The WTCS Horseshoe - Spring 2022/23

The Ontario Line, The Osgoode Hall Trees, and the Future of Toronto’s Transit An Ode to Rock-Paper-Scissors Anna's Book Picks

Spring Issue

The Horseshoe

Masthead Leadership Team Editors-In-Chief Theodore Boyce Kai Smolin Submissions Curator Mae Lai Deputy Editor Ciel Nduka

Editorial Team Arts & Culture Editors Jakob Boelling Danny Hicks News Editors & Advice Column Aiden Hunter Julia Story Sports Editor Quinn Oliver Comics & Illustrations Editor Benny Gyorke-Wong Puzzlemaster Joshua Mandel Promotions Leads Cody Davis Brody Rapkowski

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Letter From the Editor Theodore Boyce

Did you know that in Canada books are only taxed at five percent?

Newspapers too. Businesses are only allowed to charge GST when selling books and newspapers, but not magazines. What then, you might ask, is the difference between a newspaper and a magazine. It’s not the content, or the paper, or the size; but the staple. If there's a staple it’s a fully taxed magazine, if not it’s a newspaper. Now, if you divert your attention to the right of this letter, you will notice that The Horseshoe--Western Tech’s very own school newspaper--has a staple. Confronted with this information I realize that we’ve been lying to you, and that our student newspaper is actually a student magazine. Regardless, the issue we’ve put together is full of some great stuff.

Since our inaugural run we’ve gathered and implemented any manner of feedback we could squeeze out of our unsuspecting peers. This issue has more pictures and more words. Our lovely promotion team ran a fundraiser a few months back, which was a great success and procured the funds to up the page count. We still had so much good work submitted that we couldn't fit it all into the print version (extra material can be found in the online version of this issue). The editors worked hard and the design team crushed it again. It’s been difficult getting The Horseshoe off the ground, but we’ve ultimately produced something that everyone on the team should be proud of. This is our second issue since conception, and the last for this year. If all goes well The Horseshoe will come out on a regular basis in the 2023/24 school year. We can always use more people, so if you are interested and willing, keep an eye out for announcements regarding meetings.

Special thanks to the teachers that volunteered their time by reading articles over or supervising meetings: Mr. Tremblay, Mr. Snyders, Ms. Novak, Ms. Marcella, Mr. Santos, Mr. Kwa, Mr. Buessow, Pamila, Amy, and Mr. Berube. And to you, our loyal readers: thank you for picking up an issue of the Western Tech student newspaper magazine. Happy reading.

Design Team Eliana Karanxha Henry Hagens

Theo Boyce, Co-Editor in Chief

Zophine Saitua-Rippell

Please send submissions to: westerntechhorseshoe@gmail.com

Spring Issue

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Opinion

The Boulder, the Blades, and the Bookery: A Dissertation on the Sport of Rock-Paper-Scissors and Those Who Play It Luc Cook

Determined, godlike, powerful—all these words, and more, have been used to describe the competitors of the RPS weeklies—Rock-Paper-Scissors, that is.

Though it may seem like a simple game - typically used to decide things like who will pay for dinner, or who gets to drive the car - Rock-Paper-Scissors is surprisingly deep. There are many different psychological techniques to belittle, beguile, and blight your opponents. This is a dissertation on the beauty of the sport and the players who partake in the Olympic thrill of RockPaper-Scissors.

Everyone and their grandmothers know the rules of Rock-Paper-Scissors.

Paper smothers rock, rock dismembers scissors, scissors bisect paper.

Typically, matches are scored by the best of two out of three.

One might think that the winner is decided by chance alone, however this is not true. I don’t blame you for believing this. It’s a common misconception for those outside of the competitive scene, and it’s an outdated ideology that has remained prevalent and underlying in our society. It’s an idea that holds us back. I’m not going to bore you with the details, but a good example of the game's depth is the classic “bait” maneuver. Popularized by the clan of the same name, this technique entails stating what you’ll do before you do it. For instance, you could say, “I’m going to play rock.”

The game is afoot. Now, your opponent has 3 options. You might think that this is the same as before, but the fact is that it’s not. You’ve just telegraphed a potential maneuver you might do. And because of that, they’re unsettled by your deception. You gain the upper hand. Many have taken part in this tournament—from the famous Clan Bait, Kai (aka the protagonist), and Carson “the father figure”

Campbell, to “Three”-time champion Ross Fenlon. Many a saga has been spun in the hall of stone, scripture, and shears.

While there are many old-timers who remain from the days of yore, several times new faces have shown up and swept the competition aside with a brush

participating it is seen as the norm. No greater example of this is in the grudge match between Magnus Dallas and Carson Campbell. The deciding match determined who was Wallace and who was the Gromit. It was through Dallas’ unruly practices that he won - sentencing

The R.P.S Tournament in full swing. Photo credit: Ciel Nduka

of the hand. In the game of Rock-PaperScissors, one must always be adaptable, for the metas, stances, and styles of play evolve constantly. Alliances have been forged, enemies made, and grudges have been held. In the early days, people even began reporting on the metas, the people to watch out for, and the climate of the competition.

"Many a saga has been spun in the hall of stone, scripture, and shears."

If you’re ever near when these tournaments take place, you will hear shouting, laughter, and exclamations of all sorts. However, in the right hands, these potentially strenuous circumstances can be weaponized. I am, of course, referring to the technique used by the gladiators of Rome. Playing to the crowd is commonplace—it is accepted as the standard. In competition, people will rhyme, shout, and insult in many manners to ensure that their opponents are discombobulated when the match begins. While not considered sportsmanlike by some, to those

Campbell to the title of Wallace evermore.

While tournaments are already energyfilled and exhilarating, the height of these was RPS X. The 10th weekly tournament, RPS X was the culmination of the sport. It took an hour to finish, and had an extensive roster. There were multiple brackets with different prizes depending on how highly you placed. RPS X was the culmination of the virtues of the game.

As of this writing, there have been 15 tournaments, but without a doubt, there will be more. The feeling of competition is apparent, should you ever attend one of these tournaments—much is at stake, of course. There are prizes every week, ranging from dates, to artistic commissions, to gift cards, to sweets, and of course, the medallion. While initially it was used as an award for a Rowing competition, within the tournaments of RPS it took on a new meaning. The competitor who held the medallion was a champion—a herculean strategist who could plot schemes so outlandish and detailed it would make Machiavelli blush.

Shoot.

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Opinion

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WARP7 - A Season of Tripping Hazards Robin Lewis

Going into the 2023 robotics season, we on WARP7 didn’t quite know what to expect. What we got was three chaotic months of robot building, time crunch, and competitions that were a rollercoaster of emotions. But despite the challenges that 2023 brought, we Our alliance balancing at the end of a match at provincials. Photo credit: Eddy G., FIRST Canada achieved a lot and pushed the boundaries of the team's capabilities.

1285 and 4920 for playoffs. We clawed we won many of our early matches, and Onseason started with kickoff in our way through the bracket while our even though some rough losses dashed early January, where we all gathered defense helped us win matches— prospects of high rankings, we finished together to watch the reveal of this including a 48-point upset against an qualifications in a solid spot and got year’s game, CHARGED UP. As with alliance seeded far above us. Despite picked by teams 4688 and 4920 for most years, the game is played in two being eliminated by the winning alliance playoffs. “alliances” of three robots, and tasks in semifinals, we left that competition Even though we only tied for the robots with picking up small cones and overjoyed by what we’d achieved with a fifth-place alliance in our division, our cubes and placing them on poles and robot that barely worked. playoff matches were some of our platforms to score, as well as balancing We then had two weeks to program strongest of the season. We ended the on a tilting platform. and fix issues before our second event, and our season, by showing off CHARGED UP’s reveal kicked off competition in North Bay. We quickly our robot’s sheer speed in moving and two months of complex design, got to work and started to see each scoring, demonstrating what our robot assembly, and programming. Designing mechanism working in tandem, giving was truly capable of. this year’s robot was a difficult task, our robot the ability to expand from a We have a lot to be proud of this and although the process ran late, we small beetle-like package into a massive season. We made what was easily one of finished a few weeks before our first machine extending several feet outside the coolest and most complex robots competition. Much of the team was of its frame. we’ve ever made. Our design was unique impressed by our robot's low centre of While North Bay started shakily for in a season filled with tall robots, and it gravity, which, paired with a drivetrain us with rough matches and robot issues, attracted many compliments from other that can move in any direction on the we found our groove and were the teams. Even if we’ve performed better at spot, allows it to drive quickly and second overall pick for playoffs, being competition before, this year was balance the tilting platform more easily. picked into an alliance with teams 2708 monumental for us and raised the bar of Unfortunately, the assembly process and 9127. Playoffs looked hopeful early what we’re capable of as a team. also ran late, as we were putting on, but unfortunate technical issues— As for me, I’m off to university next together near-countless parts while including a cone jamming one of our year. My time with WARP7 isn’t quite fixing issues on the fly. With minimal mechanisms—took us out of the over though—we still have an offseason time for programming before our first competition earlier than expected. We ahead, and I hope to come and visit competition, the only mechanism we still left North Bay happy with our when I can. Spending four years on the had ready in time was the drivetrain. robot’s progress and set our sights on team has been one of the best You can do a lot at competition with refining it for provincials in Hamilton a experiences of my life, and it’s even just a drivetrain. couple weeks later. inspired me to go into engineering and At the competition in Barrie, we From the beginning of provincials, push my own boundaries, first joining as focused on playing defense by getting the energy there was different from an introverted rookie and eventually in the way of opposing robots. With our either of our other competitions. The becoming our strategy lead and a coskilled driving, effective drivetrain, and crowd of 80 teams rushing into the captain. It’s been an honour and a low centre of gravity, we turned out to venue once it opened was a sure sign that privilege being a part of this team, and be a near-perfect defense robot, and the next three days would be intense.

I’m beyond excited to see what we can were picked onto an alliance with teams And intense they were. achieve in future years. Thank you, Despite many issues with our robot, WARP7, for everything.

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Opinion

Artwork and AI: an Evolving Industry Zophine Saitua-Rippel

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a revolutionary technology that has the potential to alter the world as we know it. From the fields of entertainment and finance to healthcare, AI is making its way into every industry and transforming the way we work, live, and communicate. The proliferation of AI has increased productivity primarily by eliminating mundane tasks and making research more efficient.

However, as AI becomes increasingly ubiquitous, it also raises significant ethical and societal concerns, particularly with regard to issues of job replacement and accountability in creative fields. Will this technology eliminate the need for artists? It is human nature to strive for technological advancement; nevertheless, we must be cautious as advancement for advancement's sake could quickly lead to our downfall.

Artists spend hours if not days poring over their work. It is their passion and profession. With a brief prompt AI technology is now capable of creating detailed images in a vast variety of different styles, and it does so far faster and for a lesser price.

AI technology is of course increasingly concerning to many artists.

Though AI-generated art may have significant flaws, this technology is advancing at a rapid pace. It learns and adapts and builds on what has been previously created.

Increase in computing power over time

Illustration by Zophine Saitua-Rippel

These AI images can only be created by large-scale theft from artists. The famous art-generating AI companies get their data from Stable Diffusion, massive databases which source their images from artists online. Stable Diffusion avoids copyright by being a “nonprofit”; with this legal loophole they are able to use all these stolen images without paying licensing fees. AI is incapable of making its own original works, so it incorporates the stolen works into a collage using different elements from a variety of different pieces.

The careers of illustrators are being destroyed while AI corporations are using their art to make millions. These are unethical practices that must be regulated. AI should solely use pieces consciously given by artists and refrain from using copyrighted works.

"Though AI-generated art may be imperfect with significant flaws, this technology is advancing at a significant pace."

Many AI enthusiasts insist it is a tool to help artists, and in many cases, it may be. When used properly it can be used to help artists plan out and execute their vision. One software, for example,

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allows people to create sewing patterns which enables artists to focus on the creative elements rather than the tedious technical ones. Tools such as these are brilliant, but helping artists is not the goal of most AI. In practice, it aims to replicate the work of artists and in turn, replace them.

What fuels people’s passion for artwork is the deep range of emotion conveyed through the work. This creativity is what drives us as a society and can only be done by humans. This creativity is what led us to the invention of artificial intelligence, and now machines themselves can be forces of creativity. However, it is crucial to carefully consider the benefits and drawbacks of AI technology and establish appropriate guidelines to ensure that it is developed and deployed in a responsible and ethical manner.

"What fuels people’s passion for artwork is the deep range of emotion conveyed through the work" As AI technology continues to advance, it is imperative to establish appropriate legal frameworks to address such issues. The creative industry must also explore new business models that value the work of artists and provide them with adequate compensation for their creations. By doing so, we can ensure that AI technology continues to support and enhance human creativity rather than replace it.

It is crucial to carefully consider the benefits and drawbacks of AI technology and establish appropriate guidelines to ensure that it is developed and deployed in a responsible and ethical manner.

Above all else, the work of actual people should be valued rather than exploted for the benefit wealthy of tycoons.

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Opinion

The Ontario Line, The Osgoode Hall Trees, and the Future of Toronto’s Transit Kai Smolin

Eleven trees.

Between February 3rd and 22nd, construction on Metrolinx’s $19 billion dollar transit megaproject ground to a halt because of eleven trees. More accurately, construction was stalled during the court proceedings of a twoon-one classic Toronto legal battle, which saw the Law Society of Ontario and the Haudenosaunee Development Institute challenge the provincial government’s budget-burning wonder child: Metrolinx. The case was over Metrolinx’s right to bulldoze eleven 50 year-old trees on the grounds of Osgoode Hall in order to make room for construction of a station on the province’s current major transportation project: The Ontario Line. Three weeks later, Metrolinx would axe the trees after a successful court ruling in its favour, but not before acquiring the disdain of the local community, politicians, and media.

To be fair to Metrolinx, it wasn’t popular with any of those entities long before this incident. Metrolinx’s recent track record of exploded budgets and abhorrently delayed timelines have made it something of an example of when transit development goes wrong.

The Ontario Line’s initial $10.9 billion dollar price tag has already nearly doubled to $19 billion in the four years since the project was approved, and we’re still 8 years away from the current estimated date of completion (if we are to assume that Metrolinx’s 2031 completion date is accurate, which is… unlikely to say the least). There’s really no telling how much worse it will get, and seemingly no answer to how much businesses and people in Toronto will suffer during the construction. This all raises the question: how the hell did we let it get this bad?

The offical map of the Ontario Line

The Ontario Line is Metrolinx’s latest megaproject, and also the latest planned expansion to the Toronto subway system. It’s a 15-station line running from Exhibition Station east along Queen, eventually turning north just after the Don Valley to reach all the way up to the Eglinton Line.

The Ontario Line will have a predicted daily ridership just under that of Line 2, and will come with all the bells and whistles of a 21st-century subway line, things like platform side doors (like the UP) and fully automated trains. When the line was initially approved in 2019, the Ontario Line was to cost $10-$12 billion and be completed by 2027. Last November those numbers were marked up to $17-$19 billion, with completion by 2031. For anyone familiar with the Eglinton Crosstown construction process, this is hardly anything new. The Eglinton Line has been delayed three times now with recently leaked documents revealing that Metrolinx has “no idea” when the project will be finished. It’s also a billion dollars over budget. Considering the Ontario Line's $19 billion dollar price tag is higher than the GDP of more than half of all African countries, is it worth it?

Benefit-Cost Ratio is Metrolinx’s primary metric to determine if something

is worth it or not. It assigns monetary value to different benefits created by the project, in this case, things like increased job access and reduced travel time. Then you divide your calculated monetary benefit by the cost. In Metrolinx’s 85page “Ontario Line Initial Business Case”, the document used to convince politicians to approve the project (yes, I read it - no, I don’t see what they saw), it states that the Benefit-Cost Ratio of the Ontario Line is 0.90-0.96: not worth it, but just barely. But remember, that was with the original $10-12 billion dollar cost. The increased budget means the Ontario Line’s Benefit-Cost Ratio could be as low as 0.47. If this is the case, why are we even building it?

"Last November those numbers were marked up to $17-$19 billion, with completion by 2031" The answer is complicated, so first let me give you a brief history lesson. It’s 1954, and Toronto is fresh off the heels of the success of Line 1, looking to hit the ground running for their next transit project: a perpendicular east-west subway line. Talks of a Queen Street subway line had existed for decades at this point, but as the city was growing north, Bloor Street was also considered a

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candidate. It was a provincial reorganisation of the city, amalgamating certain suburbs into the City of Toronto, that pushed the balance of power away from downtown Toronto and into the suburbs and was the nail in the coffin for a Queen Line.

It was still listed as a “priority” though and was set to open in 1980, after a Line 1 extension. This never happened, but in the mid-1980s it was becoming clear that the service on Line 1 was insufficient and overburdened, so in 1985, as part of the “Network 2011 plan”, the Downtown Relief Line (DRL) was proposed. Its main purpose was to relieve Line 1, specifically Bloor-Yonge station, which was running well over capacity at the time (and still is). The DRL in this plan was set to open in 1998. Unfortunately, a recession in the early 1990s reduced TTC ridership by 20%, and suddenly, Line 1 didn’t need relief anymore. By the time ridership climbed back up to the point where a relief line was once again needed, another suburban amalgamation of Toronto by the province in 1998, this one being the one you’re thinking of, shifted even more power away from downtown and to the outer regions of Toronto! Line 1 relief was needed, no politician would outwardly contest that, but the Downtown relief line wasn’t very attractive to the newly-amalgamated outer areas of Toronto.

“City politicians counselled against the monicker, preferring to call it 'the relief line' or the 'Yonge relief line' to prevent suburban residents from thinking that this line benefitted rich downtown residents disproportionately, enflaming jealousies” This can be seen in the 2007 Transit City plan, which focused on suburban expansion rather than downtown development. When Rob Ford became mayor of Toronto in 2011, he killed Transit City on his first day in office and opened back up a study into the feasibility of the DRL in 2012.

Opinion

The project was approved in 2016, set to cost $9 billion and to be opened by 2029.

Problems would emerge right away, with the city struggling to find the money, and the province struggling to pay up what it had offered.

In 2018, Doug Ford was elected premier, and only a year later, the province had a new idea: The Ontario Line. It would use existing stations that had been planned for the Relief Line, but with double the stations (15 to DRL’s 8), only a slight rise in cost, and would be completed two years sooner in 2027. Ha, as if. The real upside was that the project would be completely funded by the province as part of a $28.5 billion dollar transit expansion package. As mentioned earlier, the Ontario Line has already been delayed once, and if the Eglinton Crosstown is anything to go off of, it will take a herculean effort to get this project over the finish line.

"Line 1 relief was needed...but the Downtown relief line wasn’t very attractive to the newly-amalgamated outer areas of Toronto" So, if the Eglinton Crosstown still can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel, and the Ontario Line has already had a major delay, just what is wrong with Metrolinx, and why can’t any of these projects just work?

One major reason for Metrolinx’s continued shortcomings is a lack of accountability for the people backing a failed project. When a project that’s 100% government-funded overruns on cost, the people who pushed it in the first place are rarely ever held accountable.

Instead, those overruns are seen as an “unfortunate reality” of projects of this scale, and the people who pay for the increase in costs are usually the taxpayers.

Often inside companies like Metrolinx, various internal options are competing for limited resources, and executives

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pushing on each of those projects are incentivized to emphasise the positive aspects of their project while downplaying the negatives. There’s significant prestige and respect to be gained from “your project” being selected, so instead of the project with the greatest benefits being chosen, what’s chosen is often the project with the best salesmen, or those most willing to skew their numbers. Bent Flyvbjerg, a professor of Business at Oxford University writes: “[the projects that are chosen aren’t] necessarily the best ones, but those projects for which proponents best succeed in conjuring a fantasy world of underestimated costs, overestimated revenues, undervalued environmental impacts, and overvalued regional development benefits.”

This continues on the political level, where politicians backing particular projects tend to oversell their projects, either out of optimism or greed, to provincial and federal governments.

There’s very little backlash against a politician backing a project if it fails, especially when there’s an entity like Metrolinx to tank the blame instead. The sunk-cost fallacy applies here, in the way that projects that are partially constructed are rarely cancelled, even upon major cost overruns. If the Ontario Line had originally been budgeted at $19 billion dollars, I highly doubt that it would have even gotten to city council, and it absolutely would not have made it out. Even if this is the first and last overrun of the Ontario Line (it won't be), there need to be repercussions for the politicians who disingenuously pushed this project at $11 billion knowing that number wasn’t realistic. Never forget that the majority of politicians are elected by us. Elected politicians rely on staying on the good side of public opinion to stay in office. Even for those of us that aren’t able to vote yet, communicating to politicians that staying within budget and on schedule are things that we care about can be just as effective.

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Opinion

Pamila Interview Sam Beesley

Pamila Matharu has been teaching visual arts for almost twenty years, and this has been their second year teaching at Western. What members of the Western Tech community may not know is that Pamila has also been a practicing artist for nearly thirty years. I recently sat down with them to talk about art and teaching.

Pamila started their art career as a high-school student. Even though they were in the advanced art program, Pamila said they had to work hard to be competent in art, which was made more challenging since their parents didn’t think they had natural talent. Their parents wanted them to go into math or science, since they didn’t see art as a valuable career path.

But by age eighteen, Pamila says they knew they wanted to become an art teacher. Their high school art teacher, Mr. William Clarke, saw something in their work. “He saw that I was a scrappy teenager and a fighter.” they said. Mr. Clarke was a graphic designer, art director, and

Semetary Review Liam Staig

Sematary is an experimental hip-hop artist and the leader of the collective Haunted Mound. He’s known for an overblown sound, horror influenced lyrics and imagery, and cult following.

If you want to know what the music sounds like, I’d suggest the songs Slaughter House, Haunted Mound Reapers, and Creepin’ Thru Da Woods.

This is a review of his show on February 23rd at The Velvet Underground.

HAUNTED MOUND, HAUNTED MOUND, HAUNTED MOUND, HA HA HA HA HA HA.

Picture of Pamila. Photo credit: Michael Barker

art teacher—“the renaissance man”, as Pamila put it. But most importantly he was a role model to Pamila who showed that you can create art while teaching and mentoring young people.

Pamila’s biggest influence outside of the classroom was Winsom Winsom, a Canadian-Jamaican Maroon multimedia artist whom they met in 1994. At the time, Pamila was a participant in Fresh Arts, an artist-led youth program for black, indigenous, and racialized youth, and Winsom Winsom was working for the program.

After all these years, Pamila has stayed in touch with their mentor. I’m still in dialogue with her,” they said. “I just talked to her yesterday, she’s 78 years old.”

The music of Sematary isn’t overloaded; it’s a pure world-consuming, liberating force, and thank god it is. I need the sweet release of screaming “chainsaw party, chainsaw party, I don’t give a f***, it’s a chainsaw party” more than anything. I need the earth shattering production powerful enough to fold onto itself. I need to know Grave Man himself agrees that this world wasn’t made for us. In the blissful 3 minutes of a Sematary song, nothing matters except Haunted Mound.

The show itself was about what I expected it to be, which is to say it was incredible. We got there and we were surrounded by Grave Man loyalists in True Religion jeans and Discord moderators with bad hygiene.

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Pamila makes their art for themself and for their communities. “First and foremost, I don’t make art based on how I think it is going to be perceived by a general public,” they said. “I make it for me. And then I definitely make it for people who understand who I am, in terms of being a member of a community, whether that community is Punjabi-Sikh, Queer-identified, Intersectional Feminist, educators.”

"But by age eighteen, Pamila says they knew they wanted to become an art teacher" Although their art has been shown in a number of prominent galleries and institutions, including the AGO and MoCA, it’s not meant to be easily consumed. “I’m not mainstream,” Pamila said. “I’m a high school teacher and then I practice in the contemporary art world. You don’t find a lot of teachers who do that.”

Pamila is a very inspiring artist and a great teacher at WTCS. We’re very lucky to have them in our school!

We talked briefly with a tripping street lurker and then waited in a frustratingly long coat check line before finally gathering in front of the stage.

The acts leading up to Sematary were awesome (especially Buckshot), but when Sematary got onstage, he owned the world. Waving his cigarette in the air, standing proud as a saviour, he delivered his brilliant, slurred gospel.

The mosh pit was suffocating, bonecrushing, and eagerly alive, but phones at concerts are gonna be the death of music. I can’t stand the mass of idiots at the front standing bored half mumbling with their phones lazily focused on the stage. Overall, the songs were perfect, the performers were brilliant, the crowd was way into it, and the smell was utterly horrific.

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Arts and Culture

Sylvan Esso and Breaking the Boundaries of Pop Music Lorenzo Savona

“Were there rules originally or Are we learning how to be surreal but free?

It's your reality…”

It could be argued that many great music albums give off a certain feeling to the listener. The same can absolutely be applied to Sylvan Esso's new album, No Rules Sandy, where every track feels like the theme song to a warm summer night.

When No Rules Sandy was released in August 2022, it was met with somewhat harsh criticism. Many critics felt underwhelmed, with PitchFork’s review of the album brushing it off as “sterile.” I’m here to tell you why No Rules Sandy is not only a great Sylvan Esso album, but one of the greatest Electro-Pop albums right now.

“But you’ve done it so many times So we accept…”

Perhaps the thing that threw many critics off about No Rules Sandy is its subtle, yet intense, protest towards the formulas and patterns of electronic music. As NPR said in their review of

Album cover of No Rules Sandy

Sylvan Esso. Photo credit: Ben Kaye

the album, “Sylvan Esso finds freedom outside the formula.” Buried deep within the album are small yet powerful changes to things like song progression and chord changes. In “Echo Party” they half-half between a common radio pop chord progression and something outside of the song’s key, similarly to the track “Alarm”, which seems to change as soon as you get a grasp on its shape.

In order to get a better understanding of the album and its motives, I listened to an episode of “Switched On Pop”, a podcast where Amelia Meath, one half of Sylvan Esso, talks about their new album and the struggles that came with releasing it. She talked with other artists who felt similar struggles as well. One of those artists, Katie Gavin from the band Muna, shared her thoughts on the difficulty of releasing a record by explaining the presentation process: “What was annoying me, in a way, was the way that you have to put your album in a box, so that people can write about it in a digestible way”.

When No Rules Sandy was released, it didn’t just stick its arm outside of that box, it climbed out of the box and quietly stomped on it. Before releasing their album, Sylvan Esso didn’t release any singles for it, nor did they announce a tour, or try to heavily advertise it. They didn’t even record it in a studio; instead the duo recorded it in a total of 6 weeks from their remote vacation home.

So what does all this say about the album? I think the loudest message that No Rules Sandy tries to communicate is that it wants to be unique outside of the industry formula. And without any knowledge or understanding of that, yes, it might come off as “sterile” or “rushed”, but maybe the thing that the album needs most is a listener with an open mind.

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Arts and Culture

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Anna's Book Picks Anna Gordon

To me, a good writer is someone who fully immerses their personality into their body of work, someone who’s fiction can be picked apart and dissected until all that’s left is a pure reflection of themselves. In his book Art Matters, Neil Gaiman says, “the moment that you feel that, just possibly, you’re walking down the street naked, exposing too much of your heart and your mind and what exists inside…

That’s the moment you may be starting to get it right.” Even though it’s meant to be advice, this passage stuck out to me because it made me realise why I love the art that I do; it’s the art that exposes the artist. So if you’re anything like me and are in need of some fictionthat-isn’t-total-fiction, here are some of my recent favourites.

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

Out of all of her work, Plath only wrote one novel in her lifetime: The Bell Jar in 1963. This semiautobiographical book follows Esther Greenwood, a young woman who slowly descends into a looming mental illness that reflects Plath’s own experiences with what was most likely clinical depression or bipolar disorder.

Esther’s first-person telling is dotted with dark humour and a poetic writing style that is evidently Plath’s. Esther is a complicated protagonist that is far from likeable yet somehow undeniably relatable, which makes for a particularly conflicted and emotional read. Aside from name changes, the story reads just like her journal might, which is why I suggest learning a bit about Sylvia Plath herself before getting into The Bell Jar if you’re looking for a better understanding of this novel and an even more depressing experience.

Haruki Murakami, Franz Kafka, Celeste Ng, and Sylvia Plath (Left to right)

The Metamorphosis and The Trial

by Franz Kafka

Not everyone wants something as clear-cut as a semi-autobiography, but Franz Kafka’s novels come pretty close.

Picking just one of his novels was impossible, as nearly all the ones I have read fit the criteria for this selection in their individually perfect ways. Kafka’s work often carries themes of isolation, bureaucratic systems, and absurd existentialism that are directly correlated with his post-WWI upbringing and the insecurities he held surrounding his writing. In fact, it is estimated that he burned close to 90 percent of his work before he died. In The Metamorphosis, our protagonist, Gregor Samsa, wakes up one morning to find he has transformed into a grotesque bug. His family begins to distance themselves from him due to pure repulsion as he is left to crawl aimlessly around his bedroom, unable to provide for them anymore. This one is a great introduction to Kafka’s unique style that is not only an excellent story but a great jumping off point for his novels.

While The Metamorphosis focuses on familial troubles, The Trial takes a similar approach to a different conflict.

Our protagonist, K., finds himself to be suddenly arrested for a reason that is never disclosed to him. Throughout the novel, K. winds his way through a deliberately complicated judicial system that is intent on keeping him trapped within its physical and psychological walls. Kafka worked most of his life as an insurance officer, a job he despised.

This mundane part of his life presents

itself in The Trial in the many unnecessary bureaucratic tasks K. is looped into. This book carries the reader closely alongside K. through a story that is frustratingly difficult and eerie, yet simultaneously captivating.

Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Haruki Murakami

Maybe you’re not looking for something that will rip your heart out and leave you emotionally gutted like a sad little fish. With this next collection of short stories, I can guarantee that only some of them will! Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman contains twenty-four Murakami shorts that are a great introduction to his particular style of writing that shaped the genre of Japanese fantastical-realism. This book is broken down into digestible chunks that range anywhere from five to twenty pages, each one easily enchanting. If Kafka’s work is the stuff of nightmares, Murakami’s work is the stuff of dreams.

Some are comedic, some are strange, and others carry a hazy cloud of nostalgia for a life you never lived. Stories like The Rise and Fall of Sharpie Cakes blend reality with the seemingly outrageous in perfect harmony, while those like Chance Traveler seem too genuine to be fiction. Murakami writes these stories as if they were mini journals; after reading a couple you may notice a pattern of jazz records, spaghetti, and 1960s nostalgia that consistently make an appearance.

Noticing the tiny recurring details of the author’s personal joys that made each work distinctly his own gave me a good idea of what to expect from his longer novels.

Spring Issue

My favourites are New York Mining Disaster, A ‘Poor Aunt’ Story, and Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman.

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

When Celeste Ng was ten years old, she and her family moved to Shaker Heights, Ohio. Ng’s 2017 novel Little Fires Everywhere is set in the exact same time and place where she attended high school. It’s the year 1998 and the Richardson’s family home has gone up in flames. The culprit is revealed immediately, making this mystery a question of why, not who. The book follows the introduction of Mia Warren and her daughter Pearl, the new neighbourhood arrivals.

The complicated integration of the Warrens to the quintessential American community of Shaker Heights is similar to the experiences of Ng’s own parents’ immigration from Hong Kong. This story is one of race and class, but also touches on themes of familial connection, especially motherhood.

Relationships between mother and

Arts and Culture

daughter are central to this story, which also holds true for another one of Ng’s novels, Everything I Never Told You. Little Fires Everywhere is a story of Ng’s childhood and adolescence that isn’t told by her, but rather a wide range of viewpoints, each one refreshing and thought-provoking. You won’t end up rooting for all of them, but every character speaks from a place of vulnerability that reveals what makes them all human, and what makes us human too.

Honorary mention: Art Matters by Neil Gaiman

Although this one didn’t quite fit the criteria for the list, I do believe everyone should read it at least once in their lives, especially anyone who’s considering pursuing a career in the arts. It’s full of illustrations by Chris Riddell, a friend of Gaiman’s who has collaborated with him on other books, which I guess technically makes it a picture book, but that’s part of what makes it so good. Art Matters is a brief collection of five short

The Man in the TV Bruno Kaul

I watched you knock the mud from your shoes and pry them off your feet. I watched you walk down the hall to one of the other rooms in the apartment. I watched you open the window and climb out onto the fire escape, all old buildings in New York have one, often two. You climbed up onto the roof.

You watched the kids down below kicking a ball and tears formed in your eyes. Their clothes were tattered and their feet bare. You were in the living room, looking at the TV. You found it.

In the house of someone else. There was a long green field. Kids, boys were kicking a soccer ball. They all wore the same clothing. Their hair was the same

Illustration by Zophine Saitua-Rippel

and so was their skin. You were at the market. It was in Union Square. It was loud. The air was cold and bit at your fingers and your ears. Coins clinked in your pocket. The month’s rent you did not pay. You were walking home.

There were two men. A fist smashed into your face. There was blood coming

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pieces written by Gaiman about ideas, reading, writing, escape, and of course why art matters. It’s packed with advice for aspiring artists, writers, and creatives that isn’t just inspirational but practical as well. He speaks on his experiences as an author and the necessary failures that must be made before reaching one’s goals. This is a book for anyone who hates committing to anything long, but still wants something that will stick with them. This is also a book for anyone who hates committing to their own writing and needs a reminder that it matters.

Whether you take interest in an author’s personal connection to a piece of literature or not, all of these books are guaranteed to be rewarding reads. I always enjoy it when another story lies hidden between the one printed on the page, one of a real and personal life. The books on this list are some of my favourites, but there’s so much more out there that I could go on about forever.

Regardless, check these out!

from your nose. You lay on the ground.

They took your money and left. You walked home and splashed cold water on your face before bandaging your nose. You lay down and slept. It was morning, you were at work. You were working at a gas station. It was still dark. A car pulled up. It was shiny and red. A man got out. He was tall and clean shaven. His skin was the color of caramel and his eyes were gold. He took a rock from his breast pocket and gave it to you. Your shift was over.

You went home. The kids were on TV again. Their laughter mixed with the voices of the kids outside. You took the rock and threw it. It hit the screen.

There was a hole. You walked through.

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Arts and Culture

After Multiple Adaptations, Will Snowpiercer Ever Run Out of Track?

Aiden Hunter

I recently caught up on Snowpiercer, the delightful TV adaptation of the 1985 French graphic novel Le Transperceneige and its 2013 South Korean film adaption. Created by Josh Friedman and Graeme Manson and initially released on TNT and Netflix, the TV adaptation occupies the same unique setting as its prestigious source material.

Here’s the high concept premise: In an effort to stop climate change, scientists have released chemicals into the atmosphere, causing the world to turn into a giant ice ball. An engineer named Joe Wilford predicted the freeze and created a train that uses perpetual motion to infinitely go around the world. He sells tickets to the richest of the rich and they all get on to survive.

As the train gets ready to leave the station, the poor people who couldn't afford to get on congregate at the gates.

Eventually they break through and all hell breaks loose. In the chaos, hundreds of people manage to get onto the tail end of the train. Over time, this develops into a rigid class system, with the rich people at the front of the train, living in luxury, and the unticketed passengers in the tail living in poverty.

Each version of this story takes a slightly different approach to this central premise. Le Transperceneige, the 1985 French graphic novel that started the whole franchise, is about a man named Proloff who manages to escape from the tail section of the train by climbing outside, and gets captured by the brakeman (a member of the train’s police force). While in custody, a humanitarian group from third class protests his arrest and sends in a representative named Adeline. The story follows the two of them as they are escorted through the train to meet the boss. The pacing is oddly chill; there are very few fight scenes and the book focuses more on dialogue and

Images from the Snowpiercer graphic novel, show, and film (left to right)

fleshing out the universe than its actionoriented adaptations.

Snowpiercer, the 2013 film adaptation

by Bong Joon-ho (Parasite), takes place 15 years after the departure of the train.

The story follows Curtis, played by Chris Evans, a Taillie (the derisive name given to the people in the tail end of the train) who is well respected and takes the role of leader, as the third class try to fight their way to the front of the train.

People compare this movie to a video game and I wholeheartedly agree. The characters are like your party in a RolePlaying Game: as they go through the train, the party slowly dies off and at the end the main character has to fight the big boss by himself. This movie is like nothing I’ve seen before. The pacing is all off. Things happen without any rhyme or reason or any kind of explanation. With that being said, I actually kind of like the movie. It’s never boring and it’s an extremely entertaining watch once they leave the tail.

The show finds a happy medium between the patient world-building of the 1985 comic and the propulsive action of the 2013 movie. It takes place only seven years after the departure of the train, and the story follows a Taillie named Andre Layton, an old world detective who gets called up to the front to help solve a murder. As Layton starts piecing together what's going on, he discovers dark secrets that risk unraveling the order on the train.

Each episode starts with an inner monologue from one of the characters and we get to see their thought processes. This really helps us to understand the characters, and also doubles as a nice nod to the book. The actors really sell these monologues and near the end of the first three seasons they were giving me goosebumps. I enjoyed this show and got invested into the characters and plot lines, although it went on a little too long and probably could have finished in fewer seasons. I'm still excited to see what happens in the 4th and final season that may or may not come out.

Spring Issue

Arts and Culture

Let's-A-Go! See a Better Movie. games. When the bulk of the dialogue Oliver Principe-Beer

A good movie should make you feel.

Movies have made me laugh, cry, cringe, they change me. But some films make me feel nothing but self-loathing for taking the time to watch them. The Super Mario Bros. Movie took my money and gave me nothing but a lingering sense of sickness. But the movie itself was the least of my worries.

The Mario Movie is a mess. The plot prioritizes recognizable characters in the film over traditional story structure and plot. This leads to a film with over a dozen major characters, only three of which have complete story arcs. The performances range from subpar (Jack Black, Chris Platt) to a dismal display of poor voice coaching (Anya-Taylor Joy, Keegan Michal Key), all of which operate as a mixture of bland protagonal tropes typical of the mediocre animated movie, and a halfhearted collection of references to the

Puss in Boots Review Noah Leach

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is one of the best animated films I have ever seen, and possibly even one of my favourite films in general. It is huge, spectacular, and near life-changing. By far the best film of 2022. I’m not exaggerating: it’s that good. It’s one of the rare movies where everything is able to work perfectly.

The plot is quite intriguing: Puss, the main protagonist of the film, after years of fighting and establishing himself as a living legend, has burned through 8 of his lives, and is now on his last life.

While not thinking much of it at first, an encounter with a bounty hunter gives Puss a cold taste of reality. However, after going into hiding and encountering a happy-go-lucky chihuahua named Perrito, he hears about a star hidden away in a dark forest that can grant one wish,

amounts to nothing more than sly winks at the audience, it breaks my heart.

Truly, I wanted it to be good. There have been some great animated films in the past two years, because the films themselves are passion projects.

Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinnochio was made because of a deep love of the medium, whereas the Super Mario Bros.

Movie was made only for money. Bad movies come out all the time, and fade away–but Mario is on track to become the highest grossing animated film of all

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time. That is what makes it sickening.

This film has its defenders. It currently sits at a 96% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, and I have listened to spirited defense from people I know. The most common defense is that it’s a “movie for kids.” What a cop-out! Some of the greatest movies I've ever seen (The Iron Giant, Mon Oncle) are kids movies.

Seeing people being fine with the mass mediocrity being marketed to the youngest and most vulnerable members of society is just one more sick brick in this cynical, money-grubbing monolith of a studio called Illumination, and it's asinine, misbegotten, color-coded hellspawn called Mario.

I would rate this film ⅕ of a Horseshoe.

God, what a mess.

Illustration by Benny Gyorke-Wong

and departs on a journey to find it so he can get all of his lives back. On the way he encounters an old friend of his: Kitty Softpaws, a stealthy and secretive cat who reluctantly teams up with him on his search for the star.

On their journey, they encounter other groups: the crime family Goldilocks and the three bears, Jack Horner, the mad owner of a baked goods empire; and the mysterious bounty hunter who may not be who he seems.

While the story may be simple on paper, in execution it’s fun, emotional, and intense, and it never misses a chance to further develop its great characters.

The animation is absolutely gorgeous, combining 2D and 3D animation to tunning effect. This goes even further when complemented by the vibrant and beautiful colour palette used by the film.

Did I mention the fight scenes? This movie has quite a few of them, and they’re all thrilling. The fight

choreography is amazing, and puts many live-action movies to shame with its creative settings, weapons, and even camera angles. The brawls are always fast-paced, which makes each battle memorable and intense, and keeps your eyes glued to the screen.

While I could talk about this movie for hours on end if I got the chance, a newspaper review can only be so long.

Overall, this movie truly defied all odds and has become widely regarded as an instant classic, an animated film for the ages, or in the case of Puss, for the lives.

I would give this movie 5 horseshoes out of 5.

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Arts and Culture

Blast Off Lilian Moore

Amelia has always wanted to see space.

Ever since she was little, that’s what her plan was: to be an astronaut. She’d read books about astronauts, planets, physics, everything. There was no plan B. This was always it.

People had laughed, had thought she was just being silly. Amelia supposes she’s always been a bit of a dreamer. But she prefers to call it aspirational. Being described as a dreamer implies she isn’t serious, and Amelia is nothing if not serious.

The audience stands around them, cameras flashing. There’s a TV crew in the background. Amelia stands with her coworkers for the next few years, the people she’s trained and studied with.

None of that is what she’s worried about. She had anticipated an audience, and she trusts her team. And she’s not worried about being in space. She knows she’ll have to keep up the physical activity, she knows the rocket will jostle, she knows she’ll be living on vac packs of food. That’s fine. No problem there.

She sees Nora out in the crowd, pushing through all the people to get to the front. She has her phone in her hand, probably about to take pictures.

This is the last time they’ll see each other in person for who knows how long. And that is what Amelia is worried about.

She sees Nora out in the crowd, pushing through all the people to get tot he front. She has her phone in her hand, probably about to take pictures. This is the last time they’ll see each other in person for who knows how long. And that is what Amelia is worried about.

She’s been friends with Nora since they were in high school. They had met in English class, during one of the novel study assignments.

Nora hadn’t liked the book because

Illustration by Eliana Karanxha

it was sad, and even if Amelia hadn’t felt the same way, she’d found Nora funny anyways.

The match was lit.

Nora had played on the soccer team in high school, and had gotten into postsecondary school on a scholarship. She’d ended up studying psych, but these days she helps people through the phone with tech issues for a company. So she gets to work from home, and spends her free time baking. There is nothing more comforting than coming home after a long day to the smell of freshly baked bread… but mostly Nora’s embrace.

Amelia is trying to smile for the audience and the cameras, and she tells herself her second thoughts are just nerves. She’s been through all the training, the classes, and sure, there’s nothing comparable to really being in

space, but Amelia couldn’t possibly be more prepared.

And Nora promised she’d be okay with an empty house, that they’d video call as often as possible. So what is there to worry about? It’s not as if Amelia will be alone out in the universe. She has people with her, going through this all together, separated from their families. And Amelia knows that if she ran off the stage right now she would regret it forever. Sometimes it’s the anticipation that gets to her. She knows that. She’s been nervous before and knows she can handle it. Nora flashes her a smile.

Amelia returns it. And reminds herself she’s got this.

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Hot Takes & Advice

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Hot Takes! With Brody Rapkowski DISCLAIMER: The views expressed herein are those of the author and in no way reflect the opinions of The Horseshoe, its editorial team, the staff and administration of Western Technical-Commercial School, or anyone, really.

Read on at your own discretion.

Pigeons: Man’s Best Friend Pigeons are the best animal you can find in Toronto, hands down.

They’re like flying bunnies: cute and harmless. Sure, there may be a lot of them, but that doesn’t mean they're bad. There are a lot of dogs in our city, and dogs are great. Now, some animal haters may ask “aren’t pigeons gross and unclean?” And to that I say “You’re gross and unclean”. Of course pigeons are dirty as we see them now but that’s just because they live on the street, eating garbage and sniping cars with their feces. They’re chill once you have them in your house. If a diseased cat pulled up smelling like trash, you would back off and gag a little in your mouth. That doesn’t mean cats are gross. Pigeons are the jewels of urban animals. Remember, they aren’t the infestors of the land, we are.

Country Music: Entertainment for Complainers Country music is unlistenable garbage. If I wanted to listen to a bunch of old white men complain, I would listen to American electoral debates. I don’t understand how for so long, country music has gotten away with being a music genre, and not a form of depressing slam poetry. Anyone with half a brain cell can tell that all country songs are a collection of 3 chords being played over and over. All that’s added is some 70 year old dude crying about his highschool breakup. The thing that I find the funniest about country music is hyper-successful singers making more of it after they gain traction. Is your hot tub not hot enough? Did your private jet run out of wine? The singer is in the studio thinking: “I’ll call it: ‘Million Dollar Problems’, and I’ll feature Taylor Swift”. Take a hint, Country Gang, no one cares about your “depressing life” when everyone has their own stuff to deal with.

feel like I spend all my time studying. How can I find Q: Imore of a work-life balance?

management. By setting up a schedule and A: Time ensuring that you only spend a certain amount of time

studying, it’ll help you make time for other things. For example, you could use the time you get home until 7pm to study, and leave the rest of the night free for hobbies.

Or, you could reserve certain days for studying and other days for going out. That way it’ll leave some days free for activities outside of studying. Establish a balance!

want to get closer to my friends but I'm scared they Q: Iwon't like the real me. How can I get past this fear?

A real friend should appreciate you for who you are.

A: Make sure you know this and maintain your self-respect

as you get closer to other people! Be aware that not everyone may like you — it isn’t a you thing, as nobody is universally liked — and people’s opinion of you shouldn’t determine your own self-worth.

Communicating to them about your fear might also be worth a shot!

Q: My friend just hit me. Not in a friendly way, like

A: Cats Don’t Love You My condolences to everyone that has a cat, because they don’t love you. I know this because I have a cat. He only bothers me if .....he’s hungry… I wanted to make that a list but he literally only . .... bothers me if he’s hungry. Cats are manipulative creatures. ..... They use you for free food and shelter and they use every ......possible surface of your house as a toilet. Dogs love you, they ...lick you and play with you to demonstrate their love. Cats bite and scratch you when they're pissed - that’s the cat equivalent of dogs licking you: getting mauled.

actually physically abusing me. He has done this before and I told him that I didn't like it. He is like my best friend and all our friends are the same. I don't know what to do. I don't want to ruin our friendship or make things awkward for everyone, but I don't like him hurting me.

If you are being hurt or feel threatened, you need to speak with a caring adult about this (a parent, teacher, or guidance counselor). The next time you speak with the friend, tell him that this is impacting you negatively, and if not stopped, you will have to end the friendship. It's hard to clearly establish your own boundaries, but it’s much worse having another person cross them. No “friend” is worth having to go through that.

Scan here

to ask Colton!

Edited by Aiden Hunter and Julia Story

Spring Issue

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Sports

What Swimming Did For Western Mia Frederiksen

Here at Western Tech, school swimming often gets overshadowed by our strong traditional representation in football and volleyball. However, our success this season is proof that Western does have some very strong swimmers.

Back in November, Ms. HindPowell, the swim team coach, managed to gather 47 students to join the team.

We started practicing two times a week in the morning, and after a couple of weeks we were competing in smaller mini-meets. Mini-meets are fun introductory competitions between three local schools. They’re a good opportunity for swimmers to gain experience and figure out what our best events are.

Following the mini-meet season, 25 swimmers qualified for Regionals.

Regionals are a full-day competition with more schools, and are typically held at the Etobicoke Olympium. Many Colt swimmers won medals in both individual and relay events, with Western’s senior men’s category taking home the highest point award,

WTCS Swim team at Pan Am Sports Centre

meaning they outscored all other schools competing in our region. The plaque they won is displayed outside of the big gym and may even remain there if they win it back next year.

A first place at Regionals automatically qualifies a swimmer for City Finals, with additional spots given to swimmers who qualify based on their times. Nineteen—yes, that’s right— nineteen swimmers qualified for Cities.

All TDSB Schools can make it to city finals, meaning the competition can be much tougher. This year, the competition was held at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre, which is one of the fastest pools in North America. At cities, Western had another big showing from both our individuals and our relay teams, with six swimmers qualifying for the OFSAA 2023 Provincial Championships in Windsor.

Emma Carrier-Clarke, Alex Hay Lee, Kinnon Ringler, Ethan McKibbon, Jasper Jordan, and myself, Mia Frederiksen, had the honour of representing Western at OFSAA. The team traveled by bus and stayed in a hotel, since the meet ran over two days.

All swimmers set personal records and Ethan, Kinnon, and Jasper brought home lots of hardware. Western swimmers finished the meet in 40th out of 261 schools.

Altogether, a fantastic result for a team that I’m sure is just getting started.

I, for one, am very excited for what our swim team has in store for next year. Big shout-out to Ms. Hind-Powell for all her support and hard work. Congratulations to everyone who helped and believed in us. I hope this inspires more students to show up, suit up, and show out for the 2023/24 season. Go Colts!

Girls Tackle Football Comes to Western Tech Frances Stacey-Ayuso

For the first time in Western Tech’s 93year history, girls are hitting the field to play tackle football. Under the leadership of Coaches Hoff, Espie, and Tager, this promising new team started training in late March. The team is composed of girls from grades 9 to 12.

“The good thing is that anyone can play on the team. All sizes, shapes, and abilities,” said Coach Hoff.

Interest in women’s tackle football has been growing over the last decade, but high schools have been slow to introduce all-girl teams. However, things are changing. In addition to

Western starting the first girls’ tackle team in the TDSB, Football Ontario recently announced that the 2023 U18 Women's Tackle National Championship will be held in Ontario.

Western Tech has always had a strong football tradition, and now girls in the school will be able to carry it on too.

Interest in girls’ tackle football has been strong, with more than 30 girls attending the first info meeting. This new team represents a change in how schools see women in sports, in particular those traditionally played by boys.

Once training camp is over, the team will participate in games at York University,

and possibly at TD Place in Ottawa, home of the CFL’s REDBLACKS. Wherever they play, one thing is certain– they’ll be making history.

Girls Tackle Football Team

Spring Issue

Evaluating the NFL Draft's Top-Five Quarterbacks Quinn Oliver

Editor’s Note: The NFL Draft took place after The Horseshoe’s submission deadline.

Page 17

Sports

State QBs, people are betting that Stroud is just another product of the OSU system. For what it’s worth, I think Stroud is the most pro-ready of the remaining top quarterbacks. He’ll do nicely in Houston, provided they can keep him upright.

Prediction: 2nd Overall - Texans

rocket arms and questionable accuracy.

Levis is certainly the more polished QB in terms of accuracy, footwork, et cetera, but his physical talents fall short of Richardson’s. His arm is a tick or two slower and he’s certainly not the same record-setting athlete, but he does get points for being both taller and heavier than Richardson. Levis is also a project QB, but he’s got a higher floor than Anthony Richardson. As long as he stays upright in the pocket, he’ll do fine.

Prediction: 4th Overall - Indianapolis

1. Bryce Young, Alabama

Watching Bryce Young play football is like ordering a fancy dinner at an expensive restaurant. Everything looks good and is good, but there’s one problem you notice right at the end: it’s a little small. No one’s debating Bryce Young’s talent on the field, but his 5’10”, 204-pound frame is the big concern that has people worried.

In my opinion, these concerns are unfounded. Young is the clear QB1, no questions asked.

Prediction: 1st Overall - Panthers (via Bears)

3. Anthony Richardson, Florida

As so many have already pointed out, Anthony Richardson is like a video game character. He might have the strongest arm since Jamarcus Russell in 2007, and his athleticism is some of the best we’ve ever seen at the quarterback position.

Also much like a video-game character, he isn’t much of an NFL quarterback.

His accuracy is spotty, his footwork is Baker Mayfield-level atrocious, and he sometimes hesitates to use his athletic gifts to their full potential.

Richardson is a true boom-or-bust prospect. If he booms, he’ll boom, but if he busts, whatever GM that drafted him will probably be finding himself in the unemployment line.

Prediction: 6th Overall - Detroit

There’s a lot of debate about who the QB5 is in this class. Some say Hendon Hooker, others say Stetson Bennett, but I like Tanner McKee the best. For one, McKee is several years younger than both Hooker and Bennett, so he has more time to learn the position. McKee also tends toward the checkdown, but that means he’s a perfectly serviceable quarterback with a high floor.

McKee will be one of those quarterbacks who sticks around forever, but it remains to be seen whether he’ll earn his keep as a high-IQ backup or as a long-term starter.

Prediction: 36th Overall - Los Angeles

2. C.J. Stroud, Ohio State

The draft community is split on whether or not C.J. Stroud is a future franchise QB. On one hand, he displays legitimate NFL-level accuracy and decision-making. On the other hand, he had the best offensive line and receiver corps out of the top five quarterbacks.

With the recent track record of Ohio

5. Tanner McKee, Stanford

4. Will Levis, Kentucky

Will Levis and Anthony Richardson aren’t too dissimilar as quarterback prospects. Both are huge QBs with .

Spring Issue

Art

Page 18

ART SUBMISSIONS

Kymora Messam

Xia James

Clay Langdon

Chase Thornton

Spring Issue

Art

Page 19

ART SUBMISSIONS

Mae Lai Liz Cowan

Ciel Nduka

Anna Gordon

Spring Issue

Fun and Games

Page 20

1.

CROSSWORD Across 2. Venomous Mammal 4. Fastest Fish 6. Colorful Monkey 10. Fastest Land Animal 12. Camouflaged Bug 13. Largest Fruit Bat 14. Armored Ocean Creature 15. Migratory Fish 16. Flightless Bird 17. Longest Snake

3. 2.

5.

4.

SUDOKU

6.

11.

10.

12.

13.

Down 1. Endangered Salamander 3. Subterranean Carnivore 5. Largest Turtle 7. Polar Predator 8. Venomous Desert Lizard 9. Wide-Winged Raptor 11. Deep-Sea Fish

9.

8.

7.

15.

14.

16.

17.

MAZE

Scan the QR code for the Horseshoe's website!

featuring exclusive articles, past issues, and puzzle solutions

Spring Issue

Online Exclusive

Page 21

Wake Up & It’s Just The Beginning - The Rise Of Lovejoy Robin Lewis

Clever lyrics, powerful rhythmic and melodic guitars, satisfying bass lines, a double kick drum, and the occasional trumpet are all signature components of a Lovejoy song. The band, based in Brighton, England, are quickly making a name for themselves in indie rock, having made their debut only two years ago. Now they’re attracting millions of fans, appearing on mainstream charts and playlists, and selling out shows in Europe and North America within minutes. Composed of lead singer and rhythm guitarist Will Gold, better known online as Wilbur Soot, lead guitarist Joe Goldsmith, bassist Ash Kabosu, and drummer Mark Boardman, Lovejoy has taken the internet by storm by way of their catchy songs, memorable lyrics, and fun personality.

Gearing up for the release of their third EP Wake Up & It’s Over on May 12th, here’s a brief glimpse into just how Lovejoy came to be the band they are today.

Wilbur and Joe formed Lovejoy in 2020 after playing in a folk group together and the pair wrote a handful of songs, eventually searching for a bassist and drummer to record what would become their debut EP, Are You Alright?. Wilbur met Ash at a burger shop with a friend, and the band hired Mark off of Fiverr to record drum lines but invited him to join them after being impressed by his work. With the group’s members together, they were ready to make their debut.

Lovejoy hit the ground running and instantly gained a massive following upon the release of Are You Alright? in May 2021, in large part due to Wilbur’s existing following from his work on YouTube channel SootHouse and his solo live streaming and music career.

The debut EP’s four songs all share an explosive, fun energy that characterizes much of Lovejoy’s early music. The EP’s most popular song, “One Day",

Left to right: Ash Kabosu, Joe Goldsmith, Wilbur Soot, and Mark Boardman

peaked at number 54 on the UK charts, and has amassed over 110 million streams on Spotify since its release.

After the release of Are You Alright?, Lovejoy quickly got to work growing their discography and released their second EP, Pebble Brain, a few months later in October 2021. Pebble Brain took the fun energy of Are You Alright? and mixed in stronger theming around unhealthy relationships and political dissatisfaction, creating a collection of seven songs each with meaningful themes. Like Are You Alright?, Pebble Brain brought yet more success for Lovejoy, and the EP peaked at number 12 on the UK album charts while bringing in a growing army of fans for the band.

As 2021 came to a close, Lovejoy began working on more music while building on their existing catalogue with covers of “Knee Deep At ATP” by Los Campesinos! and “Privately Owned Spiral Galaxy” by Crywank. Releases of new music slowed down for a while, but Lovejoy still kept themselves very busy in the year ahead.

With their growing repertoire of songs, Lovejoy began playing shows in 2022 by playing several secret gigs under various pseudonyms, such as Lampwith Sock, ASBO BBQ, and Ouijaboard Madness, to prepare for touring. Lovejoy eventually played their first show under the band’s name that August in Brighton, and toured Britain in late 2022 before announcing tours in both Europe and North America, which

had tickets for most shows selling out minutes after going live.

Lovejoy also spent much of 2022 developing and honing their unique musical voice while writing and recording new music. The result of this was “Call Me What You Like,” the lead single for their upcoming EP Wake Up & It’s Over, released in February 2023.

The song is described in the Toronto Star as an “upbeat self-deprecating tune about the anxiety and desperation of an uneven relationship,” and opens with a soft, quiet verse before exploding into a dramatic and hard-hitting chorus, with powerful lyrics likely to find themselves stuck in your head. “Call Me What You Like” quickly became Lovejoy’s most popular release, marking the band’s first song to appear in the UK top 40 chart after peaking at number 32.

Lovejoy has teased that much of their upcoming music will resemble the style of “Call Me What You Like,” marking that the band has found their musical identity at the beginning of this new era for their music. As a thanks to their community, Lovejoy also released From Studio 4, an EP with acoustic versions of each song from Are You Alright?. With a growing discography, passionate fanbase, and many concerts and festivals to come, the release of Wake Up & It’s Over is sure to be a monumental boost for Lovejoy, and their time in the spotlight is likely far from over.

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Page 22

Something Special Julia Story

The world has been weeping for a very long time.

Made up of so many seas, it has become quick to dismiss the soil.

The water is deep, the world will cry, as it has again and again, there is more grief than shelter. There is less joy than fear.

I am drowning.

And the world will look into itself and it will neglect the life hidden so deep beneath those seas of sorrow it will forget that sadness is often just hope that has been buried.

It will search for signs of land, and at the sight of its scarcity, the world will forfeit.

Only there, on its knees, will it dig its limbs into the dirt and take root.

I will surely choke, it believes each time, I will surely die Yet, the world stretches out beneath the grass, sprawled under the sheets and grasping — though down, we are always grasping — for something to hold onto.

The earth is wet and torn, but where holes have been made, colonies run like blood in labyrinths of veins.

Under all this mess, here lies composure.

Ants flow through systems of tunnels; there is a mother, and there are children, and there are workers, and they are alive.

The world wonders if it ever would have noticed this if it hadn’t sunk so far.

Then, the world sinks further, outwards and into the ocean.

The water is piercingly cold. Again, it goes limp, floating into the weightless abyss.

Now this is it, the world swallows dryly, this is where it ends.

The world drifts past a reef. Shimmering fish weave in and out of tall stalks of seaweed waving lazily in unison.

They, too, are alive.

And despite the world’s beliefs, this was not where it would end.

The world meets pine forest performances played by orchestras of crickets, and it meets the chipped curls and ridges on the crown of a mountain goat, and it meets the wind who whistles stories carried from the unmapped earth.

Truly, totally, it does not ever end.

And at this point, the day has grown old, and the stars become freckles on the skin of the sky.

With dishevelled hair by the palm of whimsy, the world pulls keys from its back pocket, picks through its deck of opportunities, and plucks the door to its studio apartment.

Beneath this composure, there is also mess. But in mess, there is often art. Tediously, caringly, it crafts a cup of coffee.

I am small, the world muses with a sip from its mug, but for me, I will make something special.

Spring Issue

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Page 23

Black Country, New Road Elliot Tam

On January 31st 2022, Black Country, New Road’s frontman and lead singer Issac Wood announced that he would be leaving the band due to mental health reasons.

Wood's departure came only days before the release of BC,NR’s sophomore project “Ants from Up There (AFUT).” In the band's joint statement with Wood, the remaining members made it clear that they would continue making music.

Concerns were raised over the quality of their next record, as Wood’s vocals were essential to their distinct sound and replacing him would drastically change that - but fans wouldn't have to wait long.

Following the cancellation of the planned AFUT tour, BC,NR announced a series of European shows (alongside some U.S. dates with the band Black Midi). At these shows the band played a handful of never before seen tracks reflecting on Wood’s departure, providing a clear sonic direction for the band. These tracks would be colloquially known under the bootleg album “Under the Missing Pieces” named after the puzzle-themed marketing for said shows. In an interview with NME, bassist Tyler Hyde went into detail about the new songs. Hyde explained that the band felt like they needed to “keep up momentum” or else it would have felt like they were “quitting music.” Due to these concerns, the band started pulling music from each of the members’ solo material to reach the deadline of their upcoming tour. Whoever had written the song would sing it live, hence the rotating lead singer at these shows. The band would continue to tour all throughout 2022 with notable performances at FUJI ROCK and Bush Hall. The latter was recorded and filmed and would eventually be turned into the concert film “Black Country, New Road- Live at Bush Hall.”

Following Issac Wood's Departure, BC, NR's comeback sees them as strong as ever

On Bush Hall, BC,NR fully abandons their post-punk roots and dives fully into this new chamber pop sound.

We saw hints of this on their sophomore project AFUT, but in Bush Hall the band fully embraces this new sound. I think this suits the band.

Without Issac, I'm not sure musically it would make sense to continue down the post-punk direction. Ultimately BC,NR benefit from the shift away here but that's not to say this project is without its faults. Due to this being a live album some of these songs sound a little rough around the edges, however most of this is made up for with the band’s on point lyricism and instrumentation. Many of the tracks on Bush Hall seem to be the different members reconciling with the loss of Issac, the most notable of these being the opening track “Up Song ''.

“Up song” sees Tyler discuss numerous topics regarding Issac. His struggles with mental health (“All these things will remain invisible to the world/And you wish you could be held”), the apparent shoes that Tyler now has to fill (“Look at what we did together/Don't know how you did it”) and the fact that even though Issac is no longer a part of the band no one will forget what they did together (“Look at what we did together/BC,NR friends forever”).

There are also a couple of tracks that feel like they could belong on the BSides of AFUT - two in particular.

“Across The Pond Friend '' sounds incredibly similar to “Good Will Hunting '', and “The Boy '' also sounds familiar to “Concorde” from AFUT. If you enjoyed the singles from AFUT I think you’ll have a fun time with this album, however if you're more of a fan of their Slint-inspired debut there’s not going to be much on here for you.

These handful of tracks provide an important stepping stone into BC,NR’s next project. Not a full studio album but a series of live shows recognizing the achievements of their last two projects and saying farewell to a beloved and important member of the band. While not as structurally sound as their first two albums, Bush Hall is still nonetheless incredibly impressive and nothing short of what I expected from the band. Despite losing their lead singer, the future looks bright for Black Country, New Road and I'm so excited to see what they have planned.

Spring Issue

Young Voice Actor Liam McCord Makes a Comeback

Page 24

Online Exclusive

The Triumphant Return of the World Baseball Classic Erik H.

By Lizzy Cribbs, Ella Cummings and Max Hellen

On Tuesday May 9, Liam McCord, 15, a grade 9 Western Tech student, auditioned for the voice part of a raccoon named Carl in a new PBS Kids animated television series about animals who are on the spectrum. This show will help kids learn about how great it is to think and do things differently.

McCord has previously voiced roles of children in animated shorts and series. For example, he was featured as the character Ben in Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum and the character Charlie from The Perfect Project.

Recently, he has not had many voice roles so his agent, Roberta found this audition for him.

Roberta sent his mom a script of the lines and McCord practiced them to prepare. Roberta then came to his house in order to record him delivering the lines. McCord and Roberta went to a quiet space in the house and Roberta recorded him delivering the lines and sent the recording to the producer.

When asked if it was difficult to return to voice acting after three years away, McCord said “I will admit it was pretty difficult in the beginning due to my voice being rusty, but it got better by the end.” This audition marks the return of McCord’s voice acting career.

“It feels good,” McCord explained, “….this audition is giving me a chance to get back to voice acting.”

Team Japan winning the WBC

For the first time since 2017, the World Baseball Classic took place this past March. The World Baseball Classic typically happens every four years, and follows a similar format to the FIFA World Cup. This year, there were 20 teams competing in four groups, with games being played in four different stadiums, across three different countries.

Since baseball is the national sport of the United States, you might assume that they win every time, but in fact they have only won one of the previous four tournaments, with Japan having won twice, and the Dominican Republic once.

There were two rounds of qualification last year, and perhaps the biggest upset this time around was when the Czech Republic beat Spain to qualify for the very first time. None of the Czech players are professionals, and they all have jobs other than baseball. One of the players is even a high school teacher!

Another one of the first-time qualifiers

was Nicaragua, who failed to qualify for the previous two classics. Canada, featuring seven MLB players, took part in their fourth WBC, although they once again failed to make it out of the group stage.

Historically, the WBC has been more popular outside the United States.

American stars played on team USA for the first time this year, as they previously thought the tournament just risked injury, which helps explain why they didn't win prior to 2017.

This helped make this year’s WBC perhaps the most exciting one yet.

Powered by their newfound star power, the USA made a run all the way to the finals before falling to Japan, 3-2.

For baseball fans, this was a great opportunity to see some of their favourite MLB players past, present, and future in a different context, each playing for the pride of their home country.

Colts Couldn’t Quite on Ice Evan Woods

On December 22nd, The Colts faced Harbord CI in the TDSSA tier 2 hockey finals.

Western Tech played hard and went back and forth with Harbord, but a bad penalty cost them the game. In the dying minutes of the matchup an altercation between the Colts and Tigers left the Colts shorthanded in the last two minutes, and they were unable to rally a comeback. In the end, the Colts lost 4-3.

Spring Issue

Fun and Games

CROSSWORD

Across 2. Venomous Mammal 4. Fastest Fish 6. Colorful Monkey 10. Fastest Land Animal 12. Camouflaged Bug 13. Largest Fruit Bat 14. Armored Ocean Creature 15. Migratory Fish 16. Flightless Bird 17. Longest Snake

Down 1. Endangered Salamander 3. Subterranean Carnivore 5. Largest Turtle 7. Polar Predator 8. Venomous Desert Lizard 9. Wide-Winged Raptor 11. Deep-Sea Fish

Page 25

1.

A

X O 3. 2. P L A T Y P U S B O 5.

8.

A T 7.

6. M A N D R I L L 4. S A I L F I S H 9.

G E C R G I 11.

10.

L O C H E E T A H A 12. S T I C K I N S E C T A R N H D I M G 13. F L Y I N G F O X E O C R F E R N S 14.

B L O B S T E R T 15. S A L M O N E X F C R 16. O S T R I C H K S 17. P Y T H O N

SUDOKU

MAZE There is an error in the crossword (8). Sorry about that!

There is also an incorrect credit in the printed issue. The article "Evaluating the NFL Draft's Top-Five Quarterbacks" was written by Quinn Oliver, NOT Mia Frederiksen.