Features

<p>If you’re a first-year student and are reading this, you have survived your first semester of university. This experience is different for everyone, but it’s a big stepping stone in transitioning from adolescence to adulthood. As I reflect on my first semester at STU, I look at the many friends I have made, most of [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Rob Ford has gone from municipal politician to global pop culture icon in record time. His story contains elements of tragedy, comedy, psychology and, for the optimists out there, perhaps even redemption. The AQ’s Tamara Gravelle hears from a creative writer, a humourist, an addiction psychologist and a recovering addict to try to piece together [&hellip;]</p>

<p>When assignments and exam preparations seem like a mountain impossible to climb, it’s important to keep a positive attitude and take breaks, said STU student Kevin Gleeson. The third-year criminology and history student is a member of the Student Mental Health Committee. Under the guidance of Lindsay Gallagher, the committee plans a de-stress day for [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Lately, I&#8217;ve found myself paying more attention to the women in video games. How do they act? What do they look like? How are they treated? For the most part, it isn&#8217;t good. Usually, games feature male characters in the lead and women on the side providing support. They&#8217;re often not portrayed as smart or [&hellip;]</p>

<p>The last thing I expected to see when I was walking into the Cellar is Stephen Harper, Justin Trudeau and Darth Vader sitting at a table having a political debate. But weirder things happen at Toronto City Hall every day. So, I sat down at their table, threw in on a pitcher of beer and [&hellip;]</p>

<p>She breaks the dark chocolate bar with cocoa splits she bought from the organic food store into little pieces.  Her cat wanders around her feet. Laughter lines frame her blue eyes. She turns her head and asks, “So, how can I help you, sweetie?” I ask about her artwork. She smiles, looks out the window and [&hellip;]</p>

<p>A new film rating system based on the equality of female roles could cause significant changes on the big screen. “I think by focusing on women there’s a good chance to get adult cinema back again, because that’s what adult cinema is about,&#8221; said Steward Donovan, English and Irish studies professor at St. Thomas. Speaking [&hellip;]</p>

<p>I can’t think of anything sexier than consent. Some of you are rolling your eyes, but it’s true. Say I’m making the moves on someone during movie night, and I’m unsure if my feelings *cough* hormones *cough* are being reciprocated. What I’m most likely to do is back off a bit, and give them an [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Most university students have no choice but to live away from home. For many, it&#8217;s the first time. No two experiences are alike, and we all handle living away from home differently. Most learn  greater independence is required to get a degree and flourish at work. Growing up in Woodstock, a small community about an [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Tears glistened in the corner of his blue eyes. These eyes were almost owl-like, magnified through his thick glasses in the light of a street lamp. His grey hair was covered by a kippa, a traditional Jewish headdress. Looking into his sad eyes, I felt the pain he carried with him throughout his life when [&hellip;]</p>

<p>For five years, STU had a relationship with a program based out of Ontario called Intercordia. The program allows students to live with a host family and work in countries like Rwanda, Ukraine, Dominican Republic and others during the summer. Students would be in a class during the winter semester to learn about their placements. [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Kathleen King presented the first lecture of a Lunch &#8216;n Learn series by the St. Thomas University Society for History. The STUSH president talked about the relationship of alcohol and industrialization, nationalism and gender. King said the society chose the topic because alcohol has always been an important part of different cultures. It&#8217;s also a [&hellip;]</p>

<p>The pursuit of the almighty dollar isn’t a foreign concept for university students. With tuition increasing on a yearly basis and jobs becoming more of a necessity for our breed to get by, how are we to handle both work and school? Is it really possible for students to handle both with a constant stream of tests, readings, [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Deborah and Will van den Hoonaard celebrated the launch of Essentials of Thinking Ethically in Qualitative Research with about 40 people on Friday.  This is the second book the couple wrote together. They said writing their first one as a team was more challenging because they had to figure out the process. “Will likes to write [&hellip;]</p>

<p>On Nov. 15, North Americans can go out and buy Sony&#8217;s new PlayStation 4. A week later, other North Americans might buy an Xbox One, Microsoft&#8217;s professed &#8220;all-in-one entertainment system.&#8221; While early Xbox One development kits started appearing in 2011, the PlayStation 4  has been in development since 2008, according to Sony employee Mark Cerny. [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Slut is one of the most annoying words to hear. It’s on par with slang like &#8220;yolo&#8221; and &#8220;swagger,&#8221; which means it’s pretty much guaranteed to throw me into a massive, frothy, cut-off-everyone’s-heads rage. Luckily, chocolate also exists to calm me down. There are an estimated 220 derogatory words to describe sexually promiscuous women, and [&hellip;]</p>

<p>&nbsp; Henri Thibeau &#8220;Halloween always meant to me just hanging out with a lots of friends and eating an obscene amount of candy.&#8221; Erika Hickey &#8220;Halloween is the day of the year where you get to eat as much candy as you want and no one judges you.&#8221; Kyla Cochrane &#8220;It&#8217;s a time where I [&hellip;]</p>

<p>So, what’s scary? When I was a kid I couldn’t sleep in the same room as the book Coraline. Now the only thing scary about having button eyes is constantly matching your outfit with them. The costume stores seem to have it all wrong too. Clowns? I am a clown. Vampires? I think the politically [&hellip;]</p>

<p>On Halloween people dress up as superheroes, cowboys or witches. Children go from door to door and come home with bags full of candy. Adults enjoy their chocolate bars with cold beer and good company. The dead rise from their graves, wandering along the dark streets. It&#8217;s the night when the veil separating the living [&hellip;]</p>

<p>It started when I was a kid. My parents had rented the comedy Dracula: Dead and Loving It from Blockbuster. The great Canadian actor Leslie Nielsen begun my love affair with all things weird and eerie. Attending a Christian private school didn&#8217;t encourage my new found love for vampires and Halloween, but I didn&#8217;t mind my reoccurring [&hellip;]</p>