opinions // 20

Let’s be smart

» Do we still need professional critics?

Elliot Chan
Opinions Editor
M opinions
@theotherpress.ca

Ww makes one person's
opinions more valuable
than another? Why should
some people get paid for their
thoughts on entertainment,
economics, and world news
when other people can barely
get an audience? In a world
where everybody is shouting
aimlessly, professional critics
or critics with credible
reputations should be
appreciated more than ever,
right?

The thing is, the idea of
an expert doesn’t materialize
overnight. Although anyone
can claim to be an expert and
a critic, it takes a gifted person
to add insight and not just
spew jargon. Anybody can flip
through a dictionary and find
sophisticated words to describe
the refined, yet robust taste
of a bottle of wine. But that is
just a facade. Anyone can hide
behind a keyboard and type
up their thoughts on any given
subject and some points will

can do what I’m doing right

: isno longer about judging, it’s

: about communicating. Experts
: who can express their ideasina :
: clear and intelligent fashion will :
: be quoted, andthe quotes are:
: what make professional critics
: necessary.

A good critic does more

: than just critique a project or

: a topic; their work itself is an

: art form. Just take a look at

: the late-great Roger Ebert; he
: could present painful truths in
: an entertaining, witty manner.
: Ebert wrote in a review of

: 2009 failed comedy Old Dogs

: starring Robin Williams and

: John Travolta: “Old Dogs

: seems to have lingered in

: post-production while editors
: struggled desperately to inject
: laugh cues. It obviously knows
: no one will find it funny

: without being ordered to. How
: else to explain reaction shots

: of adog responding to laugh

: lines?” Such an observation is
: commonly lost by amateurs or
: delivered in bad taste.

Few dream of becoming

: critics or experts as children. It’s
: hard to imagine a life judging

: stuff professionally or being

: called upon to comment ona

: : specific area of interest. But if
undoubtedly hit a mark; anyone : we Jive in a world where a social
: worker is a legitimate job title,

now. Being an expert and a critic : then yes, professional critics

Although anyone
can claim to be
an expert anda
critic, ittakes a
gifted person to
add insight and
not just spew
jargon.

: should be as well. Because

: what they do is more than just
: researching, wasting time on

: a subject, or simply watching

: movies, they are summarizing
: sometimes complicated,

: sometimes idiotic ideas to us.

: And those deemed worthy

: of the job should be revered

: but also challenged. After all,

: experts are not always right.

We should all aim to be

: professional critics and experts.
: Although some have the

: fortune to be paid to spew their
: thoughts, we must remember

: that the reason why they are

: compensated for their words

: is because people are ready

: to listen. What makes people

: listen to you? What do people

: ask you about? Perhaps you can
: monetize that as well.

 

theotherpress.ca

 

Food, family, and the politics of eating

Katie Stobbart
The Cascade

W: have an intimate
relationship with food.
The contents of our meals

say a lot about who we are,
about where and how we live.
Because it’s so ingrained in our
everyday lives, it can be easy to
forget food is not just a source
of energy; it’s also a source of
political power.

As students, many of us
are in the midst of a complex
transitional relationship with
our parents: straining away or
resisting departure, at once

lured back by the magic of the
home-cooked meal.

The thought of
Thanksgiving, for example,
triggers immediate sensory
memories: the warm, rich
smell of my mom’s homemade
dressing; the texture of moist
turkey breast; and the taste
of acorn squash baked with
brown sugar. They’re nostalgic

: sensations, reminiscent of times
: my family ate together.

After being out on my

: own for two years, I hosted the
holiday dinner for the first time
: and was feeling the pressure
eager to taste independence and : to live up to those memories.

: Meanwhile, I’ve made choices
: about my diet that no longer

: welcome that tasty stuffing

: packed with bread and sausage.

There’s a resonant

connection between food and

: autonomy; learning to prepare

: our own meals is essential to our
: capacity to thrive independently
: as adults. But it can bea tense

: transition. Recently I have been
: taking a harder look at what

 

: I choose to eat, but I found

: myself drawing an uneasy

: square around the day of my

: family’s Thanksgiving dinner as
: a day to slip back into my old
eating habits. I justified it to

: myself as a special occasion—

: but it’s not for the sake of
childhood nostalgia.

It’s not those holiday scents

and flavours standing in my
: way; it’s fear of alienation.

Even if I didn’t host the

: dinner, I was afraid it would

.

geerresgrrerrree

: cause a lot of tension with my

family to suddenly start passing
on most of the meal. I already
experienced some of that strain
at informal gatherings, but to

: invoke it at a family holiday
: would make for a lot of awkward :
: fork-to-plate clinking, as wellas :
: the unsaid: What’s wrong with
+ the way we eat? The way we’ve
: always eaten?

For one, the food we’ve

: always eaten has been largely a
: result of socio-economic status.
: We've eaten plenty of boxed

: food, potatoes, and fast-food

: because it’s cheaper than eating
: healthily and it’s easy to find

: prepared food that reflects our

: culinary traditions. Putting

: ameal together can happen

: in less than half an hour, or

: less than five minutes in the

: microwave. Putting a healthy

: meal together takes much

: longer.

Who has the time to

: always buy fresh food and

: prepare it from scratch? How

: many students have the funds?
: Filling my grocery cart with

: fresh vegetables and other

: unprocessed ingredients for

: a week’s worth of meals costs

: significantly more than it does
to eat fast food or buy pre-

: packaged facsimiles of the

comfort food I grew up with.
What we eat for cost and

: convenience moves from

: necessity to habit, and from

: habit to tradition. But the

: choice to improve my eating

: habits feels empowering: I

: feel healthier, more in control,

: and more mindful. Part of the

: intimacy we have with food

: is that we literally take it in

: and make it part of ourselves.

: Forgive the cliché: you are what
: you eat. Choosing what you eat,
: then, can be an expression of

: identity and of independence.

: It’s an act of autonomy.

Just as our ability to

: make choices is influenced by

: economy, choosing food (to eat
: local products, for example) is

: an economic decision. Trying to
: break out of a loop of choosing
: and needing to choose cheaper
: food is inherently political.

: Awareness of what we eat

: becomesa kind of political

: engagement, making your own
dinner a revolutionary act.