Students Party for a Cause!

Last Thursday November 24^th UTSC students capped off Movember fundraising at the 4^th annual Black & White Affair. The idea behind the event is simple – have a good time while doing something good for the world. This idea has seemed to have really resonated with students as it is one of the most anticipated events of the year. With that being said, the buzz around the Black & White Affair this year was unprecedented and unexpected to say the least. The buzz wasn’t without merit – the event was oversold at around 430 tickets, making it the first one to be sold out!

Everyone who attended looked fantastically chic and stylish in their black and white attire and DJ Armokidd and DJ Duo Good Times Sound provided the perfect sonic backdrop to the event and had everyone dancing till the end. The mix of groovy Top40, bouncy house music & powerful Reggae, Soca & Dancehall was the perfect musical concoction for smashing the dance floor. Overall, the event went smoothly but no event is complete without some hick-ups and setbacks.

The setbacks that caused the most grievances were the long wait times to get in due to a backlogged coat check. Some party goers were waiting outside in the cold for over 2 hours. Although organizing staff did as much as they could; it seemed futile to remedy any of the situations. As part of the organizing team I stayed outside with everyone stuck in line. Despite the setbacks, however bad they were, it seemed that once everyone got inside they were having a good time. I hope that attendees are not still disgruntled over the setbacks. The next event will be better because of the lessons learned, I promise.

Lastly, on behalf of the organizing team, I want to say thank you to everyone who attend the Black & White Affair and made it a success. Pictures will be uploaded soon and a link to them will be posted here, on my Twitter (@malcolmwong1), on the event page and various places on facebook. Keep an eye out for your glamour shots from the event! Till next time! J

Last Night

Last night, I was at the place to be. I was at Ryerson University, attending the launch of the 4th issue of AQSAzine. Never attended before I was kinda nervous, and then I remembered all the stuff I was doing for the event

Your's Truly was...
Moderating a discussion panel
Performing
Crackin' jokes
Entertaining and hitting on the guest ;)

"AQSAzine (est. 2007) is a Toronto-based grassroots arts collective by and for young women and trans people who self-identify as Muslim. Our main project is the creation of a bi-annual zine of our writing, art, activism entitled AQSAzine. This zine is a creative avenue for young Muslim women and trans people to express ourselves, share our experiences and connect with others. We strive to work from an explicit anti oppressive, pro-choice, queer positive & trans positive framework." (AQSAzine offfical website)

To me AQSAzine is being able to share myself with the world, and not feel bad about it, to say and do things that I want. For me AQSAzine means being the person I wanted to be when everyone was telling me NOT to be that person. I could go on and on about how wonder and amazing AQSAzine is and all the great work they do but I just couldn't summarize their awesomeness and epicness because it's endless.

Just because I'm not involved on campus activity doesn't mean I'm not involved.
I take every chance I get to be involved in my community. This first semester I just wanna get the hang of things and find my place. It's like starting high school all over again, except more homework and less of.... that.

My goals for NEXT semester:
-Join ONE club
-Attend one on campus activity
-Sell all my old textbooks (TUSBE!)
-Volunteer on campus

Good luck and Good Night!
E.A.P