The Eyeopener - March 16, 2016

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Volume 49 - Issue 20March 16, 2016

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PHOTO: CHRIS BLANCHETTE

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Ryerson’s coach of the year,

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Wednesday, March 16, 2016 NEWS 3

Parkside residence not as advertisedStudents living at the Gerrard Street residence building have been paying for amenities they haven’t received all year

By Alanna Rizza

tudents living at Parkside StudentResidence have sought out legal

uidance after months spent deal-ng with contract discrepancies,maintenance issues and construc-

ion disturbances.Many residents have seen a con-

istent stream of problems, includ-

ng leaks, ceilings caving in andnadequate food services.

First-year fashion design stu-dent Nicole Raitakari moved into

he building at the beginning ofhe school year. While taking ahower, she says part of her ceiling

ollapsed and the vent fell and hither on the head.

In the summer, Parkside adver-

ised 24-hour food services onheir website, which Raitakariaid was one of the main reasons

he wanted to live there. She pur-hased a meal plan, only to find outater that the hours were changed

o “all-day service” (7:30 a.m. to:30 p.m. on weekdays and 9:30.m. to 8:30 p.m. on weekends).

During the evening hours, Raita-kari said there is often very littleood and sometimes none at all.

She added that when she firstmoved in, the water was runningbrown. Last semester, she fainted

because of dehydration and a lackof food — which she attributes to

The state of one student’s bathroom posted on the Parkside Facebook group. PHOTOS COURTESY: NICOLE RAITAKARI

the problems at Parkside. At the

residence, she said she was afraiddrink the water.

“I missed a test because I was in

the hospital … I feel like a criminalwhen I live here,” Raitakari said.“We’re all really young, we’re all

students living here, most of us arein first-year. We don’t really knowour tenant rights and [Parkside]

knows that, they’re just taking ad-vantage of it. ”

Complaints about the build-ing started at the beginning of the

year, when the move-in date wasdelayed by about two months. Pri-or to renovations in 2015, Park-

side was known as the PrimroseHotel — a half hotel, half studenthousing building. The building

was revamped with new hallways,bathrooms and bedrooms, total-ling $25 million in renovations

said Kamal Uppal, the marketingmanager for Parkside, in August2015.

Summer rates for Parkside werelisted at about $1,400 for a stan-dard single, according to Raita-

kari. The prices have since goneup and now the same room costs$1,865 per month.

A private Facebook group wascreated for residents to vent theircomplaints. Several residents post-

ed about ongoing construction —one student wrote that they were

prescribed an inhaler because of

the construction dust.When Raitakari posted on so-

cial media, she said Parkside staff

contacted her mother asking forher daughter to stop posting on-line.

David Simor, a policy and com-munity relations advisor from citycouncillor Kristyn Wong-Tam’s

office, said he started receivingcomplaints in the fall about Park-side not living up to the terms andagreements stated in the building

contract.Parents and students have since

been connected with Municipal

Licensing and Standards, a branch

of the municipal government

which handles complaints relatingto the Landlord-Tenant Act.

“There have also been someconcerns about the property stan-

dards of the building … we havelooked into that and we’ve hadcity staff do an investigation,” Si-

mor said.Danny Roth, a spokesperson

from Knightstone Capital, said he

is unaware of any investigation in-volving Parkside. “I would strenu-ously disagree with the suggestion

that a lot of students are unhap-py,” he said. “I would suggest toyou that majority of students are

quite pleased.”

Knightstone Capital is a real

estate investment, asset manage-ment and development companythat oversees Parkside StudentResidence.

Municipal Licensing and Stan-dards was not available to com-ment at the time of publication.

Ben Ries, a staff lawyer atDowntown Legal Services at theUniversity of Toronto, said that

the clinic has been helping stu-dents from Parkside since com-plaints started in the Fall. “Thatbuilding alone has taken a signifi-

cant chunk of our resources thisyear and continues to do so,” hesaid.

Briefs&

groaners> Dude takes a leak on my diorama

Some student left their flashy di-orama to dry outside of the Archi-tecture Building. Wouldn’t it be a

shame if someone would happento pee on it? Well, some dude did.Bet the student was pissed.

> Dazed and confused at RUIn true high school fashion, some

group of straight-A students setoff a fire alarm in TRSM aftersmoking the devil’s lettuce in astairwell. How lame is that?

Seen some crazy stuff? Email

[email protected]

> Student escapes death by Buggy

Engineers were cautioned dur-ing their annual Buggy Push afterthey almost hit a passerby with a

thousand-pound killing machine,otherwise known as a car.

> Love in POD building

Another couple was caught doingthe do in a Ryerson bathroom.

This. Happens. Every. Fucking.Week. What’s going on RU?

Lack of multi-faith prayer space still an issue

By Jake Scott

Nine years later the MSA has a multi-faith prayer space in TRSM, but there’s still need for more at Ryerson

Earlier this year the MSA held a prayer-in in Lake Devo.PHOTO: JAKE SCOTT

t took nine years for the Ryer-

on Muslim Students’ AssociationRMSA) to get a temporary multi-aith prayer space in the Ted Rog-

rs School of Management (TRSM)and it’s still only temporary.

There are currently two perma-

nent, multi-faith prayer spaces at

Ryerson, on the Student CampusCentre’s (SCC) third floor and at 111

Gerrard Street East. The latter build-ng is not accessible. Despite roomsreated by opening the Student

Learning Centre (SLC), space is still

carce partly due to the rising num-ber of student groups. These prayerpaces are student-run with minimal

nterference from administration.“We’re here to support our stu-

dents, but unfortunately the space

s very limited on campus and thisyear the request from the RyersonStudents’ Union (RSU) is making

ure we get more student grouppace,” said Ryerson interim presi-

dent Mohamed Lachemi.This year alone, 14 student

groups were ratified through theRSU — an all-time high — meaning

he race for space only got tighter.

“We are now 39,100 studentson campus that are in undergrad-

uate programs. We only have oneaccessible prayer space on cam-pus, which is located in the SCC,”

said Mariam Nouser, vice presi-dent external affairs for the Ryer-son Muslim Students’ Association

(RMSA) and incoming member ofthe Board of Governors.

It’s an issue affecting Ryerson’s

Muslim population, as the RMSAidentifies TRSM as the most incon-

venient place for members to accessmulti-faith space.

“Students, especially in TedRogers School of Management

... it’s very hard for them to find

prayer space near their classes,thus they have to pray in halls orstairwells or places that are really

not effective,” said Nouser.Thus the rotating, temporary

multi-faith space was created

through the RMSA. It operates twohours daily during peak prayer timeswith its location always in flux.

“TRS looks for rooms that areavailable at that time and I thinkthey give them a week’s notice ...

that [information] gets emailed to

[MSA members] to communicateto their membership and that is

also updated on those [kiosks],”said current Ryerson Students’Union president Andrea Bartlett.

Other religion-based studentgroups like the Ryerson Catholic

Students’ Association (RCSA) use thespace only occasionally as they haveample space on or around campus.

“In terms of when we need timefor prayer we have designatedspace. There’s also a lot of church-

es downtown and in our area,”said Cesar Membreno, vice presi-

dent communications for RCSA.As well, prayer practices for

other religions are a little less rig-orous than the Muslim faith.

“I feel like most Jewish studentswho make prayer part of their daydo it in the hall or a corner,” said

Naomi Shore, Jewish LearningCoordinator for Hillel at Ryerson.

Jews aren’t required to prostrate

themselves during prayer, makingimpromptu prayer in a stairwell orhallway a little more palatable.

These worship and meditation

spaces are for all. Non-religiousstudents can go meditate, but manystudents using these safe spaces are

Muslim, especially when faced withrampant Islamophobia in the city.

The spaces are on 111 Gerrard

Street East’s third floor, room 319of the SCC and TRSM.



4 EDITORIAL Wednesday, March. 16th, 2016

nterim Ryerson president Mohamed Lachemi celebrates with the team. PHOTO: CHRIS BLANCHETTE

ByDevinJones

For the entirety of this year I’ve

been the sports editor at The

Eyeopener and I’m honestly notven the biggest fan of sports. Don’t

get me wrong, I understand and ap-

preciate the work that goes into a

hampionship-winning team, but

here are other people in the of-

fice far more knowledgeable about

when and how to execute a flaw-

ess half-court press. In fact, I had

o check with one of our photo edi-

ors, Chris Blanchette, to make sure

had the correct understanding of

what exactly a half-court press is.

It sounds contrite and over-

wrought but my biggest interest

n sports comes from the moments

when the whistle blows, the gametops and you get to see the play-

rs as more than the faceless num-

bers on the backs of jerseys cov-

red in simple game recaps.

As a contributor last year I fol-

owed both basketball programs

xtensively, even taking a trip to

Quebec to cover the women’s bas-

ketball CIS championships for the

paper. Imagine the pleasure I’ve

had this year of watching both

eams build upon their success of

ast season, and absolutely demol-

Keep the fan train rollingThis year, sports at Ryerson have been special. Let’s keep it that way

ish all expectation set for them.

Just typing the words “both the

men and women’s teams have

won OUA banners and gold med-

als,” puts a smile across my stupid

bearded face.

I couldn’t care less about the

the accolades, because the accom-plishments that the Ryerson bas-

ketball programs have achieved

this year go beyond trophies, stats

and scoreboards. This year is the

first time during my career at Ry-

erson that I’ve felt invested in a

community of peers, and oh my

what a community.

The cliché of Ryerson being a

commuter university that doesn’t

give a shit about school spirit not

only went out the window this year,

it broke the entire fucking campus.

From student-organized events, to

the sold out Coca Cola court, ath-

letics and the basketball teams thisyear have caused a group of people

to turn away

from bullshit

residence par-

ties and to care

about a com-

mon cause. It

made me, a

normally self-

ish and insular person care about

a common cause. And for a jour-

nalist normally removed from the

action, it’s been nice to slip away

from my own trumped-up priori-

ties and cheer alongside the hun-

dreds, if not thousands, of dedicat-

ed students. For a few hours at a

time, those fans worry about noth-

ing else besides cheering on some

of the best damn sports Ryerson

has ever seen.

So please, let’s not make the

fandom a flash in the pan, let’s

continue to make the Coca Cola

court one of the most intimidating

places to play — and not because

of the players, but because of you,

the fans, who have stripped away

the stats and made it about thepersonalities on the court. Aaron

Best, Adika Peter-McNeilly, Jean-

Victor Mukama — not just con-

ventional “athlete” stereotypes,

but the root of something bigger.

The next time you find yourself

sitting in the crowd at a Ryerson

basketball game, take a second

and look around. Look beside

you to the non-Ryerson friend you

dragged out to a game, and look

at the amazement on their face

when they realize that yeah, Ryer-

son is cool. And even more than

that, watch them immerse them-

selves in a community of supportand adoration for teams that were

years earlier an afterthought.

The responsibility is on us to

make this something special, to

raise the profile of Ryerson to

more than just a game, because

this season the fans have made Ry-

erson basketball a fucking event.

And that, is dope.

As to that whole birthing of

Eggy thing? Wow.

This year is the first time during my career at

Ryerson that I’ve felt invested in a community

of peers, and oh my what a community

Victoria “Gone fishing” SykesHannah “Chillin’” Kirijianv

Lidia “BRB” Foote

ContributorsNatasha “The” Hermann

Jaclyn “Selfie” TansilNoushin “Flärdfull” Ziafati

Justin “Don’t you forget aboutme” Chandler

Zeinab “Her very own” SaidounMelissa “Hairy” Bennardo

Mitchell “To the left” ThompsonMiriam “Got one person”

Valdes CarlettiBen “Where’s” WaldmanZoe “Eccentric” Melnyk Jess “Da best” Valeny

Celina “Saviour” GallardoTova “Deep” Friedman

Isabella “27 edits” BalcerzakNick “Dun DAT” DunneSarah “Mario” Krichel

Brenda “Luigi” Molina-NavidadRasha “Bowser” Rehman

Parth “Yoshi” ParikhNatasha “DK” HermannBrennan “Toad” Doherty

Brontë “Ferris” CampbellEmma “Cameron” KimmerlyDiana “Sloane” Whistance-Smith

Gabe “The babe” ChahinianIan “Not my motto” Yamamoto

Lindsay “Dear Abby”Christopher

Playing the part of the AnnoyingTalking Coffee Mug this week is thatitch that you just can’t scratch.

The Eyeopener is Ryerson’s largestand only independent student news- paper. It is owned and operated byRye Eye Publishing Inc., a non- profit corporation owned by the stu-dents of Ryerson.

Our offices are on the second floorof the Student Campus Centre. Youcan reach us at 416-979-5262, attheeyeopener.com or on Twitter at@theeyeopener.

Editor-in-Chief Sean “ParmeSEAN” Wetselaar

NewsKeith “Moosh-stache” Capstick

Nicole “Analytics” SchmidtAl “Snifflés” Downham

FeaturesFarnia “+ SEAN 4EVER” Fekri

Biz and Tech Jacob “Fresh-cut” Dubé

Arts and LifeKaroun “Nominations”

Chahinian

SportsDevin “Lies to Sean” Jones

CommunitiesAlanna “On the beat” Rizza

PhotoAnnie “Moosh queen” Arnone

Jake “#Blessed” ScottChris “Lucky covers” Blanchette

FunSkyler “Turns her enemies to”

Ash

MediaRob “Fade” Foreman

OnlineIgor “Reasonable” Magun

Tagwa “Demands a page” MoyoLee “Cute headshot” Richardson

General ManagerLiane “Keith’s hair” McLarty

Advertising ManagerChris “*^*&%*” Roberts

Design Director J.D. “Loaf?” Mowat

Intern ArmyBen “On break” Hoppe

CORRECTION: In a March 8 story

titled, “Transformed RU” it was

reported that RSU president Andrea

Bartlett cautioned the RSU should

never be run like a business. Bartlett

actually said that other people have

made that suggestion, and that the

RSU should be run like a business.

The Eyeopener regrets this error.



Meet your next RSU executive

The upcoming RSU executive were recently voted in. PHOTO: FARNIA FEKRI

By Sarah Krichel

The results are in for the 2016

Ryerson Students’ Union (RSU)

Board of Directors (BoD) elec-

ion. The Impact slate, which ran

gainst opposition RU Connected,ecured all five executive positions.

Participation rates in voting for

he executive positions ranged

rom 10.9 per cent to 12 per cent.

Votes cast ranged from 3,440 to

,792 for each executive out of

3,905 eligible voters.

Here’s what your upcoming ex-

cutives’ plans are:

President: Obaid Ullah

Current vice-president opera-

ions and upcoming president Ul-

ah advocates for a student-driven

union. Ullah wants to tackle stu-

dent transit discounts, experien-ial learning and cleaning up the

OSAP process.

“I think the way to build a sup-

portive community is through our

board,” Ullah said.

On study spaces, Ullah looks to

make the Student Learning Cen-

re (SLC) or the library a 24-hour

tudy space, plus adding study

paces to the engineering building.

He wants to make booking study

pace more organized through a

entralized booking process.

VP education: Victoria Morton

Current BoD member Morton

aid she ran to facilitate advocacybetween the provincial govern-

ment and students.

On OSAP, Morton wants to im-

plement a one-stop-shop for students

o learn its application process. She

lso wants parents’ income to cease

being a factor in OSAP applications,

but to add the cost of living in a stu-

dent’s residential area as a factor.

Morton wants an active role in

the 2017 tuition framework, the

elimination of unpaid internships

and she wants grade postings on

D2L made mandatory.

Former RU Connected candidate

Martin Fox said he wants Mortonto have more ambitious goals on

tuition. Fox said he’ll stay engaged

to make sure action is taken.

“Transform centered their cam-

paign on transparency and open-

ness, and there’s essentially noth-

ing to point to in the last year

that’s evidence of that commit-

ment,” Fox said via email.

Fox said students should see in-

creased mental health services and

anti-tuition advocacy campaigns.

VP equity: Tamara Jones

Jones wants to increase trans-

parency in the RSU and make stu-

dent group discussions inclusive.She wants to create discourse on

classism by addressing problems

low-income students face.

“With the new tuition policy,

we’re going to be seeing a lot more

people coming from that back-

ground on campus,” said Jones.

“We need to make sure we know

when they get here that they have

the same opportunities and quality

of education.”

The upcoming vp equity said she

wants to see if events for the equity

centres can get more sponsorships.

“I’m interested in reaching out to

other corporations, student groups,seeing if they’d want to work to

fund or donate,” said Jones. “I was

thinking [about] a zine where any-

one can submit anything about eq-

uity. That could hopefully pull in

ad revenue.”

Jones wants Ryerson to work

with existing groups on campus

like Divest Now and Microbe Hub.

“We like to act like we’re a very

environmentally conscious school

but we only do the things that are

flashy like the green urban roof,”

said Jones. “We’ll hold Ryerson

accountable to that and ask that

they invest in green energy so we

can go into industries that arethriving instead of ones that are

suffering because of oil.”

Jones wants to work with these

groups to implement more com-

post bins on campus.

On mental health, Jones said

she wants mental health and eq-

uity training with faculty, profes-

sors and security to make sure

they know how to to deal with the

people who face these issues.

On men’s issues, Jones said stu-

dent groups don’t need to be affili-

ated with the RSU to be involvedon Ryerson campus. “Even if peo-

ple don’t agree with their opinions,

they deserve to have a safe place,”

Jones said, adding that she hopes to

work with the university to create a

better system.

VP operations: Neal Muthreja

The upcoming executive said

that he wants to promote mental

health initiatives, the RSU’s health

and dental plan, and revamp

CopyRite printing services.

On mental health, Muthreja

said he is going to look into the

budget to hire one more mentalhealth counsellor.

“I’ll find ways to cut costs and

I’ll keep some costs in the budget

for [hiring another],” he said.

On the health and dental plan,

Muthreja said he wants to add

benefits and increase time between

the opt-out due date and winter

tuition fees dates.

“Students who opt out from

their plan would not be charged

for the next year onwards. So if

they opt out this year they don’t

have to opt out again.”

On CopyRite, Muthreja wants

to add more services such as 3D

printing, decrease the wait timeto make the system more efficient,

along with revamping its website.

“For CopyRite I feel like you

spend a lot of time not getting

stuff done and it’s not fast enough

by making some of the processes

online,” he said.

Wednesday, March 16, 2016 NEWS 5

Plans for safeinjection sitenear campus

After more than a decade of debate,

Toronto is planning on movingahead with creating supervised in-

jection sites to give users a hygienic

environment to inject pre-obtained

drugs. One of the proposed sites

will be housed in the Toronto Public

Health facility at Victoria and Dun-

das streets, beside Ryerson campus.

These sites are among several

strategies that have been put forth

to reduce overdoses and diseases,

along with the amount of public

drug use and discarded needles.

Michael Forbes, interim director

communications at Ryerson, said

in an emailed statement that the

university is aware of the proposal,which was released on March 14,

but it has not yet been reviewed.

“We will need to see the specifics

before we can provide comment,”

he wrote. “As with all social initia-

tives in our precinct, the university

looks forward to participating in

open, transparent consultations.”

Canada currently has two safe

injection sites, both in Vancouver.

In 2013, the Board of Health ap-

proved a report from the Medical

Officer of Health supporting these

services in Toronto. This decision

came after a 2012 study found the

city would benefit from having

multiple safe injection sites.In addition to the Victoria Street

location, plans have been made

to create sites in South Riverdale

and on Queen Street West. These

locations, according to the report,

were selected because they have

high rates of injection drug use.

Although some people have ex-

pressed concerns about public safe-

ty, David McKeown, medical offi-

cer of health for the city of Toronto,

said the sites are beneficial for the

community. He added that harm re-

duction programs are already pres-

ent at the selected locations, and

have been for 20 years.“[Harm reduction programs]

have been going on for quite some

time with very little negative impact

on the neighbourhood,” he said.

Injection drug use is associated

with HIV and hepatitis C, transmit-

ted through contaminated needles.

Supervised injection is sterile and

can increase access to treatment ser-

vices. Providing a safe space for us-

ers also lowers the number of peo-

ple injecting in nearby washrooms

and stairwells, said McKeown.

The proposal is still in its early

stages and will require munici-

pal, provincial and federal re-

view and approval before sites

are created, said Forbes. If the re-

port is approved, there will be a

community consultation process

which Ryerson will be involved in.

By Nicole Schmidt

The multi-coloured lights that il-

uminate the outside of the ImageArts Building (IMA) will now be

nteractive all year round.

Rye Lights, a committee found-

d in 2015, plans to create more

ommunity engagement with the

building by giving students an

opportunity to request colours

pertaining to special events, like

mental health awareness week and

Pride. The project is expected to

be completed by September 2017.

An interactive component was

first incorporated into the IMA in

2014 as part of a new media exhi-

bition, created by Dave Colangelo

— a former graduate student and

member of the Rye Lights commit-

ee — and artist Patricio Davila.

The project, In the Air, Tonight,

aised awareness about homeless-

ness by changing the building co-

lours from blue to red when tweets

included the hashtag #homeless-

ness.

The building features 727 exter-nal glass panels. Behind each panel

are two strips of LED light modules,

making for 1,400 LEDs in total, ac-

cording to Colangelo. The panels and

lights are connected to a computer

system that coordinates the display.

“This is becoming a real form of

communication and engagement,”

said Colangelo. “Other buildings

around the world are coming to

that realization. It just took a bit

of time to get the right pieces at

Ryerson, but at this point we are

at full speed ahead.”

The IMA has been compared to

the CN Tower, the Empire State

Building and the Calgary Tower,

all of which have exterior chang-

ing lights. Colangelo refers to

them as “digital monuments.”

These monuments can foster

communication between commu-

nities. After the 2015 Paris attacks,

the CN Tower changed its lights to

blue, white and red for France.

According to interim president

Mohamed Lachemi, the new proj-

ect will not cost anything because

the technology is already in place.

“The IMA is a world class gallery.

It attracts visitors from the city but

Rye Lights wants the Rye community to help l ight up Image Arts. PHOTO: JESS TSANG

also elsewhere,” said Lachemi. “The

idea now is to really use [this tech-

nology] for our benefit ... it’s part of

our mandate as a city builder.”

Michael Forbes, co-chairperson

of the Rye Lights committee and in-

terim director of communications at

Ryerson, said Ryerson is working on

a system where students can submit

their light requests for specific dates.

By Brenda Molina-Navidad

Image Arts to light up the community year round



6 Wednesday, March 16, 2016FEATURES

! hen I typed “should I” into the Google search bar, there was

an incredibly diverse group of suggestions. One read Should I

Stay or Should I Go lyrics. Another, Should I upgrade to Win-

dows 10? But the top suggestion, with about 66 million results

found: Should I Drop Out of College?

It’s a question stemming from other ones that have undoubtedly crossedevery student’s mind: “Am I wasting my time here? Do I really know what I

want to do in life? Strippers make how much?” People who follow through on

that top search result are thereafter referred to as dropouts, just as a biology

student would be called a biology student. The verb “to drop out” transforms

into a noun. If you jump, you’re a jumper. If you drop out, you are a dropout.

A quick glance at Ryerson’s statistics in the 2015-2016 budget report shows

a retention rate of 88.4 per cent for first-time, full-time first-year students

in 2014-2015 who returned to the institution in the next fall term. On the

surface, this number seems fine. But the flip side of “retention” is the vast

number of students who leave university each year. The university’s budget

also estimated that 8,100 students began their first year at Ryerson this year

— if that 88.4 per cent figure holds for the next academic year, nearly 950 of

that group were not retained. It’s a popular explanation that some students

aren’t cut out for the rigors of the post-secondary education — what is harder

to admit is that perhaps this very system is not cut out for the needs of the

hundreds of students it loses every year.

Idid not drop out.

I clarify this every few days to people who work up the courage to

ask me why I’m in Winnipeg — my hometown — instead of studying

at Ryerson for another year in the undergraduate journalism program.

“I’m taking some courses here. I’m going back to Toronto in the fall,” I say.

!"#$%

Photo: Gabriel Chahinian, Illustration: Farnia Fekri

#$%&

'()* *"'

)+, Why do some students getpushed out of university?

!- !"$ ./0'1/$

Inevitably, they ask why I’m home. “Family issues,” I sometimes reply even

though I have none. Depending on who asks, my answer changes.

“My girlfriend broke up with me and I stopped caring about school. I had

a tough time sleeping. I was too sad to do anything but sulk and I thought

I’d never get back to being myself if I stayed in Toronto,” would be a more

accurate answer.

Sitting in class, I often wondered why I was even there. This thought might

seem fairly common, but it didn’t come up during my first year in my pro-

gram. In first year, I’d go into class excited to learn, brimming with optimism.

My professors and instructors were interesting, knowledgeable and inspiring.

Not once did I think, “I made a huge mistake by coming here.”

Things change, though. As soon as I started to spiral downward, I panicked

and considered leaving it all behind. My dad always told me that an educa-

tion is never a waste; to learn what you don’t want to do is perhaps more

important than knowing how you’d like to spend your life. In these moments,

I thought that that was the reason this period of pessimism started: to figure

out that I needed to leave.

I got set up with a psychologist at the Ryerson Centre for Student Devel-

opment and Counselling (CSDC) and met with her within three days. It was

painless. When we first spoke, I was still incredibly depressed and conflicted

about whether I should go home or not. The counsellor asked me what I was

so scared of, and mostly I didn’t want people to think I was a failure. I always

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Wednesday, March 16, 2016 7FEATURES

put too much pressure on myself to succeed and in moments like these, that

pressure — sustained over several months — proved suffocating.

“School matters too much to me for it to not matter to me,” I told myself,

and I made the necessary arrangements to go home. The process was rela-

tively easy, and after filling out a few forms and having a couple of meetings

with faculty members, I came up with a plan to come back the next fall.

Everything transpired in rapid succession. I had a step-by-step plan to get

back to being who I am. Wrongly, I assumed that every student got this type

of attention and help. If I didn’t, I could very well have been among the more

than 10 per cent of first-year students who walk out the university doors and

don’t turn back.

Omar Quiroz thought he knew what he wanted.

After finishing Grade 12 at Toronto’s Cardinal Carter Acad-

emy for the Arts, he took a fifth year of high school in an at-

tempt to boost his grades. Going to university was a priority for

Quiroz. He applied to Ryerson for the 2015-2016 academic year and was

accepted to the child and youth care program.

All of Quiroz’s hard work paid off.

Judging from his Facebook profile, Quiroz wants the rest of the world to

know who he is as well as he knows himself. His current cover photo shows

the wrinkled face of a French bulldog. The one before that reads “Hillary2016” right next to the smiling face of Lizzie McGuire-era Hilary Duff. This

is what Omar Quiroz shows everyone.

He has worked hard to get to where he is, but it isn’t the place he expected

to be midway through his first year of university.

“How did I get here?” Quiroz repeated my question over the phone late on

a Wednesday night.

Here, for Quiroz, is a bus home from his job at Yorkdale Mall. He didn’t

plan on working as much as he has this year, but he’s had a lot more free time

since leaving child and youth care.

“You mean, why am I not still at Ryerson?” Quiroz continued.

Quiroz’s first indication that he needed to “get out” was four weeks into his

first semester. It was a 9 a.m. class and he was staring upward at a slideshow

on a giant screen in one of his introductory courses. His professor was talk-

ing, but Quiroz, who touts himself as having been a “pretty darn good high

school student,” was not necessarily listening.

He was there and he was gone.

In high school, Quiroz was heavily involved with student council, evenserving as vice president at one point. He participated in improv troupes and

theatre programming, and he managed to balance it all fairly well. But, as he

wrote in a blog post on Bell Let’s Talk day, Quiroz was hiding an intense bout

with anxiety and depression.

“I wasn’t good enough,” he wrote on his Tumblr page. “No one had told

me I wasn’t, though. I had decided that I wasn’t.” Quiroz’s life turned into a

battle with himself, which he didn’t see ending any time soon.

His grades, which he always tried to maintain at a respectable level, began

to slip, and he had serious panic attacks. In Grade 11, Quiroz writes, he

stepped down from his position on student council to focus on his grades

and ultimately his mental state. But instead of being met with helpful advice

or other good wishes, he got criticism. People thought he was running away

from his responsibilities, but Quiroz knew that his first responsibility was to

his own well-being. So there he was, sitting in that university lecture, staring

at the giant slideshow of facts that had no meaning. When he was having

trouble in school — he’d been placed on academic probation — due to hisintense anxiety, Omar Quiroz walked away again.

He wrote his midterms, but was indifferent about their outcomes. He still

got marks in the high 70s and mid-80s. But he decided to leave nonetheless,

and sought the advice of a career counsellor.

Together with his parents, Quiroz finalized his decision to leave Ryerson for

good. Now, he wants to go to George Brown College or York University to

study theatre or pursue a broadcast journalism career. He’s decided he’s more

interested in those fields than his previous endeavour in child care.

Once students start to seriously consider dropping out, they’re

encouraged to discuss the alternatives, said Sophie Quigley, the

undergraduate program director of computer science at Ryerson.

“There’s a form that they have to fill out, and they have to talk

to an academic advisor to discuss why they’re doing what they’re doing,” she

explained, adding that if there are mental health or financial reasons for the

decision, the advisor can direct them to other university services.

But the students who fill out the form have usually made up their minds, she

said. “There are a few who aren’t — who don’t know what their alternatives

are, so this is why it’s useful to have that conversation. But some of them have

explored the alternatives by themselves and they’ve decided.”

Quiroz says he wishes he knew more about the services that were available

to him, like academic mentors or extracurricular activities, but by the time he

figured it all out he was too far gone.

“There wasn’t much [the career counsellor] could have said to convince

me to give Ryerson another try,” Quiroz said, so he filled out the short-term

withdrawal form. Now he is starting to fill out the permanent one.

When Quiroz told me this, I immediately wondered if it might have been in

his best interests for the counsellor to hand him a brochure about Ryerson’s

top-notch journalism school or media production program, or perhaps the

theatre program which could always use passionate students interested in the

craft.

But instead, Quiroz is looking elsewhere. And while his example is anec-

dotal, I can’t help but wonder how many students aren’t retained for the samereason.

Of course, some students drop out and are better off for it. Qiming Weng, a

former medical sciences student at the University of Western Ontario, stayed

in school for only one year. Weng had a 4.0 GPA, but left to join a start-up

company called Edusight, now based out of Ryerson’s DMZ.

“Edusight’s goal is to use data to enable teachers to personalize their educa-

tion,” Weng said. “For me, I had always hoped that the next year, the next

grade or the next school would be somehow more challenging or more fulfill-

ing or that all of a sudden school would click and I would be like, ‘Oh wow,

school makes sense.’ But I never really felt like that, and I don’t think most

people ever do.”

Weng’s company is essentially trying to make the school system work more

efficiently for students. “Even post-secondary education, I’m not sure that

most people really find that it’s the most efficient way to get value. I think for

a lot of people [university] becomes a mandatory part of life, and I suppose

that’s why I felt I needed to make a change.”He may have dropped out, but Weng is adamant that it doesn’t hold him

back.

“This is a time when not having a degree has become just well-known

enough in society that it’s not shocking to that many people,” he says. “And

for the most part [other] people don’t care.”

Ihave a problem with the language of dropping out.

People who leave school have to constantly justify their decision.

Quiroz tells people he’s taking a break. Your cousin might say she’s just

taking some time to figure things out. I might tell you it’s none of your

business. The way that this burden will shift is by changing the way that the

topic of dropping out is discussed.

Terms like “retention rate” are pats on the back to universities, ignoring

the hundreds of students who leave in the same period of time in question.

“It’s like focusing entirely on the positive and ignoring the negative,” Quiroz

added in our conversation. Student Loss Rate might be a more suitable title.

Euphemistic statistics like retention rates focus on the majority who stay in

school, but not the sustained faction that habitually leaves.For reasons like excessive wait times for counselling (a phenomenon which

this paper has documented repeatedly) and steep tuition rises, some might say

that Ryerson is effectively setting up boundaries to education that are increas-

ingly insurmountable, but the real issue is that the university is not making a

big enough push to squash existing ones.

In a January 2016 article, The Eyeopener reported that wait times for coun-

selling services at Ryerson can reach as high as three months based on a triage

assessment in which students’ personal safety is determined by counsellors

at the CSDC. It was also noted that Ryerson and University of Toronto’s St.

George Campus staff 15 full-time counsellors while York University staffs 17.

The CSDC has established that shortening wait times is a priority.To keep up with the strong demand for education at Ryerson, which cur-

rently has the highest applications-to-registrant ratio in Ontario, the amount

of student support provided must increase quickly. At Ryerson, these 15 full-

time counsellors are staffed to provide support to more than 38,000 students,

a number which will likely increase in coming years.

Ryerson’s 2015-2016 budget priorities and expenditures report shows that

Ryerson’s position on the National Survey of Student Engagement in the cat-

egory of “providing the support students need to succeed academically” has

dropped from 65 to 60.7 per cent since 2011. Exact figures on how many

students drop out due to the unavailability of student assistance are not avail-

able, but one can imagine that the number would decrease if more resources

were allocated to places like the CSDC.

I was incredibly fortunate to get the attention I needed when I needed it,

and I suppose that the triage system has its benefits. But I was only helped

because I showed I needed it on the surface.

Who knows how many good students are suffering quietly like Omar

Quiroz, and how many the university loses every year?

“I’m itching to go back to school,” Quiroz told me sincerely, even though

he won’t be at Ryerson. “I like the feeling of holding a textbook, highlighting

it and studying it.”

Omar Quiroz paused and took a deep breath. “I miss it.”

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Wednesday, March. 16, 2016SPORTS8

Sitting in his office, Patrick

Tatham looks like a giant

in a shoebox. His massiveframe swivels in his chair

as we sit down for an interview.

For a man who’s just won Ontario

University Athletics coach of the

year, there was a time where he

ooked to find his place as head

oach for one of the best basket-

ball programs in the country.

To outsiders the task at hand

eemed insurmountable: step in as

head coach for a team that just last

eason won their place as the third

best team in the country under the

guidance of legendary coach Roy

Rana. And the biggest fear for Ta-

ham was failing to live up to thetandard of success that Rana had

achieved for the Rams, effectively

putting Ryerson basketball on the

map. As Tatham talks about the

moment he really felt at home in

his new role, he smiles shyly, rubs

he side of his face with a baseball

glove sized hand and responds

with: “University of Toronto.”

“The season opener at home,

we do not lose to U of T, and I’m

ust thinking, ‘Oh my god.’ I was

o nervous because they shot the

ights out in the second half,” Ta-

ham said. “Someway somehow

we just kept it positive and kept

he energy high and pulled off awin in nine seconds. At that point

t was like, ‘Okay I’m built for

his, this is alright.’”

And after attaining the title of

best team in the country, beating

Carleton University for the first

ime in 16 years and winning gold

at the Wilson Cup final four this

past weekend, it’s safe to say Pat-

ick Tatham has exceeded the ex-

pectations anyone could ever have

or an interim head coach.

The process for Tatham started

arly. After learning — in early

August — about Rana’s planned

abbatical for the upcoming sea-on, he worried about whether or

said. “The ball isn’t going to stay

in one spot or one player’s hand

for long. That whole, ‘Everybody

gets a piece of it,’ has been great, I

think we have five guys averagingdouble digits so go figure.”

After defeating Toronto on

opening night and finding his

rhythm as head coach, Tatham

took off. And while some people

were surprised by the success the

team achieved early on, it’s easy

to forget that Tatham has been a

head coach before, filling in with

the Rams and at Stoneridge pre-

patory school in California. Not

only that, but much of the Rams

roster for the 2015-16 season was

made up of returning players, used

to Tatham’s honest and direct ap-

proach on and off the court. Anddespite the readjustment in terms

of filling in gaps on the court, the

camaraderie and overall way they

move on the court is distinctively

Ryerson.

Arguably the best transition

team in the CIS — centered around

their ability to force clean turn-

overs — is summed up by the fact

that the Rams have the luxury of

not only relying on the two-on-

one, but punishing teams from

any spot on the court. This quick

full-court transition strategy has

been the foundation Rana has laid

over the seasons — a foundation

Tatham believes is crucial for theteam to be successful.

“I would like to say I’m sur-

prised, but I’m really not. Ever

since my first year coaching along-

side Rana, he’s been there for us.

And when I heard the news this

year I was pretty excited because

people were looking down on us in

losing Jamal and Rana and he had

some big shoes to fill but he did

it, he never failed us,” said guard

Jean-Victor Mukama.

T

hen there was Carleton.

The behemoth team

that Ryerson Univer-

sity hadn’t beat in 16straight years — the enemy they’re

forced to respect out of sheer tal-

ent. It was Tatham’s mountain; a

challenge any coach would be hun-

gry for. But for Ryerson it was a

shared hunger, the need to defeat

a team every single player on Ry-

erson knew they were capable of

beating. And it wasn’t only Car-

leton on the weekend of Jan. 22

but on back-to-back nights, the

Rams also had to take on the na-

tionally number one ranked Uni-

versity of Ottawa Gee-Gees.

The week leading up to the

games, Tatham had an idea to get

his team motivated for the chal-

lenge ahead. Not knowing how

each player would respond, he

taped a poster to each individu-

al locker and door in the men’s

not he could command the same

respect his predecessor did. His

fear was put to rest quickly at a

team building retreat, intending to

create chemistry and trust betweenplayers.

“I got to tell them my real feel-

ings like, ‘I am just as nervous as

you guys and I’m learning just like

you guys, but I’m going to work

really hard to do this right,’” Ta-

tham said.

At the beginning of this season,

you wouldn’t have been wrong to

doubt the success rate for the Rams

in their upcoming season. Not

only were they faced with the loss

of their sideline leader in Rana, but

also their captain in Jahmal Jones

graduating and moving on to play

in Europe. The eventual turnover

is a natural part of the game. But

arguably the best player to ever

lace-up for the Rams left — on pa-

per — a sizeable hole to be filled.

And it is here that the Rams can be

likened to the Pittsburgh Steelers

of 1976 or the Buffalo Bills of the‘90s. The loss of a superstar forced

Tatham and his group of very tal-

ented players to readjust and figure

out a different way to succeed. For

Tatham this different way meant

taking a narrowly focused team

— surrounding one great player

— with largely the same roster and

turning them into a dynamic, fast-

paced team that spreads the ball

out.

“I really love watching the Gold-

en State Warriors and if you watch

them closely you notice how much

they move the ball and for me I

think that’s the one thumbprintI’ve made on this team,” Tatham

By Devin Jones

change room with the quote: “If

we continue to do the same thing

that we have always done we will

get the same result. Be uncom-

mon.”

“When you have that level of

communication and trust it’s just

not players and coaches anymore,

we’re brothers,” said fourth-year

guard Adika Peter-McNeilly.”

Then Tatham and the Rams did

it. Beating Carleton Friday and Ot-

tawa Saturday night to secure the

title of the best team in Canada.

And Tatham notes that his initial

thought after beating Carleton

wasn’t to celebrate, but to get the

team back into the video room, at

10:30 p.m. to study film for the

Ottawa game the next night. That

weekend was the arrival of a team

a full season in the making —

showing the Ryerson community

and beyond just exactly what Ta-

tham and the Rams were capable

of.

And with the Rams fly-

ing out to Vancouver

to face off in the CIS

championships as the

number one seed, only one ques-

tion remains: What do the next

few years hold in store for Patrick

Tatham?

While he alluded to the fact that

Rana is expected back with the

Rams in the beginning of May, it

still begs the question as to wheth-

er or not Tatham will move back

to an assistant coaching role. Yetafter this historic season, it’s hard

to imagine that Tatham won’t be

fielding head coaching offers from

other universities.

The future, as Tatham notes

with a wave of his massive hand,

has yet to be decided — with his

focus, zeroed in on the weeks

ahead, a potential national cham-

pionship within his grasp. And

as the interview comes to a close,

Tatham smiles at something that’s

crossed his mind and swivels in

his chair again. Now for the man

who’s just won the OUA coach of

the year, Patrick Tatham looks per-

fectly at ease.

Next week look for our cover-

age of the women’s basketball

team and their gold-medal win-

ning season.

He had some big shoes

to fill, but he did it, he

never failed us

I told him [Rana] that this

team was better than last

year’s team that won a

bronze

The coach of the yearAs Rams head to the CIS championships we take a look back at the year of Patrick Tatham





Wednesday, March 16, 2016 BIZ & TECH 9

On Feb. 24, fourth-year Ryersonlobal management studies stu-

dent at Maria Poonawala took

over IKEA Canada.Through the Odgers Ber-

ndston’s CEO x 1 Day program,

he shadowed and acted as thehief executive officer (CEO) ofhe company.

The program matches third andourth-year university students

with some of the country’s leadingCEOs, giving them an opportunity

o take in-class learning and applyt to the real world.

“The [CEO x 1 Day] programprovided me with a glimpse intothat executive search process,

which again consists of gettingmeaningful feedback on a leader-ship style, as well as gaining the

hands-on knowledge of what ittakes to be a successful leader,”Poonawala said.

Poonawala went through anintensive application process verysimilar to an executive search

process, which included severalrounds of interviews as well aswriting an essay and handing in a

transcript and a resume.“What I learned by participating

Student spends one day as CEO of IKEA

Maria Poonawala spent a day discussing marketing with the CEO of IKEA Canada.PHOTO COURTESY: MARCUS QUAGMIRE/FLICKR

By Noushin Ziafati in the program was to never loseyour curiosity about learning as

well as the importance of refiningthe scale of selling your personalbrand. Each step of the selection

process taught me a lot about myweaknesses and strengths when itcomes to leadership skills.”

She was one of 18 students se-lected out of hundreds of appli-cants across Canada to spend aday leading a major company in

Canada.Bright and early, Poonawala

started off her day as CEO at 7:45

a.m. She met with CEO of IKEACanada Stefan Sjöstrand and they

chatted for a couple of hours, dis-

cussing several things such as theirpersonal backgrounds, the visionbehind IKEA and technology in

retail.After that, Poonawala met with

the marketing team at IKEA to goover a new marketing campaigncalled “Every Second.” Poon-awala is minoring in marketing,

so the company wanted her toget a peek at the marketing sideof IKEA.

Sjöstrand then took her on atour through the store and ex-plained the positioning of the

merchandise and the reasoningbehind the IKEA store’s complexlayout.

This was followed by a manage-ment review meeting, where theydiscussed IKEA’s 40th anniversary

in Canada. Sjöstrand gave Poon-awala a lot of background of whatwas going on and asked for her

input as well.“He really made me feel like I

had a voice even though I had only

been there a day,” Poonawala said.At the end of the day, the two

discussed what they had learned

from each other during the experi-ence.

“One thing I learned is reallyhow to look at [things] from a

big picture perspective … be-cause there are so many differentmoving parts as a company. As a

CEO, you really need to have a

long term vision and create thoselittle strategies to execute that vi-

sion,” Poonawala said.Sjöstrand gave her some mean-

ingful advice — to always follow

one’s inner compass, to go after

what you’re passionate about in-stead of money and to live and

breathe the vision of a company.“From Stefan, I really learned

how to look at all those moving

parts of the business and sort ofput it together like a puzzle, andsort of go from there.”

She even offered advice toSjöstrand, suggesting that IKEAshould grow its business-to-busi-

ness segment, meaning to expandits business ventures with othercompanies, which Sjostrand told

her is something the company islooking into for next year.

Poonawala said that being ableto see the theories that she haslearned about as an internation-al business major in school be-

ing applied in a business such asIKEA, as well as being able to talkto several business executives was

definitely invaluable to her.“I’m super thankful for this

opportunity because I think ex-

periential learning is such a goodcomplement to anyone’s educa-tion. Since I’m in my last semes-ter, it’s the perfect way to end off

university, especially shadowingthe CEO of a global companysuch as IKEA.”

With spring coming along soon,

and the warm weather with it, it’s

about time that we start sheddingour winter layers. And I’m not

talking about clothes.The hardest part about exercis-

ing is getting started; TV mara-

thons and Kraft Dinner seems likea much better alternative to jog-ging. But Strava can help you out.

Strava is a fitness app centeredon running and cycling. You pickyour preferred method of exercise,

and the app helps you make a pro-file. Then you’re in the circle. It’slike exercising with thousands of

people that follow your progressand support you.

The way Strava works is by

connecting runners and cycliststo each other through their socialmedia program. New challenges

are added every week, like finish-ing a half-marathon or running 10

k.m., and users can join and sharetheir results for a chance to appearon the leaderboards.

The site has an option to create

running or cycling tracks to follow.And if you’re just starting out and

don’t know the best routes aroundyour location, the app has a route-sharing feature to let you try out

other users’ favourite spots.Strava is compatible with some

smartwatches as well. With thewatch, users can track their steps

with the pedometer and measuretheir heart rates.

The premium version at around

$8 a month gives users access toseveral training videos, as well asthe option to keep track of their

progress and distance travelled.The app is also compatible with

several GPS devices to track yourroutes that way.

Strava is available for the iOSApp Store and Android’s Google

Play.

App of the

WeekBy Jacob Dubé

Get off your lazy ass and do some exercise for once.

You guys are officially adults nowHere’s a list of some benefits students should cash in on during this tax season

Don’t be like him. PHOTO: CHRIS BLANCHETTE

By Natasha Hermann

ending away documents to a pro-essional seems like an easy way toeceive your income tax, but how

asy is it to trust strangers withour money? And why pay for the

money you deserve anyway?

Here is what you should be

ooking for in your tax return thisear:

· Tuition fees over $100 canbe claimed for an education taxredit. RAMMS provides students

with two forms, T2202A, whichs a certificate for tuition, educa-ion and textbook amounts, and a

T4A, which provides informationbout any scholarships, and other

help towards payment.

· Full-time postsecondary stu-dents can claim moving expensesf their new residence is 40 k.m.

loser to school. You can claimransportation, utility-cancellingees or connecting fees, and stor-

ge expenses. This does need tobe your new permanent residence.You can claim these expenses from

he beginning of each academicperiod. Fill out a T1-M form for

each move.· Keep your transit passes and

receipts. The passes are only validif they provide you with unlimit-ed travel for more than five days,

or if you buy enough for at least20 days in a 28-day period. Youcan claim four weekly passes for

a month, monthly passes or yearlypasses. In regards to electronicpayment cards, you must travel at

least 32 times in 31 days. You alsoneed a receipt that produces thecost and usage of the card.

· Make sure you are receivingthe GST/HST credit if you are over

the age of 19. This credit gives youa payment four times a year.

· Make sure that you have yourT4s from work. You need separateT4s for each payroll accounts. All

you need to do is fill in the num-bers that correspond with the taxreturn form.

· Students living in residence canclaim a flat tax credit of $25. Oth-er students can claim the Ontario

Energy and Property Tax Credit ifyou have low or middle income.This year you can claim up to

$784 to help with property taxesand $224 for energy tax.



10 ARTS & LIFE Wednesday, March 16, 2016

ophie and Justin Trudeau beside Barack and Michelle Obama at the state dinner.

Sophie Grégoire-Trudeau wears Rye grad’s gowns

PHOTO COURTESY: WIKIEMEDIA COMMONS

By Annie Arnone

Ryerson fashion grad Lucian Matiswas in a meeting when his phone

uddenly started ringing, and it

wouldn’t stop. Moments before

he Toronto designer sat down with

client, Sophie-Grégoire Trudeau

rrived at the U.S.-Canada state

dinner — alongside Barack Obama

nd the first lady — wearing an

original piece designed by the Ry-

erson graduate himself. Matis ex-

cused himself from the room to

silence his phone, only to find whathe described as dozens of messages

“pouring in,” of people requesting

interviews.

“[My team] put in all of our ef-

forts to make Canada proud,” said

Matis.

He was in contact with Jessica

Mulroney — Grégoire-Trudeau’s

stylist and daughter-in-law of for-

mer Prime Minister Brian Mul-

roney — prior to the Washington

state dinner, and was aware thatthe purple evening dress would

be worn by the Prime Minister’s

spouse, but was unaware of the fact

that she would also wear the day-

dress he designed.

“I actually grabbed the last piece

on my way out, it was kind of the

last add on into the pile and it end-

ed up being the dress [she wore]”

said Matis. “I was pleasantly sur-

prised.”

The designer met with Grégoire-

Trudeau two weeks prior to the

dinner in Toronto for a fitting.

“It was a very sweet meeting,” he

said.

He explained that Sophie Gré-goire-Trudeau was an exception.

Her positive and down-to-earth

outlook on picking an outfit was a

breath of fresh air for the designer

— who typically deals with opin-

ionated celebrities.

“I felt very included,” he said.

“Celebrities usually have more

of an edge or an attitude but she

would say, ‘Lets work together, let’s

make this the best we can.’”

Matis drew from spring patterns

for the dresses, and initially began

with paintings of flowers, which

then became appliqués, seperate

fabric sewed or embroidered on,designed to line the dresss. The fab-

ric was complimented by both light

and saturated colours.

“Gardens in bloom were the co-

lours that inspired the Spring/Sum-

mer 2016 collection, therefore most

detailing and colours were bright,

bold and gorgeous,” explained

Matis. Specifically found in the day-

wear dress — a fitted short dress

completed in flowers — consistent

with the evening wear dress design.

After immigrating from Romania

in 1999, Matis was drawn to the

fashion industry and was embraced

by Ryerson as a new student.

“I went to Europe once and I gota job there, but the pace wasn’t for

me. I didn’t feel like home, so I had

to come back,” he said. “[Canada]

felt like home to me.”

After graduating in 2003, Matis

worked in various positions with

companies such as Urban Behavior

and Sirens, where he learned skills

as a designer and a buyer — skills

he did not gain until after he gradu-

ated from school.

“I created my job — in the last

nine years I’ve been working for

myself, but the companies I have

worked for in the past taught me

things that school didn’t,” he said.The designer has been recently

nominated for a Canadian Art and

Fashion Award.

“I feel very honoured,” said Ma-

tis. “These are the Oscars of our in-

dustry in Canada. I’m honoured to

get the recognition. If I win or not,

being narrowed down to top four

or five is quite an honour.”

Ryerson takes over the Canadian Screen AwardsBy Karoun Chahinian

Ryerson made a mark at the Ca-

nadian Screen Awards (CSA) onMarch 13 with 15 nominees and

one winner.

Ari Millen from the sci-fi series

Orphan Black won Best Perfor-

mance by an Actor in a Continuing

Leading Dramatic Role.

“[When I found out I was nomi-

nated], my reaction was a mix of

humbling and disbelief,” said Mil-

en. “I was very happy to be includ-

d amongst a very strong group of

alented people this year. When I

won, I was extremely humbled and

t was very unexpected.”

The show premiered in 2013

nd follows the life of Sarah Man-ning, an English orphan and con-

rtist who is revealed to have many

lones around the world. Millen

plays Mark Rollins, who is first

ntroduced in Season 2 and is a

homicidal member of the extremist

Prolethean clan.

Orphan Black aired three sea-

ons with the fourth set to release

n spring 2016.

Along with Millen, Ryerson The-

tre Performance Acting Director

Cynthia Ashperger was nominated

or Best Performance by an Actress

n a Supporting Role for her work

n The Waiting Room.

Set in Toronto, the film illus-

rates the professional struggles of

ormer Yugoslavian refugee Jasmin

Geljo who is trying to find work as

n actor. Ashperger plays the lead’s

ex-wife who is suffering from ter-

minal cancer. Director Igor Drljaca

said the inspiration for the film was

drawn from Jasmin’s personal ex-perience of moving to Canada and

his pursuit of an acting career.

“We constructed a narrative

that embraced his experiences in

Canada, the success he had in Yu-

goslavia and his road to becoming

a cultural worker and the difficul-

ties to work as an immigrant,” said

Drljaca.

The message of the film rang true

for the majority of the cast mem-

bers who are from the Bosnian

community, including Ashperger.

She expressed that after working as

a successful performer in Croatia,

she experienced cultural shock af-ter moving to Toronto permanently

in 1991 at the age of 28.

“It is very difficult to get a job, so

for me being nominated is nothing

short of a miracle,” said Ashperger.

“It is quite astonishing that I would

be nominated for an award, it was

a wonderful honour.”

The film was also featured in the

Toronto International Film Festival

in September 2015.

She met lead actor Jasmin “back

in the day” when her theatre

school in Zagreb, Croatia visited

his school in Sarajevo, Bosnia and

their friendship and acting relation-

ship grew from there.

“Now 32 years later, we got

to act together and we’re both

nominated for Canadian Screen

Awards,” said Ashperger. “The

awards have made me really

proud to be Canadian.”

Millen was one of Ashperger’s

former students and was initiallyasked to present her award catego-

ry, but due to scheduling issues, he

presented the Golden Screen Award

for TV Drama/Comedy.

Another one of Ashperger’s for-

mer students was recording artist

Peter Katz, who was also nominat-

ed Sunday evening for Achievement

in Music — Original Song. He co-

wrote the song “Where the Light

Used to Be” with Karen Kosowski

for the action-packed thriller 88,

which was written and directed by

two Ryerson graduates, April Mul-

len and Tim Doiron.

“Their film started getting higherand higher profile over the year and

they asked if I’d write a song for

them for the climax scene of their

movie. We literally watched the

screen and wrote the whole song

while watching it,” said Katz.

“Most of my song-writing pro-

cesses are trying to pull ideas out

of the air, you don’t know exactly

what direction you’re going. But

when you have such a clear inspi-

ration in front of you, it’s limit-

ing, but that limitation is actually

liberating.”

The film is about a young

woman attempting to find out

who was responsible for the mur-der of her boyfriend after she

wakes up in a roadside diner not

remembering how she got there.

While on the treadmill one day,

Katz recieved a message from

Doiron saying the song was nom-inated for a screen award.

“I was flabbergasted,” said

Katz. “I lived more in the music

world, so it wasn’t really on my

radar that I would get a nomina-

tion for a screen award.”

Katz described his evening at

the awards as both surreal, but

also an untraditional Ryerson

reunion. He was able to see Ash-

perger along with many other fel-

low theatre school alumni.

“It was surreal to be sitting

there and see Martin Short and

Donald Sutherland, it was a fun

thing to be a part of and to see

everything behind the scenes,”said Katz. “It was also great to

see alumni. You know how hard

everyone works, so it’s nice to see

them get a little pat on the back,

it brings people together.”

Millen also said the CSAs area great opportunity to showcase

Canada’s talent, which is often

hidden in the shadow of “big

brother America.”

“One question I was aked

often that night was whether

Canada does enough to pro-

mote its own. Certainly having

an event like that is exactly what

we need,” said Millen. “Canada

has a handicap being next to Hol-

lywood, but [still] has a lot to offer.

I think our industry tries its best to

recognize our value, but it’s hard

to convince the rest of the public.

This will really go a long way to

help Canada’s brand and exposethe public to what we’re making

and hopefully have them choose a

Canadian product over an Ameri-

can one.”

From left: Rob Tinkler, Peter Katz, Cynthia Ashperger and Ari Millen at Nominee Night.

PHOTO COURTESY: CYNTHIA ASHPERGER



Wednesday, March 16, 2016 WOW, LOOK AT ALL THAT FUNTENT! 11

!"#$%&' )*"+, If you’re one of those iPhone-swindling, Starbucks-sipping, Gucci-bag-owning sons-of-lawyers, then you need to sit back and re-eval-uate your life. Are your problems really problems, or are they justminor annoyances? We recognize that first-world problems are stillproblems, so we took the liberty of making a list of what you, as amoney-lovin’ hussy, might suffer from. Check off the boxes to see just

how first-world you are and determine your level of suffering!

E

You own at least one pair ofunning shoes that you can’t runn or else YOU’LL RUIN THE

LEATHER, ASHLEY!

You don’t wear a coat when

t’s cold because it will ruin yourook but then you go out andomplain about being cold.

“Snapchat filters make myRay-Bans look tacky!”

You hate your parents formaking you get a job — like, wehave enough money! I don’t need

o work!

You break your iPhone

creen and complain that Applemakes flimsy products, and thenbuy a new iPhone.

Your parents won’t let you

borrow the car because last timeyou had it you got in an accident(it was just a scratch, mom!)

You just scratched your newleather jacket because of the studs

on your leather backpack.

Your expensive watch

stopped working because youwore it in your pool.

You think you’re gluten-intolerant and fear you can neveragain eat the scones at Panera.

You bring your own wine toparties because you don’t want

to sip whatever “sewage water”your lower-class friends will sup-ply.

[][][][][][][][][][]

0-3: Middle-Class Mess

You’re doing pretty well,

but you need to chill.There are starving chil-dren in Africa, you know.

j

4-7: Basic Bitch

Your life is pretty great, so

stop complaining. There arepeople dying out there.

8-10: Suburbanightmare

Honestly, just get out. Thereare people with real problems

and you aren’t one of them.

j

j

How to have a good time

ust a regular guy trying to live his life. PHOTO: ANNIE ARNONE

f you’re an introvert at heart, orust really hate people, then you’llknow that it can be hard to get out

nd join the living world. Peoplere loud, rude and disgusting —

but not you, you’re lovely and cul-

ured and above everyone else. Butou still want to have a good time,o here are some surefire ways to

help you get there!1. Smile. A lot. Probably too

much. Do you seem creepy? No!Well, maybe a little. Just smile

when you make eye contact withpeople. Or is that too much?

2. Don’t smile. Don’t look likeou’re trying too hard.3. Hold something. A drink,small snack, your phone, that

tranger’s hand, whatever you

need to do to keep your hands oc-cupied. Being nervous can makeyou fidgety, so just hold onto

something. Or will that make youlook weird?

4. Don’t hold anything. You

don’t want to look like a hoarder.5. Laugh. Often. Loudly. Wait,

no, not too loudly. That’d just

be obnoxious. Just laugh whenappropriate, like when someonemakes a joke. But don’t laugh at

every joke, that’s a bit overzeal-ous. Plus, people aren’t as funnyas they think they are.

6. Don’t laugh. It’s just too much.7. Mingle. Mix-it-up, meet

some new faces. But don’t do thatthing you always do, you know?You know what I mean. Don’t dothe thing. It’s weird, and you take

it too far.

8. Don’t mingle. Maybe you’renot ready to meet new people justyet. You don’t need new friends.

9. Have a party trick. Can yousing? Dance? Do magic? Juggle?Anything? God, how have you

made it this far in life with so fewtalents?

10. Don’t have a party trick.

Don’t be that person.Maybe you aren’t cut out to

have a good time. At least not

with other people. Just stay athome, read a book, watch TV. Or go to parties. Be that awkwardperson in the corner smiling too

much, holding at least five things,

laughing too loudly, mingling witheveryone and pulling quarters out

from behind people’s ears. Justkeep being you and chances areyou’ll have a good time.

The Ofce

Sales

Paper

PartyCommittee

DunderMifin

Jello

Bears

Beets

Battlestar

Galactica

MichaelScarn

Complete this word search and drop it off with your name, contactinfo and favourite song to The Eyeopener office (SCC 207) for your

chance to win a $25 Tim Hortons gift card!

THAT’S WHAT SHE SAID

A Boston Chipotle restaurant shut down after workers fell ill, with one

testing positive for Norovirus. This news follows Chipotle’s E. Coli cri-

sis from Nov. 2015. There have been no reported outbreaks in Canada

as of yet. Toronto, what do you think?

Voices of Toronto

“What’s a Chipotly? Chipotee?Chipoatul? Am I saying it right?”

Janice Turlington - Retired Carnie

“Norovirus shmorovirus, I needthat guac, give me the guac. I

don’t care if it’s not safe to eat, justslather it on my chest.”

Brad Williams - Pickler

“Still a safer bet than Taco Bell.”

Steven Lee - Mustache Groomer

P h

o t o

b y

M a t

t h ias W i e m a n n

/ F l i c

k r

P h

o t o

b y V

l a d i m i r P us t o v i t / F

l i c k r

P h

o t o

b y m

o y e r p h

ot o s / F l i c k r

By Ian Yamamoto

t

t

By Skyler Ash



Wednesday, Mar. 16, 201612

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The Eyeopener - March 16, 2016

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