The Silhouette — April 5, 2018

S The Silhouette Thursday, April 5, 2018

WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS

Hamilton City Centre is a piece of history going through changes PAGE 17

INSIDE>>

NEWS: 2017-2018 Board of Directors summary // PAGES 4-5 ARTS & CULTURE: Places and plates: personal favourites in Hamilton // PAGES 18-22 SPORTS: Reflections on sports journalism // PAGES 24-25

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The Silhouette

Volume 88, Issue 27 Thursday, April 5, 2018 McMaster University’s Student Newspaper

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MCMASTER THESIL

LOOKING BACK

EDITORIAL BOARD editor-in-chief | thesil@thesil.ca Shane Madill @shanemadill digital media specialist | dms@msu.mcmaster.ca Aaron de Jesus managing editor | managing@thesil.ca Rachel Katz production editor | production@thesil.ca Catherine Tarasyuk online editor | online@thesil.ca Haley Greene sections

Sasha Dhesi Cassidy Bereskin news@thesil.ca

news editor news reporter

Emily O’Rourke

features reporter

features@thesil.ca opinion editor

Reem Sheet

opinion@thesil.ca

Justin Parker Jessica Carmichael sports@thesil.ca

sports editor sports reporter

& culture editor Daniel Arauz & culture reporter Razan Samara aandc@thesil.ca

arts arts

media

Madeline Neumann photo reporter Kyle West production coordinator Grant Holt production coordinator Timothy Law production@thesil.ca photo editor

Yvonne Lu Jaime Cook online content coordinator Susie Ellis online@thesil.ca video editor

social media coordinator

COVER PHOTO Grant Holt

CONTACT

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MUSC, Room B110 McMaster University 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON L8S 4S4

The Silhouette welcomes letters to the editor in person at MUSC B110, or by email at thesil@thesil.ca. Please include name, address and telephone number for verification only. Letters should be 300 words or less.

We reserve the right to edit, condense or reject letters and opinion articles. Opinions and editorials expressed in the Silhouette are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the editorial board, the publishers, the McMaster Students Union or the University. The Silhouette is an editorially autonomous newspaper published by the McMaster Students Union. The Silhouette Board of Publications acts as an intermediary between the editorial board, the McMaster community and the McMaster Students Union. Grievances regarding the Silhouette may be forwarded in writing to: McMaster Students Union, McMaster University Student Centre, Room 201, L8S 4S4, Attn: The Silhouette Board of Publications.

The Board will consider all submissions and make recommendations accordingly.

Editor-in-Chief (905) 525-9140, ext 22052 Main Office (905) 525-9140, ext 27117 Advertising ccpc@mcmaster.ca 8,000 circulation published by the

“The year’s newsmakers also deserve note. Some of you I have agreed with, some of you I have not. But I respect your thoughts and thank you for giving us the stimulation with which to fill our pages.”

WINDING DOWN This is the final issue of Volume 88. We will continue to publish content on thesil.ca. The first issue of Volume 89 will be in early June.

We also accept submissions for the summer issues, and story pitches can be directed to thesil@thesil.ca.

www.thesil.ca | Thursday, April 5, 2018

The Silhouette

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News Mac’s collaboration with the HSR The project comes in the wake of public frustration with transit in Hamilton

MADELINE NEUMANN / PHOTO EDITOR

Cassidy Bereskin News Reporter

On March 26, the Hamilton Street Railway unveiled a research collaboration project with McMaster University aimed at consulting users about their experiences with the HSR in an effort to re-envision transit in Hamilton. However, it will be up to city council to determine whether or not the project will result in the implementation of tangible changes to the service.

The interest in the project was sparked in May 2017, when Moataz Mohamed, an assistant professor in the department of civil engineering at McMaster, and Mark Ferguson, a senior research associate at the McMaster Institute for Transportation and Logistics, approached the city with a proposal for a research collaboration initiative.

“We had a few exploratory meetings to discuss what they do, the current state of the 10year local transit strategy, how the HSR is preparing for re-

mainder of the 10-year strategy, and what [McMaster] and MITL could offer the HSR,” said Dennis Guy, the HSR manager of customer experience and innovation.

The collaboration between McMaster University and the HSR will entail a two-year effort to consult the public about its expectations of the transit service.

“It’s a two-fold project.

The first [phase] is mainly for focusing on assessing users’ experience, perception, desires and expectations from the HSR,” said Mohamed. “We will be using this data to re-configure the service in a way that enables the HSR to provide enjoyable service to the public.”

According to Ferguson, the university will be using the principles that informed its electric mobility research project, which consisted of a five-year effort funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada to assess the costs and benefits of electric mobility

usage in Canada.

“We have done a lot of consumer-oriented work there which looks into how open people are to power trains,” said Ferguson. “Conceptually, there are similarities between that type of research question and the one we are considering here, where we are assessing people’s openness to the use of public transit in Hamilton.”

However, it should be noted that McMaster’s role in the collaboration project will be confined to research.

“As a post-secondary institution, we are limited to provide research-based evidence to the decision-makers. This is our scope,” said Mohamed.

After the research is conducted, recommendations will be made to city council.

“We’ll outline proposed changes to not only improve the network, but also to adapt to LRT construction and implementation, so that we can minimize the disruption to [and] for customers,” said Guy.

The collaboration between McMaster University and the HSR comes against the backdrop of growing criticism against the HSR, particularly in light of the thousands of hours in cancelled bus service that plagued users in the fall.

The collaboration between McMaster University and the HSR comes against the backdrop of growing criticism against the HSR, particularly in light of the thousands of hours

in cancelled bus service that plagued users in the fall.

Frustration with the service culminated in an emergency meeting held at City Hall in Nov. 2016, which was organized

by Environment Hamilton and provided a platform for users to voice their concerns about transit in Hamilton.

Many complaints stemmed from the underlying problem of a lack of HSR funding from city council. Although it remains uncertain whether or not the recommendations will lead to changes to the HSR system, Mohamed and Ferguson are optimistic that their research efforts will be fruitful.

“At the highest level of the city, plenty of people are interested advancing the quality of the HSR,” said Mohamed.

The research will begin in June with a survey asking users what they most want from their public transit service. @cassidybereskin

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NEWS

Thursday, April 5, 2018 | www.thesil.ca

A year-end report on the board of directors A look at how much the board of has achieved during their term

Sasha Dhesi News Editor

Preethi Anbalagan, vice president (Administration) Completed 72 per cent of year plan In Preethi Anbalagan’s year plan, she listed seven objectives she wished to achieve during her term as vice president (Administration). The majority of her year plan focused on supporting her staff, whether that be part-time managers, associate vice presidents or Student Representative Assembly members.

Anbalagan achieved the majority of the points within her first objective to strengthen training delivery. Anbalagan was not able to develop a formalized Safe(r) Training model with campus models due to the number of external organizations involved with this process.

To support the SRA, Anbalagan utilized the associate vice president (Internal Governance) to facilitate caucus leader meetings. Although she was able to cluster platform points and other aspects of her SRA support objectives, Anbalagan did not create a resource library for the SRA or offer skill-building workshops.

Anbalagan was able to hold one-on-one meetings with her part-time managers and create feedback mechanisms, among other achievements, but did

not create a collaborative space for part-time managers, which would mainly entail renovating the current space in the MSU office for part-time managers.

According to Anbalagan, this was simply due to the timeline for renovations.

Anbalagan also worked with associate vice presidents to settle them into their roles, as this was the first year their positions existed.

Anbalagan also completed the majority of hiring for the next term, with only three positions remaining open. She recommends that the incoming vice president (Administration) prepare for hiring in September.

Anbalagan also attempted to improve the human resources aspects of the MSU. She has worked with the operations coordinator to create a equity statement and an workplace accommodations policy, which is still being researched.

The last major aspect of Anbalagan’s year plan involved her role in planning Welcome Week. Anbalagan was able to highlight governance and services during Welcome Week, introduce new programming and bystander training. She was not able to successfully coordinate with the Society of Off-Campus Students, however, and instead added Community Engagement to Welcome Week’s strategic themes to ensure students interact with the city of Hamilton and better connect off-campus students to the university.

Ryan Deshpande, vice president (Education) Completed 91 per cent of year plan Deshpande had a particularly ambitious year plan, with 29 objectives. These objectives range from improving marketing to implementing policies in the MSU to advocating on the federal level.

Deshpande’s first four objectives involved maintaining the quality and outreach of MSU policymaking. To improve their outreach, he and his education team created a separate “MSU Advocacy” Facebook page, which they updated throughout the year. Deshpande also formally trained his education team this year, in addition offering a short training during the part-time manager and SRA member training.

Deshpande ran two policy conferences this year, which produced six different policy papers. He also worked with the new education committees to make sure they functioned effectively this year and reintroduced the sustainability committee, who have made strides to add compost bins around campus. Deshpande also conducted a review of McMaster’s health services.

Deshpande attempted to improve the efficacy of the Academic Affairs Council, which is comprised of members from every faculty society to discuss their needs, but due to low turnout, this did not go as

he planned.

Although food security was a big point on his year plan, Deshpande did not pursue it as strongly due to McMaster Hospitality Services working with other student groups to make campus food more accessible.

Deshpande did make strides with respect to supporting Indigenous students on campus, by actively working with Indigenous groups such as the Cooperative of Indigenous Students and Alumni.

Deshpande also made sure to submit budget recommendations to both the university and the municipal government, thus ensuring students’ needs may be reflected in their budget discussions.

Deshpande worked with Chukky Ibe, MSU (president) and the Student Community Support Network coordinator to create neighbourhood assistance programs and make students more aware of bylaws.

Deshpande did not complete the landlord wiki project this year, but states that the incoming vice president (Education) simply has to create the website.

Deshpande also regularly advocated on the municipal level and fulfilled nearly all aspects of his year plan regarding municipal affairs. He has worked with the Ontario University Student Alliance to ensure students vote in upcoming elections and has created a plan for his successor.

When it comes to federal and provincial advocacy, Deshpande took an active role, whether that be by advocating with OUSA to create policy papers, pushing a mental health strategy, attending the Canadian Alliance of Students conference or lobbying with Adovcan.

Daniel “Tuba” D’Souza, vice president (Finance) Completed 92 per cent of year plan D’Souza’s year plan largely focused on creating new forms forms of revenue for the student union and re-evaluating aspects of its business units.

D’Souza successfully added a cafe to the TwelvEighty space, although this project was pushed back from its initial open date multiple times. With that said, the Grind, the café he opened, has consistently turned a profit since its opening. D’Souza also wanted to add online ordering to TwelvEighty, but had to halt this project as it proved to be too expensive.

D’Souza also reassessed TwelvEighty club nights, which were plagued with low attendance in years past. D’Souza cancelled poorly-attended club nights to free up the space for other rentals. His efforts yielded a 40 per cent decrease in overall costs and 10 per cent increase in attendance per club night.

D’Souza has also begun expanding the number of premium events offered to students.

In addition, D’Souza focused on creating more experiential opportunities for McMaster students. The MSU now has a seat on the Hire@ McMaster campaign, a campaign set to launch at the end of April to encourage the hiring of McMaster graduates. The MSU will ensure that this campaign is connected to MSU clubs to

NEWS

www.thesil.ca | Thursday, April 5, 2018

broadcast employment opportunities to as many students as possible.

D’Souza also planned on creating a sponsorship and fundraising package to be given out to any MSU service undertaking fundraisers to support plans. This was delegated to the associate vice president (Finance) and was set to begin in the first semester, but is still being completed.

D’Souza also held workshops for club leaders to teach student leaders how to effectively budget and estimate costs associated with events, and these will continue in the coming years.

D’Souza expanded the MSU budget fair to have multiple locations on campus in order to increase transparency concerning the MSU’s budget spending.

D’Souza stopped his plans on creating a discount card for MSU members after having discussions with the advertising wing of the MSU and decided there would be a better way of offering students discounts and deals not already offered in the MSU Almanac or MSU Student Survival Guide.

D’Souza is also having ongoing conversations with the Graduate Student Association as he evaluates the MSU Child Care Center. He is currently exploring the possibility of creating a child care bursary with the GSA. D’Souza also helped implement the Presto U-Pass, converted Frost Week to Life After Mac and completed a wage review for all part-time employees.

Chukky Ibe, President Completed 72 per cent of yearplan Ibe had 12 objectives in his year plan, each of which had its own set of projects, many of which he achieved during his term.

Of the projects under his first objective to “Open Up the MSU”, Ibe was only able to expand the Student Life Enhancement Fund to include the ideas of previous MSU presidential candidates and host MSU open houses. The majority of the projects stalled because they were not a priority or they lacked the correct infrastructure to complete.

With respect to accessibility, Ibe has worked with the MacPherson Institute as they research best practices for professors and has had meetings with the President’s Advisory Committee to Building an Inclusive Community to discuss the creation of an accessibility policy.

In order to reduce campus waste, Ibe worked with campus partners to run electronic waste drives. He was not, however, able to expand the green container program, due to a miscommunication with McMaster Hospitality Services.

Ibe has also worked with the MSU general manager to optimize student technology by having conversations with University Technology Services.

He also helped launch TechLit Week, an awareness campaign meant to teach students how to

effectively use and dispose of technology.

To improve the off-campus experience, Ibe helped create a off-campus community advisor program and restructured SCSN to improve its outreach.

It should be noted that this program was not popular this year, but McMaster Residence Life plans to rectify this by reducing the fee associated with it.

To promote better governance, Ibe launched the McMaster People Project, a project aimed at promoting students to run for an SRA position.

To continue to support student communities, Ibe also introduced an MSU clubs loan portal to decrease the financial burden of clubs executives.

He also worked with the clubs administrator to hold a recognition night for MSU clubs.

Ibe also launched his Caring Communities Network project this year and hopes to see it continued under new leadership in the coming weeks.

He has also worked with campus partners and OUSA to lower the cost of textbooks and increase the number of open education resources available to students.

Ibe has also made strides to address food security by working with the Mac Bread Bin director to create a grocery delivery system, which he hopes will be operational in the coming months.

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Percentage of completed year plan

Preethi Anbalagan, Vice President (Admninistration)

Ryan Deshpande, Vice President (Education)

Daniel “Tuba” D’Souza, Vice President (Finance)

72%

91%

92%

@SashaDhesi

72% Chukky Ibe, President GRANT HOLT / PRODUCTION COORDINATOR

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NEWS

Thursday, April 5, 2018 | www.thesil.ca

Assessing safety in the McMaster community Campus crime is at five year high

THE SILHOUETTE PHOTO ARCHIVES

Cassidy Bereskin News Reporter

According to a report released by the crime analyst division of Hamilton Police, the McMaster community saw low levels of break and enter crimes in 2017.

However, this does not reflect the campus crime scene, with a security services report highlighting that the university is seeing the highest number of reported crimes in five years.

The analyst division report notes that beat 1161, which includes the Westdale area, saw 33 break and enter crimes in 2015, 41 in 2016 and 30 in 2017. Beat 1162, which includes the McMaster campus, Ainslie Wood North, Ainslie Wood and Ainslie Wood West neighbourhoods, saw a total of 30 break and enter crimes in 2015, 19 in 2016 and only 14 in 2017.

Overall, the number of break and enter crimes in both beat 1161 and 1162 dropped between 2015 and 2017, with a total of 63 in 2015 dropping to 60 in 2016 and only 44 in 2017.

However, the McMaster Security Services report stipulates that the number of break and enter attempts on campus fluctuated over the last three years, with five recorded in 2015, 17 in 2016 and 11 in 2017.

“In 2017, McMaster University Security Services filed 3,687 incident reports which is an increase over the 2016 reported incidents of 2,834 (30 per cent increase). Legal infractions accounted for 870 incidents of either federal or provincial statutes or criminal incidents,” read part of the report.

The number of crimes reported on campus has increased over the last five years. While the assault rate was 19 in 2012 and 12 in 2015, in 2016, that rate climbed to 27 and sat at 29 in 2017. In addition, cases of sexual harassment increased from 22 in 2015 to 37 in 2017.

The most common crimes being reported include mischief and theft, with the number of mischief cases increasing from 80 in 2015 to 100 in 2017 and the number of theft crimes climbing from 146 in 2015 to 258 this year.

In an effort to make information about crimes on campus more accessible to the community, McMaster Security Services used to record crime beats on its website. These weekly updates included all incidents reported on campus, from seri-

ous crimes to students drinking excessively and getting trapped in elevators in residence.

“Our website is under a redesign phase so the most recent statistics are not included on that particular page. We do post the annual reports on the site,” said Glenn DeCaire, the university’s director of security and parking services.

According to the 2017 annual report, the number of crimes reported has increased from 300 in 2015 to 531 in 2017.

The most common crimes being reported include mischief and theft, with the number of mischief cases increasing from 80 in 2015 to 100 in 2017 and the number of theft crimes climbing from 146 in 2015 to 258 this year.

“Most of this increase stems from higher numbers of reported thefts from places like [David Braley Athletic Centre] and of bicycles and laptops across campus and we are encouraging reporting,” said DeCaire. “There are also increased reports of assaults and harassment which follow the introduction last year of enhanced reporting and awareness through the new Sexual Violence Policy and the Sexual Violence protocol.”

Overall, it is unclear whether more crimes are being committed, reported or both.

Students are encouraged to report an incident to security services and access supports via the sexual violence response protocol.

@cassidybereskin

NEWS

www.thesil.ca | Thursday, April 5, 2018

| 7

What really went down during the MSU presidential election Meeting minutes reveal that broken links, the Ombuds office and collusion all played a part in this year’s MSU presidential race Sasha Dhesi News Editor

This year’s McMaster Students Union presidential election was a wild ride from start to finish, after two candidates were disqualified and then later reinstated, all done over the course of the winter semester. Ikram Farah is the official president-elect, but the question still stands: why was she disqualified in the first place?

The MSU Elections Department recently published their meeting minutes, which outline the discussions their elections committee had when making sense of the complaints filed against each candidate. On their website, one may find the minutes from the Jan. 25 meeting, the Feb. 5 meeting and the Feb. 15 and 16 meeting.

According to these documents, Farah was initially disqualified due to a complaint from another unnamed candidate, who stated that it was unfair that she was not disqualified given the number of fines Farah received.

According the the Feb. 5 meeting minutes, the complainant stated that she had submitted multiple complaints against Farah during the election period which she felt had compromised the integrity of the election, and that she had taken her case to the Ombuds office and that they had agreed with her.

It should be noted that three of Farah’s violations were overturned during the Feb. 5 meeting.

The complainant stated that her trust in the Elections Department had been shaken.

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“[The complainant] didn’t understand why [Farah] was not disqualified with the number of complaints and their nature, and that this was a blatant disregard of election rules and compromised the integrity,” read a portion of the Feb. 5 meeting minutes.

The complainant also stated there were other complaints she wanted to file but chose not to due to their personal nature. The complainant also argued that the number of broken links in Farah’s team members’ posts were deliberately done to maintain the focus on Farah.

All candidates are expected to add links to the MSU Elections Department on their social media posts in order to ensure that voters receive unbiased information about all candidates in addition to the campaign material.

After the complainant spoke, the elections committee reconvened and looked into the complaint concerning broken links being done in bad taste.

After checking if it would auto-tag using a post from a member of Farah’s core campaign team, they found that it did and deemed this to potentially be deliberate and with large effect.

Thus, on Feb. 5, the elections committee overturned their original decision to not disqualify Farah, making Muhammed Aydin the unofficial president-elect.

On Feb. 15 and 16, Farah made her appeal to the elections committee where she argued

that the broken links did not influence the election enough to garner a disqualification.

Farah offered the slides from her volunteer orientation package which showed the correct link and that any broken links were a mistake. She stated that these broken links were mistakes and should be deemed as a deliberate attack, especially when there were examples of the correct link in other volunteers’ posts.

Farah was particularly concerned with the labelling of the broken links as “bad taste”, as she felt it was clear that the broken links were not posted to deliberately sway the election.

Farah also pointed out that the majority of the links were correct, proving that this was not a deliberate action.

Farah also reiterated that she had taken the steps to rectify this issue, contradicting the assumption that she was deliberately breaking a rule. She also stated that data from the backend of her campaign website showed that only 39 people had been referred from the links, and statements that links stopped people from accessing information about the election was unsubstantiated.

Farah also stated that she had proof that two candidates had conspired to get her disqualified and that the integrity of the election had been compromised.

“Farah stated that having someone come forward and imploring the Committee to

look at their decision again was malice as they were the reason why she had so many fines. She stated that the idea of colluding should be held into account and encouraged the Committee to look at her package point by point,” read a portion of the Feb. 15 and 16 meeting minutes.

Ultimately, the elections committee voted to maintain Farah’s disqualification, and it was only through the Electoral Appeals Board, the highest electoral board in the MSU, to reinstate Farah.

During this meeting, the EAB overturned eight of Farah’s fines, upheld seven and amended four of her violations from severe violations to standard violations. Following these deliberations, the EAB reinstated Farah, making her the official MSU president-elect.

How this year’s tumultuous election season will affect future MSU elections is currently unclear.

But for now, Farah will be the the next MSU president, full stop.

@SashaDhesi

PRESIDENT’S PAGE

April 5, 2018 | thesil.ca

CHUKKY IBE President president@msu.mcmaster.ca 905.525.9140 x23885

The MSU is one of the best student unions in the country. Between our prodigious advocacy department, impeccable service offerings, and expansive clubs network, there is much to be proud about. It is also true that despite how hard we try to serve students, our leadership makes mistakes. As a student, I was occasionally negatively impacted by inactions from previous boards.

Despite my best efforts, I imagine that there are probably students out there who felt as if my team and I could have done better.

It is true that the Elections Department is not perfect, the Executive Board is not perfect, the Student Representative Assembly is not perfect, and none of our committees are perfect.

Being imperfect is not an excuse.

Instead, it is an acknowledgment that despite our best efforts, there is room for growth and improve-

ment. Thank you for actively participating in our system, for holding us accountable, and for continuously advocating on behalf of Marauders. Where we have caught errors, we have already acted to make improvements and are always open for feedback.

There is a lot to be proud of this year. Much of this comes from the incredible work led by our services, our student groups, and our advocacy department. It has been a deep honour rediscovering the strength of our student body through the presidency.

My days start with anxiety, fear, piercing joy, trust, and relief - it is basically a never-ending Welcome Week. I am deeply grateful to all the faculty societies, especially their presidents, for their partnership this year. We have engaged extensively and intentionally with program societies, and the diverse range of student groups. I am grateful and thankful to all of them for their continuous partnership and eagerness to collaborate.

Photo C/O: Sarah Janes

in maintaining historical context, serving as relationship brokers, and providing advice when necessary to my team. Our incredible full-time staff, part-time staff, and volunteers are the lifeblood of the organization. Especially our staff who have been with us for decades - thank you for choosing the MSU as your second family. You provide continuity, consistency, and care to our programs.

On behalf of the Board of Directors, my sincerest gratitude and thanks goes out to our Our student union is for partners in the province at the Ontario Undergraduate Student students, by students.

Alliance (OUSA), our partners We are only as great as at Undergraduates of Canadian students allow us to be. Research Intensive Universities (UCRU), and our local partners Our partners in Student Af- at Redeemer University Colfairs and the Alumni Association lege and Mohawk College. We continue to evolve their programs are grateful for your continued to meet the changing needs of stu- friendship and collaboration. dents. They continue to be critical The MSU is always eager to partners in student life enhance- work with and offer support to ment and their support is fun- our local representatives. MPP damental to our successes. Past McMeekin and MP Tassi have MSU Boards of Directors con- given student leaders access to tinue to play an instrumental role their offices, and remain keen to

engage with the students on critical issues. They continue to be allies for students, and I hope the MSU has a lasting partnership with them. Between changes to OSAP, OHIP+, creation of the LR Wilson building, and investment of federal research dollars into our campus, there is much success to celebrate.

Our student union is for students, by students. We are only as great as students allow us to be.

It has undoubtedly been a great year for this organization. We know we can always do better, and we need your help in order to improve. Please continue engaging with the MSU in person and online. Tell your representatives how you want the organization to improve, and how they can support you the way you need to be supported. I have full confidence in our president-elect and know she will serve students well.

Looking forward, I am excited to see who is elected to work alongside her, in the interest of students, during the upcoming Vice-President elections.

MSU_McMASTER

MSUMcMASTER.ca

@MSU_McMASTER

/MSUMcMaster

TEXT ‘MSU’ TO 71441

The President’s Page is a space sponsored and used by the McMaster Students Union (MSU) Board of Directors (BoD) to communicate with the student body. It functions to highlight the Board’s projects, goals, and agenda for the year, as well as the general happenings of the MSU.

www.thesil.ca | Thursday, April 5, 2018

EDITORIAL

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Editorial To the Silhouette alumni and staff I miss you already Shane Madill Editor-in-Chief

My experience began with trying to write the best album reviews possible. It ended with the want to help the McMaster community by holding people, organizations and institutions accountable for their actions.

Humble beginnings grew into the desire to create a high enough quality media source to rival journalism schools across the country despite not having one.

I wanted to help grow the Silhouette into one of the most credible media sources in Hamilton with a bunch of undergrads in programs that may not be related to journalism at all. Many of our paid staff had little experience of this nature or scale. Many of our volunteers had no experience at all.

Over my last five years of contributing, a lot of people have entered the windowless basement only to leave as lifelong friends. Generations of you have come and gone since I was introduced to the paper. You, as extraordinary members of society during your time here, have been unforgettable inspirations to my development as a writer and as a person.

No matter our personal circumstances, no matter how big the story and no matter how

short the deadlines, we could always put our trust in each other to put out quality content week after week with laughs and beaming smiles in an office where brightness barely radiates otherwise.

For Sil alumni, I remember the late night sports games we watched as time ticked passed midnight and the want to watch just one more play before getting to work putting content on the website. Heated arguments over things as trivial as a top 10 movies list were funny in retrospect, but were battles to prove that your perspectives were valid and deserved consideration at the time.

I even remember how empty our mentions on social media became when my favourite trash talkers graduated. These were filled again years later with continuous support from members of the community who enjoyed our work.

These lofty, idealistic ambitions and goals were always meant to pass on the confidence and trust you had in me to a generation of Silhouette members you may never meet. I am sure that this year’s staff will understand the influence you have left on me with their own memories and experiences from this year, and I only hope that they remember me in a similar light to how I remember our

times together.

For this year’s staff, I will always cherish the time we have spent together. The shouting, bad puns, food shared with friends, events attended throughout the year, the mix of vibrant and wonderful people and personalities have made this year better than I could have ever hoped for. Meetings with you all, a staff filled with members who were so eager to contribute, improve and share your work, reminded me of my humble beginnings and the feeling of pride from every piece published.

The responsibility has weighed heavily for the past five years to make my mentors and friends proud by trying to surpass the high standards they set.

Our actions and words have the ability to help or hurt the people we trust and respect, and I hope mine have honoured you.

All I really wanted was to get a little bit closer to that ambitious vision so we could remember and respect the alumni that continue to leave their mark years after graduating and reach the full potential out of this year’s staff to create the highest quality product possible.

I hope you are all proud of what we have accomplished. @shanemadill

to lentils over rice to Kuu to Balltze to chicken noises to being (academically) desirable to getting Pokémon GO again

S

The Silhouette

To the readers, writers, photographers, videographers, haters and everyone else who helped make this year a success.

We couldn’t make this whole thing happen without you. Enjoy the summer and we’ll see you next year when Volume 89 takes over.

to being Team Captain America

to new glasses

to sending this to your crush with no context

to all the baking mamas

to weird sleep talking

to making the siren noise of your dreams to my thesis supervisor(s) to weird job offers to thumbs down for having so many things we are sad about

to loving nibbles from swans to ducks to fighting the nipple ban to the soothing nature of your childroom bedroom to ginger peach tea

to respecting your elders

to good water pressure

to Masters Sunday

to Sil parents

to being the office’s Steve Martin

to a good study session

to cozy bedrooms

to yodelling Walmart

to finishing another semester

to not dropping in Tilted Towers

to celestial comings

to Britney Spears for my academic success

to essential oils

Thank you!

to all the good dogs on Instagram

to the guardians of the shrines, aka, the Silhouette archives

to Stibs to (tentatively) making it through undergrad

to being the best brother

to that first cup of coffee after being sick

to the last bake

to space heaters

to staying hydrated

to the summer

to taking breaks when you need them

to the couch thread bracelet

to reaching out when you need support

to biking with the wind

to the fat cat Hannah Banana

to getting into Amsterdam

to elbows

to rice pudding

to warm feelings

to you, the fans

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HUMANS

Rachel Katz Managing Editor

The Silhouette has meant everything to me for the past four years. I hate to be the person in the yearbook who’s like, “thanks to all my friends and mentors”, but yeah, thanks to all my friends and mentors. I love you all so much, and I’ve been so fortunate to breathe the same basement germs as you.

Daniel Arauz Arts & Culture Editor

The first article I wrote for the Silhouette was about poop. Literally. It was an alternative colonoscopy exam that turned poop green if the sample was positive. I thought it would be a funny thing to recall if I was lucky enough to still be here after four years. So thanks for trusting the poop story kid with the Arts & Culture section for the past two years.

Thursday, April 5, 2018 | www.thesil.ca

Grant Holt Production Coordinator

Madeline Neumann Photo Editor

The Silhouette, among many other things, enabled me to (successfully!) come out to my grandparents, who I love and admire. I’m grateful to have been part of the history of this musty-dungeon-office student newspaper, and everything and everyone it encompasses.

Catherine Tarasyuk Production Editor

In my first year, I never thought I would have the chance to one day produce unique and stylized content on a weekly basis or eat hot wings with McMaster Students Union presidential candidates. Here I am, eating hot wings and producing layouts at the Silhouette. All good things have to come to an end, but at least I got to leave my mark in various ways.

Timothy Law Production Coordinator

Ever since I came to university, I’ve always wanted to participate in a student newspaper “because all the cool things happen at a student newspaper,” I thought and I was right!

After being the Silhouette’s biggest fan for three years here I am! Designing the covers and doing layouts has been so exciting. I am really happy I was able to leave my mark in the Silhouette.

Being self taught, I’ve never seen myself as being a legitimate graphic designer. Coming to the Silhouette has helped me gain confidence in my work, become a part-time stock photo model and allowed me to explore my creative side. I’m forever grateful for all the people I’ve met here, and all the memories I’ve made.

I feel like I have become the father from Cheaper by the Dozen except with more children and whimsical, but touching moments. I leave now contemplating how they will survive without their father.

Silhouette Graduating Class of 2018

Shane Madill Editor-in-Chief

facebook.com/HumansOfMcMaster

www.thesil.ca | Thursday, April 5, 2018

The Silhouette

| 11

Opinion Provincial elections

Student awareness about this year’s provincial elections should be better addressed Patrick Leclerc Contributor

I don’t know about you but when I hear that elections are coming up, I immediately become anxious. This anxiety isn’t fear by any means, it’s more an unsettling feeling that nobody really knows what they’re voting for. The most recent elections seem evident of exactly that.

Many students seem to be voting without knowing what they are supporting. Students may vote for one side merely so that the opposing side does not get into power.

For example, there are those claiming that they will vote for literally anyone but the current premier, Kathleen Wynne. The issue is that, as far as I’ve seen, that nobody has been doing their research. I’m not advocating that you should all go out and vote for Wynne, I’m arguing exactly the opposite of that.

For a democracy to work well, everyone should vote. As far as this, we shouldn’t vote for someone just because we don’t like the other candidates. As I mentioned earlier, I’ve met many people who say they’ll vote for the opposition of a certain party just because they don’t agree with the party in question.

This could lead to politically inept people being put into power or you could be voting for someone whose actual policies you don’t agree with.

These kinds of things happen because people don’t look up policies, or maybe because some students don’t understand why one vote matters. Though the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance has been working on projects that help students understand the importance of voting and how to do so, at this time, election awareness along with these campaigns should be increased. When students don’t understand why their vote matters or for students who are not accustomed to voting in Canada how voting happens, we lose some valuable voices of students

Premier Kathleen Wynne visiting McMaster in 2015.

THE SILHOUETTE PHOTO ARCHIVES

in politics.

We should all be doing our research. A quick search would even suffice to an extent. Every party’s political platform ends up online relatively quickly after they announce that they’re running, though there are many issues with researching a party platform online.

I believeone of the biggest issues of them all is clickbait.

By clickbait, I’m mostly talking about titles of articles that can be misconstrued. I’m sure I’m not the only one whose looked at a juicy title of an article and made an assumption based on the content of a poorly supported, but sometimes convincing article.

Unfortunately, clickbait is where a lot of voters’ “political knowledge” comes from. The

best way to avoid issues like this is to go directly to the party’s website or any official Canadian government website. I know it sounds tedious, but I think the only way for voters to get an actual stance on who they’re voting for is to interpret a party’s policies by themselves, without any biased sources to change their minds.

Biases are an increasingly evident issue in media as far as I see. As mentioned earlier, the media tends to overblow their titles. Specific outlets even have evident political biases. Fox News, for example, is inherently Republican, which though many us know this, some do not.

These sources tend to focus on the personalities of politicians instead of important matters like platforms and policies. Media

sources should be showing voters the things they’re voting for and not the personality presenting it.

We should all be doing our research. A quick search would even suffice to an extent. Every party’s political platform ends up online relatively quickly after they announce that they’re running,

I guess what I’m trying to say is to go out and vote. Do your research, understand what you want and vote for that.

Don’t find yourself voting for a personality or because you don’t like the opposition. Democracy is fair when everyone votes for who they believe will be the right person to lead them.

@theSilhouette

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Thursday, April 5, 2018 | www.thesil.ca

OPINION

McMaster’s handling of Bill 148 A precarious position led to confusion, a lack of sensitivity and a call to action to improve the university’s systemic issues

C/O PETER SELF Moleen Makumborenga Contributor

No one gets a student job thinking they will eventually start to feel unsafe or uncomfortable at work. I do not believe McMaster University thinks that student jobs can be precarious. This would explain why I found myself unprotected and unsupported when my supervisor who works for a research organization on campus tried to illegally demote me in order for my current wage to match a job title and description that was unlike the tasks I completed.

The situation arose from the implementation of Bill 148 also known as the “Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act”. In order for the university and my organization to be compliant with the law that came into effect April 1, 2018, I had to sign a new contract that assigned my work to the new classification model created by McMaster University.

As with any immigrant and international student, my first concern was how this would affect my permanent residence application. To those not familiar with the PR application process, it works on a point system whereby you are awarded more points based on the type of job experience you have. The more specialized your role, the better your chances of earning an invitation to apply for your PR status.

My first concern was about how the last year in this position would essentially be a waste of time as the job title and description they were suggest-

ing I should sign on to was classified as administration work, which is something Immigration Canada does not value.

When I was hired, I had signed a contract that stipulated that I would be the student Digital Communication Specialist.

I was intent on taking on the position not only because it matched my experience, but because it would also help with my PR application.

After careful consideration about what my supervisor and the faculty director were suggesting, it was pretty clear these people were misaligning my work in order to keep paying me at the current wage rate.

There was no attempt on their part to find a position on the McMaster employment directory that matched my current position or upheld the contract I had signed, which was still in effect.

In a meeting with managers, I brought emails that documented projects I had completed on behalf of the organization, which in their numbers and level of technicality were clearly not administrative projects. Upon this evidence, my supervisor then tried to pass off to the director that she had made a mistake and had not looked at the employment directory carefully, and she realized that perhaps she might have made a minor mistake.

Now this so called “minor mistake” had led me to two nights of sleeplessness because without my PR, I cannot afford to go graduate school. It had caused my family to panic because they had to consider

the possibility of helping pay $30,000 for my grad program and undergoing the financially invasive student visa application process to extend my current status.

This worry piled onto the fact that I am in my final year, and only two weeks out from exams and needing to complete all my major final grade influencing, graduate-school gatekeeping courses. One of the moments I remember so vividly in the meeting was when my supervisor said to me in a tone so sarcastic and condescending, “Sorry I stressed you out for those two days.”

And in that moment it became clearer to me, if it had never been in my last six years in Canada, that I am a black woman navigating white privilege waters, and my God, I am drowning. I understood what it is to hold onto your pain in fear of being labelled an angry black woman even when you have a legitimate reason to feel this way. I was reminded I am a black woman and these people will never be conscious of themselves in the way that I am.

And I am not saying my manager and the director are racist, but I am saying they lack a sensitivity and introspection that would make it obvious to anyone of colour that we are faced with varied challenges in life. You telling me a Zimbabwean girl, coming from one of the worst economies in the world, that you are demoting me is not the same thing as telling someone born and raised with a better financial background.

This notion that my man-

ager did not carefully review all the job descriptions and titles is incorrect because meeting notes from almost two months prior show that she knew exactly what the correct correspondence for my current job would be in the incoming job directory. In the meeting, these women belittled me by insinuating that I did not understand the legislative process when repeatedly I said I understood the legal requirements they were trying to meet. They were still misaligning my work with the position they wanted me to sign onto.

I reported the situation to International Students Services, and the head officer directed me to another office who directed me to another office, then another one because no one thought the situation was theirs to handle. It is upsetting to know that as international students we pour so much money into Canadian institutions.

Not providing us with people to help us in times of need shows that they see us as cash cows.

The human rights officer said that my supervisor and I have a right to differing opinion on what my job description should be under the new law.

And to that I wonder, but did my supervisor not have an obligation to refer to my previously signed contract when suggesting the new position?

The only office that took the situation seriously and saw how this was not just a minor mistake, but potentially gross misconduct was the Ombuds office. They told me if HR does not fix this, she would have to

refer the situation to the Ministry of Labour.

Over 40 per cent of jobs in Canada are classified by Statistics Canada as precarious work, and immigrants are more likely than Canadian born workers to be in precarious work. We are talking about the institutionalization of disadvantageous working conditions for racialized minorities.

Whilst this issue is the main reason I brought attention to my unsuitable work environment, this job had historically made me feel uncomfortable.

It was only last year my fellow colleagues, white health science students, made jokes about including me in the digital media for the organization because it was clear that they had a “diversity problem”.

One of the jarring lessons from my experience is that white people are the gatekeepers of what constitutes as pain or a problem. That you can tell someone you are uncomfortable and being unfairly treated and it can be ignored because people cannot relate to your racialized experience felt like I was drowning.

So I am speaking up now because I was not sure about the nuances of precarious work then and I was not sure about how my voice would be treated.

I think it is time we really look at this problem on our campus and do something.

@theSilhouette

OPINION

www.thesil.ca | Thursday, April 5, 2018

| 13

Fight against silence McMaster should be more considerate when deciding on subjects of rights and freedoms Jack Leila Contributor

We all know our rights and freedoms. We have the freedom of the press, freedom of religion and freedom to our own political ideologies based on section 2 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Those few rights are just the beginning of what our rights and freedoms entail. So why are certain people silenced? Why are human rights groups at McMaster marginalized? Why do they have to be careful of who they offend when they should be worried about the people they are fighting for?

Protests at McMaster are rarely ever covered by the media. When they are, the articles are not about the positive effects of the protest, but rather police intervention and the different ways the groups were forced to leave campus.

This not only threatens the fundamental freedom of expression given to all Canadians by the Canadian government, but also what McMaster calls the freedom of expression it gives to its students.

Political correctness is

important but only to a certain level. If someone is afraid to fight for a marginalized group, what kind of freedom is that?

McMaster University is made up of students with diverse voices and opinions. It is meant to support freedom of expression, but there can’t be expression without allowing students to speak out against the inequalities occurring at McMaster and around the world?

McMaster advocates equality and a good education for all students but when it comes down to it, lines blur between the school and organizations who just want to advocate equality.

Where freedom of speech is taken away from human rights groups, it is given somewhere else, perhaps in a place where it should never be.

Recently, McMaster put out freedom of expression guidelines saying, “there are very narrow grounds under which McMaster should restrict or stop a speaker or an event”.

This may have been a reuslt of the Jordan Peterson incident, where a controversial psychology professor for the University of Toronto was invited to speak

RAZAN SAMARA / ARTS AND CULTURE REPORTER

at McMaster, who has claimed that he “does not recognize another person’s right to determine what pronouns he uses to address them.

For marginalized communities who have struggled to have their right to identifying themselves, allowing someone like Peterson to speak on campus is oppressive.

Given that choosing to identify yourself as you please is a legal right in Canada, it should definitely be supported on campus.

Though there are a number of student-run groups that do so, McMaster as a university should be more considerate of this in terms of indirect associations and possible interference.

I’m not in any way condoning violence. I am questioning why a person who violates the McMaster values was invited to speak at an event.

Nothing about Peterson emulates what McMaster is supposed to stand for. What he

advocated for in his lecture at McMaster was despicable, rude and politically incorrect. There is a line between types of protest: protest for human rights and protests that do not support human rights activism. McMaster needs to decide where it stands and what it supports.

This not only threatens the fundamental freedom of expression given to all Canadians by the Canadian government, but also what McMaster calls the freedom of expression it gives to its students.

The protests surrounding Peterson’s visit would have never happened if he was not allowed to speak at our university.

I hope that McMaster changes the way it approaches student protests because we, the students, are those who should represent McMaster.

Does our university want to be known as the one who encourages the silencing of student voices?

McMaster needs to reconsider what it places importance on. What is more important, the press rights of someone who speaks of traditional, politically incorrect ways or the press rights of someone who wants to change our campus into a safe environment, where students can express themselves freely? @theSilhouette

McMaster Students Union’s

EVENTS CALENDAR MSU VP and Speaker elections

Light Up the Night Monday April 9, 2018

April 7 & 8

Where: McMaster University Nominations for MSU Vice President and Speaker positions are open until April 7 at 10am. Those who wish to run for a position need only attend the SRA meeting at 10am in Gilmour Hall 111 (Council Chambers) on April 7. No campaign is required. The elections will be held by the Student Representative Assembly on April 7 and 8.

Any MSU member (an undergraduate student enrolled in 18 or more units) can run and will be nominated to do so at the SRA meeting. This election process gives each candidate the opportunity to speak to their qualifications and ideas, after which Assembly members will have the opportunity to question the nominees. Questions? Email: speaker@msu.mcmaster.ca

Stay Connected:

Where: McMaster University Time: 6:00pm to 11:00pm The fourth annual year-end block party will feature carnivalesque rides, games and food. Ride the Gravitron, have fun with friends in the Para-Trooper, or take in the view from the Ferris wheel. Stroll the street playing the midway games and enjoy traditional carnival food. In addition, Light Up the Night will boast a main stage, as well as a side stage. Special musical guests will include Scott Helman on the main stage, with even more talent on the side stage. In addition, the annual Last Lecture with Q&A in Celebration Hall will feature activist and journalist, Desmond Cole.

For more information, visit macblockparty.ca

/MSUMcMaster

90's & 2000's Throwback Night Monday, April 9, 2018

Where: McMaster University Time: 11:00PM to 2:00AM Join us for the final NIGHTLIFE event of the year McMaster! Swing by after Light up the Night to dance the night away.

Door time: 11 PM. $5 entry before midnight.$10 after. 19+. All guests must be signed in by a McMaster student. 1 guest per student. No guest list available.

Check out the full Events Calendar at: msumcmaster.ca/events

@MSU_McMaster

msumcmaster.ca

OPINION

www.thesil.ca | Thursday, April 5, 2018

| 15

Where credit is due McMaster should consider offering an option that doesn’t leave a W on your transcript Reem Sheet Opinion Editor

University of Toronto offers an option for students that McMaster should start looking into. The credit/no credit option allows students to designate certain courses to show up on their transcript as either a credit or no credit as opposed to the GPA being shown.

Students may select up to two credits out of the 20 needed to graduate at University of Toronto.

This applies to degree students at all University of Toronto campuses, including University of Toronto, Mississauga.

The equivalent to this at McMaster would be being able to use the option for either four one-term courses, two full-year courses or a combination of both.

This mode of assessment can be applied as long as it is no later than the last day to drop

the course.

In order to achieve a status of Credit (CR), students must have a final mark of at least 50 per cent.

Marks that are below this requirement would be assess as No Credit (NCR). Courses with a final status of CR will count still qualify as degree credits and will have no effect on student’s GPAs. The only possible downfall is that though the courses will not affect students’ GPA, they would count as Distribution Requirements and degree credits, but can not be used to satisfy program requirements.

Courses with a final status of NCR do no count as degree credits, but will not count as failures or factor into GPA calculations.

This is an effective option for students that McMaster should consider making available to students.

Not only would it take away

the stress of receiving a poor grade in a course, but it would also prevent students from having to worry about explaining why they have a “W” for withdrawal on their transcripts if they need to drop a course.

Given that the usual course load for students is 15 credits in one semester, the stress of a full course workload would be diminished and students would be able to invest in the course content more thoroughly instead of having to worry about merely getting a grade that would satisfy a required GPA.

Courses with a final status of CR will count still qualify as degree credits and will have no effect on student’s GPAs.

In addition, it would allow students to experiment in different academic areas that they may not be familiar with or consider taking courses out of interest without worrying about excelling in it or the grade that might appear on their academic record or transcript.

It would also allow students to take a course without worrying about severing their reputation with the professor, as the professor would not know which students are taking the course for CR/NCR and which are taking it for the grade.

If, for whatever reason, you have declared NCR in the course and you end up deciding that you want the grade instead, you would also have the option to undo the designation up until the last date to drop the course.

As emergencies and life often get in the way of work when we least expect it, this would be an effective option. It would allow students to maintain their

GPAs and still manage to swerve what life throws at us.

Although McMaster does offer the option to submit a McMaster Student Absence Form, this option addresses concerns that an MSAF does not cover.

For full-term courses that are more difficult to escape, the Credit/No Credit option would allow students to not have to commit to a course they may not enjoy and drag on for two semesters.

This mode of assessment addresses areas the McMaster University has yet to. As exam season nears, I can’t help but think how this option could have saved me for some of my courses and I’m sure that many other students feel the same way.

@ReemSheet

GRANT HOLT / PRODUCTION COORDINATOR

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BUSINESS

Thursday, April 5, 2018 | www.thesil.ca

What lies ahead for today’s graduates Looking at real estate options and opportunities for young adults

THE SILHOUETTE PHOTO ARCHIVES Matthew Presz Contributor

For many students, it has been a smooth transition from residence in first year to a home off-campus for the remaining years of university. Rents would typically be around $500 per month for a room in a house of approximately four to eight students, or $1,000 to $1,200 per month if students opted for more privacy in a condo apartment.

There are also many who chose the commuter life in anticipation of having to payback those dreaded student loans or simply wanting to live at home.

Regardless of housing decision throughout the degree, most of McMaster’s graduates will leave with greater knowledge, more skill, a better network and a hefty sum of student debt.

What lies ahead for our dear graduates? Social media has been littered with articles about rising home prices in Hamilton, especially in light of the New West Harbour Go Station and impending revitalization of Barton Street.

Canada’s banking regulators

have also imposed a stress test, as of Jan. 1, 2018, which slashes affordability, and seems to have the greatest impact on first-time homebuyers.

However, when it comes to affordability, there are ways to get creative when deciding how and when to jump into the home ownership circle.

Rather than running straight to the bank for a pre-approval,

Don’t rush into any decisions when dealing with funds of a large scale and definitely do not be discouraged.

There is light at the end of the tunnel for all McMaster graduates who surround themselves with proper due diligence.

a mortgage broker could offer an alternative lending solution that is not subject to the new stress-testing imposed by the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions.

Or how about help from parents? This does not mean gifted money, as only a few families could afford this, but it could be in the form of access to a Line of Credit, which would still be the burden of the recent grad. However, it would make a down payment feasible, limit mortgage default insurance costs and essentially create an extension of the upcoming mortgage.

Financing aside, let us discuss some of the options when deciding where to live. You may have rented a room near McMaster for the past couple of years, but you won’t want to be buying there as a personal residence, unless you are offsetting the mortgage through rental income of the other bedrooms.

The average price of a home within one kilometre of the university over the past six months has been $594,461. Let’s compare that with an average selling price of $305,191 in north

Hamilton and $424,714 on the Hamilton Mountain. The stated prices have only comprised of freehold properties, no condo or maintenance fees included, so that a more fair comparison can be seen.

A common theme that I have seen for alumni who wish to work and live in Hamilton upon graduation has been to secure a steady job and rent for one to two years while paying off student debt and saving for a down payment. This is followed by the purchase of a home whereby prospective rent could subsidize the mortgage.

Take, for example, a bungalow on Hamilton Mountain that costs $425,000 and has a separate entrance into the basement equipped with a mini kitchen, bathroom and two bedrooms.

While the mortgage, utilities, home insurance and property taxes would likely run approximately $2,500 per month, that homeowner would also be able to charge upwards of $1,200 per month rent for the basement, leaving them with monthly home expenses of $1,300 per month.

Compare that cost of a

freehold bungalow with the purchase of a one bedroom condo apartment in Hamilton, which is selling for an average price of $300,000 along with monthly condo fees of $300; total monthly costs at approximately $1,750. Often times, smarter investments do not have to cost more, and will end up costing less than rent in many cases.

The key to making a sound real estate investment is knowing all of the options at play, which can be used in conjunction with proper planning and budgeting. There is no such thing as equilibrium when it comes to the real estate market.

The prices are driven by sentiment, which in turn leads to favourable conditions for those who have prepared accordingly.

Don’t rush into any decisions when dealing with funds of a large scale and definitely do not be discouraged. There is light at the end of the tunnel for all McMaster graduates who surround themselves with proper due diligence. @theSilhouette

The Silhouette | 17

www.thesil.ca | Thursday, April 5, 2018

ders and n o w e h t f One o owntown d f o s ie it d a od ecture has it h c r a n o t Hamil lect and g e n , e is m ro history of p gence esur potential r

Arts & Culture Razan Samara A&C Reporter

On 77 James Street North lies the entrance to a peculiar building.

Vintage lettering reading “City Centre” greet those who pass by from the top of a glass canopy supported by teal blue columns. Brick walls pose an ominous presence to anyone looking at it from the outside and the obsessively symmetrical architecture follows a strict pastel colour palette on the inside.

The building is known as the Hamilton City Centre, but I did not know that as I ran through its doors for the first time last September in an attempt to seek refuge from a sudden thunderstorm. As I passed white pillars, peach-coloured patio umbrellas and blue-stained glass, it felt more like walking through a Wes Anderson film than a shopping mall.

Tired faces resided behind vendors in the food court and many of the shops were either closed or boarded up. Yellow tape and caution signs signalled ongoing renovations on the lower level, but for how long? I couldn’t tell.

I left the building feeling a mix of astonishment and confusion.

Months later, I still think about the building that’s often forgotten. The three-story building spans several blocks along the busiest street in Hamilton, yet not many people know

much about it.

A more deliberate look into the City Centre unveils stories of exciting beginnings, difficult times burdened by bankruptcies and new possibilities for a building shy of 30 years old.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Canada’s largest department store at the time, Eaton’s, had joint ventures with development companies in an ambitious effort that would ensure new shopping centres would contain or were within close proximity to an Eaton’s store.

During the same time, the provincial government launched a multi-million dollar Ontario Downtown Renewal Program in partnership with Eaton’s Retail Company to revive downtown retail areas, like Hamilton’s downtown core. In 1990, the Hamilton Eaton Centre, which we know today as the City Centre, officially opened.

At face value, the ODRP seemed to be the perfect opportunity for small cities. There were optimistic market projections and low vacancies across the province. While some malls benefited from funding, there was little to no consumer analysis done for the program.

Not to mention that boutiques and small businesses along the streets suffered from the development projects and many of the shopping centres themselves were inaccessible due to lack of free parking.

Soon enough, shopping centres became unstable all over the province as consumers

continued to take their business to the suburbs and the economy entered the worst of the recession.

As the Hamilton Eaton Centre neared its 10-year anniversary, leasing contracts came to an end and most were not renewed. The Eaton Company was annexed by the Bay and they filed for bankruptcy in 1997, while most of their stores were liquidated by 1999.

The Hamilton Eaton Centre was sold for five per cent of its construction cost in 2000.

It’s important to note that other Eaton Centres around the province didn’t fail as badly as Hamilton’s. Whether it’s due to fierce competition from Limeridge Mall, the Bay’s refusal to take over the vacant space or the increased gang activity in the area, the City Centre’s demise is still a mystery waiting to be unravelled.

To this day, the City Centre has not fully recovered. It’s mostly used for offices and some discount retailing, but it’s undeniable that the space holds great potential.

The lower level is now home to Thunder Alley, a 40,000 square feet entertainment complex that currently has a few bowling lanes open.

The $3.5 million project was originally proposed in 2014, but has been on a standstill until a new developer decided to take over last year.

Even though the project is still in the midst of figuring out licensing, the City Centre will

hopefully soon see 20 bowling lanes, an arcade, restaurant, bar and stage for live music.

In many ways the City Centre is a metaphor for Hamilton’s struggle to revitalize downtown.

Despite the bankruptcies, recession, a few notable crimes and rumours of shady developers, the City Centre is still standing.

And so is Hamilton. The

city is changing at a remarkable rate every day.

What the future holds for the City Centre is unknown, yet I can’t help but feel that it’s on the brink of something exciting.

Just like the future of Hamilton, I’m looking forward to embracing it. @theSilhouette

GRANT HOLT / PRODUCTION COORDINATOR

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A&C

Thursday, April 5, 2018 | www.thesil.ca

Bubble tea

After four years, the Silhouette and its staff have helped me foster a love for Hamilton and a future in food journalism

Meals and memories:

Daniel Arauz A&C Editor

How should I remember these past four years?

As one of the many graduating staff members at the Silhouette, I think a lot of us are thinking and obviously writing about how to make sense of the past four or more years at McMaster and at the paper. My life has been structured around the weekly publication schedule since first year.

The paper has also helped me realize some of most important passions: writing and food. I realize that even when I leave here, I want to continue to write about the stories behind the food in this city: the restaurants, cafes, candy shops, bakeries and convenience stores.

The truth is that I’m just getting started in food writing.

There’s too much technique and history to learn in and out of the kitchen before I can really call myself a food writer.

For now, and for the last time, I can only share my story with decent writing, good food and better friends.

Contrary to its sugary content, this milk tea dessert drink marked a period of growing up, and it was one of the first ways I started to explore my city through food.

Ever since I was a child, bubble tea was the “downtown treat”. Bubble tea shops were no- where to be found in the suburbs of the Hamilton mountain. When my parents and I had to stop by Jackson Square or the Farmers’ Market, we would stop by the Japanese candy and bubble tea shop, Doremi, which has since moved to Westdale as Kuma’s Candy.

By my early teens, I had the freedom to bus downtown with a couple of friends. Often the sole reason for these trips were to enjoy the summer weather with a bubble tea from D’s Café.

Doremi may have moved to Westdale, and D’s is still a bit too high school to revisit, but in a clichéd, full-circle moment, there is a new bubble tea store that opened in Jackson Square this year: Justeas. While there is no shortage of these places throughout downtown, I think Justeas may legitimately be my favourite. Their golden tapioca pearls, and the best damn taro I’ve ever had helps, but really, it just feels good to still be that

kid that’s found a reason to be excited about a trip to Jackson Square once in a while.

Big Dinner with a best friend — the Burnt Tongue I met the first, and best friend I made at McMaster through the Silhouette. Rachel and I were both volunteer News writers, and she was pretty sure I hated her until I invited her to get coffee and work on a philosophy paper at Democracy (a move that was so cliché Hamilton hipster-wannabe that I still kind of cringe about it.)

Nonetheless that move kind of marked a safe way of getting to know each other: go out, get food and drink at a new place. I got to show some of my favourite places, and learn about new ones along the way, and she would eventually return the favour when she took me around her favourite spots in Toronto.

By second year we were close, and we both knew that we were both going through an extremely difficult semester. I felt incredibly lonely, and one day, to kind of kill time and to take a break from campus food, I bussed downtown during a

heavy snowstorm, bundled up and miserably walking down James Street until I got into the Burnt Tongue.

I ordered a large butternut squash soup with apple and a bun for the side. I sat myself at the bench outlooking the snow.

It was sweet, hearty and cozy. It reminded me of the soup that I would only ever get when some extended family members brought it to Thanksgiving dinner, and it was maybe this memory that reminded me that this meal needed to be shared.

I later wrote an article about the business in the paper, but Rachel and I made a regular habit of coming to the Burnt Tongue just before my Thursday night classes. This tradition partially inspired the creation of our Culinary Class Acts section, which has since included nearly every restaurant that we have regularly visited as part of our own Big Dinner, and even staff dinner outings.

By third year, Thursday night dinners together turned to Tuesdays, as a means of getting us out of The Silhouette office at a reasonable time. The principle though has always been the same: no matter how good or bad the week’s been, we always made time to share a meal together.

I realize that even when I leave here, I want to continue to write about the stories behind the food in this city: the restaurants, cafes, candy shops, bakeries and convenience stores.

C/O DANIEL ARAUZ

C/O RACHEL KATZ

A&C

www.thesil.ca | Thursday, April 5, 2018

Pokeh + Golden Brown The moment that I knew that there was something in me that wanted to pursue food writing was after writing one of the features in second year. After fumbling in the role for some time, I finally put out a piece that I felt wholly satisfied with: a double feature showcasing the Farmers’ Market’s Pokeh bar, and the Barton Street Korean take-out restaurant Golden Brown.

Pokeh’s Hawaiian seafood rice bowls was the first stand of its kind in Canada. Salar’s farmers market experiment was a resounding success, and that summer, Poke restaurants were popping up all over Toronto.

We were one of the first publications to write about them. That was a proud moment, but more importantly, I think the reason why I come back to this piece so often is that it also highlighted a potentially role we could play in the community. Our food articles did well. We could cover emerging restaurants in the city, while still paying mind to our student audience. There was an active conversation behind every piece of food writing that you read in the past two years.

the one table in the room, it really made you feel as though you were invited into someone’s home. I really wish that some of the friends that I’ve made since then could have tasted that sweet and spicy Korean fried chicken on top of a perfect bed of white rice. I didn’t know it could be done, but Julia perfected white rice and I wish my friends today could have had just one more bulgogi gimbob.

I miss them dearly, but I am forever grateful that Julia shared her story with us, and indirectly showed how much love and passion I can have for trying to tell these stories. I am happy to have had a job that let me share these stories and make friends that helped make these articles possible every single week.

Everything that the Silhouette has given me: a passion for writing, a greater love for this city, these amazing friends and four years of fond memories with them — I will choose to remember it through the food we ate and the people that I lucky enough to share it with. @danielarauzz

We could cover emerging restaurants in the city, while still paying mind to our student audience. There was an active conversation behind every piece of food writing that you read in the past two years.

But there is really one reason why I keep going back to this article.

Golden Brown closed just a few months after the piece was published.

Julia and her son, Jake, were the two loveliest restaurant owners I’ve ever met. Their space reflected that, with every detail painstakingly decorated and crafted by the owner. Jars of homemade kimchi lined the walls. It was take-out place, but for those who chose to seat at

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| 19

20 |

A&C

Finding your footing On making a new city feel like home Rachel Katz Managing Editor

When I first moved to Hamilton in the fall of 2014, I’d visited the city once before, for a tour of McMaster. It was a bo ny, grey day in November, and most of what I remember is a confusing maze of campus parking and one-way streets. The trip culminated in an accidental voyage up the mountain, and although I didn’t know it at the time, it was my first bird’s eye view of the city I would come to love almost as much as the city where I grew up.

In the years that have followed, Hamilton truly has come to be a second home, one that has allowed me to try to be a grown up for the first time. And while so many intersections, shops and views of the city feel like places where I belong now, I still remember what they all looked like when they were new to me.

Do you know what I mean?

That feeling where your surroundings look like the set from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari?

Everything seems a bit too big for itself. The angles are too sharp, the layout just abnormal enough to stick with you. Eventually those edges smooth and

become familiar, but sometimes if you look closely, you can see where you used to think that corner or table or window was, superimposed on the reality of the space.

Hamilton’s unfamiliar edges were smoothed in a few ways. The first was through early — and lasting — friends I made in my first year. I went out with friends who were from out of town and wanted to explore different parts of our new home.

And I became best friends with someone I met at my first meeting at the Silhouette, a person and a place that both became integral parts of my undergraduate experience.

But I also spent a lot of time alone in first year, and as an avid runner I made it a mission to map my newly expanded world. Every time I left campus for a morning run, I could feel the borders of what I knew about Hamilton expanding, and along with it, my sense of belonging. As I prepare to finish my undergraduate degree and potentially leave Hamilton, I’m left trying to link all these places together and preserve exactly how it came to feel like home.

The staircases

TIMOTHY LAW / PRODUCTION COORDINATOR GRANT HOLT / PRODUCTION COORDINATOR MADELINE NEUMANN / PHOTO EDITOR

Thursday, April 5, 2018 | www.thesil.ca

I can’t claim to remember old school King William the way some of my older or more Hamiltonian friends do, but I do remember that the first few memorable outings I went on in Hamilton were treks to the downtown street. I went to Homegrown Hamilton with my parents after my tour of McMaster, and I later returned with a good friend to celebrate

the completion of our first semester of university. Similarly, I remember figuring out how to bus downtown one night in September to make it to a show at Baltimore House. Both these Hamilton institutions disappeared over the course of my undergrad, but they remain some of my earliest familiar places in the city.

A short jaunt down James Street from King William lies one of my favourite places on earth: the Brain. My best friend and I became regulars there in second year, and it was love at first beer.

I’ve written about my favourite bar and place to hang out in the Sil before, and if you know me, I’ve no doubt recommended you check it out (just maybe not for a first date). Nevertheless

it bears repeating that feeling at home here made me feel at home in Hamilton unlike any other place in the city. I credit the Brain with so many relationships I have within the city, and I remain convinced that it exists outside of time. There’s probably a portal to its twin bar on the other side of the world somewhere in the basement, but that’s just a hunch.

My apartment

In second year, I felt more secure in my understanding of the structure of the downtown core.

I knew which buses went where (after making many mistaken trips on the 5/52 in first year and having to walk all the way to the end of north quad) and I was getting a bit tired of running the same downtown loops along King, Main and Aberdeen. I began to add the Waterfront and Princess Point Trails into my roster of routes, and during a

confusing and emotionally taxing year, these quiet spots provided me with a space to breathe and take in my surroundings away from other people. I loved getting to see how the trails looked during each season, and figuring out that the Waterfront Trail was a quieter, albeit longer, route to some of my favourite parts of downtown made me feel like a bit more of an insider in the city.

A&C

www.thesil.ca | Thursday, April 5, 2018

| 21

After seeing the city’s northern edge, I wanted to find that bird’s eye view again, this time without my parents frantically checking a road map. One of my favourite discoveries in Hamilton was that I could literally run up the mountain via multiple staircases that clung to the side of its face.

I loved scaling the metal stairs

while it was still dark out and watching the city wake up below.

It was — and remains — such a peaceful and rewarding start to a long day.

By the end of my second year, I could effectively navigate the city on my own, from main streets to quiet neighbourhoods to trails. And while I had people like my friends and housemates who made Hamilton feel like home, I didn’t have a place that made that same impression.

That changed when I toured the apartment I’ve now lived in for two years with two different roommates. The bright yellow front door immediately sold me, and seeing that the unit was my lucky number felt like a good omen. I remember how optimistic I felt when I crossed its threshold for the first time, and I wasn’t disappointed.

It was perfect; lots of natural light, with plenty of cozy, bright spaces and a kitchen that actually had a little bit of counter space. It was vacant at

the time, but I could already see how my roommate and I were going to make it feel like home.

We signed the lease almost immediately, and in the months between the signing and moving in, I ran by the building almost every week. I learned where all the side streets went, figured out which coffee shops were closest and altered my old, favourite running routes to adapt to what would become my new start and finish point.

Over the past two years, that little apartment has smoothed unfamiliar edges in the city in a way no other place has. I cooked, like really cooked, for the first time in that kitchen.

I hosted my first dinner parties there. I finally lived somewhere where I was happy to just spend time.

Waterfront trail

The Brain Kin

g S t

King William

I could tell you about so many of my other favourite places; the otter stencil near James and Cannon, the ship-shaped play structure at the Bayfront, the always interesting area just outside Jackson Square. But Hamilton is also your city to find your way in, so go and find it. @RachAlbertaKatz

22 |

GAMES

Thursday, April 5, 2018 | www.thesil.ca Puzzle 1 (Medium, difficulty rating 0.50)

5 5

9

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Generated by http://www.opensky.ca/sudoku on Mon Apr 2 18:24:47 2018 GMT. Enjoy!

Puzzle 2 (Medium, difficulty rating 0.46)

5

Across 1. Woody inhabitants of forests 6. Sunscreen ingredient 10. Bud’s bud 13. Grocery lane 14. Robbie’s daredevil dad 15. Informal test 16. Selfish sort 17. Developer’s purchase 18. Wrinkly fruit 19. Arise (from) 20. Crazy 22. Playground retort 24. Home on the range 28. ____ public 31. Cave-dwelling dwarf

32. Praise highly 34. Always, poetically 36. Salinger girl 37. Guido’s high note 38. Made ineffective 41. Call, in poker 42. Circular band 44. 10th letter of the Hebrew alphabet 45. Kitchen gadget 47. Fragment 49. Seep through, biologically 51. Dinner jacket 53. Disney honcho 56. In the right

59. Fired 61. Touch down 64. Prolific “author” 65. Muscateer?

66. Cafeteria carrier 67. 100 dinars 68. Verso’s opposite 69. Passbook abbr.

70. ABA member 71. When You Wish Upon ____

8

2

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Generated by http://www.opensky.ca/sudoku on Mon Apr 2 18:24:47 2018 GMT. Enjoy!

Puzzle 3 (Medium, difficulty rating 0.50)

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Down 1. Uses a shuttle 2. Lasso 3. Glacial ridge 4. Rudimentary component 5. Sun. speech 6. Previous monetary unit of Spain 7. Rara ____ 8. Playwright Henley 9. Native Alaskan 10. Schlep 11. Petroleum 12. Israeli weapon 15. Ask 20. Parti-coloured

1

1

8 21. Understand 23. Time for lunch 25. Sheriff’s band 26. Fudd of cartoons 27. Gen. Robt. ____ 29. Peruses 30. Nevertheless 32. Nobelist Root 33. Antianxiety drug 35. Shrink back 37. Previously 39. Sticky substance 40. Improvised bed 43. Avaricious 46. Christen anew

48. Banned pesticide 50. Humbly 52. Scarlett of fiction 54. Precise 55. Oscar de la ____ 57. Monogram ltr.

58. Outer garment 60. Designer Christian 61. Old Ford 62. It often follows you 63. Day break?

65. Man-mouse connector

9

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Generated by http://www.opensky.ca/sudoku on Mon Apr 2 18:24:47 2018 GMT. Enjoy!

The Silhouette

www.thesil.ca | Thursday, April 5, 2018

| 23

Sports All the way up Second-year wrestler and new national champion Benjamin Zahra spearheads a reinvigorated wrestling program that is set to take over Canadian wrestling Griffin Marsh Contributor

As the Ontario University Athletics’ wrestling season concludes, second-year Benjamin Zahra and the McMaster Men’s Wrestling team have a lot to celebrate and even more to look forward too.

In the Feb.8 edition of this newspaper, the excitement surrounding the revitalzied men’s wrestling program was highlighted, reinvigorated under a new coach and bustling with excited talent.

Now with the season fully in the rear view mirror with all of the final tournament results, there is a lot to celebrate.

The standout wrestler in this program, as was the case earlier in the season, is Ben Zahra who remained in perfect form as his championship season came to an end.

In February, Zahra provided the Marauders with their lone provincial championship medal — a bronze in the 76 kg category in what was a grueling battle to the podium.

But the Kingston, Ontario native was on a different level at the National Championships in Montréal in late March. Zahra finished on top, with a gold in the 79 kg category while being dominant from beginning to

THE SILHOUETTE PHOTO ARCHIVES

end.

Through the U Sports National Championships, Zahra did not concede a point in three matches. Zahra won with a pin in the first match and with a technical score of 11-0 and 10-0 in the semifinal and final, respectively.

While a podium finish is an extremely impressive accomplishment for a U Sports competitor, the fashion in which Zahra wins is of special consideration. The young wrestler’s focus and perfection he brings into his matches are key to giving him the results he desires.

“Going into tournaments this year, I always felt well prepared,” Zahra said. “I think that was because throughout the season, practices were so intense — both physically and mentally — that I always felt like the tournaments were the fun part.”

“It really helped knowing that going into tournaments that all the work had been done at practice, and all that was left was to go out and enjoy it,” Zahra added.

While this gave an eye into the focus and persistence Zahra brings to the mat, he was also willing to notice when it had not gone how he would have liked.

“Although I felt like juniors was a big success for me, the next day at senior nationals I

Zahra defeated Montreal YMHA’s Aaron Orszak to win the National Gold Medal.

C/O KEVIN MACLELLAN

felt like I definitely underperformed,” explained Zahra. “A few mental lapses left me losing matches to guys I definitely should have beat, and helped remind me I still have lots of adjustments I have to make.”

This shows the mentality that Zahra is bringing towards his growth from here. He is performing and succeeding at a high level, even grabbing victories at the senior level earlier in the season, but he is not nearly done.

Part of this drive should be credited to first-year coach, Cleo Ncube. In conversations with coach Ncube earlier this season, he put the responsibility for actions and performance right into Zahra’s hands, pushing him to take this opportunity and make it something special.

To cap off this fantastic season, Zahra will be representing McMaster and Canada in Slovakia at the Junior World Wrestling Championships in September. For Zahra, this is a huge honour and another step in the right direction.

“Representing Canada has always been a goal of mine in this sport,” Zahra said. “I’m ea-

ger to wrestle overseas and really look forward to any international tournaments that might be in the near future.”

Overall, this leaves Zahra and McMaster, under coach Ncube’s guidance, in a very good position moving forward.

Looking through the McMaster roster, this team has experience and fresh energy, a fact Ncube was excited for, suggesting he was seeing positive progress from all elements of his roster.

Based on the words of their current competitive leader, Zahra, it is easy to be excited for the entire program. The dynamic of wrestling as simultaneously an individual and team sport is interesting, and Zahra commented how that reality plays out for him.

“Wrestling from a team and individual perspective is like no other sport,” Zahra said. “At Mac, we have a really great team dynamic and help each other out as much as we can.”

For Zahra, that balance was divided between the time on and off the mat.

“On the mat is where the individual side of wrestling takes place,” explained Zahra. “You are

in complete control of your own effort, focus, and commitment to training. Off the mat, there are always veterans that step in and help out where they can.”

Still, he added that he takes the energy and passion of seeing a teammate perform well on the mat and lets that fuel his drive.

“It inspires me to do the same and this is another important team aspect of wrestling,” Zahra said.

This is why it is easy to be so optimistic for this team moving forward. The results are not the only element of this sport.

With a culture that inspires hard work, a coach that constantly asks for more and talent that is already performing at the highest level, McMaster wrestling will stay in the conversation for many seasons yet.

@theSilhouette

24 |

Thursday, April 5, 2018 | www.thesil.ca

SPORTS

Breathe in, breathe out What my first year covering sports taught me about myself Jessica Carmichael Sports Reporter

“Deep breath in, deep breath out” were the words I told myself as I approached the press box to cover my first game as a Sports Reporter for the Silhouette. It was the McMaster men’s football team’s 2017 pre-season game against the Saskatchewan Huskies, and as I tried desperately to blend behind my editor, I stood out. Black skin, big hair and the only woman in the room? In the sports industry, I attract attention to myself no matter what I do.

Despite my discomfort, I knew I was there for a reason.

So I shut out my thoughts, buckled down and focused on the action so I could write my first piece.

Don’t bother looking for that article because it does not exist. Although I pride myself on my writing, writing for sports was new to me — I felt like I had no idea what I was doing and it showed. I grew up playing sports, but I was by no means a sports expert. After some much-needed guidance from my Sports Editor, I tried again As the McMaster men’s soccer team geared up to play against one of their biggest rivals, the York Lions, I geared up to cover their match for my official first article. In preparation for this, I searched up examples of good soccer articles. It did not take long to discover that game coverage was not something I had any interest in reading, let alone writing. But the story behind a player’s rise to success, a coach’s first championship, or why a fan used their Make a Wish Foundation wish to meet their favourite athlete, were the stories I wanted to tell.

So for the remainder of the year, that is what I tried to do. I shared stories of the club teams who worked just as hard as the varsity teams with less than half the amount of funding. I wrote

about the importance of family in sports, both on and off the field. I helped athletes publish their experiences as Marauders and I explored how former Mac students got into the sports industry.

As I covered everything and anything sports-related at McMaster, I tried to tell stories that sports fans, non-fans and those who even hated sports, could enjoy. So if that meant taking a risk and hunting down athletes to talk about their style or how many sneakers they owned, stories that the stereotypical sports reader may not read, I did it.

And while I was writing for other people, I was also writing for myself. As someone with a variety of interests, I try to find harmony among them all. Originally the thought of doing this was scary. But my nerves that were present when I pitched some of my original story ideas, are minuscule to the positive reception I received from my editors.

As the Sports Reporter for such a progressive outlet, I have been given the opportunity to explore different areas using sports as a lens. Writing for the Sil was my first taste of what I believe my future has in store for me. As of right now, I do not know if I want to write articles on sports forever, but I do know

that both writing and sports will forever be a part of who I am and who I will become.

So as the world continues to advance and become more inclusive, I have hope that the sports industry will too. Though it probably will not be the last time I will be telling my self to breathe in and out, in fear of being rejected, this fear alone will not stop me from continuing to break that glass ceiling. I have already made it this far, so why not keep going. @jaaycharmichael

“

I do not know if I want to write articles on sports forever, but I do know that both writing and sports will forever be a part of who I am and who I will become.

Jessica Carmichael Sports Reporter The Silhouette

GRANT HOLT / PRODUCTION COORDINATOR

SPORTS | 25

www.thesil.ca | Thursday, April 5, 2018

“

That stomachturning anxiety is really now just excitement from getting to cover sports and continuing to share the stories of athletes that go beyond the box score.

Justin Parker Sports Editor The Silhouette

Getting on the court Reflecting on my time covering sports at McMaster

Justin Parker Sports Editor

In October of my third year at McMaster, I was sort of lost as I entered the second half of my degree. The inevitable end of my degree began to loom large over many of my conversations.

Family and friends, either out of genuine interest or idle conversation over the holidays, would inevitably attempt to discuss my post-degree plans with me.

At the suggestion of a close friend and encouragement from my family, I decided to get over any anxiety over my future and take steps into getting some experience that could resemble some sort of future career choice. The next week, I walked into the Silhouette office in the basement of the student centre and finally stepped out of my comfort zone.

Since that day, after countless articles, sports covered, athletes interviewed and friendships forged that I will cherish forever, I can truly

say I have loved my time here.

And I can owe that — at least in part — to sports.

As someone who has been obsessed with sports since my childhood, I have met many people who do not share in my obsession. Whether they were never exposed to sports growing up or just never found them interesting, a lot of people would not understand my love for watching millionaires play an arguably meaningless game.

But that’s totally missing the point. Sport is much more than goals scored in a season, triple-double records and debates over the best football player of all time. It is a chance to see thousands of people gathered together in a stadium to cheer for the same thing, or a family huddle around a portable black and white TV at a birthday party.

Not to mention the countless Saturday nights begging to stay up for the third period. It is a phenomenon that is truly unmatched in my eyes and has always played a significant part in my life.

Covering sports married my loves for reading, writing and sports perfectly. Contributing to the sports section then eventually stepping into the Sports Editor role this past school year has never truly felt like work.

In the 2016-2017 season, I went to nearly every men’s basketball game in Burridge. In that time, I gained a new appreciation for Ontario University Athletics basketball, and came face-to-face with what I have been hearing hopeful Canadian sports writers say for years: Canadian basketball is on the rise.

That same year, I got a chance to cover a couple of important football games as the

team made a push into the later stages of the OUA playoffs. I had the opportunity to interview the coach and players in the hallways next to the team’s dressing room — a lot like every postgame scrum I have seen on TV. I have since lost count how many times I have interviewed athletes and coaches in either post-game moments like that or at a wobbly table in the David Braley Athletic Centre. Yet, I still get that anxious feeling every time. While this feeling is less intense than in the past as I have gotten better at dealing with it, it has never fully gone away.

However, the only way for me to deal with that anxiety is to continue to put myself out there.

And covering sports constantly makes me do that. Reaching out to new people, meeting with them and then writing an article a number of people will read is all part of the job.

Covering the Marauders these past two years has helped me not live my life in the stands, no longer watching everything pass by (and no, it is not not lost on me that I do watch and cover games from the stands). I have personally seen and heard of the many ways in which sports has helped people achieve a healthier state of mental health. Covering sports has actually done the same for me.

Thinking back to my first day of being involved with the Silhouette, walking back and forth in front of that off-putting, long entrance, I am really glad I went in. That stomach-turning anxiety is really now just excitement from getting to cover sports and continuing to share the stories of athletes that go beyond the box score.

From football to badminton, volleyball to cheerleading, there are countless athletes whose stories deserve to be heard — and I am proud that I can help share them.

@justinparker81

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SPORTS

www.thesil.ca | Thursday, April 5, 2018

| 27

Skate, Mac, skate!

The McMaster men’s hockey club wraps up another long season of travel and tournaments led by coach Rob Wilkinson

C/O ROB WILKINSON Ryan Tse Contributor

Have you been following McMaster men’s hockey this year?

McMaster men’s hockey club coach and general manager Rob Wilkinson would be surprised if you have.

“Nobody really knows about us,” said Wilkinson with a laugh.

Marauder teams have once again enjoyed success across the board this season, highlighted by another provincial championship for the men’s volleyball team. But one sport most students are not aware of is the men’s hockey team, largely because it is a club and does not participate in the Ontario University Athletics. Yet this club of dedicated Mac athletes has been running strong for the past decade.

As a club, the men’s hockey team gets invited to play in six or seven tournaments a season, which roughly spans from October to February.

These tournaments take place at various schools around Ontario and Québec, such as St. Lawrence College, Bishop’s University and Sherbrooke University. Most of these schools

are part of the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association.

Beyond tournaments, the team also plays exhibition games against other school teams, including the University of Waterloo, the University of Toronto and Sheridan College.

They do not always have to travel, though — they face off against Mohawk College and Redeemer College a few times a year as well. Recently, the club played Redeemer on April 4 at Chedoke Arena, a local venue.

This is the ninth season behind the bench for coach Wilkinson, who organizes the tournaments for the team on top of his coaching duties. He is helped by his son Blair, a McMaster alumnus, who serves as the assistant coach.

It takes a lot of work for Wilkinson to oversee the club.

Still, he enjoys his role on the team and said it is rewarding to find opportunities for McMaster students to play hockey throughout the year.

“We’ve had a lot of kids get involved,” Wilkinson said. “It’s not just about how good you are — it’s how committed you are to helping out and how dedicated you can be.”

Funding and practice

time can be a challenge for the McMaster squad, but the players and coaches are willing to make financial and time sacrifices. To the coaches, it is all about the students and making sure that they can play the game they love.

Wilkinson takes particular pride in noting that the club is heavily involved in OCAA tournaments, despite not being part of the association. Because McMaster is not part of the OCAA loop, there are certain restrictions and fees that must be overcome to allow the club to participate. Nevertheless, the coaches and players find a way to attend several of them.

“Every year, we’ve had more tournament activity than any team that’s a member,” Wilkinson said. “All that means to me is we get more kids more activity.”

The club even has built up some traditions over the years.

Wilkinson mentioned an annual weekend trip to Brockville to play in a tournament before heading to Montreal for the night.

In Wilkinson’s time as a coach, he’s seen many different players wear the McMaster uniform on the ice. Despite the

low-profile nature of the club, he’s quick to note that there have been some very successful seasons.

“We’ve had a lot of kids get involved. It’s not just about how good you are — it’s how committed you are to helping out and how dedicated you can be.”

Rob Wilkinson Coach and General Manager Men’s Hockey Club “We’ve won quite a few championships,” Wilkinson said.

“One year, we won two tournaments in the same weekend.

Another year, we won the St. Lawrence College tournament and we won the Queen’s University Challenge cup in one weekend.”

“We won three tournaments one year,” he added.

This year has seen the team attend five tournaments so far.

While results are not the most important thing to Wilkinson and the club, McMaster has still done fairly well, coming away with a consolation championship and two semi-final appearances.

Typically, the club holds tryout skates at the beginning of the school year, where any McMaster hockey players are welcome to come skate and join the club. From there, the coaches select players from the large roster to go on tournaments, depending on the availability of the students.

Though McMaster lacks an official varsity men’s team, hockey still lives on through the McMaster men’s hockey club. Over the past decade, coach Wilkinson and the team have traveled all throughout the province, carrying maroon pride with them. So the next time someone mentions men’s hockey at McMaster, remember that Mac does have a presence on the ice. @theSilhouette

LATER, NERDS Final goodbyes from a large number of geeks makes for an emotional issue C1

THURSDAY

THE

HAMILTON SPECULATOR Transitioning into Volume 89 since 1934

April 5, 2018

NOTSPEC.COM

Local Editor-in-Chief thinks he’s Captain America They’re totally the same except one has actually accomplished something SAINT PETER VEGAS I can do this all day

Sean McGill, most known for hating fun and thinking he has more influence than he actually has, attempted to write the final editorial in a fashion reminiscent of his favourite superhero.

“Yeah, Steve and I go way back. I can use his first name because we are tight like that.

He’s been an inspiration ever since the movies came out,” said McGill, discarding literal decades of comic book history. “The parallel of black and white morality becoming more confusing and grey as time went

on really mirrored my own experience in university.”

Though McGill attempts to uphold the morals and ideals of the character, he is still not above calling people weenies and saying that people in the students union are nerds.

While McGill has a poster from Captain America: The Winter Solider on display in the office, it is extremely unlikely that Captain America has “SRA Meeting live blog: Motions for year-end celebration denied” on his wall to reciprocate.

It is currently unknown who the Bucky equivalent is, but sources hypothesize it was a

friend who graduated years ago.

They were not brainwashed.

They did not have a metal arm or try to kill McGill at one point. There is pretty much no connection between the friend and the background story that Bucky has, but according to McGill, “They were pretty cool.”

Moving forward, McGill will tear up a bit in the movie theatre if Captain America dies in Avengers: Infinity War.

T

What a majestic photo of Sean McGill. I can barely tell him and Chris Evans apart!

Another year, another storm Students union prepares for the curse of #Macblockparty SAINT PETER VEGAS Bring your raincoats

The last few years or so of surplus used for a giant celebration instead of improving current services would be a hit with students were it not for the fabled curse.

Legend has it that the 1971 incorporation of the students union as a non-profit organization without share capital under the Ontario Corporations Act included an unwritten

agreement. This included the inability to use extra capital for festivities.

Unfortunately, the use of “Light Up the Night” caused an ironic punishment that promises to continue to plague the event. Clouds and rain block have covered the sky year after year with the only brightness being from the lights below and thunderstorms above.

“Yeah, really wish someone told us before making the event.

Had some pretty poor transition

POLL: What was your favourite article?

The one I wrote

SPORTS

Give me more elections coverage, baby

I protest your protest pieces

I only read articles that confirm my current world view

The one about me getting out of the office for the final time

I once thought the Speculator was real

All of the above

WHAT IF THE FRIENDS WE MADE ALONG THE WAY COULD BE TRADED IN FOR GOODS AND SERVICES, THUS ACTING LIKE REAL TREASURES? A2

packages in the past, so we were only recently informed about it,” said Bear Peppers, former students union president.

Moving forward, this article will either be proven completely and 100 per cent factually right once the event takes place on April 9 or everyone will have a good time and the curse will be broken.

I’M STILL USING TRUNKS/GOKU BLACK/FRIEZA IN DBFZ, AND I’M PROUD OF BEING COMMITTED TO SOMETHING FOR THAT LONG B1

I’m pretty sure this is the only time the sun has ever come out during the event.

Tweets to the Editor Are we still going to get fire HSR takes?

So what are you doing next year?

- Peter, 19, has never been downtown

- Everyone, many ages, please stop asking

Disclaimer: The Hamilton Speculator is a work of satire and fiction and should not under any circumstances be taken seriously. Have fun next year.

INSIDE

DO YOU THINK NEXT YEAR WILL BE ABLE TO KEEP UP WITH THE SPECULATOR’S EXTENDED LORE? SURVEY SAYS MAYBE C3 THANKS FOR ALL THE FISH D4

PER ISSUE: Someone still needs to hire me, so my cover letter and résumé are hiding in here somewhere