Green Venture’s stewardship program is devoted to supporting youth climate activists in the Steel City
C/O Emma Shemko
By: Emma Shemko, Arts & Culture Contributor
Climate anxiety is increasingly becoming a universal experience. In the face of severe climate events, there is a sense of impending doom weighing us all down. From the devastating floods in Pakistan to the wildfires in British Columbia and the degradation of Indigenous lands, many of us are beginning to wonder if we’re watching our futures go up in smoke. However, organizations such as Green Venture, a local not-for-profit, are providing ways to take action.
One way Green Venture offers youth to take action is through their stewardship program, YouthQuake. The program aims to engage youth aged 14 to 24 in leading environmental conversations and hands-on activities.
“The best way to alleviate climate anxiety is taking action and YouthQuake can be a great place to do just that,” said Heather Govender, program manager at Green Venture.
YouthQuake runs both online and in-person on the second and fourth Wednesdays of every month. Long-term commitment is not required to attend these meetings and in-person meetings take place at the EcoHouse on 22 Veevers Dr., the home base of Green Venture.
Youth are a critical component in the fight to mitigate the climate crisis. Although their concerns about climate change are often cast aside, they continue to fight, inspire and demand climate justice and young people often have far more influence on elected representatives and big corporations than older generations realize.
“I think it's important to give [youth] a platform to find and use their voices and to tell our elected representatives what they want to see if that's where things go and just learn how they can make a positive impact,” said Govender.
I think it's important to give [youth] a platform to find and use their voices and to tell our elected representatives what they want to see if that's where things go and just learn how they can make a positive impact."
Heather Govender, program manager at Green Venture
Giving youth a spotlight to express their concerns and always showing them their voices matter is one important step older generations can take to help create a healthier planet for all.
“Regardless of whether you consider yourself an environmentalist, you're completely dependent on the planet. This is where we get our food, our water. Good food to eat, clean air to breathe and clean water to drink is absolutely essential to every single person on the planet,” said Govender.
The Silhouette attended YouthQuake’s Sept. 28 meeting. Young activists—Aria Dalla Pasqua, Emelea Shaua, Isabella Goldner and Jasmine Montrichard—led a gardening activity to promote the idea of maintaining healthy forests and increasing wildlife diversity.
They practiced how to properly plant seeds to grow food from home and reduce energy consumption. They also made planter boxes intentionally designed to increase the variety of plant choices for pollinators. In previous meetings, activities and conversations were centered around gardening, supporting bee and bird populations, foraging, waste management and fast fashion.
There is lot of pressure is placed on individuals, particularly youth to change the world, but not everyone has the resources to do so. Sustainable consumer choices such as avoiding fast fashion brands, going vegan, or purchasing natural products are too expensive for many university students who are on a budget. But YouthQuake can be a great starting point for those who are new to environmentalism and want to kickstart their journey as activists.
"Remember to be forgiving of yourself. It does not rest solely on your shoulders to save the planet. We're limited by the options that are available to us,” said Govender.
"Remember to be forgiving of yourself. It does not rest solely on your shoulders to save the planet. We're limited by the options that are available to us."
Heather Govender, program manager at Green Venture
She also kindly encourages McMaster students to get involved.
“McMaster students should join YouthQuake because it is a safe, positive space to decompress and talk about whatever environmental topics are on your mind,” explained Govender.
Climate doomism doesn’t have to signify an ending. Instead, fears can be turned into positive action, through programs such as Green Venture's YouthQuake.
As children continue to enter contact sports, concussions will undoubtedly go up — but so does the chance of CTE.
C/O Molly Ferguson Art
Traumatic brain injuries are everywhere, from the workplace to sports. It is estimated that there are nearly 500 TBIs per 100,000 individuals annually in Canada; to narrow that down, one person in Canada would suffer a TBI every three minutes.
A TBI occurs due to shaking of the brain caused by blows to the head. It is the most apparent cause of death among young adults. TBI can range from being either mild, moderate or severe, depending on the results retrieved from neurological assessments. A concussion is often referred to in clinical settings as mild TBI.
Concussions can typically resolve spontaneously after 7-10 days with close monitoring of symptoms but can lead to immediate impairment of neurologic function with subsequent head injuries. Common symptoms present in the diagnosis of a concussion include headaches, dizziness, nausea, lack of concentration, memory impairment and tiredness.
It is estimated that 200,000 concussions occur per year in Canada alone, and of that, children under the age of five were the most prevalent demographic to experience a concussion.
Now, when looking at sports-related concussions, football is the most common sport in which concussions are diagnosed, where a study showed it accounted for more than half of all 2561 concussions reported.
In the NFL, the position played is an important factor for predictions on concussions and brain injuries, where offensive and defensive linemen are more prone to concussions than any other position. However, these concussions may be caused by low impact hits due to the short distance between the hitting and receiving players, whereas a quarterback would receive stronger hits at a lower frequency.
Though as players become sidelined for injuries, the media has a tendency to blow up injury stories and depending on fan support, the player may be ridiculed for not playing, as opposed to receiving empathy. Thus, many players who may indeed have a concussion go undiagnosed to ensure they are not portrayed as “weak” in their own perspective, in addition to the media’s and fans’ perspectives.
Now as players become injured with concussions repeatedly, long-term neurodegenerative effects may result and more specifically, chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Impulsivity, aggression, and suicidal behaviour encompass the clinical presentation for CTE, alongside the loss of memory and muscle spasms. However, a key limitation with the diagnosis of CTE is the requirement for it to be post-mortem.
CTE has gained recent attention from a study in 2017, where the CTE centre in Boston University concluded that CTE was diagnosed in 110 of 111 former deceased NFL players. More specifically, there was global attention on the specific case of Aaron Hernandez.
Hernandez was on route to becoming one of the greatest tight ends at the time. However, his life turned upside down when he was convicted guilty in 2015 and sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for the first-degree murder of Odin Lloyd in 2013.
Just two years after his conviction, Hernandez committed suicide in April 2017. But after further studies by the Boston University CTE centre, it was found that Aaron Hernandez suffered the most extreme case of CTE ever found in anyone of his age.
Ann McKee, director of the BU CTE centre, was shocked to find Aaron being diagnosed with Stage III CTE at only 27 years old, exclaiming that his problem-solving, judgement and impulse control behaviours may have been compromised.
“This would be the first case we’ve ever seen of that kind of damage in such a young individual,” said McKee at the time.
“This would be the first case we’ve ever seen of that kind of damage in such a young individual.”
Ann McKee
When looking at concussion rehabilitation programs, it is never that simple, especially for children and youth; but at McMaster University, the CanChild research centre has a specific attention to youth and children with disabilities, and in this case, concussion education and rehabilitation.
More specifically, the centre developed evidence-based protocols for Return to Activity and Return to School for children and youth, led by Professor Carol DeMatteo. It was found that roughly 50 per cent of children and youth adhered to the protocols, and it is primarily dependent on education and awareness of concussion protocols.
To help with adherence, DeMatteo and her team developed the Back2Play app, where concussion symptoms are regularly monitored with an apple watch and real-time activity data is recorded. With that being said, return to school has happened quicker than return to activity.
As children consistently enter themselves into contact sports leagues, it will be no surprise that the prevalence of concussions will rise. However, with greater emphasis on the education of brain injuries, further concussions can be avoided and prevent the unfortunate cases of CTE.
Photo courtesy of HCA Teen Creative Collective
By: Lauren O'Donnell
“The voices of the youth should be heard.”
The Hamilton Conservatory for the Arts is a beautiful building chock full of art and history which is itself worth the price of admission. “HCA Teen Creation Collective: Connection” is playing there until Saturday, July 27th.
As we entered the space, we were told that the designer of the building was a very short man whose girlfriend left him for someone much taller, and as vengeance he created the space so that all tall people were forced to bang their heads. Regretfully, this turned out to be false. As we trekked up several flights of stairs we were regaled with further tales of how the building was initially meant to be a stair factory, but when it fell through they decided to shove as many stairs into the building as possible. This too turned out to be false, much to my disappointment.
As we got to the top of the stairs, we were treated to a series of sketches performed in alternating spaces. The scenes were funny, well written, and excellently performed. They were spaced out throughout the different time periods of the HCA, from music conservatory, to youth home, to derelict building, to the art conservatory that it is today. Through each scene you can truly tell how much the group cares about the building they are in. There are many jokes made about the number of stairs. Deprived of context, my favourite quote was, “cats are cool”.
Each of the time periods blends seamlessly together to form narratives of connection across different social groups, and even across different decades. Indeed, the strongest impression that I got from this play was an overwhelming sense of community. The show was created through devised theatre, which is a form of collaborative and organic creation. As a result, the show was and is shaped by the experiences of the performers, both as individuals and a group. It was truly a delight to see these young artists shaping and creating their own show for the Fringe Festival, and I look forward to seeing what they do next.
Rating: 5/5 Sta(i)rs.
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By: Drew Simpson
The McMaster Muslims Students’ Association recently held Finding Your Momentum, a leadership and empowerment workshop specifically curated for Muslims. Its objective was to increase youth engagement to improve community involvement.
While MacMSA maintains a busy calendar, the process of organizing this event began well before the school year started. While decisions were being made around the structure of MacMSA’s exec-director team, the team realized a recent and significant drop in engagement with the association and the community.
Typically, directorship positions with the MacMSA would attract about 50 applicants each, in recent times however, these numbers have significantly dropped to one or two applicants. The senior executives became worried about MacMSA’s future leadership and lack of engagement with younger cohorts.
MacMSA leaders also saw a lack of Muslims being represented in leadership positions in the McMaster community, such as through the Student Representative Assembly.
Feedback gained from focus groups found a common rhetoric of Muslims opting out of leadership positions to focus on academics. They also found that many individuals were under the misconception that they are not needed by the community.
One workshop attendee and MacMSA representative noted that a lot of students experience a lack of confidence in their abilities and felt that they aren’t equipped with the appropriate skills to take on leadership responsibilities.
The Finding Your Momentum workshop was created in response to these concerns. The MacMSA team realized that they needed to empower their members and create a space where attendees can have open conversations about bettering themselves as Muslims and leaders in the community.
While one of the aims of the workshop was to increase attendees’ engagement with the community, the MacMSA team had to first figure out a way to increase engagement with the workshop itself.
From previous experiences, the organizers found that many people needed someone to both encourage them to participate and attend the event with them. This was often facilitated through invitations by word of mouth.
The organizers of Finding Your Momentum took advantage of this promotion strategy, and it worked. One attendee noted that in order to facilitate empowerment, individuals need someone to give them a little push of encouragement and support.
“When you hear ‘word-of-mouth’, you think of just going and telling someone ‘hey we have an event, just come’. But it’s actually investing in the Muslim community on campus…A part of being a leader is having a community that can look up to you and support your vision,” explained Faryal Zahir, MSA Director and Finding Your Momentum organizer.
“A big part of this year has been making that vision very very clear, and then having people inspired to support that vision.”
This workshop consisted of interactive activities and discussions that focused on introspecting on attendees’ relationships with themselves and others. There was also a focus on utilizing leadership opportunities to serve the community and building connections.
At every MacMSA event, building connections is a recurring goal. The team believes that building connections enables individuals into action.
Finding Your Momentum, like other MacMSA events, aims to break down the barriers that repress interaction, and encourage attendees to have one-to-one connections, first with themselves, then with their peers and greater community.
Time will tell if the MacMSA achieved its goal of encouraging workshop attendees to take on more leadership positions, but one thing is for sure – Finding Your Momentum created a much needed space for empowerment and meaningful engagement for Muslim youth.
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With International Women’s Day just behind us, several Hamilton organizations are taking the time to show their appreciation for the women in our community. One such organization is Never Gonna Stop, a youth initiative that is hosting Empower Me: A Women’s Appreciation Brunch on March 16 at the Hamilton Plaza Hotel and Conference Center.
In addition to brunch, the event will feature games, raffle prizes, a variety of visual and performing artists and speakers. The event is open to all ages and genders. It was important for the organizers that this communal appreciation of women be done by not just other women.
“[I]t's really important to have men to support women in our community. Men's voices are heard a lot more than just women’s [so] we're trying to get men to align with women… [W]hen we hear [about] domestic violence, usually it's men doing violence towards women, so… that's what I mean when I say we try to align men with women to support each other,” explained NGS member Gonca Aydin.
The brunch, which is now sold out, is free of cost. Making it free allowed the event to be accessible to everyone in the community. Reducing financial barriers is important for this organization, which is catered towards helping low-income youth.
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NGS was created by David Lingisi, Saifon Diallo and Joshua Kiena, all of whom come from low-income backgrounds. They wanted to create an initiative that would provide physical and mental health-related activities for youth from the ages of 13 to 29.
“[W]e've seen how there's a lot of older people… that have talent basically wasted because they didn't have an opportunity… [A]s the younger generation, we basically want to help [youth] out to make their dreams come true. I want everyone to provide a platform for them, to give them an opportunity to… go to the league, allow them to become doctors and [whatever] they want to do,” said Lingisi.
Lingisi was born with sickle cell anemia and has spent his life in and out of the hospital while still working towards his dream of being a music producer. Each of the co-founders have underwent personal challenges, which fuel their desire to help others overcome obstacles. Growing up in immigrant families, they all faced culture shock in addition to financial barriers.
The initiative hopes to provide the support for low-income youth that they feel is missing in Hamilton. They want to support the artistic, athletic and academic talent of today’s youth by providing them with opportunities and the knowledge to succeed.
Since the creation of the initiative last summer, NGS has hosted a youth panel, a holiday food drive, an All-Star weekend basketball tournament and a talent and fashion show for Black History Month among other events. They are continuously planning new events in partnership with other organizations in the city.
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They took on the Women’s Appreciation Brunch because it fits within their goal of creating community. NGS is proud to call themselves inclusive to all genders, races, religions or economic statuses. Setting aside space and time to celebrate women and promote the resources that women can access within the city fits within that mandate.
Most importantly, the Women’s Appreciation Brunch delivers the message of persistence directly to Hamilton’s women. They named the event Empower Me because they want women of all ages to know that they can accomplish any goal that they set out to reach.
“[K]eep following your dreams, whatever it is, don't ever stop, don't let anything stop you. You are able to make it no matter what you're going through, it doesn't matter the situation, just keep going as long as you get one more day… I just want to [say] that everybody's a part of NGS. I'm NGS, you're NGS, anybody going through anything but still fighting is NGS,” said Lingisi.
That is why they named themselves Never Gonna Stop. More than a name, it is a movement and source of encouragement for those involved. Knowing how hard life can be, NGS is focused on motivating others to work hard in order to achieve their wildest dreams.
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The month of March is an exciting time for Canadian university sports. Varsity teams across Canada spend most of March battling it out in arduous tournaments to bring national recognition to their university.
Especially during this time of year, it is easy to get swept up in the action, focusing solely on medals won or opportunities squandered, and the human side of the athletic community can be quickly forgotten. While all student-athletes at McMaster grind it out over the school year to bring home another banner, many members of the McMaster athletic community also dedicate their time to another important cause.
McMaster Athletes Care is a volunteer program whose vision is to “utilize sport as a tool to teach valuable life skills and empower youth to believe in their dreams”. In addition to community events such as January’s annual Think Pink Week, the program gives Mac athletes an opportunity to volunteer in the Hamilton community.
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From hospital visits and bringing kids to Marauders home games, MAC hosts weekly volunteer visits to the Living Rock Youth Resources program, the Kiwanis Boys and Girls Club of Hamilton, and the Routes Youth Centre. During these weekly visits, volunteers will utilize gym space to get kids active.
“It’s a really easy way to get volunteer hours to just sign up and go play sports, which is not really volunteering — it's a lot of fun,” said MAC’s Living Rock coordinator Mike Cox. “It’s a productive procrastination where, if you watch two hours of Netflix, I feel like I don't really get anything done and I feel kind of bad about that. But if you go and volunteer, you're giving your time and it's a nice break.”
Mike Cox has been involved with MAC for the last few years, initially volunteering as a member of the men’s lacrosse team to earn volunteer experience in pursuit of a teaching career. Cox eventually found himself making the weekly visits to Living Rock, a program for at-risk youth, and it became more than just a fun way to give back to the community.
“It's a reality check too, to go out and to do all that stuff,” Cox said. “It just kind of makes your bed a little warmer and your food taste a little better and all that stuff, so I know that it puts things into perspective. I started out doing it because I needed volunteer hours but like once you get out there, it kind of sucks you in and obviously I've been there ever since.”
Upon returning to Mac for a master’s degree in mathematics last year, Cox took over as MAC’s Living Rock coordinator. Enthusiastically organized by McMaster’s Coordinator for Community and Alumni Engagement, Nicole Grosel, the executive committee is full of members like Cox, each committed to coordinating the various events of the program.
Living Rock focuses on an older age group compared to the other weekly visits, so while it can be a challenge to get the older kids to participate in physical activity, which is the program’s main focus, the quality time spent with the members of these programs is still important to them.
“It feels good to see these people who stop coming for good reasons, like they don't have to be there because they found an apartment or because they've found a better job or they moved on,” Cox said. “It's a cool feeling to kind of see them through all that stuff and see where they started and see where they ended up.”
In addition to giving kids an outlet and an additional support system, getting varsity athletes to interact with kids in the community serves MAC’s goal of inspiring and motivating kids. In addition to showing them the importance of living a physically active life, student-athletes can share opportunities that can come from playing high-level sports, like scholarships and important relationships.
“Volunteering is always important and all of those kids they appreciate it, and I know they do. It's just good for McMaster and it's good for your soul,” Cox said. “To show that the athletes do have, amongst their busy schedules, that we can give back a little bit and show that McMaster Athletics isn't just about winning championships, it's about showing that we can give back and that we can recognize that we're very fortunate people.”
Not only does MAC help student-athletes appreciate their position, but it also allows some of the lesser-covered sports to gain some recognition as important parts of the Marauders community, such as the women’s lacrosse team who brought in a sizeable donation for a clothing drive and logged the most volunteer minutes for Think Pink Week.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BumYVwLFQuD/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet
Giving student-athletes from any sport a fun and easily accessible way to give back to the community, MAC continues to be a great service that deserves to be recognized as an invaluable resource for the Hamilton community. While giving student-athletes an opportunity to appreciate their own lives, MAC is helping to inspire a new generation of athletes.
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Shloka Jetha is a woman who has always been on the move. After growing up in seven countries, the 23-year old has finally settled in Toronto and is pursuing her dream of working with at-risk youth. Part of what appealed to her about the new Professional Addiction Studies program at McMaster Continuing Education is that it’s online, which means she can set her own schedule and study on-the-go when she’s away from home.
But of course the biggest draw is the way Jetha feels the program will complement and expand upon what she learned in her McMaster degree in sociology, as well as what she is currently learning in a Child and Youth Care program at another school. With the goal of someday working in a clinical setting like the Sick Kids Centre for Brain and Mental Health, Jetha believes the more practical information she has about addiction and mental health, the better.
“I’m learning a lot in my current Child and Youth program,” Jetha enthuses, “but for me there is a bit of a knowledge gap that the McMaster Professional Addiction Studies program will help to close. It’s an incredibly complex field, every situation is new, and you need to be able read between the lines and understand the difference between what a troubled kid is saying and what’s actually going on in their life.”
Jetha believes that having the rich background knowledge the Professional Addiction Studies program will provide, and being able to link that information to her work in the field, will help her excel faster. Most importantly, she feels it will make her better and more effective at helping and healing kids in crisis.
“I’m specifically looking forward to gaining more knowledge about pharmacology, but also about other things as it’s difficult to learn on the job,” Jetha says. “I can learn a tremendous amount from the kids I work with, and that’s invaluable experience, but coming to them with a deeper knowledge base will allow me to talk with them about drugs and alcohol in a way I otherwise couldn’t.”
Jetha has been fortunate not to be personally touched by addiction, but has lost friends and people in her community from overdose. She is also familiar with the impact of this complex issue through the volunteer work she has done.
Even though this is an incredibly demanding career path, it’s one Jetha is proud and honoured to walk. She feels the good outweighs the bad and is determined to continue learning and helping as much as she can. The Professional Addiction Studies program at McMaster Continuing Education is uniquely designed to help her achieve that goal.
Applications for Spring term are open until April 29, 2019. Learn more at mcmastercce.ca/addiction-studies-program
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By: Drew Simpson
Over a month of Hamilton Youth Poet’s Black Poet Residency has passed. So far, the residency has taken place at the Art Gallery of Hamilton every Saturday and the weekly residency will continue until May.
HYP is an arts organization that launched in October 2012. The organization’s four main goals are to manifest a community of cultural understanding, offer youth tools to deliver their writing and literary skill, engage youth towards their academic ambitions and to support aspiring artists’ professional development.
Ultimately, HYP empowers young people by offering training as arts organizers and allowing youth to take part in the planning, promotion and facilitation of events. One of these events is the Black Poet Residency featuring Ian Keteku, a two-time national slam champion and multimedia artist, as a key facilitator.
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Although both the organization and event have poets within its name, participants may be beyond the scope of experienced poets. Those who wish to develop their writing skills, editing, computer literacy and even multi-digital processes will benefit from the residency.
“Those interested need not regard themselves as poets or require any prior knowledge of poetry. The residency aims to transcend simply writing poems,” explains one of HYP’s teaching artists, Akintoye Asalu.
This residency is in line with HYP’s focus on youth-focused events coordinated by youths, as it is aimed towards youth writers, performers and creative-minded individuals. As mentioned by Asalu, anyone who is interested in bettering their skills is welcome to attend.
“When our young people can tell and re-tell their histories in the context of public platforms, they are able to imagine and re-imagine their individual and collective identities and become culturally grounded in their own experiences,” explains HYP’s website.
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The residency aims to provide an inclusive and supportive space which allows black youth to express their experiences and explore their voices. Such a weekly residency is necessary in Hamilton, to amplify often-silenced voices while also developing skills and building community. Asalu can attribute the prosperity of this residency as a participant himself.
“Being able to sit down and converse with people who understand the struggles that come with being a [person of colour] motivates me to keep using my art to help our community in as many ways as I can… My only hope is that the healthy dialogue that exists within the residency will spread to the rest of the community,” explains Asalu.
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Poetry and art directly combat the sense of isolation people of colour experience on a daily basis. Especially as they face daily experiences with institutions that were built without them in mind.
Asalu describes how poetry allows him to be the voice for those cast in silence; bringing light to silenced struggles. He also finds poetry as a healthy coping mechanism. Every HYP event puts youth at the center. Therefore, a Black-focused residency, puts Black youth at the center; a position that may be unfamiliar to them.
“I want Black people all around the city to feel comfortable talking about the things they go through on a day-to-day basis without fear of judgment from those around them. It is my belief that in order to enact change, we must first begin with constructive dialogue. Through this dialogue, constructive actions can be taken to improve the quality of life for [people of colour] as a whole,” explains Asalu.
This residency can be the defining moment for many Black youths in Hamilton. Raising their voices, attending to their mental health and finding support in community are never-ending obstacles for black youth. The ability to express struggles and unbox silenced concerns while doing so is a grand goal that when realized makes a positive difference in a young person’s life.
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On Feb. 2, Sonia Igboanugo, a fourth-year McMaster biomedical discovery and commercialization student and co-founder of Black Aspiring Physicians of McMaster, received the Lincoln Alexander scholarship at the John C. Holland awards, which celebrates African-Canadian achievement in Hamilton.
Igboanugo and McMaster grad student Kayonne Christy launched BAP-MAC during the 2016-2017 school year to support Black McMaster students striving to become physicians and other healthcare professionals.
Igboanugo was inspired to create the club following her attendance at a University of Toronto summer mentorship program geared towards Indigenous and Black students interested in health sciences.
“I felt like that program changed my life in terms of inspiring me in what I thought I could do and what my capacity was as a potential health care professional,” Igboanugo said. “I felt very empowered and I felt very interested in this in bringing the same experience to McMaster.”
Since then, BAP-MAC has steadily grown. Currently, the club has over 100 members, proving a variety of resources to its members.
As part of the BAP-MAC mentorship program, younger students are paired with a mentor who provides academic and career guidance.
Throughout the year, BAP-MAC also arms students with information about research opportunities and hosts workshops and talks led by healthcare professionals.
At its core, however, BAP-Mac simply serves as a community for Black students on campus.
“For me, the biggest part has been connecting with older students who can help me navigate through university,” said first-year kinesiology student Ida Olaye, who aspires to go to medical school. “BAP-MAC gives you that support group, to know that you’re not alone, that there are a lot of people trying to pursue the same dream that you are pursuing and it is very doable.”
This past year, BAP-MAC received a three-year grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation.
The grant has allowed BAP-MAC to host a conference for the first time. The event is scheduled for this upcoming May.
The grant also allows the club to expand its vision to empower Black youth on a larger scale.
“Because we have a pretty good campus presence, I would say, but the goal was to address the issue of lack of diversity on a more systemic front,” Igboanugo said.
Part of that is a new initiative aimed at incorporating high school students into the BAP-MAC program by connecting them to undergraduate student mentors.
Second-year human behaviour student Simi Olapade, who is also the associate director of multimedia for BAP-MAC, sees a lot of value in the initiative.
“Reaching out to those high school students is an opportunity that I even wished I had to be honest. Seeing someone like you in a place where you want to be helps so much in terms of making you focus more on achieving that goal, making you more goal-oriented and making you more focused,” Olapade said.
Reflecting on the award she recently received, Igboanugo says the work she does as part of BAP-MAC only reflects how others have helped her.
“It was very humbling to actually be recognized for the work because it is the greatest thing or greatest privilege I have to always serve my community or use my strength to better my community and the people around me,” Igboanugo said.
Students wishing to get involved with BAP-MAC can learn more about the group’s initiatives on BAP-MAC’s Facebook page.
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By: Mitali Chaudhary
Recently, the market for the Young Adult literary genre has ballooned. Geared mostly towards the mid-teen to early adult demographic, their popularity is attested by the large number of movie adaptations, which become widely successful due to the huge fan base that the books amass.
Unfortunately, publishers know that any book labelled “YA” will sell well, regardless of the quality of the story. This has yielded a slew of cookie-cutter novels with the same paranormal/romantic/dystopian plots and one-dimensional characters facing the most overdone conflicts, all within the span of 350 pages.
The most disappointing aspect of these novels is the incredibly flat, teenage female lead. It’s as if authors flip a coin to pick which mould the character will be shaped from — either a dopey damsel who’s constantly in distress, or a hardened unsentimental woman who lives only to bring down the patriarchy.
I remember reading dialogue from Graceling by Kristen Cashore (which made it to Publisher Weekly’s “Best Books of the Year”) in which the main character, Katsa, states proudly that she hates dresses, and can’t imagine why others wear them. To provide further context, this came from an individual that spent the entire novel looking down on other women. These other ladies were always portrayed as dress wearing and meeker than Katsa; they worked menial jobs to make ends meet because they were meek and wore dresses and therefore were less than men.
Making that first statement in itself isn’t a crime (I can understand if dresses are just not for some people) but it does not immediately make one a feminist, as this novel would suggest. Another issue is how ‘tough’ some of these women are created — after a while, it becomes borderline creepy when the character doesn’t react to a given situation as you would expect a human to react. Moreover, authors don’t seem to realize that it doesn’t make a woman automatically stronger if she is ultra independent, sullen, sulky and refuses to show emotion or rely on anyone else for help even in the most extreme of situations.
In fact, crafting these overly “tough” female characters does nothing to help the feminist cause, as it just sends the message that you need to act less feminine and show less emotion to deserve the same respect as men. That makes absolutely no sense, and sends a very negative message about what the spirit of feminism is. Why can’t you wear a floral skirt and still care about pay equality?
Even worse is the portrayal of the weak, helpless girl. Another very popular novel, The Elite by Kiera Cass, starred one such teen, America Singer, who cried at the end of every other chapter. This is not an exaggeration. Most of her tears, of course, involved the state of her cringe-worthy love triangle (another annoying trend in YA literature). Both of the boys she’s “in love with” break her heart (and she theirs), but she never grows enough of a spine to break it off with either of them, choose which one treats her best, or refuse both of them (how about working to develop your own personality, America?). Such characters also consistently mope, run away from mental or physical work and require the constant support of a man, without whom they are useless — I’m looking at you, Bella Swan.
It’s unfortunate that these books are only a tiny sample of what fills up shelves across the country. The worst part about this trend is that these novels get insanely publicized, and are read by thousands of young girls that are forming their identities in a society that already popularises unhealthy depictions of women. Why make it more confusing for them by creating these unrealistic characters, which reduce complex individuals to black and white cardboard cut-outs? They are difficult to identify with because they’re not real.
Women can be strong and shed tears and wear pretty dresses and be scared and need validation and be feminists and get angry and be shy. One woman can be all of these things. It’s time authors start creating characters in YA that are realistic and multifaceted.
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