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Shion Skye Carter embodies a brushstroke in Residuals (住み・墨)

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Shion Skye Carter posing in white paper garments in front of a black background
PHOTO: Lula-Belle Jedynak

By: C Icart, Staff Writer

Residuals (住み・墨) culminates as Shion Skye Carter pulls out a delicate paper dress and puts it on to dance. Presented through The Dance Centre’s Iris Garland Emerging Choreographer Award, this captivating solo dance performance at the Scotiabank Dance Centre marks Carter’s search “for her own, distinct artistic voice.” Carter won the Emerging Choreographer Award in 2021 after graduating from SFU in 2019 with a major in dance with a minor in kinesiology. 

住み・墨 combines the Japanese words “to reside” and “ink,” which are both pronounced “sumi.”

In Residuals (住み・墨), Japanese calligraphy becomes a vehicle for Carter to explore memories that result in “a journey of self-discovery, where the layers of her identity begin to unfurl.” It was fascinating to see how she drew on the art form to explore her relationship with her heritage. Carter was born in Japan, moved to Canada at the age of six, and began learning calligraphy before she became a dancer. 

After taking a break from calligraphy to focus on school, Carter reached out to her calligraphy mentor, Yoko Murakami, to begin retaking lessons for this solo. “Now, calligraphy is a practice that I can come back to when I need a meditative activity to regain a sense of groundedness,” they said.

As someone whose dance experience is limited to the happy dance I do when I eat something delicious, I felt pretty out of my element attending the show, but seeing how Carter used her body and the space to tell a story was amazing. 

The colour scheme of the performance revolved around black and white, representing ink and paper. As Carter dances surrounded by paper, the abstract lighting helps recreate her grandparents’ home. The dance performers’ willingness to play with shadows and darkness created striking images. Carter begins in a box, illuminated only by a ray of light which she reaches towards. As Andie Lloyd, who did the lighting design for both pieces, mentioned during the post-show artist talkback: they are not afraid of the dark.

The show post-show artist talkback included Carter and Stefan Nazarevich, the composer for Residuals (住み・墨), along with others in the show. Throughout the performance, she embodies the ink, the brush, and the people in her family. “​​Sometimes, I feel that I’m better able to express myself through my body rather than with words,” said Carter. “Calligraphy, merged with movement, has acted as a portal for me to reconnect to parts of my Japanese heritage and cultural expectations.”

Residuals (住み・墨) shows that Carter is an innovative and incredibly talented artist with a truly unique point of view. They’re already in the process of creating Threading Echoes, a collaborative dance performance about the history of shifu, a traditional Japanese fabric weaving technique. Follow her on Instagram to keep up with this exciting upcoming project, and more.

Ottawa’s fall budget announces new interest-free student loans

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This is a photo of Capitol Hill in Ottawa.
PHOTO: Benoit Debaix / Unsplash

By: Pranjali J Mann, News Writer

Low-income workers and students were offered some financial relief in a budgetary announcement from Parliament Hill, Ottawa on November 3. Federal finance minister Chrystia Freeland has proposed waiving federal student loan interest permanently. 

In an attempt to provide “a real, robust industrial policy” for Canadian economic growth, Freeland’s budget aimed to increase federal funding for student loans. According to CBC News, all “federal student and apprenticeship loans will be interest-free permanently.” It is estimated this will provide $410 of student relief every year. The policy will take effect on April 1, 2023. 

This step is a continuation of COVID-19 relief for students on federal loans. According to Narcity, extension of the federal interest freeze until 2023 would aid “about 1.5 million Canadians who have debt to repay.” For students in BC, the provincial portion of their loans were interest free since 2019. At the time, it was estimated 200,000 people were benefiting from the announcement. This included students enrolled in full-time graduate and undergraduate degree programs. 

The Liberal party of Canada’s website said, “As we look towards the future, we believe that no one should be deterred from pursuing an education because interest costs make it unaffordable.”

Now, with students being permanently interest-free from federal loans, they are set to receive greater benefits. As before, loan repayments are not required until 6 months after completion of the university programs.

Under the Government of Canada’s “Youth Employment and Skills Strategy” program (YESS), an estimated $800 million will be invested to increase job placements — with at least “70,000 annual summer job placements” in the next three years. This investment is in addition to the 2022 annual budget commitments to ensure the government’s effort towards post-secondary education affordability. YESS is aiming to provide necessary information, work experience, and skills for youth facing barriers in “transition into the workforce.” 

It was also highlighted that despite possible signs of recession in the coming year, unemployment rates are predicted to remain lower to the 2008–2009 crisis standard. One of the reasons cited for this was the current state of “tight labor market.” This indicates some sectors have staff shortages whereas others have a surplus of workers. This creates what CBC News calls a “seller’s market.” In an interview to CBC News, a government official also indicated lower unemployment and higher commodity prices are generally “good for the Canadian economy.”

For low-income Canadian workers, Freeland announced possible changes in current Canadian Worker Benefit (CWB). “CWB is a refundable tax credit for individuals and families who are working and earning a low income.” This announcement offered a “refundable tax credit” top-up for about three million workers. This is found to support up to “$714 for single workers and $1,231 for a family,” as per the press release. 

To learn more about the government’s housing, healthcare and clean electricity transition low-income family workers policies, visit the Government of Canada website.

What Pop-Tart flavour are you?

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Peak Web
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Stock photo of strawberry pop-tarts
PHOTO: Isabella and Zsa Fischer / Unsplash

By: Hannah Kazemi, Staff Writer, Brainwashed by Teen Vogue

If you’re anything like me, you spent many late nights as a 12-year-old flipping through pink-centric girlie tween magazines. You read about all of the latest celeb gossip and took many arbitrary quizzes. Finding out what my choice in glitter shape says about what career I should go into really enlightened me. To give you a taste of the absurdity that was teen girl magazine content, we present this quiz to provide a completely factual and unbiased read of your character.

Question 1

You have three hours between classes every Thursday, and your classes are downtown. How do you spend that time?

  1. You go to Breka and ask to sit at someone’s table (tables at Breka are hot real estate). You discover they’re visiting Vancouver for the first time so you add them on Instagram and DM them a list of all the must-do things while they’re here. You include links and everything.
  2. Go to office hours and fill the entire three hours talking your prof’s ear off about the paper due this week, his dog, your dog, grad school, and which TA has better fashion sense.
  3. Try to get work done and listen to some music, but become bored and wander off downtown to find something to eat. You treat yourself every week you’re here. At what point does ordering your usual from the same food truck lose its “treat” status?

Question 2

McFogg comes to life and asks you for some “help with his homework.” Do you:

  1. Say “yes” enthusiastically because you mistake his suggestiveness with genuine need for help.
  2. Say “yes” because you’ve always had a thing for McFogg and have been waiting for this day.
  3. Say “no” immediately because you’re not into furry costumes.

Question 3

Do you sleep with socks on?

  1. Sometimes, because they keep your little toesies warm and cozy.
  2. Yes, but only one. Sleeping with both on would throw off your body heat. It’s perfectly balanced between “warm” and “one foot out for the monsters to grab.”
  3. Absolutely not. You’re not a monster!

Question 4

You go to the bathroom at your friend’s house and after you do your business you realize there’s no more toilet paper. Do you:

  1. Use tissues in the meantime, then subtly let your friend know that they’re out. You don’t want them to feel bad.
  2. Drip dry.
  3. Text your friend that there’s no more toilet paper and have them toss you a roll as you crack the door.

Question 5

Your friends invite you to happy hour at Cactus Club for girl’s night. Do you:

  1. Treat everyone to an appy because they’ve all been working so hard this semester (and because happy hour prices make your wallet feel generous! Those truffle fries are so hard to resist).
  2. The happy hour menu overwhelms you, so you convince the group to order one of everything and share. You hate half of it but won’t admit it, at risk of your friends calling you impulsive. Again.
  3. You order the chicken lettuce wraps (duh) and a bellini (duh) because it’s Sunday Funday, baby!

If you answered Mostly A’s

You are the frosted confetti cupcake Pop-Tart. You’re very sweet (almost overwhelmingly so), but the fun sprinkles on top distract from the sickly sweet pure-sugar taste of the icing. You send memes to your friends professing your undying love to them because you think that they deserve to have their day brightened. Little do you know that after a couple of bites, you’re kinda hard to swallow.

If you answered Mostly B’s

You are the frosted grape Pop-Tart. Gross. Grape is everybody’s least favourite flavour. Your friends are tired of hearing your rendition of Taylor Swift’s “Karma,” partly because you do too much and partly because it sounds like every other generic pop song ever. They see the value in giving 100% when it comes to your “passions,” but only when your baseline energy level isn’t 150%. Maybe stop being weird?!

If you answered Mostly C’s

You are the frosted strawberry Pop-Tart. A classic. The crowd favourite. The one that gets picked first because everyone knows they can rely on you to bring them joy. Familiar and perfectly balanced between being sweet and tart, you’re a simple gal who doesn’t ask for much. This makes you the perfect friend.

SFSS discusses the health and dental care referendum vote

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This photo is of the SFU stadium at the Burnaby Campus. The stadium is empty but it is a sunny day.
PHOTO: Krystal Chan / The Peak

Editor’s Note: The article was updated on November 17, to state Baran attended the Alliance of BC Students instead of the BC Federation of Students Lobby Days. Additionally, it was updated to note the referendum required a majority vote, not two-thirds, but failed because they failed to reach quorum.

By: Pranjali J Mann, News Writer

Student health and dental fee referendum information

Vice-president internal and organizational development, Judit Nagy, proposed adding the increase of the fall health and dental plan fees to the referenda. 

Nagy’s motion proposed keeping “pace with the rising cost of health and dental services.” This motion was brought up to open avenues for increased mental health services. SFSS president Helen Sofia Pahou noted the original 2008 motion for the first SFSS health and dental provision did not account for inflation.

In this meeting, more communication about the clear benefits and harms of the referendum were asked to be posted on the SFSS website. 

At the end of the referendum’s voting period on November 3, it was decided the $31.20 increase to the fee will not be applied. This referendum required a majority vote to pass, but the vote did not pass because they failed to reach quorum. But now, the cost remains the same — $254.36 for advanced plan and $197.51 for the basic plan SFU students on a yearly basis. Students can opt-out in case of an equivalent insurance plan in the province, during the “Change-of-Coverage Period.” 

Student Lobby Days Presentation

This was presented by SFSS vice-president external and community affairs, Eshana Baran, who attended the Alliance of BC Students annual meeting in Victoria. The yearly conference works towards accessible and affordable education. 

According to the BC Federation of Students’ website, this meeting was hosted by the British Columbia Institute of Technology Student Association and the Student Union Society of the University of Fraser Valley. The two-day federation meeting had 45 MLA’s and 17 post-secondary student union bodies in attendance, representing about 210,000 students in the province. 

Representing the SFSS at the meeting, Baran attended the lobby training for international students. At the conference, she voiced demands for international students. Additionally, she noted other areas of concern around “financial aid, international student’s rights, support for students with disabilities, and sexualized student survivor support.” 

Baran noted her meeting had various representatives from the BC Liberals, BC Greens, and BC NDP. Through a chance to connect with other student vice-president externals from across the province, she expressed gratitude for being able to connect with powerful student advocates. 

TikTok is dangerous if not used with caution

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text style sad face in tik tok logo colours
ILLUSTRATION: Raissa Sourabh / The Peak

By: Hannah Kazemi, Staff Writer

Content warning: mentions of disordered eating

Writing this piece makes me a bit of a hypocrite. I have TikTok, and scroll endlessly on my feed. I don’t post videos of my own, but I’ll admit my excessive time online is predominantly due to TikTok. That being said, I can love the app and criticize it at the same time: TikTok can be dangerous if not used properly.

I think many people feel this way — we know in theory that spending too much time on TikTok has the potential to do damage, namely to people’s long-term attention spans and mental health. Some psychologists have studied “TikTok brain:” a phenomenon stemming from excessive use that impacts kids’ ability to stay focused, be productive, and maintain concentration for longer periods of time.

More importantly, the app has proven to be a breeding ground for harmful content, especially for children and teenagers who are more impressionable and base a lot of their self-worth off the people they watch online.

TikTok has been in the news since its launch because of trends and “challenges” that have spawned from popular videos. This includes clips that showcase borderline illegal and dangerous activities: people have died attempting the “blackout challenge,” which encourages users to hold their breath until passing out, and the “devious licks” challenge encourages teens to steal things like soap dispensers from their school or stop signs from the street. 

The hypersexualization and exploitation of young children should also spark concern, as should “what I eat in a day” videos filled with body-checking that perpetuates toxic ideas of what young peoples’ bodies should look like. These types of videos have inspired trends like the “corpse bride diet” and videos where women show off how skinny they are by either wrapping a pair of headphones around their waist or holding up a piece of A4 printer paper against themselves. With the fast-paced nature of the app allowing new content to be posted and reproduced in minutes, it’s no surprise that seemingly harmless videos of someone doing something silly or mundane can turn into a dangerous viral trend so suddenly.

I don’t think people should ditch the app altogether, since other studies have shown TikTok is beneficial for inspiring creativity and self-expression in users, because there really are no limits on how creators can express themselves. Users have the ability to quickly reach a wide audience, so they can spread awareness about important social issues. People inspire change in a way that hasn’t really been possible before. Teens and youth are being exposed to important issues, like climate change and racial injustice, in a way they can easily digest. These are some of the app’s biggest positives.

At its core, a lot of good comes out of TikTok. I find myself laughing and awwww-ing at most of the videos flashing across my screen. Creative and positive trends catch on the same way that harmful trends do. Yet, browsing should still be approached with caution. Because at any given moment you can come across equally uplifting or damaging content, without knowing how it will affect you. It’s like playing roulette every time you open the app. You never know what your “For You” page is going to show you that day.

Canada needs to reform its mental health system

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SFU’s health and counseling centre
PHOTO: Kriti Monga / The Peak

By: Olivia Visser, Opinions Editor

Canada needs a better healthcare system, and improving access to mental health services is a necessary step. The Canada Health Act (CHA) prevents adults from receiving long-term mental health support because of its “medically necessary” clause. British Columbia’s Medical Services Plan (MSP) only covers mental health services for people under 19, unless the situation is considered an emergency. It should go without saying that this needs to change.

The CHA regularly fails to provide fair and equal healthcare distribution. Since the Act conveniently promises to ensure only “reasonable access” to healthcare, our system sees significant disparities affecting different populations. For instance, low-income people in Canada are less likely to receive “evidence-based preventative health care,” as are those living outside urban centres. This includes services like regular check-ups and screenings. Yellowhead Institute also described the CHA as “conspicuously minimalist,” pointing out that it never mentions Indigenous peoples, “despite the emergence of constitutional Aboriginal rights just a few years earlier.” The CHA’s “grey zones” allow provinces to deliver substandard healthcare.

Over the last few decades, psychologists have stressed the connection between mental and physical health; studies have found poor mental health increases one’s risk for developing chronic illnesses. Likewise, disabled people are more likely to have poor mental health outcomes. While it’s great that Canada offers free emergency support for those in crises, mental illness is rarely a short-term occurrence. Mental health directly impacts physical health, so the CHA’s “medically necessary” clause makes little sense if mental health services are excluded. 

Adults in Canada are usually forced to seek out expensive private services for their psychological needs. Receiving a mental health diagnosis comes with sizable financial barriers. BC only has one clinic which provides free adult ADHD assessments, and CBC pointed out they stopped taking new patients in 2021. The cost for a private assessment is at least $1,000 from most practitioners. Counselling is also generally not covered by MSP, and a single session usually costs well over $100. Very few resources exist that are free, effective, and long-term.

A recent survey conducted by the Angus Reid Institute and CBC found 54% of respondents felt the pandemic has worsened their mental health. COVID-19 has highlighted many of Canada’s systemic failures, one of which being the atrocious state of mental health services. Part of the issue is a lack of public resources, but psychologists have also stressed that they can’t take on new patients due to a surge in clients. As people continue experiencing record rates of mental illness, Canada’s mental health system has proven it can’t keep up with the demand. 

The Canadian government needs to reform the CHA to include unobstructed access to mental health services. These services need to be easily accessible, long-term, and preventative in nature. Those concerned about their tax dollars might raise eyebrows at this proposal, but investing in specialized mental health care offloads some of the resources that emergency services use for those in psychological distress. This could save money in the long run. Moreover, given the option of going to a mental health clinic or the emergency room, many would pick the first option to opt out of long wait times, potential trauma, and the short-term design of urgent care.

Adults in Canada shouldn’t have to suffer because they can’t afford counselling or a diagnosis. Amending the “reasonable access” and “medically necessary” clauses in the CHA would provide a basis for transforming our system into one that offers equal access and long-term mental health support. Until this happens, I won’t agree with anyone who says we have a good healthcare system.

Queer Little Nightmares reveals the humanity in monstrosity

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Peak Web
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Queer Little Nightmares purple book cover that includes the hand of a monster with long painted nails
PHOTO: Arsenal Pulp Press

By: Tianne Jensen-DesJardins, SFU Student

My first encounter with the monstrous was Frankenstein. In my first read, I appreciated Frankenstein for Shelley’s writing skill — the novel is a Russian nesting doll of stories within stories. It wasn’t until the fourth or fifth time interacting with this story that I came face-to-face with the monstrous.

Frankenstein’s monster is monstrous in its very being, but I didn’t fully understand how monstrosity could be claimed, or reclaimed, until I read Susan Stryker’s article on Frankenstein and “Performing Transgender Rage.” In her critical speech-turned-article, Stryker reclaims terms such as “creature” and “monster” — words that have historically been used to vilify trans people. This act of reclamation is carried on in Queer Little Nightmares, an Anthology of Monstrous Fiction and Poetry edited by SFU alums David Ly and Daniel Zomparelli. 

The vision behind Queer Little Nightmares was not to dissect the bodies of well-known monsters like Frankenstein’s creature, rather it was, in the words of Zomparelli, to find out “what beasts lie ahead in the hands of queer creators.” Featuring short stories and poems from well-known queer writers such as Amber Dawn, Cicely Belle Blaine, and Eddy Boudel Tan, Queer Little Nightmares explores, in the words of Ly, “the experience of coming into queerness, finding belonging when the world wants only to see us as monstrously other.” 

A memorable story in the anthology is Amber Dawn’s “Wooly Bully” which tells the tale of two girls growing up in a small farm town. Over the course of a summer camp (which is — hilariously — called “Corn Camp”), Gigi, the protagonist, begins to accept two facts about herself: that she is a lesbian and a werewolf. Both of these are brought to her attention by fellow lesbian werewolf, Brenda Hendrick, with whom she is in love. 

What I love most about this story is how joyful it is; a story about a girl coming into her lesbian-werewolf-ness could be filled with violence and shame. While those themes do make an appearance, the overarching feeling is of joy. After Gigi and Brenda strip away all the doubt, uncertainty, and fear, the kiss they share asserts their belonging: “In this moment, we remake ourselves. / We are becoming.” 

Another highlight is Kai Cheng Thom’s “Floral Arrangement I.” In her poem, Thom rakes her claws across the concept of “femme,” and blood-red lipstick oozes from the cuts. For a relatively short poem, Thom’s piece invokes the trope of the “conniving femme,” the femme who “gets what she wants,” while emphasizing the drive for survival: “i am the femme who stays alive.” 

It is no surprise that Thom’s poetry appears in this anthology twice, as monstrosity is a theme she has explored in much of her published work. Thom’s other poem in Queer Little Nightmares is “On the Origin of Trans Femmes” that features haunting lines such as: “we are the daughters of witches / that they are still burning.” 

From lesbian werewolves to femmes who eat their lovers and more, the stories in Queer Little Nightmares “push back on the idea of monsters as fearsome and give tender and truthful glimpses into human desires and dreams,” to borrow Ly’s words. The anthology echoes the message of Susan Stryker all those years ago: “Monsters, like angels, functioned as messengers and heralds of the extraordinary. They served to announce impending revelation, saying, in effect, ‘Pay attention; something of profound importance is happening.’”

Paige Smith plays with the gaze in “Watching You Watching Me”

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A person makes a playful face in the mirror, with her face painted bright colors and the rest of the photo is black and white
PHOTO: Paige Smith

By: Petra Chase, Arts & Culture Editor

Editor’s Note: A previous version of this article mistakenly wrote that Smith’s video, Tethered Connection, is 35 minutes. This was updated to “35 seconds” on November 24, 2022.

Content warning: mentions of voyeurism

We’ve all heard the saying “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” I didn’t comprehend this until I explored “the gaze” in the communication course Technologies of Gender and Sexuality. The male gaze is traced back to 19th century nude oil paintings, in which women were painted to be objects of male voyeuristic pleasure. This demonstrates how powerful apparatus can be in enforcing gendered power dynamics.

Experimental filmmaker and visual artist Paige Smith’s multimedia exhibition, “Watching You Watching Me” explores this idea through a variety of lenses, pointing to the medium’s influence. With a BFA in film from SFU and diverse cinematography experience under her belt, Smith is currently pursuing a post-baccalaureate diploma in visual arts at SFU. 

Inspired by a “fascination with the acts of watching and being watched,” Smith’s motion picture artworks and photography reveal how queer identity and sexuality are represented and internalized through the lens. Her approach is deeply personal.

Walking into the dimly-lit exhibition space in the Cineworks black box studio, Smith’s 2018 film, Watching Us, which was projected onto the wall facing the entrance, took up my immediate attention. As the film panned throughout the walls of an empty apartment and a 1940’s soundtrack eerily played, the lens eventually lands on a queer couple in the bedroom and I’m put in the position of an unwelcomed spectator. I meet the eyes of a distressed woman and painfully relate to her hyper awareness of being watched, all the while feeling uncomfortable in my viewing position.

The eight minute film quickly takes a horrifying turn, as a roughly-drawn sketch of a man appears on screen, symbolizing the ever-present surveillance of the male gaze. Suddenly, the couple is in separate rooms; one of them is staring at a static television screen, while the other is crying in the bedroom. 

According to Smith, the Watching Us deals with her fear of being watched and watching other women. She told The Peak the film addresses “internalized queer-phobia” she experiences as a pan/bisexual woman. In a blog post, she wrote “consumption of queer women’s sexualities [ . . . ] changes how we act, how we see ourselves, and it is painful.”

Smith’s outlook has become more hopeful. Her 2022 looping film, The Big Reveal, makes this clear. The 16mm black and white short features four women and non-binary folks undressing, subverting the conventions of a striptease by painting their bodies with “bright, semi-opaque colours.” The performers also make playful faces in the mirror. Smith used food dye to particularly cover each frame.

“I think [the shift in tone] is due to both my mental health improving and my desire to create artwork that can help us imagine new and hopeful futures,” said Smith.

The 2022 video installation, Tethered Connection, also plays with conventional expectations. A 35-second clip of Smith undressing in her bedroom played on a computer monitor with an office set-up mimics the format of watching a camgirl or amateur porn performer. When her skin is displayed, however, it is illuminated by a white glow. 

Being in front of the camera in both 2022 films was vulnerable for Smith, but important. “[Being behind the camera] came naturally to me in a lot of ways, the mechanisms of the camera are logical and there is some solace in that,” Smith said. It wasn’t until The Big Reveal, that Smith considered being in front of the camera. 

“I felt a need to participate in the project as a form of solidarity with my friends who had volunteered,” said Smith. “It felt like all this time I had really been doing a lot of taking — taking images, capturing people through film — and that it was time to do a little giving myself.”

She added, “I’m learning more through performing what it means to be watched, and it is a scary, vulnerable, and beautiful thing.”

I’ve always been aware of the male gaze and its persistent influence over my sense of self. “Watching You Watching Me” helped me recognize how the media forces you into subject positions that reproduce dominant gender roles. This is why it’s so important for queer filmmakers to be in control of their representation.

To learn more about Paige Smith and her future projects, check out her website and follow her Instagram.

Kyle Bergh shows us there’s more to athletes than meets the eye

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photo of Kyle Bergh shooting the puck mid-game.
PHOTO: Garrett James / SFU Athletics

By: Simran Sarai, Sports Writer

Becoming serious about pursuing a sport at a collegiate level comes with the constant pressure from coaches, teammates, loved ones, and the athletes themselves to be at the top of their game, 24/7. Between practice, games, recovery, and demands unique to a sport, people often forget that athletes are people with dreams outside of their sport. The Peak reached out to psychology student and men’s hockey forward Kyle Bergh to understand the pressure and predispositions associated with athletic identities. 

Bergh said that while he has experienced the performing pressure that comes with being an athlete, “competing at the university level has greatly diffused such pressure,” with how much time the forward spends on school work. Like many college students, Bergh juggles work and school with the responsibilities of life. When asked how he balances it all, Bergh was very honest, saying he doesn’t necessarily have the answer. “As you progress in your work and academic life, the opportunities and demands on your time only increase.” Bergh only commits to something with the intention of giving his “full attention,” and being “fully present.” With this in mind, he can determine what is worthy of his time to ensure he doesn’t bite off more than he can chew. 

Beyond being a Red Leaf, Bergh is a “mental performance coach at a Toronto-based sport psychology company named CEP Mindset.” He is a youth hockey coach, and is working on his honors thesis in psychology, “investigating athletes’ perceptions of concussion assessment tools.” 

“Sport and school have been vehicles to find out what really matters in my life,” Bergh said, “And that really boils down to learning about myself and how I show up for those around me.” He believes it’s easy to feel one-dimensional when sports demand tunnel vision. Athletes block out anything beyond their sport to stay laser focused on their craft, and their craft only. “We are told to be great, we must be hyper-specialized,” said Bergh. 

The student-athlete encourages people who are apprehensive about pursuing a passion outside of their sport to make the first move and find “something meaningful for them.” For Bergh, that was psychology. “Psychology provided a way to take action on the challenges I faced in my life. It was clear that learning about [the] mind could help me be a better athlete and person, so it was a no-brainer (pun intended).” 

Remembering Marsha P. Johnson

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Photo of a Trans Flag, with blue, pink and white stripes.
A historical figure often erased from the books whose impact is still felt today

by C Icart, Staff Writer

Marsha P. Johnson was born on August 24, 1945. She was a Black trans woman, an activist, a sex worker, and a drag queen. Today, she is mainly remembered for her involvement in the 1969 Stonewall Riots, also known as the Stonewall Uprising, which was subsequently called the first Pride. However, Johnson’s story encompasses so much more than that. As her birthday anniversary has just recently passed, it is the perfect occasion to reflect on her legacy.

Johnson was marginalized in several ways. She was Black, gender non-conforming, queer, poor, and a street-based sex worker. But she was not a victim. The hardships she experienced motivated her political action, and she always found reasons to be joyful. Language has shifted so much in the past several decades. She referred to herself “as a gay person, a transvestite, and a drag queen.” Historians refer to her as a trans woman. The “P” in her name stood for “Pay It No Mind” because that was her motto and response to questions about her gender.

For most of her life, Johnson was houseless. Like many other trans women in her position, she began working as a sex worker and experienced violence from clients and the police. Johnson was also mentally ill, but she did not let hardship define her. She was creative and quickly became admired for her innovative looks consisting of elaborate fresh flower crowns and items she scavenged. As she became more known in the community, she became a “drag mother” and mentor for LGBTQIA2S+ street-based, houseless youth.

Johnson moved to New York’s Greenwich Village as a teenager with nothing but $15 and a bag of clothing. At that time, cross-dressing was illegal. Police would weaponize masquerade laws to harass and arrest LGBTQIA2S+ individuals. There are conflicting accounts about what exactly happened on the night of the Stonewall Riots, but we know it was a pivotal moment in LGBTQIA2S+ history. According to a news release from the White House, the police raided the Stonewall Inn to “enforce a prohibition against selling alcoholic drinks to ‘homosexuals.’ This law, alongside the masquerade laws and prohibitions against same-sex dancing, were some of the many ways LGBTQIA2S+ people were criminalized in New York in the ‘60s. On the morning of June 28, 1969, police initiated the raid that would eventually turn into the now historic Stonewall Riots that lasted for five more days. Despite the longstanding myth that she was a catalyst for the confrontation with the police at Stonewall on June 28, Johnson herself has said “she didn’t arrive at Stonewall until ‘the place was already on fire.’”. On June 28, 1970, America’s first Pride parade took place on the one year anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising. “Thousands of people marched in the streets of Manhattan from the Stonewall Inn to Central Park,” chanting, “Say it loud, gay is proud.”

On top of gay rights, Johnson’s advocacy centred around social and economic justice. She also advocated on behalf of houseless LGBTQIA2S+ youth and AIDS patients. She fought back against oppressive policing. Alongside her friend Sylvia Rivera, a change-making activist in her own right, Johnson was involved at the beginning of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF). Together, they also founded the “Street Transvestite (now Transgender) Action Revolutionaries (STAR), a group committed to helping homeless transgender youth in New York City.” They created the first LGBTQIA2S+ “youth shelter in North America, and these trailblazers became the first trans women of color to lead an organization in the United States.” The first STAR building was at 213 Second Avenue. Later, chapters opened in Chicago, California, and England.

Despite the critical work Johnson, Rivera, and other trans activists did for gay liberation, the trans community was banned from participating in the pride parade in 1973. The gay and lesbian organizing committee claimed that drag queens negatively impacted the movement. As an act of defiance, Johnson and Rivera marched ahead of the parade that year.

In 1992, Johnson’s body was found in the Hudson River. Despite her friends suspecting she had been murdered, the police labelled it as a suicide and did not investigate further. Regardless of her tremendous impact and the troubling circumstances of her passing, mainstream media didn’t report a lot about her death. The documentary The Life and Death of Marsha P. Johnson dives into the unanswered questions surrounding her death.

Johnson fought tirelessly for the liberation of all. She is an important figure in gay history, the sex workers’ rights movement, trans history, and Black history. She was a trailblazer, and her impact is still felt today. Happy belated birthday, Marsha!

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Simon Fraser University’s independent student newspaper since 1965.

Contact us: [email protected]

© The Peak Publications Society 1965-2024

Simon Fraser University’s independent student newspaper since 1965.

Contact us:
[email protected]

© The Peak Publications Society 1965-2024