vol 41 issue 8

12
A different kind of circus The AGM downtown is always a good show. Now let’s get our heads screwed on again. Medium Opinion, page 4 Circus of horrors The Haunted Carnival passed by our quiet little campus looking for the souls of students to consume. Medium News, page 3 This isle is full of noises The Tempest comes to Hart House and we sit down with its veteran director, Jeremy Hutton. Medium Arts, page 5 Not hiding anything Talking to a UTM author about her latest book, exploring controversial views on the Islamic headscarf. Medium Features, page 8 Cross country takes off The first and only meet of the year for the Eagles took place at Seneca. Not a win, but not bad, either. Medium Sports, page 11 THE VOICE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO MISSISSAUGA November 3, 2014 Volume 41, Issue 8 themedium.ca New board structure rejected Bylaw amendment fails to achieve two-thirds majority at UTSU annual general meeting UTSU’s controversial board structure proposal, which would have seen col- lege directors replaced by constituency directors, was defeated at the AGM on Wednesday when it failed to achieve a two-thirds majority in favour. e motion was 6% shy of a two- thirds majority. e remaining bylaw changes were split by a new motion introduced early in the AGM and were adopted by a majority vote, except for the motion to establish commissions and commit- tees for colleges and faculties. Held in the OISE auditorium, the meeting was called to order at 6:55 p.m. by Chair Ashkon Hashemi. DEBATE OVER PROPOSED BOARD STRUCTURE e board structure proposal was brought up at beginning of the meet- ing in UTSU President Yolen Bollo- Kamara’s address. Bollo-Kamara spoke to the background of the proposal and the union’s efforts to collect input from colleges and student societies at U of T, including by holding presentations and meeting with multiple downtown colleges and professional faculties. “Some student societies never re- sponded to my emails,” she said. Bollo-Kamara defended the pro- posal, saying, “is proposal doesn’t exclude anyone, but what it does is focuses on the different ways in which students access postsecondary educa- tion and are able to participate in all aspects of this campus.” A question-and-answer period fol- lowed the presidential address. UTSU VP university affairs Pierre Harfouche spoke against the proposed board structure, saying that it had been passed by the board of directors prior to beginning consultations. “We should have done the consul- tation before we presented this to the AGM, before we passed it. We did it so early, we [weren’t] able to reflect, to change it, to add edits, to ask ques- tions,” he said. Tina Saban, co-head of Trinity Col- lege, accused UTSU of violating its own bylaws by trying to pass the new board structure without conducting a plebiscite—a non-binding referen- dum. e board passed a resolution in January to hold a plebiscite to approve any changes to Bylaw V prior to the AGM but did not, Saban said. “We had every intention of it; there was one that was draſted and put for- ward and unfortunately was ruled out of order at the board meeting,” re- sponded Bollo-Kamara. BOLLO-KAMARA CONDEMNS “MISINFORMATION” Kaleem Hawa, chair of Trinity College Meeting, spoke about false informa- tion circulated by students claiming to be UTSU volunteers to the effect that if the board proposal failed, club fund- ing could be in jeopardy. MARIA IQBAL NEWS EDITOR MAHMOUD SAROUJI/THE MEDIUM Wednesday’s annual general meeting included votes on proposed changes to UTSU bylaws. Following nearly four decades under Hazel McCallion’s leadership, Missis- sauga has elected a new mayor. Winning with 63% support, mayor- elect Bonnie Crombie defeated front- runner Steve Mahoney and 13 other candidates vying for the city’s top job. “ank you, Mississauga,” said Crombie, shouting over the crowd at the Crombie victory party held on election night. “I am truly honoured and overwhelmed.” A current city councillor represent- ing Mississauga’s Ward 5, Crombie is a U of T alumna, former businesswom- an, and former Member of Parliament representing Mississauga Streetsville. “You made a choice to vote for the future and a bold new vision for our city,” said Crombie. “You voted to move Mississauga forward, and as your mayor, I will do just that.” Although polls reported a neck- and-neck race between Crombie and Mahoney for much of the campaign, Crombie came out on top with 56,122 votes ahead of Mahoney on election night. According to a Forum Research poll published on September 27—ex- actly one month before election day— Mahoney led the pack of 15 mayoral contenders with 40% support, while Crombie trailed closely behind at 36%. e polls drastically changed following McCallion’s endorsement of Crombie’s platform. U of T alumna elected mayor Bonnie Crombie wins Mississauga election, succeeding Hazel McCallion as mayor NICOLE DANESI ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR BONNIECROMBIE.CA/PHOTO Four of UTM’s 126 residents eligible to vote took to the polls on Monday. AGM continued on page 2 Mayor continued on page 3

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Page 1: Vol 41 issue 8

A different kind of circusThe AGM downtown is always a good show. Now let’s get our heads screwed on again.Medium Opinion, page 4

Circus of horrorsThe Haunted Carnival passed by our quiet little campus looking for the souls of students to consume.Medium News, page 3

This isle is full of noisesThe Tempest comes to Hart House and we sit down with its veteran director, Jeremy Hutton.Medium Arts, page 5

Not hiding anythingTalking to a UTM author about her latest book, exploring controversial views on the Islamic headscarf.Medium Features, page 8

Cross country takes offThe first and only meet of the year for the Eagles took place at Seneca. Not a win, but not bad, either.Medium Sports, page 11

THE VOICE OF THE UNIVERSITY

OF TORONTO MISSISSAUGA

November 3, 2014Volume 41, Issue 8themedium.ca

New board structure rejectedBylaw amendment fails to achieve two-thirds majority at UTSU annual general meeting

UTSU’s controversial board structure proposal, which would have seen col-lege directors replaced by constituency directors, was defeated at the AGM on Wednesday when it failed to achieve a two-thirds majority in favour.

The motion was 6% shy of a two-thirds majority.

The remaining bylaw changes were split by a new motion introduced early in the AGM and were adopted by a majority vote, except for the motion to establish commissions and commit-tees for colleges and faculties.

Held in the OISE auditorium, the meeting was called to order at 6:55 p.m. by Chair Ashkon Hashemi.

DEBATE OVER PROPOSED BOARD STRUCTUREThe board structure proposal was brought up at beginning of the meet-ing in UTSU President Yolen Bollo-Kamara’s address. Bollo-Kamara spoke to the background of the proposal and

the union’s efforts to collect input from colleges and student societies at U of T, including by holding presentations and meeting with multiple downtown colleges and professional faculties.

“Some student societies never re-sponded to my emails,” she said.

Bollo-Kamara defended the pro-

posal, saying, “This proposal doesn’t exclude anyone, but what it does is focuses on the different ways in which students access postsecondary educa-tion and are able to participate in all aspects of this campus.”

A question-and-answer period fol-lowed the presidential address. UTSU

VP university affairs Pierre Harfouche spoke against the proposed board structure, saying that it had been passed by the board of directors prior to beginning consultations.

“We should have done the consul-tation before we presented this to the AGM, before we passed it. We did it

so early, we [weren’t] able to reflect, to change it, to add edits, to ask ques-tions,” he said.

Tina Saban, co-head of Trinity Col-lege, accused UTSU of violating its own bylaws by trying to pass the new board structure without conducting a plebiscite—a non-binding referen-dum. The board passed a resolution in January to hold a plebiscite to approve any changes to Bylaw V prior to the AGM but did not, Saban said.

“We had every intention of it; there was one that was drafted and put for-ward and unfortunately was ruled out of order at the board meeting,” re-sponded Bollo-Kamara.

BOLLO-KAMARA CONDEMNS “MISINFORMATION” Kaleem Hawa, chair of Trinity College Meeting, spoke about false informa-tion circulated by students claiming to be UTSU volunteers to the effect that if the board proposal failed, club fund-ing could be in jeopardy.

MARIA IQBALNEWS EDITOR

MAHMOUD SAROUJI/THE MEDIUM

Wednesday’s annual general meeting included votes on proposed changes to UTSU bylaws.

Following nearly four decades under Hazel McCallion’s leadership, Missis-sauga has elected a new mayor.

Winning with 63% support, mayor-elect Bonnie Crombie defeated front-runner Steve Mahoney and 13 other candidates vying for the city’s top job.

“Thank you, Mississauga,” said Crombie, shouting over the crowd at the Crombie victory party held on election night. “I am truly honoured and overwhelmed.”

A current city councillor represent-ing Mississauga’s Ward 5, Crombie is a U of T alumna, former businesswom-an, and former Member of Parliament representing Mississauga Streetsville.

“You made a choice to vote for the future and a bold new vision for our city,” said Crombie. “You voted

to move Mississauga forward, and as your mayor, I will do just that.”

Although polls reported a neck-and-neck race between Crombie and Mahoney for much of the campaign, Crombie came out on top with 56,122

votes ahead of Mahoney on election night. According to a Forum Research poll published on September 27—ex-actly one month before election day—Mahoney led the pack of 15 mayoral contenders with 40% support, while

Crombie trailed closely behind at 36%. The polls drastically changed following McCallion’s endorsement of Crombie’s platform.

U of T alumna elected mayorBonnie Crombie wins Mississauga election, succeeding Hazel McCallion as mayor

NICOLE DANESIASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR

BONNIECROMBIE.CA/PHOTO

Four of UTM’s 126 residents eligible to vote took to the polls on Monday.

AGM continued on page 2

Mayor continued on page 3

Page 2: Vol 41 issue 8

2 «NEWS THE MEDIUM 11.03.2014

The UTM Muslim Students’ Associa-tion held their annual “Think Pink” event last week to raise funds for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

This year, the event included a large bake sale with homemade cupcakes, macaroons, biryani, and cotton candy. There was also a spin-the-wheel game in which students were asked to dis-tinguish between popular breast can-cer myths and facts.

In addition to collecting donations, the MSA also organised a lecture by associate professor Patrick Gunning of the Department of Chemical and Physical Sciences. In his lecture, Gun-ning explained his cancer research and, in particular, the implications of

his research for the future of breast cancer treatment.

Gunning and his team have been designing a drug molecule that deac-tivates the STAT3 protein in cells. The STAT3 protein is hyperactive in many cancerous cells, Gunning explained, and many diseases are STAT3-driven, such as psoriasis, Crohn’s disease, and irritable bowel syndrome. Gunning’s drug has been approved for clinical trials for psoriasis, and he said trials for breast cancer are likely to follow.

In previous years, the MSA’s event was called “Pink Hijab Day”, said pres-ident Maha Khan. This year, in order to make the event more inclusive for the whole community, the event was renamed “Think Pink” and students were encouraged to dress in pink to

show support for breast cancer suf-ferers and further raise awareness amongst the community. Last year, the event raised about $170.

“Two years ago, we raised about $500, but sadly last year our event was cut short by a bad storm,” said Khan.

According to final calculations, the MSA raised $339 this year. All the funds will go to the Canadian Breast Cancer Association.

“What I’m hoping is that this week not only raises awareness for breast cancer, but also shows that Muslims are not only involved in their own is-sues, but are also involved with com-munity initiatives,” says Khan. “Breast cancer affects both men and women, and we’d like to do our part in helping to raise awareness.”

FARAH QAISER

“Think Pink” for breast cancer

Bollo-Kamara responded that UTSU has been “very clear” about the con-sequences of not passing the board proposal.

“Waiting 12 months [to pass a new structure before the deadline imposed by the Canada Not-for-profit Corpo-rations Act] puts us in jeopardy, and no one is sure exactly what happens if we don’t pass a structure in a year,” she said. “But I’ve always been very clear that we do have that time”.

“I can’t speak to misinformation [from UTSU], but I will condemn that there has been a lot of misinfor-mation about the board structure,” she added.

DIVISION OF BYLAW AMENDMENTSBefore the vote on the bylaw changes, Bollo-Kamara moved to separate by-law sections V and XI—concerning the controversial new board structure and committees—from the remain-der of the amendments so they could be voted on separately.

All of the remaining amendments were passed by a simple majority.

BYLAW SECTION V DEFEATEDWhen the discussion turned to Bylaw V, a motion proposed by Bollo-Ka-mara was passed to amend the pro-posed structure so that the names of the constituency directors would be changed from “international students’ director” to “international students’ issues director”, and the others on the same pattern.

The floor was then opened to stu-dents to speak in favour of or against the motion. Students against the mo-tion condemned what they alleged to be an inadequate amount of con-

sultation for the proposed structure, a failure to sufficiently investigate al-ternative structures, and using “scare tactics” such as condemning the pro-posal for a class structure under the name of “corporate paralysis”.

Other students said that the cur-rent model did not provide sufficient representation to minority communi-ties. Students who spoke in favour of the new structure also supported its focus on “issues” related to specific groups.

UTSU VP internal and services Cameron Wathey also mentioned the defeat of alternative solutions—in-cluding the possibility of reincorpo-rating UTSU in Ontario in order to avoid the jurisdiction of the federal act—as a reason to support the pro-posed structure.

After a heated debate, a motion was put forward to call the question to vote. With a tally of 1,556 votes in favour and 1,167 against, the motion was defeated.

The next item was bylaw 11, which concerned the establishment of com-missions and committees for college and faculty representation. This mo-tion was defeated by a majority.

THRESHOLD REQUIRED TO “PASS” RESOLUTIONPrior to the votes on the bylaw amendments, Hashemi explained that the motion concerning the board structure required a two-thirds ma-jority vote in order to pass. He said that according to the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act, the amend-ment required a “special resolution” since it involved a change in the num-ber of directors.

All the other amendments required a simple majority in order to pass un-der the CNCA, which Hashemi said

overrides UTSU bylaws stipulating a two-thirds majority vote for all bylaw amendments.

Ryan Gomes, UTSU board mem-ber for the Faculty of Engineering, raised the point that although UTSU has applied for continuance under the CNCA, the two-thirds’ threshold will only apply if the application is ac-cepted.

Hashemi responded that the num-bers have been recorded and will be available if the threshold changes.

OTHER MOTIONS NOT CARRIEDAfter the motions concerning bylaw amendments, the discussion turned to the remaining motions that had been submitted for the AGM, includ-ing resolutions to hold a “Drop Fees Day of Action”, to investigate courses purportedly designed to “weed out” students, and to campaign in support of international student needs.

Before a vote could be called on these motions, a motion to adjourn the meeting was introduced and car-ried. The meeting was adjourned at 11 p.m.

UTMSU CONDEMNS“ATTACKS DIRECTED TOUTM STUDENTS”UTMSU president Hassan Havili commented on the AGM in an inter-view later in the week.

According to Havili, approximately 90 UTM students attended the AGM, including UTMSU board members and executives.

“We played a constructive role at the meeting to make sure there is ad-equate discussion and debate before the motions were considered,” he said.

CHRISTY TAM/THE MEDIUM

The UTM Muslim Students’ Association’s “Think Pink” event raised $339 for breast cancer.

Final motions left undebatedAGM continued from Cover

AGM continued on page 3

These reports are those that have been released to TheMedium and do not necessarily constitute an exhaustive list.

Students can contact the UTM Campus Police at 905 828 5200, Peel Regional Police at 905 453 3311, or Crime Stoppers at 1 800 222 8477.New emergency phones are located near the Innovation Complex.

October 23, 8:50 a.m.Motor Vehicle AccidentCampus Police attended upper deck of Lot 8 to investigate a single vehicle collision. Damage to the vehicle was extensive. The driver was not in-jured.

October 23, 1:14 p.m.Motor Vehicle AccidentCampus Police attended parking lot 4 to investigate a motor vehicle ac-cident. No injuries were reported.

October 23, 3:20 p.m.Medical CallCampus Police assisted an injured female. The female was transported to hospital.

October 24, 9:55 a.m.Motor Vehicle AccidentPeel Regional Police and Campus Police investigated a cyclist struck by a vehicle. The vehicle did not remain on the scene of the accident. The cy-clist did not suffer any injuries. Peel Regional Police are investigating.

October 24, 11:45 a.m.Controlled Drugs & Substances ActCampus Police investigated a group of 5 students for possession of mari-

juana at the Student Centre.

October 25, 12:12 a.m.Medical CallCampus Police responded to a call about an intoxicated person. EMS transported the person to hospital.

October 25, 3:40 a.m.Noise ComplaintCampus Police attended a unit in Leacock Lane to investigate a noise complaint. The tenant was asked to keep the noise level down.

October 27, 4:13 a.m.MischiefCampus Police investigated mischief in IB 120. A fire extinguisher was discharged inside the classroom.

October 27, 7:45 p.m.Theft Under $5000A student reported the theft of her wallet from the Hazel McCallion Academic Learning Centre.

October 29, 6:09 p.m.Trespass to Property ActCampus Police cautioned and tres-passed a male, non-community member for trying to gain unauthor-ized entry into the Athletic Centre.

Page 3: Vol 41 issue 8

The Student Centre was transformed into a haunted centre filled with skulls, zombies, rat sculptures, a robotic zom-bie, and deathly sounds for the Hal-loween Haunted Carnival hosted by UTMSU in collaboration with clubs and student associations last week.

On Thursday, booths were set up inside the Student Centre, with a witch hat ring toss, archery, and a pie-eating contest. A fortune teller and tea leaf reader were also featured.

There were a few different activities on Friday, including apple-bobbing barrels, face-painting tables offered by Rhythm, potions by the psychology as-sociation, and donations in exchange for a pumpkin spice cupcake or a face painted by the World Wildlife Fund.

The other student groups that con-

tributed to the carnival include the Vietnamese Student Association, which sold desserts; the Erindale Campus African Students’ Associa-tion, which held a bake sale; and the Muslim Students’ Association, which offered biryani and samosas. There was also a stand with free popcorn and cotton candy.

Amandip Dhindsa, a second-year political science and history student, said, “I liked the popcorn stand and shooting arrows. But the free popcorn was the best!”

The carnival also featured several photo booths offered by the Egyp-tian Students’ Association featuring Cleopatra and pharaoh costumes, as well as by Medlife UTM, giving stu-dents the chance to have their photo taken with Spiderman.

Medlife UTM also organized a Zombie Run, which ran a course

around campus.The South Asian Alliance conduct-

ed a “Thriller” dance workshop in the Presentation Room.

On both days, an inflatable haunted maze was set up on the second floor of the Student Centre.

“It was 10 times more terrifying than I thought it would be! I screamed so hard my throat hurt. But it was worth it. At least I got candy afterwards,” said second-year student Sandra Elbaradie about the haunted maze. “I love how such carnivals bring all people togeth-er to have their own kind of fun.”

Amir Mozzami, UTMSU’s VP part-time affairs and one of the main orga-nizers of the Halloween Carnival, was pleased with the turnout.

“I really loved the support that I got from the clubs, societies, volunteers, and the haunted carnival committee,” he said. “I think it worked out great.”

“I have every confidence [...] that you will vote for Bonnie Crombie,” said the 93-year-old McCallion in a video published by Crombie’s campaign. “She’s ambitious, she works hard, she’s got some new ideas.”

Following McCallion’s endorse-ment, Crombie’s support increased by 20%, garnering 56% support in the polls, leading far ahead of Mahoney’s 31%.

On election night, Mahoney, a previous Mississauga city council-lor, Member of Parliament, Member of Provincial Parliament, and chair of the Workplace Safety Insurance Board, took in 28.68% of votes, ac-cording to the official election results.

“This is democracy, and as painful as it can be, the reality is that there’s

always got to be a winner and a loser,” said Mahoney on election night. “This was a clear decisive decision and the fact is we have a new mayor for the first time in 36 years, and regardless of who that is, I think that’s a good thing.”

On campus, the City of Mississau-ga, UTMSU, and UTM administration collaborated to encourage students and Mississauga youth to engage with the political process and cast their ballot in a variety of media. Among other activities, students were encour-aged to participate in a citywide con-test using the hashtag #IVoteBecause on social media to explain why they take part in the elections. The city also placed an ad in The Medium.

“The City of Mississauga placed particular emphasis on targeting the youth demographic in this year’s elec-

tion,” said Ashley Travassos, the city’s communications advisor. According to Travassos, the city wanted young voters to exercise their democratic rights due to low youth voter turnout in he previous federal and provincial elections.

On election day, students residing on campus were able to vote at a cam-pus polling station intended for 126 registered voters. Of these 126, four votes were cast.

The citywide voter turnout gradu-ally improved over the 2010 munici-pal election, which saw 34.34% voter turnout among all eligible voters. This year’s figure was 36.57%.

Crombie and the rest of the Missis-sauga City Council will be sworn into office on December 1. Mayor McCal-lion’s 36-year service will end on No-vember 30.

11.03.2014 THE MEDIUM NEWS» 3

Sameer Kotwal2nd year, life sci

Jeffrey Dalek2nd year, commerce

Alina Patel2nd year, psych

Nilo Bastan1st year, humanities

It’s a good idea; it’d be a form of income and make social media more popular.

I’d like to, but I don’t think it’s going to happen.

No, because everyone would spend more time on FB than they already do.

Yes, because we promote lots of companies that profit off of us.

»SHOULD WE GET PAID FORUSING FACEBOOK?

Students warned tobe cautious after sexual assault at Sheridan

Students at Sheridan College’s Tra-falgar Campus and in joint programs at UTM have been warned to take cautionary measures as a result of a report of sexual assault occurring near Sheridan’s Oakville campus last Thursday. Three white males who looked to be in their 20s have been identified as suspects. The victim re-portedly fled from the assault.

Source: Sheridan Sun, UTM Student Affairs

Mississauga high school team co-wins national competition

A team of three students from Glen-forest Secondary School tied for first place in a Canada-wide science com-petition. The team, called Capac-ity, produced a shelving system for greenhouses in commercial and ur-ban farms. The winners were awarded the Shad Entrepreneurship Cup at a ceremony held on Oct. 23 in Water-loo.

Source: Mississauaga News

Teenage army cadet suffers minor burns after attack at bus stop

A 15-year-old army cadet in Man-chester was attacked while at a bus stop after selling Remembrance Day poppies. The victim suffered minor burns after the assailant with a lighter sprayed him with fumes from an aerosol can. The suspect walked away from the scene following the attack. Police are investigating.

Source: Daily Mail

Scientists say parallel universes are real and affect each other

Scientists are theorizing that paral-lel universes not only exist, but they also influence each other. Scientists from the University of California and Australia’s Centre for Quantum Dy-namics at Griffith University say that parallel universes interact with one another through a repulsive force. The researchers published their study in Physical Review X.

Source: Business Standard

Magnotta trial enters fifth week after 43witnesses testify

The trial of Luka Rocco Magnotta is beginning its fifth week, with the final Crown witness to provide in-person testimony to testify on Monday. Tes-timony from about 43 other witness-es has already been heard as of last Monday. Magnotta is on trial for five charges, including first-degree mur-der. The defence is expected to begin making its case on Friday.

Source: National Post

Mayor continued from Cover

MENNA ELNAKAASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR

Carnival returns to haunt UTM

“We are, however, disappointed by the attacks over social media, espe-cially over Twitter, directed to UTM students by students affiliated with college societies,” Havili added. “The remarks are deplorable and unbecom-ing of students that hold elected office. We are grateful that the anti-harass-ment officer addressed the matter.”

During the meeting, UTMSU VP equity Melissa Theodore spoke about alleged comments on Twitter about “filibustering” the AGM—that is, deliberately causing delays—so that UTM students would be forced to leave early. In the 2012/13 special gen-

eral meeting, the departure of UTM students caused a loss of quorum that forced the meeting to be adjourned.

UTSU must now find another way to comply with the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act.

Havili said he was “optimistic” that a solution to the board structure would be found.

“UTMSU representatives will be consulting with UTSU representatives and, most importantly, UTM students on the next steps,” he said. “We are cautiously optimistic about finding solutions through a revised board structure.”

UTMSU will hold its own AGM on November 13 in Council Chambers.

AGM continued from page 2

Crombie’s term starts December 1 UTMSU condemns anti-UTM tweets

CHRISTY TAM/THE MEDIUM

UTMSU hosted the Halloween Haunted Carnival in the Student Centre last Thursday and Friday.

Page 4: Vol 41 issue 8

4 « 11.03.2014

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Dissent can do without disorderIn the wake of UTSU’s unruly AGM, cooler heads are needed

The circus is over. Every year there seems to be more tension and toxicity at the U of T student union’s general meeting, but this was at fever pitch: it went on for four hours and only the first few motions were reached, amid applause and jeers, executives arguing against their own motions, public sal-ad-eating, pamphlets being distribut-ed, bingo, live Twitter feeds, barefaced proxy blocs, surprise hot pizza orders, and even a vuvuzela (because this is a brawl?). That’s not to say it isn’t a se-rious meeting of young adults trying to make real decisions; that fact—that this is the best we can manage as uni-versity students—is the contrast that makes it commentable.

But I’ve rehashed this point often enough. More useful question: What was the outcome?

Well, most interestingly, the bylaw changes that have been a news topic both here and in The Varsity for the past weeks were rejected. The presi-dent of UTSU, Yolen Bollo-Kamara, moved to split the two most contro-versial changes from the others (To enact her wording change? To protect the other amendments in anticipation of the defeat of these two? Because of the higher threshold required to pass these two?) and hence isolated them and made them vulnerable. Which is not to say they were torn to shreds; the majority still voted in favour. But not a strong enough majority to pass.

Without the defeated amendments the union has to find a new way to stay in line with the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act. As far as I can tell—and I’m no lawyer, so bear with me—the easiest way is to delete this clause and a couple of others like it:

“Division I and II Directors must be elected by the constituency they are running in and/or belong to.”

As we pointed out in earlier issues, this is the part that had to be removed anyway, and the replacement of col-lege and faculty directors with “con-stituency” directors is irrelevant to the actual problem. Whichever actual directors change, the act—maybe not sensibly—just says that now anyone can vote for any board member.

The part yet to be determined is the likely forthcoming attempt to re-move some directors and add others. (Now that the question is on the table, I mean, necessary or no.) And when that comes up, a strong candidate is some form of minority representation.

And that’s one thing that definitely shouldn’t be overlooked in this deba-cle. In Facebook comments about it, it has been suggested that voting down the motion was an anti-equity move. As if! The one respectable part of the proposed board structure was the new inclusion of minority representatives. If UTSU takes the opportunity to res-urrect them, it’ll have been worth the hassle.

But some adjustments would be required. The most obvious is that the imaginary need for a tradeoff, i.e. los-ing other representatives in the deal, can be dropped. Enough said.

Other points would need to be ad-dressed as well. One of them is pro-portional representation. In the cur-rent model, the number of seats given to each group depends on how many people belong to it. Makes sense in any democratic system, and probably in this one, but absent from the model that was proposed and defeated.

There’s also the problem—which I noted a second ago—of open voting. There’s no way to avoid letting, for ex-ample, non-racialized students decide who to represent racialized students, and the same for the other positions. (That is, barring a many-class model that has a long way to go before it ap-pears to justify itself to many who fol-low and vote on these things.)

Not to mention the shifting terms of which groups are minorities (or at least systemically disadvantaged—the women’s issues director, for example, would be the latter type). The particu-lar selection of constituencies would have to be revisited as demographics and social norms shift, as they do. And this involves walking on broken glass, as we found two years ago when much of U of T loudly condemned and protested a movement to define men as a group needing a voice.

Those are a few considerations re-quired for a change like this, and there are certainly others. That’s probably the reason UTSU’s board moved to so-licit student opinion via a plebiscite —an organization-wide question—even though, for whatever reason, nobody ended up doing so. It’s not as simple as changing the names of the positions.

And there are other questions still dangerously current that need to be taken into account if the board is to change. The outcry to remove UTM students from UTSU (since we have UTMSU and our fees largely wind up with them) is getting louder. Where, if anywhere, will we fit in? Or con-sider the colleges that are still trying to disavow any connection to UTSU and are blocked from doing so—one reason why retaining a vote was a live question for them. Should they be giv-en power in the understanding that it could allow them to evacuate?

Long story short: this is the end of another year’s news window, at least for the time being, on UTSU’s doings. But don’t bet that the year ahead, dur-ing which they’ll have to make some changes that are not likely to be pretty in order to comply with the act, will be any quieter. Let’s hope it can at least be done with dignity.

YOURS,

LUKE SAWCZAK

Mayoral dialogue with youth lackingDear editor,

The City of Mississauga took to cast-ing their ballots on October 27, as did many other municipalities across Ontario. As Hazel McCallion decided not to run for another term as mayor, this historic election was the first time her name would not be on the ballot in 36 years and gave way to Missis-sauga residents to make a new choice for their city.

In Canada’s sixth largest munici-pality, one would think that mass participation in the election would be a given. A measly 36% came out to make their statement on the direction of this city and what is worse is that this is the highest it has ever been.

Mississauga has seen low voter turnout for the past five elections and has only recently taken a two percent jump since 2010. Two major can-didates in the Mississauga mayoral race, Bonnie Crombie, Ward 5 city councilor and former Member of Par-liament, and Steven Mahoney, also a former Member of Parliament with experience from sitting as a Minister

under Jean Chrétien, competed for support from the various communi-ties across our city.

Then finally came the #Sauga-Speaks: Mayoral Forum on Youth held at the University of Toronto Mississauga hosted by the UTM De-bating Club on October 1. The two major candidates took most of the attention of the over 300 students, faculty, and community members that sat in the audience. While both Mahoney and Crombie had assured the audience of their experience and qualifications, they did not put forward any progressive solutions to problems that the city faces. The candidates merely glossed over the issues of youth unemployment and transit. Glossed. Nothing substantive was stated and no one outlined any solutions that would cure the growing youth employment rate. Whatever so-lutions were proposed contained sev-eral holes that could leave youths and students vulnerable to corporations for use as workhorses and cash cows without the affirmation of providing adequate or fair compensation.

I, among many others, wondered when the candidates would talk about affordable childcare access, affordable yet safe student housing, and afford-able public transit. None of this was brought up. The forum itself was a façade of youth engagement that gave stage to the frontrunners of the elec-tions but never to the students and youth themselves.

As the campaigns continued, I still could not understand how a student can say that they had chosen a can-didate based on a youth issue. Missis-sauga politics itself seems to inhibit general participation by youth and several other community groups and

the continuance of this trend will only push for further alienation of them by the city.

Hearing from the UTM Students‘ Union, VP external Ebi Agbeyegbe saw the city’s work to encourage youth participation as meagre. He placed this responsibility not just on the city, but on the UTM administra-tion as well. He said, “The univer-sity administration must work side by side with student groups and the city to reach out to students and the greater community alike.”

While I wait to see how the next four years will unfold, I am hopeful that students will take charge and put their matters as priorities for our new mayor. I call on the administration, faculty, and staff to join students in taking advantage of these next four years to build a meaningful dialogue with city hall in order to encourage youth participation, and not turn them away as they have so far.

Munib SajjadFormer president of UTSU UTM alumnus, political science

I wondered when the candidates would talk about affordable child-

care, affordable yet safe student housing, and

affordable public transit.

Page 5: Vol 41 issue 8

11.03.2014 » 5

Hutton comes back to Hart HouseDirector Jeremy Hutton returns to old stomping grounds to direct Shakespeare classic

Next week, Shakespeare’s The Tempest will be playing at Hart House as the theatre’s second play of the season. The play tells the story of Prospero, an exiled lord on the hunt for revenge and willing to sacrifice the happi-ness of his daughter, Miranda, to take down his enemies.

I sat down with director and Hart House Theatre veteran Jeremy Hutton to discuss what he wanted to bring to the play and how he feels Hart House has evolved since he was first intro-duced to it 13 years ago.

The Medium: What was your main vision when you first started as artis-tic director for Hart House?

Jeremy Hutton: Oh, wow, that’s go-ing back a few years. There’s a bunch of things combined: there was mak-ing the artistic project more consis-tent during the season, trying to make things a little more interesting artisti-cally, trying to do at least one Canadi-an work a year, and trying to get more students involved in the operations.

TM: Do you think that the visions you brought to the theatre are still present today?

JH: Well, I’m not around as much anymore, so it’s hard to say. But it seems like it. Certainly, the student involvement in the theatre has gotten better since I was the artistic direc-tor. They have a lot of time to focus on that, so that’s exciting. But yeah, I would say so.

TM: What encouraged you to take

on so many different roles as director of this production?

JH: Oh, it’s my personality. I like to do all sorts of things. There’s a lot of reasons for that: I work in the arts, and if I was just an actor there likely wouldn’t be enough work, and prob-ably the same if I was just a director. I think I would get bored if I were to sit around—I want to get ideas out of my head, so I like to do different things all in the same field.

I also write and do sound design. I do the sound design because there’s a lot of music in the show, and for me to communicate with a composer to get the sound that I want, and then get it

all together in many ways, is easier and more effective. The marriage be-tween those elements can be a little more precise because now it’s maybe two or three people trying to marry their elements rather than five or six.

TM: How do you balance all these different responsibilities?

JH: Less sleep. I’m not very good at dividing my brain in any given moment—I have to do one thing or another thing. So I kind of have to separate the tasks and find the time to do them. It’s just time management, really. It gets intense at points, but it’s well worth it.

TM: What was the main thing that

you wanted to bring to The Tempest?JH: It’s really interesting. I mean,

I’ve done a lot of Shakespeare in my life, but The Tempest is one that I was not really familiar with before this process started. I’d never seen it, I’d never starred in it, and I’d never di-rected it. It was kind of like a fresh Shakespeare for me. The first step for me was just going through it and trying to figure out how to get all the magical elements to work in a unified world. ’Cause, you know, goddesses come down and all these crazy things. Trying to find some sort of overarch-ing vision to be able to contain all that in a way that made it really cool, and

not just trying and failing to do this gag or that gag. The overarching show design that came out of all these dif-ferent elements really had to be there and try to find a solution that worked for all those things.

There’s a lot of colonial stuff in there: coming to this strange island and taking natives home with you and selling them or putting them on show. There’s a real underlying evil colonial feel with Prospero enslaving the spir-its, and so with that in mind, I sort of wanted to put everything into a really colonial period and pick it up where Shakespeare wrote it, which is really early colonial—early 17th century.

The Tempest starts with a ship-wreck, so the set itself is an island of shipwrecks. Ideally, if I had all the money in the world, my set of broken ships all over the place would move and combine to create one perfectly constructed ship at the end of the play.

TM: Was it very daunting to take on a play that, up until this point, you had only read but were never too fa-miliar with?

JH: That’s what drew me to it. I did find it exceptionally daunting—espe-cially this one, because there’s a lot of logic problems in The Tempest. Like, things that don’t actually make any sense. They don’t really have to make sense. But when you’re directing it, you have to make it make sense for yourself.

MARIA CRUZA&E EDITOR

HARTHOUSE.CA/PHOTO

Hart House’s latest production is even more exciting than The Old Man and the Sea.

Hutton continued on page 7

Put down the pen, pick up a broken pencilMagazine editor Alison Lang says writers shouldn’t be afraid to get weird for new contest

With NanoWrimo beginning once again this November, writers every-where will be immersed in cranking out as much as they can before the end of the month to accomplish the goal of completing a 50,000-word novel.

But there are plenty of other writ-ing contests available for students who aren’t ready to take on the much-hyped November behemoth. Broken Pencil, one of Canada’s lead-ing indie art and zine culture maga-zines, is hosting their own contest: “Unearth Your Underworld”. Ap-plicants are to submit up to 2,500 words before November 20, and the top prize is $600.

I had the chance to speak with

Alison Lang, the editor of Broken Pencil, a little bit about the magazine and the upcoming contest, which she says was founded by Hal Niedzviecki and Hilary Clark in 1995.

“Zine culture was booming at this time, but aside from a couple of smaller publications, there wasn’t a Canadian-based publication cover-ing zine culture and independent arts,” she adds. “BP started with a primary focus on zines and zine re-views, and this is still the case, al-though our coverage has expanded to look at other mediums.”

This includes everything from indie puppet makers to craftivism to yarn bombing, therapy through noise music, weird films, and inter-net poetry, Lang says.

The staff of Broken Pencil used to use the equipment at The Varsity at

U of T to lay out the magazine, Lang admits. Niedzviecki wrote a timeline for the magazine’s 50th issue and noted that in 1996, “We continue to use the equipment at the Univer-

sity of Toronto’s student newspaper, The Varsity, to lay out the magazine. (Without ever asking, of course.) Layout usually starts at around 2 a.m. on a Monday and continues un-til late afternoon the next day when

the student journalists start wander-ing in.”

Lang says that what makes their contest stand out from the rest is that it’s one of the only ones tied to an app. “In order to enter, you have to download and start interacting with our app, and along with the $600 prize, our winner will get the op-portunity to see what their finished piece looks like on an app,” Lang says. “Also, our theme is pretty twist-ed—an underworld that includes sewers, catacombs, basements, un-der the bed, Hell, and whatever other dank, dark places you can imagine.”

Of all the entries she’s seen, one story that stuck with Lang was sub-mitted two years ago in August for their 56th issue. “The first issue I worked on with Broken Pencil fea-tured a story called ‘Dealbreaker’,

about a man who grew and gave birth to a tiny version of himself, along with an accompanying tiny couch he could lounge on,” she says. “Then the tiny version of himself se-duced the man’s wife. It stuck with me because it was uncompromis-ingly weird and totally unique, and it quietly challenged a lot of things we think about notions of family in the 21st century.”

Lang encourages writers to get really weird and not be afraid to do so. “Applicants should feel absolutely free with regards to their style and the content of their story. We like originality in all of its forms, and we really reject the idea that good fic-tion needs to be a certain way,” she says. “We like stories that experi-ment and challenge established ideas and realities.”

MARIA CRUZA&E EDITOR

“We like originality in all of its forms, and we

really reject the idea that good fiction needs

to be a certain way.”

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6 «ARTS THE MEDIUM 11.03.2014

THE THEORY OFEVERYTHINGBased on the life of Stephen Hawk-ing, The Theory of Everything fol-lows the physicist’s (Eddie Red-mayne) life as a young student falling in love to the heartbreaking diagnosis given to him, and how he went on to become a tycoon in the world of physics.

I won’t lie, I’ve never been too much of a science kid (no duh, I’m in English), so watching a movie on the life of Stephen Hawking never interested me too much. But it does seem incredible that he was told he wouldn’t live more than a few years after being diagnosed with ALS and went on to prove everyone wrong. Plus, Redmayne looks like he will be a delight on-screen as Hawking (and they look eerily similar).

The Theory of Everything is set to be released on November 7.

LOW DOWNInspired by the memoirs of Amy Albany’s (Elle Fanning) memoirs about her father’s drug addiction, this movie follows the life of famed jazz musician Joe Albany (John

Hawkes) as he falls further into the world of heroin as his daugh-ter, then 11, witnesses his addic-tion.

We’ve seen plenty of films on the lives of jazz musicians—and other musicians, for that matter—get-ting lost in the world of drugs. But there is something about it being told from the perspective of a child that makes it so much more eye-opening and real. I’m pretty stoked to see how this goes.

Low Down is set to be released on November 7.

ROSEWATERWritten and directed by Jon Stew-art, Rosewater tells the story of real-life journalist Maziar Bahari (Gael García Bernal), who was captured, tortured, and interro-gated for 118 days in an Iranian prison. In 2009, after an inter-view he conducted for The Daily Show, Bahari was detained in Evin Prison and subjected to brutal in-terrogation. The title of the film came from how Bahari, who spent most of his time blindfolded in the prison, noticed that the interroga-tor smelled like rosewater.

The film looks like it’ll be an interesting story on the interroga-tion methods of Iranian prisons

and is bound to shed some light on the life of a journalist who goes too far in the eyes of some countries.

Rosewater is set to be released on November 14.

FOXCATCHERThis one is my most anticipated film of the month. Steve Carrell, Mark Ruffalo, and Channing Ta-tum star in a film that depicts the real-life events of Olympic cham-pions Mark and Dave Schultz, and the paranoid schizophrenic John du Pont, who murdered Dave.

Now, what excites me so much about this horrific event coming to life in film is that Steve Carrell is playing du Pont. I know many people associate him with Michael Scott (The Office) or Evan from Bruce Almighty and Evan Almighty, but Carrell has proved before that he’s worth his salt as a dramatic actor. Even in the two short min-utes of the trailer he completely spooked me and didn’t seem like anyone I had seen before.

I cannot wait until this film comes out and I think that, despite its tragic content, the story and the powerful cast (minus Tatum, in my opinion) will be mesmerizing.

Foxcatcher is set to be release dNovember 28.

MARIA CRUZA&E EDITOR

Last summer I was going through a sleepless night, so I decided to surf the TV guide. I stopped when I saw that the Space network was showing the 1974 version of Black Christmas. After watching the remake and be-ing a fan of cult classic horror mov-ies, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to watch one of the original slasher films.

Black Christmas is an independent movie filmed in Toronto. The movie is based on the urban legend The Baby Sitter and the Man Upstairs. It follows a group of sorority girls who receive multiple threatening calls from an unknown man whom they dubbed “the moaner”. Mysterious murders start to occur around the so-rority house and girls from the house start to go missing.

Black Christmas is an old movie but it still has plenty of frightening jump scares. The killer is usually shot from a first-person point of view while murdering his victims. The movie’s death scenes remain realistic to this day. Instead of using the cheap effects of the 1970s, the camera cuts away before each kill is finished and shows the lifeless body of the victim after. In the first kill, you see the murderer’s hands using a plastic bag to suffocate Claire Harrison (Lynne Griffin)—it cuts away before she dies, and then her dead body is shown with the plas-tic bag still over her head.

It takes place in a dark and snowy setting and the lighting is for the

most part dark and grey. This is how the limitations of the time add more effect to the overall creepiness be-cause of the dark and grainy quality. In addition to the mostly dark co-lours, they use Christmas lights and Christmas-themed colours to give it a familiar but scary holiday feel.

The music is a mixture of dark in-strumentals and Christmas carols. I always thought there was something creepy about Christmas carols, and Black Christmas confirms it. After watching this movie, you will never think of “O Come, All Ye Faithful” the same way again.

The age and budget of Black Christ-mas does show, especially with some of the dialogue and side characters. Chris (Art Hindle) is supposed to be the upset boyfriend who is desperate-ly looking for Claire, but everything he says comes off as hilarious for all the wrong reasons.

Black Christmas leaves some ques-tions unanswered, though. If you go into the movie expecting a big revela-tion scene, you will be disappointed. This actually works in the favour of the movie, though, because it opens up a lot of things for debate among its fans.

If you can look past some of the cheesy ’70s dialogue, Black Christmas is definitely a classic film that deserves a watch. So for all of you looking for a dark, bloody, and gory alternative for the happy family-friendly movies, I recommend Black Christmas. I give it three dead sorority girls out of five.

Constantine keeping pace

POPSUGAR.COM/PHOTO

Matt Ryan is John Constantine in this new series.

From screenwriter David S. Goyer (Blade series, Dark Knight trilogy, Man of Steel) comes a TV series for comic book lovers. Based on the Hellblazer comic series, Constan-tine expands on and explores the DC universe. Taking elements from shows such as Grimm and Super-natural, the series premiere suggests a different take on the horror genre, and paves a well-organized plot and story to build upon.

John Constantine is an ex-con, an exorcist, and a detective who sets out to protect Earth from evil and other supernatural events while dealing with his complicated past and seek-ing redemption. The series kicks off with Constantine (Matt Ryan) in an asylum trying to solve a case, and will

involve Constantine dealing with el-ements from his past. One such ele-ment, Liv Aberdine (Lucy Griffiths), is the daughter of Constantine’s old friend and has a peculiar power to see paranormal activities vividly.

Constantine is watched over by an authoritative angel, Manny (Harrold Perrineau), and given a heads-up when things are about to get rough. After receiving multiple warnings about the danger yet to come, Con-stantine ventures though the city with his close friend Chas Chandler (Charles Halford) and Aberdine to track down the demon that has been chasing her. Constantine must draw the line between right and wrong, and ultimately ends up having to choose between protecting Aberdine and putting innocent lives in jeopar-dy while the demon tracks her down.

This series premiere stays true to the source material, unlike the 2005 live action film starring Keanu Reeves and Rachel Weisz, which Desson Thomson of The Washington Post described as having an “at best superfluous” connection to Hellblaz-er. (“The disparity starts with the original John Constantine (Reeves’s character) being from Liverpool, England,” he writes. “Reeves from the city of John and Paul? As if.”) The new TV series, however, does omit one primary characteristic of Con-stantine—his smoking. He’s a little bit healthier than his comic book counterpart.

The pilot is action-packed and has commendable special effects and an eerie setting. The episodes to follow are likely to be even more exciting. Not to be missed. MMMM

MAYANK SHARMA

MARK SETHI

REWIND

Page 7: Vol 41 issue 8

11.03.2014 THE MEDIUM ARTS» 7

R e g i stration Begi n s at 5 p m • Meeti n g Begi n s at 6PM •

November 13th, 2014THURSDAY,

b r i n g yo u r t- c a r d f o r i d e n t i f i c at i o nT h i s m e e t i n g i s o p e n t o a l l u n d e r g r a d u at e s t u d e n t s e n r o l l e d at t h e U n i v e r s i t y o f T o r o n t o M i s s i s s a u g a .

SUMMARY OF FINANCIAL POSITIONThe preliminary, unaudited financial information indicates that the Union realised a small surplus for the 2013-2014 fiscal year and continues to show a positive working capital position and positive liquidity.

The audited financial statements will be presented to the members at the Meeting, pursuant to the requirement of the Ontario Corporations Act.

For information on the Annual General Meeting agenda and the financial summary of the Union, please visit our website at www.utmsu.ca/agm.Proxy forms are now available for pick-up at the U.T.M.S.U. Office in Rm. 115 of the UTM Student Centre (UTMSU office, 3359 Mississauga Rd. N). The deadline for submissions of all Proxy Forms is Monday, 10th November 2014 at 5 p.m.

AGENDA1. CALL TO ORDER2. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA3. PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES – AGM 2013MOTION Moved: H. Havili Seconded: Be it resolved that the minutes for the 2013 Annual General Meeting be approved as presented.5. RECEIPT OF THE 2013-2014 AUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS – UTMSU & BLIND DUCKMOTION Moved: H. Havili Seconded: Be it resolved that the audited financial statements of the Erindale College Students Union (operating as UTMSU) and the Blind Duck for the fiscal year ending April 30th 2014 be received as presented.6. APPOINTMENT OF AUDITORS FOR 2014-2015MOTION Moved: B. Chelvanaigum Seconded: Be it resolved that Charles Havill Chartered Accountants be appointed as the external auditors for the Erindale College Students Union for fiscal year ending April 30, 2015.7. OTHER BUSINESS8. ADJOURNMENTMOTION Moved: H. Havili Seconded: Be it resolved that the meeting be adjourned.

QUESTIONS CAN BE DIRECTED TO: MR. BRYAN CHELVANAIGUM Vice-President Internal and Services ([email protected])

MR. HASSAN HAVILIPresident ([email protected] )

* Please note that “University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union” and/or “U.T.M.S.U.” refers to the Erindale College Student Union, Inc. (“ECSU”).

Visit us atutmsu.ca

FB.com/UTMSU

@myUTMSU

myUTMSU

Part of the theatre’s evolution

(JH:) A lot of the times when I’m di-recting, I come in with preconceived notions of how it’s going to go, but when it came to this one there’s a more open process with the actors and with the designers because we weren’t sure yet how we were going to do some of the major magic elements. We knew we created a world where it was all possible, but it was daunting and time restrictions were piling up.

On the other hand, it’s very artis-tically satisfying to be able to explore that with a group of artists that you’re working with, and I think we’ve had a big success.

TM: You’ve directed quite a few plays at Hart House. How do you feel

the Hart House Theatre has evolved since you first started working for it?

JH: Oh, goodness. Well it was, when I started here, a rental house that didn’t produce its own seasons at all. And then when I was a student in 2001 they started producing their own seasons and I was a part of that. I would say the major thing that has developed is a more interesting vi-sion of what the theatre ought to be doing and more interest in executing that and making it happen. On top of that, the audience size has grown ex-ponentially in those years. It starts to make you feel like maybe the theatre is relevant to the people who might be coming to see it.

TM: Do you feel like you played a big role in its evolution?

JH: I think I get more credit than I deserve. Obviously, I was a big part of it in many ways and a lot of the pro-ductions that started to be at the level the theatre wanted to be at were ones that I had worked on. But often in the theatre, we put a lot of focus on the individual production and forget the people who are making that happen. I think those people—Paul Templin, Doug Floyd—are the ones who are re-ally responsible for the growth of the theatre over that time.

TM: What’s next for you?JH: I’m doing some acting—I go

back to rehearsals at the Winter Gar-den for Shakespeare the day after The Tempest opens at Hart House. That goes until Christmas, and then after that I don’t know.

BrasstronautMount ChimaeraEarlier this week, I asked our A&E editor if I could review a CD for the column later in the year and she agreed. On Wednesday, I ap-proached the green bin of (rightly) rejected CDs in The Medium’s of-fice and picked up Vancouver band Brasstronaut’s 2010 album Mount Chimaera, expecting a horribly done pop album. But it wasn’t.

Out of the eight tracks on this short album, seven were dynamic enough to keep me interested. The use of classical brass and string in-struments on top of the drums and guitar gives the band a sound that’s kind of hard to describe. Though, admittedly, I had trouble sitting through the fifth track, “Hearts Trompet”. Perhaps it was because this one had a more bluesy vibe to it, which I do appreciate, but some-

how Brasstronaut fails to execute this properly. About halfway into the song, it picks up the pace and turns into a full-on rock song, and then abruptly ends with 15 seconds of watery drone noise.

On the other hand, my favourite track is “Insects”. It jumps back and forth between soft vocals and high-energy drums and trumpet. The intense brass captures the essence of the hook (to the lyrics “Sick of it / Sick of your shit”) completely. I’ll take a chance and even say that it’s almost as epic as Arcade Fire’s “Wake Up”. It’s an eight-minute roller coaster ride and probably the perfect way to end the album.

This band really knows what it’s doing, and the album isn’t the train wreck I initially thought it would be. I am now one of their 7,500+ fol-lowers on Facebook, but in the end their music is not something I’d car-ry with me everywhere on my iPod. Pitchfork would give this a 3.0, but I’ll leave it with a solid 7 out of 10.

Hutton continued from page 5

HARTHOUSE.CA/PHOTO

Director Jeremy Hutton is no stranger to Hart House Theatre.

MUBASHIR BAWEJADESIGN EDITOR

Page 8: Vol 41 issue 8

8 « 11.03.2014

Unravelling the headscarf debateUTM sociology professor Anna Korteweg is the coauthor of a new book on the subject

I’m fumbling to find a quiet spot in the Instructional Building, but the noise seems to echo in every corner. As soon as I manage to get settled, I receive a call from Anna Korteweg, an associate professor at UTM spe-cializing in political sociology, gen-der, and immigration.

She and Gökçe Yurdakul have coauthored a new book, The Heads-carf Debates: Conflict of National Identity, on how headscarves factor into immigration, national identity, religion, feminism, xenophobia, universal rights, and more. Dur-ing our phone interview between California and Mississauga, we dis-cuss not only the book but also her opinions on the multitude of sub-jects. It’s conversation a world away (more precisely a country away), but one that touches us very much here at home.

I asked her what inspired her to write this book, and she pointed to the depth of meaning and value that the headscarf has come to hold in our dynamic societies.

“On the one hand, people strictly say it’s just a piece of cloth and on

the other hand the piece of cloth comes to mean so many things,” she said.

I asked her whether the book car-ried a specific message.

“Well, I am an educator, [and]

you always hope to educate,” she said. “Books like this have many messages, so the thing I want people to notice is that when we start hav-ing these intensely heated debates, we think they’re about the heads-

carf, but I think they’re really about how we deal with increasing diver-sity in our society.”

The book also deals with very different societies that have com-plementary and conflicting views.

Korteweg and Yurdakul look into the rejection of the headscarf in France and compare it to the rein-vention of the headscarf in Turkey. They illustrate tolerance in the Netherlands and pair it with debates in Germany. She described this pro-cess and structure of analysis as “paired comparisons”.

During our discussion, I pointed to Australia as another society chaf-ing with the subject. A grassroots organization by the name of Face-less recently had three of its mem-bers walk into the Australian par-liament dressed in KKK uniforms, biker helmets, and niqabs. It was a protest against the wearing of Is-lamic dress in public places.

Considering the global polariza-tion on the topic, I asked her wheth-er she foresaw any reconciliation in the future as global migration accel-erates and unfamiliar ideas become the norm in every society.

“Well, yes and no,” she replied. “This is not something that is only across the Atlantic. These kinds of sentiments are here as well.”

MAHMOUD SAROUJI/THE MEDIUM

Korteweg and her coauthor speak about the debate at home in Canada and abroad in their book.

Scarf continued on page 10

When your backpack becomes the bossStress and heavy loads make students victim to back pain—not just grandma and grandpa

Although back pain is typically as-sociated with the elderly, many young adults share the same symp-toms. Researchers hypothesize that a sedentary lifestyle combined with heavy backpacks causes back pain in younger adults. Is back pain some-thing we should consider more se-riously, or is it something that will “heal with time”?

TYPES OF BACK PAINSince the back consists of many complex networks of interconnect-ing nerves, joints, muscles, tendons, and ligaments, it’s hard to pinpoint the exact cause or source of pain. It’s even harder to diagnose when larger nerve systems in the spine begin to affect the legs or arms.

For these reasons, many doctors categorize back pain by anatomy (the location), duration, or cause.

For anatomy, your pain can be described as neck pain, middle back pain, lower back pain, or tailbone pain. If it’s being diagnosed by dura-tion, then it can be classified as acute (up to 12 weeks) or chronic (lasts

longer than 12 weeks).Diagnosing back pain by cause is

the trickiest. There are three types:Nonspecific back pain: The

cause isn’t clearly known, but mus-cles or ligaments are involved.

Back pain with radiculopa-thy: The nerves are the source of the pain, where one or more nerves do not work properly.

Back pain with spinal steno-sis: The spinal canal undergoes ab-

normal narrowing (stenosis) in any area of the spine.

TREATMENTSNot all treatments work for every single back pain, but many UTM

students are pressed for time. Some students found relief in alternative medicine or do-it-yourself remedies to alleviate back pain.

Khush Shah, a fifth-year molecu-lar biology specialist, started experi-encing back pain near the end of her second year. She believes that her excessive computer use, improper posture, and sleeping positions lead to her chronic pain. Shah avoids taking medications for her pain. In-stead, she relies on hot showers and back rubs.

Stephanie Marquez, a fourth-year biology student, believes that her heavy backpack, along with a slip on the ice in 2013, are what led to her back pain. She also hasn’t had time to visit a doctor. When her back acts up, she uses Salonpas, a menthol pain relief patch, for a quick fix and massages Wood Lock (also known as “white flower oil”), a Chinese medical ointment, into her back. In addition to home remedies, Mar-quez also started doing yoga to ad-dress her pain.

MAHMOUD SAROUJI/THE MEDIUM

So much for those dastardly textbooks; weighty laptops add unnecessary pounds to our backpacks.

ARANIE VIJAYARATNAM

Back continued on page 9

OBAID SAID

Page 9: Vol 41 issue 8

11.03.2014 THE MEDIUM FEATURES» 9

Hand over that Advil now

Betty Kim, a recent English program graduate, also avoids medication for her chronic back pain. She first noticed it at the beginning of high school. For her, exercising regularly helped relieve some of the pain. She adds stretches to her routine, but she found that stretching wasn’t as effective as exercising.

Tyler Quennell, an athletic thera-pist and registered massage thera-pist at UTM’s Sports Clinic, explains that poor ergonomics also causes back pain. He discussed how every seat at UTM is designed for the “av-erage” human body. But there is a range of body types (after all, this is UTM, diverse in every way). The seats we sit in may look comfort-able, but for someone who is 5’ or 6’1”, sitting becomes uncomfortable after a while.

Quennell says that most students who come into the sports clinic for back pain usually come in for lower back pain. If lower back pain isn’t resolved right away, it leads to fu-ture problems with the neck and knees. As Quennell explains, the body is interconnected, and if one body part suffers, a domino effect happens and other parts begin to suffer as well.

Quennell recommends that stu-dents who suffer from back pain not only visit the clinic, but also add more movement into their lifestyle.

Movement leads to more (and freer) movement, and if the body has an environment that allows it to heal itself, back pain is minimized and you’re less likely to suffer in the future. He also recommends that students reduce the weight of their backpacks if they can, since back-packs add unnecessary stress to the back and spine.

BACKPACKS & LAPTOPS:THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEMAn iPad with a year’s worth of books on it is much lighter than a back-pack with five books in hard copy, but until a major industry change comes about for textbooks, we have to adapt.

Researchers from Indiana Uni-versity recommend students carry bags that are 10% of their body weight, but most university stu-dents carry around 15–30% of their weight in their bags. This is 12–20 pounds being carried around every day.

A laptop is also a major source of weight. Want to reduce your back-pack’s load even more? Here are the lightest laptops from last year:

ACER ASPIRE S7-391(2.87 LBS / 1.3 KG)

APPLE’S MACBOOK AIR 13”(2.87 LBS /1.3 KG)

ASUS ZENBOOK TOUCH UX31A(2.87 LBS / 1.3 KG)

DELL LATITUDE 12 (E7240) ( 3 LBS / 1.36 KG)

DELL XPS 11 (2.50 LBS / 1.13 KG)

HP PAVILION TOUCHSMART 11(3.30 LBS / 1.5 KG)

LENOVO YOGA 11S (3.1 LBS / 1.4 KG)

SAMSUNG ATIV BOOK 9 LITE (3.5 LBS / 1.6 KG)

SONY VAIO PRO 13 (2.43 LBS / 1.1 KG)

TOSHIBA PORTÉGÉ Z930-14D (2.47 LBS / 1.12 KG)

If back pain affects your daily life, it’s important to seek medical help. In the meantime, lighten your back-pack load and try to incorporate ex-ercise into your daily routine.

Back continued from page 8

Have you tried restarting your PC?Take advantage of the helpdesk when the Blue Screen of Death eats your homework

Your assignment is due in an hour. You have one paragraph left. You try logging into Blackboard—except you can’t because of an account is-sue (again). What do you do? Freak out.

And, shortly thereafter… perhaps you pay a visit to UTM Computing Services.

The department, a unit under In-formation and Instructional Tech-nology Services and an authorized service centre for Dell and Apple, is hidden in a corner on the third floor of CCT. They tackle technol-ogy problems from wireless issues to viruses.

Just last month, I travelled to a local computer store to get my lap-top fixed and paid a hefty price for it. Had I known about UTM Com-puting Services, I would have gone there instead. Many of their services are free, like helping you connect to a wireless network or fixing UTO-Rid issues when your account has been compromised. Andreea Mi-hai, a third-year professional writ-ing and French major, remembers asking them for help with a pass-word issue in her first year. “They were helpful and fixed my problem quickly,” she says. “I was able to ac-cess Portal and Wi-Fi right away.” For other services, like computer software and hardware support, they charge relatively low fees rang-ing from $20 to $50.

Although they usually solve problems quickly, more difficult issues are inevitable. Dan Rosen-thal, a user support specialist and recent UTM graduate himself, re-calls one challenging problem. “A student brought me a laptop they had opened up over a candle. There was a hole burnt through the screen and they wanted me to fix that,” he said. “I told them they needed to replace the display, which is like a $300 repair. I [fixed it]. It was under warranty, so we took it in and did the work.”

For manager Rishi Arora, who has been on staff for 16 years, the biggest challenge is keeping up with all the changes throughout the year. “These days, the clients are knowl-edgeable and willing to try new technology. But the helpdesk might not be quite ready to support it,” he said. The various helpdesk posi-tions involve constant research to keep up with updates.

Arora’s proudest achievements, he says, take place every day when they find a solution for a visitor. “It could be simple or a complex prob-

lem of data recovery for a crashing hard drive—just helping people out,” he says.

“Yeah, and you really see it make a difference to somebody when they get their file back—they’re happy,” Rosenthal adds.

Arora also highlights one of the department’s most recent changes to campus infrastructure: upgrad-ing wireless services on residence, which reduced the number of issues and complaints drastically. Poor Wi-Fi signal is a traditional com-plaint among students.

Arora and Rosenthal offered some advice for keeping a com-puter in good shape. Although PCs still remain the number one target for malware, Macs are getting more frequent attacks than before. They advise Mac users to get an antivirus program like Sophos, which is free.

Students should also be aware of phishing attacks. Hackers may send a message pretending to be from any team, for example the Black-board support, asking you to ver-ify your username and password, which they will then seize and use to try and steal services or other in-formation. “Be very careful of what you click on. If you’re unsure, con-tact the helpdesk. We will be more than happy to answer those types of questions,” says Arora.

File backups, they say, are also paramount because all technology can fail. The Microsoft OneDrive account included free with staff and students’ UTmail+ includes one terabyte (1,000 gigabytes) of stor-age, significantly more than typi-cally comes with other free storage services and is plenty for the aver-age student.

Contact and other information on the helpdesk can be found at utm.utoronto.ca/iits. They have a live chat tool where you can ask for help without making the trek to the third floor of CCT. They also use a Twitter account, @UTMHelpDesk, to announce system outages and other alerts.

LESLIE SETO/THE MEDIUM

From candle-burnt laptops to pesky residence Wi-Fi, the Computing Services gang have seen it all.

JESSICA GELAR

An iPad with a year’s worth of books on it is much lighter...but until

a major industry change comes about...we

have to adapt.

Page 10: Vol 41 issue 8

A student extends five fingers, adorned with two silver rings—five slender fingers that barely reach past her ear. In fact, her elbow re-mains firmly planted on the class-room desk. Up and down her hand moves through the air—up when the professor faces her way and down when he turns his back. She plays this subtle game until the professor nods. The girl exhales and speaks. The room grows quiet: dozens of students, one raised hand, and a girl who wonders why we’ve grown quiet—why don’t students participate in class?

CCIT professor Divya Maha-rajh suggests that students need to be proactive about their learn-ing. It’s easy to be “a random body in my class warming a seat for two hours,” Maharajh notes, but stu-dents should think of themselves “as individuals with ideas worth sharing”. Consistently opting out of class discussions results in a series of missed opportunities to develop solid listening, speaking, and pre-sentation skills that are assets to any successful career.

In a journal article by Kelly Rocca titled “Student participation in the college classroom”, researchers ex-plain that lectures with more than 40 students have less class engage-ment than lectures with fewer than 40. Participation should not be considered synonymous with atten-dance, but for most large classes, at-tendance is the primary evaluation used to gauge participation. Many students do not have the opportuni-ty to enroll in smaller courses until third or fourth year—a discourag-ing reality that may lead students to hesitate from speaking out.

Tutorials are one outlet for stu-dents to voice their thoughts in a smaller, more intimate setting. But are students actually using this op-portunity, or do they remain disen-gaged or plugged into their devices?

In order to assess participation in small classrooms, Maharajh says she “notes when students browse on Facebook or other unrelated websites during class and generally keeps a record of students’ levels of engagement”. Hiding behind a screen or using insecurity as an ex-cuse isn’t going to cut it outside of class, so what can be done to en-courage students to use their voices?

There are no straightforward so-lutions, but those who squirm at the thought of raising their hand can take several small steps to build their confidence. “I often tell shy students to sit in the front of the room,” Ma-harajh says. “When you raise your hand to share ideas, you won’t see an entire classroom of heads turn.” Like Maharajh, many professors at UTM are willing to work with stu-dents on their participation outside of class. “I will sometimes give stu-dents a list of questions I will ask in the following lecture,” Maharajh says. “We practice how they might respond to some of the questions ahead of time and then I call on them in class to share those same rehearsed responses.”

Third-year student Fatima Zahra Hamaimou, a double major in pro-fessional writing and communica-tion and CCIT, provides another perspective on why students may not be speaking up. “I think my willingness to participate decreases when I’m not particularly interested in the material,” she says. Instruc-tors should aim to balance creativity with content delivery when struc-

turing discussions and lectures, es-pecially when it comes to unpacking difficult course concepts.

In “Revitalize classroom discus-sion”, another journal article, James Barton offers a few suggestions of his own. “Nothing kills a discus-sion faster than students’ percep-tion that the teacher knows it all,” Barton says. Instead, professors should create a supportive envi-ronment by encouraging students to make personal connections with material, support reluctant speakers (particularly ESL students, who may have a language barrier), and lead engaging activities to test student comprehension. Barton also com-ments on the importance of visuals, which act as “a memory aid for stu-dents, helping them concentrate on the topic of discussion rather than struggling to remember what was said previously”.

When a student speaks, positive reinforcement from those listen-ing promotes both current and fu-ture discussion. “My professors and classmates provide encouraging responses when I participate,” says fourth-year student Kaitlyn Saint, a double major in PWC and CCIT. “It can be as simple as agreeing with what I have to say or adding additional content that builds on my comment or question. I feel in-volved and it makes me want to en-gage with the class material more.”

“Don’t underestimate the value of solid speaking skills,” Maharajh says. Participation goes beyond the grade. Developing communication requires practice, and the univer-sity provides a relatively safe envi-ronment for that. Find an interest-ing article from the newspaper and bring it up in class—it can be that simple.

Be present physically, emotion-ally, and mentally. Discussion now will lead to success in other small interactions with peer groups, friends, and those you meet as you try to advance your career.

Bueller?... Bueller?...Students don’t see the value of regular class participation

KRISTEN LORITZ

She cited the case of two Muslim women who wear headscarves and who ran for school board trustee in Toronto. Someone distributed flyers about one of the women, alleging that she was trying to impose sharia law and was connected to terrorist groups. The other candidate’s signs were defaced and she received mes-sages telling her to “go back home”.

“So you mean around the corner? Where I live in downtown Toronto?” Korteweg rhetorically asked.

The Headscarf Debate also unpacks the idea that a government’s stance, whatever it may be, influences the actions and opinions of its citizens, especially on this subject. Though the Canadian government was not

mentioned in the book, Korteweg did cite it in our conversation as an example of the relationship between government and citizens, in particu-lar the ban on wearing a niqab while giving a citizenship oath.

“That then legitimates identify-ing Islamic garb as threatening to the Canadian society. […] When the government starts putting laws out like that, you create conditions

where people then take that possibly four steps further and start distribut-ing flyers,” she said.

Though the book reveals a con-siderable amount of division and dispute, the people Korteweg inter-viewed for the book give her hope that the dust will settle in this ideo-logical whirlwind.

“The women that we interviewed, who either wore a headscarf or were active in the politics, they are very much members of the society they live in […] They understand the cul-tural construct very well,” she said. “I think that’s where the hope is for me.”

The Headscarf Debate: Conflicts of National Belonging can be found at the UTM library, Robarts, and the U of T Bookstore.

Government’s stance on the issue and citizenship countsScarf continued from page 8

Are students actually using the

opportunity of tutorials,or do they remain

disengaged or plugged into their devices?

“‘Go home’? So you mean around the corner? Where I ive in downtown

Toronto?” Korteweg rhetorically asked.

I get my best cooking tips from my fam-

ily. (Although I’m not one to welcom-

ingly heed my parents’ advice—I take

it rather grudgingly.) Whom did I call

when I hesitated to add leftover gravy

to my lentil soup? Dad. Whom do I ask

to check the stiffness of my beaten egg

whites? Mom.

Shabina Moheebulla, the historical

studies department secretary, got her

butternut squash soup recipe from

family, too. “This is a family favourite. I

got the recipe from my aunt, who is an

amazing cook,” she says. “I’m not sure

where she got it from. My mother made

the soup and it was a hit with me and

my brother. I tried the recipe on my hus-

band and two girls and they loved it.”

Like the sweet potato soup featured

previously, Moheebulla says, “I normal-

ly make it during winter because it’s a

comfort food we always go to during the

cold months. It’s simple to make and

the kids have fun helping me make it.

I usually serve this with toasted crusty

bread or French baguettes and spinach

salad with strawberries and toasted

almonds, drizzled with raspberry vin-

aigrette.”

The recipe is not only easy, but also

flexible. “You can eliminate the gar-

lic and onions if you prefer not to use

them,” she says. “I find the flavours in-

fuse into the squash during the roasting

and baking process.”

We pass photographs, wedding

rings, and old letters down through gen-

erations. But what memory or heirloom

can you literally recreate and have fresh

any day or anytime other than a recipe?

Butternut Squash SoupSERVES 2 TO 4

INGREDIENTS

• 1 butternut squash

• 3–4 garlic cloves, peeled

• ½ large or medium onion, skin re-

moved and quartered (optional)

• 4–5 cups beef, chicken, or veg broth

• salt and pepper, to taste

• pinch of nutmeg

• dash of cream

METHOD

1.Slice the butternut squash length-

wise. Remove the seeds with a spoon.

Generously rub the squash, garlic,

and onions with extra-virgin olive oil

or grape seed oil. Place the garlic and

onions on the squash on a tray.

2.Put the tray in the middle of the oven

preheated to 350 F (180 C).

3.Remove the garlic and onions once

they turn golden brown.

4.Remove the squash once it has

changed colour and is soft, half an

hour to an hour.

5.Once the squash is cool enough to

handle, scrape out the insides with a

spoon. Discard the skin.

6.Put the garlic, onion, and squash in a

blender or food processor and puree

until smooth. Add a little water if it is

difficult to puree.

7.Add the pureed squash to a deep pot

with the broth, salt, and black pepper.

8.Cook the mixture over high heat until

it comes to a boil. Turn the tempera-

ture down and let it simmer until it

thickens slightly. If it becomes too

thick, you can add some more broth

or water.

9.Add a pinch of nutmeg, freshly grat-

ed if you like, and cook 10–15 min-

utes.

10.Let it sit for 5 minutes before serv-

ing. Serve in a soup tureen or dish.

Drizzle some cream overtop.

Page 11: Vol 41 issue 8

11.03.2014 » 11

Varsity Eagles off on the right footUTM’s cross country team ventures into OCAA territory and participates in first meet

UTM participated in its first OCAA competition as the Varsity Eagles last month at Seneca’s King City campus for the varsity cross country team’s first and only meet of the year.After a quick round of tryouts in the second week of September and only five weeks of training, the nine mem-bers that formed UTM’s first venture into varsity braved the fall tempera-tures to announce their arrival in the OCAA.

“I think the team did extremely well,” says head coach Adam Hassen.

Hassen came to UTM over the sum-mer after the varsity athletics program was announced. With five years of coaching experience as an assistant at George Brown, Hassen understood the level of competition at the OCAA level and brought his expertise to UTM.

The main concern going into the meet was the lack of training com-pared to other colleges. Since UTM is a university in a league mainly consist-ing of colleges, which begin training in middle or late August, there was a slight disadvantage for the Eagles in

terms not only of assembling a squad but also of preparing them for this level of competition.

“I was very happy with their per-formances,” says Hassen, who admits that since this was UTM’s first foray into the OCAA he did not have high expectations. “I just wanted our name to be out there; I wanted everyone to

finish and achieve personal bests, and most of them did.”

Despite this being UTM’s first race, there were performances worthy of mention.

First-year student Lauren Brewster placed 22nd overall and was the top female athlete for UTM with a time of 23:31, which was good enough to

qualify for nationals in Calgary. Al-though she has qualified, Brewster will not attend, based on recommendation from her coach, who believes there is still some preparation needed before participating at the national level.

“My focus right now is building up my mileage and focusing on getting my speed up,” says Brewster, who is

majoring in management. Brewster’s ultimate goal is to improve her speed for next season so she can qualify once again for nationals and represent UTM.

Sam Dumcum finished 76th over-all and second on UTM’s men’s team, less than 30 seconds behind UTM’s Yi Han. Dumcum was lucky enough to be invited by Seneca in early October to participate in a race, which allowed him to prepare for the obstacles he’d encounter during the run: hills.

He echoed his coach’s sentiments, saying he was proud of his teammates for finishing with such strong times in their first OCAA outing and is ex-cited about the future of the program with so many first-year runners on the team.

The team will be participating in some indoor track meets during the winter and could participate in spring races. In the meantime, Hassen looks to focus on strength in order to have his team ready to compete against the elite in the OCAA.

“It was a great start to our program,” he says. “With all of our runners re-turning next year, I guarantee better performances and results.”

CALEB SIV/PHOTO

UTM’s Lauren Brewster qualified for nationals in Calgary with her finishing time.

JASON COELHOSPORTS EDITOR

Brotherhood on the court

Yoga, the best destresser

There are students here at UTM who take advantage of the two-hour recre-ational pickup basketball games every Thursday and Friday at 2:30 p.m. in the RAWC. These are the students you often see as you walk up or down the stairs to the Meeting Place on your way to class or the parking lot. These are the students who believe their student experience improves because of the opportunities at the athletic depart-ment. Although they aren’t drowning in their commitments to sports and school, they take the opportunity to play the game they love with joy.

A native of Ottawa, Chris McDon-ald believes the recreational pickup basketball hours have given him a means to maintain a healthy active lifestyle. “I take advantage of the hours because it gives me a good opportunity to be active and release the stress that is brought by my school work,” he says.

On Friday afternoons, McDonald and his friend Alessandro Tanzi play competitive rounds of basketball with friends. Tanzi is an international stu-dent from Milan, Italy who finds that basketball has given him a platform to meet new friends. “I have formed numerous friendships through pickup

basketball here at UTM,” he says.The 6’1” Tanzi shoots jumpers over

McDonald, demonstrating his skill. Playing basketball here has given him the ability to maintain it. “I have played competitive basketball since the ninth grade,” he says. “I was a player for an Amateur Athletic Union team that selected European players to play in national championships in the States.”

Along with the strong camarade-rie among the players on the court, there is friendly trash-talk that allows players to show confidence and in-vite stronger competition, ultimately leading to a more enjoyable skirmish. “Another thing that I really enjoy from pickup basketball is the trash-talking,” says Tanzi. “It gives me that extra mo-tivation to add more tricks to my game in any possession.”

McDonald claims that even though he’s an amateur, he’s confident he’ll improve his game and athleticism by playing against stronger competition such as Tanzi and friend Nick Hallet, a second-year biology student. “You see guys in here on a consistent basis get-ting better, guys come here so they’re ready for their intramural (or extra-mural) basketball program,” he says.

Come to the RAWC on Thursdays and Fridays and join in on the com-petitive fun.

When you hear the word “athlete”, the first image that comes to mind is probably something along the lines of a buff person playing a high-intensity sport. What people seem to lose sight of is the fact that working out doesn’t have to be a purely physical experi-ence. Exercising has many benefits for mind and spirit, and one activity that favours these facets of our health is yoga.

There are many yoga programs offered at UTM, and the trainers en-courage everyone to participate and get as much as possible from the class. Elizabeth Spence is a trainer with over 15 years of experience teaching yoga. Her focus is on restorative and hatha yoga, which encourages awareness by

various means, including breathing patterns, all while holding many dif-ferent poses (asanas).

Spence believes that there is a spiri-tual side to yoga as well. “The term ha-tha derives from Sanskrit ha meaning ‘sun’ and tha meaning ‘moon’, symbol-izing life force and consciousness,” she says. “As we move through the physi-cal practice and become aware of our breath, we connect to the divine, or our higher consciousness.”

Spence believes yoga is a great way to relieve stress and find balance.

“Most of us tend to hold patterns of tension arising from everyday de-mands, worries, stress, cares, emo-tions, and lack of exercise, causing bad posture and misalignment in the body,” states Spence. “Yoga improves flexibility, circulation, and breath-

ing, bringing a balance to the mental, physical, and energetic fields. Yoga is about balance: bringing the mind, body, and spirit together.”

The history of yoga has not always been a very inclusive one—surprising-ly, given modern trends, women were originally not allowed to participate. Spence observes that contemporary yoga is open to people of all shapes and sizes. “I am so glad to see men and women in our classes; it benefits ev-eryone, of all body types,” she explains.

Even after 15 years of teaching, Spence continues to study with other teachers, because there’s always some-thing new to learn.

The other yoga classes offered at UTM include flow, restorative, and power yoga. Registration is available at the RAWC control desk or online.

ADAM PENKUL

ERIC HEWITSONASSOCIATE SPORTS EDITOR

CHRISTY TAM/THE MEDIUM

There are ten yoga classes during the semester, priced at $25 total for members of the RAWC.

Page 12: Vol 41 issue 8

12 «SPORTS THE MEDIUM 11.03.2014

Blues pitcher winds up great season

Fastpitch, a high-speed variant of soft-ball, is not a sport you may be familiar with—although it’s a staple at the Sum-mer Olympics. In fastpitch, pitchers throw in a windmill motion in order to generate enough momentum to send the ball hurtling to the batter. The pitch speeds can exceed 130 km/h.

But, says Alicia Callaghan, “Pitch-ing isn’t just about how fast you throw.”

Callaghan is in her first year at UTM studying sociology. She is a pitcher on the Varsity Blues fastpitch team and was one reason her team was able to finish fourth in the OIWFA standings.

A Mississaugan, Callaghan began her career in baseball after watching her older brother play the sport at an elite level. “After a year of baseball, I still didn’t feel like I had found the right sport for me,” she recalls. With the encouragement of her parents, she gave fastpitch a shot instead.

Callaghan played on the Missis-sauga North Tigers in house league and moved up to the Mississauga Southwest Baseball Association, where she played rep on the Hurricanes. Her

desire to become a pitcher was kin-dled after watching American softball pitcher Jennie Finch play.

“I love pitching because of all the control you have on the mound,” says Callaghan. “Pitching that third strike to end the inning or being able to watch your teammates make awesome plays in the field is exhilarating.”

But Callaghan is not concerned with speed as much as accuracy. “It’s about being able to hit your spots, trust your catcher, and always staying three steps ahead of the batter,” she says. She estimates that her fastest pitch so far was around 85 km/h.

In her first season with the Blues, Callaghan saw the team bounce back from a miserable 2013 season ending in a 4-18 campaign to finish with a 14-12 record. For the Blues fastpitch team, who have not had a season this suc-cessful since 2011 when they reached the finals only to lose to Western, this was a return to glory. (Western proved to be U of T’s archrival yet again, beat-ing the Blues 9-1 in the semi-final, and marching on to victory.)

Callaghan and her team are proud of their season, and with a core of first- and second-year players who know

what it takes to win, the program looks like it will only trend upward.

“This was a really great season for us,” Callaghan says. “We had an in-credible amount of talent and a ton of drive on our team.” Callaghan spe-cifically mentions the efforts of her coaches.

In the offseason, Callaghan is coaching a Mite girl’s softball team and has considered the idea of coaching in the future. But for now, her priority is navigating her first year of university.

“It is definitely a challenge, espe-cially with the transition from high school into university—the workload is totally different. But I’ve made some really great fiends and I’m finding all of my classes super interesting,” she says, citing Dax Urbszat’s first-year psychol-ogy class as one of her favourites.

After just two months in university, Callaghan has adjusted to the world of a student athlete. The hectic sport and school schedule and the end-less commutes for practices or games have become something she’s used to. She’s grateful for the experience, and when asked if she’ll be returning to the mound next September, she answers “yes” without hesitation.

JASON COELHOSPORTS EDITOR

ALICIA CALLAGHAN/PHOTO

U of T’s fastpitch team finished fourth in the standings.

Callaghan weighs in on outstanding campaign and her first year in varsity competition