Volume 51 Issue 8

Volume 51 | Issue 8 | November 7, 2016

INside:

A glimpse of Diwali, a Festival of Lights, hosted at Champlain College by South Asian Association at Trent

A look at the DPL Protests

Cover by Samantha Moss

Students attend new bookstore on trent radio Secret Path screening hunter street crossword on page 11

Editors-in-chief Yumna Leghari & Zara Syed editors@trentarthur.ca @TrentArthur /ArthurNews

Photographer Samantha Moss @MossWorks

Copy Editor Turkish Coup Plotter

CONTENTS Volume 51 Issue 8

Feature

Opinion

November 7 2016

• Pg 3: Editorial

News

• Pg 4: Dakota Access Pipeline • Pg 4: Calais camp

Campus • Pg 5: Harry Kitchen Lecture • Pg 5: TCSA’s Healthy Living Campaign • Pg 6: Friendship Bench • Pg 6: Trent Archery at Ryerson • Pg 7: Day of Action at Trent

Pg. 8 & 9: SAAT hosts Diwali in the Great Hall!

Community

• Pg 11: Trent Radio Crossword • Pg 12: Arthur goes to Council • Pg 13: Hunter Street Books

Arts

• Pg 10: FFPL screens Gord Down- • Pg 14: TFS presents Withnail & I • Pg 15: Zuze live at Catalina’s ie’s Secret Path

Board of Directors Chair: Anthony Moniz Secretary: Josh Skinner Member at Large: Ugyen Wangmo • Jordan Porter • Jeffery Moore • Shannon LeBlanc • Zach Muto

Contributors • Yumna Leghari • Zara Syed • Shanese Steele • Scott Maufront• Theresa Benedict • Samantha Moss •Marina Wilke • Berfin Aksoy • Holly Stark • Clay Duncalfe • Mauricio Interiano • Jordan Porter • Josh Skinner • Trent Radio • Tyler Majer •Trent Film Society Submissions due Thursdays at 12:00 pm Issue 9: November 10th Issue 10: November 17th Articles should be subitted via email as *.rtf, *.odt, *.odt or *.txt attachment | word limit: 800 words.

Letters to the editor | word limit: 100 words Listings, annoucements | word limit: 100 words Images should be submitted via email, Google Drive, Dropbox or other firesharing site. Images should be sent as attachments in *.jpeg and *.tiff formats with a dpi of no less than 300 pixels Arthur reserves the right to edit for length and clarity.

Opinions expressed in this publication do not reflect those of Arthur staff, volunteers or its Board of Directors.

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Last week’s feature on Catalina’s was written by Marina Wilke, with thanks to Mizzu Bodo for being our lovely model. Makeup by Nicola Butler of Blushed Beauty Makeup & Aesthetics on George Street. Hair by Karyn Farr. To contact Karyn for some amazing hair talent call 1-343-369-9997 or email KarynFarr.53@gmail.com. We apologize for the missing credits to those who helped make this feature possible.

As punishment, copy editor Turkish Coup Plotter has not received his weekly 90 lashes.

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Join us for our Annual General Meeting on November 20th at 5pm in the Sadleir House Lecture Hall

Editorial: the Arthur alternative

OPINION

Photo of Toronto DPL protest provided by Daisy Komujuni

Zara Syed Saturday November 5th was an iconic day, alive with protest. Hordes of people gathered in Toronto and Halifax to show solidarity with the Sioux Reservation in North Dakota.

Daisy Komujuni, a past Arthur writer, attended the Dakota Pipeline Access (DPL) protest in Toronto, and had much to report on the atmosphere of the protest. “It was really peaceful and well-organized, people brought their children and there was a lot of love and solidarity in the air,” Komujuni said. “There was support from local police as well, they assisted in protecting the protesters, which went with the spirit of the protest and what we were trying to achieve.”

I wasn’t made aware of this protest from the news, but rather, through Komujuni’s Snapchat story. There has been a media blackout concerning the DPL protests in the United States.

One only needs to flip to any American news channel to see that the electoral circus of the presidential race has obscured any attention the DPL protests could be receiving. Activism and journalism go hand in hand, and Arthur Newspaper takes pride in the power of focused, student-driven journalism that strives to expose stories no one else is covering.

So far, Volume 51 has explored various campus issues, such as last week’s article on the lack of diversity in courses offered

by Trent University, reported passionately

by Shanese Steele. The voices of students and community members matter, and as we have mentioned before, being a paper that isn’t endorsed or funded by a corporate entity gives Arthur the freedom to explore certain issues other publications may not cover.

On the 5th of November, a masked man was seen holding a sign that said “Stop Corporate Bailouts”. The activist, who gave me permission to be photographed, told Arthur that he had just come from a protest held in Peterborough for the Million Mask March, held in support of hacktivist group Anonymous. The MMM protests have gathered controversy in the media for the arrests over hundreds of Guy Fawkes mask-wearing protesters in London.

“We approached CHEX TV and other news outlets to help us advertise but we never heard back,” the masked man told Arthur. The Peterborough branch of Million Mask March drew approximately 30 people on Saturday, having so far received no media coverage.

In this issue you will see an article on the DPL protests at Standing Rock reservation, and as editors we could not be more proud that the Arthur staff is passionate about covering deeper issues not highlighted by mainstream media organizations. Arthur is the alternative news source to mass media news, and we only want to further that reputation by reaching out to activists in the community. Arthur is here to give them that voice.

The only way a student newspaper can do this is to hire reporters steeped with the talent and drive to cover news that mainstream journalism is increasingly failing to report on. When asked what it was like be-

ing at the protest as a past Arthur reporter, Komujuni commented, “once you become a part of Arthur, it never leaves you. One gets so busy trying to make a life after university, having a job and your own life, but when I went to the protest it felt as though I had never left that activist mindset. It’s like I picked up where I left off.”

As editors who care about diversity and the representation of issues that impact people of colour, we aim to further spread the word on events like Diwali, as in this issue, and Pink Hijab Week, which will be highlighted in our next issue. This year’s Diwali was a successful celebration hosted by the South Asian Association at Trent (SAAT). This event only came together because the Trent community worked diligently at marking an occasion that isn’t recognized in Canada as a statutory holiday.

Holidays celebrated by Sikhs, Muslims and Hindus such as Eid and Diwali bring together an international community of secular and devout folks alike, yet this holiday has no official designation along the lines of conventional, largely secularized occasions like Christmas or Thanksgiving. Who will care about these initiatives enough to recognize them? When the media chooses not to focus on the real issues that are happening around us, that is the most dangerous form of oppression that is almost impossible to fight against.

Take the American elections for example. This is a topic I have personally chosen not to give any attention to. The sensationalization of Clinton and Trump is entirely a distraction from crucial international news, such as the current struggle in North Dakota. The DPL protests have not been brought up once during the debates. This is indicative of a dangerous level of calculated ignorance within candidate platforms.

The pipeline issue can be traced back to people who hold the power to make decisions on our lands and our rights. Even if the DPL was a topic of discussion between presidential candidates, how much good could come of it? The pipeline is President Barack Obama’s project. Indigenous people of the Sioux Reservation have had enough.

They are being shot at and tear gassed because they will not let their land be robbed and desecrated for a pipeline. Obama was supposed to be the president who ran on the promise of change, but in the end is silent in the face of injustice.

Many Canadians have speculated that what is happening in the States is only a foreshadowing of what will happen here.

A CBC article by Anjuli Patil on the DPL protests that took place in Halifax discusses the parallels between Nova Scotia and the North Dakota. Gordon Downie publically put pressure on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to make good on his promises to mend relations with First Nations during a Tragically Hip concert in Kingston on August 20th.

With Trudeau’s support of the Keystone XL Pipeline, an pipe extension that Obama and Clinton did not support, it is clear that Downie’s optimism for Trudeau being a champion of environmental and Indigenous issues has, so far, not proven true.

Whatever the future holds, you can count on Arthur Newspaper to report on the facts that other media outlets will not.

Volume 51| Issue 8 | November 7 | 2016

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NEWS

What you need to know about the Dakota Access Pipeline Jordan Porter

We have heard a lot about the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAP) or Bakken Pipeline in the last month or so, and we can thank the efforts of the North Dakotan tribe of Standing Rock Sioux for bringing it to the world’s attention.

So what exactly is the DAP? This massive, $3.7 billion oil line investment is projected to run 1,134 miles across four states (from North Dakota to Illinois) and will allegedly provide a significant boost to U.S. economic growth and activity. According to Dakota Access LLC, a division of Energy Transfer Partners operating out of, you guessed it, Dallas, Texas, the pipeline will help reduce the need for rail and truck transportation. The pipeline will have the capacity to transport up to 570,000 barrels of crude sweet oil per day to various refineries and achieve greater energy independence for the United States.

In other words, the Standing Rock Sioux are standing in the way of big, big money.

On a DAP promotional site, it is boasted that this line will be in service by the end of this year, and that they are working with landowners and stakeholders to solidify the route: “As an operating principle, Dakota Access Pipeline is committed to working with individual landowners to make accommodations, minimize disruptions, and achieve full restoration of impacted land […] It is our intent to live up to our promises of openness, honesty and responsiveness before, during and after construction and throughout operations.”

Upon scrutiny, it can be safely said that the language of “individual landowners” was chosen very carefully by the company in light of the messy, ongoing debate surrounding Native American land rights.

The Standing Rock reservation has been robbed of treaty land once again, and what’s worse is that there was no attempt at negotiation. The oil companies in charge have simply rolled through this territory and showed no signs of stopping. The people of Standing Rock had no choice but to once again come together and fight for their land and way of life. Unfortunately, the protestors, although peaceful and fully within their rights, have been treated like animals. They have been met with a heavyhanded military task force whose only responsibility is moving the protestors out of the way of construction. Reports paint a picture of containment methods that sound positively dehumanizing. Floris White Bull, a protestor in a YouTube video from a local newscast in the area, gives us a glimpse:

“We were caged in dog kennels, sat on the floor, and we were marked with numbers.”

It should also be noted that these protestors were unarmed, and without any weapons besides their passion for their homeland and chants such as “Water is life” and “Oil belongs in soil”. Although the Morton County Sheriff ’s Office claims that protestors were throwing rocks, logs, and other debris at them, with one alleged firearm shot, protestors roundly deny this.

Before detaining the protestors, police shot pepper spray bombs and a sound cannon into the crowd, then moved in. Thankfully, due to the generosity of an anonymous source, all protestors that were charged and imprisoned were set free on bail after a mysterious $2.5 million bail-out of all 141 detained protesters was submitted to the sheriff ’s office only two days after charges were laid. It is hard to consider these unwarranted arrests as anything short of an attempt at a quick fix to displace the residents and get on with construction. Many

of the Standing Rock protesters aptly pointed out that earlier in the year, a number of armed protestors at a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon were acquitted without charges while they were not.

One of the main issues of this controversy is that the DAP is scheduled to stomp right through Lake Oahe, a water source and sacred site that is integral to the survival and lifestyle of a number of local reservations. This site is also the resting place of sacred remains that have already been desecrated. A report from CNN last week stated that the disruption of this land would most certainly threaten tribe members’ economic and environmental wellbeing.

The cause is beginning to garnish national attention, with support coming from all throughout the United States and celebrities weighing in on the issue such as Divergent star Shailene Woodley. Concern over the matter has transcended borders, with a support rally held this past Saturday in downtown Toronto that included more than 4,000 Standing Rock sympathizers from across Canada and the world. First Nations in Canada have also shown their overwhelming support and can sympathize with the Standing Rock tribe after their own Treaty 3 rights have been dismissed several times by the Canadian government.

In the wake of all this chaos, dozens of Native Americans from Oklahoman tribes have gathered at their state capitol to voice their anger on the treatment of the Standing Rock protestors. The perpetual fight struggle continues.

Calais camp closure: a microcosm of a greater crisis Josh Skinner

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As of October 26th, a refugee camp that housed close to 7,000 migrants attempting to gain entry to the United Kingdom was dismantled in Calais. Despite affecting a comparatively small number, (the refugee camp in Zaatari, Jordan houses 77,000 while 200,000 of the 2.5 million refugees in Turkey are in one of a handful of camps) this closure is significant, and is a microcosm of the migrant crisis gripping Europe. The Calais camp’s dismantling epitomizes the ugly conditions faced by those living in hastily constructed refugee slums, as well as the apathy of French and British leaders in dealing with the issue.

History has a way of repeating itself. The camp in Calais was originally established by the Red Cross in 1999 and was designed to accommodate 500 people. The camp population grew well past its capacity and had 2,000 people in it by the time it was closed in 2002, and an estimated 800 when it was forcibly shut down again in 2009.

Over a decade since its founding, bulldozers have returned once again to the shantytown on the outskirts of the Atlantic port city to further displace the displaced.

The conditions in the Calais camp were atrocious. Sanitation and sewage were non-existent, which led to rampant dysentery and other diseases not associated with France since the Middle Ages. The camp itself was divided geographically by ethnicity, lumping together Afghani and Pakistani refugees, Eritreans and Ethiopians. In July, a brawl between different camp factions that involved as many as 200 individuals claimed the life of one man. The frustration and hysteria in these camps are plain to see, and with the relative inaction of European states, it is not hard to see why.

Residents of the camp at Calais were

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attempting to gain entry into the UK through both legal and illegal means. The legal method involves filling out forms and waiting years in a camp knowing that there is healthy chance that the submitted application will be denied. The illegal method involves risking death by electrocution via fences that would bar those from entering the Eurotunnel, a 50 km long rail tunnel connecting France to Britain.

The reasoning behind travelling to Britain instead of France varies from human to human, but two tend to dominate. The first being that the migrant may have family that is already settled within the UK, who might provide a social network to rely on upon arrival. This is regarded by many as the best way to ensure a path to integration for migrants, whether it is through the family providing housing and stability or knowing the right places to look for work.

The second reason stems from a perception among migrants that the UK is a soft landing spot for finding work. Migrants

believe that the UK has more lenient labor laws than those in France, and this is expected to facilitate entering the job market for those who successfully claim asylum.

There is also widespread belief amongst migrants in there being a greater opportunity to gain employment in England’s black market than there is in France. These notions are backed more by perception than reality, but is a factor.

Regardless, these beliefs fan the flames of xenophobia among some Brits who believe that those seeking entry into the UK are not refugees but welfare-sucking vampires looking to drain the greatest country on God’s green earth of its precious resources. Nevermind the fact that Britain

built this reputation on the wealth it created by sending migrants abroad to look for greater economic opportunity.

In bulldozing this camp, France rendered this debate moot, as the former residents will be assimilated and processed by the French authorities. For those who were looking to reunite with family in the UK, this is devastating. For more detached observers, the attitude that these people should be grateful that they are being given an opportunity to become citizens in Western Europe reigns supreme.

There is no easy answer on how to react to this move by French authorities. The conditions that existed at the camp were objectively unacceptable. This development shows that the government is taking direct action to address the humanitarian crisis taking place within its borders. But it also represents a robbing of agency for individuals who intended to claim asylum in Britain.

Refugee camps have to be temporary, and in lockstep with the nature of the migrant crisis, the dismantling of the Calais camp was not ideal. Despite this, the action taken by France shows that it is not going to let refugees undergo inhumane living conditions. It would not have come to this if Britain had taken the “open door” approach to migrants that Germany did.

There are millions of migrants in Europe, and it is time for the “civilized world” to take genuine policy action to learn how they are going to accommodate these people. Hopefully, future actions taken will not be as heavy-handed as the events in Calais.

“ The Calais camp’s dismantling epitomizes the ugly conditions faced by those in migrant camps...”

CAMPUS

Cooking the books in the Harry Kitchen Lecture Series

Josh Skinner On November 2nd, Bill Robson, President of the C.D. Howe Institute, an independent economic think tank, brought the roof down in Gzowski 115. He delivered a high-octane lecture about the benefits of sensible budgeting to a room of over a couple dozen people. This wasn’t a patronizing lecture about why students should buy off-brand marble cheese to achieve the best of both worlds in a single block. This

was a roller coaster ride about federal, provincial, and municipal budgets.

Bill Robson graced Trent University with his presence as part of the 9th annual Harry Kitchen Lecture Series. Professor Kitchen himself made an appearance and spoke briefly with bombast about the importance of teaching students the right skills to succeed as economists of the future. The professor was with Trent University from 1968 until 9 years ago, when this lecture series was named in his honor.

The lecturer of the hour brought an energy that is linked, no doubt, to his 15 years of working with an economic think tank. In 2000 Bill Robson was the Director of Research at the C.D. Howe Institute, Senior Vice President at 2003, and President by 2006. During this time Robson has published 200 monographs, making him a prolific performer in economics. Robson is also a regular presence on the CBC, having clocked numerous appearances on The Big Picture panel, providing hot takes for the world.

The talk, titled Baffling Budgets and Odd Outcomes, highlighted budgeting malpractices that his institute has helped to combat at the federal and provincial levels. He refers to a practice of under-reporting revenue and spending in budgets that are published at the beginning of parliamentary

sessions. This practice, according to Robson, began with the Chrétien government in the early 90’s, while Paul Martin was Minister of Finance. It was used to gloss over a large budgetary deficit the Liberal government had promised to erase during the 1993 federal campaign that won them a parliamentary majority. This practice of over-stating projected costs was credited with “erasing” the deficit and came to be common-place.

This allowed the Liberal government of the early 90’s to curb spending which was used to service the deficit. Critics point out that this under-reporting of revenue also allowed deep cuts to social welfare spending.

Robson’s objections to this practice fall in line with the mission statement of the C.D. Howe Institute, which is to “raise living standards by fostering economically sound public policies”. He also stated that in times of crisis, governments must spend to alleviate the effects of economic shocks to citizens, but in times of prosperity, that governments should focus on frugal fiscal policy to ensure that there is money to spend during those aforementioned crises.

He believes that when this practice is used in times of prosperity it lends itself to bad policy. He pontificated that politicians who discover a large sum of money at the

end of a budget cycle are prone to spend the money hastily on projects. Robson believes that such ventures that are wedged into the final hours of a parliamentary session are prone to failing to meet their stated goals, or have unintended consequences.

When asked about why governments do this, Bill Robson cited risk aversion as being a prime factor. In a matter-of-fact tone, Bill discussed how governments always want to end a year with a surplus, which communicates to constituents that they are fiscally responsible, which restores people’s faith in a party’s ability to govern.

It was because of these concerns that the C.D. Howe Institute decided to comb through budgetary reports of federal and provincial governments and lobby for them to change this practice.

Since 2014 the under-predicting of revenue has been on the decline amongst both provincial and federal governments, although municipalities still receive dismal grades according to their metric.

When asked about why young people should care about budgetary reporting, Robson responded, “What’s happening now is that governments are pushing and hiding costs into the future, so what we are trying to do is to shine a light on this practice and let the people decide if this practice is appropriate.”

A look at TCSA’s Healthy Living Week Campaign Mauricio Interiano This week the TCSA is hosting its first Healthy Living campaign. In the past the TCSA has been actively involved in Trent’s food services. Some of you will recall the Raw Deal study the TCSA published in 2012 that exposed many of the issues then present in our food services model. The TCSA runs numerous campaigns focused on the mental and overall wellbeing of students, but specific methods to better achieve a healthy living lifestyle have not been previously addressed.

“After advising with the executives, we have decided that an active lifestyle and healthy eating habits are in fact the integral components of the health and academic success of the students and that these topics deserve a special attention,” replied Anna Leonova, Vice President University & College Affairs, when asked about the importance of the topic.

The goal of the week-long campaign is to promote the benefits of an active lifestyle, not in a generic way, but from a scientific point of view. Dean of Nursing Dr. Kirsten Woodend, Kinesiology professor Dr. Ingrid Brenner, chemistry professor Dr. Anthony Chibba, Gzowski College athletics representative Hannah Cahill, Trent dietitian Lise Leahy, and Trent Excalibur rower Matthew Seaby are part of the professional team that will help send the message out to students.

With the onset of midterms, essays and cold weather, we are fortunate to now also have a lot of support from Trent’s Food Services during Healthy Food Week. The week unfolds as follows.

Monday November 7th “Healthy Monday” will see no fries or onion rings on campus. Today, Symons Campus will be deep-fryer free. Leonova explains, “Deep-frying is a separate issue on its own. I am very interested in gathering the feedback after this pilot project.

Deep-frying is something many schools have already gotten rid of and I am very interested if our community is ready to make a step forward as well”

Tuesday November 8th A Biochemistry seminar with Dr. Chibba will take place at 12 pm in OC 208. Dr. Chibba will focus on the chemical aspects of fast-food and the diseases associated with the consumption of it. He will explain the chemical composition of trans fat and answer any questions about fast food. The aim of the seminar is to make students aware of the consequences of consuming these types of food. Leonova adds, “There is an outrageous amount of purchased fast food items on campus every year.”

The TCSA is also collaborating with the Athletics Department in facilitating two fitness classes: HIIT circuit training on Tuesday at 8 pm and a boxing class on Thursday at 8 pm.

athlete, the layouts of the varsity season, and more on the lives of athletes.

Throughout the week, students will have a chance to get stamps in their special passports as they attend the seminars and events. On Friday, right after the final seminar, the TCSA will be collecting thecompleted passports for the raffle with a chance to win a SportCheck gift card.

The TCSA will gather feedback from

the week, provide different materials and inform students about the services they can receive as members of the TCSA. At the same time, the ‘Leave the Pack Behind’ campaign, a campus anti-smoking program, will also be happening to create more awareness of healthy living throughout the whole week. You can find more information and the full schedule on the TCSA Facebook page.

Wednesday November 9th There will be a nursing seminar with Dr. Woodend at 2 pm in BL 103. This session will focus on the effects of healthy eating on learning capabilities and mental heath.

In the evening, from 5-7pm, the Seasoned Spoon is welcoming everybody to their Kombucha-making workshop. Kombucha is a fermented tea with plenty of health benefits.

Thursday November 10th The “Fitness Foods” seminar will cover nutrition myths and facts at 4:30 pm in CC307. The Trent dietitian, Lise Leahy, will be presenting about artificial protein shakes, steroids, food supplements, and more. “All of these products are widely used by the students,” points out Leonova.

“The consumption of such products can be very dangerous and we wanted to create a special awareness.”

This same afternoon at 5:00 pm in CC 307, Dr. Brenner will be hosting a Kinesiology seminar to talk about the importance of physical activity on physical and mental health.

Friday November 11th A group of Trent athletes led by Seaby will be sharing their knowledge and experience about varsity teams: the process of getting involved, the benefits of being an

Volume 51 | Issue 8 | November 7 | 2016

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CAMPUS

“Yellow is for Hello”: Trent’s Friendship Bench and de-stigmatizing mental health Holly Stark “Happiness is the only good. The time to be happy is now. The place to be happy is here.

The way to be happy is to make others so.”

-Robert Green Ingersoll The “Yellow is for Hello” bright yellow Friendship Bench is to be installed at upper Bata Podium after the launch event on Monday, November 7th from 2 to 4 pm in the Champlain Great Hall. The free event, open to all, will have live acoustic music from Duncan Ivany and Dickie & The Boys, refreshments, giveaways, a photo booth, de-stress activities, and keynote speakers.

There will also be the opportunity to write a message, draw a picture, or encourage any positivity inside a #yellowisforhello card for someone else to take away as a reminder of the event and the importance of talking about mental health.

With suicide as the second leading cause of death among Canadians aged 15-34 and with more than 50% of students suffering from depression, many never reporting it to friends, family, or professionals, the Friendship Bench launch recognizes the urgency to reduce the number of young people suffering in silence. Unlike one-off campaign events, the bench will serve as an everyday, ongoing visual reminder and educational source for students to take a minute out of their day to sit, breathe, think, talk, and learn more about mental health.

This nonprofit corporation was launched by the friends and family of Lucas Fiorella, a Canadian student at Carleton who took his own life in October 2014 after suffering from depression in secret for several years.

Fiorella was a seemingly happy, silly, and funny student to all who knew him, but battled in silence. Despite his hidden suffering, Lucas took the time to talk to others about their own problems. He understood that students could not or would not ask for help, despite the resources available to them or the number of friends and family surrounding them.

The project continues Fiorella’s selfless acts and efforts to reach out to others suffering from anxiety or depression. Each of his conversations, prompting the courage to talk, began with a “hello”. His family and friends therefore use the simple, yet important message of saying “hello” as a driving force behind their campaign. The Lucas Fiorella Friendship Bench was created to continue his legacy, to create a physical place where people who cannot ask for help may receive support.

Arthur sat down with Alaine Spiwak, President of Trent Central Student Association, in her office covered with yellowcoloured cards, buttons, and other promotional materials, to discuss the launch of the Friendship Bench at Trent University, the ‘Yellow is for Hello’ campaign, and the importance of de-stigmatizing mental health.

a higher rate. The Canadian Mental Health Association says that 70% of mental health problems and illnesses have their onset during childhood or adolescence. It’s clear that the stigmatization of mental health is prohibiting students from accessing the help and supports they need. It’s okay to talk about mental health, and as a university community it is important for us to look out for one another. The launch event in the Great Hall is where we’ll unveil the bench we bought for campus to everyone in the community; it’s 6 feet and bright yellow! The campaign is called “Yellow is for Hello” and the idea is that when you see the bench you’re encouraged to talk about mental health. If someone is sitting on it, you can go and say hello to them, introduce yourself and meet new people. We want to encourage peer to peer conversation about mental health among students in order to drive greater awareness and knowledge of the prevention and support services available.”

tal Health Association coming, and Active Minds, our Trent group, will be there. The Friendship Bench organization will also be there talking about what the bench means.

Everyone should come to our launch event to kick off the campaign!”

On Healthy Living Week

“The Friendship Bench was a project I heard about in the summer, and I knew right away it was something the TCSA wanted to see happen at Trent. This suicide prevention awareness initiative is very pertinent to our campus and campuses across Canada because mental health issues statistically affect post-secondary students at

“On the bench, there’s a plaque that has a URL built in that links students to on- and off-campus mental health resources and the Friendship Bench website right from their electronic devices. It pings your IP address, so it knows you’re on Trent’s campus, and uses that to load Trent and Peterborough resources. It asks you “Hey, need someone to talk to?” and loads everything you might need that is close to you. At the event, we’ll be reminding people of the resources that we have on campus and in the community. The Wellness Center is partnering up with us on it, we have the Canadian Men-

“The launch coincides with Healthy Living Week; the dates fell nicely together!

For the TCSA, a big part of healthy living is mental health, not just your physical health. It’s a great way to kick off the week.

There’ll be more exam de-stressing events and therapy dogs coming at the end of November and the beginning of December.

We’re trying to do a lot more than other years. Everyone has a role to play in destigmatizing mental health on campus. We hope that the Friendship Bench will help students make connections with one another, and will serve as a constant reminder of our commitment to mental health in the Trent community.”

According to The National College Health Assessment (NCHA) 2016 report, 71.3% of Trent students felt very lonely sometime in the last 12 months.

Early reports from campuses who have already implemented the bench state that they’ve seen approximately 18% increase in the number of students seeking help by reaching out to oncampus teams for support. To find out more about the initiative, visit www.thefriendshipbench.org or www. yellowisforhello.org, and for more about Trent and Peterborough community’s wellbeing resources, visit https://www.trentu.ca/wellness/.

After a few warm-up shots, the competition got underway with everyone eager to get shooting. This was the first time at an archery competition for many participants, but the vibe was relaxing for everyone and was more focused on just having fun.

The shooting went for about an hour, with ten ends, or rounds, of scoring three arrows per end. At the end of the competition, prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place archers were rewarded.

Stephanie Brenay, a Trent alum and oneyear member of the Archery Club placed 3rd with a score of 212. Rene GillilandRocque of Ryerson University placed 2nd with a score of 232. Steven David, the Trent Archery coach, placed 1st with a score of 235. After the end of the competition, pizza was served and attendants mingled while some continued shooting idly at the targets.

Everyone had a lot of fun interacting

with other archery enthusiasts and sharing in their common passion. There were many requests from the students to hold this sort of club vs. club contest more often.

The next possible competition for the Trent Archery Club will be the Inter-University Archery Tournament in 2017 which will include archery clubs from universities across Ontario.

Email trentarchery@gmail.com for more info or find us on Facebook!

On the Friendship Bench

On resources for mental health

Archery Club hits the bullseye against Ryerson University

Theresa Benedict

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Trent Archery went to Ryerson University on Saturday for some friendly competition.

The club had been invited back in October for a potential competition and with the aim of establishing connections between clubs for future collaborations. This is the first year of doing archery for some Trent members, while others were coming up on their one year anniversary with the club.

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CAMPUS

TCSA and RSM organize day of action against high tuition costs Source: Peterborough RSM FaceBook Page

Scott Maufront On Wednesday, November 2nd students and activists across the country mobilized in coordination with the Canadian Federation of Students to advocate for substantial reforms in the financing of post-secondary education.

The Trent Central Student Association, in conjunction with the Peterborough Revolutionary Student Movement (RSM), organized a day of mobilization and advocacy. The event began at noon on Bata Podium. Approximately forty people gathered and began to march across campus chanting and waving signs. The event concluded with Ken Kollontai (RSM) and Brendan Campbell (TCSA) addressing the crowd to highlight the importance of this issue.

In recent years we have seen students around the world begin to mobilize in response to high education costs. Students across Québec famously protested tuition hikes in 2012. Students at universities in Hessen, Hamburg, and across Bavaria gathered en masse back in 2012-13 (ultimately pushing a nation-wide referendum that led to the scrapping in tuition fees in 2013) while 2016 has already seen national student movements challenge their governments in both South Africa and Ireland. Students all around the world are be-

rather than society at large.

The problem here is that funding has steadily shrunk over the years while universities still require the same amount of funding as before, if not more. Schools have had to take matters into their own hands in order to survive, and have moved to supplement government funding by adopting creative, albeit manipulative methods to raise revenue. These include initiatives to increase tuition, inflate compulsory fees, and reduce budgets for critical support services.

To understand why students are so outraged, we must first understand how we have arrived here. In 1967 the Canadian government funded post-secondary education through a cost-sharing model. Provincial governments made all decisions on policy, programs, and spending, while the federal government simply matched provincial capital contributions.

The federal government moved to adopt the Established Program Financing framework (EPF), which saw funding allocated through tax points and cash transfers.

Finally, in the 1990’s the federal government abandoned the EPF in exchange for the Canada Health and Social Transfer (CHST) system, which saw available funds for higher education shrink even further.

Canadian Federation of Students, a group the Trent Central Student’s Asso-

“When the ability to pay becomes a deciding factor in who gets an education and who does not, our country loses the chance to benefit from

the skills and capabilities of many of its citizens.”

ing gouged by tuition, and many of them are finally showing their exasperation.

Over the last half-century, the Canadian government has drastically decreased available funding for universities. As a result of these decisions, the price of higher education has fallen on us, the students,

ciation is an active member of, estimates that even when accounting for variance in enrollment rates and inflation, current federal funding available for higher education is $2.4 billion less than what it was in 1992-93, and students are now paying 160% more in tuition.

Institutions have begun charging substantially larger compulsory fees in order to circumvent provincial tuition fee-increasing regulatory caps. These are things like: library fees, administration fees, and other ancillary costs. This is done because while there is currently legislation in place that limits the amount universities can increase tuition, there is an absence of regulation regarding compulsory fees. Trent’s ancillary fees have increased 14% since last academic year alone.

With smaller operating budgets comes the inability to hire much-needed tenured staff. As a result, we now see academia becoming a hyper-competitive industry where professors are contending for short-term, non-tenured contracts. Not only have we seen average class sizes increase because of a lack of full-time staff (traditionally a selling point for schools like Trent), but this inability to hire academics actively discourages this generation of students from embarking in a career in academia. In the long term this threatens to incredibly stifle social, economic, and technologic development for the entire country.

Finally, in the name of budget reduction, we the students are denied access to a variety of crucial services. As a Trent student myself, let me ask, how many weeks in advance do you have to book an academic advising appointment? How many times have you arrived late to a class because two fully packed buses drove by you before one came that you could finally fit on? How reliable do you find the overused and underfunded university wifi-networks? How long does it typically take you to buy food on campus? Not only is university costing more, but it would appear we are paying for a poorer product.

Rather than having state subsidized education, what we have seen is an initiative to move towards loan-based financial assistance. Said differently, if you want a degree, and your family cannot afford to send you to university, you must go into debt. This has important implications for students. As University of British Colum-

bia researcher Lori McElroy has found, students with high levels of debt are more than twice as likely drop out of university than those with no debt.

The attainment of post-secondary education has become an important prerequisite for participating in the labour force, and in a period characterized by record high levels of student debt, high youth unemployment, 40% underemployment among post-secondary graduates between 25-30 of age, and increasing demands by employers to take unpaid internships, massive debts appear all the more daunting. Statistics Canada’s Youth in Transition Survey tallied the reasons cited by high school graduates who did not participate in post-secondary education. By an overwhelming margin, the most frequently reported barrier to attending university and college were “financial reasons.” Not only is education less accessible than ever, but we are actively discouraging future generations from even attempting to procure a degree.

What we have to understand is that an educated and highly skilled workforce is a crucial element for the continued economic and social development of Canada. When the ability to pay becomes a deciding factor in who gets an education and who does not, our country loses the chance to benefit from the skills and capabilities of many of its citizens. Because financial barriers to education reduce social mobility, we should not be surprised to see social inequality continue to grow and perpetuate.

As students of this generation we must ask ourselves a difficult question: is having a well-educated population beneficial for the public entirely, or is it simply the means by which an individual can secure high quality work for themselves?

Understanding this can help shape the way we as a nation decide to finance higher education. Do we support one another as a community and pay into this system collectively, or should it be financed exclusively by the individual?

Volume 51 | Issue 8 | November 7 | 2016

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CAMPUS

FEATURE

South Asian Association at Trent hosts annual Festival of Lights in Champlain’s Great Hall

Shanese Steele Diwali, the festival of lights and one of the biggest celebrations for the South Asian community, has once again found its way to Trent. Each year the South Asian Association at Trent (SAAT) comes together to put on an event for Trent students to experience a small taste of home. Students were able to purchase a ticket for a night of food, performances, music and dancing, with an emphasis on the dancing.

Students from the South Asian community as well as others highlighted the vibrancy of the festival by coming dressed in colourful traditional clothing, from saris and lehengas to salwar kameezes and kurta pajamas. Taking place in Champlain’s Great Hall, the night started with a chance for students to mingle and socialize, while a photographer took pictures with fun cutouts displaying messages like “I came for the butter chicken” or the shape of a cartoon bomb.

Around 7:30 pm, SAAT’s former finance minister and MC for the night, Samarjit Khaira, asked everyone to return to their seats so that the show could get started. The first performers of the night were SAAT Director of Events, Francine Vaz, Director of Publicity, Trisha Chandratilleke and Shivani Patel. The three ladies performed a beautifully coordinated dance to a mashup of the songs Nach Baliye and Naachde ne Saare. The dancers started off with small candle lights in their hands, moving them to the beat of the music in a dazzling display of what Diwali means.

After her performance, I was able to sit down with Events Director Vaz to discuss the planning of this year’s Diwali celebration. She explained, “We came to a unanimous decision that we didn’t want something that had already been done by the previous years of SAAT execs.” She gave the analogy that this year’s event “was a fresh page in a new book.” With a brand-new team of SAAT execs (President Alester Fernandes being the only person with executive experience), this was a chance for the team to make their own unique mark on a Trent tradition.

The next performer was also a SAAT exec, as well as a newcomer to Trent, SAAT’s First Year Rep Aakriti Pandey. Pandey, standing out from the other performers, sang a delightful rendition of Kaisi Paheli Zindagani, originally sung by Sunidhi Chauhan in the movie Parineeta. As a First Year Rep, it was important to hear what Pandey had to say about why she wanted to perform at such a big cultural event.

“I love to sing, I’ve been learning classical for 6 years, and I love performing,” she

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explained when asked why she chose to perform. She also said that she felt “taking part in cultural event is really important, [as] it’s an important part of my life.”

The final performers were Harmeen Kahlon, Rishika Daswani and Chhavi Chawla, who closed off the show with an up-beat, fast paced traditional dance. It was now time for students to eat, and SAAT did not disappoint. The feast consisted of both butter chicken and butter tofu, rice, veggie korma, chutney and naan bread. After bellies were full, the music came back on and the dancing began; SAAT members and students who were down to boogie made their way to the open space cleared for a dance floor. While the space filled with hopping students and displays of various cultural South Asian dances, President Fernandes was able to sit down and tell us a bit about the importance of having a Diwali celebration on campus: “It is really important, because there are a lot of people who immigrate from South East Asia that celebrate this festival, and it’s really important to share the culture with them.” Fernandes explained some of the administrative tasks that go into planning Diwali, such as obtaining risk assessments, but that “at the end of the day it’s a lot of fun, you see people being happy, sharing a smile, sharing joy.”

Wanting to get the perspective from a student who was neither a part of SAAT nor the exec team, I was able to have a conversation with another first year student named Sunaina Aiyer, an environmental studies major here at Trent as well as a member of the South Asian community.

Asked about her experience as a first year at the Diwali celebration, Sunaina mused, “I don’t think being a first year played a huge part in my experience tonight. I was able to come with friends I had from before coming to Trent, but what I liked was that I felt comfortable tonight, everyone was very friendly and it gave me a great impression of the university as a whole.”

Diwali means different things to different people. For this writer, as a newcomer to the celebration, it was an opportunity to learn about a community that is integral in making Trent what it is. For Vaz the significance is that “these are some of the few days in the year that make me really miss home.” For Pandey, “Diwali is about joy and togetherness, taking one day out of our lives to be happy with the people that we love.” For Fernandes, “it’s all about traditions, having fun and meeting up with friends and family.” Aiyer aptly explained Diwali as her “Christmas,” explaining, “I don’t celebrate Christmas, so being deprived of Diwali for me would be like be-

ing deprived of Christmas.” Aiyer wants students who are not a part of the South Asian community to come, take part, and “feel like one of us during celebrations like this; don’t let any of culture shock get in the way, enjoy it and embrace it.” That last statement perfectly describes the unity that

was shown at SAAT’s Diwali celebration this year. Trent students came out, enjoyed and embraced Diwali as a community. Every year SAAT puts on a Diwali celebration and every year Trent students leave with an experience of a lifetime. This year was no exception.

Photos by Samantha Moss

Volume 51 | Issue 8 | November 7 | 2016

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CAMPUS

First People’s House of Learning hosts screening of Gordon Downie’s Secret Path

Clay Duncalfe

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On October 23, Peterborough residents and Trent students gathered in Otonabee College’s Wenjack Theatre for a panel discussion and live screening of Tragically Hip singer Gord Downie’s short film Secret Path: Dying for an Education—The Story of Chanie Wenjack. The event’s main objective was to draw attention to the life of Chanie Wenjack, a young Anishinaabe boy who died in 1966 while trying to escape the Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential School in Northwestern Ontario.

The residential school system casts a dark shadow on the Canadian government’s long, complex history with this country’s First Nations. From about 1880 to 1996, an estimated 150,000 Indigenous children were taken out of their communities to attend these church-run institutions. Residential schools were established with the perception that Indigenous children ought to be assimilated into Canadian society by adopting a European system of values and by being taught in either French or English. These schools disconnected Indigenous children from their culture and language, and more often than not, did not prepare them for life in Canadian urban settings. Over 3000 children died in these schools, and sexual, emotional, and physical abuse was rampant. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, established in 2008 with a mandate to document the effects residential schools, has described the residential school system as “cultural genocide”.

The event began with an opening prayer

by Shirley Ida Williams née Pheasant, a residential school survivor, Professor Emerita at Trent University, and one of the four members of the panel discussion. This was followed by a performance by members of the Unity Singers, an Indigenous women’s a capella collective based out of Peterborough, and a welcoming to the territory by Chief Phyllis Williams of Curve

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Lake First Nation. Dr. Jackie Muldoon, Provost and Vice President Academic then took the stage, followed by Department of Education Faculty member Dr. Nicole Bell. Muldoon’s address focused mostly on the history and cultural significance of Wenjack Theater itself, while Bell highlighted the importance of remembering the collective trauma suffered by Canada’s native population as a result of residential schools and other state-sanctioned assimilation policies.

All three of the Indigenous members on the panel had felt these traumatic effects mentioned by Dr. Muldoon. For Shirley Williams, a survivor of the school system, these effects were direct. Williams shared her story of being placed in the residential school system and the feeling of alienation this left her with. For Liz Stone, Director of Niijkiwendidaa Anishnnabe-Kwewag Services Circle, and Dawn Martin, an Indigenous Studies major, the effects of the residential school system were intergenerational. Both Stone and Martin told the stories of their grandparents attending residential schools and the long-lasting painful consequences this had on not only them, but on their children as well.

It is important to recognize that the pain

caused by residential schools does not stop with those directly affected. According to Health Canada, Indigenous youth are about five to six times more likely to commit suicide than other young people, and according to a survey by the First Nations Information Governance Centre, almost a quarter of Indigenous adults living in Canada have contemplated suicide at some point in their life.

In response to the panel’s central discussion question, “What can we as Canadians do to make sure this kind of atrocity does not happen again?” Stone and Martin each highlighted the importance of educating the Canadian population as a whole on Canada’s colonial legacy and its effects on today’s Indigenous population. Williams and Martin also touched on themes of forgiveness. For Martin, the ability of her mother to forgive the transgressions of her grandfather through recognizing the role that residential school played in his actions throughout her childhood was a key learning experience for her. For Williams, the ability to “forgive but not forget” the Canadian government’s role in establishing residential school system was not only a means to avoid being defined by her victimhood, but also an important part of her

own personal path towards reconciliation.

John Milloy, Professor Emeritus and author of A National Crime: The Canadian Government and the Residential School System responded to the discussion question bluntly: “We don’t, we haven’t, and we probably will not.” Milloy expressed his frustration with the fact that Canadian public schools still play a central role in the assimilation of Indigenous students to become effectively non-Indigenous actors within Canadian society and that children from reserves are still often taken from their families and put in boarding houses to attend public schools in cities like Thunder Bay. The Secret Path, the animated short film that followed, was as visually breathtaking as it was heartbreaking. With beautiful two-colour illustrations from graphic novelist Jeff Lemire paired with Downie’s distinct vocals from his latest album of the same title, the film documents Chanie’s time in and attempted escape from the residential school system. The film is concluded with Gord meeting with Chanie’s four surviving sisters and discussing their personal memories of him and his legacy. “There’s something wrong with this country... something’s not right,” Downie solemnly says to the sisters. “Down south, none of us heard a darn thing about what was happening up here.”

This quote echoes sentiments previously expressed by panelists Liz Stone and Dawn Martin: the Canadian population remains under-informed about the role residential schools played in the oppression of Canada’s Indigenous people.

While Downie’s film cannot undo the pain caused by residential schools and other Canadian assimilation policies, it and events like this one can be effective tools in educating members of the public on Canada’s colonial history in the path towards truth and reconciliation.

For more information on The Secret Path project, and to view the short film, go to secretpath.ca.

COMMUNITY

Volume 51 | Issue 8 | November 7 | 2016

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COMMUNITY

Arthur Goes To Council: Hydro One looking to purchase PDI

Source: Photo by Martin Halme

Josh Skinner The city of Peterborough has an offer on its electrical distribution service from Hydro One which priced Peterborough Distribution Inc. (PDI) at $105 million.

This is the first substantive event in a saga that has been dragging on for some time.

There have been town hall meetings, protests, and surveys all centered around the potential sale of PDI, all based in the realm of the hypothetical. Finally, here is something tangible for politicians and people of Peterborough alike to squabble over.

The offer from Hydro One, a Crown Corporation, may come as a shock to those who feared that a private company was going to absorb PDI and hold the city hostage to indiscriminate rate gouging.

Councillor Dean Pappas was quick to point out that despite Hydro One being a crown corporation at the time of this offer, the province plans to sell off 60% of its assets in Hydro One to private shareholders,

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making it in effect a publicly traded private corporation.

The city council meeting was centered on whether to have Navigant, a consultation company that the city has employed in the past, report on and analyze the offer.

Navigant was hired by the city on July 28th and in early September hosted a town hall meeting on the potential sale of PDI. Ted McWilliams, the man presenting to council on behalf of Navigant, stressed numerous times that his company’s job is to give council the most information possible so the city can make the best decision, and not to make the decision for the city. Councillor Therrien has criticized Navigant in the past for being far too technocratic with the public when discussing the sale of PDI. The Hydro One is trying assuage any fears associated with handing over what some would call essential services over to a private company. Its first attempt to calm fears is the giant pile of money coming the city’s way in the wake of this sale, although

the city is expected to only see $50 million.

The other $55 is going to go towards servicing debt and a sales tax that comes out of the city paying for PDI to switch from a municipal to a provincial taxing system.

Councillor McWilliams and Mayor Bennett both waxed poetic on the potential that the $50 million could have if it was reinvested into the community.

When asked about what to do with the $50 million, the Navigant representative stated that some communities have chosen to invest the money into other infrastructure projects. He cited the province using the money from the Hydro One sale to fund investment into public transit and contrasted it with some municipalities putting the cash into an investment fund and gaining revenue from the earnings.

The sale also promises to keep all PDI employees on staff for a year, and then to offer to pay for their relocation to other electrical distribution centers across the province. Council disagreed on how the sale would affect jobs in Peterborough.

Councillor Riel estimated that 100 jobs would be lost in the aftermath of the sale of PDI, which he then quadrupled based on the average family size in Peterborough, which is four, stating that close to 400 people would be displaced in the aftermath of this deal. Councillor Clarke pushed back on this, stating that all of the councillors read the same numbers in the offer but came to completely different answers.

Finally, on the subject of rates in Peterborough, Hydro One has three phases that will play out over a 15 year period.

From years 1-5, the municipality will see a 1% reduction in hydro bills as well as a rate freeze. From years 6-10 prices will be

unfrozen, but will increase at a rate below inflation. Also during years 6-10 there will be an earnings sharing mechanism that will share profits from PDI, which will be used to mitigate any price increases that occur from years 11-15.

The discussion about the proposed offer ranged from shining-city-on-the-hill optimism to a kale-chomping-crossfittinghealthy skepticism. Councillor Riel asked incredulously why it is Hydro One setting the price for PDI at $105 million and stated that the municipality should be the one to set the terms and tell potential buyers to kick rocks down the road if they disagreed. Mayor Bennett stated that this was the best offer that the city was going to get, which includes Hydro One footing the bill for a new regional operating center which promises to bring 30 new jobs.

Mayor Bennett continued by informing the Council and those who were in attendance that big changes were coming to the electricity provision industry, and that earnings off of PDI were expected to drop from $1.2 million a year to $700,000 in the not-so-distant future. Councillor Gary cited a City of Peterborough Holding Inc. report that stated that PDI will not be able to continue to operate in this environment; he pivoted this to the Navigant representative, asking “Why are they buying PDI? They aren’t doing this out of the goodness of their hearts—only way I see them turning a profit is if they jack up rates or lay off employees”.

In the end, council passed the motion for Navigant to drum up an analytic report on the offer from Hydro One. Navigant says to expect it to be completed by mid-November.

COMMUNITY

Hunter Street Books: where literature and community meet Photos provided by Michelle Berry

Marina Wilke Hunter Street Books is officially open for business. As the first independent bookstore in downtown Peterborough since Titles closed its doors in 2012, there has been much ado surrounding the shop. Author and now bookstore proprietor Michelle Berry says she couldn’t pass up the opportunity when it arose. “I think I would have waited a year or two if I hadn’t seen that this space was available. It’s located exactly where I wanted to be and it’s just the right size.”

As a prolific author and continuing education teacher, Berry has always dreamed of owning her own bookshop.

When asked why, her answer is simple: “I think it’s every writer’s dream to be surrounded by books. There’s like 1500 books in here and I’ve got to pick each one. It felt like a crazy shopping spree! Plus, Peterborough needed a bookstore.” Berry has plans to fill that need and create a space that interacts and integrates with the local community. Her 1500 books are made up of a mix of fiction (mostly literature, but some detective novels and popular series also), non-fiction, memoir, cooking, poetry, graphic novels, art books, children’s books and even a small section on parenting. She says her only real criteria for choosing stock is that she “just wants good writing.”

She has big plans for community involvement in the shop. They vary from hosting book clubs and post-film festival discussions to book launches and lecture series. “I’d love to do a lecture series here.

Maybe even get a Trent professor down here once a month to try and tell the average person what they are researching and explain why they are studying that topic.”

Even before the shop opened its doors, Berry was flooded with requests by local authors to do book launches and signings.

Unfortunately, she had to turn away many who were hoping to promote their materials before Christmas, but she says when things calm down and she has a policy in place she will welcome many authors to promote their works at the store.

Although the shop bears a strippeddown, modern aesthetic, the environment is welcoming. When you enter, the south facing windows fill the space with light that reflects from the white walls and light bookshelves. The books themselves are the main focus, each spine standing out in stark contrast to its monochromatic surroundings. Berry has also filled the space with local art, which will be rotated to feature new artists and is, of course, for sale. The works currently on display are by Carolyn WardPaige and their vibrant colours and metal elements jive well with the chosen aesthetic. Keeping in the community line, Berry is hoping to do an exhibit with students from the Fine Arts program at Thomas A. Stewart Secondary School to feature some of their work and get the community involved in supporting young artists.

Many people have wondered how Hunter Street Books will compete with the only other bookshop in town, corporate giant Chapters. When faced with the question, Berry is not hesitant to defend her decision to take them on. “I think people are missing Titles. I also find, I go into Chapters and they never have the book I want.

They have all the top picks and everything, but when I’m looking for a particular book I have to order it. So even here if you come and have to order you will likely have to order at Chapters too. I’m hoping that I’m knowledgeable about a lot of the books here. I mean I’ve read a lot of them so I can actually have one on one conversations and recommend things to people.” That personal touch and firsthand knowledge of the Canadian literary community is what sets her store apart. Having been part of the Canadian literary scene for so long, Berry has extensive connections. When you enter the store there is a curated shelf off to the right hand side. There you will find recommendations from prominent Canadian authors with a printed insert explaining why they recommended each book. The curated shelf will change each month, giving us all a great excuse to drop in regularly to peruse the new selections.

The other obstacle to owning an indepen-

dent book store in 2016 is the prevalence of e-books and e-readers. Berry doesn’t feel that she will need to worry much about competing with these. “I think there is a time and a place for them,” she says, giving the example that you wouldn’t want to lug George RR Martin’s Game of Thrones around with you on holiday so having it as an ebook would come in handy. She further explains, “I’m distracted constantly with an e-reader. I can’t go back and read a passage, whereas with books you can physically move it around. Books are beautiful. I’m equating this to records. I now have a turntable and a collection of records again. It takes me back to my childhood.

E-books have gone down in sales recently.

Everyone wants to come back to the actual physical thing and step away from technology. I mean with all the technology we’re busier than we ever were before, so it’s nice to step away from that.”

Hunter Street Books is a reason to go downtown. Whether buying a Christmas gift or browsing for your own library, Michelle Berry is sure to have a recommendation to suit your needs. Its convenient location means you can grab a coffee to go and spend hours there, reading jacket blurbs and immersing yourself in other worlds.

You can even pick up your weekly copy of Arthur Newspaper there. What better reason to patronize this fantastic local business?

Volume 51 | Issue 8 | November 7 | 2016

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ARTS

Trent Film Society Presents: Withnail & I

Trent Film Society

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Hello! We are the Trent Film Society and we just want to give a huge thank you to everyone who has joined us for our past few screenings.

Firstly, we’d like to thank those who participated in the screening of Rocky Horror Picture Show, for without your enthusiasm and participation, the event would not have been the success that it was. Your excitement for fun occasions such as this one makes our jobs as TFS directors rewarding, and we look forward to holding similarly large-scaled events.

Secondly, we’d love to give a shout-out to those who came out to last week’s screening of Jeremy Saulnier’s Green Room. The success of the screening was quite a nice surprise and we enjoy being able to delve into such fruitful discussions as the one this film initiated. While we loved showing you all of the horror films of October (and the first week of November), we thought that it would be quite nice to lighten things up a bit and transition to something less violent and scary.

We have a nice selection of films coming up in November, specifically drawing upon some classics of cinema which we thought would act as a nice form of escapism from the abundance of school work, such as Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon (which we have been trying to get screened since last year and are super psyched about), Lo Wei’s Fists of Fury (starring the legendary Bruce Lee at the top of his game), and next week’s hilarious British tragicomedy, Withnail & I. We hope that you enjoy the lineup that we have for you this upcoming month and we are excited to engage in some classic cinema with all of you fellow cinephiles.

But before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s focus on next week’s film.

Withnail & I stars Richard E. Grant and Paul McGann as Withnail and Marwood, two struggling alcoholic actors (both unemployed and unemployable) who, when tired of their surroundings in Camden and in desperate need of a change in fortune, decide to retreat to Withnail’s uncle’s cottage in the English countryside.

While hoping for a nice and relaxing holiday, both of our main characters find themselves encountering one misfortune after another, including the unexpected arrival of Withnail’s rather peculiar and eccentric Uncle Monty.

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The film, which is director Bruce Robinson’s first major project, was released in 1987 and was largely based on his experiences of being a struggling actor in the 1960’s, with the character of Marwood being mostly based off of Robinson’s exploits. Originally conceived as a novel, Robinson’s passed his story around to many friends in the publishing industry, but he was urged by many to use the material for a film instead. After adapting the screenplay, Robinson was encouraged to lead the venture, making Withnail & I his directorial debut.

The film is widely regarded by many as one of the greatest to be released from Britain and also one of the funniest comedy films ever made. While a lot of the praise goes to the incredibly quotable humor of the film, what makes this such an engaging watch is its resonant themes regarding the passage of time and friendship.

Robinson smartly utilizes the year and setting of his story (the end of the 1960’s, which Withnail continuously refers to as the end of “the greatest decade of mankind”) to highlight the characters’ quest to abandon their past irresponsible ways. Robinson portrays this struggle well by making Withnail reluctant to abandon his hard partying and heavy drinking lifestyle, which has affected his career as an actor, while Marwood, the more idealistic of the two, actively tries to secure an acting job and better his career.

While there are many fascinating aspects of the film, the dynamic between the two main characters and how it relates to the time and setting of the story is what adds a lot to its appeal. With this dynamic, Robinson is able to brilliantly mine darkly clever humor out of the characters, craft a very relatable story about growing up, and also weave some tragic elements through the laughs, making the story feel very wellrounded and human. We do not want to give too much of the film away, so trust us when we say you do not want to miss this hilarious cult classic.

Like all of our other screenings, this film viewing is completely free and is open to the public. For those who are considering bringing children to the screening, just keep in mind that there is very strong subject matter in the film and it may not be suitable for young viewers. The screening will be taking place at Artspace on Wednesday November 9th at 8:00 pm.

We hope to see many faces there!

DECEMBER 1ST, 2016

ARTS

Afrofunk meets Iranian & Azerbaijani folk: Zuze rocks Catalina’s

Tyler Majer & Yumna Leghari Entering Catalina’s on Saturday November 5 was like walking into uncharted territory. Many attendees hadn’t heard of Zuze before, and had arrived simply out of curiosity and the intriguing manner in which the show was promoted. The Facebook page described Zuze as “popular & folk melodies of Iran and Azerbaijan set to afrobeat rhythms.”

A certain mystery surrounded Zuze, as they had a scant online presence, and not until after speaking to the musicians themselves was Arthur able to track down their tracks on Bandcamp. Sometimes, you just have to take a risk and see what happens.

Zuze was absolutely worth this leap of faith.

Catalina’s is one of those venues that totally engulfs the visitor with its unique eclectic aesthetic. Since Catalina’s recent expansion with the addition of a vintage shop on Water Street, the space that previously held vintage clothing has now been set up as a stage for live bands. This new addition to Catalina’s is a shift that seems only natural, as if the stage had always been there. Catalina’s gives the impression of an entire suburban Toronto arts scene coexisting in one space.

Stills of people dancing, making love, and speaking were projected onto the curtain behind the stage. These shots seemed derived from romantic films wrought with passion and pain.

Zuze is comprised of members Raha Javanfar on violin, Gabe Kong on guitar, Tom Moffett on trumpet, Andrew Moljgun on the baritone saxophone and flute, Bruce Mackinnon on the alto saxophone and piano, Arif Mirbaghi on bass, and percus-

sionists Zach Sutton and Justin Ruppel.

As Zuze took the stage Mirbaghi pronounced, “I hope you enjoy otherness.

I hope you enjoy liminality.” The set was interwoven with philosophical anecdotes and an absurd energy that evoked immense nurturing and love for the audience and music itself.

Zuze delivered tunes that prohibited the body from staying still. The band’s sound is a blend of Iranian, Azerbaijani and Turkic tunes rooted in Middle Eastern sounds cleverly fused with afrofunk reggae beats.

The violin, played by Raha Javanfar, wailed smooth and sharp notes full of harmony. Each song spoke of family gatherings, late nights, early mornings, and created visions of faraway places. It was as if the sounds were variables that had lost sight of each other in their travels, only to find each other once again.

The percussionists kept time and order among the flirtier elements of Zuze, creating continuity with their powerful and explorative rhythm.

Two saxophonists simply kept bursting into flames, simmering into gentle embers, only to spontaneously combust again; the camaraderie and energy that the ’phones created on stage as they spoke to each other was an inherently beautiful and wild thing.

The guitar laid down intricate rhythms of a world turning too fast and the bass kicked up the sand while the piano played its hydraulic beauty.

Each song bled into the other. While some were minimalist and creeped into the psyche gently to hypnotize the body into a sway, others grabbed listeners by the hips and moved them powerfully. Mirbaghi encouraged the audience to dance lightheartedly and proclaimed, “The song is here and then it’s gone. This moment will never come again. This is it.”

Zuze was a ball of triumphant energy.

Even in their mellowest moments, the music was a transgressive and transcendent journey that permeated all basic emotion.

Zuze doesn’t make one feel happy, sad, angry or complacent, rather, their music inspires an encompassing emotion of overwhelming universality.

Zuze was conceived after Mirbaghi and Mackinnon traded various band ideas at the Cameron House in Toronto.

Mirbaghi told Arthur, “Bruce and I were talking about projects that sit on the backburner, projects that you never feel confident that you’re ever gonna get off the ground. One of the ideas we traded was for a group to play Iranian music on the Persian New Year (Nowruz), which happens on the Vernal Equinox, the first day of Spring. Nobody had hounded me about this idea until Bruce came along. We started going through a book of old Persian folk tunes, and Bruce, with his wonderful ears and incredible talent, was able to put together some really amazing arrange-

ments.”

Zuze’s show inspired the Peterborough community come together and experience the worldly music in the shared space of Catalina’s. Even Minister of Democratic Reform and Liberal MP for PeterboroughKawartha Maryam Monsef came to check out the show. The coming together of community members was something that Mirbaghi seemed attuned to when he stated, “Peterborough is very ‘mom and pop’.

There is a sense of community here that others are envious of. You go to coffee shop and spend money on a coffee, and that money goes to the enterprise of someone you know, respect, and appreciate. Peterborough has a very vibrant arts and music community; a vibrant community from all backgrounds that includes cultures, creeds, sexual orientations and musical persuasions and otherwise.”

Mirbaghi elaborated on what the downtown core of Peterborough represents, and how the community must protect it. “We should defend these notions, we should defend this sense of community, defend the fact that there are no big box stores in the downtown area (I know you have your big box areas, but that’s not what we’re talking about). We’re talking about where we are right now; an intersection that we are sitting at, speaking into a recording device.

This is community. We’re talking about the fact that Zuze, a band that not many in the audience had heard before, arrived here solely based on their curiosity. That puts a great onus of responsibility on us to do a good job, but, beyond that, and much more importantly, is this exposition of a fertile creative ground and of a curious community that wants to go out and support things

that are weird and wonderful.”

Music can either reject politics or deeply entrench itself within politics. Art as a whole is a malleable world in which politics has played a huge role in the very inception and interpretation of art. What did Zuze represent politically, if at all? Arthur was curious about this Azerbaijani-Iranian-Afrofunk group and what they stood for. Mirbaghi shed some light: “I think that coming from those regions creates a natural political dialogue or inclination. I do hope what Zuze represents, and what music represents on the whole is the ability to de-politicize situations. Regardless of the nonsense that exists out there in the world, I think there is an ability for music to bring people together, to think about things in terms that are more ancient. I think what we’re talking about is when we crawled out of the bog, not when we started putting up borders. I hope that Zuze is able to go beyond what the political sphere has to offer us. I hope that when people experience the Zuze show live, they walk away with a sense that they participated in a community. People in Peterborough seem to have that persuasion, and so, to be able to slide into your DMs is extraordinary.”

Zuze has been kicking around since February. A fairly new band, they have already recorded a full length album titled ZAAR, and have been playing shows regularly.

They are attempting to play “outside the pale of the normal bar scene,” says Mirbaghi, “that brings us to Peterborough, and to Catalina’s, and the unique atmosphere therein. I was told that it’s beautiful, and I can verify that in fact, it is.”

Check out Zuze’s album at http://zuze.bandcamp.com/releases.

Photos by Yumna Leghari

Volume 51 | Issue 8 | November 7 | 2016

15

SADLEIR HOUSE Sadleir House Library: Support the Sadleir House Library! The library consists of literature, popular fiction, nonfiction, textbooks and antiques. All books are by donation ($0.50- $2.00). The book sale will be held at the Lecture Hall Room 106. Wheelchair accesible. October 1.

Sadleir House Science-Fiction & Fantasy Bookclub: Tuesdays 7-8:30pm Room 107, Library (wheelchair accessible).

This club meets monthly on the second Tuesday of the month.

OPIRG Free Market: Wednesdays 3-5pm, Thursday & Friday 1-5pm.

Basement (unfortunately this is not an accessible space). The primary goal of the Free Market is to provide a space for the redistribution of donated clothing and other items to everyone. At the Free Market “store” people can come in and take items they can use for free, without donating anything. This is not a bartering or trading system, but rather a space where items that are no longer needed by one person can be redistributed to those who need (or want) them. Everyone is welcome to stop by during the hours of operation and take items free of charge. The Free Market is always looking for volunteers who could donate two hours per week to keep the project going. If you would like to be a part of this project or would like more information, please contact OPIRG at 705-741-1206 or email opirglistings@gmail.com.

Improv Class with Mike Davidson: Wednedays (until Dec 15th) from 7:30-8:30pm Dining Hall (unfortunately this is not an accessible space). Want to try improv? Stop by for a drop-in class on Wednesday nights.

Improv is fun! Come on out and join in!

Adults $10, students $5.

LISTINGS

Crafting Kombucha with Belly of the Beast: Kombucha is a refreshing, carbonated beverage made by fermenting sweet tea with a starter culture or “mother”. In this workshop, Dani Richardson, owner of Belly of the Beast Craft Kombucha, will teach you how to brew, ferment, and bottle this delicious drink. Participants will have the opportunity to taste a variety of brews, as well as take home a bottle of individually infused booch! This fizzy fermented drink filled with probiotics and live enzymes is an awesome addition to your fermented food repertoire and a healthy alternative for carbonated cravings! Wednesday November 9 from 5-9:00pm at the Seasoned Spoon Cafe. $5 or PWYC.

CAMPUS Long Night Against Procrastination: Trent’s Long Night Against Procrastination (LNAP) is a free event to help students develop essential skills to manage the demanding end-of-the-semester writing and study schedules. On November 9 from 5-10:00pm at Bata Library.

Dance Like No One is Watching: Dance like no one’s watching to eclectic sounds [mainly world] in a beautiful hall in downtown Peterborough. No alcohol, no fashion, no steps to follow, just authentic moves to music. Freedom to be yourself, no experience needed. Thursdays, 6:30-8:30pm at All Saints Church Hall [SW corner Rubidge and Sherbrooke]. $12, first time free. www. danceyourbones.com.

LOCAL

Harry Potter Trivia Night: Let your HP geek out in a night of trivia and themeness! There will be rounds of trivia, with bonus challenges, and an intermission halfway through for you to get some more butterbeer and explore Hogwarts, err...

Sadleir House! Doors at 8:30pm. Opening ceremony at 9:00pm. November 10th.

#NoDAPL Rally in Solidarity with #StandingRock: There is a call-out for hand drummers, jingle dress dancers, menn’s big drum & singers, a water ceremony to be conducted, staff carriers and medicines to be donated! Bring your Sema and your good mind! This event is about sending our prayers and educating the general public.

Under the Discussion section, there is a hand-out which can be printed to give to the general public as they drive or walk by. Volunteers, and donations of medicines/ sound equipment and anything else that can benefit the event to run smoothly can be set up by sending a private message to the event organizers. Indigenous or non-Indigenous, all are welcome to come and pray! The rally will take place at Confederation Square on November 9 at 5:00pm.

Supermarket Tour: Join us for a tour of the supermarket as we use it as a classroom! The tour asks questions about the products on supermarket shelves, providing a focus for discussion on a wide range of food issues including labour practices, labelling, genetic manipulation, pesticides, corporate profits, among others.

These tours will be held this year on November 9 and November 23rd at FreshCo on 181 Brock Street starting at 7:00pm. This is a free event and open to all.

Strike Out Immigration Detention: End-Immigration-Detention-Network-Peterborough is calling you and your friends together to harness the power of leisure. This time we are extending special invitation to groups and agencies in Peterborough who are committed to social justice. Gather your amazing crews of co-conspirators and come pre-loaded with your unique radical team spirit. Or just show up and join a team.

Please help us reserve the right amount of lanes on the event day by posting who you have for your team of 6 or part thereof on this event wall. $15 for 2 rounds of

Sadleir House Contemporary Book Club: Room 107 fornightly Tuesday, 7-8:30pm.

Sadleir House Contemporary Book Club.

This club meets monthly on the fourth Tuesday of the month.

bowling and shoes. E.I.D.N. gets $7 per play which will go to our volunteer staffed “TRAP phone” line so that detainees can call the outside world for free and we can work together to end immigration detention. November 24 at Lakeview Bowl from 7-9:00pm.

Artspace Exhibition: Please join Artspace on Friday, October 14 from 7-10:00pm for the opening of Forerunners, a new exhibition by Alex Bierk. Then, on Tuesday, November 22 at 7:00pm please join Artspace’s Director Jon Lockyer for a discussion of the curatorial development of Forerunners. Both events are free and open to all members of the public.

Join Canadian Women For Women in Afghanistan: An evening in Afghanistan at The Crazy Piano Bar and Persian Grill. The evening will include an Afghani dinner, needlework, and a silent auction. Tickets are $25 or $15 for students, available at the YWCA, 216 Simcoe Street. Wednesday November 16 at 6pm.

ARTS Upcoming events at the Gordon Best Theatre: • Andy Shauf & Chris Cohen on November 26. $20 plus fees. All ages, doors at 7:00pm.

Upcoming events at the The Theatre on King • Songwriting in the Round, Wednesday, November 9th, 8pm, $10 or pwyc.

• One Act Plays II (“Meat and Potatoes,” and “Life Comes to Resemble Unimaginitive Literature: Or, The Moment of My Death), Thurs. Nov. 10th until Saturday Nov. 12th, 8pm, $15 or pwyc.

• Words on Fire! Spoken Word for Youth presentation, Monday, Nov. 14th, 8pm, $10 or pwyc.

• Bernie Martin & Faltan Mas (films), Wednesday November 16th, 8pm, $10 or pwyc.

• Regional Artmaking: Myth and Reality (panel discussion). Thursday, Nov 17th, 8pm, free.

• Wordplay Cabaret: Bernie Remixed, Saturday, Nov. 19th, 8pm, $10 or pwyc.

• Spoken Word: Transforming Trauma to Resilience through Narrative, Monday Nov 21st, 8pm, $10 or pwyc.

• Film Workshops Showcase, Tuesday November 22nd, 8pm, $10 or pwyc.

• Dark Passage (theatre), Friday November 25th at 8pm; Saturday Nov 26th at 2pm, $15 or pwyc.

• Crime City, Saturday Nov 26th, 8pm and 9:30pm, $10 or pwyc.

• Myrmidon (theatre), Wed. November 30th to Saturday December 3rd at 8pm; Sunday Nov. 4th at 2pm, $15 or pwyc.

Severed Feathers/Stunspore/Deathsticks/ The Upside Downs: Head to The Spill for some local Peterborough tunes. Wednesday November 16, 9:00pm. $5.00 or PWYC. A Tribe Called Red: Don’t miss A Tribe Called Red! December 15 at The Red Dog. Only $25.00 in advance. Tickets can be found online on ticketscene.ca.

Enjoy the Sudoku

listings@trentarthur.ca A FAT WRECK SCREENING: Get ready for a special “ONE NIGHT ONLY” punk rock popcorn party, featuring an exclusive screening of the highly anticipated Fat Records documentary “A FAT WRECK”. DJs will be spinning your favourite FAT Records artists before and after the movie, and there will be popcorn and snacks for sale with adult beverages and drink specials, of course.

Couches and seating will be set up with a nice big screen and projector in HD. November 10 at 10:00pm at The Historic Red Dog. Bif Naked at The Red Dog: Bif Naked performs live at the Red Dog on Thursday, November 17th with special guest Jordan Alexander. Tickets are $25 and available at ticketscene.ca.

WHOOP-Szo/Lonely Parade/ELMS: Head over to The Spill on November 26 for some local Ontario tunes. Doors at 9:45pm, $8.

BA Johnston/DeathSticks/TV RD: Only $3.00 for a night of local tunes. Head over with a stamp from The Lonely Parade/ WHOOP-Szo show and get a dollar off! Head over to The Pig’s Ear on November 26 at 9:00pm.

The Darjeeling Unlimited at Catalina’s: Catalina’s is dedicating November’s films to Wes Anderson. Every Wednesday 7:30pm.

Bar is open at 6:00pm. November 9th!

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou at Catalina’s: Catalina’s is dedicating November’s films to Wes Anderson. Every Wednesday 7:30. Bar is open at 6:00pm.

November 16!

The Grand Budapest Hotel at Catalina’s: Catalina’s is dedicating Novembers films to Wes Anderson. Every Wednesday 7:30 Bar is open at 6:00pm. November 23!

Do you have a show or event you’d like promoted in Arthur Newspaper? Send us your listings by Thursday at noon to listings@trentarthur.ca.

We promote campus and community events.

Please ensure that the listing is no longer than 60 characters.

Thank you!