Volume 49 Issue 20

Volume 49 | Issue 20 | March 10, 2015

Islam Awareness Week

INside:

Indigenous Awareness Week

TCSA Appoints Acting President

New Rules for International Visas

The many faces of death

Cultural Outreach RUN: EUREKA-program.exe

Contents

Pages 10-12: Indigenous Awareness Week and Islam Awareness Week features

This Page: All About Arthur 7PMVNF ] *TTVF ] .BSDI

0GGJDJBM NBTUIFBE CZ +BDLTPO $SFFL 1SFTT (FPSHF 4USFFU / t 4VJUF 1FUFSCPSPVHI 0/ t , ) 5 UFM FEJUPST!USFOUBSUIVS DB t XXX USFOUBSUIVS DB

$P &EJUPST /FXT #VSFBV .BUUIFX 3BQQPMU

"ZFTIB #BSNBOJB

1BU 3FEEJDL

3FO[P $PTUB

$PQZ &EJUPS

;BDIBSZ $PY

&NNB $VMMFO

6HZFO 8BOHNP

1SPPGSFBEFS

+BDL 4NZF

-JOETBZ 5IBDLFSBZ

"SUT #VSFBV

1IPUPHSBQIFST

4JNPO 4FNDIVDL

+FOOZ 'JTIFS

$BMFJHI #PZMF

,FJMB .BD1IFSTPO

#SJBO )PVHI

#PBSE PG %JSFDUPST $IBJS $BSNFO .FZFUUF 4FDSFUBSJFT ;BSB 4ZFE t 5SFBTVSFS 3FO[P $PTUB 7PMVOUFFS 4UBGG *TTVFT 6HZFO 8BOHNP .FNCFS BU -BSHF ;BDIBSZ $PY *TBBD -JOUPO %BWF 5PVHI

$POUSJCVUPST #SJBO -VLBT[FXJD[ t :VNOB -FHIBSJ t +BNFT ,FSS ;BSB 4ZFE t 4UFWFO #PVSOF t "TIMFZ #POOFS t 3FCB )BSSJTPO +PIO .BSSJT t .BSL #BTUFSGJFME t ,SJTUFFO .D5BWJTI %BWF )BXLJOT t #FUUZ 8POEJNV t $PSFZ -F#MBOD "ESJBOOB 4JFSSB t 4UFWF 4OPX t &MJ[BCFUI 5IJQQIBXPOH $POSJCVUPST BSF FODPVSBHFE UP BUUFOE UIF XFFLMZ TUPSZ NFFUJOH 8FEOFTEBZ BU QN JO UIF 5SFOE 1VC BU 5SBJMM $PMMFHF PS UP DPOUBDU UIF FEJUPST JG DPOTJEFSJOH TVCNJUUJOH UP BO VQDPNJOH JTTVF 0VS FNBJM BEESFTT JT FEJUPST!USFOUBSUIVS DB

Submission guidelines "SUJDMFT "SUJDMFT TIPVME CF TVCNJUUFE WJB FNBJM UP FEJUPST! USFOUBSUIVS DB JO UIF CPEZ PG UIF NFTTBHF PS BT BO SUG EPD PEU PS UYU BUUBDINFOU 5IF CPEZ TIPVME CF BQQSPYJNBUFMZ 800 words. -JTUJOHT BOOPVODF NFOUT PS CSJFGT TIPVME OPU FYDFFE 100 words. 'FBUVSF QJFDFT DBO CF VQ UP 2000 CVU NVTU CF BSSBOHFE JO BEWBODF XJUI UIF FEJUPST

*NBHFT *NBHFT TIPVME CF TVCNJUUFE WJB FNBJM (PPHMF %SJWF %SPQCPY PS TPNF PUIFS GJMFTIBSJOH TJUF 1MFBTF TBWF BT UJG XJUI B EQJ PG OP MFTT UIBO QJYFMT

-FUUFST -JNJU MFUUFST UP UIF FEJUPST UP XPSET -FUUFST MPOHFS UIBO XPSET NBZ CF QVCMJTIFE CVU "SUIVS SFTFSWFT UIF SJHIU UP FEJU GPS MFOHUI BOE DMBSJUZ CVU OPU DPOUFOU

Pages 13-15: Arts&Culture

t .BOEBUPSZ "SUIVS *OGP t 5*J) -FU T EF DFOUSBMJ[F

t 1H "SU FYIJCJU XFMDPNFT %FBUI t /FX MPDBM NVTJD GFTUJWBM TIPXBDBTFT

Pages 3-7: Campus Pages t 1H /FX GFEFSBM SFHVMBUJPOT GPS JO

MPDBM UBMFOU -PDBM BVUIPS EFCVUT DPMMFDUJPO

UFSOBUJPOBM TUVEFOUT

t 1H 5IF "OUJEPUF JOUFSWJFXT 8F

t 1H 3FDBQ PG UIF .BSDI 5$4" CPBSE NFFUJOH t 1H &MEFST HBUIFSJOH CSJOHT USBEJ

"SF UIF $JUJFT

t 1H 8FFLMZ .PWJF 3FWJFX $IBQQJF

UJPOBM LOPXMFEHF UP 5SFOU

t 1H $PNNVOJUZ TQFBLT PVU PO 5$4"

Pages 16-18: Opinion

#%4 QPMJDZ SFTDJOENFOU

t 1H &EJUPSJBMT -FUUFST t 1H $PNNFOUBSZ .PSF MFUUFST

t 1H 5$$#& 5$3$ /PSUIFSO 4UVEJFT $PMMPRVJVN DPNJOH UIJT XFFL

Pages 8-9: Local Pages

Page 19: Clubs&Groups

t 1H $PNNVOJUZ #VUDIFS 4IPQ #PPL

t 5'4 5SFOU 3BEJP 5*4"

MPWFS T XFFLMZ DPMVNO

Back Page: Listings

t 1H 1UCP TFXFST VQHSBEFE 8PSME

t -JWF NVTJD MJTUJOHT 4VEPLV

$VCB 64 SFMBUJPOT PO UIF NFOE

This Issue in History: Volume 5 (1970), Issue 20 Should Trent be totally decentralized, with college governance at the forefront, or should there be a centralized, united, governance system? This question has been asked numerous times at Trent, and its debates have long found home in the pages of Arthur.

Issue 20 of Volume 5 saw a debate take place that shaped Trent student government for 25 years. Titled “Pros and cons of central student government,� two columns debated the idea of a group called the Trent Student Union (TSU) that would feature a representative from each college cabinet, and five from the student body in general.

Trent already had a centralized body, the Trent University Collegiate Congress. At least, I think that’s what it’s called.

Like we do now with the TCSA, no one at Arthur bothered to expand the now-esoteric acronym TUCC. This wasn’t the only problem with the TUCC though.

Many argued it unnecessarily took power away from the colleges, and there was no way to challenge decisions made by the Congress.

If there wasn’t agreement about that, then there certainly wasn’t agreement about what should be done to address those problems.

At a March meeting of the congress, three proposals were made, and all three were rejected. With no one in agreement about what to do, the TUCC scheduled a meeting for April 6, at which time they would consider further proposals.

One new proposal was prominently debated on page three of the issue—the Tapscott-Thurlow-Van Houten plan. That Tapscott is the very same Tapscott who’s now our university chancellor. Back in 1970 he was a member of the Young Socialists, and a newly elected member of Champlain Cabinet.

In fact, it was in part his plan for the TSU that got him elected to the position of second vice-president.

In Arthur that week, Iain Dobson took up the pro-TSU

position. His view was that a central government, like a union, is crucial to help students address and challenge the university’s administration.

It would be made up of five students, representing the student body as a whole, and therefore elected by all students, as well as one representative from each college cabinet.

The union would have an independent budget and administer boards like the Pubs Board and the Health Board.

Furthermore, the board was to be a direct democracy.

Students could initiate a petition and once it reached a number of signatures equal to 10% of the student body, a referendum would be called. A simple majority would be enough to make the referendum binding. This couldn’t be done if you wanted to affect change in the TUCC. Across the page, Ian Gilmour and Michael Jenkin took the opposite stance: to hell with a central government!

They argued cabinets are the best governing bodies because those decision-makers work more closely with their electorate—the students of the college they represent. Contrast this with TUCC decisions which are made “in a vacuum, unaware of the particular concerns of students.�

It was also unnecessary to create a central government to ensure student representation on policy-making committees in their view. Students appointed to such committees by a central government would become no more than “appendage[s] of a student government.�

Finally, in their view, the university was moving towards a more decentralized model that would place the locus of academic policy concern within the realm of the colleges. In that world, cabinets would be good enough.

So, how did it end? Well ... unfortunately that’s hard to say. It wasn’t resolved before Arthur was done publishing Volume 5. Somehow no one seems to have retained a single copy from Volume 6. A quick glance through the first issue of Volume 7, however, confirms that somehow those bastard socialists were successful, and the TSU was founded.

s ’ r u h Art on the airw ave s!

0QJOJPOT FYQSFTTFE JO UIJT QVCMJDBUJPO EP OPU OFDFTTBSJMZ SFGMFDU UIPTF PG "SUIVS TUBGG WPMVOUFFST PS JUT #PBSE PG %JSFDUPST $POUSJCVUPST BSF FODPVSBHFE UP BUUFOE UIF TUPSZ NFFUJOHT PS DPOUBDU UIF &EJUPST UP EJTDVTT TUPSZ JEFBT "MM BSUJDMF TVCNJTTJPOT BSF EVF 8FEOFTEBZ BU OPPO -FUUFST -JTUJOHT $MBTTJGJFET BOE &WFOUT BSF EVF 5IVSTEBZ BU BN BOE TIPVME CF TFOU UP MJTUJOHT!USFOUBSUIVS DB "EWFSUJTFST BSF FODPVSBHFE UP DPOUBDU BEWFSUJTJOH!USFOUBSUIVS DB GPS BE SBUFT BOE DPOUSBDUT

2

www.trentarthur.ca

92.7 FM

5VOF JOUP 5SFOU 3BEJP '.

BOZ 4BUVSEBZ GSPN QN UP IFBS The Arthur Hour "SUIVS T WFSZ PXO SBEJP TIPX 8F MM QMBZ FYUFOEFE JOUFSWJFXT XF DPVMEO U GJU JO UIF QBQFS UBML BCPVU UIF CJHHFTU TUPSJFT SBOU BCPVU PVS FEJUPSJBMT BOE QMBZ BMM TPSUT PG HSFBU MPDBM NVTJD &BDI XFFL XF MM BMTP QSFWJFX DPOUFOU GSPN UIF VQDPNJOH JTTVF (FU UIF TDPPQ GJSTU CZ TJNQMZ UVSOJOH PO ZPVS SBEJP :PV KVTU NJTTFE VT JOUFSWJFX "DUJOH 5$4" 1SFTJEFOU .BZSB "TNBS BCPVU IFS OFX SPMF %PFT BOZPOF BDUVBMMZ SFBE UIJT 5XFFU VT B QJD PG UIJT XJUI UIF IBTIUBH *3FBE1BHF5XP UP XJO B GSFF DPGGFF JG ZPV SF JO UIF GJSTU UXP

CampusNews New international student regulations receive mixed reviews

By Adriana Sierra

As of January 1, 2015, a new set of federal rules concerning international student permanent residency (PR) and immigration laws came into effect.

Previously, international students were clearly prioritized in the PR process postgraduation, however, the new Express Entry system places graduating international students within a pool of applicants for PR. Candidates are then selected and approved based on a skills-based point system and available Canadian jobs. The shifting immigration laws and the implications that they may pose for international students have been a source of widespread debate.

International students must now compete with other skilled workers to acquire their PR, with little or no regard to their Canadian university degree. The Canadian government argues that one of the main reasons for this change is to ‘revolutionize’ the way that Canada attracts skilled immigrants, as the points-system is mostly economic based. In addition, this Express Entry system is also thought to be more efficient in sorting through applicants, as it is a computerized process that classifies applicants based on their potential to contribute to the Canadian economy.

This new system poses a series of perceived challenges and concerns for international students in Canadian educational institutions. Eugenia Ochoa, a third-year international student at Trent from El Salvador, expressed her concerns with these laws. Ochoa argues that Cana-

da’s previous immigration laws were one of the deciding factors in her decision to come to Canada, as they “not only promised a viable path after graduation, but also encouraged me, as it made me feel as though I could eventually become a productive and valuable member of the Canadian society.�

Ochoa feels that the new immigration laws, which would place her in competition with other skilled workers that potentially would have more work experience than a recent graduate, are “reducing my chances and ultimately conveying to me that I gained nothing, no degree of difference, in investing time, effort, and financial resources in attaining a Canadian degree.� Although she highly values her experience in a Canadian university, and acknowledges the quality of the education and support she has experienced at Trent, these new immigration laws evidently raise concerns.

Ochoa is not the only international stu-

dent who feels that her chances of obtaining PR are threatened by these laws, as numerous publications in the media have expressed a similar sentiment from international students.

Dr. Michael Alcott, Director of the Trent International Program (TIP) has a different opinion on the new immigration laws. He states, “we are worried about what these new regulations are going to mean, but the messages from the government are positive.�

Dr. Alcott argues that he was confident in the assurance that he has received from the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, as the association was “reassured by CIC that under the new changes international students would continue to be a priority for the pathways to permanent residency.�

In regards to the Express Entry system, Dr. Alcott hopes that “for the international student who is already in Canada and has been here for some time, who already

Tickets can be purchased at the following locations on Trent University, Champlain College R5 , (.5 (. ,( .#)( &5 ,)!, '95 . Äż5)(&35Bgf '75gh*'C R5 , (.5 (., &5 ./ (.-]5 --) # .#)(95 ,)(.5 -% R5 , (.5 (. ,( .#)( &5 ./ (.-5 --) # .#)(5 Ĺƒ

* # &5)(5 # % .-65# 53)/5 , 5 5!,)/*5) 5-./ (.-65 (5),! (#4 .#)(65 ),5 -#'*&35 gf5 #( #0# / &-65 3)/5 (5 , #0 5 5 !,)/*5 #- )/(.5 ) 5 qk8ff5* ,5#( #0# / &85Äť , ), 5." 5 #- )/(. 5*,# #(!51)/& 5 9

." ,5 ) .#)(-9 R5 "#-.& 5 .)*5 )1(.)1( R5 15 ( # (5 (., 5 35 8 8 8

))%#(!5 ),1 , 5.)5- #(!5 0 ,3)( 5." , 85 )' 5 ( 5 )1(&) 5 for a system overload!!

has their work permit, and has the support of our career centre and the support of our university, the likelihood that they are going to be able to secure a job offer and secure those extra points is very high compared to many other people who are seeking the opportunity from outside of Canada.�

In addition, he stated that the Trent International Program would remain committed to providing support for international students to facilitate their post-graduation experience.

Although there has been a mixture of responses in regards to the new immigration laws that range from skepticism to support and assurance, the actual effects and implications that this shift may have will only be visible with time.

Many international students come to Canada because of what was previously perceived as an immigration process that favoured international students who had already invested time and resources into the country, and were better adapted to fit into Canadian society.

The new immigration laws do not reflect this “leg-up� that was previously granted to international students. In addition, the economic rationale behind the new PR process potentially obscures other dimensions of immigration, including the multiculturalism and social capital that Canada has often been praised for.

A points-based and economically oriented system ignores the numerous alternative aspects that are desirable in a Canadian permanent resident.

Dr. Alcott states, “I want to see how it is going to work out.� We all do.

R5 ")15)(&395qgf5, ." ,5." (5qgk R5 . ,5* ,.35;5 ")195qgk5, ." ,5." (5qhf5

† /, % 5 5

† hfgk

Volume 49 | Issue 20 | March 10, 2015

3

Campus

TCSA Meeting: Asmar appointed Acting-President, Smith not impeached as union looks to move past difficult month

By Zachary Cox

The following are briefs from the Trent Central Student Association (TCSA) Board of Directors meeting held on March 1, 2015.

Temporary President Appointed The resignation of the Trent Central Student Association’s former President Braden Freer was accepted during the TCSA Board of Directors meeting held on March 1, 2015. The position was then filled by the Vice President of University and College Affairs, Myra Asmar, who shall fill both positions.

“As of March 1, 2015, circulated prior to the meeting to all board members, there was a resignation letter sent to the board

by Braden Freer,” said acting speaker Deborah Bright-Brundle, the Director of Athletics and Recreation for Trent University.

The board motioned to receive the letter, effectively removing Freer from his position as President of the Association. In turn, this removed the discussion regarding his impeachment from the agenda, as such discussion was rendered unnecessary.

With the position of President vacant, the Association moved to fill it. Section V.9.1 of the TCSA By-Laws, Policies and Operating Resolutions states: “Should the position of President become vacant at anytime, it shall fall to another member of the executive to act in the capacity of President. The Acting-President shall be remunerated accordingly until such time as a new President can be elected.”

The executive consists of the President and the Vice Presidents of the Association, meaning Vice President of Campaigns and Equity, Boykin Smith, and Asmar were the options for consideration. It was suggested that Asmar become Acting-President and have a director be appointed to the Vice President position as per the TCSA ByLaws, Policies and Operating Resolutions.

Asmar said she had thought about the possibility and was willing to take the position of Acting-President, but she noted that she was reluctant to give up her position as Vice President. “If I were to take the position of acting-president and would have to show someone what this current position is like it may be too much to handle,” she said.

She suggested that she hold both positions, referencing section V.2.3 of the TCSA By-Laws, Policies and Operating Resolutions: “A director shall hold no more than one (1) office at any one (1) time except as an emergency replacement as authorized by the Board and until such time as a replacement is elected. Such a director shall only have one (1) vote, regard-

4

www.trentarthur.ca

less of the number of offices held.”

“I could keep my current position and then just take on the daily responsibilities of the President,” she said.

The motion was passed to have Asmar cover both positions, with the Executive Committee to help her manage the additional workload. An additional motion was passed to ensure that the Executive and Executive Committee meet to work out the details of the new responsibilities for Asmar and the Executive Committee.

Vice-President Not Impeached A lengthy discussion, one which included an in-camera component to discuss staff issues, concluded with the board voting against the impeachment of Vice President Smith.

The impeachment had been motioned due to several members of the Board feeling discomfort with Smith’s actions at the TCSA Annual General Meeting, some email communication, and other staff-related issues that were discussed incamera. An impeachment would require a two-thirds majority vote, which was not achieved, with eight members voting against the impeachment and four members voting for it.

Carmen Meyette, Peter Gzowski College Cabinet President and the mover of the motion to impeach the Vice President, said the motion was made because she had “come to feel deeply uncomfortable with how our Vice President of Campaigns and Equity has represented himself and the Trent Central Student Association.”

Meyette said Smith’s motion to amend the agenda at the TCSA Annual General Meeting was an action that would “publicly discredit the Association President […] and the Board Resource Manager.”

Email communication was also discussed as being “inappropriately adversarial,” and Smith’s actions at the AGM allegedly “damaged the relationship of the Trent Central Student Association and its Board of Directors with our student body.”

As the director in question, Smith had the opportunity to speak against the motion before it was open for full discussion, during which he said he felt that the motion for impeachment was “ironically inappropriately adversarial,” and that he often felt that any time he disagreed with the Board, he was threatened with removal from his position.

Smith continued, saying that that he felt as though the impeachment motion “undermined [his] voice” in the TCSA and had the effect of “perpetuating discrimination.”

He also said that rather than finding the relationship between the TCSA and the student body being damaged, he had

many students thanking him for bringing the disruption of procedure to light.

The full discussion had individuals speaking on both sides, touching aspects such as the chain of command process through which a member of the Board should address issues and similarities between emails sent by Smith and other members of the Board. Following the discussion, the Board moved into their in-camera segment to continue the conversation.

After the in-camera session, the public returned to the meeting room to vote on the matter and continue with the remainder of the meeting. The vote was decisively against the impeachment.

New Staffing Plan Accepted A new staffing plan for the TCSA was presented and accepted, after discussion on both sides of the issue. The time sensitive issue had to be addressed at the March 1 meeting in order to provide enough time for hiring processes to be followed.

“I’m in favour of this motion, it went through Finance and Operations,” said Queer Students Commissioner James Abbott. “They went through and critically picked apart this plan and I personally feel they have done a well enough job. Honestly to go against it would be to go against the word of five individuals who were involved in that, so I have no problem approving that as they proposed.”

Smith noted that he had no intention of offending anyone who worked on the plan, but “I just have a lot of concerns with the staffing plan proposed,” he said. “They unfortunately don’t coincide with our Operating Resolutions,” he added, citing the hiring processes outlined in the TCSA ByLaws, Policies and Operating Resolutions document.

“My problem with the staffing plan is more of an ideological one,” said Women’s Issues Commissioner Betty Wondimu.

“We are asking students to invest into three permanent staff positions and the [Vice President positions] are going to receive a pay cut.

She stated concerns that by brining on additional staff positions there will be less student representation. “I guess my ideological problem with this is the fact that we’re a student union and executive positions are elected by students and represent the interest of students,” she said. “Having full time positions leaves that room for lack of representation and that’s my biggest concern.”

Tracy Milne, TCSA Operations Manager and Benefits Coordinator said that out of all the positions in the staffing plan, only three are full-time positions and that

all three are alumni from the institution.

“I believe that all three positions are incredibly important to the Association, in that they are positions that I do not believe should fall with students. I believe that there are some responsibilities that require it not be effective by turnover,” she said, adding that new student positions have also been created this year.

When it was called to question, the motion to approve the staffing plan as presented was passed by the Board.

Student Centre Coordinator Position Created The creation of a Student Centre Coordinator position was proposed, discussed, and approved in principle, as time constraints on the meeting left questions relating to funding and some position details unanswered. The Board approved the position with the stipulation that the Executive Board meet to iron out the specifics of the position before hiring is done.

“The University needs this position to go forward, they don’t want to go forward without somebody to take the lead on the project. This position that we would hire would be someone who would see it through to completion,” said Abbott, who added that once the student centre is built, the Board can choose to extend the position to become the Student Centre Manager.

“Right now we’re specifically looking at a person that’s going to work with the architect, report to the board, report to the executive, work in our office, and they’re going to oversee the coordination,” said Abbott, emphasizing the necessity of a stable position that is not impacted by the TCSA overturn.

Committee Struck to Address Staff Grievances Smith motioned to have the Association strike an ad hoc committee who will deal with a number of staff grievances that have arisen. In motivating, he pointed to the operating resolutions, and said “staff grievances have been brought to our attention, we now must strike a committee to address the situation.”

In the operating resolutions it is stated that the chair of such a committee must be a Vice President but Smith noted that neither he nor Asmar could do so for this committee and suggested appointing someone external from the association to the position.

Campus

Elders Gathering brings traditional knowledge to Trent

By Lindsay Thackeray

As a university, Trent is a place of education. You can find many types of knowledge here, spanning across the realms of both arts and science. In addition, Trent also facilitates access to another type of knowledge system, one that is embodied by the very land we stand on.

Traditional Indigenous Knowledge systems have been maintained and passed down orally for generations by Indigenous Elders and Traditional Knowledge Holders. At Trent, we are extremely fortunate to experience regular traditional teachings, such as those held in the Gathering Space and Tipi.

One of the most valuable traditional teaching events is the annual Elders and Traditional Peoples Gathering, which took place this year from February 17 to March 1. The Gathering brought Elders and Traditional Knowledge Holders together from coast to coast to share their knowledge and teachings.

The theme of the weekend, chosen by students, was “Traditional Leadership in Action.� Elders spoke and gave workshops regarding how traditional teachings could be used in community leadership. “We need more Idle No More,� said Chair of Indigenous Studies Professor David Newhouse during his address at the opening ceremonies on Friday afternoon. “Idle No More started out as a protest, and morphed into a celebration of Aboriginal spirit and survival.� Professor Newhouse emphasized that the weekend was a celebration of traditional knowledge and Knowledge-Holders, who had come together to share their teachings with those attending the Gathering.

These Elders and Traditional Knowl-

edge Holders hosted sessions pertaining to their chosen teaching topics, ranging from Elder Danny Beaton’s teachings on environmental protection to Elder Shirley Williams’ teachings on the role of Indigenous women as community leaders.

Elder Doreen Somers, who is the Industry Relations Corporation Deputy Director for Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, mentioned that Trent seemed like a progressive institution. She highlighted its attempts to bridge the gap between Western knowledge and Traditional teachings. “What I wrote, I’m just going to disregard because you guys seem to be a lot more forward-thinking,� she said when introducing her lecture topic during the opening ceremonies. “So I’ll just speak truthfully and from the heart.�

One of the most anticipated lectures of the weekend was the powerful keynote address given by social activist Wab Kinew, who is also a journalist, university administrator, and hip-hop artist. He was given a rap-intro by the two MC’s of the Gathering, Trent students Shanese Steele and Dawn Martin, and performed his own response song to open his address.

The lecture hall was standing room only.

Wab Kinew spoke of reconciling different epistemologies and worldviews, and encouraged young people to further their education, succeed in their chosen paths, and come back to their communities to contribute this knowledge to the overall good.

Kinew argued that, at this point, asserting Indigenous rights, sovereignty, and nationhood would be best achieved through economic power. “We’ve literally tried everything else,� said Kinew. “We’ve tried armed insurrection, we’ve tried protests, we’ve tried legal means, we’ve tried

civil disobedience. We’ve tried everything except for economic empowerment.�

Kinew said that despite the inequalities and racism that are still prevalent in Canada today, Indigenous peoples are more than equal to the challenges they are competing against. “It may not be fair, and it may not be right, but that is how we’re going to get ahead,� he said.

He also maintained that it is possible for young people to participate in this mainstream, economically charged world without losing their traditional values.

Kinew said that it isn’t so much a matter of ‘balancing’ between the Western and Indigenous words, but rather taking the best of both to create something even more powerful. This concept of combining the most powerful parts of different knowledge systems was an also ongoing theme in many of the Elder’s teachings over the course of the weekend. “I know my culture is strong. I have no fear of participating in the mainstream,â€? said Kinew. “I’m absolutely passionate about Indigenous issues [‌] but I also like the freedom to be considered on my own merits, my own basis.â€?

Prior to the closing ceremonies of the Gathering, the audience was given a chance to ask Elders and Traditional Teachers questions for a one hour Q&A

session. Given the diverse panel of Elders, this was an invaluable opportunity to access traditional teachings and to find any knowledge you might be searching for.

The Elders and Traditional Peoples Gathering was a weekend of learning, sharing, and healing. Acting Director of the First People’s House of Learning, Adam Hopkins, stated during his opening address that although these Traditional Gatherings are now happening all over Turtle Island, Trent was in fact the first place to host a Gathering like this.

Such events are important in facilitating the maintenance of Traditional Knowledge Systems from coast to coast.

Many Trent students think the big yellow building on the East side of campus is called ‘Gzowski College’. The name of this building is actually ‘Enweying’, which houses both Gzowski College and the First People’s House of Learning.

Enweying translates from Nishnaabemwin as “The way we speak together,� and it seems only fitting that the Elders and Traditional Peoples Gathering would take place there.

Trent helps to facilitate a learning space where both Western and Traditional knowledges are brought together, in hopes of creating a better world for all of us.

Summarizing the TPSA/TCSA merger referendum decision

By Ashley Bonner President, TPSA

There are many reasons why the Executive Board of the Trent Part Time Student Association (TPSA) has decided to call a referendum asking Part-Time students if they want to merge with the TCSA. First, over the past decade a majority of Part-Time student associations in Ontario have merged with their respective FullTime associations. We also found through our recent survey of Trent Part-Time students that the demographics of our association is now very similar to that of the TCSA. Unfortunately, the Part-Time enrolment has also been on a consistent decline at Trent. In light of the TPSA survey, various one-on-one discussions with TPSA students, and reviewing the past five years of TPSA reports and enrolment, it was evident that the Executive Board needed to discuss the potential of holding a referendum.

In the end, the TPSA Board came to the decision that is was necessary to hold a referendum that would provide an opportunity for Part-Time students to decide the form of governance they desired. After five years of extensive discussions and negotiations, it is now clearly time to ask the students what they want.

Summary of proposal After extensive negotiations between both Associations, a proposal was drafted to include: t 5XP 1BSU 5JNF TUVEFOU TFBUT XJUIin the TCSA Board of Directors (to ensure

Part-Time students will have a voice) t 0OF 1BSU 5JNF QBJE TUVEFOU TUBČ position to be created to represent PartTime student affairs within the TCSA office. t "O FWBMVBUJPO UP BTTFTT UIF TBUJTGBDtion of Part-Time students regarding the merger, to be conducted by the three parttime positions (above) at one, three, and five year points within the winter semester. t ćF PQQPSUVOJUZ GPS B 1BSU 5JNF TUVdent to Opt-In to the Transit pass for the same rate of full time students; currently 1BSU 5JNF TUVEFOUT QBZ BO BEEJUJPOBM fee. t ćF PQUJPO UP 0QU *O UP UIF )FBMUI BOE Dental plan provided to any student taking 1.5 credits or less. Whereas, any student XIP JT UBLJOH UXP DSFEJUT BOE BCPWF will automatically be enrolled into the benefit plan and have the option to Opt-Out providing proof of alternative coverage. t *U JT BO PQQPSUVOJUZ GPS 1BSU 5JNF TUVdents to have the same rights and opportunities as Full-Time students.

The Executive Director was responsible for keeping the website up-to-date, advocated for seats on all the Trent University committees, filling seats on the Executive Board, and held ISW information sessions.

Unfortunately, with enrollment consistentMZ EFDMJOJOH OPX BU TUVEFOUT UIF GFF for contracting the work of an Executive Director has become unsustainable.

The TPSA currently has five positions on the Executive Board that will need to be fulfilled if the majority of students vote “No� to a TCSA merger in the upcoming referendum.

In addition, the Association would need to investigate the viability of securing a Health and Dental benefits plan for the Part-Time students, discuss a possible TPSA levy increase to provide more opportunity for the TPSA to assist Part-Time students (i.e. events, bursaries, conference support, food assistance program), and execute an overall identification of ways in which the Association can better serve the students.

Current status of the Trent Part-Time Student Association

Pros and Cons

Here are some initial pros and cons. I Currently, Part-Time students are classi- highly encourage students to research, find Ä•FE BT BMM TUVEFOUT SFHJTUFSFE JO DSFEJUT out more information, and form their own or less, which includes all summer school opinion in order to make an informed vote students (some of which are already TCSA come election period this week. members).

The current membership fee is $6 per Pros credit which is paid into the TPSA. For the past five years, this charge has covered t &OTVSJOH BMM 1BSU 5JNF TUVEFOUT SFDFJWF the fee for the TPSA Executive Director access to Health and Dental Benefits at the ZS XIP XBT IJSFE BT B DPOTVM- same cost as Full-Time students, which is tant over twenty years ago. significantly lower than that which could

be offered to a smaller population. t 1SPWJEJOH B TUSPOHFS WPJDF UP 1BSU Time students within the university. t 1SPWJEJOH NPSF DPOUJOVJUZ CFUXFFO Full-Time and Part-Time Undergraduate Students. t 1SPWJEJOH BDDFTT UP DPOGFSFODF GVOEing, food assistance program, club affiliation, and all the events that the TCSA currently offers. t $SFBUJOH B QBJE QPTJUJPO SFTFSWFE GPS B Part-Time student within the TCSA office.

Cons t ćF MFWZ GFF XJMM JODSFBTF GSPN QFS credit to $11.35 per credit (which is $6.35 5$4" .FNCFSTIJQ 'FF GPS $MVCT -FWZ 'PPE #BOL -FWZ BOE mandatory CFS Fee). t ćF 1BSU 5JNF TUVEFOUT XJMM OP MPOHFS have an autonomous association to represent their needs; instead they will be part of the larger student body.

Eligibility *All students registered in three (3) credits or less at the Peterborough Campus are classified as Part-Time and are eligible to vote on this referendum. *The TPSA shall consider quorum of this referendum to be 15% of our membership, with a successful vote being fifty perDFOU QMVT POF

If you have any questions or concerns regarding the referendum and eligibility, please feel free to contact me at ashleybonner@trentu.ca

Volume 49 | Issue 20 | March 10, 2015

5

Campus Perspectives

Perspective: Emotions of the silenced

By Reba Harrison

On January 29, Gzowksi College became home for the Trent Central Student Association’s (TCSA) annual general meeting (AGM).

And while it is no secret that this year’s AGM hosted a lot of unsettling emotions, you may have only heard the thoughts of one side.

Senior student Abdullah Alotaibi is one of the many individuals that feels hurt and confused by what happened at the recent AGM, when a majority of the attending membership voted to rescind the union’s BDS policy against the Israeli apartheid.

However, after screenshots showing a conversation between former-TCSA president and AGM chair Braden Freer and Trent4Israel member Cory LeBlanc were brought to light on Monday, February 23, Alotaibi thinks he understands why the meeting went the way it did.

Alotaibi is the former president of the Trent Muslim Student Association (TMSA), an umbrella group for the Muslim, Arab, and Saudi students at Trent, which currently represents around two hundred students.

Alotaibi additionally founded the Trent Saudi Student Association (TSSA) in 2011.

According to him, neither the TMSA nor the TSSA were made aware of the meeting beforehand. “I found out five minutes before and rushed to get there,” he said.

This lack of communication was not the only oddity at the AGM, however, as the meeting started a half-hour late, President Freer submitted an illegal proposal concerning the TCSA bylaws, and the room was booked with only an hour between the end of the meeting and start of the next scheduled class. This was odd because it was well-known that there were huge issues to be discussed.

6

www.trentarthur.ca

Beginning only a half-hour from the end of the meeting, the Trent4Israel presentation on the rescindment motion, which did not provide clear sources and used arguably wrong facts, lasted a full 17 minutes and left less than 10 minutes for the membership to debate it’s merit.

“During [the Trent4Israel] presentation, I was punching their facts into my phone only to find that they were complete lies,” attendee Lang commented, who wished to have their first name withheld. “Is that even legal?” The minutes from the AGM do not include the Trent4Israel presentation and therefore specific instances of false facts cannot be confirmed.

However, during the presentation Trent4Israel did argue that Israel is a state that supports the rights of LGBTQ individuals which, according to Ryerson University professor Alan Sears is problematic.

Sears, who is also a member of Faculty for Palestine and an ally of Queers Against Israeli Apartheid, explains that to take this approach is to invisibilize the Palestinian people by distracting from the other things going on in the apartheid state of Israel.

In response to this attempt at pinkwashing, Sears states that the model of lesbian and gay life in this sense presumes that sexual freedom is connected to imperialism, but in fact the history of same-sex marriage freedom is not so simple.

One needs only to look as far as the LGBTQ groups in Canada to see their complicated intersectionality. “Conquering people and depriving them of their rights is a project of uplift…[and] we should be suspicious that we do not have access to LGBTQ Palestinians to ask them if these processes feel like freedom to them,” says Sears.

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel states that “in Israel, the LGBT community still faces various forms of discrimination

by government authorities and in the private sector. LGBT men and women, and particularly transgender persons, also experience discrimination in employment and health services, and are often the target of verbal and physical violence.”

Furthermore, Slate Magazine’s Liam Hoare writes that while out-of-state marriage certificates of the LGBTQ community are recognized by Israel, gay marriage itself is not legal in Israel as it is a deciding issue of the church; there are no civil marriages.

At the meeting, Trent4Israel also argued that to boycott against the Israeli state is to boycott against Judaism. However, Michael Neumann, a retired Trent University professor and author of several book—including The Case Against Israel (2005)—says that this is simply not the case.

As a Jewish person, Neumann says that he thinks that it is especially important for him to voice his concern about the Israeli apartheid. He explains that “to oppose the state of Israel’s government and policies is not even to be anti-Israeli, let alone anti-Jewish… To oppose a government and its policies is not to oppose the people it governs.”

Neumann also says that within the Jewish community there are still conflicting viewpoints about the Israel/Palestine situation. “There are many Jews, some within Israel itself, who strongly and loudly oppose Israel’s policies. Many of these Jews actually support sanctions against Israel.”

Groups such as Independent Jewish Voices, Not in My Name, and Jews Against Zionism are examples of of Jewish organizations that exist to voice their concerns against the Israeli apartheid.

Alotaibi was disappointed to see that students in favour of the stripping the TCSA’s BDS policy got to speak repeatedly and were jumping ahead of students waiting in line to speak against the rescindment.

While Robert’s Rules of Order states that the speakers for and against are supposed to be three and three unless extended evenly, the situation turned out to have five speakers for and only two against before the vote was called.

For Alotaibi, the TCSA’s BDS policy was a great way to stand for justice and he felt proud to attend a school with a student membership that stood up for social justice in such a way.

“Now it is gone,” he said. “I couldn’t believe [the rescindment] happened.”

Atolaibi expressed his serious concern about the promotional materials being provided by the Trent4Israel group. “[The voting student body] have no idea how [the Apartheid situation] really is… They just saw a presentation. In the last five years, there were more than three wars in Gaza, with over 2000 [Palestinian] deaths in just the last [one]... [Israel] is portrayed as beautiful, and as a different place than it truly is.”

In fact, there were 2,104 people were killed in Gaza with the UN estimating 69% of these deaths were civilian. This is in contrast to 67 Israeli soldiers killed and six civilians killed in Israel. (Figures as of 9 Oct. Sources: Palestinian Ministry of Health, OCHA, IDF.) “It is the right of the Palestinians to defend themselves,” Atolaibi comments on the Israeli deaths. The death toll difference is one that is often blurred and made to look like an equal war. “It is so much worse than students know.”

[Author’s Note: While writing this story this author was repeatedly harassed, threatened with violence, and told not to publish such an article. Despite the attempted intimidation, this author believes that freedom of expression should prevail and has therefore decided to go ahead with their work.]

Campus: Academics

The TCCBE is now the Trent Community Research Centre

By John Marris

The Trent Centre for Community-Based Education has changed its name to the Trent Community Research Centre (TCRC).

So what’s in a name? Having worked with the Peterborough community for 20 years to provide Trent Students with quality research experiences, we thought it was about time we acknowledged this research focus in our name! As part of our planning for the next 20 years we have also been thinking about how we present ourselves to the Trent and wider Peterborough community as an independent facilitator of community-based research. Though doing a project with the TCRC is a huge educational experience, at its best, it is also a genuinely valuable high-quality research project that directly impacts the local community.

Hence the wish to emphasize the ideas of ‘research’, ‘community’, and our role as an

independent community-campus ‘centre’ in our new name.

For those of you who know our work, or have been directly involved in one of our projects, you will know that the TCRC has been at the heart of community campus partnerships since 1995. In this time we have helped to develop and support hundreds of research projects that directly benefit the Peterborough City and County community while providing powerful onthe-job for credit research experience for Trent students.

For those of you who are wondering what this is all about, think co-op or internships, but better! Here at the TCRC, we work closely with a great range of community organizations from charities and not-forprofits to local County and City Municipalities to design research projects that address these organizations’ development and research needs. We then match these projects with interested Trent students

who want to gain applied research experience as part of their studies. Students can work with us in specific courses in International Development, Geography and Forensic Science, or can apply to work with the TCRC as an independent student or sometimes through paid internships and fellowships. We help develop projects and match them to students with appropriate skills and interests. We also support students through the research process, and provide an opportunity for the results to be presented to the local community. Doing a community-based research project is a great way to apply and develop academic skills, and give something back to the local community.

Amongst this year’s projects, is a study into the effectiveness of the root cellar at the Seasoned Spoon Café. This project is not only measuring temperature and humidity levels in the cellar and assessing how well vegetables are being preserved, but it is also looking at the history and current practise of root cellar usage in Ontario. To gain a sense of the diversity of research, we also have a student cataloguing and researching a photographic archive that dates back to the early 1960s, and a student who is surveying the mental health needs of Trent students. To understand the full range of projects that you can work on through the TCRC visit our website and explore our current projects. Through our website you can also look through all past projects in our library.

This is a busy time of year for us what with projects moving towards their conclusion and planning for the Community Innovation Forum in March where we showcase all of this year’s work (see below for details). This is also the time of year when we put out our call for proposals to the community. We are now, once again, reaching

out to the Peterborough community for research projects, research questions, and development needs that we can turn into student and faculty-involved research projects for the 2015/2016 academic year. If you are involved in a group or organization, either on campus, in the city of Peterborough, or in Peterborough County, and you have a research need, please be in touch.

Community Innovation Forum: Knowledge and Talent in Action To experience the dynamic work of the TCRC first hand, and see the research done this year by Trent students, join us at this year’s Forum at the Peterborough Golf and Country Club, 1030 Armour Road, Peterborough (on the East Bank bus route) on Thursday March 26. All Trent and Peterborough community members are welcome to join us between 12:30pm and 6:30pm to see what community-based research can achieve. Trent students are encouraged to use this opportunity to learn more about our work.

There will also be an opportunity for Trent students to learn more about communitybased research at an Information Session to be held on Thursday March 19, 3:30pm to 4:30pm in the Gzowski College Meeting Space. At this event you can learn from, and speak to, students already doing research projects, and speak with our staff and faculty who have supported previous projects.

Trent Northern Studies Colloquium to take place on March

By Kristeen McTavish and Mark Basterfield

I remember the first time I travelled to Nunavut - and I try to remember it often.

I had no idea what to expect, and purposefully tried to prevent myself from creating any expectations.

All I knew was that I was incredibly lucky to be travelling to a territory within Canada that I had never given a whole lot of thought to in my first naïve 19 years of life. That first trip was the beginning of a new way of thinking about the world for me.

It might sound a bit dramatic, or romanticized, but if you have ever travelled North, or ever talked to anyone who has, then you know that the North grips you.

Its landscapes grip your imagination. Its people grip your soul. Its quiet grips your conscience. Its beauty grips your heart.

And rarely does it ever them let go.

That first opportunity came through my work doing science outreach to communities all across Canada. A few years later, when it was time to move on to the next adventure, I remember leaving Nunavut for what I thought at the time was the last trip I would ever make to the territory. I remember taking in the sights, the sounds, the smells, and trying to etch them deep into my memory.

Ironically, it was my experiences in northern places that had led me to quit my job, to apply to Trent’s Indigenous Environmental Studies program, and pick up my life and move it to Peterborough. I had

a heavy heart as I handed in my letter of resignation. Yes because I would miss the job, and the city I was leaving, but more so because I knew that without a job that paid me to travel North, I likely would not make my way there on my own anytime soon.

Little did I know, I was about to find out that my new home, Trent University, has a rich history, strong relationships, and an incredible commitment to the North.

As we don’t tend to promote ourselves as a northern research university, it just might be one of Trent’s best-kept secrets. For me, this secret started to reveal itself within my first few weeks here.

First there was the Temagami trip – an annual on the land Trent event in Northern Ontario that has been taking place

every year for over 40 years. Then I had guest lecture from a professor doing climate change adaptation research with Inuit communities, and an ecology professor who relayed most of his teaching examples from his northern caribou research.

As I ventured deeper down the arctic hare hole, I found that there were faculty, postdocs, and graduate students at Trent studying everything from carbon emissions in tundra ponds to socio-cultural sustainability in all regions of Canada’s north.

Today, I consider myself so lucky to be working at Trent within a research group that has built a strong and long-lasting partnership with the Inuit communities we work with.

Our group is only one of many focusing on northern issues, and if the North appeals to you in any way, I would strongly encourage you to look into the courses, and undergraduate and graduate research opportunities that exist here.

If you pay attention, you will see northern traces all over Trent: photo displays, scientific posters, and talks with Inuit Elders who visit the Indigenous Studies department every couple of years.

If you feel like you have been missing these signs, but are interested in learning more about the North, northern research, and the northern work taking place out of Trent, don’t fret.

This year’s Northern Studies Colloquium is thankfully just around the corner.

Whatever your interest in the North, you are invited to come learn, share, and discuss Northern history, ecology, politics, and culture. Hope to see you there.

Event details: Trent Northern Studies Colloquium takes place on March 12, 2015.

9am – 4pm - Gzowski College, Benedict Gathering Space: Student Presentations with catering by Sticklings Bakery. 7pm9pm – Canadian Canoe Museum: Keynote speaker is Dr. Ian Mauro with local catering by Curve Lake’s Gary Williams Both events open to all, and free of charge.For more information please visit www.northernstudiescolloquium.com or e-mail us at trentnorthernstudies@gmail. com.

Volume 49 | Issue 20 | March 10, 2015

7

LocalPage Community Butcher Shop a throw back to a more sustainable time

By Zara Syed and Jack Smye

When one walks into Community Butcher Shop, they are first struck by how clean and modern the open space is. With gleaming counters and exposed brick, the shop is a stark comparison to what it once was: a retailer’s room of basic white. With the new layout, it is clear that the ideology of fresh, local, and sustainable food is prevalent in every aspect of the butchering process.

The shop’s owners, Scott and Kara Walsworth, say they want this seemingly simple ideology to permeate within every level of their establishment. In the modern era of packaged meats - factory farmed and mass-produced - this local butcher stands as a throwback to a simpler time when the community actually had a relationship with the one who provided the most essential food for their families.

Arthur had a chance to sit down and talk with Scott Walsworth about his move to the heart of downtown Peterborough and what it is that his shop stands for.

According to Walsworth, just walking into the store can tell you a lot about what principles the Community Butcher Shop endorses. The shop is deliberately laid out in an open concept that has the butcher block in plain view from anywhere in the store. There’s a very good chance that any patron at any point will see a carcass being butchered.

The reason for this, as Walsworth explained, is because people should know where their meat is coming from. According to Walsworth, “when you make the decision to eat meat, there are some realities that come with it. I don’t think it’s fair or respectful to the animal to ignore these and fool ourselves into thinking that meat comes from a package or a box.”

He continued, “I want people to see [the butchering], I want people to make that connection - that an animal died so you can eat.”

Walsworth also commented on the process by which an animal makes it to his shop, noting that all of his meat comes di-

rectly from farmers within a 50km radius.

This butcher makes the conscious decision to only buy local meats that are raised ethically and free range. Most of this meat comes from Otonabee Meat Packers; a small abattoir that services local farmers and processes the animals as ethically and stress-free as it can.

Community Butcher Shop and another local establishment, Sam’s Place Deli, receive their meat from this same slaughterhouse. Walsworth clarified the important difference between a Meat Distributor and a Meat Packer and spoke a little about Sam’s.

“What Otonabee Meat Packers does is take in a whole animal and give back a dead whole animal. They don’t sell boxes of stuff. So Sam’s Deli is really cool because they go right to Otonabee and they’re not buying a whole animal but they’re buying stuff where it’s just the farmer and the slaughterhouse and there’s nothing else. So there’s a lot of accountability there.”

This idea of sustainability echoes throughout all of the work that this new butcher shop is doing. “The activist in me doesn’t want to be a business that’s yelling from the sidelines,” says Walsworth. “If I can get a loyal base of customers and start nudging over the years, even the farmers, towards more sustainable practices - I see that more as my role over the next fifteen

years.”

He continues: “We try very hard in the shop not to shame people, like hey, you’re eating at the grocery store: here’s the stuff you’re eating. The binders, the food dye, here is how the animals are treated… people can find out that information on their own. I just want to be there waiting with an alternative. We’re here, we’re doing something different, and even if the ethics of it isn’t important to you- once you taste what we’re selling I don’t think you’ll go back to the grocery store.”

These Arthur writers decided to test out Walsworth’s words and purchase some of the locally sourced meat to compare with the sale price of grocery store meat we are accustomed to. One pound of Community Butcher Shop’s jerk chicken wings sold for $5.99 and were, in fact, juicy and succulent with more meat on a chicken wing than one is used to. Their Moroccan- spiced sausages were not only easy to prepare, but surprisingly flavourful and affordable in comparison to frozen Oktoberfest sausages for the same price ‘on sale’ at Freshco.

Some meat averages to just a dollar more than what one might pay for discounted meat at the grocery store, but Community Butcher Shop is dedicated to affordability keeping in mind the students at Trent.

“I can feed a student on five bucks a day.

There’s no reason for students to resort to

Mr. Noodles,” says Walsworth. “We try to be affordable and the resurgence of the progressive food movement has been a gourmet thing. What we are trying to do is get back to the roots of the butcher shop; an everyday place to visit where you get your meat.”

In this model, there is very little freezing and preserving that goes on. All of the meat is fresh and right at hand - prepared earlier that day most likely. Patrons will have a relationship with their butcher and they can personally choose their cuts knowing that an uncompromising amount of care and respect has gone into producing it.

In the shop itself, there is a grand antique scale on the main counter. On the wall behind it is a picture of a butcher shop called W. S. Fraser; the owner was Walworth’s wife Kara’s great grandfather.

“My parents were not butchers, I started working at a butcher shop in Oakville when I was in high school,” recounts Walsworth.

“I then went to University for a long time, and I put myself through school working in butcher shop. I finished a P.H.D in industrial relations (labor economics and relations) at U of T then went out to Saskatchewan and worked at a University for eight years as a professor. But it was always my passion to do this. It’s a little uncommon I suppose.”

When it comes to purchasing meat from here on in, this local butcher has certainly convinced these writers - who can no longer go back to pre-packaged grocery meat.

Not only for the difference in quality and taste, but in the ideology behind the animal we’re eating. When asked what happens to the meat that isn’t sold, because they don’t freeze or preserve their meat, Community Butcher Shop donates to charity.

“If I have three or four slow days I wrap up a whole bunch of stuff and I give it to the Kawartha Food Share. I may not be making a ton of money but that was never the point of this. I mean I need to eat, but, I had a prof job and made money. This was more about lifestyle and something I thought was important.”

Column: Booklover’s guide to Peterborough bookstores

By Brian Hough

Book and Things: (Water St. between Hunter and Simcoe) Two great pieces of non-fiction can be found here for Indigenous Awareness Week. The first is Dee Brown’s seminal Bury My Hear At Wounded Knee: An Indian History Of The American West helped usher the history of genocide, betrayal, and land theft in American history into the broader political discourse when it was first published in 1970, and remains an important text in Native Studies (which is where you’ll find it at Books and Things).

Sitting right below is Ruby Wiebe and Yvonne Johnson’s Stolen Life: The Journey of a Cree Woman ($10) details her struggle with childhood sexual abuse and the events that led to her conviction in the 90’s for first degree murder in the killing of a man accused of being a child molester by her cousin when a fight broke out in their home.

While published in 1995, the book paints a grim portrait of a Canadian justice system in which, according to

8

www.trentarthur.ca

the University of Saskatchewan Report in 1999, “a female Indian is 131 times as likely to be admitted to a provincial jail than a non-native”.

Dixon’s Bookstore: (Water St. between Hunter and Simcoe)

Departing from Indigenous issues in North America, Serbian born B. Wonger spent most of his literary career writing about the devastation and dislocations wrought on the Aboriginals of Australia, and Gabo Djara ($4.95) is one of his most notable contributions.

In the same section, you’ll find Keri Hulme’s The Bone People ($5.95). This 1985 winner of the Booker McConnell Prize, centres around a mixed-race Maori family coping with not only the struggles of integration and identity in postcolonial New Zealand, but their seven year-old, non-verbal autistic son.

Scholar’s: (Water St. between Simcoe and Hunter) In the Native Studies section, you’ll find the interesting looking The Gift

Of The Gila Monster And Other Navajo Ceremonial Tales by Gerald Hausman as well as 2012 UBC Anthropologist Leslie Robertson’s 2012 study Standing Up With Ga’axsta’las: Jane Constance Cook and The Politics Of Memory, Church And Custom, chronicling the titular figure’s role and legacy as advocate for First Nations justice and rights in the wake of the 1876 Indian Act and the increasingly oppressive measures of the Canadian government in the the late 1800’s.

Knotaknew: (George St. at the corner of Sherbrooke)

Native American novelist, Sherman Alexie’s 1996 American Book Award winning Reservation Blues is in the fiction section along with critically acclaimed One Native Life by Richard Wagamese (of the Ojibway Wabasseemoong Nation of Northwestern Ontario).

Mark Jokinen’s: (George St. between King and Sherbrooke) Thomas King’s One Good Story, That One is hovering around the fiction section, as is Australian Aboriginal author’s spectacularly imaginative work of magical realism, Plains Of Promise.

Local

Riverside Drive recieves funding for sewer replacement

By Ugyen Wangmo

44 homes located directly on Riverside Drive, as well as over 300 homes in the surrounding neighbourhoods will now be protected from the woes of flood events.

The City of Peterborough has just received over 1.5 million dollars from the Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund to reconstruct a portion of the sanitary and storm sewer systems.

“The current project will see to it that all of Riverside Drive, right from Monaghan to Cameron, have their sanitary, and storm sewer system replaced,” said the Manager, Design and Construction, of the Utility Services Department, Blair Nelson. In addition it will also see some upgrades on the outlet of the storm sewer system, overland flow route, and improvement to the underground sanitary sewer system, he added.

The grant received was expected to only cover 90% of the total project cost, but at the current point, according to Nelson, the job is budgeted that the fund money is sufficient to carry out the entire project.

Given the circumstances, the city was anticipating on funding the project in question with or without the grant. Now the money previously earmarked for this sewage reconstruction has moved back to become available for other project opportunities, he informed.

In addition, besides the obvious benefit offered to the local residents as well as the adjacent areas in consequence of the upgrades in that area, it also sets out as a building block and foundation for the future projects of the area as well.

According to Nelson, when it actually goes to construction it will also help create some jobs associated with that reconstruc-

tion, namely sewer crew, and following that would be the road construction crew, an added benefit of the project.

As part of the flood reduction studies, it was indicated that there was deficiency in the area and recommendations of some upgrades, such as increasing storm sewer sizes in order to allow for larger capacities of storm sewer flows, explained Nelson.

In addition to that, under the inflow of an infiltration study the city also did, there were some improvements recommended to the sanitary sewer system. It was these recommendations that pushed the project forward and required it to become a full reconstruction project, informed Nelson.

When asked why this current area was prioritized as opposed to any other areas, Nelson explained that it was a project the city was already looking at moving forward, and a project that would have the ability to

meet the timelines that the province was indicating in terms of utilizing the funding money. Further, it was fairly high on both the flood reduction priorities as well as the inflow and infiltration priorities, and so it was a high priority project for the city.

As for selecting it as the candidate for the application for the funding, Nelson said that it fell within the costing limits as well as the timelines they were available to work within.

The project was described as being fairly straightforward – just a general reconstruction, and upgrading of the infrastructure.

However, they did have some discussion over some of the the minor challenges to be expected relating to the work, such as dealing with weather, and adding sidewalks on both sides of the street. There were some concerns raised by the local residents when discussing the design, however, and ultimately they decided on placing a sidewalk only on the north side, says Nelson.

The other challenge, he added, is specifically to do with construction, because of the area and its proximity to the river, fairly wet soil, sandy soil, and ground water.

So, dewatering to enable the contractors to be able to work within the wet conditions are some of the other challenges, he added. Beyond that it is just a matter of executing what they have put to design, says Nelson.

Currently the project is out for tender and the actual work is expected to start some time in the late spring to early summer of 2015. It is anticipated that the majority of the work will be completed throughout the summer term of 2015, with some minor carryovers in 2016.

All in all the project will be wrapped up by early 2016, which is well within the terms of the funding agreement that require the work to be completed by the end of 2016.

World: Cuba-US relations: The door to the future?

By Renzo Costa

Last December, Barack Obama and Raúl Castro announced the opening of negotiations between the United States and Cuba. This is an enormous step in the reestablishment of relations between both nations since the missile crisis in the 1960’s.

Cuba has endured a long-standing economic embargo by the US, which many argue has damaged Cuba’s prospects tremendously. Even though most countries in the world are able to engage in trading arrangements with Cuba, many have been reluctant. Many argue that this is due to the American influence on the global market.

The announcement by Obama highlighted the connections between the US and Cuba and the importance of Cuban exiles in American society. Obama asserted that “we will end an outdated approach that, for decades, has failed to advance our interests, and instead we will begin to normalize relations between our two countries.” What those interests are and who will benefit the most is debatable.

Obama also expressed that in the future the United States will reestablish an embassy in Havana, and that highranking officials will visit Cuba. His main concerns were based around issues of human rights violations in Cuba. He remarked the necessity for openness and democracy on the island, and that negotiations will take a step towards that achieving those ideals.

Maura Fernandez Salas, a Trent

University student from Cuba, argued that the new relations between Cuba and the United States will not bring many new changes and that if any changes were to happen, it will be a long time before we see any practical ramifications of those new polices.

“I went to Cuba a month after the announcement and the reactions of the locals I talked to were mixed. Some people were optimistic and thought that things would change in a matter of months; others were more cynical and definitely thought that the Cuban government had no intention of making any changes and improvements to the country,” she added.

Her concern, as with many other Cubans, is that the new opening of relations will ultimately favor Americans and their capitalistic driven society. She expressed that, in the long run, “Cuba

would become a country economically controlled by the United States and regress to its pre-revolutionary era where the government was completely corrupt and the United States exploited our resources for their benefit.”

It is clear that the main preoccupations are based on the fear of absolute economic domination over Cuban resources. The governments have the chance of laying out rules for the relationship between the nations and it does not necessarily have to be a complete economic opening to US goods and services.

It could also mean that having a good relationship with the US would open other overseas markets for Cuba, as it would be possible that the US would no longer discourage global trade with Cuba anymore.

In terms of benefits, those who see the

opening of relations beneficial for Cuba do so in terms of increased trade and possible technological imports. However, much is ignored about what Cuba can teach the US. Besides outstanding health and education indicators, Cuba has something that the US desperately needs: a different way of looking at the world. One of the best examples to illustrate this is the urban agriculture project in La Havana.

Throughout La Havana, small plots of land are being used as agricultural hubs, which serve to feed the city’s population.

There are also roof gardens supporting not only crops but also small livestock such as rabbits. Some estimate that there are 35,000 hectares of land being used for urban agriculture in La Havana.

The system is affordable, accessible, and sustainable.

The US, and the world in general, could use some of this knowledge to re-think how cities relate to food. This could also create a sense of connection between production and consumers in cities.

In other words, following La Havana’s example could not only serve as a model to feed cities, but also as a way of fighting the fetishization of social relationships. It will help in reestablishing the connection between production and consumption by reducing the gap and the mysteriousness revolving our connection to the land, while also creating a sense of community.

The opening of negotiations between La Havana and Washington will be positive insofar as American economic interests do not shape and determine them.

Volume 49 | Issue 20 | March 10, 2015

9

Islam Awareness Week

Hijab in philosophy and perception

By Ayesha Barmania

The hijab, a symbol of religious commitment and modesty in Islam, has become a symbol of political conflict. Hijab wearers (hijabis) in Canada are often met with hostility and ignorance.

The Trent Muslim Student Association’s (TMSA) event Hijabi Diaries aimed to combat unawareness about the philosophy behind headscarves in Islam and to change some of the perceptions of wearers. Trent University students, Nour Salem, Samia Burhani, Sobia Riaz, and Bakhtawar Riaz, who all wear the headscarf, shared their personal experiences of the hijab and their interpretation of what it meant in a panel discussion.

The Qur’an states that all those who subscribe to the faith should strive to be modest. This includes a mandate that both men and women should embody this modesty and behave in modest ways. For women, modesty includes covering most of one’s body and one’s hair. The hijab is one such way for women to demonstrate their modesty.

First and foremost, the hijab is a choice made by women when they come into adulthood. It operates as a way of subverting the male gaze and illustrating their desire to not be sexualized in public. This does not preclude Muslim women from dressing up in other contexts, but in public the hijab shows that the woman is not interested in being sexualized.

This choice to wear the hijab works the opposite way as well. The TMSA presenters were emphatic in their respect for women who do not wear the hijab. “There’s

Left: Nour Salem, right: Samia Burhani. Photos by Ayesha Barmania

no compulsion in Islam, you can choose to follow the religion how you want,” said Riaz.

However, many of the presenters felt that there was an expectation that they should take up the hijab by their families.

Similarly, a young person in Canada may be pressured to start driving, as the hijab may be imposed upon women. There were questions asked about women being forced to wear the headscarf, to which presenters responded that this was a cultural practice and result of patriarchal values. If women are being forced to wear the hijab, the presenters felt that this was an issue separate

Indigenous Awareness Week

from Islam but more representative of an individual oppressive culture or family.

There is a distinction between cultural practices and religious practices. While the Qur’an specifies that women should dress modestly to express their faith, there are many different ways of enacting this in different cultures. This is evident in cultural responses to headscarf wearers and those who do not wear it. Riaz said, “In Canada, you get looked down upon if you wear it.”

Burhani added, “But in Kuwait if you don’t wear it you get looked down upon.”

There are, furthermore, many different styles of hijab that result in a beauti-

ful array of stylistic choices, which was displayed on a small-scale in the scarves of the presenters. Certain styles show a little bit of hair, while others use more than one scarf.

The presenters shared both positive and negative experiences that they had received based on their headscarf. Riaz said, “Once a year, maybe, you get called a terrorist, but you also get called beautiful.” This larger trend toward hostility represents an ignorant attitude that is being combatted through events like this one, and the larger Islam Awareness Week that was put on by the TMSA.

Creative expresssion workshop shines light on Indigenous identities

By Brian Hough

As part of the second annual Indigenous awareness week, the TCSA hosted “What It Means To Be Indigenous: Creative Expresssion Worskshop” in the LEC pit last Tuesday.

More than a dozen students and members of the community defied last week’s wintery bluster to sprawl out on the floor, put on some music, and begin painting their interpretation of the evening’s theme—what it means to be Indigenous and what it means to be an ally.

While this is the second annual Indigenous Awareness Week, it was the first time that an event focusing on creative expression has been included as part of the week’s activities.

TCSA Indigenous Issues Commissioner

12

www.trentarthur.ca

Karly DeCaire was on hand for the event and was responsible for organizing it.

Says DeCaire, “We felt that using the art would be a really engaging way to help students both understand and express their own interpretation of the theme as differnent people have different ways of experiencing an articulating those idea. Ultimately we want to bring people in to the spirit of the week as whole, and find a fun and creative way to give more visibility to positive images of Indigenous identities.”

DeCaire also gratefully acknowledged the help from Gzowski College and TUNA (Trent University Native Association).

TUNA co-president Cheryl-Anne James was also in attendance.

As James explained “A lot of our members came for the chance to express in a positive and artistic way these identities

and explore them. There’s no negativity here.”

James also explained the specific value that this particular arts-focused event added to the overall week. “This notion of identity is often very interpretative, so over there my sister, my son, and I are all working on one piece based on our experiences, while other people are using their images and symbols to express what it means to them,” she said.

James continues, “its not something that you can ‘this is the facts, this what it has to be, this is what it has to mean’ and I think workshops like this help reinforce that and prevent people from trying to control or monopolize it.”

She adds, “if you look around you see some people using words, some people painting a lot flowers, some people with a lot of sky or using the colours of the medicine wheel—it’s because it doesn’t always

mean the same thing to people and there are many, many different ways of creating and bringing positive Indigenous identities to light.”

Blue seemed to be most popular colour; by the time the group broke for pizza and refreshments, blue paint was already in short supply.

For people who wanted to attend but were kept at home by the weather, don’t worry—you may have a chance to see the works produced in the future, according to DeCaire.

“We’re going put them on a board, probably in Gzowski, so that people can see the works as well as give Indigenous identities more of a presence on campus.”

Arthur was also greatly visible at this event as its pages were being used protect the carpet from spilled paint, proving to its critics that it was, in fact, good for something.

ArtsPages Welcome Death

By Caleigh Boyle

Death is inevitable. A sure fact of life is that every one of us is going to die at the end of it. Death is natural and yet for some reason death is “one of the last taboos that we’ve got. We talk about everything it seems to me, lots of sexuality, culture but we seldom really talk about death,” says Brian Nichols, local artist and psychotherapist.

Running from now until March 28 in Gallery in the Attic located at 140½ Hunter St. West, is Nichols’ art show, Preferring Not To See. On the four walls of the room in which his art showcased, hang more than 360 faces. These are the faces of sorrow. Of other peoples sorrow, of Nichols’ sorrow and the sorrow reflected from within the viewer. “This show is about the things we don’t want to talk about. The work has a lot of angst, many of the photos are self portraits,” explains Nichols.

This art show is running in conjunction with a Death Cafés presented by Hospice Peterborough. The café is being held March 10 from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at Gallery in the Attic as well and is called Unspeakable Deaths: The Deaths That We Don’t or Cant Talk About.

This will be an interactive evening involving Nichols’ art as well as music and poetry. “We don’t really allow people to talk who aren’t experts in the field about what death might mean to them,” says Nichols, so this evening is an opportunity

for anyone who wishes, to discuss death in a welcoming and safe environment.

Within a life time we all will or have experienced the impact of death but are very rarely given the occasion to discuss death and the effects that it has on our lives.

“Preferring Not To See, this whole show is about the things we don’t want to talk about. And so this art is coming out of my own personal work which is largely, AIDS in Zimbabwe, Haiti and cholera, Russia in orphanages, Israel and my own practice here.

Because I am a psychotherapist I see a lot of people for whom there has been a tragic death. As a result of this I do my own art practice which is often an expression of those things that I am left with at the end of the day,” explores Nichols.

I went to see the exhibit and found my-

self very unwilling to focus on any particular face for a length of time, and once I became aware of this I asked myself why.

These are the answers I came up with: fear, anxiety, pain, judgement, vulnerability, anger, sorrow, and confusion. These are just a few of the emotions that passed through me as I looked upon the faces on the walls and as I felt the faces look upon me. This is a very powerful show because it forces you to open your eyes to things that you may not want to see.

“The show invites you into a room where all four walls are covered with faces that depict different degrees of suffering and it’s asking you to look at them. These 360 faces are about suffering,” says Nichols.

When asked about how he feels as an artist about putting his paintings, his fac-

es up, for people to see Nichols answers, “Sounds funny, scary. It feels vulnerable.

There is a huge risk that nobody will get it. It feels like I am exposing myself. On the other hand, I think as artists, most of us do the work for ourselves. It’s not for the viewer, the public. So even choosing to hang this show was for me. I needed to see them hung in a row. This is my therapy, showing the process of my therapy trying to understand suffering in this world.”

People in general spend very little time looking at a piece of art before moving onto the next. Through his art, Nichols in a way is challenging the viewer to stop and really look, to really see and connect with what is in front of them.

He mentions that at the opening of the show some people were unable to spend any length of time in the room because it was too sad, because these faces demand to be seen, and for some people, myself included, it is difficult to realize such sorrows.

“If we don’t talk about death, we won’t understand life,” says Nichols. “We don’t live forever so there isn’t time to hurt people, we need to care more.”

None of us are immune to death, there is no vaccination for it, no remedy we can take to prevent it. One can spend a lifetime worrying about death but the reality is that it can happen to anyone at anytime, so why not be ready for it and welcome it when it comes.

‘Not Quite’ is quite a music festival Local author’s book launch veers between comedy and tragedy

By Brian Hough

Peterborough has long been building its reputation as an art and music scene. Now two Trent students and local musicians, Laura Klinduch and Natalie Resimes (members of local band ‘Watershed Hour’), along with Jake Ryan, are helping to celebrate that with a four-day, multivenue music festival downtown running from March 26 to March 29.

The festival, called Not Quite, will feature approximately 18 acts with about two thirds of them being local.

“We wanted to connect the Trent community with the downtown community and in particular the local arts scene.”

Resimes then follows “For me it was about connecting the Peterborough scene with all the other Ontario music scenes,” says Klinduch.

The festival starts on Thursday, March 26 at Sadleir House with Catriona Sturton of the influential East-Coast indie band Plumtree. Sturton will also be hosting a harmonica workshop as part of the festival’s events.

After the opening night, the fest will continue with shows at The Spill, The Garnet, The Red Dog, and Pig’s Ear Tavern before winding down to a Sunday evening vegan chilli cookout at Curated, an art gallery on Simcoe St, which will feature local solo performer Nick Ferrio.

The line-up of visitors from outside of Peterborough includes Nihilism Spasm Band (the oldest still active noise rock band, who came to prominence by opening for bands like Sonic Youth), Moonking, Soupcans, Badminton Racquet, and Catriona Sturton.

Local acts include Watershed Hour, The Lonely Parade, Slowly, Slowly, The Beef Boys, Musgrave Ritual, The White Crowleys and Nick Ferrio. More bands are going to be announced throughout March.

Klinduch and Resimes, who often book shows for their own band locally, describe their booking strategy as such: “They’re bands that have their own followings and are a bit bigger than we would normally book and the festival provided us with the opportunity to do that.”

Resimes adds, “We felt that Peterborough gets played a lot when a band first starts, but once they start getting bigger, it gets passed over for places like Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton, Guelph and other bigger cities.”

The name ‘Not Quite’, is itself a reference to Peterborough often being relegated to the status of being ‘Not Quite Toronto, Not Quite Ottawa’.

The festival will also be a ‘safe-space’ environment, says Resimes. “We were partly inspired by the ‘Not Enough’ festival, which is a safe space festival. That festival is a bit more Queer and Feministoriented and we’re not doing that exactly, but we want to support the spirit of that festival,” adding, “We want our mandate to be anti-oppressive, as we believe that all fests should be anti-oppressive, and that’s something we wanted to maintain.”

Each separate event is going to be priced separately, however festival goers can save up to half the cost of attending each one with a $20 dollar festival pass, $15 for underagers.

Says Klinduch, “We want to make sure that each night has at least one show open for people under the drinking age because there aren’t often a lot of opportunities for people under 19 to see really cool bands.”

“I will also be offering 30 minute drum lessons to everyone who buys a pass,” Klinduch adds, “I’m looking for ways to give the pass some added value.

For more info and tickets to the Not Quite music festival email notquiteptbo@ gmail.com or check out the Facebook event.

By Simon Semchuck

On Thursday 26, local author Janette Platana held the launch of her new collection of short stories, A Token of My Affliction.

In the intimate setting of The Theatre on King, the gathered community shared in the alternating humour and poignancy of Platana’s work.

The night started with cake pops and “Halo and Epiphany,” Platana’s story of youth and gay suicide.

Despite the heavy subject, the story bounces with humour through Platana’s zany similes and deadpan style. Focusing on a camping trip between young adults on the cusp of university, Platana brings out religious irony and humorously inverts the Canadian lit form of the outdoor narrative with a final injection of human tragedy.

Next, Joe Davis, Kate Story, and Ryan Kerr tackled the story “How It Is” as a three-hander.

With a plot open to interpretation, “How It Is” examines the demons in all of us through the speculative genre. The vocal performances by Platana’s team of fellow writers brought the story to life.

“It takes a lot of people to make stories,” she remarked before the short story reading.

The final story read, “Easter” tackles the question of forgiveness and when someone cuts in front of you in line. Platana examines the “intense level of intimacy” required “for strangers to engage in rude behaviour in public.” In fact, if you wish to send some “ex-friend cards,” you can find some pre-made on Platana’s website: janetteplatana.com/about-the-stories/eas-

ter P l at a n a , a self-identified feminist since the age of 19, mentioned that in addition to the stories read, A Token of My Aff liction includes the story “Feminine Protection,” which represents a happy abortion story.

“Since novels first emerged... novels were for ladies,” said Platana, “The truth is Canadian women like short stories, so it’s not hard to get published. But you get marketed a certain way.”

She spoke of the classification “chicklit,” how “a lot of people refuse it immediately” due to this designation.

“I’m a literary writer... I get complaints that I’m too erudite, academic. If it’s women’s writing is it chicklit or is it literature?

That’s the anxiety that women writers struggle with.”

She referenced T.S. Eliot’s concept of the “anxiety of influence” - that a male author labours under the anxiety induced by the great male authors who came before him, saying that the anxiety of influence for female authors is “Am I going to be dismissed?”

As for aspiring writers, or artists of any medium, Platana offered this advice: “The work of art you’re making is yourself.”

13

Volume 49 | Issue 20 | March 10, 2015

arts

The Antidote interviews We Are The Cities: From videos to feature film

By Dave Hawkins

Having recently signed to labels in both the US and Germany, Vancouver’s We Are The City have taken their ambitions to another level on their upcoming album, Violent.

The album shares its title with the feature film of the same name, which is garnering critical attention at film festivals around the world.

The Antidote, Trent Radio’s source for Chrisian music that doesn’t suck, recently interviewed band member David Menzel to discuss the album, the film, and the band’s role in both.

How about filling us in about the band members of We Are The City and how you came together?

Okay, so there’s three of us: Cayne, myself, and Andrew. Cayne plays keyboards and sings, I play guitar, and Andy plays drums.

It’s just a tight-knit bunch of guys. We didn’t do any music until we hit grade eight or nine. Then we auditioned Andy, as lame as that sounds. He was just the only option, really. It was a good thing that we got him: he’s the best part of the band; he has all the energy.

So we started doing music when we were fifteen and we’re all twenty-five now.

So, ten years I guess.

You’re sort of indie rock, sort of pop, sort of experimental. I’ve even heard you described as prog rock. But how do you define the sound of We Are The City?

Really, we have a hard time with this question. I don’t want to sound pretentious, but we try to make music that we haven’t really heard. It’s hard to classify it.

I usually say progressive indie rock, because most people are like, “Okay, indie rock. Like, Arcade Fire is indie rock. Progressive, so it’s not so commercial.” It’s a good place to start, but hopefully we make music that we can’t define.

The goal is for us to make something new, that people can grab hold of and enjoy.

Violent is the new album from We Are The City, which releases March 24. It does carry some dark undertones. But seriously isn’t the title a bit of a misnomer? It makes the album sound like it’s rough and dangerous.

Yeah… that one was a tough one for me when we were throwing around the idea of calling it Violent. I was like, “Guys, we’re not a metal band.” (laughs) It just suits something really heavy. Then we were

14

looking deeper at the word, and Andy and Cayne sold me on it.

We were trying to make hard parts and softer parts on the same song. Trying to make it aggressive and peaceful at the same time.

You can make that kind of contrast by calling something “violently beautiful”.

You can make that kind of contrast, so we went there.

Why choose that dark tone for Violent? Was that just where you were at that moment or was it an intentional choice?

It really was. I didn’t, lyrically, have my hands on the whole album. I think that Violent was at an appropriate place in our lives. There had been a lot of change and growing in our lives. Violent matched the scenery, ambience, and atmosphere of how we wrote it.

Violent has also become a feature film. It was directed by your drummer Andrew.

Violent has gone on to be voted Best Canadian Film and Best BC Film at the Vancouver Film Festival, it was an official selection at several international film festivals, won awards in France, and it was also chosen for Canada’s Top Ten Film Festival at Toronto’s TIFF Lightbox. That’s quite a thing.

Yeah, it’s unbelievable. Andy did a great job directing it. When we moved from Kelowna to Vancouver we all lived with Andy’s cousin and his brother, who have a production company called Amazing Factory.

They’ve done all of of our music vid-

eos. So, we’ve really grown together loving film, loving music. Every night we would be talking film or music, or filming something. Film has been something really dear to all of us, but especially to Andy.

That fact that the film Violent has won so many awards… it’s crazy and overwhelming.

Is the film Violent a representation of your album?

They were written at the same time and have very similar themes. When we started to work on this, the idea was an insanely long music video, but it progressed from there to being a feature length.

It went from Violent having our songs in it to just having a score. You know, some of the same stems, but having a completely different score. They’re standalone pieces, but they’re connected. They’re siblings.

How different was it to score a film versus recording an album?

Well, like I said there was stems that we used, but it was a whole lot of work.

Cayne deserves almost all the credit. He spent a lot of time in the studio crafting it, making it more atmospherical, making parts last longer. You know, it became something totally different. He’s an amazing composer.

For us it’s not really the same to just sit down and watch a scene and write a song to it. It’s almost like you’re writing a mood.

You don’t think about where the music will take you because you already have the images and storyline right there. It’s a

whole different beast.

To carry on with that; is there a correlation between music and film? Does one transcend the other?

It’s an interesting conversation because music and film both tell stories. They’re both art and they both come from a place where the only way to describe these feelings is to put them into a film or album.

What’s funny is that you almost can’t have one without the other. You know, music is consumed through Spotify and these streaming services, but a lot of times you just have people going to YouTube and watching music videos.

It’s almost like people need images to help them listen to music. It’s hard for people to listen to music without doing anything else: driving, cooking dinner, whatever. Film is different because it takes up your time, unless you’re watching something like Mall Cop. (laughs) They’re similar, but film definitely grabs people. You can sit down and watch a film and give it the respect it deserves. That doesn’t happen with music much anymore. But for me, nothing can communicate as well as music.

The thing that I’m most curious about the film Violent is that you didn’t shoot it in Canada. You went to Norway and filmed it in Norwegian. Why not take the easy route and film it here in Canada?

I don’t know. (laughs) To be honest, I did stay home; I took the easy way out. The whole thing started when we were jamming one day.

We were trying to figure out how we could outdo what we did for the last EP, which was High School. We did a video for each song for that. So we were writing, jamming for Violent, the record, and we wondered what could we do.

We threw out the idea of doing a huge music video and then, hey what if we do a feature length film? What if we shot it in a different country? What if we did it as a foreign film? (laughs) We threw out so many ideas that we couldn’t come back from them. It’s not like you have these amazing ideas and then say well we will just settle and shoot it in Canada and have it be easy.

The Antidote’s complete interview with David of We Are The City will be broadcast along with music from Violent on Wednesday March 25, at 9pm on Trent Radio.

www.trentarthur.ca

Arts

Chappie Review: Turns out intelligent robots can also be cute before they destroy humanity

By Brian Lukaszewicz

Neil Blomkamp is one of the few people around who seems to know the secret to getting science fiction movies made. Hollywood is notoriously weary of sci fi. A director who deals entirely in that genre, especially the sort of original high concept stuff that Blomkamp is known for, well they’re one of those rare flowers we’ve all heard so much about.

I’m a not so closeted fan of science fiction, which is why part of me wants to root for Blomkamp. The more he succeeds the more of these types of movies we’re going to see. But while he soared all the way to multiple Oscar nominations with his debut District 9, his follow up film Elysium was not nearly as well received.

Blomkamp’s latest, Chappie, sees him return to familiar territory, adapting the same South African setting that served him so well in District 9. This time though the aliens are nowhere to be seen. Instead, Johannesburg—which we’re quickly told is a haven for violence—has been overtaken by a group of high tech police robots known as Scouts, the law’s answer to the ever escalating crime spree that has overtaken the city.

Deon Wilson (Dev Patel) is the engineer that designed the Scouts, but it’s given rather early that his true passion is cracking artificial intelligence, a digital being capable of its own consciousness.

Well, as you might expect, before long he’s done just that. Yet, before he can get his project up and running, he’s kidnapped by a group of low level thugs, frustrated by the Scouts and hoping to use Deon’s technical prowess to get the police off their back. Instead, they find a beat up robot in Deon’s trunk and have him install his artificial intelligence on it. Chappie is born (that’s where they got the title!), though to some rather unfortunate role models.

In the grand tradition of science fiction, Chappie isn’t afraid of tackling big ideas, finding time to muse about police states, the nature of God, and how our environments shape us (or at least that’s my interpretation—there are multiple angles to take here and that’s a good thing). Even if some of its more interesting elements are held to the back end of the film, it can be quite fascinating when it wants to be.

It’s just a pity that the world constructed to present this story is so silly. To his credit, Blomkamp knows what he wants to talk about, and it’s not pandering stuff.

But in fitting it all together in a thoughtful, coherent manner he falls way short.

Too often Chappie feels like a half formed idea that, perhaps, with a little more time and a little more patience, could have been something great.

For instance, within the first few minutes a title reveals that apparently all of this is taking place in 2016. As in next year.

Anderson Cooper is still on the air! We’re going to have fully fledged, battle ready robots in under a year according to this movie… heck, Back to the Future 2 probably got more right than this.

Likewise, Deon is an engineer who developed an entire line of superhuman robots, but somehow that isn’t enough to earn him his own office. He whittles away at a cubicle for most of the movie, like he’s not basically the second-coming of Steve Jobs.

And when he goes to tell his boss—the criminally underused Sigourney Weaver—about his probably multibillion dollar artificial intelligence system she chides him for bringing her the idea because they work for a weapons company. As though companies only ever want to do one thing always. You know, like how Apple only makes computers because anything else would just be crazy.

Or how about Chappie, an artificial intelligence capable of downloading the entire Internet in a matter of hours, but can also somehow be tricked like a child into committing crimes.

I could go on, but the point is that far too frequently in Chappie character and circumstance conspire in ways that are completely illogical, all because that’s what’s needed to make the plot work. The ideas may be interesting, but what’s the point if the cost is any sort of believability.

And though it’s certainly not the sole cause, that ends up leaving the characters feeling broad and undeveloped, with many of them coming off like walking cartoon characters. It’s a typical problem in science fiction, where high concepts can take front seat to character development, but that doesn’t mean it should just be accepted either.

For those reasons, Chappie isn’t likely to be the comeback movie Neil Blomkamp was probably hoping for. The aesthetics may be appealing, the notions put forward interesting, but he never quite figures out how to piece it all together. And that’s a pity, because I like sci fi.

15

Volume 49 | Issue 20 | March 10, 2015

Opinionpages

Editorial:Controversy=Participation Guest Editorial: Sexual assault It’s never okay

By Pat Reddick

The TCSA has certainly been the centre of a lot of controversy lately.

I don’t think I need to get into specifics here. There’s probably something that comes to the front of your mind when you read that. What matters is that you’re thinking of the TCSA at all.

When it comes to fielding candidates for the board, increasing voter turnout, or just getting students to pay attention, nothing does the job like a little controversy.

This is the case for any election. The recent provincial one saw the trend of falling voter turnouts curbed after an election marred with controversy, be it the gas plant scandal or the Million Jobs Plan.

But if there’s one electorate that could use a boost in participation it’s ours.

The TCSA presidency has gone uncontested for the past two years. Last year, only three positions were contested at all.

Many didn’t see a single candidate.

Frankly, if any of that happens again this time around I would be shocked.

The 2014 election came at a time of relative ease for the TCSA. The student centre project was chugging along largely behind the scenes, no one had any public gaffes, and no one was at anyone else’s throat.

This year, the opposite is true.

The student centre has been going full speed ahead, and students are excited to be a part of the process.

The president of the TCSA stepped

Letters to the editors All women must be free to make their own choices (re: “Empowerment or sexism?” Issue 19, page 12) Dear editors, This is a response to the ‘Empowerment or sexism? Women in the rock music scene’ article from your Women’s Issues issue last week.

Let me begin by saying that, although I credit the article with attempting to illustrate an important account of what’s happening currently with women in the music scene, I don’t think that the article provided the proper feminist analysis that was necessary for the subject.

The article’s objectives seem to struggle with recognizing that women have different ideas about what choices are empowering to them, and that any woman’s choice (limited to the choices that do not, in turn, harm others) is totally okay.

A woman’s choice to become “a serene housewife” is as worthy as the choice another woman may make to never get married. The choice of some women in music who would rather perform and exist outside of any political contexts is just as valid of the choice of some women who perform and exist with political and feminist meaning.

It is important to recognize that the choices women make are not up for raging debate. Rather, it should be looked at as just a beautiful reflection of how many women there are, especially in the Peterborough music scene, who are able to make these choices for themselves and about their art.

I want to emphasize the point of respecting and loving women for who they are and who they choose to be, rather than suggest one choice over another.

16

www.trentarthur.ca

down with only two months to go in his term. When news of a document leak scandal broke in Arthur, he was already up for impeachment for breaking by-laws.

Speaking of impeachment, VP Campaigns and Equity Boykin Smith was up for it as well. The controversy surrounding that motion inspired some 20 people to come out in his defence—no doubt this display of confidence from the student body played a part in the motion’s failure.

We have a difficult enough time trying to inspire a reporter to attend TCSA board meetings, let alone 20 of them. No doubt this is telling that more students are engaged this year than in the recent past.

This was more or less confirmed by Acting President Mayra Asmar in an interview we conducted with her for our Arthur Hour radio show, which aired Saturday.

Obviously she couldn’t provide numbers or names, but she said she’s been impressed by the interest she’s seen already.

I’m writing this just two days before the nomination deadline, so it won’t be speculation for long, perhaps not even now as you read this.

I think this will be an exciting election period. It’s not the nicest way to engage students, but at least they’re engaged.

Voting takes place online from March 16-19. Election speeches are Tuesday March 10 from 6-9pm in the Bata Library Theatre (Room 103). Debates are in the Sadleir House Lecture Hall on Thursday March 12, from 6-9pm.

I feel that there is enough judgment of the choices women make for themselves in the music scene (that is not just limited to the Peterborough scene) due to the fact that systemic oppression and misogyny is pervasive in all social spaces, as much as we would like to think it is not.

Sincerely, Calla Durose-Moya

Issues of ageing and sexuality run deeper than Cosmo and WebMD (re: “65 and sexy?” Issue 19, page 13) Dear Editors, Congratulations on Arthur’s Women’s Issue, which drew attention to some really important topics. I was particularly pleased to see the issue of aging women and sexuality raised (“65 and sexy?” by Kelly Davey). Davey is right to suggest that ‘sexual ageism’, with its insistence that sexiness is linked to youthfulness – or appearing youthful – is a real problem.

However, surveys on WebMD and articles in Cosmo don’t do justice to the breadth of contemporary research on aging and sexuality. We do aging women no favors by buying into the heteronormative and phallocentric framing that Cosmo’s solutions reflect, exemplified by extolling the beauty benefits of semen as a skin toner! (There are some pretty sexy lesbians who might take issue with that!)

And holding out for “female Viagra”? Is buying into Big Pharma’s biologically-reductive push to commodify women’s sexuality really what we aspire to as feminists?

Research on aging and sexuality tells us that there are many ways to age healthily and sexually, and I hope that this diversity is increasingly acknowledged by those of us, like Davey, who are interested in pro-

By Betty Wondimu, TCSA Women’s Commissioner

As the TCSA Women’s Commissioner and CFS delegate on March 6, 2015, I was invited to the launch of Ontario Premier Wynne’s $41 million three-year action plan to combat sexual assault.

The 13-point action plan aims to tackle workplace harassment, the prosecution of sexual assault cases, the limitation period for civil sexual assault claims and victim support and assaults on university campuses.

For several years now, discussions and talks that aim to tackle sexual assault and create safer spaces for students and members of the community have taken place.

However, such discussions were always lacking in active change, of course taking into account the climactic changes and challenges each year brings with it. Sexual assault has always existed and has endangered the safety of students on our campuses and the community at large.

Nonetheless, it always seems to create shock when we are confronted with cases, especially those involving public figures or those that receive media attention. This is despite statistics that indicate sexual assault occurs very often—if moting the idea that “the aged are sexy too”.

Barb Marshall, Trent Sociology Department

Bringing the situation to justice

(re: “Leaked Documents...” Issue 18, cover) I have chosen to write a response to the article because I feel there has been a great injustice done to the people involved, primarily former TCSA President Braden Freer, and Trent Conservatives Vice President Corey LeBlanc.

I believe I can give an unbiased response to this article by breaking down the fallacies within the article. As well, I would like to bring forward what I believe to be the main issue, something even bigger than what this story discusses.

This response may come off as support and defence for the Trent Conservative campus club and the two individuals named in the article, but that is not because I have a biased opinion in favour of them, but because I believe a defence is required to bring justice to this situation.

The term “takeover” is overused and pushed upon us (the students) to an extreme extent within this article. The accusations based on screenshots of a Facebook conversation (that we, the students, have not seen to get a clearer context of how the term was used), are twisted to lead the reader to a conclusion that the article is presenting.

In fact, the truest and most logical statement comes from Mr. LeBlanc himself at the end of the article stating, “I don’t understand what the story is here. Students get to vote in the TCSA elections, so if we had every single person that we ran elected – that’s not a takeover, that’s democracy.”

A democracy, which the TCSA is. The students are the ones with the power here, and no “takeover” is possible without the

not on a daily basis. It is a “scourge that plagues every part of our society”.

For example, one in every three female students experiences sexual violence on university/college campuses.

Prior to the announcement, I was able to be a part of the student plenary session with the Premier on addressing sexual assault on campuses. A collective concern voiced by the delegates was the lack of fiscal resources available towards combating sexual assault.

Stabilized and increased funding is stipulated in the action plan, which is indicative of student voice representation, and a model that is student/survivor centric. It is a huge victory for students and the community at large.

Although I believe that the action plan represents a huge leap forward, it will not be successful on its own. Ending sexual assault requires a cultural shift, one that values ideals of consent, ends victim blaming, promotes gender equality and denigrates rape culture and misogyny in every form (language, actions).

Premier Wynne’s 13-point action plan to combat sexual assault, titled It’s Never Okay: An Action Plan to Stop Sexual Violence and Harrassment can be found online on the Government of Ontario Women’s Directorate website: women. gov.on.ca, and trentarthur.ca. will of the students, ignoring the fact that zero Trent Conservative members are even running for positions in the TCSA this year. But all of this has already been said, debated, dismissed, and much more. The real issue lies ahead.

What bothered me about this article is the mentioned “leaked” screenshots. The article starts by stating, “Last week a series of private Facebook messages were anonymously leaked to Arthur Newspaper…”

First of all, this is not a leak. A leak would be if these screenshots were released to everyone through some means that this primary source could be seen by anyone who wanted to see it. However, this is not the case of a “leak”, but rather someone anonymously submitting stolen, private messages to Arthur and a very limited number of people (leaving a vast majority of the students with no opportunities to view these “leaked” screenshots), and having a story printed about said messages.

This story should never have reached anywhere near this far, in fact as soon as the Arthur received these illegally obtained screenshots their action should have been to contact the correct authorities immediately. A proper investigation into finding out who (assuming the Arthur is not aware) broke the online privacy laws in the process.

One main concern that I particularly have from reading this article is not related to the topic at all. What concerns me is the protection of students in the future (and perhaps the past) in regards to articles that may have accusations of a similar or even higher degree, and how legitimate the sources are that Arthur’s writers have used.

I don’t even know if I am sure I want to submit this response because of these concerns, but I do so anyway and hope for the best.

Jacob Hadley

More letters on page 18...

Election

Arthur’s spring elections are happening soon!

Elect the editor(s) and board for Volume 50 Arthur Spring Elections are coming up!

That means that it is time to elect the editor(s) and three Staff Collective Board directors for the upcoming academic year.

For more information about these positions, please consult the Arthur Policies and Procedures.

You can also contact the Arthur board at board@trentarthur.ca.

Time and Place The election will take place at 7pm on

Thursday, March 26, 2015 in the Lecture Hall of Sadleir House (room 106 wheelchair accessible). Refreshments, likely sushi, will be provided.

Agenda The Adgenda is usually as follows: 1. Editor(s) Remarks 2. Presentations of candidates for editor(s) platforms (10 minute limit per set of candidates) 3. Question Period 4. Election of Editor(s) 5. Election of three Board directors by the Staff Collective 6. Adjournment

Who can vote Only those who are on the staff collective at the time of the election can vote (the list so far is below).

- Who the Staff Collective member is voting for (or the Staff Collective member can allow the proxy holder to choose who to vote for).

Who can run for editor?

Who’s on the Staff Collective?

Candidates for the position of editor(s) You are considered part of the staff must be members of the Staff Collective at collective if you have contributed to the production of at least 15% of the issues of Arthur released before the election. For our purposes that means you must have contributed to at least three. (Again, see below.)

Proxy Votes In accordance with section 6e of the

Arthur bylaws, staff collective members may participate in the election through means of proxy vote. They may appoint, in writing, a proxy holder to vote for them in the election. The proxy holder does not need to be a member of the staff collective.

Proxies must bring: - The signature of the Staff Collective member - The date the proxy is signed - Who the proxy is giving the voting powers to and from

the time of the election. Two Staff Collective members may choose to run as co-editors.

They must have been running together to fill the positions of co-editors together.

Who can run for the Board?

Anyone who is a member of the Staff Collective at the time of the election.

Deadlines The deadline for nominations for editorial

candidates is Wednesday March 18, 2015 at Noon. All sets of editorial candidates must submit a position platform (800 word limit) and photograph by this time. These will be published online and in Issue 22.

Those wanting to run as Staff Collective directors on the board can be nominated at the Spring Election meeting and must be present to accept that nomination.

Volume 49 Staff Collective as of Issue 20

Pat Reddick Matt Rappolt Jesse Woods Renzo Costa Simon Turner Quinn Ferentzy Lindsay Thackeray Emma Cullen Adriana Sierra Calvin Beauchesne James Kerr Steve Snow Pei Hsu Keila MacPherson

Ayesha Barmania Ugyen Wangmo Caleigh Boyle George Peregudov Jack Smye Nathan Prendergast Jade Willington-Watson Jenny Fisher Brian Lukaszewicz Brian Hough Kristina Dergacheva Patrick Assink Daniel Martin Zachary Cox

Michael Eamon Sara Desmaris Hannah Collins Reba Harrison Zara Syed Crystal Peckford-McGrath Danielle Bimmer Will Willis Yumna Leghari Matthew Davidson Corey LeBlanc Elizabeth Thipphawong David Tough You?

One contribution needed: Betty Wondimu Sarah McDonald Andrew Tan Thomas Willington Melissa Zubrickas Allie Dafoe

Matt Douglas Olga Kuznietsova Jeffrey Stewart Stelios Pappas Nick Ferrio Chelsea Desrochers Leighton Schubert

Helen McCarthy Hayley Raymond Boykin Smith Bakhtawar Riaz Matthew Seaby Caitlin Coe Jasmine Harrison

Two contributions needed: Teddi Pappas Pauline Marcelo Katherine Harvey Lisa Clarke Noor Zanzoul Tori Silvera Brooke Hammer Courtney Peeters Caitlin Bragg Mike Stefanuk Robyn Smith Louise Fish ki allyne karolyn givogue Samantha Moss Kevin Ross Meaghan Gutenburg Al Slavin Lauren Roberts Gabe Pollock Duc Hein Nguyen

“

David Foster Wallace There is no such thing as not voting: you either vote by voting, or you vote by staying home and tacitly doubling the value of some Diehard’s vote.”

Liam Carrie Vanessa Stark Michael Barrett Sara Ostrowska Heather Ray Calla Durose-Moya Christopher Thompson Paul Ciuk THB Symons Nomaan Butt Laura Crump Aaditya Thakar Lauren Miller Carmen Meyette Anisah Madden Caileigh Morrison Kaitlin Jingco Bob Taylor-Vaisey Jenna Goldsmith Esprit Lecunff MacKenzie Arsenault Rachel McVety Joshua Landry Olivia Iheme

Should you be on this list?

Email editors@trentarthur.ca

Dani Richardson Montana Mellett Jon Lockyer Julie Eldridge Tom Hurley Samuel Powess Theresa Chomko Kelsey Levin Erin Mclaughlin Barbie Roberts Angel Hamilton Lester Alfonso Alaine Spiwak Amina Yusuf Bennett Bedoukian Graeme Scott Carly Hayes Kristen Niles Kelly Davey Daisy Komujuni Emily Willson Ahad Kashif Bill Shepherd Lee Shropshire

Want to be on this list?

Just contriubte to Arthur!

17

Volume 49 | Issue 20 | March 10, 2015

Opinion

Comment: OPIRG Peterborough co-ordinator should step down

By Corey LeBlanc

Controversy has surrounded OPIRG Peterborough for the better part of 2015.

The controversy began with a misguided and terribly executed boycott, divestment, sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel, one that gained wide-spread local – and national – media coverage.

The campaign included promotional material with allegedly anti-Semitic images (as said by Mr. Avi Benlolo, President of the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre for Holocaust Studies) and this controversy has now morphed into a controversy surrounding the existence of the organization itself – and its questionable finances.

Most importantly, these controversies both are centred on the decision-making of one individual: OPIRG co-ordinator and Trent University graduate, Matthew Davidson.

First and foremost is the BDS campaign

More letters to the editors...

TrentConservativesashamedofArthur (re: “Leaked Documents...” Issue 18, cover) Dear Editors, As the President of the Trent Conservatives, I am completely dismayed and offended by the article published by Arthur, which is based on information gained through illegal means, and pertains to TCSA President Braden Freer, and our (Trent Conservatives) Vice President, Corey LeBlanc.

It is very disturbing and saddening that

18

www.trentarthur.ca

and the disgusting promotional material used during Divestment Week. The promotional material in question included the Magen David, a national symbol of both the Israel State as well as the Jewish nation as a whole, and it’s defacement with a line through the centre of it.

When contacted by the Peterborough Examiner in early January, Mr. Davidson defended the image claiming that the Trent and Peterborough community who were deeply offended by it had simply misinterpreted what it was supposed to represent. I challenge Mr. Davidson to ask himself if the world simply mis-interpreted the same images used during the 1930’s in Nazi Germany.

Mr. Avi Benlolo, a prominent figure in the Canadian-Jewish community, and in the Jewish community worldwide, agrees with my sentiment, referring to the Divestment Week campaign as nothing more than a week of intolerance and hatred to-

wards our Jewish and Israeli community members – a notion which an overwhelming majority of this community agrees with (I have had a number of conversations with this community over the past several months).

Furthermore, I also question OPIRG Peterborough’s finances. Over 90% of their funding (over $85,000 in 2014) comes directly from a student levy and over 70% of that (over $62,000 in 2014) of goes directly towards OPIRG Peterborough’s staff salaries.

These finances are, in my opinion, being grossly mis-handled. OPIRG Peterborough is paying an extraordinarily large part of their budget towards the salaries of a few individuals, Mr. Davidson included.

This money could be much better spent in supporting the many fabulous initiatives OPIRG Peterborough has – such as their anti-poverty campaigns, the food bank, and their Free Market.

OPIRG Peterborough’s mandate reads, “OPIRG works to create and sustain student and community-based engagement through research, education and action on social justice and environmental issues.” I do not believe that this mandate has been followed by OPIRG Peterborough under Mr. Davidson’s leadership during the past few months.

When an organization such as OPIRG Peterborough begins to back campaigns that the vast majority of the Trent student body does not agree with, such as BDS against Israel (TCSA membership voted recently 47-28 to rescind a BDS Israel policy on January 29) while still receiving student funding – something has gone wrong.

When OPIRG Peterborough allocates over 70% of their budget directly into the bank accounts of a select few individuals, something has gone horribly wrong.

Given these facts, Mr. Davidson should step down.

Arthur would publish an article which attempts to taint two of the most hardworking and good willed people I know.

I can write, with confidence, that both Corey and Braden have never had discussions that do not focus, in nature, on anything but improving the campus experience for students attending our university.

Specifically, I have had the pleasure of getting to know Corey quite well over the past year or so; and I can proudly say that he is intensely passionate about both politics, as well as the Trent community, and how he can use his unique skills to improve both.

I can also say, that I have become familiar with Braden, and he shares the same vision as myself and Corey, in regards to the im-

provement of the campus experience for all Trent students.

I challenge Arthur, to do due diligence in finding out who stole this conversation between Corey and Braden, and I also challenge Arthur to report on the growing controversy surrounding journalistic sloppiness used in the article itself.

Fairness, and the protection of privacy should be of the utmost importance to a student-led newspaper. I am ashamed of ours.

What do YOU think we fucked up?

Let us know: editors@ trentarthur. ca

Sincerely, Rebecca Hubble President, Trent Conservatives

Clubs&Groups

Eureka: Cultural Outreach 2015, brought to you by TISA

By Adriana Sierra

This year, Cultural Outreach will showcase Trent University’s diversity and talent and will truly “Challenge The Way You Think.”

Organized yearly by the Trent International Students’ Association (TISA), Cultural Outreach brings together an impressive array of music, dance, and performances from around the world into a single show.

Cultural Outreach 2015, titled “Eureka!” is set to take place on Saturday, March 14 at 2pm and 7pm at the Showplace Performance Centre.

In a continuation of Trent’s 50th Anniversary’s motto: “Challenge The Way You Think,” the show will feature its first ever digitalized host: Eureka. Eureka is an artificial intelligence computer software that seeks to understand the world and its diversity through the show’s performances and social media outlets.

The stage will come alive with salsa, Ethiopian dances, afro-beats, Caribbean mixes, an anthem mash-up, and bhangra, just to name a few.

Eureka is a computer program created to examine human beings and their diverse cultures. Using the Internet, Eureka searches through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other social media outlets to

learn more about the human race as they go about their day-to-day lives. Such an analysis then allows her to develop a desire to be something more.

As Eureka yearns for life, she realizes that we all have something in common, something we tend to forget or become oblivious too. But little do we know that through song, dance, poetry, and any other form of art, we can definitely uncover what Eureka has as a hidden agenda.

Therefore, join us on March 14 to meet Eureka as we unravel her discoveries and gain understanding of her findings that explain how the diversification of cultures

can be connected and yet disconnected in many ways.

As an event that seeks to embody TISA’s motto: “Bridging Boundaries, Connecting Cultures, Breaking Barriers,” Cultural Outreach is a celebration of diversity and difference, but also a demonstration of how students and community members from all corners of the world can come together to create a whole that is truly spectacular.

As Maya Angelou once wrote, “In diversity there is beauty and there is strength.”

Cultural Outreach is an entirely student run event. TISA executives began planning and discussing the event since early Octo-

ber 2014, while many performers began their weekly rehearsals as early as December 2014. The first sets of auditions were held during late January, while the second sets were held in February.

Auditions for Cultural Outreach are highly competitive, as all applicants place an enormous amount of effort in their performances. For those acts that are selected to perform, rehearsals continue until the day of the show. In addition, the Cultural Outreach Organizing Committee conducts all planning leading up to the show and backstage management that ranges from lighting, to music, to props.

This event not only showcases Trent’s multiculturalism, but also provides students with an opportunity to acquire new skills, get involved, and interact with people from around the world. Behind the curtains of the Showplace Performance Centre stage, the world truly comes together in a mixture of talents, languages, costumes, and most of all, cultures.

TISA invites all Peterborough community members to join Eureka and experience a vibrant and multicultural show at Cultural Outreach 2015. We will truly challenge the way you think.

(See advertisement on page 3 for more info about tickets and pricing.)

Trent Radio: What is upsetting

By James Kerr

It is troubling the day you realize you have to pick and choose your passions. If you’re ever going to get anywhere with that book you’ve been trying to write, you’ll need to put down that guitar. Some passions must have priority over others.

Even knowing it could be years before you pick it up again, you have to put the guitar away, and try not to think about all the funky riffs you could have accomplished with your time. Instead, focus on another thing—a thing that may eventually have to be set aside for the higher priorities of life.

It feels like when you’re going through university that you have to put a lot of yourself and your interests aside. It can be difficult to keep up your educational responsibilities alongside your interests, to express yourself as a person in what you feel is important, date, and remember that the human body needs food.

After playing guitar for an hour and ar-

guing vehemently for a capital T truth and then running to class, jotting down a few lines for your book on the bus, then trying to suck in knowledge through your brain like a good education sponge during class, text messaging the person you’re interested in but still not sure about, and then text messaging the person who you are sure about but they’re not sure about you, and wasting more, more, more time through the snow and bus—that dinner still isn’t going to make itself.

Something’s gotta give.

One solution, or half-solution, is to choose complimentary interests. Maybe teach yourself protest songs—or, if this is the boat you are floating, fascist songs.

Maybe sing your homework aloud as a memorization method. I’m sure they’ll love you in the exam rooms.

Or, as is one of my favourites—make dinner and listen to the radio.

It’s as easy as chop, chop, chop, 92.7 C FFF FM. Trent Radio - we understand you’re busy.

By Steve Snow

Bong Joon-ho’s Snowpiercer (2013) is the rare comic book adaptation from last summer that breaks away from the superhero mold that viewers have grown accustomed to.

Premiering in 2013 with a wide-release in 2014, Snowpiercer, based on the 1982 French graphic novel Le Transperceneige, is a wholly original dystopian story that couldn’t be more relevant to today’s world in which issues of climate change and wealth inequity are increasingly apparent.

The film is set in the near future, in the aftermath of a failed attempt to combat the effects of global warming. The majority of humanity has been decimated due to this accident, with the only survivors being those trapped aboard a train that travels a track spanning the entire globe.

The catch is that the train cannot stop circling the earth, otherwise all those aboard will ultimately freeze to death since the earth’s temperature is so low that one will turn into a human popsicle within mere minutes of exposure. Also worth mentioning is that even if they wanted to, passengers aren’t permitted to leave the train as it is strictly controlled by the upper class.

At the tail end of the train reside the 99%, where they live in filthy, unhygienic conditions and are sustained on mysterious gelatinous protein blocks. The lower class are constantly under surveillance and are subject to routine checkups by the elite’s soldiers, in which children are taken away from their parents by force.

We quickly learn that rebelling against the soldiers involves dire consequences that leave the viewer feeling a bit squeamish and ultimately siding with the inhabitants of the back end of the locomotive.

The elite, on the other hand, unsurprisingly occupy the front cars of the train and live in luxury. Like any good dystopian narrative, clear class distinctions are made early on and it is obvious that what will unfold is a disruption of the so called ‘order’ that exists on the train.

The hero of the film, Curtis Everett (played

by Captain America himself, Chris Evans) leads the charge against the corrupt elite as the lower class force their way to the front of the train.

Will they gain control of the train? If so, then what? Is there any hope for humanity to ever overcome its own demise?

The film presents a claustrophobia to us that is on the surface literal, but upon a deeper examination, suggests that we are setting ourselves up for catastrophe due to our destructive and irresponsible behaviours not only towards the environment, but also to our fellow humans.

Film critic A.O. Scott, compares Snowpiercer to Terry Gilliam’s Brazil (which TFS screened back in the summer), and writes of the film: “At times, Snowpiercer recalls Terry Gilliam’s Brazil both in its steampunk decor and in its grimly satirical look at the workings of power and privilege in a totalitarian corporate future. Its lessons about human nature are thought-provoking, but perhaps not as memorable as its motley, eccentric display of humanity in extremis.”

The film features many familiar faces aside from Evans, including Tilda Swinton & John Hurt (Only Lovers Left Alive), Ed Harris (The Truman Show), and Song Kang-ho (The Host, 2006).

Please join us for a FREE screening of Bong Joon-ho’s Snowpiercer on Wednesday, March 18 at Market Hall Performing Arts Centre (140 Charlotte St.). The show begins at 8pm.

19

Volume 49 | Issue 20 | March 10, 2015

listings Clubs & Groups Trent Fashion Show 2015 is happening March 20 at the Venue. Doors open at 6pm. The Trent Fashion Show is a Trent University student group that hosts many events during the year, including our huge annual Runway Event. We connect Trent University with the Peterborough and Toronto community. This year we’re raising money for Peterborough’s YES Shelter for Youth and Families on Brock St. Come see this fiercely fun fashion show and enjoy exploring the art of your newly favourite designers and stores. Tickets are $10 in advance and $15 at the door. Advanced: Selling in front of Wenjack Theatre on March 18 and 19. Gently used clothing donations at the door are welcomed! All ages event - bring your ID for bar service. For more information see www.TrentFashionShow.com, or you can check us out on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or YouTube!

Trent Art Festival 2015. Don’t forget to register for the Art Festival which will be hosted by LEC March 14 from 12-7pm. Info can be found at facebook event page: “Art Festival!!” Sign up here: http://piu2015. weebly.com/ It is FREE to enter the Paint Battle and we need two individuals to represent each college in this epic paint-off (practice up your speed painting, you will only have 20 min). The second event: PaintIt-Up Team Fundraiser each team will need to raise a minimum of $50 for their registration fee due to the length of the event and the large size of the canvas. (think about it, a team of 5 is only $10 each... not bad at all!) It’s also for a good cause. All proceeds will go towards the Trent International Program to help international students play varsity sports!

“Trent Cafeteria Waste Challenge 2015” (Week of March 16) Be a Waste Warrior: put resources in their place! This competition between colleges will put Trent’s Environmental Awareness to the test! Lets see who can reduce their waste and recycle the most effectively! Goal: Compost into Green bins and Recycling into Blue bins. This reduces amount of contaminated recycling ending up in landfills. Winning college will receive: 1. “No Trash Bash” hosted

by Chartwells to celebrate= FREE snacks/ drinks, 2. Eco-certificate to be displayed by their college, 3. Bragging rights for the year ... at least until the next annual challenge where the winner will have to defend their title!

Learn to Fence! Practices are Thursday 6:30-8:15pm and Sunday 7-9pm in the Main Gym. No experience required. You need to arrive in workout gear with athletic shoes, all other equipment is provided.

It is $20 for the semester. For more information go to trentu.ca/fencing or email courtneypeeters@outlook.com

classes cover reading, writing and speaking. Weekly Arabic classes every Tuesday from 5-6pm at GCS 108. Absolutely free!

Sadleir House All events in this section take place at 751 George St N in Peterborough.

Come visit the Sadleir House Library Open Mondays 11am-4pm, 6-9pm, Tuesday 1-9pm, Wednesday 12-9pm, Thursday 1-6pm, Friday 11am-5pm, Saturday 11am-4pm in Room 107 (wheelchair accessible). The Sadleir House Library is a free lending library open to all students and community members. With over 4000 books covering general academic interest and 2000 films focusing on international titles, documentaries, art house, and LGBT interest.

Full Metal Booty Noise Jam - Sadleir House Pub Night. Thursday, March 12, 9pm-12am in the Dining Hall (room 209). Visual delights and dolphin voice soundscape crimson of strings open jam listen carefully and integrate your rhythm into a full noise experiment. Free (donations gratefully accepted) Knitting with Bonnie Jull. Tuesday, March 24, 6:30pm in the Lecture Hall (room 106, wheelchair accessible). For one and all: Learn to Knit. Refresh your skills. Learn a new technique. Bring your own supplies and a mug! Transition Skills Forum. Join us for this session; everyone is welcome. $5 or pay what you can, preferably in Kawartha Loons. Pre-registration is requested.

Contact Patricia 705 876 -6873 or patremy@ bluewin.ch The Transition Skills Forum is an all-volunteer initiative of Transition Town Peterborough and is Sponsored by Sustainable Trent. The TSF is a member of the Kawartha Loon Exchange

Trent Centre for Human Rights, Equity, and Accessibility (CHREA): MV-1 Services. The MV-1 Vehicle provides shuttle services for Trent students, staff, and faculty with a wide range of disabilities. Passengers are individuals experiencing challenges in negotiating distances, topography and pitch that are inherent in the physical landscape of Trent’s campus. The MV-1 service is free-of-charge and can take you anywhere you need to go on any Trent campus (Symons, Traill, or Water St. Residence); rides can be booked online through http:// www.trentu.ca/ohrea/mv1.php. If you have any further questions do not hesitate to contact Trent’s Andrea Walsh (Accessibility Advisor) at 705-748-1011 Ext. 6002.

Walkhome—Trent’s safe walk service. Late class? Working in the lab? Call us for a walk; 25 minutes from Symons or Traill (downtown) Hours of operation: Monday to Friday: 7pm to 1am, Saturday & Sunday: 9pm to 1am 705-748-1748

Come learn basic to advanced Arabic! Our

Walkhome—Pre-book your safe walk. Do you regularly have practice Monday night,

SUDOKU

Weekly Open Mics EVERY Thursday evening at 8pm at the Trend pub in Traill college!

Hosted by the Trent University Music Society. Bring your instruments or just come to listen for a night of good music and good company. Free admission, all welcome! More info: trentumusic@gmail.com.

send yours to listings@trentarthur.ca

work in the Library Tuesday night or go downtown Friday night? Our team of volunteers walkers can meet you, on campus or downtown. Monday to Friday: 7pm to 1am, Saturday & Sunday: 9pm to 1am. Call us 705- 748-1748 or email walkhome@tretnu.ca to Prebook a walk.

Worried about a course this semester? We want to help! Register for the Academic Mentoring Program to request an upper-year student mentor. Mentors meet regularly with students to discuss course concepts and build an understanding of course material. To request a mentor, or to volunteer, visit trentu.ca/academicskills/ peermentoring.php.

Do your class readings seem overwhelming?

Could you use a little help organizing your study time? The Academic Skills Centre is the best place to come to get your daily academic life under control! Book an appointment online through your Student Experience Portal at trentu.ca/sep. Click on “Book Appointments” and select “Academic Skills”. We’re located at Suite 206 in Champlain College and our services are always free!

Local Development Drinks at St Veronus, hosted

by Jamaican Self Help. Join Jamaican SelfHelp, a local NPO, on the last the last Tuesday of every month (except for April) for Development Drinks. This an open forum to discuss current topics and issues in International Development. Open to anyone interested. The next event will be held on March 31.

An eclectic group of editors and writers, we meet the last Monday of every month from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the Community Room at Princess Gardens in Peterborough, Ontario.

We network and share training and educational opportunities. We also bring in speakers and learn from one another. Trent students who are interested in learning more about editing or business writing are welcome. No dues or fees. We’re an open, not-for-profit organization. Contact: Jane Davidson 705-772-7692. bestwritecom@gmail. com. www.bestwritecommunications.net Travel AND work over the summer - get certified during Reading Week! Travel/ Teach English -TEFL Certification with The TESL Trainer at One World ESL School. www.tesltrainer.ca Contact: tesltrainer@sympatico. ca ESLHelp & Editing.

Contact: worldeslschool@sympatico.ca

one-

St. John’s Ambulance Standard First Aid Our Standard Certificate is valid for 3 years! Includes CPR and AED training! This course provides a certificate in Standard First Aid & a CPR/AED certificate. 13 to 14.5 hours of instructional time (2 days); includes 435-page First Aid/CPR/AED book. **This course is required by the WSIB if your place of work employs more than 5 employees per shift.** Upcoming sessions: Weekdays(8:30-4) March 19-20, 25-26, or Combo Course SFA/Level-C CPR (8:30-5:00) Mar 14-15, 19-20, 21-22, 25-26, 28-29,

Thursday

Friday

Contact: sjapeterborough@bellnet.ca, 705745-0331, sja.ca St. John’s Ambulance CPR Recertification (Weekdays at 6:30 pm, or Saturdays at 1:00) Mar 10 or 21. Call for additional dates, or organize your own group at a convenient time at any location--discounts for groups! sjapeterborough@bellnet.ca, 705745-0331, sja.ca

Arts Kris & Will: Arenalodge. Exhibition runs until March 28 at Artspace, 378 Aylmer Street North.

Collage party Hosted by Curated and Emily Wilkins. Friday, March 13, 7pm at Curated (203 Simcoe Street, Unit 5, Charlotte Mews) Free! https://www.facebook.com/ events/788206394607494 The Losing Hand album release show, with special guests Beef Boys and DJ WJoel at the Gordon Best Theatre (above the Only Cafe). Saturday, March 14, starting at 9pm.

The Peterborough Storytellers usually meet on the third Wednesday of the month, from 7 to 9 at the Peterborough Public Library.

Our next meeting will be on March 18 (World storytelling day. Theme “Wishes”).

Collage party Hosted by Curated and Emily Wilkins. Friday, March 13, 7pm at Curated (203 Simcoe Street, Unit 5, Charlotte Mews) Free! More info: https://www.facebook.com/ events/788206394607494 5Rhythms Waves Classes and Weekend Workshops. Rock yourself right down into your hips, out of your head and into your heart!

Come put your body into motion and re-awaken to your soulful self. Gabriel Roth’s dynamic movement meditation practice, www.5rhythms.com, is offered every Monday night in Peterborough 7-8:30pm, $15, at All Saints Anglican Church Hall 235 Rubidge St. Peterborough K9J 3N9. Weekend workshop in the 5Rhythms Fri. March 27 7-9pm & Sat. March 28 11am-5pm. Contact katehuband@ gmail.com 705.304 6186 www.5rhythms.com/ teachers/Kate+Huband The Theatre on King is happy to welcome Dianne Latchford and her new class Intro to Tap Dance running every week through March 16 from 7pm - 8:30pm. Only $10! Haven’t you always wanted to try tap dance? It looks like so much fun. Well – here’s the good news – it is! TTOK, 159 King Street, #120 (around back) Kawartha Youth Orchestra presents “Stories and Music” on March 21. Share the magic of stories through music with your little ones as we tell the tales of Babar the little Elephant and more! A great afternoon treat for the young and young at heart. Celebrity Guest Narrator Melody Thomas joins the Peterborough Symphony on stage again at Market Hall Theater for both 2pm and 3:30pm. Tickets are $30 for adults, $10 for youth. Call the box office at (705) 7491146 or visit them online to buy tickets!

Send your listings to: listings@trentarthur.ca

Saturday

t TUMS Open Mic @ The t Bobby Brioux w/ guest t TISA presents CulTrend (8pm) @ The Tankhouse (5:30pm) tural Outreach 2015 @ Showplace (8pm) t Ersatz, Slowly Slow- t Bill Bisset & David ly, Maggie Self, & more Bateman @ The Garnet t The Losing Hand album @ The Spill (9pm) (7pm) release w/ Beef Boys @ The Gordon Best Theatre t Penny Blacks @ The t The James Barker Band (9pm) Garnet (10pm) @ The Bourbon Barrel Saloon (9pm) t Sic Puppies @ The Red Dog (9pm) t $2 Punk Night @ The Spill (9pm) t Trent Radio presents A Fantastic Evening of Mut The Silver Hearts @ sic @ The Spill (9pm) The Garnet (10pm) tThe Photogenics, Boogie Infection, and Patrick Dorie @ The Garnet (10pm)

This Weekend in Live Music: presented by ElectricCityLive.ca