Art Classes
Located on Aldersbrook Road, ArtVenture Art Studio offers drawing, painting and clay sculpting classes. ArtVenture is especially suited to individuals who crave freedom of direction, allowing artists to work alone during Open Studio time. This is particularly advantageous for students looking to develop a portfolio with the help of instructor feedback. ArtVenture Art Studio also takes submissions from local artists to showcase in its gallery space.
Other art studios in London: Forest City Gallery, the Arts Project, IMAGINE

Dance Classes
Students who want to venture into the more interpretive style of the arts can do so within the Western gates. Campus Recreation offers a variety of fitness classes, and also a number of dance classes. Whether you’re an intermediate dancer or a beginner who just feels the need to express yourself with your body, Campus Rec offers classes ranging from ballet and tap to modern dance and belly dancing. While students will get a small discount for these classes, be prepared to pay a fee.
Other dance studios in London: Dance Steps, Ballroom Blitz dance studio, Swan Studio Dance.

Writing Consultation
Penn Kemp, the Canada Council writer-in-residence at Western, holds weekly office hours for any writer from the university or the London community looking for feedback or consultation. Kemp requests works be submitted at least one week prior to your appointment, and accepts works of poetry, fiction, creative, non-fiction and drama.
Other writing opportunities: look around campus for publications that offer student submissions — you’ll be surprised to discover the number of avenues open to students.

Photography
Shutterbug — Western’s photography club — is a good opportunity for budding photographers looking to learn their way around a lens. The club welcomes students from a range of backgrounds, providing opportunities for even the most experienced to learn from their peers.

Cooking Classes
Creativity need not be confined to an easel — instead of mixing paints, you can mix ingredients to create a beautiful final product. Kiss the Cook on Richmond Street sells every utensil necessary to accommodate your cooking needs. For students willing to spend the dough, you can learn how to make a classy dish to impress your roommates in the cooking classes offered several times a week.
Other cooking lesson locations: Jill’s Table, specialty grocery stores such as Loblaws and your own kitchen with a group of friends and a cookbook.

If you’re looking for ways to get creative, your options do not end here. The city of London has a number of locations where any photographer, musician, artist, filmmaker or writer can thrive. Keep an ear out for speaker series, such as those offered at Museum London, or poetry jams and performances at various venues around London. After all, it is through appreciation of other people’s art that you can learn your own identity as an artist.

While some people dread those nights when Hollywood icons are celebrated and praised for their day’s work, I crave them. The satisfaction when a truly deserving actor wins an award, the disappointment when someone I want to win doesn’t, the montages, the performances — I love it all.

So, as you can imagine, I spent all Sunday anticipating the Academy Awards — the biggest night of the year for movies. Unfortunately, as I sat in my living room, the Hollywood glitter didn’t seem quite as dazzling as usual.

First of all, there were 10 movies nominated instead of the usual five for best picture. Seriously? Correct me if I’m wrong, but I was under the impression nominations were to recognize a few of the best made movies of the year — not to open the floodgate for all movies that did well in the box office and had decent reviews.

By increasing the number of nominees, it not only gave false hope to movies clearly not going to win the coveted award, but it also trivialized the whole “it’s an honour to be nominated” thing.

But let’s forget the fact they expanded the number of nominations, or that they took away the musical numbers, or even that the speeches were yet again shortened.

Instead, let’s move on to the actual show.

I was ecstatic when it was announced that Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin were hosting. It seemed logical the pairing of their dry yet witty senses of humour would be a formula for success. While their one-liners definitely were a hit, the whole set seemed over-rehearsed and uninspired.

That seemed to be the tone for the entire show as it lacked the raw emotion I love. I don’t think the winners are to blame for this. The Academy decided to shorten their speech time, yet again, telling nominees to use the press conference to express their heart wrenching stories.

This meant even the winners who were all but guaranteed to draw emotion from the audience, such as Precious’ Mo’Nique, were cut short.

It seemed like the Academy tried to make up for this lack of emotion with the presentation of a “This is Your Life” sketch, where various celebrities talked about how great their celebrity friends are and how deserving they are of the nomination, etc. I’d rather have each winner get those 30 seconds back in their speech so they don’t have to choose between thanking their husband or their agent.

But ultimately, I’ll have to admit; the Awards drew me back in. After three hours of unfunny jokes, anti-climactic montages and uninspired fashion, the main categories of the night threw me for a loop.

That’s the beauty of the Academy Awards. No matter how many mishaps or disappointments the night provides, by the end, I always find myself blinded by the Hollywood dazzle.

Unsatisfied with the makeup available to her from cosmetic wholesalers, Western graduate Stefana Karadjamirli began mixing her own lipsticks after her graduating in 2008.

The result of the endeavour was Cherry Crush Cosmetics — a company committed to creating a “natural, vegan, luxe lipstick,” as described on the website.

“I only found out about two years ago about the chemicals that go into standard cosmetics,” Karadjamirli said. “I randomly stumbled about it in passing and did a lot more research. I found [most lipsticks] included lead, petrolatum and other harmful chemicals.”

Cherry Crush Cosmetics is one of several cosmetics companies that have hopped on the organic bandwagon.

“We do get some requests for [all-natural cosmetics],” Monika Gokstorp, owner of Beautiful Creatures Makeup — a professional makeup service. “It’s getting bigger and bigger as people start to worry about the concentration of chemicals in their skin.”

Gokstorp recommended people with exceptionally sensitive skin should look into natural products. However, she added: “It’s really something I can’t assess or recommend unless I meet the person and assess their skin type.”

Caitlin Neal, a second-year social science student at Western, noted she’d rather have natural oils in her cosmetics than animal byproducts.

“I think people will be willing to pay for good quality as long as it’s not extremely expensive,” Neal said.

Karadjamirli acknowledged the appeal of low cost cosmetics.

“I think the most important thing that separates me from other companies is that it’s affordable,” Karadjamirli said. “I found there was a lot of natural cosmetics out there, but nothing was affordable.”

Karadjamirli also emphasized the importance of quality control. As all products are made in her basement, she has full supervision on what products are sold.

“I have seen some success in the past month, but it’s been growing slowly,” she said. “Now I’m hoping to grow it more and maybe sell it to companies and in stores.”

While London residents will have to pay three per cent more in 2010, the additional capital will go towards a variety of initiatives. Some of the planned investments of the City next year include improvements to the public transit system, road maintenance, tree planting, new bike lanes and energy saving initiatives.

“Our strategy of tightly controlling our debt and limiting property tax increases has positioned us well to keep tax rates low,” Tom Gosnell, deputy mayor and budget chief, said.

While many goals of the budget are structural, the new-found cash flow will also go towards some projects known to be contentious issues in the past. However, some initiatives were left behind.

“There were a few pronounced [disagreements],” Gina Barber, controller, said. “One, over the issue of whether we would be subsidizing [bus] passes for more than we are currently.”

At present, transit subsidies are available to seniors and the visually impaired. Some members of the council expressed their desire for this group to be extended to people with other disabilities, but no money was set aside.

“I think some of us were disappointed with that,” Barber said.

Other contentious issues included downtown parking, sidewalk clearing and public transit.

Overnight parking, which was tested this past summer, will not be continued due to its significant effect on the City’s revenue stream. Unfortunately, the funds lost from the fines associated with parking had too much of an impact to ignore.

“Clearing the sidewalks was also a bone of contention,” Barber said. “We had hoped, and were successful to get the money to improve the service people were getting, but it’s still not perfect.”

According to Barber, while most were in support of sidewalk clearing, there were arguments that because the weather cannot be predicted there is no point in putting additional resources into it.

Barber believed sidewalk clearing and public transit improvements would have a direct impact on students, as well the money put into property standards work.

“Starting on Monday, we have implemented a residential licensing program and I think that will have an effect on students,” Barber said.

Having the program in place will mean landlords with small buildings will have to license their premises and will have to provide evidence their buildings are up to code.

“I’m hoping this will allow students to check for themselves and be able to express their concerns if they don’t feel the statement is accurate. It means a safe environment for students,” Barber said.

The popular website advertises itself as an open forum for students to comment on their experiences with present or past professors. With over one million instructors in the database, the site uses a variety of categories including easiness, helpfulness, clarity and rater interest.

The comments on the site can range from glowing reviews to scathing attacks, including comments such as, “do yourself a favour and stay away from her class,” and “he’s puffed up.”

While some students vow to never use the website as a reference tool, the supposed 10 million posted opinions speak for its popularity. However, it’s questionable whether the site actually provides legitimate information students should be taking into consideration when choosing their courses.

“Students definitely look to their peers,” Penny Westmacott, academic manager for the faculty of science, said. “We encourage students to gather info through a variety of sources [before choosing their courses].”

Westmacott added students should be asking themselves several questions before trusting the site as a reliable source.

“Students should be asking if they know the people posting on the site and if they value their judgment,” Westmacott said. “It’s opinion so you can’t say if it’s true or not.”

Britanny Hein, a second-year nursing student, admitted to being an infrequent user of the site, but was hesitant to believe all the comments.

“I wouldn’t say I really trust them — I bet you a lot of them come from people who were really angry and just wanted a way to bash their teachers,” Hein reflected.

Some professors who have sifted through the site have seen such insulting comments. One professor noted she visited the site once, and saw comments so hateful to women that she never felt inclined to look at it again.

Other professors have skimmed the site out of curiosity, but felt the comments have little to no effect on student choices.

“I have never checked my profile and given the unrepresentative nature of the comments, I would not give it much weight,” Robert Solomon, law professor, said. “The [University Students’ Council] course evaluations provide much more systematic responses.”

Heather Kean, a fifth-year women’s studies student, conceded to using ratemyprofessors.com to check which classes were easier. Although she didn’t believe the site to be completely authoritative, she was also skeptical about the USC evaluations.

“You can get the results online,” Kean said. “I’ve seen professors given really high ratings on their teacher evaluations, when my friends have said they were awful.”

Westmacott encouraged students to look at other sources when deciding on courses.

“Another option is to actually ask to talk to the instructor who teaches the course. We also ask students to sit [in] on the course they’re registered in as well as the one they’re thinking about. Talk to the instructors, tell them honestly you’re trying to decide what’s the best course for you.”

In September, London launched Smart Moves — an initiative to study every form of current transportation, their strong points, and how they can be improved. Ultimately, the goal of the study is to respond to the needs of transportation users.

The report draws on the recommendations and suggestions of Londoners, as well as from AECOM — the main consultant for the project.

“[We wanted to focus on] the reliability, comfort and convenience [of transportation users],” Maged Elmadhoon, project manager of Smart Moves, said. “And when you do that, you increase the ridership.”

The first phase took place between September and December 2009, and consisted of several public meetings, and gave London residents the opportunity to offer input on the current transportation system.

“Phase One was really more [about] introducing the project and identifying the existing conditions,” Elmadhoon explained.

Now Smart Moves is entering its second phase. “The consultant is working on the second phase to explore our options and what are our opportunities and constraints,” Elmadhoon added.

While changes to London’s transportation system could have a direct impact on Western students, it appears little has been done since the study’s inception to gain their input and opinions.

“We don’t have any particular updates,” said Dan Moulton, University Students’ Council vice-president university affairs. “[The USC] was involved in fall consultations, and we made bus service a priority to ensure the safety of our students to get from the downtown area.”

Moulton added the safety of Western students will continue to be a primary concern of the USC, but said he had not consulted with representatives of Smart Moves since their September meeting.

Elmadhoon however, assured student opinions were taken into account and felt many specific initiatives of the research would directly affect students.

“You want to provide better transit, you want to provide better working and recycling facilities because most of the time, that’s what students use more than cars,” he explained. “So you want to provide better pathway facilities and walkways.”

Smart Moves recently closed their online survey, which asked residents the mode of transportation they used, how they used it and the frequency they used it.

“That’s the most important, because [transportation] is what people use,” Elmadhoon explained.

According to the current transportation master plan, seven per cent of Londoners currently use London transit. Elmadhoon hoped to increase this to 10 or even 15 per cent through the implications of the Smart Moves initiatives.

“Everything from ethnicity, gender, the industry you work in, your family voting history — it’s had an impact on the image you create going into the campaign period,” says Laura Stephenson, a Western political science professor, in regards to factors affecting voting behavior.

Ben Singer, a previous USC presidential candidate, refrained from drinking the month before his campaign began.

“I’d go to the bars, but I wouldn’t drink because I wanted to make sure the image I was presenting was what I wanted to bring to the USC,” Singer, said. “I wanted to bring a very serious managerial perspective, so I presented myself at every opportunity possible as a serious individual.”

However, Singer will be the first to admit when going into campaign season, a serious image might not be the image students want to see.

“While I think it was a great message, it wasn’t a popular one,” Singer conceded. “That’s the problem — you have to balance popularity with priorities.”

For previous USC presidential candidate Ashley Bushfield it was important for her that her campaign image not interfere with who she was.

“[My campaign team and I] spoke a lot about running as a woman […] we spoke a lot about running as a feminist […] we knew there were stereotypes that would have to be worked against that,” Bushfield said. “We talked about these things at length and ways to combat it, but what it came to was that I wasn’t going to run as somebody I wasn’t.”

Bushfield emphasized the difficulties she encountered during her campaign season. From the sexualization of the female candidates, to direct questioning of her sexual orientation, Bushfield’s journey to election night was far from easy.

“The perception of how you think you’re being perceived can be skewed, but there was more than one instance where I felt like I was being judged as a woman,” she said.

Singer also faced his share of obstacles during last year’s election season. Throughout the campaign, Singer was questioned about his views on the Muslim prayer space, and he was accused of wearing his traditional kippah as a means of gaining the Jewish vote.

Singer was hesitant to speculate whether race and religion influenced the student vote, but he was confident a candidate’s image has a significant impact on their success.

“Voting based on image is probably the most efficient way to gather information — whether sex, religion and race play a part into that, I don’t know — we don’t have the data for that. But the image a candidate puts forward is going to be a Coles Notes of who they are and what they’re going to do with the USC,” Singer said.

To ensure students are getting an accurate representation of a candidate, their image must be infused in absolutely everything.

“That image should permeate everything you do. It should be in the platform, the policies, your campaign material — everything,” says Dan Moulton, who was campaign manager for current USC president Emily Rowe. Moulton added this image has to be consistent from the beginning of the campaign to the end.

It may be image has become such an influencing factor simply because the attention span and time constraints of students prevent them from delving into candidates’ platforms as thoroughly as they should.

“It takes a while to communicate complex ideas, and unfortunately you don’t always have that much time,” Singer said.

The question becomes what students sacrifice by simply trusting the image presented to them.

“How can you be empowered to think it’s anything more than a popularity contest if that’s what a candidate puts out there?” Bushfield wondered.

According to Will Bortolin, USC vice-president campus issues, services and clubs are an integral part of the USC mandate.

“[Clubs and services] tie very intricately into what the USC’s mission statement is, which is to enhance the undergraduate education experience and quality of life,” Bortolin explained.

Bortolin went on to explain in the club system, each club is asked to submit their mandate to describe their vision and the way that ties back to the USC’s mission statement.

Included among the services run by the USC are PrideWestern, Women’s Issues Network, Ally and EnviroWestern.

“Without USC support, WIN would not be able to offer many of the opportunities that it does to students,” Christine Demore, WIN co-ordinator, said.

“I think the USC president has a major role to play in helping encourage campus wide sustainability and the involvement of the student body in environmental activities and thinking,” added Holly Stover, EnviroWestern co-ordinator.

While USC services currently have office space, complaints about club space are often directed to the USC. The outcome of the USC referendum will potentially play a role in the operational space of clubs and services.

Bortolin noted, however, the current USC will be responsible for many of the decisions made once the referendum is passed or not. He was unsure what would be left for the incoming USC.

For Bortolin, identifying the USC clubs and services as a platform point is recommended, but not required.

“If a platform is you symbolizing your priorities and what’s important to you and a reflection of what you think is important to students, then I definitely think it’s very valuable,” Bortolin said, adding those candidates looking to showcase their creative ideas may not follow the same criteria.

Marc Foster, clubs co-ordinator, noted while major strides have been taken in terms of the USC’s affiliation with clubs this year, he was hesitant about the current candidate’s platform points regarding clubs.

“The feasibility isn’t very clear,” Foster said, “I’m not sure [the candidate’s are touching on the important points or priorities.”