Le journal bilingue de Glendon | Glendon’s Bilingual Newspaper
Vol. 60 Issue 6 : le 2 février 2022
In This Issue Page 2 ● LETTER FROM THE EDITOR VIE ÉTUDIANTE Page 3 ● Interview avec Shilpa Ahluwalia, la photographe de Pro Tem Page 4 ● Alumni Feature: “You are on the front lines of democracy.”: The Importance of Student Journalism Page 5 ● Résumé de Frost Week 2022 : un pur amusement d’esprit ! EXPRESSIONS Page 6 ● ways to say Page 6 ● Let’s Talk About Mental Disorders That Ring No Bell ARTS ET DIVERTISSEMENT Page 7 ● Cinq livres que j’ai lus en 2021 et que vous devriez lire en 2022 Page 8 ● Book Review: Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom MÉTROPOLE Page 9 ● A Pizza History: Little Italy’s Hidden Gem HEALTH AND WELLNESS Page 10 ● Vegan Cleaning for Better Health and Wellness Page 11 ● Pleine conscience pendant une pandémie ISSUES AND IDEAS Page 12 ● Alumni Feature: York U “Deserters” Sent Back at the Border: How 5 Glendon students helped shame Canada into obeying its own laws in 1969 Page 12 ● In Conversation with Google Home La prochaine date limite : Vendredi 4 février 2022
Photo par Toronto Telegram, 1969
Alumni Feature: York U “Deserters” Sent Back at the Border: How 5 Glendon students helped shame Canada into obeying its own laws in 1969 Bob Waller Pro Tem Alumnus ‘69 The war in Vietnam was a defining event from the mid-60s to the mid-70s for university students in Canada, especially for young men, including those at Glendon College. They watched as their American contemporaries were drafted and sent to fight in a war that killed almost 60,000 of them as well as an estimated two million Vietnamese. As the war dragged on, it became increasingly unpopular and thousands of young men fled from the U.S to evade the draft. Many came to Canada as landed immigrants. A smaller number of deserters tried to follow the same path, but they had a much tougher time. That’s because Canadian immigration officials were violating their
own government’s stated policy by turning them back at the border. As spelled out on July 12, 1967, by John Munro, then parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Immigration, the policy was unambiguous. He told the House of Commons that “an individual’s status with regard to compulsory military service in his own country has no bearing upon his admissibility to Canada, either as an immigrant or as a visitor. Nor is he subject to removal from Canada because of unfulfilled military obligations in his country of citizenship. Nevertheless, there was a huge disconnect between the politicians in Ottawa and the public servants at the border. Many Canadians were outraged. In January 1969, a group of activists met in Toronto to hatch a plan to expose the practice and compel Cana-
da to follow its laws. The moving spirits were Larry Goldstein (then 27 years old), Editor-in-Chief of Pro Tem from 1966 to 1967, Stephen Dewar, a CTV W5 reporter, his wife, Elaine, a York student, and Clayton Ruby and Paul Copeland, two young lawyers. The group had been given the personal records of a U.S. military deserter named William John Heintzelman. Goldstein then recruited five Glendon students to pretend to be Heintzelman and simultaneously test the Canada-U.S. border at five crossings, two at Windsor-Detroit and three along the Niagara frontier. The students were Jim Weston (20), Graham Muir (19), Chris Wilson (19), John Thompson (20), and myself (20). We all had connections through Pro Tem: Weston had succeeded Goldstein Continued on PAGE 12
The Pro Tem Team
Letter from the Editor
Notre équipe
Brianna Carrasco Editor in Chief / Rédactrice en chef ✉ editor@protemglendon.com
Ariana Mah Assistant English Editor / Rédactrice anglaise ajointe ✉ englisheditor@protemglendon.com
Sara Youssef Assistant French Editor / Rédactrice française adjointe ✉ frencheditor@protemglendon.com
Josée Philips Chief of Operations / Chef des opérations ✉ operations@protemglendon.com
Elton Campbell Layout Designer / Maquetteur ✉ design@protemglendon.com
Shilpa Ahluwalia Photographer / Photographe ✉ photography@protemglendon.com
Abigail Gillen Bilingual Journalist / Journaliste bilingue
Michael Aquilino English Journalist / Journalist anglais
Rejean Ghanem French Journalist / Journaliste française
A propos de nous
Christy Lorenz Issues and Ideas, Health and Wellness & Expressions / Actualité et opinions, Santé et bien-être & Expressions
Les lettres adressées au journal peuvent être éditées au niveau de la clarté ou de contenu. All copy appearing in Pro Tem is at the discretion of the editorial team. Feel free to respond to what you read in the pages of Pro Tem! / N’hésitez pas à réagir à ce que vouz avez lu dans Pro Tem! To see past editions of Pro Tem, please visit our website: www.protemglendon.com.
Bonne année! J’espère que vous avez passés de merveilleuses vacances d’hiver. 2022 est la 60e année de publication de Pro Tem et nous sommes si heureux de célébrer notre 60e anniversaire avec vous ! There are many fun events and publications to come! In this issue, there’s a piece on what being a part of Pro Tem was like in the 1960s, a poem about the different ways to express love, an introduction to the power of mindfulness, and a touching review of a historical Toronto pizzeria. We sincerely hope you enjoy. The next issue is our Black History Month issue, where we will highlight the Black communities of Toronto and Glendon. We are seeking contributions from Glendon students, including poems, visual art, reviews of your favourite Black-made films or music, biographies of influential Black people throughout history, or your favourite cultural recipes. Please send any ideas or submissions editor@protemglendon.com. J’espère que vous aimerez lire le premier Pro Tem du semestre d’hiver 2022 ! N’oubliez pas de vous inscrire à notre liste de diffusion à protemgl.com/pro-tem-newsletter-sign-up et suivez-nous sur Instagram @protemglendon. À la prochaine! Brianna Carrasco Editor in Chief | Rédactrice en chef
Pro Tem est le journal étudiant du collège Glendon. Publié pour la première fois en 1962, c’est la plus ancienne publication de l’Université York. Opinions published in Pro Tem are those of the individual writers, and do not reflect the views of the publication as a whole. We will not print copy deemed racist, sexist, homophobic, or otherwise oppressive.
Bonjour, Glendon!
Anna Noumtinis Campus Life, Arts and Entertainment & Metropolis / Vie étudiante, Arts et divertissement & Métropole
Be sure to follow us on Instagram for reminders about upcoming deadlines and events.
2 Pro Tem • www.protemgl.com • February 2, 2022
Vie étudiante
Interview avec Shilpa Ahluwalia, la photographe de Pro Tem Abigail Gillen Bilingual Journalist En ce qui concerne la publication de ce mois, nous vous offrons un cadeau ! J’ai discuté avec la photographe de Pro Tem, Shilpa Ahluwalia, qui nous a donné un aperçu de son processus créatif. Si vous avez intérêt à la photographie comme passe-temps ou si vous voulez simplement augmenter votre feed d’Instagram, la discussion avec notre photographe aura un lien à une chose qui vous importe ! A: Qu’est-ce qui vous a intéressé à la photographie ? Qu’est-ce qu’il y a d’autres formes d’expression créative qui vous intéressent ? S: J’étais intéressée à la photographie depuis longtemps. Notamment, la prise de photos de mon frère avec une caméra jetable était tellement amusante pendant mon enfance. Présentement, je capture le coucher de soleil avec mon smartphone. Quand je jette un coup d’œil à une photo, je me transporte à un moment spécifique, c’est une de mes plus grandes raisons pour lesquelles j’aime la prise de photos. La pandémie m’aide à être plus reconnaissante de mon intérêt. Notamment, je suis reconnaissante de mes photos prises — plus particulièrement après l’impact dévastateur de la pandémie — étant donné que je suis maintenant privée des interactions sociales. Isolée dans ma chambre avec nulle part pour aller pendant les périodes de confinement, je ne trouve que mes photos prises représentent en quelque sorte un symbole physique qui me rappelle tous les souvenirs amusants que j’ai vécu avec mes amis et avec ma famille pendant des années. Grâce aux cours : « Photographie numérique » et « Art et peinture » enseignés par Professeur Marc Audette, j’avais l’occasion d’apprendre les fonctionnalités de la caméra et de pratiquer davantage ma passion de l’Art. Avant la photographie, mon premier amour était pour l’art visuel. Je me rappelle comment j’avais l’habitude de demander à mes parents de m’acheter des peintures afin que je puisse peindre un tableau traditionnel : avec des montagnes bleues, avec un soleil brillant en haut au centre, avec un petit fleuve au milieu et avec une plage en bas. Aujourd’hui, je con-
tinue d’accorder un peu de temps chaque semaine à mes créations artistiques : c’est essentiel au bien-être de l’âme. A: Qui sont les artistes qui vous servent comme inspiration ? S: Quelques-uns de mes artistes favoris sont les suivants : Inkquisitive (Amandeep Singh) qui travaille avec plusieurs belles couches d’encre et Leonid Afremov qui a travaillé avec de la peinture à l’huile. Il y a d’autres artistes qui me servent d’inspirations quotidiennes par de merveilleux artistes et qui impactent mon travail avec qui je rentre en contact directement par l’entremise de Pinterest ou d’Instagram. La facilité d’accessibilité et la rapide cadence des médias sociaux m’ont aidé à organiser mes pensées et à clarifier mes idées dans un espace libre. A: Quels sont vos sujets préférés pour lesquels vous prenez des photos ? S: Je m’inspire principalement de la nature ou de tout ce qui me rend heureuse. Les sujets de mes photos sont souvent les couchers de soleil, les paysages captivants, l’architecture ou la nourriture. Assez curieusement, ce sont quelques sujets qui sont des sources d’inspiration à mes peintures. Je m’intéresse aussi à explorer la photographie de portrait à l’avenir. A: Est-ce qu’il y a des espaces à Glendon ou à Toronto que vous aimez ou que vous trouvez particulièrement amusants/intéressants quant à la prise de vos photos ? S: Quelques-uns de mes espaces préférés dans lesquels j’aime prendre des photos sont : le manoir avec son beau jardin ainsi que ses plantes grimpantes sur les édifices, la forêt à Glendon, et le peu de peinture murale qui se trouvent sur les murs du campus. J’aimerais à un moment donné avoir l’occasion de prendre des photos sur le toit à Glendon. Quelques-uns de mes espaces préférés — qui sont assez confidentiels — à Toronto que j’aime la prise en photos sont les suivants : Graffiti Alley, tous les espaces à Lakeshore, Humber Bay Shores Park (un bel endroit pour l’observation de la silhouette des immeubles à Toronto), la pancarte à Toronto fabriquer par de bois flotté à Humber Bay Park East, Sunflower Garden à la rue Lakeshore et la rue Hydro, les belles lumières de Noël à Distillery District, Lambton Woods pour la prise des feuillages d’automne en photo, la fleur de cerisier de printemps à High Park, et plus ! A: Avez-vous des conseils pour les élèves à Glendon, qui veulent commencer la photographie comme passetemps ? S: Selon moi, la photographie est un moyen de s’exprimer sans l’usage de
mots. Vous n’avez pas besoin de la caméra avec de hautes fonctionnalités ou une qui est trop chère pour faire de la photographie pendant votre passe-temps. Plutôt, je pense qu’il vaut mieux investir votre temps à améliorer vos compétences, trouver les espaces amusants dans lesquels vous aimerez prendre des photos ou examiner vos styles naturels de photographes — pour pratiquer pendant votre journée la photographie, ça serait une de ces journées aussi amusantes que joyeuses. A: Comment vos potentiels clients peuvent-ils vous contacter ?
S: Si vous connaissez d’amusants espaces sur les toits de Toronto et que vous voulez partager avec moi, je suis vraiment ouverte à entendre vos idées. Vous pourrez également suivre ma journée artistique sur Instagram @shilpas.shoppe où j’aime explorer les nouvelles façons de présenter l’art que je fabrique comme les sacs fourretout, la recréation des peintures du peintre Bob Ross, les cartes des fêtes, la peinture des couchers de soleil, les marques de page et la liste continue !
Pro Tem • www.protemgl.com • le 2 février 2022 3
Campus Life
Alumni Feature: “You are on the front lines of democracy.”: The Importance of Student Journalism Michael Den Tandt Pro Tem Alumnus ‘88 I have no record of my first article in Pro Tem. That is probably a good thing; it was likely awful. Or, possibly, it was good. It’s hard to say. The work we did back then was uneven. Our stories were undisciplined, brash, rarely to length and often overwrought. We were inventing and reinventing Glendon’s newspaper and learning how to produce it, simultaneously. It was a mash-up of campus news, international commentary, satire, short fiction, and poetry. With fromthe-hip philosophy to the high-spirited rabble-rousing, it regularly careened over the guardrails of propriety; it was never dull, in the writing or the reading! We took chances and we made mistakes – some quite bad. I recall one issue in which a fellow Pro Tem writer, in an excess of Woodward-and-Bernstein zeal, accused the dean of students of trying to personally seize power on campus. It was a painful caricature, egregiously wrong. All of us who were involved in that week’s issue were summoned to a meeting with the dean, which we left feeling embarrassed and ashamed. The moments like that were far outweighed by the times we produced issues that flew off the shelves, because of an article or articles that seized our fellow students’ imaginations. For me, it was the first glorious taste of putting words on paper and sending them into the minds of other humans, and seeing minds change, seeing the world change, as a result. A few years later, when I applied for my first assignment as an opinion writer at the Kingston Whig-Standard, it was my Pro Tem clippings that won me a tryout – not the more disciplined pieces I learned to write later on in journalism school. Don’t get me wrong, J-School was invaluable. That was where I learned to be a reporter. But Pro Tem taught me to love writing for the sheer joy of wordplay and engaging with readers. I credit both the freedom of Pro Tem and the discipline of
Photo par Michael Den Tandt, 1988
J-School for giving me the chops I needed to become a journalist. Does writing for Pro Tem still matter? Do newspapers still matter? I think they matter more today than at any other time in modern history. We have seen worldwide the consequences of misinformation, propaganda and false news, whether it’s the January 6 insurrection in Washington, vaccine conspiracy theories, genocide in Myanmar, online abuse directed at women journalists, or violence against politicians. The revelations of Frances Haugen and the Facebook Papers have begun to expose how deeply broken and vulnerable our communications culture has become. Indeed, anyone involved in journalism or politics at any level will tell you the breakage began years ago. Like the proverbial frog in a pot of water set to boil, we have become inured to a level of public incivility, of falsehood, of grotesque personal attacks, that would have been shocking
4 Pro Tem • www.protemgl.com • February 2, 2022
a generation ago. Laws against libel and slander seem quaint when set against the contents of political Twitter on any given day. There is a remedy to this and it comes in two parts. The first is that the democratic countries of the world, including Canada, must lead in establishing effective, transparent and reasonable digital platform governance, while still vigorously upholding freedom of expression. They must do so to screen the most vicious bile, incitements to violence and blatant falsehoods from social media. Newspaper editors have screened letters to the editor for decades, and social media should be no different! The second part is that independent, professionally-gathered news, and newspapers, in particular, must survive and thrive. The Web and Big Tech, for all the advancements in access to information and knowledge, have dismantled the newspaper business model. There are strenuous efforts to find a new model that
is sustainable. It is imperative that those efforts succeed. That is because, in the absence of facts that can be trusted and reasoned opinions based on those facts, every constructive political effort, every move towards progress and reform, is pushing on a string. Journalism is an essential service! The most important part of journalism is not the technology that enables it. A great former editor of mine at the National Post once told me, as we worked in a tiny, dingy set of offices (not much larger than Pro Tem’s old digs in the Glendon mansion) ahead of the Post’s launch in 1998, that the offices didn’t matter; the room and walls didn’t matter. The newsroom, this smart editor said, was the people who worked in it. Is that you, Pro Tem volunteer? If so, and if you decide to make a career of this, be proud. You are on the front lines of truth-telling. You are on the front lines of democracy. Get set to work very hard. Get set for a ride.
Vie étudiante
Résumé de Frost Week 2022 : un pur amusement d’esprit ! L’équipe de Pro Tem à l’aide de Lava Thanagnjayan et Nadia Hayes Bienvenue à un autre semestre, chers Glendonites! Comme toujours, nous commençons le semestre d’hiver avec Frost Week : une semaine d’événements pour nous remettre dans l’esprit universitaire après une longue période de vacances. Saviez-vous que les étudiants de Glendon célèbrent depuis les années soixante des événements qui ressemblent à Frost Week ? Ces derniers étaient appelés auparavant Winter Weekend, puis Winter Carnival ! Malgré la pandémie, les étudiants à Glendon trouveront toujours un moyen de rendre l’hiver glacial amusant, même de façon virtuelle ! La soirée des jeux-questionnaires, de Frost Week, a été une pause aussi animée qu’amusante malgré tout le stress qu’accompagne la première semaine de cours à suivre. Après tout, l’apprentissage est censé être amusant, n’est-ce pas ? Cet événement à distance, sur Zoom, comprenait des jeux-questionnaires Kahoot sur différents sujets. Ces jeux-questionnaires alternaient entre l’anglais et le français — il y en avait pour tous les goûts. Les élèves ont pu examiner leurs connaissances sur l’histoire de York et de Glendon, sur les tendances Tik Tok, sur l’éducation sexuelle, sur les desserts sucrés, sur les films de Pixar et sur les savoirs généralisés. Pour rendre les choses plus compétitives, les gagnants en première place de chaque jeu-questionnaire ont remporté un prix. Les E-Sports de mardi consistaient en un jeu de combat en ligne gratuit Brawlhalla, avec Jackbox Games fonctionnant dans une salle séparée qui s’est avérée plus populaire que prévu ! L’amusement s’est poursuivi dans Open Mic Night qui consistait en quatre interprètes qui se sont produits au piano et à la guitare électrique où on a présenté un spectacle de chant et de danse. Les performances ont été suivies d’un jeu-questionnaire sur la musique, avec l’hôte Ana Kraljevic du AÉCG comme gagnante ! La foire des clubs le mercredi était une façon amusante de voir les membres de différents clubs qui représentent l’incroyable communauté de Glendon. C’était
Photo par Nadia Hayes
amusant de se connecter avec les autres membres des clubs et de recevoir des nouvelles des événements futurs sur le campus de Glendon. La soirée s’est terminé par une soirée cinéma sur Discord avec le film français Le Jeu sur un jeu pendant le dîner où les participants devaient mettre leurs téléphones au milieu de la table du dîner, et tout message qu’ils ont reçu devait être partagé avec l’ensemble du groupe. La comédie dramatique était une excellente transition vers Stress Busters du lendemain. L’événement Art and Stress Busters a permis aux participants de se détendre après tous les événements de la semaine. Les participants ont fabriqué du slime, ils ont peint des œuvres d’art et ils ont même reçu des pages à colorier imprimables gratuites. Vous pouvez y accéder dans la bio Instagram de la page Instagram de Frost Week : @glfrostweek ! Il n’y a rien de mieux que de se sentir à nouveau comme un enfant et que de transformer des pages vierges en œuvres d’art ! Cependant, la détente qui accompagnait les Stress Busters s’est rapidement dissoute avec le jeu intense de Mafia jeudi soir. L’événement s’est bien déroulé — il y avait à peu près 17 participants et quatre animateurs. Une telle activité accusatoire force tous les participants à pratiquer la métacognition et à former des alliances. Par contrecoup, ces derniers peuvent se méfier d’un des alliés et le tuer sur le coup. La plupart des tours joués se sont terminés en échec ayant tous les villageois morts. Il y avait un seul tour dans lequel l’accusé était bel et bien le meurtrier en question. L’animation du jeu était tellement bien
réussie que tous les participants avaient leur caméra allumée : c’est l’engagement virtuel par excellence. La Frost Week s’est terminée par le feu de camp virtuel, apportant un peu de chaleur et de confort dans la vie des étudiants de Glendon avant que le semestre ne devienne trop mouvementé. Outre d’autres jeux Jackbox, nous avons également joué à une version virtuelle du célèbre jeu de cartes « We’re Not Really Strangers », qui promet de transformer des étrangers en
amis pour la vie d’ici jusqu’à la fin du jeu. Et dans le grand schéma des choses, nous ne sommes pas vraiment des étrangers à Glendon. C’était tellement amusant de voir des visages familiers, ainsi que d’en rencontrer de nouveaux lors des événements de la Frost Week. L’AÉCG est vraiment en train de le tuer en organisant ces événements virtuels, mais c’est aussi notre espoir que nous pourrons bientôt être en présence les uns des autres sur le campus. Rendez-vous au prochain Frosh !
Pro Tem • www.protemgl.com • le 2 février 2022 5
Expressions
ways to say Eden Minichiello Pro Tem Alumna ‘21 i made you a playlist—these songs make me think of you (i love you) i baked your favourite cake for your birthday and used less sugar since i know you don’t like your desserts too sweet (i love you) i thought of you today when i saw sunlight coming through the blinds, washing my room in gold—kind of like how your presence makes my heart light up (i love you) i prayed for you today on my way to work, i hope you’re doing well (i love you) i squeezed your hand before you got on stage, i hope you know i’m rooting for you (i love you) i got you this sticker from the gift shop on my recent camping trip, maybe you can put it on your water bottle (i love you) i got us tickets to see the symphony orchestra—nah, i’m not into that stuff, but i remember you mentioned that you wanted to go a while back (i love you) i made your bed and did your laundry while you were at work today, i know you’ve been under a lot of stress and i hope this lightens your load (i love you) how was your day? no—how was it actually? (i love you) i ordered you a new charging cable—i know yours is still working, but it’s starting to fray so i wanted you to have a backup (i love you) i hope it was okay that i held your hand while we hiked today (i love you) sometimes i can’t find the words to say it, but i love you. i love you. i love you.
Let’s Talk About Mental Disorders That Ring No Bell Elton Campbell Layout Designer Let’s talk about mental disorders that ring no bell Once more I have fallen… fallen… fallen unwell Broken in a void where only darkness dwells Time to face the truth in a nutshell There’s a lightning storm in my head This isn’t a Tylenol or Panadol thread I need my prescribed capsules or else I’m dead I’m critically bleeding invisible red An elephant in stilettos stands on my chest I can’t stop being what you call a “pest” Slipping and reaching out is mindfulness at best Please don’t put my declining state to the test Brain more complex than a PC made by Dell Chatting once a year when you ring your bell Then hides 364 days in your company’s shell Says nothing compassionate, we can tell There’s a lightning storm in my head This isn’t a Tylenol or Panadol thread I need my prescribed capsules or else I’m dead I’m critically bleeding invisible red Prevention is always better why we yell Sick and unaware means no reaching out to get well Crossing this jagged line leads to grave hell Let’s talk about mental disorders that ring no bell
Photo par Luis Quintero from pexels.com
6 Pro Tem • www.protemgl.com • February 2, 2022
Arts et divertissement
Cinq livres que j’ai lus en 2021 et que vous devriez lire en 2022 Brianna Carrasco Editor in Chief Est-ce que la lecture de plus de livres lors du Nouvel An est une de vos résolutions ? Par contrecoup, vous ne savez pas par où commencer. Voici mes cinq lectures préférées de 2021 que vous pouvez ajouter à votre liste de lecture cette année-ci ! 1. Normal People de Sally Rooney. Sally Rooney est une auteure de fiction littéraire d’origine irlandaise acclamée et vous devez vous être à l’affût de ses nouvelles. Normal People examine la relation entre amis, voire entre amants (Marianne et Connell) alors qu’ils sont en relation à l’école secondaire et à l’université. Le roman vise à décortiquer les différences de classe et de popularité entre les deux personnages principaux ainsi qu’à illustrer la façon dont ils gèrent les différences entre eux. Si vous cherchez un œuvre littéraire de genre romantique qui est davantage un œuvre sur une quête de soi, je vous recommande ce livre ! 2. Far From the Tree de Robin Benway. Cette lecture assez sous-estimée est absolument étonnante. L’œuvre est racontée du point de vue de trois frères et sœurs adolescents, Grace, Maya et Jaoquin, qui ignorent l’existence les uns des autres au début. Notamment, les trois font face à des difficultés diverses liées à leur propre expérience d’adoption pendant leur enfance — telles que le sentiment d’insécurité dans leur famille adoptive, le divorce, la grossesse chez les adolescentes et le système de placement familial. Si vous êtes un fan de l’émission télévisée The Fosters — ou si vous aimez simplement une histoire sur la famille, l’appartenance et l’acceptation —, vous allez adorer cet œuvre ! 3. The Sky Blues de Robbie Couch. Si vous cherchez un livre qui représente l’incarnation d’un paquet de joie, veuillez lire ce premier ! Le narrateur, Sky, est un adolescent homosexuel d’une petite ville qui veut « prompose » à son crush, Ali. Cependant, ses plans changent lorsqu’il est victime d’un crime de haine homophobe et que ses plans de promposal s’exposent à toute l’école. Sky et ses camarades de classe élaborent un plan pour découvrir qui l’a exposé et ils se vengent d’eux. Alors que Sky vit des expériences
tactiles, lui et son groupe d’amis se moquent de ces derniers. Si vous voulez lire une histoire bourrée d’espoir de militantisme contre l’homophobie à l’école, celleci répondra à vos goûts ! 4. The Anthropocene Reviewed de John Green. John Green est reconnu pour ses prises de vue parfois aussi ringardes que prétentieuses sur l’âge adulte assez nuancé, mais ce premier ne pourrait pas être plus différent que les attentes de ses lecteurs. The Anthropocene Review est, en effet, une collection non romanesque d’essais dans lesquels John parle de différents aspects de la société, tels que « Googling Strangers », « Plagues » ou « Diet Dr. Pepper » et il discute de comment ces aspects de la société sont impactés par l’humanité et de laquelle celle-ci l’impact en retour. Ensuite, John attribue à chaque sujet une note sur une échelle de cinq étoiles. « Plagues », bien sûr, a été attribuée une étoile. Le point de vue de John sur différents éléments de l’expérience humaine rappelle aux lecteurs les petites choses de la vie qui font appel à l’humanité du lecteur. Tout le monde doit lire un tel livre. 5. The Death of Vivek Oji d’Akwaeke Emezi. Ce livre a été une lecture étonnante : abordant les thèmes de l’identité de genre, de la sexualité, de la violence transphobe et des relations familiales. Ce premier est parfois difficile à lire, mais le message véhiculé : de vivre une authenticité identitaire et d’accepter soi-même et ses proches, ce qui est gratifiant. Le récit raconte l’histoire de Vivek, un jeune homme vivant au Nigéria, qui découvre sa sexualité et son identité de genre. Une telle identité que ses parents ne comprennent pas. Un jour, Vivek se présente à leur porte, apparemment assassiné. Par conséquent, ses parents cherchent à savoir ce qui est arrivé à Vivek ainsi que s’ils auraient pu faire quelque chose pour éviter son meurtre. Je vous recommande de lire les avertissements de déclenchement avant de vous plonger dans le livre, mais si vous le faites tout de même, vous ne le regretterez pas !
Photo par Brianna Carrasco
Pro Tem • www.protemgl.com • le 2 février 2022 7
Arts and Entertainment
Book Review: Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom Michael Aquilino English Journalist When I was younger, reading books was a pastime of mine. I would regularly find myself immersed in (often fictional) worlds, interspersed throughout the pages of some exhilarating novel. During the summer of eighth grade, I vividly remember reading J.K. Rowling’s immensely successful Harry Potter series. Having never encountered anything like it, I was awestruck by her profound literary innovations. The Harry Potter series sparked my imagination, letting it run wild, allowing me to place myself within such magical atmospheres, and experiencing events as if I was right there to witness them. I guess that is the beauty of a well-written story. Every novel will be unique to the individual — subject to their own personal interpretation. My love, or rather my time, for reading came to a gradual halt upon entering university. Now halfway through my second year, I have read my fair share of assigned novels, textbooks, articles, and other academic resources. Reading has become a sort of chore, exhausting, something I wouldn’t do outside of class. For a period of time, I seemed to have forgotten the joys of cozying up to a great book, which are sparsely obtained elsewhere. This past winter break, this shift in literary focus led me to perhaps one of the greatest books that I have ever read: Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom. Albom’s bestseller, subtitled, “an old man, a young man, and life’s greatest lesson,” reflects upon his true encounters with his dying former university professor, Morrie Schwartz. Albom structures his memoir in a fashion not unlike an academic course, complete with a “curriculum,” “syllabus,” “orientation,” and numerous topics of study. Some topics include; the world, feeling sorry for yourself, regrets, family, emotions, and the fear of ageing. The memoir sporadically recounts Albom’s experiences as a student at Brandeis University, having been especially acquainted with Morrie, and certain aspects of his life thereafter. Albom’s life took a very different trajectory than the one he had anticipated in school, drifting away from his beloved, highly inspiring professor. This would
change, however, upon the advent of Morrie’s battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in 1994. When Albom heard the news of Morrie’s health, he began to pay him regular visits. These visits would later set the foundations upon which his memoir would be built. As the memoir unravels, Morrie’s degenerative disease slowly progresses. Every chapter sees Morrie further struggling, a testament to the disease’s grim progression. Throughout each documented meeting, held on Tuesdays, Morrie provides incredibly rewarding insights into the topics at hand. What makes Morrie’s perspectives so great, is that they have come from someone who, now faced with the prospects of death, had lived such an extraordinary life. As is told throughout the memoir, Morrie was someone who enjoyed life for its most fundamental characteristics. Morrie loved to dance, teach, swim, listen to others, and above all else, Morrie simply loved to live. Morrie’s love for life, and sheer love of living, may have been rooted in his highly philosophical ways of thinking - borrowing teachings from his own lived experiences, his background in sociology, and an array of diverse religions. The bulk of the memoir, a culmination of all of the lessons that Morrie had taught the author, written in essay format, teaches the reader the same. Morrie, though unenthused about the idea of dying, learns to welcome, and in some respects, embrace it. He learns how to make the best of rather bad situations - often finding solace in humour, and helping others through their own problems. Having thus touched the lives of and loved so many, Morrie was, in turn, an incredibly loved and respected individual. In the end, and as Albom’s 20th anniversary afterward touches upon, Morrie was not afraid of death, but of being forgotten. I believe that through this memoir, continuing to inspire people now 25 years after its initial publication, he may never be. To conclude the review, touching upon my earlier point of the difficulty of reading for pleasure during my academic study, I would strongly encourage, for those of you who may feel the same, to start reading casually. In doing so, you will never know what you might discover. Perhaps you will begin to see your life through a whole new lens. On that note, if you are ever in search of direction, Mitch Albom’s 1997 memoir, Tuesdays with Morrie, just might steer you on the right path.
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Photo par rajthoughts.com
Métropole
A Pizza History: Little Italy’s Hidden Gem Michael Aquilino English Journalist Hidden within the residential streets of Toronto’s historic Little Italy on College Street (between Dovercourt Road to the west and Bathurst Street to the east), Bitondo’s Pizzeria offers a largely unparalleled culinary experience. Established on 11 Clinton Street in 1967, this small, perhaps outdated, Italian pizzeria serves up some of the best-tasting slices in Toronto. A family-run operation, a bite of Bitondo’s affordable and quickly-made (ready in about 20 minutes upon time of ordering) pizza will leave you yearning for more. The pizza, made fresh in front of its consumers, is crafted to near perfection. Thin-crusted, with a selection of cheese, pepperoni, vegetables, and other additional toppings, Bitondo’s pizzas–as elucidated through their practically unrestored dining room/kitchen–embrace the beauty of history and simplicity. Made as it has always been, the pizza and its restaurant offer a glimpse into a long-gone past. Little Italy is a small yet distinctive piece within the exciting cosmopolitan puzzle of Toronto, and once was the cornerstone of the city’s Italian community. It is now a neighbourhood that serves as a symbolic representation of its earliest residents. With most Italian families having moved north of the city, an Italian influence largely remains only in the restaurants and shops of these streets. Mirroring the area’s
Photo par Jesse Milns
20th-century heydays, these restaurants and shops, drawing Italian-Canadians and others alike–especially on days with international soccer games and cultural festivals–present the neighbourhood as a hub of social connection. The local Business Improvement Area (BIA) works to preserve the area’s history, finding ways to better foster its European charm, in a 21st-century context. The BIA’s Board of Directors, as per their mission, strives to create a safe and vibrant atmosphere, all while promoting the culturally rich community of which many Torontonians have come to love and enjoy. From the exterior, the restaurant looks as if it has seen better days. Though rough-looking and decaying from the outside, the inside of the restaurant is anything but that. Feeling as if you had stepped into a time capsule, the restaurant’s interior is one worthy of historical preservation. Tiled,
wallpaper-plastered, and littered with old, still-functional appliances, the restaurant prides itself on sticking to tradition. Bitondo’s truly emanates a calming and peaceful atmosphere, leaving present-day reality behind at its doorstep. Perhaps local rival pizzerias, and large chain locations, should take some pointers from this restaurant. Still bustling with customers, young and old alike, Bitondo’s seems to understand that change is not always needed–and that what is not broken, needs not to be fixed. Today, many people seek change, and while change is not always a bad thing, it is not always a good one either. Personally, when I see commercials for pizzas with their crusts stuffed with cheese, or loaded with an abundance of needless toppings, I sometimes begin to feel sick. Why should a pizza, or any other kind of food for that matter, require so much work, and so much effort, in order to make it appealing, delicious,
and marketable? Bitondo’s pizza, simplicity at its finest, would blow all of those other, “revolutionary” culinary practices out of the water. Bitondo’s Pizzeria not only satisfies appetites but teaches people an important lesson. A lesson underscoring that in all aspects of life, keeping things simple may be ideal. Enjoying the simple pleasures in life, such as music, movies, nature, reading, or relationships, and not getting too caught up in the grand scheme of things, can be beneficial mentally, physically, and emotionally. Life is incredibly fast-paced, oftentimes stressful. Society needs to slow down, understand that less is more sometimes, and take a collective breath - or even a bite of pizza! In doing so, it may be better suited to enjoy the inherent wonders and beauties of which are coupled with living.
Pro Tem • www.protemgl.com • le 2 février 2022 9
Health and Wellness
Vegan Cleaning for Better Health and Wellness Elton Campbell Layout Designer When someone discovers that I am vegan, they typically believe that veganism is only about eating fruits and vegetables. However, to be vegan is not merely a matter of refraining from KFC or McDonald’s. Veganism is also about demonstrating compassion towards animals, our health, and the sustainability of our planet as a whole. If you are a true ambassador of keeping our planet safe, using paper straws, reusable grocery bags, and recycling is only the beginning. It’s important to choose vegan products in every aspect of your life, including everyday household cleaning items. Here are four awesome vegan products that I personally use and encourage you to try out! Each product is sure to give you sparkly, fresh-smelling and non-toxic cleanliness in your home and offices.
1. Better Life Glass Cleaner. Before using this product, I grew up using Windex Glass Cleaner. However, since I tried Better Life Glass Cleaner, the Windex reign ended immediately. This product is safe, ammonia-free, and contains plant-derived cleaning agents from coconut, corn, and palm kernel. Moreover, it also prevents streaks and smudges. Compared to Windex, Better Life Glass Cleaner is more effective and less harmful, especially as it contains no harsh, toxic chemicals. 2. Better Life Floor Cleaner (Citrus Mint). Squirt! Squirt! Simply spray the cleaner on the floor and mop. It is perfect for hardwood, tile, laminate, and other sealed floors. Better Life Floor Cleaner will captivate you with its non-toxic aroma of grapefruit, peppermint, and bergamot. When used as directed, it is safe to use around kids and pets while also being tough on dirt. 3. Better Life Naturally Dust-Defying Wood Polish. I was amazed when I first used this product on my furniture at home. After using it as directed, small scratches on my furniture disappeared, leaving behind a smudge-free sparkle. There is also no oily residue or the pungent smell of toxic fumes, but rather a natural carnival of lavender and cinnamon leaf fragrances that
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Photo par Elton Campbell
transforms cleaning into a fun Soca party. 4. Method All-Purpose Cleaner Spray (Grapefruit). Pink grapefruit has an invigorating tropical fragrance—a refreshing alternative to the toxic fumes of bleach. Method All-Purpose Cleaner Spray is safe to use on multiple surfaces such as tiles, wood, glass, and non-porous countertops. I specifically like using it to clean my stovetops, counters, and bathroom and kitchen sinks. It is truly a grease and grime buster,
and the shine it leaves is simply luminant. Wow! At the end of the day, being vegan should not just centre on “save the planet” corporate campaigns or posing with trendy bamboo products to bolster your Instagram clout. Instead, it involves taking real action, and real action starts by embracing veganism in its entirety for a better (and cleaner!) tomorrow.
Santé et bien-être
Pleine conscience pendant une pandémie Rejean Ghanem French Journalist Pendant la pandémie, il n’est pas facile de couper les nouvelles déprimantes, voire alarmantes, de nos téléphones et nos ordinateurs portables. Un autre verrouillage, une autre ville en feu et une autre variante rendent difficile l’espoir. Espérons qu’un jour que comme on dit en anglais : « This too shall pass », que tout soit fini et que tout revienne à la normale. La pleine conscience a été un élément de base des méthodes thérapeutiques courantes telles que la thérapie cognitivo-comportementale et la thérapie comportementale dialectique. La pleine conscience nous aide à changer notre façon de penser, donc notre perspective, des facteurs externes que nous ne pouvons pas contrôler. La pleine conscience trouve son origine dans la philosophie bouddhiste et remonte à 2500 ans. Vous avez probablement beaucoup entendu le mot. « Conscient » ou vous avez entendu peut-être qu’ils ont été invités à « être conscients. » Mais qu’est-ce que la « pleine conscience » au juste ? Malgré la façon dont elle est décrite par les médias, la pleine conscience englobe plus qu’une simple inspiration et expiration profonde. La pleine conscience est un choix et une façon de vivre. Lorsque des pensées stressantes surgissent, au lieu de les nourrir, vous acceptez qu’il s’agisse de la réalité de votre situation sans essayer de l’interpréter. Vos sentiments ne sont pas traités comme des résidents permanents de votre cerveau, mais comme des visiteurs qui ne souhaitent qu’être reconnus. Ils ne resteront pas longtemps — car les sentiments vont et viennent. Bien qu’il faille quelques essais pour s’y habituer, des études ont montré qu’il s’agit d’un moyen optimal de gérer les nouvelles négatives. C’est l’une des philosophies de The Five Minute Journal qui se trouve sur les compromis Instagram de tout le monde. Cela ne fonctionne pas tout de suite, mais cela fonctionne une fois que vous le pratiquez régulièrement. La beauté de The Five Minute Journal est qu’il ne s’agit que de deux minutes le matin pour écrire ce qui rendrait aujourd’hui formidable et trois minutes de grandes choses qui se sont produites pendant la journée. Même si c’est quelque chose d’aussi petit que
d’acheter du chocolat ou de faire des câlins avec votre chien, cela peut toujours être écrit. C’est de cela qu’il s’agit. Vous pouvez faire toutes les inspirations et expirations profondes, mais que sont-elles sans intention ? La prochaine fois que vous regardez les nouvelles que vous voyez quelque chose de décevant ou de bouleversant et que soi-disant cela vous cause du stress, intégrez un peu de pleines consciences dans votre routine quotidienne et commencez à voir votre stress se dégonfler.
Pro Tem • www.protemgl.com • le 2 février 2022 11
Issues and Ideas
Alumni Feature: York U “Deserters” Sent Back at the Border: How 5 Glendon students helped shame Canada into obeying its own laws in 1969 (cont.) as Editor-in-Chief from 1967 to 1968, I had succeeded him in the same role from 1968 to 1969, and Muir would succeed me from 1969 to 1970. Before executing our plan, we were carefully briefed by the organizers. We researched all immigration regulations to ensure that we qualified in every way as legally admissible immigrants. We also made certain that our own passports and identification were in order so that if the worst came to the worst—and spoiler alert, it did—we could unmask ourselves and prove that we were Canadians who could not be arrested as American deserters. For good measure, the five of us also carried letters of explanation that this was a journalistic project being undertaken for Pro Tem. We launched the operation on Saturday, February 8, 1969. The five of us left Toronto that morning armed with copies of the Heintzelman documents, including his birth certificate, proof of a job offer in Canada, as well as references from a Ca-
nadian citizen. After entering the U.S. at our designated crossings—mine was the Ambassador Bridge linking Detroit and Windsor—we were to turn around and return to the Canadian border. In this manner, we would simultaneously try to enter Canada as landed immigrants. Under questioning by Canadian immigration officers, we would eventually “confess” that we were deserters and see what happened. When all was said and done, every single one of us was turned away from the border. In my case, I was rejected in spite of the officer proclaiming that my education, my job offer and my references gave me more than enough points to earn landed immigrant status. My admission of deserter status was the sticking point, and my ultimate refusal came after the officer called his superiors at a place he called “Central” to ask what to do with a deserter. The answer was simple. I was to be escorted back to the U.S by a Canadian driver and handed over to the American authorities.
In Conversation with Google Home
repetitions each. Then, I checked to see if my smart speaker lit up to tell me that it had registered what I had said. (Later on, I swapped out both consonant sounds and had fun saying “Hey Booble” over and over, to which my smart speaker consistently responded.). According to this first series of tests, my smart speaker will accept the following consonant sounds in place of the “G” sound in Google: b, k, d, h, l, m, w, y. It has a harder time deciding with reference to the following consonant sounds: f, n, v (namely, I had to say “Hey, Foogle” a couple of times before the speaker responded). Finally, my smart speaker does not accept the consonants p, z, r, t, s (indeed, the speaker categorically did not respond to “Hey, Toogle.”). This first test suggests that my Google home smart device cannot easily distinguish between consonants that have a similar sound type. For example, b, g, d, l, m, w, y, are what linguists refer to as “voiced,” because you use your vocal cords to make them. On the other hand, the smart speaker seemed to be trained to detect consonants that are unvoiced (t, f, p, s) and that create air movement (f, v, z, s) as different enough from the g sound to be ignored.
Fiona Patterson Contributor Procrastination can lead to amazing discoveries. I recently decided that I needed to conduct a series of experiments with my Google Home device. I’ve been wondering a lot lately about how artificial intelligence is programmed, so I decided that I would put my own smart speaker to the test. As a linguist, I naturally did this in a very systematic and not-at-all-silly way. Google Home, and other similar smart devices, use voice recognition to respond to oral commands. For example, for Google Home, the command is “Hey, Google!” My intention was to see how well my Google Home smart speaker could differentiate between various letter sounds in order to uncover how it was programmed. Starting out with “Hey Google,” I proceeded with a series of permutations of this phrase by changing one consonant sound in the word Google. For example, I said “Hey, Joogle,” “Hey, Boogle,” and “Hey, Koogle” one at a time with three
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At that point, I asked to go to the washroom, where I flushed all the Heintzelman documents down the toilet—everything barring the birth certificate, which the Canadian immigration official had held on to. He gave it to me when I was handed over to the driver. He in turn delivered me to a pair of U.S. border agents. I gave my real name, presented my Canadian birth certificate and asked to be admitted to the U.S. The agents frisked me. They found the Heintzelman birth certificate as well as my Canadian passport and the letter of introduction from Pro Tem. Their supervisor made a phone call and I heard him say: “This seems to be the guy, but he’s carrying a lot of Canadian identification.” At one point he said, “Thank you, Central.” (I wondered whether it was the same “Central” with whom the Canadian officer had consulted, and mused about possible collusion.) The Americans gave me a rejection slip and sent me back to Canada. I was met by a testy Canadian immigration officer
who accused me of fraud, misrepresentation, and public mischief before admitting me into the country. I didn’t give one whit about the accusations. The plan had worked. It garnered a lot of media coverage and stirred up public opinion. We had demonstrated that Canadian immigration officials were not adhering to official government policy regarding the fair treatment of U.S. deserters. The government of Pierre Trudeau finally stopped the illegal and hypocritical practice on May 22, 1969. While Immigration Minister Allan MacEachen took “a dim view of the impersonation tactics” that we had used, he reaffirmed to Parliament that “membership in the armed service of another country, or desertion, will not be a factor in determining the eligibility of persons applying for landed immigrant status in Canada.”
The second test I did was to see how well my smart speaker could distinguish vowel sounds. This time, I changed the vowel sound inside the word Google— Gagle, Gugle, Gegle, Gigle, etc. To my surprise, it immediately detected most permutations as being fraudulent. Vowel sounds that were very close to the oo sound (and could be the result of a slightly different accent) in the word Google were accepted, but any major deviation (such as Gagle or
Gigle) was totally ignored. This suggests to me that the language processing component of the artificial intelligence in my smart speaker was trained to pay attention to vowel sounds more than consonant sounds. I’ve asked my Google Home for the answer, but it was not forthcoming, and so the true nature of its programming remains a mystery. I intend on spending more time procrastinating to find out.