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Volume 51 - Issue 12

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January 17, 2018

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theeyeopener.com

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@theeyeopener

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Since 1967

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That’s a dildo!
The RSU and the case of the mysterious sex toys
PHOTO: CAMILA KUKULSKI
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2 Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018

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Wednesday, Jan 17, 2018
Who’s sending sex toys to the RSU?
Mysterious toys, electronics and dildos are being sent to the Ryerson Students’ Union—and the sender is still unknown
By Alanna Rizza
The Ryerson Students’ Union
(RSU) has been receiving myste-
rious packages from an unknown
sender containing an assortment of
electronics and toys—including dil-
dos and vibrators.
RSU president Susanne Nyaga
said Amazon started shipping the
packages to the student union of-
fice just after orientation week
in September 2017. She said the
first package contained wireless
headphones, a Wi-Fi range ex-
tender and a tiny toy tank. There
was no information on the pack-
age indicating who the purchaser
was. Nyaga said she thought it was
strange and that the box must have
been sent by mistake.
“This is a lot of
money you’re
investing into a
prank”
But then more packages started
arriving to the RSU. At first, it was
one package a week, then it became
two per week, and at one point six
packages were sent in one shipment.
In the packages were an array of elec-
tronic items like earphones, chargers,
wires of all sorts and even keychains.
Oh, snap! Students waiting for their OSAP
Some students rely on OSAP to pay their living expenses. When they don’t get their funding quickly, they find themselves strained
By Emerald Bensadoun
Thousands of Ryerson students
rang in the new year without
OSAP and for some, that meant
worrying about paying for rent
and groceries.
The Ontario Student Assis-
tance Program (OSAP) is the main
source of financial aid for post-
secondary education in Toronto.
Once a student’s enrolment is con-
firmed, the federal government
provides financial assistance in the
form of loans and grants.
Ryerson’s Student Financial As-
sistance Office (SFAO) said that
before the winter break, it con-
firmed 19,917 of 23,672 applicants
were enrolled at Ryerson by check-
ing OSAP data against RAMSS en-
rolment figures.
On Dec. 27, the Ministry of Ad-
vanced Education and Skills De-
velopment started to release OSAP
funding.
Some unconfirmed students
require manual processing; this
includes students who haven’t
confirmed their addresses with Ry-
The most recent boxes, which the
RSU received a week ago, contained
several dildos and vibrators.
RSU vice-president equity Cam-
ryn Harlick said he was “shocked” at
how expensive and high-quality the
dildos he saw were. “One was like a
mint greenish multi-setting vibrator
with like a rose gold end and it was
so bougie,” he said. The other dildo
came outfitted in a pastel pink skin
with a rose gold tip.
The Eyeopener obtained one of the
dildos. It appears to match a model by
Libo, sold online for about $25.
Now, at least 30 packages ranging
in size and shape clutter the student
union office—including a corner of
RSU general manager Sid Naidu’s
office.
“Soon enough these boxes are go-
ing to keep piling up in my office
and it will become a fire hazard,”
said Naidu, half joking.
After the first few boxes arrived at
the RSU office in the Student Cam-
pus Centre, Nyaga and Naidu con-
tacted Amazon to find out who the
sender was. Amazon told them it was
a privacy issue to reveal that informa-
tion. Amazon also refused to take the
packages back since the RSU was not
their original purchaser.
According to Amazon’s return
policy on items a receiver didn’t
purchase, they can return the pack-
age by using the order number that
erson and international exchange
students, who have unique semes-
ter start and end dates which advi-
sors update individually.
Other unconfirmed files includ-
ed students with incomplete OSAP
applications, income restrictions,
academic progress restrictions,
and those not yet enrolled in win-
ter courses.
“I rely on OSAP for
70-80 per cent of
my living expenses,
in addition to
tuition”
By Jan. 10 and 11, the SFAO
had confirmed an additional 1,600
OSAP files and notified students
via email.
“We’re proud of our processing
times this year,” the SFAO said.
But some Ryerson students use
OSAP for more than tuition.
Ammar Karam, a Ryerson stu-
NEWS
RSU execs don’t know why someone would send them such “bougie” dildos.
is usually on the box. However, if
the item is purchased from a third-
party seller, the original purchaser
must be the one to return it.
Nyaga and Naidu have since
been trying to confirm that no cur-
rent or former RSU employee is
purchasing the items and having
them sent to the office. They con-
firmed that no one is purchasing
the items using the student union’s
money after checking RSU bank
account statements.
Naidu said he filed a report with
Ryerson security last semester and
he asked the university’s shipping
and handling department if they
knew who the sender was, but he
dent who switched to journalism
this year, had just enough money
saved to pay his rent, tuition and
housing bills off by Ryerson’s Jan.
12 tuition deadline.
He began budgeting to deter-
mine whether he could survive off
ramen noodles for breakfast, lunch
and dinner until his OSAP funding
was released.
In addition to paying tuition, “I
rely on [OSAP] for 70-80 per cent
of my living expenses,” said Karam,
who is unemployed.
By Jan. 12, Ryerson had re-
leased $208,634,740 of the total
$235,133,294 funding assessed for
OSAP loans.
According to the SFAO, now
that school is back in session, the
office will be regularly running
the confirmation of enrolment
processes. Students, the statement
read, can expect their enrolment
to be confirmed within days of en-
rolling in a full-time course load.
Second-year journalism student
Tiffany Mboyo also uses OSAP for
more than paying tuition. Mboyo
said that last semester, a deci-
hasn’t heard anything back. Ryerson
security did not respond to these
reports in time for publication.
Nyaga and Naidu said that since
they are always busy managing the
student union, they cannot make
the packages a priority. They haven’t
bothered to estimate the amount of
money spent on the items, but they
have had to come up with an “action
plan” on how to deal with the boxes
being sent in higher frequency.
Their next course of action is to
give the items away to charity. Most
of the items and boxes have already
been re-sealed and packaged.
Nyaga said she doesn’t know if
this is a prank or if someone has
Your OSAP should be coming.
sion to live off campus led to her
housing situation being processed
incorrectly. She was unable to re-
ceive full OSAP funding.
Mboyo commutes from her
home in East York during the
school year. In the summer, she
called and emailed the SFAO about
her change in accommodations.
Despite that, Mboyo said she had
to high tail it from her family home
in Guelph, Ont. to Ryerson’s cam-
pus to submit several pieces of
identification and proof of living
at the ServiceHub.
Even then, her OSAP funds
3
PHOTO: CAMILA KUKULSKI
just seriously gotten their own ad-
dress wrong.
“If this is a prank—good job. It
happened. This is a lot of money
you’re investing into a prank,” she
said. “At this point I have no idea
what this could be, it’s like a never-
ending prank and someone just has
all this money. I just have no idea
what the source of this is at all.”
Nyaga said she encourages the
sender of the packages to come to
the RSU office located on the third
floor of the Ryerson Student Centre
and collect them.
“Do you want your Amazon boxes
back? Because we’re good, we don’t
want them.”
PHOTO: IZABELLA BALCERZAK
were released a month late, she
said.
A full month late on her rent and
unable to purchase groceries or a
Metropass, Mboyo said she consid-
ers herself “very lucky” to have had
a landlord who empathized with
her financial situation.
To avoid a repeat of last semes-
ter this time around, Mboyo said
she went to the financial aid office
to manually enter her information.
OSAP students have until the
beginning of February before late
fees are charged to their student
accounts.
4 EDITORIAL
Find your place
My spot closed, doesn’t mean you can’t find yours
By Jacob Dubé
The Ryerson community has lost an
institution.
Before I started at Ryerson, my
mom told me I needed to try this
little hole-in-the-wall deli near cam-
pus—all the judges from the nearby
courthouse go there for lunch, she
said. I figured what was good for old
lawyers was good enough for me,
so I walked in, sat in an aged booth
with cushions that were falling off the
seats, and had a coffee. And another.
And a corn beef sandwich. Then I
was hooked for the next four years.
When I was a scared first-year
student, I didn’t know where to go
or what to do. But right off the bat, I
had the Mutual Street Deli. But after
60 years of business, they’ve closed
their doors for good.
It took a long time for the old
diner to feel familiar, but every time
I came in, the waitresses would get
a little friendlier, and would yell at
me a little less for picking up some
take-out five minutes late. I didn’t
get a chance to go at all one summer,
and when I finally returned, Anasta-
sia, our favourite waitress, shouted
“where have you been?”
It’s hard for Rye students to find a
place that feels like their own, espe-
Continuing
Studies at
OCAD
UNIVERSITY
E x p l o r e Yo u r C r e a t i v e P o t e n t i a l
A r t . D e s i g n . N ew M e d i a
E ve n i n g s . We e ke n d s . O n l i n e
C o u r s e i n f o a n d r e g i s t r a t i o n : o c a d u . c a /c o n t i n u i n g s t u d i e s
Ryerson_Sept2016_QuarterPage.indd 1
cially with such a cramped campus
that lacks personality. But Mutual Editor-in-Chief
Street is where I established who my Sierra “Scooby-Doo” Bein
friends are. We would meet there
every Tuesday after (or sometimes News
instead of) class and figure out what Annie “Daphne” Arnone
made each other tick over their fa- Jacob “Shaggy” Dubé
mous Twisted Chicken Joe or Break- Justin “Velma” Chandler
fast Pita. It was even OK if someone
occasionally ordered fish. Photo
Living in a big city isn’t easy. Camila “Alice May” Kukulski
Everything feels so stuffy and im- Kosalan “Fred” Kathiramalanathan
personal, which makes the idea of Samantha “Dooby-Doo” Moya
being a “local” so enticing. Having
a support structure of people that Online
know and care about you, even if it’s Karoun “Nova” Chahinian
just concentrated in one little spot, Alanna “Scooby-Dum” Rizza
is integral in feeling like you belong. Lee “Scrappy-Doo” Richardson
When I first moved to Toronto, the
Mutual Street Deli helped me feel Features
grounded in the city, and prevented Skyler “Yabba-Doo” Ash
me from just running back to my
room as soon as classes ended. Arts and Life
If you’re just starting at Ryerson Premila “Scooby-Dee” D’Sa
this semester or still haven’t found
your footing, go exploring around Sports
town and find yourself a place, some- Ben “Hex Girls” Waldman
where you can see yourself going for Peter “Thorn” Ash
years to come. Then, go take your
friends and family. And eventually Biz and Tech
you’ll find yourself in the middle of Sylvia “Luna” Lorico
an ecosystem that’s vanishing too
quickly in Toronto. Those judges are Communities
probably going to Chipotle now. Hayley “Dusk” Hanks
O ve r 1 5 0
courses in
3D Modelling
Animation
C r e a t i ve B u s i n e s s
D ra w i n g a n d P a i n t i n g
F i b r e a n d Fa s h i o n
Film and Video
G ra p h i c D e s i g n
Industrial Design
I n t e ra c t i ve M e d i a
M a r ke t i n g
P h o t o g ra p h y
Printmaking and Sculpture
Theory in Art and Design
UI and UX Design
Visual Analytics
We a ra b l e M e d i a
We b D e s i g n
Courses for Seniors
a n d Yo u t h
CONTINUING
STUDIES
8/23/17 3:27 PM
Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018
Fun and Satire
Emerald “Red Herring” Bensadoun
Nick “Beast” Reis
Brent “Smyth Wyth a Y” Smyth
Lidia “Avada” Abraha
Kiernan “Is it yellow? No it’s”
Media Green
Malachi “A Pup” Rowswell Michael “Of Themyscira”
Mikayla “Hot Dog Water” Fasullo D’Alimonte
Madison “Mad for Fashion” Henry
Copy Editor Sera “On point” Wong
Igor “Mayor Fred Sr.” Magun Sarah “Space” Chew
Lauren “8Tracks” Knowles
General Manager Emma “The Wall” Sandri
Liane “Angel Dynamite” McLarty Jesse “AI” Caplan
Urbi “Labour relations” Khan
Advertising Manager Sefi “The Instigator” Sloman
Chris “Professor Pericles” Roberts Parnika “Sleeping Beauty” Raj
Cassandra “Now Blonde” Sessa
Design Director Michael “Shaggy” Rolland
J.D. “Weerd abd Bogel” Mowat Andrea “Stoic” Josic
Interns This week, the Annoying Talking
Peter “Where” White Co fee Mug says Happy New Year! The
Rameez “Are” Hameed Mug hopes you had a good break and
Kintaro “You?” Skinner are back and ready to FUCK SHIT UP.
The Mug has noticed someone already
Contributors is... however, dear Random Dildo Deal-
Lyba “Black Magic” Mansoor er, ones that heat up, REALLY? That is
Dylan “The Record Man” Free- just so damn inattentive! Already hot
man-Grist up in there, DUDE.
Shakir “Lynda Honey, Listen”
Rimzy The Eyeopener is Ryerson’s largest
Juliana “Sandwiches?!” Kedzior and only independent student news-
Kaminski paper. It is owned and operated by
Sofie “Edits?” Ramirez Rye Eye Publishing Inc., a non-pro it
Matt “Pacino” Vocino corporation owned by the students of
Jacob “I Wish I Was a Little Bit” Ryerson. Our o ices are on the second
Stoller loor of the Student Campus Centre.
Maggie “Lacking Sauce” Macintosh You can reach us at 416-979-5262, at
Atara “The Real Deal” Shields theeyeopener.com or on Twitter at
Nina “There’s a Snake in My” Shu @theeyeopener.
Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018 NEWS 5

RSU execs meeting campaign promises

RSU executives’ terms are almost over. We spoke to them about what they’ve been working on for the last year and what they plan to finish

By The News Team
As the new year begins, Ryerson
Students’ Union (RSU) executives
are tallying their campaign prom-
ises, and gearing up to complete
the remainder of their work for
the semester. With the recent res-
ignation of vice-president student
life & events Lauren Emberson,
remaining executives—overseen
by RSU president Susanne Nyaga—
are obligated to divide Emberson’s
work amongst themselves until
elections in February.
Nyaga said that before her resig-
nation, Emberson wrapped up the
planning for her projects scheduled
for this semester, including the
Winter Week of Welcome, Cul-
ture Jam and the Montreal read-
ing week trip. Nyaga said the RSU
doesn’t have any other big events
planned, and would rather stick to
what they know they can do well.
Here’s a look at each executive’s
platform and what they’ve accom-
plished thus far.
Ali Yousaf - VP Operations
Yousaf says he’s met most of his
campaign promises, which included
implementing an online submission
and payment service for the Copy-
RITE printing service, relocating
the RSU’s lost and found services
and establishing a pop-up shop for
the Member Services Office (MSO),
where students can buy discount
Metropasses and movie passes.
Yousaf said a new CopyRITE
system will launch this week and
that policies are already in place to
automate the lost and found sys-
tem. “I’m hoping that by the end of
my term, that project will be done,”
he said.
Yousaf wants students to be able
to message an automated system to
check if their lost items have been
deposited at the SCC’s lost and
found. He says the RSU has worked
to centralize lost and found systems
around campus so that any items
collected are sent to the SCC after
two days.
The MSO pop-up shop was not
established this year. Yousaf said it
proved too difficult because the of-
fice moved to a new internal system
for managing pay and prices, set-
ting back the project by six to seven
months. Changing the lost and found
system also delayed that project.
Camryn Harlick - VP Equity
When running for vice-presi-
dent equity, Harlick addressed In-
digenous and accessibility issues
within his campaign, as well as the
assemblance of the Sexual Assault
Survivor Support Line (SASSL)
referendum. According to Harlick,
most of the pillars from his political
platform have been met, and are on
track to be completed by the end of
the school year, adding that his pro-
ficiency in achieving most of them
within the first semester is a good
accomplishment.
“The Canada 150 campaign is
done, Truth and Reconciliation
updates are done—I ran campaigns
FILE PHOTO
that dealt with colonialism and ac-
cessibility,” said Harlick.”
“For SASSL, we successfully ran
the referendum, which will more
than double our budget. So they
can become a full-fledged equity
centre.”
Harlick added that he is in the
process of meeting with Farrah
Khan, Ryerson’s coordinator for its
Office of Sexual Violence Support
and Education, in order to complete
his work on creating a sexual assault
policy for the RSU.
Daniel Lis - VP Education
Lis planned on bringing a transit
discount system at Ryerson, creat-
ing an internship grant project and
adding bike lanes on campus.
The Toronto Transit Commis-
sion (TTC) unanimously agreed to
back the U-Pass project in Decem-
ber. The discount U-Pass would be
administered on Presto fare cards.
All students at participating schools
would buy in and be eligible to use
the discount, since the pass would
be included in their tuition as a
levy. There would not be an op-
tion to opt out so students would
pay for the pass whether they use
it or not.
Lis said he expects the TTC
to come back with a price for the
pass in February. He would then
be able to come to Ryerson’s Board
of Governors to approve a referen-
dum to implement the pass, which
he said would probably happen in
September.
Lis said he’s been campaigning
for the Gould Street transition to
a pedestrian-only zone, but it isn’t
one of Ryerson’s priorities until the
new Daphne Cockwell Health Sci-
ences Complex on Jarvis Street is
completed.

Ex Soulpepper director
served on Ryerson’s Arts
Advisory Council
By Premila D’Sa
Albert Schultz—former artistic
director of Toronto’s acclaimed
Soulpepper Theatre Company and
a former member of Ryerson’s Arts
and Contemporary Studies Pro-
gram Advisory Council—is being
sued by four actresses for sexual
battery and harassment.
Schultz was on the advisory coun-
cil when it was established in 2010,
but hasn’t been a member since it
was reconstituted in 2013.
An outdated Ryerson webpage
still had Schultz listed as a council
member as of early January.
The page was removed soon af-
ter The Eyeopener reached out to
program director Stephanie Walsh
Matthews for comment on Jan. 10.
The four civil lawsuits alleging 30
specific instances were filed by for-
mer Soulpepper Theatre performers
Kristin Booth, Diana Bentley, Patri-
cia Fagan and Hannah Miller. Booth
graduated from Ryerson’s Theatre
School in 1997.
Two-hundred-and-eighty artists
signed an open letter backing the
actresses. Schultz resigned from his
post as artistic director after the al-
legations came out.
According to Ryerson’s Senate
policy, members of program adviso-
ry councils are volunteers meant to
provide “expert advice” on “program
related matters such as curriculum,
program review, technology and
trends in the industry.”

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6 FEATURES Wednesday, Jan 17, 2018

when we
were young
by Juliana Kedzior Kaminski

S
ome of us dreamt of being a ballerina that stars in The Nutcracker,
leaping gracefully across the stage in an elegant pink tutu. Some of us
dreamt of being an astronaut, exploring the depths of the universe.
Some have even dreamt of being the president of the United States even
though we’re Canadian. Our dreams led us to where we are now. And for most
of us, it’s not exactly what we imagined when we were kids.

Whether it’s due to loss of interest, fear of putting themselves out there or
unfortunate circumstances, many childhood dreams never become a real-
ity. Only 30 per cent of 8,000 surveyed professionals landed their dream job
or work in a related field, according to a 2012 LinkedIn survey. And accord-
ing to a study by an online career training resource, almost 70 per cent of
people who didn’t follow their childhood dream job were happy with their
current job. For the adults who did, nine out of 10 of them are still happy with the author, age 6
their job. There are so many reasons why people don’t follow their childhood
dreams. But that doesn’t mean that they can’t be happy doing something else.

or else she would’ve lost her balance and fallen on her face.
“There were a bunch of little kids watching me, and they all
sort of gasped, so I could tell that there was a visible difference
... so I just sort of did this weird shrugging motion, still on my
hands, popped my shoulder back in and finished the dance,”
says Goldsmith.
She was walking across the stage
upside down on her hands during
her solo routine when her shoulder
popped out of its socket
Since she was a child, Goldsmith thought she was going to
pursue a dance career. She had gone to an arts high school
where she studied drama. Outside of school she worked rigor-
Riley Goldsmith, age 3 ously to become an incredible dancer. But everything changed
Goldsmith’s mother also used to be a professional dancer
until the age of 17 when she lived in Montreal. Like mother,
like daughter. “She never wanted me to be a dancer ... she quit
because it was ruining her life and her body. The competition
is insane and with the strain that you have to put on your body
and mind to be a dancer. She never wanted me to do that. But
I fell in love with it anyways.” Her mother eventually stopped
performing and continued on with a psychology degree. Years
later, her daughter would do the same.
Psychology was something that Goldsmith could see herself
pursuing. She needs stability and organization in her life. And
seeing it now, a dance career would not have been able to give
her that. “You’re actually living paycheque to paycheque audi-
tioning and hoping for gigs. You have to pay for auditions that
you might not even get jobs for,” she says.
After high school, Goldsmith realized that she couldn’t live
without dancing. Currently in her first year at Ryerson, she
attends classes at The Underground Dance Centre in Toronto

B
when after her diagnosis. where she dances three times a week, despite the pain.

R
iley Goldsmith is now a first year psychology student,
but at 17 years old she had hoped to attend Ryerson
University’s performance dance program. However,
over a year ago she was diagnosed with a life changing con-
dition that diverted her path. A few years before that at an
extracurricular dance performance, Goldsmith, a then acro-
batic dancer, was walking across the stage upside down on her
hands during her solo routine when her shoulder popped out
of its socket. It was an excruciating pain, which followed by a
crunching noise. But she couldn’t look to see what happened
Doctors told her she had Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS)
when she was 16 years old. This means she has a larger than
normal range of movement in her joints. “[EDS] is the most
major thing in my life right now. I can’t walk down the
street without feeling pain. I can’t sit down for too long. I
can’t lie down at night. It affects every single part of my life.”
EDS affects 1 in 5,000 people worldwide. There is no cure
for it. “I stopped [dancing] for a year. In my Grade 12 year I
didn’t dance at all and it was the worst year of my life ... I fell
into such a deep depression and my anxiety skyrocketed,”
says Goldsmith.
ut psychology gave her something that dancing
couldn’t. As someone with autism, she also struggles
with understanding people’s thoughts, feelings and
emotions. Her program made it a lot easier to look at “some-
one as a brain with their own system.” But she still wishes she
could continue with dance.
“Every waking moment I wish that the past seven years of
my life never happened and I just constantly worked hard and
my body isn’t broken. My psychology lectures, I absolutely
love them, and for those three hours, I can say that I’m happy
with the choices that I’ve made.”
Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018
Alicia Chan, age 11
A
t the age of 11, Joshua-David Heath wanted to be a
marine biologist because he loved sharks, particularly
the great white. “There was a book that I was read-
ing called Tales of the Great White, which is a collection of
short stories all about great white sharks. I loved watching the
movie Jaws. It was actually phenomenal. I watched Jaws and I
started reading the book … I loved it so much and I learned so
much from it,” he says.
When Heath was a kid, he had heard a rumor that sharks
can’t get cancer. And that idea sparked his interest in the
species. He wanted to be a marine biologist so he could help
with medical advancements for humans. He wanted to help
people.
For a school project when he was 12, he made a shark-shaped
board for his project about the great white. It was made of two
bristol boards folded together. “I got help from my mom. We
made this big bristol board thing that was shaped like a shark
and it had all the information on it and it opened up. It was
really cool,” says Heath.
Even with a growing interest in sharks, Heath would even-
tually realize that he lacked the passion to pursue studying bi-
ology. “I still love animals … but after hearing my friends who
went through [biology] and literally complaining about it al-
most every day, I’m glad that I didn’t stick with it. My interests
had slowly changed over time.”
Heath is now in his first year of aerospace engineering at
Ryerson. His interest in the program stemmed from his time
A
bbey Humphreys-Morris always thought she would
follow in her family’s footsteps. Growing up in a fam-
ily of opticians she believed she would eventually end
up being one. As a kid, she would accompany her dad to opti-
cal showcases all over the world in convention centres like the
Javits Center in New York City. There, other opticians come
to look at frames and talk with one another. Opticians would
get together in one building, and to Humphreys-Morris, that
was really cool to see. Her father is the one talking to clients,
showing off products and making appointments in their opti-
cal company.
She thought she would be just like her parents, but that
didn’t end up happening. “I got to Grade 9 math and I went, ‘I
hate this. I can’t do math.’... I figured if I wasn’t good at it and I
didn’t like it then I didn’t want to do that anymore.”
It wasn’t just her disinterest in math that stopped her
from pursuing opticianry, she just didn’t have the same
passion for it anymore. “[My parents will] talk to me about
it and I’ll get into it but I have no drive of my own to do
it. I’ve helped them before … but it’s something I don’t see
myself doing. I can’t see myself in their shoes,” says Hum-
FEATURES
A
licia Chan had always dreamt of being a fashion de-
signer. She remembers watching shows like Project
Runway with her older cousins. But it wasn’t until she
received her first sketchbook for Christmas when she was sev-
en or eight years old that she finally put her dream to work.
It was one of those sketchbooks with a mannequin figure on
the pages and Chan would draw her designs on top of them.
When Chan was eight years old, she went to her very first
fashion designer summer camp at a local art gallery. There she
would make little outfits for her Barbie dolls.
“Listen Alicia, this is really cute. But
you’re never going to be a fashion
designer”
“They were all awful,” recalls Chan. “I made a tube top, and
then I cut the edges off of old curtains … and glued them onto
a fabric and I made them into a skirt.”
The camp was a two-week program, and it was also a place
where Chan would learn how to sew, tie-dye and transform
her old clothes. Outside of camp she made two dresses for her-
self. One of the dresses was made from a brown piece of fabric
from Fabricland with huge floral prints. Chan felt so proud
Joshua-David Heath, age 12
phreys-Morris.
Humphreys-Morris was fortunate to have parents that
never pressured her in joining the family business. “My par-
ents have always upheld the belief that you do what makes you
happy and money will follow.”
Now, Humphreys-Morris is in the process of switching
from the history program at Ryerson into creative indus-
tries. She had always loved history; as a child she would read
lots of historical fiction books about Cleopatra and Marie
Antoinette. She didn’t want to go to school for 11 years just
to become a history professor. There was something that
she couldn’t place about the creative industries program
that really enticed her. Having friends in the program she
knows there are lots of opportunities within it. She also likes
how there is more creativity to it than a history degree. She
wouldn’t be as boxed in.
She hopes that her younger self would be happy that she
found something she can see herself doing. “She would be
surprised at the major choice and what I would be doing as a
career, but I’ll also be surprised with what I’ll be doing in four
years. She’ll be surprised and I’ll be surprised.”
11
of herself because it was the first real fashion piece she ever
made. “It was exactly what fashion magazines were promot-
ing that summer and I felt so cool. It was the most fashionable
thing I had for two years.” She donated the piece when it got
too small on her.
But when Chan’s father told her she wasn’t good at design,
the fire inside her died. “I think I turned 11 or 12, when my
dad ... said, ‘Listen Alicia, this is really cute. But you’re never
going to be a fashion designer.’” He stopped buying her sketch-
books after that. She was sad for a summer but then she even-
tually got over it. Now, Chan considers fashion to be more of
a hobby for her. And although her dream died out, she moved
on quickly. Currently she is studying new media in Ryerson’s
RTA School of Media.
“I’m a huge cinematography person. I’m very big on aes-
thetic and on how something looks, how something is ex-
ecuted. The final product has to look good for me. I would
love to be a cinematographer or director of photography for
a big film.”
Chan is happy with where she is right now because in her
program she learns technical skills, yet is still able to express
herself creatively in a different way than fashion. To this day,
Chan will still pull out her old sketchbooks to look back at her
designs from when she was 10 years old.
spent as an air cadet. Investing his time in learning about
planes and how they work grew to become his new passion.
His love of aircrafts had started at an early age.
“After hearing my friends who went
through [biology] and literally com-
plaining about it almost every day,
I’m glad that I didn’t stick with it.”
“For the longest time I had a poster of the F/A-18 Hornet
on my wall signed by an actual Canadian Armed Forces CF-18
pilot that I got when I was at the Medicine Hat Stampede,” re-
called Heath. It was that poster and an alarm clock on his desk
that had little F-16s and rocket ships all over it that he’s had
since the second grade.
For Heath, he’s happy that he’s in the aerospace engineering
program because he knew that being a marine biologist just
wasn’t for him. The more he thought about biology, the more
he realized he couldn’t see himself doing it every day. In his
current program, he will be able to help more people through
engineering and he can see the real life impact.
“Being at the age of 12 and thinking that I’m going to find
the cure to cancer because nobody else has done it yet, it was
a great dream to have, but it’s a dream that you need to think
through because you might not be able to attain it.”
Abbey Humphreys-Morris,
age 3
8 Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018
Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018
Students launch film about first African-American in space
Guion Bluford, one of the 35 astronauts chosen by NASA in 1978
By Sarah Chew
If you stopped Guion Bluford on
the street and asked him what he
did for a living, he’d tell you a lot
of things. Bluford had an illustri-
ous career in the United States Air
Force as a fighter pilot and aero-
space engineer. He holds four post-
secondary degrees.
What Bluford, 75, won’t tell
you is that he was the first African
American to go to space.
Bluford, now a retired NASA as-
tronaut, never garnered public at-
tention partially because he wanted
Fashion faux pas: real fur or faux?
By Madison Henry
As temperatures drop in Toronto and
people are looking for coats to wear,
the debate between real and faux fur
heats up. Popular brands such as No-
bis and Canada Goose use real fur,
while others boast using faux fur.
Some see nothing wrong with using
real fur as long as it has been ethically
sourced. But faux fur also has its own
environmental impacts.
Kirsten Schaefer is a PhD candi-
date and a contract lecturer at the
Ryerson School of Fashion. She said
the debate between faux fur and
real fur is both “complex and very
simple.”
Stories of animals locked in
cramped cages and mistreated in fur
farms are common knowledge.
Ethical fur sourcing is less hurtful
towards animals. Animals are killed
by trappers who have licenses and
know how to trap animals without

inhumane treatment. According to
the International Fur Federation
“hunting and trapping wild fur is a
well-used method of wildlife man-
agement and has little impact on the
environment.” The idea is to hunt
without having a lasting impact on
the wildlife population.
But Schaefer said this doesn’t
necessarily give the “green light” for
faux fur.
While faux fur does not involve
directly harming animals, but it is
terrible for the environment. Faux
fur is made from non-renewable
petroleum based products such as
nylon, acrylic and polyester. These
chemicals are not broken down eas-
ily. Researchers at the University of
PHOTO: NASA ARCHIVES
it that way but also because not many
people took it upon themselves to
publicize his life and journey.
Two Ryerson film students hope
to change that.
GUION, an upcoming short film
co-directed and written by fourth-
year film students Adam Madrzyk
and Sagi Kahane-Rapport, will cen-
tre on Bluford’s story. The film’s
plot will follow Bluford in 1983,
when he finds out that he’ll be a
crew member on the Challenger for
NASA’s eighth space shuttle mis-
sion, making him the first African
American man in space.
California at Santa Barbara found
that, on average, synthetic fleece
jackets release 1.7 grams of micro-
fibers each wash and will lose their
fibers more quickly than real fur
items.
Schaefer said typically, faux furs
will wear down more quickly than
real furs, resulting in a cycle of “fast
fashion.”
“[Consumers] might just discard
or donate a worn-down fur garment
to purchase a new one-but keep in
mind that this just uses more re-
sources and creates more pollution
than buying a real fur garment and
taking proper care of it,” she said.
This debate plays a role within
Ryerson’s School of Fashion.
The fashion program has a fur de-
sign course that introduces students
to the use of fur in apparel design.
The course is offered on a rotational
basis.
Robert Ott, chair of the Ryerson
School of Fashion, said the program
will accommodate those who have
ethical concerns toward materials
like fur used in the program.
“We focus on educating our stu-
dents on the environmental, ethi-
cal and sustainable implications of
materials to allow them to make in-
formed decisions,” he said.
One of the projects displayed on
the school’s website was of students
making an accessory using fur that
was donated by the North American
Fur Auction (NAFA).
On their website, NAFA says
they are concerned about the safety
and well-being of the animals that
they obtain fur from and they ethi-
cally trap and kill animals for fur.
ARTS & LIFE
Madrzyk, who is also the direc-
tor of photography for GUION, said
he found Bluford’s story while re-
searching his thesis film.
“I realized there’s only grade
school books on him and not much
more, which is quite surprising,” said
Madrzyk. “I looked at NASA’s history
and Guion’s Wikipedia page, [but]
there’s a lot of information missing
and a lot of gaps in his story.”
Madrzyk and Kahane-Rapport
later called Bluford to conduct a
more in-depth interview.
“He actually told us that when
he was studying in high school he
never intended on becoming an
astronaut,” said Madrzyk. “He was
always into aerospace, engineering
and flight, so when he joined the air
force, that’s where he built his inter-
est. But it was really at the end of
his air force career that he realized
that [being an astronaut] could be a
possibility. From there, he learned
about the selection process for
NASA, applied and got in.”
Kahane-Rapport says Bluford
didn’t feel like his career was affected
But Schaefer said there’s an un-
certainty in ethically made furs since
the way products are made is not al-
ways clear.
“The bottom line is that sustain-
ability is an ongoing negotiation.
We are not in a position yet where
all the products on the market are
100 per cent transparent when it
comes to their product development
cycle, so there are always things we
cannot know,” she said.
Jade Hoang, a first-year urban
planning student, said this uncer-
tainty has led to a level of “igno-
rance” surrounding fur in clothing.
“Unfortunately the biggest and
most popular brands for winter
coats use fur and down. I think that
I’ve been shaped into being igno-
rant, and dismissing animal cruelty
that is behind what goes into mak-
ing these jackets.”
Schaefer said since both choices
contain significant impacts, it could
be argued that it’s best to avoid these
materials altogether.
“I think it’s rare that someone
would be anti-fur but OK with ex-
cess environmental waste, so the
two topics are closely intercon-
nected. The best decision if you are
against wearing fur, from an ethi-
cal and environmental perspective,
is to avoid both options, faux and
real.”
There is no correct answer in the
debate of faux fur versus ethically
sourced real fur. When it comes
to fur, consumers should always
do their research on where the fur
came from and the impact that what
they are buying has on the environ-
ment and the animal.
9
by the racial injustices of the time “I don’t want to disappoint Guy,”
and he never intended on becoming he said. “I want to make it good for
an African American icon. its own sake so that people can actu-
“It’s a weird balance, because he ally learn something, take something
as a person believes that, but he also and remember something from the
knows he has a responsibility to rep- story.”
resent an entire group of people who The co-writers, who are not Af-
will be looking up to him as a role rican American, said they worked
model,” said Kahane-Rapport. “For diligently to ensure GUION depict-
him, it’s a struggle to maintain his ed Bluford’s experience as an African
own personal identity and privacy American man accurately. They ad-
while also becoming what everyone dressed the issue with Bluford him-
expects him to be.” self, who gave the pair access to his
GUION’s script is the product of unpublished memoir.
four months of research and writ- They plan on launching a cam-
ing, coming together after 42 drafts. paign on crowd funding platform
Kahane-Rapport described feeling Indiegogo to help budget the film.
an immense pressure to make the GUION will premiere at the Ryerson
short film “perfect.” University Film Festival on May 4.
RSU ELECTION
Nominations Open
Monday, Jan. 22
for the following positions
EXECUTIVE
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starting Monday, Jan. 22
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Questions? Contact the Chief Returning Officer at cro@rsuonline.ca
*Seat numbers subject to confirmation by the Chief Returning Officer
The Ryerson Students’ Union represents over 30,000 full time
undergraduate students and alll graduate students. Each year a
Board of Directors is elected by the membership to represent
and advocate for all RSU members. You must be a full time
undergraduate or full/part-time graduate student to run.
rsuonline.ca/elections
THE ELECTION WILL BE HELD FEB. 13, 14, 15
10 Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2017

The Student Campus Centre

COMMUNITY
BUILDER AWARD

Applications Open
Monday, Jan. 8, 2018 at 9am

Applications Close
This award is designed to Monday, Feb. 26, 2018 at 9pm
recognize students within the
Ryerson community who have SUBMIT YOUR
contributed to campus life and APPLICATION ONLINE:
building community at the Student www.ryersonstudentcentre.ca
Campus Centre as demonstrated
through exceptional volunteerism.
Annual awards:
Awards are available to all
undergraduate students, all
continuing education and
$500 x4
for Continuing Education
certificate students, and all students
graduates students who are
enrolled and in good standing
during Winter 2018.
$2,000 x3
for Undergraduate students
NOTE: Members of the Ryerson Students’ Union and
the Continuing Education Students’ Association of
Ryerson or the Ryerson Student Center Board and
seniors enrolled through the Chang School are not
$2,000 x3
eligible for this award. for Graduate students
Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018 11
12 Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018