The University of Toronto’s Independent Weekly Since 1978 VOL XXXV Issue 27 • April 4, 2013the newspaper

A substantial paycheck and tenure at a storied university does not appear to be enough to retain top-level faculty, a re-cent Freedom of Information request suggests. The Univer-sity of Toronto administra-tion has been offering large, interest-free mortgages to staff members.

In accordance with the FOI act, the U of T detailed a list of mortgages valued over $65 000 that it provided to unnamed persons employed by the Uni-versity. A U of T alum filed the

request when researching a similar practice at the Univer-sity of British Columbia. Inter-ested in how widespread the practice was, he filed a request for the same information from the U of T. The subsequent re-sponse displayed 25 interest-free mortgages that the Uni-versity granted members of various faculties.

When questioned about the issue by the newspaper, VP equity and human resources, Angela Hildyard stated that, “the provision of an interest-free mortgage loan is very oc-casionally an essential com-

ponent of a recruitment or retention arrangement.”

Despite not paying any in-terest on the loan, Hildyard points out that recipients are taxed in accordance with Rev-enue Canada’s understanding of the loans as a fully taxable benefit. More specifically, the University’s response to the FOI indicates that “interest on the outstanding loan is report-ed annually.”

When asked about the source of the money, Hild-yard said they are assessed and granted on a faculty basis, as they are responsible for com-

pensating staff. Thus, a pertinent further

question is why so little infor-mation was revealed through the FOI request. No names or payment periods are provided, only the list of loans made at zero per cent interest, some as high as $300 000. To this, Hildyard commented, “The in-formation was provided in ac-cordance with the FOI request and in accordance with FOI law.”

Despite the strange opacity that enshrouds the destination of student funds, the practice is widespread. UBC offers the

same kind compensation to its senior staff. A similar FOI request unearthed $11.8m in loans made to employees at the west-coast institution. In-cluded in their slightly more detailed response were the names of the recipients as well as the amounts remaining on their principal.

As reported in Ubyssey, the UBC student publication, the school’s administration simi-larly defends the practice by saying that it is a crucial tool used to attract and retain top-

Emerson Vandenberg

0% percent down! 0% percent interest! U of T lures top faculty with interest-free deals

After eight years of negotia-tions, it appears as if students will have to wait just over 18 months before they stroll into the new Student Commons. University of Toronto admin-istration and the University of Toronto Students’ Union both agree that they are nearing an agreement, possibly as soon as Friday.

“We’re still in the negotiat-ing process, but we’re nearing the end,” said UTSU president Shaun Shepherd.

Shepherd’s optimism is shared by U of T vice-president, operations, Scott Mabury. “I be-lieve the ‘agreement’ is close to being final as we are exchang-ing near final language on the last remaining items.”

“Once the agreement is final-ized and signed I expect the ‘project planning report’ for the renovation of 230 College Street would begin the jour-ney through governance for approval,” continued Mabury. ”Once we have approval then an architect selection process begins…the architects will

work with the project commit-tee to design the project which will be tendered for a contrac-tor who will do the work.”

While the idea for a central-ized student space dates back to just after World War Two, the Student Commons’ latest iteration has been in develop-ment since 2005, when the uni-versity administration struck a planning committee to review the current model of atomized student-activity space. In 2008, students voted in an UTSU ref-erendum to pay $20 million of

Yukon Damov

Student Commons coming soon 60 year-old idea almost ready for plan

continued page 2

continued page 2

BR

ITTA

NY

AR

JUN

E

THE NEWS2 April 4, 2013

the newspaperEditor-in-ChiefCara Sabatini

Associate News EditorsSebastian GreenholtzEmerson Vandenberg

Associate Art EditorCarissa Ainslie

Photo EditorBodi Bold

Illustrations EditorNick Ragetli

Copy EditorSydney Gautreau

Managing EditorHelene Goderis

Web EditorJoe Howell

News EditorYukon Damov

Features EditorDavid Stokes

Comment EditorDylan Hornby

Video EditorTed Rawson

ContributorsBrittany Arjune, Jonas Becker, Sarah Boivin, Yukon Damov, Sebastian Greenholtz, Kevin Hempstead, Dylan Hornby, Jane Alice Keachie, Marsha Mcleod, Samantha Preddie, Nick Ragetli, Cara Sabatini, David Stokes, Isaac Thornley, Emerson Van-denberg

Collage by RHIANNON WHITE

the newspaper is the University of Toronto’s independent weekly paper, published since 1978.

VOL XXXV No. 27

from “free deals”

Trinity CollegeOf the 33 per cent voter turn-out at the recent Trinity Col-lege referendum, 72 per cent voted in favour of diverting fees currently paid to the Uni-versity of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) to the Trinity College Meeting, the college’s localized governing body. The proposed fee diversion, scheduled to go into effect in September 2013, must first be approved by the University Af-fairs Board (UAB) of Governing Council, the body “responsible for consideration of ... matters that directly concern the qual-ity of student and campus life,” according to the Governing Council website.

Despite gaining the support of only 24 per cent of Trin-ity College’s 1733 eligible vot-ers, the numbers are still high compared to most campus political activity at U of T. Vic-toria College’s referendum on fee diversion managed a voter turnout of less than 12 per cent, while the recent UTSU elections turnout was around seven per cent.

The fees currently paid by Trinity students to the UTSU ($159.63 per session, per stu-dent) are planned to be di-rected to the TCM with a few minor adjustments. And the $7.28 membership fee for the Canadian Federation of Stu-dents, of which the UTSU is a local chapter, would no longer be charged to Trinity students.

In the coming weeks, Trinity

will present the referendum results to the UAB, establish a “transition team” composed of student leaders to meet with various administrators to dis-cuss the implementation of these proposals, and hash out the details of health and dental insurance coverage through-out the summer.

Many questions remain sur-rounding the likely outcomes of the referendum. In recent years the UAB has honoured the outcome of multiple stu-dent-run referenda dealing with the modification of fee payments, though ultimately respecting the ruling of the courts where they have been involved. Though the CFS has a reputation of pursuing legal action against those attempt-ing to leave, the UTSU has yet to address questions of wheth-er they intend to go to court should the UAB implement the proposals of the referen-dum.

Engineering SocietyPolls closed Wednesday at

8pm for the Engineering Soci-ety referendum to divert fees from the UTSU. Results show a gigantic 95 per cent yes vote with a 29 per cent turnout. . The referendum asked for a re-allocation of the entire UTSU fee of $159.63—including the elimination of the $7.50 Ca-nadian Federation of Students and $0.25 Orientation fee—to EngSOC.

This ability to divert fees has yet to be established, as they still need to be validated by the University Affairs Board.

“The next step will be taking them to UAB,” explains Eng-SOC President Rishi Maharaj. “We will be looking to the Vice-Provost Students, who is the senior assessor of the UAB, to bring that motion forward in time for the fee changes to take effect for the Fall 2013 ses-sion.”

While the results of the Uni-versity Affairs Board is yet to be determined, given the simi-lar positive results both at Vic-toria College and Trinity, its ac-ceptance or rejection will most likely face the same hurdles as the others.

EngSOC does face one added obstacle, however, that the other colleges do not. While Victoria and Trinity consist of a wide diaspora of student ranging in programmes, there remains the possibility that EngSOC—composed singular-ly of engineers—will fracture from the U of T community without a campus-wide advo-cacy group such as the UTSU.

EngSOC’s “Report on the Feasibility and Implications of Separation from the UTSU,” which details how EngSOC can provide for all of the UTSU’s services, does not mention how to maintain campus-wide connections. It even reassures the differences within engi-neers, simply stating that the “body most relevant to Engi-neering students is their own faculty.”

Yet EngSOC is confidence this can be overcome. “The SGRT already fills that gap,” comments VP Finance Pierre Harfouche. It would need some work, but if people are this committed to diverting fees from the UTSU, I fail to see why people could not be equal-ly as committed to improv-ing student services, life and advocacy together through a round-table.”

It is yet to be determined when the UAB will debate on the matter, or how any meet-ing would proceed.

Isaac Thornley & Kevin Hempstead

defederate thisEngineering and Trinity students overwhelmingly support fee diversion

quality staff. The January arti-cle goes on to quote a system of loans provided at Simon Fraser University that are sub-sidized, but not completely interest-free as the UBC and U of T model offer.

Public servants—university staff included—are already handsomely paid, as the 2013 Sunshine List demonstrates. The yearly report details all public sector workers who earn over $100 000. Listed among them is virtually eve-ry professor at U of T. Is such generous compensation not sufficient to retain their em-ployment? Do interest-free mortgages really need to be of-fered in addition to such vast salaries?

the projected $30 million cost for the Commons; the Univer-sity will cover the rest. Hence the $5 per session UTSU levy currently paid for the capital cost and a $20.75 per session for operational costs once the Commons opens.

The Commons will “house club offices, levy group space, meeting rooms, commuter space, lounges, rehearsal space, construction space, a student-operated cafeteria with vegan, Halal and Kosher food options, and U.T.S.U. services including a cheap copy shop, food bank and a permanent used text-book exchange,” according to the UTSU website.

Shepherd said that should fee diversion occur, the seced-ing membership will have full access to the Commons, but non-UTSU members, clubs, and levy groups will not be able to access UTSU services nor book spaces.

from “ready for plan”

BO

DI B

OLD

BR

ITTA

NY

AR

JUN

E

www.thenewspaper.ca 3 THE NEWS

Since 2006, Ontario under-graduate tuition has been al-lowed to rise by five per cent yearly. This year – and for the next four years – the Ontario government has stipulated that undergraduate tuition will be capped at a maximum three per cent increase per year; graduate tuition will be capped at five percent per year, reduced from eight percent.

“What we announced last week was a $1200 savings for students over the next five years,” Brad Duguid, Minister of Training, Colleges, and Uni-versities, told the newspaper.

Under that new framework, the most expensive tuition cost for 2013-2014 will be $5,838.04 for full-time U of T Arts & Science undergraduate students. The University of To-ronto considers its programs to be of good value compared to other jurisdictions, compar-ing its fees to those of similar institutions in the UK and the US, as outlined in its 2011-12 Tuition Fee Schedule for Pub-licly Funded Programs.

While average Ontario tui-tion might compare equally to its international counterparts, Ontario students still pay the highest average tuition in the country. Full-time tui-tion costs for Arts and Science (BA&Sc) at McGill University ran $2,167.80 in 2012-2013 (for

Quebec students) and full-time undergraduate arts or science tuition at the University of British Columbia is calculated at $4,700.40.

Duguid argues that “some of the provinces have artificially kept tuition down by reduc-ing their quality of education.” Duguid also notes that Ontario “can’t pretend that the govern-ment is in anything but a chal-lenging fiscal position right now.”

In the 2011-2012 fiscal year, the University of Toronto’s to-tal revenue was $2.4 billion, of which student tuition made up $847.4 million and govern-ment grants accounted for $702.2 million. The University of Toronto brands itself as a “public research university,” but government funding only accounts for 30 per cent of the university’s revenue, and student tuition, donors, and “services and sales” front the remainder.

Referring to the Queen’s Park legislative building visible from his office window in Uni-versity College, Paul Hamel, a biology and human rights professor at the University of Toronto, explains, “someone made a choice about what would be in the public sphere and what would be in the pri-vate sphere, and the choice was that students should be there to offset the burden of higher education.”

Marsha Mcleod

Undergrad tuition increase capped at three percent per yearA look into why Ontario students pay the most compared to their provincial peers

On Wednesday, April 3rd—the second anniversary of the orig-inal Slut Walk in 2011—the people behind Slutwalk To-ronto organized a day of action on the internet, called Inter-national Day Against Victim Blaming. The event functioned as a call-to-arms “to spread the word that those who experi-ence sexual violence are never the ones at fault,” according to the organization’s website. Par-ticipants in the event were en-couraged to take advantage of social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr

in order to spread awareness of victim blaming and the offen-sive rhetoric of slut shaming.

After a Toronto police of-ficer advised women to “avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized,” in February 2011, Heather Jarvis co-found-ed Slut Walk Toronto; she did so in response to a culture she believes blames women for sexual assault because of how they choose to dress or act.

The continued pervasiveness of victim-blaming rhetoric has been recently illuminated by the media coverage and com-mentary on the Steubenville rape case, such as Barbara

Amiel’s controversial article in Maclean’s. Jarvis hopes IDAVB will both highlight “the hor-rendous examples of victim blaming around the world” and also “celebrate some amaz-ingly creative ways people are fighting back.”

Since 2011 the Slut Walk movement has expanded in-ternationally to include chap-ters in various North Ameri-can cities. Two years later, the sentiment behind the march remains strong, but interna-tional growth has made it too difficult to organize and syn-chronize numerous marches all over the world.

“Online social activism is increasingly important and increasingly happening,” said Jarvis. “It’s a way for people to tap in when they may not have the availability, the time, or the energy to be out in a pub-lic space and attend a public event.”

SlutWalk Toronto took ad-vantage of its connection to organizers around the world to promote the event interna-tionally. This included trans-lating key phrases regarding rape culture and victim blam-ing into multiple languages. Images bearing the statement “Because survivors deserve

our support, not our scrutiny” were available in multiple languages, including German, Portuguese, and Hebrew.

“We want to highlight that this is not something that is just happening across North American mainstream media,” said Jarvis. “This is happening all over the world, all the time.”

With their audience growing to an international level, the IDAVB’s online social presence has enabled and augmented Slut Walk’s greater struggle to end oppression and violence against women worldwide.

Jane Alice Keachie

International Day Against Victim Blaming too large for traditional public protestSlutWalk Toronto organizes internet-based day of action

And offset we do. In light of multi-billion dollar federal budget surpluses for most of the last decade, the Canadian Federation of Students high-light that federal-to-provincial cash transfers for post-second-ary education have decreased by 50 per cent as measured as a proportion of GDP during the same time period.

Ontario universities are par-ticularly strained, as the On-tario government currently contributes the lowest per-student funding towards post-secondary education out of all

provincial governments. “Ontario students pay the

highest tuition in the country for one very straightforward reason,” U of T provost Cher-yl Misak told the newspaper. “The Government of Ontario contributes the lowest fund-ing per student in the country.”

A guideline for Publicly-As-sisted Universities published by the Ministry of Training, College and Universities stip-ulates two provincial condi-tions for permitting tuition increases: there must be im-provements to quality of edu-

cation and no student with financial need be turned away under stipulations by the Stu-dent Access Guarantee.

If these requirements are not fulfilled as tuition costs continue to rise - albeit by a lower percent per year - stu-dents must understand that it is upon their headcount that meagre government funding is allocated at all. Professor Hamel hopes that students realize “the amount of power you have here. You guys are the crack-cocaine of this place.”

NO

AH

VA

ND

ERLA

AN

utilities + maintenance

shared infrastructure

general expenses

library academic divisions

student aid

e.g.- human resources- health + wellness

e.g.- Blackboard- wireless internet

e.g.- staff- grad student carrels

The above graph depicts the approximate distribution of funds from one domestic student’s tuition payment for one year.

SEB

AST

IAN

GR

EEN

HO

LTZ

4 April 4, 2013THE INSIDE10 WEIRD classes

to take next year1. HIS343Y1—History of Modern Es-pionage: If you grew up climbing trees to spy on friends and neighbours or reading cold war novels, come to His-tory of Modern Espionage, where the course explores the origins and evolu-tion of intelligence services. Topics include, technological change, covert operations, and lies that cost lives.

2. AST251H1—Life on Other Worlds: Previously confined to sci-fi novels and B movies, the debate on extrater-restrial life has emerged in the aca-demic classroom setting. The course will engage current ideas on the development of the universe as well as developing possible search techniques and the discussing the creation of space colonies in other solar systems.

3. CHM101H1—The Chemistry and Biology of Organic Molecules: Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll! Chemistry for people who thought they hated chemistry! Chemicals make their way into our lives whether we plan on it or not—from medicines to perfumes to artificially-flavoured foods. This course examines the chemistry and biology of organic molecules to see just how cool chemistry can be.

4. HIS437H1—Telling Lies About Hit-ler: Frauds and Famous Feuds Among German HistoriansHistory may be written by the victors, but with a story as complex as the rise of Hitler and the Holocaust, the lines between winners and losers is blurred. This course examines Hitler controver-sies and their public reception.

5. ITA346H1—Monsters and Marvels in Italian Modern Literature: Moder-nity is itself a monster, and unknown are its future perils and existential angst. This course uses Italian litera-ture of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to examine these horrors.

6. RLG209H1—Justifying Religious Belief: This is an age of wavering faith, and the rising number of atheists and agnostics makes it increasingly important for the faithful to defend religion. This survey course examines topics such as the nature of religious language, reason vs. faith, religious plu-ralism, and how to tell your Catholic parents you’re a Muslim.

7. SLA103H1—Golems and Robots on Stage and ScreenFor centuries, playwrights and film-makers have identified the limita-tions of a human-only cast. Thus, the introduction of artificial creatures on stage and screen has served to enhance the viewing experience. This course explores the major issues in the study of theatre, cinema, and popular culture, with a focus on case studies from Central and Eastern Europe.

8. SLA203H1—Faking It: Throughout history people have found the need, whether for financial or personal gain, or simply to stay alive, to forge cultur-al artifacts or personal identities. This course examines literary texts from Central and Eastern Europe to explore the porous boundaries between what is real and what is forged, exposing the artificiality of social and cultural norms.

9. UNI377H1—Lesbian StudiesQueer identity and culture has a ten-dency to be gay-male-centric, while the sphere of lesbianism is a strong and ever-changing subcategory. The course will look into the meaning of “lesbian” and its changes, and follow political movements and expressions in the history of lesbianiam.

10. PHY100H1—The Magic of PhysicsFor all those who were waiting for an invitation to Hogwarts that never came, there is still a chance to learn magic—that is, the magical rules that determine motion and time in the universe. This course will focus on concepts such as chaos, time travel, and black holes.

no taxation with detestation?

The visual, hate-filled mes-sages used during the West-boro baptist church’s (WBC) famous protests have cre-ated controversy for years. The church is known for picketing against gay rights, Jews, and even outside the funerals of American sol-diers killed overseas.

No matter how disgust-ing one finds their views, holding these ridiculous positions is not illegal, nor should it warrant the de-mand for them to give up their status as a religious organization. WBC is effec-tively just a church, with a very small weekly, pas-sionate congregation. Their messages specifically use

strong language and pro-tests to gain significant at-tention and get its point across. This is, of course, the basis of any society founded on free speech.

Making people angry is not against the law. It should not carry a penalty for any citizen, any political group, or any religious group.

They are also not the only church in the country with hateful views. Churches have protested many sen-sitive topics before, from abortion and homosexu-als to other religions. Some Ministers preach extreme political views every Sun-day. To single out WBC for their views does nothing to mediate intolerance from pulpits across the nation.

The WBC is careful not

to break hate speech laws with their protests. This is because they don’t call for the physical eradication or murder of any of the groups they preach against. While the KKK is a hate group because they have been known to persecute and harm people exclusively for being a different race, the WBC does not do anything to gay people except tell them that they are going to hell. In fact, some same-sex couples will even make out in front of the WBC protest-ers to spite them.

This demonstrates that the WBC protests are not always depressing scenes. People are increasingly coming out to counter-protest against them. The results are often hilarious, and seek to make

a mockery of the WBC’s messages. These days, wher-ever the group takes their small protests, at least twice as many counter-protesters show up to creatively ex-press themselves against their message.

Therefore, what began as hateful words can lead to a healthy and entertaining ex-ercise of free speech rights. WBC should not be pun-ished more than any other religious groups by taking a position on a divisive issue. Besides, it is thanks to the free speech laws Westboro takes advantage of that they are quickly ridiculing them-selves and their cause into submission.

Dylan Hornby

The Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) has long possessed the dubious repu-tation of being one of the most reviled organizations in the US. With an extreme ideology that targets homo-sexuals, the WBC regularly conducts anti-gay protests at military funerals and other high profile events, and is monitored by anti-hate watchdog groups such as the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The WBC’s 40 members are primarily drawn from founder Fred Phelps’s ex-tended family, and have bro-ken off all ties with larger, more mainstream Baptist communities. Although freedom of speech is a care-fully enshrined right of lib-eral democracy, the line has to be drawn somewhere. The WBC’s virulent, anti–homo-sexual activism is revolting enough on its own, but the protests at the funerals of deceased soldiers, murder victims, and AIDs patients completely oversteps the boundaries of basic human decency.

According to the IRS, in

order for a tax exemption a religious organization must be operated “…exclusively for religious, educational, scientific, or other charita-ble purposes,” while also en-suring that “…no substantial part of its activity may be attempt-ing to influence legislation.” Pro-testers point out that its homopho-bic and anti-Semit-ic principles bears more similarity with a hate group then a religious or-ganization, while also deriding its utter lack of chari-table activity.

Popular opinion aside, the WBC should be removed from the IRS’ charita-ble list for two main rea-sons. First, while the charac-teristics of what constitutes a religion are becoming ever more broadly definable, the WBC focuses its activities more on the targeted dis-crimination of a particular group of individuals, thus falling more within the cat-egory of a hate group. As the group serves no visible edu-cational or scientific pur-pose and does not partici-

pate in any charitable work, it is thus ineligible for the first IRS criteria.

Second, the WBC’s en-tire scope of activities is centered on an attempt to change legis- l a t i o n

regarding the legal rights and p r i v i l e g e s of gay and t r a n s g e n -der citizens, neatly sev-ering them from the second IRS criteria.

One group of pro-testers has already

filed a complaint with the IRS, hoping to remove the WBC from its charitable organizations list. Another group has filed its petition with the US government on “We the People,” and has to date collected over 280 000 signatures. Groups like the WBC have no place in mod-ern society, and combined with rational uses of both the law and public anger, can and will be barred from further spreading their vit-riol.

Jonas Becker

With the US Supreme Court debating marriage equality this week, the gay-loathing Westboro Baptist Church has taken advantage of the recent media publicity on gay marriage to protest in various locations throughout Washington DC, including war memorials and military cemeteries.

Given that the church draws plenty of criticism for its hateful views, should WBC’s tax-exempt status as a religious organization be removed?

Motion: Westboro baptist church should stay tax-exempt

PRO

CON

NIC

K R

AG

ETLI

www.thenewspaper.ca 5THE INSIDE

April 4 is a particularly busy day at Toronto’s cemeteries. And, on that same day, smoke rises from backyards across the city. What unites these events is the Qingming Festival, known as Tomb Sweeping Day, an annual commemoration observed by many of Toronto’s over 280 000 strong Chinese population. Qingming is a tra-dition stretching back more than 2 000 years.

Qingming is the day to tend to the graves of the departed. Families remember and hon-our their dead relatives by praying at their grave, clean-ing their tombstones and deco-rating them with flags and co-loured paper. Food, tea, wine, and afterlife-accessories are also offered to the departed.

Qingming is a unique fes-tival on the Chinese calen-dar because of its bittersweet character. It is a conjunction of opposites, combining both a confrontation with death and its attendant pain with re-newal and respect—through acts of providing and updating

those who provided for those left behind. Ideally it is a day of deep and hopefully warm memories, and occurs on April 4 or 5 of each year to coincide with the arrival of spring on the Chinese calendar.

Simultaneously a final dose of winter and the arrival of coming warmth, the festival is also known as the Clear Bright-ness Festival. It is as good for the living as it is for the dead. A shop owner on Dundas Street told me, “I will be making my grandfather’s favourite foods. We offer it to him, but my fam-ily will be eating it.”

After visiting a grave, many families go home and use a stone furnace or other back-yard enclosure (a clean hiba-chi works nicely in a pinch) to burn offerings and provisions for the dead. Akin to sending a package by regular mail, this burning is the mechanism of transferring items to the dead. As the fire turns the gifts to ash in our realm, it brings the items fully into the next world.

“When [people] die, they feel maybe they’ll need things in the afterworld.” And “they

might want money and other nice things,” said one store em-ployee in Chinatown.This is a practice that originates from ancestor worship—the belief that deceased relatives can in-fluence the fortunes of the liv-ing. Hence, the spirits of the ancestors have to be kept fed and happy so they will send wealth and other good things your way.

The increase of Chinese names and mourning prac-tices in Toronto cemeteries is an easily overlooked symbol of how the city’s culture has di-versified. In China, where hun-dreds of millions participate, the festival highlights the ag-gressive modernity, urbanism, and capitalism of China’s rap-idly changing present.

Imitations of products most Chinese citizens can’t afford (and past citizens neither knew about nor had access to under strict communist rule)—such as iphones, mansions, pass-ports, airplanes, Louis Vuitton, and Burberry bags, all made out of paper—are burned. Even paper concubines and nannies have been added to

the traditional offerings. It is ironic that the festival began because an ancient emperor worried that his citizens were holding too many extravagant and ostentatiously expensive ceremonies in honor of their ancestors. In response he de-clared that respects could be paid to ancestors only on this date. The leaders of modern capitalist China don’t seem to mind the excesses.

I could find no mock iphones on Dundas or Spadina, and my ancestors will have to be con-tent with a blocky old Nokia. Certainly there were no cus-tom-made paper Bugattis like those reportedly favoured by the super rich in China. But there are ample supplies in most Chinatown variety shops, particularly huge stacks of ritual money, even ritual alcohol, cigarettes, and credit cards. The money and credit cards are typically labeled “Bank of Hell.” This is neither a reference to the banking crisis nor to the Western connota-tion of hell that implies tor-ment, but refers to an unknow-able afterlife experienced by

all people. In a backyard ceremony of

my own, I burned and thus sent over 2 billion dollars of af-terlife money to my ancestors. Despite this large number (is there inflation in hell?) it is not particularly excessive; talking to Chinatown resident’s, they repeatedly stressed how im-portant it is that the ancestors don’t think you’re stingy. In-tense filial piety coexists with practicality: many people are not going to observe on April 4, as it’s a workday in Canada. They will go on the weekend.

Qingming has always been a variable and highly per-sonal festival. It is flexible in its practices: anything can be burned—whatever you think the deceased might like to get a hold of. I’ve read that some have chosen to burn copies of Playboy magazine. And for some in Toronto’s Chinese diaspora, Qingming here sim-ply cannot involve a trip to a grave. As one young man on the street told me, “I don’t have any ancestors here. But I’m go-ing to go to a restaurant and think of them.”

Toronto, home to ancient Chinese festival of the dead David Stokes

A drizzling rain falls like tears on the mourning day. / The mourner’s heart is breaking on his way. / Enquiring, where can a wine shop be found to drown this sad hour? A cowherd points to a village in the distance. - 9th century poem by Du Mu

CA

RA

SA

BA

TIN

I

6 April 4, 2013THE ARTS

‘I Thought There Were Limits’ at Hart House

The current exhibition at the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery – “I Thought There Were Lim-its” – is both constructive and deconstructive; it establishes its own spatial parameters and decentering preconceptions about art and artistic practice. The work is temporal -- it com-bines the artwork of five To-rontonian artists: Karen Hen-derson, Yam Lau, Kika Thorne, Josh Thorpe, and Gordon Leb-redt, the latter having passed away in 2011.

The exhibit defies generali-zation and transcends demar-cation between media. The two gallery rooms themselves are sparse, and the first immedi-

ately appears rather unassum-ing. An aluminum foil sheet is rumpled and twisted on the floor toward one side of the room. On the opposing wall there is a panoramic image of hardwood flooring, stained the same shade as the gallery’s own hardwood; the boards fan out as a kind of horizon where the wall meets the floor.

A row of architectural draw-ings is featured on another wall; innovative designs pen-ciled in black and white sug-gest the destabilization of boundaries and a preoccupa-tion with limits and divisions -- a partition fashioned of mir-rors that appear to fold, as an accordion, and another con-structed from a cinder-block

wall.The exhibit challenges the

viewer; it asks them to con-sider, to re-examine, to search out the art in the rooms them-selves. Indeed, the importance of several details becomes apparent only gradually -- a beige half-moon painted over a corner, or a door held mysteri-ously ajar.

Such details illuminate the beauty of the seemingly trivial -- the commonplace -- as the gallery’s literature suggests: “…the artworks form a responsive relationship to their site and in so doing reveal specific archi-tectural, temporal, and virtual properties of the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery.”

According to this same lit-

erature, the exhibit “[takes] as its departure the tradition of site-specificity pioneered in the 1960s … [and] tests the lim-its of site-specific practice as both responsive to a particular place while also adaptable to any site.”

In the neighbouring room, two tarpaulins – one pink, one black – are stretched across the room and joined in their cen-tres, one atop the other, their connection perhaps a kind of umbilical cord.

Viewers are implicated as consumers of the art and yet also belong to the art itself -- the installation challenges notions of viewership by in-teracting with the rooms and the viewer’s own spaces. As is

scrawled on one of the archi-tectural drawings: “the space differs from itself in order to coincide with itself, falls with itself into itself….. Space… opens itself as a continuum.”

The exhibition takes its title from a poem of the same name by Canadian poet Douglas G. Jones: “I thought there were limits, Newtonian/The apples, falling, never hit the ground.”

As the exhibit suggests, the act of delimitation – of rupture with expectation – becomes the object, space and time the art itself.

“I Thought There Were Limits” at Hart House’s Justina M. Barnicke Gallery until May 18.

Lauren Peat

Current exhibit challenges notions of artistic practice

© 2013 H&R Block Canada, Inc. *$29.95 valid for student tax preparation only. To qualify, student must present either (i) a T2202a documenting 4 or more months of full-time attendance at a college or university during the applicable tax year or (ii) a valid high school ID card. Instant Cash Back is included in the price. Students pay $79.99 for Complex/Premier return. Expires 12/31/2013. Valid only at participating locations. Additional fees apply. Instant Cash Back valid only on the federal portion of tax returns filed in Quebec. Some restrictions apply. SPC cards available at participating locations in Canada only. Offers may vary, restrictions may apply. For full terms see www.spccard.ca.

For just $29.95, walk in with your taxes, walk out with your refund. Instantly. You’ll also get a free SPC Card to save big at your favourite retailers.*

hrblock.ca | 800-HRBLOCK (472-5625)

Student pricing*

FILE NAME: 12-HRB-033-BW-SP-E-1 TRIM: 10" x 7.5"

DATE: Jan 22 REV #: 0 BLEED: –

ARTIST: ID COLOUR: 1/0 SAFETY: –

CD: AD: CW: PP: SM: AM:

PUBLICATION/LOCATION:Mike

we make taxes painle$$

Photo mural ‘Perspective Floor-Wall’ by Karen Henderson at Justina M. Barnicke Gallery until May 18.

BR

ITTA

NY

AR

JUN

E

THE ARTSwww.thenewspaper.ca 7

From the Womb by Chris Laxton will screen on April 25 at OCADU’s Augmented Film Festival.

AugmentedFilm FestOCAD student films feature homage to modern technology

April 25 marks the premiere of the second annual Augmented Cinema Film Festival, a show-case of work by OCADU stu-dents from various disciplines. The festival was first organized by Jamie McMillan, an OC-ADU graduate of Integrated Media studies, as an opportu-nity for his thesis class to show off their work.

Last year was the festival’s first experiment with branch-ing out to students in differ-ent OCAD programs for sub-missions, prompting a name change from “OCAD Film Show” to “Augmented Cin-ema” as an homage to both to the modern outlook and use of digital technology in contem-porary cinema.

“I wanted to do it because I knew it wasn’t being done,”

McMillan told the newspaper. Rather than limit the festival to thesis work, he wanted to enable any student to submit to the show, regardless of year or program. McMillan saw that there were screenings be-ing done almost every year, but they were always limited to the thesis work of Integrat-ed Media students.

This year will host 25 sub-missions. While the showcase is mainly work by Integrated Media students, the festival has been able to include work by students from a variety of other programs such as Draw-ing & Painting, and Graphic Design.

The festival provides an ex-ceptional chance for students interested in film to show their work, as OCADU does not have a specific film program. Integrated Media is the clos-

est thing the school has, but it is not marketed as such; film is but one medium students engage with in the program, along with electronics, anima-tion, video and performance.

McMillan doesn’t think that a film program could be sup-ported right now at the school, as there seems to be no real in-terest. However, with the right facilities and the right market-ing, perhaps in the future OC-ADU could have such a pro-gram. Increasing awareness of the scope of the Integrated Me-dia program could help raise interest, says McMillan, as no one really knows that OCADU has film classes and the pro-gram has so few students.

The future of the ACFF is growth. McMillan wants this festival to bring people to-gether from across the city and possibly move it outside of OC-

ADU, believing the festival bet-ter suited for a larger audience. “It’s about different ways of using the cinema” says McMil-lan, who would still like OC-ADU to have a film fest to one day call its own. But, he says, the ACFF will certainly bring awareness to our school. Ry-erson and Humber both have their own festivals to cap of the year by showing students’ work, and McMillan wants that for OCADU as well. Best case scenario: OCADU would have its own film fest and the ACFF would further grow to include work from other uni-versities.

The ACFF is screening 7pm, April 25 at the Royal on 608 College Street. Admission is free and doors open at 6:30pm.

Carissa Ainslie

OUTDOOR ART EXHIBITIONWhat: Free entry to view lo-cal artists and designers that use a variety of mediums and techniques. Where: Nathan Phillips SquareWhen: July 5-7FREE

TORONTO PRIDEWhat: Annual LGBTQ fes-tival to celebrate diversity, includes concerts, family ac-tivities and parade!Where: Church + WellesleyWhen: June 21-30FREE

CBC MUSIC FESTIVALWhat: CBC is putting on a music festival with bands such as Sam Roberts and Of Monsters and Men. Where: Echo BeachWhen: May 25th starting at 2pmTickets are $59.50

NXNEWhat: NXNE, now in its 19th year, hosts over 900 bands at music venues across the city. Where: Yonge & Dundas Square, various music venues When: June 10-16Early bird priority passes are $125 for students. Festival wristbands $60.

TORONTO JAZZ FESTIVALWhat: One of North Ameri-ca’s largest jazz festivals. Art-ists confirmed for this year include Willie Nelson, Mavis Staples, Dr. John, Steve Mar-tin and Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings. Where: Nathan Phillips Square, various venues When: June 20-29Prices for shows vary

TORONTO URBAN ROOTS FESTWhat: Brand new this year, TURF marks the return of an outdoor multi-day roots fes-tival to downtown Toronto, for the first time since 1995; the fest features 30+ bands including She & Him, Kurt Vile, , Yo La Tengo, Flogging Molly, and Neko Case.Where: Fort YorkWhen: July 4-7Earlybird single day tickets range from $40 to $60

SUMMERLICIOUS What: The perfect opportu-nity to have a taste of To-ronto’s best restaurants at affordable prices. A must for foodies. Where: 181 participating res-taurants in TorontoWhen: July 5-21Prix fixe menus start at $25

FAN EXPOWhat: Get your comic books signed or meet one of your favorite actors. Where: Toronto Convention CentreWhen: August 23-26Tickets: Thursday, $25, Friday $35 Saturday $50 Sunday $40

CANADIAN NATIONAL EXHIBITWhat: Rides, funnel cakes and face paint comprise this longest running Canadian fair.Where: Toronto Exhibition PlaceWhen: Aug 16 to Sep 2General Admission $16

WTF TO DOthis summer

no plans this summer?contribute to

the newspaper.casend samples of your work and inquiries to

thenewspaper@gmail.com

reach students now!to see your ad here, send us an email

thenewspaper@gmail.com

THE END8 April 4, 2013