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Where the f*&k are my pockets?! When did we decide women’s clothing doesn’t need pockets anymore? When trying to leave La Piazza safely while balancing a coffee, wallet, pizza, and a phone the size of my face, the utility of some nice deep pockets is sorely missed.

The depth of pockets might not seem like a big deal, but let’s put it into perspective, the lack of pockets in women’s clothing is immobilizing in a metaphorical and literal sense. Jeans with fake pockets or pockets that are microscopic in size limit how women go about their daily routines. Women are required to add purses or handbags to their non-essential expenses. Lugging a purse around can be a major annoyance and slows the pace that a hands-free approach would allow. It’s not fun to have to bring a purse to the club, or on a packed bus, or when you’re going to Canada’s Wonderland for the day and have to make sure you put your purse in a cubby before getting on a ride. The fashion industry limits women on a daily basis by withholding functionality.

The more impractical the clothing design is, the higher the fashion. The development of women’s fashion promotes tight and revealing looks, showing all the nooks and crannies to be the desirable norm. The underlying idea is to show how slender a woman can truly be and this has justified eliminating the utility of pockets. Fatphobia has driven female fashion to make any practicality obsolete. Fashion will go to any end to prevent extra folds in fabric that might make a lady have unflattering bulges. Small pockets are one thing, but it is baffling to look down and realize after you purchased a pair of pants that the pockets are sewn shut for no apparent reason, other than for aesthetic purposes. You would think the clothing we wear would adapt to the technology that we acquire. It looks ridiculous when a giant iPhone 6 Plus is sticking halfway out of your miniscule front jean pocket.

When trying to leave La Piazza safely while balancing a coffee, wallet, pizza, and a phone the size of my face, the utility of some nice deep pockets is sorely missed.

It shouldn’t be so absurd to have functioning pockets while maintaining fashion appeal. Wouldn’t it be more fashion forward to be able to combine a hot new look with practical pockets? Is it that complex of an idea? The simplicity of a pocket should not be seen as preventing women from looking their best. It may be in the distant future before any large changes are made, but hopefully the women’s fashion industry can take baby steps to implement practical clothing. No one should have to put their phones in their bras as a go-to. Let’s take a stand against gender-coded clothing and put the utility back into our pants.

Photo Credit: Jon White/ Photo Editor

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Within two days after being elected MSU President, he plans to disband the entire Union.

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Adrian Emmanuel is running to be elected (for-life) as Emperor Adrian of the Space Maroon Empire. Emmanuel has been contemplating a run since last year’s presidential election, and in the past year developed his platform for the Space Maroon Empire.

Steeped in space-fiction ideology, Emmanuel’s campaign has been a mostly grassroots endeavor, run by the candidate himself and centred on promotion via Facebook and a platform video on Youtube. He envisions McMaster as more than a school and aims to win the hearts and minds of each and every person at McMaster – through force, if necessary.

“I will remove anyone who is in my way … [But] the administration has the right to know I’m going to turn their space into a country … even if there’s nothing they can do about it.

“As I’ve told people, I’m an emperor, not an asshole.”

While Emmanuel’s passion and dedication to the job is clear, his platform struggles to identify clear short-term goals, and comes off too forward-thinking and long-term for the average student voter to appreciate. In the short-term, Emmanuel plans to convert TwelvEighty into an alternative dance facility.

But Emmanuel relies on his life-long rule to accomplish his major feats: growing an on-campus military and launching the entire campus into space as a battleship colony.

While Emmanuel’s illusions of grandeur may be interpreted as theatre of the absurd, he hits surprisingly close to home in identifying a core issue: the bureaucratization of campus. His plans to dismantle the MSU are about eliminating red tape, telling students exactly where their money goes and what it is used for and consequently building students’ trust in their student body.

By Mike Nickerson

The biggest news on planet Earth today is that the human family has grown to fill its habitat. While this situation effects every issue from economic stagnation to climate change, it is actually good news. Realizing that we are now mature as a species clarifies the task of adapting to our mature state by creating a culture that acknowledges and works within planetary limits.

How do we get a society that has been growing for ten thousand years to realize that it’s grown up now and that more growth isn’t the most important thing we have to do?

A fundamental change has taken place in the relationship between people and the earth.

It requires an equally fundamental change in how we manage ourselves.

While humans had little impact on the Earth for hundreds of thousands of years, this has changed. We now affect almost everything on the planet.

There are only two laws in nature that we must obey to avoid a trial in the Court of Natural Selection. One prohibits drawing more resources than the Earth can provide. The other governs our tolerance to waste.

If our society can stay on the right side of these laws, our descendants can enjoy secure lives long into the future. Enjoying living is a big part of the solution. Once we have the material necessities of nutritious food and comfortable shelter, we get far more satisfaction from the three L’s: learning, love and laughter, than from any material acquisitions. By focusing on living, rather than possessing, we could be having so much fun that we wouldn’t have time to harm the planet.

When we accept responsibility for our new maturity, our duty as good citizens will change.

Instead of striving to earn and spend as much money as possible, we will aim to live as lightly as possible on the Earth, to enjoy living to the fullest and to manage the world in ways that will assure successive generations their place under the sun.

It is a question of direction.

Nickerson is presently traveling with his book, Life, Money and Illusion; Living on Earth As If We Want To Stay and spoke at an OPIRG event on Wednesday, Nov. 21 at McMaster. 

By Tarun Sanda

Recently U.S. President Barack Obama announced that the proposed 2013 budget includes cutbacks that would halt and possibly terminate progress on planetary science missions. From an economic point of view, planetary science is the easiest place to save money. However, is it wise to do so?

Assume for a minute that we are not alone in this universe. That somewhere far off, in a different galaxy, in a different time, lived a species similar to the human race. They are similar in the sense that they are able to understand and hypothesize about the world around them. But what if those individuals had the opportunity to venture further out and explore the cosmos beyond their native land, yet decided against it, as it did not seem economically viable at the time?

Given an infinite amount of time, any event is possible. Our extinction is inevitable, however the purpose of our being is to first ensure our survival. Although there is no sign of a cataclysmic event decimating all life on Earth in the near future, we know that our time on Earth is on the clock. With the rate that we are consuming the resources our planet has, it will not be long before we are faced with the issue that there might not be anything for us to fight over anymore. Then what? Soon we will run out of oil, and then food, and then water. Is this the way the world ends? With us at each other’s throats, doing our best to be the last one standing amidst chaos?

We, and in turn our governments, should be inclined to spend time and money into planetary exploration. If the human race is to survive, it should not take us over 40 years after the first Moon landing of Apollo 11 to send the Curiosity Rover to Mars. There may be more pressing issues that need immediate attention than exploring the depths of the cosmos, and one day there may be a time where space may be the most pressing issue, but by then it might be too late. Maybe the universe is littered with species that had the chance to extend their existence, however decided not to because it did not seem economically beneficial or urgent to be deemed a priority to expand their presence. Is it possible that our ignorance could one day be the cause of our extinction?

The ISS is an important arm of the Canadian research effort, and renewing our financial support for it is a wise choice.

Andrew Terefenko

Opinions Editor

After some closely scrutinized deliberation, Canada has agreed to continue its support of the International Space Station beyond 2015. This might not sound like groundbreaking news, but then again, there is very little ground to break in the vacuum of near-Earth orbit, so let’s take a minute to reconsider the implications of this development.

The ISS has brought us immeasurably closer to understanding the effects of long-term weightlessness in correlation with bone deterioration and muscular atrophy, which is a constant concern when planning the fabled “missions to Mars” which would take upwards of six to seven months to complete one-way. In addition, the station conducts some important research on the effects of cosmic rays, from a location that is not distorted by our precious, malicious atmosphere. The ISS is our stepping stone into competent understanding of interstellar travel, so it is imperative now more than ever that we continue our invaluable support for the project.

There was a brief moment of uncertainty, when our nation was asked to continue working with the occupied orbiter, where we were unsure whether to pledge as far forward as 2020, the year that analysts predict will be a final one for the station’s ongoing operation. Luckily, the decision came down, and rightfully so, as Canada has always been (and should continue to be) a major player in the modern space race. This is doubly true in the face of the U.S. enacting severe budget cuts on their space programs, which have decreased in half over the last 17 years in their share of the overall federal budget.

So why is this important now? One of our own is heading up to the ISS by the end of this year for a customary six-month term, so should we not ensure that his stay is as comfortable and productive as possible? It would reflect poorly on us as a technologically advanced nation to pull any iota of support from the entity that has so graciously employed our renowned Canadarm for more than its expected decade of usage.

Where should we draw the line for support, however, in light of a dire economic crisis here on the ever-fragile ground? It can be debated and argued, but I must admit that we must focus on our immediate financial concerns where immediacy is concerned. For every dollar we inject into the space program, I would argue a twice-over need for education funding. Each time we send an astronaut into space, that is (at least) one less exceptionally trained person that serves our own national interests.

Advocacy for the devil aside, I am completely supportive of the full and thorough backing of Canadian space expenditures. We often exude a feeling of stability and fiscal conservatism, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that we shouldn’t invest in risky endeavours. Progress is gained through guided faith, and when it comes to space travel, the progress may seem too far away to want to invest in, given that any fruits of labour would not be seen in our lifetimes.

The financing of modern life is a fickle matter, but I am glad that Canada has taken the leap and invested in seeing the ISS through its final years. It will put us in a good position to rear its successor and make sure that Canada is a word that is synonymous with scientific pride, and long-term damage caused by cosmic rays. Not because we want it, because we are worth it.