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I came here for a vacation for a visit my<br />
family and see Canada, and I didn't go back.<br />
- See page 11<br />
Volume XLIV, Issue 7 <strong>chronicle</strong>.<strong>durham</strong>college.ca November 29 - December 5, 20<strong>16</strong><br />
Give sex<br />
assault<br />
victims<br />
a voice pages 6-7<br />
Durham's silent crisis<br />
page 25<br />
Photo illustration by Noor Ibrahim<br />
Learning to<br />
love yourself page 13<br />
Photograph by Toby VanWeston<br />
Photograph by Brandi Washington<br />
UOIT celebrates the hardware page 37<br />
Photograph by Joshua Nelson
2 The Chronicle November 29 - December 5, 20<strong>16</strong> <strong>chronicle</strong>.<strong>durham</strong>college.ca<br />
BACK<br />
of the<br />
FRONT<br />
DC journalism students look at Durham College and UOIT,<br />
and beyond, by the numbers and with their cameras<br />
Photograph by Travis Fortnum<br />
Welcome to Canada, Somayeh!<br />
Canada boasts a population of more than 35 million, and now Somayeh Yarahmadi (holding the poster) joins the ranks. Yarahmadi recently obtained her Canadian<br />
citizenship after living here for nearly six years. The day after her test, she brought in a box of Timbits to share her excitement and to thank her Durham College<br />
classmates for welcoming her. To further the celebration, her friend Karen Albin got their Communicatons for Design class to sign a print.<br />
No ordinary hole in the wall<br />
Art is popping up all over campus. Especially in the C wing at<br />
Durham College, where one clever artist has installed a piece<br />
that makes it seem like the wall is breaking away to reveal<br />
outer space.<br />
Photograph by Travis Fortnum<br />
The power of the Chronicle<br />
Follow the Chronicle on Twitter @DCUOITChronicle<br />
Photograph by Tyler Hodgkinson<br />
Reaching new heights at the SSB<br />
Ever wondered how they wash the windows that are a little<br />
higher up? All it takes is a long hose and a squeegee attached to<br />
a very tall pole!
The Chronicle November 29 - December 5, 20<strong>16</strong> <strong>chronicle</strong>.<strong>durham</strong>college.ca 3<br />
PUBLISHER: Greg Murphy<br />
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Brian Legree<br />
AD MANAGER: Dawn Salter<br />
Editorial<br />
CONTACT US<br />
NEWSROOM: brian.legree@<strong>durham</strong>college.ca<br />
ADVERTISING: dawn.salter@<strong>durham</strong>college.ca<br />
Cartoon by Toby VanWeston<br />
It's time for the SA to split<br />
Durham College (DC) and the<br />
University of Ontario Institute of<br />
Technology (UOIT), share a gymnasium,<br />
a library, residence buildings<br />
and a student association. The<br />
Student Association (SA) is an association<br />
of students who represent<br />
and serve the interests of full-time<br />
students at both the college and the<br />
university.<br />
DC was established in 1967 and<br />
had its own SA. After some time<br />
Trent University starting offering<br />
classes at DC, although DC<br />
still ran the SA until 2003 when<br />
UOIT was established it meant all<br />
three schools were under the same<br />
SA until Trent moved to its own<br />
campus in 2010 and established its<br />
own SA.<br />
But UOIT remains both on campus<br />
and as part of the SA shared<br />
with the college.<br />
Currently, there are too many<br />
controversies in the SA causing<br />
both schools to suffer for the action<br />
of one SA.<br />
Not only is the SA is serving<br />
too many students, there are not<br />
enough DC representatives.<br />
It is time for DC and UOIT to<br />
separate the SA and create one SA<br />
for the college and one SA for the<br />
university.<br />
Since the last election in May,<br />
the SA has had two presidents. According<br />
to Vianney Nengue, the<br />
vice president and interim president,<br />
the elected president Reem<br />
Dabbuous sent alleged emails to<br />
the athletic department promising<br />
a new soccer field.<br />
This resulted in her disqualification<br />
as president. Another controversy<br />
is two SA members under investigation<br />
for harassment. One of<br />
the SA members involved was the<br />
replacement president, Cerise Wilson,<br />
while the other was another SA<br />
member. The investigation has left<br />
the SA with some vacant seats, including<br />
the presidential seat, leaving<br />
Nengue to take the position.<br />
The controversies solely reside with<br />
UOIT students and if there was a<br />
split, DC would no longer suffer for<br />
their actions.<br />
The SA has not had enough representation<br />
from DC since the two<br />
associations merged in 2003. In the<br />
past 14 years, the SA has had one<br />
elected president on the executive<br />
team from DC.<br />
DC has 2,000 more students<br />
than UOIT, which should be reflected<br />
in the SA membership. Yet<br />
only two out of six representatives<br />
are from DC.<br />
According to Ryan LePage,<br />
a former president of the SA,<br />
the majority of votes come from<br />
UOIT students each year. With<br />
few DC students representing the<br />
two schools, DC students feel less<br />
involved and therefore not inspired<br />
to vote. If the two schools split SAs,<br />
then DC students would be able to<br />
represent their own school. This<br />
will encourage more voters to participate<br />
in the SA elections.<br />
DC has more than 12,000 students<br />
while UOIT has more than<br />
10,000 students. The SA is now<br />
serving a community of more than<br />
20,000. It’s too many students for<br />
the SA to handle.<br />
Both Trent University’s Durham<br />
campus and UOIT did not have<br />
this many students back in 2003<br />
so it made sense for them all to<br />
share one SA. UOIT and DC are<br />
separate schools serving separate<br />
communities and the SA should<br />
reflect that. Trent University in<br />
Durham has its own SA and has<br />
nearly 1,000 students, DC has 12<br />
times that and shares an SA with<br />
UOIT.<br />
With the controversies,<br />
the lack of DC representatives and<br />
the number of full-time students, it<br />
is clear the time has come for DC<br />
and UOIT to part ways and have<br />
their own SAs. This will help limit<br />
the number of controversies and<br />
inspire students to vote leading to<br />
a fair number of representatives<br />
to adequately hear then voice the<br />
concerns of students. It would split<br />
the population of students the SA<br />
has to serve nearly in half.<br />
This divide is the best option. It<br />
is time to make this change.<br />
Students should attend the SA’s<br />
next meeting in January and voice<br />
their opinion for a separation of the<br />
two SAs.<br />
Dean Daley and<br />
Jenn Amaro<br />
EDITORS: Jenn Amaro, James Bauman, Rebecca<br />
Calzavara, Nathan Chow, Sharena Clendening,<br />
Dean Daley, Alexander Debets, Travis Fortnum,<br />
Tyler Hodgkinson, Barbara Howe, Noor Ibrahim,<br />
James Jackson, Christopher Jones, Frank Katradis,<br />
Daniel Koehler, Angela Lavallee, Chelsea Mc-<br />
Cormick, Tyler Mcmurter, Laura Metcalfe, Tommy<br />
Morais, Joshua Nelson, Nicole O'Brien, Samuel<br />
Odrowski, Devarsh Oza, Trusha Patel, Matthew<br />
Pellerin, Asim Pervez, Emily Saxby, Tyler Searle,<br />
Jessica Stoiku, Euvilla Thomas, Toby VanWeston,<br />
Kayano Waite, Brandi Washington, Michael Welsh,<br />
Jared Williams, Erin Williams.<br />
The Chronicle is published by the Durham College School of Media, Art<br />
and Design, 2000 Simcoe Street North, Oshawa, Ontario L1H 7L7, 721-<br />
2000 Ext. 3068, as a training vehicle for students enrolled in Journalism and<br />
Advertising courses and as a campus news medium. Opinions expressed<br />
are not necessarily those of the college administration or the board of governors.<br />
The Chronicle is a member of the Ontario Community Newspapers<br />
Association.<br />
MEDIA REPS: Brandon Agnew, Justin Bates, Zach<br />
Beauparlant, Kayla Cook, Nathalie Desrochers,<br />
Charlotte Edwards, Yannick Green, Madeline Grixti,<br />
Stephanie Hanna, Lijo Joseph, Sarah Judge, Shannon<br />
Lazo, Megan Mcdonald, Ashley Mcgregor, Josh<br />
Mcgurk, Katie Miskelly, Louisa Molloy, Jasmine Ohprecio,<br />
Alex Powdar, Olivia Randall-Norris, Kaela<br />
Richardson, Madeleine Riley, Alex Royer, Spencer<br />
Stevens, Rachel Thompson, Geroge Tsalavoutas,<br />
Alexandra Weekes, Cameron Westlake.<br />
PRODUCTION ARTISTS: Rachel Alexander, Angela<br />
Bahnesli, Sarah Bhatti, Anokhi Bhavsar, Steven<br />
Brundage, Chanel Castella, Brandon Clark, Scott<br />
Cowling, Leanne Howorth, Bryce Isaacs, Erin Jones,<br />
Natasha Kowo, Samantha Mallia, Alyssa Matthew,<br />
Alexandra Rich, Bethany Seaton, Kristian Seepersad,<br />
Georgina Tsoutsos, Marisa Turpin, Rachel<br />
Wendt, Travis Yule.<br />
Publisher: Greg Murphy Editor-In-Chief: Brian Legree Features editor: Teresa Goff Ad Manager: Dawn Salter<br />
Advertising Production Manager: Kevan F. Drinkwalter Photography Editor: Al Fournier Technical Production: Keir Broadfoot
4 The Chronicle November 29 - December 5, 20<strong>16</strong> <strong>chronicle</strong>.<strong>durham</strong>college.ca<br />
Reptiles are<br />
great pets<br />
for owners<br />
Opinion<br />
Reptiles are not as scary as people<br />
think<br />
In August 2013 an African rock<br />
python escaped from its enclosure<br />
at a pet store in New Brunswick<br />
and tragically killed two young<br />
boys.<br />
This even brought international<br />
attention to reptile keeping and<br />
portrayed reptile owners, zoos, and<br />
the reptile community as a whole,<br />
in a negative way.<br />
Although this horrific event involved<br />
a snake killing two young<br />
kids, it happened because of irresponsible<br />
pet ownership, not because<br />
of the pet.<br />
Jean-Claude Savoie, owner of the<br />
pet store and loft where the attack<br />
happened, was recently found not<br />
guilty of criminal negligence causing<br />
death.<br />
He had removed the vent in the<br />
snake’s enclosure without replacing<br />
it which allowed the snake to escape<br />
into the loft above where the<br />
two boys were sleeping. The snake<br />
also had no sort of stimulation in its<br />
enclosure which can lead to stress<br />
and aggression, according to an<br />
article by the National Post.<br />
If Savoie had taken proper care<br />
of the snake and given it a proper<br />
living space, this tragic event would<br />
Dan<br />
Koehler<br />
have never taken place.<br />
According to the Humane Society<br />
of the United States, there have<br />
been <strong>17</strong> constrictor snake related<br />
deaths in the US since 1978.<br />
Although this can seem like a<br />
high number, according to the<br />
Centre for Disease Control there<br />
are an average of 20-30 dog attack<br />
deaths in the US every year.<br />
Even with more dogs in the US<br />
than pet reptiles, these numbers<br />
clearly show that dogs are the<br />
more dangerous pet, yet they are<br />
feared less than reptiles which are<br />
portrayed as cold-blooded killers.<br />
In recent years there have been<br />
laws put in place that restrict responsible<br />
reptile ownership.<br />
The Lacey Act in the United<br />
States, which was put in place by<br />
the Fish and Wildlife Services after<br />
the Burmese python issue in the<br />
everglades, restricts the shipping<br />
of certain species over state lines.<br />
This has put a huge strain on<br />
Dudley living happily in his well-kept habitat.<br />
businesses and has taken away<br />
rights of pet owners.<br />
In May 2015 the United States<br />
Association of Reptile Keepers<br />
was successful in their fight in suspending<br />
the ban of some species<br />
in the Lacey Act, but the fight still<br />
continues for USARK.<br />
Canada’s own version of<br />
USARK, CanHerp, fights for<br />
responsible reptile ownership in<br />
Canada, and is working with municipalities<br />
across Canada to ensure<br />
fair laws and bylaws for reptile<br />
owners.<br />
With groups like USARK,<br />
CanHerp, and radio shows such<br />
as Urban Jungles Radio fighting<br />
Photograph by Dan Koehler<br />
the negative stigma around reptiles,<br />
there is a huge future for responsible<br />
reptile ownership and exotic<br />
animal ownership all together.<br />
When we educate ourselves<br />
about these unique creatures, then<br />
take care of them accordingly, they<br />
can be harmless and make wonderful<br />
pets.<br />
Job cuts in newsrooms leaves industry in jeopardy<br />
Readers<br />
aren’t<br />
getting the<br />
right facts<br />
from social<br />
media<br />
Canadians need information to<br />
make important decisions. Democracy<br />
depends on people knowing<br />
what they are voting for or<br />
protesting against.<br />
There are many newsrooms in<br />
Canada facing job cuts and fewer<br />
journalists reporting the news.<br />
According to Torstar chair John<br />
Honderich, this means democracy<br />
is at risk due to the lack of information<br />
reaching Canadians.<br />
South of the border, both newsroom<br />
cuts and an abundance of<br />
Laura<br />
Metcalfe<br />
misinformation spread over social<br />
media played a part in the election<br />
of Donald Trump.<br />
People need to get their news<br />
from sites that are fact checked by<br />
trained journalists. This is the key<br />
to democracy.<br />
The key to good news writing is<br />
getting to the heart of the issues,<br />
being fair, balanced and accurate.<br />
Journalists need to dig deep in order<br />
to find out the facts.<br />
Fewer journalists in the newsroom<br />
means there isn’t enough<br />
investigative journalism being<br />
done. If there are fewer journalists,<br />
newsrooms might not get the<br />
information to the people who are<br />
directly affected.<br />
Political and community news<br />
suffer as a result of downsized<br />
newsrooms. With fewer reporters,<br />
there are not enough feet on the<br />
ground to cover everything and get<br />
multiple perspectives.<br />
In a recent article published on<br />
the Toronto Star website, Honderich<br />
says fewer journalists in the<br />
newsroom means not enough investigative<br />
journalism is being done.<br />
Newsrooms rely on reporters<br />
to provide a wide variety of stories<br />
and features, but as more newspapers<br />
build content online, print<br />
subscribers are forced to adjust to<br />
news both online and in mobile<br />
form.<br />
This might be natural for a generation<br />
raised on technology, but<br />
for the readers who like to hold<br />
and flip through the news over the<br />
breakfast table, this is an adjustment.<br />
The more people cross over<br />
to digital, the more papers lose<br />
revenue because the news revenue<br />
model has been based on print advertising.<br />
Those advertising dollars have<br />
moved to online platforms like<br />
Facebook, sucking revenue from<br />
newspapers.<br />
This has led news organizations<br />
to close down.<br />
Maclean’s has changed from<br />
a weekly publication to monthly.<br />
According to the Huffington Post,<br />
more than 40 staff members have<br />
been laid off due to the decline in<br />
print advertising.<br />
This results in more journalists<br />
losing jobs and less coverage on the<br />
ground. During the U.S election<br />
there were many posts made on Facebook<br />
that included misinformation<br />
or were fake news in general.<br />
People see these posts and ‘like’<br />
or ‘share’ and the fake news is<br />
spread to more people without filters.<br />
News outlets are constantly updating<br />
their online and mobile platforms,<br />
leading print newspapers to<br />
become obsolete over time.<br />
Newspapers need to accept the<br />
changing world of fast-paced news.<br />
By the time papers are printed and<br />
distributed, the stories are no longer<br />
considered ‘fresh’ news. Advertisement<br />
is being invested online<br />
where there is more traffic.<br />
Print is now struggling to keep<br />
afloat with what little ad and subscription<br />
revenue they have. This<br />
would not be a big issue if the industry<br />
could come up with new<br />
revenue models to compensate for<br />
the loss, but they have not yet.<br />
Citizens need real news after it<br />
has been fact checked and verified<br />
for its validity.<br />
People can’t always believe what<br />
they see on the Internet and this is<br />
the case for news.<br />
Democracy depends on people<br />
finding reliable, fair, balanced, accurate<br />
information and basing their<br />
decisions on those facts.
Opinion <strong>chronicle</strong>.<strong>durham</strong>college.ca November 29 - December 5, 20<strong>16</strong> The Chronicle 5<br />
Why couldn’t it be Clinton?<br />
How is it<br />
Donald Trump<br />
is president?<br />
The morning after the election, the<br />
world changed. Not for the better.<br />
Americans were speechless with<br />
the results of the 20<strong>16</strong> presidential<br />
election.<br />
On that historical evening, America<br />
voted a former reality star to be<br />
the leader of their country.<br />
President-elect Donald J. Trump<br />
is one of the most well-recognized<br />
billionaires in the world, but by no<br />
means has the experience to be<br />
the leader of the free world. And<br />
although his business savvy has<br />
earned him his notorious reputation,<br />
it doesn’t secure the prosperity<br />
of an entire nation.<br />
Jared<br />
Williams<br />
Named one of the most powerful<br />
women on the planet, former first<br />
lady of America, and Secretary<br />
of the State for Barack Obama –<br />
Hillary Clinton should have been<br />
the clear winner of the 20<strong>16</strong> American<br />
presidential election.<br />
When comparing Clinton to<br />
Trump, it is apparent she is welcoming<br />
to immigrants in America,<br />
swept Trump in the popular vote,<br />
and represents equality for women<br />
around the world.<br />
If Clinton won, she would have<br />
gone down in history as the first female<br />
President of the United States<br />
of America.<br />
In order for a candidate to win<br />
the election, they need to win 270<br />
of the electoral vote. Each state<br />
has a certain number of electoral<br />
vote based on the population of<br />
the state.<br />
Because of the American Electoral<br />
College, dictated by the<br />
American constitution, the result<br />
of the vote can be different to who<br />
actually ends up as president.<br />
Trump won the presidency due<br />
to winning the majority of the electoral<br />
college.<br />
However, Clinton won the popular<br />
vote by over 1.2 million vote.<br />
Throughout his campaign,<br />
Trump was accused been proven<br />
of making, racist, sexist and bias<br />
comments directed towards people<br />
of the Muslim faith and Latinos.<br />
In an interview with CNN’s Jake<br />
Tapper, Trump says as president he<br />
plans to build a wall on the border<br />
of Mexico and America, and plans<br />
to send Mexico the bill in the name<br />
of ‘Making America Great Again’.<br />
Trump said too many people<br />
coming into America from the lower<br />
border and he used terms like<br />
“killers and rapists” to describe the<br />
Mexican and Latino community.<br />
As Secretary of State, senator<br />
of New York, and former first<br />
lady, Clinton’s political knowledge<br />
and experience surpasses Trump<br />
in areas like foreign policies and<br />
world climate change.Similar to<br />
President Barack Obama, Clinton<br />
could have represented how far forward<br />
thinking America has come.<br />
From fighting for women’s rights<br />
and equal pay, supporting low income<br />
family by giving them free<br />
college enrollment, even to increase<br />
minimum wages to $15/hr, Clinton<br />
was fighting to earn more for the<br />
everyday middle class American.<br />
With health care being so expensive<br />
in the America, Clinton<br />
spoke of keeping ObamaCare for<br />
the those who can’t afford regular<br />
healthcare, whereas Trump spoke<br />
of tearing down the only healthcare<br />
millions of Americans depend on.<br />
Hillary Clinton once led her<br />
country as first lady and always<br />
aspired to become more. American<br />
seemed to have just began to<br />
taking a liking to President Obama,<br />
and she planned take that similar<br />
course a step further.<br />
In the event of Clinton winning<br />
the election, she would have giving<br />
the similar hope to the nation that<br />
President Obama did becoming the<br />
first black president.<br />
By popular vote Hillary Clinton<br />
should have rightful been winner<br />
of the 20<strong>16</strong> presidential election.<br />
Donald Trump has no experience<br />
in leading a nation. And although<br />
he did not win by popular<br />
vote, Donald Trump earned the<br />
opportunity to prove to the world<br />
he can run the nation.<br />
Fat shaming needs<br />
to be a thing of the<br />
Mac will take the<br />
prize over PCs<br />
past in today’s society<br />
Bullying<br />
someone<br />
about their<br />
weight<br />
can lead<br />
to serious<br />
consequences<br />
Weight discrimination is a<br />
never-ending topic. But this is not<br />
surprising since well-known people<br />
like president-elect Donald Trump<br />
fat shame people on national television.<br />
Trump publicly fat shamed former<br />
Miss Universe during a Republican<br />
debate on September 27th, by<br />
referring to her as “Miss Piggy” and<br />
“Miss Housekeeping.”<br />
Fat shaming is not a form of<br />
encouragement for people to lose<br />
weight, it is bullying.<br />
Telling overweight people to exercise<br />
in order to lose weight is not<br />
positive advice; in fact it can have<br />
a negative impact.<br />
Taunting or making fun of<br />
people’s weight can lead to depression<br />
and other health issues.<br />
Just because a person is overweight,<br />
it does not give anyone the<br />
right to interpret how and why a<br />
body is the way it is.<br />
Trusha<br />
Patel<br />
Statistics Canada reports 54 per<br />
cent of the Canadian population<br />
has self-reported as overweight and<br />
obese.<br />
Obesity is a complicated issue,<br />
which cannot be resolved with some<br />
type of weight loss pill or temporary<br />
fix with surgery.<br />
Steven Nissen, MD, a cardiologist<br />
at the Cleveland Clinic, says<br />
simplified methods of weight loss,<br />
such as the weight loss pill, may not<br />
be safe since the elements used to<br />
make the pill are unknown.<br />
According to PLOS One journal<br />
on Perceived Weight Discrimination<br />
and Obesity, fat shaming actually<br />
leads to people withdrawing<br />
from social and physical activities,<br />
and engaging in behaviours that<br />
encourage obesity.<br />
According to the PLOS One<br />
journal, fat shaming leads to both<br />
psychological and physical harm.<br />
Depression, eating disorders, reduced<br />
self-esteem, and other chronic<br />
diseases are effects that go beyond<br />
weight gain.<br />
A research journal on obesity<br />
found people who are discriminated<br />
against because of their weight<br />
are 2.7 times likely to go into depression.<br />
An outcome of depression is<br />
suicide.<br />
An analysis done by the Centre<br />
for Advancing Health reveals fat<br />
shaming is a leading cause to attempted<br />
suicides.<br />
Prison Break star Wentworth<br />
Miller was a target for a fat shaming<br />
meme, which featured an image<br />
of him when he was in the<br />
lowest point of his adult life.<br />
Miller later went on Facebook<br />
to announce he was suicidal and<br />
suffered from depression.<br />
Another common misinterpretation<br />
about people who are overweight<br />
is that they eat whatever<br />
they want.<br />
Although unusual dietary habits<br />
are a factor, National Heart, Lung,<br />
and Blood Institute (NHLBI) says<br />
health conditions such as underactive<br />
thyroid, hormone problems,<br />
and Cushing’s syndrome lead to<br />
obesity.<br />
Other causes include gene/<br />
family history, environment, inactive<br />
lifestyle, lack of energy<br />
balance, medicine, smoking, age,<br />
pregnancy, lack of sleep, and emotional<br />
factors such as eating when<br />
bored.<br />
Fat shaming needs to come to<br />
end, but until high profiled people<br />
like Trump filter their thoughts,<br />
the end seems to be far into the<br />
distance.<br />
The battle<br />
between<br />
the best<br />
operating<br />
system<br />
continues<br />
There is always a debate about<br />
what is the best car, best musician,<br />
best smart phone, best athlete and<br />
… best computer. Is it Mac or PC?<br />
PC is the more common laptop<br />
because they are more affordable.<br />
But that extra money you’re spending<br />
on a Mac is worth every dollar.<br />
Even though Apple sold 4 to 8 per<br />
cent fewer computers in the second<br />
quarter of 20<strong>16</strong>, there is no doubt<br />
Macs are the best laptops on the<br />
market right now.<br />
Mac laptops can run everything<br />
a PC can. For instance, Macs can<br />
run the same operating system as<br />
PC Windows legally.<br />
The main operating system on<br />
a Mac is OS X.<br />
Boot Camp is a parallel OS<br />
which allows you to run other<br />
operating systems rather than<br />
the main Mac OS X. With Boot<br />
Camp, you are able to download<br />
and use Windows on a Mac.<br />
After Boot Camp is installed,<br />
you are given an option to start it<br />
up with OS X or Windows.<br />
It’s basically like owning two<br />
laptops put into one. On the other<br />
hand on PC, you can only run one<br />
operating system.<br />
Macs also have a much more<br />
organized looking desktop. The<br />
Asim<br />
Pervez<br />
average PC user has many icons.<br />
On a Mac, apps you frequently use<br />
can be found in the dock, the dock<br />
gives a Mac a simple, yet clean and<br />
organized look.<br />
Finding a file with Mac’s Finder<br />
tool is much faster than looking for<br />
a file on a PC.<br />
Transferring files to a USB is also<br />
much faster on a Mac than on a<br />
PC. On a PC, transferring files may<br />
take several minutes.<br />
Macs have more of a reputation<br />
for not crashing.<br />
Macs also have Retina Display,<br />
which makes the resolution on the<br />
screen much higher.<br />
The Retina Display gives the<br />
Mac desktop a rich and classy look.<br />
To top it all off, Macs are more<br />
durable. Macs are usually thinner<br />
with a sleek design, which makes<br />
them lighter and makes them easy<br />
to carry around in your backpack.<br />
The MacBook weighs a little more<br />
than 2 pounds.<br />
The MacBook Air weighs almost<br />
3 pounds and the MacBook Pro<br />
weighs the most at about 3 and a<br />
half pounds.<br />
Macs have really organized layouts,<br />
and it is easy to locate an app<br />
you regularly use because they appear<br />
in your dock.<br />
The Mac laptop is also less likely<br />
to crash, and has an extremely high<br />
quality screen display. Sorry PC,<br />
looks like Macs are the kings of the<br />
computer world.
6 The Chronicle November 29 - December 5, 20<strong>16</strong> <strong>chronicle</strong>.<strong>durham</strong>college.ca Campus<br />
Do we need a<br />
BROCK<br />
every time<br />
one of our<br />
TURNER<br />
rape victims wants to be heard?<br />
Stanford case shines<br />
light on sexual assault<br />
Noor Ibrahim<br />
The Chronicle<br />
There it is again, that churning<br />
feeling in the pit of your stomach<br />
when you see the name Brock<br />
Turner in the news.<br />
When Brock Turner began making<br />
rounds in the news back in<br />
May, every article reeked of white<br />
privilege. Male athlete. Stanford<br />
student. Excellent swimmer.<br />
The middle-class suburban teen<br />
raped a 22-year-old unconscious<br />
woman after a frat party in 2015.<br />
He got off with three months in jail<br />
and a three year probation.<br />
Articles from CNN, Time,<br />
Washington Post, USA Today, and<br />
Associated Press detailed Turner’s<br />
crimes but also included his swim<br />
records. He was not referred to as<br />
a ‘criminal’ by Time magazine, but<br />
rather a ‘star swimmer’. News outlets<br />
such as CNN, Sports Illustrated<br />
and USA Today called Turner<br />
the ‘former Stanford student’. Not<br />
perpetrator. Not pervert. Not rapist.<br />
Turner’s coverage in the media<br />
had all the factors that scare victims<br />
away from reporting a crime.<br />
Mary Joe’s case isn’t any different.<br />
Mary Joe was a Durham College<br />
student. She was working on her<br />
diploma in Environmental Technology,<br />
nursing a baby and volunteering<br />
at the on-campus women’s<br />
centre. But most importantly, she<br />
was enduring physical, verbal, and<br />
sexual assault by an abusive partner.<br />
The abuse lasted nine years.<br />
After Joe decided to pull the<br />
plug on her relationship in 2012,<br />
she pressed charges. Her perpetrator’s<br />
punishment? House arrest and<br />
probation.<br />
Just like Turner’s victim, Emily<br />
Doe, Joe was ready for this minimal<br />
sentence.<br />
“I was prepped by the counselors<br />
I was seeing and through victim-witness<br />
services at the courthouse<br />
that these kind of cases very<br />
often are dropped or there’s no conviction.<br />
So I was prepared for him<br />
to get off with nothing else… I was<br />
prepared for my case to be let go.”<br />
Joe’s story is one of many.<br />
There are 460,000 sexual assaults<br />
per year. According to a 2012<br />
report by Sexual Assault Centre<br />
Hamilton (SACHA), out of every<br />
1,000 sexual assaults in Canada, 33<br />
are reported every year, and only 3<br />
lead to a conviction.<br />
But these reports don’t get public<br />
interest the same way Turner’s<br />
story did. Statistics don’t spread<br />
on social media. They don’t gain<br />
sympathy. The victims behind<br />
these numbers become just that:<br />
numbers. Maybe they will show<br />
up in student research papers or<br />
newspaper articles. Maybe they<br />
won’t.<br />
But something about Turner’s<br />
case was compelling. Even people<br />
who don’t watch the news pulled up<br />
page after page of his statements,<br />
his trial dates, and his sentencing.<br />
Maybe it was his, as the victim<br />
Emily Doe, called it, “poorly written<br />
young adult novel” version<br />
of events. Maybe it was his dad’s<br />
letter to the judge begging to lessen<br />
Brock’s sentence because he<br />
couldn’t enjoy steak for dinner anymore.<br />
Maybe it was his mother’s<br />
plea to the judge saying she couldn’t<br />
decorate her new house because of<br />
how sad she was. Maybe it was his<br />
Judge Aaron Persky who was lenient<br />
on yet another student athlete,<br />
Keenan Smith, after battering his<br />
girlfriend. Or maybe it was Brock’s<br />
plans to start university tours to<br />
educate students on “drinking and<br />
promiscuity.”<br />
But perhaps the most compelling<br />
part of Turner’s case was the<br />
12-page victim impact statement<br />
penned by the now 23-year-old<br />
woman Turner raped behind a<br />
dumpster.<br />
Her statement, posted on Buzzfeed,<br />
has been viewed 1.11 million<br />
times. The statement addresses<br />
Brock Turner directly, and details<br />
Doe’s memories the night of her assault,<br />
the following morning, and<br />
the agonizing months after.<br />
She describes how she found out<br />
about the details of her assault from<br />
a news article, one that included<br />
Turner’s swim times. She recounts<br />
how Turner didn’t just strip her of<br />
her clothes that night, but of her<br />
worth, her privacy, her intimacy,<br />
her safety, her energy, her time, her<br />
confidence and her voice.<br />
Doe’s statement was raw. It was<br />
real. Just like a good narrative, it<br />
transported the reader to the scene<br />
of the crime: to that dumpster she<br />
was assaulted behind, to the hospital<br />
room she woke up in, to the<br />
courtroom where she faced her<br />
Photograph by Noor Ibrahim<br />
Posters from the "Yes Means Yes" campaign remind students<br />
about the meaning of consent.<br />
rapist. But Doe’s statement is not<br />
a work of fiction.<br />
Neither is Mary Joe’s story. But<br />
her statements remain unheard.<br />
Like many survivors, her words<br />
are not plastered in capital letters<br />
on social media. She is just trying<br />
to get by. Despite the nine-year<br />
abusive relationship, Joe was able<br />
to find strength at Durham College<br />
during her ordeal.<br />
“I think my time at school was<br />
how I survived,” said Joe. “I excelled<br />
at my studies. I had scholarships.<br />
It gave me a life that existed<br />
outside of my home, which helped<br />
me persevere.”<br />
Joe cannot imagine what women<br />
who have endured on-campus rape<br />
have to go through. “If the person<br />
who had assaulted me was actually<br />
a student on campus and I had to<br />
know that they were going to be<br />
there, that would be completely different.<br />
If something like that happens<br />
[to me], like a sexual assault<br />
on campus, I’d maybe like drop out.<br />
Because I couldn’t imagine having<br />
to look back if something like that<br />
happened at school.”<br />
Joe was right. According to the<br />
American College Health Association,<br />
1.3 per cent of students reported<br />
sexual assault negatively impacted<br />
or disrupted their academic<br />
performance at college. But that<br />
number is the tip of the iceberg.<br />
Sometimes staying quiet is better<br />
than having your story dismissed<br />
and your perpetrator applauded.<br />
Michelle Moody is the chair of<br />
the Social Action Committee of<br />
Durham and part of the executive<br />
committee of the annual Shine the<br />
Light campaign for Women Abuse<br />
Prevention month in Durham Region.<br />
Moody says there’s a lot of anger<br />
and distrust by victims. Nonetheless,<br />
on average, the Durham<br />
Region Police responded to 13 domestic<br />
calls per day in 2015. That<br />
amounts to almost 5,000 domestic<br />
abuse calls last year. But Moody<br />
says mistrust means many women<br />
do not report abuse or assault.<br />
“An incident like the Brock<br />
Turner one,” says Moody, “is going<br />
to reinforce women’s perception<br />
that there’s no point in reporting,<br />
because they’re only going to<br />
be re-victimized by the media, the<br />
social media, and the justice system.”<br />
According to the 2012 Sexual<br />
Assault Centre Hamilton (SA-<br />
CHA) report, 53 per cent of survivors<br />
did not report their sexual<br />
assault because they were not confident<br />
in the police.<br />
According to a 2014 CBC article,<br />
two out of three survivors<br />
said they were not confident in the<br />
criminal justice and court system<br />
in general.<br />
This lack of confidence stems<br />
from the process victims go<br />
Continued on page 7
Campus <strong>chronicle</strong>.<strong>durham</strong>college.ca November 29 - December 5, 20<strong>16</strong> The Chronicle 7<br />
More than 444,000 sexual assault victims remain silent every single year.<br />
Photograph illustration by Noor Ibrahim<br />
From page 6<br />
through after they report an<br />
assault. Victims report inquiries<br />
about their outfit at the time of<br />
the attack, their sexual history,<br />
their relationship status, and their<br />
alcohol consumption. Reliving the<br />
experience just isn’t worth it.<br />
Rape court cases often become<br />
a version of he said, she said. Brock<br />
Turner’s was not. He was caught<br />
at the scene. There were witnesses.<br />
They testified. His victim’s DNA<br />
was on found his fingers. Yet Turner<br />
walks free. He lives at his parents'<br />
house. He makes plans to do<br />
speaking tours.<br />
It makes sense women on college<br />
campuses are scared. In a<br />
Canadian study conducted by the<br />
American College Health Association<br />
(ACHA), only 37.3 per cent of<br />
college students reported feeling<br />
very safe on their college campuses<br />
at night, 27 per cent of those surveyed<br />
were women.<br />
According to the Canadian<br />
Federation of Students (CFS), one<br />
in five women experience sexual<br />
assault at college. Let that sink in<br />
for a minute. There are 5,035 female<br />
students currently enrolled<br />
at Durham College. If one in five<br />
experiences sexual assault, that<br />
means by the end of the year over<br />
1,000 women will experience sexual<br />
assault right here on campus.<br />
At his trial, Turner’s childhood<br />
friend Leslie Rasmussen wrote a<br />
letter to Judge Aaron Persky urging<br />
him to spare Turner because,<br />
according to the letter, rapists<br />
are people who kidnap and rape<br />
women in parking lots as they<br />
walk to their cars, not intoxicated<br />
teenagers who sexually assault unconscious<br />
women at parties. Even<br />
though Rasmussen is from the<br />
States, her statement underscores<br />
the fact that, like Rasmussen, only<br />
one in three Canadians understand<br />
what sexual consent means.<br />
The fear of rape<br />
The lack of understanding<br />
about sexual consent is why rapists<br />
like Brock Turner continue to<br />
deny their crimes in court. Despite<br />
the posters stapled around campus<br />
that say “My dress is not a yes”, the<br />
Brock Turners of the world do not<br />
realize that a lack of a ‘yes’ constitutes<br />
rape. Brock Turner is a reminder<br />
that rape culture exists on<br />
campus and in society.<br />
According to a 2015 Globe<br />
and Mail article, less than 10 per<br />
cent of sexual assault complaints<br />
on campus are resolved through a<br />
formal investigation. At some institutions,<br />
that number is less than<br />
one per cent. The article was one<br />
of many responding to harassment<br />
and assault cases at Brock University,<br />
the University of Victoria,<br />
Dalhousie University and the University<br />
of British Columbia. These<br />
cases, along with Brock Turner’s<br />
case, shone a light on the fear of<br />
sexual assault felt on campus.<br />
“[The fear of sexual assault]<br />
may not stop you from going to<br />
college or university,” says Alison<br />
E. King, a UOIT expert in<br />
the Faculty of Social Science and<br />
Humanities, “but it may impact<br />
where you go.”<br />
King conducts research in<br />
women’s history and the student<br />
experience. She says students from<br />
small towns or communities might<br />
choose not to go to colleges whose<br />
campuses are somewhat bigger or<br />
secluded because of fear for safety.<br />
Students, says King, might choose<br />
a more private campus close to<br />
home.<br />
“In general, students do better<br />
when they feel like they are part of<br />
a community. And being part of a<br />
community is that you feel safe,”<br />
says King. “So if you’re not feeling<br />
safe, that undermines that sense of<br />
community and the sense that you<br />
can be on campus and take part in<br />
activities and walk around campus<br />
safely. "<br />
King also says that if a sexual<br />
assault victim’s perpetrator were<br />
on campus, the victim would<br />
feel like campus was a dangerous<br />
place. Because of that fear, the<br />
student would be suspicious of the<br />
people around them.<br />
I think it's<br />
a very<br />
real fear.<br />
That is exactly was Joe thinks.<br />
“I think [the fear of sexual assault]<br />
is so ingrained in our society<br />
that women don’t really know<br />
it on a conscious level,” said Joe.<br />
“But I think there’s a lot of anxiety.<br />
I think there’s a lot of awareness,<br />
even on campuses or walking<br />
around at night anywhere. I think<br />
it’s a very real fear.”<br />
That fear is not going unnoticed.<br />
In 2015, Kathleen Wynne's<br />
government announced a provincial<br />
action plan to deal with sexual<br />
violence. Over $40 million dollars<br />
will go into the three year plan,<br />
which defines sexual violence as<br />
“any sexual act or act targeting a<br />
person’s sexuality, gender identity<br />
or gender expression, whether the<br />
act is physical or psychological in<br />
nature, that is committed, threatened<br />
or attempted against a person<br />
without the person’s consent,<br />
and includes sexual assault, sexual<br />
harassment, stalking, indecent exposure,<br />
voyeurism and sexual exploitation.”<br />
With the introduction of Bill<br />
132, the Sexual Violence and<br />
Harassment Action Plan Act, in<br />
March this year, faculty at Durham<br />
College and UOIT are required<br />
to take online sexual violence<br />
modules. These modules are<br />
designed to help recognize sexual<br />
violence and create a safe space.<br />
All employees must complete the<br />
modules by Dec. 1. The modules<br />
provide precise definitions of sexual<br />
assault and violence, set clear<br />
standards for reporting and responding<br />
to disclosures of sexual<br />
violence, and provide resources<br />
both on campus and within the<br />
community to support individuals<br />
affected by sexual violence.<br />
DC and UOIT also provide oncampus<br />
support services through<br />
the Office of Campus Safety,<br />
Campus Health Centre, Access<br />
and Support Centre, Good2Talk,<br />
and the Outreach Services run<br />
by the Student Association. The<br />
institutions also provide connections<br />
to off-campus services, such<br />
as Durham Rape Crisis Centre<br />
and Sexual Assault Care Centre at<br />
Lakeridge Health.<br />
Stanford offers similar services<br />
requiring faculty and staff to complete<br />
training that addresses sexual<br />
harassment and sexual misconduct.<br />
This raises the question: for<br />
Turner, what change did faculty<br />
training make?<br />
But Brock Turner’s case itself<br />
made a change. It ripped off the<br />
veil of rape culture.<br />
The details of Brock Turner’s<br />
story fascinated yet enraged many.<br />
Facebook posts emerged with a<br />
picture of Turner in a suit captioned:<br />
“here is the guy you don’t<br />
want in the bathroom with your<br />
daughter.” #BrockTurner garnered<br />
more than half a million<br />
tweets.<br />
Tweets, Facebook posts and<br />
memes leave a digital trail all over<br />
the web as a reminder that rape<br />
culture exists, and continues to be<br />
ignored by many on campus and<br />
in society.<br />
Brock Turner is a reminder that<br />
we still teach people to avoid getting<br />
raped, not to avoid raping. He<br />
is reminder of how we don’t want<br />
men in our Canadian society to be.<br />
He is a reminder that every year<br />
college students could be walking<br />
away from the college of their<br />
dreams for fear of meeting a Brock<br />
Turner on campus. He is a reminder<br />
that rapists are not always<br />
perverts lurking in the corners of<br />
dingy alleyways waiting for the<br />
next miniskirt to pass by. Sometimes,<br />
they are men like Brock<br />
Turner: educated, privileged, and<br />
as we’re reminded in every media<br />
report, good at swimming.<br />
Brock may have stolen Emily<br />
Doe’s integrity, but he gave her,<br />
and thousands of others, a voice.<br />
Mary Joe is one voice at Durham<br />
College. She is not the first<br />
and will not be the last victim of<br />
sexual assault on campus. Brock<br />
Turner is not and will not be the<br />
last rapist to attend a college or<br />
university.<br />
But hopefully a dialogue has<br />
started, one that will replace the<br />
churning feeling in the pit of your<br />
stomach when you see the name<br />
Brock Turner in the news.
8 <strong>chronicle</strong>.<strong>durham</strong>college.ca November 29 - December 5, 20<strong>16</strong> The Chronicle Campus<br />
'Tis the season for giving<br />
Organizers<br />
urge campus<br />
community<br />
to donate to<br />
the holiday<br />
food drive<br />
Sam Odrowski<br />
The Chronicle<br />
The annual Holiday Food Drive at<br />
Durham College and UOIT says<br />
it needs support from the campus<br />
now more than ever. There has<br />
been a 60 per cent increase in need<br />
from students for the food bank last<br />
year.<br />
In 2015, the food drive helped<br />
274 DC and UOIT students as well<br />
as about three hundred of their<br />
children.<br />
Last year, the drive raised<br />
$45,000 but due to increased need<br />
it fell a little short in donations, according<br />
to the dean of Interdisciplinary<br />
Studies, Kevin Dougherty.<br />
“It is growing exponentially,” he<br />
says. “We really don’t know how<br />
many students are going to access<br />
it.”<br />
Dougherty says non-perishable<br />
food items are great but cash donations<br />
can make an even bigger<br />
impact.<br />
“If we can get a dozen cans of<br />
soup that’s terrific. But if we can get<br />
the money that bought those dozen<br />
cans of soup that’s great because we<br />
can probably get <strong>16</strong>,” he says.<br />
Organizers have partnered with<br />
a local Kinsmen Club that has a<br />
connection to a grocery retailer so<br />
food can be bought at lower prices.<br />
Dougherty has helped organize<br />
the past 12 food drives and has seen<br />
firsthand the impact it has on students<br />
this time of the year.<br />
According to Dougherty, many<br />
A family of volunteers help pack hampers for the less fortunate.<br />
students find the cupboards are<br />
bare by the end of the semester and<br />
the food drive offers the support<br />
they need to help them through the<br />
holidays.<br />
“We get a fair number of notes<br />
and letters back from students,<br />
notes of appreciation just being<br />
dumbfounded at the support we’ve<br />
provided,” says Dougherty.<br />
Lori Russell, who works in the<br />
financial aid office, also sees the<br />
impact on students. She has helped<br />
with the food drive for the past 10<br />
years. Russell says Christmas could<br />
have been pretty bleak for many<br />
families if these supports did not<br />
exist.<br />
She can relate to students who<br />
need a little extra financial support<br />
while in school.<br />
“At one point I was a single mom<br />
in school as well, and I remember<br />
reaching out to a program and<br />
thinking maybe there is other<br />
people that deserve it more, maybe<br />
this isn’t something I should be doing,”<br />
she says, “and the women who<br />
I met with said at one point in our<br />
lives we always need help and one<br />
day you will be able to provide help<br />
to other people.”<br />
Russell says people shouldn’t be<br />
hesitant about accessing the food<br />
bank because it is a great resource<br />
that was created for the students.<br />
“It is a great assistance that<br />
people should want to be able to<br />
receive and not feel stigmatized<br />
because they're getting help,” she<br />
says.<br />
Poinsettias, Christmas cacti, and<br />
Photograph courtesy of the Campus Food Bank<br />
cyclamen are being sold for $5 each<br />
until Dec.<strong>16</strong>. Candy Canes are also<br />
being sold to raise money.<br />
Hamper packing day is Dec. 18.<br />
Volunteers are welcome to help<br />
sort, pack, and deliver the hampers.<br />
Donating non-perishable food<br />
items is great but Russell says the<br />
food drive does not receive many<br />
diapers, baby food, and toiletries,<br />
which are also much needed for<br />
students with young families.<br />
The food drive’s goal for this year<br />
is to raise $50,000.<br />
Local charities helping over the holiday season<br />
Charities<br />
need young<br />
volunteers<br />
and funding<br />
Alex Debets<br />
The Chronicle<br />
The holiday season is quickly approaching.<br />
With the semester<br />
ending and the snow beginning to<br />
fall, it’s almost time to kick back<br />
and take a break from school.<br />
Not everyone has a relaxing holiday<br />
season though. While numbers<br />
for the Durham Region are<br />
hard to locate, Covenant House,<br />
Canada’s largest homeless youth<br />
agency, estimates up to 2,000<br />
youth are homeless in Toronto on<br />
any given night.<br />
That number jumps up to 7,000<br />
when including the entire country.<br />
Youth shelters such as Joanne’s<br />
House in Ajax specialize in finding<br />
housing options for young<br />
people who are homeless. A resident<br />
can stay up to 30 days in<br />
the shelter. During their stay the<br />
youth, who are between the ages<br />
of <strong>16</strong> and 24, are pushed to find<br />
jobs and full-time housing.<br />
The difficulty is that the shelter,<br />
and others like it, are often full.<br />
Joanne’s House can host up to<br />
13people at one time, which<br />
meant they turned away more<br />
than 30 kids in October.<br />
Still, the holiday season is a special<br />
time for most people, and Joanne’s<br />
House is no different.<br />
Community organizations, such<br />
as churches and charities, help<br />
make the holidays a special time<br />
by organizing special dinners and<br />
creating gifts for the residents.<br />
“We try to make the holidays as<br />
important for these kids as it would<br />
be for anybody else,” says shelter<br />
manager Adrianna Vanderneut.<br />
Just down the street from<br />
Joanne’s House another organization<br />
is also trying to make the<br />
holidays better for everyone.<br />
The Salvation Army is at the<br />
corner of Exeter Road and King<br />
Crescent, which is only a tenminute<br />
walk from Joanne’s House.<br />
While the Salvation Army doesn’t<br />
specifically target youth, it does<br />
work with young people in multiple<br />
ways.<br />
In turn, their captain, Jason Sabourin,<br />
says they are in they are<br />
trying to turn hopelessness into<br />
hopefulness.<br />
“The goal is basically to relieve<br />
suffering for people, and help<br />
people through the difficult times<br />
they’re finding themselves in,”<br />
says Sabourin.<br />
The small bungalow next to the<br />
headquarters is also owned by the<br />
Salvation Army.<br />
On the main floor, hot meals<br />
are served and people can use the<br />
food bank. The amount is based<br />
on income, but Sabourin ensures<br />
that no one leaves without at least<br />
one item.<br />
The basement has been converted<br />
into their food bank for<br />
the area. It is a small, unfinished<br />
area lined with shelves full of food<br />
ready to go out for the holiday season.<br />
Around this time of year, the<br />
food bank is filled with donations<br />
mostly from food drives around<br />
the province.<br />
The food bank is mostly operated<br />
by older people, many of whom<br />
are starting to have troubles lifting<br />
boxes and moving things around.<br />
The deposit area is a small basement<br />
window covered by a piece<br />
of plywood, with a wooden ramp<br />
leading down into the deposit<br />
room.<br />
The basement is cold, and<br />
cramped, with every employee<br />
hard at work in their own area of<br />
the basement. Both organizations<br />
face challenges: lack of finances<br />
to pay for employees and simply<br />
not enough volunteers. There is<br />
also an awareness issue. Above all,<br />
Vanderneut wants people to know<br />
that Joanne’s House exists.<br />
“I think the biggest thing for us<br />
is just raising the awareness that<br />
Joanne’s House is here,” she says.<br />
“Despite the fact that we are full<br />
often, there are a lot of people who<br />
don’t necessarily know that we are<br />
here and what we do.”<br />
Sabourin needs people’s time.<br />
With aging volunteers, the Salvation<br />
Army needs new workers,<br />
and stronger funding.<br />
“Monetary resources is our<br />
number one priority, to operate,<br />
to heat the place, to keep the lights<br />
on, also to pay salaries is very expensive,”<br />
says Sabourin.<br />
“To have specialized help, the<br />
cost of that is rising very, very<br />
much.”
Community <strong>chronicle</strong>.<strong>durham</strong>college.ca November 29 - December 5, 20<strong>16</strong> The Chronicle 9<br />
Fiscal doubt for young GM workers<br />
Today’s<br />
generation<br />
of workers<br />
face<br />
financial<br />
uncertainty<br />
due to weak<br />
job security<br />
Nicole O’Brien<br />
The Chronicle<br />
Chris Matthews, an assembly<br />
line worker at General Motors in<br />
Oshawa, checked the “yes” box<br />
when he voted on the deal struck<br />
between the Canadian union<br />
Unifor and the automotive giant<br />
last month, though he admits he<br />
doesn’t feel it will change how he<br />
feels about his job security.<br />
“There’s talk about (the job) being<br />
long term, but the reality of it in<br />
this industry, you could be pulled<br />
out tomorrow,” says Matthews who<br />
at 21 has been working at the GM<br />
Oshawa plant since 2014.<br />
Matthews’ job security was tested<br />
in mid-September during GM’s<br />
negotiations with the Canadian<br />
union Unifor. Both had to agree<br />
on a new contract for its workers.<br />
His assembly line partner, Samantha<br />
Francis, thought the plant<br />
was on its way out of Oshawa.<br />
“I thought it was going down to<br />
be honest,” says Francis, who left<br />
the retail industry for GM after<br />
yearning for a better hourly pay<br />
than minimum wage.<br />
Francis says the worst part was<br />
not knowing right up until the very<br />
last minute.<br />
Unifor, which represents around<br />
4,000 workers at GM plants in Ontario,<br />
struck a new four-year deal<br />
with GM just after the midnight<br />
deadline on Sept., 19.<br />
Positive changes to the deal include<br />
a commitment for Oshawa’s<br />
flex line with a $400 million investment,<br />
increased wages for employees,<br />
and better pension security<br />
for long time employees. This<br />
is great news for Oshawa, as GM<br />
has been the city’s largest employer<br />
since it opened in 1907.<br />
“From all the small jobs its provides,<br />
all the imports. It brings all<br />
kinds of things into Oshawa,” says<br />
Matthews.<br />
But not everyone will be happy<br />
with the new contract, especially<br />
those just hired and those looking<br />
to apply.<br />
The deal is indicative of what<br />
millennials have to look forward<br />
too: a future with little job security.<br />
This is the future of the millennial<br />
generation, a term used to describe<br />
those born between the early 1980s<br />
and to the early 2000s.<br />
“In the older generations, you<br />
know if you started at General<br />
Motors, there was always this car,<br />
and this car, and that wasn’t going<br />
anywhere,” Matthews, a Durham<br />
College Electrical Techniques<br />
graduate, explains.<br />
Chris Matthews (left) and Sam Francis (right) are both assembly line workers at Oshawa’s General Motors.<br />
“The place used to have 20, 000<br />
workers, and now it’s down to too<br />
3,000,” says Matthews.<br />
This leaves a growing pool of<br />
well-qualified twenty-somethings<br />
scrapping it out for a limited number<br />
of positions.<br />
GM announced all new employees<br />
will be switched to a defined<br />
contribution pension plan while<br />
longtime workers, those who have<br />
been there for 11 years or more,<br />
will remain under the defined<br />
benefit pension plan.<br />
Jenn Cowie has been an assembly<br />
line worker at GM in Oshawa<br />
for 14 years. She says the deal has<br />
caused a split between the hires<br />
and the long-time workers.<br />
“It’s created another division,”<br />
says Cowie. “Maybe not with<br />
status but with wage.”<br />
“The pension is what stands out<br />
to me,” says Francis, who at 23 has<br />
just passed her one-year mark at<br />
the plant in April.<br />
This may be because General<br />
Motors has become like many employers<br />
in Canada.<br />
By cutting back pension benefits<br />
to compete with the globalized<br />
markets, new employees face shriveling<br />
pensions.<br />
While pension plans for long<br />
time workers and new hires may<br />
sound the same, they couldn’t be<br />
more different.<br />
These pensions are considered<br />
Ontario’s two main occupational<br />
pension plans.<br />
From the perspective of an employee,<br />
the defined contribution<br />
plan is superior. This plan promises<br />
to pay a certain annual retirement<br />
income for life and is based<br />
on a formula that usually considers<br />
earnings and years of service with<br />
the employer.<br />
Both the employer and employee<br />
contribute to the plan and if there<br />
is a shortfall in the money needed,<br />
the employer would be the one to<br />
pay up.<br />
Cowie falls under the defined<br />
contribution plan and was not personally<br />
affected by the deal. She<br />
says General Motors doesn’t care<br />
about its workers. They just know<br />
workers need to make money.<br />
“Unfortunately it is hard to find<br />
work,” says Cowie, who has also<br />
worked for Chrysler and Ford.<br />
“It’s not people’s dream job. But<br />
it’s a money trap, that is what keeps<br />
people there.”<br />
But new hires at GM will not<br />
have the luxury of a defined contribution<br />
pension plan.<br />
In this plan, contributions are<br />
still guaranteed, but retirement income<br />
is not. Like an RRSP, the employee<br />
is responsible for investing<br />
all contributions to grow savings.<br />
Unfortunately for new employees<br />
at GM, the amount available at<br />
retirement depends completely on<br />
the total contributions made to the<br />
account and the investment returns<br />
the money earned.<br />
It’s not people’s<br />
dream job. But<br />
it’s a money<br />
trap, that is what<br />
keeps people<br />
there.<br />
While new hires will see a slight<br />
increase in wages on their pay<br />
cheques, they will have to work a<br />
lot longer than they thought in order<br />
for their wage levels to increase<br />
to what the long-term employees<br />
are getting.<br />
This directly affects young workers<br />
like Matthews and Francis.<br />
“It went in one direction for<br />
new hires, new people within the<br />
last two, three years where we are<br />
starting at zero. One direction for<br />
someone who has ten years and<br />
now they’re working another ten<br />
years to be able to get where they<br />
want. And for people with like fifteen<br />
years it’s pretty much stayed<br />
the same for them,” says Matthews.<br />
According to the new deal, Matthews<br />
will have to work another<br />
eleven years to be able to get on<br />
the same level as those receiving<br />
the defined benefits plan and he<br />
will have to work a total of thirteen<br />
years before he finishes his probationary<br />
period.<br />
While some say the deal is completely<br />
screwing over the young<br />
workers just starting out, others,<br />
like Clair Cornish, program coordinator<br />
of both the Trades<br />
Fundamental program and the<br />
Mechanical Technician program<br />
at Durham College, believe millennials<br />
shouldn’t give up on the<br />
trades.<br />
“The trades are a wonderful<br />
opportunity for our Ontario youth<br />
to find rewarding careers that are<br />
good paying jobs and have a lot<br />
of self-satisfaction,” says Cornish,<br />
who also teaches in both the programs<br />
he coordinates.<br />
According to the Ontario Youth<br />
Apprenticeship Program, 40 per<br />
cent of all occupations by 2025 will<br />
be skilled trades in fields such as<br />
construction, mechanics, engineering,<br />
and more.<br />
Along with Matthews, Francis<br />
also voted yes at the ratification<br />
held the weekend after the contract<br />
was agreed upon. One thing they<br />
didn’t vote on: job security.<br />
“I think it’s better than working<br />
at other places,” says Matthews.<br />
Francis looks at her friend reluctantly<br />
and says, “But do you feel<br />
secure though?”<br />
Almost at the exact same time,<br />
both reply, “No.”<br />
According to a 20<strong>16</strong> report<br />
from the Royal Bank of Canada,<br />
millennials are doing better than<br />
ever. Canadian millennials have<br />
“inherited a labour environment<br />
in many ways better than that of<br />
their parents.”<br />
More millennial women are participating<br />
in the workforce compared<br />
to previous generations, and<br />
they hold a majority of degrees in<br />
science and technology, according<br />
to the report written by RBC<br />
economist Laura Cooper.<br />
And while that is great news,<br />
the report left out other information<br />
which suggests the economy is<br />
much tougher on millennials than<br />
it was on their parents. The report<br />
Photograph by Nicole O’Brien<br />
skimmed over important issues<br />
such as weak job security and the<br />
cost of housing.<br />
According to Statistics Canada,<br />
millennials are facing an unemployment<br />
rate of 13.3 per cent.<br />
Not only are their fewer jobs for<br />
young people, but job security is<br />
very weak.<br />
Cooper also suggests that in<br />
2015 there was a rise in contract<br />
employment for millennials, which<br />
accounted for 12.8 per cent of all<br />
youth employment. But growing<br />
contract employment is just another<br />
way of saying job security<br />
for the younger generation is very<br />
weak in Canada.<br />
The report shows contracts are<br />
often all that is offered. General<br />
Motors proves this, as they only<br />
negotiate contracts lasting for a<br />
four-year period.<br />
In 2013, 42 per cent of Canadians<br />
aged 20 to 29 reported they<br />
were still living at home. Housing<br />
prices in Canada has caused a<br />
major struggle for millennials who<br />
want to leave the house and put<br />
down their roots.<br />
“The cost of living keeps rising<br />
and wages don’t,” says Cowie.<br />
The average price of a detached<br />
home in Toronto is nearly $1.2<br />
million, and semi-detached costs<br />
more than $800 000. About 71.4<br />
per cent of household is needed to<br />
cover the cost of the average family<br />
in the GTA. And that doesn’t stop<br />
when it comes to housing in Durham<br />
Region.<br />
According to the Durham Region<br />
Association of Realtors, prices<br />
were up in Durham by 15.8 per<br />
cent compared to last year.<br />
The strong combination of the<br />
lack of jobs and rising housing<br />
prices is discouraging millions of<br />
prospects from the millennial generation<br />
across Canada.<br />
In early October, the Oshawa<br />
GM plant announced they will be<br />
hiring over 100 new employees for<br />
early 20<strong>17</strong>. But Matthews says he<br />
wouldn’t recommend anyone he<br />
knows to apply any time soon.<br />
“I wouldn’t tell someone who<br />
has a decent job to leave that job<br />
to come here, not a chance,” says<br />
Matthews.
10 The Chronicle November 29 - December 5, 20<strong>16</strong> <strong>chronicle</strong>.<strong>durham</strong>college.ca Campus<br />
Easing the burden of student debt<br />
Travis Fortnum<br />
The Chronicle<br />
The Canadian government recently<br />
announced a new rule that will<br />
make student debt repayment a<br />
little easier.<br />
But Celina Caesar-Chavannes,<br />
Parliamentary Secretary to Prime<br />
Minister Justin Trudeau and Whitby<br />
MP, thinks her Liberal government<br />
can do more.<br />
This new rule means graduates<br />
won’t have to start repaying their<br />
student loans until they are earning<br />
at least $25,000 a year.<br />
“I think anybody who is making<br />
$25,000 a year is living in poverty,”<br />
Caesar-Chavannes says.<br />
I think<br />
anybody who<br />
is making<br />
$25,000 a year<br />
is living in<br />
poverty.<br />
“I think it’s great that you don’t<br />
have to pay it until you’re making<br />
over that, because honestly if you’re<br />
making less than that the last thing<br />
you want to do is pay back your<br />
student loans.”<br />
It used to be that individuals<br />
had to begin repaying their loans<br />
once they were making more than<br />
$20,000, so this small change could<br />
be significant to many graduates<br />
struggling to balance their daily<br />
finances and debt repayment.<br />
Chris Rocha, director of financial<br />
aid and awards at Durham<br />
College, believes the change will<br />
benefit students who will soon be<br />
heading off in to the working world.<br />
“Increasing the income threshold<br />
for student loan repayment<br />
will assist recent graduates when it<br />
comes time to start repaying their<br />
loan debt,” he says. “It is just one<br />
of the many measures being put<br />
in place by the government to improve<br />
financial aid in Ontario and<br />
Canada.”<br />
According to Statistics Canada,<br />
tuition in Canada today is 45 per<br />
cent higher than it was 10 years<br />
ago.<br />
In 2013, StatsCan also noted that<br />
43 per cent of graduating college<br />
students relied on student loans,<br />
owing an average of about $15,000.<br />
University students graduating<br />
with either a bachelor or master’s<br />
degree claimed an average debt<br />
of more than $26,000 and those<br />
graduating with a doctorate owed<br />
about $41,000.<br />
According to the Government<br />
of Canada Student Loans website,<br />
students who are struggling to<br />
make their monthly student loan<br />
payments have the option to apply<br />
for help through the Repayment<br />
Assistance Plan.<br />
To qualify, you must live in Canada,<br />
meet income requirements<br />
and also re-apply for the plan every<br />
six months.<br />
In recent years, there has been<br />
an outcry amongst millennials<br />
against the high price of tuition.<br />
Earlier this month in Halifax, the<br />
Canadian Federation of Students,<br />
a network of student governments<br />
with four chapters across the GTA<br />
alone, organized a protest of the<br />
country’s rising cost of education.<br />
Members of the federation say<br />
Canada can afford to cover the cost<br />
of tuition for students.<br />
Caesar-Chavannes knows that<br />
the repayment revisions are a start<br />
but also notes that millennials, in<br />
addition to this debt, will have to<br />
overcome challenges created by<br />
baby boomers.<br />
“I think that we’ve taken a<br />
nice first step for students,” says<br />
Caesar-Chavannes, “but you guys<br />
are a generation that are real superheroes.<br />
My generation has done a<br />
really good job messing things up.”<br />
In the meantime, the ease of the<br />
burden of debt granted to low-income<br />
graduates is a welcome<br />
change and has many Canadians<br />
feeling hopeful for what the future<br />
might hold when it comes to government<br />
relief of student debt.In<br />
the meantime, many alternative<br />
options remain available to students<br />
in the country.<br />
“I think the government should<br />
always be looking at ways to make<br />
post-secondary school affordable<br />
and accessible for all students,” Rocha<br />
says. “Your financial aid office<br />
is here to assist you in developing<br />
the financial skills you need, as well<br />
as provide you with options to fund<br />
your education.”<br />
Photograph by Travis Fortnum<br />
Whitby MP Celina Caesar-Chavannes says her Liberal<br />
government can do more for graduates with debt.
Campus <strong>chronicle</strong>.<strong>durham</strong>college.ca November 29 - December 5, 20<strong>16</strong> The Chronicle 11<br />
It's a small world after all<br />
Whether you're in Canada or abroad,<br />
college life is pretty similar<br />
Travis Fortnum<br />
The Chronicle<br />
The morning sunrise peeks over<br />
the horizon, its glow waking the<br />
world with the indication of a new<br />
day. Yobert Montillo Guzmán has<br />
just arrived home from his parttime<br />
job but must wake and begin<br />
preparing for another day of school.<br />
Guzmán is studying cooking while<br />
living away from home. He rents<br />
a room in the city and in order to<br />
afford rent, he spends his evenings<br />
working into the wee hours.<br />
A familiar story, perhaps? Chances<br />
are you can relate. Statistics<br />
Canada says just under half of<br />
postsecondary students have jobs.<br />
But the city Guzmán is living and<br />
studying in is Trujillo, Peru, nearly<br />
6,000 km away from Oshawa.<br />
One might not think someone<br />
who lives on a different continent<br />
could live a lifestyle comparable to<br />
theirs, as cultural and geographical<br />
borders separate us. However,<br />
it’s true what they say: it’s a small<br />
world, and given advancements in<br />
technology and communication, it<br />
gets smaller every day. Thanks to<br />
cellphones, Facebook, Skype and<br />
countless other tools, globalization<br />
is more prominent than ever before.<br />
Globalization is an important<br />
part of Durham College’s plans<br />
moving forward. Elaine Popp, the<br />
school’s Vice-President of Academic,<br />
has been working to forge<br />
mutually-beneficial partnerships,<br />
including one with Centro Experimental<br />
de Formación Profesional<br />
(CEFOP) in Trujillo, where<br />
Guzmán studies.<br />
“I’m so glad that we are in a<br />
position where we’re able to share<br />
what we’ve learned as an institution<br />
here in Canada,” says Popp,<br />
“to help them strengthen their programs<br />
and create better opportunities,<br />
and then that improves their<br />
economy.”<br />
Popp believes Durham College’s<br />
experience can affect their students<br />
and their economy. “The social<br />
conditions even,” says Popp, “because<br />
if you get an education, stats<br />
Photograph by Travis Fortnum<br />
Claudia Cubas Quiroz says<br />
the biggest difference since<br />
moving from Peru to Whitby<br />
has been the flow of traffic.<br />
show, you’re likely to be healthier,<br />
more socially and financially affluent.”<br />
Financial affluence is not something<br />
that immediately comes<br />
second nature to most college students,<br />
which is why so many have<br />
jobs.<br />
Aside from working exhausting<br />
hours to make some extra cash,<br />
Guzmán deals with countless<br />
other factors students across the<br />
globe can relate to, such as parental<br />
pressure.<br />
Originally, Guzmán’s parents<br />
were not supportive of him studying<br />
the culinary arts.<br />
“They really encouraged me to<br />
do a different career and to go into<br />
medicine,” Guzmán says, “I didn’t<br />
really like that. I left and decided<br />
to go for what I’ve always been so<br />
passionate about and what I loved.”<br />
Don’t be surprised if this hits<br />
close to home. According to the<br />
John Hopkins Center for Talented<br />
Youth, over 85 per cent of parents<br />
report being very involved or somewhat<br />
involved in their children’s<br />
education.<br />
Although his parents were not<br />
supportive at first, Guzmán’s passion<br />
was ingrained in him at a<br />
young age.<br />
“Really it was my grandmother<br />
that motivated me,” says Guzmán.<br />
“When I was younger I would always<br />
see her cooking. I could tell<br />
she had a love for what she was doing<br />
so I would ask her to show me.<br />
She would walk me through step by<br />
step and allow me to taste things.”<br />
Guzmán was praised for his skill<br />
in the kitchen and pushed to pursue<br />
it by friends: similar to how the<br />
lucky ones among us are lead to a<br />
postsecondary program that teaches<br />
us how to turn our passions into<br />
a career.<br />
It’s circumstances like these that<br />
confirm the student experience is<br />
fundamentally universal.<br />
Student life in today’s world leaps<br />
across borders and oceans. The experience<br />
isn’t the only thing shared<br />
with those in foreign countries; it’s<br />
possible we share classmates as<br />
well.<br />
Claudia Cubas Quiroz is a<br />
second-year student in the Human<br />
Resources Management program<br />
at Durham College. She too<br />
is Peruvian, from a small mountainous<br />
city northwest of Trujillo,<br />
where Guzmán lives.<br />
Like Guzmán, Quiroz’s parents<br />
wanted her to study medicine close<br />
to home.<br />
“My mom always wanted a doctor,”<br />
says Quiroz, “I always wanted<br />
to leave but my parents were like,<br />
‘are you sure you want to? You’re<br />
our only daughter’. So I started university<br />
in Peru but I came here for<br />
a vacation to visit my family and<br />
see Canada, and I didn’t go back.”<br />
Quiroz now lives with her aunt,<br />
uncle and cousin in Whitby. She<br />
says the biggest change she had to<br />
adapt to in Canada was the flow<br />
of traffic.<br />
In Peru, drivers zip in and out of<br />
lanes at high speeds, slamming on<br />
the brakes when a stop is necessary.<br />
The sound of car horns fills the air.<br />
In Peru, the horn is used differently<br />
than in Canada, becoming white<br />
noise to locals.<br />
“When I was coming to Whitby<br />
from the airport,” says Quiroz,<br />
“all the people were respecting the<br />
traffic signs. I was like… okay, this<br />
is a very different country.”<br />
For the past 14 years, the United<br />
Nations has named Canada one of<br />
the top ten countries in which to<br />
live. Durham College alone has 627<br />
international students enrolled this<br />
semester from 54 different countries.<br />
This is up from 523 students<br />
last year from 48 countries.<br />
Katie Boone is the project coordinator<br />
with the college’s international<br />
office. She travels to<br />
countries around the world to visit<br />
the school’s international partners<br />
and oversee progress on foreign<br />
campuses. Recently, Boone visited<br />
CEFOP in Trujillo to touch base<br />
on progress made through their<br />
partnership with Durham College.<br />
“There are four projects that I<br />
manage,” Boone says. “There’s<br />
Peru, a project in Guyana that focuses<br />
on automotive and electronics,<br />
a project in Vietnam which is<br />
focusing on food and pharmaceuticals,<br />
and then there’s a project in<br />
Barbados which is [focused on]<br />
leadership and change management.”<br />
While working in the international<br />
office at Durham College,<br />
Boone crosses paths with much of<br />
the international student population.<br />
She also works with Durham<br />
students abroad. She has seen firsthand<br />
the progress the world has<br />
made towards globalization, and<br />
believes this is a great advancement<br />
for future generations.<br />
“The best experience I’ve had<br />
was watching [Durham students]<br />
engage with the Peruvian students,”<br />
says Boone.<br />
“I think that it allows you to<br />
build skills that are critical to personal<br />
and professional life, that are<br />
good stepping stones to build on,<br />
regardless of whether your career<br />
brings you to another international<br />
setting or not.”<br />
Elaine Popp recently joined<br />
Boone in Trujillo, and has experienced<br />
the evolution of academics<br />
through globalization.<br />
“Internationalization is embedded<br />
in our culture now,” Popp says,<br />
“and not only have we grown the<br />
numbers of international students<br />
coming to campus, but we’ve also<br />
grown our efforts to embrace internationalization<br />
in its full capacity.”<br />
“The world is a lot more interconnected<br />
now and the chance that<br />
our graduates are going to interact<br />
with individuals that don’t just live<br />
in Canada or were born in Canada<br />
is much greater than it used to be.”<br />
Popp has recently spoken to 11<br />
international students as part of a<br />
process to renew the college’s strategic<br />
plan. She says similarities<br />
between students from around the<br />
world are undeniable. Perhaps most<br />
prominent is the question of what<br />
comes next.<br />
“That almost anxiety or the fear<br />
of the unknown, that is something<br />
that I think you see in all students<br />
regardless of where they’re from.”<br />
Mark Herringer, Dean of International<br />
Education at Durham<br />
College, hopes the adaptation to<br />
internationalization can see no student<br />
left behind.<br />
“What we’re working on with<br />
our institutional team,” Herringer<br />
says, “is to determine how can<br />
we figure out how to get students<br />
Photograph by Travis Fortnum<br />
Yobert Montillo Guzmán speaks to DC's Katie Boone during her recent trip to Trujillo, Peru.<br />
The world is a lot more<br />
interconnected now.<br />
who aren’t able to travel an international<br />
experience while they’re<br />
at Durham College.”<br />
This goal has seen the increase in<br />
the use of a global classroom, which<br />
uses technology to link students at<br />
the Oshawa campus to experts and<br />
guests from around the world.<br />
Globalization has entered a new<br />
phase. The Internet is credited with<br />
the breaking of borders, with more<br />
than 900 million people making<br />
international connections through<br />
social media.<br />
Facebook alone boasts 1.79 billion<br />
active users in a month, according<br />
to Statista. A study by staff<br />
at Kent State University says 82 per<br />
cent of international students use<br />
it to keep in touch while abroad.<br />
Facebook has become so ubiquitous<br />
we seem to take for granted<br />
the connections it facilitates.<br />
For Quiroz, traveling abroad has<br />
led to the discovery of a new home.<br />
“I miss Canada when I’m in<br />
Peru,” she says. After graduating<br />
from Durham College in the spring<br />
she hopes to further her human resources<br />
education at UOIT.<br />
Back in Peru, Guzmán looks forward<br />
to the opportunities presented<br />
by this globalized world.<br />
“My dream job would be working<br />
on a cruise ship,” he says.<br />
“When I graduate I want to focus<br />
on studying some English so I can<br />
achieve that.”<br />
Whether traveling to another<br />
continent or just another city, the<br />
changing face of interaction and<br />
integration between people around<br />
the world means never having to be<br />
far from home.<br />
Despite location, the student<br />
experience is a common one. No<br />
matter where your campus is, the<br />
experience includes the desire to<br />
turn a passion into a career, the<br />
uncertainty of where your studies<br />
will take you and the fear of what<br />
your future will entail.<br />
The world can be a scary place<br />
when you think about your place<br />
in it. But with advancements in<br />
technology coupled with personal<br />
experience and education, we grow.<br />
And the world gets smaller.
12 The Chronicle November 29 - December 5, 20<strong>16</strong> <strong>chronicle</strong>.<strong>durham</strong>college.ca Campus<br />
Dude, where’s my electric car?<br />
Travis Fortnum<br />
The Chronicle<br />
The electric car community on<br />
campus is in shock after learning<br />
that access to their usual park and<br />
charge spots would be lost – at least<br />
temporarily.<br />
It used to be that Johnny Paty<br />
could drive his 2012 Chevy Volt<br />
onto campus and park in one of<br />
two specialized electric vehicle<br />
spots in the Student Services Building<br />
(SSB) lot.<br />
Those two spots featured charging<br />
podiums which supplied<br />
free power to the vehicles as their<br />
drivers attended class or whatever<br />
business brought them to campus.<br />
Paty is a student studying in<br />
Durham College’s one-year Project<br />
Management grad certificate<br />
program.<br />
Recently, he and others who<br />
park in the SSB lot were notified<br />
that it would be closed off due to<br />
construction of the Centre for Collaborative<br />
Education (to replace<br />
the Simcoe building), leaving him<br />
and other electric car owners without<br />
access to the power their vehicles<br />
require.<br />
“I initially contacted the parking<br />
office to find out if they had<br />
any plans in place to extend their<br />
amount of electric vehicle parking<br />
spots on campus,” Paty says.<br />
“[They] got back to me saying ‘Bad<br />
news, Johnny! Actually we’re getting<br />
rid of all of the spots altogether.’<br />
So instead of providing access<br />
to more electric vehicles, they’re<br />
completely taking them away.”<br />
Paty says there are at least five<br />
drivers on campus with electric vehicles.<br />
Given that there were only<br />
two spots, the arrangement was<br />
already tight.<br />
“There [was] kind of an unspoken<br />
thing where we’ll park to<br />
the outside of the left and right<br />
spots and a third vehicle can park<br />
in the middle,” says Paty. “If you’re<br />
there after those three people<br />
you’re kind of too late.”<br />
Paty feels if he hadn’t reached<br />
out to parking employees about this<br />
matter, he would have been even<br />
more caught off guard by the closing<br />
of the SSB lot, as the others in<br />
the community were shocked when<br />
Paty relayed this information.<br />
“None of them had any idea this<br />
was going on,” says Paty. “After [I<br />
talked to them] one of the parking<br />
officials came up to each of the<br />
cars that pulled in to the parking<br />
lot and gave them a little slip of<br />
paper that said ‘this lot is going to<br />
be closed.’ And that’s the extent of<br />
the information.”<br />
School officials began notifying<br />
those who utilize the lot two weeks<br />
before finally closing it Nov. 21.<br />
When Paty began his search<br />
for answers, he was put in contact<br />
with Ross Carnwith, manager of<br />
ancillary services on campus, who<br />
indicated work was being done to<br />
relocate the spots and charging podiums<br />
to the pay and display area<br />
of the Commencement One lot.<br />
“I have a quote out now to move<br />
the units physically,” Carnwith<br />
says. “So right now the spots are<br />
painted out and we’re physically<br />
going to move them as quickly as<br />
possible.”<br />
Carnwith hopes to have the spots<br />
up and running by the end of the<br />
month.<br />
Paty says that this means he’ll<br />
have to buy a parking pass for the<br />
same annual fee of $650 other<br />
drivers pay, something he believed<br />
wasn’t necessary for electric vehicle<br />
owners.<br />
“Upon researching this college<br />
and my choice of vehicle I was<br />
under the impression that I was<br />
going to have access to free parking<br />
as well as electrical utilities,”<br />
Paty says.<br />
Free parking on a college campus?<br />
It’s something that Carnwith<br />
says was never official.<br />
“I did check with other campuses,”<br />
Carnwith says, “what they do<br />
is charge standard parking rates,<br />
but the electricity is free. And that’s<br />
where we’re headed. Standard<br />
parking rates but the electricity is<br />
free.”<br />
“I don’t mind the changes over a<br />
course of time if we still have access<br />
to charging and designated parking<br />
spots,” Paty says. “I get that.<br />
But to spring this on someone who’s<br />
a 29-year-old student who’s got a<br />
baby on the way and to take it away<br />
with less than a week’s warning…<br />
go through the process of change.<br />
I researched this. I was told that I<br />
was going to get free parking, now<br />
that’s being ripped from me.”<br />
Photograph by Travis Fortnum<br />
Clinton Sharpe (left) and Andrew Walker of Space Age Electric<br />
work to install the power podiums for the newly relocated<br />
electric car parking.
Community <strong>chronicle</strong>.<strong>durham</strong>college.ca November 29 - December 5, 20<strong>16</strong> The Chronicle 13<br />
More support needed for LGBTQ community<br />
Brandi Washington<br />
The Chronicle<br />
Pickering couple Hailee Gallaher and Jessica Vanderhyden are all smiles.<br />
The sun was heating up the pavement<br />
of Church Street the afternoon<br />
of June 30 th in 2014. Flags and<br />
floats from countries like Jamaica,<br />
Georgia, Argentina, and the Philippines<br />
came down the street. The<br />
flags ruffled for hours but one dominated:<br />
Pride parade’s symbolic<br />
red, orange, yellow, green, blue,<br />
and purple.<br />
Red trucks roared past onlookers<br />
pressed up against steel fences.<br />
Signs saying “I AM LGBTQ AND<br />
GOD LOVES ME” could be seen<br />
from several feet away. According<br />
to the Toronto Star, an estimated<br />
12,000 people attended Toronto<br />
Pride festival in 2014.<br />
Jessica Vanderhyden was one of<br />
12,000 people shuffling through<br />
rainbow banners, sparkly floats,<br />
and dancers in latex underwear.<br />
For the first time in her life, Jessica<br />
was able to witness the yearly event.<br />
But something else about that day<br />
was special to Vanderhyden. As she<br />
squeezed past the screaming onlookers,<br />
she met her current partner,<br />
Hailee Gallaher.<br />
Vanderhyden remembers that<br />
day in 2014. Seeing Gallaher for<br />
the first time and noticing her upper<br />
arm. She saw an Alexisonfire<br />
fire tattoo. Vanderhyden said this<br />
is one of her favorite bands.<br />
So she knew Gallaher had good<br />
taste in music which is one quality<br />
she loves in a significant other.<br />
“She looked a little intimidating<br />
but not in a bad way,” said Vanderhyden.<br />
“She had this dark straight<br />
hair, she was very nice, she was<br />
very polite.”<br />
According to Stats Canada, there<br />
are over 60,000 same-sex couples<br />
across Canada. That is 27,380 families<br />
more than there were in 2006.<br />
Homosexuality was decriminalized<br />
in Canada just 47 years ago.<br />
In 1967, Pierre Trudeau introduced<br />
the Criminal Law Amendment<br />
Act which liberalized law on<br />
issues such as homosexuality. His<br />
statement “no place for the state in<br />
the bedrooms of the nation” went<br />
down in history.<br />
With the growing numbers of<br />
LGBTQ families, and growing<br />
acceptance of same sex couples you<br />
would think coming out would be a<br />
lot easier than it was fifty years ago.<br />
But this is not the case. According<br />
to Pickering lesbian couple Hailee<br />
Gallaher and Jessica Vanderhyden,<br />
agree there is still work to be done<br />
with the acceptance of the gay<br />
community in 20<strong>16</strong>.<br />
Gallaher says, “I eventually want<br />
to see society where there is not a<br />
divide. You wouldn’t give a second<br />
look to a heterosexual couple, don’t<br />
give a second look to a gay couple.”<br />
In 2015, 1.7 per cent of Canadians<br />
ages 18 to 59 considered<br />
themselves to be homosexual. But<br />
12 per cent of gay women and 5 per<br />
cent of gay men still feel the need<br />
to keep their identities a secret. According<br />
to Stats Canada, in 2013,<br />
there were 186 police-reported hate<br />
crime incidents motivated by sexual<br />
orientation. Canadian police<br />
services reported 1,<strong>16</strong>7 hate crimes<br />
in 2013.<br />
This statistic may just be a number<br />
for some but it represents a moment<br />
in Vanderhyden’s life.<br />
“I was minding my own business<br />
one day, just walking in my neighbourhood,<br />
when someone attacked<br />
me verbally,” says Vanderhyden.<br />
What she heard shocked her. A<br />
group of guys spotted her and one<br />
of them called her a ‘nigger faggot.’<br />
“I kept walking, no point in<br />
engaging with stupidity,” she says.<br />
Taking aim at race or ethnicity is<br />
a big issue not just in the Durham<br />
region, but all across Canada.<br />
According to a 2013 article in<br />
The National Post, the three main<br />
motivations for hate-related crimes<br />
are race or ethnicity, religion and<br />
sexual orientation.<br />
Race or ethnicity accounts for<br />
51 per cent of hate-related crimes,<br />
followed by religion at 28 per cent,<br />
and sexual orientation at <strong>16</strong> per<br />
cent.<br />
Add to this an increase in bullying<br />
and there is a recipe for hate-related<br />
bullying. According to a<br />
2009 report by Statistics Canada,<br />
Ontario has the second highest rate<br />
of bullying in Canada. And 20 per<br />
cent of bullies are a friend to the<br />
victim.<br />
Over Christmas break in Grade<br />
10, Gallaher’s female friend bullied<br />
her on social media. Two more<br />
people joined in via Twitter. Vanderhyden<br />
wants bullies to know<br />
the how much harder they make<br />
people’s lives.<br />
“If they really did give it a<br />
chance they would see that we’re<br />
just like everybody else, we’re just<br />
people trying to make it through<br />
life. It’s made a little bit harder<br />
when people can’t just accept us<br />
for who we are,” says Vanderhyden.<br />
The first step, according to<br />
Vanderhyden, is to accept yourself.<br />
“When you’re not out, you’re<br />
isolated and you’re scared to tell<br />
anyone,” says Vanderhyden. “You<br />
have to find yourself and talk to<br />
someone. Once you finally figure<br />
it out it is so much better.”<br />
Two years after Vanderhyden<br />
and Gallaher first met at Pride in<br />
Toronto, Vanderhyden ended up<br />
at a local Pickering bar called The<br />
Bear for a friend’s birthday. To her<br />
surprise, Gallaher was there. The<br />
girls hit it off.<br />
Hailee Gallaher is 20-years-old<br />
and an Assistant Manager at Mc-<br />
Donald’s. Her mother is from Newfoundland<br />
and her father is from<br />
Ontario. She moved to Pickering<br />
when she was three years old and<br />
has been in Durham ever since.<br />
Jessica Vanderhyden just turned<br />
25-years-old. Her mother is of Jamaican<br />
descent and her father is<br />
Guyanese. She moved to Pickering<br />
when she was four years old, and<br />
also still lives in the region.<br />
Ever since she was 13, Gallaher<br />
says she knew she was bisexual. She<br />
came out to her friends and then<br />
in Grade 10, she came out to both<br />
friends and family as a lesbian.<br />
When you’re<br />
not out, you’re<br />
isolated.<br />
But her father already knew. He<br />
had no problem with her sexuality.<br />
Her mom was a different story.<br />
While she never had an actual<br />
problem with her daughter’s sexuality,<br />
she told Gallaher it was just<br />
a phase.<br />
Now, Gallaher says her mother<br />
is supportive. She admits she is<br />
fortunate because not very many<br />
people have a supportive family<br />
when coming out.<br />
Vanderhyden’s story is similar.<br />
She said she always knew there was<br />
something different about her. Her<br />
family is Anglican, and she went to<br />
Sunday school and attended church<br />
all the time.<br />
Grade 4 was the year Vanderhyden<br />
realized there was something<br />
different about her. That<br />
year, she met an older girl in her<br />
Photograph by Brandi Washington<br />
church and liked her more than<br />
“she liked anything else.” At that<br />
time however, she didn’t know it<br />
was a crush.<br />
Since Vanderhyden was raised<br />
Christian everything around her<br />
was telling her she was supposed<br />
to be with a man. She tried. She<br />
dated men, but it didn’t feel right.<br />
Then in high school, she had her<br />
first kiss with a girl. Vanderhyden<br />
said that kiss was unexpected and<br />
felt different… but different in a<br />
good way. A little while after, she<br />
came out as bisexual.<br />
Vanderhyden said she thinks<br />
most gay people first come out as<br />
bisexual because they’re not sure<br />
what they are. They don’t know<br />
if they’re completely into men or<br />
women, which is what she wasn’t<br />
sure of at the time too.<br />
She then started dating more<br />
girls than guys in high school. After<br />
that, she realized she probably was<br />
not into guys at all. Vanderhyden<br />
said near the end of high school she<br />
finally realized, “Okay, I’m definitely<br />
gay.”<br />
But Vanderhyden still needed a<br />
push.<br />
When she was 19-years-old, she<br />
dated a girl from Toronto who was<br />
in the process of coming out to her<br />
friends and family. That girl gave<br />
her courage to do the same.<br />
Vanderhyden told her dad first.<br />
But just like Gallaher, Vanderhyden’s<br />
dad knew there was always<br />
something different about her. Her<br />
dad accepted her. Vanderhyden’s<br />
mother didn’t.<br />
In the beginning, Vanderhyden<br />
said her mother needed time to<br />
think the situation through and to<br />
come to terms with it.<br />
Over the years, Vanderhyden<br />
admits her mother has taken time<br />
to learn different gay terminologies<br />
and even attended her first Toronto<br />
Pride festival this year.<br />
“It means so much to me,” she<br />
said. “She asks about Hailee all<br />
the time.”<br />
Gallaher said the same thing: her<br />
mother asks about Vanderhyden<br />
all the time.<br />
Vanderhyden said her first gay<br />
relationship was her “testing the<br />
waters” when she was not fully<br />
out as gay. It was an online relationship.<br />
She never met the girl in<br />
person.<br />
Her first real relationship with a<br />
female did not go well, but she said<br />
it felt right. After that, she experimented<br />
with women and thought<br />
one day she would find the right<br />
girl.<br />
Just like Vanderhyden, Gallaher’s<br />
first relationship was terrible. Gallaher’s<br />
girlfriend was very unsure of<br />
herself. The relationship was very<br />
bad, according to Gallaher, and<br />
she doesn’t even consider it as her<br />
official first relationship.<br />
But she admits it was a good<br />
learning experience because it<br />
showed her what it was like to date<br />
a girl.<br />
Gallaher says her first real relationship<br />
was with a girl in the<br />
United States. She took a plane<br />
all alone for the first time to meet<br />
her. She thought she was in love at<br />
the time, and as a result, they got<br />
matching tattoos.<br />
From being in these messy relationships,<br />
the girls are now a happy<br />
couple.<br />
Vanderhyden says, “I hope a lot<br />
of people become a lot more open<br />
and optimistic about just letting<br />
people be who they want to be.”<br />
But how?<br />
Vanderhyden said places like<br />
coffee shops, and other places in<br />
Durham Region can help out by<br />
showing their support. A little sticker<br />
saying “they support or they’re<br />
proud of the LGBTQ” community<br />
on the wall would be nice to see,<br />
she says.<br />
The girls both remember looking<br />
through high school textbooks and<br />
names like James and Kelly. Gallaher<br />
said she would love to see high<br />
school textbooks with same sex<br />
couple names. It does not always<br />
have to be a man and a woman to<br />
use for a math equation example.<br />
Gallaher says she saw an Ikea<br />
commercial with a same sex couple.<br />
She loved how this commercial was<br />
different than other ones. Same sex<br />
couples are what people need to see,<br />
says Gallaher. It helps people feel<br />
safe to see themselves represented<br />
in the media.<br />
In January 2014, Disney premiered<br />
their first lesbian couple in<br />
a TV series called Good Luck Charlie.<br />
Gallaher said she remembers this<br />
was a very controversial topic in<br />
the media.<br />
The girls agree they would love<br />
to see the first Disney princess lesbian<br />
couple. Gallaher added she<br />
wants to see “Elsa be gay” in the<br />
Disney movie Frozen 2.<br />
“I think at the end of the day<br />
we really need to become a community.<br />
Just one community. Not<br />
the straight community and the<br />
LGBTQ community. That unity<br />
is what people really need. We can<br />
support it, but why still create that<br />
divide?” said Gallaher. “We’re all<br />
just people at the end of the day. I<br />
think people are just really focused<br />
on finding an answer and they need<br />
a label.”<br />
The girls can’t wait until pride<br />
20<strong>17</strong>, to celebrate who they have<br />
become.
14 The Chronicle November 29 - December 5, 20<strong>16</strong> <strong>chronicle</strong>.<strong>durham</strong>college.ca Campus<br />
Students meet with elder<br />
Asim Pervez<br />
The Chronicle<br />
An elder plays an important role in<br />
the First Nations community. The<br />
elder is someone can speak to for<br />
advice and guidance.<br />
Shirley Williams is the elder<br />
here at Durham College. She<br />
often makes visits to the Aboriginal<br />
Student Centre, located in<br />
the Simcoe Building. Williams<br />
was born in and raised in Wikwemikong.<br />
She is a part of the<br />
Birdclan Clan of the Ojibway and<br />
Odawa First Nations.<br />
She was a Native Studies professor<br />
at Trent University. She is<br />
now retired and lives in Peterborough<br />
but makes time for students at<br />
Durham College. She says students<br />
come and talk to her about their<br />
troubles going on in their everyday<br />
lives.<br />
Students may speak to an elder<br />
for “many different things,” she<br />
says, including counselling, school<br />
work, problems with the school, or<br />
cultural things. Sometimes they<br />
also want “to find the different<br />
meanings of things in the room<br />
here.” She points out a dreamcatcher<br />
on the purple wall before her.<br />
“Dreamcatchers are used to<br />
dream for the babies. When they<br />
are born, you put up the dreamcatcher.<br />
(They) are used when the<br />
children have nightmares,” she<br />
said.“The holes in the (dreamcatcher)<br />
are where the good dreams<br />
come through for the babies.<br />
Dreamcatchers have significance,<br />
other than dream.<br />
You might set what your career<br />
is, what you want to become and<br />
you will always have that spirit to<br />
walk with you. The spirit is the one<br />
who guards your life that helps you<br />
and gives directions.”<br />
James Guajie is a student worker<br />
at the Aboriginal Student Centre.<br />
He says anyone can gain knowledge<br />
by speaking to an elder.<br />
An elder can share advice or experience<br />
that guides people to deal<br />
with their problems.<br />
“They seem to have a practice<br />
of being non-judgmental and they<br />
are very open to discussing almost<br />
anything, so it’s often quite a pleasure<br />
to talk with them,” Guajie says.<br />
Elder Shirley Williams’ next<br />
scheduled visit to the Aboriginal<br />
Student Centre will be on Nov. 30<br />
from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.<br />
Campus Paralegal Student Assistance<br />
We provide legal advice and information for all DC & UOIT students.<br />
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Includes referrals, commissioning, and notarizing of documents.<br />
Open every Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. until November 29, 20<strong>16</strong>.<br />
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CPSADurham<br />
cpsa@<strong>durham</strong>college.ca<br />
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Campus Paralegal Student Assistance (CPSA) is funded by Legal Aid Ontario.
Campus <strong>chronicle</strong>.<strong>durham</strong>college.ca November 29 - December 5, 20<strong>16</strong> The Chronicle 15<br />
This cat has<br />
a story to tell<br />
Dan Koehler<br />
The Chronicle<br />
The cat came back, just not the<br />
very next day.<br />
This was the case for the Mc-<br />
Donald family, who lost their<br />
family cat only to have it returned<br />
to them four years later.<br />
The cat Puff, renamed to Waffles<br />
upon being returned, went missing<br />
from the family’s Chatsworth Crescent<br />
home in Whitby one night in<br />
2012.<br />
“She was an outside cat, and very<br />
tough, so we didn’t worry too much<br />
in the beginning,” said Donna Mc-<br />
Donald, Waffles’ owner.<br />
As time went by she realized that<br />
Waffles might not be coming back.<br />
With coyotes in the area, a common<br />
predator to stray cats, the<br />
family feared the worst but put up<br />
signs around the neighbourhood<br />
and posted an ad online.<br />
“We just assumed she was eaten<br />
by a larger animal,” said McDonald.<br />
“We played it down with the<br />
kids until she had been gone a few<br />
weeks.”<br />
It wasn’t until over four years<br />
later they were contacted by someone<br />
who thought they might have<br />
found Waffles.<br />
“We were contacted online by<br />
someone who saw her face on a lost<br />
and found website for pets,” said<br />
McDonald. “We were all pretty<br />
excited.”<br />
The McDonald family wasn’t<br />
alone in their struggle to find their<br />
missing cat and even though Waffles<br />
was returned home, this is not<br />
the case for many unfortunate pet<br />
owners.<br />
According the Canadian Federation<br />
of Humane Societies, in 2014<br />
over 80,000 cats were brought in<br />
to shelters across the country, and<br />
53 per cent of them were strays.<br />
Out of the 40,000 strays that were<br />
brought in, only 4.5 per cent actually<br />
returned to their guardians.<br />
The United States shares a similar<br />
scenario with 70 million stray<br />
cats living in the country.<br />
When a cat goes missing in the<br />
Durham Region, they sometimes<br />
end up at the Whitby Animal Services<br />
Centre. The centre posts<br />
photos of all the animals brought<br />
into their care on their website. To<br />
retrieve a lost pet the owner must<br />
have proof of ownership, pay the<br />
pick-up fees and any pound fees,<br />
and must verify proof of an I.D. tag<br />
and up-to-date rabies vaccination.<br />
For the McDonald family, they<br />
are just happy to have their beloved<br />
pet home.<br />
“She is very affectionate so it is<br />
nice, said McDonald. “Bentley<br />
(the family’s other cat) does his own<br />
thing and doesn’t really require any<br />
attention, it’s a nice change.”<br />
McDonald also said Waffles days<br />
of freedom outside are now ‘totally<br />
over’.<br />
Photograph by Dan Koehler<br />
Rachel Switalski, daughter of Donna McDonald, holding the family cat Waffles in the kitcken of<br />
their home.<br />
Gamers unite at DC, UOIT’s LANWAR X<br />
Dean Daley<br />
The Chronicle<br />
Posters of all kinds can be found in<br />
the hallways of UOIT and Durham<br />
College.<br />
But of all the posters, one stands<br />
out to any gamer: LANWAR X.<br />
The poster has pictures of all sorts<br />
of characters from games such<br />
as: Super Mario, World of Warcraft,<br />
Hearthstone and more. LANWAR X<br />
took place Nov. 25-27, but the question<br />
remains: What exactly, is it?<br />
UOIT’s Local Area Network<br />
(LAN) WAR X is a gaming event<br />
that has occurred biannually<br />
since 2011. It’s where students and<br />
alumni can get together and play<br />
all sorts of games for fun, or competitively.<br />
Hundreds of fans come<br />
to watch and play in several tournaments<br />
which started Friday night<br />
around midnight steadily until<br />
Sunday afternoon at 5 p.m. The<br />
event was held in the UA Science<br />
building at UOIT.<br />
According to Tyler Messenger–<br />
Lehmann, a second year UOIT<br />
student in the Computer Science<br />
program, an organizer and ticket<br />
seller for the event, LANWAR<br />
started after Tony Tran, dubbed<br />
as one of the founders of LAN-<br />
WAR and some friends wanted<br />
to play games and hang out after<br />
mid-terms.<br />
This was the fifth time Kyle<br />
Beckmann, an UOIT mechatronics<br />
engineering student, attended<br />
the LANWAR event. He says<br />
the event has a board game area,<br />
vendors to visit, plenty of people<br />
to play with, and raffles to be won<br />
throughout the weekend.<br />
“I keep going to LANWAR<br />
events because it’s a great way to<br />
socialize with other gamers and<br />
have a fun, de-stressing weekend<br />
in time for exams,” Beckmann says.<br />
This was the 12th LANWAR<br />
event UOIT hosted and offered<br />
six major gaming events, six side<br />
tournaments and one tournament<br />
held by Duelist, one of the sponsors<br />
of the event. The six major tournaments<br />
are from iconic games such<br />
as Counter Strike Global Offensive (CS<br />
GO), StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty and<br />
Super Smash Brothers for Wii U.<br />
Prizes for the major tournaments<br />
ranged from $500 to $1,500. The<br />
prize money comes from a mixture<br />
of sponsors, ticket sales and the Student<br />
Association.<br />
Messenger–Lehmann is not only<br />
an organizer and ticket seller for<br />
LANWAR X, but has also been a<br />
competitor.<br />
Messenger-Lehmann says last<br />
year he competed in Hearthstone<br />
and Magic The Gathering. He says<br />
he made it to the semifinal round<br />
of Hearthstone before becoming too<br />
Photograph by Dean Daley<br />
Tyler Messenger-Lehmann, a second-year UOIT student in the Computer Science program, an<br />
organizer and ticket seller, selling tickets for the LANWAR event.<br />
sick to play. Messenger–Lehmann<br />
calls himself a hardcore gamer with<br />
more than 4,000 hours in League of<br />
Legends and 1,000 hours in CS GO.<br />
However, even with that many<br />
hours under his belt he says he still<br />
wouldn’t compete in those games.<br />
According to Messenger–Lehmann,<br />
professional players, who<br />
regularly compete for money, attend<br />
LANWAR X to play games<br />
like CS GO and League of Legends.<br />
Messenger–Lehmann said he<br />
thought he would have more of a<br />
chance with Hearthstone.<br />
Beckmann says he usually only<br />
plays in the smaller tournaments,<br />
in games such as Mario Kart, League<br />
of Legends and King of Games. King<br />
of Games is a round-by-round<br />
tournament where each round has<br />
different games such as Super Smash<br />
Brothers, Donkey Kong and even indie<br />
games such as Nidhogg.<br />
According to Beckmann, within<br />
the few weeks leading up to<br />
LANWAR he starts playing a few<br />
rounds in the games he competes in<br />
“for the purpose of regaining memory<br />
of the controls and the game<br />
mechanics.”<br />
Messenger–Lehmann takes a<br />
different approach. Last year when<br />
competing for Hearthstone, he did<br />
a lot of research into the game.<br />
He found out about the meta, the<br />
current strongest strategies used in<br />
the game and researched ways to<br />
challenge and defeat it.<br />
Although Beckmann doesn’t<br />
compete in the major tournaments,<br />
he says he enjoys being a spectator.<br />
“A lot of games are fun to spectate.<br />
Especially when the players<br />
involved are invested in the game<br />
and are well matched against each<br />
other,” Beckmann says. “I can see<br />
things getting pretty tense and<br />
it’ll definitely be entertaining to<br />
watch.”<br />
Beckmann was most interested<br />
this year in watching Overwatch,<br />
as it’s the game he’s most actively<br />
playing.<br />
Messenger-Lehmann was also<br />
the organizer for the tournament<br />
for Hearthstone and was excited for<br />
the King of Games tournament.
<strong>16</strong> The Chronicle November 29 - December 5, 20<strong>16</strong> <strong>chronicle</strong>.<strong>durham</strong>college.ca Campus<br />
Blood, it’s in you to give<br />
Canadian<br />
Blood<br />
Services<br />
comes to DC<br />
and UOIT<br />
Noor Ibrahim<br />
The Chronicle<br />
The gym at Durham College and<br />
UOIT is usually bustling with students<br />
playing basketball. However,<br />
recently it was home to the Canadian<br />
Blood Services donor clinic.<br />
Canadian Blood Services comes<br />
to campus twice a year, with one<br />
donor clinic per semester. The most<br />
recent clinic was held on Nov. 8 th .<br />
The clinics give the students a<br />
chance to donate blood without<br />
leaving campus. They receive about<br />
60 donations per campus clinic.<br />
According to event coordinator,<br />
Laura Ashton, almost half of the<br />
donors on campus were first timers.<br />
While that is a high number of new<br />
donors, Ashton says it is not unusual<br />
for a college campus.<br />
“Most students don’t get the<br />
opportunity to donate blood until<br />
they’re in college,” said Ashton.<br />
“The legal age to donate blood is<br />
<strong>17</strong>, so that is why many students<br />
come out.”<br />
The campus clinics are one of<br />
14,000 across Canada every year.<br />
They collect blood for a wide range<br />
of uses – from people who require<br />
blood transfusions following car accidents<br />
to those who require blood<br />
as part of cancer treatment. They<br />
also aid in organ transplants. Last<br />
year, Canadian Blood Services received<br />
more than 850,000 donations.<br />
Donors go through a five-step<br />
process. First, they register and<br />
present ID. Then they answer a<br />
confidential questionnaire about<br />
their physical and sexual health.<br />
Next, they get interviewed by<br />
staff for follow up questions. Then<br />
finally, students can donate blood.<br />
The last step? Sitting back for<br />
snacks and refreshments.<br />
Gerry Lynch is a member of the<br />
Knights of Columbus, a fraternal<br />
organization that focuses on charity.<br />
He volunteers at the campus<br />
clinic twice a year.<br />
“We really enjoy it,” says Lynch,<br />
“because having the young crowd<br />
come out and give blood, it’s always<br />
an interesting scenario.”<br />
The blood collected has a journey<br />
of its own. At the clinic, it is packaged<br />
in special trays to maintain its<br />
temperature.<br />
The blood is then shipped to<br />
Brampton, where it is tested for diseases,<br />
sorted into blood types, and<br />
distributed to different hospitals.<br />
The blood is separated into red<br />
blood cells, plasma, and platelets,<br />
which is a blood component that<br />
helps blood to clot.<br />
Students can also donate stem<br />
cells at the clinic if they are between<br />
ages <strong>17</strong> to 35. Stem cells are<br />
immature cells that, with time, can<br />
develop to any cell in the blood<br />
stream.<br />
Students sign up for a form and<br />
a swab is inserted into their mouth.<br />
The swabs are then packaged and<br />
sent to Ottawa where they are processed.<br />
According to CBS customer<br />
service representative, Melanie<br />
McEachrem, the blood type in<br />
most demand is O negative, since<br />
it’s a universal donor. It is used in<br />
emergencies when there’s no time<br />
to check for blood type. Highly demanded<br />
blood types also include O<br />
positive and A positive.<br />
McEachrem says blood is in most<br />
demand during holiday weekends<br />
and Christmas due to high traffic<br />
and possible accidents. Donors are<br />
also needed in summer, when most<br />
people are out of town and cannot<br />
donate.<br />
Canadian Blood Services will<br />
host another blood donor clinic on<br />
campus next semester. They also<br />
have plans to host a stem cell-only<br />
clinic.<br />
James Skelton giving blood at Durham College and UOIT.<br />
Photograph by Noor Ibrahim
Campus <strong>chronicle</strong>.<strong>durham</strong>college.ca November 29 - December 5, 20<strong>16</strong> The Chronicle <strong>17</strong><br />
Innovation<br />
motivation<br />
at Durham<br />
Rebecca Calzavara<br />
The Chronicle<br />
It’s time to congratulate Durham<br />
College (DC). It has been ranked<br />
one of Canada’s top 50 research<br />
colleges for the fourth consecutive<br />
year.<br />
According to Research Infosource<br />
Inc. Durham College is<br />
ranked 45 th this year. Last year it<br />
was ranked 36 th and the previous<br />
two years it was 25 th .<br />
The annual list is determined by<br />
data on research income, research<br />
intensity and research partnerships<br />
and projects at colleges across the<br />
country.<br />
The top college this year was<br />
CEGEP de Saint-Hyacinthe College<br />
in Quebec.<br />
Debbie McKee Demczyk, dean,<br />
Office of Research Services, Innovation<br />
and Entrepreneurship (ORS-<br />
IE) at Durham College, said being<br />
in the top 50 is good for Durham<br />
College, given that there are more<br />
institutions being ranked each year.<br />
“Being apart of the top 50 is an<br />
honour,” McKee Demczyk said,<br />
“the point is to celebrate college<br />
applied research every year.”<br />
According to McKee Demczyk,<br />
applied research is doing small<br />
projects which are incremental in<br />
nature.<br />
“We take our very practical skills<br />
that we learn in programs and we<br />
are applying them to industry,”<br />
McKee Demczyk explained. “Getting<br />
involved with applied research<br />
is a great way to enhance skills.<br />
Things that you learn in the class<br />
help solve real problems. It’s a great<br />
opportunity to develop teamwork<br />
skills and problem solving skills.”<br />
Durham College continues to<br />
initiate and support a variety of<br />
research projects. Some of these<br />
projects include:<br />
Gaming Suit Control System<br />
Imagine a wearable suit that<br />
totally immerses users into the reality<br />
of their virtual game.<br />
There are sensors all over the suit<br />
so that there are realistic impacts<br />
in the video games and has all surround<br />
sound.<br />
According to DC, Inventing Future<br />
Technology Inc. (IFTech) is a<br />
high-tech company with a focus on<br />
Immersive Wearable Technologies<br />
and its product ‘As Real As It Gets’<br />
(ARAIG) can change your game<br />
experience completely.<br />
IFTech worked with DC to improve<br />
the controller with a wireless<br />
communications protocol.<br />
According to McKee Demczyk,<br />
father and son games, came up<br />
with the idea and approached DC<br />
for help with a proto type they built<br />
and “didn’t know how to get where<br />
he wanted to go with it.”<br />
Photograph by Rebecca Calzavara<br />
Debbie McKee Demczyk, dean, Office of Research Services, Innovation and Entrepreneurship<br />
(ORSIE) at Durham College.<br />
“They were sitting on the couch<br />
one day playing a video game and<br />
they felt like they were missing out<br />
on something and they thought the<br />
market needed something to make<br />
this more an immersive experience,”<br />
McKee Demczyk explained.<br />
The Drone Project<br />
McKee Demczyk explained that<br />
DC is trying to do more research to<br />
do more for the agricultural community.<br />
Woodleigh Farms Ltd. an agricultural<br />
crop producer, approached<br />
DC to get help with software that<br />
allows the drones to give farmers<br />
them high resolution images of<br />
their crops.<br />
“The drones go over farm land<br />
and takes pictures. By taking pictures<br />
they can start to see from the<br />
sky where areas of the crops aren’t<br />
growing as well,” McKee Demczyk<br />
explained.<br />
McKee Demczyk said the farmer<br />
who has the drones now has a<br />
competitive advantage over other<br />
farmers because the software can<br />
show where crops are failing to<br />
grow and show if there there are<br />
pests causing problems.<br />
Health App<br />
Imagine an app that is able to<br />
connect someone with their doctor<br />
at any given time of the day.<br />
According to DC, ForaHealthyMe.com,<br />
a clinically-validated<br />
web and mobile platform approached<br />
DC for help with getting<br />
its app up and running.<br />
McKee Demczyk explained it is<br />
an interface between patients and<br />
their caregivers and doctors.<br />
The app gives people the ability<br />
to communicate and share information<br />
with doctors.<br />
The app is now ‘live’ and has<br />
helped health care institutions<br />
improve quality of care while enhancing<br />
the capacity for remote<br />
monitoring she said.According to<br />
McKee Demczyk, projects done<br />
with Durham College’s ORSIE<br />
program are novel and creative.<br />
Many students get hired by the<br />
companies that approach Durham<br />
College’s ORSIE program for help<br />
and come back for a second time to<br />
work on another project.<br />
“Some of the projects we do are<br />
fun and cool,” McKee Demczyk<br />
said.<br />
Students, get your visas to enter the U.S.<br />
Rebecca Calzavara<br />
The Chronicle<br />
Each year tens of thousands of foreign<br />
student studying in Ontario<br />
visit the United States (U.S.) for vacations,<br />
to shop, or to visit friends<br />
and family.<br />
Frankie Day from the U.S. Consulate<br />
General in Toronto and Althea<br />
Brathwaite, supervisory visa<br />
specialist, talked to Durham College<br />
and UOIT international students<br />
about the process of getting<br />
a visa recently.<br />
This is not the first time the presentation<br />
had been done at Durham<br />
College and UOIT, they have held<br />
similar events in past years. There<br />
were about 20 people who attended<br />
the U.S. visa presentation.<br />
Day said a visa is good for 10<br />
years but that doesn’t mean you<br />
can stay in the U.S. for that long,<br />
it depends on the purpose of the<br />
trip and tourist visitors could stay<br />
for as little as a few hours up to several<br />
months.<br />
Day explained that having a visa<br />
does not guarantee entry into the<br />
United States.<br />
Once at the border with a visa,<br />
customs and border control get<br />
to say ‘yes you can come in’ and<br />
Photograph by Rebecca Calzavara<br />
Frankie Day (right) with students at the U.S. visa presentation<br />
at Durham College and UOIT.<br />
will determine the length of time<br />
for entry and stamp the passport,<br />
Day explained.<br />
According to Day, the main<br />
reason of the presentation is to get<br />
citizens from a foreign country<br />
aware of what they need to do if<br />
they want to have a temporary or<br />
extended visit or live permanently<br />
in the United States.<br />
The students were given advice<br />
and information on getting a visa<br />
from Day.<br />
Day explained that many visa<br />
applicants each year are seeking<br />
to study or participate in exchange<br />
programs in the U.S.<br />
Generally, students applying for<br />
visas are going for short trips to the<br />
United States for vacation, to shop,<br />
or to visit friends and family Day<br />
added.<br />
Divyam Makker, a fitness and<br />
health promotion student at Durham<br />
College, who attended the<br />
meeting and said it was very informative.<br />
“I have my brother in the U.S.<br />
so I was planning on visiting him<br />
maybe in December for Christmas<br />
so that’s why I came to this today,”<br />
Makker said.<br />
Day explained that an application<br />
form must be filled out online<br />
only, accurately and completely.<br />
“No matter what kind of visa you<br />
are applying for you want to make<br />
sure you fill out the application<br />
completely,” Day said.<br />
According to Day, always plan<br />
ahead and apply early for a visa so<br />
that there are no complications.<br />
After the application is filled<br />
out, a fee must be paid of $<strong>16</strong>0 to<br />
$200, depending on the visa, and<br />
an interview must be scheduled.<br />
Day explained you must have a<br />
valid passport before you decide<br />
to fill out an application or go on<br />
vacation.<br />
“A passport valid six months after<br />
travel date is a big one,” Day<br />
explained, “you want to make sure<br />
your passport has a proper validity<br />
before you even go for your interview.”<br />
According to Day, supporting<br />
documentations, like a resume,<br />
should be brought to the interview,<br />
but it is better to be over prepared<br />
then under prepared.<br />
“I might ask you for your resume<br />
or your transcript, if you are<br />
a student,” Day said “Sometimes<br />
people don’t even get asked for any<br />
documents.” Every interview is face<br />
to face.<br />
According to Day there are<br />
many types of visas that are available,<br />
including petition-based visas.<br />
“Somebody in the United States<br />
has to say ‘hey I want this person to<br />
come over and work for me’,” Day<br />
explained.<br />
According to the U.S. Department<br />
of State – Bureau of Consular<br />
Affairs, travellers going to<br />
the United States for tourism or<br />
business for less than 90 days may<br />
be eligible to travel without a visa<br />
if they meet the Visa Waiver Program<br />
(VWP) requirements.<br />
Day said there are visitor’s visas<br />
that most people get for vacations<br />
or to visit their family. There is a<br />
student visa which allows you to go<br />
to the United States to study and<br />
go to school.<br />
There is also an internship<br />
visa for any student that receives<br />
an internship opportunity in the<br />
United States.<br />
“Every applicant situation is<br />
unique. That’s really important<br />
because one of you may go and get<br />
it in five days and one of you may<br />
go and get it in two weeks,” Day<br />
explained.
18 The Chronicle November 29 - December 5, 20<strong>16</strong> <strong>chronicle</strong>.<strong>durham</strong>college.ca Campus<br />
Power outage plagues campus<br />
A blown<br />
transformer<br />
caused the<br />
outage,<br />
which<br />
affected<br />
more than<br />
18,000<br />
people in<br />
Oshawa<br />
cupational therapy appointments<br />
when the power was gone. There<br />
was a big flash of light and then<br />
completely dark. It was hard to get<br />
out from here and then we found<br />
the appointment was cancelled,”<br />
says Hence.<br />
For many it was an inconvenience.<br />
For Durham College photography<br />
students it was a great chance<br />
to shoot the giant “supermoon” on<br />
a dark evening.<br />
Lavaljeet Singh he didn’t care<br />
about the power outage. For him,<br />
it was an opportunity to shoot the<br />
giant moon.<br />
Devarsh Oza<br />
The Chronicle<br />
A supermoon evening turned into<br />
the darkest evening of the year for<br />
people in Oshawa.<br />
A power outage affecting most of<br />
the city’s north end left everything<br />
dark and stopped activity for several<br />
hours Nov. 14.<br />
Durham College and UOIT<br />
cancelled classes and events. UOIT<br />
student Rohan Katara said it was<br />
frustrating.<br />
“It is really a worst thing to have.<br />
We were hosting an event and we<br />
were almost done and the power<br />
was gone. So we had to miss many<br />
things,” said Katara.<br />
A transformer blew at Taunton<br />
Road and Mary Street, according<br />
to Oshawa PUC Networks, the<br />
utility that provides power to the<br />
city.<br />
The company says “defective<br />
equipment” was to blame.<br />
Live wires fell down onto the<br />
road. No one was injured.<br />
The police and fire department<br />
responded to the incident in North<br />
Oshawa.<br />
There was<br />
a big flash of<br />
light and then<br />
completely dark.<br />
The transformer affected more<br />
than 18,500 people. Power was restored<br />
to the final customers late in<br />
the evening.<br />
Many people at Durham College<br />
and UOIT left the campus.<br />
This caused a traffic jam on Simcoe<br />
Street North from the campus<br />
to Taunton Road. The result was<br />
also visible in Durham Region. All<br />
buses leaving campus were packed.<br />
Durham College and UOIT<br />
also cancelled every event, including<br />
medical appointments. Laura<br />
Hence, a mother of two, came to<br />
the campus for her son’s appointment.<br />
“We were on our way for oc-
<strong>chronicle</strong>.<strong>durham</strong>college.ca November 29 - December 5, 20<strong>16</strong> The Chronicle 19
20 The Chronicle November 29 - December 5, 20<strong>16</strong> <strong>chronicle</strong>.<strong>durham</strong>college.ca Community<br />
Students ride in honour of André Boothe<br />
Barbara Howe<br />
The Chronicle<br />
Provided by Sinclair Secondary School<br />
André Boothe<br />
Students at Sinclair Secondary<br />
School in Whitby raised more<br />
than $23,000 in honour of former<br />
Durham College (DC) student and<br />
one of their own. They held an ‘Inside-Ride’<br />
for their second Coast to<br />
Coast Against Cancer Foundation<br />
(CTCACF) fundraising event.<br />
The money raised was dedicated<br />
to André Boothe, a three-time<br />
cancer survivor and former student,<br />
who died Sept. 22 of medical<br />
complications following cancer<br />
treatment.<br />
Almost 250 students and teachers<br />
participated at the event. The<br />
high school gym was filled with<br />
stationary bikes, and teams of<br />
six, all dressed in fancy costumes.<br />
Each team took 10-minute turns<br />
to ride the bikes in a friendly competition<br />
and team-building atmosphere.<br />
Boothe had battled with neuroblastoma,<br />
a cancer which attacks<br />
the nervous system, since the age<br />
of six. He later developed leukemia,<br />
a cancer of the blood and<br />
the bone marrow, which required<br />
a bone marrow transplant. This<br />
procedure was unsuccessful and<br />
Boothe needed a double lung<br />
transplant.<br />
Boothe, who was 24, was one<br />
of the children who CTCACF<br />
helped transition to higher education<br />
by supporting the Pediatric<br />
Oncology Group of Ontario<br />
(POGO) Special Academic and<br />
Vocational Training Initiative<br />
(SAVTI).<br />
This program supports teens<br />
who have to leave school for cancer<br />
treatment and facilitates a<br />
smoother transition from high<br />
school to college.<br />
Boothe was registered in the<br />
Community Services and Child<br />
Studies Foundations program at<br />
DC in September of 2013.<br />
“This is an amazing event,<br />
very inspirational,” said Marlene<br />
Boothe, André’s mother. She and<br />
André’s aunt, Malvia Davis, said<br />
they were honoured to be there.<br />
In a moving video on the<br />
POGO Facebook page, Boothe<br />
said his life goals were “to do<br />
something with kids who have<br />
experienced a serious illness like<br />
me. I feel I have an experience to<br />
share, something that could benefit<br />
them.”<br />
Unfortunately, Boothe did<br />
not live long enough to fulfill his<br />
dream but he did inspire students,<br />
teachers and volunteers to get back<br />
in the saddle and raise awareness<br />
and money for the cause.<br />
The indoor cycling ‘party with<br />
a purpose’ required the participants<br />
to raise a minimum of $50<br />
to attend. Forty-one road bikes<br />
were mounted and mileage and<br />
speed were measured on odometers.<br />
“André was extremely brave,<br />
he never complained and always<br />
thought of others,” said Nicole<br />
Hardy, a teacher at Sinclair Secondary<br />
School. “He worked hard<br />
Photograph by Barbara Howe<br />
Sinclair Secondary School Grade 11 students (from left) Khushi Pandey, Claire Koch, Rochelle<br />
Bernal, Alex Rudkins and Jasmine Kurtz team up to raise funds for CTCACF.<br />
to reach his goals. He wanted to<br />
help inspire other young people<br />
with critical illnesses to maintain<br />
hope.”<br />
CTCACF is Canada’s leading<br />
charity for fighting childhood<br />
cancer. Their objective, according<br />
to their website, is to direct 100 per<br />
cent of the funds they raise to programs<br />
and charities that improve<br />
the survival rates and quality of<br />
life of children and their families<br />
living with and beyond cancer.
Campus <strong>chronicle</strong>.<strong>durham</strong>college.ca November 29 - December 5, 20<strong>16</strong> The Chronicle 21<br />
Bullying still happens at college<br />
It can be<br />
online,<br />
physical<br />
or verbal<br />
in nature<br />
Asim Pervez<br />
The Chronicle<br />
Bullying is something you may<br />
hear less about at the college or university<br />
level.<br />
There are many forms of bullying:<br />
online, physical or verbal.<br />
Allison Hector-Alexander, director<br />
of the office of Student Diversity,<br />
doesn’t take bullying lightly.<br />
“When these concerns come to<br />
us, we take them very seriously,”<br />
she says. “We respond to both the<br />
person who feels like they are being<br />
treated different, bullied and we<br />
do (respond) to the person who is<br />
perpetrating the behavior.<br />
“It could be somebody in class, it<br />
could be a fellow student, it could be<br />
staff, it could be faculty, whoever it<br />
is, we have measures that we put in<br />
place to respond to it.”<br />
On campus, the mental health<br />
hotline Aspiria is open 24 hours,<br />
seven days a week for students who<br />
want to speak with a counsellor<br />
confidentially.<br />
According to Aspiria’s clinical<br />
director, Eric Rubel, post-secondary<br />
schools have paid more attention<br />
to bullying awareness in recent<br />
years.<br />
He says bullying isn’t something<br />
that should go unaddressed, as a<br />
victim can be hurt emotionally and<br />
physically.<br />
“It can be traumatizing depending<br />
on the type of bullying. It<br />
can certainly affect ones emotional<br />
mental health well-being,” he says.<br />
“It can certainly impact someone<br />
later on in life as well if you don’t<br />
address the issues sooner. Bullying<br />
can effect one’s well-being, mentally<br />
and physically.<br />
Shannon Podehl, is a Social Services<br />
student. She says that post-secondary<br />
schools should do a better<br />
job of promoting bullying issues, or<br />
should have anti-bullying awareness<br />
days and weeks.<br />
“Just putting more awareness<br />
around the school, poster and stuff,<br />
maybe having, just like you would<br />
in high school, days where there is<br />
bullying awareness days, or an anti<br />
bullying week,” she said.<br />
Derrick Peterson, a Business<br />
Operations Management student,<br />
says bullying awareness received<br />
a lot more attention in elementary<br />
school and high school.<br />
“I think we should treat it the<br />
same as we did in public school(s)<br />
and high school, people need to be<br />
safe here,” he said.<br />
Students can visit the Mental<br />
Health Services if they would like<br />
to speak to someone confidentially.<br />
If they prefer not to speak face to<br />
face, they are free to call Aspiria at<br />
1-877-234-5327.<br />
I think we should treat it the same<br />
way we did in public school.<br />
Mental health education is available on campus.<br />
Photograph by Asim Pervez
22 The Chronicle November 29 - December 5, 20<strong>16</strong> <strong>chronicle</strong>.<strong>durham</strong>college.ca Campus<br />
Durham opens<br />
its doors to<br />
future students<br />
Laura Metcalfe<br />
The Chronicle<br />
Durham College opened its doors<br />
to prospective students and their<br />
families earlier this month. Future<br />
students and their families had a<br />
chance to see the programs offered<br />
by Durham College as well<br />
as academic supports available on<br />
campus.<br />
Labs and classrooms were open<br />
for future students to see the different<br />
experiential learning environments<br />
the college offers. Faculty,<br />
staff, current and former students<br />
were also available to give advice<br />
and answer questions.<br />
“If you don’t procrastinate and<br />
have really good dedication, you<br />
will achieve and excel in this program,”<br />
said Hailey Boumhour, a<br />
first year dental hygiene student.<br />
The public also had a chance to<br />
see inside labs such as the dental<br />
clinic, as well as paramedic simulations<br />
and broadcasting equipment.<br />
Staff members from the Student<br />
Academic Learning Services<br />
(SALS) were available to talk about<br />
academic concerns.<br />
Kathy Bryers, a receptionist with<br />
SALS, says she spoke with many<br />
students who are worried about<br />
workload and time management.<br />
She assured the students they are<br />
capable of doing the work and there<br />
will be people to help. According to<br />
Bryers, the key to success is getting<br />
help early on to avoid feeling overwhelmed<br />
and frustrated.<br />
“I had a student who her second<br />
week of college came in and said<br />
‘that’s it I’m quitting, I’ve had<br />
enough, I can’t do this.’ I spoke<br />
to her, got her calmed down. She<br />
got the support she needed from<br />
SALS and at convocation she was<br />
the highest ranking grad in her program.<br />
That is my biggest achievement<br />
I feel,” said Bryers<br />
Durham College president Don<br />
Lovisa also met with future students<br />
and offered his advice for applying<br />
to college.<br />
“Narrow it down to a couple or<br />
three programs, then go on a tour.<br />
Go look at the labs. Look at the<br />
learning environment,” Lovisa said.<br />
The Open House attracted hundreds<br />
of people. A new feature this<br />
year was a camera booth where students<br />
could have their picture taken<br />
with the Durham College logo.
Campus <strong>chronicle</strong>.<strong>durham</strong>college.ca November 29 - December 5, 20<strong>16</strong> The Chronicle 23<br />
Take a bite<br />
into bliss<br />
Taste what Dalise Bernett is<br />
cooking and take a bite into<br />
her Caribbean background<br />
Jared Williams<br />
The Chronicle<br />
While roommates in university,<br />
Melissa Maestre, remembers Dalise<br />
Bernett’s corn soup filling the<br />
hallways with its delicious aroma.<br />
Much different from the western<br />
cream corn, Caribbean corn soup<br />
is a savory beef or vegetable broth<br />
based soup. Friends and fellow classmates<br />
who also lived in residence<br />
would follow their nose and knock<br />
on Bernett’s door to find out what<br />
was cooking.<br />
“When she cooked, she would<br />
make enough for everyone,” Maestre<br />
says.<br />
Corn soup is often made for<br />
Caribbean parties or functions.<br />
“Everybody goes crazy for it –<br />
my friends tell me it’s better than<br />
the corn soup man at the Soca or<br />
Die fetes,” Bernett says.<br />
Bernett’s cooking draws from<br />
her Jamaican and Trinidadian<br />
background and her well-rounded<br />
knowledge of traditional Caribbean<br />
flavours.<br />
With the population of ethnic<br />
cultures increasing in Durham Region,<br />
cities like Oshawa have an<br />
opportunity to try many types of<br />
foods, including West Indian cuisine.<br />
Stew chicken, curry goat, rice<br />
and peas, salt fish and fried bakes<br />
have found an audience with a<br />
growing appetite for foods from<br />
all over the world.<br />
Bernett says she has always been<br />
fascinated with what goes on in the<br />
kitchen. Growing up, she says her<br />
house was filled with smells from<br />
corn soup, jerk chicken, and on Sundays,<br />
traditional West Indian meals<br />
like ackee and salt fish.<br />
“In the back of my mind I always<br />
wanted to do something with food,”<br />
says Bernett.<br />
Bernett founded Blxssful Bites, a<br />
made-to-order catering company,<br />
in 2014.<br />
Through familiar and foreign<br />
flavours, packaged in miniature<br />
portions, Bernett sells both north<br />
American and Caribbean-inspired<br />
meals to her community.<br />
From spaghetti and meatballs to<br />
jerk pork and of course dessert favourites<br />
like black cake and current<br />
rolls, Bernett’s unique touch is in the<br />
bite-sized variations of traditional<br />
western and Trinidadian food.<br />
“I like to do bite size – take something<br />
and make it smaller. It’s kind<br />
of a craft thing of mine,” Bernett<br />
says.<br />
“I like appetizers. I’m more into<br />
small meals than big meals. I’m trying<br />
to work on spaghetti and meatball<br />
cups. It’s been trial and error<br />
so far.”<br />
As for desserts, Bernett says<br />
cheesecake is her weakness. “I love<br />
doing cheesecake.”<br />
But cheesecake isn’t the only type<br />
of cake Bernett is familiar experimenting<br />
with. Recently she has<br />
been taking a traditional Caribbean<br />
dessert called black cake, and<br />
rolling it up into cake pops.<br />
“Black cake a is a dark spiced,<br />
fruit cake made with rum or wine.<br />
My granny uses port wine, it makes<br />
it look black essentially,” says Bernett.<br />
Traditional cake pops call for<br />
fondant and cake crumbles rolled<br />
into a ball. The ingredients are<br />
then dipped in chocolate. Bernett<br />
says she had to find a way to make<br />
the cake light enough to hold on the<br />
stick. Black cake is so dense Bernett<br />
says she didn’t know how it was going<br />
to hold. “I made the batter, I<br />
put it in the cake pop machine, and<br />
then I used liquid fondant. That’s<br />
how I got it to stick,” she explains.<br />
The black cake pops were a hit.<br />
Bernett says she is an avid user of<br />
social media to help spread word of<br />
her business in the local community<br />
of Bowmanville, where she is set up.<br />
On the business side of things,<br />
Leshaun Bernett, Dalise’s younger<br />
brother, lends a helping hand.<br />
Photograph courtesy of Dalise Bernett<br />
Mouth-watering Trinidadian pepper shrimp served with fried rice on a rice noodle basket.<br />
When asked if he thought if there<br />
was a market for West Indian flavours<br />
in Durham Region he says,<br />
yes.<br />
“People are always looking for<br />
something new – something different<br />
to try,” Leshaun says.<br />
So one blissful bite at a time<br />
Dalise Bernett shares her culture’s<br />
favourite foods in hopes to show<br />
people how big flavour can come<br />
in all shapes and sizes.<br />
“I just want people to bite into<br />
something that’s out of the norm–<br />
think outside of the box,” says Dalise.“Small<br />
meals can be fun.”<br />
Backyard veggies grow close to campus<br />
Laura Metcalfe<br />
The Chronicle<br />
Jennifer Whyte loves the feeling of<br />
earth beneath her feet as she walks<br />
through her backyard garden, the<br />
garden that is her livelihood. Her<br />
business is Barefoot Veggies.<br />
Durham College helped her<br />
start the company when she was a<br />
student in the Small Business and<br />
Entrepreneurship Program at Durham<br />
College. She used FastStart,<br />
an on-campus resource that helps<br />
students start up their businesses.<br />
“Through FastStart they helped<br />
me with things like my logos, marketing<br />
materials, figuring out all<br />
the little details involved with getting<br />
a business going,” says Whyte,<br />
who already had the idea but wasn’t<br />
sure where to start.<br />
Whyte is sensitive to the chemicals<br />
used by farms to keep pests<br />
from destroying crops. She likes<br />
her vegetables to be grown in a<br />
“pure” environment, meaning no<br />
pesticides or other harmful chemicals<br />
used in the growth process.<br />
“You can’t beat the freshness<br />
‘cause you literally pick it out of<br />
the ground when you’re here,”<br />
says Whyte. Her garden consists<br />
Jennifer Whyte checking the progress of her hanging herbs in her drying shed.<br />
of boxes of dirt and compost, which<br />
includes coffee grinds, as well as a<br />
shed where she hang dries herbs.<br />
Jay Fisher, a professor with<br />
the school of Business, IT and<br />
Management, taught Whyte for<br />
two years and helped develop her<br />
branding and networking skills.<br />
Fisher spends part of his time with<br />
the FastStart program. Through<br />
FastStart, he has helped develop<br />
all types of business ideas.<br />
Photograph by Laura Metcalfe<br />
Whyte says he wouldn’t just give<br />
her the answers she wanted, he<br />
made her work for it. She appreciates<br />
this approach now because it<br />
gave her the skills to find solutions<br />
after she graduated.<br />
Whyte has created a Facebook<br />
page for her business and posts<br />
regularly about the progress of her<br />
crop. She also has a website in development,<br />
which she hopes to have<br />
running by the end of winter.<br />
This is the first year Whyte has<br />
not been in school since starting<br />
her business, so this winter she will<br />
focus on expanding her business<br />
so she can have a reliable income.<br />
“I’ve been doing a lot of canning<br />
and stuff so a lot of my herbs I save,”<br />
says Whyte, who is learning how to<br />
make jams so she can sell them to<br />
caterers or other businesses.<br />
“I dry (herbs) and I’m jarring<br />
them all and bag them and divvy<br />
them up and sell them that way<br />
cause a lot of people want the<br />
herbs still,” says Whyte. She is<br />
also thinking about making candles<br />
and essential oils from her herbs but<br />
admits it takes a lot of product to<br />
make the oils.<br />
She says this year is about expanding<br />
her customer base, creating<br />
networking opportunities, and<br />
thinking of new products she can<br />
make with surplus product. She<br />
hopes to add candles, potpourri,<br />
and jams to her brand. Clients<br />
have asked her to create gardens<br />
for their backyards too.
24 The Chronicle November 29 - December 5, 20<strong>16</strong> <strong>chronicle</strong>.<strong>durham</strong>college.ca Community<br />
First Nations vote on new education system<br />
Indigenous<br />
students are<br />
top priority<br />
Angela Lavallee<br />
The Chronicle<br />
Thirty-nine Ontario First Nation<br />
communities are voting on putting<br />
their own education system in<br />
place. The vote, which ends Dec.<br />
2, is the final step in a lengthy<br />
process.<br />
Negotiations with the federal<br />
government began in 1995 and<br />
a deal was reached in July, 2015.<br />
Since the creation of the Indian<br />
Act in 1887, the government<br />
has controlled the education of<br />
Indigenous students and Grand<br />
Council Chief Patrick Madahbee<br />
said in a public statement that the<br />
Union of Ontario Indians (UOI),<br />
which governs the 39 First Nations<br />
in Ontario, couldn’t allow<br />
the Indian Act to determine the<br />
success of children any longer.<br />
“Right now as it stands, our First<br />
Nation children are not very successful<br />
in the provincial school<br />
system and we have a plan to fix<br />
that and give our children the<br />
same advantage as other students<br />
in Ontario,” said Madahbee.<br />
‘Say Yes to AES’ (Anishnabek<br />
Education System) is the slogan<br />
supporters are using to get the<br />
message out to the voting communities.<br />
Kinoomaadzwin Education<br />
Body (KEB) will be the<br />
governing board to which the<br />
federal government will distribute<br />
$110 million. The KEB will<br />
then distribute funds to each First<br />
Nation community which ratifies<br />
the vote, according to the UOI.<br />
Madahbee says the new system<br />
is for the future success of Ontario<br />
First Nation students from junior<br />
kindergarten to Grade 12 and<br />
onto post-secondary education.<br />
The UOI agrees there will be<br />
learning curves and it will take<br />
time for the new education system<br />
to take full setting in Ontario, but<br />
according to the Grand Chief the<br />
children will be better off and will<br />
get top notch education in traditional<br />
learning such as language<br />
and cultural teachings.<br />
Currently there are about<br />
27,000 students under the UOI<br />
umbrella - roughly 22,000 of these<br />
live in urban areas.<br />
Another 2,400 live on the reserve,<br />
but attend schools off reserve<br />
and 2,100 attend schools on<br />
the reserve.<br />
Each of the 39 First Nations are<br />
holding a vote which started Nov.<br />
28 and ends Dec. 2, with results to<br />
be announced early in 20<strong>17</strong>.<br />
Twelve First Nations must ratify<br />
in order for the new education<br />
system to be implemented. The<br />
UOI says they want the new education<br />
system implemented by<br />
April, 2018.<br />
In a live stream of the fall assembly<br />
in Rama First Nation,<br />
Chief Mahadbee announced that<br />
30 communities have indicated<br />
an interest in the new education<br />
system. He also stated that any<br />
First Nation which is not ready<br />
can come on board at a later date.<br />
“This is a no-brainer people,”<br />
said Mahadbee. “We cannot fear<br />
change, remember our people are<br />
reislient and smart.”<br />
Dave Shawana, who is part of<br />
the education working group at<br />
the UOI, said the new education<br />
system was a collaborative effort.<br />
“We are moving in the right<br />
direction with this and our children<br />
are worth it,” said Shawana.<br />
Mahadbee added, “let’s be<br />
champions in our children’s<br />
educational future, this is one<br />
of the most important things we<br />
will ever do for our children.”<br />
Julie Pigeon, aboriginal student<br />
advisor at Durham College,<br />
respects the enormous amount of<br />
time and effort to develop such<br />
a system, but says the AES will<br />
only help those who are under<br />
the UOI umbrella.<br />
“My band Cape Croker is not<br />
part of the UOI, and I’ve only<br />
read parts of the new system and<br />
therefore I cannot comment on<br />
what the new system is about,”<br />
said Pigeon.
Community <strong>chronicle</strong>.<strong>durham</strong>college.ca November 29 - December 5, 20<strong>16</strong> The Chronicle 25<br />
Needles are often used to inject fentanyl and other illicit opioids.<br />
Photograph by Toby Van Weston<br />
Fentanyl: A silent epidemic<br />
Tommy Morais<br />
Toby Van Weston<br />
The Chronicle<br />
Recreational drug users in Durham<br />
have something new to worry<br />
about. Durham Regional Police<br />
Services warn users the drugs they<br />
are consuming may now contain<br />
traces of the deadly opioid fentanyl.<br />
The drug has slowly tightened its<br />
grasp on the region and is beginning<br />
to garner attention and raise<br />
eyebrows. It is the same drug that<br />
took the life of pop legend Prince<br />
earlier this year.<br />
The American National Institute<br />
on Drug Abuse defines the drug<br />
as a powerful synthetic opioid analgesic<br />
that is similar to morphine<br />
but is 50 to 100 times more potent.<br />
It is typically used to treat patients<br />
with severe pain or to manage pain<br />
after surgery.<br />
Fentanyl takes multiple forms.<br />
Lozenges, dissolving tablets, spray<br />
and patches are just a few them.<br />
It can be smoked, eaten and taken<br />
intravenously among other methods<br />
of consumption.<br />
Max—not his real name— an<br />
Oshawa resident, witnessed his<br />
friend’s near-death experience in<br />
his own home. Max’s friend started<br />
using Percocet he obtained on<br />
the black market recreationally. He<br />
progressively experimented and<br />
moved up to harder drugs until<br />
he used heroin that was laced with<br />
fentanyl.<br />
An evening of recreational drug<br />
use took a drastic turn. Max’s<br />
friend almost didn’t survive the<br />
night.<br />
“It was an extremely traumatic<br />
experience seeing someone you love<br />
whose lips are literally blue not responding<br />
to anything,” says Max.<br />
“I’ll never forget the sound of air<br />
leaving his lungs as my friend was<br />
trying to revive him. It was a horrible<br />
sound. I’m traumatized by<br />
that and I have dreams about it.<br />
I’m very cautious about spending<br />
time with this person who was once<br />
historically close to me.”<br />
Stories like these are becoming<br />
increasingly common. The Durham<br />
Region Police Service (DRPS)<br />
has taken notice of fentanyl’s growing<br />
prominence in the recreational<br />
drug scene.<br />
I’m traumatized<br />
by that and I have<br />
dreams about it.<br />
“We’re certainly seeing fentanyl<br />
appear on our streets. We started<br />
to see incidences of it in 2014 in<br />
connection to other drugs,” says<br />
David Selby, director of corporate<br />
communications for the DRPS.<br />
Recreational users are often unaware<br />
the drugs they are using are<br />
laced with fentanyl, says Selby. In<br />
some cases, it’s a mix that can prove<br />
fatal.<br />
“There’s a trend continuing<br />
today where you’ll have fentanyl<br />
sprinkled into some others drugs<br />
and the user doesn’t know. They<br />
think it’s heroin or some OxyContin.<br />
What they realize afterwards is<br />
that fentanyl was laced,” explains<br />
Selby. “It’s an incredibly powerful<br />
drug, one that can certainly kill<br />
you.”<br />
A fentanyl overdose can be difficult<br />
to differentiate from other drug<br />
overdoses. It takes time and testing<br />
before conclusions can be drawn.<br />
“We’ve had numerous deaths<br />
and overdoses in Durham Region.<br />
We later find out after the laboratory<br />
tests are done and screened<br />
that fentanyl was found in the<br />
heroin, oxy pills or misused patches<br />
even,” Selby says.<br />
Despite the efforts of DRPS,<br />
users are still finding ways of getting<br />
their high in Durham.<br />
The Pinewood Centre of Lakeridge<br />
Health in Oshawa is responsible<br />
for the treatment of those<br />
trying to kick their fentanyl habits.<br />
According to Cindy Kwok, clinical<br />
coordinator at the Pinewood<br />
Centre, there is no 12-step program<br />
when addicts try to quit fentanyl<br />
and opioids. Kwok describes<br />
fentanyl as “euphoric.”<br />
Lakeridge Health encourages its<br />
patients not to try to quit cold turkey<br />
to overcome addiction.<br />
“That is the worst thing to do,”<br />
stresses Kwok. “Unless they taper<br />
it, with support and the proper<br />
medication.”<br />
Kwok says a growing number of<br />
the population is becoming<br />
addicted because they are being<br />
prescribed fentanyl for pain relief.<br />
For some, prescription is where the<br />
addiction takes root.<br />
But as with Max’s story, the dangers<br />
are not just limited to those<br />
who take the drug. It also affects<br />
the user’s environment, including<br />
friends and family.<br />
Although help is available, Max<br />
is still worried about his friend and<br />
the relapses are real.<br />
“My one friend has stepped in<br />
to get clean on multiple occasions.<br />
It works for a period of time but he<br />
eventually makes his way back to<br />
it,” says Max.<br />
The road to recovery sometimes<br />
requires multiple attempts.<br />
“Addiction happens on all walks<br />
of life. They were on substances<br />
and they decide to change their<br />
lifestyle”, says Cindy Kwok. “They<br />
want to have a regular life, keep<br />
their job, not have to steal money<br />
to buy drugs and families to take<br />
care of.”<br />
If you or someone you know is<br />
affected by fentanyl help is available<br />
at each of Pinewood’s five locations:<br />
300 Centre St.<br />
Oshawa<br />
905-723-8195 ext. 221<br />
419 King St. W.<br />
Oshawa<br />
905-571-3344 ext. 110<br />
200 King St. E.<br />
Bowmanville<br />
905-697-2746<br />
180 Mary St.<br />
Port Perry<br />
905-985-4721<br />
95 Bayly St.<br />
Ajax<br />
905-683-5950 ext. 224<br />
For general inquiries:<br />
905-723-8195<br />
1-888-881-8878<br />
Source: Durham Region Health
26 The Chronicle November 29 - December 5, 20<strong>16</strong> <strong>chronicle</strong>.<strong>durham</strong>college.ca
Community <strong>chronicle</strong>.<strong>durham</strong>college.ca November 29 - December 6, 20<strong>16</strong> The Chronicle27<br />
Oshawa’s spy camp and secret agent<br />
Erin Williams<br />
The Chronicle<br />
When she was only three years<br />
old, Jacqueline Bieler’s father,<br />
Gustave (Guy) Bieler, went off to<br />
war and never returned home. It<br />
was September 1, 1939, when Hitler<br />
invaded Poland and started the<br />
war against Germany. Two days<br />
later, France and Britain declared<br />
war on Germany. On September<br />
10, 1939, Canada agreed to join<br />
and support Britain’s declaration<br />
of war. Many Canadian soldiers<br />
fought in the war, and by the time it<br />
was over in 1945, over 45,000 Canadians<br />
had died.<br />
Major Bieler was sent to France<br />
to become part of the French Resistance.<br />
He organized bombings<br />
of Nazi railroads and factories.<br />
In 1944, he was caught, severely<br />
tortured, and eventually sent to a<br />
concentration camp in Germany,<br />
where he was executed.<br />
By the time it was<br />
over in 1945, over<br />
45,000 Canadians<br />
had died.<br />
Jacqueline Bieler lives in Ottawa.<br />
She wanted to learn about<br />
the father she never knew. In 1957,<br />
seventeen years after her father had<br />
left home, she went looking for answers.<br />
She was twenty years old and<br />
it had only been twelve years since<br />
the war had ended.<br />
“I talked to soldiers he had<br />
The Camp X war memorial in Whitby.<br />
trained with and wrote notes and<br />
notes of what I had learned,” says<br />
Bieler. “I had never intended to<br />
write. I had made many notes over<br />
the years and just put them together<br />
to tell my father’s story … I have<br />
grandkids, it’s important for them<br />
to know about their history also.”<br />
Bieler wrote the book, Out of Night<br />
and Fog: The Story of Guy Bieler, Special<br />
Operations Executive Published by<br />
Cef Books in January 2008.<br />
Like Major Guy Bieler, many<br />
other Canadians were trained to<br />
be secret agents during the war.<br />
Many trained at Camp X on the<br />
border between the city of Oshawa<br />
and Whitby.<br />
Major Bieler was one of 25 Canadians<br />
recruited into the Special<br />
Operations Executive (SOE). He<br />
was trained for high-risk situations<br />
and secret operations on the shores<br />
of Lake Ontario. His training included<br />
weapon handling, unarmed<br />
combat, silent killing, sabotage,<br />
explosives, and Morse Code.<br />
Bieler is considered one the greatest<br />
and bravest heroes out of the<br />
Canadian agents, according to<br />
Lynn Philip Hodgson, author of<br />
the book Inside Camp X. Hodgson<br />
says Bieler’s effective strategies<br />
and personality gave him an advantage.<br />
Even after several, brutal<br />
torture sessions Bieler never released<br />
any information to the<br />
enemy, not even his real name.<br />
Hodgson has been researching<br />
Camp X for more than four decades.<br />
“I could talk about Camp X<br />
for hours and hours and hours,”<br />
says Hodgson. “The training<br />
that happened here was so intense<br />
… the agents selected were<br />
warned they only had about a<br />
50 per cent chance of making<br />
it through their missions alive.”<br />
Hodgson gives tours of Camp X<br />
for the annual Doors Open Oshawa<br />
event. Every year for the past ten<br />
years, history buffs, families, locals,<br />
and out-of-towners join Hodgson<br />
on a tour of the area where Camp<br />
X was situated before it was bulldozed<br />
into Lake Ontario in 1969.<br />
Photograph by Erin Williams<br />
Jacqueline Bieler holding a photograph of her father, Gustave Bieler, who was a secret agent.<br />
Photograph by Erin Williams<br />
The only thing that remains on the<br />
site is a red stone poking up from<br />
the ground.<br />
The entire area has been leveled,<br />
leaving no indication the spy camp<br />
ever existed. All that remains is Intrepid<br />
Park on the border of Whitby-Oshawa<br />
and a monument that<br />
reads, “On this site British Security<br />
Co-ordination operated Special<br />
Training School No. 103 and<br />
Hydra. S.T.S. 103 trained allied<br />
agents in the techniques of secret<br />
warfare for the Special Operations<br />
Executive (S.O.E.) Branch of the<br />
British Intelligence Service.”<br />
Joseph Bouchard is an Oshawa<br />
resident who took the Doors<br />
Open tour for the first time this<br />
year. He liked hearing the details<br />
of the camp from Hodgson, leading<br />
the tour. “It’s crazy how so many<br />
people just don’t know about it,”<br />
Bouchard says.<br />
“I wish I had a chance to take<br />
this tour during high school and<br />
learn this history about the town<br />
I live in before today. It’s a part<br />
of our history. Kids today might<br />
take a stronger interest in history<br />
if they knew this camp was here.”<br />
According to Inside Camp X,<br />
the Camp’s location was chosen<br />
for many reasons but mainly because<br />
the shoreline was thirty<br />
miles straight across the lake<br />
from the United States: ideal for<br />
bouncing radio signals from Europe<br />
and South American headquarters.<br />
During World War II,<br />
HAM radios or amateur radios<br />
were used to communicate wirelessly<br />
around the world. HAM<br />
Operators at were stationed in<br />
the communications facility at<br />
Camp X and used transmitters to<br />
send and receive coded messages<br />
from Britain behind enemy lines.<br />
The trainees at Camp X were<br />
unaware of the missions that were<br />
heading their way until after their<br />
training was complete. After ten<br />
weeks of training, many ‘special<br />
agents’ were sent over to Britain<br />
and France to become a part of the<br />
SOE, just like Major Bieler.<br />
Back in Ottawa, Bieler’s daughter<br />
Jacqueline has just returned<br />
from Paris, France where she gave<br />
a speech in honour of her father.<br />
This year, 23 Canadians were recognized<br />
for their bravery, including<br />
her father. Bieler says she was<br />
happy to see friends and grandchildren<br />
of the soldiers were present to<br />
learn about their family members.<br />
“It was great to see people come to<br />
honour and remember that group.<br />
May it be their parent, friend, or<br />
distant family, a lot of Canadians<br />
were there and recognized for being<br />
a big part of our history,” says<br />
Bieler. “I was honoured and more<br />
than happy to write and read my<br />
speech for them.” Bieler continues<br />
to share the story of her father to<br />
her grandchildren, and to anyone<br />
who interested in learning about<br />
the special agents of World War II.<br />
“They are secret agents,”<br />
says Bieler. “They don’t like to<br />
be called spies but they were<br />
skilled and trained to kill at a moment’s<br />
notice.”
28 The Chronicle November 29 - December 5, 20<strong>16</strong> <strong>chronicle</strong>.<strong>durham</strong>college.ca Campus<br />
New group for autistic students<br />
Students<br />
who join<br />
are given<br />
the chance<br />
to socialize<br />
while<br />
developing<br />
life skills<br />
Tyler Searle<br />
The Chronicle<br />
Students on the autism spectrum<br />
looking for an excuse to socialize<br />
might enjoy a new program provided<br />
by the Access and Support<br />
Centre at Durham College.<br />
The Autism Spectrum Disorder<br />
(ASD) Living Learning Community<br />
was established at the beginning<br />
of the fall semester.<br />
It was formed as another way to<br />
accommodate the growing ASD<br />
community at Durham College<br />
and UOIT over the last several<br />
years.<br />
“I think it’s important to let students<br />
on the spectrum know that<br />
they are not alone, especially first<br />
year students.” said Ashley Ludlow,<br />
head of the ASD Living Learning<br />
Community, and accessibility<br />
coach at the Access and Support<br />
Centre.<br />
In 2009, Ludlow said there were<br />
fewer than 20 students on the<br />
autism spectrum who registered<br />
with the support centre. By 2015,<br />
that number had grown to more<br />
than 100 members.<br />
The Living Learning Community<br />
meets every Wednesday evening<br />
from 5 p.m.-7 p.m. The overall<br />
purpose of the group is to help<br />
develop social networking skills,<br />
baking skills in the South Village<br />
residence kitchen, and general<br />
wellness through stress relief and<br />
social interactions in a patient and<br />
reassuring environment.<br />
Student Academic Learning Services<br />
(SALS) also works with any<br />
group members who wish to develop<br />
college-related skills, such as<br />
time management and academics.<br />
“I think a lot of students need to<br />
know when to ask for help,” said<br />
Ludlow. “It doesn’t make you a bad<br />
student... be prepared and be proactive,<br />
know when to ask for help<br />
and know how to access it.”<br />
Currently six students regularly<br />
attend every group meeting,<br />
though there are others who attend<br />
if the subject matter interests them.<br />
“I look for a lot of feedback from<br />
the group to see what they want,”<br />
said Ludlow. “If they want stress<br />
relief then we’ll make activities<br />
around stress relief. If they want<br />
social interaction, we’ll play games<br />
and watch Netflix.”<br />
Ludlow explained that people<br />
with autism can suffer from a<br />
number of social issues, including<br />
repetitive behaviour and impacted<br />
behaviour skills.<br />
Because of this, it can be a stressful<br />
time for them to complete their<br />
school work and socialize with<br />
others.<br />
“Some of us have a specific area<br />
or topic we are most comfortable<br />
talking about, but often have<br />
trouble knowing when to stop talking<br />
about it, or if the other people<br />
aren’t interested,” said a student<br />
who attends the ASD group, who<br />
requested anonymity. “Also approaching<br />
people - even just for<br />
school-related stuff at times - can<br />
be hard, and this group helps, as<br />
we are doing things together and<br />
can talk at our own paces on top<br />
of learning skills.”<br />
Because the Living Learning<br />
Community is open to any ASD<br />
student, it can serve as both a transitional<br />
environment for new students<br />
jumping into post-secondary,<br />
and a networking platform where<br />
students from different programs<br />
can congregate.<br />
Many of the skills developed<br />
through the group are also geared<br />
to helping students live on their<br />
own, regardless if they are currently<br />
in residence or living with<br />
their families.<br />
In the end, Ludlow encourages<br />
her attendees to use the group however<br />
they see fit and at their own<br />
pace.<br />
“The important thing is to work<br />
with each student,” said Ludlow.<br />
“Not every student on the spectrum<br />
has the same needs.”<br />
Any students interested in joining<br />
must register through the Access<br />
and Support Centre for Durham<br />
College, or the Student Accessibility<br />
Services for UOIT.<br />
WILDLIFE ADOPTIONS<br />
When you symbolically adopt your favorite wildlife species,<br />
you’re giving an extraordinary gift while while supporting<br />
WWF-Canada’s efforts to protect wildlife and their habitats.<br />
Photograph by Tyler Searle<br />
Ashley Ludlow has more than two years of experience as an<br />
accessibility coach.<br />
Visit http://www.wwf.ca/donate/adoptions/ to pick up your very own adoption kit!
Campus <strong>chronicle</strong>.<strong>durham</strong>college.ca November 29 - December 5, 20<strong>16</strong> The Chronicle 29<br />
Fire drills a new concept for some<br />
For international students at Durham<br />
College, fire drills were unexpected<br />
Devarsh Oza<br />
The Chronicle<br />
It was very surprising to have a<br />
fire drill for Dhiren Tandel, an<br />
international student from India.<br />
Tandel thought his first fire drill<br />
was a fake fire alarm.<br />
“ Well, this is something I have<br />
never had back in my country. It<br />
was more shocking and weird to<br />
me,” said Tandel.<br />
According to Rick Bowler, a fire<br />
fighter professor at Durham College,<br />
fire drills are very important<br />
for every school. Bowler says fire<br />
drills prepare students and faculty<br />
for real fires.<br />
“ Fire drills provide training for<br />
staff, who are required to activate<br />
an alarm. They also train fire<br />
fighters to know where the faculty<br />
and students are to be located,”<br />
said Bowler.<br />
This fire drill was not only<br />
surprising for Tandel but also for<br />
many international students at<br />
Durham College who have never<br />
experienced a fire drill in their<br />
home country. The majority of DC<br />
international students come from<br />
India followed by China, Pakistan<br />
and Nigeria.<br />
Durham, DCDSB<br />
sign international<br />
education agreement<br />
James Bauman<br />
The Chronice<br />
Helping international students studying in<br />
Canada make a seamless transition from<br />
high school to college is the premise behind<br />
a new deal between Durham College (DC)<br />
and the Durham Catholic District School<br />
Board (DCDSB).<br />
The two sides signed a five-year deal on<br />
Nov. 2 which creates and strengthens educational<br />
and professional opportunities for<br />
international students.<br />
Current and future DCDSB international<br />
students now have assistance in transferring<br />
from one of the local Catholic high schools to<br />
DC. This agreement serves many purposes<br />
including, providing transfer opportunities,<br />
strengthening cultural ties, and the possible<br />
creation of a peer mentoring program exclusive<br />
to international students, according<br />
to Michael Gray, a DCDSB superintendent.<br />
The peer mentoring program would see<br />
a current DC international student paired<br />
with an international student from the<br />
DCDSB, giving insight to those secondary<br />
school students about what life as an<br />
international student is like at the college. It<br />
would also ideally continue once the international<br />
student reaches DC, acting as a<br />
buffer for the transition to post-secondary<br />
student life.<br />
“Durham College prides itself on offering<br />
international students a high quality college<br />
education and we’re proud to be working<br />
with the Durham Catholic District School<br />
Board to offer international high school students<br />
the opportunity to further their studies<br />
in Canada, and with Durham College in<br />
particular,” DC president Don Lovisa said<br />
in a news release.<br />
Gray believes the agreement has the potential<br />
to benefit the 24 current international<br />
students at their schools, but he also thinks<br />
the agreement adds another reason for parents<br />
of potential international students to<br />
send their sons and daughters to a DCDSB<br />
school. Aiming to boost international student<br />
enrolment numbers at DCDSB schools<br />
is just one outcome the school board would<br />
like to see from the agreement.<br />
According to Gray, the agreement came<br />
about unanimously and without any difficulties.<br />
“I have to say in all sincerity that is was a<br />
very collaborative, collegial process. Where<br />
there were issues both parties were able to<br />
speak freely. When there were any concerns<br />
or areas of need we worked through them<br />
in a very collaborative manner. I honestly<br />
couldn’t have asked for a better process,”<br />
said Gray.<br />
In a press release Anne O’Brien, DCDSB<br />
director of education said, “we are pleased<br />
to partner with Durham College as we encourage<br />
international students to discover<br />
the numerous pathways that are available<br />
through our Durham Catholic secondary<br />
schools into our local college programs.”<br />
DC is already home to nearly 11,000 fulltime<br />
post-secondary students, including<br />
600 international students. Through this<br />
agreement the college hopes to bolster those<br />
numbers further by co-operating with the<br />
DCDSB using the newly-signed deal as a<br />
platform for recruiting international students<br />
and as a springboard for further things<br />
to come.<br />
There are several reasons for not<br />
having fire drills in these countries.<br />
This includes lack of funds<br />
in schools, lack of awareness about<br />
fires and fewer cases of fires.<br />
According to the Canadian Bureau<br />
of International Education,<br />
most international students are<br />
from developing countries such as<br />
India, Brazil, Nigeria and Mexico.<br />
In most of these nations, schools<br />
as well as people lack basic needs.<br />
People don’t have enough food,<br />
education and even water. Schools<br />
don’t have electricity, teachers and<br />
sometimes even buildings.<br />
“No, for my school in India it is<br />
really expensive to have fire alarms<br />
and fire drills,” said Aju Jojo, an<br />
international student from Kerala<br />
in India.<br />
Lack of basic education is also a<br />
big problem. Many students from<br />
Pakistan, Nigeria and Bangladesh<br />
study in Canada, according to<br />
The Canadian Bureau of International<br />
Education. According to<br />
UNESCO, literacy rates in those<br />
countries are under 65 per cent.<br />
Most of the international students<br />
in Canada are from China, followed<br />
by India and South Korea.<br />
According to UNESCO, the literacy<br />
rate in India is only 71.4 per<br />
cent, which means almost 30 per<br />
cent of the population in India cannot<br />
read and write. That is almost<br />
290 million people.<br />
It is hard to find people who are<br />
aware of fire safety in developing<br />
countries such as India, Pakistan<br />
and Bangladesh. Fire stations in<br />
villages are very unusual. Increasing<br />
the literacy rate is quite challenging<br />
and as a result, fire drills<br />
are rarely discussed.<br />
Schools as well<br />
as people lack<br />
basic needs.<br />
The situation is almost the same<br />
in South America. According to<br />
2013 article in the Washington<br />
Times, Peruvian fire departments<br />
are ill-equipped. This means fire<br />
departments in Peru don’t even<br />
have the latest equipment, such as<br />
fire alarms and smoke detectors.<br />
At the same time, most of the<br />
people in South America have<br />
not attended college, according<br />
to UNESCO. For example, only<br />
about 2 million people in Peru attended<br />
high school, which is less<br />
than half of the total population<br />
of Peru.<br />
“In Peru, people don’t care<br />
about the fire,” said Claudia Cubas<br />
Quiroz, an international student<br />
from Peru at Durham College.<br />
According to a report of International<br />
Association of Fire and<br />
Rescue Service India, Pakistan and<br />
China do not have a lot of fires per<br />
year.<br />
The raw material used to build<br />
houses in India, Pakistan and Nigeria<br />
is different from the materials<br />
used in Canada. The houses and<br />
buildings in most of those countries<br />
are made of cement and concrete,<br />
while most of the houses in North<br />
America are made of wood. Concrete<br />
does not capture or spread<br />
fire as fast as wood does.<br />
For many international students,<br />
houses made of wood are something<br />
they had never seen before<br />
coming to Canada.<br />
“In India, our houses are made<br />
of bricks … and in Canada they<br />
put wood in the houses, and wood<br />
catches the fire faster than the<br />
bricks,” said Saju Sam, an international<br />
student from Kerala,<br />
India.<br />
That is one of the reasons why<br />
fire drills and fire alarms are not<br />
discussed a lot in India as well as<br />
Pakistan, China and Nigeria.<br />
Durham College makes special<br />
arrangements to inform international<br />
students about Canadian<br />
house fires.<br />
“For international students we<br />
have the local fire department in<br />
orientation to speak about how to<br />
live safe in Canadian houses,” said<br />
Larissa Strong, the international<br />
adviser at Durham College.<br />
Houses made<br />
of wood are<br />
something they<br />
had never seen.<br />
Due to lack of education,<br />
awareness and fewer cases of fires,<br />
many international students such<br />
as Dhiren Tandel feel surprised<br />
when they hear fire drills in North<br />
American colleges.
30 The Chronicle November 29 - December 5, 20<strong>16</strong> <strong>chronicle</strong>.<strong>durham</strong>college.ca
<strong>chronicle</strong>.<strong>durham</strong>college.ca November 29 - December 5, 20<strong>16</strong> The Chronicle 31<br />
Entertainment<br />
Photograph by Tyler Hodgkinson<br />
Nintendo’s latest products, the NES Classic Edition and NES Controller, have been sold out across North America.<br />
NES shortage angers consumers<br />
Tyler Hodgkinson<br />
The Chronicle<br />
Gamers’ frustration with Nintendo<br />
continues to build as the company<br />
struggles to keep up with consumer<br />
demand for its latest product.<br />
The NES Classic Edition, a<br />
miniature version of Nintendo’s<br />
first home console which comes<br />
with 30 built-in games, sold out<br />
at every store in Durham Region<br />
within minutes.<br />
The lack of stock is forcing gamers<br />
to travel between sellers in the<br />
area, with hopes of snagging the<br />
$80 throwback item.<br />
Lucas Ristoff, a second-year<br />
business student at Durham College<br />
and avid video game fan, spent<br />
an entire morning looking for the<br />
NES Classic Edition and controller,<br />
but ended the day empty-handed.<br />
Nintendo is synonymous with positive<br />
childhood memories, family<br />
connectivity, and wholesome fun.<br />
But despite its mainstream image,<br />
it’s also known to some diehard fans<br />
as a disrespectful money machine.<br />
The poor performance of the Wii<br />
U, which is the company’s biggest<br />
console failure with only 13 million<br />
units sold worldwide, was a direct<br />
result of its lack of respect for consumers;<br />
misleading information,<br />
bastardization of beloved series,<br />
and withholding stock are reasons<br />
why some may look to cut ties with<br />
the Japanese-based company. For<br />
its next product, the Nintendo<br />
Switch, to succeed, Nintendo must<br />
develop and demonstrate a heightened<br />
level of respect for fans.<br />
In an industry with many moving<br />
parts, unmet release dates for<br />
games are a common outcome.<br />
Finishing projects is a strenuous<br />
process, and leeway is often given<br />
“I went to six different places but<br />
couldn’t find one,” he said.<br />
The closest Ristoff got was at the<br />
first store he visited.<br />
“The third person in front of me<br />
was the last person to get it,” Ristoff<br />
for both major and independent developers.<br />
However, Nintendo has<br />
abused the compassion of gamers<br />
and mislead them with false release<br />
dates to extend the “consumer contract.”<br />
The “Big-N” revealed The Legend<br />
of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (then untitled)<br />
in January 2013 with the<br />
project scheduled to arrive on Wii<br />
U two years later. Those who purchased<br />
the console specifically for<br />
the game have yet to be rewarded.<br />
Many have hit forums and social<br />
media to express their anger with<br />
not only the unreleased game, but<br />
with the revealed upgraded version<br />
set to arrive on their next console<br />
said. “I was so close, yet so far.”<br />
He expressed frustration with<br />
that location, which was the<br />
Walmart on Harmony Road in<br />
Oshawa, because it was allowing<br />
those in line to purchase multiple<br />
less than a year after – whenever<br />
that may be. Although there<br />
was never an official date given,<br />
Nintendo must earn back consumers’<br />
trust if they want elevate the<br />
sales of the Nintendo Switch.<br />
For years, fans of the company<br />
have expressed a deep desire for<br />
certain franchises to return, but<br />
historically, Nintendo’s response<br />
has been to take a half-measure<br />
approach. This is most evident with<br />
the community’s desire for Metroid<br />
on Wii U. Instead, Nintendo released<br />
Metroid Prime: Federation Force<br />
on 3DS. Nintendo of America<br />
President Reggie Fils-Amié told<br />
online news outlet Game Rant the<br />
spinoff title was something gamers<br />
would be pleasantly surprised with,<br />
however, the audience did the talking<br />
with under 4,000 copies sold<br />
after its initial Japanese launch in<br />
August. If Nintendo expects those<br />
gamers to make the jump to its next<br />
units. This is unlike the policy of<br />
one per person at every other seller<br />
in the region.<br />
According to a series of tweets<br />
from Nintendo of Canada, the<br />
company is trying to restock stores<br />
before Christmas.<br />
Dylan Morgan, an employee<br />
at EB Games on Baldwin Street<br />
in Whitby, says they expect to<br />
get a shipment three to five units<br />
per week, but receive more than<br />
40 inquiries about stock per day.<br />
Additionally, it’s unclear how many<br />
they and other stores will actually<br />
get, as Nintendo isn’t telling them<br />
“anything at all.”<br />
Retailers across the continent<br />
have been sold out since day one.<br />
This includes online stores such as<br />
Amazon, Target.com, and Bestbuy.<br />
com.<br />
Second-hand sellers have<br />
console, they must begin listening<br />
to fan outcry.<br />
Games aside, Nintendo supporters<br />
are on low battery after trying<br />
to find their systems in stores. A<br />
lack of production and distribution<br />
of its products has been a<br />
trend for the company, with many<br />
capitalized on the hysteria, with<br />
some units being offered for sale<br />
on eBay for up to $3,000. However,<br />
it’s not confirmed if any have been<br />
sold at that price.<br />
Many believe Nintendo understocks<br />
to create hype and buzz<br />
about its products. Although<br />
the company has never confirmed<br />
this marketing strategy,<br />
Nintendo of America president<br />
Reggie Fils-Aimé has implied the<br />
goal is to make releases as glamourous<br />
as possible.<br />
Nintendo’s slow manufacturing<br />
and distribution process has affected<br />
the launch of the Wii, Wii U,<br />
amiibo, and now NES Classic Edition,<br />
which leaves some consumers<br />
pessimistic about the availability<br />
of the company’s upcoming hybrid-console,<br />
the Nintendo Switch,<br />
in March, 20<strong>17</strong>.<br />
Nintendo must listen to fans for Switch to succeed<br />
Tyler<br />
Hodgkinson<br />
Nintendo must<br />
learn from the<br />
commercial failure<br />
of the Wii U.<br />
consumers left to wonder if the<br />
shortages of the Wii in 2006, Wii<br />
U in 2013, as well as amiibo and<br />
NES Classic Edition this past year<br />
are schemes to manufacture hype.<br />
Nintendo has not confirmed the<br />
validity of these claims, but whether<br />
the lack of product is deliberate<br />
or coincidental, consumers are now<br />
pessimistic about the launch and<br />
availability of the Nintendo Switch.<br />
Nintendo must learn from the<br />
commercial failure of the Wii U.<br />
The company mislead its audience<br />
with false information about the release<br />
of highly-anticipated games,<br />
refused to develop desired projects,<br />
and could not keep up with retail<br />
demand.<br />
If Nintendo continues to show a<br />
lack of respect for its loyal supporters,<br />
it risks further alienating consumers<br />
who decide if the Nintendo<br />
Switch will be a com mercia l<br />
failure.
32 The Chronicle November 29 - December 5, 20<strong>16</strong> <strong>chronicle</strong>.<strong>durham</strong>college.ca Entertainment<br />
From animation at Durham to Disney<br />
DC grads<br />
proud of<br />
work on<br />
new movie<br />
‘Moana’<br />
and build for the animators to actually<br />
pose, move the characters<br />
to bring them to life. I work closely<br />
with the look department and<br />
modelling and animations. So we<br />
work together to create this character.<br />
We have team meetings often<br />
- we get together and touch base<br />
to make sure everything is going<br />
smoothly.<br />
Jessica Stoiku<br />
The Chronicle<br />
They’ve made the leap from Durham<br />
College to Disney.<br />
Husband and wife Celeste and<br />
Chris Pedersen graduated from<br />
Durham’s animation pro-gram a<br />
year apart in 2007 and 2008. Although<br />
they’ve been working on<br />
different time-lines, the couple<br />
found their way from Durham Region<br />
to California, and have been<br />
work-ing for Walt Disney Studios<br />
since 2013. Their passion and dedication<br />
has led them to working on<br />
Disney’s latest film, Moana, which<br />
opened in theatres Nov. 23.<br />
The Chronicle conducted a<br />
phone interview with the Pedersens<br />
about their journey.<br />
What is the day in the life<br />
like for you at the studio?<br />
Celeste: I guess it starts the<br />
same. We live pretty close to the<br />
studio so we drive in the morning or<br />
sometimes we walk, which is great<br />
because California is beautiful<br />
and sunny. My work is shot-based,<br />
so we’ll have meetings with my<br />
department. We’ll have shots assigned<br />
to us. So again reviewing<br />
the work that we’ve done.<br />
Chris: While Celeste is more<br />
of the shot side of production, I’m<br />
more of the character side. So I’m<br />
more rigorous. I create the controls<br />
What has been your favourite<br />
part about working on the<br />
film?<br />
Celeste: Just working at Disney<br />
for me has been like a dream since<br />
I was little. Being here and working<br />
with some of the people I’ve looked<br />
up to is just incredible. To see the<br />
stuff you’ve been working on actually<br />
on screen is incredible.<br />
Chris: I second that. It’s pretty<br />
incredible working with the people<br />
that have been working at the<br />
studio for as long as I remember<br />
watching movies growing up. A<br />
lot of those people are still working<br />
here. It’s pretty incredible. I like being<br />
challenged a lot. They’re always<br />
pushing the envelope here to make<br />
the best quality films. I love just the<br />
challenge of that.<br />
Have you ever had something<br />
you were working on go<br />
completely wrong?<br />
Chris: There are always<br />
little challenges here and there. I<br />
wouldn’t say there was any-thing<br />
that went sort of completely wrong.<br />
Story changes. Sometimes characters<br />
come and go, so we adapt to<br />
those changes. We do our best to<br />
foresee those things…and work<br />
to-gether to troubleshoot them.<br />
Celeste: We’re [in] a very collaborative<br />
environment. People<br />
come together really quick to try<br />
and work through it.<br />
How has Durham College<br />
helped you get to where you<br />
are today?<br />
Celeste: I’ve always wanted to<br />
work for Disney. Going to school at<br />
Durham helped prepare me to get<br />
into this field.<br />
Chris: Growing up I always<br />
loved watching the Disney movies,<br />
but animation was never something<br />
as a child I kind of thought myself<br />
getting into. I always found myself<br />
leaning toward engineering. I loved<br />
Lego and building and creating<br />
things. That’s similar to what I<br />
do now. My job is very technical.<br />
There’s a lot of building, inventing<br />
and coming up creative solutions,<br />
which I really like.<br />
Birth of a Nation a powerful film<br />
Chris Jones<br />
The Chronicle<br />
The Birth of a Nation is a film<br />
that can be summed up in a single<br />
word: anger. It’s a film entirely<br />
built around emotion and it has a<br />
powerful message. While the cinematography<br />
is well done, this is not<br />
a film about style, but substance.<br />
It’s about the story of Nat Turner<br />
and his rebellion, igniting the raw<br />
emotion of the fight for equality.<br />
While watching the story of Nat<br />
Turner and his rebellion, it is hard<br />
to not feel the anger the film wishes<br />
to convey. There are several scenes<br />
in the film that stand out. The<br />
moment when Nat’s wife, Cherry<br />
Turner, is beaten by a group of<br />
white men for leaving her owner’s<br />
property without a pass, despite<br />
only being on the edge of the premises,<br />
is one such moment.<br />
However, the film feels like a<br />
series of moments meant to convey<br />
emotion. These moments don’t necessarily<br />
add to the film itself. Moments<br />
such as Nat’s dream sequences,<br />
while symbolic of his struggle,<br />
don’t contribute to the film’s message,<br />
but take away from it instead.<br />
The film stars Aja Naomi King<br />
as Cherry Turner, Nate Parker as<br />
Nat Turner and Armie Hammer<br />
as Samuel Turner, the man who<br />
owns Nat. Hammer has a powerful<br />
performance as the conflicted<br />
slave owner who doesn’t like what<br />
he does or what he sees but stands<br />
by and does nothing. This results in<br />
his character’s death at the hands<br />
of his own slave, Nat.<br />
The message Hammer tried to<br />
send with the character of Samuel<br />
Turner is that you can’t just stand<br />
by when others are being hurt. This<br />
film is about the anger that black<br />
men and women felt in 1831. That<br />
anger still resonates today in the<br />
Black Lives Matter movement.<br />
Photograph by Alex Kang<br />
DC alumni Christoffer Pedersen (left) and wife Celeste work at Walt Disney Animation Studios.<br />
However, on top of the anger<br />
that Parker, who also directed the<br />
film, wishes to convey, it is a welldirected,<br />
well-acted and well-written<br />
film about the fight for equality<br />
and the anger and resentment that<br />
motivates it.<br />
Every shot in the film shows<br />
the struggles of slaves of that time.<br />
Often this leaves the viewer feeling<br />
as though the film were trying too<br />
hard to be artistic. But the conviction<br />
the film shows more than<br />
makes up for any narrative flaws.<br />
The Birth of a Nation is a film<br />
built the anger of a repressed group<br />
of people. With whispers of an Oscar<br />
nomination before the film was even<br />
released, it’s clear the message of this<br />
film was being heard. As Chris Rock<br />
said at last year’s Academy Awards<br />
when no black men or women won<br />
an Oscar, “people went mad.” The<br />
Birth of a Nation looks to change<br />
that this awards season.<br />
Alex Debets<br />
The Chronicle<br />
Music is unavoidable.<br />
We hear music everywhere,<br />
whether it is Shawn Mendes at the<br />
grocery store or Passion Pit on a<br />
Taco Bell Commercial.<br />
Music is a soundtrack to our lives<br />
but who are these musicians?<br />
They are all around us, your<br />
neighbour, your family members.<br />
They are not necessarily the ones<br />
you hear on the radio and see on<br />
the cover of music magazines.<br />
They are just like you or I, humans,<br />
with emotions, feelings, and<br />
bills to pay.<br />
Being a musician is definitely not<br />
Who inspired you along the<br />
way during your time when<br />
you were a student at Durham<br />
College?<br />
Celeste: All the teachers were<br />
incredible at Durham. They were<br />
all very supportive, very encouraging.<br />
I always doubt myself. Am<br />
I good enough to do that? You<br />
get discouraged sometimes, but<br />
the teachers are always there to<br />
support you and tell you, ‘you can<br />
do it.’ They’re the ones that got me<br />
my first job outside of school, and I<br />
was very appreciative of that.<br />
Chris: They’re always so super<br />
supportive. One moment though<br />
that sort of stood out for me was<br />
in third year animation class. I remember<br />
working on an animation<br />
shot. I just re-member something<br />
clicking for me with animation<br />
and all of a sudden I understood<br />
it and that was sort of a milestone<br />
point for me with my student career.<br />
I feel that sort of launched<br />
me into feeling confident with<br />
animation. Getting my first job<br />
was really dependant on Durham<br />
and the teachers. The fact that the<br />
course was so well rounded it allowed<br />
me personally going into a<br />
more technical path.<br />
It also gave me the base knowledge<br />
to pursue that.<br />
This story was edited for style, length<br />
and clarity.<br />
Check out Oshawa band<br />
Crown Lands - in this<br />
Chronicle audio feature<br />
cheap. There’s the cost of instruments,<br />
equipment, tour vans, studio<br />
time … the list goes on and on.<br />
Most musicians start out independent,<br />
meaning they pay for<br />
themselves. They book shows by<br />
themselves, and work by themselves.<br />
This is true for the working class<br />
duo, Crown Lands, an Oshawa<br />
band - Fronted by Kevin Comeau<br />
and Cody Bowles.Both members<br />
work hard, balancing school and<br />
jobs, to keep their musical dream<br />
alive.<br />
LISTEN to the audio feature:<br />
https://soundcloud.<br />
com/ajdebets/workingclassmusicianfinal/comment-3<strong>16</strong>248405
Entertainment <strong>chronicle</strong>.<strong>durham</strong>college.ca November 29 - December 5, 20<strong>16</strong> The Chronicle 33<br />
The Girl on the Train novel cover (left) written by Paula Hawkins and the movie poster directed by Tate Taylor based on Hawkins’ story.<br />
Photograph by Jenn Amaro<br />
Movie meets the expectations of thriller book<br />
Jenn Amaro<br />
The Chronicle<br />
When a reader picks up a book and<br />
can’t put it down, the movie adaptation<br />
needs to meet high expectations.<br />
In the case of The Girl on the<br />
Train, written by Paula Hawkins,<br />
the film was released under two<br />
years after the book came out.<br />
When contrasting the book and<br />
the movie, it is apparent the director<br />
of the movie, Tate Taylor, wanted<br />
to stay close to the novel and<br />
bring the author’s ideas to screen.<br />
By analyzing the storyline, the<br />
narration, the characters and the<br />
setting, it becomes apparent Taylor<br />
captured every aspect the novel<br />
offers.<br />
The most important thing the<br />
movie does is stay true to the storyline.<br />
The novel is about Rachel, a<br />
downward spiralling alcoholic reliving<br />
her former life with her adulterous<br />
ex-husband, Tom.<br />
Rachel yearns to go back to the<br />
days before she found out about<br />
his affair. She fantasizes about a<br />
‘perfect’ couple she views from the<br />
train. They live in a house near<br />
Rachel’s former home.<br />
The woman in the couple is one<br />
of the other narrators in the novel,<br />
Megan. The Girl on the Train is narrated<br />
by three women: Rachel,<br />
Anna and Megan.<br />
The narration jumps between<br />
these three women, and from past<br />
to present time. While reading the<br />
novel, it takes a few transitions between<br />
the characters and the time<br />
frame to get used to what Hawkins<br />
is trying to portray.<br />
But the reader adapts to the flow,<br />
and while the switches become the<br />
norm, they slow the pace of the<br />
book.<br />
In contrast, Taylor captured<br />
these transitions in his film without<br />
confusing the viewer.<br />
Seeing physical characters on<br />
screen, it is easy to follow the swapping<br />
around between narrators as<br />
well as time.<br />
The viewer needs to pay attention<br />
to the dates on screen, but it<br />
is not confusing. With these transitions,<br />
the two-hour movie is fast<br />
paced.<br />
In contrast, the book albeit is<br />
gripping, feels like a long read.<br />
The plot accelerates when Rachel<br />
sees Megan with a man other than<br />
her husband. The torture Rachel<br />
felt when her husband cheated on<br />
her stirs within her. The story follows<br />
Rachel who becomes tied in<br />
with the murder of Megan.<br />
Rachel knows she was in Megan’s<br />
neighbourhood that night, angry<br />
with Megan for cheating on her<br />
husband.<br />
But Rachel, suffering from her<br />
drinking blackouts, tries to figure<br />
out exactly what happened the<br />
night of Megan’s death, and whether<br />
or not Rachel was involved.<br />
The movie followed the book’s<br />
story line essentially scene by scene.<br />
The only major difference is the<br />
scene when Rachel begins to figure<br />
out the psychological twist of<br />
the story.<br />
In the book, a psychiatrist tells<br />
Rachel to use her senses, such as<br />
touch and smells, that would help<br />
her recall what happens on the<br />
nights she can’t remember.<br />
When Rachel narrates the novel,<br />
she tells the reader everything she<br />
is thinking. This would have been<br />
difficult to display in the movie, so<br />
the scene is altered.<br />
In the movie, another character<br />
reveals a hint to Rachel, which<br />
helps Rachel piece together the<br />
missing parts of her blackouts.<br />
The movie then recreates previous<br />
scenes to show the audience<br />
what Rachel recalls from her blackouts.<br />
Taylor also adds one extra scene<br />
to the movie. Reading the novel,<br />
Rachel’s thoughts make it clear she<br />
is nearing a psychological breaking<br />
point. In the movie, a scene showing<br />
Rachel’s violent breakdown in<br />
a bathroom is added.<br />
In the movie, Rachel, Anna and<br />
Megan are similar to their description<br />
in the novel.<br />
The main difference is Rachel’s<br />
appearance. In the book, she is described<br />
as a woman who has put on<br />
weight since her divorce.<br />
In the movie, Rachel is played<br />
by Emily Blunt, a very thin actress.<br />
According to an interview with<br />
IMDb, Blunt did a great deal of<br />
research into addiction to get into<br />
the character of Rachel. Taylor<br />
said during an interview with Entertainment<br />
Tonight, there were<br />
other ways to display a woman who<br />
has let herself go, and that does not<br />
necessarily have to do with weight.<br />
Instead of Blunt needing to gain<br />
weight for the role, Blunt had swollen,<br />
red eyes, untamed hair and old<br />
clothing, to reflect a woman who no<br />
longer cares about her appearance.<br />
For an attractive woman, Blunt<br />
looked run down and unattractive<br />
for the scenes which portrayed<br />
Rachel’s lowest point.<br />
Anna, played by Rebecca Ferguson,<br />
is Rachel’s ex-husband’s<br />
mistress. Rachel’s ex later marries<br />
Anna and they have a baby. Anna’s<br />
character is also close to w<br />
hat is portrayed in the book.<br />
From the novel’s description Anna<br />
is a beautiful blond. In the movie,<br />
Ferguson fits the book’s description<br />
of a blond mistress.<br />
Megan, the woman Rachel<br />
daydreams about, is supposed<br />
to look similar to<br />
Anna.<br />
This is vital to the storyline.<br />
Haley Bennet, plays Megan and<br />
Ferguson, who plays Anna, have<br />
similar features. This makes it easy<br />
for the viewer to mistake one for<br />
the other. Both actresses capture<br />
the characters Hawkins described<br />
in the novel.<br />
One difference between the movie<br />
and book is the setting.<br />
The book is set in London, England,<br />
where it is cloudy and rainy.<br />
The location mirrors Rachel’s<br />
gloomy, downward spiral.<br />
However, Taylor decided to<br />
shoot the movie in Manhattan.<br />
While this does not change the<br />
storyline, it is a bit of a shock.<br />
Rainy scenes in New York illustrate<br />
Rachel’s depression and do not take<br />
anything away from the film.<br />
A dark and gripping story can be<br />
difficult to capture on screen. But<br />
through Hawkins’ detailed description<br />
in the novel,<br />
Taylor was able to bring her<br />
thoughts of the storyline, narration,<br />
characters and setting into physical<br />
form.<br />
The novel has readers turning<br />
pages and the movie has viewers<br />
feeling anxious from the first page<br />
of the book to the last minute of<br />
the film.
34 The Chronicle November 29 - December 5, 20<strong>16</strong> <strong>chronicle</strong>.<strong>durham</strong>college.ca
Entertainment <strong>chronicle</strong>.<strong>durham</strong>college.ca November 29 - December 5, 20<strong>16</strong> The Chronicle 35<br />
Not open to more open worlds<br />
James Jackson<br />
The Chronicle<br />
The video game industry has become<br />
fascinated with open-world<br />
games. An open-world game has<br />
large open spaces the player can explore.<br />
The player has the freedom to<br />
do what they want, when they want<br />
to in open-world games.<br />
But the video game industry is<br />
currently too invested in the concept<br />
of the open-world game.<br />
Making the open-world can take<br />
away from story and gameplay.<br />
Open-worlds are not very innovative<br />
and the market is flooded with<br />
them. The industry is in danger of<br />
killing of the genre completely.<br />
There have been many openworld<br />
games released in the past few<br />
years. Ubisoft’s Farcry and Assassins<br />
Creed series and Bethesda’s Skyrim and<br />
Fallout are some example of openworld<br />
games which haven’t benefited<br />
from the open-world concept.<br />
The increased focus on openworlds<br />
has led to a lack of focus on<br />
story and gameplay. To make things<br />
even worse, most of the open-world<br />
aspects of the games are the same<br />
in every game and included only to<br />
pad the runtime of the game.<br />
Making a fully fleshed-out openworld<br />
requires a lot of work and<br />
sometimes, to get the open-world<br />
the developers envisioned, cutbacks<br />
have to be made.<br />
An example of this is the game<br />
Homefront: The Revolution, the sequel<br />
to a linear military shooter. In the<br />
Fallout 4 is a perfect example of an ‘open world’.<br />
sequel, the game changed to an<br />
open-world game and ended up<br />
completely ignoring the first game.<br />
The sequel even tells a completely<br />
different story.<br />
There is a large number of openworld<br />
games released every month.<br />
For example, 12 open-world games<br />
were released on Steam between<br />
November 1st and 15th. Almost<br />
every role-playing game is an<br />
open-world game, which is where<br />
the open-world genre got its start.<br />
One of the reasons why openworld<br />
games became more prevalent<br />
is Minecraft. Minecraft is an<br />
open-world sandbox where the<br />
player is free to do what they want<br />
with the world.<br />
Since its beta release in late 2010,<br />
many people have tried to emulate<br />
the feeling of Minecraft. The<br />
games that come from Minecraft<br />
rarely try to innovate.<br />
The worst thing with open-world<br />
games is the activities are repetitive<br />
and is done in many other games.<br />
This is so prevalent that an entire<br />
genre called “Grand Theft Auto<br />
Clone” or “GTA Clone” has been<br />
created because of it.<br />
“GTA Clone” games revolve<br />
around driving a car, usually illegally,<br />
and performing criminal actions.<br />
One of the biggest offenders of being<br />
a “GTA Clone” is Mafia 3.<br />
In Mafia 2, the “open-world” was<br />
there to set the scene for missions<br />
that required a lot of driving.<br />
Mafia 3, however, has so much<br />
to do in the open-world, like robbing<br />
stores, killing random gang<br />
members for money, and gathering<br />
near-useless collectables.<br />
Another one of these “GTA<br />
Clones” was the first two Saints Row<br />
games, which copied the formula<br />
almost exactly. However, Saints Row<br />
had a more unrealistic story.<br />
Developer Volition decided to<br />
take their game away from “GTA<br />
Euvilla Thomas<br />
The Chronicle<br />
The Moustache Club may not be<br />
the Air Canada Centre or any other<br />
global arena. But for the HIGHS<br />
band, performing at small clubs in<br />
different cities means building an<br />
audience one show at a time.<br />
The band performed to a welcoming<br />
crowd at the Oshawa club<br />
in early November.<br />
“We are at a point right now<br />
where we will play and it will be<br />
our show, others are opening up<br />
for us,” says Doug Haynes, the lead<br />
singer of the band.<br />
The band came together at<br />
Queen’s University in Kingston.<br />
They consider themselves a small<br />
family, much like another, more<br />
famous Kingston band, the Tragically<br />
Hip.<br />
The band consists of five members<br />
who have been performing<br />
Clone” territory by turning the<br />
game series into a parody of itself.<br />
The main character even becomes<br />
president of the United States<br />
(changed saints) and a galactic<br />
conqueror.<br />
Too many games are using the<br />
concept of an open-world. The result?<br />
The games become procedural<br />
and it becomes difficult to tell<br />
together for three years.<br />
Karrie Douglas, the only female<br />
member of the band, had the idea<br />
to get the band together. From an<br />
early age, she always wanted to be<br />
part of a band.<br />
Eventually, she was able to bring<br />
different musicians together and<br />
HIGHS was started.<br />
“We didn’t start the band until<br />
we all graduated and left Kingston.<br />
We were all in different cities and<br />
had to travel to practice and travel<br />
back home. It was a big ordeal,”<br />
says Haynes.<br />
Haynes, who grew up in Whitby,<br />
says he has played in Oshawa a few<br />
times and managed to create a fan<br />
base there.<br />
“It’s nice that we are at that point<br />
in Oshawa,” he says.<br />
Being in the music industry<br />
today always comes with a challenge,<br />
and HIGHS is no exception.<br />
Though they are performing and<br />
Photograph by James Jackson<br />
one game from another.<br />
The game industry needs to take<br />
a rest from the open-world, and go<br />
back to more linear story-driven<br />
games.<br />
The open-world can’t replace<br />
gameplay or story development or<br />
the industry is in danger over-saturating<br />
the market and ruining the<br />
genre for years.<br />
The HIGHS building a following one gig at a time<br />
Photograph by Euvilla Thomas<br />
Whitby born Doug Haynes and his band performing.<br />
Allison Beach<br />
The Chronicle<br />
Hundreds of fans flocked to<br />
Toronto’s Phoenix Concert Theatre<br />
to enjoy a concert experience<br />
given by one of the biggest names<br />
in pop-punk, The Wonder Years,<br />
with some coming from as far as<br />
Thunder Bay.<br />
“It’s hard to keep track of how<br />
many times we’ve circled the world,<br />
how many times we’ve crossed the<br />
border and been to Toronto. But<br />
I’ll tell you what,” yelled lead singer<br />
Dan “Soupy” Campbell, “we’re going<br />
to remember this, because you<br />
guys are f-----g killing it, Toronto!”<br />
The lineup included Toronto<br />
band Seaway, Moose Blood,<br />
Knuckle Puck, Real Friends and<br />
the Philadelphia-based headliners,<br />
The Wonder Years.<br />
They’re on tour to promote the<br />
band’s latest album, No Closer to<br />
Heaven. The Wonder Years played<br />
19 songs. They opened with title<br />
track and closed with “Came Out<br />
Swinging,” off of 2011’s, Suburbia,<br />
I’ve Given You All and Now I’m<br />
Nothing. They played several songs<br />
off of their older albums, as well as<br />
new ones.<br />
The energy level was palpable.<br />
Roughly a thousand people sang<br />
the words and jumped until the<br />
floor bounced with them. Some<br />
people even crowd-surfed. Campbell<br />
hyped up the crowd and<br />
brought out the energy in people.<br />
Emotions ran high as the band<br />
sung some of their heavier songs<br />
such as “Cigarettes & Saints.”<br />
Many in the audience had tears<br />
running down faces, with their<br />
voices breaking. Feelings showed.<br />
“They’ve always been there for<br />
me in the rough times, so seeing<br />
touring, band members also have<br />
regular jobs. Being away from<br />
family and friends can sometimes<br />
be a bit stressful, though they say<br />
they can always lean on each other<br />
for support.<br />
Despite the difficulties, the band<br />
has overcome these challenges and<br />
is proud of where they are at right<br />
now.<br />
HIGHS recently released its first<br />
full album, Dazzled Camouflage, and<br />
is doing a cross-Canadian tour to<br />
promote the album.<br />
A European tour is also in the<br />
works.<br />
“We will never leave, we are here<br />
for good,” says Haynes.<br />
Even though the band is having<br />
some success and intends to get<br />
bigger and better, members intend<br />
to remember their humble beginnings.<br />
“We will never be too big for<br />
Oshawa,” says Haynes.<br />
The Wonder Years bring pop, punk to the Phoenix<br />
them live is amazing,” said one fan.<br />
The six-member band was created<br />
in 2005. They are currently<br />
signed to Hopeless Records and<br />
have released five albums and<br />
several EPs. Their Albums The<br />
Upsides, Suburbia, I’ve Given You<br />
All and Now I’m Nothing, and The<br />
Greatest Generation are a trilogy.<br />
They deal with issues such as<br />
anxiety, depression and self-doubt,<br />
while their latest album examines<br />
personal loss and social justice<br />
issues such as prescription drug<br />
problems, corruption and shootings<br />
– issues that resonate with Millennials<br />
today.<br />
The group has a solid following<br />
and some of those fans were lucky<br />
enough to get VIP tickets.<br />
That gave them an intimate concert<br />
experience with The Wonder<br />
Years as they played fan-requested<br />
songs such as “The Living Room<br />
Song.” The band also signed autographs<br />
and took a group photo.<br />
“I feel like we’re all kind of outcasts<br />
in our own way, and I feel like<br />
we can all fit in here and bond over<br />
our mutual love of music,” said one<br />
fan after the performance of “My<br />
Last Semester.”
36 The Chronicle November 29 - December 5, 20<strong>16</strong> <strong>chronicle</strong>.<strong>durham</strong>college.ca
<strong>chronicle</strong>.<strong>durham</strong>college.ca November 29 - December 5, 20<strong>16</strong> The Chronicle 37<br />
Sports<br />
From DC to the Hall of Fame<br />
Tommy Morais<br />
The Chronicle<br />
If you see the Stanley Cup somewhere,<br />
chances are Philip Pritchard<br />
is close by. Countless hockey greats<br />
have raised the Stanley Cup over<br />
their head, but only the man with<br />
the white gloves has the privilege<br />
of taking the trophy home night<br />
after night.<br />
For more than 28 years Pritchard<br />
has been an integral part of the<br />
Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto<br />
serving as both curator and keeper<br />
of the Stanley Cup. A Durham College<br />
alumnus, Pritchard graduated<br />
from DC’s Sports Management<br />
program in 1985.<br />
Pritchard takes great joy in<br />
pointing just how many hockey fans<br />
there are, including the Queen of<br />
England.<br />
“I’m always thrilled that everyone’s<br />
a hockey fan, it makes it<br />
special,” he says. “I got the opportunity<br />
to meet Queen Elizabeth<br />
and Prince Philip. The Queen is a<br />
hockey fan. She has a huge collection.<br />
When she comes to Canada<br />
she gets many pucks and souvenirs<br />
that she keeps.”<br />
He began his journey to the cup<br />
with a diploma in administration<br />
before crossing over to sports.<br />
“I started by taking accounting<br />
at Sheridan College in Oakville.<br />
From then I took the accounting<br />
over to the sports side of things and<br />
went to Durham College,” says the<br />
Oakville native.<br />
It was the placements opportunities<br />
provided by Durham College<br />
that allowed Pritchard to work his<br />
way up to a job at the Hockey Hall<br />
of Fame.<br />
“The great thing about Durham<br />
is the co-op program that<br />
they offer placement. It gives students<br />
a chance to gain practical<br />
experience,” he explains. “My<br />
placement was with the Ontario<br />
Hockey League. I then ended up<br />
working at the Canadian Hockey<br />
League and from there I went to<br />
the Hockey Hall of Fame where<br />
I’ve been since ‘88.”<br />
Pritchard managed to land what<br />
many would acknowledge is a<br />
dream job by building his network<br />
and creating connections, a skill he<br />
deems essential.<br />
“You can never stress it enough<br />
but in the sports world it’s a small<br />
community. Everybody knows<br />
everybody. The more people you<br />
know and respect, the better it<br />
works out,” he says.<br />
A little bit of luck and good timing<br />
also helps.<br />
'I'm ... thrilled<br />
that everyone's a<br />
hockey fan.'<br />
“If you talk to my wife she would<br />
say I was in a wrong place at the<br />
wrong time, I would say I was at<br />
the right place at the right time,”<br />
says Pritchard with a laugh.<br />
A typical week for Pritchard involves<br />
promoting hockey, eIther on<br />
the road or at the Hall of Fame in<br />
Toronto.<br />
“Being the curator, I look after<br />
all things hockey at the hall; the<br />
displays, artifacts, archives and trophies<br />
including the Stanley Cup.<br />
Amazingly hockey seems to run 12<br />
months a year now. The focus is<br />
always on promoting and preserving<br />
the sport,” he says.<br />
Lord Stanley’s trophy is on the<br />
road most of the year, as such, the<br />
keeper of the cup spends a good<br />
chunk of the year travelling.<br />
“This past year we’ve travelled<br />
in five countries. [The cup] is on<br />
the road close to 300 days a year.<br />
We get probably 700-800 requests<br />
for the cup in a year, from charities<br />
to peewee teams. There’s always<br />
somebody on the road with<br />
the cup. We understand that not<br />
everyone can come to the hall,<br />
sometimes we go to them.”<br />
What does that mean for the<br />
team that wins the cup each year?<br />
“The winning team gets the<br />
cup for 100 days during the summer<br />
from the day they win the<br />
cup to the beginning of the next<br />
season in October.<br />
During that time each player<br />
and staff gets to take it to their<br />
hometown, families and friends,”<br />
he says.<br />
Outrageous tales of NHLers<br />
spending a day with the cup are<br />
plenty, but players tend to be respectful<br />
of the trophy’s history<br />
and tradition, says the keeper of<br />
the cup.<br />
“Once you hear what they<br />
want to do with it… It all has<br />
something to do with their culture.<br />
They all have such respect<br />
for it. They’re all different but it<br />
all means so much to the guys,”<br />
he says.<br />
Other than taking a sip from<br />
the cup once at the conclusion<br />
of the 1997 Stanley Cup finals,<br />
Pritchard has always treated handling<br />
the trophy with respect.<br />
“I don’t want to get involved<br />
with a conflict of interest. Sure, I<br />
have friends and family that have<br />
seen it, but at the end of the day it<br />
is one of Canada’s greatest icons,”<br />
says Pritchard.<br />
Pritchard offers final advice to<br />
students and sports fans.<br />
“If you love your job you never<br />
work a day in your life. I’m one of<br />
those people.”<br />
Photograph courtesy of the Hockey Hall of Fame<br />
Philip Pritchard (right) and a Hockey Hall of Fame official present the Stanley Cup.<br />
Photograph courtesy of the Hockey Hall of Fame<br />
Philip Pritchard has been synonymous with the Stanley Cup for almost 30 years.<br />
UOIT<br />
celebrates<br />
Joshua Nelson<br />
The Chronicle<br />
Players, students, and coaches<br />
gathered to celebrate the UOIT<br />
women’s soccer team on its first<br />
Ontario championship victory<br />
and its first medal in U Sports<br />
(formerly Canadian Intercollegiate<br />
Athletics) national competition.<br />
After UOIT’s historic run in<br />
the Ontario Universities Athletics<br />
(OUA) final four, beating the<br />
Windsor Lancers 3-1 and the<br />
Queen’s Golden Gaels 1-0 in the<br />
OUA championship, the team<br />
advanced to the national championship<br />
in Wolfville, Nova Scotia<br />
Nov. 10-13.<br />
The Ridgebacks played three<br />
games, beating the Trinity Western<br />
Spartans 1-0, losing to Laval<br />
Rouge 2-1, and then winning their<br />
first medal in school history on the<br />
national stage, beating the Golden<br />
Gaels once again in the bronze<br />
medal game 1-0.<br />
The team celebrated its OUA<br />
championship in the UA Atrium<br />
Nov. 23 with an opening speech<br />
conducted by UOIT President<br />
Tim McTiernan and afterwards<br />
students took pictures and celebrated<br />
with refreshments and<br />
teammates.<br />
The banner commemorating<br />
the OUA championship wins will<br />
be raised at the Campus Recreation<br />
and Wellness Centre.
38 The Chronicle November 29 - December 5, 20<strong>16</strong> <strong>chronicle</strong>.<strong>durham</strong>college.ca Sports<br />
A true DC leader and all-star<br />
Brown named to Ontario<br />
Colleges Athletics Association<br />
all-star team as a pitcher<br />
Christopher Jones<br />
The Chronicle<br />
Often baseball players sitting on<br />
the bench quietly joke around with<br />
teammates and do not really pay<br />
too much attention to the game.<br />
However, there are also players like<br />
Alec Brown who move from player<br />
to player joking or giving advice<br />
to other players on the team and<br />
making sure the team remains focused.<br />
These players are leaders,<br />
and that’s exactly what Alec Brown<br />
is: a leader.<br />
Coming off of an injury to his<br />
arm last season, Alec Brown was<br />
recently named an Ontario Colleges<br />
Athletics Association (OCAA)<br />
all-star as a pitcher. Over the 20<strong>16</strong>-<br />
20<strong>17</strong> baseball season, Brown maintained<br />
a 1.42 earned run average<br />
(ERA) over 29.2 innings pitched.<br />
He allowed a total of six earned<br />
runs and had 21 strikeouts.<br />
On top of his accomplishments<br />
as a pitcher, Brown was also successful<br />
at the plate with a .474 batting<br />
average.<br />
Brown says he started playing<br />
baseball when he was around four<br />
or five years-old with his dad in<br />
their front yard. Brown said his<br />
biggest influence in the game of<br />
baseball would have to be his dad.<br />
On being named an all-star,<br />
Brown said, “It’s pretty awesome.<br />
Every game I go out there with<br />
my team they’ve given me a lead<br />
to work with, and just having the<br />
opportunity to go out into a game<br />
with a lead is just fantastic.”<br />
Brown was quick to give the<br />
credit to his teammates. “Our<br />
defense was playing incredible behind<br />
me all year. I’m not a strikeout<br />
pitcher, I need my defense.”<br />
Head coach and Durham Lords<br />
OCAA baseball coach-of-the-year<br />
Sam Dempster said that Brown is<br />
both a talented player as well as a<br />
leader on and off the field.<br />
It’s his job to<br />
make sure his<br />
teammates are<br />
focused...<br />
Fellow all-star Michael Chilvers<br />
said, “Alec is a player that brings<br />
a number of different qualities.<br />
He is a five tool player, which is<br />
something you don’t see often from<br />
players.”<br />
Chilvers also said, “as a teammate,<br />
Alec is an all-around great<br />
guy, and an even better teammate.<br />
Alec Brown was an all-star for the Durham Lords during the baseball season.<br />
He always leaves it all out on the<br />
field, which is something that you<br />
will always appreciate out of a<br />
teammate.”<br />
Chilvers and Brown have actually<br />
known each other since<br />
they were children playing on the<br />
same team together. Since they<br />
were kids, Chilvers says Brown<br />
has changed a lot. “He’s grown as a<br />
player and changed himself from a<br />
young kid to a man,” says Chilvers.<br />
“It helped him become the exciting<br />
player that he is today.”<br />
Brown says as a leader on the<br />
baseball team, he feels it’s his job<br />
to make sure his teammates are<br />
focused and in the game.<br />
Aside from baseball, Alec is in<br />
the Sports Administration program<br />
Games in your backyard<br />
Photograph by Christopher Jones<br />
and hopes to get into an athletics<br />
business, referencing companies<br />
such as Nike and Under Armour.<br />
Although they lost in the semifinal<br />
round of the Canadian Colleges<br />
National Baseball Invitational<br />
to end their season, Brown remains<br />
positive and is looking to next season<br />
when he hopes to maintain the<br />
success of this past season.<br />
Women’s soccer team has very serious changes ahead<br />
Soccer season<br />
wraps up on<br />
high note<br />
Joshua Nelson<br />
The Chronicle<br />
The Durham Lords women’s soccer<br />
team finished the season with<br />
a 5-7 record, but don’t let numbers<br />
fool you.<br />
A sub-.500 record may not seem<br />
successful, but considering their<br />
position at the beginning of the<br />
year, it’s an impressive feat.<br />
The Lords’ pre-season - scoring<br />
just one goal in six games - was<br />
an indication of the struggles that<br />
would plague the Lords throughout<br />
the conference season.<br />
Alex Bianchi, head coach, believes<br />
that the Lords have what it<br />
takes to be a champion in 20<strong>17</strong>.<br />
“There is a lot of talent on this<br />
girls’ team, we just have to get it to<br />
the top,” he said.<br />
The Lords continued their<br />
pre-season troubles heading into<br />
the conference season, losing backto-back<br />
games against the St. Lawrence<br />
Vikings 7-1, and the Algonquin<br />
Thunder 3-0.<br />
After posting a 1-0 win over the<br />
Loyalist Lancers, Durham went on<br />
to lose three more straight games.<br />
Durham forward Taylor Ford<br />
believes that communication was<br />
lacking at critical times.<br />
“We have a lot of communication<br />
off the field but when we come<br />
on the field there’s nothing…we<br />
need to come together more on<br />
the field and talk to each other,”<br />
she said.<br />
The Lords looked poised for another<br />
disappointing season, until a<br />
coaching change in early October.<br />
Bianchi, assistant coach for the<br />
Durham men’s soccer team, was<br />
named head coach of the women’s<br />
side, replacing Ramon McIntosh,<br />
Men’s Basketball: Dec. 2, Durham vs.<br />
Fleming, 7:30 p.m., Campus Recreation<br />
and Wellness Centre (CRWC)<br />
Men’s Volleyball: Dec. 1, Durham vs.<br />
Centennial, 8 p.m., CRWC<br />
who had been the head coach since<br />
2013.<br />
“Whenever you’re taking a team<br />
over like that just kind of partway<br />
through, you’re like, ‘well what<br />
kind of changes can I make’, to<br />
make a difference. I saw a group<br />
that maybe their passion was just<br />
a little down…we changed the<br />
formation, told them what we expected<br />
from them, and you know<br />
what, I was excited about the<br />
opportunity,” said Bianchi.<br />
With Bianchi as head coach the<br />
Lords won three out of their four<br />
last games to qualify for the playoffs.<br />
Energy and hard work are essential<br />
for a winning team, he said.<br />
“I think a level of energy (is<br />
important), people who know me<br />
know that I’m passionate, I think<br />
the girls saw that because…when<br />
you’re practising all the time,<br />
there I am with the boys, and if we<br />
weren’t doing what we’re supposed<br />
to do…then we’re going to work<br />
hard to get it right,” said Bianchi.<br />
Bianchi is focused on improving<br />
the team throughout this winter<br />
and recruiting more players due<br />
to the nature of college program<br />
lengths and sports.<br />
“We will recruit extremely<br />
Photograph courtesy of Scott Dennis<br />
Durham’s women’s soccer players pose for a team shot.<br />
Women’s Volleyball: Dec. 1, Durham<br />
vs. Centennial, 6 p.m., CRWC<br />
Men’s Hockey: Dec. 2, UOIT vs.<br />
Concordia, 7:30 p.m., Campus Ice<br />
Centre<br />
Dec. 3, UOIT vs. RMC, 7:30 p.m.,<br />
Campus Ice Centre<br />
heavy this winter, that’s one of my<br />
strengths, I know the coaches in the<br />
area I know the teams in the area…<br />
will we be bringing in players? Yes,<br />
but we’ll be making the existing<br />
players better over the winter program<br />
and they will play a part<br />
moving forward,” said Bianchi.
<strong>chronicle</strong>.<strong>durham</strong>college.ca November 29 - December 5, 20<strong>16</strong> The Chronicle 39
40 The Chronicle November 29 - December 5, 20<strong>16</strong> <strong>chronicle</strong>.<strong>durham</strong>college.ca