Produced by the Mohawk College Journalism Program Issue 1

201321 February

Til Debt Do Us Part

Changes in the MSA

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Come May, there will be a new President leading the Mo-hawk Students Association as it tries to improve the college experience.

The new leader is Ryan Chow, currently Vice President of the Brantford campus. His win in this year’s election gave Mohawk its first-ever President from one of the satellite cam-puses.

“I’m very proud…everyone in their life likes to say or feel that they left a legacy somewhere,” said Chow. “I think it really proved that it doesn’t matter the size of the campus or the number of people around…I think me becoming president really proves it’s about school spirit and cohesion between the students and the school.”

Chow says his mandate will mostly stay the same, except he has added one more mission to accomplish: increase voter turnout. Only an estimated eight to ten percent of the student body voted in the last election.

“I’ve actually been brainstorming a little more and speaking with some more people … the newest piece of information I’ve been juggling around is getting a better student vot-

With $100,000 on the line, the Mohawk Students’ Association wants your ideas for how to improve student life.

MSA President Andy Hall announced the Mohawk Gives Back campaign this morning. Students can submit their ideas for improving student life at any of the four campuses, vote on their favourite ideas, and see their improve-ments come to life.

“We thought if there’s one student group that’s really pushing forward to get funding towards one of their initia-tives, or something that would improve their student life at Mohawk College … maybe there’s a lot of other students who have an idea but don’t think there’s funding available so maybe they don’t come forward. That’s the whole idea

ing turnout,” he said. “The student body needs more aware-ness of what not only is going on around school but how their voice can change Mo-hawk.”

His election promises included bringing all the campuses closer together and creating a more inclusive feel-ing, particularly for international students. In order to do this, he he plans to increase communication.

“Currently I’d say we just don’t have enough communica-tion…currently we’re just all just very individual campuses. So I think a great start would be to start correlating events together,” he said. “It’s just a great place to start, cross events and take on bigger events together.”

He adds that students should expect Mohawk to get more active once he takes over on May 1st.

Ryan Chow wins MSA PresidencyKelly LishmanIgnite News

Mohawk Student Association’s new president Ryan Chow

Photo: MSA Website

MSA Gives Back behind MSA Gives Back.”

Half of the money, coming from the MSA’s reserve fund, is being matched by the College to allow for this $100,000 project.

Students can submit ideas at MSA-GivesBack.ca starting today until March 20. The students who submit the top ten stories will pitch their proj-ects to the judging panel Dragon’s Den-style on March 26. The winning project will be implemented by Sep-tember 2013.

Hall said the ideas can be for anything – from new equipment for technol-ogy students, to lounge areas around campus, to apps to help new students learn to use the school’s services. The student who submits the winning idea will receive a $1,000 cash prize.

“There obviously isn’t going to be a student out there who has a $100,000 idea,” said Hall. “Maybe there’s ten

students with ten $10,000 ideas…If five student ideas are chosen, then five students will win $1,000.”

The judging panel consists of Mohawk College President Rob MacIsaac, Vice President of Student Services Wayne Poirier, MSA President Andy Hall, and MSA Vice President of Marketing, Ash-ley Coles.

Voting begins March 7 and runs until the end of the campaign.

Lauren SmithIgnite News

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It’s almost time for people all across Canada to look at their T4 slips and wonder, “Where did all my money go?”

Tax time is coming and most would agree it’s better to be on the receiving end of a refund cheque than having to pay even more to the government.

Mohawk students can access their T2202A tuition receipt in Mocomotion under the Student Academics tab. The T2202A includes a tuition credit, an education amount, and a textbook credit, but there are other ways for students to maximize their chances of a return.

“For students who depend on transit to get to campus, they should keep their passes to claim the Transit Tax Credit. The program also includes some electronic tickets and weekly passes purchased for four consecutive weeks. They need the receipts and transit passes to back up your claim,” said H&R Block senior tax analyst Cleo Hamel.

Hamel said the tax season could be daunting because most students rely on their parents to file, or in some cases have never filed a return. Mohawk students have different experi-ences when it comes to taxes.

“When it comes to doing my taxes I have no idea what I’m doing,” said office administration student Deanna Clark. “I don’t expect to get anything back.”

“My returns since being in school have been between $1000-1500 which is a nice change from when I was work-ing full-time and usually owed the government money,” said nursing student Kimberley Voortman.“I have a program that tells me where to enter my earnings,” Architecture student Tim Langlotz said.

One program available is Intuit’s TurboTax student edition. It’s specifically designed for students and is free if the user earned less than $20,000 last year. There’s also SnapTax, a new mobile tax program.

“Canadian students can now easily file their taxes by snap-ping photos of their T4 and other key tax documents, an-swer a few simple questions, and then file online through NETFILE within minutes from their smart phone. SnapTax is free to download and priced at $9.99 per return,” said Michael Thomson of Edelman Public Relations.

Employed students will receive their T4 slips by the end of February. For any information about student taxes, visit Canada Revenue Agency’s student and income tax online pamphlet.

Death and Taxes. We can help you with one of themDiego FlamminiIgnite News

Graduating soon? Need a job? The Connect to Careers Job Fair is approaching and could be your ticket to employment.

On March 6th, a wide variety of companies will set up shop at the Hamilton Convention Centre to recruit job-hungry stu-dents from Mohawk College and McMaster University.

Both schools have partnered up for the first-time to offer current students and alumni a better chance of finding work.

John Day, Employment Advisor at Mohawk College’s Stu-dent Engagement and Employment office, says that this job fair will be incredibly beneficial to students.

“The employers at the career fair are offering jobs to stu-dents and graduates which should take the pressure off students and make it easier for them to hopefully gain a position at their desired company,” said Day.

This year’s career fair will feature a variety of companies from around the area, all providing information on how to apply, their job requirements and the industry trends and growth. Students will also get the opportunity to network, another extremely helpful tool for job searching.

The fair is open to all current McMaster and Mohawk stu-dents, as well as to alumni who have graduated within the past 10 years.

McMaster University alumni student Corey Evans has strug-gled to find a job ever since graduation.

“I have put in a lot of effort to find a job since I graduated from McMaster University a few months ago,” said Evans. “It has been hard but I take every opportunity – like the job fair, and try to use it to my advantage.”

The Connect to Careers website provides information on how students can get no-ticed, how to network, and most importantly, how to snag a job.

You can find a complete list of all the companies that will be taking part in the fair here.

Career Fair could be your ticket to a jobAnisha SethIgnite News

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Amber WarrenIgnite News

The McIntyre Theatre was filled with Hamiltonians Tuesday night, all look-ing for financial advice on digging out of debt.

Guest speaker and host of Slice-TV’s Till Debt Do Us Part Gail Vaz-Oxlade talked to the audience about their finances and how they can create and hold onto a budget to lift themselves out of the money holes we face in to-day’s society. Her book, Money Rules talks about handling debt and staying away from people who just want to take your money and run.

There are 261 rules in her book; for example, rule number 10; your finan-cial education is your responsibility. Vaz-Oxlade says you are your own person; therefore you should figure out how to be spending your own money.

“Your money is your responsibility and if you want to have money, you better freaking figure it out,” she said. “There

are many people out there that can’t wait to take your money away from you.”

Although the audience found Vaz-Oxlade comedic style entertaining, reactions to her were mixed. Some loved her, while others found her intimidating.Secondary School teacher Mary Hockey says some of the answers she heard were a bit frightening. But

overall, Hockey thought Vax-Oxlade was extremely down to earth and re-ally told it like it is.

“She answered my question, but killed me first,” she said. “She’s no-nonsense type of person and puts it in terms that are easy to understand.”

The event was hosted by Mohawk Talks, in partnership with First Ontario Credit Union. Special events coordina-tor at Mohawk Dana Jacobs says that this is the first event hosted by Mo-hawk Talks and the turnout was great.

“We’re seeing big big numbers which is good,” she said. “People want to see her and I think she’s speaking on a topic that speaks to the general interest of people.”

Jacobs says that this is an open door to bringing more guest speakers in to talk about overcoming issues we face as a community. $

Photo: Amber Warren

Paying for tuition the“Sugar Baby”waySarah AitchisonIgnite News

As the cost of living increases and students face the prospect of repay-ing their loans, many post-secondary students are looking for alternative ways to pay the bills. The online dat-ing website Seeking Arrangement is reportedly becoming a popular source of income for students across North America.

Seeking Arrangement calls itself the number one dating service, and after launching in 2005 roughly 50 per cent of their clients are college and univer-sity students.

The website is designed for wealthy individuals, also known as sugar daddies, who are willing to pay for

an escort. Members who are willing to become escorts are commonly 20-somethings, referred to as “sugar babies.”

A recent article in the Toronto Star said 183 Ryerson University students registered for SeekingArrangment.com profiles last year.

“I’m a sugar baby,” says Mohawk student Josh McLaughlin. “My friends showed me the website and some ladies pay thousands of dollars just to go on a date with them. It’s awesome and better than a real job.”

The website states that many of the “Sugar Daddy” members are million-aires and generous individuals looking to spoil their “sugar babies.” This “beneficial relationship” – the term

coined by Seeking Arrangement – may be attractive to students looking for extra cash.

“I think that this is a serious issue for students,” says Mohawk Sociology professor Shaun Iles. “Media constantly floods our lives with images of successful ‘twenty something’s’ who have nice cars and houses without showing any of the stressors of life such as school, pay-ing the bills, and this can cause sig-nificant mental stress on the student, even producing compulsive shopping and debt issues.”

“Working” part-time job at Seeking Arrangement may be beneficial to a student’s lifestyle, but is a controver-sial way to pay your bills. $

Gail Vaz-Oxlade signs books and jokes with the crowd after her talk.

MONEY

Budget? Yes you can!

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NEWS

FUN AND GAMES

201227

September Managing Editor

Courtney MacDonald

News Editor

Steve Spriensma

Sports Editor

Trever Arthur

Entertainment Editor

Joanna Ward

Lee McConnell Tom AllenKatie Stoneman Andrew RoebuckTaylor Ablett Dayna Palmer

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REVIEWS

Joe Budden doesn’t disappoint with his third album, No Love Lost, his first solo album in four years.

His sophomore album Padded Room was released in 2009, which is cen-turies ago in Hip-Hop years. No Love Lost is only projected to hit 30,000 copies sold in its first week, but that doesn’t mean this album will be a flop.

His first hit “She Don’t Put It Down” featuring Lil Wayne and Tank – its video already has over one million views on YouTube – has a catchy chorus that would fit seamlessly into a Drake album. The song “NBA” featuring Whiz Khalifa and French Montana, with a Boi-1da beat,

Joe Budden: No Love LostThomas AllenIgnite News

is another hot track that is worthy of multiple rotations.

No Love Lost is by far his most mature album, with a lot of R&B-style songs like “You and I” and “All In My Head”. How-ever, Budden sometimes tries a little too hard to be versatile, ignoring his lyrical prowess and letting other artists overshadow him

on his own tracks, like Emmany in “You and I”.

The album still fea-tures glimpses of the energetic Joe Bud-

den who burst onto the scene in 2003, as well as the lyrically-savvy Slaugh-terhouse Joe Budden. In fact, the al-bum features the three other Slaugth-erhouse MC’s, Royce Da 5’9”, Joell Ortiz and Crooked I.

“It is a breath of fresh air in a genre

full of would-be rappers.”

Overall, No Love Lost is an album that takes a while to truly appreciate, but it is a breath of fresh air in a genre full of would-be rappers. It’s an album that has a little bit of everything and is worth a listen.

k-os: BLack on BLonde

It took four years, but Canadian rap-per k-os has finally released his long-awaited follow-up album to his 2009 success Yes! which peaked at number nine on the Canadian Albums Chart that year.

His new, 19-song dou-ble album, BLack On BLonde, features two

sides: the “BLack” side and the “BLonde” side, each going in two different musical directions.

The album features a number of guest appearances including Emily Haines, Shad, Sebastien Grainger, Black Thought of The Roots, and even 1980’s pop star Corey Hart.

The BLack side carries an old-school hip-hop vibe and that classic k-os sound. However, it also features some new elec-tronic sounds as well as some heavier rapping in some songs.

A track called “Spraying My Pen”, which features fellow Canadian rap-pers Shad and Saukrates, “smells and tastes like Toronto hip-hop” according k-os on a bonus commentary track for the website rdio.com. “Try Again”, featuring rapper Black Thought, com-bines both sides of the record with

some heavy rapping along with heavy lyrics, but also features drums and a guitar riff, almost reminiscent of Emi-nem’s “Sing for the Moment”.

Meanwhile, the BLonde disc is rock-influenced and features k-os not only singing, but also playing guitar, drums, and bass. This disc comes across as experimental, but not too far out of line for what you might expect from the Toronto-based rapper. “Don’t Touch” is a lighter reggae sounding song that features Sam Roberts playing guitar, that k-os says, was inspired by Simon & Garfunkel’s “Mrs. Robinson”.

BLack On BLonde is a thorough hip-hop record that features some old sounds that you know and expect from k-os, mixed with new sounds and ideas. The album showcases many fel-low Canadian artists and was record-ed at Canadian actor Hayden Chris-tensen’s Los Angeles mansion. This album features some of k-os’ best work yet, and is worth picking up in your fa-vourite music format.

Shawn McGuireIgnite News

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ENTERTAINMENT

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MUSIC AND VIDEOGAMESSomething old, Something new(ish) from the who

Massive screens and a sleek lighting display occupy the spot where, once upon a time, a wall of guitar amplifi-ers provided the perfect background for the loudest band in rock and roll. The background may have changed, but the music was familiar as The Who rocked Copps Coliseum.

For their latest tour, the band is playing Quadrophenia, their 1973 rock opera, track-by-track. From the opening ocean waves of “I Am the Sea” to the last scream in “Love Reign O’er Me”, Roger Daltry, Pete Townshend and company played straight through the album’s 17 songs without addressing the crowd. The five screens on stage showed close-ups of the legendary rock band performing on stage, as well as imagery matching the music and lyrics.

Among the videos shown on the screen were tributes to fallen

members of the Who, bassist John Entwistle and Keith Moon. A video re-cording of one of Entwistle’s spectacular bass solos played as a part of “5:15”, while video of Keith Moon singing vocals from behind the drum set graced the screen during “Bell Boy”.

The surviving members of the Who were backed by a full band, including keyboards, horns, and piano. Zak Star-key, son of Beatles druwmmer Ringo

Starr, played drums.

Following the Quadrophenia set, the Who played some of their more popu-lar songs for the Hamilton crowd. They closed the night with “Won’t Get Fooled Again” from 1971’s Who’s Next and an acoustic performance of “Tea and The-atre” from 2006’s Endless Wire.

“Be safe, be healthy, and always be lucky,” said Daltry as he and Townshend left the stage.

Neil ReyesIgnite News

Photo: Neil Reyes

Company Profile: Green Pixel

Joe Pendon and Rich Halliday met on the job five years ago and shortly after began working together as indepen-dent video game developers Green Pixel. Operating out of Hamilton, the duo recently displayed their newest creation, Dr. Vile at Mohawk College.

“Dr. Vile kind of came on for a game competition,” Pendon said. “We had to make that in 70 hours. It did really well and we got in second place and we decided to put it into our development pipeline.”

Dr. Vile is not the only project Green Pixel is currently working on.

“One of the games were developing now is based on my web comic The Pocalypse,” said Pendon. “So we have

Mike BlackIgnite News

two games being developed right now.”

First envisioned when Pendon was liv-ing with his wife in Japan and still com-municating with Halliday, Green Pixel has continued to evolve and try new things.

“To test out if we could make something together we made our first flash game, then we made our first IOS game and then Dr. Vile happened.”

The company is currently publishing their titles independently but is open to the idea of finding an outside pub-lisher.

“We have a spot on the app store; we just load our games on there,” said Halliday of how people can buy Green Pixel games. “If people stepped up and wanted to publish it that would be

fine, but we are not really looking ac-tively for that.”

Green Pixel released its first game about two years ago and used it as a learning experience for.

“Our first IOS game was called Block-Hopper and that was for $1.99,” said Pendon. “We learned what we could from that, the whole process and what we need to do for next time and what not to do.”

Going forward, Pendon says Green Pixel will continue to work on develop-ing “retro games”, which he considers the most fun.

“I think the glory days of gaming were the Super Nintendo, early PlayStation era,” he said. “I’m really into role-play-ing games and the art style of Super Nintendo, and that’s my art style. I want to make games that childhood me would enjoy.”

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BASKETBALL

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Wiggins-mania hits HamiltonGlen CuthbertIgnite News

The sold-out crowd leaps out of their seats, not believing what they just saw. And it’s still ten minutes before the game will begin.

That’s because Andrew Wiggins, the best high-school bas-ketball player in North America, just threw down an amaz-ing dunk in the warm-up prior to a game against a team of Hamilton high-school all-stars.

The usual. Just a little 360-degree, behind-the-back dunking action. The same dunk that scored Toronto Raptors’ rookie Terrence Ross a perfect score in the first round of this year’s NBA slam-dunk contest.

Well, not exactly the same.

“He did it the other way,” joked Wiggins. “That way’s harder.”

Wiggins’ talent level, however, is no joke.

The 17-year-old Thornhill native is the son of a former NBA player (Mitchell Wiggins) and an Olympic silver-medal sprinter (Marita Payne-Wiggins). With parents like that, it’s not surprising how talented the young Wiggins is.

Wiggins attends Huntington Prep, a high-school in West Vir-ginia known for its basketball program. His teammate and best friend, Xavier Rathan-Mayes, has just two words to de-scribe Wiggins’ talent.

“Mind boggling,” Rathan-Mayes said. “(He has) athletic ability that comes once in a lifetime.”

With the media constantly surrounding him, one would think Wiggins would get tired of the constant scrutiny.

“Not really,” Wiggins said. “It’s part of being an elite player.”

Wiggins has the potential to go first overall in the NBA draft, which would make him the highest-drafted Canadian ever. Tristan Thompson currently holds that honour, drafted fourth overall by the Cavaliers in 2011.

Through it all, Wiggins is keeping his priorities straight. He says God and family are the two biggest things that motivate him.

“He’s very grounded,” said Wiggins’ father, Mitchell. “He’s very confident with who he is, what he wants to do, and where he wants to go.”

Where he wants to go is the biggest question facing Andrew Wiggins, as fans and media alike want to know where he will be attending school in the Fall.

Both his parents went to Florida State, and his best friend Rathan-Mayes will be attending there too. Wiggins’ short list includes Florida State, Kansas, North Carolina, and Ken-tucky.

“It would be a huge story for us to play together there,” said Rathan-Mayes.

Before speculation could get out of hand, Wiggins had one reminder for everyone.

“I’m only 17,” he said with a smile.

Andrew Wiggins (22) is the top high-school player in North America.

Photo: Glen Cuthbert