?

What gets you through all the long drives, and Bullshit that touring brings. English breakfast tea, as much soup as I can stand, books on CD, and a sketchy van that always seem like it may explode making you too nervous to get comfortable Your music is very funny, do you look to put humour in the music, or does it just turn out that way?

If you make a sad miserable song funny, it’s easier to listen to sometimes. I also find you are very self-deprecating, why so sad BA? I’m not really sad, I’m just very self aware of the staggering limitations of my music and my live show..

What is your Favourite beer, and favourite liquor?

OV, Jameson’s Johnston will be playing The Pigs Ear Tavern on November 14th with The Beef Boys & MickFutures. The Show is only $3!

And as BA said, make sure to drink a lot, and be ready to get dirty.

Volume 50 | Issue 8 | November 9, 2015

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arts Romantic comedies have been a cinematic mainstay. No matter the season or the holiday, the state of world affairs or the trends in cinema, they have remained and persevered.

Say what you will about the genre, but it has been a source of entertainment for audiences long before film, finding its roots in the comedies of ancient Greece and more memorably in some of Shakespeare’s plays.

The genre hit a recent high with Silver Linings Playbook (2012), a film that helped Jennifer Lawrence take home an Oscar, and before that, titles like Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), Annie Hall (1977), and When Harry Met Sally (1989) have stood out as some of the best films ever made.

Like any genre, the romantic comedy has its equivalents to the action films of Steven Segal, and most of the current Hollywood celebrity roster could say they’ve been a part of this practice.

However, every now and again a film comes along that demonstrates what we should expect of romantic comedies. Last year’s 5 to 7 (2015), starring Anton Yelchin (Star Trek) and Bérénice Marlohe (Skyfall), belongs in this category.

If there were ever a film deserving of the hidden gem moniker, this is it. 5 to 7 was shown at the Tribeca Film Festival last year, receiving generally positive praise, but opened on 2 screens in the U.S. and widened to a further 19. For those unaware, that made it a blip on the multiplex radar. Silver Linings Playbook, for example, was shown on close to 3,000 screens at the height of its release. With those numbers in contrast, it’s no surprise that 5 to 7 is pretty much non-existent to general audiences.

But it shouldn’t be. I’d argue it deserves all the attention that Playbook received. In fact, it’s a much better film.

Taking a note from Woody Allen in its premise, 5 to 7 follows and is guided by the

Movie review: 5 to 7 (2014)

Hollywood at Home is a weekly column by filmmaker, writer, and critic Keith Hodder that highlights the variety of films and television programs that Netflix has to offer, along with recommendations of what to watch next and his opinions on the world of entertainment. Follow him @KeithHodder and feel free to suggest a film. narrations of a young and aspiring novelist in New York City who falls for an older woman, only to learn that she is married, but is willing to meet anytime between 5 and 7 in the evening. For those of us with a moral conscience, our alarm bells are ringing, but what makes the film interesting is that the older woman and her husband have allowed each other to explore other relationships. It’s a premise that seems almost ludicrous to the layman, but works quite well in the film, which doesn’t really focus on the ethical discussion of this situation, but rather it takes it in full swing. It isn’t presented in some quirky and ditsy fashion that a lot of rom-coms employ, but instead gets right into the love that the characters share for each other, what they learn from each other, and how they grow together. Though there are moments of brevity to contribute to the comedy half of the film’s genre, the vast majority of the film is spent in moments of romance and drama.

The film’s style and visuals also make it stand out amongst its flashy and oversaturated American peers. Most films in the genre offer nothing creatively in terms of cinematography and atmosphere, rely-

ing solely on the over-makeuped actors to drive the film by employing over-used clichés of boy-meets-girl. 5 to 7 is wholly unpredictable and feels European in how it’s arranged and shot.

Viewers familiar with rom-com tropes will find pleasure in what a fresh breath of air this film is, and the dialogue will leave them with thoughts that they will never forget. In many ways, the narration is like some of the best and most memorable

prose. It speaks volumes in the most simplistic way.

The performances overall are charming and engaging. Where Yelchin’s character could easily find himself at home in a Woody Allen film, Bérénice Marlohe reveals, with her comfort in playing confident and mysterious, why she is among the finest of Bond girls. Utilizing her native Parisian heritage, her character and her ways of thinking provoke a sense of intrigue in her character that is impossible to ignore.

Smaller appearances by Glenn Close, Frank Langella, and Lambert Wilson are also just as potent and bring about some of the most amusing scenes the film has to offer.

With that said, leave your judgements for the rom-com genre at the door.

No matter the gender, and no matter the age, there is something for everyone to appreciate in 5 to 7. Whether it is in its coming-of-age tale or in its nouveau approach to romance and an understanding of what love really is, this film is filled to the brim with a creativity and passion that deserves to be recognized and shared. So, take a break this evening between 5 and 7 and take in a film worthy of your love.

Trent Film Society: Tim Burton’s ‘Ed Wood’

By Tumelo Drametu

Hello, fellow Trent film fans! After our successful double bill of Buster Keaton’s The General (1926) and Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times (1936), the Trent Film Society (TFS) is excited to switch gears and screen three back-to-back Hollywood themed films.

To kick this off, we will bring to you a screening of the highly underrated Tim Burton film, Ed Wood (1994), starring Johnny Depp in the titular role. Released in 1994 to strong reviews albeit abysmal box office returns, Ed Wood follows the true story of famed Hollywood director

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Edward Davis Wood Jr., a filmmaker from the 1950s and ‘60s who was notorious for his catalogue of critically- and commercially- reviled films. The film follows Ed as he journeys through producing some of his most well-known films, as well as examining his strong relationships with those who accompanied him in his directorial pursuits.

When looking through Ed Wood’s history, it really makes you wonder how this movie avoided devolving into a twohour mockery of the man’s life and career.

I mean, with a filmography that includes such films as The Sinister Urge (1960), Glen

or Glenda (1953), and the infamously awful Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959), as well as his notoriously peculiar public persona, it could have been very easy for Burton and co. to produce a completely mean-spirited ridiculing of Ed Wood and his Hollywood escapades. What this film does shockingly well though, is it avoids this temptation and instead goes beyond his persona and really tries to understand Ed Wood, the person.

With this approach, the film avoids shaming Wood and instead plays as a love letter to his undeniable resilience and creativity.

Much of this can be credited to Burton’s strong appreciation of Wood. While Burton has proven to be much more successful both commercially and critically with his filmography, when compared to Wood both directors share many artistic traits with one another. Like Wood, Burton is also a filmmaker who is able to obtain a large amount of creative freedom with his projects, has a strong cult following, dabbles in the eccentric, and has a core group of consistently used actors.

With similarities like this, and more, it is very easy to see why Burton has such a deep admiration for Wood’s creative output, and that admiration bleeds out into the film very evidently. With his choice of a retro-like black and white aesthetic, mixed with 1950s B-movie sensibilities (such as a zany over-the-top and energy, mixed with some obvious sound-stages and a dramatic score), Burton successfully celebrates the plight of the artist who is struggling to have

their voice heard. By doing this, he creates a film that is not only extremely unique and entertaining, but also relatable and surprisingly touching. When we live in a contemporary society chock-full of cynical cinema, it is nice to be able to sit back and enjoy a film that is as unabashedly optimistic as Ed Wood.

So, with all that said, the TFS would like to invite you all to Artspace at 8PM on Wednesday, November 11 for a screening of this underseen gem of a film. Like all of our other screenings, this showing is absolutely free and all people are welcome.

Hope to see you there!

Arts

Movie review: My Student Loan (2003)

By Keith Hodder

Student debt. Cue the losing jingle from The Price is Right. It’s an issue that most of us face, one that induces anxiety and panic.

What’s most unfortunate is that it has become accepted, not so much that we enjoy having it, but that it is almost required for most students who wish to explore a postsecondary education. Ask any student on campus and the vast majority will be able to give you a number, the albatross that hangs around their neck due to their wishes to enroll in university.

In fact, ask any student in North America and you’ll find that they’re all carrying the same burden. The numbers may vary, but debt is debt. Money owed is money owed. To reiterate one of my fa-

vourite lines from 1984’s The Terminator (with some adjustments): “Listen and understand. [Student debt] can’t be bargained with. It can’t be reasoned it. It doesn’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop [charging you interest], ever, until you are dead”. A little dramatic, but you get the idea. Financial Judgment Day is inevitable for many students.

Filmmaker and documentarian Mike Johnston also feels the Terminator on his tail. Back in 2003, the Trent alumnus, hoping to find a means of paying off his own student debt, made a documentary about this ubiquitous issue entitled My Sudent Loan (2003). At the time the film was made, Trent students had borrowed a combined total of $54 million. What’s presented is a down-to-earth approach to

the documentary format that accommodates most viewers with a humorous take on a serious topic.

Johnston, the writer, director, and editor, centers himself in the film as an example to the issue at hand. Never does it come across as self-absorbed or pretentious, as Johnston’s everyman personality shines through with his dry wit and amusingly Canadian sensibilities. Where some documentaries falter in wielding a sense of superiority over its audience, My Student Loan feels like a conversation with the small-town friend that you grew up with. It’s hard not to be charmed by him and the hockey stick that he’s taped his microphone to.

One of the film’s many positives, despite its lean runtime of 42 minutes, is the diversity of interviewees. From one of the school’s ground keepers to local politicians, it’s obvious that Johnston took a concerted effort to create a documentary that allowed everyone to have their say, without trying to cram his own agenda down viewer’s throats. For a first-time filmmaker, it’s a revelation that not only shows maturity, but his ability to see the bigger picture.

Some of the film’s most enjoyable moments are Johnston’s phone calls with the collection agencies who are hassling him to repay his debts. In one instance, Johnston, with his layman charm, asks the female operator who is encouraging him to pay up if she has any student debts herself. Not only does she confirm that she does, but mentions she has yet to pay them off.

In another call, one operator has the gall

to suggest that Johnston take a loan from the bank or his parents to pay off his debt, thus asking him to incur more debt in the process.

One of the only missteps in My Student Loan is the deviation in the film’s focus.

In the hopes of connecting the two topics, Johnston also sheds light on Bonnie Patterson’s controversial direction with Trent University at the time, and while his coverage is in-depth and interesting, he fails to draw the two ideas together. It feels more like a distraction than a useful addition.

Overall, My Student Loan is a documentary for all. Johnston’s low budget sensibilities add a lot of fun to the mix. Rather than utilizing flashy diagrams to show the rise of student loans, he walks through the snow with snowshoes to draw the graph that reveals an exponential increase.

Not only does it get the communication across, but it does so with wit in tow. The film succeeds in many instances by approaching a serious topic without taking itself too seriously and creates a viewing environment that does everything but alienate, which many documentaries wish they could accomplish.

We all face student debt. It stares at us from the horizon, rising more and more each day until it has fully illuminated the skies of our futures, demanding a sacrifice in a monetary pound of flesh. There’s no way that we can enjoy such a process, but My Student Loan certainly helps us laugh in the face of danger.

ReFrame: Peterborough International Film Festival

By Keith Hodder

Documentaries are the spotlights of the cinema toolkit. They have the power to highlight and expose social issues that have been exiled in the darkness. They have the ability to raise awareness and provide a voice to those who have been silenced.

These issues aren’t always made famous in headlines or in the world of televised talking heads, but are nonetheless worthy of attention and action.

These films are explorers seeking out unknown worlds, which explains why audiences are drawn to them. They’re introductions to the shy but fascinating character hidden at the back of the party.

With that said, in a climate of tentpole films and a slew of digital content being thrown at us in haphazard fashion at home, it’s easy for the documentary to get lost in the mix. It’s hard for these passionate films to find their audience.

Krista English, the festival director for Peterborough’s ReFrame Film Festival, recognizes this issue, and with her love for the medium in tow, has made it her mission to guide these films and their causes into the light. Forget the spotlight, English’s love and dedication to this 12year journey is a lighthouse on a starless night and rocky seas.

It was with a friend that English launched

the event after the fall of Optic Nerve, an experimental film festival that shut its doors in early-2000. The wake of the closure left Peterborough and its community without a filmic outlet to explore content that wouldn’t normally find its way to the downtown multiplex.

In their quest for understanding film festivals, they visited many others and studied how they were run and how they selected their films to ensure that they could create an event worthy of the town’s attention and the filmmakers’ passion.

Twelve years later, the ReFrame Peterborough International Film Festival is going strong, bringing thousands to town and featuring documentaries from filmmakers across the world. In fact, because of their immense contribution to tourism in Peterborough, ReFrame recently received the Peterborough Business Excellence Award in the tourism subcategory.

The event has not only brought the Peterborough community together, but has drawn 16-20% attendance from audience members who reside 100 miles away from town.

What’s most impressive is how the festival supports its filmmakers. Most have become somewhat of a business and industry, requesting submission fees from the filmmakers to fund and run the event.

It’s a gambling process that can quickly eat

up a filmmaker’s budget, as it doesn’t guarantee their chances of being featured in the festival. ReFrame, being a non-profit organization, has turned the tables on this approach. Not only do they cover certain expenses for visiting filmmakers, but also they grant them with an honorarium for being selected and for screening their films. Those familiar with the film festival market will know how rare this approach is. It’s almost unheard of, and ReFrame’s untraditional angle has become a point of pride for English and her festival. It’s a direction worthy of praise.

To showcase their dedication further, it should be noted that English and her collective watch every one of the films that are submitted. This year they received over 120 submissions. Not only do those films need to be watched, but also they need to be discussed, whittled down to a selection that the festival can accommodate, and arranged to suit the festival’s program for the year. It’s a mind-boggling process of countless hours, and yet English and her team remain cool, levelheaded, and capable of putting together an event that has become a communal mainstay.

And audiences are recognizing English’s knack for quality. Many come to the festival because of how much care is taken in presenting curated content. She is adamant about this approach, as outlets like Netflix

swarm audiences with content, but without providing them with a means to navigate through it all in detail. English and her team work tirelessly to find material that means something, that is passionate about its message, and that introduces audiences to a cause they may never have been exposed to. The goal is to present viewers with a slate of films that are consistent in quality and purpose.

This upcoming year, the ReFrame Peterborough International Film Festival will be running from Friday, January 29 to Sunday, January 31. Their slate includes 60 films from across the world, but amazingly, almost half of their selection is Canadian content and some from Peterborough filmmakers.

As it is a non-profit organization, ReFrame thrives and appreciates the contribution made by volunteers and encourages the community to explore their website to find out how they can support the festival prior to attending. Those interested can volunteer their time or donate to ensure that the event can run and support its filmmakers.

More coverage on the ReFrame Peterborough International Film Festival will be featured as the event approaches.

For more information about donating, volunteering and attending, please visit http://reframefilmfestival.ca/

Volume 50 | Issue 8 | November 9, 2015

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arts

Review: Bea Quarrie’s production of Vimy

By Troy Bordun

Peterborough Theatre Guild opened their newest production on October 30. Vimy, written by Vern Thiessen, tells the tale of four bed-ridden Canadian soldiers and one nurse from Nova Scotia. It takes place shortly after the battle of Vimy Ridge, i.e., after April 12, 1917.

Thiessen shows the fragility of body and mind following this excruciating battle spearheaded by the Canadian Corps. The backgrounds of the characters demonstrate the likely multiracial and multicultural Canadian Forces. Mike is a young indigenous man from Alberta, Jean-Paul is a francophone from Montreal, and Sid came from Winnipeg and Will from Ottawa.

Thiessen’s innovation is the interplay between present and past, reality and dream.

Our four characters transition from their beds to various times just before the war, showing their inspiration for fighting, familial ties, training, and in horrifying scenes, their wounds by grenade, mustard gas, and psychological shock.

Director Bea Quarrie seamlessly transitions between the present and past. Two of the actors, Maximillian Czmiellewski and Kevin O’Neill, take on additional roles in these flashbacks. It is in these scenes that Thiessen is able to articulate the challenges

facing Indigenous and French-Canadian soldiers. Czmiellewski’s performance was particularly noteworthy. The 15-yearold actor convincingly portrayed a tough young man straight out of the 1910s. His future as an actor is surely bright.

The first act was surprisingly not dominated by the four men. Clare, our Nova Scotian nurse, was the star. She demonstrates care and compassion as well as the difficulties she faces in providing uncompromising aid. Her travels to the past reveal a lover gone off to fight at Vimy. In a melodramatic twist, a letter at the end of the play details that her lover was killed in battle.

Her lover, Laurie, was in the midst of comforting Sid after a blast damaged his eyesight. With the battle lost for the German forces, Laurie is inexplicably shot as he holds Sid in his arms. Unfortunately, by curtain, Sid also succumbs to his wounds.

To recreate the feel of the battle, light technicians Andy Duncan and Don White play with a number of reds, blues, and

whites. Quarrie was also not afraid to leave us in occasional darkness, as this is what the soldiers would have seen and felt.

Upstage, Clare would appear to tend to the needs of the men; Laurie visits her on the platform surrounding the middle and front of the stage. This was an easy and clear separation between Clare’s present and past. The bed-ridden men occupied center stage while their respective pasts were played out downstage. I was impressed by Quarrie’s use of the stage and her otherwise minimalist set. Even without props and elaborate backdrops, I often felt the sting of war in Quarrie’s production.

But it is precisely the sting of war that Thiessen wanted to represent. He states that he did not want to show the good or evil of war, the wrongs and rights, the commitments and the sacrifices. He writes, “I wanted to discover how small actions can define us as individuals and as a nation.”

While a noble endeavour, I would have appreciated some criticism of war, its casualties, and its atrocities.

Thiessen’s reluctance to take a stance resonates with some conservative positions about war. Such a position demands scrutiny. Without a clear stance, war is thus represented as something inevitable, as something that just happened, luckily not to us.

Others go to war and die in places that are far, far from our homes here in Canada.

This applies to 1917 and 2015.

Regardless of my criticisms, the production itself is worth viewing. As we approach Remembrance Day, Quarrie’s play arrives perfectly on time. Her production is a necessary reminder and lesson about the role Canadian soldiers had in the short, yet significant battle on Vimy Ridge.

Vimy runs until November 14. Visit theatreguild.org or call 705-745-4211 for more details.

Review: Jane Werger’s production of Freud’s Last Session

By Troy Bordun

When the Nazis were invited into Austria in 1938, Sigmund Freud reluctantly left Vienna for London. The 83-year-old Father of psychoanalysis was in no condition to move about freely.

Since 1923, a cancer was eating through his mouth and his heart was slowly failing. But as the Gestapo threatened his family, the patriarch found a new home at 20 Maresfield Drive in London, his last residence before assisted suicide on September 23, 1939.

Freud’s famous couch and collection of antiquities from Vienna furnished his London study. The set of Jane Werger’s production of “Freud’s Last Session”, written by Mark St. Germain after a book

by Dr. Armand M. Nicholi Jr., appeared a faithful rendition of the room at Maresfield Drive.

Fidelity to biographical truth is one of the play’s strongest qualities. The playwright’s titular “last session” is a fictional one, however: a meeting between Freud and the 41-year-old British author C.S. Lewis, three weeks before the former’s death.

In this tale, Freud calls Lewis to his study for a friendly interrogation. Lewis, a former atheist and supporter of Freud’s theories, is a recent convert to Christianity. The older man, an empirical researcher to the bitter end, desired to question the younger about this transition. Werger is tasked with presenting us the fictional debate: Freud vs. Lewis, Science vs. Faith, Reason vs.

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Sensation.

But before the debate, we are introduced to Freud’s beloved Jo-Fi. During the last few years of his life, Freud grew attached to dogs, particularly this pet chow.

The infamous dog, according to Louis Breger, would curl up at the foot of Freud’s couch during a patient’s session and arise as the indicator that the hour had concluded.

Jo-Fi also performed other behaviours when the patient was or was not making progress.

Freud’s chow greets Lewis, not a real dog of course, but a bark over mounted speakers to the left and right of Werger’s stage. These speakers were further used for radio broadcasts about the Nazis and, in the middle of our characters’ intense debate, for a test of the air raid siren that sent Lewis and Freud into a panicked frenzy. Regardless of their differing views on God, St. Germainseems to suggest that the instinct to flee from sudden death is ontologically universal.

The chow emerges in discussion later on as well. Freud mentions that his mouth cancer has produced such an odour that even his beloved pet wants nothing to do with him. Thus the analyst lights a cigar, the cause of his cancer, and remarks that it is one of the few pleasures he has left. This was one of the few laughs in an otherwise serious discussion.

To question God and religion had been one of Freud’s preoccupations. The older man and the younger man debate about these topics quite well, although Freud would often get the better of the

anxious Lewis.

Wyatt Lamoureux as Freud, complete with a German accent, and Michael Valliant-Saunders as Lewis, both provided wonderful deliveries of complex lines and arguments about the (non-) existence of God. At times the blocking felt a little forced, but to present two men in a room for an hour requires much movement, intensity, and humour to keep audiences’ attention.

Lamoureux, Valliant-Saunders, and Werger kept the audiences in good humour and on the edge of their seats, particularly during Freud’s bloody coughing fit near the end of the hour. As to the content of their debate, and an apparent solution or

aporia about the (non-)existence of God, I found it to be less remarkable. While completing two philosophy degrees, I’ve discovered that to question God is something I have little interest in.

On the other hand, I overheard audience members speaking of their own religiosity, thus the play granted its spectators some critical observation and personal reflection.

I would have preferred the play to further explore Freud’s essays on masculinity and what the psychoanalyst called a man’s “passive” and “feminine” attraction to other men.

This session with Lewis may have been the perfect setting.

arts

Andrew Root’s Crime City live at Theatre on King

By Jordan Porter

Last Friday, October 30, I had the pleasure of attending my first live performance at Theatre on King in Peterborough’s downtown core, just west of George Street.

Director, writer, and producer Andrew Root’s first live production entitled “Crime City” was the feature of the night.

This live show was originally intended to be a podcast but soon evolved into something much more.

“Crime City” is Root’s first performance that he has written, which has actually come to fruition up on the stage, so I thought it prudent to ask him, on behalf of all aspiring writers, what set “Crime City” apart from other projects that he has worked on.

“I’ve done a lot of stop and start projects, usually stop, but this is the first one that I have really seen through and been passionate about. Plus, I’m actually using my English degree for once, which is nice. I thought I might as well use all this knowledge of story structure for something, right?” Root shared.

This highly entertaining live performance, complete with impromptu but detailed costumes supplied by the actors themselves, and a splash of improvisation, gave this show a hilarious edge that had the audience howling with laughter on more than one occasion.

“We only saw the script about half an hour before the show began,” said Dan Smith, who portrays the 50s-style radio anchor, has been involved with the theatre community in Peterborough for many years now.

“We had time to read through to about the half-way point, but we all trust Andrew not to leave us hanging with some awful thing to say.”

Mike Judson, who plays Victor Marshall, the unlikely hero of “Crime City”, spoke about how his initial experience with acting in a live performance differed from being in front of the camera on Peterborough’s own Chex Television.

“When I’m in front of the camera doing the weather or something, I am without scripts or prompters so I am a little

more comfortable with the improv, but the acting makes me a little nervous because there are lines, and things I have to do. I’m being a character, but it’s always something that I wanted to try and now I’m hooked,” said Judson.

Kenn Gibb plays Brab Bramble, Victor Marshall’s trusty sidekick and “Adventure Scout” extraordinaire, who is a “wet behind the ears trusty and lovable sidekick, and the one character that actually wants to do some good in ‘Crime City’ because he hasn’t been corrupted yet.”

In speaking with the cast and crew of the performance, I came to realize how much behind-the-scenes work was involved on production night, even for something like “Crime City” with seemingly little prep work.

“We have one crew member named Melissa Post and she does sound effects for us, she is a TASS [Thomas A. Stewart Secondary] student. She just turned sixteen and I have to say, I didn’t realize sixteen-yearolds were so into radio drama, but she gets it. She gets the form and is in character as

well, and is doing a great job,” said Root.

I took the time to ask Andrew and the crew what the next steps for “Crime City” were. Root says he plans on releasing at least ten episodes of “Crime City” and will see how they feel about it at that point.

“The growth plan is to sell out the Theatre on King again, then do two shows a night. If we can sell out two shows per night, then we will try and move it up to a bigger venue. Ryan Kerr at the Theatre on King has been very good to us, so if we can keep giving him business as well as more exposure to the theatre, that would be great. We have also considered taking the show on the road and entering it into some sort of sketch festival,” Root told Arthur.

You can check out the first and second episodes of “Crime City” on a number of different podcast platforms including Soundcloud, iTunes, Stitcher, and Blueberry.

You can also catch the live performance for Episode 3 at the Theatre on King on November 18 at 9:30PM. www.soundcloud.com/CrimeCitySeries

Volume 50 | Issue 8 | November 9, 2015

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listings: Want your event in the paper? Send yours to listings@trentarthur.ca

classifieds Clubs & Groups Electric City Gardens offers a 40% Student Discount on all Entrees. Daily changing menu featuring lovingly prepared seasonally-inspired dishes. Can cater to any special dietary requirements (vegan, gluten-free, etc) and culinary cravings. (Advanced notice appreciated for menu alte rations). ECG offers attentive service in an intimate setting. Find us on Facebook.L.G.B.T. friendly. LLBO Licensed. Reservations strongly recommended: 705-7491909.

Interested in Learning how to play guitar, uke, or bass? Take lessons with Nick Ferrio at Hank to Hendrix Guitar Co. Personalized one on one instruction for beginners or intermediate players.

Contact: 70-768-7544 or nicholas.ferrio@ gmail.com Academic Mentoring Needs Math Mentors! Academic Mentoring Needs Math Mentors! If you’re interested in a volunteer opportunity of approximately one hour a week helping another student, consider applying to be an academic mentor in math or any other subject. The academic mentoring program is a mentor-matching service that matches students with mentors with expertise in the subject with which they need help. Mentors help “mentees” work through course concepts and demonstrate good academic practice while gaining valuable volunteer experience. The minimum qualification of an academic mentor is an average of 75%. Visit us: www.trentu.ca/peermentoring Stress Management: Come out to Bata Library on November 11 from 6-11 pm for Trent’s Long Night Against Procrastination! Attend workshops on stress management, exam preparation, and writing strategies; meet one-on-one with an academic skills instructor, research librarian, or rebound guide; or take advantage of our other free stress-busters including therapy dogs, massage therapy, and healthy snacks. See you there!

Standard First Aid with CPR and AED: November 14-15, 21-22, 28-29. 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at Applewood Manor, 1500 Lansdowne Street, West.

November 14, 21, 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. or November 24, 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at Applewood Manor, 1500 Lansdowne Street, West.

LOCAL Volunteer with B!ke: Low on gold?

Pay for your bike with experience points! Level up your mechanical skills by volunteering in our teaching shop to earn experience points, then put your skills to use by refurbishing a bike from our dungeon! Collect 100 points in the shop and the bike is yours! For more information or to register for the EarnABike Programme, contact B!KE at jeff@communitybikeshop.org.

Contact Improvisation dance jam: Contact improvisation is an organic dance form based in mindful awareness, authentic expression, and touch. Beginners are welcome, instructions provided. Please call 416-996-3195 for more details.

Friday Nov 20 2015, 7 pm to 8:30 pm.

Peterborough Living Yoga – 394 George St. Above Hasselton’s Café Cost $5 A free tour of Peterborough’s Living History Museum, Hutchinson House.

See inside one of Peterborough’s oldest houses. Bake and eat cookies in the old kitchen and learn about Peterborough’s history!

Meet at 1:30pm. 270 Brock Street.

To register, contact Caitlin: caitlin@nccpeterborough.ca 30 Craft Market: Nov 14 & 15, 10:30 - 3:00 pm. Rubidge Retirement Residence. 246 Rubidge St. Local artisans and crafters. All handmade 1/2 of everything is under $30. Free admission. Wheelchair-acccessible.

Free prizes: buyhandmade.ca 30 Craft Market: Dec 4 & 5, 11 3:30 pm. Sadlier House (Hobbs) 751

George St N. Local artisans and crafters. All handmade. 1/2 of everything is under $30. Free admission. Wheelchair-acccessible.. Free prizes: buyhandmade.ca The Seasoned Spook Harvest Feast: Thursday November 12th at 6:30pm.

Held at the Seasoned Spoon Cafe. $20 for students, $25 for non-students.

Join the Seasoned Spoon Café and the Trent Vegetable Gardens in celebrating the harvest season. This full dinner fundraiser will feature fresh, fall veggies, grown right here on campus! Be prepared for an evening of delightful delicacies, entertainment and more! All proceeds will go to Trent Vegetable Gardens. Tickets can be purchased in the cafe as of November 2nd.

Seasoned Spoon Soap Making Workshop: Learn how to make your own environmentally friends sensational soap – phthalate and paraben free! What a treat for the hands or body! A great gift idea for family and friends too and just in time for Christmas!

There are infinite possibilities to substitute oils, add fragrance, and mix in other additives like flowers or coffee grounds. Either way you will leave with an abundance of hand crafted soap to stock up your home or give away as presents to loved ones. Only 16 spaces available in this popular workshop so don’t miss out! Wednesday November 18th Cheese Making Workshop: Yes, you can make your own cheese! This workshop will uncover the mysteries of everyone’s favourite rich and creamy food.

Join local experts, Tom and Myra, in a hands-on workshop all about cheese making. They will lead us in making paneer and ricotta together as well as offer several samples of other kinds of cheese you can make at home. Leave with the skills and knowledge to continue your cheese making adventures on your own! Wednesday November 25th at Seasoned Spoon Cafe. 5:00pm. Cost: $5 or PWYC Craft Fair: The Seasoned Spoon is pleased to announce the return of our fall Craft fair. The fair will be held on Thursday November 26th

from 11 - 3 in the café. Just in time to treat yourself for completing all those assignments or to pick up seasonal gifts for family and friends. Come by the café and discover delightful, unique artisan creations of all kinds. Join in the fun, be inspired, support local artists! Thursday November 26th at Seasoned Spoon Cafe. 11:00am, FREE. Vimy by Vern Thiessen: This Canadian playwright has written about one of the seminal battles in our history. A play not about war, but a dreamscape where small actions define us as individuals and as a nation. Eight young Canadians help define our nationhood through their courage and their love of our land.

Four wounded soldiers in a field hospital, all with PTSD, reliving the horrors of war. Directed by Bea Quarrie.VIMY opens October 30th, with 11 performances until November 14th, including a special performance on November 11th.Tickets are available at the Guild box office

arts Art as Activism Pub Night: Thursday, November 12th - 8:30pm @Sadleir House Dining Hall Come out and support fellow students & community members as they perform dance, poetry, music, and compete in the exciting painting battle!

All works conveying meaning about important issues to the artists, centering around social justice and environmental issues. There will also be banner and button making for you to get creative too!

The Famines come to town! The Famines, the legendary two piece garage-punk explosion from Montreal comes to Peterborough for one night only at the Garnet. They will be joining the stage with No Pussyfooting and Garbageface. $8 at the door. Worth every penny!

Union City and Television Road!

Union City returns to the Red Dog Saturday, Nov 28th, with special guests Television Road! Tickets are only $5 at the door.