Issuu

CONTENTS

OCTOBER 18th, 2021 3

NOW AVAILABLE ON

Newly unionized Child Care Centre staff call for support Centre’s BOD not recognizing union.

CUP Wire: The story of education in five scams The neoliberization of higher education.

Mad fer it! Listen up as we review a bunch of Oasis classics!

Brotherhood: Senior Rugby players reflect as they near the end From Scholars league to RSEQ.

Career Profile: Professor Keiko Hattori Her energy is explosive.

Dyslexia Awareness Month Ottawa Heritage Building lights up red.

UPass Photos “It was a crime against humanity.”

SPOTIFY AND APPLE PODCASTS

Defining student rights New HRO policy could impose penalties on students who criticize University says UOSU — It won’t says HRO director.

20 Fiction The best of our short story and poetry submissions!

To read all these articles please head over to CONTENTS | 2

THEFULCRUM.CA

NEWS

NEWS EDITORS

Bridget Coady & Zoe Mason news@thefulcrum.ca

Student leaders concerned with Human Rights Office’s framework for a policy that would outline students’ rights and responsibilities UOSU says policy could have consequences on students’ right to crtiticize university--HRO Director says it won’t Charley Dutil editor-in-chief

he University of Ottawa’s Human Rights Office (HRO) is currently working on the framework for a proposed policy which would outline students’ rights and responsibilities. The document which was presented at last month’s University of Ottawa Students’ Union (UOSU) Board of Directors (BOD) meeting, has raised concerns among student leaders. The framework’s main goal is to ensure students conduct themselves in a manner that contributes positively to a learning, working, and living University environment in which respect, civility, diversity, opportunity, and inclusiveness are valued by not engaging or assisting in any harmful conduct/misconduct. Concerns for student leaders belie the broadness of the policy’s definition and examples of what constitutes harmful conduct and misconduct. “I thought the document was very comprehensive and included a lot [of] information and guidelines in policies that already existed but may have had some gaps. The interpretation of some of those may become an area of worry and I was hoping to further examine that through board discussions,” said Saada Hussen, one of the two undergraduate student representatives on the U of O’s Board of Governors, in a message to the Fulcrum. Hussen was joined by UOSU Executive Committee members Tim Gulliver and Armaan Kheppar in expressing these concerns. At the BOD meeting, Kheppar took issue with the policy’s proposed framework, deeming it essentially a student code of conduct. “It was initially presented to us as a culminating document where all student rights would be outlined, which it does … but what this also does, which wasn’t really brought to our attention, was it adds a whole slew of examples of misconduct that the university can handle, impose penalties on students, and there’s a huge range of what these penalties can look like, and that’s mainly where we have issues with it,” said Kheppar, the UOSU’s advocacy commissioner, to the BOD. The framework outlines a number of proposed measures in the event a student is found responsible for harmful conduct by the University. These range from a written warning to the possibility of suspension, expulsion, or, in the case of an alumnus, the revoca-

tion of a degree. Other possible consequences for acts of misconduct include restitution, the cancellation of financial awards, and transcript notation. Noël Badiou, the HRO’s director, says the goal of this policy is not punishment, but remediation. “The only time you’re going to expel a student or fire a staff member is with the most egregious kinds of behaviour or repeated egregious behaviour, right. So while it’s in there. It shouldn’t be thought that that’s the first place we go,” explained Badiou. “No, the whole intent, … will be all about learning, teaching, remedying a situation, correcting a situation, as opposed to punishing. It’s not intended to be a document to be used in a punitive way, in any shape or form.” “That goes against the whole human rights philosophy.”

What does the framework deem as harmful conduct? Outlined in the document are ten different categories of examples of what constitutes misconduct. The main issue for student leaders is that the examples are very broad and if interpreted in a certain way could limit students’ rights. They are worried the University could use the document to justify imposing consequences on students who fairly criticize the U of O publicly and hold peaceful protests on campus. Category two of the section deals with University property and property of others, however, example F is one that has drawn the ire of student leaders. The example states that students could be found responsible for harmful conduct if they “knowingly create a condition or circumstance which damages or threatens to damage the reputation of the University.” The problem for student leaders is that damaging the reputation of the University of Ottawa is very broad, and could be enforced to crack down on fair criticism. “Just because you are admitted to university doesn’t mean you sign a sponsorship deal with [the University], for lack of better words … I don’t see how that protects students in any way, it completely takes away the students right to freedom of expression,” said UOSU clubs and services commissioner, Amina El-Himri, at the BOD meeting. “That is outrageous, what you’re asking the students when they’re admitted to your [university is] that they have to protect your reputation? I don’t know. I don’t get it.” Hussen believes that from a student and staff perspective this example can be interpreted in very different ways. “ ‘2F’ can be understood dif-

lie the broadness of the policy’s definition and examples of what constitutes harmful conduct and misconduct. Image: Hailey Otten/Fulcrum

ferently from a student and a staff/admin perspective and as I read it again, it’s clear it requires a deeper explanation and what can consist of a circumstance or condition which can damage the reputation especially if its a fact and/or existing condition at [the] U of O (ie: equity, diversity, and inclusion matters),” she wrote in a message to the Fulcrum. Badiou agrees with Hussen, and says this example needs to be clarified for the document’s final draft as the office’s intention is in no way to take away students’ freedom of expression. “That is the one close that has come back as, you know, what does that mean? And to be honest with you, I think that it’s open to misinterpretation as to what that means. So I think we need to clarify that or delete that clause,” said Badiou. “Freedom of expression for expressing themselves freely that’s protected and wanting to be upheld. This document is absolutely not going to say we can’t say anything or if we say anything critical, it’s going to be problematic. Absolutely not.” Of course, category two, example F, is not the only example of misconduct that has raised eyebrows among student leaders. Section six has the UOSU worried that the University could use this policy to limit students’ ability to peacefully protest. This section states the following: Section six: Disruption / interference 1. Disruption or obstruction by action, threat or otherwise, of any University activity and, any conduct that disrupts the normal operations of the University or that infringes on the rights of another member of the University community. 2. Interfering with, obstructing,

disrupting, misleading, or failing to comply with the directions of, any University official or person authorized by the University, in the performance of their duties. 3. Any action, conduct, display or communication that causes disruption to, or an obstruction of, the freedom of movement of any person on or at a University facility. Gulliver explained that this section could make it nearly impossible for students to hold peaceful protests. “Basically, if someone from te university says do this and you don’t do this, then that can count as a violation of ‘6B’ … Hypothetically if students went on strike on campus, which were Ontario so student unions don’t often go on strike, but hypothetically this would make it impossible to strike on campus — it [would make it] very difficult to protest on campus.” Badiou says this isn’t the case, as the intention is not to punish those who participate in peaceful protests on campus. He says the office will work to make sure to improve the wording for category six to ensure this policy cannot be interpreted as such. “There is a concern as to whether a policy would be used to prevent or stop protests on campus. And I was able to answer absolutely not, that’s not what the policies [are] meant [for].” “If there’s a sense that the wording that we have, would raise that concern, we’re going to change that. We’re going to make it clear that the only time that a protest wouldn’t be [allowed], [would be if it is] disrupting an exam that another student is taking, for example.” “So I want to go back and make that much clear that it’s not absolutely to prohibit or to stop

THEFULCRUM.CA

any kind of protests on campus, that’s actually not the intention,” explained Badiou.

Why does the HRO want to implement a policy governing students’ rights and responsibilities? Given the University of Ottawa loads of existing policies, one wonders why the institution might want to implement a separate policy to lay out student rights and responsibilities. When asked by the Fulcrum why he thought the University of Ottawa’s HRO was going forward with the creation of such a policy, Gulliver refused to answer: “it isn’t a question for me”. As for Badiou, he went into details as to why he believes this is new policy is necessary. He began by explaining that the HRO has the mandate to enforce University of Ottawa policies 67A: Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination and 67B: Prevention of Sexual Violence. The problem is that the HRO receives complaints every year that cannot be assessed under those two policies. “So the Human Rights Office regularly receives complaints and concerns that don’t fit within existing policies,” said Badiou. “Those policies very much reflect legislation, in terms of prevention of discrimination, harassment, and prevention of sexual violence. [But] we regularly get complaints and concerns with respect to certain pages, sometimes online, most recently online, that don’t quite fit within these policies. And because we don’t have an actual policy, we’re not able to do anything with respect to those concerns that are raised.”

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

NEWS | 3

CONTINUED Student leaders concerned with Human Rights Office’s framework Although Badiou didn’t necessarily point to any particular situation or complaints, he elaborated on these behaviours and indicated how the office plans to deal with perpetrators under this new policy. “So [there have been] online behaviors on some social media platforms [and some in-person interactions] that don’t quite fit the definition of discrimination or harassment under policy 67 … but that would warrant some intervention.” “What I mean by intervention, it would warrant somebody checking in with the person who caused the distress or caused the hurt, if you will, to say, you may not have had intended it, but this is the impact of the actions, and so can we have a dialogue as to how that can be corrected or not happening again kind of thing,” said Badiou. Badiou said that he has received a constant stream of these kinds of complaints from students. “So yeah, it is his students coming forward based on things that are happening on campus. It’s not an overwhelming number, like we’re not, we’re not having some every day. But it’s consistent throughout the year,” he said. When asked if these situations specifically pertained to profes-

sor Verushka Lieutenant-Duval use of the ‘N-word’ in a course in September 2020, or professor Amir Attaran’s tweets which have drawn ire from francophone U of O professors as well as politicians in Quebec, Badiou had this to say: “I will hesitate to speak on something specific. But I will tell you that on a case by case basis, if somebody brings something to our attention, we will look at it and apply the Human Rights test, in terms of whether it crosses the line in terms of the definition of discrimination or harassment under our policy 67A. So it’s very much case by case,” he explained. Badiou also defined how he and the office differentiate misconduct and freedom of expression. “I’m gonna say that somebody expressing themselves freely and respectfully is not misconduct.” “Freedom of expression is limited by the Ontario Rights Code, as well as by the criminal code, so there are levels of expression that are not permitted. And those would be the tests that we’d be applying so in other words — does it breach it?” “You can express yourself but there are things that you should not and cannot say, which cause harm, and move into discriminatory behavior. And I think that’s the kind of thing that would be

captured, possibly by [policy] 67A but also potentially by this policy. But it’s not meant to stop things that are uncomfortable or things that are offensive … it’s not discriminatory.” “So the policy is not meant to capture things that are offensive. [Its] meant to capture things that are harmful and hurtful to someone else.” Badiou says that above all, this document is meant to create a healthy environment at the University for students. “This is really a document that’s intended to assist students in terms of [creating an] inclusive, respectful, and healthy learning-teaching environment for some of the students who teach.” Hussen, in spite of hearing Badiou’s explanation as to the necessity of the new policy, still isn’t convinced but will work to improve it for students. She says it all depends on how the policy will be interpreted by the U of O. “I am not sure of the necessity of this document specifically, but I do think there is a gap in current policies (especially 67a), and this could be the first steps towards ensuring students are as protected as we have seen professors to be.” “But as I said, the interpretations of the responsibilities will be

of utmost importance.”

When will this policy be implemented? At the moment, the framework is being discussed in consultations between the HRO and student leaders. These leaders include the UOSU’s Executive Committee as well as Hussen and her fellow undergraduate representative on the BOG, Hannan Mohamud. Badiou says he is still reaching out to student groups and leaders to get their input and feedback on the policy. “[We’ve reached out to] the representatives of the Senate, the representatives at the BOG, and we have regular dialogues with the students.” “We sent [the framework] to them, and we asked each of those groups to then fan out or reach out to other groups in terms of getting some feedback.” He says the feedback has been centered around specific language and how the policy is going to be applied. He reminds readers that the framework for the policy is still a draft and will go through many changes before its final iteration. “I think there’ll be a number of changes that will clarify the concerns that have been raised,” he

said. As for implementation, Badiou hopes the policy will come into effect sometime in the next year. “My hope, or my goal [is] within the next year.” “But, again, I don’t know, [it is] what I’m hoping, [but] this is just the beginning of the process. We’re really in the very early stages so you’re asking questions that I think will be responded to, or addressed kind of in the next iteration of the proposed document.” Gulliver, for his part, made sure to remind his peers on the BOD that these kinds of policies have been opposed by student leaders collectively in the past.“This was previously referred to as the Code of Conduct project, as it was previously presented twice before, in the last decade on campus. And both times the student groups mobilized against it in between the implementation of the Code of Conduct slash charter.” In his interview with the Fulcrum, Gulliver was clear. “We’re leading consultations with the student body and with different stakeholders and will relay those comments to HRO. And I would be surprised if this was the last UOSU had to say on this file, given the nature of the document that was presented.”

A detailed look at UOSU’s by-election results

Despite less than five per cent turnout UOSU’s Election’s Comittee Chair considers byelection a success Bridget Coady Shailee Shah

he University of Ottawa Students’ Union (UOSU) released the certified results of its 2021 by-election on Friday, Oct. 16. The results were in favour of electing all three uncontested candidates on the ballot: Sana Almansour for UOSU’s equity commissioner, Chloe Bergeron for the UOSU Board of Directors’ (BOD) engineering director, and Harneet Cheema for the University of Ottawa Senate as the health science representative. With a 4.5 per cent participation rate, UOSU election committee chair Henry Mann shared that the committee viewed the byelection as a success. For Mann, the success of the by-election was a matter of organization and meeting deadlines as a committee. However, Mann did mention the potential of an ad hoc committee for communication and engagement, which is intended to increase turnout for the commonly low participation of by-elections. “There are also initiatives we’re looking at in terms of greater

candidate engagement, in terms of appealing to people to run for office, and appealing to voters to participate in the elections in that way,” said Mann in an interview with the Fulcrum. Despite efforts to increase voter turnout, votes remained low for this by-election, with Almansour receiving just 1,278 votes out of a possible 36,855 voting members. Bergeron and Cheema were each only eligible to be voted in by members of the faculty they were trying to represent. Mann adds that the current committee is hoping that by focusing on governance and organizational tasks, they will be able to give the next committee more space to focus on improving civic participation. Each candidate will be ratified and appointed in the next week, with Cheema scheduled to be ratified on Oct. 18, and Almansour and Bergeron on Oct. 24. The by-election was entirely virtual with all campaigning being kept to social media and other virtual spaces. Mann noted that the UOSU election committee hopes for a hybrid campaign process in the upcoming general election. “As of the most recent discussions of the election committee on that matter, we are looking at

Sana Almansour, Chloe Bergeron, and Harneet Cheema each ran uncontested for their new positions. Image: Dasser Kamran/Fulcrum-

having an in person election in the general elections,” said Mann. “We would hope to do that depend[ing] on the regulations prevailing at that time, we will need to make that decision, probably in about mid-January.” The UOSU elections committee will meet three or four more times before the nomination period for the general election, which begins in January 2022. Mann said that any major governmental work, including any amendments to the

elections code or constitution, will take place during the November meeting. Mann encourages students to look into positions they might be interested in ahead of the upcoming general election. “The issues that we’ve discussed within our union, and other things that will come up on campus this year that we have yet to know of, these issues are not going away,” said Mann. “We need strong and committed student leaders to address

NEWS | 4

them and to work not only at improving our organization to better serve students, but really take those initiatives to other levels of decision making and strengthen the student voice, and this is one of the best ways we have.” Mann thanked the members of the elections committee, the chief electoral officer George Mogambi, and UOSU engagement staff for helping get this by-election over the finish line.

THEFULCRUM.CA

Newly unionized staff at Garderie Bernadette Child Care Centre seeking support from U of O community amidst dispute with centre’s Board of Directors “There’s no recourse for us without a union,” said early childhood educator Lauren Wing Desiree Nikfardjam staff writer

he employees of Garderie Bernadette Child Care Centre (GBCCC) have unionized, and are now looking for support from the University of Ottawa community. Located in the U of O’s Brooks Complex at 100 Thomas More Private, the daycare offers services mostly to U of O employees and students with children. In early April, employees began looking for support with no intention of unionizing. However, following a non-disclosed incident involving the child care centre’s Board of Directors (BOD), staff became concerned with the organization’s internal structure and unionized. Employees were also dissatisfied with how issues and concerns were addressed by the centre’s BOD. These concerns included unclear bylaws, the aforementioned non-disclosed incident, lack of mental health support, and improper scheduling and staffing. According to registered early childhood educators (ECE) and workers at GBCCC Britt Griffith, Lauren Wing, and Jela Vojnovic, the BOD failed to address their concerns in a satisfactory way and does not recognize their unionization. In a statement to the Fulcrum, the board, which is constituted of five current and former parents of children who attend the GBCCC, stated it will continue to work closely with staff and the Executive Director to listen to staff opinions. They believe these opinions are valuable, and said they are truly grateful for the centre’s employees’ dedication and hard work. The GBCCC’s BOD also shared its position as to the unionization of its employees. “The BOD of GBCCC recognizes the rights of employees to seek to be certified to be represented by a union and respects each employee’s decision as to whether they wish

to be represented by a union in their employment.” “The International Workers of the Work (IWW) filed an application for certification to represent GBCCC employees. The application for certification was dismissed by the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) on October 5, 2021.” “As such, there is presently no union in place at GBCCC, as defined by the Labour Relations Act of Ontario,” wrote BOD member, Stephanie Arnott. Griffith told the Fulcrum the application for certification with the OLRB was rejected due to a “minor error with our wording”. The employees are working on resubmitting the application with the appropriate changes, in the meantime, she says the union can still exist without certification. Griffith adds that the board is working closely with lawyers in order to maintain its power. “The BOD was quick to inform staff and parents that the application was denied and seem to be of the mind that the union is no longer because of this,” said Griffith. “We believe that this further demonstrates their lack of support for the staff.” “The information you receive[d] [from the BOD] … it is not correct.” “The union still very much exists.” The boiling point In the last month, the tension between the BOD and the staff has escalated to a point which led to a week-long complete shutdown of the centre. Griffith said that despite many pandemic restrictions being lifted, none of those protocols have changed for the centre. And with enrollment going up to full capacity, it has significantly increased the workload for staff. As a result, numerous staff members have been facing mental and physical side effects as a result of the workload and environment of the centre. They have been vocal about their distress to the

In the last month, tensions between the BOD and the staff have escalated to a point which led to a week-long shutdown. Photo: Hailey

BOD, and as a result, the BOD hired four new staff members. However, the new employees are not registered ECEs and lack experience working in an environment like the one at GBCCC. “We’ve had multiple people go on sick leave, a lot more people looking into sick leave, we have some staff — myself included — taking medication now, we’ve had hospitalizations, we’ve had people fainting, migraines, like a horrific amount of, very serious mental and physical side effects,” said Wing. “I mean, at one point they were like ‘Well, we have mental health funding. You can get yoga classes or download a meditation app.’ ” Griffith stated that while they appreciate the extra help from the new staff, there is now an imbalance between ECEs and non-ECEs. This imbalance causes more work for herself and other registered ECEs. This has made it very difficult for staff to take time off work since the BOD has created more responsibilities in terms of training and delegating work to the non-ECEs. The GBCCC staff had asked for a policy change that would allow staff members to have a voice in the hiring process. The BOD rejected the request. “There’s no recourse for us without a union, because they

can just say no, and there’s nothing we can do about it,” said Wing. These conditions led to the staff requesting the BOD to have an organized closure of the centre for the duration of a week. For Wing, this shutdown was about allowing the staff to have time to mentally and physically reset and recover from the pandemic, and to give parents enough time to make arrangements for their children who are enrolled at the centre. Again, the BOD rejected their request. Burnt out and out of options, this left staff members with no choice but to use up all their saved sick days to rest — effectively shutting down the centre for a week. The staff at the GBCCC reiterated on numerous occasions that the children are their number one priority and that all they wish to do is create a safe and healthy work environment to ensure a safe and happy place for the children. Although the BOD has made it difficult for them to do this, while maintaining their mental and physical health, they are not going to stop until their voices are heard. “As many parents of young children will understand, it is very disruptive to have a daycare centre close on short notice, when parents are relying on having a safe place to send their children during the day. This leaves parents scrambling for alternate care arrange-

THEFULCRUM.CA

ments, and GBCCC has an obligation to the children and parents we serve. As such, it was not possible to agree to a shut-down of operations,” explained Arnott, on behalf of the BOD. “Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of the BOD and the Executive Director, GBCCC was forced to close unexpectedly for one full week. Several staff members called in sick without advance warning and we were, unfortunately, unable to replace sufficient staff to maintain the ratios required to continue operations on such short notice.” “We sincerely regret the impact of this on parents and are taking steps to ensure that this does not happen again.” GBCCC employees feel the BOD has and continues to disregard the hardships they face every day working at the center — they do not feel represented in the decisions. “These are our jobs, these are our careers, and the people who make decisions about all of the things that affect our day-to-day life at work, are not educators and we don’t get a say in those decisions,” said Griffith. “They [the BOD members] have never experienced working with groups of children or anything like that. They have completely different professions,” added Vojnovic.

NEWS | 5

Indigenous Peoples Day of Rage an opportunity to awaken, not to wake up Attorney Alaina Woolfrey, Professor Marcela Saavedra-Vargas, Vice-Dean Nicholas NG-A-Fook, and U of O Student Cedar Iahtail talk colonialism and Day of Rage Salma el Hajj staff writer

unday, Oct. 11 marked the Indigenous Peoples Day of Rage across Turtle Island. The movement, which calls for autonomous, anticolonial, anti-capitalist, and anti-fascist actions, is an opportunity for the Indigenous community to express their collective rage towards the legacy of colonial schools, the lack of essential resources, and other inequities imposed by Canadian systems of oppression.

Although the event did not take place this year in Ottawa, professor Marcelo Saavedra-Vargas from the faculty of arts at the University of Ottawa shared his thoughts regarding the special day. “This Day of Rage is truly a day in which we have the opportunity to think about what happened on this land and to awaken not to wake up. Awakening implies taking action,” said SaavedraVargas in an interview with the Fulcrum. Saavedra-Vargas, an Indigenous elder, described the significance of this day for his people and how it marked his childhood. “We found this day to be representative for us. We are not going to celebrate the coming of the Europeans, because that was taught to us during our school years. I remember when I was a kid, I used to sing these anthems … congratulating the invaders for having come and discovered us and civilize[d] us,” he said. When asked if the Indigenous Peoples Day of Rage has been previously successful in contributing to major changes in Canadian society, Alaina Woolfrey, an Indigenous attorney from Nelligan O’Brien Payne LLP, responded affirmatively.

Oct. 11 marked the Indigenous Peoples Day of Rage across Turtle Island. Image: Indigenouspeoplesdayofrage.org/Provided

“I genuinely believe that Canadians’ acceptance and knowledge about Indigenous history is at its highest. Is there work to be done? Absolutely. Have conversations and awareness increased? Most definitely. Do I feel that days like Indigenous people’s Day of Rage have contributed to this increase? I do. And those Canadians that continue to push their level of compassion and awareness forward offer support and strength to Indigenous communities and persons,” Woolfrey explained. The lawyer does not blame the pandemic for the struggles of the Indigenous community, but rather the Canadian representatives who have designed a noninclusive, bureaucratic system. “The pandemic has made things harder for Indigenous communities but let’s be clear — a lack of clean water or proper healthcare services is not a result of the pandemic but rather the reality of the daily life of Indigenous communities. Systems are broken and when things are

broken there is rarely one cause. If Ottawa was out of water or access to healthcare and resources for even a day I suspect there would be uproar — angry calls and emails to the city and governmental representatives,” she said. Nicholas Ng-A-Fook, vice-dean and professor of graduate studies in the faculty of education at the University of Ottawa, stood in solidarity with Woolfrey’s perspective. The vice-dean believes that the Indigenous community has endured a long enough history of experimentation from colonial settlers, such as forced sterilization for First Nations women or the removal of children, to have created a legacy of mistrust. “[If] an RCMP officer came to your household to say, [says] if you don’t let us take your kids, and send them 1,000 [of] kilometers away [to a] residential school on a train, we’re gonna put you in jail [and] you’re gonna have a criminal record. Now you have a criminal record,

you’re not going to have access to employment, you’re always going to have that [as] part of a marker to demark you from accessibility to other things, when you already don’t have accessibility because you’re on a reserve,” he said. Cedar Iahtail, an Indigenous third-year theatre student from the University of Ottawa, also criticized the system for robbing Indigenous communities of their basic human rights. “The system that we have now is the same system that tried to enact genocide upon our peoples. It’s the same system that tried to assimilate us into the Canadian colonial governance system, and it’s still the same system that continues to kill us. Through genocidal policies like through various ways through various institutions like hospitals, through even education with a lack of resources on reserve, as well as child welfare,” said Iahtail. For professor Ng-A-Fook the celebration by Canadians of Thanksgiving is a slap

in the face for First Nations, Métis, and Inuit communities since it implies the thankfulness for Canadian systems of oppression, such as the residential schooling system, the provincial schooling systems, the Indian Act, the reserve system, and the PATH system. However, Iahtail believes that any form of fighting against colonialism, effective or not, is a valid reason for people to support the Indigenous Peoples Day of Rage. Iahtail encouraged Indigenous and non-Indigenous individuals to educate themselves on Canada’s history by visiting stopline3. org and Native-land.ca, to better learn which land we are benefiting from and occupying. “With these movements, It provides more [of an] education. It’s kind of like branching off points for people to like dip their toes into like, learn about, like whose land you’re on and how you benefit off of the land that’s, you know, stolen.”

NEWS | 6 THEFULCRUM.CA

Mason: On apathy, politics, and the UOSU

The student body couldn’t care less about student politics. Neither could the UOSU. Zoë Mason news editor

Earlier this week, the University of Ottawa Students’ Union (UOSU) held voting for its byelection from Oct. 12 to 14. Only three candidates ran for eight available positions and a meager 4.5 per cent of the student body turned out for this by-election. Not on the ballot was the position of clubs and services commissioner, which will be vacated at the end of the month due to the recent resignation of Amina El Himri. This position will not be permanently filled this year. It begs the question — why are students so apathetic when it comes to their own governance? It’s easy to pin it on an immature disinterest in all things political. The typical culprits when it comes to youthful inaction: laziness, ignorance. However, I think the Fulcrum’s coverage these past few weeks points to

an alternative: the inaccessibility of UOSU politics. The UOSU has simply developed a character of cool detachment from the student body here on campus. I doubt it’s intentional, but it’s surely there. Before I continue, I need to make an important distinction between governance and politics. By governance, I mean the administration of the union — the fulfillment of its obligations. In terms of governance, the UOSU seems to be doing alright. By politics, I mean the human aspect — the making -people-care. In terms of politics, the UOSU seems to be doing much worse, and it’s no mystery why. Let me illustrate. Last year, the Fall General Assembly (FGA) dragged on for seven hours and adjourned at 2 a.m, discouraging all but the most pious of student politicians from bearing witness to the policy-making process. This year, public docu-

Photo: Matt Gergyek/Fulcrum

ments have not been uploaded to the UOSU’s web page since the new administration took over in May 2021. UOSU president Tim Gulliver told Fulcrum staff writer Shailee Shah that it’s simply an error, soon to be rectified, and that the documents are available upon request. While I don’t doubt this statement, I do doubt that any student who might be moved to access these documents in the first

place would have the interest to pursue their inquiry beyond consulting the web page. A few weeks ago, I reached out to the UOSU’s Multi-Faith Centre for a statement on a story I was working on. When I didn’t receive a response, I asked a colleague to stop by their office on campus. The office was closed, and students nearby told her that it had been all semester. Fulcrum staff

writer Desiree Nikfardjam investigated. Representatives from both the Muslim Students’ Association (MSA) and the Finkelstein Chabad Jewish Centre told her that they had never accessed nor received service from the Multi-Faith Centre. Students are fickle, and so are politics. The fact of politics is that you need to keep your constituents engaged. A lack of streamlining, communication, and transpar-

ency has seemingly lost the interest of the student body. For those who may not remember, the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO) was defeated by the UOSU as the University of Ottawa’s exclusive student union in a 2019 referendum. The referendum followed fraud allegations levelled against the SFUO in 2018. It’s honestly remarkable that on a campus where many students can still remember the everscandal-embroiled SFUO that there is such disinterest in the UOSU. Especially on a campus with a large political science department situated in the political capital of the country — a campus where debate-watching parties are a common occurrence. This is a political campus, which makes UOSU’s lack of political savvy just that much more striking, and just that much more unacceptable.

Coady: On vaccine misinformation and apologies

University of Ottawa Heart Institute’s Apology for its part in spreading vaccine misinformation is not enough This seven sentence apology has not reached the dark corners of the internet that the institute’s false publication has. The false data they distributed is still being used by anti-vax movements to question the U of O’s decision to require vaccinations while simultaneously publishing research seemingly proving a danger.

Bridget Coady news editor

he University of Ottawa Heart Institute recently made public a preprint of ongoing research in which false data led to a finding of a vast inflation of cases of myocarditis following COVID-19

A seven sentence apology isn’t enough University of Ottawa Heart Institute! Image: University of Ottawa Heart Institute/Provided

vaccinations. This false data was quickly picked up by vaccine hesitant groups to validate false beliefs that the COVID-19 vaccines are deadly.

The institute offered seven sentences on their website to serve as an apology for this error. Before the re-

lease of this statement, the Fulcrum was in communication with the institute to get a fuller explanation of the error and its damages to vaccine trust: however, following the release of the statement, the institute’s employees were told to refer media to the statement.

The brief statement makes apologies for spreading misinformation and issues a direct apology to “Ottawa Public Health (OPH) for our miscalculation of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines administered in Ottawa from June to July 2021.” The statement also includes an invitation for those still unvaccinated to please do

so. But this part of the statement feels like a hollow gesture, knowing that the institute has done little else to combat the misinformation it helped to spread less than a month ago. The institute’s research has an obligation to heart health above vaccination, and this is not a problem. But for the constant reminders of “unprecedented times” we all receive, it seems a simple mistake such as a miscalculation should have been reviewed before sharing findings which imply such wildly inflated cases of a medical emergency. In such unprecedented times, a calculated statement in place of an actual media campaign confronting and disproving the misinformation

THEFULCRUM.CA

simply does not cut it. The wider publication of truth than that of misinformation seems like the least that could have been done in this case. Yes, apologize to OPH for setting off alarm bells with false data, apologize for the spread of misinformation, but spread that apology and those corrections as far as you can. Don’t add a tab to your website and call it a day. Twitter searches for the University of Ottawa still turn up new mentions of the false data as proof that people are justified in not getting vaccinated. There will be signs bearing the false information you released at the next maskless protest. So do more.

NEWS | 7

CUPWIRE

CANADIAN

UNIVERSITY PRESS

The Varsity: The story of education in five scams

Rising tuition fees, donor interference, administrative bloat welcome to the neoliberization of higher education ally arrive at a breaking point, and public higher education is on the edge of this fissure. I’m writing this article because I y feelings toward don’t want education to simply p o s t s e c o n d a r y fall apart one day.

Alyanna Denise Chua The Varsity

education quite complicated.

are

I already loved learning when I was in high school, but university has filled me with a frenzied passion for learning and research that I didn’t know I possessed. I find myself reading anthropology books for leisure, and I’m thrilled every time I learn or unlearn something new. Being in dialogue with creative and radical ideas is intoxicating, and it makes me happy. But on the other side of this happiness — this excitement of trying to know the world more fully — sits my growing suspicion that postsecondary education is, in many ways, a scam. It’s a system that promises people one thing but does another. I slowly came to this realization while writing my previous article on the tolls international fees have on students. I started wondering whether high tuition fees truly support what I believe are the primary purposes of public education — to produce knowledge and to educate people for the public good. I wondered if sticking premium price tags on education actually benefits the public. It took me a lot of time to bring myself to ask these questions. I sincerely used to think that education functions purely as a force for the collective good, unadulterated by the relentless profit-making machinery that dominates the majority of society. I was naive, which is why I ignored all the signs that higher education pointed exactly in the wrong direction. So I write today from a place of deep concern. As someone who finds fulfillment in learning and who strongly values education, I’m concerned that public higher education has lost its way from its publicserving mission. In five different ways, it has mutated into a self-interested business that produces services designed for a privileged clientele. I wonder how long this scam will go on for — how long will it take until it snaps and the entire enterprise falls apart? As I see it, scams must eventu-

1. The tuition boom Over the past 17 years, the tuition fee of U of T’s Faculty of Arts & Science (FAS) has risen by 46 per cent for domestic students, and by 431 per cent for international students. This isn’t unique — tuition fees in Canada have been outpacing inflation for decades now. Contrary to popular belief, new campus facilities and rising faculty salaries are not the main reasons for this sudden jump. A major reason that tuition fees are skyrocketing is state cutbacks to public education. To understand why, we need to go back in time. In the 1980s, the Thatcher and Reagan governments in the UK and US applied neoliberal policies that reduced the power of the state, which led to drastic cuts in public services, including publicly funded higher education. Canada followed suit in the 1990s, reducing public spending on higher education by $13 billion in comparison to the prior decade. Public funding for higher education continues to drop. In 2000, for example, government grants for general operations comprised 26.4 per cent of U of T’s budget. This year, they comprise only 18.1 per cent. Out of all the countries in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, an intergovernmental organization focused on building better policies, Canada currently allocates one of the lowest amounts of public funds toward higher education. To try to cope with these cutbacks, public universities have inflated tuition fees for the newly formed class of student consumers. In 2021, U of T, as a “publicly funded” institution, only received $723 million in government grants for general operations, while accruing almost $2 billion from student fees. As tuition fees increased, public pressure for more financial aid did too. Each year, U of T’s financial aid budget has consistently increased, bal-

The Varsity is the University of Toronto’s student newspaper. Image: Isobel Heintzman/Varsity

looning to $291 million in 2021 — equivalent to 14 per cent of tuition fee payments. U of T claims that increasing financial aid is meant to offset rising tuition fees, but all I see is a vicious cycle emerging: the need to raise funds for financial aid spurs further tuition increases, which in turn spurs the need for more financial aid, and so on. The same cycle is emerging at other universities across Canada. Erika Shaker, a director at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, told Global News that, in some cases, this cycle is essentially a “studentaid program by students for students.” Many students find that financial aid is not enough to compensate for the tuition boom — and this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the consequences of withdrawing public funds from public higher education.

2. Knowledge for profit Sociology professors Claire Polster and Janice Newson have written that public higher education was built on the principles of public collaboration, openness, and free exchange of ideas — principles that are integral to the public interest. But I worry that neoliberalism and market competition have

shifted the educational tradition into one that is now more secretive. In addition to charging high tuition fees, public universities have also commercialized research in order to recuperate state cutbacks. So, instead of making research widely available, some universities have increasingly engaged with intellectual property (IP) practices, which tightly control access to research findings but maximize their revenue in return. In this manner, public universities act more like businesses and less like public-serving institutions. The academic publishing industry restricts research from the general public in favour of revenue as well. With annual subscriptions to scientific journals generally amounting to around $6,000 and access to one-off articles often costing between $25 to $60, accessing scholarly research without a university affiliation is nearly impossible. Even with a university affiliation, accessing research can be challenging: universities in lower-income countries may not be able to afford expensive paywalls, which exacerbates information gaps between high-income and low-income countries. This is all happening while peer review is done for free, and scholarly journals like Elsevier raked in $3.2 billion in

CUP | 8

2018. To recuperate from state cutbacks, public universities have also forged close ties with philanthropists and private corporations to get donations, ushering in new cracks for conflicts of interest to emerge. For example, the Canadian Association of University Teachers’ ongoing censure of U of T — currently on pause, but not totally lifted — was caused by alleged donor interference in faculty hiring, while U of T’s recent partnership with pharma giant Novo Nordisk reveals how the products of publicly funded institutions sometimes go to private profiteers. Public universities are operating increasingly like businesses, while research, information, and knowledge are made less and less accessible to the public. To me, this is far from public service.

3. The supremacy of audits In the 1990s, a string of scandals rocked trust in the public sector. Barings Bank, which was Great Britain’s oldest investment bank at the time, collapsed; the public’s trust in medical professionals wavered

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

THEFULCRUM.CA

CONTINUED The Varsity: The story of education in five scams

after Dr. Harold Shipman was revealed to have murdered hundreds of his patients; and child sexual abuses within the Catholic church received widespread media coverage. As it understandably lost its confidence in public institutions, the public demanded increased efficiency, transparency, and accountability from the public sector.

Perhaps, given the neoliberal climate of our time, it comes as no surprise that “accountability” in the context of public universities has also followed principles of neoliberalism and market competition. Ushering in a new era of detailed auditing, quality assurance (QA) measures, and administrative bloats, “accountability” has, thus far, manifested itself as a Byzantine accounting bureaucracy. It’s now common practice for universities to measure and standardize various facets of education, such as students’ learning experience, faculty performance, and research impact, in terms of quantifiable indicators. This is because manufacturing paper trails is integral to making structures visible for audit. Aside from increasing the administrative burden on faculty members, researchers find that this system has stifled creativity and innovation, as audits are often assessed based on economic metrics. Measuring accountability in this limited

sense overlooks universities’ more complex contributions to society, such as contributions to justice, equality, and environmental sustainability. It also largely renders invisible the crucial peer review, mentoring, and care work that faculty perform — the last of which is disproportionately shouldered by women faculty.

To be clear, I don’t think that audits are intrinsically harmful or pointless. In fact, I believe they’re important tools for holding institutions accountable. But I’m concerned that the cornerstones of education have been lost to a fetish for quantitative measurement. Faculty instruction is the epicenter of an educational institution, yet universities continResearchers cannot find evi- ue to funnel funds elsewhere. dence that QA measures have actually improved the quality 4. Precarity of education by any objective criteria, either. Instead, as anThe neoliberal model favours thropologist Jodie-Lee Trem- cheap, flexible labour — so, like bath argued, universities have other most jobs, faculty jobs improved their efficiency — and have become more precariefficiency and quality are two ous. A study done in 2016–2017 different things. found that more than half of university instructors in CanEfficiency is no longer mere- ada are on short-term conly a means to provide a high tracts. Today in Ontario, this quality education. Under audit number reaches 60 per cent. culture, it has now become an end goal in and of itself — and a It’s easy to see why. Confutile one at that, as efficiency tract faculty are typically paid is an infinite ‘cat and mouse only a third of the salary that game’ where the next step af- their tenure or tenure-track ter efficiency is more efficiency. counterparts make, as their This is why historical theorist contracts do not include a reChris Lorenz wrote that under search component. Still, they the neoliberal model, “Efficient, are expected to uphold the therefore, is never efficient same standards of instruction. enough.” Labour scholar Adrianna KeMoreover, audits aren’t a zar calls this “the gig acadreliable means to ensure hon- emy,” and just like in the gig esty and proper management. economy, the gig academy widBetween 2001 and 2002, large ens racial and gender inequalicorporations such as Enron and ties as women and racialized WorldCom were subject to rig- minorities are disproportionorous financial audits by pres- ately represented in contract tigious auditing firms, but they faculty hires. were still able to commit the largest fraud scandals in hisAside from being underpaid, tory. contract faculty are constantly

on the edge of unemployment. Because they teach courses on a semester- or year-long basis, some contract faculty describe having to essentially reapply for their jobs every semester or every year. This process becomes a major source of stress and worsened mental health.

As author Jia Tolentino wrote, “I have felt so many times that the choice of this era is to be destroyed or to morally compromise ourselves in order to be functional.” This is exactly how I feel about learning under this corporatized model of education — either I wreck my chances at having a stable Furthermore, university livelihood, or I contribute to a graduates face the same level wrecked system I don’t agree of instability. Students are en- with. tering an increasingly unstable job market, as wages have not I enjoy learning and researchkept up with the rising cost of ing. I’ve daydreamed about goeducation. Many also enter the ing to graduate school, conworkforce burdened with stu- ducting fieldwork, and studying dent debt. According to the issues I care about — but I don’t National Graduates Survey, know how to reconcile my love in 2015, half of all Canadian for learning with the exploitagraduates finished school with tion and corporatization deeply a median of $17,500 in loans. embedded in academia today. Instability and precarity have become the definitive characteristics of our contemporary era, and we need to look no further than postsecondary education to see that in action.

5. We can’t opt out

I cannot pretend to be able to anticipate what’s to come. I can only see the small cracks in this scammy system turning into gaping chasms, and I’m not alone in this. At some point while writing this article, I opened Google Search and typed in “scammy synonyms” because I’d wanted to find another word for “scammy.” When the results appeared, I noticed a few entries under the “People also ask” section. The first was, “What is another word for a scammer?” The second entry was far more interesting. It read, “What is another name for diploma?”

Perhaps these problems in higher education won’t be resolved as long as students keep providing large swaths of capital to universities and academics keep accepting contracts. But I think it’s impossible to opt out of participating in these systems without destroying our life prospects. You can’t be an academic without going to a college or university, and your Clearly, I am not the only one chances of employment sig- who sees something seriously nificantly decrease without a broken with our education syspostsecondary diploma. tem.

The Quill: Building fire displaces numerous Brandon University students More than 100 people were affected Ronnie Kayla Neiman The Quill

n Tuesday, September 21, 2021, a fire broke out at 1400 Pacific avenue at a 48 unit condominium. Everyone got out, and there were no injuries reported but the building is heavily damaged. A number of those living in that building are Brandon University students as well as staff and faculty. More than 100 people were left affected from the fire and had to leave with little more than the clothes on their backs.

The building itself was only ten years old and the fire resulted in at least $11 million worth of damage. The Office of the Fire Commissioner has concluded that the cause of the fire that tore through Valley View Condominiums at 1400 Pacific Avenue on Tuesday, was accidental and caused by careless disposal of smoking materials. While many pets were reunited with their owners, at least one cat died as a result of the fire. Some of the units of the building were completely destroyed by fire. Others were destroyed by heavy water damage from the firefight-

ers’ intense efforts to control and extinguish the fire. There is also heavy smoke damage throughout the building. The residents have lost nearly everything.

fice Monday-to-Friday dur- food bank outside of its reging office hours. ular hours, contact Maggie There is also a way to reach at (204) 727-977 or by email out if you need help and at foodbank@busu.ca. are affected by this drastic event. An advocate can be There is help to give, and reached at advocate@busu. help to be received. There are numerous busi- ca or (204) 571-7843. If you nesses across Brandon and need access to the student the surrounding area that have found ways to help support those who were affected by this fire. Brandon University is included in that. BUSU sent out a letter to student emails. They are For the 2021-22 academic year, the Fulcrum has accepting donations of food, revived the Canadian University Press (CUP) clothes, household items, Wire to better inform University of Ottawa stuschool supplies and cash. dents on what is making headlines in the CanaOther donations are also accepted. These donations can dian post-secondary world. be brought to the BUSU of-

THEFULCRUM.CA

CUP | 10

ARTS

ARTS EDITOR

ZOFKA SVEC arts@thefulcrum.ca

Book Review: My Year of Rest and Relaxation My year of... restlessness and anxiety? is depressed. She struggles to cope with the death of her parents, something she hasn’t acknowledged (and she’ll

Zofka Svec arts editor

y Year of Rest and Relaxation is millennial literary phenom Ottessa Moshfegh’s second novel. Her other works expose and gently pull apart the same themes: feelings of deep, seemingly incurable loneliness, usually from a female perspective. Her works feature women in incredibly unique situations but somehow manage to make them accessible and universally applicable. My Year of Rest and Relaxation was shortlisted for the Man Booker prize, making a sizable splash in the literary world back in 2018. None of this explains the gigantic online obsession that it has amassed in the last six months (we can probably thank BookTok for that). In short, My Year of Rest and Relaxation is a work of early 2000s historical fiction that focuses on an unnamed, twenty-something Columbia art history graduate living and working in a prosperous post-y2k New York City. She has it all: a great job at an art gallery, a paid-for apartment, social and cultural capital due to her wealth and beauty. Despite all of this, she

spend the whole book working through this). Her only escape from the tortuous ease and mundanity are Whoopi Goldberg movies on VHS and deep, dreamless sleep. She sleeps on her lunch breaks at the art gallery and gets fired for it. Realizing that her natural circadian rhythm doesn’t allow her to sleep enough, she visits a quack doctor to get prescribed various pills that will make her body shut down against its will. Her increasingly disturbing visits to her psychiatrist with a screw loose result in prescriptions piling onto prescriptions. Not since the doctor in Requiem for a Dream has there been a more incompetent physician. The book focuses on her increasingly extreme and complicated attempts to spend as much time as possible asleep. She decides on a year of sleep: this is the eponymous year of rest and relaxation, which she describes as “saving her life”. Her social network is barebones, composed of her self-made corporate friend Reva, a dress size four (six if she’s bloated) gym rat envious of our narrator in every way. Her two male companions are her fuck buddies (the precariously masculine Wall Street asshole Trevor) and an ambiguous ro-

mantic interest (the modern artist Ping Xi). The narrator doesn’t care about any of these people:, they are simply side characters in her story. The world revolves around her, and everyone else is nothing but white noise at the edges of her narrative. Even the coldest, most cynical person will empathically cringe at some of our main character’s acidic internal monologues. In a particularly difficult scene, she enters her friend Reva’s apartment and cruelly tears it apart. Reva struggles with bulimia, a medical condition which our protagonist sees not as a serious disorder but a moral shortcoming. This constant criticism of Reva never really abates: she criticizes her for the way she drinks tequila and diet mountain dew, for her dress sense, for her bodily insecurities and eating disorder, for her obsessive exercise. Reva is the only person to come visit the narrator during her depressive sleep episodes, but the narrator always acts annoyed, brushing her off. This toxic friend dynamic shifts in the third act, but leaves us wondering if it is too late. Without spoiling the ending, everything is resolved and neatly wrapped up, for better or for worse. The book ends with such genius it’s almost frustrating. (And for the record, I did cry.) My Year’s unnamed protagonist is unlikable — a move that I think is deliberate. We sympathize with her: we don’t empathize. She has just enough distasteful traits to make us love her and hate simultaneously. When her Columbia sorority sisters are cold and unfeeling after her parent’s death, we feel bad. In a way, us as the reader are the sorority sisters: we feel bad, but we also gloat a bit at her struggle. Finally, she’s being knocked down a peg. But we soon feel worse and worse, as our protagonist’s volatile family dynamic and history are slowly unveiled throughout the novel via disturbing waking nightmares and breakdowns. Why has the book become so popular now? To make a reach, it’s the combination of escapism into

the novel and our societal escapism into anything but our current reality. It’s as if there is a meta escapism: the scores of readers want to escape to the world that the narrator is trying to escape from. I really can’t disagree with them: who wouldn’t want to be a hot blonde trust fund baby working at a trendy art gallery in NYC? But to think this is to miss the point completely. The book is a cautionary tale of an emotional and temporal dissatisfaction of a materially satisfied life In several instances, the narrator admits to not even liking designer clothes; she just did what was expected of her. In a flashback, one of her university professors makes fun of her Miu Miu boots, and she thinks nothing of it. She just continued to purchase designer boots. It isn’t until she undergoes her extended drug-induced haze that she begins to question her buying choices. Who was it that said that the unexamined life is not worth living? All of this complicated vaguely anti-capitalist messaging resulted in a peak of Twitter popularity this summer. I saw murmurings on literary Twitter in the springtime, some YouTube reviews appearing. By June, it had entered into other Twitterspheres, the various esoteric communities I’m a part of absolutely eating it up. These aren’t communities known for their literary knowledge, mind you. The book has become a mere symbol of itself, a pale representation twisted by pubescent girls reading it, missing the point, and unabashedly admiring the narrator’s wealthy WASP background, her Columbia education, her good looks, her designer wardrobe. The painting on the cover has become inextricably associated with the book itself. This idealization ignores the deep emptiness the narrator feels, her deep sense of listlessness, her exhaustion with the boring excess of NYC high culture. Of course, there is no ‘wrong’ way to interpret art, and most of the memes are selfcriticizing and referential in a typical 2021 fashion. This has generated a wave of memes and edits

that center around pretty girls holding books. My Year of Rest and Relaxation has made its way in the literature-for-pretty-girls canon alongside the Virgin Suicides, Lolita, and The Secret History. Memes are most easily spread on Instagram, an entirely visual medium with a user base that’s the target audience for the book. The narrator’s exhaustion is something nearly universal. Don’t we all want to detach from society for a bit? To not worry about money, or a job, or friends and family? Aren’t we all exhausted? The sudden popularity of the book can be reasonably attributed to the climate of self-care that has emerged alongside the coronavirus pandemic: a year of rest relaxation was kind of what we were promised. When COVID extended beyond that first month, it became clear we would be spending an indefinite period inside our homes. This soon became an unattainable goal. The stress of online school for students, the constant stream of emails and zoom meetings for the employed, the continued work and long hours for the members of the service industry, who never got a break. On top of all of this is the constant social media pressure to be productive. Your Instagram explore page constantly asks you what you’ve accomplished during the lockdowns. Did you write a book? Did you lose weight? Did you establish multiple streams of income? No! I just wanted to relax, goddamnit! The book is great — I’ve read both Death in Her Hands and McGlue, and this was by far my favourite Moshfegh work — but the hype around it is inseparable from the content or quality of the book itself. It’s not a new book, so most bookstores I called didn’t have it in stock, instead carrying her more recent book, Death in Her Hands. I eventually got it special ordered, the hype overtaking me. I needed to own it. It sits on my shelf at home, proudly declaring me an active participant in social media hype. I recommend you participate too.

Murphy: On falling in and out of love with theatre

Theatre: I love you. But right now, in this moment, I don’t like you very much. Aly Murphy

managing editor I don’t know what to fucking wear. My apartment’s littered with tights, stained skirts, mismatched stilettos, and earring-backs. My stained track pants beckon from my bed, enticing and soft — safe. Rain — rain? Boots? Umbrella? Denim? Rubber? Traffic. Surging Uber prices. E-ticket buried under emails I can’t find the strength to answer or even read. Even worse Uber prices. Mask — no, a different one, you wore that one to a film premiere last week

— lipstick, keys, half-charged headphones. The Uber’s only gotten worse, but you’re late, you’re so fucking late, and you don’t know how this works anymore, how early you’re supposed to be, how apologetic you should be when you stumble in drenched. Bye, Fig the cat. See you later. And so begins the return to in-person theatre. A year and some change ago, going to the theatre was joyful; mundane; sacred; routine. Entire days spent on the U of O campus easily melted into evenings at the National Arts Centre or Great Canadian Theatre Company or Arts

Court — I wore what I wore, be it stretchy or starched, and no one cared. Marketing and communications officers flashed glittery smiles at me as I snatched free tickets in exchange for reviewing — smiles I could see, all teeth no nylon — and I watched, and I wrote. In 2019 and early 2020, going to the theatre was as much a part of my day-today as wandering the aisles of Farm Boy or showing off in my undergrad lectures — in all three scenarios, I’d often run into friends and frenemies, exchange pleasantries in washrooms or classrooms or checkouts, be reminded of lives outside the freneticism

of my own. Now. I live in Toronto. I’m unlikely to run into classmates or ex-boyfriends. Fig is my best friend. Things are quantifiably different. The pandemic has annihilated my most treasured act of self-care: going to the theatre as a means of shaking loose the addled thoughts in my brain, dissecting a play instead of my own interpersonal angst, loitering in lobbies and enjoying the opening night treats found there. It’s simply not the same. Live theatre is oh-soslowly squeaking back to life (here in Toronto and in Otta-

ARTS | 10

wa, too — Fresh Meat’s tenth edition opened this week, and I saw it in the social media posts, that joy, or at least that stretch towards it — the community is rousing from its imposed slumber). And the routine will come, and the writing will be easy again, and theatre will feel normal. Of this I am certain — leaving my studio apartment to see a live performance will one day be, once again, little more than reflex. This has to be true. But after eighteen months of solitude, of theatre filtered through screens and streams, of writing to meet deadlines instead of to excavate mean-

ing and resonance, the re-entry is grueling; chaotic; jerky. I don’t know what to wear. I haven’t done this in, quite literally, years — how did that happen? I don’t know how much tickets should cost anymore. I don’t know what plays should be about, what pre-show dinner should consist of, what my job as (critic? Journalist? Student? Editor? None of them feel right anymore, not the way they might have a year ago) might be. Theatre: this is an “until death do us part” situation, and I’m not going anywhere. Theatre: I love you. But right now, in this moment, I don’t like you very much.

THEFULCRUM.CA

This Week in Fulc Music: The Oasis edition

We’re mad fer it— Well Charley is! Zofka Svec Charley Dutil Aly Murphy

ere at the Fulcrum, we love us some Oasis — er, scratch that, Charley loves himself some Oasis — so yeah, some might say we’re mad for some Oasis. So when Charley saw on Instagram that the band had dropped a new documentary about their legendary 1996 performances at Knebworth — it was time. So without further ado, listen up as we review a bunch of Oasis classics (minus “Wonderwall,” cause Charley hates it).

Half the World Away / “Whatever” single (1994) — Zofka: 7.5/10, Charley: 9/10, Aly: 8.5/10 Zofka: I totally didn’t think this song would be a cover of the R.E.M. song “Half a World Away.” Although disappointingly not the R.E.M song from their 1989 album Green, it’s still a decent tune. There’s some really good production on this, and a bit of studio banter is left in for a more intimate feel. Charley: As someone who moved to Ottawa at a relatively young age for his undergrad, this feeling of being alone half the world away from friends and family is all too familiar. This song, to me, is a reminder of late nights, spent staring at the ceiling in my single room in Friel back in second year — a lonely 19-year-old wondering, “why am I here?” “Here I go / I’m still scratching around in the same old hole / My body feels young but my mind is very old,” in other words. Aly: This one didn’t make me quite so existential, but I like the production on it and I think it’s relatable to anyone undergoing a transition time in their lives.

Cigarettes and Alcohol / Definitely Maybe (1994) — Zofka: 9/10, Charley: 6.5/10, Aly: 7/10 Zofka: You’ve gotta make it happen! I’m a sucker for a good jangly arpeggiated chord, and this song definitely ticks that box. It sounds like the dB’s if they were a little bit hotter and more confident. Although this is Britpop, there’s defi-

nitely an 80s US college indie influence — a Paisley Underground tune with more sex appeal and a lot less paisley. Back to the guitars: great mixing on this track, the jangles mesh well with a pretty damn crunchy riff. The whiskey-soaked Gallagher vocals are catchy as well. I find myself talksinging “you gotta make it happen” over and over to myself sometimes. Also: sun-shee-iiiiine. Charley: Always loved the message of the song — if you want something you gotta make it happen. With that said, I have gotten a little tired of this song — when it comes up on Spotify, I usually press next. It’s not a bad tune, the intensity is there, thing is one can only hear the distorted T-Rex riff so many times before getting tired of it. Aly: You can’t make me like grunge. I appreciate the attempt here, but drums (and anything else outside the purview of sadgirl ballads) scare me. That said, this is, like, fine. I’ll listen to this in the car if Charley drives me to Wendy’s but that’s about it. I also prefer “Definitely Maybe” by FM Static.

Morning Glory / (What’s the Story?) Morning Glory (1995) — Zofka: 9/10, Charley: 10/10, Aly: 7/10 Zofka: The distortion and drums at the beginning of the song sound like a pretty good attempt at a pumped-up shoegazey number. I mean, it’s a classic. What else can I say? What’s the story? Charley: Reading Zofka’s review, I’m genuinely surprised she didn’t realize the riff is an inverted version of R.E.M’s “The One I Love.” With that said, this is a fucking banger: there’s nothing better than listening to this song while shaving in the morning to get pumped for the day. Who knows? Maybe even do a couple lines before leaving the house for the office! (Jk!) Aly: Yeah, this is pretty sick. I feel like I could go rip up the streets of Toronto with my bare hands.

Don’t Look Back in Anger — (What’s the Story?) Morning Glory (1995) — Zofka: 9/10, Charley: 10/10, Aly: 10/10 Zofka: Is this a breakup song? If so, it’s an ambiguously cheery one. All breakups are hard to an extent, but this didn’t seem like a particularly difficult one.“Start a

revolution from my bed” sounds like a jab at John and Yoko’s famous bedin. Those two never broke up, technically. I think the mournful piano bits in the intro are a bit at war with the relative levity of the song. Charley: This will be the title of my last editorial … enough said. Aly: I feel like my boss will fire me if I don’t give this a 10/10. So.

The Girl in the Dirty Shirt — Be Here Now (1997) — Zofka 6/10, Charley 9/10, Aly: 7.5/10 Zofka: I’m a simple girl: I see a song with “girl” in the title and I listen to it. This song was one of my more positive listens from this category (songs about girls). It had some pretty gnarly guitar riffs between the verses, and soaring call and answer vocal harmonies on the choruses. The guitar was a bit showboaty at times, especially when there was so much other stuff going on like the liberal use of cymbals. It was a cohesive mid-tempo pop song until the bossa nova lounge piano in the outro. This clashed with the vibe a bit. The song went on for about a minute and thirty seconds too long. Charley: This reminds me of going out to sing karaoke (“Don’t Look Back in Anger” in particular) at 19, on a Thursday night at “Maison,” or if you want to call it its proper name “The Acadian House” with some girl I used to know. And then coming back to the office where I worked to have deep conversations — cut me some slack. I

We aren’t reviewing “Wonderwall,” cause Charley hates it. Image: Hailey Otten/Fulcrum

was young. Why does it remind me of that? Because we both didn’t have a care in the world and were both dressed in old pairs of sweatpants with dirty graphic tees — the girl in the dirty shirt. P.s: Not a Noel stan, but his version is better than the album version that Liam sings. Aly: This song is about me… But Charley’s story isn’t. Thank god.

The Shock of the Lightning / The Shock of the Lightning (2008) — Zofka: 5/10, Charley: 5/10, Aly: 5/10 Zofka: A solid, energetic pop tune. Nothing exceptionally good, nothing exceptionally bad. Some trite rhymes (“love is a litany, a magical mystery”) are telltale signs of a lazy songwriting session. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a catchy tune, just without much substance. A pounding drumbeat and discordant synths prop it up before a good drum solo in the third act. Amplifier feedback bookends the song, leaving the whole thing hazy. Charley: A solid album opener but not a classic. Liam’s voice was shot at this point. And this was a song that seemingly would have been better sung by Noel. I would have loved it if he kept this one for the first Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds record: I feel like that record’s vibe fit the song better. Alas, we’ll never know. Aly: The lightning didn’t shock me enough.

Don’t Go Away / Be Here Now (1997) —

Zofka: 7/10, Charley: 9/10, Aly: 8/10

Zofka: The guitar solo in the intro sounds like a Red Hot Chili Peppers song, or maybe a Santana imitation. I do appreciate pop songs that are in a cheerful majorkey but have sad lyrics. I like the contrast. “Don’t Go Away,” lyric-wise, is a universally applicable breakup song. You need just a bit more time to make things right — but you probably won’t get it. Charley: Another song where the Noel demo is arguably the song’s best version, this one reminds me of cold and frosty mornings walking home in the rain after hanging with someone you love. It’s a vibe. Aly: This brings me back to my third year of university, when I pretended to have much cooler taste in music than I ever actually did. This song has strong February 2019 vibes for me: not in a bad way, but in a nostalgic, coming-of-age way.

Live Forever / Definitely Maybe (1994) — Zofka: 8/10, Charley: 10/10, Aly: 10/10 Zofka: More jangly guitar, an album motif, rounds out this plaintive hit single from Oasis’ debut. I really liked the emotional murkiness of the song. It’s probably going on one of my Spotify playlists! Charley: This is my favourite song of all time. In an interview, Noel Gallagher once said he wrote this song to counter the grunge attitude of hating fame — hating one’s own existence.

THEFULCRUM.CA

“At the time … it was written in the middle of grunge and all that, and I remember Nirvana had a tune called ‘I Hate Myself and Want to Die’, and I was like … ‘Well, I’m not fucking having that.’” “As much as I fucking like [Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain] and all that shit, I’m not having that. I can’t have people like that coming over here, on smack, fucking saying that they hate themselves and they wanna die. That’s fucking rubbish.” “We had fuck-all, and I still thought that getting up in the morning was the greatest fuckin’ thing ever, ’cause you didn’t know where you’d end up at night. And we didn’t have a pot to piss in, but it was fucking great, man.” This has stuck with me, no matter how shitty my life may be, getting up in the morning is the greatest thing ever because you don’t know what the new day holds — will I meet my soulmate? Make new friends? Write the greatest story ever? Have loads of fun with friends? Who knows? We live in a very mundane society. We’ve all felt the pain in the morning rain. But, maybe I just wanna fly, I wanna live, I don’t wanna die, maybe I just wanna breathe, maybe I just don’t believe, maybe you’re the same as me, we see things they’ll never see, you and I are gonna live forever. That’s the song’s message — and that’s the best message I’ve heard in a song. And trust me, I’ve got over 3,000 downloaded on Spotify, so I’ve listened to a couple of tunes in my day. Aly: I like it. It’s bringing out the sadgirl in me as I contribute to and edit this piece.

ARTS | 11

SPORTS

SPORTS EDITOR

JASMINE MCKNIGHT sports@thefulcrum.ca

Brotherhood: Seniors reflect on personal growth with Gee-Gees men’s rugby program through its shift into a formidable RSEQ team As the Gee-Gees Season comes to an end, the careers of the team’s seniors do, too players is to make the most of it while they can. “My mindset throughout the year has been to just go out there and have fun. At the end of the day, I enjoy playing rugby and want to make the most of my last season,” said Hladik. “Rugby has been such a light for me. It, and the boys, have been there for me at my darkest moments, although they may not have known it, as well as the lightest.”

Jasmie McKnight sports editor

he University of Ottawa men’s rugby team has reached plenty of significant milestones in recent years, and for a handful of Gee-Gees, the 2021 season marks their last. These fifth-year players have been essential in the building of the program and its transition from the Scholars League into the Réseau du Sport Étudiant du Québec (RSEQ). Now, the team is approaching the 2021 RSEQ playoffs as one of the strongest teams in the league.

Beyond the Gee-Gees

Getting into the game James Shaw, a scrum half for the Gees, is grateful that he had the opportunity to be a part of a growing program. Following in the footsteps of his older brothers, Shaw started playing rugby at the age of 13. The Ottawa native decided to stay close to home, choosing the U of O’s psychology program. “I knew rugby would be a part of my university experience, so I contacted the coach as soon as possible and started getting involved in my first year,” Shaw said. Duncan Hladik’s rugby career also began with influence from his brother. Hladik saw his brother play in high school and by the time he was in high school he knew he wanted to try it. Hladik was involved with both the rugby and football teams in high school, and when deciding which sport to pursue long-term, he landed on rugby. Then, when deciding to play in university, the U of O was the obvious choice. “I have zero regrets,” Hladik said, “I came to [the University of] Ottawa because I wanted to stay close to home and because my brother was also on the team. It was a no-brainer to be able to have the chance to play with him.” Like Shaw and Hladik, Wahim Hamidi also credits his brother for his start in rugby. Creating a winning culture for the U of O team was a huge appeal for him. “I wanted to be one of the reasons why the program is so successful and promising for future student-athletes looking to play rugby in Ottawa,” Hamidi said.

From Scholars League to RSEQ The senior’s first two seasons were spent in successful years in the Scholar’s League. The word ‘successful’ definitely should not be taken lightly here: the team

Duncan Hladik will be graduating at the end of the year, ending a five year run with the Gee-Gees. Photo: Hailey Otten/Fulcrum

won the league in back-to-back undefeated seasons. The triumph led to the team earning varsity club status at the U of O and moving up the ranks and competing in RSEQ. “The transition was a big step for our program. It definitely came with a lot of challenges and checked our egos,” Shaw explained. “After two extremely successful years in the Scholar’s League, [the] guys seemed to think we would come into the league hot.” “It takes some time to get into the mentality of high-level competition [but] we are now competing for a potential bid to nationals, so it was a learning curve,” Hladik added. The team finished with a 2-4 record in 2018. In 2019, the GeeGees made it to the RSEQ playoffs and dropped the semi-final game 37-22 to McGill. In 2020, the team was unable to play because of the COVID-19 pandemic. 2021 has been bright for the team. The Gees opened the season on home turf with a 65-0 win over Sherbrooke, finished the season with a 4-2 record and are set to host for the first time in program history a playoff game at Matt Anthony Field. “I credit the coaching staff, led by coach Bones and our teammates for building a winning culture while cherishing every moment along the way,” said Hamadi.

Being a Gee-Gee Just from watching a game, it is clear to see there is a sense of brotherhood with the team. The Gee-Gees men’s rugby team is one that has grown together through many steps in the program’s existence. After so many years at the U of O, the upcoming graduates have plenty of highlights to reminisce on.

“My time as a Gee-Gee has been amazing,” Shaw said. “The first two seasons in the scholars league were a riot with big scoring games and great teammates. Joining the RSEQ in my third year provided a challenge… Throughout the experience I learned how to commit to priorities and maintain a positive social life.” Shaw earned the Academic Award of Merit in 2018 and 2019, proving that he was able to balance rugby, a social life, and school while at the U of O. Hamidi also earned Academic Award of Merit honours from 2018 through 2020. “I’ve had the privilege of experiencing numerous lessons and memorable moments that I will carry for the rest of my life,” Hamidi said. “Two lessons that stand out the most are discipline and patience.” “Discipline not only on the playing field, but in the classroom as well… Patience in knowing that you can’t win every rep in practice or in games. Instead, you either win or learn from your mistakes and try to be a better student-athlete from it.” Hladik credits a lot of his personal growth to his time spent with the program. “I [can’t] imagine a life without being a Gee-Gee,” Hladik said. “My experience here has been one that really allowed me to grow as an individual. Rugby has given me an outlet to make friends and really come into my own.” Each player has experienced every kind of emotion together and had their own memorable moments during their time representing the Garnet and Grey. “Perhaps my most memorable experience was being bit by a Carleton player in my second year as a Gee-Gee,” Shaw said. “My memorable moments are every time I get to step out on the field with my friends, or should I

say, my family,” said Hladik.

The end of the road As unfortunate as it is, all good things must come to an end. For Hamidi, Hladik, and Shaw, this season marks the end of their Gee-Gees careers. “Knowing it’s my last [season], I’ve approached it with a greater appreciation for the little things,” Hamidi said. “I am trying to live in the moment, and really enjoy things.” Hladik appreciates that he will be leaving the program with the same teammate he came into it with. “This is my fifth year on the team, it seems like a natural progression for this to be my last season,” said Hladik. “I’m leaving with people I came into the program with.” “I am eternally grateful to have had the opportunity to play for this team.” The program has left its impact on the players, but it is something that does not go unreturned. Without the things that each of these Gee-Gees have brought to the table, the men’s rugby program would not be where it is today. “This being my last season, I have tried to make the most of it,” Shaw said. “I am comfortable knowing that I am leaving the team at a much better level than it was when I started.” “Personally, I have developed a lot as a player and a person. The team has grown into a reputable organization with fantastic potential at the national level,” Shaw continued. “I’ve been playing for every member of the team this year to ensure that the program keeps heading in the right direction.” Knowing that it is the last season seniors will be playing for the Gee-Gees, the priority for these

SPORTS | 12

While Hamidi, Hladik, and Shaw are ending their chapters as GeeGees, they are moving on to the next stage of their lives. For Hladik, his undergrad in psychology is just the base of his education, as grad school is in the works, but only after he spends some time travelling and exploring the world. “Looking ahead, I plan to take some time off before I go back to school. I want to experience life a bit more while I’m still young, so I plan on moving and travelling as much as I can,” Hladik explained. “I would love to see as much of the world as I can.” Shaw is looking to pursue a degree in clinical psychology after graduating from his undergrad. “I have been pursuing this degree since grade nine and look forward to a career as a psychologist,” Shaw said. That’s not all for Shaw. He will be starting work as a mental performance consultant at the beginning of 2022. “My objective is to work with athletes and performing artists on the development of mental skills and habits that will support their growth and pursuit of excellence.” Hamidi has hopes of playing rugby at the professional level and plans on giving back to the University of Ottawa program through scholarships to help student-athletes in the future. In addition, when he graduates from his PhD, he hopes to work as a professor or for the government of Canada while opening up his own multipurpose athletic facility. Even with such exciting things on the horizon, he knows he will miss the memories he’s made with the team. “I’ll miss everything. I’ll miss the brotherhood bond I have with my teammates, I’ll miss being coached by the best coaches in the country, and I’ll miss our athletic trainers who help us stay healthy throughout the season,” Hamidi said. “I’m going to miss the brotherhood that we have formed. Everyone is out there fighting for the guy next to them,” Hladik said. “I’m going to miss going into these battles with my brothers, and seeing some of my best friends every day.”

THEFULCRUM.CA

McKnight: Twitch leak? Absolute chaos

The Twitch Payout List ranks streamers by the amount of money they’ve made on the platform in the last year Jasmie McKnight sports editor

eanwhile, at Jasmine’s other job: absolute chaos in the form of a security breach, payout leak, and memes. Let me reel it in. For those of you who don’t know, when I am not DMing every athlete at the University of Ottawa for Sports Confessional responses (sorry athletes!), I am likely streaming Call of Duty: Warzone on Twitch. Twitch has always been a light part of my life, and the wonderful, supportive little community that I have built is something I am most proud of. It is my happy place. While my monthly Twitch payout pays my rent (most of the time), for many people, it’s actually their job, and they rely solely on the income that they make as an entertainer or playing video games.

And for some luckier ones, the amount of money they make is unimaginable for regular folk like me, not even including brand deals, endorsements, and other opportunities gained from streaming. Sounds super great! Until a leak reveals a bunch of sensitive information. Passwords, information about the website, even past versions of the site. But what really stood out to people was the payout list. Of course, before the leak, people had an idea of the money streamers made by the amount of subscriptions and donations they received on the app. Having this knowledge did require a bit of research, or at least being active in these people’s streams. Thanks to the leak, people were able to see the actual amounts the highest earners on the platform made, including names that might be familiar to those that don’t follow Twitch or the gaming community. xQc, Nick Mercs, Tfue, Ludwig, and TimTheTatman

I was pretty surprised to see how angry people on the internet were to find out that people made millions of dollars playing video games. Image: Dasser Kamran/Fulcrum

sit near the top of the list. The highest earning streamer on the platform was Critical Role, making over $9.6 million since Sept. 2019. Keep in mind: this list is purely money through the platform and nothing else. Why is this such a big deal? First off, these people make a lot of fucking money. Second, it caused a shitstorm on Twitter (and elsewhere). Third, memes. I’d say I was pretty surprised to see how angry people on the internet were to find out that people made millions of dollars playing video games: some were even angry that people would bother subscribing and donating money

to people who are already so rich. To me, it’s pretty obvious that paying for a subscription or donating to a streamer represents the mutual gain that streamer and viewer share. The streamer provides entertainment, the viewer sends them money. Pretty similar to Netflix or something, despite the fact that you can watch Twitch for free. It’s a way to show support and be a part of something. It doesn’t affect me all that much, but the absolute rage people have regarding the success of others is kind of ridiculous. People are even claiming the amount of money the most popular Twitch streamers make is disgusting, and

makes them bad people. I will say that I think some of the memes that have come out of the situation are absolutely hilarious, like people calling streamers by their ranking on the list. TimTheTatman, who now has a contract with YouTube Gaming, was still included on the leak because of his time spent on Twitch: he even started addressing himself as ‘number seven.’ All in all, if you think Twitch and the money it creates for people is a negative thing then just don’t partake. Don’t take away someone else’s fun. Honestly, I’ll just vibe here and enjoy the chaos and try to make my way up the list.

Men’s rugby team qualifies for playoffs after 24-17 win against ETS

Gees dominate second half despite a slow first half

he University of Ottawa’s men’s rugby team ended their regular season with a 24-17 win against l’École de Technologie Supérieure. The win, which took place at Matt Anthony Field, clinched a playoff spot for the Gees who finished the season with a 4-2 record. The Gees started the game off slower than usual but were able to bounce back in the second half, securing their place in the playoffs. While the Gees had home-field advantage, the Piranhas kicked off the game, which gave them momentum during the first half of the game. They scored their first try within the first two minutes of the game, as well as successfully getting a drop goal. This made the score 0-7 for the Piranhas. However, the Gees gained possession of the ball shortly after. They moved forward, getting closer to their try-line, eventually scoring a try

after twenty-three minutes of the first half. Afterwards, the Piranhas kicked the ball from the halfway line and ended up making their way to their try-line where they lost possession of the ball in a scrum. The Gees gained possession and kicked the ball out and away from the try-line. During this play, player Kieran Blair, was injured and carried off the field. Most of the first half was played with the Gee’s defending their side as the Piranhas were playing strong defence. The Gees were able to score a try which made the score 7-5. However, the Piranhas scored again despite defensive measures from the Gees, making the score 14-5 going into the second half. The Piranhas managed to score another try within the first nine minutes of the second half. The score was 17-5 with the Piranhas in a comfortable lead. However, the Gees came back strong, playing

very close to the Piranhas try-line, until Jamie Armstrong brought the ball past the try-line into the in-goal area. Within fifteen minutes of the second half, the Gees brought the score up to a respectful 17-12. The Gees were able to gain possession of the ball on multiple occasions during the second half, which ultimately helped their momentum towards the end of the game. The Piranhas were not giving up, however, and were able to push the Gees closer to their in-goal area. But ETS ultimately lost possession of the ball, which allowed Gees player Simba Gumbo to outrun the Piranhas entire defense, and reach the ingoal area. This pushed the Gees forward, putting them in the lead by a score of 19-17. However, the Gees were not done yet. With seven minutes left in the game, the Gees had possession of the ball, and were able to stay near the try-line. Duncan Hladik, was able to

The Gees started the game off slower than usual, but were able to bounce back in the second half, securing their place in the playoffs. Photo: Hailey Otten/Fulcrum

pass into the in-goal area, giving the Gees another five points. Despite honest efforts, the Piranhas were not able to catch up, making the final score of the game 24-17 for the men in Garnet and Grey. This successful win for the men’s rugby team safely secures their spot in playoffs, while the Piranhas must win their next game in order to move for-

ward. Gee-Gees coach, Andrew ‘Bones’ Armstrong, said he’s proud of his team as they move forward, and proud of the progress they have been able to make in past regular seasons. “Our first year we won two games, our second year we won three games, and now we won four games… that was a big goal for us, so it feels re-

THEFULCRUM.CA

ally good.” “We’ve played some really close games and been under pressure, we know we can score if we execute… So that was the message at halftime, ‘let’s execute, let’s lower the number of mistakes we’re making,’ and that worked out, fortunately,” said Armstrong.

SPORTS | 13

SCIENCE

SCIENCE & TECH EDITOR EMMA WILLIAMS science@thefulcrum.ca

Career Profile: Professor Keiko Hattori Explosive work with U of O Professor Emma Williams science editor

n Oct. 7, 2021, University of Ottawa professor Keiko Hattori interviewed with the Fulcrum to discuss her research involving volcanoes, her field work, and career advice for emerging scientists. Hattori was the first female undergraduate student to study geology at the University of Tokyo, where she went on to complete her master’s and PhD in isotope geochemistry. Although geology was an emerging field at the time, many places of employment were not accustomed to female applicants. To overcome this, professor Hattori applied to do her post-doc at the University of Alberta. Over the course of her academic career, she was able to establish herself as a Canadian mineralogist and secure positions as an elected fellow for the Royal Society of Canada and Mineralogy Society of America, as well as associate editor for Nature publications and other scientific reports. From there she secured a research position at the University of Ottawa. As a result, she has trained over 30 students, has worked around

the world, and is widely published. Hattori explained her current research further: “When you look at volcanoes they’re discharging lots of chlorine, carbon dioxide, and they also deposit lots of gold and copper. However, if nothing is being supplied then they should be drying out. Something must be constantly supplying the volcanoes. This is

Currently, Hattori is teaching upper-year subduction zone geochemistry courses. Image: Keiko Hattori/Provided

called subduction where the oceanic lithosphere composed of iodine, and bromine are sinking more than 200km below the earth’s surface.” She added, “so how can such volatile things [magma] keep getting discharged and where is it being supplied? This can be explained by what we call recycling and I focus on the recycling of metals and volatiles.” Hattori used to study active volcanoes because she was interested in studying what types of volatiles (carbon dioxide, chlorine, etc.) were being emitted by volcanoes. She described her work around volcanoes as, “very dangerous — lots of things are coming out, they also become steeper and steeper as you get close to the top. It wasn’t until I experienced an active volcano in Columbia, where quite a few people died, that I decided to study inactive volcanoes.” Over the past 14 years,

Hattori has conducted research in the Himalayan alps, Pakistan, Northern India, China, Japan, and the Dominican Republic. There, she collected mineral samples to examine their levels of fluorine and chlorine which can help the researcher better understand what materials are being subducted and what is being uplifted.

When asked about her most memorable day in the field, she responded, “I had a project where I was working in northern Canada. Those areas had beautiful northern lights, the green and red colours filled the entire sky, and every second it kept changing. For hours and hours there was just incredible colour right above us.”

Hattori had been interested in chemistry from a young age however, it wasn’t until a university classmate suggested she go hiking on the mountains in Japan. There she decided she wanted to incorporate outdoor activity into her work. During her undergrad, Mount AkitaKomagatake located in the northern part of Japan had erupted. She described the eruption as a flowing water fountain. At the time of this event, many other exciting moments were happening in geoscience, all of which encouraged her to pursue this discipline.

Professor Hattori believes that because students have the liberty to choose their program in university, this can lead to self-doubt and confusion. To combat this, Hattori suggests that each step you make throughout your academic career needs to be made with confidence, otherwise you will regret your decisions and this will keep you from moving forward. When asked if she could provide any insight to students looking to pursue a career in science research, Hattori responded, “throughout our lives we will

SCIENCE | 14

always have some problems, sometimes, we think there’s just no way I can advance, and then we start to become depressed, but there is always some way.” She continued, “even for myself in my program, I was the only female, and the chairman at the time told me it would be better for me to change programs because there won’t be any jobs for me when I graduate. I thought to myself maybe I can manage. I would say that students need to be more confident in themselves, they need to always be thinking about future possibilities. If I hadn’t asked around I would have never found out that the University of Alberta was looking for a post doctor in isotope geochemistry.” Currently, Hattori is teaching upper-year subduction zone geochemistry courses. In the future, she hopes to continue her research on volcanoes.

THEFULCRUM.CA

Williams: Fact or fiction: Distinguishing between science and pseudoscience Emma Williams scienceeditor

The beauty of the scientific method

here is no better example of pseudoscience infecting those around us than during COVID-19. Misinformation is spread at an alarming rate by nonscientists. Where do we draw the line between science and pseudoscience and how do we distinguish the two? In short, pseudoscience is presented like science, but lacks the same rigour that science undergoes. As a result, it makes the two extremely difficult to discern. However, there exists a method that scientists use to develop their theories, known as the scientific method. It involves first the formulation of a question, a proposed hypothesis, making predictions, multiple testings, and a con-

clusion. An important note to make is that during the scientific method the goal is not to prove our hypothesis is true, but rather support it. If our predictions turn out to be wrong, then the hypothesis is refuted. Herein lies our main distinction, pseudoscience seeks to only prove whereas science seeks to understand. To clarify, pseudoscience does not explicitly mean wrong, and science is not a guaranteed right. The difference is that science has a logical approach to seek out knowledge and make discoveries with no preconceived notions. One would simply observe and develop a hypothesis based on those observations. Consider Santa Claus: to prove his existence would be rather easy considering all the

presents under your tree, the weird guy at the mall dressed like him, the fact that the food you left out has been eaten, and all the songs, shows, and movies written about him. Each of these facts prove his existence; however, it’s easy to find confirmation of a theory if you’re looking for it. What you should do instead is continue to search for contradictory evidence because every strong scientific theory is prohibitive, meaning it seeks to rule things out. Therefore, to test for Santa’s existence using the scientific method you would need to prove he doesn’t exist. If none of your results disprove his existence then you can either accept or refute your hypothesis. The only way to prove your belief in Santa is to trust it enough for it to be tested. That’s the beauty of the scientific method, everything must be testable, refut-

Photo: Pexel/Stock

able, and falsifiable. The problem that many of us face in society, both consciously and subconsciously, is that we let confirmation bias and echo chambers guide us in forming our opinions. Quickly searching for the answers online and nitpicking information that proves our theory, or listening to forums where several people agree with the same theory, can lead us all in the wrong direction. When we decide to study or observe a phenomenon we most likely already have some preconceived notions about it.

The only scientific way to combat this is to challenge your beliefs and be willing to let them go. If not for the betterment of our own intelligence, then for the betterment of society as a whole. In the future, when you’re formulating your own hypotheses that seek to explain the world around you, remember to stay open because to close your mind would mean that you already believe you are correct. Ask yourself: can I refute this? How can I test this?

U of O researchers examine relationship between perfectionism and academic achievement

Dr. Vaillancourt’s research stemmed from wanting to understand ordering of high achievement mentality GabrielleMuzychka Contributor

r.Tracy Vaillancourt is a full professor at the University of Ottawa, where she is cross-appointed in counselling psychology at the faculty of education and in the school of psychology. Vaillancourt is a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair who studies school-based mental health and violence prevention. She is trained as a clinical psychologist but focuses mainly on research exam-

ining the longitudinal relationships between violence, mental health and academic achievements.

In an interview with the Fulcrum, Vaillancourt elaborated on her research, titled “The longitudinal associations between perfectionism and academic achievement across adolescence.” “We first recruited the participants when they were in grade five, and we’ve been following over 700 students since they were ten. For this study, we married our data that we had collected on them as individuals with the data

we have from their official school records.”

By doing so, the researchers were able to examine the relationship between perfectionism and academic achievement. This longitudinal study is unlike any other study, allowing for a better understanding of this concept with more extensive data. The previous literature on this matter is more correlative: there are very few longitudinal studies on such young children on this topic. Vaillancourt stated that her curiosity came from wanting to understand the ordering of the high achieving mentality. “Is it the case that they get caught up in this rat race where they think that they’ve achieved and they have to constantly achieve? Does that achievement lead to perfectionism? Or is it that they have perfectionistic standards to begin with, and that leads them to be high achievers?” The biggest challenge this study faces is attrition. This is partly due to the length and extensiveness of the research. As a result, participants tend to drop out every year. This risks the data collection not being justi-

fiable from a scientific, financial, and ethical standpoint. The team has worked very hard to engage a large percentage of their original population for 14 years.

Dr. Vaillancourt explained the results of the study and what they mean. “I think most people would assume that if you’re perfectionist you have high perfectionistic standards, and that leads you to achieving. However, what we showed was that the pathway was from achievement to perfectionism, and not from perfectionism to achievement. Meaning, that your achievements lead to wanting to maintain that achievement through perfectionistic standards.” She continued, “that’s really important because perfectionism is a maladaptive personality trait, it’s associated with anxiety and depression, and other things like academic burnout. So we’re really interested in how this unfolds over time.” When asked if she could comment on the long term effects on these personality traits Vaillancourt responded, “what I suspect happens, and we need more longitudinal studies to show that this is the case. I think that they would burn out, because It’s really hard

to maintain that really high standard for such a long time. Maybe then once they leave University, they have a little bit of a reprieve on the anxiety of achieving, but I think that if it’s a true trait, then they’ll pull it out in a different area. That’s why I would suspect that over time they’ll burn out, but they may also have increased issues with anxiety and depression.” “I think we make assumptions, right? We assume that if we celebrate success, if you’re succeeding, then you’re gonna be happy, without realizing that you’re trapped in this trajectory, where you always have to achieve and the pressure becomes unbearable,” said Vaillancourt touching on the celebration of high achievements and the dark side of this culture. Vaillancourt believes that if we reframe the conversation around success, and what success means. Then we would be able to change the relationship between high achievement and perfectionism and in turn help reduce anxiety and depression. In the future, Vaillancourt is hoping to see more developments on this topic and continue to challenge the perception of education, achievement and success

Participants in Dr.Vaillancourt’s study were first recruited when they were in fifth grade. Image: Pexels/Stock

THEFULCRUM.CA

SCIENCE | 15

FEATURES

FEATURES EDITOR AMIRA BENJAMIN

features@thefulcrum.ca

Ottawa ‘Marks it Read’ in honour of Dyslexia Awareness Month

City lighting up in red heritage building portion of Ottawa City Hall from Oct. 12 to 17

Rhyanna Melanson contributor

n Canada, it is estimated one in ten kids have dyslexia. Dyslexia is a learning difficulty impacting literacy development, sequencing ability, mathematics, and different aspects of memory to varying degrees. First declared by the United States in 1985, October has been observed as Dyslexia Awareness Month. It has since been established worldwide with Oct. 8 marked as Dyslexia Awareness Day. In recognition of Dyslexia Awareness Month, buildings and monuments across Canada are being lit up red as part of Dyslexia Canada’s Mark It Read campaign. The campaign was launched four years ago with the support of IG Wealth Management. Its aim: to build further awareness about dyslexia and what can be done to address it.

The heritage building is currently lit up in red in honour of Dyslexia Awareness Month. Photo: Rhyanna Melanson/Fulcrum

kind to be established in Ontario after Toronto. The college educated Ontario teachers until 1974.

Dyslexia Canada encourages Canadians to visit the lit-up buildings and monuments and share a photo using #MarkItRead2021 on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Presently, almost every American state and Commonwealth country have some form of legislation and/ or procedures regarding the early identification of risk for dyslexia. However, Ontario and the other provinces still lack such regulation.

The Mark it Read campaign is centered on the traditional red ink pen used to correct work in school. The teacher’s red pen is used as a representation of the lack of awareness and support in educational settings for those with dyslexia. Many schools are not accessible because they lack the accommodations and services which are needed by dyslexics for success in school and later in life.

Further muddying the conversation around dyslexia is that the educational system does not use the term ‘dyslexia’. Dyslexia, executive functioning (ADHD), dyscalculia (math disability), etc. are all lumped together under the Ministry of Education’s umbrella category of “learning disability”. This ‘collective’ term remains in place even though the initial recognition of dyslexia occurred nearly 150 years ago.

For the second time, Ottawa is participating in the campaign by lighting up the Heritage Building, a portion of Ottawa City Hall, from Oct. 12 to 17. The Heritage Building is the former Ottawa Teachers College which was the second institution of its

Natalie Gallimore, the research lead for the volunteerrun advocacy group Decoding Dyslexia Ontario, explained the necessary changes the education system must make to ensure that all children — including those with dyslexia — are taught to read.

“[ The public education system] must start by screening all children for dyslexia risk in Kindergarten and changing its curriculum to teach reading earlier. Additionally, intervention should begin before Grade 2 to close skill gaps as soon as possible.”

Christine Staley, executive director of Dyslexia Canada, stated over 75 per cent of children who do not master reading by grade 3 will continue to struggle with reading. “Assistive technology is useful and necessary, but it does not replace the requirement to teach all children to read. These changes will allow for classroom reading instruction to become more accessible to the at-risk students while also benefiting all students in the classroom,” Gallimore continued. Keith Gray, Founder of Dyslexia Canada, noted that

with proper early identification, instruction and support, the impacts of the disability will be minimized. “[Children with dyslexia] can face stigma and shame, making school far more challenging. It has been linked to increased dropout rates, depression, abuse, incarceration and the entrenchment of illiteracy among Canadian adults.” In 2017, Decoding Dyslexia Ontario approached the Ontario Human Rights Commission with growing concern over the divergences between the Ontario educational policy and global research.

In response, the Commission launched its Right to Read’ Inquiry in October 2019. This inquiry investigated whether Ontario’s current educational policy forms a systemic barrier to the reading disabled within Ontario’s public education system. Following a delay, the Commission’s Right to Read Inquiry Report will be released in February 2022. For now, many Ontario students still suffer. Students continue not to be screened for dyslexia and go undiagnosed by psychologists as the

FEATURES | 16

school board waitlist for assessment is numerous years. “For parents and students with dyslexia, the only options to get help are to either wait years for school assessments and hope that educators have the resources to provide support or pay tens of thousands of dollars in private assessments and tutors,” explained Staley. COVID-19 has worsened matters with traditionally vulnerable students fairing worse throughout the pandemic. Many of these students are falling even further behind than their peers. In a statement released by Dyslexia Canada on Oct. 5, 2021, they spoke how the ongoing educational disruptions caused by COVID-19 “have exacerbated the problem to a crisis point for those most vulnerable, including children with dyslexia.” Unfortunately, this means that many students will never reach their full potential; with far too many facing harms directly tied to their dyslexia: anxiety, depression, addiction, unemployment, incarceration, and even suicide.

THEFULCRUM.CA

OPINIONS

OPINIONS EDITOR SANJIDA RASHID

opinions@thefulcrum.ca

Heckle: The way they take UPass photos should be a violation of the Geneva convention

I can only describe this photo as the most humbling picture of me ever taken SanjidaRashid opinions editor

n some September afternoon like any other, I set off to get my first official UPass: how exciting! A University of Ottawa student rite of passage, truly. Gone would be the days of reloading my Presto card. So long, the moments of forgetting my card and debating whether I should buy an infant or adult fare — I obviously picked adult fare every time, of course. My favourite thrift stores would be at my fingertips and Chinatown at my doorstep. I could almost taste the Pho Bo Ga King already. Such is how I left my apartment that day, ID in hand and misplaced audacity of hope in tow. Oblivious to the mockery I was about to face, my walk to campus was carefree. Like a dog tricked into going to the vet, I cheerfully descended the steps of the Jock Turcot University Centre and meandered into the long UPass lineup. The photographer

seemed nice enough. How was I to know this rather pleasant person, with whom I innocently shared normative pleasantries, would go on to wrong me so shortly after? It was unbeknownst to me that this woman was presumably a sadist! Perhaps that is harsh. However, I can only assume that she takes joy in the misery of others by participating in this system of injustice. The first red flag should have been my descent into a poorly lit basement. There would be no natural lighting. Not ideal. However, I could have worked with that if, perchance, there had been some adequate lighting fixtures. I wasn’t skeptical yet — such is the folly of optimism. It was when I was seated that I started to become aware of my fate. At eye level, there was no camera in sight. My eyes searched for the lens I was intended to pose for. Rather than take the photo from a standard angle, it seemed that UPass photography favours a more abstract approach. I spot my “camera”, if we are being liberal with the description, at just above

knee level. What a creative approach. At that moment, I knew this photo was not going to be my new headshot, nor would it be featured in my next Instagram photo dump. I begrudgingly accepted my fate. There I was, sitting in a dark basement in a fold-up chair, gazing into a webcam placed at an angle so low that, if it actually boasted of good camera quality, would be able to serve as a scope of my nostrils. All I could do at that point was wait. Then, I conversed with the photographer, an abettor to this crime against my self-esteem, for the short few moments that it took for the printer to produce my card. This is where I decided this woman must take pleasure in my displeasure. A court of law might call it hearsay, but I present to you nothing but the whole truth as I experienced it: she looked at the freshly printed card and fought back a laugh. I saw it! A near-chuckle at my expense. I can’t blame her. I can only describe this photo as the most humbling picture of me I’ve ever had taken.

I’m not convinced the girl in my student ID and my UPass are the same person. Photo: Sanjida Rashid/Fulcrum

It was a crime against humanity. I’m not convinced the girl in my student ID and my UPass is the same person. Like the saying goes for eyebrows, they’re sisters — not twins. The girl in my student ID is starry-eyed and enthusiastic — just about to leave her hometown behind, hop on a plane to Ottawa, excited for the year to come. The girl in my UPass? She’s no longer hopeful, because she’s seen it all, been around the block, and has been worn down by time. The things a year and

bad lighting can do, I suppose. I would argue that the entire process is likely a violation of the Geneva convention in that it lacked respect for my moral or physical integrity. Thus, I left that day feeling more than sufficiently defiled. Always the optimist, I tried to find the silver lining in this otherwise demeaning experience. At least I would be able to go on the LRT a bit more easily now, right? Despite the lofty price of a UPass, it must be

worthwhile long term, right? I reminded myself of the clothes I would soon thrift and the spring rolls I would soon acquire. All’s well if it ends well. Ah, foolish naivité. With my tail between my legs, I returned home with a depreciating self-esteem and a new card to tote around. Luck would have it that a few short days later, the LRT derailed with no date to reopen in sight. Apparently, it didn’t end well. So, all is not well.

Opinion: Electric cars: not as sustainable as they seem

Electric cars produce more CO2 in the manufacturing process than the conventional car AlisonOikawa contributor With climate activists like Greta Thunberg taking the world by storm, many people are starting to become a part of the current climate crisis conversation. People are taking action. Some make a change through education and transitioning to more sustainable lifestyles, while others opt for one of the more popular changes: electric cars. With more and more people transitioning to them, I wonder if they really are sustainable, or if people are simply buying them for the hype. Climate change is the earth’s rising temperature through human influence. One of the main ways this occurs is through the burning of fossil fuels, which results in CO2 air pollution (greenhouse

gas). Transportation alone is responsible for 25 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Due to this concern, people are switching to electric cars which produce no CO2 emissions while driving. However, what people fail to realize that, is although there are no CO2 emissions produced by electric cars while driving, they produce plenty in other stages of their lifecycle. Beginning with manufacturing, electric cars are typically manufactured in the same way as a conventional car: assembled in a large factory using the local power source of the nearest city. An additional concern regarding the environmental efficacy of electric cars is the difference in batteries between their batteries and the batteries of a conventional car. While electric cars use a lithium ion battery to power

the car, conventional cars utilize lead-acid batteries The problem with lithium ion batteries is they require rare earth metals: lithium, nickel, cobalt, and graphite. This is a climate concern, since these rare metals can only be acquired by mining — which is a pollutant-producing process. The negative impacts of mining include deforestation, soil contamination and release of toxins in local wetlands. Inadvertently, this results in electric cars producing more CO2 emissions in the manufacturing process than the conventional car. When driving electric cars, consumers produce no CO2 emissions since they use electricity instead of gasoline. However, the sustainability of a vehicle is determined by more than just this one metric. It is integral to also take into account how the

electric energy was generated. If a car charging station is not 100 per cent powered by a renewable energy source such as wind, solar, or hydroelectric energy, then it is based on fossil fuel sources such as coal, or oil, thus, producing greenhouse gas emissions. Such is the case for the majority of people who charge their electric cars at home, which in turn uses the main energy source of that city. For instance, in Canada, our power comes from 60 per cent hydroelectric, 15 per cent nuclear, 7 per cent coal, 11 per cent gasoline/oil, and 7 per cent non-hydro renewable. While most of our energy comes from renewable resources, a significant portion is not — therefore producing CO2 emissions while charging. While this amount of CO2 is minimal in comparison to the amount that combustion cars

THEFULCRUM.CA

produce on a daily basis, research has shown that electric car lifespans are shorter than conventional cars. A typical conventional car has a lifespan of 250,000 km before it is recommended to get a new car. With the average Canadian driving approximately 16,000 km per year, the conventional car can last up to 15 years. However, for an electric vehicle, experts say that the lithium-ion battery lasts up to 160,000 km. With the need to replace the costly lithium-ion battery every 10 years, along with the expensive price tag on electric cars, it makes people wonder if they truly are more sustainable. Finally, how much waste do electric cars produce? The main waste for electric cars are the lithium-ion batteries. In conventional cars, 99 per cent of the lead-acid car batteries are recycled in the US.

In contrast, less than 5 per cent of the batteries of electric cars are recycled with the rest ending up in landfills. Those that are recycled are smelted using heat and fossil fuels that produce CO2 emissions. Overall, this process produces more waste than conventional cars. In conclusion, are electric cars more sustainable than conventional cars? No. Well, at least for now. However, the future looks promising. With new technologies, researchers are searching for more efficient types of batteries and how they can be better recycled. Hoping to find more sustainable ways to power electric cars, provides more sustainable options in the future. This leads to other questions: will there even be a need for cars in the future? Will electric cars be the main provider of transportation?

OPINIONS | 17

The textbook dilemma: And equity in university To buy or not to buy? Diego Benitez contributor

f there’s one thing that unifies us as university students, it’s the collective and often unprofessed thought that textbooks are too expensive and, sometimes, useless.

Frequently, professors will assign a textbook for a course that only ends up being used twice all semester. It’s insulting to think that students are expected to have hundreds of dollars laying around when tuition is already upwards of seven thousand dollars — more than triple that if you’re an international student.

Universities are already riddled with institutional barriers given their entry price — textbooks only exacerbate this issue. The worst part of this textbook problem is when professors assign a textbook written by themselves or a “trusted colleague” in their department, which we know is just a euphemism for the word “friend.” Now in my third year, I can say confidently that I do not believe I will buy another textbook for the remainder of my university life — at other times, I’m not so sure. It gets stressful worrying about whether opting out of buying a textbook will come back to bite me later on. I call this worry “the textbook dilemma.”

To buy or not to buy? I remember vividly spending $120 on the most obscure French textbook (disclaimer: the rest of the class was great) that easily could have been passed on to another student. I made sure to keep the textbook in pristine condition and not use the online access code it came with, in order to ensure that when second semester finally rolled around, it would be a lucrative buy in the second-hand textbook market. What rubbed salt on the wound was not finding a single buyer for it — I kissed that $120 goodbye, and didn’t even get the benefit of the book’s online content. Slowly, I’ve learned to call the bluff of profes-

Call the bluff of professors who insist that “the textbook is a compulsory reading.” Photo: Hailey Otten/Fulcrum

sors who insist that “the textbook is a compulsory reading.” An extra couple hundred dollars each semester comes in handy for the necessities of life, which must be taken into consideration when constructing and sharing a course syllabus. The times of freely-loaned high school textbooks seem like a fever dream nowadays. In

my elementary and secondary school life, there was never a focus on the extra funds needed for books — which helped out immensely. I went to school at ease knowing there was nothing in terms of content that I was missing out on. My parents had peace of mind knowing the same. The choice between financial stability and

couldn’t pinpoint my type, all I’m really looking for in someone is quite simple: someone funny, nice, and (sue me) taller than me. I know that having a height preference is often criticized as unfair. However, once again, I can’t be held accountable. That is on the patriarchy — not me. If the wage gap can still persist, so can height preferences. Even so, it does seem that the three are mutually exclusive. Unlike Pokémon, I cannot catch them all. I realize I sound just short of some old woman scorned by time and heartbreaks, but that’s really not the case. I’m not coming off a brutal heartbreak, jaded and worn down by failed relationships. Rather, my love life is the least interesting thing about me. Perhaps I am just too much of a “girlboss”, but I don’t know where people are finding the time to do the whole dating thing — I barely see my roommates Monday through Friday as it is.

Maybe it’s the sentiment of cuffing season in the autumnal air, maybe it’s Adele’s new post-divorce single, maybe it’s been one talking stage too many (or maybe it’s Maybelline), but I have recently just about given up on dating. I, and many others, are not compatible with it as it exists in the twenty-first century, especially as it exists in universities. Of course, there is nothing wrong with that. It can be tempting, especially during “cuffing season,” to jump into a relationship. Couples walking hand in hand on the streets, posting pictures in corn mazes and apple orchards — it’s hard not to be green with envy. The other day, I looked out the window, in the comfort of my own home, only to see a boy with his girlfriend on his back and an umbrella in hand, shielding her from the rain. It was so cavityinducingly sweet that it was sickening — I almost had to call Crime Stoppers.

education shouldn’t be a problem that exists in Canada if our goal is to foster an equitable society for all people. Equitable opportunity begins in our youth and in the institutions that shape them, such as our universities. Doing away with the exorbitant price of textbooks is a start toward achieving this not-so-noble goal.

Opinion: Romance is dead

Bring back courting and going steady! Maybe dowries, too, while we’re at it Sanjida Rashid opinions editor

It has recently been brought to my attention that I’m a serial friendzoner — a phenomenon to which I was previously none the wiser. Not too long ago, on a Thursday like any other, my friends and I prepared for the long-awaited weekend ahead of us. Efficient and goal-oriented when it comes to maximizing our fun, we meticulously determined our ambitions for the nights to follow. While some got volun-told to dance on a table, I was told by my friends to not friend-zone every guy I meet. Though I wasn’t quite aware that this is what I was doing, I admit that I tend to be rather fast and loose with the word “bestie” — I can see how that might be a slippery slope. The first step to solving a problem is admitting you have one. Well, I’m not at that first step yet. I have yet to accept that, in my current predicament, it is me that has the problem — and I don’t plan to. This problem is larger than me and the fault of the cruel death of romance as we once knew it. Can anyone really blame me for being oblivious? Did I miss some memo? How am I meant to know if someone

is just being nice or flirting? Too often, I’m wondering if a boy genuinely just wants to hang out or if I should be preparing for a date. I could kiss someone right on the mouth and be none the wiser — true story. It seems I have a subconscious mandate: platonic till proven romantic. The casual dating scene of university is a breeding ground for miscommunication, for those like myself. It is also just draining. Frankly, I refuse to participate in a talking stage ever again. As an awful texter who can barely even text her friends, mom, or roommates back for days at a time, I am not built for online love. It is truly futile. As such, I propose a solution: bring back courting and going steady! Maybe we could bring back dowries, too, while we’re at it. I’m kidding — mostly. Perhaps we did away with the formal traditions surrounding dating too soon. In lieu of customs of giving flowers and romantic first dates, our generation boasts of Tinder (with which I am in an on-again-offagain relationship), hook-up culture, and unsolicited images rolling into our Snapchats in the wee hours of the night. Doesn’t it just warm your heart? Part of my friend-zoning folly is that, in an ideal situation, I would like to be friends with someone

before dating them. Or, to meet someone and just, all of a sudden, be encompassed with that feeling of knowing — the way they do in the movies. Not necessarily love at first sight — but like-like at first encounter. At the risk of being called old-fashioned, I have to ask: is there anything wrong with that? I’m a product of my upbringing. As a connoisseur of romance movies, I can’t help but be loyal to the “friends to lovers” trope. It’s fair to say that the love stories of the big screen have instilled some unrealistic expectations in me. Surely, if I was among the Julia Robertses of the world, I would have been swept off my feet at least a few times by now. It’s not as if I expect a boy to stand outside my window with a stereo in hand like Lloyd Dobier in Say Anything, arrange a flash mob for me at an LRT stop like Dylan Harper did in Grand Central Station in Friends With Benefits, or send me 365 handwritten letters like Noah Calhoun in The Notebook — though I wouldn’t say no to that, either. I would, however, prefer a bit more effort than a “wyd” text any day of the week. Take me out to dinner first. Despite my innate hopeless romanticism, I contest any critique that my standards are too high. Though I

OPINIONS | 18

Bring back romance. Image: Hailey Otten/Fulcrum

Personally, I hear the pitter patter of skateboards on campus square and I’m reminded of the last time I put in any real effort into a relationship. It was third grade, when I asked for a skateboard for my birthday so that my current skater boy crush could teach me how to skate at my birthday party. He did and thus cemented my skater boy fixation as a permanently embedded part of my psyche. As someone who has almost only ever been single (the except being the one time I was a really good friend and pretended to be my closeted friend’s girlfriend in the eighth grade), I am quite happy on my own. Don’t fall for the hype — being happy by yourself is way better than being miserable with someone else. That’s why I’m in no rush. Plus, it’s midterm season. My only date is with the Zoom lectures I’m behind on. Unfortunately, I don’t think exams will take me out to dinner before I get screwed either.

THEFULCRUM.CA

Fiction

For the past few weeks, the Fulcrum has called on University of Ottawa students to submit literary pieces of fiction for our annual fiction issue. Here are the best poems and short stories we received.

The Little Things BY HAILEY OTTEN MULTIMEDIA DIRECTOR

There were reports to finish, and meetings to schedule. He would have to finish that budget in time for his manager to read over, and not to mention the emails and invoices he still hadーa flash of red caught his eye, and he turned away from his computer. There was a ladybug on his desk. In October. He didn’t know much about ladybugs, but he was pretty sure they were one of those things that were meant to disappear with the seasons, like flowers wilted in the summer or how the snow melted in the spring. He had never seen one past the summer months, and certainly not when it was as cold as it had gotten over the last few weeks. Outside his office door, he could hear the muffled voices of his coworkers continuing their morning. Lyle would be rushing to the photocopier with a handful of files, Andrea was probably tearing her hair out over this week’s statistics. He imagined his boss, Harrison, was already three paragraphs into his introduction speech for the new seasonal interns. The real world was hard. He could remember, in a vague sort of way, when he had been a teenager and thought it would be different. When he’d told his mother that he would grow up to be rich, with a big house and eight cars, and that he’d spend his entire day doing nothing but playing video games and watching The Last Avatar on his home movie theatre TV. She had laughed, and back then, he hadn’t understood why. He did now. He wasn’t rich, he didn’t have a big house, and he definitely didn’t spend his days playing games and watching T.V. Instead, he was barely scraping by on a paycheck a few dollars over minimum wage, and he lived in an apartment with one room and three broken floorboards. And every day, every single day, he worked until he could do nothing but go home and drop half-dead onto his bed, where he would sleep off that afternoon’s exhaustion in preparation of doing it all over again. Staring down at the spotted bug on his desk, he let out a deep, weary breath. There were a hundred things he should be doing, and yet he couldn’t help but wonder just how that bug had ended up here, on the fourth floor of the office building. Maybe it was just trying to escape the chill of the outdoors and it had gotten stuck on someone’s boot, or maybe someone had left their window open and it had flown right in through a torn screen. It didn’t matter, not really, but the longer he wondered, the less everything else seemed to matter. As if by giving himself that one second to breathe and think, the weight of responsibility that clung to his shoulders had lessened. He watched and somehow managed not to flinch when it’s wings twitched and it launched itself into the air, flying off to some unseen corner of the room. He thought he might find it later, as he was delving through files or putting on his coat and getting ready to leave, or maybe it would find it’s way out of his office and into someone else’s and give them a similar moment of reprieve. Turning back towards his computer, he rolled his shoulders back and took in another deep breath. There were only two more hours until the workday ended, and he could manage that much. With an odd sense of ease, he got back to work. Illustration: Hailey Otten/Fulcrum

THEFULCRUM.CA

FICTION | 19

And I’ll Kiss You Again

Otonanza

BY CURZIO CONTRIBUTOR

I have written so many love letters that even if this one tiptoes over the threshold of the autumns, writing you love letters is like kissing you again... You march in my veins, for October to transits us together like recent harvests, even so, close, and yet so far away. I am crowded with kisses, whispers, clumsy words, and the sparks of the great defoliation strategy to which I will never take you. But do you know what else? That even if my fingers falter, even if the trunk of memory closes for me with the inexorable key of dementia, even if my love letters no longer reach you, not even from the threshold of autumns, I will continue to see you precious!

BY CURZIO CONTRIBUTOR

I undress in summer all over your autumn, on your weathered branches, on your ochre light, on your lambent trunks, on your vibrant leaf litter. Evergreen climbing is your body, perched on my walls: invasive, obscene, tremulous... and vagrant. Your hands, your fingers, your mouth... are wet fern pieces on a gloomy forest, burning down against my skin.

Forgive me for the disorder of my paragraphs I loved you and I want to tell you, that to put the order in this accumulation of feelings coated with senescence, would be like trying to catch in the citrine wind, or simply the essence of a tree, to which to date, I only call by your name. Tomorrow maybe, again with the excuse of autumn, to write you a love letter, will be like kissing you again...

I See Poets BY CURZIO CONTRIBUTOR

Cups of fire and brimstone be to us beneath the putrefaction of September. Let my ten thousand leaves scatter over your pores as the complex of my daring desire. A cloak covers our nakedness, garlanded, cerulean, mallow flowers. And your groaned quince, resin and incandescent amber, is distilled between my lips... like a lustful whisper.

I see poets turning into lakefront willows as they wave and lengthen when the autumn residues arrive. I see poets baring their branches with the leaves kissing the putrid waters in the search towards an oncoming storm Other leaves nervously crawl, rustling like the teeth inside their bitter mouths Other leaves flow away, to coat the sadness cracking of their corrosive verses And time is running out, in their naked eyes the rain breaks through and their traces are lost among the leaf litter, among the disconsolation... ...and their sky is broken from within Now I see ordinary men feeling lighter, unburned by it all, sitting on the lakefront Undisturbed by aught, nothing to shelter them: not even their leaves, not even oblivion, not even autumn, not even the shoots of their bare branches Thus, it is I can no longer see poets… Illustration: Hailey Otten/Fulcrum

FICTION | 20

THEFULCRUM.CA

Bycatch

BY ALY MURPHY MANAGING EDITOR A pause indicates a brief lapse – a breath? A silence indicates a longer one – a sigh? A North American bar. Crowded. Trendy enough to be that little bit too noisy to talk. It’s snowing. She’s on a spinny stool at the bar. She wears a shapeless grey sweater over black athletic leggings with requisite salt stains on her calves, and a-few-years-out-of-fashion lace-up boots. We can just tell that her socks don’t match over the lips of her boots. With the posture of a young adult whose adolescence was spent in the Tumblr-verse. She’s not memorably thin, but not enormous either. I want to fuck the turtle sitting at the bar. It contradicts what I’ve decided is my type, anthropomorphic to a fault: fallible. Pheromone-y. I like women whose fingers are graceful but not too thin, men who can lift me but who probably need to put me back down after a few seconds. My type smells good, but is annoying about it – they don’t use perfume or cologne or even a special body wash, they just smell like that. The turtle nurses a margarita and wears a wool scarf. Its little head nips at the straw. Chew, chew. Lost in turtle thought. It must have left its coat on the rack, over there, yes, I see it, a turtle-sized Canada Goose with extra room in the shoulders... Er. Shell. The turtle’s looking longingly at the bartender. I suspect she’s a marketing major and I wonder what she’ll try to sell me before I leave – she’s not turtle small, and it’s not really small that I feel – it’s more an anorexic kind of huge – but the turtle is so beyond the realms of my league that I just wait and watch it want the bartender. A cell phone rings with an annoying ringtone. It keeps ringing. For the love of god, answer it. She doesn’t. A pause. I sip my Mule, ignore it, notice the denim pressing into my gut. I shiver. I want to take the turtle home with me, introduce it to Linus, and he’ll thank me for this strange new brand of treat and I’ll scold him, because the turtle is not a catnip mouse or a mackerel in oil, no Linus, the turtle’s my date. I’ll introduce him to the cat only as a formality, so the cat doesn’t wonder whose toothbrush is in the shared bathroom in the morning. I want it to be impressed. The turtle’s making progress with the bartender. She’s as dazzled as I am, I think. She eyes its shriveled head and the turtle plays it off cool, a real scoundrel. It’s finishing the margarita. The barkeep’s sliding over another. I don’t think she’ll ask the turtle to pay for it. I play with the ice in my drink, sparkly and cold against my teeth. I pinch the skin around my hips,

feel the cold, the blizzard raging outside the bar. I contemplate Googling the macronutrients in a single cocktail but instead count the scales on my conquest’s shell. I want the turtle to call us an Uber. To hold my hand with its dinosaur-stump. I want it to lie to me. To relish doing so. Maybe one thing leads to another. Maybe we meal prep together on Sunday afternoons after lazy mornings in bed, turtle portions of miso and rice cakes. We go to basketball games, and because he’s so little we get to sit courtside. We fall in love, die together – our wrinkles match. I write grocery lists against its shell, and it leaches my warmth, lies in the soft of my stomach on summer afternoons. The turtle arranges coins, bills on the bar. The bartender’s crushed but doesn’t show it – she’s got a good poker face. The turtle rejects her, rejects the dripping appeal, the Invisalign teeth. I don’t get up, don’t smile at it. I don’t fumble a pickup line. The turtle gathers itself, terribly, unreachably fashionable. It settles its scarf, turtle-walks over to the rack, takes the Canada Goose down. A patron asks if the turtle needs help, but no, wordlessly, the turtle’s figured it out, the snaps and the zipper. The turtle stumbles into the snow, waves a stump in the air, hails a cab, so old-fashioned. I watch it happen, swallow the ice, the rocks. A pause. I took a course in uni, once, on geodes, stones, sediment. It rocked. Badum-tss. Dr. Mahmoud had this thick accent. I never found out where from, no one did, it was this big eastern European secret in a plain white dress shirt. My money was on Croatia. Dr. Mahmoud dedicated his entire fucking life to rocks, the layers and layers of microscopic shit that just pile on the bottom of the ocean. They get old and flaky like a bad croissant, and bits chip off, these sharp shards, that we get to keep and toss back into the water. It’s this endless cycle, ocean to wrist and back again on Sunday afternoons. She skips stones across the bar. Dr. Mahmoud didn’t have a wife. He just had his rocks, and found joy in singing their praises to eighteen-year-olds. “Rocks,” he said, “are not just rocks.” Like the accent? Smirk. “Rocks are God’s way of telling us we’ve been here long enough to keep track.” A pause. I emailed him once. Asked if we could go over an exam during his office hours – I got an 80, not really bad enough for a consultation but bad enough to skip lunch for a couple weeks – and he said no. He didn’t have time. He was busy. With his rocks. That’s what he said. She skips her final stone. Abram was in that class. He had a vested interest in the pebbles of the human condition. He smelled awful – surely he showered, but you had to wonder – and right next to me, I could see

THEFULCRUM.CA

how frail he was. Frail but with a tiny dad gut. Glasses, cheap ones. He made a point of not noticing me. His notes on rocks were immaculate. A smile. A pause. My throat’s cold. From the ice. My fingers, too. The bartender’s still bartending, counting her bottles of booze like pediatric dentists count teeth. ONE, TWO, THREE. A business-y business man who’s done lots of business-y things in strong cologne swims through the bar. I’m blood and he smells me a mile away, a swordfish steak on a silver platter. “You ever try the sweet potato fries?” It’s a quick start to a long story. Tight smile. Mumble something about allergies, mayo aversions, a boy in the bathroom. He swims off, an arctic shark with a nose for warmth. He’s not especially disappointed. A pause. Yeah, I did. They’re crispy. Impossibly fluffy on the inside, the chipotle mayo bright and creamy against the skin. Legendary in the first-year genus.

Abram had paid for them. I’d asked him not to, I was perfectly capable of buying my own, the words dribbling out of my mouth and stinking of cheap beer. Fucking PBR. They felt good in my mouth, and some part of me knew they’d been nuked in a microwave somewhere, but they tasted… good. You could make a perfect dental mould from the bite marks on each fry, we were forensic scientists, investigators, partners. He excused himself for a few moments, left me to bond with my starchy compatriots of the freshman fifteen. It was one of those bars with that Cracker Barrel table game – you know the one? With the pins in the block of wood? You jump your pieces over each other, just trying to get to the top point of the triangle, and you pull the pins out as you climb. You want to be the last one left. A couple rounds later, Abram came back, wickedly smug. “Let’s go.” I still needed to pay, I said. No, I didn’t, and I rolled my eyes and smiled and grabbed his spindly fingers and we ventured out into the November sky. Said a little prayer to Dr. Mahmoud, who wasn’t dead yet but probably would be one day. Probably. He called us a taxi, and the winter wind guided his scent to me, maliciously, cruelly. The air feels fizzy against her skin. The music of the bar slowly turns to static. Something is terribly, terribly wrong. The moment was over. I couldn’t retch. into orgasm. The cacophony subsides. I fell asleep that night thinking only of sweet potato fries.

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

FICTION | 21

A part of me tried to claw myself away from the rest of the evening, pretend it wasn’t really me who was here, settling, withering away with a geological acolyte who made me laugh and nothing else, choking on air alone, just smothering myself in the incomplete glee of being wanted, of wishing I could banter my way into orgasm. The cacophony subsides. I fell asleep that night thinking only of sweet potato fries. A pause. It went on like that a while. Sweet evenings out on his dime. We made stories, about Dr. Mahmoud, about which rock might have been the rock that sealed the deal. It was a shame he didn’t have a wife – he could’ve wowed her with a shale ring, or obsidian – not diamond, too easy, pastiche. A standing appointment to make stories. Over tacos and bad margaritas we’d… A pause. She looks at the empty glass where the turtle once sat. They used a cheap mix. Lime. A pause. I want the turtle to come back. I want the story of its shell. I want to trace its scars, let my fingers linger against the stone. I want to tell my mother about the turtle, warn her the turtle doesn’t like pot roast so please don’t make it when we come for dinner on Sunday, just salad, just air. I want to show the turtle the thread-count of my sheets: it’s high, like a million. I want the turtle to pay for my mule, to walk me home. To tell smelly stories until the very moment we reach my front door as we go over types of rocks, the layers of the earth, the grit and grime of the path beneath us. I want Linus to watch from the bedroom window, watch the turtle terribly kiss me, all teeth no tongue, watch me wince, watch the turtle tell me to go fuck myself. I want the turtle to want to put up with me. The cell phone starts ringing again. It keeps going. Answer. The. Damn. Phone. A pause. She reads from her own phone. “Dear Dr. Mahmoud, I’m writing to dispute a recent mark in your course. I am perplexed as to why you’ve given me an 80, when I know for a fact a fellow student with identical answers to mine scored an 88. We did not cheat – we studied together and have spoken since the exam – and it baffles me, this blatant favouritism. Please feel free to write back to discuss this matter further at your earliest convenience. Best,” A breath. With the accent: “Hello, The tone you’ve adopted in this correspondence is one I will not abide in my classroom or over email. You may ask Abram how he scored

CONTINUED

so well, as I believe this is the “fellow student” to whom you are referring. We discussed this exam, among other things, at length in office hours. And, if I may be as candid with you as you have chosen to be with me: the money you’ve spent on your university tuition may very well be better spent being evaluated, for what appears to me to be more of a concern than either this university or your classmates should be expected to tolerate. An ounce of humility will take you further than any semblance of thinness. Please do not contact me again without CC’ing the department chair. Greetings, Dr. Mahmoud” Smirk. She reaches in her pocket, puts the phone away, and slams coins on the bar. She stands, woozy. No rocks here, just water. Just Jell-o, a lazy river of being wanted. The ocean’s thicker, krill and killers in the waves. I bump my way out, tugging on a hat and mismatched mitts as I swim. The music just gets louder, the hush of the sea worse and whooshing, and then there’s a riptide, a gush of ordered fries and burgers and milkshakes, a current strong enough to decimate me forever. A deep blue current, and then white, freezing foam lapping at my Achilles. I get to the door, ignore it. I’m so strong. The fizz is back, the static, the ringing cell phone. It’s snuck up on her – and us. And then – an abrupt silence. Holy fuck. A pause. He’s still at the curb, tucked his beak into his scarf. A pause. I guess taxis don’t stop for turtles, not without girls by their side. I’m drugged on the smell alone, the grease and the sweat – high on the bodies behind me. I don’t know what I’m doing before I do it. The snow’s coming down hard, so much so it stings my cheeks, and that foam’s still there, still whispering against my back, beckoning me back to be wanted. And then. Fingers against coat against shirt against shell. He turns, surprised. “Yes?” I drink him in. Beady eyes an impossible shade of blue, cheap glasses. A beak that’d benefit from an orthodontist. Jeans with tiny stains on the thighs, maybe from greased fingers, or ink, or spilled margaritas. Under his coat – it’s not Canada Goose, I realize, but a Costco knockoff – I notice a tiny gut, a softness the turtle’s shell can’t protect. “Can I help you with something?” The snow’s getting heavier, accumulating to my ankles, then to my knees. Mid-thigh. Hip. Impossibly soon the bar’s windows are bur-

FICTION | 22

ied, and the turtle, he’s just standing there, just looking at me, then looking down at me, watching as the snow gets higher and higher above our heads, and we shiver together. The turtle and I stare each other down in perfect silence, perfect stillness. I don’t know if it’s snow or frosting, beer foam or margarita salt. I feel nothing. I smell nothing. A pause. There’s wailing, squealing. Ambulance. I marvel at the turtle’s composure – turtles seldom call 911, I’m sure, and I don’t even quite understand why he’s called, it’s only a snowstorm, they happen – I guess the turtle’s not seen snow before. It’s almost endearing. But that’s not an emergency, silly boy, and he disappears, ash, mirage. I’m stone as medical wings hoist me into the truck. The snow’s receded, the bar too. It’s a different kind of whiteness, the fluorescence. I reach for the turtle’s stump, surely he’ll come with me to wherever we’re going. The turtle’s my emergency contact, I tell the paramedic. I flap my hand around, looking for the turtle, finding nothing, just air. They ask questions about food I don’t have answers to. They roll their eyes when they ask what I’ve eaten and I say, “ice,” and they don’t understand why I won’t give them a straight answer, when really, no, it’s the only thing I’ve eaten since the fries and the tacos, and that was strictly an autumn thing, a thing with Abram, and here we are in December. It’s winter now. They ask about Abram. If I can call him to come get me. No. I only want the turtle. I want the turtle to chuckle at this hole I’ve dug myself into, this shallowest of snowy graves. I want the turtle to stroke my hair, kiss my forehead, like my tweets, marvel at the sheer shape of me. I want the turtle to tell me stories about Dr. Mahmoud. I want the turtle to save me its prettiest rock. I want to buy the turtle deodorant and subtle cologne, pay for its braces myself, payback for the fries. I want the turtle to pick up when I reluctantly give the paramedics Abram’s phone number. The sound of punching numbers into a phone. It rings. And rings. And rings. As it continues to ring: And when the turtle answers, I want to apologize to it. Make promises I won’t keep, things about granola bars and eggs. I want to rattle off an email begging for academic forgiveness. I want Linus to admit to being my roommate willingly. I want the turtle to tell Abram all of these things. I want the phone to ring forever. It does. Slow fade to black.

THEFULCRUM.CA

Mr.Vanderwinkle’s Hibernation BY MADURA MURALEETHERAN CONTRIBUTOR

When the dishes in the cabinets began to dull with dust, when the leaves of the potted plants started to crisp and furl, falling to the hardwood like ash, when the grey coldness from the empty half of the bed began to trip and trample its way across the entire house like a clumsy ghost, Mr.Vanderwinkle finally raised his wrinkled head from a flat pillow to stare out a far window. Outside, the world sucked in its last breath and the foliage turned fiery with the effort. Across the street, the window of an antique shop collected pale sunlight and the windowsill collected waxy and vibrant fragments of autumn. Staring at the sun-warmed window, staring at the leaf-littered windowsill, Mr.Vanderwinkle’s eyes grew weighty, and so, fighting off a hollow yawn, he decided that an errand had to be run. By the time he’d wound a papery scarf about his thin neck, the telephone let out a shrieking trill and he shuffled to pick it up, his mouth a tight line. “Hello, R. Vanderwinkle speaking.” “Mr.Vanderwinkle! Hello! This is Nina Pins from the Catskill Ladies Association. This call is regarding Mrs.Vanderwinkle’s membership fee for the book club-” “I’m still paying, so don’t cancel it.” “-sure you’ve been busy, it must have slip - oh. Pardon me?” “I said, I’m still paying. Don’t go about cancelling anything.” The dishes dulling in the cabinets, the leaves of the potted plants crumbling and falling like ash, the cold and clumsy ghost tripping and trampling, trampling and tripping. “Are you sure, sir? It’s just that if she’s going to be absent -” Mr.Vanderwinkle’s mouth a tight, and then tighter line. “Nina Pins, is it?” “Yessir, that’s me.” “Nina Pins, how about we drop this conversation, yes? Don’t cancel it.” And with that, the phone sat back down, the door yawned its mouth open and then clenched itself shut, and a pair of half masted lids shielded eyes away from the sunny antique shop as Mr.Vanderwinkle carried himself to the local convenience store, his dandelion-fluffwhite hair battering like a flag in the wind. A bright green skeleton watched Mr.Vanderwinkle as he ran his hands over shiny polyester mountains, rivers, cafes, and firesides. He turned to the motionless bones, trying to find a decision in their empty, plastic viridescence. Finding nothing, he closed his eyes, stretched an arm out, and gripped onto one of the many small glass jars. He didn’t open his eyes to check the brand - mountain, river, cafe, or fireside? The instant coffee grounds rustled inside the jar as he set it down at the cash register. “Your total’s three dollars.” The boy at the register held out his palm. The convenience store’s light washed out his earthy tones, made the nametag crookedly pinned to his shirt glint into an indecipherable nothingness. Mr.Vanderwinkle fixed his gaze to the paper pumpkins and orange tinsel covering the counter as he rummaged through his wallet for coins. There were none, so he pulled out a bill, Sir Wilfred Laurier’s face creased cleanly in half. “Keep the change,” he said, placing the bill on the conveyor belt and picking up his instant coffee. “Have a nice day!” The boy called out, his palm still outstretched. The bell hanging over the door tittered in response. A moonstone pendant that used to regally settle itself against a sunspotted throat. A cut-glass bottle that once swished around the liquefied fragrance of citrus and daisies. An unused crystal ashtray that no longer carefully sat on a bedside table. These were the gemstones that he kept in the wooden jewellery box that was no more a home to wearable trinkets. These were what

h e sifted through the sands of time to try and hold onto, everyday, like a looping and inescapable clockwork. He held the moonstone, a tiny and false light in the nightcloaked living room. The perfume bottle caught the moonlight on its edges and spilled it across the coffee table. The ashtray sat, pristine and stable, still in the jewellery box. A puppeteer tugged on his heart then, all the veins, arteries, capillaries, all of it pulling, from his chest to his legs, to his arms, and then up and up, and there -! It reached his eyes, tugging greedily at his lids. Clockwork. Mr.Vanderwinkle nestled the perfume bottle back into the box, tucked the moonstone right next to it, and stood from the sofa to return to the bedroom. The jewellery box remained on the coffee table, a staunch and oaken guard before a cup of cold and undrunk coffee. The week fell away in parched, autumnal scraps, rotted red, brown, and gold. The dishes dulled, the floor gathered the potted plants’ autopodia, and Mr.Vanderwinkle lifted his head from a pillow in the cold house, but finally, the plastic spoon met glass when he went to scoop more grounds into a cup. He wound the scarf about his neck, and when he passed the antique shop, he tried not to imagine a moonstone pendant, a perfume bottle, or an ashtray, sitting in the display to collect sunlight. In the convenience store, both he and the green skeleton watched a woman scan a shopping list, muttering to herself in the caffeinated products aisle. She shoved the list back into her coat pocket, from where her gloves started to dangle out precariously. Mr.Vanderwinkle cleared his throat, raised his hand to tap her shoulder, held it suspended in the air for two blinks, and then lowered it back to his side. After she dropped a box of tea into her basket and stepped out of the aisle, Mr.Vanderwinkle faced the polyester sceneries. He knew by now that last time he had picked the one with mountains, but for the whole week, whether he had drunk it or not, his lids had drooped shut. This time he reached for the one with the fireplace and went to the register. “I like the Proper Pour one.” “Sorry?” Mr.Vanderwinkle pulled out his wallet as the cashier scanned the item. It was the same boy as last time, his curly hair a cloud in front of the collage of Halloween decorations. “You bought a different brand last time -” The item scanner beeped. “- total’s three dollars – so if you wanted a recommendation, I’d get Proper Pour. It’s pretty good.” Mr.Vanderwinkle grunted as he pulled out a bill. “And I suppose the only reason it’s good is because you like it?”

THEFULCRUM.CA

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

FICTION | 23

CONTINUED

“Well, when you put it like that…” The boy uncreased Laurier’s face. “I’m putting it how you said it.” “Well, if that’s how I said it…” The boy smiled as he sifted through the register and reached a hand out towards Mr.Vanderwinkle. “Your receipt and your change.” Mr. Vanderwinkle held out his palm. “If that’s how I said it, then sure. I think it’s good because I like it. Maybe you’ll like it, too.” The boy’s words rang golden in the grey convenience store. Peter, his nametag gleamed. Mr.Vanderwinkle grunted again as he put away his wallet and took his coffee grounds. “Thanks.” “Have a nice day!” Peter called after him. When the door shut behind him, Mr.Vanderwinkle felt a tug; not at his heart, or his vessels, or his lids, but upwards at the corners of his mouth. Funny. He thought he’d forgotten how to do that. It was a slow but sure awakening. Before daylight, Mr.Vanderwinkle was already up and sweeping skeletal leaves from the floor. He poured himself coffee and turned the page of the great, worldly newspaper. He went on walks outside, where autumn was still sucking out the last breath of the world, and he’d breathe out a little. The jewellery box that used to open each night like a moonflower now stayed on the coffee table, shut tight, catching the first rays of the sun and first beams of the moon on its lid. It was a different jar each week, Peter at the cash register always making enough of a remark to catch Mr.Vanderwinkle’s smile, or on rare occasions, a laugh. One day, he bought the one with the river on its label. Proper Pour. When he bought the same brand the next week, Peter only smiled. “You’ve reached Catskill Ladies Association; how may I help you?” Mr.Vanderwinkle balanced the phone on his shoulder as he poured coffee into a paper cup. “Hi, this is Mr.Vanderwinkle. I’d like to cancel my late wife’s membership to the book club.” “Mr.Vanderwinkle, of course. I’ll take care of that for you.” “Kind of you,” he said before hanging up and popping a plastic lid onto the cup. Around went the scarf. He stopped at the sunlit antique shop to exchange a heavy oak jewellery box for a dented watering can. When he reached the convenience store, Peter’s shift hadn’t yet started. As he waited outside, a keen, November wind sighed through the barren trees, pirouetted into the waiting cup of coffee and back out again, blowing Mr.Vanderwinkle’s spring-light eyes open and awake. THE END.

A Flicker of Fall BY VICTORIA FENG CONTRIBUTOR

A contagious forest fire flares into flames of their kind. It bites on branches. Converting the colours of leaves from emerald to amber, emerald to ruby, and to another until the crystals lose their glimmer. Still, I ran still. Uncannily similar to the bright sky embracing the motions in it. Intentionally, as if a metal spring is made to push back, waiting for a cue, for Mother Nature to bloom again. Mesmerizing echoes from preys rang my ears, each layer challenging my patience. I watch as animals rummage through soil, hiding secrets beneath the burning trees. Little do they know, the wind whispers to the birds, taking some away. Yet these animals pay no mind, till what is left is empty. It is not until when the fire halts, when the forest has fallen, that all start appreciating the flicker of fall.

FICTION | 24

THEFULCRUM.CA

T O M AT

MANAGING EDITOR

ALY MURPHY content@thfulcrum.ca

Tomato: Café Nostalgica converted into Spirit Halloween Pivik was too ghostly for the store managers Amira Benjamin features editor

afé Nostalgica, the beloved student cafe known for its charming atmosphere and open mic nights, has been converted into a Spirit Halloween for the upcoming holiday. The gathering place, which has been closed indefinitely since 2019, now hosts rows of various Halloween costumes and accessories, conveniently located for student access at an affordable price. Some of the campusexclusive costumes include ‘Jacques Frémont’, ‘student union commissioner’

and ‘unread syllabus.’ One Halloween fanatic, Hont Edhaus, is very excited about the spooky celebrations. “[Halloween]’s the only thing getting me through this midterm season,” said Edhaus, who is a fourth-year feminist studies student. “This year I’m going as the devil’s advocate, so I’m borrowing a suit and briefcase from my friend in political science.” Di Daniels thinks that the store is a great use of space and was able to find a cheap costume she liked. “I’m going as a professor, so I’ll be causing a lot of last-minute stress for my friends on Halloween night. Very exciting.” Store hours are sundown to sunrise. Image: Hailey Otten/Fulcrum

Tomato: ‘How are you?’ is a HIPPA Violation

Welcome back to campus, Gee-Gee’s (That have two Covid-19 vaccines and can prove it) Sanjida Rashid opinions editor

elcome back to campus, GeeGees (or at least those who have two COVID-19 vaccines and can prove it). The University of Ottawa’s Students Against HIPPA Violations (UOSAHIPPAV) has criticized vaccine passports for being a gross invasion of privacy and has proclaimed it the time to re-examine what else is a HIPPA violation — like “how are you?” After much deliberation, it was decided that the question is both far too personal and an outright attack on the privacy citizens are entitled to. “They ask you how you are and you have to say that you’re fine when you’re not really fine,” said Katy Perry, a distraught U of O student who has been asked this question one too many times. UOSAHIPPAV has denounced a number of other

THEFULCRUM.CA

Image: Hailey Otten/Fulcrum

things that are “grotesque breaches of our right to be mysterious, cool, private people that you pass on the street and know nothing about,” according to treasurer Jane Provolta. She listed the following as soon-to-be mandated HIPPA violations: Two-factor identification

and the Microsoft Authenticator App. Professors that cold call you. Those things where you have to prove you’re not a robot by finding five fire hydrants among a series of carefully curated pictures — no more, no less. Starbucks inquiring for your

name for a drink when you know they’re going to mess it up because it’s non-Eurocentric. When blue-eyed people ask if we can see the flecks of gold and green in their eyes — no, we can’t. Websites that insist you accept cookies — I don’t know

what that means but it’s invasive and must stop. The president of the UOSAHIPPAV, Don Turtle, warns students that they must crackdown on these violations before new breaches of confidentiality show themselves. They must stand up now before it is too late. “We must stop this train of privacy breaches before they ever leave the station,” declared Turtle. “Will we need a student ID to get gains at the gym? Will we require a driver’s license or valid government-issued photo ID to get brewskis with the boys, if we are above a provincially mandated age?” “Will we implicate young, vulnerable school-aged children into this invasion of privacy? Will we only permit primary and secondary students in Ontario with immunization records proving they have received the diphtheria, tetanus, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, meningococcal disease, pertussis, and varicella vaccines to attend school? This is madness! Madness, I tell you!”

TOMATO | 25

Dear Di

MULTIMEDIA DIRECTOR HAILEY OTTEN multimedia@thefulcrum.ca

Dear Di, He knows what I did this summer... I had a boyfriend for two years, but we broke up in the spring (I’m in third year, and we met at the University of Ottawa). I had a crazy summer rebound. I went to a bunch of parties and hooked up with a bunch of random guys. One of my friends said I was in my hoe phase, and TBH, they were right. I’ve been dating a guy for a couple months and it’s been going really well… until he found my ‘hit list’. I know it’s kind of weird, but I keep a list of all the guys I’ve had sex with. Their names, dates, ranking, that kind of stuff. He found it. He didn’t know my body count until now. He keeps saying he’s okay with it, but he’s kind of making it a big deal. I feel really bad about it. Some of the hookups were when we were texting a lot, but not dating yet, but I feel like he’s mad about that too. I feel like such a floozy. Help! -Good Girl Gone Bad

Dear GGBD, First and foremost, what you did this summer wasn’t wrong! You’re not a floozy, though I hate using gendered terms like that. Casual sex is normal, and you really shouldn’t feel ashamed. As long as you practiced safe sex, I will never not condone a (consensual, non-cheating) hookup. I think communication is key here. You need to talk to him about how he feels, and you need to tell him how you feel. Secondly, what you did before him isn’t really any of his concern. I mean, maybe you two should have been up front about it before you started dating (how many people has he slept with, by the way?). It’s not as if you cheated on him — all of this happened before you two started dating — but there seems to be a bit of confusion about this “talking stage” you were in. I’m of the belief that you aren’t dating until you explicitly say so, but he might have a different view. You should tell him that you felt that you weren’t dating and ask him what he thought was going on between you two during that stage. I’m hearing a lot of self-shaming here. I don’t know the circumstances of your breakup, but dating someone for two years, especially the first two years of university, is really intense. Deep down, you may be feeling like you’ve missed out on having a lot of fun, which is why you probably went overboard this summer. You were trying to make it up, to fill a void. It seems like you weren’t fulfilled hooking up with random guys. You have a boyfriend for a reason — you’re probably craving that emotional connection. I do think that documenting all of your hookups is a bit funny, but you do you. I mean, maybe in the future stick to the traditional bedpost notch? That way you have plausible deniability. You’re probably so worried about what he thinks of you because you care about him. You don’t want him to leave. Tell him this! He’s probably feeling really insecure right now, and he doesn’t know how to express it. Sincerely tell him how much he means to you. Love, Di Daniels

DEAR DI | 26

THEFULCRUM.CA

ARCHIVES EDITORIAL BOARD Charley “Charlie Brown” Dutil Editor-in-Chief editor@thefulcrum.ca Aly “Shiv Roy” Murphy Managing Editor content@thefulcrum.ca Bridget “Waldo” Coady Co-News Editor news@thefulcrum.ca Zoë “The Fantastic Mr. Fox” Mason Co-News Editor news.editor@thefulcrum.ca Zofka “Rory Gilmore” Svec Arts and Culture Editor arts@thefulcrum.ca

The Fulcrum would like to thank: Rhyanna Melanson Alison Oikawa Gabrielle Muzychka Diego Benitez Victoria Feng Medura Muraleetheran Curzio for their contributions to this issue.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Ludvica Boota Kalki Nagaratnam Kate Murray Brendan Keane Benjamin King Sam Coulavin Siena Domoradzki

CHARLEY DUTIL

editor@thefulcrum.ca

Live from the Archives: SFUO takes aim at potential code of conduct

University says it has no plans to implement such a rule book

NOV 6 2014

Spencer Murdock

The Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO) has preAmira “Chidi Anagonye” Benjamin pared a new campaign Features Editor in response to rumours features@thefulcrum.ca that the University of Jasmine “Raya” McKnight Ottawa may introduce a Sports Editor code of conduct. sports@thefulcrum.ca Rallying under the Emma “Emma Woodhouse” Williams hashtag #DefytheCode, Science and Tech Editor a play on the universiscience@thefulcrum.ca ty’s new “defy the conSanjida “Hannah Montana” ventional” rebranding Rashid campaign, students are Opinions Editor opinions@thefulcrum.ca hoping to raise awareness about the possibilHailey “Kaz Brekker” Otten ity of a code of conduct Multimedia Director multimedia@thefulcrum.ca and what it would mean Jelena “Richard Daniel Sanchez” Maric for students. A code of conduct Social Media Manager social@thefulcrum.ca could place regulations on student behaviour Desiree “Daisy Duck” Nikfardjam both on- and off-camStaff Writer staff.writer@thefulcrum.ca pus. “I think the issue is Shailee “Kim Possible” Shah here is where do we Staff Writer reporter@thefulcrum.ca draw the line with the code of conduct?” Salma “Meredith Grey” El Hajj said Chris Hynes, the Staff Writer associate.news@thefulcrum.ca SFUO’s vice-president Christopher “Adam Goldberg“ Rhodes of university affairs. “It impacts everyVideographer videographer@thefulcrum.ca thing that you do, even if you’re not on camDamian “Jox Freemahnt” Piper pus,” he said. The SFUO Podcast Producer podcast@thefulcrum.ca is also worried that the code could be used to censor students. Rumours surfaced in

CONTRIBUTORS

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

the wake of two incidents that occurred last winter: a sexually graphic Facebook group chat about SFUO president Anne-Marie Roy was posted online, and a few days later, members of the men’s hockey team were accused of sexually assaulting a young woman in Thunder Bay while in town for a game. In response, the university administration created a taskforce on respect and equality to combat sexualized violence on campus. At a press conference in June, University of Ottawa president Allan Rock, said the university would implement guidelines for coach and athlete behaviour. The U of O denied any intention of implementing a code of conduct in a statement, however they are awaiting a report from the taskforce that could recommend the implementation of a standard of conduct. “It’s come to our knowledge that the taskforce has considered a code of conduct and has had discussions about it,” said Hynes. “We should all have a standard of behavior, we should all act like decent human beings,” he said. “But what right does the university have to

impact students’ academic careers when the majority of society is already controlled by the law?” The fact that the U of O does not have some sort of non-academic code of conduct is actually more of a rarity among Canadian universities. These sorts of documents exist at York, McGill, the University of British Columbia, Queen’s, the University of Toronto, Carleton, and more. In 2011, two students at McGill were accused of violating their school’s code of conduct while demonstrating in solidarity with striking support staff workers. Joël Pedneault and Micha

Stettin were accused of causing a traffic disturbance which violated the university’s code. “This was not an individual attack on (Pedneault or myself),” Stettin said then, according to the Charlatan. “It was an attack on activism… an attack on freedom of assembly, an attack on dissent.” In some cases, individual faculties will have their own specific behavioural guides, such as the Telfer School of Management. The U of O previously met vehement student opposition when it proposed a non-academic code of conduct in April 2008. Mireille Gervais, di-

rector of the SFUOaffiliated Student Rights Centre (SRC) was one of the loudest voices during the 2008 protests. “The threat of punishment doesn’t change our culture, it simply adds a mechanism for control over students by the administration,” said Gervais. “That is not fostering a campus where there is freedom, debate, free expression, and student action in all spheres of your political views.” The Revolutionary Student Movement (RSM) hopes to call a student strike at next month’s general assembly, partially to voice opposition to a code of conduct.

Fun facts about this article In Charley Dutil’s Oct. 2021 article about the Human Rights Office’s framework for a policy outlining students’ rights and responsibilities, Tim Gulliver, the University of Ottawa Students’ Union’s president refers to the events of the 2014-15 Code of conduct saga; Spencer Murdock is now a sports liaison officer with the U of O’s varsity athletics departement; Anne-Marie Roy is now the communication officer for the Association of Professors of the University of Ottawa No code of conduct was passed in 2014-15; The UOSU is now the union representing undergraduate students at the U of O; Allan Rock was Jacques Frémont’s predecessor, he is most famous for convincing John Lennon and Yoko Ono to “attend a forum on world peace in Ottawa — essentially a press conference held on campus in the lobby of Simard Hall.”

THEFULCRUM.CA

ARCHIVES | 27