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SINCE 1906

westerngazette.caTHURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2015 • WESTERN UNIVERSITY’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER • VOLUME 109 ISSUE 18

freezing up since 1906

On to the Yates Cup

The Mustangs, possibly without star quarterback Will Finch, face the Guelph Gryphons in Saturday’s Yates Cup.

GAME PREVIEW PAGE 5

NAVPREET SINGH GAZETTE

2 • THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2015 www.westerngazette.ca •

IAIN BOEKHOFF EDITOR-IN-CHIEF@IAINATGAZETTE

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HIGH 12 LOW 6 HIGH 6 LOW 2 HIGH 6 LOW 2TODAY TOMORROW SATURDAY

KNOW

Holocaust survivor shares his story at Western

David Moskovic talks surviving Auschwitz, his love for his family and not forgetting the horrors of the past. PG 4

INSIGHT

Beard transplants on the rise across North America

Dr. William Yates, a surgeon spe-cializing in beard transplants, reveals that more and more men are going under the knife to get that luscious facial feature. PG 9

EXPERIENCE

Can you write a novel in 30 days?

NaNoWriMo, the annual literary event, challenges aspiring novel-ists to complete a 50,000 word novel in the month of November. PG 11

PROFILE SASHA LUNA

WWhen nine-year-old Sasha Luna made her first appearance on stage, she had no idea how much it would change her life. The lights, costumes, sets and scripts would inevitably become the things that bind Sasha to her identity.

Fast forward to today. The third-year MIT student is now director of Theatre Western’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, a position she never thought she would be in.

“I always saw myself as the actor,” she says. “When I was young I always said that I wanted to act and that’s what I wanted to do as my profession.”

For Sasha, acting and performing came naturally. Even at a young age she was picking up accents and making people laugh. As an actor, it wasn’t the attention or praise that kept her going; instead, it was the connections made with people.

“When you’re on stage and you’re making someone laugh or cry, you’re actually having a connection with that person whether you know it or not,” says Sasha. “I think that’s really important as an actor.”

Finding out what makes you tick can feel like an endless process. But when you discover that passion it can be what defines you.

“It’s just the love of the stage and the love for theatre. It doesn’t feel like a chore, it just feels like something that I have to do,” says Sasha. “And I think that’s what a passion is — something that feels like you have to do it. I feel like I have to do theatre because that’s what I was made to do.

After many, many years of acting, Sasha began to

develop a much deeper understanding of theatre and as a result, a more precise vision of the way theatre should be.

“I just found that sometimes I could be critical of the directors. I felt that I [knew the plays] a little bit better [because] I’ve been on the stage for such a long time.”

It was the little things that Sasha began noticing, like the way directors would interact with their actors or the decisions in blocking. For the most part, Sasha just felt that she could do more.

“I felt like if I was the director I would make, for example, this person feel like they were so much more part of the scene or focus more on their character development,” says Sasha.

Between directing plays and acting in shows, Sasha works part-time – balancing work, school and extracurriculars. But if it weren’t for theatre, she wouldn’t know how she’d get through university.

“I work part-time and I also direct as well. I’m usually always in a production,” says Sasha. “I think having a good combination of school and work is important, I couldn’t imagine just going to school and nothing else – that would make me miserable.”

As a student, there is no doubt that you’re going to be subjected to long hours reading, writing or memorizing. For many, it can become far too stressful and that’s why directing your mind elsewhere is important.

“You need to be doing something that makes you happy. I think everyone needs to be doing something that makes them feel like they’re making a conscious effort in their community helping other people and helping them explore,” says Sasha.

■MOSES MONTERROZA

JENNY JAY GAZETTE

We would like to remind you that you must meet with a counsellor at Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD), in the Student Development Centre, to arrange academic accommodation for your 2015/16 winter courses.

If you have not yet requested accommodation for your courses, and you wish to use accommodation for December 2015 exams, you must meet with a counsellor by Wednesday, November 25th. If requested after this date, accommodation for December 2015 exams cannot be arranged by Exam Services.

To book your appointment please call

519-661-2 1 47

1511

03

Solution to puzzle on page 11

• www.westerngazette.ca THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2015 • 3

know

AMY O’KRUK NEWS EDITOR@AMYATGAZETTE

After a controversy-ridden 2015 Orientation Week, Western and the University Students’ Council are set to modernize its student orientation program for the first time in over a decade — and in time for 2016’s incoming students.

The orientation program’s update will include renewed goals and a multi-year strategic plan developed by the orientation governance board and orientation planning committee.

“The last official strategic plan that we had … was in 2003,” said Taryn Scripnick, USC vice-presi-dent student events. “We’re hoping to review our programming, what we’re doing with our sophs and how everything affects students.”

The OGB and OPC provoked community criticism during Western’s 2015 orientation week when the OPC banned traditional soph apparel, like bandanas and

fake dreadlocks in an effort to be culturally sensitive. Many criti-cized the USC of undue censorship.

Scripnick said that while the September drama didn’t prompt the orientation program’s review — it was initiated last spring — the review will ensure that OPC mem-bers are performing their duties accountably and in the interest of students.

“We’re reviewing [the] OPC and its function, and just making sure that we’re taking a look at all of the areas of the orientation program,” Scripnick said. “Not just program-mers, not just sophs but taking a look at [OPC member’s] roles and making sure we’re performing properly and … that we’re also being accountable.

According to the OGB’s man-date, it’s responsible for setting the directions and guidelines for orientation week while the OPC’s role is to develop methods of implementation. To develop the strategic plan, the USC groups will

collaborate to collect input from Western students, faculty and staff that will determine the proposal’s direction.

“As we’re moving forward, it’s really important to have trans-parency around the procedure, but also about what’s going to happen [to the orientation pro-gram], so people can get behind it,” said Jana Luker, Western associ-ate vice-president (student experi-ence) and OGB co-chair. “Right now, we’re looking for feedback.”

Scripnick said interested stu-dents can submit feedback online, or participate in focus groups that will help shape the draft of the stra-tegic plan up for review in January. More information is available at orientationplan.uwo.ca.

“If the students want to come out and they want to be involved then we highly encourage that,” Spripnick said. “Without them, we can’t make any of these changes.” ■

USC to review orientation program

KATIE LEAR NEWS EDITOR@KATIEATGAZETTE

London city council approved a pre-liminary plan for a hybrid light rail and bus rapid transit system for the city on Monday night.

The plan aims to bring a light rail route between Masonville Mall and Fanshawe College and an additional rapid bus route connecting White Oaks Mall to Wonderland Rd and Oxford St. Both routes will meet in downtown London.

“There’ll be the same sort of set-up in terms of being a rapid transit system, except one will be light rail and one will be bus, and the reason for that is volume of passengers,” Ward 6 councillor Phil Squire said.

“The routes that have been desig-nated for light rail, which include Western University, are the busiest lines, and then the others are not as busy to justify light rail but they’ll start as buses.”

The projected cost of the plan is $850 to $900 million, of which the city has pledged to pay $125 million. The rest of the funding will have

to come from the provincial and federal governments, according to Squire.

“The provincial government has indicated that they will be provid-ing funding for rapid transit but we’re not sure yet of what the exact amount might be,” he said.

Before plans for the transit sys-tem proceed, the provincial and federal governments will need to approve funding for the proposal.

London Mayor Matt Brown voiced his support for the plan.

“The fact of the matter is that London is the largest city in Canada without a rapid transit program and we are going to fix that,” Brown said in an email. “Rapid Transit is the foundation of the London Plan.… It will fundamentally change the way we move across the city for decades to come.”

London Transit General Manager Kelly Paleczny also spoke in favour of the rapid transit plan.

“The LTC has been calling for initiatives like this since 2006 and we’re finally there and we feel like we’re in the home stretch,” Paleczny said. “We’re very excited that council

has turned its attention to this issue.”Paleczny spoke to the benefits

that the rapid transit system will give to the city, including increased schedule adherence and a decrease in congestion on city buses.

“What city staff are suggesting, and the reason they’re moving forward with this option, is not

only with respect to the transit improvements that we’ll see as a result of this but also the economic development and the city-building potential associated with the light rail component.”

Final approval on the plan will come after the public has had a chance to weigh in on the system,

with the city council vote likely hap-pening in January.

“By then I hope we will have answers to many of those questions [such as] what funding we’re getting [and] whether that will in fact enable us to do what we want to do,” Squire concluded. ■

TAYLOR LASOTA GAZETTE

City council approves early plan for light rail hybrid in London

Western becomes leader in childhood development researchDRISHTI KATARIA NEWS EDITOR@DRISHTATGAZETTE

Western is gearing up to be a global leader in the field of early child-hood development research as it partners with Merrymount Family Support and Crisis Centre based in London.

According to Vicki Schwean, dean of Faculty of Education, child-hood development is important to society because children today will mark to a large extent the kind of society we have in the next couple of decades and so its important to know how their brains will develop.

“We do know that children’s brains develop most significantly

in their first three years of life and are very very responsive to the environment and as a result those children that face pretty significant adversity in life have a very poor start,” she said.

Merrymount serves over 8,000 children every year and helps them during times of crisis.

“[The children there] are experi-encing some degree of vulnerabil-ity due to property, family crisis, domestic violence due to lack of attachment issues so it seems like the right thing to do,” said Schwean.

The centre offers 24 hours of continuous short term care for children, 18 beds that are full each

night and 30 education and pre-vention programs for adults and children.

“We know that we can have a much better outcome, a much more positive outcome for children if we start intervention very early in life,” Schwean said.

Very little work is being done around the world in this field, how-ever Harvard and Cambridge are both involved in ground breaking work in this area, Schwean men-tioned. The centre will have an interdisciplinary group of research-ers from Western’s faculties of edu-cation, psychology, science, social science and health sciences.

They will be focusing on three

main areas of research– environ-mental effects on the brain, also known as toxic stress; cognition, language, literacy and numeracy; and psychological, social and emo-tional well being and resiliency. Schwean said that in order for this research to translate to real world application, focus has to be on cap-acity in our professional commun-ity, people who work with children and families.

“A good part of the work at Merrymount is developing pro-fessional development opportun-ities or accessible kinds of research findings that they can use in their own practice,” she said. ■

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Building a beautiful life from a legacy of horrorTREVOR MAK CONTRIBUTOR@GAZETTECULTURE

In May of 1944, David Moskovic stood before the gates of Auschwitz as SS guards separated the new arriv-als in two lines.

Those on the left were bound for the gas chambers, while those on the right would have a chance to fight for their lives.

Seventy years since the liberation of a death camp that has come to be perceived as the very epitome of the Holocaust, Moskovic stood before a crowd of several hundred students and faculty in Mustang Lounge at Western University on Monday night. Western Hillel hosted the event as part of their Holocaust education week.

Moskovic recounted every moment of his struggle for survival; from the daily battles with starvation to the Nazi death marches.

“Some people … who didn’t have it, have the strength, didn’t survive,” Moskovic said in an interview. “I never had an education; I was just a street-smart person. That’s why I was so successful in the camps.”

For those of us born in the past

few decades, what little we know of the Holocaust largely remains confined to what we learn in class-rooms, read in books and observe in museums and film.

Moskovic said that today’s gen-eration does not understand the struggles of the past.

“Today’s children have good lives and they’re complaining,” Moskovic said. “They don’t know how lucky they are too have all the good things in life and they’re not suffering from hunger.”

Nevertheless, Moskovic’s hopes that speaking out about his experien-ces will inspire people into becom-ing a force for positive change.

“Today, all over the world the same thing is happening,” he said. “It’s like people are living through religion again. People are going through the same things the Jews went through. In those days they had one crazy man and today they have many crazy men. It’s a shame nothing is being done about. We talk about, but we do nothing about it.”

Yet, despite receiving a warm ovation and a plethora of embrace from students touched by his story, Moskovic, a man who prefers a quiet

life, does not consider himself much of a public speaker.

“My granddaughter goes to Western and she asked me if I could talk to students and I said sure. I’d never spoken to large sections of people. I’m not public speaker. I came for my [grand]daughter.”

However, what makes today’s generation significant is that we will be the last people that will be afforded the privilege of being able to learn what it was like to live under the thumb of Third Reich Germany by those who experienced the per-secution first-hand.

After being released from the Auschwitz, Moskovic said he did all he could to move on with his life.

After the war, Moskovic immi-grated to Canada. While there was the challenges of learning a new lan-guage and adapting to a new culture, the native of Konus, Slovakia, man-aged to establish a comfortable life in Ottawa where he still currently resides.

“What I did was I bettered my life. I always try to adjust myself to people here and my family. I have a beautiful family so that’s what I live for.”

While it is remarkable to have survived one of the most notori-ous death camps, what is equally more venerable is being able to build a new life by putting the pain of being wronged in the most egre-gious, unimaginable and cruelest way possible.

“I have no hatred for anybody. I don’t hate German people,” Moskovic said. “The people [that] did it have already passed away. The people in Germany right now are their children and grandchildren; they had nothing to do with it. So I can’t blame them.”

Instead of looking back with bitterness, Moskovic has chosen to move forward and embrace the life he has found in Canada with open arms.

He dedicates his energy towards spending time with his family, some-thing he deems of higher prior-ity than speaking about his past sufferings.

“If they didn’t ask me I wouldn’t have spoken to them,” Moskovic said. “My granddaughter asked me, she goes to this university and I would never refuse my granddaugh-ter anything. I love her dearly.” ■

COURTESY OF WESTERN HILLEL

Some people … who didn’t have it, have the strength, didn’t survive.DAVID MOSKOVICHOLOCAUST SURVIVOR

BRIEFS

ANIMAL RESEARCH POLICY CLARIFIEDThe Senate has voted in favour of the University Research Board’s recommendations for clearer policies in the area of animal research at last month’s meeting.

According to Tyrrel De Langley, director of Animal Care and Veterinary Services, the changes for the most part are just clarifications.

De Langley explained there is an important distinction between animal “testing” and “research” that needs to be known.

“One thing that’s important in this day and age to clarify is testing is a term that is typically used and traditionally aligned with industry evaluation for safety for bringing products to market,” De Langley said.

Western’s current documents use the terminology animal test-ing and animal research. Since Western does not participate in animal testing, usually consisting of testing for cosmetic products, there is discussion to remove the word “testing,” according to De Langley.

De Langley noted animal research is governed by both fed-eral and provincial regulations: at the federal level, the Canadian Council on Animal Care, and at the provincial level, the Animals for Research Act.

One policy change at the Senate meeting was MAPP policy 7.10, policy and procedures for standardized training in animal care and use. According to De Langley, all this does is make the training of researchers more clear.

“All of the people here, their first focus is the high standard of animal care and wherever we can see best practices at other insti-tutions,” De Langley said.

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knowsports • www.westerngazette.ca THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2015 • 5

Mustangs compete for 31st Yates titleSERENA QUINN SPORTS EDITOR@SERENAATGAZETTE

Nine games, nine wins.Many have speculated that this

could be the year for the Mustangs football team, the year that they could go all the way to a Vanier Cup and win. But an injury to star quarterback Will Finch last Saturday has left many wondering if the Mustangs can do it without him.

We've seen a sidelined Will Finch before, after two concussions at the end of the 2014 season kept him out of the post-season while back-up quarterback Stevenson Bone stepped in.

The Mustangs were subsequently unable to defend their 2013 provin-cial title, as they were edged out in the semifinals by Guelph.

For many Mustang fans the fear is that history will repeat itself.

Coach Greg Marshall hasn’t yet ruled out Finch for Saturday’s Yates Cup against last year’s finalists the Guelph Gryphons, saying they’re evaluating him day to day.

"The next couple of days are crucial,” Marshall said Tuesday mor-ning. “We’ll kind of have our medical team evaluating him and go from there. Obviously, we’re not going to put him at any risk but we’ll let our doctors and Will decide.”

Odds are Finch won’t play, which means Bone will fill in for the fore-seeable future.

"[Bone’s] ready for the challenge if he has to play,” Marshall said. “He’s

been ready all year so the good thing is he’s gotten lots of reps throughout the year.”

The Yates Cup will be the first time that Western and Guelph have met this season. Coach Marshall said it’s not a disadvantage that they haven’t seen the Gryphons yet.

"Sometimes when you play teams twice it’s a little bit more dif-ficult because you have to kind of go back and look at what you did successfully and try to decide what you’re going to change,” he said. “At this point in the season we’ve both played nine games ... so there aren’t a ton of secrets.”

A win for the Mustangs this Saturday would mark their 31st Ontario championship, as the team last claimed the provincial title in 2013 after going 8–0 in the regular season. They then lost to the Calgary Dinos, preventing Western from making it to the Vanier.

A win this weekend would also give the purple and white a berth into the Mitchell Bowl with home field advantage.

Despite Finch's injury the Mustangs are still in good shape after last weekend’s action. What the Western offence might lack without Finch, the defensive unit will make up for as they’ve proven to be almost impenetrable throughout the entire regular season and the post-season so far.

The Mustangs’ defence was led by the duo of Jesse McNair and John Biewald on Saturday as they racked

up 4.5 and four tackles respectively.On offence the Mustangs will rely

on their dynamic group of running backs: Alex Taylor, Yannick Harou and Cedric Joseph. In the regular season the Mustangs ran for 2,947 yards on the ground, an average of 368.4 yards per game, which lead the country.

The Gryphons will be entering Saturday’s match-up fresh off a close 33–21 semifinal win over the Carleton Ravens last weekend.

Guelph will rely heavily on their defensive game this Saturday. In their semifinal against Carleton, the Gryphons held Ravens running back Jahvari Bennett to just 48 yards on the ground after he averaged 126 yards per game this year.

Defensive linebacker John Rush

has been a standout defender for the Gryphons all season, as he led Canadian Interuniversity Sport in tackles with 60, an average 8.6 tackles per game.

The Gryphon defense also fea-tures one of the best secondary pairings in the league in half back Nick Parisotto and safety Tristan Doughlin, who combined for 13 interceptions this season.

On offence, the Gryphons will be led by second-year quarterback James Roberts, who stepped in for an injured Jazz Lindsey in last year’s Yates Cup final against McMaster. The Cambridge, Ont., native put in a full season for the Gryphons this year, averaging 279.5 yards passing per game, fourth in the OUA.

Running back Johnny Augustine

will lead the Gryphons in the back-field after averaging 101.6 yards per game rushing in the season. Last weekend he carried the ball 35 times for 245 yards and two touchdowns.

"Guelph is kind of like us – they’re balanced on offence, a very good offensive line,” Marshall said. “It’ll be a challenge for us ... it’ll be a chal-lenge for them, hopefully it’ll be a good exciting game.”

The Gryphons will be looking to hoist the Yates Cup for the first time since 1996. Last year, the Gryphons hopes of competing for a Vanier was cut short as they were edged out 25–10 by McMaster in the Yates Cup.

Saturday's game time is set for 1 p.m. at TD Stadium. ■

DAMON BURTT GAZETTE

I GOT THIS! Mustang receiver George Johnson stretches out to try to make a catch during semi-final OUA football ac-tion on Saturday, Nov. 7 against the Laurier Golden Hawks. Western advanced after a 32–18 victory.

6 • THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2015 www.westerngazette.ca •

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4:45 A.M.

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On the water for a training session, ranging anywhere from 45 to 120 minutes.

Arrives at the lake for a team warm up and fullmorning practice.

Team dynamic warm up begins.

Wakes up andbegins the day

with a quickbreakfast before

driving toFanshawe Lake.

Wraps up practice with a quick

shower.

Gathers hisbelongings and

rushes to histhree hour

graduate seminar.

As a TA, Brent participates inclass discussion and monitors adesignated group of students.

Takes a long food break before heading to his second work out of the day.Decides between

driving back to the lake for an hour

workout orheading to the

Western Rec. Centre for a 90

minute spin bike session.

Finishes hisobligatory tasks

and takes the remainder of this time for personal

entertainment.

Makes his way home and cooks a large meal.

Bedtime.

Day in the life ofathlete Brent Duncan

A look into Western’s rowing dynasty

HALA GHONAIM SPORTS EDITOR@HALAATGAZETTE

It’s only been a few weeks since the Western Mustangs rowing team won both men’s and women’s titles at the Canadian University Rowing Championships for the second time in three years. Both teams also won banners at the Ontario University Athletics champion-ships a week prior.

The team made it look so easy.However, many don’t realize

how physically demanding and time-consuming rowing actually is. If you were among the athletes during a race, you couldn’t help but hear the loud grunts, heavy breathing and hard clicks of the oars, not to mention the healthy aggressive remarks from the pas-sionate coxswains.

Senior heavyweight Esma Mrkaljevic counts on all her teammates to make it to prac-tice because every single body is important.

“The coxswains are a very important factor to helping us with our mental game because they encourage us and really pump us up to keep going,” she said. “It’s also good to have a plan of what your race is going to consist of because it helps keep your mind off being tired or hurting.”

As draining as the training can be, rowing teaches commitment through the dependence on all team members and precision by mastering timing and balance.

With training six days a week, it’s no wonder the ’Stangs have dominated over the last nine years. However, the team’s commitment goes beyond double workouts since the rowers don’t get to rest during an off-season — they don’t even have one.

The team begins competitive season training in September and goes until November, longing for the winter months for vacation time. Although December is the only month of the year the team is not on some kind of training program, they still participate in an intensive form of cross train-ing. Following their “vacation”

time, the rowers find themselves group training from January until April, before competing for sum-mer clubs in the warm season. When the summer is finally over, the team is back to square one in September.

Their daily schedules are just as stressful as their year round training.

“Oh jeeze,” senior Jill Moffatt said.

“4:45 a.m. my alarm goes off and I get my stuff together for prac-tice. I leave around 5:20 a.m. in my carpool to get to the rowing club at 5:40 a.m.. We head on the water around 6:00 a.m. in our designated crews and complete the workout. This usually brings us to 8:00 a.m. where we run off the water and into class. For the rest of the day you are in class and [afterclass] you sneak in another workout or head back to the lake for a second row.”

Four years ago, Moffatt would have never guessed she would partake in the under-23 women’s national rowing team. The bond between the rowing champs at Western provides for a healthy space to make memories, cling onto close friends and push past standard limits. It’s not easy for other schools to provide Moffatt with Western’s knowledge and sup-port in order to try out for provin-cial and national teams.

The u-23 national team is a highly intensive selection pro-cess. The much anticipated tryouts begin in spring where rowers from across the nation compete for the numbers they wish to complete with. Depending on the desig-nated testing locations, the ath-letes go through a series of month long individual selection processes until overall team selection. Once the crews are selected, they are sent to championships where they have a chance to qualify and sign to the U-23 team.

With Western’s competitive reputation, heavyweight Aaron Kirkey has no doubt that many of his teammates aspire to try out for nationals. Kirkey’s senior position allows him to contribute to a more cemented part on the

team. Although he acts as a pillar to the team, he’s unsure about the nationals.

“Rowing is a passion and you can’t make money doing it. You need to obviously make a living so I think I would have to choose my future over my passion,” he said. “This summer I want to try out for the Canadian under-23 national team … but after that you have to put your career and life on hold and I don’t think that’s for me.”

Nationals isn’t for everybody, however, Western’s competitive reputation puts pressure on the athletes to live up to the standard.

In most sports, it’s frowned upon to cut so much weight before a competition but in rowing it’s how it works. The difference between heavyweight and lightweight row-ing is in the specific upper weight limit depending on the individual athlete level of strength. This year, unlike his heavyweight teammate Kirkey, lightweight Brent Duncan has been able to make his food ahead of time in order to balance his calorie intake.

“On the way from the lake to campus I’m having a bowl of oat-meal.… I usually have an apple or a bagel at the first bathroom break we have during lecture. I then have an egg sandwich and that kind of gets me through the busy part of the day,” he said. “Then I’ve got granola bars and recovery food for before and after my workout. At night I usually have something a little bit bigger so some sweet pota-toes and some chicken or a wrap.”

All lightweights have to main-tain their stamina but it’s a chal-lenge for everyone to cut down on their regular diet.

The Western rowing team main-tains a strict schedule and diet to overcome the physically demand-ing aspect of being on the water. Although often overlooked, the Western rowing team has lived up to a competitive reputation and paved the way for upcoming gen-erations to do the same.

The champions with oars should never be underestimated.

This is the Western rowing dynasty. ■

COURTESY OF JADE FARHATALL ABOUT THE TEAM. Western’s men’s eight out on the water during the 2015 season.

JORDAN MCGAVIN GAZETTE

Rowing is a passion and you can’t make money doing it. You need to obviously make a living so I think I would have to choose my future over my passion.AARON KIRKEYWESTERN ROWING

• www.westerngazette.ca THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2015 • 7

insight

NATHAN KANTER DIGITAL MANAGING EDITOR@NATHANATGAZETTE

On Saturday, Will Finch was carted off the field in Western’s semifinal playoff game after yet another nasty collision.

Many suspected the worse, myself included.

Finch, who many consider the top quarterback at the univer-sity level in Canada, suffered two concussions last year in a matter of weeks, and was forced to miss the 2014 playoffs that saw Western go down in the semifinals to the Guelph Gryphons.

Now, it appears Western will face those same Gryphons with-out Finch once again, this time in the 108th Yates Cup.

Western coach Greg Marshall says they are taking it day to day with Finch’s condition, and that he wasn’t officially diagnosed with a concussion, but that’s hard to believe.

Due to his concussion history, even if he feels ready to go, it’s in his best interest to sit this one out, and I think Finch’s season is abso-lutely finished.

Which brings us to this Saturday.

Western can defeat Guelph without Finch and here’s why.

First, it’s no secret that’s

Western’s strength lies in its abil-ity to run the football. They led Canadian Interuniversity Sport in rushing yards per game this season with 368.4 yards per game, which is over 120 yards more than the second place Calgary Dinos, who had 240 yards rushing per game.

Let’s also remember that not only is Western able to put up sig-nificant yardage, but they are able to do so with multiple backs. They are the only team in the country to have four different running backs register 350+ yards rushing this season. No other team had more than two running backs top 350 yards each.

As Marshall said last week, hav-ing so many running threats is, “a good problem to have.”

Second, did anyone notice Guelph lost this season to Queen’s? It may have been more than a month ago, but the Gryphons still managed to lose to a team Western thumped 48–25. Guelph quarter-back James Roberts threw for only 157 yards, zero touchdowns and three interceptions in that game.

Which brings me to my next point: Roberts is no star. He’s a second-year quarterback who led Ontario University Athletics this season with 10 interceptions. Last week against the Ravens he didn’t even throw a touchdown pass.

It’s true Roberts was the one to end Western’s campaign last play-offs after throwing three touch-downs in Guelph’s 51–26 semifinal victory but Western also allowed 532 yards of offence in that game, something that surely will not hap-pen this time around. Western’s

168 yards given up in penalties was also a tough pill to swallow in that loss to Guelph and you can bet Marshall won’t allow the same undisciplined play this weekend.

Lastly, let’s point out that Guelph had trouble last week with the Ravens, perhaps just as much trouble as Western did with Laurier, if not more.

Guelph is not some formidable force — that was us, before we lost our star quarterback.

So instead, without Finch, what we have in store this weekend is two monster running teams with decent quarterbacks.

Yes Finch would have given the ’Stangs the upper hand; that there is no doubt.

But without him, they’re aren’t screwed. Without him, they aren’t doomed. Without him, they should still win. ■

Kanter Culture

Despite Finch loss, Western can win

UBC sets gender parity goal for engMAAILAH BLACKWOOD STAFF@NEWSATGAZETTE

Fifty per cent female enrolment by 2020 — that’s the goal of the University of British Columbia’s engineering department. While engineering programs have been traditionally very male dominated, attitudes are shifting.

Elizabeth Croft, an associate dean in the Faculty of Applied Science at UBC, said that the best and most effective teams are the ones that reflect diversity. Therefore, the department aims to attract the best and brightest students, includ-ing women.

“Engineers work in teams to solve problems facing people and society,” Croft said in an email. “We know from research the best, most effective teams have a diversity of people representing different ideas, genders and cultures.”

The faculty plans on conducting outreach programs targeted girls as young as grade six. The department hopes to demonstrate that engin-eering is a field that can appeal to all genders.

“We host hands-on activities for girls with female role models and mentors to get them excited about engineering, science and math, and to encourage them to take physics and math in Grades 11 and 12,” said Croft.

In addition, UBC hosts develop-ment workshops for Grade six and seven teachers in order to provide them with the resources needed to encourage boys and girls equally to pursue math and science.

The department currently has 22 per cent female enrolment, with the first-year enrolment increasing to approximately 30 per cent women over the past two years. Those fig-ures have also increased over the

past seven years.“Our faculty members and, per-

haps most importantly, our cur-rent students support inclusivity and diversity, and have been very receptive of the goal of 50 per cent women,” Croft said.

Croft stated that this is a team effort with faculty, staff, students, alumni and industry partners work-ing together to achieve this goal.

This growth has been in line with the overall trend for engineer-ing programs across the country at 18.6 per cent. Currently, Queen’s University is leading at 30 per cent female first-year enrolment.

Western currently has 22 per cent first-year female enrolment, which is an improvement from 17 per cent last year.

Lesley Mounteer, a spokesperson for Western’s Faculty of Engineering, applauds this goal and notes that it is the over goal for all engineering schools to achieve equal gender balance and diversity.

“We’ve made it for clear that our first priority in our strategic plan-ning is to increase the number of female students in our undergradu-ate programs,” Mounteer said. “We haven’t set a specific goal but we are working very hard to increase the numbers.” ■

University of Toronto 2014 - 25.0%

Western University 2013 - 19.5%

McMaster University 2014 - 17.3%

Queen’s University30% average percentage of females in

first-year engineering programs – highest in the country

National enrolment 2013 - 18.9%

Female enrolment in engineering

University of British Columbia

2008 - 19.6% 2014 - 22.0%

JENNIFER FELDMAN GAZETTE

Write for us!volunteer@westerngazette.ca

James Roberts is no star. He’s a second-year quarterback who led Ontario University Athletics this season with 10 interceptions. Last week against the Ravens he didn’t even throw a touchdown pass.

KYLE PORTER GAZETTE

A LOSS THE MUSTANGS CAN AFFORD. Will Finch is a long shot to play on Saturday, but without him there’s no reason the ‘Stangs can’t win.

Our faculty members and, perhaps most importantly, our current students support inclusivity and diversity, and have been very receptive of the goal of 50 per cent women.ELIZABETH CROFTASSOCIATE DEAN IN THE FACULTY OF APPLIED SCIENCE AT UBC

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insight

Preaching in the streetsDIEGO GONZALEZ CONTRIBUTOR@GAZETTECULTURE

On any given day, you can look to the corner of Dundas and Richmond and find two men walking out onto the corner and begin preaching to the crowd.

Steven Ravbar and Matthew Carapella preach about the Bible and Jesus to anyone listening on the busy intersection.

“This is where we get the most foot traffic and a big mix of people,” says Ravbar. “We got office people here, homeless people, struggling people, students and everything else. So this is kind of our spot.”

Preaching the Gospel is some-thing the duo believes is their mis-sion in life.

“We’re out here preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ,” he continues. “We believe [He] is com-ing back very soon. We’re living on our savings. We quit our jobs to do this.”

Ravbar studied kinesiology at Western before going to teacher’s college — he was coincidentally Carapella’s grade 7 teacher.

“I used to teach and [Carapella] worked construction,” Ravbar explains. “This is our home town; we were born and raised here. Both of us went to Western.”

Carapella served as the captain of Western’s football team in 2008, the final year of his undergraduate degree in sociology. After graduation, he worked for his father, the owner of the Tricar Group, the developers behind several of London’s luxury apartment buildings.

“Kind of a rags to riches story, [but] a flip version,” explains Ravbar. “We’re out here trying to bring that message of Jesus Christ.... We’re doing our part, not always pretty well, but we try to reach the citizens of London.”

The two are not boastful of their education despite being Western alum. Ravbar explains that his

education had affected his view of religion in a negative light.

“As I continued to teach ... [I found] the basic premise behind education is that we can build a better world through [it], kind of leaving God out of the equation,” he says. “It teaches us to reason and question everything, which in a way can be good. But God can’t always be reasoned with.”

“He’s very simple and humble,” he continues. “Education has taught us to reason away the simplicity of the gospel, so I still deal with that.... It’s kind of a struggle for me, to set aside my educated ways and believe the Gospel for the simplicity that it is.”

Dundas and Richmond likely isn’t the place where most people expect to hear about the Bible. Ravbar says that he himself still feels a little bit uncomfortable preaching to the eclectic crowd.

Often times, people will curse at the religious pair and verbally threaten them.

“Verbal threats [occur] almost on a daily basis,” Ravbar says. “Never

anything physical yet. But it gets pretty tense out here, because there are a lot of angry people. Some of them get fed up hearing us every day.”

Despite the negative feedback Carapella and Ravbar receive, they believe their work will have a posi-tive effect on those who hear their message.

Carapella feels what they do is important and focuses on the high-lights rather than criticism the duo receives.

“We get to preach the word of God everyday,” he says. “The Bible says the word of God will never fall void, it will always accomplish its intended purpose. I always say it’s a 100 per cent success any time we preach the word, because it’s God working.”

“There’s always a few people every day, amidst the 90-plus per cent that’s against the message,” he continues. “They come up and you have a nice talk with them about the Lord, about the word of God, about eternity, what our purpose is here in this life. Success every day.” ■

Fresh food is flocking to the Forest City

MOSES MONTERROZA GAZETTE

MOSES MONTERROZA ARTS & LIFE EDITOR@MOSESATGAZETTE

London just got a bit healthier. With the influx of healthy food restau-rants, it’s clear that the citizens of forest city want a little more green in their meal.

Take Freshii, a food chain that has existed in Toronto for the past 10 years, which has finally come to London, Ontario. Jason Wilcox, one of the company’s main franchise partners, believes it’s just what London needs.

“We felt that there was a void in the London place that could be filled,” says Wilcox. “People in London are health conscious and educated on what they want to put in their bodies and what they want

to eat.”And he’s right. The general

response to the newly opened Freshii has been extremely positive with business booming.

“We’ve been busy at around lunch time everyday since we’ve opened. Sales are growing so we’re getting more and more people that are coming in and we’re see-ing Freshii London in social media much more,” says Wilcox.

Their major demographic has been the millennial generation, and it’s not a surprise considering what that generation consists of.

“It’s a generation that’s more health conscious, as we [millen-nials] are a bit more mindful about what we eat and what we’re putting into our bodies,” says Wilcox.

Freshii is not just a restaurant providing healthier alternatives, but it’s also something that is part of a much larger movement that we’re seeing in London and other cities. With the opening of stores such as FreshBooth, it’s clear that there is a demand for healthier alternatives in terms of fast food.

“I think it’s more than just a trend. It’s a movement. If you look at social media, people are proud to say that they’re eating at a Freshii location because they’re show-ing their friends and family what they’re putting in their body,” says Wilcox.

Not only is it popular because of its aesthetic appeal and social status, but it’s actually tasty and makes you feel energized, as

opposed to lethargic and guilty.“It tastes better for the fact that

it’s fresh food every day. I under-stand that in foods like burgers and fries there’s salt content, sugars and things like that,” says Wilcox. “But almost everybody that walks through our doors leaves saying that it tastes fantastic.”

Despite its health benefits, there are caveats to eating healthy. For Alec Sherman, third-year chemistry student, the healthy eating move-ment is great in theory, but for his student budget, it’s not ideal.

“I think it’s a great idea that people are starting be more con-scious of what they’re eating and how they’re eating,” says Sherman. “But my one thing is that it’s very expensive to eat out and to eat

healthy. That’s usually why I choose to eat unhealthy when I’m out and about. I mean it’s $1 for a ham-burger versus $12 for a salad.”

“If it was a little cheaper and didn’t do as much damage to the bank account I would definitely eat out more,” continues Sherman.

Prices aside, there are high hopes for the food industry to finally become healthier. Fast food places like Freshii are hoping to change the game and one day become the staple for fast food.

“We’re trying to make a change. It’s going to take years to improve on the damage that some health food restaurants have done. People are used to burgers and fries and reversing that will be a huge chal-lenge,” says Wilcox. ■

MOSES MONTERROZA GAZETTE

• www.westerngazette.ca THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2015 • 9

insight

MOSES MONTERROZA ARTS & LIFE EDITOR@MOSESATGAZETTE

As Movember rolls around, we’re reminded of the growing trend that is male facial hair. It seems as though every Urban Outfitters, coffee shop and record store is populated with scruffy-faced, plaid-wearing, rugged-looking dudes.

It’s becoming a nationwide phe-nomenon; our celebrities, musi-cians and actors are all sporting the hairy accessory.

The result of the beard obses-sion has sprung forth an even more interesting trend: facial hair transplants. Surgeons from all across North America have been performing more transplant pro-cedures than ever before.

Surgeons like Dr. William Yates, a board certified surgeon spe-cializing in hair restoration who

operates his clinic in the United States, has devoted much of his practice towards the art and sci-ence of hair transplantation. Since 2005, Yates has worked on multiple hair transplant cases of varying types and one thing he’s noticed is the influx of beard transplants.

“We’re getting more calls. Before, you wouldn’t get any calls, or you’d do one transplant for the whole year,” says Yates. “It appears women are liking beards and I think that more men are wearing this style in response to that.”

The procedure is done by taking hair from “donor areas” of the head and implanting it into bald regions of the body. The donor areas, located on the back and sides of the head, are the places where hair is “genetically programmed to live as long as the individual,” says Yates.

When the transplantation is complete, the new hair becomes

permanent and grows just like it would on your scalp. The only downside, says Yates, is that “the hair we get from the scalp is usually finer than a guy’s beard hair.” This means that you regrettably won’t be able to fully achieve that Gandalf look.

The practice has existed since the 1930s, but it’s evolved in such a way where robots can be pro-grammed to scan and punch out hair that is best suited for future growth. It’s revolutionary in the world of transplantation and the technologies only continue to grow.

“Science is evolving [to the point] where hair can be redupli-cated,” says Yates. “Essentially, you can take one hair and duplicate it into a hundred. When that day comes, anybody could replenish any hair anywhere, as long as they can afford it, without even thinking

about it.”If hair cloning ever becomes a

reality, we can expect many more hairier faces. But not every man is willing to embrace the supposed splendour of having a beard.

“I personally don’t understand it, just in terms of grooming it — it takes a lot of effort as I’ve been told,” says Tony Yu, a fourth-year media, information and techno-culture student.

“I think there’s definitely some-thing with men who grow beards; I think women do find that attract-ive,” continues Yu. “A lot of my female friends have been posting photos of men with beards.”

Obviously not every woman will be captivated by the beard. For Bernice Chan, a first-year kin-esiology student at Western, what women ultimately find attractive is largely dependent on what popular culture deems it to be.

“I think that if a lot of actors and famous people have beards and if they look good in it then females will start thinking, ‘oh, that beard looks really nice.’ And as a response, guys will start growing beards,” she says.

“Personally, I think some guys look better with beards and some don’t, I guess it’s personal prefer-ence,” continues Chan.

Whether or not you like the beard, it is clear that our generation has found an attraction with those who resemble Karl Marx or a young Jim Morrison. But in the end, it’s no different than any other trend.

“Like anything in life, every-thing is about change,” says Yates. “It’s just like one day bell-bot-toms are in style and the next day, straight legs are in style. It’s the cir-cle of life, just everyone reinvent-ing themselves to be the same but different.” ■

Beard transplants the growing trend

PHOTOS BY TAYLOR LASOTA GAZETTE

10 • THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2015 www.westerngazette.ca •

insightopinions

BY GAZETTE EDITORIAL BOARD

Light rail won’t solve all of London’s

transit problems

Editorials are decided by a majority of the editorial board and are written by a member of the editorial board but are not necessarily the expressed opinion of each editorial board member. All other opinions are strictly those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the USC, The Gazette, its editors or staff. To submit a letter, go to westerngazette.ca and click on “Contact.”

London city council unanimously decided to endorse a plan for a hybrid light rail and bus rapid transit system in London. While this doesn’t mean it will receive full council approval come January, it does show councillors seem to prefer the 10-year, $850-900 million plan for faster, more efficient transit in London.

When it comes to public transit, London is in a weird state. Students complain daily about poor service or getting left behind at bus stops but the London Transit Commission so heavily pours money and resources into student routes for both Western and Fanshawe that it neglects the rest of the city.

Large infrastructure plans and ambitious transit plans work for cities with rapid growth — see Kitch-ener-Waterloo, Mississauga or Markham. London is not one of those cities. It’s experiencing low growth in terms of population and major businesses have been leaving for the past 10 years. A “build it and they will come” mentality to such a large invest-ment is not a good way to go into this.

The bigger problem is changing Londoners’ atti-tudes toward public transit. While the London Plan has a focus on attracting residents and business to the downtown core and away from urban sprawl, that doesn’t change the fact that a significant proportion of Londoners live in the suburbs and commute to work every day.

That commute is necessary to avoid some very inefficient and infrequent service to Londoners outside the downtown and student areas. Faced with the choice between a 10-minute car ride or two buses and 1.5 hours, people will plainly choose to take a car. This leads to more congestion and ends up affecting bus times, making it even more unattractive to take the bus.

Even with light rail, Londoners will need to be convinced to leave their cars at home. It takes more than just building a system; it takes a system wide buy-in. Investing in the LTC — one of the most underfunded transit systems in Ontario — so they can provide effective service should be done before undertaking the most expensive infrastructure program in London’s history. The actual use of public transit by more than the student population is needed before light rail can go forward.

The proposal will also take 10 years before it sees fruition. Will it be worth it in 10 years’ time after so much construction delays and reshaping of not only London but also campus?

Light rail might be a solution to London’s public transit woes, but we shouldn’t view it as a panacea for the problems facing public transit in London — they’re much larger than just what method of transportation we take. n

Orientation strategic plan feedback nothing but just saving face

Military shouldn’t offer free tuition for service

JENNY JAY PHOTO EDITOR@JENNYATGAZETTE

With Remembrance Day just passing and poppies now being unpinned from lapels, Western students have been reminded to remember our soldiers. It is a month where we remember to praise the forces that have served us, fought for us and died for us.

The past few generations of students have been taught that Canada is a peacekeeping country.

Remembrance Day commemor-ates our past mistakes, so we will not repeat them, and sacrifice our soldiers in the future. However, every year, recruitment booths for the Canadian Armed Forces set up stations in the University Community Centre to entice stu-dents to join the military. While the posters advocate that students fight for their country, it seems the main drawing point is all of the perks they have to offer.

The website for Canada’s National Defence and Canadian Armed Forces states paid education is one of the key benefits of joining the Canadian military. “When you enrol through the paid university or college programs, the Forces will pay for your university or college

tuition, books and academic equip-ment in addition to providing a sal-ary and benefits while you attend school,” reads the website.

Free tuition for military person-nel exists for those who fight for their country implicitly suggests that these people are providing more benefit to society than the average person forking out thou-sands of dollars in their pursuit to be a non-military doctor, engineer or scientist. While these profes-sions exist in the military, anyone with the aspiration to help their community should be encouraged to do so.

Some argue that by paying mil-itary recruit’s tuition, the CAF helps students with barriers to post-sec-ondary education get a degree

— but the funding program is not actually helpful for those looking to establish a career beyond the military. The contract specifically requires time served in the military that “is calculated on the basis of two months service for each month of paid education.” For individuals who get a full four-year degree with this program, the 32 months of education requires 64 months in the military — which is just over five years. This leaves these indi-viduals in their late 20s before they are finally able to pursue careers outside the military and at a dis-advantage in comparison to other individuals in the same streams who are years ahead of them.

The fact that the CAF offers paid tuition as an incentive to join up

is reflective of young people’s lack of interest in joining the CAF in the first place. Instead of handing out free tuition that traps recruits in the military regardless of their academic interests, the CAF should explore why Canadians are hesitant to serve in the first place.

With Remembrance Day com-memorated, I’m once again grate-ful for the many individuals who represent our nation through the CAF and I’m especially grateful for our veterans and past fallen soldiers. Looking to the future, however, I can only hope that more young Canadians will join the military because of their national pride and passion — rather than as a result of the monetary educa-tional incentives. n

Jenny From The Block

Green Eggs and Hamza

HAMZA TARIQ BREAKING NEWS EDITOR@HAMZAATGAZETTE

If you checked your email lately, you might have come across some-thing something titled, “Inviting your input on the orientation stra-tegic plan.”

I looked at it, chuckled to myself and put my phone back in my pocket. Here it goes again. Western and the University Students’ Council trying to gain feedback from the campus com-munity when in reality, they’ll go ahead with whatever they think is the right way forward.

According to the email, the last survey of this kind was done in 2003. One wonders what took the orientation governance board 12 years before they came up with a new “strategic plan.” They have been making major changes to the program all along.

Just last August, the orientation planning committee made drastic changes to soph apparel policies. These policies came into place after questionable feedback that the orientation planning committee has no record of.

People in any position of power at Western, from USC leaders to the administration, love using broad terms to describe their goals. This strategic plan will develop the “vision, purpose, values and out-comes” of the orientation program.

Sorry, but what does that even mean? Whose vision, purpose and values are we really talking about? Whose vision and value was it to ban the word “frosh” from orien-tation vocabulary last year? What purpose did that serve? Where was

the feedback and research to back the reasoning for doing this?

Instead of focusing so much on the “values” of the orientation program and constantly trying to coddle the frosh, the university and the USC should do a better job of managing O-Week programming.

In the 2015 O-Week survey, there’s a question on what made students feel unwelcome and uncomfortable. 31 per cent voted the large crowds, 15 per cent voted that loud environment made them uncomfortable, and sur-prise surprise, two per cent voted that soph uniforms made them uncomfortable.

If I was on this committee, it would be pretty clear to me what was bothering first-year students. It wouldn’t be sophs wearing fake, coloured hair or a fear that big con-tingents of student leaders would suddenly start wearing culturally inappropriate clothing. It would be the loud EDM concerts that have become central to O-week and large crowds on UC Hill where students are packed like sardines.

But these won’t be the concerns addressed by this committee. The feedback collected from this survey will be looked over and then cast aside as nine people sit around a table and decide what’s best for 5,000-odd incoming students.

I’m not so pessimistic without reason. Western has taken the idiom “home away from home” to a whole another level. The orien-tation program strives to parent young students. Instead of letting them learn and engage in debate, which is the primary purpose of university, there are constant attempts to tell students what is right and wrong. What they can say or not say. How they should think and what they shouldn’t think.

As a column in the Washington Post aptly stated, there are no opportunities for students in uni-versities to make stupid arguments anymore and then learn why they’re wrong with their interactions with fellow students and professors.

The push for feedback for this strategic plan is entirely aesthetic. The committee will move forward with the plans they have laid out already, only this time, they can say they asked students for their opinions. I honestly don’t think it’ll make a difference. n

The feedback collected from this survey will be looked over and then cast aside as nine people sit around a table and decide what’s best for 5,000-odd incoming students.

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• www.westerngazette.ca THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2015 • 11

experience

NaNoWriMo: the need for speedLAUREN O’DONNELL CONTRIBUTOR@GAZETTECULTURE

Between the moustaches, Remembrance Day and midterms, November is a busy time for Western students.

However, every year, a few brave students take it upon themselves to participate in National Novel Writing Month, also known as NaNoWriMo.

NaNoWriMo is an online initia-tive to push people to write a 50,000-word novel in just 30 days. It’s an intimidating commitment and the English department at Western knows that.

So this year, they’re hosting a write-in to help support student writers.

The Coterie, the Arts and Humanities Student Council and the student writer in residence are collaborating to make a cre-ative environment for writers from 11:00-1:00 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 13 in the atrium of the International and Graduate Affairs building. All faculties are welcome and snacks will be provided.

“What happens with many writ-ers is that they get stuck in their own little zone. We want to create an environment where you can get together with other writers and work together, like a mini Weldon,” says Laura Brooks, president of the Coterie. “We’ll have a strictly writing table and then a discussion table, so you can write or socialize depending on what will help you best.”

Helen Ngo, student writ-er-in-residence, says the friendly competition by writing together will

help motivate students to write and participate.

“And to motivate people to write, prizes will be available for the highest word count at the end of the event, including a mug with some of the greatest literary opening quotes,” says Ngo.

NaNoWriMo is a monumental project to take on, especially for students. Writing 50, 000 words in 30 days is a daunting thought. In the end, is it worth it?

“It’s a great way to get involved with the English community and even to just do something creative and follow a creative passion that gives you a sense of community,” says Brooks.

NaNoWriMo is an online initia-tive, so it is open to everyone. Whether you’re an English major looking to spend your time cre-atively, or a science student looking for a creative outlet, it’s a great way to spend the month of November and you’ll have something to show for your work at the end of the month.

“I really applaud anyone who makes time in their schedule to do this initiative, because it is really hard, especially during midterms, to make that time,” says Ngo.

For some people, writing starts when they’re young. For others, it’s when they’re experiencing their mid-life crisis. But there’s always time for a Western student to take up writing, even as a hobby. So even if you’re not doing NaNoWriMo, stop by the International and Graduate Affairs building this Friday for snacks, writing and prizes. n

ELLIS KOIFMAN GAZETTE STAFF@GAZETTECULTURE

Sakata Ramen has replaced Gozen at 219 Queens Avenue, boasting a diverse menu of Japanese and Korean dishes, including some ramen.

The restaurant itself is sim-ple, pleasant and relaxing. There are dark brown wooden tables for groups at the front and a back area with several two-person booths with white cushioning. The restaurant seats about 30-40 people in total.

Upon first glance the kitchen area looks much like a bar, taking up a large area near the front. A wall beside the kitchen boasts a TV, which was showing the football game.

As soon as I walked in I was quickly seated at the half full res-taurant. Most people were seated at the back of the restaurant, which gave a less busy feel as I was seated at a table at the front.

After asking if it was my first time at Sakata Ramen, the waiter explained to me how the menu worked. Service was quick, includ-ing when requesting the bill at the end of the meal.

The menu was presented on an iPad and offered a myriad of both Japanese and Korean dishes, such as skewers, sushi and sides, but only had a few ramen options with no customizations available.

Prices were high, especially for sushi — two pieces of bluefin tuna nigiri cost $7.

WHAT I ORDERED:GYOZA FOR $5: Soft with crispy edges, which were good but had insubstan-tial filling. Tasted great when dipped in the sweet and salty sauce. The five pieces it came with were on the smaller side. The texture was accept-able but would be better if they were either entirely crispy or much softer overall without the crispy edges.TONKATSU RAMEN FOR $10: Slightly creamy and salty albeit bland broth, which would benefit from being richer in flavour. An exces-sive amount of noodles cooked on the al dente side, providing a clear example of quantity over quality. The combination of the two offered little motivation to finish the dish. Toppings were limited to two very thin and very fatty slices of pork, some strips of kikurage (jelly ear mushroom), a small n a r u t o m a k i ( s t e a m e d fish paste)

and half of a runny hardboiled egg. Garnish was very disappointing as well, limited to a minimal amount of corn and scallion.This dish was certainly a step up from instant ramen, but not nearly as large a step as one would hope from a restaurant.PRICE: GGHFFYou can get a filling meal of ramen and a side for under $15 but you won’t enjoy it. Prices of other menu items appeared rather high.ATMOSPHERE:GGGHFEnjoyable and relaxing but nothing special.SERVICE: GGGFFVery quick but also distant.FOOD & DRINK: GGFFFDisappointing to say the least, the restaurant’s food does not live up to its name, quite literally.

OVERALL: GGHFF

ThoughtFood For

or else we’ll have to do it ourselvesvolunteer@westerngazette.ca

IT’LL BE FUN. WE PROMISE

WRITE FOR US

12 • THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2015 www.westerngazette.ca •

experiencegames PHOTO OF THE DAY CROSSWORD BY EUGENE SHEFFER

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SAMAR SAJNANI GAZETTE

EYES LIKE A HAWK. Mustang rookie Connor Chartier stares intently during Saturday’s OUA men’s hockey action against the UQTR Patriotes.