ISSUE NO. 181 .5 THURSDAY, OC TOB E R 6, 2016

12 | WOMEN’S FASTPITCH09 | ED VIDEO TURNS 4003 | CSA BY-ELECTIONSThe women’s fastpitch team steps up to the plate to pitch the idea of the club becoming a Guelph varsity program.

Ed Video hosts an all-day symposium to celebrate the media centre’s 40th anniversary by looking ahead to the future of the industry.

The CSA by-election allows students to vote for CSA executives positions and the board of directors. The voting period concludes Oct. 7.

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NEWS IN BRIEFUC BOARD FAIL S TO MAKE DECISION ABOUT RE NOVATIONS

Tensions ran high throughout the Oct. 4 University Centre board meeting leading to a walkout by several members of the board to cause a loss of quorum for any further board decisions at that meeting.

Following Don O’Leary’s pro-posal for renovations at the Sept. 20 UC board meeting, the board of directors was tasked to make a decision to approve, deny, or suggest amendments to the proposal at their Oct. 4 meeting.

The major concerns around the proposal dealt with the displacement of the Guelph Resource Centre for Gender Empowerment and Diversity (GRCGED) from their first-floor location and the lack of consultation about the space needs of other special status groups, like Guelph Queer Equality, the Guelph Black Students’ Association, the International Student Organization, The Peak, and the Ontario Public Interest Research Group Guelph.

Following the presentation of a space needs report and letter of solidarity from a coalition of special status groups (SSGs) and student service groups, a three-part motion was proposed to delay any deci-sions regarding renovations to UC admin space until the board review the space needs report (with the exception of renovations related to accessibility and AODA compliance), to ensure SSGs have substantial and substantive input in further develop-ment of UC space, and to direct the Management and Operations com-mittee to allow representatives to have involvement on the committee in a non-voting capacity.

With the renovations affecting several different spaces on the first floor, as well as Peter Clark Hall in the basement, a motion was proposed to split the board’s deci-sions up into six different motions in order to discuss the use of each space individually.

In general terms, the motions were made as follows: to convert the old convenience store location into new washrooms; to convert UC 103 and Click Signs space into student lounge space; to convert the current washroom area into student lounge space; to renovate Peter Clark Hall as a whole; to convert the vault space (located across from GRCGED) into meeting room space; and to convert GRCGED’s current space into stu-dent lounge space.

The first two motions were passed by the board with little opposition. When the third motion to convert the current washroom space into student lounge space was opened to discussion, an amendment was pro-posed to instead convert the current washroom into SSG space. When the amendment failed and the origi-nal motion was passed, six student board reps walked out of the meet-ing, causing a loss of quorum and preventing the board from voting on the remaining three motions.

The executive members of the board decided to proceed with voting on the rest of the motions through an electronic survey to be sent to board members on Oct. 5, giving them 48 hours to respond. Any board members who do not respond within that time will be counted as having abstained from voting.

Ontario’s minimum wage raises to $11.40 for 2016Increased living costs bring increased hourly rates for minimum wage workersIMANJIT GREWAL

All minimum wage earners in Ontario received a slight increase in their earnings, as minimum wage increased from $11.25 to $11.40 on Oct. 1, 2016. This increase was brought on by the provincial

government’s ongoing efforts to improve the living conditions of Ontarians.

2016 marks the third consecutive year that the minimum wage has seen an increase, while Ontario’s wages rival among the top in the country. Due to these rises, Ontar-io’s minimum wage workers make around $2392 more per year, than they did three years ago.

In a news release, Minister of Labour Kevin Flynn commented on the reason behind the rise: “Our government understands that costs of living increase every year. In order to help families keep up, we’ve tied the minimum wage to

increases in inflation, putting more money into the pockets of Ontario workers each year.”

The raise in minimum wage is based on Ontario’s Consumer Price Index, which is released each month by Statistics Canada, to estimate the cost of living in Ontario. It compares the costs of goods and services over time, and is used by Ontario’s Min-istry of Labour to adjust incomes in order to suit the expenses of average citizens. The raise in wages reflects the recent hikes in living costs.

Ontario was not the only prov-ince to see a raise in minimum wages this October. Alberta, Prince Edward Island, and Saskatchewan

all received a climb in wages, with Alberta’s minimum wage raised from $11.20 to $12.20, P.E.I.’s from $10.50 to $11.00, and Saskatch-ewan’s from $10.50 to $10.72.

Alberta’s NDP government has also recently announced that they were focused on bringing the mini-mum wage up to $15.00 an hour by 2018. This news has Ontario’s New Democratic Party insisting the pro-vincial Liberal government do the same. However, Flynn explained that Ontario’s minimum wage is currently one of the highest in the country and assures that the gov-ernment will re-examine the issue in two years.

03NEWS

Some of the features of SAFEGRYPHON

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RESIDENCE DESK PHONESYou can now be connected with one of the main residence desk phones - no need to memorize those extensions.

FRIEND WALKSend to a friend who can watch you walk in real time and they can trigger an emergency call if needed!

CRIMESTOPPERS Of Guelph/Wellington now has a direct anonymous tip link

We are encouraging all of our campus community to download the SAFEGRYPHON! It is available for FREE at the Apple App Store, Google Play and BlackBerry World.

Voting for CSA fall by-elections ends Fri, Oct. 7A number of positions still need to be filledCHANTAL COOPER &

TANNER MORTON

The students of the University of Guelph turn their attention this week from American politics to campus politics as the Central Student Association (CSA) fall by-elections are in full swing. Students have until Fri, Oct. 7 to vote for their candidates.

The student-run, non-profit orga-nization acts as the student voice in advocating for things such as text-book costs, the student bus pass, and tuition increases.

The executive positions of exter-nal affairs commissioner and local affairs commissioner will be filled as a result of the by-election as well as a board of directors position for the College of Biological Science. The other nine available positions on the board of directors have not received any applicants. These roles

will be filled by appointment follow-ing the by-election.

The external affairs commis-sioner’s role on the CSA focuses on three things: campaigning for issues important to the student body, ensuring the campus is inclusive and accessible to all of its students, and lobbying to the federal and provincial governments on behalf of the student population at U of G.

The position of external affairs commissioner has two candidates: Amber Sherwood-Robinson, and Emily Vance.

During the Candidates Forum, Sherwood-Robinson and Vance outlined their platforms, with both candidates focusing on connecting with students, and giving a voice to those who currently feel under-represented in student government.

Sherwood-Robinson highlighted her past experience and qualifi-cations, including her work for Student Life and Student Acces-sibility Services, as well as her involvement in Fight the Fees, United for Equity, and the No Means No campaign.

Vance has worked for both the Psychology Society and the Student

Support Network, organizing events for both groups and acting as a general member liaison for the Psychology Society.

The local affairs commissioner position entails connecting the campus to the community, raising awareness of sexual assault preven-tion, and overseeing the CSA Bike Centre and the Guelph Student Foodbank.

Jay Rojas, who has worked with Student Life, Residence Life, and Student Housing Services, is run-ning unopposed for local affairs commissioner. Rojas aims to act at a voice for students on munici-pal issues at City Hall and hopes to engage with 8000 students and inspire them to vote in this election.

The candidate for the director of the College of Biological Sciences is Nick Kowaleski, who was unable to participate in the forum discus-sion due to class conflicts. The director of the College of Biological Sciences sits on the CSA board of directors, comprised of representa-tives from each of the colleges who aim to protect the rights and inter-ests of students at the campus-level.

Issues being raised in this elec-tion include: increasing awareness of marginalized communities, fighting tuition increases, revising the sexual assault support guide, and getting students engaged in what the CSA is doing.

The questions posed to the candidates during the forum were preapproved by the current CSA, with the candidates having the opportunity to prepare their responses prior to the discus-sion. The floor was not open for the audience to ask their own questions, with the forum’s mod-erator stating they didn’t want any “gotcha questions” from the students.

Online voting is open until 11:59 p.m. on Fri, Oct. 7. The online survey can be accessed through an email sent out to stu-dents by the CSA. Each candidate has their platform information available on their Facebook pages and those links will also be attached in the voting email. There will also be voting stations set up in the UC courtyard on Thursday and Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

04 05ARTS & CULTURENEWS | OCTOBER 6, 2016 | ISSUE 181 .5

University of Guelph professor shortlisted for academic awardAjay Heble could receive $50,000 through SSHRCJACK FISHER

University of Guelph professor Ajay Heble is among three final-ists chosen for a 2016 Impact Award from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). On Nov. 22 2016, Heble will find out if he will receive a $50,000 award for his collaborative research initiatives in the study of improvisation.

In 2013, Heble won $2.5 million in funding from the SSHRC to launch the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisa-tion (IICSI), which qualified him for this year’s Impact Partnership Award.

IICSI brings together an international research team of 35 scholars from 20 different institutions to study the social implications of improvised musi-cal practices and fosters innovative partnerships within a wide-range of community partners. IICSI focuses on the impact that impro-vised music could have on other

types of collaborative engagement. In a statement about the project

in 2013, Heble said, “There’s some-thing going on in the moment, something that resonates with musicians and artists adapting to each other.”

Based on the criteria, the Part-nership Award is awarded to an SSHRC-funded project that “has demonstrated impact and influence within and/or beyond the social sciences and humanities research community.”

Heble has also had a significant impact on the local arts scene as the founder of the Guelph Jazz Festival. The festival, unique in its combination of scholarly talks and live jazz music, has been running in Guelph since 1994.

Heble’s biography on the SETS website states that, “Heble has jolted the citizens of Guelph into an appreciation of improvised and avant garde music, and delighted aficionados from around the world with his innovative and daring programming.”

Recently, Heble has also been involved in other successful grant writing projects. He was on the team of collaborators for Carla Rice’s successful bid—also funded by the SSHRC—for her project Bodies in Translation: Activ-ist Art, Technology, and Access to Life.

For Rice’s research, nearly two dozen community and university partners from across Canada will explore use of the arts in chang-ing perceptions held by the public, policy-makers, and healthcare pro-viders about people with mind/body differences.

Guelph Movie Club flies high on nostalgia this monthGMC fills seats with September selection Top GunTANNER MORTON

The Guelph Movie Club, which began in January 2013, has tapped into a hidden nostalgia that con-tinues to bring in audiences to fill the seats of The Bookshelf once a month. The movie for September was the high flying classic Top Gun, starring Tom Cruise, Kelly McGillis, Anthony Edwards, and Val Kilmer.

Top Gun tells the story of Pete “Maverick” Mitchell and Nick “Goose” Bradshaw, who train with the best of the best at the Top Gun flight school. Full of cheesy ’80s action movie moments and a killer soundtrack, Top Gun is truly a product of its time.

“It’s truly a time capsule from the ’80s,” said Guelph Movie Club creator Danny Williamson in an interview with The Ontar-ion. “A movie like Top Gun would never be made now,” because of the radical Cold War-era Ameri-can jingoism that’s prevalent in the film.

Williamson explained that the movies shown each month are either films that people want to revisit on the silver screen, or ones that they have a deep con-nection to, but have never had the chance to see on the big screen. Raiders of the Lost Ark, the first installment of the Indiana Jones franchise, is one of those movies for many people.

“Everyone knows the opening with the boulder, even if they’ve never seen the movie, they know it from references in other shows or movies. Once The Simpsons has paro-died you, that’s when you know that everyone knows the opening,” said Williamson.

These are the types of films—the select few that have entered

the cultural canon—that audiences want to see revived on the big screen. For Williamson, one of the most interesting parts of screening classic movies is to watch the “first timers” watch the movie.

“I usually sit at the back, and that allows me to watch the people watching the movies,” he explained.

The Guelph Movie Club isn’t limited by genre or decade, though the movies do seem to lean heavily on films that came out between the late ’70s to the early 2000s, but it all depends on the films that the voters want to see. The selected films are typically “soft spots” or “go-to

movies” for audience members, expla ined Will iamson. The upcoming films are voted on by audience members who come and see the screenings. This selec-tion process allows fans to voice their opinions on what is shown, rather than having a preset curated list.

SETS Professor Ajay Heble in the running for SSHRC award. | Adam LindoroTop Gun and other favourite classics get a second shot at the silver screen. | Paramount Pictures

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Gender reassignment surgery covered by Saskatchewan governmentProvincial government clarifies cost in website updateCRAIG BURKE

According to a recent update from the Sas-katchewan government website, the provincial government will cover 100 per cent of the costs for gender reassignment surgery (GRS) within and outside the province, due to an increasing amount of people asking about the gender reas-signment process.

Common procedures such as a hysterectomy and a mastectomy are provided within the prov-ince, but procedures that are more complex have to be done outside the province.

The individual wishing for the surgery has to get a recommendation from a “recognized authority” and prior approval from the Ministry of Health for coverage or therapy outside the province. Travel and accommodations are not covered.

According to Moose Jaw Pride, a gender and sexual diversity support group, GRS was very inaccessible previously because only 30 per cent was covered by the government. Laura Budd, the education coordinator of Moose Jaw Pride, said this has caused physical and emotional dis-tress, sometimes resulting in suicidal thoughts, attempts, and even loss of life, according to a press release.

However, the health ministry’s director of insured services Jennifer Lindenbach told the

Regina Leader Post that nothing has changed and the 30 per cent figure mentioned by Moose Jaw Pride was never policy. The government’s web-site was updated to clear up confusion about how gender reassignment surgeries are accessed and pre-approved.

According to the Regina Leader Post, Budd responded that, “The government is saying it was never 30 per cent, but they would only cover the surgical cost.” The government excluded addi-tional costs such as medication and aftercare.

In 2014, gender identity was added to the Sas-katchewan Human Rights Code. Additionally, the Vital Statistics Act of 2016 allows transgen-dered people to correct the gender marker on their identification, and gender-confirming sur-gery does not have to be mentioned.

However, Moose Jaw Pride claims that the fight for progress for the trans community in Saskatchewan has not ended. There are still issues, most notably the long waiting lists for GRS. The time between initial contact with the family physician and to a surgical date for a vaginoplasty or phalloplasty is between 36 and 60 months.

After being referred to by medical profession-als in Saskatchewan, patients need to go out of province to receive the proper surgery and treat-ment, according to Moose Jaw Pride. “Wait times to either authority, including Ontario’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) or Dr. Warneke at Edmonton’s Grey Nuns Community Hospital can be 20 months or more after a refer-ral is made.

Qualifying patients are then referred to a GRS/SRS clinic such as ‘GRS Montreal’ leading to additional wait times.”

BET WE E N THE SHE ETS

This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki

SIERRA PAQUETTE-STRUGER

To break in The Ontarion’s new book review column, we thought we’d begin with something a little unconventional. This One Summer, a comic book, tells the story of two summer cottage friends entering adolescence and discovering some of the complications the adult world has to offer.

I will digress momentarily from the review. I do not person-ally believe in the term “graphic novel.” To me, personally, and to many of my friends involved in the comics community, I believe calling a certain subset of comics “graphic novels” works to dis-credit other so-called “lowbrow” comics. The term “graphic novel” belongs to to the same elitist world that renounces pop-lit and I won’t have it. If, however, you will allow me to get a little “high-brow,” comic books are the easiest and most rewarding way to better your artistic literacy. Connecting word and image, through wonder-ful stories, is such a simple way to think about how deliberate illus-trative choice communicates a

message. Anyway, enough of that. Canadian cousin superstars

Mariko Tamaki and Jill ian Tamaki have together and indi-vidually incredible portfolios of creative endeavours. Mariko, an acclaimed writer and performer, has published several novels and directed several films. Jillian is a highly sought-after illustrator and comics artist known for her per-sonal works and highly popular ongoing web comic, SuperMutant Magic Academy. This One Summer is their second collaborative comic book, the first being Skim, pub-lished in 2008.

Rose, the narrator of the comic, visits Awago Beach with her par-ents every summer and spends much of her time hanging out with her summer sister Windy watching horror movies; heading down to the local convenience store; swimming; and discuss-ing what it will be like to have breasts and what precisely a blow job is. Fundamentally, This One Summer is an unflinching, touch-ing account of being a young girl just grasping the first changes of adolescence.

Coloured with cool shades of blue, purple, and indigo, the girls are drawn with soft lines and rounded curves. The girls’ smooth

and rounded jawlines, noses, tum-mies, and knees are made all the more tender in comparison to the subtle difference in the rendering of the adults’ shapes; more angu-lar, shadowed, cleanly delineated. My favourite panels in the comic are scenes in which the girls, without a literal trace of self con-sciousness, laze about the beach in their bathing suits.

All of this gentleness is not to say that Rose and Windy don’t face tough situations. Rose’s narration slowly reveals the increasing tension between her parents which, she finds later, stems from her mother’s mis-carriage last summer at Awago. The two girls also get a glimpse of the complications which may soon enter their lives when they become spectators to the local teenagers’ drama.

Female adolescence and all the changes it entails is a story often deemed messy, ugly, or unneces-sary to tell and there are so few representations of what it’s like to be a young woman. Ultimately, this is This One Summer ’s great-est strength. It is an absolutely necessary text because of what it confronts, and what it con-fronts is an absolutely necessary conversation.

A movie like Top Gun would never be made now...

Heble has also had a significant impact on the local arts scene...

How big will my boobs be? Why are my parents fighting? And other

adolescent queries. | Courtesy

Reuben and the Dark stop by the UCCalgary band puts emphasis on storytelling

DANA BELLAMY

Reuben and the Dark made a stop at the University Centre to deliver a resonating noon hour set on Fri, Sept. 30.

Often categorized as “indie folk,” the band brought an array of sounds similar to any other indie bands across the country. With tom-heavy drum grooves and supplementary synthesizers, the modern sounds coming from the stage presented nothing new to the casual listener. What this Calgary band added to the mix, however, was their dark and dramatic lyrical storytelling.

Reuben Bullock’s roots as a singer-songwriter were evident

throughout the set, bringing a cer-tain comfort to the stage despite the grim context of many of his songs.

“To be honest, it’s just a lot of stream of consciousness,” Bullock explained about his lyrical content in an interview with The Ontarion. “It’s just based on life—and maybe I have had a bit of a darker life at times, so maybe it pulls from that.”

As the band’s front man, Bullock alternated between picking up his weathered acoustic and putting it down, emphasizing the emotion in the music with his signature out-stretched arms.

In songs like “Rolling Stone” and “Bow & Arrow,” the band really came together to demonstrate influences in gospel and country, while their latest single “Heart in Two,” took their sound in a more pop-friendly direction.

When asked about the band’s influences, Bullock explained that

the band draws from a lot of differ-ent influences, but he personally “[tries] to stay within the ideas of the songs and not too much of the sonics.

Despite the band’s ability to wrap up each song with a tight finish, the audience’s hesitation to applaud was likely due to a lack of familiarity with the band and their material. But that’s what these noon hour shows are all about: bringing new music to the ears of students.

“I’m super used to it because we’ve done so many showcase shows where you show up, you play, and you hope somebody lis-tens,” said Bullock. “It’s really honest.”

While the lunchtime crowd at the UC wasn’t the most responsive, one can easily imagine Reuben and the Dark playing their audi-ence into a deeply emotional state in a more intimate venue.

0706 ARTS & CULTURE | OCTOBER 6, 2016 | ISSUE 181 .5ARTS & CULTURE | OCTOBER 6, 2016 | ISSUE 181 .5

Preview gala sets the stage for the Guelph Comedy FestivalThe festival aims to showcase local and national talentTANNER MORTON

The Guelph Comedy Festival kicked off on Sept. 30 with a special preview gala to celebrate the comedy community both in Guelph and across Ontario. The gala, hosted at the Guelph Youth Music Centre, opened with stand up sets by local talents Daina Wallace and Mirali Almaula, who each brought their own fresh fla-vour of comedy to start the evening off right.

The evening’s host was Hayley Kellett, co-founder of The Making-Box, who charmed the audience with anecdotes and by interacting with the fictitious “Guelph Youth Orchestra,” comprised of Making-Box improv regulars Spencer Dunn, Josh Anderson-Coats, and Rob Lewin.

Guelph’s growing comedy com-munity has been known to be diverse in both style as well as

representation, characteristics that Kellett is looking to showcase in the upcoming Guelph Comedy Festival.

“We’re doing a lot of collabora-tions this year, so the festival is going to be more diverse and more eclectic than you’ve seen in the past,” Kellett explained.

The two headlining acts of the night displayed the variety that the Guelph Comedy Festival is aiming to showcase this year, with stand up from Toronto’s Daniel Wood-row and sketch comedy from the Toronto-based troupe Falcon Powder. Woodrow, who has per-formed for the Guelph Comedy Festival before, took to the stage to deliver his cool and confident set of material. Even with a more laid back style, Woodrow was cap-tivating to watch, meandering his way from joke to joke, but never losing the crowd’s attention.

Through events produced by the Making-Box, Guelph has had a considerable amount of stand up and improv, but sketch comedy is still a rarity in the Guelph comedy scene. The final act of the night, Falcon Powder, brought

the house down with their sur-real, and tightly choreographed set. Falcon Powder, comprised of Jim Annan, Scott Montgomery, and Kurt Smeaton, was originally an improv group before they were approached by the organizers of the Toronto Sketch Fest to partici-pate in the festival, and have been doing sketch ever since.

Montgomery told The Ontarion that it took a “nightmare trip down to Atlanta Georgia” for the trio to realize that they were no longer interested in improv, and opted to become a full-time sketch group.

Falcon Powder’s performance was incredibly eclectic from their style to their tone, with each individual skit feeling like a fully realized, but unique, piece in the greater machine of their performance.

“We always like to have a vari-ety of stuff, so we don’t have the same look over and over again,” explained Montgomery. “We have some talky scenes and we pur-posefully have some no-talking scenes, some of them are weirder than others.”

The var iet y of their per-formances has helped Falcon Powder stay interested in their own work and still find perform-ing a worthwhile experience. “Sketch comedy is a landscapes of guys, standing onstage and talking to each other,” said Smea-ton. “That doesn’t mean it’s not funny, it could be hilarious, but

[the variety is] for us, is to keep us interested.”

According to Falcon Powder, the Guelph Comedy Festival is a key part of the growing comedy landscape in Canada, “Grassroots festivals [like this] create more troupes.” said Annan. “It looks fun, and you want to do it. I think that’s been steadily building.”

Stand-up and sketch comics brought laughter to the Guelph Youth Music

Centre. | Mariah Bridgeman/The Ontarion

THE WE E KLY SCE NE

The Trip to Italy (2014), written and directed by Michael Winterbottom3.5 mean-spirited-but-ultimately-loveable-cads out of 4

SAMEER CHHABRA

In 2010, British comedians Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon set out on a tour of Northern England’s restaurants, hotels, and inns. Brydon’s and Coogan’s adven-tures were captured by Michael Winterbottom and arranged into a six-episode miniseries, and then subsequently organized into a feature-length film.

Winterbottom’s series and film were shot as a mockumentary, where Coogan and Brydon played their respective selves. In spite of the fictitious nature of The Trip, the film beautifully encapsulated the cultural riches offered by Northern England, highlighting the figurative and literal flavour of places like L’Enclume, the Yorke Arms, and Holbeck Ghyll.

In 2014, Coogan and Brydon returned to work with Winter-bottom to create The Trip to Italy. Once again, Brydon and Coogan played fictionalized versions of themselves, but instead of tour-ing England, they shif ted to Italy.

Of course, like all good trav-elogues, Winterbottom’s film hinges on the fact that its central voices inject their surroundings with as much of their personal opinions and feelings as possible.

Brydon and Coogan, both tal-ented comedians, flit from locale to locale, sampling whatever each village has to offer, while simul-taneously making an absolute mockery of themselves.

Regardless of their off-screen personas, The Trip to Italy por-trays Brydon and Coogan as vile, vengeful, and venomous. They are filled with all man-ners of insecurities, and as they Skype and call their loved ones back home, it becomes immensely clear that these two might not have any friends other than each other.

There is a story to Winterbot-tom’s film, but unlike The Trip, this sequel’s plot is told in subtle glances and telephone conversa-tions between Brydon, Coogan, and their families. The two lead actors play incredibly lonely ver-sions of themselves, and their loneliness draws them together. We as the audience are drawn to their loneliness, understand-ing that the barbs and jokes only land because both parties are unwilling or unable to express their sadness at the risk of losing their only real remaining connec-tions to their humanity.

I wonder, however, who would want to be friends with these people?

In one delicious scene, Brydon talks to a preserved corpse of an individual who died at Pompeii. When Coogan leaves the tomb, disgusted at Brydon’s failure to appreciate history and the passage of time, Brydon mimes a conver-sation with the corpse, insulting Coogan at every turn.

Suffice it to say, listening to Coogan and Brydon spar is one of this film’s great highlights.

As I mentioned earlier, The Trip to Italy is a travelogue, and in spite of its protagonists taking every opportunity to mock or insult

one another, the viewer would do well to listen to the constant references to the Romantic poets—chiefly Shelley, Lord Byron, and Coleridge—who traveled Italy. It’s clear that the characters of Brydon and Coogan are in no way fit to talk about such subjects. That Winterbottom’s script forces its lead characters to recite whole poems and essays—works of lit-erature that they rehearse alone in their rooms, in order to avoid appearing uncultured or uncouth—is a pleasure for those individuals who view this film to learn more about Italy.

Winterbottom’s direction itself manages to capture Italy’s natural beauty in a way that pays homage to the very beauty that draws people to places like Capri, Rav-ello, and Camogli. Further, James Clarke’s cinematography paints lush forests, soft green and blue water, warm sunlight sparkling off of rivers, and hilltop restaurants to fill each incredible scene with splendour and warmth.

It’s no small argument to sug-gest that The Trip to Italy is just as beautiful and just as encapsulating with the sound turned off.

I conclude, however, by prais-ing whoever thought it would be a good idea to score the film with selections from Alanis Morissette’s greatest hits. Moris-sette is an artist whose unique voice and particular lyrical style speaks to those whose own emo-tional states are uncertain and in flux. That Brydon and Coogan mutually agree that Morissette is the only artist whose music is agreeable lends insight into their own tortured minds. That, and there’s a dark humour in watching these two comedians try their best to hide back their tears as Moris-sette sings the anthem to their heartbreaking trip across Italy.

In the most indirect way, Winterbottom’s travelogue lends insight into the mind of that clown Pagliacci, forced to bring joy to the masses while suffering from his own personal demons.

The Trip to Italy’s despicable main leads play second fiddle to the beautiful scenery of Italy. | BBC Films/Revolution Films

The year is 2006, the month, October. On the 23rd, just over a week shy of Halloween, My Chemical Romance dropped The Black Parade and changed my life forever.

The Black Parade is a cinematic aural masterpiece. Right in the middle of my preteen (and ongoing) infatuation with Gerard Way, came this blond-haired, uniform-wearing, four-day-bender-smudged eyeliner angel offering me his sooty hand.

Made up of 13 songs, and a 14th hidden track (only avail-able on specific copies), the album tells the story of the illness, death, and afterlife of a man known only as The Patient.

The Black Parade is undeniably a grim piece of artwork, not obsessed with death, but rather resigned to acknowledging the omnipresence of human mortality. It does, however, offer shimmering moments of human vitality. While wholly a con-cept album about a dying and dead man, it simultaneously functions as a call to arms for the living; it seethes with life, teems with an almost rabid obsession with staggering on. The boys sing, “I am not afraid to keep on living, I am not afraid to walk this world alone,” in the final track of the album.

We have always used art as a way by which we can grapple with unknowable death, The Black Parade is merely one more shout into that great void. “Awake and unafraid,” we continue, ten years on.

Album of the Week

* Canadian content ** Local content www.CFRU.ca

MY CHEMICAL ROMANCETHE BLACK PARADE

top 10 album chart

A TR I B E C A L L E D R E D* We Are The Halluci Nation (Radicalized Records)

C H A R LOT TE DAY W I L S O N * CDW (Self-Released)

S N OW B L I N K* Returning Current (Outside Music)

P R E O CC U PATI O N S * Preoccupations (Flemish Eye)

L CO N * Moon Milk (Self-Released)

J O H N S O U TH WO RTH * Small Town Water Tower (Tin Angel)

TH E LU YA S * Says You (Paper Bag)

A N G E L O L S E N My Woman (Jagjaguwar)

R OYA L C A N O E * Something Got Lost Between Here And The Orbit (Nevado)

J U LY TA L K* Touch (Sleepless)

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Pearle Harbour improvised and satirized her way through a Sunday School-themed performance at Silence on Sept. 30. Aunty Pearl, a char-acter created and performed by Justin Miller, kept the audience on edge with her blend of hilarious clichés and horrifying social commentaries.

Miller wholeheartedly transformed into the character, never missing a chance to feed off an audience member’s discomfort or to inhale the curing fumes of a scented marker.

Winterbottom’s film hinges on the fact that its central voices inject their surroundings with as much of their personal opinions and feelings as possible.

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Pearle Harbour preaches her own Sunday School

DANA BELLAMY/THE ONTARION

Ed Video celebrates 40 years by looking toward the futureWhat does the future hold for media art?DANA BELLAMY

Ed Video Media Arts Centre is celebrating 40 years as a com-munity resource for filmmakers and artists of all backgrounds and experiences.

What started in 1976 as a non-profit organization, Ed Video remains a fundamental resource for creators in and around the Guelph community. While the centre has seen a great deal of change across the industry—and within the organization itself—there is a steadiness in that change that keeps it going.

“You have to change to stay the same,” said Scott McGovern, Ed Video’s programming director in an interview with The Ontarion. “With every new technology there’s a new crisis that can happen, but with every new technology, there’s a new potential for humans to use it in creative ways.”

As part of Ed Video’s 40th anni-versary celebrations, McGovern organized a full-day symposium on Oct. 1, inviting artists and innova-tors to share their work and their thoughts on the future of media art.

For McGovern, the future of media art lies in how we learn to understand, control, and think critically about a particular medium.

“The Next 40 Years” symposium kicked off with a talk from recent U of G graduate Maya Ben David, whose work and research look at common cartoon archetypes through a critical lens.

Ben David illustrated how car-toons often problematize race and gender by using them as comedic relief, focusing on Pokémon as an example. In particular, Ben David deconstructed the character of Jynx and the role she plays in the Pokémon franchise. Jynx not only portrays a sense of Otherness in her inability to communicate with the main characters in the show, but also embodies the role of the “grotesque female figure,” and has been heavily criticized for her blackface appearance.

“When you render something [or] when you physically draw something, it’s representative of how you view gender and race,” explained Ben David prior to her presentation.

Ben David’s work critically assesses these problematic stereo-types in cartoons and uses online video as a platform to take con-trol over the characters, often exploring themes of anthropomor-phism and challenging the idea of

gendered species. “Cartoons are being challenged, not by corporate companies, but with fan art,” she explained.

The symposium shifted its focus to a brief glimpse into virtual reality. Each participant received a dismantled Google Cardboard viewer and was tasked to assemble it before jumping into a demo with visual effects artist JunJun Zhu.

Zhu presented her 360 degree animation on the Google Card-board app, explaining that the one -and-a-half minute video took 42 hours to render in 4K resolution.

Multimedia artist and U of G grad Theo Bakker also presented his current VR project: designing a 3D model of Ed Video’s York Road location so the viewer can virtually walk through the building and re-imagine how the space is used.

Re-imagining how things are done was a common theme throughout the symposium. Video artist Thirza Cuthand spoke about her experience transferring her storytelling skills into a video game format.

Cuthand explained that much of her work deals with very per-sonal experiences from being a First Nations teenage lesbian in the ’90s to being diagnosed with bipolar disorder at the age of 24.

Cuthand is currently developing a video game to illustrate three different levels of bipolar disorder.

The 2D game presents interactive opportunities for players to learn and engage within the art form, offering a humourous take on a deeply personal experience.

“All the mental health videos I’ve done have been kind of seri-ous, so the video game is actually the first time I’ve done something comedic out of it,” explained Cuthand. “It’s important because it helps people feel comfortable with the subject matter when it is pre-sented in a comedic manner and it gets past people’s defenses.”

Progressing into even more technical work, Laura De Decker presented a lecture on the roles theory, science, and computer programming have played in her artwork. De Decker’s work essen-tially uses ones and zeros to create colourful geometric art pieces made up of nothing but code. In using quantum mechanics and randomness to create art, De Decker pushes the boundaries of opposites.

Following De Decker’s highly technical and informative talk, video remix artist Nick DenBoer entertained the audience with his comedic video mash-ups. Den-Boer’s work has garnered the attention of some pretty influen-tial people over the last few years, including the producers of Conan.

Working remotely at his com-puter at home and seeing several of his remix segments air on late-night TV was a surreal experience for DenBoer. “Realizing that you had the reach of hitting millions of people with a video that you made is wild.”

Speaking on remix culture, DenBoer explained that his work conveys a social commentary, often resulting in political satire or even recasting notorious film villains as giant chickens.

“The end product is the starting point for many artists,” concluded DenBoer. “It’s going to be used again and again.”

The keynote address was deliv-ered by Andrew McLuhan—the

grandson of media theorist Mar-shall McLuhan—who spoke about his work documenting his grandfa-ther’s library and what it was like to grow up as a McLuhan.

In 2009, Andrew was tasked with creating an inventory of his grandfather’s library; a project that would lead to the discovery of thousands of annotations and per-sonal letters from authors tucked inside boxes and boxes of books.

“It was almost like opening a treasure chest,” said McLuhan. “You never knew what you were going to get.”

In one book, he discovered a note written beside Marshall McLuhan’s most famous quote: “The medium is the message.” The handwritten script said that the first use of the phrase was at a 1958 radio broadcaster’s conference in Vancouver to reassure them that TV would not end radio.

Marshall McLuhan’s timeless ideas about the adaptive nature of media tied right back into the theme of Ed Video’s symposium: embracing change.

“Just because something new happens, doesn’t mean that the old thing is obsolete,” said McGovern, explaining how technology eventu-ally comes full circle. “Everything is a tool.”

09ARTS & CULTURE | OCTOBER 6, 2016 | ISSUE 181 .5

THE ONTARIONWELCOMES

TO THE 2016/2017 STAFF

TIANNNANTAIS

CLAIREWILCOX

COPY EDITOR ASSOCIATE EDITOR

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE ONTARION, VISIT US AT THEONTARION.COM

...the future of media art lies in how we learn to

understand, control, and think critically about a

particular medium.

DANA BELLAMY/THE ONTARION

Guelph Student foodbank

U of G students will be voting on a $0.52 increase in their student fees to help fund the University of Guelph Student Foodbank in a referendum from Wed, Oct. 5

to Fri. Oct, 7. For the Foodbank’s pro-posal to be passed, they require 20 per cent of the student body to vote in order for the referendum to reach quorum as well as 4000 students to vote yes on the $0.52 increase.

The Ontarion spoke to Guelph Student Foodbank coordinator Namrata Tilokani about the Foodbank’s mission.

“Our mission is to provide emergency resources to undergraduate and gradu-ate students,” said Tilokani. “That’s usually emergency food, the basic staple foods, as well as fresh produce and any toiletries that they might need.”

Students can access these services by going to the Foodbank with their student cards and booking an in-take appointment. Unlike other food banks, the Student Foodbank works on an honour system in that students are not required to provide evidence of income to gain access to services. It should still be kept in mind that only students who need the services should use them.

The Guelph Student Foodbank, which was founded in 2004, also provides food education courses to students and a com-munity garden to teach students how to cook and grow their own food.

The Guelph Student Foodbank sup-ported 542 individuals, comprised of students and their dependents in 2015, which along with rising food costs has

put a strain on their existing funding. While the $0.52 increase won’t com-pletely alleviate the problem, Tilokani said it will definitely help.

“Keeping up with demand has been a big challenge, because there’s a lot of students accessing the service. We always welcome people to access it. When demand is really high, then we want to be able to provide as much as we can for each person.”

The rising cost of food has been a con-cern for Canadians across the country who now have to spend more of their income to provide healthy and fresh food for their families.

The Ontarion spoke to Prof. Hannah Tait-Neufeld, a professor in the depart-ment of Family Relations and Applied Nutrition about food security and food banks.

“I think that students are particularly vulnerable, not necessarily because of rising food prices in Canada, also just based on the environment that they live in,” said Tait-Neufeld.

She also explained that students living in the urban core of cities are in “food deserts,” areas of the city where

reasonably priced groceries are not available.

“If you’re really watching your bottom line, with expenses like tuition, text-books, and travelling back and forth if you’re commuting, as a student it makes it very challenging to provide a variety [...] and quality of food,” she continued.

Tait-Neufeld highlighted the impor-tance of accessing food banks in emergency situations, but expressed that she did not consider them to be a sus-tainable provider of food.

“I think there has to be a lot more innovative ways of progressing towards food security. I think if you’re trying to address some of these situations in low income populations, or people who are living in urban centres, living in food deserts, you need to think more collectively.”

The Guelph Student Foodbank refer-endum will be conducted online, with students receiving a ballot through their GryphMail account. They can vote on whether they are in support of the $0.52 increase in food acquisition for the Guelph Student Foodbank. There will also be an official polling station in the University

Centre, where a bank of tablets or laptops will be set up for students to vote.

To communicate what $0.52 looks like, the Foodbank is marketing the fee increase in comparison to other services and goods that students are likely to be familiar with.

“For the price of half a donut, 6 gummy bears, or 1/20th of your entry fee to Trap-pers,” is how the Guelph Food Bank is framing the increase in student fees to pro-vide fresh produce, cooking classes, and nutrition education for those in need in the University of Guelph community.

“It doesn’t take a lot to make that differ-ence,” said Tilokani.

The fee increase will not only finan-cially support The Foodbank, but raise awareness about the food bank and “estab-lish a link between the campus and The Foodbank.”

Beyond the referendum, the Guelph community can assist the Guelph Student Foodbank by volunteering—forms are available on the CSA website—or making a donation at 620 Gordon St. The Food-bank has a number of high priority goods that are always appreciated, which include protein sources like peanut butter and cans of tuna, as well as rice. Furthermore, Tilo-kani explained that fresh produce is also welcome.

“If anyone is looking to donate fresh stuff, we always take fresh produce. A lot of people, I think, maybe have that image that you can only donate cans or non-perishables, but fresh produce; a carton of eggs, bananas, or apples can go a long way because that’s someone’s fresh produce for the week.”

poses referendum to increase funding

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The pros and cons of getting involved in intramural sportsCreating a sustainable active lifestyle while at schoolCLAIRE WILCOX

The University of Guelph’s intra-mural leagues are a source of happiness and stress-management for thousands of students. How-ever, if you aren’t careful, they can become the reason you’re sleeping in or skipping class. It’s all about striking a balance in your lifestyle.

For new students, it’s a great way to find a sense of commu-nity outside of your immediate living area. It’s a reason to leave your res building and get a little lost around the athletics centre. In doing so, you can get to know your campus better and feel more comfortable moving around.

For upper-year students, intra-murals present a great opportunity to step away from the books and just get rid of some energy or pent-up frustration. The further you get into the semester, the more you’re going to need to apply some stress-management techniques.

At the same time, extracurricu-lar sports aren’t always sunshine and rainbows. Conflicts between courses and games do happen, and depending on the type of student you are, they can serve more as

a distraction than a day-enhancer. However, intramural leagues are great for a couple reasons.

THEY’RE CHEAP

A semester’s worth of intramu-ral play in most sports is about $15. That’s the cost of two pints nowadays.

ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS SHOW UP

The league, the venue, the sched-ule, it’s all done for you. All you have to do is check your email and show up for your games.

THERE ARE OPTIONS

Many, many options. Not into regular old sports? How about inner-tube water polo, pickleball, or bubble soccer? On the other hand, if you want to try your hand at a whole bunch of sports, the multi-sport league offers that too.

That being said, intramurals require a minimum level of orga-nization in participants’ lives. For example, if you don’t check your email regularly, you might miss game reminders. Complete schedules are also available online though and many teams will create a Facebook group to ensure players will come out to games.

Intramural sports games them-selves fluctuate. For example, you could have games once or twice a week, and then once or twice a month. If the one game you have in October is the night before a mid-term, tough luck. Game times will

never be the same for each team, for fear of scheduling conflicts week after week. What this trans-lates to is that it becomes difficult to create a consistent schedule for yourself around intramural games.

YOU DON’T HAVE TO GO

Because intramurals are so afford-able, players don’t always feel as compelled to go as more expensive leagues. A team with a full roster will usually have a couple no-shows per game, and in extreme cases, you may never meet all your teammates.

YOUR SEMESTER FLUCTUATES

Although you may have some free time to play now, the week

after Thanksgiving is looking pretty rough. The main issue is that a semester’s workload fluc-tuates from week to week, and it can become quite extreme around midterms.

S O M E T I M E S , T H E Y D O M O R E

HARM THAN GOOD

Take into consideration how an intramural game might affect your routine. For example, ice hockey games can begin as late as midnight on a given weeknight. It’s not to torture players—it’s simply because for sports like ice hockey, there are hundreds of stu-dents who want to play. Is comes down to this: can you afford to lose the sleep?

More than that, even though intramural games are an oppor-tunity to get rid of extra energy, participants do sometimes get hurt. Limping to the bus loop with your school bag and equipment isn’t ideal. These games are meant for fun.

That brings us to the final point: intramural sports are recreational. Even in the more competitive leagues, it’s important not to lose sight of the true goals. We’ve never heard of anyone being scouted for the pros at an intra-mural game. On the court, in the rink, on the field—these are times for working hard and making friends. Get your sweat on, but don’t tread on other people.

SPORTS & HEALTH | OCTOBER 6, 2016 | ISSUE 181 .5SPORTS & HEALTHU of G continues to play hardball for women’s fastpitch teamClub vs. varsity: what does it mean?CLAIRE WILCOX

It’s Tuesday night at the ball dia-mond on campus. On the main diamond, the Guelph women’s fastpitch team warms up for their double-header against the Ryerson Rams. Across the street, music echoes from the football stadi-um’s speakers as the varsity team practices.

Women’s fastpitch softball has been a club sport since 2001, with the formation of the Ontario Intercollegiate Women’s Fast-pitch Association (OIWFA). Largely run and maintained at the grass-roots level, the league grew from the “original four” schools of York, McMaster, the University of Toronto, and the University of Ottawa into something much larger.

The league doubled in less than a year with the addition of teams from the University of Guelph, Brock, Western, and Laurier. Since then, the league has grown even more, fielding teams from Waterloo, Queen’s, Windsor, and Carleton.

The league also received a grant from the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women in Sport in 2005 and has suc-cessfully completed seasons for 15 years since its inception. Despite the success, fast-pitch still hasn’t earned OUA recognition.

Technically a sports club, the women’s fastpitch team is not privy to several perks available to fully recognized varsity teams. Perks include access to athletic therapy from the Health and Performance Centre and access to the Student-Athlete Mentor-ship (SAM) program, which helps athletes study when they aren’t training.

Beyond that, transportation to away games is paid out of pocket by team members. Hotels for tour-naments are covered by team fees, which means players pay for them indirectly as well. Although U of

G provides a maintained diamond to play on, support is limited.

Guelph’s fastpitch team isn’t asking for celebrity treatment. What they’re asking for is a chance to compete and perform at the varsity level with some degree of endorsement from U of G.

“We do everything that varsity teams do. We’ll go out and study together. You get really good rela-tionships out of it,” said Amanda Klumpp, a second-year human kinetics student.

A typical week on the team involves 12 to 17 hours of prac-tice and play. Game nights are all double-headers, so players will typ-ically be on the diamond for five hours. This doesn’t include travel time to and from games, which the players organize themselves.

Even larger, it’s not just the question of Guelph’s fastpitch team. The root issue is that all the university teams in the fastpitch league are considered clubs, and therefore see virtually no funding or support by other means.

“We have gone through the application process to be an OUA sport four times now and every time that process has changed and we have had different feed-back every year on why our vote was turned down,” explained Matt Allen, who has been the OIFWA league president since 2011. “We are at a point of simply asking for transparency and hon-esty in the process.”

Where the men’s varsity base-ball team has 30 players and 11 paid coaching staff, the women’s fastpitch team has 14 players, some of whom are out because of injury. Their head coach, assis-tant coach, and manager are volunteers. A volunteer thera-pist comes to home games and practices, but there isn’t one for away games. The men’s var-sity team has access to official recruiting and Gryphon-endorsed media, whereas an individual on the women’s fastpitch team cre-ated Twitter and Facebook pages to attempt to reach out to new students.

“It’s for the love of the sport,” said head coach Craig Christie. “If

they didn’t love it, they wouldn’t come out.”

“I have had countless conver-sations with athletes on many different teams, and for many of them, it is not the funding they are concerned about,” said Allen. “It is about being treated fairly at their respective universities, being called ‘athletes.’ […] Our athletes, en masse, just want to be treated with respect by their universities and have some equal opportunities across the board.”

For back-catcher Erin Finnerty, this issue became all too real during tryouts when she was con-cussed by a foul ball. The ball deflected and hit her lower jaw, just under her facemask.

“I couldn’t close my jaw for a week,” she said in an interview with The Ontarion.

Finnerty continued business as usual, until a week later when the zoology major dove for a ball and realized the true extent of her injury. Since she has no free access to athletic therapy services, she is currently working through her other options. Finnerty has found communicating with Student Accessibility Services challenging, since concussion symptoms tend to fluctuate and rest is essential.

“I’m definitely dropping one course already,” said Finnerty about her fall semester.

With more support and access to athletic therapy and the SAM pro-gram, Finnerty’s semester might not be left hanging in the balance.

“We have existed for 15 years now, offering the competitive university experience for soft-ball players to over 200 athletes every year,” said Allen. “We

have a structured governance, support systems from our Pro-v incia l and Nat iona l Spor t Organizations, and are ready to take the next step.”

Ice Hockey is one of the most popular intramural sports at Guelph. | Tasha Falconer

The World Cup of Hockey is more than just a gimmickTeam North America and Team Europe shine in renewed tournamentK YLIE ARMISHAW

The World Cup of Hockey took place in Toronto this September for the first time in 12 years. The two-week best-on-best tour-nament included a preliminary round with eight teams. The top two teams from each group faced off in the semi-finals and the winners of those games then competed in a best-of-three final.

Although these tournaments aren’t as suspenseful nowadays thanks to Team Canada’s domi-nation in the sport, viewers were given the pleasant surprise of seeing the most unlikely team, Team Europe, giving Canada a run for their money in the finals. This was Team Europe’s first and perhaps only shot of winning an international title.

NHL commissioner Gary Bett-man claimed that the sole purpose of bringing back the World Cup of Hockey was to grow the game internationally, and if this was the NHL’s only intention, then the World Cup was definitely a success. However, many critics accused it of just being a money-grab marketing gimmick.

Perhaps the biggest success of the World Cup of Hockey was the creation of Team North America, comprised of players age 23 and under, and Team Europe, com-prised of players from European countries that did not qualify for the tournament. This allowed the tournament to be more com-petitive because it created more talented teams, rather than replacing them with the seventh and eighth ranked countries, Switzerland and Slovakia. The disappointing part is that these two teams have a very uncertain future.

Team North America provided arguably the most entertaining games of the tournament in the preliminary round with their speed, skill, and the way they played the game as though they

had nothing to lose. The fan base for North America was incred-ibly large. Kids and adults were spotted wearing Team North America’s Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews jerseys all over the city of Toronto. It is a shame that they narrowly missed out on facing Team Canada in the semi-final round.

Team Europe was expected to be the worst team in the tourna-ment. Instead, they came together and ended up next to Canada in the finals. The tournament was especially successful in growing the fan base overseas. Fans in countries like France or Austria, who have never really had the chance to cheer on their team on an international stage, got to watch Team Europe break all expectations.

The location definitely added to the success of the tournament. There aren’t may hockey mar-kets quite like Toronto, which is home to the Hockey Hall of Fame, the Stanley Cup, and one of the NHL’s most profiting fran-chises, the Toronto Maple Leafs. Fans from around the world came to Toronto to see the tournament

and the city, which also set up a fan village in the Distillery Dis-trict that proved to be a huge attraction.

With the next World Cup of Hockey rumoured to be taking place in 2020, there is a lot of work to do if the renewed tournament wants to continue

to be successful or even come close to rivalling the Olympics. However, it was a successful tournament in the fact that it grew the fan base, provided some of the most entertaining hockey ever seen, and changed some of the critics minds to get them on board.

The fastpitch team bal ances tra in ing, t ravel , and games with

school . | Tasha Falconer

...all the university teams in the

fastpitch league are considered

clubs, and therefore see

virtually no funding or support...

Games were filled with fans from all over the world. | Kylie Armishaw

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Student-friendly recipe of the week: Butternut squash soup It’s easy, it’s vegan, it’s paleo, and it tastes good MIRALI ALMAULA

INGREDIENTS

1 butternut squash, top trimmed off and cut in half lengthwise, seeds and guts removed Reserve seeds (only if you’d like to roast them) 1 granny smith apple, cubed 2 small cooking onions, cubed 4 cups of vegetable broth 1 cup of coconut milk (the kind from a can) 1 tablespoon olive oil or melted coconut oil 1/2 tablespoon ground cumin 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder 1/2 teaspoon paprika Ground black pepper, to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. 2. Prep, gather, and measure out ingredients. 3. Drizzle the olive oil over the onion, apple, and but ternut squash as well as a pinch or two of salt, all of the ground cinna-mon, and ground black pepper to taste.

4. Place butternut squash cut side down on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil; add chunks of onion and apple to baking sheet as well. 5. Place in preheated oven for one hour.

Note that if you want to roast the seeds you should clean them, then add a little olive oil, salt and pepper to taste, and place them on a baking sheet lined with alu-minum foil. Put the seeds in the oven during the last 10 minutes of baking time. If they’re not done (take one to try—if it’s crisp, then it’s done), turn the oven off and leave them in there for another five minutes. 6. Scoop the butternut squash away from its skin with a spoon or ice cream scooper. You may just be able to pull the skin off as well. Discard skin. 7. Place roasted squash, apples, onions, and broth in a blender with remaining spices and coco-nut milk. 8. Blend until smooth. 9. At this point you can either let it cool to store it in the fridge or transfer it to a pot to bring to a boil.

Enjoy with bread.

Combining neuroscience and music to study Sting’s brainMcGill researcher finds where musical genres are mapped in the brainCLAUDIA IDZIK

You don’t often find science and music mixing together. Using neuroscience to research music and how it affects the brain is a taboo topic, but McGill researcher Dr. Daniel J. Levitin manages to do just that. Levitin does research on the plethora of ways that music affects the brain, includ-ing memory, the body’s physiology, perceptions of emotional expres-sion, and cognitive abilities. Also a best selling author, Levitin attracts many subjects into his lab, includ-ing the prominent frontman of The Police, Sting.

The case study, co-authored by University of California’s Scott Grafton, presented Sting’s brain as a musical map. The aim of the study was to use an fMRI to map the musician’s brain and locate where certain genres appear in the

scan. Levitin also measured how the singer retrieved information about songs and compositions, and how the brain perceived certain compositions. The brain undergoes plasticity—it changes with experi-ence. Trained musicians such as Sting have the expertise of com-position and musical attributes that non-musicians do not. The singer-songwriter was chosen for his exceptional musical capabilities, as well as his talent and familiar-ity with many different genres and styles.

During the experiment, Levitin asked Sting to imagine a brand new composition; he asked him to imagine the melody and the rhythm. He then asked Sting to imagine a visual construct of paint on canvas. For the next experiment, Levitin listed songs and instructed him to imagine the songs in his head. Directly after, he played the same song. For the last experiment Sting listened to a multitude of songs from different genres, and the results were recorded.

The results of the study found that the act of composing and the act of listening to songs activated the same regions of the brain. Levitin also found that the act of visualizing art activated dissimilar

regions compared to the regions activated when listening to songs. Further, the study showed that dif-ferent genres were represented in different areas of the brain. Pop and tango activated different areas, as did classical and reggae.

This is a case study, meaning it only represents an exceptional

individual. Case studies like this are used to compare the results to the general population—in this case, those who are not as musically capable as long-time well-respected musicians such as Sting.

For anyone who is passionate about music and interested in neuroscience, Daniel J. Levitin is

a Holy Grail. Combining topics on two opposite sides of the spec-trum—music and science—he works on ground-breaking neuroscience research. His findings can be applied to musicians, mental health advancements, and to the general public for enhancement of psycho-logical advancements.

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LIFE & INNOVATION

Music is known to have many effects on the human brain. | Ars Electronica CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Forget the canned soup for the night and say, “Yes, I can” to a bowl of fresh autumn flavour. | Mirali Almaula

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Happiness for sale: the true costs of materialism in societyHow more stuff doesn’t necessarily make us happyMARIK A LI

Picture the classic American Dream: the suburban home, the shiny cars, the lush lawn, the television glow. Ends always meet, and there is enough left over for new things and occasional trips. It is the picture-perfect snapshot of the life of a diligent nine-to-five worker.

In the 1930s, the American Dream promoted the belief that anyone, of any background, could find their own version of happi-ness and success through hard work.

That dream has now mutated into a desire for more novelty and novel stuff, whether it is fast food, fast fashion, or even faster internet.

Emily Polak and Michael McCullough’s review in the Jour-nal of Happiness Studies associated materialistic values with psycho-logical insecurity and exposure

to materialistic role models and media images. Those who grew up not having their essential psycho-logical or material needs met are more likely to engage in compul-sive consumerism. The same can be said of being inundated with materialistic messages in relation-ships and through media.

The review also found that individuals focused on acquiring material wealth exhibited reduced life satisfaction and wellbeing, and increased depressive symptoms. Consequently, financial success beyond what is needed for neces-sities has little positive effect on happiness.

In 2005, Leaf Van Boven of the University of Colorado also found negative associations between materialism and psychological well-being. In his research, mate-rialism has been correlated with disorders such as depression, para-noia, and narcissism. Van Boven also surveyed the value of mate-rial purchases versus experiential purchases, and people consistently rated the latter as money well-spent and more beneficial to their overall life happiness.

Keeping up a materialistic life-style requires more hours of work, less leisure time, and higher levels

of debt and stress. The environ-mental costs are heavy as well. The life cycle of goods we consume is primarily linear and wasteful. Luxuries are now necessities, as shown in the increasing demands for electronics and meat. Climate change, resource issues, and the ever-increasing costs of necessi-ties constantly loom over us like the anxiety after a bad dream.

Currently, BBC News reports that the average ecolog ica l

footprint for one Canadian is 6.6 global hectares. If everyone lived like us, we would need 3.8 Earths. Modern overcon-sumption has brought about unprecedented stress on the ecosystems that susta in us . Throughout history, the major-ity of prosperous societies have been materialistic, yet the col-lapse of great societies has often been linked to environmental degradation.

In time, I hope we reach the end of an era. We would live within our means and within the capacity of the Earth. We would lead simpler lives and have more time to spend on our passions and with our loved ones. We should strive to breathe new meaning into the American Dream, so that we can spend our lives working towards genuine hap-piness and success. It takes courage to live a life that is less “perfect,” but with ultimately more freedom.

OPINION | OCTOBER 6, 2016 | ISSUE 181 .5OPINIONPit bull bans lack heart and senseNo real logic behind Montreal’s recent voteCARLEIGH CATHCART

When I was a kid, we often played a game called Hot Potato. This activity involved a group sit-ting in a circle, passing along an object (the “potato”) while singing a song. When the verse ended, whomever was holding the object was “out.” Naturally, the objective of the game was to be sure any-body but yourself was left holding the object at the end of the song.

What I hadn’t known at the time is that, apparently, there is an adult version of Hot Potato. In it, the participants are avoid-ing possession not of a potato, but of blame and responsibility. The latest champions of this version reside in Montreal, where the burden of accountability landed in the laps of innocent animals. I am, of course, referring to the senseless pit bull ban that was passed 37-23 by the city’s council.

If the debates arising from this fresh ban seem familiar, it’s because Ontario had a similar conversation roughly a decade ago, which also ended in legisla-tion banning the pit bull family. Since 2005, pit bulls—actually a collective term for several breeds such as Staffordshire bull terri-ers and American pit bull terriers have been required to be leashed and muzzled in public, steril-ized, and prohibited from being brought into the province. As of 2012, the Ontario Veterinary Medical Association estimates over 10 00 dog s have been

needlessly put down as a result of this ban.

Now, I am not a fan of sta-tistics. I don’t particularly trust them, and I know how easy they are to be conveniently manipu-lated to benefit one’s cause. But for the sake of perspective, let’s do a quick comparison. As reported by Global News in February of this year, the city of Toronto experi-enced 86 reported pit bull bites in 2004, just prior to the enactment of Ontario’s breed-specific legis-lation. The second-highest breed for reportable Toronto bites, their numbers do not even break the top ten for the same statistics in 2014. This shouldn’t be surpris-ing, given that heavy restrictions have greatly reduced Ontario’s pit bull population.

What some may find surpris-ing, however, is that the breed most commonly responsible for bites remained the same within that decade: German Shepherds. These dogs account for 112 bites in 2004 and 92 bites in 2014. May I remind you that this is the same breed of dog often used by police forces, search and rescue teams, border patrol, and as a loving family pet. Clearly, these dogs have a place in our society.

To delve a little further, many breeds present as repeats on the top 10 list over the decade: Labrador Retrievers (four th and second); Jack Russell ter-riers (third in both years); and Rottweilers (fifth and fourth) consistently top the list. Their counterparts include many small, popular, and/or intelligent dogs, such as Border Collies, Golden Retrievers, Bichon Frise, Shih Tzus, and Siberian Huskies, to name a few.

These statistics do not tell us that we need more legislation cov-ering more breeds and enacting further restrictions. They do tell us that virtually any canine has the potential to inflict injury or display aggression. They do tell us that bites are an inevitabil-ity, as are many dangers in life. These numbers and the bans gov-ernments have conceived do not incriminate the canines men-tioned—they speak loudly of the neglect on the part of owners and society.

When a human commits a crime, we do not rise and cry loudly for the persecution of all those within his or her gender, race, or country. We do not suggest all men be caged to pre-vent sexual violence. We do not demand permanent house arrest for all soldiers because they hold the potential to cause serious harm. Such absurd “solutions” would be neither humane nor effective, and would leave the root of the problem unaddressed.

As with so many other issues, the blame with dog aggression is rooted in human selfishness. At every point along the canine

spectrum, we breed dogs to suit our needs, aesthetic, and other-wise. We have aimed for sloped backs, smushed-in faces, and yes, aggression. Yet for every cold-hearted owner choosing through intent or neglect to allow their dog to develop dangerous behav-iours, there are several loving hearts waiting for a kiss from their appreciative companion.

We deem wildlife a “nuisance”

when we build our subdivisions over their homes. We bemoan cat and rodent overpopulation while failing to address our own. And now we banish certain dog breeds from their homes—the majority, loving—while neglecting the poor or downright criminal owner-ship at the root of any dog attack. We’re not children any more, and this Hot Potato needs to land in our hands.

Sometimes happiness comes from the simplest things in life. | Valentyna Zin

An analysis of online reactions to the U.S. presidential debate#TrumpWon hashtag surfaces on TwitterTIANN NANTAIS

The first presidential debate of the U.S. general election season took place on Mon, Sept. 26, 2016. Held at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, this debate was truly a battle of both personality and ideology.

The first question of the night was about the econ-omy, which Hillary Clinton responded to first. Clinton detailed her economic plan, including some improvements she’d like to help implement such as equal pay for men and women, affordable child-care, and debt-free college education.

These all seemed like rea-sonable ideas to me. Secretary Clinton then graciously added what a pleasure it was to be sharing the stage with Donald Trump, and that it is the role of the American people watching to decide which candidate can carry the heavy burden of the presidency.

When asked the same ques-tion moments later, Trump began to blame other countries for “stealing” American jobs,

but didn’t have too much to say in terms of an actual plan for the economy.

For an hour and a half, both candidates proceeded to attack, accuse, and interrupt each other. Several times during the debate, the moderator, Lester Holt, had to remind Trump that it was not his turn to speak. While all of this drama was entertaining, it couldn’t distract me from the fact that these candidates were supposed to be proving their worth to the American people.

On the one hand, Clinton came off—for the most part—as professional, well-versed, and prepared to answer the questions that came her way. Conversely, Trump seemed to be angry, argumentative, and ready to cast blame on anyone but himself.

Having formed my own conclusions of last Monday’s debate, I was interested to see what people online were think-ing about who performed better.

In an article for BBC News, reporter Anthony Zurcher said, “While Mr. Trump had a strategy—and pursued it on occasion—he was often blown off course by the former secre-tary of state and torpedoed by his own sometimes badgering performance.”

This seemed to be the general consensus among reporters and celebrities who had taken the time to write about the debate the next day. What I was able to find in terms of articles and polls led me to believe that Clinton won the debate.

Then I logged onto Twitter…“The #1 trend on Twit-

ter right now is #TrumpWon - thank you!” tweeted @realDonaldTrump.

I found this interesting as much as shocking. So to sat-isfy my own curiosity, I decided to scroll through some of these #TrumpWon tweets to see what was on everyone’s mind.

What I found, was that Trump seemed to have an army of Clinton-bashing soldiers at his disposal. The Twitter uni-verse seemed to think Clinton was debating to appease her

donors, whereas Trump was debating for ALL Americans.

“TRUMP IS CRUSHING HILLARY IN LIBER AL POLLS! TRUMP FIGHTS FOR ALL AMERICANS WHILE HILLARY ONLY FIGHTS FOR HER DONORS A N D WA L L S T R E E T #TrumpWon,” tweeted @MagicRoyalty.

According to many Trump supporters on Twitter, polls cannot be trusted to provide an idea of what the population is thinking.

“The same ppl who are deny-ing that #TrumpWon last night are the same ppl who have been relying on political pundits to decide this election,” tweeted @JOMainEvent.

Through further scrolling I realized that only about half of the #TrumpWon tweets truly

agreed with that statement. Many of the tweet s that contributed to this Twitter phenomena, were more sar-castic than supportive.

“#TrumpWon the hearts of racists everywhere,” tweeted @13spencer.

“#TrumpWon. Also, the sun is made of cheese and dogs meow, since we’re just throwing out things that make no sense,” tweeted @BJCalvillo.

An online contradiction such as this just goes to show the power of social media. It’s hard to say how this hashtag became so popular. Was it legitimate Trump supporters expressing their views, or was it the other side, vocalizing their disdain at the fact that #TrumpWon seemed to be a legitimate thought process?

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They do tell us that bites are an

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Montreal’s discussion about breed-specific legislation brings forth a

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18 19

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1 3 9 5 4

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9 3 2 8 6

7 6

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1 7 5 8 99 2 1 7 5 6

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Across

1–Of flight

7–Largest book of the OT

10–Rooster

14–Shrimp dish

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16–Green Gables girl

17–Hod carrier

18–”Hold On Tight” group

19–Sign gas

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23–Machine for lifting heavy

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26–Short change?

27–Port of Crete

28–Vandals

29–Foxy

30–Adult males

31–Loss of memory

33–Pro ___

34–Pretend

37–Outback hopper

38–Verse starter?

39–Simile center

40–___-jongg

41–Attempt

42–Place for ordering

alcoholic drinks

43–Capital of New Mexico

45–Him, to Henri

46–Skid row woe

47–Hastens

48–Natural talent

51–Afore

52–Wash lightly

53–Ladder seen by Jacob

56–___ even keel

57–Descartes’s conclusion

58–Position, in Britain

62–Uncommon

63–School grp.

64–Film on copper

65–Cut calories

66–His, to Henri

67–Most cunning

Down

1–Volcano output

2–Environmental prefix

3–Far out!

4–Vast

5–Quickly

6–”The Mod Squad” role

7–Ample

8–Old sailors

9–Latin love

10–High-kicking dance

11–___ a million

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36–The ones here

44–Parched

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46–Stage plays

48–Long narrow arm of the

sea

49–Polynesian porch

50–Without ___ in the world

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55–Immerses

59–No-win situation

60–Ques. response

61–Back muscle, for short

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A N S W E R S F R O M 1 81 . 4

O N K P T A G U S O T O SN O N E A L E R O W H A MT R A N S I L L U M I N A T EO M P H A L O S B R U I S E

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32 33 34

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54 55

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

14 15 16

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23 24 25 26 27

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FUN PAGEEDITORIAL

@theontarion

Why I love Bridget Jones beyond any measure And a brief review of Bridget Jones’s Baby MIRALI ALMAUL A

Dear Diary, Cigarettes: Never. Well, maybe

that cigarillo that smelled like a gym sock that one time.

Weight: I stopped keeping track, but pants fit, so good.

Alcohol units: I want to say “several.”

I love Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001) and not in a “guilty-pleasure” or “way-to-tune-out-and-have-a-laugh” kind of way. I love Bridget Jones in an, “It’s-my-favourite-movie-of-all-time” way. Yes, I could at least pretend to be cool and say my favourite movie is actually The Godfather: Part I, or be quirky and say Death to Smoochy, or confess what my shelves prob-ably do and say Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone through Deathly Hallows: Part 2. But I know, in my heart, that I only just like those movies a lot.

I think people sometimes choose their favourite things because of the impression they seek to make rather than what truly brings them joy. To me, a favourite movie isn’t anything to do with your intellect. A favourite movie should evoke unadulterated comfort on a vis-ceral level. For me, Bridget Jones’s Diary is soul soup that has warmed my insides on the hardest days of the hardest years of my life.

I’ve probably watched this movie at least once a month since I bought a DVD copy from a $2 bin in a Blockbuster that was going out of business back when I was still in high school. To be clear, I don’t mean that I put it on as background noise. It’s an event. Popcorn is popped. Wine is poured. PJs are worn. And genu-ine enjoyment is had.

Now, I don’t expect people to understand and I do expect people to think I’m silly but, regardless of these expectations, this silly ritual of mine is something that makes me happy.

If you’re still with me then you may be wondering, “Well, what’s so great about this movie?” Good question. Here’s a handy little list of answers.

BRIDGET JONES IS EVERY

WOMAN

When you are constant ly bombarded with popular repre-sentations of women who are the perfect size, full of poise, and always saying and doing what is right at the right time then you are also constantly missing a character you can actually relate to. But Bridget is more than relat-able; she is inspiring. She chooses to pick herself back up and keeps trying at everything despite her insecurities and experiences. She speaks her mind. She stands up for herself. Bridget Jones is how women wish they were rather than how men would have women be. Renée Zellweger became Bridget Jones and it was glorious.

THE PRIDE & PREJUDICE

CONNECTION

Who doesn’t love a good adap-tation? Helen Fielding, author of the novel Bridget Jones’s Diary did an incredible job of updating Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice without being heavy-handed. Many people may not even make the connec-tion, but for those who see it, it makes the film even more enjoy-able. Especially when you realize that Colin Firth portrays the role of Mr. Darcy in both Bridget Jones and the 1995 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice.

COLIN FIRTH AS MARK DARCY

This may be the perfect man who will never exist . Colin Firth’s portrayal of Mark Darcy

introduces a gentleman of a bygone era in his appearance, demeanour, and language. If you look at how the character actually speaks it’s incredibly unnatural and entirely unlikely, but Firth makes Darcy’s out-of-date mannerisms charming idiosyncrasies that are a product of his station, upbringing, and broken heart. He is nothing like Bridget, who is very much in the present, and that’s precisely why she appeals to him.

THE SOUNDTRACK

The soundtrack mixes 1970s and ’80s songs like “Me and Mrs. Jones” by The Dramatics and “I’m Every Woman” by Chaka Khan with recent (at the time of release) covers like “It’s Raining Men” by Geri Halliwell and “All By Myself” by Jamie O’Neal. This decision makes the soundtrack feel timeless even after 15 years; just like the story on which the film is based.

Now when I say that I’ve waited for the next part in the Bridget Jones’s franchise for a long time, you’ll know how seriously I mean it. Bridget Jones’s Baby was released 15 years after the first film. Yes, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, was released in 2004 but it wasn’t a great movie, and even if it was, that’s still a really long wait. There isn’t enough time to get into the details of The Edge of Reason, but suffice it to say that whether it was the change in director or the fact that it tried and failed to reproduce the funny moments of the previous film, it was only passably good for those who were already fans.

Luckily, Sharon Maguire, direc-tor of the first film returned and

worked her magic with (according to the internet rumour mill) the help of Emma Thompson, who improved what must have been a pretty clichéd script for Hugh Grant to turn it down.

Bridget Jones’s Baby shows a development to the first film, acting as a response to it rather than a mere attempt at reproduc-tion. Taking a couple of the iconic things Bridget did in the first movie and turning them on their head, showed an evolution of the character that may not be consid-ered an increase in maturity but can be thought of as growth all the same. Basically, this felt like a new chapter rather than a rewrit-ing of the same chapter like the second film.

Patrick Dempsey, who filled the role Hugh Grant probably would have played, had excellent onscreen chemistry with both Zellweger and Firth. The three leads were funny, but so was the supporting cast, old and new faces alike. The representation of a non-traditional family unit and the positive representation of not only a single pregnant mother “of a certain age,” but the lack of judge-ment thrown at Bridget for not knowing who the father is, pro-vide positive representations that are lacking in popular culture.

While I could spend a lot of time breaking down what exactly made Bridget Jones’s Baby good, the best bit was realizing that the movie theatre was filled with the loudest laughter I’ve ever heard at the movies. And maybe that’s the whole point—and the honest truth—of Bridget Jones.

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EDITORIAL STAFFEditor-in-Chief Dana BellamyNews Editor Tanner MortonArts & Culture Editor Sierra Paquette-StrugerSports & Health Editor Rebecca Thompson Digital Content Editor Mirali Almaula

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CONTRIBUTORSCraig BurkeCarleigh CathcartSameer ChhabraChantal CooperTasha FalconerJack FisherImanjit GrewalClaudia IdzikMarika LiTiann NantaisClaire Wilcox

Valentyna Zin

The Ontarion is a non-profit organization governed by a Board of Directors. Since the Ontarion undertakes the publishing of student work, the opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of the Ontarion Board of Directors. The Ontarion reserves the right to edit or refuse all material deemed sexist, racist, homophobic, or otherwise unfit for publication as determined by the Editor-in-Chief. Material of any form appearing in this newspaper is copyrighted 2015 and cannot be reprinted without the approval of the Editor-in-Chief. The Ontarion retains the right of first publication on all material. In the event that an advertiser is not satisfied with an advertisement in the newspaper, they must notify the Ontarion within four working days of publication. The Ontarion will not be held responsible for advertising mistakes beyond the cost of advertisement. The Ontarion is printed by Hamilton Web.

For me, Bridget Jones’s Diary is soul soup that has warmed my insides on the hardest days of the hardest years of my life.

MARIAH BRIDGEMAN/THE ONTARION

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