SPOKEMonday, MaRCH 17, 2014 Conestoga College, KitCHeneR, ont. www.sPoKeonline.CoM 45tH yeaR — no. 10

Conestoga students don’t pull their punches.Page 9

Self-defenceschooling

a l e a R n i n g n e w s R o o M f o R j o u R n a l i s M s t u d e n t s

year-longcelebrations startMarch 19.Page 12

ROM’s superb centennial

CSI selects new vice-presidentBY JOSH BURY

Conestoga Students Inc.’s board of directors has selected a vice-president for the 2014-2015 academic year – a position that does not currently exist.

Cameron Jones, current chairperson of the CSI board of directors, will return next year as vice-president. Jones took over as chair after Paul Oniga resigned in late October.

Jones’s opponent was Sarah Bryant, the current secretary of the board and a director as well.

The position was created unofficially by the board and therefore requires a modifica-tion of CSI’s bylaws. It will not become official until it is ratified by students at a gen-eral meeting in April.

The vice-president’s duties involve creating meeting agendas and taking and maintaining minutes, much like the board’s current sec-retary does. The VP is not a voting member of the board, must be a returning full-time student, and is empowered to assume the presidency in the president’s absence.

Operations manager Sheena Witzel said that next year would likely see the elimina-tion of the secretary position, but the creation of an impar-tial chairperson position, who will be a non-voting member. Though the VP will be assum-ing secretarial duties, the

board will still be composed of eight voting members.

Due to a requirement for full-time hours during the summer and 15 hours per week during the academic year, the hono-rarium that the VP receives will be more than a normal director’s. Though the number is by no means final and has not been voted on, Witzel said she expected it to be in the range of $1,000 per month.

Regular directors of the board receive $250 a month, which requires them to com-plete five hours of work a week, plus $50 for attending the board meeting.

The selection process took place immediately follow-ing the March 5 meeting of CSI’s board of directors. Board members in atten-dance for the selection process were Jaclyn Wingfield and Adam Rochon, with Danielle Wingfield and Hayley Press joining the meeting remotely.

The format was similar to the selection process for the CSI president, except that only board members were eli-gible to run. Votes were cast by the board members who didn’t run for the position, as well as by CSI president Jason Wright, president-elect Jeff Scherer, general manag-er Janie Renwick and Witzel.

Jones’s platform focused on building school spirit and on supporting and expand-ing mental health initiatives:

concerns notably also shared by president-elect Scherer in his election platform. In his speech, Jones said that school spirit was about “rally-ing behind your colours, your teams, and your heroes.”

In her speech, Bryant point-ed to her experience as the current board secretary, as well as ongoing dialogues with satellite campuses.

“I’ve learned so much this year, but I don’t feel like I’m done yet,” she said.

After a brief speech, they each also individually faced questions from the board.

Questions for Jones revolved mainly around his ability to transition from a creative role to a more serious one. He cited his transition to chair as an example of his success in a similar situation.

“There’s a time to be fun-lov-ing and a time to take things seriously ... you really need to separate friendship and profes-sionalism on the board,” he said.

Bryant, who currently attends the Guelph campus, fielded questions about how she would make the switch to Doon campus.

“I’m going to have a much more rounded outlook and be able to see things from both sides,” she said.

When it came time to vote, the board was instructed to write the name of their pre-ferred candidate on a piece of paper, provided by Witzel.

As with the presidential selection process, Witzel asked a Spoke reporter to act as scrutineer for the balloting procedure. Of the eight bal-lots cast, four were for Jones, three were for Bryant, and one was spoiled as it did not have the name of one of the candidates on it.

Jones and Bryant were ami-

cable after the decision, paus-ing a moment for a friendly hug. Jones, like president-elect Scherer, will assume his new position on May 1, pending stu-dent approval. But the excite-ment was palpable as Jones looked eager to get started.

”There are so many things we have yet to accomplish ... I want to continue that momentum.”

BY JOSH BURY

Conestoga College students could eventually be able to pay for lunch, access the new rec centre and board the bus all with one card.

During the March 5 meet-ing of the Conestoga Students Inc. board of directors, Mike Dinning, the college’s vice-pres-ident of student affairs, spoke briefly about a “one-card” pro-gram that would, among other things, provide access to the rec centre’s services.

“How do we manage access to the new rec centre? ... We tie the membership system into the student information

system,” Dinning said.But he also mentioned that

such a card could be used for other purposes, as it could have up to six magnetic stripes. Services like bus passes, print-ing quotas or even a meal plan could be implemented as part of the program.

For example, the University of Waterloo has a similar plan called the WatCard. The card can be loaded with funds which can be used for services on campus such as laundry, photocopying, printing and food. It also controls access to the library and to their physi-cal activity centre.

Dinning’s discussion of the

card was simply to alert the board that a proposal would be forthcoming in September 2014. He estimates that the program would take six to eight months to implement. Recommendations on services to be offered initially will be decided by a committee that will be formed for this purpose.

Developing such a card will take money. An early esti-mation by Dinning points to anywhere from $100,000 to $150,000 to develop the system, with a more accu-rate amount to be included in September’s proposal.

Where is this money coming from?

As proposed, it would come from student fees – specifi-cally, from the $94.90 “prior-ity fee” which is charged to enrich non-academic student life programming. This fee was initially brought in when the Student Life Centre was built, and currently pays for things like orientation, the Respect campaign, career advisers and some summer student employment on-cam-pus. Both Spoke and CJIQ also receive some funding from this fee.

Dinning said when Mohawk College implemented a simi-lar card, they had to increase their fees by $40 per person.

But he was quick to add that the priority fee at Conestoga would not need to be increased to pay for this system since, as it stands, the fee has generated a surplus of about $495,000 over multiple years. Besides annual cost of living adjust-ments, the fee has not been increased since 1996.

The agreement between the college and CSI for this surplus is that it be used only for “spe-cial projects” that require a “sig-nificant allocation” of funds and are non-academic in nature.

Both Conestoga students and the board that represents them at CSI should have more specific information this fall.

Conestoga explores one-card system

PHOTO BY JOSH BURYCameron Jones, the current CSI chair, will take over as vice-presi-dent in May, pending student approval of the new position in April.

Jones, like president-elect Scherer, takes aim at Conestoga’s school spirit

Page 2 s SPOKE Monday, March 17, 2014NEWs

Now deep thoughts... with Conestoga College

Random questions answered by random studentsWhat is your favourite part

of winter?

“Being able to drink hot chocolate and be close to your family and friends and cosy up inside.”

Rabia Tariq,first-year

community criminal justice

“Boots, shopping and shoes. There are so many different boots to wear.”

Erica Obannell,first-year

general arts and science

“It would be getting to take my kid skating for the first time.”

Kyle Broughton,first-year

protection/security and investigation

“The bright, white snow.”

Jimmie Radyk,first-year

business marketing

“It’s probably a tie between snow forts and storms that let you stay home.”

Michelle Campbell,second-year

office administration-executive

“Hot chocolate with the multicoloured marshmal-lows, they just warm my insides.”

Mike Haskins,first-year

heating/refrigeration and air-conditioning technician

Smile Conestoga, you could be our next respondent!

Varsity teams haveup and down seasonsBY CODY sTEEVEs

Most of the college’s varsity teams have wrapped up their seasons, some having success, while others faced hardship. One team, the women’s volley-ball team, had its best season ever.

The badminton team had its share of disappointment this semester. Although Conestoga has mixed, dou-ble and single players none of them placed in the top three at the playoff tourna-ment held on Feb. 7 and 8. George Brown, Centennial and Georgian took the top three places in both men’s and women’s team playoffs. The doubles were much the same, however, Cambrian took first place in men’s doubles and second in women’s doubles.

The indoor soccer teams are

still fighting to close their seasons on positive notes. Both teams placed second in their regional qualifiers, pro-gressing to the OCAA cham-pionship. The tournament was held at home on March 5, where both teams played in Pool D. The women’s team had victories over George Brown and Sault and a loss to Sheridan while the men had one victory over Sault and two ties against Durham and Seneca. The championship is taking place March 21 and 22 at the OSA Soccer Centre in Vaughan, Ont.

Varsity volleyball had its share of ups and downs this season. The men’s team was unable to qualify for the play-offs, while the women’s team had their best season since its resurrection three years ago. The women finished with 10

wins and eight losses during the regular season and were eliminated during the bronze quarter-final by George Brown. However, their over .500 season and playoff finish is a testament to the fact that things can only improve for the female Condors.

“The Condors had a great second half to their season,” said athletics co-ordinator Marlene Ford. “With three of our five teams making the provincial championships and teams already recruiting for next year, the future looks very bright.

“We will end the 2013/14 season with our athletic ban-quet on April 8.”

Tryout dates for some of the teams that begin training in August will be posted on the college’s athletics website at a later date.

Monday, March 17, 2014 SPOKE s Page 3NEWs

Aim to be a global citizenBY CALLIE WRIGGLEsWORTH

Award-winning artistic director, Isabel Cisterna, spoke to Conestoga students about global citizenship and the importance of being active in the community on March 7, at an event celebrating International Women’s Day.

“We wanted to bring aware-ness about global citizenship to the Conestoga community and let them know there are no boundaries, even if you are an immigrant,” said Jenny Cordoba, a first-year human services student. “There are no boundaries to become who you want to be.”

Students in the program assisted the Student Life department with the event.

“It is important because Conestoga College is multi-cultural,” Cordoba said. “We have international students and I think it is really impor-tant for them to understand other cultures so that we can all fit in and we can become a community.”

Cisterna founded Neruda Arts, a non-profit organiza-tion, in 2001 and serves as the artistic director. Neruda Arts celebrates diversity through the arts and sup-ports new Canadian and emerging artists. The orga-nization introduces audi-ences to music artists from different cultures around the world. The goal is “to nurture a healthy community that celebrates diversity through the power of the arts.”

In 1991, Cisterna immigrat-ed to Canada from Chile and has been actively involved in bringing cultures togeth-er through music and arts. She spoke to Conestoga stu-dents about what it means to be a global citizen and how it is important to become involved.

“These opportunities are everywhere and being a glob-al citizen is not about eating Mexican food, it is not about travelling to an exotic place and think that you have seen it and think that you have

done it,” Cisterna said. “It is not about one week of vol-unteer work … It is about something much larger. I am not going to tell you what it is because I am still rediscov-ering year after year what it means to me. But I can tell you there are things that you can do here that will impact the world. And there are things that you can do in the world that can impact here.”

Brooke Horsley, a first-year human services student, helped out at the event and explained why International Women’s Day is important to her.

“It is inspiring women to be what they want to be and to stay strong and to be posi-tive. Know that other women are struggling too and you can lean on other members of the community to help inspire you,” she said.

Anyone interested in volun-teering at Neruda Arts can visit the website at www.nerudaarts.ca.

PHOTO BY CALLIE WRIGGLEsWORTHIsabel Cisterna, artistic director of Neruda Arts, speaks to students about International Women’s Day and getting involved in the com-munity at Conestoga College on March 7.

Train your brain todayBY GREG sTAMPER

Whether it be from school, work, financials, or simply from the issues that come from inside the walls of your own house, stress, even if it is just a minimal amount, affects almost every person on the planet on a daily basis.

According to Statistics Canada, about a quarter of the Canadian population aged 15 and older report-ed experiencing quite a lot or extreme stress most days of their lives. For the Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo metropolitan area alone, Statistics Canada estimates that 113,683 (28.1 per cent) of people aged 15 and older perceived they had significant life stress over the 2011/2012 period.

These numbers are stag-gering and the Spiritual Heritage Education Network Inc. (SHEN), locat-ed in Kitchener, is looking to change them.

SHEN is a non-profit com-munity agency that, accord-ing to their website, “aims to form a globalized concept of core spirituality in order to create a more peaceful and tolerant universe.”

On Feb. 26, SHEN launched a new initia-tive called the Stress Free Community that will allow citizens of Waterloo Region to attend Train Your Brain courses at the SHEN Centre

on Charles Street West, across from the bus termi-nal, in which the only fee associated is in the form of a free will donation to SHEN after taking the training.

The Train Your Brain courses focus on a funda-mental aspect of life, breath-ing, but takes it to a much “deeper” level.

“It is a matter of com-mon observation that when our nervous excitation and stress levels are high, our breath goes fast and shal-low. We have the ability to train our brains to run our breathing processes at a slow pace making the breath deep. This enables us to reduce stress conserving both physical and mental energy,” said Shiv Talwar, president of SHEN.

Through the training pro-vided in the Train Your Brain courses, participants will learn how to deep breathe their way out of stressful situations, as well as, after a few training ses-sions, be able to teach the process to others.

The process is deemed effective if a learner regular-ly practises deep abdominal breathing for a few minutes, in addition to creating a habit of being breath-aware, taking a few deep breaths many times during the day.

Although SHEN has been using the Train Your Brain program for a number of years, teaching the staff and

clients of many local com-munity agencies including students at the School of Pharmacy at the University of Waterloo and Grand River Hospital, the application of the program on a communi-ty-wide scale in the Stress Free Community initia-tive is a new idea designed to help everyone make it through their day.

A 2011 report by the American Academy of Pediatrics suggests that toxic stress can play a dis-turbing role in brain devel-opment, negatively influ-encing social, educational, economic, cultural, behav-ioral and developmental out-comes, which is one of the reasons Talwar stresses the importance of this program to the community.

“Stress keeps us self-cen-tred, fragmented and unable to see our connectedness and essential oneness. In addi-tion, it makes us unhealthy, unhappy and unable to learn. The lower the level of stress, the higher is our abil-ity to learn, self-develop and be both healthy and happy.”

Stress can never be com-pletely cured, it will always be there, but knowing how to manage stress is something every person is capable of.

For more information on the Stress Free Community initiative or the Train Your Brain programs, visit the SHEN website at www.spir-itualeducation.org.

CSI designates half a million dollars for rec centre project

BY JOsH BURY

Funds in the amount of $500,000 that were put aside by Conestoga Students Inc. for “capital development projects” have been officially designated for the renovation of the rec centre.

A motion at the March 5 meeting of the CSI board of direc-tors made official their plans for the money by confirming that they would be used as CSI’s initial contribution to the rec centre project.

During the first-ever revision of CSI’s budget earlier this year, CSI set aside over half of the $945,000 surplus, accrued over previous years, for a large construction project.

At the time, Spoke reported that the funds were likely for the upcoming renovation of the rec centre, though CSI presi-dent Jason Wright refused to confirm the precise project that would receive the funds.

At that time, CSI general manager Janie Renwick and Wright were both already part of the management team for the rec centre project, which has an anticipated completion date of September 2015.

Page 4 s SPOKE Monday, March 17, 2014COMMENTARY

Nine Russian soldiers were recently sent back to their homeland after being given 24 hours’ notice by the Harper government.

Since then, all collabora-tion between the Canadian and Russian military has stopped. We’ve also recalled our ambassador from Moscow for the time being.

There’s a lot happening in this Ukraine crisis, and there is no black and white.

Let’s start with Russia, the bad guys, right? Yes, what President Vladimir Putin is doing in the Ukraine is pretty bad; in fact, it’s prob-ably the worst crisis Europe has seen since the Cold War ended.

There’s this small issue though; technically Russia hasn’t completely violated any of their agreements with Ukraine.

In 1997 and 2010, agree-ments were signed which allow Russian ships to be present in Crimean har-bours. The set terms also conveniently allow for the presence of a large Russian military force, complete with artillery ranges and training

grounds.Russia’s been pushing

boundaries, but they haven’t stepped across the line. Putin sees the removal of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych as an illegal political uprising, a coup. He’s in the right, in his eyes. This show of force is Russia flexing its muscles, restoring law and order in the midst of chaos.

Now let’s talk about Canada, Western Europe and the United States, freedom fighters for democracy and equality.

The west (particularly the U.S.), can talk a big game, but talk is cheap. The U.S. government has “warned” the Russian president of potential consequences for his actions several times, but have yet to follow through with any of their vague

threats.Western European gov-

ernments are no better. British Prime Minister David Cameron said Russia’s actions are unac-ceptable, that they will not be tolerated. However, he hasn’t said what he’s going to do about it. Maybe he’s just keeping his fingers crossed.

Support in spirit is not support. If the governments of the west feel obligated to threaten a man like Putin, they need some backbone to follow through with it. A guy like the Russian presi-dent sees empty threats as a sign of weakness and then jumps on it.

It’s a shame that nine innocent guys had to pack up and leave the country in 24 hours, but at least a message has been sent that Canada no longer wants to deal with Russia if this is how they’re going to act.

The Harper government does a lot of things wrong, brutally wrong, but at least our country is acting in some way. We’re not just constantly blowing smoke.

It’s time for action against Russia

The fight is lost

BY TYlER BATTEN

Line 9, a controversial Enbridge pipeline reversal, was approved by the National Energy Board of Canada (NEB) on March 6, upsetting many people in the process.

The 38-year-old pipeline will carry diluted bitumen 830 kilometres from Sarnia to Montreal and will cross every tributary that drains into Lake Ontario. If it rup-tured, the impact of a large-scale oil spill in southern Ontario would be devastating, and nearly impossible to remedy. The clean-up costs of such an incident could range from $1 billion to $10 billion.

Public opinion is at its strongest when all of the propo-nents support a single unified view and have the same agenda. In the case of Line 9, there has been massive negative public response, but the information race to stop Line 9, like many other environmental conundrums, failed for a lack of coherent and consistent opposition.

On different fingers of a single hand you have the anti-colonialists, concerned landowners, grassroots sup-porters, environmentalists and First Nations’ groups demanding free, prior and informed consent.

To the anti-colonialists, stopping Line 9 and thwart-ing industry is part of a greater plan to stop the Alberta Tar Sands altogether and in some cases, regain histori-cally Indian-controlled lands and sovereignty.

Landowners along Line 9 worry about a decrease in the value of their properties.

Anti-Harper, grassroots supporters are into anything the counter-culture does subversively.

Anti-tar sands activists hate hydrocarbons in general and want the word oil eliminated from the social lexicon.

First Nations activists argue the land a section of the pipeline is buried on belongs to them.

On the other hand you have the oil lobby, whose points, though not necessarily compelling, are at least coherent — their one voice, continuously and consecu-tively uttering the words “good for the economy.”

The relevant veracity of a single-public opinion is judged by its level of support, its coherence, and, lastly, its foundation in truth. Every finger of the opposition’s hand is against the reversal of the pipeline and may be rightly so, but few of those fingers have worked in uni-son to clench a fist simultaneously.

Combined efforts are needed, not fragmented opposi-tion, scattered and whimpering over twitter, hashtag “let’s stop something.”

The fight to stop Line 9 is lost. If the pipeline rup-tures it’s no one’s fault but ours.

The views herein represent the position of the newspa-per, not necessarily the author.

Aaron Creces Opinion

Spoke welcomes letters to the editor. Letters should be signed and include the name and telephone number of the writer. Writers will be contact-ed for verification.No unsigned letters will be published.Letters should be no longer

than 500 words.Spoke reserves the right to edit

any letter for publication.Email letters to: www.spokeonline.com with the subject line

“Letter to the Editor,” or bring them to Room 1C30 at the Doon campus.

letters are welcome

“Revolution is lost when every finger of the opposition’s hand fails to clench a fist in unison.

SpOkEI S P u b L I S h E D A N D P R O D u C E D W E E K L y b y t h E j O u R N A L I S M S t u D E N t S O f C O N E S t O g A C O L L E g E

Editor: Laurie SnellAssignment Editors: Steph Smith, Kelsey DunbarAdvertising Managers: tyler batten, Ashley KowitzSpoke Online Editors: brandon hommel, Katrina Edlefsen, Spencer beebe, Devon hayes,

Aaron Crecesproduction Managers: Casey Schellenberger, jody Anderson, tony McLellan

photo Editors: greg Stamper, Mark Lorentz, Cody Steeves, bruce Chessell, Callie Wrigglesworth, becky Sheasby, Cole froude, Randi Clarke

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the views and opinions expressed in this newspaper do not necessarily reflect the views of Conestoga College. Spoke shall not be liable for any damages arising out of errors in advertising beyond the amount paid for the space. Letters to the editor are subject to acceptance or rejection and should be clearly written or typed; a MS Word file would be helpful. Letters must not contain any libellous statements.

Monday, March 17, 2014 SPOKE s Page 5NEWS

BY LAURIE SNELL

If the walls of Kitchener’s Grand Valley Institute could talk, they’d probably have something to say about how to treat mentally ill prisoners.

But as reality may have it, the details surrounding the incarcerated life and October 2007 death of 19-year-old Ashley Smith – where she tied a cloth around her neck and pulled tightly as guards stood by – came to light only after a high-profile public inquest.

Seven years later and 14 kilometres down the road from the now-notorious Grand Valley Institute for Women, a group of students at the University of Waterloo have been researching and connecting with Smith’s story in an effort to tear down the walls surrounding mental health.

The group of students, led by professor and director Andrew Houston, have created the production From Solitary to Solidarity: Unravelling the Ligatures of Ashley Smith and an interactive exhibit, Small Acts of Repair Toward Mental Health: A Space For Engagement, to complement the show. The project will share personal and profes-sional insights into mental illness, providing narratives and question periods to dis-cuss how advantageous medi-cal treatment can be.

The interactive exhib-it began March 10 at the Modern Languages (ML) Gallery at the university, running from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and until 10 p.m. on perfor-mance days. The production will run from March 18 to 22 – including matinees to include high school students – at the Theatre of the Arts in the ML building with a gen-eral admission of $17.

Smith entered a youth detention centre at the age of 15 after throwing crab apples at a postal worker. While at the youth detention centre, she incurred 50 additional charges for prankish behav-iour – such as putting toilet paper on her cell window – and found herself in the feder-al prison system by February 2005.

Smith began to show clear signs of mental health strug-gles by 2006 – with frequent acts of self-harm such as cut-ting her arms, self-strangula-tion and banging her head. To make matters worse, she was shipped from prison to prison a total of 17 times without a proper mental health diag-nosis.

Her sentence of six years and one month tragically ended on Oct. 19, 2007 when the 19-year-old committed suicide while prison guards stood outside her cell, alleg-edly following orders from the warden not to intervene from this perceived stunt.

Smith’s constant shuffling throughout the prison sys-tem, her prolonged periods of isolation in solitary con-finement, significant episodes of self-harm and failing to provide psychological help, captured national attention. Her life and death in the prison system became heav-ily scrutinized as the high-profile public inquest began in 2011. Causing more contro-versy, the coroner ultimately ruled her death a homicide in December 2013.

Correctional investigator Howard Sapers published a report of his findings called A Preventable Death in 2008. The report indicated that the teen’s death was a matter of individual and systemic failures, which sparked a national conversation about the management of men-tally ill prisoners within the Canadian judicial system.

The notion that her death should and could have been prevented with adequate mental health support is something that resonated with the students involved in the Waterloo production.

For Natasha Melfi, a legal studies major and drama minor student involved in the performance, “Ashley’s case jumped out at me because it was a complete misman-agement of a young teenager within the prison system. The way that her self-harming

was viewed – it was viewed as needing punitive response when it should have been reviewed for mental health … we all could have found ourselves in her situation at some point,” Melfi said.

The University of Waterloo’s project began with a minimal 19-page script, exploring the case and others like it. “We’re calling it an auto-ethnographic form of story – so what we have is Ashley Smith’s story intertwined with our own … so it is not just facts spewed out,” she said.

But this show is far more personal than what Melfi is used to. “I feel pretty exposed because you don’t get to hide behind a character. You’re kind of exposing who you are. Our cast mates talk about some really, really personal issues and struggles … we play sort of an exaggerated version of ourselves,” she said, adding, “There’s even photos and vid-eos of our own families within the play as we’re talking.”

Following a dramaturgy class instructed by Houston, whose content is often con-troversial subject matter – such as the land dispute in Caledonia, gambling addic-tions or the Occupy movement – the cast began with a rough version of the script, writ-ten by UW alumna Melanie Bennett. Through a series of workshops and planning, the story developed to include personal and family struggles of the 15-person cast.

“The (students) could offer as much or as little as they wanted about their person-al struggles,” Houston said, explaining that he often focus-es his projects on local prob-lems that require more than

one response or approach to a collective issue.

Houston’s concept for the project emanated from a few different influences. The local-ity of such a heinous death, the personal challenge of rais-ing two teenage sons and the substantive connection and impact of mental health on Kitchener-Waterloo enticed Houston to pursue the subject. “I try to think of ways in which theatre productions can have more of a connection to a community. I am more interested in building commu-nity than audience,” he said.

After teaching at the University of Waterloo for 12 years, Houston said that he understands the pressures young adults face which are doubly difficult if one is expe-riencing poor mental health. So in researching the Smith case, he immediately related her struggles and sense of isolation to his students.

“Where I work – this is an institution. The University of Waterloo in some ways is disturbingly similar to a prison. The way institutions are – educational or punitive – responding to mental health needs some work. The pris-ons and the universities need to work on how they handle mental health within their walls … (young adults are) being judged on professional-ism and ability to perform. I think there’s a perception among students that if they were to speak openly about the challenges they’re facing with their mental health manage-ment, they would be seen by the institution as some kind of liability,” Houston said.

While the project does not expect to deliver all of the

answers, the crew believes this will at least open up the lines of communication within the community about mental health and begin to address institutional flaws.

Small Acts of Repair Toward Mental Health: A Space for Engagement will examine what mental health is, chal-lenges associated and differ-ent coping skills. Because it is an interactive exhibit, engage-ment team member Brianne Haydon said they hope to cover a range of issues such as isolation and anxiety, stem-ming from the Smith case.

“Right now we have a lot of artwork from the fine arts department at the University of Waterloo. We’ve collected quite a few submitted, anony-mous stories from students regarding different struggles with mental illness in a uni-versity setting such as stig-ma, pressure to compete and that kind of thing. There is an auditory component of some recordings that simulate university student anxiety. We have one (display) that tries to demonstrate what an Alzheimer’s patient might struggle with, so we’re trying to cover all ages of mental illness, as well as looking at orders Ashley was given when she was in prison.”

A mock cell will be set up to recreate the sense of isola-tion Smith faced during her many months in solitary con-finement. At one point in the production, Melfi’s character references the fact that Smith spent 27 of her 36 months in prison in solitary confinement. Mental health services infor-mation, a list of the inquest jury’s recommendations, lots of artwork and the opportu-nity to reflect on how our com-munity can repair these com-mon issues will be showcased.

“We’re also hosting a sym-posium on March 21 at 4 p.m. and that’s where we’re going to bring in a few guest speak-ers – some from counselling services, some from accessi-bility services, a couple pro-fessors from the University of Waterloo who study and do research on mental health,” Haydon said, add-ing that the engagement team will be present to explain and engage the attendees. “Mental health is mental health. It shouldn’t be stigma-tized the way it is in society. We need to start this conver-sation about it, talk about its prevalence and what we can do to help people who are dealing with that,” she said.

For more information on the exhibit and production, visit www.solitary2solidarity.com.

From Solitary to Solidarity

PHOTO COURTESY OF WILLIAM INNESNatasha Melfi uses a sock as she relates her personal struggles to Ashley Smith in From Solitary to Solidarity: Unravelling Ligatures of Ashley Smith.

New project tries to understand the life and death of Ashley Smith

Page 6 s SPOKE Monday, March 17, 2014NEWS

BY SPENCER BEEBE

Teams of students gathered in the Sanctuary on March 4 to participate in a variety of fun and challenging timed tasks to compete for a cash prize in front of a cheering crowd.

Groups of students had their skills put to the test in these “Minute to Win It” challeng-es based on the popular game show of the same name. The tasks, which were organized by Conestoga Students Inc., were enjoyable for all – partici-pants and audience alike – and brought on praise and applause from the Sanctuary’s crowd.

Some of the challenges

included bouncing ping-pong balls into cups; dropping a cookie from your forehead into your mouth; ripping tis-sues from a tissue box as fast as possible; keeping three balloons afloat with just your hands; and blowing a stack of cards off a bottle while leav-ing one card on, a challenge called “Blowing the Joker.”

“Blowing the Joker seemed hardest,” said Jason Cunha-Lautsch, a first-year general arts and science student who participated in several events. “Nobody could complete it.”

Contestants from all over Conestoga took part – includ-ing Spoke’s own Cole Froude

– and everyone had a chance to test their skills in these short but difficult challenges.

CSI communications co-ordi-nator Zack Dodge was pleased with the number of eager par-ticipants, and was glad that events such as Minute to Win It (and the Rock Paper Scissors tournament earlier in the year) have been so popular with students.

“I’d like to see them both come back next year,” he said.

With all the bouncing bal-loons, falling cups, torn tis-sues and blown cards, it’s no wonder the Minute to Win It challenges were a blast for all.

PHOTO BY SPENCER BEEBEConestoga Students Inc. held Minute to Win It challenges in the Sanctuary on March 4.

Short games, big fun

SMILE, CONESTOGA! IT’S AN EPIDEMIC

Ben Kitchen, a second-year business administration-accounting student, wrote that having great friends makes him smile.

PHOTOS BY HAILEY MERKTStudents wrote what made them smile on a board outside Conestoga Students Inc. as part of the Smile Epidemic during Respect Week.

Monday, March 17, 2014 SPOKE s Page 7NEWs

Conestoga College has talent

By RANDI CLARKE

The popular television show, X Factor, is making its way around the world, even land-ing at Conestoga College.

There’s one major difference though, Simon Cowell isn’t judging the performances.

The talent competition is being held by Conestoga Students Inc. and is in its third year. Students signed up at the CSI office and audi-tioned from March 3-14. So far, CSI judges have had some singers, guitar players and even a student who performed monologues.

The X Factor competition is a little bit different from CSI’s earlier open talent com-petitions because it included tryouts.

“We did tryouts because it adds a little more challenge to the contest instead of an open talent,” said Samantha

Schwier, CSI’s programming co-ordinator and one of the X Factor judges. “Some stu-dents just enjoy getting up to sing or perform in other ways and we encourage that at our open talent events.”

There haven’t been any wacky performances this year.

“All of the talents so far have been very good,” Schwier said. “It takes a lot of courage to get up and perform in front of an audience so I wouldn’t call any of the talents ‘wacky’ but everyone’s performance is unique in their own way.”

One performer, Bryan Cresswell, a first-year pre-service firefighter student, performed two monologues for his audition. His first one was from the movie Good Will Hunting, while his second monologue was a speech from the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.

“I chose to do the mono-

logues because I can’t sing,” Cresswell said. “I enjoy the acting part of it and I thought it could be entertaining too. I chose these two monologues because Good Will Hunting is one of my favourite movies and I think Robin Williams really captures what it is to live life and the different experiences we can have. I chose the 2010 Olympic one because I like Canada and I think it represents us.”

Despite the fact that he chose two great pieces to read, Cresswell was still nervous about his audition.

“I don’t think anyone can’t not be nervous but it’s just about how you handle the nervousness.”

The X Factor finals will take place in the Sanctuary on March 18. The grand prize winner will receive $100, while second place will get $75 and third place $50.

By CALLIE WRIGGLEsWORTH

Take a break from your stud-ies and come out for a night of music and drinks.

On March 27, event manage-ment students of Conestoga College are hosting Keep the Beat Alive at Maxwell’s Music House in Waterloo.

“Basically we are trying to bring local artists together to get their names out, so they are performing for free in return for publicity,” said Hayley Hopkins, one event management student running the event.

The students are putting on the all-night concert in an effort to raise money for

the Canadian Music Therapy Trust Fund, a charity that offers support music thera-py services in order to help improve mental, physical and emotional conditions of Canadians. Based out of Toronto, its goal is to make music therapy more available.

“They don’t really have much awareness in Kitchener-Waterloo, so that is what we are bringing,” Hopkins said. “We have two representatives coming from that charity to MC at the start of the night and actually let everyone know about what they do. Any proceeds made either by ticket sales or donations will all go to them.”

The show will consist of eight different acts ranging from indie and rock to rap, and even showcase a couple of DJs.

“It’s right before exam time, so we are kind of trying to provide something for the stu-dents to come out and have a good night before they have to buckle down,” Hopkins said.

The 19 plus event starts at 8 p.m. and tickets are $10.

“It’s a fun night for the stu-dents,” said Brittany Larin, an event management stu-dent.

Tickets are available at the door. To purchase tickets in advance, visit the Facebook page, Keep the Beat Alive.

Keep the beat alive

PHOTO By RANDI CLARKEBryan Cresswell performs one of two monologues as part of his X Factor tryout on March 10 at Conestoga.

Local artists to perform at Maxwell’s

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Monday, March 17, 2014 SPOKE s Page 9NEWS

Defend yourself!BY KELSEY DUNBAR

Conestoga students choked, punched and flipped each other on March 6, but didn’t get into any trouble, as they were attending an annual defence class hosted by two martial art volunteers.

Sarah Dougall and Sean McDonald are martial art instructors who ran the third annual defence class at Conestoga College. Dougall started martial arts training in 1996 and McDonald began in approximately 1984.

“I have been training since 1985 … or 84, whenever the first Karate Kid came out. Yes, that is what started it all for me,” McDonald said.

The first Karate Kid movie hit theatres in 1984.

Since Conestoga College facilities are open day and night, some students have classes that run into the eve-ning. In order to make sure they are safe getting to and from the college, Dougall sug-gests walking in a group or calling Walksafe on campus.

“Students should also take a self-defence course to try and get a basic level of under-standing of how an assault occurs and what you should do to get out of that situa-tion. But really it is a mind-set that we want. It’s called hyper vigilance, the fight or flight syndrome. We want to get students to the point where they’re going to fight and change their thoughts from will I win to I will win ... We don’t want anyone to freeze and become a victim,” McDonald said.

The defence class raises awareness and teaches stu-dents to feel confident reacting if put in a bad situation. As well, the class gives students the chance to bring forward concerns about the campus.

The class began with knee strikes. When being attacked you should avoid kicking because you can very easily lose your balance. You want to grab the back of your attacker’s neck and use your other hand to hold their head down. When striking with your knee you want to get your power from your hips, and you don’t want your knee to bounce off of your attacker. You want to hit with the intent of your knee going through them. You’re not just doing the Can-Can dance.

You’re not going to just knee somebody anywhere. You want to aim for a place that

will actually hurt them such as the stomach, groin, or in the side of the thigh, the spot that gives you a charley horse when hit. That spot is actu-ally a nerve motor point and when it is hit it will cause dysfunction in the leg. The instructors put neon smiley face stickers on the legs of students, to show where to aim during the class.

“With a lot of the stuff we are teaching, you will get hit, you will get punched, maybe get kicked and 100 per cent you will get choked. We want you to leave here knowing that what we will teach you actually works … If you have to use these techniques on the streets they will work,” McDonald said.

The most common attack on females is the front choke. It is very simple to get out off. All you have to do is put both your arms up and turn your whole body sharply keeping your arms stiff. This breaks the attackers hold on your neck and puts you in the per-fect position to strike with your elbow. It doesn’t matter which way you turn, as long as you keep your arms stiff you will break the choke hold. This technique will also work if you are pinned to a wall for example.

If grabbed by the wrist there are a few techniques to assist you. When someone grabs you the weakest part of their hand is their thumb. You want to turn your wrist toward your attacker’s thumb and sharply pull away. If their grip is much too strong to pull away from you can strike them on the arm just under the bend in their elbow, where there is a radial nerve. When hit this spot will have the same effect as a charley horse in the leg.

Many people’s first instinct is to punch an attacker, however, punching properly requires a lot of training and can sometimes be danger-ous. You can easily break a knuckle, thumb or wrist. A better alternative is a palm heel strike. There is much less chance of breaking bones using the heel of your palm because your hand is open flat and it is much harder than your fist. It’s not a high five or a slap, but rather, you want to hit your attacker with the heel of your palm.

You want to strike where you are strong which is direct-ly in front of you. It doesn’t matter where it is on the other person’s body. However, usually an attacker is bigger than you are so you will be most likely striking them in

the chest or stomach. McDonald told the class it

isn’t always better to punch

someone in the face because you could get bit or cut by their teeth.

PHOTO BY KELSEY DUNBARDave Richtermeier practises his knee strikes with partner Chris Moher at the defence class.

PHOTOS BY KELSEY DUNBARStudent Natasha Bolden shows off her palm heel strikes with spotting partner Dave Richtermeier during a defence class on March 6.

Third annual defence class teaches students to protect themselves

Romance & JealousyWhen Talmon Rieder first

met his wife is not clear. He either met her through the local church, or when Talmon was travelling back and forth between New Hamburg and Berlin on a daily basis in 1893. Her name was Martha Anthes and her family was one of the most well respected and socially connected fami-lies of Berlin. The family’s patriarch, John, was a politi-cian and businessman who owned the Simpson-Anthes company, a furniture manu-

facturer. They likely met at one of the

parties held by the Anthes family, which the Rieder fam-ily usually attended. Talmon makes reference to one party held by the Anthes family in which he had “a most enjoy-able evening.”

What is clear is that by 1899 the young couple was beginning to fall in love. A letter from Louisa Anthes to her sister Martha tells of Talmon’s exploits as an active member of the Young People’s Alliance at Zion Evangelical Church. Louisa encouraged her sister to write to Talmon while Martha was attending Ontario Ladies College in Whitby, Ont. In one letter she says to Martha, “Mill (Martha), aren’t you and Rieder becoming close. The idea of you calling him Talmon!” Yes, in early 20th century relationships the degree of seriousness of the relationship was measured by whether the couple was on a first name basis appar-ently. Martha’s other sister, Ella, wrote Martha a letter where she says, “Talmon was there, (church meeting), but I have not seen him speak yet. (I put this in because I know you used to enjoy hearing about the dear boy.” It was clear the young pair was fall-ing in love.

1899 was important to Talmon and the city for other reasons too. This was the year that local industrial giants George Schlee, Louis Weber, Jacob Kaufman and Albert Breithaupt started the Berlin Rubber Manufacturing Company. After a trip to the United States Schlee recog-nized that manufacturing rubber was about to become

a very profitable industry and called upon other local busi-nessmen to help him begin his new industrial venture. Talmon agreed to work for Albert Breithaupt and Schlee and did correspondence work for the two business partners, recording and monitoring every transaction and event of each day of the company. The factory had its share of prob-lems getting off the ground. It lost $40,000 in the first year but broke even and eventu-ally recovered from the loss two years later. The owners of the new plant were nervous as they had not yet made a profit in three years of rubber manufacturing

A year after the factory opened Albert Breithaupt was engaged to Louisa Anthes after gaining permission from the girl’s parents, while Talmon was struggling with the amount of work he was doing for the rubber company. He barely had any time to visit Martha and, as he writes in his diary, “was completely worn out.” Tensions between Albert and Talmon were now on the rise. The two appar-ently had an argument at the Young People’s Alliance meet-ing at Zion Church, for which Albert later apologized.

Talmon was working hard for Berlin Rubber and was not happy with his compensation. He quietly observed the board of directors quibbling about making the company profit-able and at the same time, felt his work was going under appreciated. He had worked his way into the favour of the board of directors and sometime around May 1901 they were beginning to ask Talmon’s advice on business matters.

Talmon RiederTalmon Henry Rieder was

born in the small town of New Hamburg on Aug. 10, 1878, the first of nine chil-dren. His father Peter was the owner/operator of New Hamburg’s general store, Rieder and Ruby General Merchants. While Rieder was attending high school at Berlin Collegiate Institute, (modern day K.C.I.), he helped his father by work-ing in the store after school. Berlin Collegiate at the time was a far cry from what it is today. When Talmon attend-ed the school there were only

37 male and 27 female stu-dents. After completing a year of school in June 1894 he continued to work for his father before the whole fam-ily picked up and moved to Berlin.

Talmon’s first job, and one that began his journey as a titan of local indus-try, was with Berlin Gas Works. Peter Rieder was well connected to rich, well-known families through his local church. After talking with local industry titan William Henry Breithaupt he secured a position for Talmon as a clerk at the gas works specializing in writ-ing shorthand and recording gas meter readings. Peter, by this time, had become a travelling button sales-man for the Ontario Button Company. So at the early age of 18 Talmon got his first taste of working in an industrial setting, with work that he seemed to enjoy according to his diary. Staring at a rate of $2 a day Talmon excelled so much at his first position that by 1899 he was making more than twice that.

He soon found him-self working with Albert Breithaupt, a man who would later become his brother-in-law. It is clear from Talmon’s and Albert’s diaries that the two often did not see eye to eye, and as Mavor points out, it was this fracturous relationship that helped the local rubber industry grow.

Page 10 s SPOKE Monday, March 17, 2014FeaTuRe

by ScoTT DieTRich

For the most part the City of Kitchener has done an out-standing job of preserving its local history. It has a lot of museums relative to its size and has honoured the found-ers that made the city what it is today.

One of the ways the 19th and 20th century titans of industry are preserved is by attributing their name to local landmarks. Local shoe manu-facturer A.R. Kaufman has a YMCA and a middle school named after him, and the influential Breithaupt fam-ily leaves Breithaupt Park as their family’s legacy. Yet for all the heritage that has been preserved since the time that the city was called Berlin, local historians seem to have overlooked the contributions of one man.

PhoTo couRTeSy oF FRienDS oF JoSePh SchneiDeR hauSA portrait of Talmon Rieder circa 1912 around the age of 34.

The DiaryThanks to recent discover-

ies of an old diary coupled with old letters and finan-cial records, one former archivist who worked for the University of Waterloo recently put together a lec-ture and a report that shows how the contributions of one man made Kitchener the city it is today.

Susan Saunders Mavor recalls how delighted she was to learn about the dia-ry’s existence. “It was an incredible thrill,” Mavor said. One of Rieder’s descen-dants came across a col-lection of Rieder’s diary, financial documents and family letters in his attic. He turned it over to Mavor who had experience working with historical documents. “It was surreal to open up the box and see Talmon Rieder’s diary,” Mavor said. Combing through the docu-ments and diary took Mavor and her husband the better part of a weekend. What she found was a legacy and a vision of a man who did more for the city than histo-rians traditionally thought.

The Man Who Built Kitchener

PhoTo by ScoTT DieTRichA shot of modern day Zion Evangelical Church which is now called Calvary Memorial Church. It was the church that the Rieder and Anthes families attended.

Busy BerlinSetting up the new factory

did a number of things for the town of Berlin. It brought one of the most profitable and sought after manufacturing sectors to the city, greatly helping the local economy. The building of the new fac-tory also meant an increase in population and made Kitchener the city it is today.

What Talmon’s diary reveals is his contribu-tions to industry and to the city itself. If it weren’t for

Talmon, Merchant’s Rubber would have never existed, and the population and size of Kitchener today would be vastly different.

In addition to creating Merchant’s Rubber Company Talmon saw the merger of the town’s two rubber facto-ries into the huge corpora-tion Canadian Consolidated Rubber (CCR), the company which one day he would be vice-president of.

Local historians knew that Talmon was instrumental in the merger and that Talmon had brought a third factory to the area which would become The Dominion Tire Company, whose shell can still be seen on modern day Strange Street in Kitchener.

CCR wanted to move all rub-ber operations out of Berlin and to Montreal where the company was based. Instead, thanks to Talmon, the facto-ries remained and a third fac-tory was built. The entire des-tiny of a city was shaped by one man, who until now was seen as only having minor contributions to the process.

Not only did Talmon prob-ably save Berlin Rubber from collapse through his hard work, he brought more fac-tories to the area and made Berlin the rubber capital of Canada, modernizing and revolutionizing the economy that eventually became a prominent Canadian city.

Rieder was also responsi-ble for the building of the Westmount subdivision, a prominent Kitchener neigh-bourhood named after his Montreal neighbourhood,

when he and his family moved there after he became vice-president of CCR. Rieder, unfortunately never saw the completion of the subdivision, as he passed away on April 14, 1922, at the age of 43.

Monday, March 17, 2014 SPOKE s Page 11FeatureBranching Out

In October 1901 Talmon took a trip to New York City. It was here that he was able to fine-tune his business skills and natural sense for how things ran, and he observed the busy streets of New York. It was on this trip that Talmon gained most of the knowledge he would need to begin a busi-ness of his own.

A few weeks after his trip to New York Talmon attend-ed the wedding of Albert Breithaupt and Louisa Anthes. Talmon was one of five non-family members who attended the event, which included William Lyon Mackenzie King as a grooms-man. It appears from diary entries that he and Martha strengthened their rela-tionship again after it was strained by Talmon’s long work schedule and lack of time to spend with her.

Shortly afterward, Talmon began to complain to manage-ment that he was not being appreciated for the amount of work that he was doing for the company. Management assured Talmon that if he waited one more year there would be room for advance-ment at the company. By this time Talmon and Martha were continuing their rela-tionship with Talmon being totally smitten. “My mind is continually of rubber busi-ness and Martha’s welfare.” He wanted to ask Martha to marry him but also wanted to know that he would have a good job at the factory.

By 1902 he and Martha were in a “will-they, won’t-they” kind of scenario. The factory was in the same situa-tion, with each of the founding members arguing over control and funds of the company. Louis Weber left the com-pany and Albert purchased his stock. Talmon was visit-ing the Anthes house more frequently to talk to Martha,

something which annoyed Albert to no end.

Talmon wrote in his diary of a Jan. 15 fight with Albert. “Had quite a pointed discus-sion with Mr. Breithaupt in which matters were dealt with in pretty plain words. He said his position in life is not such to be treated as a subordinate. He had many points of censure against me and I in return against him. I felt afterwards to drop all interest and to do only what I was told to until I obtained another situation.”

Albert was angry that Talmon, who began on the low rung of the ladder, was climb-ing closer to Albert’s social status and family. This was the period of time that the future of Kitchener would be decided.

That November Martha and Talmon decided to get mar-ried. They declared their love for one another and realized they were meant to be togeth-er. Talmon wrote extensively about the day and taped two full pages of extra paper into his diary on Jan. 9 to describe how he felt. The young couple would defer their marriage for three more years as Talmon was increasingly busy with factory work.

In 1903 Talmon, still frus-trated with his standing in the company, was gaining more confidence in his abili-ties and began to consider moving out on his own into the business world. Although the board did not want to lose him they did not want to give in to Talmon’s request that he be paid better.

Finally on April 25 Talmon decided to leave the Berlin Rubber Manufacturing Company in favour of start-ing his own company. He had already been in discussions with one of Berlin Rubber’s board members, Jacob Kaufman, about venturing into another rubber factory.

recognitionIt is strange that for all of

Talmon’s work, the Rieder name is hardly recognized in the region. As Mavor stat-ed in her lecture, there is no Rieder Boulevard, Rieder Park or Rieder Public School. The man who strengthened the economy, increased the city’s growth and built an important neighbourhood from nothing but farmland and wilderness, would not be recognized in a photograph or even by name by most Kitchener residents.

Mavor says she, togeth-er with the Westmount Neighbourhood Association, want to erect a plaque hon-ouring the life and legacy of Talmon Rieder somewhere in the Westmount neigh-bourhood. They will be sub-mitting a recommendation to the Kitchener Heritage Committee that the plaque and the region hall of fame (which Talmon is already a part of), recognize that Talmon was more instrumental to the success and prosperity of the city than previously thought.

When Mavor was told that Westmount Public School is, in the next couple of years, to be torn down, rebuilt and may be a suitable way to honour the Rieder name, she smiled and said, Wouldn’t that be wonderful?”

phOtO By scOtt dietrichSusan Saunders Mavor was given Talmon Rieder’s diary, after which she published a report and gave a lecture on the businessman. She is looking to have a plaque erected in Westmount honouring him.

phOtO cOurtesy OF Friends OF jOseph schneider hausAbove is an artist’s rendition of the opening day of the Dominion Tire Company. Six thousand citizens of Berlin attended the opening.

Talmon was confident he could run operations better than his employers because of his trips to the United States and his years with Berlin Rubber.

Page 12 SPOKE Monday, March 17, 2014FEATURE

100 years of the romPHOTOS COURTESY OF THE ROYAL ONTARIO MUSEUM

In 1997 Joey and Toby Tanenbaum donated 300 artifacts of rare Byzantine art to the ROM, which are now displayed in the Joey and Toby Tanenbaum Gallery of Byzantium.

BY STEPH SMITH

Captivating the hearts and imaginations of millions for generations, the Royal Ontario Museum marks its 100th anniversary on March 19.

At the turn of the 20th cen-tury, a group of Torontonians conceived the idea for a pro-vincial museum within the city that would one day be world renowned. Among its founders were Sir Byron Edmond Walker and Dr. Charles Currelly, who, with help from other influential persons, advocated for the building and convinced both the Government of Ontario and the University of Toronto to fund the project.

The Royal Ontario Museum, more commonly referred to as the ROM, was formally estab-lished on April 16, 1912, after the signing of the ROM Act in the Ontario Legislature. The then Governor General, the Duke of Connaught, officially opened the building to the public on March 19, 1914.

The original building also featured five museums: The Royal Ontario Museums of Archeology, Paleontology, Mineralogy, Zoology and Geology, respectively.

Over the last century, the ROM has undergone several expansions to meet the needs of both its staff and its numer-ous pieces and collections.

“The exhibits have utterly

changed over time because we have had major new build-ings and gallery installations many times in 100 years,” Julia Matthews, editor for ROM ReCollects, said in an email.

Today, the building’s exte-rior features many different architectural styles, which reflect the period in which they were built.

The original building, designed by Darling and Pearson, a Toronto-based architectural firm which was responsible for shaping the look of many of the city’s more prominent buildings during the 20th century, is done in an Italianate neo-Roman-esque style. This was a reviv-al design popular throughout North America during the 19th century, which featured heavily massed, rounded, seg-mented windows and hooded mouldings.

The first addition began con-struction during the indus-trial and financial collapse of 1929, otherwise known as the Great Depression. Excavation was done by hand using picks, shovels and horse-drawn wag-ons, while building was done using mostly locally-sourced materials.

Breaking away from the heavy Italianate style of the original building, the new addition was done in a Byzantine, art deco style. It reflected the Gothic revival with its triple windows, gar-

goyles and heavy bricks that had worn, roughened surfac-es.

The entrance to this build-ing faces Queen’s Park and features an ornate rotunda, the brainchild of Dr. Currelly. It is composed of gold back-painted mosaic tiles and more than a million coloured tiles of imported Venetian glass, arranged into several pictori-al images. The mosaics of the Byzantine world and Eastern Europe are illustrated in rich reds, blues and turquoises, while the pictorials are sym-bolic of the different cultures throughout human history. The rotunda, as a whole, took eight months to complete.

Officially opening in 1933, the Toronto newspapers were heralding the Queen’s Park wing as a “masterpiece of architecture.”

In 1955, the five Royal Ontario Museums were recog-nized as a single body. After years of being under direct control of the University of Toronto, the ROM became an independent institution under the provincial govern-ment in 1968.

A $55-million renovation began in 1978 in order to better provide space for the ROM’s research and collection activities, new curatorial cen-tre, library and other much-needed facilities. The Terrace Galleries were opened in 1984 by Queen Elizabeth.

In 2001, the ROM launched

a $270-million project called Renaissance ROM, the first stage of which opened in 2005 and included 10 new galleries and public spaces in the his-toric buildings.

The most recent addition to the ROM was completed in 2007 as a major part of the Renaissance ROM proj-ect, which involved the reno-vation and expansion of the museum’s gallery space. The Terrace Galleries were torn down in order to make room for the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal, a set of five inter-locking, self-supporting pris-matic structures that have been considered one of North America’s most challenging construction projects.

Because the Crystal is self-supporting, it therefore remains unattached to the original building, except for the walking bridges which connect both structures inter-nally. The $30-million project was funded by Lee-Chin, a Canadian business mogul, as not only a gift to the museum, but to Canada as a whole for the opportunities it has given him.

The design for the build-ing, named in Lee-Chin’s hon-our for his generosity, was inspired by the ROM’s exten-sive mineral collection. The Earth Treasures gallery alone has about 600 rare gems and gem crystals, as well as jewel-ry and gold pieces. The initial sketch was drawn on a napkin

Monday, March 17, 2014 SPOKE s Page 13Feature

by the renowned Berlin-based architect Daniel Libeskind, who was selected from among 50 finalists to spear-head the Renaissance ROM team.

Other parts of the build-ing have also been dedicat-ed to certain individuals for their extensive philanthropy, such as Ernest and Elizabeth Samuel. The Samuels gave generously to many projects, including funding the comple-tion of the Samuel European Galleries, as well as the refurbishment of the Currelly Gallery, which has since been renamed the Samuel Hall Currelly Gallery in their honour. The ROM has also dedicated the newly restored rotunda to the Samuels for their lifelong commitment and generosity to the muse-um.

Ernest Samuel was the grandson of the late Sigmund Samuel, who contributed some of the finest pieces in the museum’s Ancient Greece col-lection, becoming a key mem-ber of the ROM’s success from the very beginning. He was also a collector of Canadian stamps, prints and maps, contributing a large amount to the ROM’s Canadiana gal-lery. When the ROM could no longer adequately display the collection, the collections were moved into the main building. The new Sigmund Samuel Gallery of Canada is one of the galleries opened as part of the Renaissance ROM project.

With over six million objects in its collection and 40 gal-leries of art, archaeology and natural science, as well

as their diverse collections of world culture and natu-ral history, it’s no wonder that the ROM has been able to garner such a prestigious international reputation.

The ROM is also Canada’s largest field-research institu-tion, with scientific and aca-demic research taking place around the world, making the museum one of the leaders in both knowledge and commu-nication.

But with limited space and constant collecting, the future of the ROM, like most things, cannot be easily determined, especially since the museum has such a unique dual man-date — to build understand-ing and appreciation for the diverse cultures and natural environments around the world.

“This museum has built a new building and new facil-ities about once every 25 years or so. And right now, although we have recently completed a building that improves our public spac-es, we’re full, in terms of our collections,” said Janet Carding, the director at the ROM, in a ROM ReCollects video.

“We already have places off-site where we store mate-rial. But to continue to be the research organization that we want to be requires an active collecting program, and simply put, we wouldn’t want to stop collecting mate-rial. We need the space so that we can continue to grow, because it’s only by growing that I think this museum will remain alive and have its

research base.”“How this museum con-

tinues to grow, when we’ve already filled the site that we own, will be an interesting challenge.”

The ROM is also one of the largest museums in North America, attracting over one million visitors each year.

Matthews said the muse-um expects more visitors in the future as it continues to grow, not only in space and items, but technologically as well.

“We do expect more visi-tors, and we do count them in new ways,” Matthews said. “Virtually, through Google hangouts, tweets and web stats, as well as bodies through the door.”

The ROM has also intro-duced Wi-Fi access, which visitors can use to download the ScopifyROM app to their smartphone. The first of its kind, the ScopifyROM uses Quick-Response (QR) codes (a matrix barcode readable by cellphone cameras) which are posted on certain exhibit piec-es throughout the museum to allow a user to learn more about a specific item.

The ROM will also be intro-ducing a new book this year entitled Every Object Has a Story and holding a year-long celebration.

In addition, Matthews said the museum is preparing a special exhibition, the details of which cannot be revealed until March 19.

If you’re interested in learn-ing more about the ROM and its upcoming celebrations, visit www.rom.on.ca.

PHOtO BY StePH SMItH Riaz Qureshi views a sheet of copper from White Pine Mine in Keweenaw/Ontonagon County, Mich. at the ROM on Feb. 16. The sheet is approximately five feet in length.

PHOtO COurteSY OF tHe rOYaL ONtarIO MuSeuMThe Tanenbaums have contributed greatly to Toronto, from hospital facilities to performing arts organizations and the ROM, including the Joey and Toby Tannenbaum Gallery of Rome and the Near East.

Page 14 s SPOKE Monday, March 17, 2014NEWs

PHOTOs BY CAsEY sCHELLENBERGERCandice Feday, a yoga instructor program certification student, assists a man by adjusting his pose at a free yoga event on March 5.

Free yoga popular

BY CAsEY sCHELLENBERGER

Free yoga was a big hit at the college on March 5, with some positions having to be adjusted because the room was so full.

This was the first in a series of weekly sessions which are being taught by students of Conestoga’s yoga instructor training and certification pro-gram. Rhonda Fowler, with assistance from Candice Fedy and Tracy Eccleston, the pro-gram’s instructor, lead 19 people through several poses, from the cat and cow pose to the eagle pose.

The hour-long session ended with the participants laying on their mats in the dark, focusing on relaxing each part of their bodies.

“It’s called corpse pose, but we’re not particularly fond of that term,” said Fowler, pre-ferring to call it shavasana.

“There is no work to be done in shavasana,” she said.

In collaboration with Ageless Arts Yoga, a studio in Cambridge, the yoga instruc-tor training and certification program aims to give stu-dents all the qualifications needed to become a registered yoga teacher.

Each student, or yoga teacher in training (YTT), will rotate into the teaching role with another on hand to assist. Each of the free classes is also supervised by an experienced yoga teacher to “ensure that the YTTs are offering a safe experience for

everyone,” Eccleston said.“That being said, the cali-

bre of teaching that the YTTs are offering is equal to many currently employed teachers.”

For the YTTs, this is their first chance to teach a class to a room full of people.

“Each of the students has already had a chance to prac-tise teaching on one anoth-er, but the challenge of an unknown audience, with multiple levels of experience, offers the students a valu-able learning experience,” Eccleston said.

“We appreciate you giving us the opportunity to practise on you,” Fowler said.

The session gave people a chance to try something new.

“My mom has never done it before,” said Savannah DaSilva, a second-year early childhood education student who attended the event with her mom. “This gave her the opportunity to try it.

“I think it’s phenomenal.” The event was originally

scheduled to take place in Rm. 2F26 at the Doon cam-pus, but was moved to 3F09 due to the number of people who attended.

“If more people continue to come, we’ll look into getting a bigger room,” Eccleston said.

Sessions are offered every Wednesday, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., until March 21. While the event is advertised as BYOM (bring your own mat), there are a few extra mats available.

Rhonda Fowler, a first-year yoga instructor certification program student, led a room full of people through several poses.

Monday, March 17, 2014 SPOKE s Page 15fun & games

AriesMarch 21 -

April 19

AquariusJanuary 20 - February 18

TaurusApril 20 - May 20

LibraSeptember 23 -

October 22

GeminiMay 21 - June 21

ScorpioOctober 23 - November 21

CapricornDecember 22 -

January 19

SagittariusNovember 22 - December 21

CancerJune 22 - July 22

LeoJuly 23 -

August 22

VirgoAugust 23 -

September 22

PiscesFebruary 19 -

March 20

Spirits can be good and bad, make yours good this week.This weekend: Love.

Reading has many positive effects, benefit from them.This weekend: Fiction.

The bitter cold is leaving and spring is arriving, wel-come it by spending some time outside.This weekend: Hike.

Spending wise can be tricky, but good deals and things worth buying are in your future.This weekend: Coin.

Your best work is around the corner, keep at it and you can set a new bar for yourself.This weekend: Better.

Clear out the cobwebs. Get rid of some old stuff and lighten your load.This weekend: Out with the old.

There is a lot of fun to be had, go have some.This weekend: Smile.

Corduroy Blue seeks the knowl-edge of lost times and finds time

for lost knowledge.

Horoscope Week of March 17, 2014

Knock down a problem that comes up pretty often and you will be able to relax a bit before you know it.This weekend: Content.

New opportunities will pres-ent themselves soon. Don’t hesitate to investigate.This weekend: Try out.

Roll up the rim of life and see what your prize is.This weekend: Winner.

When is the last time you made a new friend? It’s never too early to make another.This weekend: High fives.

Take some time to yourself and enjoy peace and quiet. That may be what you need to come back rested and ready for challenges ahead.This weekend: Me time.

Useless FactsOh Cliff!

Sudoku Puzzle

Word Search

The largest taxi fleet in the world is found in Mexico City. The city boasts a fleet of over 60,000 taxis.

Dreamt is the only English word that ends in the letters amt.

Bulgarians are known to be the biggest yogurt eaters in the world.

0.3 per cent of all road acci-dents in Canada involve a moose.

Lego men have those little holes in the top of their heads to allow air to pass through should a child ever get one stuck in his throat.

Fill in the grid with digits in such a manner that every row, every column and every 3x3 box accommo-dates the digits 1-9, with-out repeating any.

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