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  • Volume 49 - Issue 13January 20, 2016

    theeyeopener.com@theeyeopener

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  • 2 Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016

  • Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016 NEWS 3

    Paralyzed dance student aided by RU communityAs Ryerson dance student Napu Boychuk walks down his road to recovery, numerous fundraisers aim to cover his medical costs

    By Al Downham

    A photo update of Napu Boychuk by his relatives. PHOTO COURTESY: FACEBOOK

    After a drowning accident left him paralyzed, one Ryerson dance student is receiving help from friends, family and the the-atre school to cover substantial medical costs.

    Its a really heartbreaking situation, said Ryerson Theatre School (RTS) chair Peggy Shan-non. Everybody flew into action to do what we could.

    Napu Boychuk, 29, had been dancing since adolescence, accord-ing to friend and Ryerson dance alumnus Andrew McCormack. Now in his final year of study, Boychuk was featured in Ryer-sons 2014/2015 Choreographic Works and Ryerson Dances.

    He always gives more to his partner than he gives to himself, said fourth-year acting student and classmate Cameron Walker Fox Revett. His style is kind of athletic, very strong.

    However, on Dec. 13, the dance student drowned at a beach in Varadero, Cuba, after getting caught in an undercurrent.

    Boychuk was resuscitated, and quickly taken to the hospital for emergency spinal cord surgery, where he had his fifth and sixth vertebrae aligned. He initially lost use of his limbs with seawater and sand in his lungs and stomach.

    I was heartbroken for him, said fourth-year acting student and classmate Brooke Morrice. Especially as a dancer, its always hard to hear when a dancer has a physical injury. That disables their livelihood.

    With limited internet and phone availability, many of Boychuks friends and family back home learned about the accident at the beginning of January through posts by his sister, Tuutalik.

    I didnt actually realize until much later, said McCormack. I thought it was fake. I was actually hoping it was fake and a scam.

    Tuutalik, who steadily posts Facebook updates on Napus con-dition, wrote that Cira Garcia the hospital treating her brother is providing amazing treat-ment.

    However, she added his emer-gency travel insurance was cut off Jan 7. With medical costs from

    Dec. 13 to Jan. 7 amounting to $19,500 U.S. Napus family start-ed an online fundraising campaign soon after.

    I dont want to use the word dreadful, but I cant think of a better word, McCormack said. Something so bad, negative to happen to such a great person.

    When friends, family, and Ry-erson community members found out about the incident, others also decided to raise money to cover the medical costs and a plane tick-et home.

    McCormack, for example, is helping organize one fundraiser event at Scallywags, where Napu worked as a part-time bartender.

    Another fundraising event oc-curred on Jan 16. in Iqaluit, host-ed by John Manzo a local dance teacher and friend of Tuutalik and Napu.

    We wanted the arts commu-nity to help them out because theyre very involved, Manzo said. When he was here [last], he was telling me his love for dance and hoping hed get a chance to dance here in Iqaluit with our group.

    Ryerson students and staff also collaborated in creating a fund-raiser under the RTS.

    It was a team effort, said Shannon, who made the first do-nation to the RTS initiative. Hes

    really in dire need so we just need to help him.

    Since Napu was older than most students at RTS, some students know him as a kind classmate ready to offer advice and experi-ence.

    Truth be told, we were all ter-rified little first years at the time, Fox Revett said. Having some-one come in who was super chill about it, that was completely new

    to us. So far the fundraisers have cu-

    mulatively raised over $14,000. And as of Jan. 16, Tuutalik wrote that Napu is off a ventilator and IV drip and is now sitting up. Hes also regaining movement and feel-ing in his limbs. Napu will stay in Cuba for therapy until at least mid-February.

    Hes just always happy and trying to make others laugh, said McCormack. Especially if other people arent in a very good mood, hell try to lighten up everyones day. Its just so consistent all the time.

    Wait times for counselling services have students frustrated. PHOTO: CHRIS BLANCHETTE

    Students waiting months for counsellingBy Keith Capstick

    Wait times for the schools coun-selling services can stretch to three months based on a triage appoint-ment assesement, in which stu-dents personal safety is determined by counsellors.

    Students that are not experienc-ing safety concerns or struggling with day-to-day tasks are asked to wait up to four weeks for an intake appointment after their original tri-age appointment, on arrival. Once there, they are again assessed and paired with a long-term counsellor. Students struggling with day-to-day tasks have their wait time expedit-ed to one-to-two weeks. Students that are not experiencing safety concerns are asked to wait two months or longer.

    Students with serious safety con-cerns and recent trauma are allot-ted same-week intake appointmens. The centre maintains 10 same-day appointment times per week for students in urgent need.

    When youre dealing with men-tal illness, every day can feel like the worst day and it cant always wait, said Cassidy Allison, a fourth-year

    RTA school of media student, who waited a month for counselling.

    The Ryerson Centre for Student Development and Counselling (CSDC) currently staffs 15 counsel-lors, an additional two consulting psychiatrists and six graduate stu-dents in addition to one psychiatry resident. The staff service more than 30,000 undergraduate stu-dents as well as graduate students.

    Lavinia Tea a third-year cre-ative industries student found that in her experience the staff were helpful once they were avail-able, but said it was evident that the offices were extremely under-staffed.

    I went to counselling services and at the time the earliest they could have given me for an intake appointment was a month, so I said fine, Tea said. The thing with mental illness is that even if youre deemed low-risk, that can change at any time.

    Tea was originally scheduled to have her intake appointment ap-proximately two months after she first sought out counselling, only to have it cancelled at the last minute and delayed for another month.

    Ryerson offers group therapy sessions to speed up wait times for students who are willing to partici-pate. But Tea stressed the impor-tance of finding someone you can build a rapport with and meeting with them right away.

    As a student thats struggling with mental illness its extremely frustrating because I turned to counselling because I felt like I needed to do something now, Tea said.

    Sarah Thompson, the CSDCs clinical coordinator, said that short-ening wait times is one of the cen-tres top priorities.

    According to Thompson, the CSDC staffs an extra counsellor during the final six weeks of each term to lower wait times during their highest volume weeks, close to exams.

    The CSDC is also looking to cre-ate as many same-day services for students as possible.

    We continue to explore pos-sibilities for same-day support for students, including the possibility of speaking to someone for 15-20 minutes to receive some immediate supports and next steps, Thomp-

    son said, in a written statement to The Eyeopener. Were not there yet, but we know that access to someone who can answer ques-tions and provide direction same day is best.

    Of Torontos three major uni-versities, Ryerson and the Univer-sity of Torontos St. George campus have 15 full-time counsellors and York University has 17, although Ryerson is the smallest of the three schools. York also staffs five addi-tional counsellors with a specializa-tion in mental health.

    On Jan. 26, RSU vice-president education Cormac McGee has a meeting with the universitys macro

    finance commitee in which he plans to bring students biggest concerns to the administration.

    One of those concerns, McGee said, is mental health services at Ryerson.

    Wait times at the counselling centre are crazy. Basically, if youre not in a position to hurt yourself immediately youre going to wait weeks, sometimes months, Mc-Gee said.

    He also added that the diver-sity of counsellors needs to be ad-dressed, as some students feel the counsellors theyre matched with cant understand their lived reali-ties.

    Especially as a dancer, its always hard to hear when a dancer has a physical injury. It disables their livelihood.

  • 4 editorial Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016

    Editor-in-ChiefSean treas-HAIR Wetselaar

    NewsKeith capSICK Capstick

    Nicole Stage six? SchmidtAl Body Snatcher Donwham

    FeaturesFarnia Fam? Fam Fekri

    Biz and TechJacob Roll the Dub

    Arts and LifeKaroun Choir geek Chahinian

    SportsDevin Hearthstone Jones

    CommunitiesAlanna Firstie Rizza

    PhotoAnnie CMYK ArnoneJake Hand cream Scott

    Chris -tmas socks Blanchette

    FunSkyler Funtribulations Ash

    MediaRob WERST Foreman

    OnlineIgor Series of tubes Magun

    Tagwa Shrimp fighter MoyoLee Third online wheel Rich-

    ardson

    General ManagerLiane Pho sure McLarty

    Advertising ManagerChris Why did I come in here

    Roberts

    Design DirectorJ.D. Cloudy days Mowat

    Intern ArmyGracie Goodbye Brison

    Mikayla Farewell FasulloBen Hydrate Hoppe

    Victoria Thanks Sykes

    ContributorsAllan Quick turn around

    PerkinsDan True boss Rocchi

    Fatima GO-toSyedSarah Jorgenson Krichal

    Lindsay I have no idea Chris-topher

    Robert Long gone MackenzieOlivia Carni G BednarLauryn Hustler Pierro

    Michael Poet and do know it Friedman

    Brittany AppSnatcher RosenNoella Apple farmer OvidJustin HitchBOTs child

    ChandlerNoushin Rude email Ziafati

    Victoria Resurrection ShariatiMelissa Ansel Elgort obsessed

    BennardoMitchell So cool ThompsonNicole Haters gonna hate Di

    Donato

    Playing the part of the Annoying Talking Coffee Mug this week is Sean Wetselaars decision to dare I give voice to the horrific deed? cut his hair.

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

    Our offices are on the second floor of the Student Campus Centre. You can reach us at 416-979-5262, at theeyeopener.com or on Twitter at @theeyeopener.

    On resolutionsBy SeanWetselaar

    Fireworks, because New Years. You get the idea. PHOTO COURTESY: ANTHONY CRAMP/ CREATIVE COMMONS

    Forgive me while I engage in a brief, January clich, but Im going to talk about New Years resolutions.

    If youre a student, youve prob-ably heard or read a thousand posts about the best ways to keep up with your resolutions, or how to main-tain a tough new workout regiment in the new year. Or any other num-ber of generic pieces of life advice.

    These might seem silly to you (most of them probably are), but there is a nugget of wisdom to be gained here. Students are young, many are living on their own for the first time, and your university years are a time to think about the adult you that includes habits like working out, eating well and lots of the other classic resolutions.

    Thinking about who you want to be is definitely an important part of these years of your life. But I think its a conversation we should be hav-ing all the time, not just while were sleeping off New Years Eve hang-overs. It may be an argument youve

    heard before but I really believe that your time at university should be a period dedicated to bettering yourself, to moulding yourself into that asshole that you one day hope to be.

    Try to think of it this way. If youre at Ryerson, theres a good chance that youve chosen a program based on a lifelong passion, or an area of study that has always inspired you. Take that inspiration and work at it. If youre a writer, write every day. If youre a photographer, live with your camera around your neck. If youre an engineer, reconsider.

    I know that sometimes honing your craft, or taking care of all those other parts of adulthood that some-times get left behind, like diet, can be a struggle. And sometimes New Years Day is a good excuse to refo-cus yourself on the things that matter, like Cheetos.

    But, two-thirds of the way through the month, its time to start looking ahead, and keeping those habits up all year. Its been a good break, but the holiday is over.

    I guess I just want to say this: Wel-come back, Ryerson. Lets get back to work.

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  • Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016 NEWS 5

    RU Tired of paying for unpaid work?By Fatima Syed

    One unassuming hipster intern had too much coffee last night and wants to get paid for his hours of work. PHOTO: annie arnOne

    By the time fourth-year fashion design student Sydney Allen-Ash graduates, she will have completed 400 hours of unpaid internship work a placement she found and applied to on her own and pays $700 for as a course requirement.

    To compensate for the free time she spends at her placement, Allen-Ash does up to 25 hours of freelance and contract work each week as a necessity, in addition to classes. This is a schedule thats all too familiar for many Ryerson students.

    On Jan. 17, RSU vice-presi-dent education Cormac McGee launched a petition asking the On-tario government to recognize that organizations are benefiting from free labour instead of hiring paid workers. More than 500 people signed the online petition in the two days following its launch.

    Its not just free work but youre literally paying thousands of dollars in tuition to go and work for a company for free, said McGee.

    The Government of Ontario is developing a new funding formula to better distribute operating grants to universities. In a government re-port released in December 2015, it was recommended that funding should be used to improve student outcomes in part by increasing experiential learning. McGee will be speaking with the lead policy

    advisor to the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities on Jan. 25. They will be discussing a possible long-term investment through the new funding formula for unpaid internships that stu-dents do as a credit requirements.

    Instead of asking companies to pay at the risk of positions being cut, the RSU is exploring other alternatives; including minimum wage pay, a travel allowance or getting rid of the course fee. Some sort of investment would really help students ... we have a huge contingent of people doing 40-hour-a-week internships for nothing and doing the same work people get paid to do, said Mc-Gee. We dont want businesses to cut students, thats why the money has to come from the province.

    For a lot of students, internship opportunities are the most practi-cal experience they get during their four years at Ryerson. Of the nine undergraduate programs in the Faculty of Community Services, eight have unpaid internship re-quirements. Social work students have some of the highest demands,

    with 864 hours needed through-out third and fourth year. Alyson Rogers, a fourth-year social work student who will have completed the required hours by the end of the school year, deals with extreme fatigue, stress and other negative mental health issues as a result of trying to balance her workload. Its a double-edged sword, she said. We want the placements for the experience, but they are put-ting students in poverty.

    Almost all Faculty of Commu-nication and Design (FCAD) pro-grams offer an unpaid internship, but students studying fashion, cre-ative industries, professional com-munication and interior design are required to do one to graduate.

    The upsetting part is unpaid internships are becoming a status quo in the culture of the industry, said Allen-Ash. FCAD is compla-cent in following unfair and ex-ploitative industry standards, then making it out to seem like their hands are tied, she later wrote via personal message.

    FCAD Dean Charles Falzon said he thinks internships should be paid, but noted that the value of a good internship often more than compensates for the absence of pay. This includes encourag-ing a culture of mentorship among industry professionals who might not be able to pay, but are willing to provide students with practical experience in their profession.

    I think theres this balance be-tween the best learning possible, the best reputation possible and the best job opportunities possi-ble, said Falzon, who added hes working to create more workplace opportunities for Ryerson stu-dents. I understand the conun-drum. But I just dont think its black-and-white.

    Ryerson interim president Mo-hamed Lachemi says experiential learning is part of the curriculum for 95 per cent of programs at Ryerson. Ryerson really gives a lot of importance to experiential learning for students, he said. Our position is always to encour-age paid internships for students however, the decision isnt ours because the hiring is done by ex-ternal agencies.

    While students are charged for unpaid internship courses, the school notes that time spent in-terning would amount to the same time spent in classes if these place-ments didnt exist. These courses can cost anywhere from $700 to upwards of $1,500 dollars, de-pending on the program. Fees are used to pay faculty coordinators and other administrative staff.

    Students in the faculty of com-munity services have coordina-tors responsible for finding them a placement and making all of the arrangements. Most FCAD stu-dents, however, are in charge of finding their own internship.

    Allen-Ash said she had little help from the school of fashion, aside from emails sent out with workplace opportunities accom-panied by a disclaimer: Jobs are not vetted or authorized as intern-ships prior to posting.

    All we can do is promote paid internships, said Lachemi. We cannot close the door for unpaid internships.

    With files from Nicole Schmidt

    Its not just free work but youre literally paying thou-sands of dollars to go and work for a company for free

    The upsetting part is unpaid internships are becoming a status quo in the culture of the industry

    enG 105 and 106 flooded this past week. PHOTO: annie arnOne

    ENG building room floodsA faulty sprinkler head in the George Vari Engineering and Computing Centre caused flood-ing on the first, second and third floors, damaging two classrooms and several offices and labs. The flood happened on Jan. 12 and most classes have been temporar-ily moved to the Victoria build-ing. There is not yet an estimated cost for the damage.

  • Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016NEWS6

    WHAT YOU MISSED: WINTER EDITIONHeres what went down over the holidays while you argued with your racist uncle

    Rye prof dies in fatal stabbing near campus

    On Dec. 15, Mark Ernsting, a Ryer-son professor and cancer researcher, was fatally stabbed on an evening walk down McGill Street. Police de-scribed the stabbing as a random attack and a crime of opportu-nity. Ernsting worked in the fac-ulty of engineering and architectural science. The accused, 21-year-old Calvin Michael Nimoh, faces first-degree murder charges.

    Presidential search, to be continued...

    On Dec. 1, Sheldon Levy left Ryerson after 10 years as university president. Theres still uncertainty over who will be his permanent replacement, but in a Jan. 11 update, the Presidential Search Committee said theyre mak-ing good progress. For now, for-mer provost and vice-president aca-demic Mohamed Lachemi has taken over. The university expects to have a new president before summer 2016.

    RSU takes heat over layoffs and restructuring

    Wendy Cukier to be president of the badgers

    Wendy Cukier, Ryersons vice-pres-ident research and innovation, will be taking over as president of Brock University effective Sept. 1, 2016. Cukier has accomplished a lot during her three decades at Ryerson. She was influential in helping the school tran-sition from a polytechnic to a univer-sity. She also founded the Diversity Institute and, most recently, was a founding member of Lifeline Syria.

    When the Ryerson Students Union (RSU) eliminated its Executive Director of Communications and Outreach position on Dec. 1, they let go of two em-ployees and pissed a lot of people off in the process. A long list of groups re-leased public statements in response to the restructuring. Highlights include:

    CESAR didnt want to financially contribute to an irresponsible and anti-union student executive, so the Board of Directors passed a motion to boycott the RSU-run printing service, CopyRITE.

    The Continuing Education Students Association of Ryerson (CESAR)

    The Ryerson Feminist Collective

    After the layoffs, the Ryerson Feminist Collective withdrew its application to become an RSU student group, announcing that they do not support an RSU that values saving money over two peoples livelihoods for no tangible reason besides restructuring.

    The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) 1281

    CUPE made a Facebook post urging readers to contact RSU President An-drea Bartlett to protest the move. We are not going to let members be at-tacked like this, read the statement. Bartlett is now attacking a womans legal right to take approved pregnancy leave without fear of termination.

    Anti-Racism Coalition

    Ryersons Anti-Racism Coalition urged Bartlett to reinstate the two em-ployees due to serious equity issues surrounding the layoffs. According to the coalition, the restructuring is a cloak for unjust dismissal.

    University of Toronto Students Union (UTSU)

    On Jan. 14, UTSU said in a public statement that their willingness to en-gage with the RSU has been severely undermined. When the RSU dem-onstrates an institutional commitment to the principles of equity and good allyship, the UTSU said the two student unions could resume working together as they have in the past.

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  • Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016 NEWS 7

    Q&A with Natasha Campagna

    Natasha Campagna is the RSUs new general manager. PHOTO: Jake SCOTT

    By Nicole Schmidt

    As part of the Ryerson Students Union (RSU) restructuring plan, a new, full-time general manager position was created last semester to help new executives transition into their roles and oversee finan-cial operations.

    Natasha Campagna, former student engagement and business development coordinator of the Ryerson Commerce Society, was hired for the role and started on Nov. 30. One day later, the RSU eliminated the position of execu-tive director of communications and outreach, laying off two employees due to financial con-straints. Several people have since expressed disapproval and voiced concerns. The Eyeopener spoke with Campagna about the new position and how shes been han-dling the negative attention.

    How are things going with the po-sition thus far?

    I think that the position is go-ing great so far. Ive been learning a lot. Everyone in the building has been able to teach me something new, or something about the RSU that I didnt know about before.

    The staff and students in the build-ing have really helped me through the transitioning process and are helping me become more familiar with the position.

    Have there been any surprises, or things you didnt expect?

    I had a good idea about what it [the position] was coming into the role, especially because Ive been involved with the Ryerson community and Im a Ryerson alumni. There havent been any surprises.

    A lot of student groups and out-side organizations have released statements about the RSU restruc-turing. Were you expecting to receive any backlash before you started the job? The restructuring happened on

    the second day that I was offi-cially in the position, so I had no idea about it. I found out the day that it happened when everyone else did.

    How have you been dealing with the negative attention?

    Im a very calm person, I dont think reacting is the best way to go. Its very important to keep a

    level head and make sure youre not letting the negativity get to you. Its important to keep mov-ing forward and know that theres work to be done. I want to quiet out the noise and really focus on the betterment of the organiza-tion.

    Is that going to be your mentality going forward?

    Everyone has questions. Its im-portant to state the facts and show students that what happened isnt something thats illegal like people are saying. Im focusing on what the RSU is doing well at, instead of the negative.

    In the statement the University of Toronto Students Union released, they accused the RSU of hiring you because youre a close friend and political ally. What are your thoughts on that?

    I did know Andrea like I know a lot of people on Ryerson campus, but by no means were we close friends like everybody thought go-ing into the position. I think I was the only person who applied for the position from Ryerson, and I think its important that the per-son who got chosen for this role

    understands the Ryerson commu-nity.

    Do you have any further comment on the restructuring?

    I have no comments right now.

    Going forward into the semester, what are your plans for the role?

    To ensure that the RSU is con-tinued to be put back in the hands of the students. I want to support

    the executives and the board as well as the initiatives they have planned, and continue to learn more about the RSU and ways to improve the organization. The past month or so has been about learning and absorbing. Further, I think Ill be able to see where the hiccups are and improve on them.

    This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

    The Eyeopener spoke with the new RSU general manager about the controver-sies surrounding last semesters restructuring

    Welcome to a new term and a new year at Ryerson. I look forward to working with all members of the community as we continue to build momentum and move our university forward in 2016.

    Have a great term and a great year!

    Mohamed Lachemi Interim President

    A Message from Interim President Mohamed Lachemi

  • 8 Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016FEATURES

    Elaine Wilson was wrapping gifts in front of the TV in her home on McGill Street when she heard something outside. It was just after 9 p.m. on Dec. 15, she had just come home from work and it was too dark to see anything. About an hour

    later, she looked out of her bedroom window and saw police tape tied to a tree in her front yard. Toronto police were on the scene, and she heard that somebody had been stabbed.

    Her close friends, Robert Iseman and Mark Ernsting, lived just a street away, so she sent them a text letting them know about the stab-bing. Iseman called her right back to tell her that Ernsting, his husband of five years, had not come home from his nightly walk.

    Worried, she approached a cop on the street to find out if they had seen the victim.

    He doesnt look like hes doing too good, the officer said. When she asked about Ernsting, the officer told her that he could

    have been a witness to the stabbing, and in that case he would have been taken to the precinct for questioning, unable to use his phone.

    Wilson called Iseman back and he met her near the scene. Together, they approached another officer and told them they were getting wor-ried.

    Okay, were concerned here. My friend, and my friends husband here, hes not home, and hes never home this late, Wilson recalls say-ing.

    The cop told them to go home and wait, that they would be okay.They were waiting at Wilsons home when they found out the victim

    had succumbed to injuries in the hospital. It was around this time that Iseman found Marks wallet, along with all of his identification, in his bag. He hadnt taken it with him on his walk.

    Wilson and Iseman spoke to a third officer to say that they wanted to go to the precinct, speak to the witnesses and see if Mark was with them. The officer began questioning them about him. They matched his name to his drivers license photo confirming that it was Mark Ernsting who had died.

    It was easily the worst moment of my life, Wilson admits. According to Toronto police, Ernsting was on his nightly walk on

    McGill Street when a man approached him, attempted to rob him and stabbed him.

    He was 39. He was a biomedical engineer and an adjunct-professor at Ryerson University. Hed been married to Iseman for five years, but they had been together for 10. Wilson had met him soon after she moved to Toronto they had been friends for over 15 years. She started call-ing him Wendell, referencing the nauseous Simpsons character, after he laughed so hard at a joke once that he threw up. He died on Dec. 15.

    It was easily the worst moment of my life

    Ernsting worked for the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) as a biomedical engineer, while also serving as an ad-junct professor in the faculty of engineering and architectural science at Ryerson.

    He was working on a drug delivery system, smaller than a red blood cell, which would release if subjected to a certain temperature. Practi-cally, it could be used to target the release of chemotherapy drugs ex-clusively in a tumour, which would minimize the infamous side effects.

    When you do get cancer, your immune system is already weak-ened. Attacking it with more drugs does nothing but weaken it further. So that does play a huge role in the outcome of these patients, says Eno Hysi, a graduate student in biomedical physics at Ryerson. Even though they might be cured of their cancer, theyre still sick because of the effects of chemotherapy.

    MarkErnsting

    Remembering

    Adjunct-professor, biomedical engineer, cancer researcher, husband, friend.

    By Jacob Dub

    Mark Ernsting. Photo Courtesy: Shyh-Dar Li/OICR

  • Hysi says that the research hes doing now wouldnt be possible with-out Ernstings contributions to the invention.

    He was a great guy. We would work very late in the lab at night, and he would always offer to give us a hand if we had any difficulties, he says. Its going to be a big gap to fill. Not just because he was a great guy, but because he was a brilliant researcher.

    Ernstings death came as a huge shock to Hysi, who passes by McGill Street several times a day. You hear about robberies, but not robberies gone wrong.

    The accused, 21-year-old Calvin Michael Nimoh, was arrested within an hour of the incident and has been charged with first-degree murder. According to homicide Det. Paul Worden, the charge was upgraded from second-degree to first on Jan. 7, after evidence of forceful confine-ment was found. According to the CBC, Nimoh was also charged with robbery, assault with a weapon and carrying weapons dangerous to the public peace, in relation to another violent robbery earlier that night.

    Shyh-Dar Li worked with Ernsting at the OICR since 2009. Their relationship began while Ernsting completed his train-ing at the OICR for two years, then decided to stay with the institute despite receiving other job offers. Together, they co-

    invented the chemotherapy delivery system. Around the time when Lis daughter was six-months-old, he held a

    party at his home. He says that she was beginning to recognize people, and became more selective about who she would let near her. Amaz-ingly, he says, she was always drawn to Mark.

    Just a day before Ernsting died, the two were still exchanging emails about their research. Ernsting sent Li a couple of questions on Monday, but he wasnt able to respond before he heard the news of Marks death on Wednesday.

    Thats really shocking, because I remember Mark told us how safe Toronto was, Li says, explaining that he moved to Toronto from the United States. We were always wonder-ing how safe the city was, and can we feel safe walking on the streets at night. And Mark was always very positive.

    Li had a friend in the United States who also died af-ter a robbery two years ago. Since the events of Dec. 15, Li double-checks his doors every night to make sure that theyre locked. I never thought this would happen again to my friend.

    Li says Marks dream was to get their invention to the stage of clinical trials. The OICR is taking over with the project.

    I hope he knew how much I appreciated working with him, he says.

    On their last annual camping trip, when Wilson and a friend arrived to the site, Ernsting was already there, alone, and the entire campsite had been set up. All that was left was wine and dinner.

    He was a MacGyver and a boy scout. This guy didnt have a lazy bone in his body, Wilson recalls. It was like a 12-man tent. He just said he needed help putting the fly on.

    Along with the camping trips, Ernsting often went mountain climbing with his husband.

    He was like zero per cent body fat and in the prime of his life when this happened. Very healthy guy, Wilson

    says. He maybe drank wine, but other than that, clean guy. I always said I would die before this guy.

    I never thought Id outlive Wendell.His mountain climbing skills came in use one day when Wilson had

    to move her bedframe up to her third-floor apartment. He attached the frame to climbing ropes and hoisted it up from the outside. If it werent for him, Id be sleeping on a mattress on the floor, she says.

    Even when they had nothing planned, Ernsting, Iseman and Wilson would meet up once a week to cook a gourmet dinner together. Wil-son said that the couple would do everything in their power so she wouldnt feel like a third wheel.

    There was no hiding it. They were both crazy about each other, she said. I know Rob is going crazy without him. If Mark went on a short business trip, Rob would go a little crazy and invite me over, in lieu of Wendell. They would even Skype. They were a really, really, really adorable couple.

    One morning, Wilson was making a sandwich, preparing for work, when she cut her hand open. She was home alone. She called Ernsting and in no more than 60 seconds, he was there.

    Youre a doctor, she said. Tell me how bad its going to be.Youre fine. Did you give blood in high school? Ernsting asked

    her. She said yes. That was a bag of blood. You really havent lost that much.

    He took her to the hospital, where he stayed with her. I know its things that friends and neighbours do but we were very

    close, like family, Wilson says. We talked about getting old and looking after each other, and when that happens. We were like family, here, together.

    Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016 9FEATURES

    Ernsting

    Li (l

    eft)

    and

    Erns

    ting.

    Photo

    Courte

    sy: S. Sacc

    o/CPimages

    Its going to be a big gap to fill. Not just because he was a great guy, but because he was a brilliant researcher

    Iseman (right) and Ernsting. Photo

    Courtes

    y: Elain

    e Wilso

    n

  • Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016biz & tech10

    HitchBOT retiring in Ottawa Museum

    HitchBOT will be retiring to the Canada Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa. PHOTO COurTeSy: TOM everreTT

    By Justin Chandler

    HitchBOT, a robot famous for hitchhiking across Canada in 2014, is settling down in the coun-trys capital. The robot, which is managed through collaboration between Ryerson and McMaster universities, will become part of the Canada Science and Technol-ogy Museums permanent collec-tion when the Ottawa museum reopens in November 2017.

    The robot that will be on dis-play at the museum will be the first HitchBOT, the model that trav-elled from Halifax to Victoria in 21 days. A second version of the robot, HitchBOT 2.0, was created for international travel. The first model came back from its cross-Canada trip transformed, said Frauke Zeller, co-creator of Hitch-BOT and assistant professor of professional communication at Ry-erson. HitchBOT returned from its journey adorned with stickers, jew-ellery and drawings. We wanted to preserve that, said Zeller.

    Zeller calls the museums re-quest to keep HitchBOT a great compliment. She said she hopes her team can work with the mu-seum to make HitchBOT as en-gaging in the museum as it was on the road.

    A lot of people think museums look for old things, said Tom Everrett, curator of communica-tions at the Canada Science and

    Technology Museum. But he said the museum also likes to collect items that are significant now and will continue to be later.

    Everrett said he will work with Smith and Zeller to find an inter-esting way to integrate the photos HitchBOT took and the metadata it collected into the exhibit. He said a challenge will be keeping HitchBOT accessible so that it can interact with people.

    We didnt want it to be a fu-neral, said Everrett of HitchBOTs stay in the museum. He said he pre-fers to call it active retirement.

    HitchBOT was conceived in 2013 by Zeller and David Har-ris Smith, assistant professor in the department of communica-tion studies and multimedia at McMaster Uiversity. The robot is managed by Zeller, Smith and about 14 students, half of whom are from Ryerson.

    HitchBOT was designed as a social experiment to ask if robots can trust humans. The project re-verses the commonly asked ques-tion of whether or not humans can trust robots, an important ques-tion that we should never stop asking, Zeller said.

    HitchBOT has a bucket for a torso, blue pool noodles for limbs, yellow gloves for hands and yellow rubber boots for feet. Its head is made up of LED screens and encased in a clear dome. A solar panel wraps

    around its belly. The three-foot-tall robot

    weighs about 25 pounds. Its de-signed to be heavy enough to re-sist wind when sitting by the side of the road, but light enough to be lifted into vehicles. HitchBOT is incapable of moving places on its own. Its equipped with a camera and 3G internet so it can share photos on social media. The robot charges with solar panels or can be plugged into car light-ers for power. Its team can track it via GPS.

    After HitchBOTs successful trip across Canada, the team cre-ated a second model. The second HitchBOT had the same look as the original. The only changes were an icon to indicate when it needed recharging and upgrades to its lan-guage software.

    HitchBOT 2.0 went to Germany for 10 days in February 2015 and the Netherlands for three weeks in June 2015. It was dismembered in Philadelphia in August 2015, just two weeks into its journey across the United States causing sadness and outrage on social media.

    Zeller said she and the team were shocked by HitchBOTs destruc-tion. Before the Canadian tour, people kept asking the team if they were worried something bad would happen to the robot. The team re-plied that the risk was part of the experiment to learn if robots can trust humans, Zeller said.

    But HitchBOT was treated so well in Canada, Germany and the Netherlands that when it went to the United States, Zeller said she was not worried for it.

    When they sent us those im-ages of HitchBOT [with] the arms torn off, it wasnt nice, Zeller said.

    Because of the substantial amount of time and effort needed to manage HitchBOT, the project has been put on hold, Zeller said. The team will determine what to do next in the spring

    Expectations are so high. Its not just some little project you can run on a small budget now, Zeller said.illuSTraTiOn: jake SCOTT

    Eyeopener double Ad.indd 1 2016-01-17 6:43 PM

  • Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016 Biz & Tech 11

    Hey kid, wanna buy some code?

    Youth aged 12 to 17 learn how to code and build websites. photo courtesY: david kwok

    By Jacob Dub

    By Noella Ovid

    Flow, one of two ryerson exhibits at winter stations. photo courtesY: calvin Fung

    Ryerson Universitys department of architectural science has two winners in the 2016 Winter Sta-tions design competition.

    The installations being dis-played in next months exhibition are Lithoform by Rmi Carreiro and Aris Peci and Flow by Victor Huynh and Calvin Fung.

    The second annual design compe-tition requires architects to convert lifeguard stands into temporary pa-vilions, while responding to Toron-tos long and unpredictable winters in this years theme of freeze/thaw.

    The exhibition is set to run around lifeguard stands from Feb. 13 to March 20 across the Kew, Scarbor-ough and Balmy Beaches.

    Brought together by RAW De-sign, Ferris + Associates and Cu-rio, the winter festival was created to encourage Torontonians to cel-ebrate the citys winter waterfront landscape.

    We knew the city had little money for such things as new life-guard stands, why not run a com-petition to get new ones? wrote Ted Merrick, director of Ferris + Associates, via email.

    A total of seven teams have been

    selected to build their shelters in the upcoming exhibition.

    Our students look not only at design but ability to design, as op-posed to just designing a pretty pic-ture, said Vincent Hui, the profes-sor behind Ryersons teams.

    Fourth-year undergraduate stu-dents Carreiro and Peci entered the competition in the academic category as Ryerson Universitys faculty of engineering and archi-tectural sciences. The team used Rhinoceros, a 3D modeling pro-gram, to create their piece with everything designed to minimize the amount of construction done outside in the cold weather.

    We wanted to contribute something contextually relevant to our climate and location. With that in mind, we developed a de-sign influenced by the effects of frost wedging, where the continu-al freezing and thawing of water forms gradually deeper fissures in stone, Carreiro said via email.

    Lithoform is designed to mimic

    the process of frost formations with wedge-shaped chimneys that allow colourfully filtered light through to the interior wood structure.

    Architecturally, our installa-tion offers a more hands-on expe-rience for the user. It allows them to engage with the installation and touch it, feeling the soft interior in sharp contrast to the hard exterior shell, Peci wrote via email.

    Graduates Huynh and Fung were also chosen by the jury for being successful in the internation-al category.

    Based on redesigning the singu-lar ice crystal, they aimed to cre-ate Flow spiky, slot-fitted wood connections that mimic the geom-

    etry of snowflakes. The shelter will take a wave-like

    form with a partial arch, resem-bling domed snow structures like the quinzee (a shelter made by hol-lowing out a pile of settled snow). While there is no single type of fi-nal design outcome, the changing properties of the star-shaped mod-ule are to reflect the relationship between solid and liquid water.

    The material is able to exhibit that theme of freezing and thaw-ing being fluid and loose, but also freezing together and being solid, Fung said.

    They have entered their design into competitions and Fung will be using it for his thesis project.

    In a changing business landscape, more and more people have re-sorted to creating their own jobs in technology. ZerotoStartup, a program based at Ryerson Uni-versity and business firm Celes-tica, offers a class to teach youths aged 12 to 17 useful skills to make it in the technology world.

    Anandhi Narayanan from Ce-lestica and recent Ryerson gradu-ate David Kwok founded Zero-toStartup. It was created after a report from global management firm McKinsey & Company was released, detailing how low the unemployment rate was among youth aged 15-24 in Toronto, al-most double the national average.

    A team including former Ry-erson president Sheldon Levy came together to try and solve the problem, and ZerotoStartup was created.

    Canada is known to be great users of technology. We love our technology and we always buy them, we never create them,

    Kwok said. He says they created the 13-week program to help kids develop their ideas.

    They can have an idea, but where do you create? Wheres the next step? From February to May of last year, Kwok and his team worked on creating the con-tent for the curriculum. They then spent a couple months testing the program on pre-existing camps and workshops to get feedback. In July, they began signing people up for their inaugural program that ran from Sept. 19 to Dec. 19.

    The program was funded by Celestica and through Ryersons Brookfield Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

    During the final week, teams of students pitched their ideas to a group including representa-tives from Ryersons DMZ, the city of Toronto, Celestica and the non-profit STEAMLabs. Though there isnt any cash prize, the or-ganizations offer additional re-sources, mentorship and time to work on the products and start-ups theyre interested in.

    Kwok says that he didnt realize how important learning how to code was until later on in his stud-ies, but that its necessary for the kids and teens to have the tools to create their ideas.

    If theyre able to understand how technology works, it opens up a whole new world of pos-sibilities for them. I think thats whats exciting for these kids, to really understand at a young age, Kwok said.

    In the future, Kwok said they want to add fashion technology and wearables to their curricu-lum to make the program more accessible to girls, as well as en-courage more boys to get into fashion.

    ZerotoStartup already have about 15 kids signed up for their February to May program, ac-cording to Kwok. He says that this time around, they plan to run a smaller group to allow more com-munication.

    Were thinking of running with about 20 kids, so were able to sit down and mentor them and guide them. Help make the experience better for them, Kwok said.

    Though ZerotoStartup is get-ting international requests to li-cense their curriculum, theyre concentrating on replicating their program locally in Mississauga, and finding people they trust to teach the content.

    For more info on ZerotoStart-up, including their curriculum and their created youth startups, visit www.theeyeopener.com.

    Rye wins spots in winter exhibit

    ZerotoStartup offers a program to teach kids and teens about the business of tech

    Any questions, please contact Dawn Murray, RSU's Health & Dental Plan Administrator at 416-979-5255 x2311 or email at: [email protected]

    All full-time students just starting classes in the Winter term are charged a fee of $197.00 for the Members' Health and Dental Plan. The charge is reflected on your tuition fee statement and is a pro-rated amount for health and dental benefits provided by the Plan. Benefit coverage is from January 1st, 2016 until August 31, 2016.

    New students starting in the Winter term only can opt-out. If you did NOT opt out on line in fall term you cannot apply now for winter term deadline.

    for the Members' Health & Dental Plan

    WINTER

    DEADLINEDEADLINEOPT-OUTWINTER

    The Winter 2016 opt out refund will be applied to your RAMSS account as of March 1, 2016 *** If you remain on our plans with Green Shield, all claims are retroactive to JANUARY 1st- you will show active in system as of MARCH 1, 2016. Hold on to any original receipt for expense during the waiting period and come to our office and submit a manual claim to get reimbursed AFTER March 1st.

    The Winter term application to opt-out will be available ON LINE via www.mystudentplan.ca/rsu as of DECEMBER 15, 2015.

    If you are a new student just starting classes in the January 2016 Winter term and have comparable coverage of your own,

    DEADLINEOPT-OUT

    and have comparable coverage of your own,

    THE DEADLINE TO OPT-OUT ONLINEIS FRIDAY FEBRUARY 5, 2016AT 5:00 P.M. NO EXCEPTIONS TO THIS DEADLINE.

  • Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016SPORTS12

    Rams basketball gunning for top spot By Allan Perkins

    When the Ryerson womens bas-ketball team set an all-time pro-gram record for most points scored in a regular season game with 99 last Wednesday, head coach Carly Clarke sat on the bench with fold-ed arms, clearly displeased. After the game, she described herself as being pissed at how the last minute of the game went. She said they gave up too many offensive rebounds and didnt move the ball well on their final possession, both of which she considers unaccept-able.

    Even after rolling to a 99-61 victory over the York Lions and setting a record, Clarke said there was room for improvement. Not perfectionism but being critical of themselves on each possession and always striving for more, even when more seems hard to fathom. Its that kind of attitude that has earned the Rams the second overall ranking in the country.

    As of December, the Rams were at number three in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS). Last Tuesday, they updated their rank-ings, with Ryerson at number two, overtaking McGill University for second place in Canada. After a loss to Queens University Saturday night the Rams have dropped to fourth.

    Despite the fall its been quite the season for Ryerson. A blistering 6-1 start and a handful of blowout wins have made the women look destined for a deep playoff run.

    With three of the their top four scorers Keneca Pingue-Giles, Silvana Jez and Mariah Nunes

    in their last season in the Blue and Gold, winning for the Rams comes with a sense of urgency.

    The Rams attitude of constant improvement and critical self-re-flection is something theyve been building all season.

    Specifically were really focused on the process and making sure that were getting better every sin-gle day, Clarke said.

    Clarke added that the priority for each possession is to be the best that they can be in every trip down the floor, as well as on defence.

    Were really valuing, appreciat-ing and connecting at a new level I think on the floor and off the floor and were playing with and for each other, she said.

    It may sound easier said than done, but so far the Rams are actu-ally doing it this season.

    After the record win, Nunes said it wasnt the point total that she was impressed with, but how they shared the ball that night and how many people contributed, with all 11 Rams who saw playing time putting points on the board.

    I think the details and just making sure were focusing on the little things and just the ex-perience of even going to the CIS Championships, that all helped us take our game to the next level, Nunes said.

    So even in the wake of a 38-point, historic win, Clarke is able to find areas for improvement. Its Clarkes attitude and a determined Rams team that will find them once again pushing for that top spot as they face off against both Carleton University and the Ottawa GeeGees January 21 and 22.

    The Rams have five home games left on the year. PHOTO: Tagwa MOyO / aLLaN PERKINS

    This award is designed to recognize students within the Ryerson community who have contributed to campus life and building community at the Student Campus Centre as demonstrated through exceptional volunteerism. Awards are available to all undergraduate students, all continuing education and certificate students, and all graduates students who are enrolled and in good standing during Winter 2016.

    NOTE: Members of the Ryerson Students Union and the Continuing Education Students Association of Ryerson or the Ryerson Student Center Board and seniors enrolled through the Chang School are not eligible for this award.

    Applications Open Monday, Jan. 11, 2016 at 9am

    Applications Close Monday, Feb. 22, 2016 at 9pm

    SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATIONONLINE:ryersonstudentcentre.ca Successful applicants will be notified by March 18, 2016

    Annual awards:$500 x4for Continuing Educationstudents

    $2,000 x3for Undergraduate students

    $2,000 x3for Graduate students

    COMMUNITYBUILDER AWARD

    The Student Campus Centre

  • Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016 SportS 13

    Consistency key to Rams playoff successWith only seven games left in the regular season, Wise and the Rams are pushing for a playoff spot with an explosive special teams

    By Daniel Rocchi

    Through the first three quarters of the regular season, the Ryerson mens hockey team have struggled with consistency.

    According to their head coach, these final weeks are for leav-ing the early season behind and proving theyre a playoff-calibre team.

    Were a good team, [but] we have to work at being good, said head coach Graham Wise. We cannot go into any game thinking were good. We have to go out there and prove that were good.

    Prior to the start of the 2015-2016 campaign, Wise pinpointed consistency as the key to a suc-cessful year.

    We have to understand that you have to work hard right from the get-go through 28 games to be successful, he told the Eyeopen-er in October.

    Ryerson opened 2016 with a resounding 9-1 victory over archrival U of T, but dropped its next two games to Waterloo and Lakehead. The Rams managed to split the back-to-back against Lakehead with a 6-3 road win on Saturday night for their fourth win in their last ten games.

    Special teams have been partial-ly to blame for the Rams inabil-ity to find consistency. Ryersons powerplay ranks fourteenth out of 19 OUA teams, and seventh in the West division. The penalty kill is fifteenth in the league and only Toronto and Lakehead are worse in the West.

    But the Rams special teams have shown new life in the new year.

    In four games through 2016, Ryerson has already scored five powerplay goals on 19 opportuni-ties. The penalty kill, meanwhile, has killed off 17 of 20 opposition powerplays. The Rams have also exploded for four short-handed goals in January, leading the OUA with six.

    Ryerson has already scored five powerplay goals on 19 opportu-nities. In fact, Ryerson is tied for third in league powerplay percent-age in January with only McGill, York and Carleton more efficient on the man-advantage.

    You get into the playoffs and late into seasons, the teams that are sound defensively, get good goaltending and have strong spe-cial teams are usally the teams that win, said assistant coach Johnny Duco.

    First-year goaltender Taylor Dupuis has been solid in net with fifth-year Troy Passingham out with an injury. Passingham start-ed all 27 games for Ryerson last

    season, but hasnt played since Nov. 28. He didnt travel with the team to Lakehead, and Wise gave no timetable for his return.

    Dupuis is 3-3 in Passinghams absence, with a .925 save percent-age and a 2.50 goals-against aver-age over that span.

    Captain Michael Fine contin-ues to lead the Rams offense in goals (11), powerplay goals (4) and points (20), but Ryerson has enjoyed scoring depth this season. Five Rams have scored five goals or more, and 20 of 25 skaters have at least one.

    Ryerson returns home this

    week with a 10-11-0 record af-ter collecting a crucial two points in Thunder Bay, Ont. Saturdays win moved the Rams into sole possession of sixth place in the 10-team OUA West.

    The top eight seeds qualify for the playoffs, and Ryerson, Lauri-er, Brock and U of T are all within four points of one another.

    With only seven games left, Wise says it will take strong sys-tems and structured play to en-sure the Rams are playing past mid-February. And with what the Rams have done so far, the play-offs arent far off.

    The Rams look poised for another playoff run. PHOTO: FaRnia FekRi

    Research StudyThe role of the human gut microbiome in depression:

    Pathophysiology and impact on treatment

    You are invited to participate in a research study that is looking at changes that happen in your body when

    starting or changing an antidepressant

    You may be eligible to participate if you:

    are between the ages of 18 60have problems with depression

    not currently taking a psychiatric medication

    You will be reimbursed for your participation

    For more information call Asem Bala 416-351-3732 ext. 2301 or email [email protected]

  • 14 arts and life Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016

    Oakham House Choir performs at Carnegie Hall

    The Oakham House Choir performing at St. Patricks Catholic Church. PHOTO COurTeSy: OakHam HOuSe CHOir

    The Oakham House Choir per-formed in a collaborative concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City on Jan. 18 representing not only Ryerson, but all of Canada.

    Alongside 280 singers, the Oakham choir participated in The Music of Karl Jenkins: A Concert for Peace.

    We feel very proud, said Brenda Millar, the choir manager. They [were all] wearing Cana-dian pins that one of our members got from their MP.

    The choir festival was organized by Distinguished Concerts Inter-national New York and they invit-ed choirs from all over the world.

    Its the opportunity to perform on a large stage and work with professionals, said Millar. This performance at Carnegie Hall is very exciting and many of those

    By Olivia Bednar

    RTA thesis film shines light on stigma surrounding mental illness

    A group of fourth-year RTA stu-dents highlight the difficulties of coping with mental illness in a small town in their thesis film, If a Bird Cannot Swim.

    Set in Midland, Ont., the story captures the struggles of a broken French Canadian family crippled and silenced by the stigma sur-rounding mental health and gen-der identity.

    Coylan Subben, the writer and director, based many elements of the film on different periods of his life and many of the charac-ters on people he grew up sur-rounded by.

    I kept discussing [the thesis film] last summer and started en-visioning characters. There was this one incident that marked me this girl was having a panic attack and her family [wasnt] pulling through for her and that

    started building up the inspira-tion for the main character, No-emi, said Subben. I saw a lot of these elements of depression and not being able to control your life in myself and my friends growing up.

    Their choice behind Midland as the setting is due to the large population of French Canadian families there. Danielle Pirita, one of two producers, wanted a rural setting to further highlight the familys struggles.

    The idea of mental illness in a big metropolitan city makes it slightly easier to deal with in the sense that you have so much ac-cess to resources and support, said Pirita. However, in a small town with people who have a more traditional way of thinking, its stereotypically harder for peo-ple to deal with someone having a mental illness.

    Art Director Gabriella Bevilac-

    qua was in charge of the films overall appearance and decided to base it in an old Victorian home in Midland.

    For the film, we did a 1960s aesthetic, a very vintage sort of feel, said Bevilacqua. Because we were filming in Midland, it has a nostalgic, charming feel and I thought it complimented the set-ting.

    The film took five days of shoot-ing to realize Subbens vision, and the group is now in the process of applying for festivals around Can-ada and Europe to showcase. To fund their project the group host-ed a Halloween party at BLND TGER on College St. and a por-tion of the proceeds went towards production, while approximately $1,000 was donated to the Fam-ily Association for Mental Health Everywhere (FAME).

    To read the rest of the article visit theeyeopener.com!

    who [were] able to go said it [had] been on their bucket list of things to do.

    The choir performed Jenkins classic The Armed Man: Mass for Peace and had the chance to rehearse personally with the com-poser in New York City a few days prior to their performance. Music director Matthew Jaskiewicz used Jenkins presence at the concert as inspiration to perfect the piece over a six-month rehearsal period.

    We [were] very excited that Karl Jenkins of that masterwork [was going to be] there, Jaskie-wicz said. He is like a God in the chorus scene.

    Jade Chiasson-Hould, the stu-dent president of the choir, also said simply being invited to per-form was a great honour and an opportunity to share [their] love of music.

    It was an experience of a life-

    time, said Millar. We will trea-sure [this] as we carry forward [the] many lessons [we] learned to our rehearsals and concerts at Oakham House and beyond.

    The Carnegie Hall performance wasnt the choirs only milestone, 2015/16 also marked their 30th

    anniversary. Jaskiewicz and for-mer Ryerson English professor Marie Dowler established the choir in 1984.

    That was a long time ago and it was a tiny group which eventu-ally grew and became what it is now, said Jaskiewicz.

    eric Osborne portraying the character matto.

    By Lauryn Pierro

    PHOTO COurTeSy: Subaqua PrOduCTiOnS

    I find it unbelievably amazing that the Oakham House Choir has reached such a milestone with its 30th anniversary, Chaisson-Hould said.

    The choir currently has approx-imately 80 singers and is always looking for more people to join.

    Expecting to Spring 2016?Graduate thisDont forget to GRADUATE!APPLY to

    Nov 1 - Feb 22 (no fee)Feb 23 - Mar 11 ($50 late fee)

    Apply through RAMSSVisit ryerson.ca/curriculumadvising/graduate for more information

  • Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016 fun 15

    illustratioN: Katie swyers

    Art attackBy Skyler Ash

    Were you one of many adults to get a stress-reducing colouring book this holiday season? Think twice before you sharpen your pencils, experts warn. Studies have found adult colouring books that promise to lower your stress levels are actually doing the op-posite.

    In a clinical study run over the course of three days, it was found that participants stress levels in-creased by 40 per cent while they were colouring.

    Colouring just isnt healthy for adults. Thats why most adults arent artists, its a risky lifestyle full of unknowns and stressors, said Dr. Renee Lynch, the leading researcher for the study.

    The study revealed that all par-

    ticipants experienced a significant increase in their production of adrenaline, cortisol and norepi-nephrine, the three major stress hormones.

    Dr. Lynch said that the stress increases she saw in the partici-pants of the study were unhealthy. When the body releases these hormones, it can be harmful, es-pecially when youre trying to re-lax, she said.

    I cant justify sitting down for three hours to colour a tiger, said Matthew Razzle, a 27-year-old accountant. Razzle said that the thought of even picking up a co-loured pencil puts him in a cold sweat.

    When I colour, I just get ner-vous. All the lines on the page seem so small and I get the shakes, said Razzle. Colouring doesnt de-

    stress me. The thought of even looking at a picture makes me sick.

    My kids love colouring, but I dont, said Evie Stacks, a 36-year-old mother of two who participated in the study. Stacks said that she can no longer bear to sit at a craft table when her kids are drawing. Stacks said her heart rate soars at the thought of having to sit and colour with her children.

    Dr. Lynch said that the symp-toms displayed by Razzle and Stacks sweating, shaking, nausea and increased heart rate are all indicators of stress brought on by colouring.

    Elizabeth Tyre, a 39-year-old lawyer, said that she was given a Paris-themed colouring book to complete during the study. I still lie awake at night thinking about those stupid little cobblestone streets, said Stacks.

    Elliot Lightlake, a 25-year-old student in the business manage-ment program at Ryerson Uni-versity had to leave the retreat suddenly when he collapsed while colouring a butterfly. Po-lice say he suffered an art attack.

    They were taking him out on the stretcher and he just kept screaming that the butterflies were getting him, said Tyre. It was scary. It made me realize what colouring can do to people and how bad it can get.

    We ended up burning all of the colouring books on the third day, said Dr. Lynch. They just couldnt handle it anymore. It had to be done.

    Tyre said she was the first to throw her book in the fire. [I] just sent that thing right back to hell where it came from, said Tyre.

    Dr. Lynch recommends that adults who own colouring books also purge them in a burning pit of hellfire. By doing so, the stress will burn away too.

    SudokuDrop off your completed sudoku with your contact info to The Eyeopener office (SCC 207) for a chance to win a $25 Starbucks card! Good luck, nerds!

    Capricorn (Dec 22 Jan20) Stop, just stop with all the lies. You know what you did, now go! I never want to see you again!Aquarius (Jan 21 Feb 19)You know that thing you did in the fifth grade that was really embarrassing? Were judging you. Pisces (Feb 20 Mar 20)Hey little fish, youre good. Keep on swimming, fish, keep swimming. Aries (Mar 21 Apr 19)Always look good. In the words of Leslie Knope: Google Earth,always takin pics.Taurus (Apr 20 May 20) No offence, but I hate you. Get it together. Gemini (May 21 Jun 20)Study more (last semester was shameful and Im not above calling your parents).

    Cancer (Jun 21 Jul 22)Talk to a stranger tell them to get a job, or to start contributing posi-tively to society. Leo (Jul 23 Aug 22)Saturn is aligned, something good will happen. Maybe your mother will finally say shes proud of you!Virgo (Aug 23 Sep 22)So, this is a little awkward, but umm theres something in your teeth. Everyone can see it. Libra (Sep 23 Oct 22)Let all your worries go this week. How else are you supposed to make room for all those new worries?Scorpio (Oct 23 Nov 21)Of course people like you! Youre so nice and really cool!Sagittarius (Nov 22 Dec 21)Do you think Scorpio bought that crap? Probably, that vain bastard.

    Want to write for the fun section? Email [email protected] for more info!

    Adult colouring books must be stopped

    The Standard Travel Backpack. Its a damn good bag.

    Itll fit into any airplane carry-on space & you can use it as a backpack, briefcase or messenger bag. Spend more time enjoying your trip and less time

    hoping your suitcase made it on the plane.

    And the Eyeopener and Standard Luggage want you to have one!

    Just post a comment on the Eyeopener Facebook page, letting us know where youd like to go with your Standard Travel Backpack and youll be entered to win!

    Contest closes Friday February 5th at noon.Many thanks to Standard Luggage for donating their excellent product.

  • Wednesday, Jan. 20, 201616

    Need a break from your books for a quick bite or refreshment? 10 Dundas East is just around the corner to satisfy your craving. Were only a short walk from class, right at Yonge & Dundas.

    Baskin RobbinsBlaze Pizza California ThaiCaribbean QueenChipotleCurry & Co.DAVIDsTEA

    HarveysMII SANDWICH CO. Now OpenMilos PitaOpa! Souvlaki Poptopia/Yoyos Yogurt CafReal Fruit Bubble Tea

    Saut RosStarbucksSubwayThe Beer Store ExpressTim HortonsWine Rack

    RestaurantsJack Astors Bar & GrillMilestones Grill & BarShark ClubSpring Sushi

    IN THE FOOD COURT

    FREE WIFI

    JAN20P1JAN20P2JAN20P3JAN20P4JAN20P5JAN20P6JAN20P7JAN20P8JAN20P9JAN20P10JAN20P11JAN20P12JAN20P13JAN20P14JAN20P15JAN20P16