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Family and Cosmetic Dentistry New and Emergency Patients Welcome STUDENT AND STAFF DENTAL PLANS ACCEPTED FOR DIRECT PAYMENT FREE TEETH WHITENING WITH COMPLETE EXAM AND CLEANING experience insight know SINCE 1906 westerngazette.ca TUESDAY, JANUARY 5, 2016 WESTERN UNIVERSITY’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER VOLUME 109 ISSUE 27 missing flights since 1906 JENNY JAY GAZETTE The art of satire The creator of Western Beet, a Western spinoff of the Onion, on humour wiriting MORE ON PAGE 7

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• Family and Cosmetic Dentistry •• New and Emergency Patients Welcome •

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JENNY JAY GAZETTE

The art of satireThe creator of Western Beet,

a Western spinoff of the Onion, on humour wiriting MORE ON PAGE 7

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2 • TUESDAY, JANUARY 5, 2016 www.westerngazette.ca •

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KNOW

Team Sophie on track with their campaign promises

Many of their platform goals have been accomplished according to the USC execs, including mental health accommodation for exams and improved LTC bus routes. PG 4

INSIGHT

Making your New Years resolution actually work for you

Every year, many people set out to accomplish a long list of resolu-tions, namely attending the gym. But to make it work, this list should be realistic for your lifestyle. PG 6

EXPERIENCE

Our favourite artists that lied to us in 2015

Several musicians disappointed fans last year after promising to release a new album but never following through.

PG 10

Finding a job after university can often be a daunting and difficult task for the naïve 20-something-year-old. It’s especially difficult for the students who major in degrees that vaguely offer “limitless opportunities.” In such programs, the weight is usually put on the student to personally seek those opportunities, instead of having a clear path laid out for them.That is why Western’s own Natalie Allen, a professor in psychology, took it upon herself to create a website dedicated to aiding students in their quest for employment.

Starting sometime in the middle of 2011, Allen began noticing a trend amongst her students that was a cause for concern.

“A lot of students at my office would ask me, ‘what am I going to do now that I’m finished?’” Allen recalls. “Well the answer is you do very many things, but they’re not all predictable. It was really the twists and turns of people’s stories that I became interested in.”

It then dawned on Allen that what students needed was a little insight into the job market. So she created Work Story, a website that provides apprehensive post-undergraduates with multiple stories from alumni who work in fields such as communications, fashion and journalism.  

“I wanted it to be an initiative that would be one more resource in somebody’s toolbox while they were thinking about jobs; most of us do not know very much about a lot of jobs, we know only about a handful of jobs,” Allen says.

And it’s partly true. Many people cannot name more than 150 different jobs. Allen figured this out when she asked her students to make a list of as many jobs as they could think of.

“Inevitably you get the same ones over and over again: doctor, lawyer, teacher, firefighter, etc. And what I realized is that we come equipped with that set of jobs but we never look to see what else is out there. We never know about those obscure jobs until someone one day, at a party or something, says I do such and such.”

What many people do not realize is that pretty much any skill can become marketable. It just requires a bit of hustle.

“It’s definitely tough. There’s no denying that it’s tough, but there have been a lot of generations that have faced tough labour markets,” she says. “Employers do hire people with so-called soft skills too because they need somebody who can provide communications skills and writing skills.

“I think it’s very easy for a student to fall into the trap of thinking ‘I don’t have the exact degree that is the obvious one so I better not even try to apply or I’ll be looked at like an idiot.’ Yes, if they need a mechanical degree you can’t fake that with a history degree. The truth is that employers are more interested in smarts, clear communications skills and hard work than we realize,” Allen says.

Allen decided that to help communicate to students the reality of the job market, she would focus on stories rather than statistics.

“We want to inspire people and inform them and I think the way to do that is through stories of people who were once, not very long ago, in their shoes,” she says.

■MOSES MONTERROZA

PROFILE NATALIE ALLEN

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Western student shot by sniper in West BankRITA RAHMATI NEWS EDITOR@RITAATGAZETTE

On Dec. 11, a Western University PhD student was shot in the West Bank, sparking public outcry.

Rehab Nazzal, a PhD student in the visual arts department, is in the region studying the effect of unmanned robotic weapons and surveillance systems on civilians. Along with continuing her educa-tion, Nazzal lectures part-time.

Nazzal, who is a Canadian cit-izen, said in an interview that she had just left a class she was lecturing at Dar Al-Kalima University College of Arts and Culture when she saw people running madly from some-thing. She went to see what they were running from and realized skunk gas was being sprayed. As she usually does in these types of situations, she was getting ready to photograph what was happening.

“Of course I’m trying to avoid the spray that they are spraying,” Nazzal said. “I read about it a lot, it’s horrible, it’s a crime by itself to spray people.”

As she walked to a seemingly safe area to photograph, Nazzal was shot.

“I didn’t know it was a bullet,” she said. “I didn’t know. I didn’t realize at all. It was just like a cigarette stain on your skin. And I looked down and there was blood everywhere, but still I didn’t realize, [there was] that sense of denial. Suddenly an ambu-lance was coming towards me and I thought it was coming for someone else actually.”

The incident has been covered by national and international media outlets and has incited outrage.

“I feel appalled at the circum-stances that she has found herself in,” said Jamelie Hassan, a renowned artist who has known Nazzal for many years.

“Basically the message is, ‘okay if you’re walking down the streets in Bethlehem, it’s Christmas and you’re carrying a camera, you might get shot.’ ”

Following the incident, Nazzal has been in communication with Western faculty and has received support from them.

“I was shocked and very con-cerned,” said Patrick Mahon, profes-sor and graduate chair in the visual arts department. “My number one concern is always for the safety of our students no matter where they

are going.”About a week after the incident,

Nazzal said she is coping well. “I’m doing much better,” she

said. “The first week was hor-rible. The wound was internally infected, I had a fever, I couldn’t sleep and the shock — mainly the shock of what happened — was incomprehensible.”

She believes she will make a full recovery and is thankful she was not shot in a more serious area such as her spine. Nazzal is happy to be alive and is very grateful for the support she has received from around the world.

David Heap, undergraduate program co-director for arts and humanities, and Nazzal created a petition in response to the incident. The petition calls on the Canadian foreign minister and ambassador to Israel to condemn the shooting and demand the violence against unarmed civilians stop. The petition has a goal of 3,000 signatures and is at 2,197 as of Monday evening.

“The Canadian government needs to step up and challenge Israel on these actions,” Hassan said. n

LYAC opens Western councillor applicationsAMY O’KRUK NEWS EDITOR@AMYATGAZETTE

For Western students interested in gaining political know-how, Western’s University Students’ Council isn’t the only route. Yesterday, the London Youth Advisory Council opened appli-cations for its 2016-17 Western Councillor position after its suc-cessful pilot year.

“We’re bringing it back for a second year because we want to build upon the work that has been done so far,” said LYAC council dir-ector Kayley MacGregor. “We felt that there was a need to create a Western representative because [it’s] a community with it’s own distinct concerns and perspectives.”

The youth council is a 15-mem-ber group of young people aged 15 to 25 who make sure London’s youths’ voices are included in local public policy decisions. Fourth-year

political science student and LYAC’s first Western representative Kyle Sholes said the position’s inaugural year was challenging but worthwhile.

“There was a big learning curve coming in to a brand new position, mostly because I didn’t have a clear job description,” Sholes said. “[It] gave me the opportunity to learn on the job and shape the position myself.”

During Shole’s term, he said the council pursued many advocacy initiatives. LYAC’s weekly meetings led to discussions on the issues surrounding the London Police Service’s street checks, Uber’s effects on the city and the youth implica-tions of raising the minimum wage.

Moving forward, LYAC council director Kayley MacGregor said LYAC’s Western representative will be in a unique position to collab-orate with his or her predecessor.

“Since the Western councillor is elected through the USC elections

and the rest of the LYAC council is elected in May, this year’s incom-ing Western councillor will have an overlap from February to May with the current Western councillor,” she said. “The incoming and outgoing councillors will have the opportun-ity to collaborate together during the overlap in their terms.”

Sholes said Western students should apply for the position if they’re interested in becoming involved in the larger London com-munity and breaking out of the the Western bubble.

“As Western students we spend four or more years living in a diverse, vibrant, and lively city, yet we often don’t stray very far from either the two or six bus lines,” Sholes said. “As part of the LYAC, London opens up to you.”

Applications for the Western Representative are open from January 4 to 22 at 4 p.m. and can be found at www.lyac.ca. n

USC opens candidate nominationsDRISHTI KATARIA NEWS EDITOR@DRISHTATGAZETTE

The spring 2016 elections process for the University Students’ Council has kicked off with nominations period opening on Monday.

Potential candidates can obtain the forms from the USC’s web-site or by visiting the USC’s main office. Candidates running for sen-ator or the Board of Governors can obtain forms from the University Secretariat’s website.

Andrew Chorney, Chief Returning officer said there are three separate forms for faculty councilor positions, faculty president and the president, vice-president slate.

Nomination period will close on January 22 4 p.m. and they will have an all candidates meeting at 5 p.m. that day. The forms must be submit-ted to the USC main office.

USC is using a variety of media outlets to spread information about the nominations period to students at large.

“We’re trying to get it out to as many people as possible, doing an email to all the faculty presidents just to keep pushing that out, we do want to see a huge influx of candi-dates this year,” said Chorney.

They have sent a press release to various media outlets, have posted information on USC’s Facebook page, website and a Twitter and Facebook account for the elections committee is in the works.

“Right now they’re in the process of garnering followers before they release anything,” he said.

Chorney also mentioned that they’ve redesigned the elections website and it will be launched sometime in the middle of this week.

“In terms of submissions, there has not been one yet. That’s quite common, from what I’ve been told

we typically see 85 to 90 per cent from what I’ve been told to happen at like 3:30 on the last day of the nomination,” he said.

However, they will receive sub-missions on a rolling basis and will be processing them as they come in.

“I think we’ve seen a great num-ber of candidates come out in gen-eral, I’m hoping for more this year but we’ll have to wait and see,” said Chorney. n

• • •

How nominate yourself for a USC position

• Fill out a nomination form found at USC main office or online • Gather between six and 28 nomination signatures (depending on position).• Pay $25 candidate bond.• Submit completed appli-cation to USC room 340 be-fore Friday, Jan. 22 at 4 p.m.

• • •

Page 4: Tuesday, January 5, 2016

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4 • TUESDAY, JANUARY 5, 2016 www.westerngazette.ca •

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Team Sophie accomplishes most goals set out in campaign platformHAMZA TARIQ BREAKING NEWS EDITOR@HAMZAATGAZETTE

Towards the end of January 2015, Team Sophie came out with a 16-page platform to kick off their election campaign for the USC’s top political office. A year later, they have accomplished most of what they set out to do.

Team Sophie’s platform con-tained the collaborative vision of University Students’ Council presi-dent Sophie Helpard, vice-presi-dent internal Alex Benac and vice-president external Lindsee Perkins. Helpard was unavailable to comment in time for publication of this story.

Mental health was a major topic of discussion during last year’s election. Team Sophie promised students advocacy and lobbying for exam accommodation on mental wellness grounds, inclusion of infor-mation on mental health resources on OWL and course syllabi, an improved Peer Support Centre and a president’s commission on mental wellness.

Efforts to have the information on course syllabi weren’t successful, however, mental health resources details will soon be available on OWL for all students. The execu-tives’ recommendations on mental wellness accommodation policy were also endorsed by the associate deans and are set to appear before the Senate soon.

“We wanted to make sure the policy was accessible to students for them to determine whether or not they should seek accommodation and to recognize that mental health is a worthy and valid reason to seek that sort of accommodation,” Benac said.

The PSC was renovated and reopened on the second floor of the University Community Centre. The centre includes a full-time psycho-therapist from Western’s Student Development Centre and improved training and recruitment of volun-teers. The president’s commission on mental health is expected to come out some time during the second term.

Team Sophie also promised to advocate to release exam schedules earlier to allow students to better plan their studying schedules and make travel arrangements.

So far, first semester exam schedules weren’t released earlier than usual and the USC executive has cited a lacking of funding and resources on the University’s part as the reason for the delay.

According to Benac, the exec-utives have been having conver-sations with student senators and the registrar’s office and a position needs to be created to help release the exam schedules earlier.

“What it comes down to as many things at the university, is more funding. So the reason we aren’t able to get the exam schedules out as early as we want is because… in order to get the schedules that much earlier that much more work needs to be done,” he said.

Kevin Hurren, USC communi-cations officer, added the USC will be recommending to allocate funding for the position in the university’s next budget cycle. The budgeting and hiring process will delay early exam schedules for at least another semester.

In terms of external advocacy, the USC has built good work-ing relationships with the mayor

and city councillors, according to Perkins. Her advocacy efforts with the LTC led to improvements in new routes, including the 2 and 6, which are regularly used by students. She also held an LTC forum to increase student feedback on bus services.

“I think that’s definitely com-plete because we can see those [LTC] improvements being made in the short term and the long term,” she said.

Team Sophie made a point in their platform to increase communi-cation with first-year students by paying weekly visits to residences.

The visits have been really help-ful with feedback and has helped the USC connect with students, Benac said.

Last semester, Helpard took University President Amit Chakma on her residence visit to Ontario Hall and had a good time connecting with students.

“It has helped us engage with the students to let them know who we are, what we do so and if they ever wanted to get involved or had a question they could come to us,” Perkins said.

Other accomplishments of the executive include efforts to improve the Mustang Express service and increasing accessibility of the King’s/Brescia shuttle service by including bus times on the Western app. In addition to Team Sophie’s platform promises, the USC made executive composition changes that will come into effect with the 2016 election cycle, USC by-law reforms to improve the elections process and successfully advocat-ing the university for a sexual vio-lence prevention and education coordinator position. n

Team Sophie Platform Review

Major accomplishments

Major ongoing projects

Incomplete projects

•Exam accommodation for mental wellness grounds

•Mental health map on OWL

•Peer Support Centre renewal

•Weekly resident visits by USC executives

•Focus on London and building relationships with city stakeholders

•Improved LTC service for students

•Improving Mustang Express service

•Increased accessibility to King’s/Brescia bus service

•Releasing exam schedules earlier

•Restorative justice ticketing for students

•Course syllabus enhancement to include mental health options

•Better library hours during Reading Week

JENNIFER FELDMAN GAZETTE

Page 5: Tuesday, January 5, 2016

• www.westerngazette.ca TUESDAY, JANUARY 5, 2016 • 5

insight

Gamal Assaad’s goals go beyond the CIS

Third year engineering student an Olympic hopeful

SHANE ROBERTS SPORTS EDITOR@SHANEATGAZETTE

It was over a decade ago when a small eight-year-old boy named Gamal Assaad first found his passion for swimming.

This passion was discovered more than 10,000 km from London, Ontario, in Assaad’s home country of Saudi Arabia.

After gym class one day, his teacher sug-gested to his parents that Assaad sign up for private swimming lessons. After some time in private lessons, he eventually transi-tioned into a swimming club.

Assaad attributes his family’s move to Canada in his formative years as a large factor in the development of his career as a swimmer.

“Everything was more performance-based rather than just having fun,” said Assaad of the transition to swimming in Canada. “It didn’t take the fun out of it though. It’s just it had a little bit more of a drive to it.”

Upon arriving in Canada, Assaad started swimming with the North York Aquatic Club before moving to Oakville and joining the Oakville Aquatic Club, where his coaches instilled the mental toughness and discipline that was needed for Assaad to excel in the sport.

“They made us work hard,” said Assaad. There was no joke in that club. The top group that we were in, it was just one of those things where if you want to be there you needed to prove that you needed to be there.”

All the hard work with the Oakville Aquatic Club led to great results for Assaad in high school, something that made him a highly desired athlete for university swimming teams across North America. He garnered interest not just from universities across Canada, but also American universities, such as Columbia University in New York City.

Although he had a lot of options, the deci-sion to come to Western was relatively easy for Assaad.

“The reason I picked Western is because of the coaching staff,” Assaad said. “Ken [Fitzpatrick] was an Olympic captain and Paul [Midgley] has sent, I think, three people to the Olympic Games and it’s one of those things where those credentials were pretty hard to beat.”

Assaad also fell in love with the campus when he came on a recruiting visit. He thought it was better than all the other campuses he had seen and it was exactly what he had pic-tured a stereotypical university to look like. The strong reputation of the engineering pro-gram at Western, which Assaad is now a part of, was also a big selling point.

To this day, Assaad is happy with the choice he made three years ago to attend Western. However, it has been a lot of work and Assaad admits he struggles to balance both academics and athletics.

“You get to kind of this point where some-thing’s gotta give,” he said. “Whether it’s sleep or school or swimming, something at some point is going to break. And it’s sitting there and deciding what it’s going to be on that day.”

“I always consult Paul [Midgley] with those things,” he added.

Head coach Midgley also advises Assaad on aspects of his swimming technique he needs to improve on. The expectation this semester is to win gold in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport 100-metre butterfly, but Assaad also has his eyes set on a more important race in April, when he will be swimming in the Canadian Olympic trials in Toronto. There, he hopes to qualify for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics this summer in the 100-metre butterfly.

To be able to compete with the best 100-metre butterfly swimmers in Canada and

around the world, he needs to find a way to overcome some challenges.

“In that event those guys are usually mus-cular dudes and I’m still not as big as they are,” Assaad explained. “So they’re out to the 50-metre mark a lot faster than I am. And that’s something we’re trying to work on, is try and get myself close enough to them at the halfway mark.”

If Assaad makes the Olympic Games this summer, he will rely on past experiences he has had at international events. After his first year at Western, he made the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Scotland for the 100-metre butterfly. Although he was disappointed with his result – he finished fifth in his heat – it was important for him to experience swimming under the pressure at such a young age.

“It’s a little bit of a shocker when you walk up to your race and there’s two guys with cameras about three feet away from your face,” he said. “If you ever watch a video of my face in the first race that I did it was really kind of terrifying.

“The race after that I felt a little bit more

comfortable but I was still pretty scared and it’s what I guess everyone would kind of expect it to be when it comes with media,” he added. “They’re everywhere.”

Even if Assaad doesn’t make the Olympic Games this summer, he still plans to train for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo as well.

But before he has to worry about the Olympic trials, there is some business that needs to be taken care of with the Mustangs’ swimming team this season.

The Mustangs’ first big meet of the season is the Ontario University Athletics champion-ships, which will be hosted on campus from Feb. 11 to 13 at the Western Rec Centre. Here, Assaad hopes to defend his gold medal in the 100-metre butterfly.

Two weeks later, Assaad and his teammates will travel to Quebec City to compete at the CIS Championships at Laval University from Feb. 26 to 28. In Quebec City, Assaad expects to improve on his second-place finish at the CIS 100-metre butterfly last year and win his first CIS title. n

GAMALASSAAD

Most hated rival:Doesn’t hate

Most embarassing music on your iPod:Justin Bieber and One Direction

Nickname on the team: G Mall or Gams

Cats or dogs:Dogs

Pre-game meal:Pasta and steak

Favourite pro sports team: FC Barcelona Favourite cereal:

Nesquik

Favourite colour:Orange

Superpower:To �y

Dream vacation:Maldives

Favourite music artists:John Mayer and Jason Mraz

You get to kind of this point where something’s gotta give … Whether it’s sleep or school or swimming, something at some point is going to break. And it’s sitting there and deciding what it’s going to be.GAMAL ASSAADTHIRD YEAR MUSTANGS SWIMMER

JORDAN MACGAVIN GAZETTE

Page 6: Tuesday, January 5, 2016

6 • TUESDAY, JANUARY 5, 2016 www.westerngazette.ca •

insight

ROBERT NANNI ARTS & LIFE EDITOR@ROBERTATGAZETTE

As 2015 becomes a thing of the past, students try to leave behind the poor life choices they’ve made. Claiming that “this year will be different” while preaching “new year, new me” to anyone with ears, 2016 offers a promise to completely revamp one’s lifestyle. However, it’s never as easy as it sounds.

A new year means a new begin-ning and while this can be a good checkpoint to reevaluate and adjust, London psychotherapist Emily Beeckmans finds that people often set unrealistic goals.

“Absolutely embrace the new year,” says Beeckmans. “It’s a new start, let go of 2015, but be honest of the things that anyone can real-istically achieve.”

Beeckmans finds that people often want a quick fix — to press a button and have their whole life change — but that simply won’t happen.

“With baby steps it can help people take on new challenges and start fresh,” she explains. “On

the other hand, it can make people overload themselves and start from square one again.”

This overload stems from weight loss companies and fitness centres who promise quick and noticeable results, trying to turn a profit on people’s New Year’s resolutions.

“That’s capitalism; it sets us up to want what we can’t have,” Beeckmans says. “It’s constantly making you need something.”

With this in mind, the Western Student Recreational Centre is seeing an influx of students trying to redefine their lives — and their bodies.

Fourth-year economics student Cynthia Wu notes there seemed to be a greater density of students around the treadmills and equip-ment area on Monday afternoon.

However, Beeckmans believes it takes more than frequenting the gym to make a change and that it’s actually a holistic and multifaceted effort.

“It’s recognizing ‘How can I fit this within my lifestyle of who I am so I enjoy it?’ ’” she says. “That’s more realistic than ‘I’m going to go to a power class every day and

become a body builder.’ ”Any life change requires a cer-

tain transition period and is sub-ject to the occasional relapse. The focus moving forward is how these challenges can be overcome, in an attempt to ensure the resolution is followed through.

“Use your friends to inspire and motivate each other to continue going,” says Megan Roth, a fifth-year interdisciplinary medical sciences and physiology student.

A New Year’s resolution is not meant to uproot and transform someone’s life at the stroke of mid-night, but rather to adjust and shape some problem areas so that they become less troublesome over time.

“I think that having realistic expectations and understanding that it’s taken you a long time to develop these habits will help you stick to your New Year’s resolution,” Beeckmans offers. “It’s likely going to take a long time to get rid of [your old habits].”

Roth is quick to agree, further identifying long-term planning as equally important to sustaining motivation.

Mustang athletes share their New Year's resolutions

Greg DoddsMen's hockey goaltender

"Eat less pizza and let in less goals."

Sydney NewtonWomen's volleyball defensive specialist

"Make more time to study further in advance for midterms."

Katie McKennaWomen's volleyball outside hitter

"Attend class more o�en."

Rachel McCormackRingette defenceman

“Prioritize my time. I'm o� to a great start: I bought an agenda.”

Kendra BroadWomen's hockey forward

"Worry less and be a better leader."

Lacey HrynykWomen's volleyball le� back

"Travel more."

Aja GyimahWomen's volleyball right side

"Make the OUA final four and then the CIS championships."

Brittany DorsRingette forward

"Stop stress eating and prepare healthier and a larger variety of meals."

HOW TO KEEP YOUR NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS THIS YEAR

BE REAL WITH

YOURSELFMake sure that at the outset you don’t make goals like “lose 130 lbs” or “learn fluent Spanish within a month.” Chances are, with goals like these, you’ll inevitably fail.

1

TRACK YOUR

PROGRESSOnce you begin your new year’s resolution don’t just expect it to proceed accordingly. If you plan on losing weight, make sure to track your progress so you can tweak your workouts and stay on track.

2

DON’T GIVE UP

When the going gets rough, the tough get going. When you’re tempted to throw those language books in the garbage, eat that ice cream cake, stop yourself and keep at it.

3

BABY STEPS

If you’re planning on becoming more financially responsible, it will most definitely take time. Start out with small things like tracking your purchases and work your way up to developing healthy spending habits.

4

CREATE A REWARD SYSTEM

Rewarding yourself is a good way of maintaining that goal. Be careful though, a cheat day can quickly become an all you can eat pizza fest.

5

Sources: webmd.com, life.gaiam.com

Powering through New Year’s resolutions

“It’s all about goal setting,” she says, explaining that she and Wu want to improve their physique for Roth’s trip to Thailand this summer and Wu’s planned trip to Europe.

Ultimately, Beeckmans identifies small successes and rewards as key

to maintaining long term goals.“Set your ideal wish list and then

set a second set of realistic goals within your life,” she says. “Set up your life so you can have daily suc-cesses that inspire you to keep on going the next day.” n

JENNIFER FELDMAN GAZETTE

Page 7: Tuesday, January 5, 2016

• www.westerngazette.ca TUESDAY, JANUARY 5, 2016 • 7

insight

RICHARD JOSEPH ARTS & LIFE EDITOR@RJATGAZETTE

Brevity is the soul of wit and you can’t beat snappy headlines like “Child is born, raised in Spoke Café line during morning rush.”

It’s just one of the stories from The Western Beet, a satirical news site focused on and around the university campus. The headlines are accompanied by a photo and a brief article—“Guy casually asked to watch laptop swears oath to protect it” and “Lone, douche student using 4-Person table in Centre Spot to study during lunch rush,” are other notable examples.

A.J. Wineck, a fifth-year econom-ics student, is the driving force and sole writer for the Western Beet. It started as his final project for ENG3915: The Politics of Comedy, and it grew from there. The site’s popularity skyrocketed in December and the Facebook page currently has over 1,500 likes. The name is a riff on the Onion, but with a purple Western twist.

In fact, Wineck cites the Onion as his main inspiration.

“I read the Onion almost every day,” he says. “They will either be spot on about something, or incred-ibly over the top about it, so I try to mirror that.”

John Vanderheide from Huron’s department of English, who teaches the class Politics of Comedy, notes satire has had many different forms over time — from Ancient Greek plays, to the novel, to the sitcom. Even a meme, says Vanderheide, a “composition of an image with an incongruent caption,” has been around in some form for centuries.

“The hardest thing [for the blog] is just thinking of something really

funny,” says Wineck. “I could think something is hilarious in my head and write it down — then friends will tell me no, that doesn’t make any sense. It’s just about being confident and figuring out what’s objectively funny.”

Can you simply learn to be witty? Vanderheide’s class involves reading comedy and understanding how to evoke humour. The Western Beet, for example, features an article entitled “New Ivey donations will go toward building wall between Ivey Building, rest of campus” — accord-ing to Vanderheide, this “yokes Ivey’s reputation to right wing Republican anti-immigration rhetoric for comic effect.”

At the same time, there is an innate gift for satire, perhaps the ability to conjure a biting meta-phor, that people like Wineck seem to have naturally. His output is impressive, considering he is a full time student and the only one run-ning and contributing to the blog. Nevertheless, he hopes to open it up to photographers and other writers, depending on his workload.

“I’ve gotten a lot of people mes-saging me and asking to contribute, sending in articles, which is pretty cool,” he says. “It’s also hard because I view it as my thing, and it’s tough to let someone else be a part of it, but if I want to keep it consistent I’m going to have to open it up to more writers.”

“I also definitely need photog-raphers,” he continues. “One of the funniest parts of the Onion are the pictures they put up… right now I’m just looking for images on Google.”

Though satire has changed through the ages, Vanderheide points out that certain aspects of it are time-less — not simply art for its own sake,

but art in the service of politics.“In a certain sense, satire itself

doesn’t need to evolve, because its targets are usually similar,” he says. “Usually speaking from a voice of political underrepresentation and exposing the hypocrisies of the establishment.

Good satire also depends on tar-get audience. The Colbert Report or the Daily Show, for example, are marketed to a younger, liberal audience. The satire they produce, Vanderheide explains, depends both

on providing a sense of solidarity with an ‘in-group,’ and on providing a target on which to vent one’s own frustrations.

“I’ll just keep making people

laugh, hopefully,” says Wineck. “Give them a break from studying. Long term, I’d love to write for a site like the Onion, so maybe I can use this as a jumping-off point.”

Writing that bites

KYLE PORTER GAZETTETHE MAN, THE LEGEND. A.J. Wineck, the creator of the Western Beet, is in his fifth year and pursuing a major in economics and a minor in English.

In a certain sense, satire itself doesn’t need to evolve, because its targets are usually similar….usually speaking from a voice of political underrepresentation and exposing the hypocrisies of the establishment.JOHN VANDERHEIDEASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH AT HURON COLLEGE

The hardest thing [for the blog] is just thinking of something really funny. I could think something is hilarious in my head and write it down — then a friend will tell me no, that doesn’t make any sense.A.J. WINECKCREATOR OF THE WESTERN BEET

THEWESTERNBEET.COM/THE WESTERN BEET

Page 8: Tuesday, January 5, 2016

8 • TUESDAY, JANUARY 5, 2016 www.westerngazette.ca •

insightopinions

BY IAIN BOEKHOFF EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

The only platform point you need for the USC

A new year and a new cycle of elections for the University Students’ Council begins in earnest. Nominations for all its positions opened yesterday and election day is just over a month away.

I would say anticipation is building, but it’s really not. The USC isn’t on the minds of a typical student, as much as they would like to be. It’s not that they don’t do anything for students — they do plenty, from the bus pass you flash on your way to campus every day to the health and dental care a student receives from being insured with the USC.

The USC executives will oversee the largest stu-dent union in Canada, one with dozens of full-time staff, hundreds of volunteers and millions of dollars. The executives, in theory anyways, have the ability to change the USC and the university with their lob-bying efforts.

In the past few years (and probably longer), candi-dates have focused on generic, cliché issues, offering little substance or something tangible for students to get excited about. The debates are little more than conversations where all the candidates agree on the need for more mental health funding and resources, more support for international students, a focus on experiential learning, easing exam stress, a better O-Week and improving London transit. Platforms are very diverse — Team Sophie last year had an expan-sive 16-page platform — and not focused enough to get any sort of real message across to students in a short two-week campaign period.

The most important thing a candidate for the highest offices of the USC can do is say they will really, truly stand up for students. This isn’t a new idea, nor

should it be one. But it seems to have been lost on recent holders of the USC throne.

This idea occurred to me as I was flipping through some archives from about a decade ago of The Gazette, and found something I can’t recall seeing in the time I’ve been here: a USC president calling out the University president, publicly and in their own words.

The USC prides itself on being a corporation and while it’s been a corporation for decades, it’s been watered down to protecting itself from, well, itself. Rarely is anyone held to account within the organ-ization and rarer still will they hold the powers on campus to account.

Last year, during the biggest crisis the university has faced in years, the USC stood by the university as seemingly everyone around was realizing that some-thing was profoundly wrong with how the president made double his annual salary the year before.

Presidents trot out the same lines offered by the university, offering little in the way of criticism at the same time that students are upset — oftentimes, rightly so — with the way they’ve been treated by various functions of the university.

Considering the historic place of student unions — and unions in general — candidates for USC exec-utive positions should consider all the success unions have had historically in standing up to the powers at be instead of standing by them. Campaign on all the buzzwords and platform points everyone can get behind, but make your message one of fighting for students — and maybe then we’ll see students truly interested (and voting) in the USC elections once again. n

The non-debate over abortion

DEAR LIFE,I wish I didn’t have to go to class now, I’d rather be tanning

DEAR LIFE,Why can’t we be like U of T and get an extra week? #ThanksChakma

DEAR LIFE,Where’s the O-Week style Frost Week? Actually, why stop at a week? I want a Frost Month!

DEAR LIFE,Marmalade.

DEAR LIFE,Pumpernickel.

DEAR LIFE,I want to be a sorority girl.

DEAR LIFE,All you students at the gym because of your New Year’s resolution: please leave.

DEARLIFE YOUR ANNONYMOUS LETTERS

WGAZ.CA/DEARLIFE

BRADLEY METLIN OPINIONS EDITOR@BRADATGAZETTE

During the holiday break I finally got time to unwind from the daily hustle of university life. Seeing my family, going to see movies in theatres and doing copious amounts of reading were much needed reprieves from my life at Western.

A few days before Christmas, I read an article about the death of Jacqueline Smith. Written by Gillian Frank for Slate, it tells the story of a woman most people probably haven’t heard of before — after all, she died on Christmas Eve in 1955.

Smith had moved from her small town to New York City with the hopes of becoming a fashion designer after she graduated from high school. Two years after the move, she met Thomas G. Daniel and began dating him, spending most nights at his apartment.

After discovering she was pregnant in November, Smith thought Daniel would marry her. She was wrong.

Instead, Daniel employed the work of a hospital attendant to per-form an illegal abortion. During the procedure, Smith received roughly 50 times the required dose of anaes-thetic, sending her into respiratory distress.

Smith died as a result and her body was then hacked to pieces, wrapped in wrapping paper and disposed of.

During Daniels’ subsequent trial, the chief medical examiner of New York City testified he estimated he had seen at least 1,200 women who had died as a result of an illegal abor-tion throughout his career. It was estimated that 200,000 to 1.2 mil-lion illegal abortions were performed around this time in the United States.

It wasn’t better in Canada, either — rich women were brought to trusted doctors who would illegally perform abortions for money. Those who couldn’t afford them were forced to perform one on them-selves or seek the help of unquali-fied helpers.

Writing in his memoir about his time as Ontario’s chief coroner, Morton Shulman wrote, “I had had the unpleasant experience of seeing the bodies of some dozens of young women who had died as a result of these amateur abortions.”

Today, access to the procedure is largely limited outside large popu-lation centres. In Prince Edward Island, the last abortion was per-formed in 1982 — women seeking one have to travel off the Island with two doctor referrals or pay themselves.

Due to the cost, some women have tried to induce abortions them-selves, harkening back to the 1960s.

It was only about a year ago that New Brunswick lifted their restriction requiring two doctors to approve of an abortion as “medically necessary.”

Often times, I think Canadians look at the United States with derision with regards to their social policies. We see them as antiquated with their attitudes and have an almost holier-than-now mentality but the truth is there are still many problems that impede abortion access for Canadian women.

Even if we get beyond the institu-tional barriers, there are still numer-ous societal pressures that exist that impede access to the procedure. Whether it’s the protestors who fre-quently stand on Richmond Street holding their signs of destroyed fetuses or messages written in chalk on campus — women are bom-barded with messages telling them that abortion is wrong.

Sure, as Lily Tomlin’s character says in Grandma, “it’s nothing to dance a jig about,” but it’s a decision that women do not arrive at easily.

While talking to my friend over the break about this issue, she told me that she was technically pro-choice in that women should have access but bluntly added, “I think you’re a monster if you get one.” She refuted every pro-choice argument I tossed out with ease but at the end of the day, concluded that it was a reality in our society despite how she felt about it personally.

Polling in the United States has shown that public opinion regard-ing the issue has remained relatively static since 1975, yet the debate still rages on.

Feel however you may about it morally but you’re not going to shift very many minds with signs or chalk. All it does is intimidate and frighten women. Just as pro-choice advo-cates should not aggressively call those who are pro-life “anti-choice.”

Abortion is an issue that is still passionately debated but instead, women’s health should be priori-tized institutionally. Think what you want about the issue behind closed doors, but we should remember the legacy of Jacqueline Smith. n

Breaking Brad

TAYLOR LASOTA GAZETTE

SARAH VAN TRIGT TWITTER

Page 9: Tuesday, January 5, 2016

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• www.westerngazette.ca TUESDAY, JANUARY 5, 2016 • 9

experience

AMAL MATAN GAZETTE STAFF@GAZETTECULTURE

Rating: GGGGHMovie: Star Wars the Force AwakensDirector: J.J. AbramsStarring: Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega and Oscar Isaac

The long awaited Episode VII in the Star Wars franchise does not dis-appoint. Through storytelling and composing, the film awakens the senses and the imagination. This episode is a gutsy transformative reinvention of the old films. It is a nearly flawless mix of old and new themes, bringing the dark side and the light side of the force smashing into an epic clash for dominance.

The film starts on the humble desert planet of Jakku, where we meet the main players. First is the charismatic ace X-Wing pilot Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac), who is sent to retrieve the map to Master Jedi Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill). Poe’s escape is then foiled by the irredeemable First Order, which has risen in the wake of Skywalker’s disappearance and the Empire’s fall.

With the First Order comes the inevitably nuanced foil to the Jedi — the Sith. In a fanfare filled entrance, the antagonist Sith Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) arrives to lay hands on the map. To prevent it from falling into the Sith stained gloves, Poe cleverly stows the drive into BB-8 — his feisty and adorable droid who narrowly escapes before a fated chance encounter with Rey (Daisy Ridley), the gender role defying protagonist of the film.

From her very introduction Rey is charming, selfless, level headed and earnest, carrying all the stature of a hero-to-be. Throughout the film her femininity is never portrayed as a weakness. In one particular scene, she finds herself in a scrap when she’s jumped by two large aliens. Rey fends them off and gets straight back to business.

This scene is also where I must talk about Finn — a former stormtrooper and a First Order deserter.

Finn is a magnetic character. His friendships with both Poe and Finn are cemented early on, just like his well rounded persona. He is loveable, expressive, funny and never relegated to archetypes such as the “black best friend,” breaking through stereotypes for black males in film.

The film features old and new favourite characters. The old characters have their own roles to play, but never contribute to stag-nation of creative growth. So yes, there’s plenty of good ol’ Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and his carpet of a companion Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew), as well as now General Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher).

One character that’s essence haunts the new movie is the Sith lord Darth Vader himself. Vader’s presence in the minds of fans is a looming shadow that this film had to vanquish. This first instalment begins to do that. However, Kylo Ren is a polarizing villain. He’s angsty. He’s angry. He’s not who you think he is, but he is a work in progress, just like his foil Rey. Despite the mess of Ren’s sometimes over dramatic tan-trums, he is undeniably powerful. If a somewhat messy villain is what you like, you’re in for a show.

However, if your a fan of cold and calculating, Domhnall Gleeson’s character General Hux of the First Order might be more your type. This man constantly challenges Ren’s emotional nature and echoes the eerie sentiment of Emperor Palpatine from the original trilogy.

As a whole, the Force Awakens will usher in a new era of Star Wars fans and reinvigorate the imagination of the old. This film is truly a spec-tacle in the best ways. It brings new and old to the table aside from just the cast. It abolishes fan-servicing sequels and pushes the boundaries with beloved storylines. The Force Awakens does exactly what movies as a whole should do. It sets the bar high for representation and trans-portive stories, because it brings the viewer into a world where they can see themselves no matter who they are, because the force is with us all.

A new hope for a new age Kanye West - Swish: The musical God and artistic

genius Kanye West has been working on his upcoming project Swish for a while now and we are still holding our breath. We should be seeing Swish drop in the coming months but until then you can listen to his new song about Nike, Facts.

Frank Ocean - Boys Don’t Cry: If anyone is a tease in the music industry, it’s Frank Ocean. He teased his fans throughout the year as he pushed back the release date of his much-anticipated sophomore album. Ocean and his team have essentially ghosted since his debut album Channel Orange so hopefully there will be more informa-tion about his album this year.

James Blake - Radio Silence: James Blake has been working on his third studio album Radio Silence since late 2014. The British electronic music producer told Miami New Times that his album was 70 per cent done and gushed about Kanye West and Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon being on Radio Silence so expect excellence. Now all we need is the release date.

Rihanna - ANTI: Unapologetic left us thirsty for more Rihanna and nothing has quenched our longing. Push-ing back her album release, Rihanna said the it will be worth the wait but the only thing we’ve received is lame ad campaigns instead. No one cares about the new company that sponsored you, Rihanna. We just want new music.

Majid Jordan - Majid Jordan: Singing their way into your heart in Drake’s Hold On We’re Going Home, Majid Al Maskati and Jordan Ullman will be releasing their self-titled debut album this year. The Toronto locals have been keeping busy with back-to-back EPs and an active SoundCloud page. We’ll have to hold on until their February 5 release date but their 12-track project will definitely make us two-step to the Valentine’s Day mood.

Are you passionate about student journalism? Then apply for the Gazette’s Arts & Lifestyle internship program!

Applications can be found on the website, or you can email [email protected] for one. All applications due January 18

westerngazette.ca

SAMAH ALI ARTS AND LIFE

Page 10: Tuesday, January 5, 2016

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experience

Don’t forget to treat yourself while studyingVIVIAN CHENG CONTRIBUTOR@GAZETTECULTURE

After a short break, students are back to school going through the same routine as last semester, even though some would say that our recovery time after exams was not

long enough. With Frost Week upon us, working hard for marks is again approaching.

But from the perspective of someone who isn’t a student, grades appear to be just arbitrary numbers. One certainly doesn’t need good grades for survival, so why is the

pressure to perform well academ-ically so high?

The pressure to work hard and achieve good grades can be explained by conditioning and posi-tive reinforcement.

Conditioning is an integral part of learning, where a response becomes

more frequent in a given environ-ment as a result of reinforcement. Positive reinforcement is when a desirable stimulus is presented as a consequence of behaviour in order to increase the behaviour.

Because society has emphasized the importance of good grades, marks have become a positive reinforcer for hard work. In other words, grades encourage you to perform to the best of your ability.

Grades have become a compel-ling reinforcer for third-year health sciences student Nareesa Dhalla, who has a 4.0 GPA.

“What keeps me motivated to study is the fact that I want to do well in school and grades are an indicator of that,” she says.

Psychology professor Erin Heerey agrees with this sentiment.

“Marks have both intrinsically and extrinsically rewarding prop-erties for students,” she says. “From an intrinsic perspective, it makes you feel good to get good grades. In terms of extrinsic reinforcement, good grades can help you get the job you really want, get into a mas-ter’s program or gain scholarship money.”

She adds that good grades reinforce the notion of working hard, thus creating a cycle.

Grades are not the only example of positive reinforcement that stu-dents use, though; motivating yourself to get good grades can be stressful and difficult. Students often choose other types of rewards for working hard.

“People often self-administer positive reinforcements to enhance their learning,” Heerey explains. “For example, when you finish doing an assignment, or reading a chap-ter or completing an exam, you can buy yourself a nice meal or go to the cinema or hang out with friends.”

University stresses the import-ance of hard work, but this doesn’t mean that your life should solely be about academics. It’s good to reward yourself in moderation.

Second-year women’s studies student Abigail Coholic can attest to the virtues of rewarding yourself.

“I think it’s really important to find a balance between your social life and academic life because if you’re doing a lot of school all the time, the pressure becomes too much,” says Coholic. “You should find the time to make sure all your studying and reading gets done, but also seeing people is important because it helps keep you sane.”

While you’re putting off your first week’s work, the best study meth-ods for the upcoming term should include rewarding yourself. It’s all about the conditioning and posi-tive reinforcement, so treat yourself — whether it be a night out or an evening in with holiday leftovers. n

I think it’s really important to find a balance between your social life and academic life because if you’re doing a lot of school all the time, the pressure becomes too much. You should find the time to make sure all your studying and reading gets done, but also seeing people is important because it helps keep you sane.ABIGAIL COHOLIC SECOND-YEAR WOMEN’S STUDIES STUDENT

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TAYLOR LASOTA GAZETTE

Page 11: Tuesday, January 5, 2016

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