SCHOLARSJOURNAL Fall 2015

Contents

2 The Masterpiece

4 Pollution in Canada

6 Tommies Abroad

8 Music of Vienna

9 Euromaidan

10 Human Trafficking University of St. Thomas

“Granada, Spain was the last city in Spain to be

reconquered by the los Reyes Católicos (the Catholic

Kings). Because it was the last Muslim stronghold in

Spain, Granada has maintained many of its Moorish

influences.”

-Laura Kvasnicka

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SCHOLARSJOURNAL FALL 2015

The Masterpiece

The hall is lined with unfinished sculptures, creatures that are half form, half marble block. Their tortured souls seem to be wrenching themselves from the cold stone. They twist and writhe, trying to will themselves into this world but forever denied entry. These are Michelangelo’s aptly named Prisoners, abandoned works by the great artist.

I stand amid hundreds of others in this long gallery of the Accademia, shuffling forward past these trapped beings to the real reason we came to the museum – Michelangelo’s David. Together, we move from the hall to the white domed room beyond it, and together, words die on our lips as we stop, astounded.

The sculpture is bathed in a cool, natural light. In contrast to the Prison-ers, David seems to have easily slipped out of his marble cocoon and as-cended his pedestal. He stands on the verge of measured movement, looking as though he’s about to shift his weight and blink his regal eyes. His translucent marble form – look at the veins in his hands! – enchants all who look upon it. David seems to contain the spark of a soul, and the visitors’ collective sigh of wonder might just breathe life into his frozen figure.

Part of me wants to marvel at the sculpture forever, while the other wants to fall to its knees and weep. David is utterly magnificent.

I don’t have to know the languages of my fellow visitors to understand that they, too, feel this revered sculpture striking them deeply in their souls. The words I do understand elaborate on the same theme: incredi-ble, stunning, and beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.

Elena Neuzil

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SCHOLARSJOURNAL FALL 2015

The Masterpiece

Michelangelo believed that sculptors were tools of God, chiseling the marble not to create but merely to expose what had been divinely in-spired within. Perhaps, then, the product of this divinely inspired work turns us towards the divine itself.

Perhaps the David is such great art because it reminds onlookers of something eternal and deep and true, even if they have no declared be-lief in such things. The sculpture draws us in with its apparent perma-nence and perfection, two captivating things we can never achieve – only worship.

Michelangelo believed that beautiful art had the power to transport the beholder to a more perfect place. Beauty, love, and God were closely linked, he wrote:

I son’ colui che ne prim’anni tuoi

gli occhi tuo infermi volsi alla beltate

che dalla terra al ciel vivo conduce.

I am he who in your early years

turned your eyes to beauty

which leads those still alive from earth to heaven.

In that brilliantly lit room with that glorious work of art, my fellow visi-tors and I contemplate the truth that beauty can sometimes reveal. Da-vid, his powerful but languid form overhead, calls us to ponder the di-vine.

The visitors and I say, “Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful,” but maybe we re-ally mean, “Amen, amen, amen.”

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SCHOLARSJOURNAL FALL 2015

The Most Polluted City in Canada

Ellie Henkemeyer

Nature and Scale

Only one-sixtieth of the size of Toronto, the city of Sarnia, located in southwestern Ontario, is no urban giant (Statistics Canada, 2012). Yet in 2011, the World Health Organization declared that Sarnia’s air pollution was worse than that of any other city in all of Canada, surpassing Toronto, Montreal, Quebec, and all the rest of the country’s large metropolitan centres (Jeffrey). Sarnia emit-ted over 130,000 metric tonnes of air pollution in 2005 (MacDonald, 2007). In 2006, it had a startling 46 smog advisory days in which people were advised to reduce their time spent out-doors due to the high amounts of ground-level ozone and PM2.5 (airborne particles that are 2.5 microns or less in diameter) (Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change, 2015; Wallas and Kanaroglou, 2007). An experiment conducted by the Scientific World Journal in 2005 found that two of the region’s major pollutants were benzene, a known carcinogen, and its precursor, toluene (Atari, 2011; Miller, 2009). But what is causing all of this pollution?

Causes and Drivers

Sarnia’s air pollution is largely the product of two different drivers. The first of these is the hub of industry located within the city. The first commercial oil well in all of North America was discovered near the settlement of Sarnia in 1858 (Burr, 2006). Its close proximity to easy transport via the railroads and the chain of Great Lakes, as well as larger cities such as Detroit, Toronto, and Chicago, made it the perfect location for a thriving enterprise. Moreover, in the petrochemical industry, because one company’s by-product can be used as another’s raw mate-rial for production, it was mutually beneficial for petrochemical facilities to congregate togeth-er (Ojo, 2008). Consequently, within a decade, the area had accumulated 25 oil refineries, drawing people from long distances as a place for employment (Burr, 2006).

However, there is slightly more to the story. Over half (55%) of Ontario’s air pollution comes from the United States (Ministry of the Environment, 2005). Wind tends to blow south to north in this region, resulting in the long-range transport of pollutants from urban industrial regions of the United States into Ontario. Major metro areas in the American Midwest, such as Detroit, Michigan, are the primary culprits. In terms of contribution to ground-level ozone, transboundary pollution from the U.S. accounts for as much as 90% of southwestern Ontario’s

ozone levels (Ministry of the Environment, 2005). Ground-level ozone is a pollutant that results from the incomplete burning of fossil fuels, primarily due to emissions from fac-tories and vehicle exhaust and has been linked to respiratory problems such as asthma and various lung diseases (World Health Organization, 2014).

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SCHOLARSJOURNAL FALL 2015

The Most Polluted City in Canada

Ellie Henkemeyer

Implications for People

The air pollution in the province of Ontario accounts for an astounding $6.6 billion in health expenses per year (Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change, 2015). The city of Sarnia gets hit even harder than the rest of Ontario. Asbestos, mercury, benzene, lead, and nickel are just a few of the laundry list of pollutants that residents must live with here. Conse-quently, the cancer rate was found to be about 34% higher than the provincial average, and for lung cancer it was 50% higher. Men are also five times as likely to get mesothelioma and nine times as likely to suffer from asbestosis.

The Chippewa Indians of Sarnia (now known as the Aamjiwnaang First Nation) have occupied the area of Sarnia long before Europeans arrived. After the discovery of oil, the Aamjiwnaang First Nation have watched as their reserve has been slowly surrounded by the largest industrial complex in the entire nation (Hoover 2012). It now lies within one of Canada’s 17 Areas of Con-cern (AOC) because of the high pollution rates and the health risks it poses for the area’s resi-dents. In 2007 EcoJustice reported that the first nation suffers from significantly higher inci-dences of respiratory illnesses, cancers, skin disorders, thyroid and kidney problems, high blood pressure, severe and chronic headaches, learning and attention deficit disorders, miscarriages, and stillbirths than the general population of Lambton County (MacDonald, 2007; Polaris Institute, 2009). On top of all of this, a study conducted in 2005 discovered that the community also has a very unhealthy male-to-female birth ratio. A tell-tale sign of the reproductive health of a community, the sex ratio in Canada is 51%, however, for the Aamjiwnaang First Nation, that number has been going down at an increasing rate since 1990 as shown in Figure 1 at the right (Mackenzie, 2005). In 2003, male babies made up not even 35% of the live births, presumed to be at least partially caused by the endorphin disruptors from the chemical pollutants in the air (Mackenzie, 2005). This is the only place in the world where a near 2:1 ratio has ever been documented.

Thankfully, Sarnia is making strides toward more environmentally-friendly practices. In 2003, the University of Western Ontario Sarnia-Lambton Research Park was opened to develop new bio-based energy sources for the nearby industries. Over $55 million has been invested into park by the federal and provincial government, as well as academic institutions and industry partners (Ojo, 2008). The park provides hope that Sarnia’s history of technological leadership will now lead Chemical Valley into a new and better direction.

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SCHOLARSJOURNAL FALL 2015

TOMMIES ABROAD

Santiago de Compestela,

Spain

Over the semester I saw how life in

Spanish cities varied from north to

south. This little fishing town was

on the Northern coast.

-Jackie Ellingson

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Botswana

We were completely humbled by the

efforts of the people to farm in such a

harsh climate, but we brought Tommie

spirit to the cattle post.

-Evan Keil

Positano, Italy

Positano was one of our first stops,

so it was particularly stunning to

me. It was beautiful, but it made

me appreciate the people I was

with more than anything.

-Nick Waldvogel

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SCHOLARSJOURNAL FALL 2015

TOMMIES ABROAD

Botswana

We ended our trip with a safari in the delta region of the country through the shallow

marsh area in the traditional fashion. These 'Mokoro' canoes are carved from a tree and

used to travel across far distances – in this case, to the hippo pool.

-Evan Keil

Madrid

The annual Transhumance Festival celebrates the centuries-old tradition of driving the

sheep to new pastures for the winter. The old path that the sheep used to take goes

right through the center of Madrid, so shepherds still follow the path through the city

streets with their sheep to honor the tradition.

-Laura Kvasnicka

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SCHOLARSJOURNAL FALL 2015

Vienna is the capital

city of classical music.

Not only did it give

fame and notoriety to

geniuses like Mozart, Beethoven, Strauss,

Schoenberg, and many more, but it has con-

tinued to honor their name since then. With

three different major opera houses (one of

which is the most active opera house in the

world) a person could practically see a differ-

ent opera every day of the year. One of the

world’s best orchestras is the Vienna Philhar-

monic, and the city itself is crawling with mu-

sic students from far and wide. You can hardly

go more than a single tram stop without see-

ing someone carrying an instrument. The clas-

sical music scene does well, not only with the

young classical lovers, but also with the pleth-

ora of the similarly inclined older generations.

With over 30% of the population above the

age of fifty years, and plenty more seniors

coming in on vacation, the classical music

venues are always packed with grey hair.

Vienna also offers plenty of other gen-

res. With extremely talented local jazz per-

formers playing local bars at jams, famous jazz

performers playing at Porky & Bess, rock ven-

ues littering the city, clubs with DJ’s going un-

til 5am, and even a couple experimental music

venues, Vienna has no shortage of music

events to attend. Every week I saw new jazz

and classical performers that blew me away

with their incredible skill and musicality.

The people of Vienna love the culture

their city has to offer. They flock to the festi-

vals that are held year round. The Viennese

citizens are the ones supporting the storefront

art galleries that host intimate classical music

ensembles alongside new visual art exhibits.

They’re the ones paying the taxes that go right

back into supporting the culture and the art-

ist. The Viennese government is not shy of

supporting its cultural heritage and modern

art either through grants supporting the arts

or funding for specific artists.

The musicians of Vienna are aware of

the powerful role of public support, and they

understand what is happening in the modern

music industry. While the rest of the music

industry is shocked that they have to perform

to make money, due to declining record sales,

the Viennese musicians do not hesitate. In Vi-

enna, performance has always been the most

important thing in music. Operas never cared

about record sales, and that mentality has

leaked into the other genres that live in Vien-

na. Here, music is a performance art. Sure, the

advent of recordings and their convenience

gave music another outlet, but at its core it is

still about bringing people together and unit-

ing them in one room. It is still about what

the performer can actually cause a group to

feel when they are in the same space.

A Reflection on the Music of Vienna

Adam Jensen

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One year ago, I flew to Ukraine to interview ordinary people from various regions in the coun-

try, asking about their role during the Euromaidan. The Euromaidan demonstrated that the self-

organization, courage, and determination of ordinary citizens can put an end to state violence. After

the beating of the students on November 30, 2013, people organized the March of Millions, shout-

ing: “No bruise can be forgotten.” People said: “If they beat students yesterday, they will beat every-

body today.” And people took to the streets because they refused to accept government-sanctioned

corruption and violence.

There are two unarguable characteristics that define the Euromaidaners. The first is resilience.

Ukrainian resilience was frostbitten hands patting snow to their barricade; you could hear resilience in

the roar of the national anthem when victim five, ten, fifteen, one hundred was carried away from the

crowd. Resilience was the first student who decided that liberty was more important than his reputa-

tion, his grade, his safety, and even his life. Resilience was the number of protestors that multiplied as

government oppression did -- when Yanukovych favored Russian ties, when students were brutally

beaten in the night, when draconian laws threatened freedom forever—the dancing continued, the

numbers piled up, and the intensity of vigor climbed.

SCHOLARSJOURNAL FALL 2015

The Euromaidan

by Valeria Brukhis

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SCHOLARSJOURNAL FALL 2015

The Euromaidan

The second characteristic is unity. Ukrainian unity was a spontaneous protest in Lviv, when

citizens of all nationalities joined hands in a single group prayer as policemen approached to dis-

perse them. Ukrainian unity was Automaidan, when taxi drivers swarmed in a circle around the city

in order to protect and deliver protestors inside. Ukrainian unity was on the Maidan Square, when

young men scurried to protect women from Berkut attack.

It is often said that the Euromaidan “put Ukraine back on the map.” Indeed, people have

ceased to ask “isn’t that the one next to Russia?” We all remember the famous “I am a Ukrainian vid-

eo.” We saw the related cover stories of BBC, CNN, Yahoo, etc. The world was watching. However,

the global engagement was not about the bright flailing lights of Molotov cocktails. Everyday people

saw and connected with the throbbing, life-or-death plea for liberty, for democracy, for rule of law,

for freedom, for basic human rights.

Those oppressed around the world hoped in the resilience. The dictators that watched feared

the unity. The conflict followed over the past few years was much greater than within the borders of

a single nation. Today, the idea of Euromaidan has not died with the media’s attention.

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SCHOLARSJOURNAL FALL 2015

Eleven Cows will Get You a Wife: The Lucrative Business of Human Trafficking and Forced Labor in the Modern Age

(Abstract)

In the Zulu tribe of South Africa, the traditional courtship practice of a dowry is integral to

the marriage rite. In decades past, young men would save up their personal wealth to pay to the fa-

ther of their bride. Wealth was measured in the number of cows each man owned, and wealthier

the man, the more wives he could marry. On average, each bride was worth about eleven cows. Still

today, young men save up to exchange personal wealth for a wife, but they do not pay up in cows

anymore- actual currency will suffice. While the story of the young Zulu men saving up to provide

for a wife and a family will seem romantic to some, and strange to others, today we are faced with

the purchase of persons on a much larger and more nefarious scale. The 21st century is sick with a

disease we can’t seem to shake- modern day slavery in the form of human trafficking and forced la-

bor. These days, you can certainly buy a person, traffic them across borders, and enslave them in

your home as an unpaid domestic worker. Finding a cure for this disease is challenging, since the

profitability of forced labor and human trafficking is significant- much more than eleven cows. We

know the profits of these criminal activities are substantial, but we are unsure exactly how lucrative

the practice is. Estimates range significantly, some touting a difference of $105.7 billion a year.

The epidemic of modern-day slavery is a deplorable reminder of the darker side of human

nature. What makes the epidemic worse, is the undeniable profitability of the human rights abuse.

However, understanding the profitability of the crime is integral to understanding how to stop it.

Thus, an accurate estimation of the yearly profits of human trafficking and forced labor is the key

to creating and implementing effective public policy solutions to cure the world over of its sickness.

The ILO’s 2014 estimate of $150.2 billion a year fits the bill for this estimate and should be cited by

media, non-profits, and activists alike. The impact that this updated, and alarming statistic may

have, will possibly urge lawmakers and citizens to take steps forward in eliminating contemporary

slavery. Eleven cows are certainly worth less than $150.2 billion, but human life is priceless. We can,

however, put a price on restoring millions of people with their dignity and freedom by using the

accurate, reliable, and responsibly estimated statistics to motivate change.

Hayley Spratt

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SCHOLARSJOURNAL

A publication of the Aquinas Scholars Honors Program,

University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN

Editor: Carmen Carballo

Happy J-Term Tommies

See you in spring!

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