McGill Tribune Vol. 32 Issue 4

TRIBUNE

THE Mcgill

Published by the Tribune Publication Society

soccer & Racism P 10 super ants P9

nat. geo explorers P3 student of the week p 12

curiosity delivers

@mcgill_tribune ­ • www. mcgilltribune.com ­

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Volume No. 32 Issue No. 5

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Coach Kelly Nobes addresses the men’s hockey team; the cast of Guys and Dolls performs; Ellen Gabriel speaks about Aboriginal rights.

(Michael Paolucci, Simon Poitrimolt / McGill Tribune)

Indigenous Studies program approval announced at Council SSMU legislature also discusses creation of Community Ambassador program based in Milton-Parc Community Andra Cernavskis Contributor On Sept. 27, the Students’ Society of McGill University’s (SSMU) Legislative Council met for the second time this academic year. Topics discussed included the creation of a community ambassador for the Milton-Parc community and the creation of an Indigenous Studies program at McGill.

SSMU Vice-President External Robin Reid-Fraser fielded questions on her report to council, which included an update on the Community Ambassadors program. Reid-Fraser envisions the program as a means to connect students living in their first apartments with students already living

in the Milton-Parc community.

The program will also aim to establish a liaison between students and more permanent residents of the neighbourhood.

“It is still very much in its preliminary stages, but I’m hoping to have something more substantial worked out in the next few months,” Reid-Fraser wrote in an email to the Tribune.

Another important topic addressed at the meeting was SSMU Vice-President University Affairs Haley Dinel’s announcement that Dean of Arts Christopher Manfredi has approved the creation of a new Indigenous Studies Program within the faculty of arts at McGill.

According to Dinel, SSMU hired an Indigenous Studies re-

searcher last summer to design a program comprised of classes already in place at McGill.

“I don’t have any specific details [yet],” Dinel said. “A program of this type still has to go through the Committee and Senate process. Hopefully it gets approved all the way.”

The session also included the SSMU Daycare’s General Assembly. Amy Vincent, the Daycare’s manager, and Dinel, spoke to the councillors about the structure of the daycare and its relationship to SSMU. Dinel serves as president of the board for the daycare.

Located in the Brown Student Services Building, the SSMU Daycare Centre is partially subsidized by the fees undergraduate students pay to the society each

semester. According to Dinel, the structure of the daycare has changed this year.

“The daycare is [now] completely separate from SSMU,” Dinel wrote in an email to the Tribune. “Now SSMU just does the accounting for the daycare, whereas before it was under the umbrella of SSMU, even though it was always its own corporation.”

The Daycare’s auditor, Cathy Goncalves, also presented this year’s budget for the not-for-profit organization. Goncalves told Council that the organization’s finances have not changed significantly since last year.

All motions passed quickly, including the SSMU Election and Referenda Schedule and the elec-

tion of a SSMU representative to QPIRG’s Board of Directors.

Reid-Fraser nominated herself for this position, and was elected as the only candidate.

Another motion addressed the national vigil for missing and murdered Aboriginal women of Canada that will take place on Oct. 4.

“There are nearly 600 recorded cases of Aboriginal Women who have gone missing or been murdered in Canada, and the true number is likely much higher,” reads the motion. “The SSMU support[s] the work … to bring awareness about these issues by disseminating information to its membership.”

NEWS

Campus

First Board of Governors discusses enrollment, innovation Administration looking to create open-security approach at James Admin, provide students with applied experience Erica Friesen News Editor On Sept. 27, McGill’s Board of Governors (BoG) convened for the first time this fall to discuss the university’s goals this academic year.

Principal and Vice-Chancellor Heather Munroe-Blum opened the meeting with some remarks regarding enrollment strategies at the university.

“We got the year off to a good start,” Munroe-Blum said. “Our goal is to maintain the overall number of undergraduate students, but target some areas [like Macdonald Campus enrollment]. Then, in addition to maintaining the quality of our students, which is exceptional, [our focus will be] the proportion of graduate students to undergraduate students.”

According to the principal, around 25 per cent of the McGill student body are current gradu-

ate students. This ratio compares favourably to the average at other Canadian universities, where only 15 per cent of the student body is generally composed of graduate students, but is significantly lower than American universities, which often have 40 to 60 per cent in graduate school.

She added that it is difficult to determine whether there has been any significant change in graduate admissions this year, as graduate applications generally happen throughout the school year.

Munroe-Blum said McGill’s overall enrollment has increased by nine per cent since last year. The geographical basis of the students has remained similar, with 55 per cent of students coming from Quebec, 25 per cent from the rest of Canada, and 20 per cent from other countries.

According to Munroe-Blum, McGill’s enrollment mix is just one

of five core priorities outlined in the university’s Strategic Reframing Initiative. The other four are cost efficiency, performance enhancement, philanthropy, and transformative research and innovation.

She also stressed McGill’s commitment to pursue “technologyenabled, campus-based education,” saying that the administration is working to provide students with an applied experience wherever possible.

Jonathan Mooney, secretarygeneral of the Post-Graduate Students’ Society and one of two student representatives on the BoG, mentioned several topics that he hopes it will address this year. These include the potential establishment of fora that will allow the McGill community to engage with the governors. “ I [also] think there should be a lot of discussion about the future of universities in Quebec and the role

McGill and its students will play at the upcoming education summit,” Mooney said. “I think the governors will have a lot of insight and guidance for the university in approaching these crucial and far-reaching issues.”

Munroe-Blum also mentioned that the administration is considering several issues that arose from the previous academic year. McGill is looking to create an “open security approach” with a professional reception area in the James Administration Building, in order to improve student accessibility. According to Munroe-Blum, another issue is the adequacy of the McGill student disciplinary system, indicating that it is not a transparent procedure.

Dean of Arts Christopher Manfredi, who ran an open forum series last year on the topic of free expression and peaceful assembly, will submit his report on his findings in mid-October. Munroe-Blum

NEWS

expressed hope that the administration can use his findings to create a permanent protocol—to replace the current provisional protocol—by the end of the year.

Munroe-Blum also drew the BoG’s attention to the numerous recognitions and awards McGill has recently received, including Professor Graham Bell’s appointment as president elect of the Royal Society of Canada, and the 14 prestigious Vanier scholarships award to McGill graduates.

Mooney said he was generally impressed by the BoG’s first session.

“Several of the most pressing and concerning questions I had planned to ask on a few issues were actually asked by other governors before I could ask them,” he said.

“I think [this] shows how discerning and sharp the governors are.”

in brief

Students will be refunded tuition increase once new rates are determined, says Mendelson

MMPA

Master of Management & Professional Accounting

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On Sept. 28, Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) Morton Mendelson published a statement on the McGill Student Accounts website confirming that, in accordance with the Parti Québécois’ (PQ) recent cancellation of the tuition increases implemented by the former Liberal government, the university will return the difference in tuition fees to students.

Pauline Marois’ newly elected government repealed the tuition hikes by decree during its first cabinet meeting on Sept. 20. This move fulfilled a promise Marois made during her election campaign.

However, all Quebec universities had implemented the tuition increase for this fall semester. As a result of the freeze, McGill is expected to lose $90 million over the five years of the original tuition increase, according to a statement from Provost Anthony Masi.

In his statement, Mendelson explained that students’ Minerva accounts will be credited, and afterwards, “students will be able to request refunds according to estab-

lished practices.” Currently, students may request other refunds through the Student Accounts’ menu on Minerva.

However, Mendelson added that McGill has yet to receive any “official written notification” from the provincial government. According to Mendelson’s statement, McGill is unable to undertake any further action on tuition refunds until the PQ informs the university of the amount of the new tuition rate.

“This is the third time this year that proposed tuition rates have changed,” Mendelson wrote in the statement. “We need to wait for the precise numbers from the government so that we are sure to reimburse students the proper amount.”

The online statement also mentioned the provincial government’s interest in creating “an alternative formula” for calculating tuition adjustments. Despite just having cancelled the tuition hikes, the PQ has recently demonstrated support for indexing tuition to the rate of inflation.

Marois has promised to hold a

summit on education within her first 100 days in office, where discussion over the financing of universities will take place, and where the PQ government will suggest a policy on tuition indexation.

Mendelson’s statement also touched upon the slow communication between the PQ government and McGill throughout the past month.

According to Mendelson, this delay in the transferring and confirmation of information is one that can be attributed to the current restructuring of the former Ministry of Education, Recreation, and Sport, which is being split into two ministries.

“A senior official in the new ministry responsible for higher education … noted that he understands our impatience to move forward with this matter as soon as possible,” Mendelson wrote. “When we receive our instructions from the government, we will inform students immediately and launch the process of credits and refunds.”

—Bea Britneff

Curiosity delivers. |

NEWS

| Tuesday, October 2, 2012

3

exclusive intervew

“All the problems that we feel on land kind of disappear” National Geographic explorers discuss environmental research, adventures, and the quest for the unknown

continents, because we’ve mapped everything, but how we feed, clothe, and shelter seven billion people today, and nine billion people in twenty years; and where do we do that? Addressing these questions that have concrete outcomes—that’s where exploration and discovery [have] gone. If we don’t keep that [exploration] gene alive and don’t get people excited, then we’re not doing society a favour. Universities are incubators of knowledge and thought—that’s why being able to share our adventures at a university feels really good for Kenny and I.

Conrad Anker and Kenny Broad are two explorers who have, respectively, scaled the highest peaks and dived into the deepest oceans on the planet. On Sept. 29, the two spoke at McGill in “An Evening of Field Research and Exploration,” a free public event hosted by the National Geographic Society.

Before their presentation, Anker and Broad spoke to the McGill Tribune about their explorations and why exploration continues to be relevant today.

McGill Tribune: Can you briefly describe what you do?

Conrad Anker: I’m a mountain climber. I participated in research with the National Geographic Society in 2002, when we studied the chiru, a Tibetan antelope. I’ve also helped out climatologists studying glaciers.

Kenny Broad: I’m an environmental anthropologist. I look at the ecology and policies for human-environment interactions and decisionmaking. I’m mainly a diver, and I like to put together groups from different scientific disciplines because sometimes, you only get one shot to go to a remote area, so you try to work as much as you can in that one shot.

MT: How did you become interested in your field of exploration?

CA: I grew up in the mountains, so it was what my parents forced me to do … and I ended up loving it!

I’m just hard-wired for a high-risk, high-sensory-input type of environ-

Kenny Broad and Conrad Anker during their visit to McGill. (Simon Poitrimolt / McGill Tribune) ment.

KB: I grew up in Miami Beach where, if you go outside, you’re almost in the water. Some people have this different feeling when they get to another environment, whether it’s the mountains or [in] water … it opens up your world, and all the problems that we feel on land kind of disappear.

MT: Describe your favourite exploration.

CA: It’s probably the trip in Tibet when we studied the chiru.

We ended up producing a show for the National Geographic that less-

ened the demand for the Shahtoosh shawls that the animals were being poached for, so it had a good outcome.

KB: My best trip is probably the most recent, when I explored some underwater caves in Florida.

We have real challenges with our water resources, so to be able to bring back information and really push for better use of water in my neighbourhood is what I love. It had the best of exploration and also some kind of societal outcome.

MT: Why do you think exploration is important?

KB: The question of ‘why do you do this?’ is not one we ask ourselves. It just feels natural. I heard there’s evidence that people have an ‘exploration gene,’ a certain genetic makeup where you want to push a little further into the unknown. And whether it’s for conservation, or better management of particular resources, or human health findings for a particular drug development … those are all great outcomes, but the core of it is that selfish desire.

CA: In the bigger picture, humans are driven by exploration and discovery. The next continents to be discovered are not the physical

MT: What advice would you give to students about their aspirations?

KB: Follow your aspirations and go for it. Nothing comes easy, and don’t worry if you fail at something. You should worry if you’re not trying your hardest but don’t worry if you fail, and just keep trying.

CA: And do it because you want to, not because there’s some reward. Find out why you want to do it and be prepared for a lot of work and sacrifice. If it’s really something you love to do, the effort you put into it will come easy. We’re so diverse as humans, that when you find what you’re good at, and you can really excel at it, then you’re doing yourself and your fellow humans a great favour.

—This interview was conducted and condensed by Karen Huang.

CAMPUS

International Aboriginal rights discussed at McGill

Second annual Aboriginal Awareness Week promotes dialogue between communities and showcases native culture Elliot Herzig Contributor From Sept. 24-28, McGill hosted its second annual Aboriginal Awareness Week (AAW). This year’s AAW included a variety of events celebrating Aboriginal culture and history, as well as educating attendees on issues of Aboriginal identity and rights.

Events were held throughout the week, featuring two dream catcher-making workshops, film screenings, and talks by prominent leaders of the Aboriginal community. One speaker, Ellen Gabriel, spoke on Tuesday in the SSMU Building on international Aboriginal

rights issues.

Gabriel is a long-time Aboriginal rights activist who has dealt with every level of government, from local to international, in support of Canada’s Aboriginal people. Most notably, Gabriel was chosen by the Oka community to represent them during the highly publicized Oka Crises of 1990, when a land dispute between the Quebec town of Oka and a group of Mohawk people escalated into a violent conflict.

Gabriel’s talk touched on many issues facing the Aboriginal community. These issues include selfdetermination, violations of human rights, land and resource disputes, language rights, and intellectual

property rights.

Although the United Nations (UN) has been a centre for discussion on dealing with such problems, Gabriel said it has not proved to be a successful forum.

“The problem is the UN has not come up-to-date with how to allow Indigenous people to participate,” Gabriel said. “We’re considered civil society players or stake holders, when really, [looking] at the UN Declaration of Rights for Indigenous people, [we would like to see] our rights of self-determination addressed.”

Gabriel stressed that it is up to Aboriginal people to determine their future. She argued that decisions are

made for the Aboriginals rather than by the Aboriginals. According to Gabriel, Canada has been especially poor at working with Aboriginal communities to address these issues.

“I’m sorry to tell you [but] Canada is losing—or has lost— its reputation [as] a supporter of human rights because of infractions against Indigenous people—not just here in Canada, but for its actions abroad as well,” Gabriel said. “[The Harper government] has been especially difficult to deal with.”

Allan Vicaire, Aboriginal Awareness Week coordinator, attended Gabriel’s talk, and said that her topic is important for Aboriginal issues at both the national and inter-

national levels.

“The UN Declaration of Indigenous Rights is important,” Vicaire said. “It sets a standard for how states must uphold Aboriginal rights.”

Vicaire was very pleased with Gabriel’s speech and Aboriginal Awareness Week as a whole. He said it had exceeded his expectations.

“There are many people who attended across faculties,” Vicaire said. “When we can get people who aren’t from a humanities and arts background [to] learn about Aboriginal peoples, then we are reaching out to the broader community. To me, that’s success.”

4

Tuesday, October 2, 2012 |

NEWS

What happened last week in Compiled by Bea britneff & Erica friesen

| Curiosity delivers.

Canada?

Justin Trudeau to run for leadership of Liberal Party

Margaret Wente faces allegations of plagiarism

Quebec introduces electronics reclycing fee

the Enbridge pipeline: B.C. concerned for environment

Last Wednesday, reports surfaced that Justin Trudeau is to announce his bid for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada at a press conference today.

The son of former Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Justin Trudeau has held a seat as the Member of Parliament for the Montreal riding of Papineau since 2008.

The previous leader of the Liberal Party, Michael Ignatieff, resigned from the position following the May 2011 federal election, when the Liberals won the fewest seats in the history of the party. Since then, Interim Leader Bob Rae has assumed the position.

Earlier this year, Trudeau said he was not interested in the leadership position, citing his young family as the reason for his hesitation. However, Trudeau told the press in July that he would reconsider his candidacy and make an announcement at the end of the summer.

A poll conducted by the National Post revealed that a federal election held today with Trudeau in the leadership position would result in a Liberal Party win with 39 per cent of the popular vote. The results indicate that the current official opposition, the New Democratic Party (NDP), would fall back into third place.

With the leadership race set to begin on Nov. 13, the next leader of the Liberal Party will officially be announced on April 13, 2013.

The CBC announced last Tuesday that they would be suspending Globe and Mail columnist Margaret Wente from the media panel of the popular radio show Q, due to allegations of plagiarism in her columns.

On Sept. 18, Carol Wainio, a blogger on the website “Media Culpa,” published an analysis of a 2009 Wente column, in which she highlighted the piece’s alleged transgressions. The allegations spread quickly through Twitter and other social media.

Globe and Mail Editor-in-Chief John Stackhouse announced last Monday that “appropriate action” has been taken against Wente, although the details of the disciplinary action remain private.

Last Tuesday, Wente defended herself in the Globe and Mail, acknowledging that she had plagiarized a sentence from another journalist’s column, but arguing that it had been unintentional.

She further stated that she is not a serial plagiarist and is often a “target for people who don’t like what [she] write[s].”

Wente is the winner of several media awards, including the National Newspaper Award for column writing, and has worked as a columnist for the Globe and Mail since 1992.

Starting Oct. 1, retailers in Quebec will add new fees to the sale of electronics as part of a provincial plan to pay for the recycling costs of the appliances. This Environmental Handling Fee (EHF) could cost more than $40 for one product, but will vary depending on how much the product costs and how difficult it is to recycle.

The money raised through this fee will go to the Association pour le Recyclage des Produits Electronique du Quebec (ARPE), where it will be used to fund a new Quebec-wide recycling program.

With the implementation of this fee, Quebec joined seven other Canadian provinces that have already adopted an EHF, including Ontario and British Columbia.

While the fee currently applies only to televisions, cell phones, printers, and laptops, it will be extended to other electronic products in July 2013. Some storeowners are handing out fliers to explain the EHF to consumers.

In a pre-election address this past Friday, British Columbia Premier Christy Clark announced that she plans to inform the Alberta government that B.C. is firmly opposed to putting its environment at risk for the sake of the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline.

If constructed, the Enbridge pipeline would transfer raw bitumen from the Alberta tar-sands across British Columbia to Kitimat, B.C. From there, the bitumen would then be loaded onto oil tankers and transported to China, where it would be refined.

Tensions between B.C. and Alberta have risen recently regarding this controversial pipeline project, which has heavy support from both Stephen Harper and Alberta Premier Alison Redford. Many British Columbians, however, have expressed deep concerns about the environmental risks.

Although Clark’s stance against the Enbridge pipeline has hardened over the past few months, her government has never announced official opposition to the pipeline—a fact that has sparked much criticism towards the current B.C. Liberal government.

This past summer, Clark outlined five conditions that the Alberta government must meet in order for B.C. to approve the pipeline project, which include environmental protection measures and a share of the economic benefits.

Abortion motion & Rona Ambrose Last week, an online petition calling for the resignation of Minister of State for the Status of Women Rona Ambrose went into circulation. The petition is a response to Ambrose’s support of M-312, a controversial, private-member abortion motion that was defeated in the House of Commons on Thursday.

Had M-312 passed, it would have reopened discussion about when a fetus becomes a legal person. Though Ambrose’s vote does not make it clear whether she is pro-life or not, it has sparked debate over whether one can be supportive of women’s rights and also oppose abortion.

Organizations such as the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada (ARCC) have publicly demanded that Ambrose resign.

“It’s her job to represent the interests of women, to defend women’s rights, [and] promote women’s equality,” Joyce Arthur, ARCC executive director, said. “We feel she [has] betrayed the women of this country.”

Supporters of M-312 also deliberately went against Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s wishes to leave the abortion issue closed, resulting in rumours of a Conservative Party rift.

By Friday afternoon, the petition had amassed over 6,000 signatures. To date, Ambrose has rejected all calls to step down.

Campus

Arts Internship Event highlights students’ work abroad

Arts interns share memorable moments, presentations provide preliminary information about applying for internships Jessica Fu Contributor Last Thursday, the faculty of arts hosted its ninth Annual Internship Event with presentations by nine McGill students—all of whom dedicated their time gaining and applying their skills in various unconventional settings this past summer.

Held in Leacock 232, the event was attended by students, staff, and internship award donors.

Dean of arts Christopher Manfredi provided an introduction to the speeches. Interns who spoke at the event revealed a great range of experiences—their work locations included India, Hong Kong, and New York, and their areas of study spanned many fields within the faculty of arts. Between speeches, a short slideshow presentation informed arts students of the internship application and scholarship process, as well of the various resources available to them online.

Karina Perez Jvostova, U3

Students learned about summer opportunities. (Sarah Papadopoli / McGill Tribune) arts student, spent three months in Panama City. There, she interned with the United Nations World Food Program. Jvostova worked for the Unit of Information and Knowledge Management on a project organizing its online library.

Throughout the three-month span of her internship, Jvostova was able to recognize the significance of her work, as well as the impact it had on the project.

“People there acknowledged your work, [as well as] how important you were for them,” Jvostova

said.

A little closer to home, U3 student Emma Stanton spent her time working with Pueblito Canada, a non-governmental organization (NGO) based in Toronto, Ontario.

“For over 35 years, Pueblito has been helping the children of Latin America by strengthening communities, safe-guarding rights, and providing the essentials for education, nutrition, and health,” the organization says on their website.

Stanton’s internship was extended from three months to four,

and within that time she had direct access to the NGO’s board of directors—a privilege normally exclusive to board members.

“One of the board members— I think he was one of the former presidents of the board—asked me to attend a meeting [and] to observe the conversation about changing funding models in Canada,” Stanton said. “That was … my memorable moment.”

The interns’ presentations were followed by a reception, where attendees were given an opportunity to speak directly with past interns and ask them questions. Audrey Rooney, U1 environment, attended the event with the hope of learning more about the internship options available, and the logistics of the application process.

“It was [informative] in terms of examples of what we can do,” Rooney said. “[It lacked information] in terms of how to apply, but I guess that’s [available] on the website.”

Rooney said that attending the event has kept her interested in applying for an internship in a foreign country in the near future.

Jvostova, who was enthusiastic about her experience, encouraged students not to be shy about applying.

“A lot of people were scared about applying because of [language] skills,” Jvostova said. “[In my case], it wasn’t that important since [I was] working with the UN.” With regards to the application process, Jvostova asserted that it is not complicated.

Stanton also offered some advice to prospective interns.

“Sit down for an hour and think about what you’re truly interested in,” she said. “[In the past] I have had friends who got jobs in what they think they wanted to do, and did not enjoy themselves. Stick to what you truly want to do—not because it’s a resumé builder, but because you’re into it.”

Curiosity delivers. |

NEWS

NEWS

| Tuesday, October 2, 2012

5

in brief

McTavish Reservoir will be renovated

Beginning Oct. 9, the McTavish Reservoir on Rutherford Park behind McGill University will undergo major renovations, including an overhaul of the surrounding tank and water mains. The repairs, which will cost $16.4 million, are scheduled for the period of 2013-2014 ,and will be conducted by the City of Montreal.

The reservoir on Pine Avenue and Doctor Penfield Avenue provides drinking water to 500,000 Montrealers in seven boroughs in the city. Leaks in the pipes, which are over a hundred years old, have caused damages to McGill property in the past few years. Last fall, a leak in a 16-inch main pipe at the entrance of the pumping station in the reservoir sent thousands of gallons of water down McTavish Street, flooding Service Point, McLennan Library, and Wilson Hall.

According to Doug Sweet, di-

rector of media relations at McGill, both McGill and the Royal Victoria Hospital have seats at the stakeholders’ table and will be working with the City of Montreal to ensure that services continue to be delivered despite potential disruptions in access and high noise levels.

“We have been disseminating information to our community as it is received through our Building Directors,” Sweet said. “The City has also been advised of McGill activities or events that will have to be considered in their planning. This includes residence access, athletics activities, exams, etc.”

Sweet noted that the university will remain informed if there are changes in access or parking in the area.

“A project of this size and scope is bound to be disruptive to some at some point,” Sweet said. “Our goal, of course, is to try to do what we can

to minimize the disruption. It’s important, overdue work, and needs to be completed as soon as possible.”

Project Phases Phase 1: From October to December, Pine Avenue will be closed between McTavish Street and Doctor Penfield Avenue. The entrance to the Hospital’s third parking lot will be blocked. Two-way traffic will be allowed on McTavish and Doctor Penfield.

Phase 2: From December to March, Doctor Penfield will be closed between McTavish and Pine.

Two-way traffic will be allowed on Pine Avenue.

Phase 3: From April until next August, the eastbound part of Pine will be closed from Doctor Penfield to Durocher.

—Carolina Millán Ronchetti

city

Innushkueu women speak out against Plan Nord at Concordia

Panel features Ellen Gabriel, Élyse Vollant, and Denise Jourdain

The event provided a venue for dialogue. (Michael Paolucci / McGill Tribune) Andra Cernavskis Contributor Tears and laughter found their space in a discussion titled “Defending the Land: Indigenous Women’s resistance to Plan Nord and community violence.” The event, held last Friday, was hosted by Concordia University’s Centre for Gender Advocacy’s Missing Justice campaign.

Plan Nord is the provincial government’s plan to develop northern regions of the province. It involves exploring the largely untapped resources of northern Quebec, according to the Quebec government’s website.

“The North’s mining potential affords us an opportunity to capitalize on the development of the emerging countries by ensuring the responsible development of the territory’s resources,” reads a message from former Quebec Premier Jean Charest on the government website.

Friday evening’s event gave three Aboriginal women the chance to speak out and educate the Montreal community about what is happening in Northern Quebec from their perspective.

Monica van Schaik, one of the event’s organizers, said she helped to plan the discussion because she is concerned that Plan Nord is not something that the citizens of Montreal know enough about.

“I just think it’s something that just wasn’t being talked about enough [and] wasn’t being talked about in our schools in Montreal,” von Schaik said. “We decided to plan this event because it’s happening here, and it’s our own government, and it’s just something we wanted to raise awareness about.”

Ellen Gabriel, a human rights advocate and former president of the Quebec Native Women’s Association, discussed how Plan Nord and mining activity affect Aboriginal

women in particular.

“Mining companies come in and look at Aboriginal women as if they can violate them,” Gabriel said.

“It has to stop. Mining activity is probably one of the worst personal abusers of human rights.”

Gabriel added that violence against Aboriginal women occurs five times more than it does against any other group of women.

The other two speakers were Élyse Vollant and Denise Jourdain.

Both women walked from Sept-Iles to Montreal for Earth Day earlier this year, according to van Schaik.

Vollant—an Innushkueu from the North Shore community of Uashat mak Maliotenam—was one of 12 women who were arrested after participating in a blockade on route 138 in protest of Plan Nord last March. At the event, she discussed her personal struggle against Plan Nord.

“After the blockade, I was imprisoned,” Vollant said in French.

“There were accusations that I had destroyed the territory. It was Hydro-Québec that destroyed the community.”

Her main concern was for the children of the northern communities.

“Today, what we are trying to do is for the future generation,” Vollant said. “The march was really for

The inaugural lecture of The Research Group on Constitutional Studies Lecture Series will be given by

Jeremy Waldron University Professor and Professor of Law, New York University Chichele Professor of Social and Political Theory and Fellow, All Souls College, Oxford University

Constitutionalism: A Skeptical View Thursday, October 4, 2012 4:30 - 6:00 pm Leacock 232, McGill University For more information please contact Daniel Silvermint, daniel.silvermint@mcgill.ca or Jacob T. Levy, jacob.levy@mcgill.ca For further events in the RGCS Lecture Series, please see http://www.mcgill.ca/rgcs/events The public is welcome. Admission is free.

Co-sponsored by the Department of Political Science.

This lecture has received additional support from the Beatty Memorial Lectures Committee.

the children.”

Jourdain, who spoke next, is a member and community organizer of the Innushkueu community of Uashat mak Mani-utenam, and was also arrested following the blockade. The activist said that she has been participating in blockades and demonstrations since she was 13 years old.

Jourdain spoke of the land she remembers from when she was a child, and how it is now under threat from the Quebec government. She also spoke out against the Quebec government’s offer of $80 million to Indigenous communities as compensation. The compensation is being destroyed for approximately $1.25 a day per person.

“This money means nothing to us,” Jourdain said. “Quebec and the federal government do not respect

our Indigenous rights.”

Jourdain concluded her discussion in tears.

“There is no law that will require the government to repair the damage they do to mother Earth,” Jourdain said.

A handful McGill students attended the event, including SSMU VP External Robin Reid-Fraser. She explained that she was not at the event to represent McGill, but out of her own person interest.

“Some Indigenous groups are kind of on board with [Plan Nord], and really that’s not the case across the board, “ she said. “So I felt like it was really important to come and hear what these other groups are saying—the ones that really do see a kind of problem with this kind of [project].”

opinion editorial

To move forward, CLASSE must condemn violence If you left home on the rainy afternoon of Sept. 22 and found yourself confused amidst a reiteration of the student protests that reached their height in May, you certainly weren’t alone. Many Montrealers were puzzled by the Saturday protest—after all, hadn’t the newlyelected PQ just rescinded the tuition increase after months of unrest?

The demonstration, organized

by Coalition Large de l’Association pour un Solidarité Syndicale Étudiante (CLASSE), was both a celebration of the hike reversal and a call for a move toward free education— the student group’s ultimate goal.

The issue of the tuition increase may have been settled, but only for the time being. A minority Parti Québécois government is hardly a model of political stability, and the party has already discussed indexing tuition to the cost of living.

CLASSE’s demonstrations for free

education, even on the heels of what many consider to be a huge victory, is hardly misguided.

What concerns this Editorial Board most, however, is not the timing of the protest, but the reports of violence committed that day. Among other physical confrontations, rocks were hurled at police, and protestors hit and chased cruisers along Peel Street. These actions are unacceptable in a civil, peaceful society.

We understand that police are—in many cases—the first to aggress, by kettling protestors and employing dispersal tactics which compromise participants’ safety. Violent reaction is unwarranted on both sides, but a special onus lies on CLASSE, especially because achieving its goals requires that it win the approval of the greater public.

The central problem lies in the way CLASSE has dealt with violent confrontations and damage to prop-

erty in its demonstrations. Though it was forced to issue a statement condemning “deliberate physical violence against people, except in cases of legitimate defence,” during strained negotiations with the government in early April, the group does not systematically condemn violence. More specifically, no statement was issued following the protest on the 22nd, and the group failed to provide authorities with a street route of the protest.

This is not surprising—antipolice sentiment still dominates much of the group’s rhetoric, and perhaps with reason, since police often do react to protests with unnecessary violence.

Although peaceful protests are often co-opted by more radical and violent groups, failure to condemn acts of aggression and separate themselves from those who commit these acts means CLASSE is permitting them to hap-

pen. If CLASSE seeks legitimacy, it needs to rise above this, even if it’s not ‘fair’ in light of police reaction.

Groups looking to affect change need to hold themselves to a higher standard.

Above all, CLASSE struggles most with its public image. The student group cannot possibly achieve free tuition without the support and approval of the greater Quebec public. Improving its publicity can only begin with a separation of its vision and activism from hooliganism and violence. Contrary to its portrayal in the national media, CLASSE’s membership is incredibly principled—their belief in the merits of free education stem from a well thought-out ideological stance on how to improve society. They are hardly whiny, entitled teenagers, as they are often portrayed in the national media. Their perseverance these past months has more than

demonstrated this commitment and idealism.

Now that the tuition hikes are repealed, many expect greater stability in Quebec, and this is why violence is so much more delegitimizing for CLASSE. The Tribune acknowledges the important role a group like CLASSE plays in Quebec society, particularly in its contribtions to the national debate on education. While the feasibility of free post-secondary education is hardly undisputed, it is undoubtedly an ideal worth aspiring to. Rights to civil and peaceful protest, in all its forms, must be actively protected. Violence, however, has absolutely no place in this process. To strengthen its image and broaden its appeal—two goals it must achieve to ultimately change policy—CLASSE must condemn all acts of violence committed at its demonstrations.

ing from $12,650 in 2001-2002 to $12,950 this past year.

However the discrepancy between this supposed sticker price and the actual price paid by students by no means signifies that the American university system is working. Rather, the extremely inefficient scaling of tuition is merely a manifestation of the system’s dysfunction. This price discrimination is examined under the Bennett Hypothesis, named after the Reaganera Education Secretary William Bennett.

Emerging in the late ‘80s, the Bennett Hypothesis posits that increases in federal aid are far from making college more affordable. Instead of increasing accessibility by making more aid available to those who need it, increases in aid actually drive up the cost of tuition. Universities have raised their tuitions beyond the rate of inflation, confident that federal aid would cushion the increase.

While the theory has since been controversial and is supported by inconclusive empirical evidence, studies have demonstrated that increases in tuition are not simply redistributive from richer students. At least at the top end of American universities—highly ranked private institutions—increases in federal student aid have been met with increases in tuition totalling more than just the

amount of additional federal aid.

Another explanation for skyrocketing university tuitions is the dogged competition for students that universities engage in, year after year, for the highest scoring applicants. This competitive pressure is not misplaced in the realm of education. However, consumers—parents

these institutions.

This would not be so bad if universities did not have an incentive to blatantly game this sort of system.

Many institutions, looking to vault their way upwards in the rankings, but without having any Ivy “prestige” to trade on, have begun an arms race to attract the supposed ‘best and brightest,’ with fancy dorms, nicer buildings, and sports like squash.

This behaviour is rewarded in several ways. Firstly, as earlier noted, the U.S. News rankings take into account selectivity, which means that convincing more students with higher SAT scores to even fill out an application to the university raises one’s ranking. Nicer buildings and dorms mean that you’re spending more money per student. Another notch upwards in the rankings.

This extravagant spending puts the burden of higher tuition on less affluent students. Many institutions in or near the upper tier today seem to have made this transition: George Washington University, Boston University, and New York University have all, over the course of a decade, put themselves in the same conversation as the Ivy League and other established elite institutions, largely on the back of this tuition-fueled push.

A number of international think tanks have proposed solutions. A study by the Organization for Eco-

nomic Cooperation and Development (OECD) earlier this year suggested income-contingent loans as a solution to ensure access, advocating for moderate tuition levels in combination with means-tested grants. At the same time, a paper by the American Enterprise Institute suggested seriously rethinking the cost structure at American instructions—reducing the amount of tuition-funded research, downsizing under-enrolled departments, and trimming administrative bloat.

Perhaps the biggest problem facing American universities today is that this analysis provides only a snapshot of the forces pushing tuition up at the high end. Gone unmentioned are the inflated cost structures of American universities at every level, and the effects of student debt at the back end. It is undoubtedly complex and multifaceted. On some level, the complexity of the issue makes addressing the cost of a university education—beyond small-bore campaign sloganeering about interest rates on a small number of government student loans— an issue far too complex to receive serious treatment from American politicians. If anything, that should be the cause for real worry.

commentary Why are American universities so expensive?

Abraham Moussako We have seen over the past year in Quebec that the issue of university tuition can be incredibly polarizing. Indeed, in much of the debate over the recent planned tuition hikes, anti-hike activists drew ominous comparisons not only with the higher rates in the rest of Canada, but with the comparatively astronomical sticker prices in the United States. The average cost (tuition and fees) of attending an American fouryear private university is $27,293, with ancillary fees adding almost another $10,000.

While private American universities certainly represent the highest end of the tuition spectrum, universities overall in the United States are expensive compared to other developed nations. However, it bears noting that the astronomical figures often quoted in the public debate can be misleading; unlike in Canada, the sticker price of tuition is not paid by most students in the U.S. Indeed, while the list price has risen well past the rate of inflation nationwide, the average actual price paid by students—across all types of universities—has actually stayed steady over the past 10 years, grow-

“The complexity of the issue makes addressing the cost of a university education... an issue far too complex to receive serious treatment.” and prospective students—choose universities based on the very definition of imperfect information. University ranking systems, including the oft-quoted U.S. News and World Report ranking, contribute to this.

U.S. News tends to take into account input statistics like entering SAT scores and spending per student, in addition to the rather nebulous concept of ‘prestige,’ which counts for anywhere from 22 to 25 per cent of an institution’s score. This is all instead of looking at what happens to students after their four-year stay at

have an opinion? Voice it! opinion@mcgilltribune.com

letters to the editor

THE Mcgill

Opinions expressed on this page are strictly those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the opinions of the McGill Tribune. To submit your own, send an email to editor@mcgilltribune.com with the subject ‘Letter to the editor,’ or fill out the ‘Contact Us’ form on www.mcgilltribune.com In his recent article, “Moral superiority and student politics,” Abraham Moussako argues that students have no duty to participate in campus politics. I’d like to refute that idea by arguing that judgements about the duty to participate are necessarily made in reference to particular facts about a particular issue. In other words, we can’t make blanket statements about the moral status of political participation.

To illustrate this point, let me offer the following two examples: Imagine that the administration

decided to stop admitting women, non-whites, and handicapped people to the university, citing the reason behind this policy as the (supposedly) inferior mental capacities of these groups. Obviously, the campus would be in an uproar, and I think even Mr. Moussako would agree that we all would have a duty to rally in support of our friends and colleagues.

Conversely, imagine that McGill decided to increase Heather MunroeBlum’s salary by one penny. In this case, I think even the scariest of McGill’s radicals would probably not even bat an eyelash.

What I’m trying to get across by these two examples is that you need to take into account the particulars of the issue when you make judgements about the necessity of getting involved. In his article, Mr. Moussako does make a slight concession to this idea: he says while some issues are too insignificant to get worked up about, others do have relatively important consequences. However, he also says we need not worry about these other, significant issues because they are “complex, morally ambiguous matters of economics and politics.”

Frankly, I’m puzzled by the idea here that we can ignore a duty we find difficult to fulfill. To be sure, many of these issues require a lot of thought in order to wrap your head around them. However, if they’re important enough, I think we’re still obligated to take a stance on them. As Mr. Moussako emphasizes, it need not be one stance in particular. However, it should at least be one informed by careful thought, and maybe even a conversation with someone you disagree with.

As a known student radical and victim of police brutality, I find Abraham Moussako’s Guest Column (“Moral superiority and student politics”) generally callous and presumptuous. In particular (and more relevant to my critique), I found the text personally offensive.

In his recent opinion piece, he looks down upon the complex dynamic structure of our highly politicized campus, and offers a theoretical account so divorced from reality that it could only have been published in the McGill Tribune.

If pressed to do a genuine analysis of his major argument, it would go something like this: Moussako attempts to understand the conflicts on campus that appear to disrupt the naturally peaceful social structure of campus. He projects the cause of this on the invasive “campus radicals” who he then accuses of participating in what he calls a “stark, good vs. evil viewpoint that would make Rumsfeld and company proud.”

I can’t imagine what made Moussako write that. Rumsfeld famously ignored the unknown knowns (the subconsciousness) in his speech about the known knowns. He also lied about WMDs in Iraq, and is an

international war criminal. The connection seems tenuous to me. Maybe Moussako hasn’t interrogated his hidden assumptions, or actually investigated what drives the people he lambasts.

His division between “the university” and “the world” is arbitrary at best. It is hard to understand why we should view campus politics as separate from the politics of the world at large. The concern here is about people’s engagement in important social and political issues, both locally and globally. Campus is only part of where you can draw that out.

Assuming this premise is not wrought with unreflexive irony, we still look beneath to find that the target of his criticism is actually a straw man of the radical left campus political scene. He postulates that the goal of their presence on campus is to try to get others also involved in campus politics—like some industry bent on growth.

Finally, I want to explicitly assess Moussako’s claim that “there is no moral virtue to campus politics.” I will offer a short list of facts on which I find would be an ethical abomination not to take a moral stance. If you subscribe to Moussako’s false dual-

ism, then maybe no point on the list could be considered to be relevant to the university; but I will leave all this for the reader to decide: First, Professor Gregory Mikkelson was beaten with a nightstick and pepper sprayed in the face by the riot squad while on his way to retrieve his daughter from the nursery on Nov. 10th, 2011.

Next, A CEGEP student named Francis Grenier was playing the harmonica just across the street from the Schulich School of Music on Mar. 7th, 2012, when a flashbang grenade thrown by the police obliterated his eye.

Finally, police kicked my [expletive removed] and smashed my arm in April—which required multiple surgeries to set. If I said I was scrapping with the Pigs at the time, I would be lying. I was hit from behind, and then kicked repeatedly when I was down.

I am not preaching of any logical relations that these situations necessarily show, but a sympathetic reader should continue reading. If your heartstrings were pulled a little by any of this, even better. For everyone left over, I’m not really sure what I can do for you.

Even if you stand ideologically opposed to those who fought in the 2012 Quebec student strike, you should respect that they struggled and suffered for our tuition refund, rather than cling to a $254 cheque from the armchair of analytic certainty.

Ultimately, Moussako attempted to make a “politically neutral” analysis, not realizing that he can only do so by never acknowledging the sacrifice of his dissenting colleagues— many of whom were pepper sprayed and risked being beaten by standing firm in protests. Why did they risk it again just to picket a few classes and talk to you about tuition hikes? These dedicated people went back to the streets when strike vote results sided with the status quo. On the side of the police and the tear gas.

If Moussako’s goal was to side with power, then he succeeded. By examining “campus radicals” through his own preconceived notions, he doesn’t seriously consider what the actual concerns are for these people.

Instead, he trivializes the struggles and experiences of those who confronted real violence trying to have their voice heard.

—Brian Gracie

—Ethan Feldman

TRIBUNE www.mcgilltribune.com

Editor-in-Chief Elisa Muyl editor@mcgilltribune.com Managing Editors Carolina Millán Ronchetti cmillanronchetti@mcgilltribune.com Adam Sadinsky asadinsky@mcgilltribune.com Production Manager Sam Reynolds sreynolds@mcgilltribune.com News Editors Bea Britneff and Erica Friesen news@mcgilltribune.com Opinion Editor Anand Bery opinion@mcgilltribune.com Science & Technology Editor Leigh Miller scitech@mcgilltribune.com Student Living Editor Jacqui Galbraith studentliving@mcgilltribune.com Arts & Entertainment Editors Chris Liu and Ilia Blinderman arts@mcgilltribune.com Sports Editors Steven Lampert and Jeff Downey sports@mcgilltribune.com Photo Editors Alexandra Allaire and Simon Poitrimolt photo@mcgilltribune.com Senior Design Editor Susanne Wang design@mcgilltribune.com Design Editor Heather Lee design@mcgilltribune.com Online Editor Victor Temprano online@mcgilltribune.com Copy Editor Adrien Hu copy@mcgilltribune.com Advertising Manager Myriam Richard cpm@ssmu.mcgill.ca Publisher Chad Ronalds

TPS Board of Directors Shannon Kimball (Chair): chair@mcgilltribune.com, Bea Britneff, Jacob Hardy, Elisa Muyl, Jonathan Newburgh, Maria Surilas Contributors Hrant Bardakjian, Tara Boghosian, Andra Cernavskis, Meghna Chand, Natassja Di Battista, Trevor Drummond, Hannah Feinberg, Ethan Feldman,

Carol Ellen Fraser, Jessica Fu,

Brian Gracie, Sebastien Grant, Elliot Herzig, Karen Huang, Michael King, Peter Laing, Krishanth Manokaran, Colleen McNamara, Abraham Moussako, Michael Paolucci, Sarah Papadopoli, Joanna Schacter, Kieran Steer, Marie Stefanakis, Nicole Weckman, Cece Zhang

Tribune Offices Editorial Shatner University Centre

I write this fully admitting that I am a bit of a nerd: I grew up listening to the radio. Mostly I enjoyed the National Public Radio (NPR) in the States, but at the ripe old age of five, I also happily proclaimed to my dad that our local Oldies station was my favourite. That was the ‘90s. Yet in the age of iPods, YouTube and torrents, I still listen to the radio.

In the past few years, studies conducted in Europe have revealed that radio listenership has actually increased over the past 30 years. According to one study, conducted by the United Kingdom’s Radio Advertising Bureau, listening to the radio might actually make people happier than watching TV or surfing the web.

This may be because the voice on the radio provides a sense of companionship, and listeners can still be productive and do other things while they listen.

Beyond companionship, how-

ever, the popularity of radio is on the rise because programmers filter content in an age in which anyone can have their very own studio at home, thanks to Garageband. This is a facet of radio that is more valuable than ever before. In 2008 alone, over 105,000 full-length records were produced in the United States, compared with one-quarter of that in the early 2000s, according to Neilsen Soundscan. Sure, there is Pitchfork and other music reviews, but wading through them is time consuming, overwhelming, and, quite frankly, mostly pretentious dribble. Why not let the radio DJ—your new music critic friend!—play you a selection of only the best and most interesting tunes, allowing you, in turn, to decide what you like?

Other forms of media, such as social networking and blogging, complement and enhance radio, rather than replace it. Beyond simply

calling in to hear a request, listeners can interact with programmers on their Facebook or Twitter pages in real-time.

Although geographically separated, many listeners can communicate at once. For example, CKUT, McGill’s campus-community station, has a “Clip of the Week” feature on the main page of its website, which enhances the listening experience by highlighting segments of a show you might not normally listen to. CKUT’s Campus Mixtapes (campusmixtapes. org) allows CKUT DJs and McGill students to curate digital mixtapes, which can be in turn, shared on Facebook.

Online archives mean you can always go back and hear a show later, no matter where you are in the world.

Beyond music, campus community radio stations in Canada provide a home for many different community voices to express themselves, that

don’t otherwise have the opportunity.

Also, by tuning into the news and culture programs, you’re likely to learn a little something about your city and your world that you might not have known before.

My love of radio inspired me to get involved with CKUT on literally the first day I arrived in Montreal.

CKUT has been a media mainstay in Montreal since its founding 25 years ago, and is still relevant to campus and the greater community. I think it will continue to be for at least another 25 years.

—Carol Ellen Fraser Full disclosure: Carol Ellen Fraser is an elected student representative to and current Chair of the CKUT Board of Directors. To learn more about CKUT, visit their website at ckut.ca

Suite 110, 3480 McTavish Montreal, QC H3A 0E7 T: 514.398.6789

Advertising Brown Student Building Suite 1200, 3600 McTavish Montreal, QC H3A 1Y2 T: 514.398.6835 F: 514.398.7490 The McGill Tribune is an editorially autonomous newspaper published by the Société de Publication de la Tribune, a student society of McGill University. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of The McGill Tribune and the Société de Publication de la Tribune, and does not necessarily represent the views of McGill University.

Letters to the editor may be sent to editor@mcgilltribune.com and must include the contributor’s name, program and year and contact information. Letters should be kept under 300 words and submitted only to the Tribune. Submissions judged by the Tribune Publication Society to be libellous, sexist, racist, homophobic or solely promotional in nature will not be published. The Tribune reserves the right to edit all contributions. Editorials are decided upon and written by the editorial board. All other opinions are strictly those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the McGill Tribune, its editors or its staff. Please recycle this newspaper.

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involves a book that was used, shared, or gifted.

E-books could spell the end of book exchanges between travellers in hostels, lending a favourite book to someone you know will appreciate it, and getting the feel of where a book has been by touching its pages.

Photography is an even sharper example of the shift from hard copy to digital. It is not uncommon to see seven-year-olds toting around iPhones and taking pictures at arm’s length. How many will grow up without the memory of looking through a viewfinder, or winding film? Will any of them experience the magic of an image suddenly materializing out of nothing on a blank page in a dark room, or the anticipation of taking in a completed roll to be developed, and the surprise at getting the photos back?

The benefits of new, innovative technologies are obvious and numerous; but respect is owed to the various successes and failures along the way.

Those intermediaries made the improved, more efficient versions of today possible.

In the words of Terry Pratchett, author of Discworld: “It is important that we know where we come from, because if you do not know where you come from, then you don’t know where you are, and if you don’t know where you are, you don’t know where you’re going. And if you don’t know where you’re going, you’re probably going wrong.”

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Different generations can’t understand each other when it comes to technology.

When older professors discuss the joys of computer programming on punched cards, I nod periodically and feign interest, but secretly send texts under the table.

Soon enough, however, it will be us spouting technological trivialities on the next generation’s deaf ears. In fact, it’s already happening to me. A friend asked me recently if I knew about 8-tracks, and I replied in the affirmative: “Yes, of course, apparently they were quite useless because they jammed all the time.” It turned out she was referring to the internet radio site, 8tracks.com, not the obsolete sound recording technology I assumed we were discussing.

While few will feel regret as 8-tracks fade from memory, there are a number of much loved gadgets, revolutionary in their day, which will never be known by future generations. The rise of cell phones is bringing about the fall of wrist watches, themselves responsible for shoving pocket watches off the world stage. Future generations may wonder: What is that thing the white rabbit keeps looking at? Why would Dumbledore have to wind his cell phone?

Just as we smile bemusedly at the mention of floppy discs, tomorrow’s youth will return blank stares at references to encyclopedia sets. Think back to your first memory of reading: it probably

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24. DVD file format 25. Light-extinguishing charm 1. Past policy in US for 26.

Nightclub, or homosexuals serving villainess in the military (abbr) 2. Montreal Lebanese 27. What Germans restaurant shout when they 3. 11m-shot, in soccer score (Football/ 4. What eyes do Soccer) 5. Helps 28. Hawaiian garland 6. Luminous larvae 29. Alternative rock 7. County northeast to genre London 30. Tonic’s partner 8. Pancake house 33. Bar accessory 9. McGill uPrint’s unit of 35. Long way to go? charging 36. Otherwise named 10. ‘…---…’

37. Box-shaped meal 13. Dwarf in Norse 39. Whistle-blower mythology 40. Object of worship 18. Successor of the Cube 41. Type of grain 20. Commonality between 42. Spinning toy drum and worm 44. Meeny, miny, moe 22. Small parts of a gram 45. Swim (French)

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15. Tokyo’s former name 50. i2 51. Castle 16. Pop 52. Unit for a million years 17. Feeding tube? ago 19. Soccer position 21. Famous basketball 53. Course code for Media and Culture player 54. Comes after Cancer 23. House of ___ 24. A person who starts 55. A dim sum pastry 56. Type of bread 28. Cut of chicken 46. 100% 49. Perfume, with de toilette

TECHNOLOGY

Patents: from the McGill lab to the world market At McGill, Office of Sponsored Research helps professors navigate international patent waters Nicole Weckman Contributor At many universities, like McGill, the seeds of the next great invention could be awaiting discovery—in a student sketchbook, a lab notebook, or on the corner of a professor’s desk. While the allure of invention is strong, the high cost of obtaining a U.S. patent (usually between $20,000-100,000 and sometimes more) often has an inhibiting effect on academic patents.

This may be resolved with a bit of institutional help, according to Associate Director Commercialization Michèle Beaulieu, of the McGill Office of Sponsored Research (OSR). The OSR offers professors at McGill services and support in the realm of intellectual property matters. For example, McGill will

cover the cost for inventions that have commercial potential. What’s more, this potential isn’t necessarily restricted to a potential for profit. As evidenced by many McGill inventions, patenting has proved to be instrumental in bringing beneficial and commercially valuable products to market.

“We look at market need. If there is a need that this invention can meet, then yes, it is good enough for us,” said Beaulieu. “Our objective is not to make money, first and foremost; it is to make sure, ultimately, that if a researcher reports an invention to us [and] this invention has potential, that we will try […] to find a way to get this to market so that it will benefit people.”

Dr. Satya Prakash, from the department of biomedical engineering, is one of many McGill professors

who have benefited from the intellectual property expertise in the OSR. With a successful company, Micropharma, Prakas has approximately 50 patents to his name.

“They’re very, very supportive,” Prakash said. “We are researchers […] We have no idea how to do these things, they are the first stop.”

However, not every project culminates in a patent. Despite the many resources offered through the OSR, the publications produced at McGill still far outnumber patents.

For many professors and students, patenting does not seem to be a priority. However, Prakash thinks it is an integral part of bringing potential products developed by universities to the market.

“Patenting [...] in university is very helpful, extremely useful,” Prakash said. “There is no other way

[to] bring value to your product. You cannot make it without patenting it, and McGill has a very special program for that through the Office [of Sponsored Research].”

Changes to intellectual property law, currently sweeping the United States, will make patenting even easier. Last month marked the one-year anniversary of President Obama signing the America Invents Act into law. The act, which will take full effect this coming spring, will lead to sweeping and long overdue reforms to U.S. intellectual property law.

This includes a shift from a first-to-invent to a first-to-file system—which will lead to an estimated 22 per cent decrease in the fees required to file for a patent with the United States Patent and Trademark Office­.

The first-to-file system grants a patent to the first inventor to file for a patent. In contrast, the first-toinvent system, seeks to grant patents to the first inventor to conceive an idea. First-to-file is inherently much simpler and cheaper to document.

Regardless of changing international intellectual property laws, the experienced hands at offices like the OSR can make the patenting process and cost manageable. What’s more, these changes are not expected to have much effect on the average McGill inventor attempting to patent their brilliant idea or invention, says Beaulieu.

“The U.S. was the only country that had that requirement, that first-to-invent versus first-to-file.

Every[where] else, it is first-to-file.

So it has not really changed anything in the way we do business.”

Curiosity delivers. |

SCIENCE & TECH

| Tuesday, October 2, 2012

RESEARCH

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Freak ants reveal evolutionary truths to researchers Ehad Abouheif makes super soldier ants; studies ants with half female, half male heads Kieran Steer Contributor It turns out your high school science teacher was wrong. While evolution can seem like a random series of events, some researchers are arguing that there may be a nonrandom, or even predictable, aspect to the process.

Ehad Abouheif, Canada research chair in evolutionary developmental biology, and associate professor of biology at McGill, conducts research on ants and the nature of evolution. Ants are ideal for study because they have a complex social hierarchy—workers, soldiers, queens—as well as great diversity, with over 15,000 species.

“Because they are so dramatic, they make phenomenons that are often hard to see in other organisms [obvious], and bring out effects that you could easily miss with a solitary creature,”Abouheif said.

One of his main projects involves super solider ants, vastly larger and stronger than regular soldier ants (the colony protectors), these insects were discovered in the colonies of several species in Arizona. However, Abouheif stumbled upon super soldiers in ant colonies in Long Island, nearly 4,000 km from Arizona. He began studying these colonies, hoping to discover the trait that triggers the transforma-

Super soldier ants dwarf worker ants. (flickriver.com) tion.

Abouheif injected larvae with growth hormones at different points in their development, and eventually found the critical moment when the the super soldier gene could be activated. Rather than developing into small, short-lived worker ants, these larvae grew into giant super soldiers.

Furthermore, Abouheif found that while few had these giants in their natural colonies, many species of ant larvae could successfully become

super soldiers in the lab. “[Historically], there were super soldiers,” Abouheif said.

“Then somewhere in evolution, [ants] lost the phenotypic expression of them, but they retained this potential to produce them; that given some kind of environmental stress, with hormones and nutrition […] you can get the super soldiers to pop out.”

This discovery reinforced Abouheif’s belief that environmen-

tal cues play a crucial role in genetic expression, and that freak ants reveal a hidden evolutionary potential that may be present in all species. As humans ingest an increasing amount of growth hormone in food, we could potentially unlock traits only seen in our ancestors.

Another piece of this evolutionary puzzle arose in separate research.

Abouheif found an unusual trait in a species of tropical ants: their heads were split down the middle, with

one half male and the other female.

In another case, the heads were half worker, and half soldier.

Abouheif uncovered a sevenyear-old report of the split-head ants on a completely different continent, in a separate species of ant. Digging through older literature, Abouheif came across even more examples.

The split-head trait cannot be entirely genetic, says Abouheif. It is not only due to a mutation in the genome, but also some environmental factor which is changing the way in which the genes are expressed. The fact that this trait occurred and survived in so many isolated colonies was telling to Abouheif.

“We [are] seeing this really rare thing that’s revealing a deep predictability about evolution.”

Discoveries like these are changing assumptions about the random nature of evolution. Super soldiers “are not totally bizarre, random freaks,” but the result of genes from an organism’s ancestry reacting to environmental stimuli.

If evolution is not entirely random, then the ability to predict patterns in genes’ expression will allow for a greater understanding of all organisms, Abouheif says.

“Who knows what kind of potentials we could be activating in humans, other animals, all kinds of things.”

Research Profile

Audrey Moores: on a quest for ‘greener’ chemistry The chemistry of the future will be smarter, better for health, the environment

Audrey Moores (chemistry.mcgill.ca)

Krishanth Manokaran Contributor Most people associate chemistry with toxic fumes and caustic materials. The Green Chemistry movement, which began in the 1990s, is working to change both the perception and the reality of the field.

Dr. Audrey Moores, an assistant professor in the McGill department of chemistry, focuses on green chemistry in her research.

“What green chemistry proposes is [that] when you do chemistry, you have to think about health, the environment, and you have to try and design new things that will take this into account much better.”

On September 13, Moores gave a presentation on green chemistry, nanoparticles, and catalysis in the Fall edition of Soup and Science, a lunch lecture series by McGill professors held each semester. Last week, she sat down with the Tribune to discuss her research and the green chemistry philosophy.

“Chemistry used to be focused only on the chemical equation of a chemical reaction itself. Now, it’s considering everything around it: where are my starting materials coming from? Where is my product going? Where is my waste going?

And so on.”

In her lab, Moores’ work focuses on trying to find and design recyclable catalysts. A catalyst is

a substance that, when added to a chemical process, makes it more efficient. For example, platinum is a catalyst used in cars to speed up the conversion of carbon monoxide, a toxic gas, into the less harmful carbon dioxide.

“If you have a catalyst, you need to make sure it can be recovered after the reaction and can be reused again and again,” Moores said. “In trying to design new catalysts, one of the things we use [are] nanoparticles.”

Due to their small size (between 100 and one nm in diameter), each nanoparticle has a high surface area, making them ideal catalysts.

Moores’ lab is focusing on using iron to replace palladium in hydrogenation reactions. Hydrogenation, or the addition of hydrogen to any molecule, is used in many different applications: in the food industry, hydrogenation is used to make margarine.

The problem with using palladium in the reaction is the potential for leaching. The FDA, European Union, and other bodies strongly regulate the quantity of noble metals, like palladium, in food and pharmacuticals because of their negative health effects.

Iron is a safer alternative and is less likely to leach into the final product. For example, because iron is magnetic, catalysts can be easily extracted from the lab’s final product. Another huge point in iron’s favour is price: one kilogram of palladium sells for $2,116.44 while the same quantity of iron sells for $0.12.

Finding better alternatives— such as iron instead of palladium— is the goal of green chemistry.

However, this process is not always simple.

A big issue in green chemistry is the process of ‘green washing’ or ‘green sheen.’ This is a term for projects in which more money or

time has been spent on advertising ‘greenness’ than on environmentally sound practices.

“We want to equip our students with the necessary knowledge to make informed decisions about what is green and what’s not,” said Moores.

Undergraduate students interested in learning more about green chemistry can take CHEM 462, taught by Moores and Professor Chao-Jun Li. The course, Green Chemistry, is offered in the Fall semester, and covers topics such as renewable feedstocks, catalysts and reagents, biocatalysis. It provides students with the opportunity to study in an ever-evolving field.

“We use the term green chemistry, but it really we should call that greener chemistry, because there’s no end to it.” Moores said. “It’s a work in progress.”

Racism in Soccer

By Jeff Downey

E

nglish soccer player John Terry resigned from further international matches this week.

His retirement came amidst a hailstorm of controversy stemming from a well-publicised racial incident involving fellow Briton Anton Ferdinand in 2011. In his resignation statement, Terry announced that the Football Association had made the situation “untenable.” This is just one of the increasing number of occurrences of racism in soccer, highlighting the need for strong action against this unacceptable behaviour.

As Euro 2012 wound down, very little about the sport had changed; fans still loved soccer, and players were still diving. Spain remained the untouchable champions and kings of football; and the other elite nations— chiefly Germany and Portugal—had fallen in nicely as well. Of course, merciless England blundered another round of penalties, and returned home to their tea and crumpets prematurely.

Unchanged was the brooding and ugly presence of racism in Eastern European soccer stadiums.

Realistically, to continually refer to soccer in its current state as ‘the beautiful game’ is to be willfully or woefully naïve.

The days of the beautiful game are gone.

Those inspiring pictures and videos of impoverished but united youth, kicking paper balls across compact sand pitches have been buried under a mounting list of scandals and hateful chants. Contrasting the superficial onfield failures like flopping, laziness, and

contrived showboating—which merely cause the raising of a cynical eyebrow— the sweeping pandemic of racism damages soccer’s greatest asset: its ubiquitous worldwide appeal. It all but obliterates FIFA’s famous, but misleading mantra “My game is fair play.”

Quite simply, today’s fans neither live in the beautiful age of soccer nor relish its golden aura. Instead, soccer faces a legitimate threat to its global popularity and relevance—a threat made worse by the egregious shortcomings of its two principal governing bodies, FIFA and UEFA. FIFA seems far more concerned with threatening Canadian Olympians who disagree with suspect officiating, than with defending basic human rights by enforcing racism-free stadiums. It would appear a complete rethinking of the timeless sport is in order by fans, players and organising officials wishing to restore the game’s global pull.

When Poland and Ukraine were awarded the honour of hosting the 14th edition of the European Championships in mid-2007, many were skeptical of their capabilities to saddle the momentous cost such an international event demands. The doubt seemed well-founded: both are former Sovietbloc states in different stages of social and economic development, and are the first of their kind to host the quadrennial tournament. After analyzing the figures, reported preparation costs soared to over $39 billion across the two nations and amassed a debt of $8 billion in Ukraine alone.

Yet, there is some benefit in allowing nations to host events like the Euro if they believe they have the capacity to afford it—inasmuch as they will not require long-term bailouts (think of the Big “Owe” here in Montreal). It is in the spirit of international events to enhance global awareness and equality, and instills national pride and wonderment. However it is up to these nations to operate under the umbrella of fair play and social justice. It is here that not enough scrutiny was placed.

Nobody, much less the UEFA, seemed to be paying any attention to the increasing incidences of racism in that region since the early 90s, both related and unrelated to soccer.

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, most countries in the Eastern Bloc have seen a steady increase in ethnic tension

as they struggle to forge identities following years of social oppression. The war in Yugoslavia at the conclusion of the 20th century provides a strong example of how deeply and fundamentally this feeling is rooted.

To put this specific European Championships’ region into perspective, an internal 2010 Ukrainian poll conducted by the Kuras Institute highlighted that 70 per cent of Ukrainians exhibited xenophobic behaviour and described ethnic outsider influence as disagreeable. In Poland, the European Values Survey revealed similarly disheartening numbers, despite an initial levelling out following Poland’s entrance into the European Union.

Meanwhile, in Russia—the host of the 2018 World Cup—over 3,700 racially fuelled, violent attacks causing death or injury occurred between 2004 and 2011. Most disturbingly, however, is that all sources point to a high level of governmental ambivalence, which breeds this sort of behaviour.

But what does this all have to do with soccer? On the surface, nothing—as bigotry and intolerance are omnipresent cultural issues that affect every aspect of society, and can be separated from sport. However a hard line cannot be etched between sport and society. In fact, an 18-month bigotry exposé of the host nations, undertaken by the Warsaw anti-racism group ‘Never Again,’ found numerous instances of racism classified as “giving rise to concern” leading up to the games. Most abashedly, the study highlighted an incident in a 2011 Polish match where a massive anti-Semitic poster was put on display for most of the contest without any police or security groups intervening. The inquiry gave credence to 195 individual events occurring in each of the two countries before “Never Again” closed its study in mid-2011.

The build-up to the tournament was again sensationalist in bigoted misfeasance from its infancy. The BBC visited the region just prior to the opening match to comment on the progress of the grounds, but was instead shocked to discover the prevalence of anti-Jewish and anti-African chants that swept through the stadiums and postmatch events. These chants were so widespread that British soccer officials recommended that families of black athletes on the English team remain

(Above) John Terry is accused of hurling racial slurs at fellow Englishman Anton Ferdinand. (thesportcount.com)

“With increasing amounts of bigotry across the entire spectrum that is football, one must remember that soccer is the

chosen ambassador of globalism in sport and that racism affects not only those subjected to it, but the entire two billion fans worldwide who long for a prejudice-free medium.”

Racist soccer fans in Italy. (yfrog.com)

at home, safe from persecution in the stadiums.

Mario Balotelli, an up-and-coming Italian star, threatened “to kill” anyone found throwing a banana at him and to “walk off the pitch at the first sign of trouble.” Although his sentiments were about as tactful as a bull in a china shop, they offer insight into the fear and resentment of many promising players towards racism in the sport specifically when it came to Euro 2012.

The actual event itself served to solidify pre-tournament trepidation and highlighted UEFA’s inadequate stance on racism. When the Dutch national team arrived for their first training session before the event, they were met with malicious singing from Polish spectators, leaving captain Mark van Bommel crestfallen. In an interview with the BBC, van Bommel said “Open your ears. If you did hear it and don’t want to hear it, that is even worse.” UEFA, who had cameras at the event, cited no offence and chose not to respond the incident.

Eventually, UEFA would fine three nations “for improper behaviour of [their] fans... racist behaviour and racist chanting.” First, Croatia was dinged with a fine of €80,000 for verbal assaults on the frightened Balotelli, €40,000 of which were actually for setting off fireworks in the stands. Russia and Spain were quickly slapped with additional €30,000 and €20,000 fines respectively, for similar for similar transgressions.

On paper, this appears progressive, as if UEFA was actually taking a resolute stance on fighting racism in Europe. In reality, it is far from doing so.

Euro 2012 spectators may recall a different, though newsworthy altercation when gleeful Danish striker Niklas Bendtner pulled up his shirt and slightly lowered his shorts to reveal a green pair of “Paddy Power” drawers after scoring his second notch in his match against Portugal. The penalty for this obviously farcical display?

Bendtner was fined €100,000 and earned a one-match competitive fixture suspension for the upcoming World Cup Qualifier. To reiterate, the harshest punishment handed out by UEFA during the Euro Cup 2012 was for a cheeky goal celebration, and not in response

to insults and bananas being hurled at black athletes. It is as if the grey-haired heads of European soccer gathered in a conference room to discuss how they could appear to care about crucial problems facing their sport whilst not actually caring about them at all, proceeding to get completely sidetracked in order to uphold 20s’ indecency laws against exhibiting undergarments in public.

”Open your ears.

If you did hear it and don’t want to hear it, that is even worse.”

— Dutch Manager Mark van Bommel UEFA’s Executive Board is not diverse. First of all, there are 17 members.

All of its members are Caucasian and all of them are quite old. Only one of them is under 50 (49 and eight months) and only four are younger than 60 years old.

But, in a hip and defiant move, UEFA broke up the boys’ club by adding a single, relatively young (51) female... in 2012. Not surprisingly, these executives are either a little out of touch as to how to correctly run and police a sport dominated by youthful exuberance and multiculturalism.

These events are not occurring in Eastern Europe alone. It is often easy for fans in the “civilized” Western world to wrongfully dismiss the problems experienced in the “barbaric” East as a hangover from years of radicalism and irrelevant to our age-old democracies and equal-rights societies. In actuality, when the wrongdoings are scrutinized, the West is anything but chaste.

For instance, among the countries penalized for racism in the European Championships was Spain. The West

is not immune to bigotry. Moreover, in some areas of Germany the problem has risen so substantially that in FC Cottbus’ stadium, racial epithets are considered the norm. England appears to be the worst offender of all, with at least five supporters ejected in the past year alone for racially abusing opposing players and fans. Anti-Semitism also runs almost rampant in football expositions in Britain. Most infamously, Chelsea and Arsenal have long persecuted members of Tottenham, a team with a significant number of Jewish supporters.

To believe the problem of racism in soccer and society stops at the fallen Iron Curtain, then, is as short-sighted as those engaging in racism to begin with.

Again, it can be said that the organizing committees have been almost willful in their compliance. The British FA continually refuses to indict fans accused of racism. Instead, the FA chooses to slap them on the wrist with menial bans that are difficult to enforce. This all but nourishes a sense of appropriateness amongst the general public.

This is not to say that the offences and faults rest solely with soccer fans. In actuality, the principal and often repeat malefactors are the players themselves.

The competing teams, leagues and countries have become somewhat of a hyenas den, mercilessly gnawing and biting at the foes’ race or creed until the spirit of competition is lost.

During an October 2011 match, Luis Suarez of Liverpool racially abused Patrice Evra of Manchester United repeatedly, which ultimately led to the Suarez’s suspension by the FA. Weeks later, amidst a media-fuelled fire, former England captain John Terry was cleared, by a court of law, of racial allegations against Anton Ferdinand, an English soccer player of African descent. Terry admitted to using “black” and “extreme sexual language” in the same sentence towards Ferdinand. Ferdinand’s brother, famous footballer Rio Ferdinand, was then accused of racism over Twitter, towards fellow African-Englishman Ashley Cole, who supported Terry throughout proceedings.

The list runs on and on. Brazilian soccer star Roberto Carlos was frequently subjected to racial remarks by

“To believe the problem of racism in soccer and society stops at the fallen Iron Curtain, then, is as short-sighted as those engaging in racism to begin with. “ competitors after signing a contract in Russia in 2011, and German player Kevin Großkreutz was suspended twice over his career for using racially insensitive language. Whether or not this behaviour by players is waning remains to be seen. With many anti-racism campaigns in football cropping up across the continent, what is clear is that players too, need to realize their faults in the steady trend of racism and fall into the mould of social conscientiousness if football is to transcend racism in the immediate future.

Regardless of whether the blame is assigned to players, spectators, or governing officials, or if it is Eastern or Western Europe worthy of condemnation, the fact of the matter is something must change. With increasing amounts of bigotry across the entire spectrum that is football, one must remember that it is the chosen ambassador of globalism in sport.

Racism affects not only those subjected to it, but the entire two billion fans worldwide who long for a prejudicefree medium. Unless UEFA chooses to abandon its archaic form of rule, fans are subjected to more austere penalties for hooliganism, and players are less acrimonious in their exchanges with fellow competitors. Then, soccer faces the risk of losing its global relevance and its title as ‘the beautiful game.’

Russian fans unfurled this inflammatory banner at a Euro 2012 match against Poland in Warsaw. (yfrog.com)

12

Tuesday, October 2, 2012 |

STUDENT LIVING

| Curiosity delivers.

Top 10

10 Reasons why autumn is awesome Don’t let the colder weather blind you to the best of fall Elisa Muyl Editor-in-Chief If you’ve been outside in the past month, you have likely noticed that summer is now over. Though the change of season signals an inevitable descent into the cold, dark winter, the drop in temperature gives students and Montrealers alike a chance to switch up their wardrobes and pastimes. Put away those tired, sweaty short shorts and worn out tees—it’s sweater season! Here are ten ways to enjoy the fall:

1. Rocking the bulky sweater

If sundresses signal summer, the bulky sweater is fall’s hallmark outerwear. There’s nothing like a chunky, brightly-coloured wool sweater to let people know that you are hip, you know what season it is, and you enjoy wearing itchy clothing. Take advantage. If you want to be hilariously ironic, find the tackiest pattern you can, and rock it.

2. Hearty Soups

After a long, hot summer, it is finally time to get your soup on! Take a break from midterm studying to indulge in a liquid meal that will warm you to the core. Stay toasty with a spicy black bean soup, or try your hand at the classic homemade chicken-noodle. You might even find a new recipe or two in the Tribune!

3. Red, Yellow, and OrangeColored Pants

Nothing says ‘autumn’ like bright and cheery foliage, and there’s no reason these colours should be limited to nature. In the spirit of the crisper weather, make sure to warm up your palette with some funky orange or yellow pants. While these hues may or may not be ‘in’ this fall season, make like a tree and ignore the fashion trends. Your boring old blue jeans will still be waiting in your closet for you once all the trees are bare.

4. Getting Decorative with Some Gourds

Around this time of year, mini summer squash pale (literally) in comparison to their larger and brighter fall relatives—the pumpkin and the butternut squash. Stick one in the middle of your kitchen table for an instant centerpiece, or carve one up and display it in your window to ward off friendly neighbours this midterm season.

5. Sporting Events

While the Montreal Alouettes are wrapping up their season, the McGill teams are just getting started.

Grab a gourd, practice your McGill chants, and head to Molson Stadium in your wool sweater and orange pants for some soccer, football or rugby, and a healthy dose of school spirit.

Q: What is your motto?

A: “Energy.”

Alex Gershanov U1 engineering Chemical Engineering (Alexandra Allaire/ McGill Tribune)

Q: Which fictional character would you most like to date?

A: Rihanna.

Q: Who is your hero?

A: That guy with the golden voice—this guy who was homeless but he has this amazing radio voice.

Q: Batman or Superman?

A: Batman.

6. Apple Picking

This mainstay fall activity is a cheap—though labour-intensive— bonding experience. Head to one of Quebec’s many apple-picking farms and load up on apples for the semester. One solid trip and you’ll have enough ammo to keep you stocked with apple sauce, apple cider, apple pies, and apple anything, until the new year.

7. Walks up Mont Royal

Though the mountain offers gorgeous views of Montreal any time of the year, this season’s changing and falling leaves make autumn the most beautiful time to head up the winding Chemin Olmstead.

8. Seasonal Beers

New seasonal produce begets creative flavours of your favourite beers from Montreal’s many microbreweries. Be on the lookout for St. Ambroise pumpkin beer, and stop by

sion do you most overuse?

A: “Word.”

Q: Describe your favourite article of clothing.

A: I have a tank top from this new Montreal-based company that’s called “Cure,” and it has brass knuckles on it, and it says “Wisdom is Power.”

Q: Kris Humphries or Lamar Odom?

A: I don’t know either one of those people.

Q: What is your lucky charm?

A: My “rage” shirt. The one that says “rage” on it.

Q: Name one song that takes you back to O-week of first year.

A: Take Over Control - Afrojack

Q: If you could say one thing to Kim Kardashian, what would it be?

A: “Take me.”

Q: Which historical figure would you most want to have a beer with?

A: Alexander the Great

Q: Yams or Sweet Potatoes? (They’re different) A: Neither. I stick with potatoes.

Q: What’s your least favourite sound in the world?

A: “It’s ok, it happens to everyone”

Q: What word or expres-

student of the week with Jacqui Galbraith

microbreweries like Dieu du Ciel in the Mile End, or downtown’s Brutopia for their fall specialties.

9. The magic lanterns

Every fall for the last 20 years, over a thousand lanterns light up the Chinese Garden at Montreal’s Botanic Gardens. This year, they are accompanied by lights at the Japanese Garden. For its 20th anniversary, the festival’s theme will be the Feast of Peaches.

10. Halloween

Now is the perfect time to start brainstorming your costume (or costumes, if you side with those who believe Halloween needs to be celebrated for more than one night).

Head to Eva B’s, or any other of Montreal’s bountiful second-hand stores for inspiration and a good bargain.

Know someone who would be perfect for student of the week?

Nominate them! Email us at studentliving@mcgilltribune.com

Q: Jay Leno or Conan O’Brien?

A: Conan. [Forget] Jay Leno.

Q: What’s the last song you remember listening to?

A: Mykonos – Fleet Foxes.

Q: How many times have you had poutine since you’ve moved to Montreal?

A: Like, 15.

Q: Michael Jackson or Michael Jordan?

A: Jackson.

Q: Rank the Harry Potter books from best to worst.

A: 4, 2, 3, 1—haven’t read the other three.

Q: Describe Montreal in three words.

A: For the taking.

Q: James Franco or Dave

Franco?

A: James Franco.

Q: Sports Illustrated or Cosmo?

A: Sports Illustrated.

Q: If you were a Crayola crayon, what colour would you be?

A: Royal Purple.

Q: What’s the first thing you think of when I say Thanksgiving?

A: My birthday.

Q: Who would play you in the movie of your life?

A: Nicholas Cage.

Q: Why are you an asset to McGill?

A: I’m a beatboxer for an a capella group, and I try and get involved in engineering events.

I make cool music on the street, drumming and such on buckets and pans, and I bring the energy. I am the energy.

Curiosity delivers. |

STUDENT LIVING

| Tuesday, October 2, 2012

13

Sweet Potato Recipe

By Natassja Di Battista

Thanksgiving Stuffing Recipe

Here is a classic feel-good family recipe that is perfect for Thanksgiving. Easy to prepare, this dish is a staple at any table come Thanksgiving weekend; it will definitely have you coming back for seconds!

Ingredients 3-4 large sweet potatoes ¼ - ½ lb salted butter ¼ cup milk 1 tbsp brown sugar Additional brown sugar for topping

Method Peel, dice, and boil sweet potatoes until tender. Drain and mash with butter, milk, and 1 tbsp brown sugar. Using a handheld mixer, whip the mixture until light and fluffy. In an 8” x 10” baking dish, spread the whipped sweet potatoes in an even layer and cover liberally with a layer of brown sugar.

Bake at 350 farenheit degrees until brown sugar melts and bubbles.

Watch carefully, as the sugar can burn quickly. Serve warm and enjoy.

travel

Long Weekend Getaways Elisa Muyl Editor-in-Chief Jacqui Galbraith Student Living Editor This tasty recipe is sure to make your side dish a main event this holiday weekend. Whether you’re serving it in a turkey or as a vegetarian alternative, you can bet it will be a hit! This recipe makes enough for about 8-10 people, so you may want to halve it if your dinner party is smaller. Otherwise, you’ve got leftovers for weeks!

Ingredients 4 oz. sausage meat (or 1 cup finely chopped mushrooms if you’re making a vegetarian dish) 2 tbsp butter 2 cups chopped onions 1 cup finely chopped celery ¼ cup minced parsley ½ tsp black pepper ¼ tsp nutmeg ¼ tsp ground cloves ½ tsp salt 1 tsp dried thyme 1 tsp dried sage 10 cups dried bread crumbs 1 cup chicken stock (substitute1 cup of your favourite white or red wine if you prefer) Image from glutenfreetoronto.com

Method Crumble and brown the sausage meat in a frying pan with butter. If you are making the vegetarian version of this dish, cook the mushrooms with butter on medium heat for about five minutes, or until they’ve reached the desired tenderness. Add the celery and onions, and cook until the onions start to brown.

Remove pan from heat and add minced parsley and seasonings. Add dried bread crumbs and toss. Slowly, stir in the chicken stock or wine (from personal experience, I highly recommend using red wine), until evenly mixed. Spoon the stuffing into your turkey and roast until turkey is done, or simply moisten with additional wine and bake in a buttered dish, covered with aluminum foil for 30-45 minutes at 350 degrees farenheit.

If you hail from Canada’s West Coast—or if you celebrate Thanksgiving in November for some strange reason—and aren’t going home this long weekend for turkey, take advantage of the extra day off.

Go exploring!

Burlington: The largest city in Vermont is only two hours away by car or bus. Its relaxed charm is second only to the wide variety of activities it boasts. Choose from your standard apple-picking and shopping on Church Street, to the wacky Pumpkin Regatta, an annual boat featuring floating, hollowed out pumpkins.

Quebec City: Check out the province’s capital in all of its autumnal glory. Roam around Vieux-Quebec for some old-world architecture

only a few hours away by bus or train.

Ottawa: The nation’s capital is only two hours away, and easily accessible by any mode of transportation. Go visit Parliament Hill for a dose of Canadian national pride.

Saratoga Springs: Halfway between Montreal and New York City, this sleepy college town boasts a race track and the Skidmore college campus. Recharge for the weekend at one of its numerous Victorian bed and breakfasts.

New York City: The city of cities is only eight hours away by Greyhound. Make the most of your weekend and grab an overnight bus, or find a ride share, to visit the best city in the world!

Montreal: Stay in Montreal and try your hand at making your own Thanksgiving dinner!

www.mcgilltribune.com

14

Tuesday, October 2, 2012 |

STUDENT LIVING

| Curiosity delivers.

a student’s perspective on...

Customer etiquette

The other side of the restaurant story from behind the counter Colleen McNamara Contributor Any good writer seeks to express the truth, be it in politics or interior decorating. Until now, it seems that a large portion of the restaurant-frequenting world has been blind to what really happens behind the scenes in these hectic establishments that appear calm and cool to the blind eye.

I’ve been working in restaurants for the better part of my legally employable life. In addition to chapped fingers from searing hot plates and an eclectic group of work pals, I have experience with classic culinary customer encounters. these anecdotes epitomize the irony of how little people understand about the workings of an eatery—despite how much time they spend in restaurants.

Situation one: What is that thing beside my lamb shank?

It is essential that you know exactly what you are ordering. Read the menu description carefully. This can even work in your favor: was the promised slab of goat cheese left behind in the kitchen? It very well could have. However, you will only know that if you actually read about what you are ordering. If you don’t know what something means, ask your server, as it could be a fancypants name for a spice or garnish you loathe. Contrary to popular belief, servers and chefs actually aren’t mind readers, so this process is in your hands and your hands only.

Situation two: the water wasters

Indeed, maintaining a good level of hydration is necessary for survival. But why—when it comes to water—is it appropriate for one person to order for everyone else?

You don’t walk into a restaurant and say, “14 T-Bone Steaks. All medium rare,” do you? Of course, the discrepancy here is that water is free, and most people don’t get too upset if something free magically arrives to them from the heavens. It’s only free for you, though: it takes the same amount of time and labour to pour a glass of water as it does a glass of wine or pop. No one is getting paid for the 27 glasses of water you ordered for all of your friends, not even knowing if they really want them.

Situation three: the time paradox Understandably, when you are dropping a three-figure sum on a nice meal, you expect your evening to run pretty smoothly. In the more expensive establishments, the food is—believe it or not—made to order, using as many fresh ingredients as possible. You have to sacrifice the convenience of quickness to maintain the quality. Why are you rushing in the first place anyway? Enjoy yourself, and take refuge in the thought that all good things come in time; and that McDonalds burgers, although excellent in their own way, are made in five seconds and cost three dollars for a reason.

Situation four: family matters Restaurants and young children are the worst match in the modern world since your Aunt Linda and Facebook. Children simply aren’t equipped with the same level of patience that (most) adults are, and they often fail to think twice about creating an artistic masterpiece on the freshly laundered restaurant linens. One of the most common parental intervention methods used is to order their children’s meals first.

This is an attempt to avoid intermittent painful shrieks ignited by an unwanted stomach growl. Unfortunately, the technique is completely illogical, since the kids will be finished their meal long before their parents, leaving a large window of time to wreak havoc.

The next time you are at a restaurant and observe that grumpylooking group beside you, chomping at the bit to devour their meal while their kids are swallowing pasta noodles whole, accompanied by their full, untouched glasses of water— walk on over and remind them that they aren’t the only ones expecting to eat tonight. Although everything appears to be easy-peasy, at least a half a dozen people are working really hard to make sure your belly and your mind walk out of the door satisfied. Not up for a divine intervention? Then just please refrain from ordering ‘water for the table.’

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BAR REVIEW

Snag the best seats in the house on game night A comprehensive review of the best sports bars Montreal has to offer Adam Sadinsky Managing Editor The NHL may be locked out, but every sports fans knows: there’s always a game on somewhere.

Where should you watch that game in Montreal? The Tribune has some tips.

Champs — A Montreal staple, Champs has two floors of TVs and specializes in showing multiple games at the same time. Fans have the option of sitting at small tables or booths downstairs in one of two relaxing areas separated by the bar,

or upstairs at long tables reserved for big hockey games. Head upstairs if you want to watch the game with the real fans. If the Canadiens are playing, you’ll have the opportunity to learn a little bit of French that you wouldn’t have heard in school. The food is decent but it’s made better by the serving staff dressed like referees—just don’t treat them like you would the real guys in the zebra stripes.

Peel Pub — Like big crowds and lots of TVs? Head to Peel Pub to get your fix. The bar is narrow and has two floors, but the sheer number of

televisions will have you constantly second-guessing which one shows you the best angle. The menu is extensive, with over 100 items, but the highlight is ‘The Canadian:’ two grilled hot dogs with poutine ‘Quebecoise’ and cole slaw for just $5.99.

Peel Pub is often quite crowded on Saturday evenings for Hockey Night in Canada or big UFC fights (get there really early if Georges St-Pierre is fighting) but the crowds should tell you this is the place to be.

McLean’s — Though it is known by some as ‘the place next door for when Peel Pub is full,’ McLean’s

doesn’t deserve this reputation. Beer towers and taps built into the tables allow you to stay seated and continuously pour beer without getting up to go and refill at the bar. The pool tables upstairs are nice for those less interested in sports and more in the mood for competing amongst themselves. It’s not quite Peel, but still an option.

Ye Olde Orchard Pub — Much smaller and noasting fewer TVs, Ye Olde has a more intimate atmosphere than some of its competitors. Conveniently located on Prince Arthur just before St Laurent, it’s

a good place for those living near McGill to go without making a long trip. Call ahead to make sure your preferred game is being shown, and enjoy some more unique beers other than the usual Boreale or Molson Ex. Home — If you want to stay close to home, why even leave? At home, you have complete control over the TV, can watch whichever game you want, and can turn it off after your team blows it. The menu consists of whatever you have in your fridge, plus whichever restaurant’s deliwvery number you have on speed dial.

arts & entertainment visual art

At the intersection of light and technology, art emerges Exhibit at the Goethe-Institut invites viewers to question and to perceive

She sees­—do you? (goethe.de) Joanna Schacter Contributor In When Do I See Photons? Oswald Wiener, cybernetician, author, and inspiration for the inaugural exhibition at the Goethe-Institut’s

new locale, poses this very question.

Photons, the smallest particles of light, stimulate our retinas. So what does it mean to ‘see’? Five artists, all students at Transmedialen Raum de la Kunsthochscule für Medien Köln, a prominent German media school, seek to answer this question through a mix of software and nature.

Four of the exhibit’s five works are short films projected onto a screen, and are visible from both inside and outside of the building through the institute’s floor-to-ceiling windows. These films looped one after the other, interrupted only by white-on-black titles and credits. Jan Goldfuss’ EntroPI, by far the most intriguing and unusual piece, used mathematical procedures and algorithms to create a complex blackon-white animation. This piece felt inherently organic, playing with the mind, making the viewer question what it is the eye perceives. Is

it airborne bacteria, smoke, or dust?

Lines, waves, and geometric formations emerge subtly from the multidimensional canvas created within, and just as quickly melt away from perception. While entirely computer-generated (the artist goes so far as to leave exposed animation framework and holes to demonstrate this), EntroPI manages to be universal, and naturally stunning.

In Cellular Performance, Verena Friedrich documents the manipulation of human and animal cells in black and X-ray white. These cells shift to form words and letters that come in and out of focus with the motions of the living organisms that constitute them. It’s an interesting concept to wrap one’s mind around; is this a statement on the impermanence of language, the ever-changing nature of human invention, or the idea that technology takes on a life of its own? The answer is un-

clear, but Friedrich’s cells are engaging to observe and make one feel acutely mortal and self-aware.

Though interesting and emotionally engaging, the three remaining works are less visually arresting.

Suija Kim’s [S] offers an up-close, greyscaled view of natural objects and phenomena. Stones, waves, and exploding geysers are filmed with dizzying camera angles and points of view that play with the ability to comprehend what it is that’s being shown on screen. Hörner/Antlfinger’s Two Homes juxtaposes footage of a farm and chicken coop with edited YouTube clips of a small parrot performing impressive tricks and caressing his owner’s hand. The fifth artist, Vera Drebusch, was present to engage visitors in her work Beamer Walks—essentially a tour of Montreal’s Quartier des Spectacles by the light of an electric torch. This was then captured on camera to be-

come, in turn, one of the films being shown.

As my mom pulled up beside the Goethe-Institut to give me a lift home, she passed the films projected in one of the windows, as well as the glass room in which a minirave complete with colourful strobe lights and an excellent DJ imported from Germany for the occasion was taking place, and said bemusedly, “Are you sure this is an art exhibition?” Pass by the Goethe-Institut to see for yourself, but the five artists on display, though often esoterically, manage to raise not only the question of When do I See Photons and what it means to see, but the most fundamental question of all: What is art?

When Do I See Photons? runs through Dec. 31 at the Goethe-Institut, 1626 Saint Laurent. Admission is free.

musical theatre

Love, laughs, and the libertine; a story of Guys and Dolls The Segal Centre brings an American classic to Montreal, featuring local talent and alumni stars Marie Stefanakis Contributor Big names and voices will grace the Montreal stage this fall as the Segal Centre for Performing Arts kicks off its 2012-2013 season with its up-close-and-personal rendition of Tony-award-winning performance Guys and Dolls. A sexy comedy of skewed morality, Guys and Dolls follows two gambling gangsters, Nathan Detroit and Sky Masterson, as they attempt to manipulate and one-up each other within the glamourized setting of a gritty 1940s New York City. Despite its small-scale setting, the production boasts an impressive list of seasoned Broadway and Stratford Festival veterans, all under the expert direction of Diana Leblanc.

Leading this skilled cast is Tony-nominated American actor Scott Wentworth, who portrayed the notorious Masterson in two previous runs of the musical at the Stratford Festival. Wentworth spoke fondly of his history with the show, referring repeatedly to its clever writing, humour, and edginess­—all of which he believes will appeal to a wide array of audience members.

Despite stereotypes surrounding older musicals—overly extravagant and disconnected from real

With love-struck gamblers and fortuitous drama, Guys and Dolls is a sure bet. (Simon Poitrimolt / The McGill Tribune) human experience—Wentworth claimed that Guys and Dolls manages to bypass the sentimentality and old-fashionedness typically ascribed to its contemporary productions.

“It’s about your grandparents’ world, but it’s also about everybody’s world,” Wentworth explained. He praised what he and others have interpreted as being the

central message of the show: taking risks and following your bliss. Wentworth believed that this prominent theme helps the show transcend generational barriers, and will particularly appeal to university students who are contemplating their futures.

“In a way, the message [of the show] is that you have to risk something, you have to gamble something

[...] if that’s what you want,” Wentworth said. “That’s a good thing to think about for those [of you] in your early 20s.”

Alongside the big Canadian names appears a group of Montreal performers and McGill graduates, most notably musical director Nick Burgess, comedian Massimo and Montreal-based actor Marcel Jeanin.

Among the local talent is actor and stand-up comedian Mike Paterson, a graduate of Dawson College’s DOME theatre program. Paterson, responsible for most of what he described as the “low comedy” of the show, stressed the importance of the comedic aspects of both lyrics and dialogue. The well-written humour, he believed, played an important role in maintaining Guys and Dolls’ legacy.

Like Wentworth, Paterson believed that a modern audience will not find it difficult to relate to the show’s different characters and subplots, despite its dated setting. “Two gamblers bet that they can’t take a religious girl to Cuba, and that’s the kind of thing that I would [do] with my guy friends,” he joked.

Equipped with a stellar list of collaborators, along with a script and score which have entertained generations of theatre lovers, Guys and Dolls is likely to have something for everyone.

Guys and Dolls runs through Oct. 28 at the Segal Centre for Performing Arts, 5170 Cote-Ste-Catherine. Student tickets are $29.

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Tuesday, October 2, 2012 |

Arts & Entertainment

| Curiosity delivers.

theatre

A local twist on an absurdist classic Players’ Theatre updates Waiting for Godot for contemporary Montreal

(Eric Chad / Players’ Theatre) Hannah Feinberg Contributor Samuel Beckett’s oft-cited yet largely misunderstood piece of absurdist theatre, Waiting for Godot, has had its own share of lingering­— not idly, but in a constant state of rework, reinterpretation, and repro-

duction. In the 60 years since its publication, the show’s vagabond characters Vladimir and Estragon have plodded from stage to stage, until finally setting up their meagre camp in McGill’s own Players’ Theatre this season. Thoroughly re-envisioned for a modern audience, director Isaac Robinson’s take on Beckett’s slim but weighty work is one part respectful preservation, one part winking reinterpretation.

From Beckett’s vague set description, the Players construct a familiar Montreal site: the back alley of a seedy bar, the door marked “Delivery Room: Godot’s Bar.” Amid flyers plastered across the set’s wall hides the central set prop: the indispensable willow tree. Estragon (Martin Law), in his patchwork jacket and ill-fitting boots slumped beneath the “tree,” could just as easily be the unlucky gentleman of the show’s original time as of today. Law, lank-limbed, unshaven,

and slumped with all the pride of a man recently awoken after a night spent in a ditch, portrayed Estragon (“Gogo” affectionately) with deadpan excellence. From tattered bowler to exposed toe, Law embodied the hardened Estragon with an appropriate lack of panache.

As his companion, compatriot, and sometimes combatant, Vladimir, or “Didi” (Rachel Resnik) played the clown to Estragon’s straight man. With arms splayed in pantomimed emotion, voice jumping an octave a minute, and face contorting from girlish pouts to livid glares, Vladimir acted (and acted indeed) as Gogo’s perfect counterpart. Resnik played the traditionally male role with slight femininity, skewing the somewhat homoerotic undertones of Vladimir and Estragon’s bond.

In place of this, enter Pozzo and Lucky. In this production they were presented as near caricatures of queer stereotypes. Pozzo, played

by Sebastian Biase with appropri-

theatre

Private View, public remembrance TNC’s production honours political dissidence and social justice Tara Boghosian Contributor What do masks, political upheaval, and student theatre have in common? On Wednesday Oct. 10th, all will be part of the debut of Tuesday Night Cafe (TNC) Theatre’s latest production, Private View.

The show will honour an important figure of Czech history, former president of Czechoslovakia Vaclav Havel, while telling a compelling story of individual struggle against the backdrop of political turmoil.

Written in 1978 by Havel, the play is directed this year by McGill’s own Gabriela Petrov, U3.

The story centres around protagonist Vanek’s visit to the newly renovated home of his married friends, Vera and Michael, in the wake of the ’60s Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia. He finds that his friends have decided to remain unaffected to the political situation, instead focusing on the pursuit of pleasures in food, sex, family, and leisure. Vanek tries to communicate to them the desperate nature of their country’s predicament, but in the end the characters must all make their own choices.

According to Petrov, this is a story that remains relevant in today’s world. “There are a lot of comparisons to be made when you

think about the nature of the protests that have been going on and the fact that these characters are dealing with a world in which protest is impossible,” Petrov said. “So they try and rebel in their own ways.”

TNC is one of McGill’s oldest student-run theatre companies, producing plays written by both internationally-renowned authors and student playwrights. Private View is the first play Petrov has directed while at McGill, but she has acted her whole life.”

“I’m a performer, first and foremost,” she said, “but I found it immensely helpful to be able to approach directing from the angle of the actor.”

Petrov noted that her history of acting gave her insight into what to avoid as a director, often drawing on her personal experiences see the show from the shoes of her cast.

She believed that directing Private View was one of her most edifying experiences at McGill.

The retelling of Private View honours Havel’s legacy, an intriguing figure who was a staunch opponent of Soviet intervention in his country. He was known for his political dissidence, and most of his written works creatively challenge social injustices. Havel’s death in 2011 elicited tribute by well-known figures worldwide, from U.S. Presi-

dent Barack Obama to Czech novelist Milan Kundera.

Private View made its first North American appearance in 1983 at New York’s Public Theatre. In a review for the New York Times Magazine, the late art critic Mel Gussow wrote that “the dehumanizing effects of totalitarianism are demonstrated with wounding honesty and irony in Vaclav Havel’s ‘Private View.’ This...is an event of artistic and political urgency.”

Throughout the play, the subconscious desires of the couple are acted out by masked figures. The use of masks is not something often seen in theatre productions, but they serve to make the TNC’s rendition stronger.

“It was hugely different to be part of a play with masked actors, even since the audition process” Petrov said. “It was challenging at first, but we had an amazing group of people who are so talented...I’m really excited about the show.”

Given the play’s rich history, relevance to current events, and the production’s creative presentation, there’s certaintly reason to be.

TNC’s production of Private View runs from Oct. 10th to Oct. 13th, and Oct. 17th to Oct. 20th at Morrice Hall

ate bombast, comes off as the aging aesthete toting a handsome young toy—or in this case, slave. Martin Roy as Lucky, limp-wristed and pouty, shed his character’s traditional ropes and chains for bondage paraphernalia and biker shorts, modernizing and somewhat undermining the monstrousness of human ownership. As the vagabonds’ visitors confuse dominance and subservience, knowledge and madness, and all of life’s seeming opposites, the two distorted our notion of certainty in human existence.

For all its comically modern touches—replacing Pozzo’s chicken

and wine for KFC and Molson— the Players’ Theatre production did Beckett’s work its due justice. The anxious irresolution on the page translated to the stage, giving viewers a substantial show that remains unresolved. Like the quasi-MacGuffin Godot, meaning loitered in every line and action, yet never quite materialized.

The characters were helpless and hopeless, the audience jarred and confused, and we are left with nary a conclusion in sight. This production of Waiting for Godot left us waiting—but in eagerness, not want.

Curiosity delivers. |

Arts & Entertainment

Album

| Tuesday, October 2, 2012

film

17

In search of lost love

reviews

Bonsai serves up both whimsy and wonder

This awkward moment is just one of many in Bonsai. (www.toutlecine.com)

Cruel Summer G.O.O.D. Music

Sic Alps Sic Alps

3 Pears Dwight Yoakam

G.O.O.D. Music, Def Jam

Drag City

Warner Brothers

If summer was cruel to producer Kanye West, this album makes me wonder if it was just because his artistic ambition was not up to its usual standards. Coming out on the tail end of the warm season, G.O.O.D. Music’s Cruel Summer largely misses the mark of a classic summer album.

With over 15 artists featured, the songs are too varied, and do not seem to centre around any particular theme. Each song has some merit and is worth listening to, but as a whole, the composition does not have the usual cohesive vitality of a Kanye-produced album. Songs mostly fall into two respective camps: aggressive hustler anthems and soulful, introspective melodies.

Of the former, the two most notable are the high-energy “New God Flow” and “Mercy,” which were released as singles prior to the album. The only other truly worthwhile song in this category is “The Morning,” in which seven artists deliver clever, revved up verses. In the second, more melodic category of songs, standouts include “To the World,” in which R. Kelly returns from oblivion to deliver some memorable lyrics. Another notable contribution is made by Ma$e, the onetime Diddy sidekick, on the seductive and progressive track “Higher.”

“Bliss,” a soulful duet delivered by John Legend and Teyana Taylor, is wonderful, and Kid Cudi’s “Creepers” is also a highlight—if only because it’s reminiscent of the former rapper’s contributions to the genre.

“The One” is another gem, balancing a hopeful melody with earnest, skilled rap.

If Cruel Summer had been a playlist of rap and R&B songs someone had thrown together for me, I would have probably loved it.

However, from something produced under Kanye West’s name, I can’t help but expect more.

— Tara Boghosian

Nostalgia is the first word that comes to mind upon hearing the first strings on the new self-titled album from Sic Alps. Nostalgia, in this case, refers to a wistful longing to have had experienced the wild changes of the ’60s. Listening to this album feels similar to being transported to a different world, full of the smell of patchouli, with peace emblems on every wall.

The opening track, “Glyphs,” reminds one of the enthusiastic craze of the Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour. The fast-paced psychadelic jams of Jefferson Airplane are also evoked in songs such as “God Bless Her, I Miss Her” and “Moviehead,” with playful riffs coming together for a fun, upbeat rhythm. Sic Alps then slow down their pace, leading one on a calming journey through the sonic fields of “Lazee Son” and “Rock Races.” The whole album has a raw, garage quality; from the imperfect vocals, to the dissonant sounds of heavily distorted guitars, to the freedom to experiment—it gives rise to a feeling that has been so lost in the modern world.

So to Sic Alps’ new album, I say thanks, for letting me feel a modern interpretation of the experience my parents had when they listened to the beauty of psychadelic rock 50 years ago.

For the past 20-odd years, Dwight Yoakam has been writing and singing what he calls “Honkytonk music.” Honky-tonk indeed: his new album, 3 Pears, released last month, has a distinct ‘bang-thatkeyboard, strum-that-guitar’ feel.

3 Pears both is and isn’t a typical country album. While Yoakam’s voice is tinged with Southern flair and follows traditional country motifs (namely, high last notes at the end of each phrase, which admittedly becomes repetitive), the instrumentation is the real standout. Somehow, while retaining a country barn feel, electric guitars and a strong rhythm drumming lend themselves to a modern, almost-butnot-quite pop atmosphere. Still, for those who aren’t country aficionados, the songs on 3 Pears may begin to blend together halfway through.

While certain numbers like “Take Hold of My Hand” and “Nothing But Love” may make you smile and tap your toes, lyrics like “If I had a big giraffe/he’d have to take a real long bath/and that’s why waterfalls are really neat” will just come off as plain silly. Nevertheless, 3 Pears is an undeniably entertaining listen, regardless of which genre you might prefer. Eventually, you may even find yourself counting Dwight Yoakam among your guilty pleasures.

—Sebastien Grant

Bored by politics?

— Joanna Schacter

not into sports?

Hannah Feinberg Contributor Chilean director Cristián Jiménez’ Bonsai is at its roots a familiar modern love story: shy boy falls for punkish girl, love blossoms, love fades, melancholy grows, lives separate, and girl dies. No spoiler alert there; its tagline is its ending. From the first frames, we know Emilia dies and Julio lives; that he is—and will always be—alone. Yet Bonsai unfurls slowly; characters and backstories developing like tendrils rather than shooting up as its abrupt start might suggest.

We meet Emilia (Nathalia Galgani) and Julio (Diego Noguera) as literature students in college, united by their mutual lie of having read Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time. Eight years later, Julio is an idealistic yet downcast bookstore clerk and Latin tutor, writing his own novel while claiming to his current girlfriend (Gabriela Arancibia) to be transcribing the latest work of Chilean author Gazmuri. As Julio develops his forged novel, his girlfriend’s readings into “Gazmuri’s” intentions and flashbacks to eight years prior reveal that the book, though phony, has a history of its own. Julio’s past only slowly reveals itself, coming to life as he commits to paper the tragic romance behind it.

Literature is as much a character in Bonsai as are Julio and the women of his life. This is evident in the books Emilia and Julio read to each other before going to bed; in the ghost novel Julio writes eight years later; in the Proustian fram-

too cool for science?

ing device separating the movie into seven volumes; and in the everpresent notion that life is sometimes stranger than fiction. Dialogue— sometimes whip-smart, sometimes the fumbling poetry of teenage love, and occasionally the post-modern poetry of a professor alternating between notes on the mundane and musings on the profound—has the self-awareness appropriate of a movie so heavily indebted to words.

Full of visual humour—a copy of In Search of Lost Time tattooing Julio revealed as he sunbathes on the beach, for example; and carefully styled shots: Julio’s cluttered desk filmed from above like an I-spy image of the writer’s jumbled mind —the film looks good. As is so popular in ‘artsy’ movies of today light saturates outdoor scenes like a misprint in an old photograph, and colours are limited to the dusty palette of a 2012-via-1975 Instagrammed aesthetic.

Like the delicate plant after which it is named, Bonsai is carefully pruned and artfully arranged.

Hedging itself to art-house ambitions, Bonsai could appropriately be described as charming, twee, endearing, or all the other diminutive adjectives that accompany many of the indie romances offered at Cannes or Toronto Film Festival.

This is a movie for our particular generation of nostalgia-chasers, eager to see their own lives, loves, and losses mirrored onscreen, just as Julio finds his story reflected in the pages of Proust or Fernandez or Flaubert. After all, as Gazmuri notes, what happens here is “lo de siempre”: same story, different author.

Write for A&E! arts@ mcgilltribune.com

18

Tuesday, October 2, 2012 |

SPORTS

| Curiosity delivers.

LACROSSE — Redmen 17, cARLETON 3

Redmen depth proves too much for Carleton Despite slow start, McGill’s offence explodes in 17-3 rout Peter Laing Contributor The Redmen lacrosse team cruised to a 17-3 victory over the Carleton Ravens on Saturday afternoon, demonstrating once again why the program is hailed as one of McGill’s best.

The McGill squad (6-1) showcased its roster depth throughout the match. However, the Redmen opened with an uncharacteristically slow start, as the Ravens (1-3) dominated play scored just under seven minutes into the first quarter.

This prompted Head Coach Timothy Murdoch to call a timeout, upset with his team’s lack of aggression.

“I told them to tighten up the loose ends; we took two silly offside penalties and I told them to forget about it,” Murdoch explained.

The message was well received, and proved to be a turning point for the offence that currently leads the RSEQ in goals scored. The team went on to score 15 unanswered tallies and controlled the play for the

Ryan Besse dominated Carleton, tallying four goals in the victory. (Michael King / McGill Tribune) rest of the match.

Ryan Besse, McGill’s all-time leading goal scorer, led the offensive outburst and added four goals to attackman Connor Goodwin’s hat trick. Richie Klares proved to be the game’s best playmaker, leading the team with three assists and tallying a goal of his own. Overall, the scoresheet was a testament to McGill’s depth, as 10 different Redmen registered a goal over the course of the afternoon.

Despite the clear offensive onslaught, McGill’s victory was also largely attributed to its defensive effort. Surprisingly, Murdoch opted to start his substitute defensemen for the game—a successful move, and one that again illustrated just how vast the talent is in the McGill squad. Carleton was consistently shut down by the Redmen’s aggressive and well-disciplined play. The Ravens’ offence was blatantly frustrated and unable to convert on their

scarce possessions.

“We have such a deep bench,” Murdoch said. “[We have] a lot of talent on this team and a lot of guys ready to play at any time.”

Even though the score was indicative of McGill’s domination, large scoring margins often make players complacent. However, the entire Redmen team stayed focused on the task at hand, and did not let up on the Ravens despite the significant lead they had throughout the game.

Murdoch attributed his team’s mental discipline to the players’ mindset coming into the game.

“Our guys aren’t cocky at all,” he said. “We never take anyone lightly, and particularly [not] Carleton, who we’ve had trouble with over the last few years.”

The victory proved to be an important one for the team’s confidence, after the Redmen fell in a heartbreaking 11-10 decision against the Bishop’s Gaiters on Thursday.

The Gaiters are currently challenging the Redmen for the top spot in the Eastern Conference.

A deep and cohesive squad will continue to help McGill work towards a chance to play in the CUFLA championship, after bowing out in the semifinals last season.

The Redmen journey to Ottawa on Oct. 4 for a rematch against Carleton, who will be looking to redeem itself.

Curiosity delivers. |

SPORTS

| Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Major League

american league

national league

Baseball playoff preview

New York Yankees

Detroit Tigers

Unsurprisingly, the Bronx Bombers find themselves in the thick of it in October. The Yankees carry the most World Series titles of any club in history and they will not be fazed by the sport’s biggest stage. The Yanks are equipped with an explosive arsenal of big arms in C.C. Sabathia and Hiroki Kuroda. The usual offensive suspects Alex Rodriguez, Curtis Granderson, and Derek Jeter means opposing teams will have their hands full. It’s always hard to bet against the Yanks; and this year it is particularly true, as their arch-nemeses, the Red Sox, hit the links early. Look for New York to contend for yet another World Series championship. Anything less than an American League crown will be a disappointment.

Although the Tigers are limping rather than roaring into the playoffs, they do so on the backs of two big league stars.

Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder are two of the best hitters in baseball, and together form the best one-two punch in the game. Fielder made the transition to the American League better than his other high-priced contemporary, Albert Pujols, and it is paying off in Detroit. In addition, ace Justin Verlander had another strong year on the mound, vying for his second consecutive Cy Young award. Whether or not the bats of Cabrera and Fielder will keep producing deep into October, this team has shown that it is capable of duelling with the big boys in the AL.

Texas Rangers

Baltimore Orioles

The Rangers have guaranteed themselves a trip to the playoffs with their win on Sunday, and barring any meltdowns, will win their division as well. Texas is one of only eight MLB teams never to have won a World Series. This especially hurts considering the team has made the October classic the past two seasons. Texas is trying to knock the monkey off its back and has the ability to do so, but making the World Series three years in a row is no small feat. Yu Darvish has provided some exciting, young talent on the mound, but his control issues will make him tough to rely upon heading into the postseason. The team, however, can certainly trust Josh Hamilton to produce and lead an offence that will be an integral part of another World Series push.

The Orioles came out of nowhere this year. Having last reached the playoffs in 1997, and with nothing to indicate a turn-around, they have already exceeded expectations.

Any route out of the American League is a difficult one, but armed with some potent bats in Nick Markakis and Adam Jones, one can count on Baltimore’s firepower moving forward. Additionally, closer Jim Johnson, the MLB’s league leader in saves, assures Baltimore fans that most leads are safe come crunchtime. A duel with the Yanks seems imminent and that spells trouble for this Cinderella story.

by Jeff Downey and Steven lampert

Oakland Athletics Oakland is another team that came out of nowhere in the American league.

Looking to return to the postseason for the first time in over a decade, these boys have shown that there is more to them than just Brad Pitt movies. Brandon Moss continues to pummel the ball, and youthful phenom Yoenis Cespedes’ blistering speed seemingly allows him to score on anything hit to the outfield. The A’s also have a fairly deep and reliable pitching staff. This is particularly important on a roster that lacks a true ace. Many people counted out the A’s following some questionable offseason trades, but this team has punch. Should Oakland manage to get through the wild-card showdown, that tenacity could help grind out a win in the American League Divisional Series.

tribune’s world series prediction

Texas over Atlanta in five games.

Washington Nationals In what was supposed to be yet another building year in D.C., has turned out to be a breakout campaign that few saw coming. The Nats head into the postseason as the team to beat in the NL, compiling the best run differential in the league during the regular season. Much of their success came on the backs of, arguably, the best pitching staff in the league, led by Stephen Strasburg, Gio Gonzalez, and Jordan Zimmerman.

Washington made the tough decision to shut down Strasburg in September, abiding by the inning limit set for him in Spring Training. Nevertheless, this weakened pitching staff will be backed by a deep lineup, featuring plenty of power hitters including Adam LaRoche, Ryan Zimmerman, Michael Morse, Jayson Werth, and rookie phenom Bryce Harper. That being said, Nats fans can only hope that cutting out Strasburg won’t hurt their World Series chances.

San Francisco Giants The Giants are back in the playoffs after their magical 2010 season, which culminated in an unexpected World Series championship. This year’s roster is reminiscent of that team. The pitching staff is solid, despite a horrible year for former ace Tim Lincecum. Matt Cain, Madison Bumgarner, and Ryan Vogelsong have anchored the staff and kept San Fran competitive throughout the year. However, the offence leaves something to be desired, as the team ranks last in home runs. The Giants will rely heavily on catcher Buster Posey, who has set a torrid pace since July. Trade deadline acquisition Hunter Pence helped jumpstart the offence a bit, but without Pablo Sandoval and Brandon Belt performing, the team may struggle to manufacture runs.

The Giants will have to play small ball— a strategy that has worked in the past. If Lincecum can somehow regain his form in the postseason, San Fran may be the sleeper team to emerge from the NL.

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Cincinnati Reds Coming off of their most successful season since 1990 when they won the World Series, the Reds franchise is rejuvenated thanks to a pitching staff and bullpen that sits atop most major pitching categories. All five starters have been fairly effective this season, headlined by NL Cy Young candidate Johnny Cueto and offseason acquisition Mat Latos. The bullpen features electric closer Aroldis Chapman, who should hope that his arm won’t fatigue in October. The offence, though, is what may drive the Reds out of the postseason.

2010 National League MVP Joey Votto missed most of July and all of August after undergoing arthroscopic surgery to repair torn cartilage in his knee. Secondbaseman Brandon Phillips provides consistency, but nothing that will make opposing pitchers scared. The bright spot in the lineup is outfielder Jay Bruce, who mashed 34 home runs and will continue to be relied on if Votto can’t regain his form. With this in mind, disappointment seems likely in Cincy.

Atlanta Braves Despite being overshadowed by the incredible season put together by their division rivals—the Washington Nationals—the Braves are sneakily good. Michael Bourn and Jason Heyward are a lethal outfielding duo at the plate as well as on the grass, while Kristopher Medlen has been great as Atlanta’s chief starting pitcher. This team will be dangerous should the bats stay hot and Medlen continues his success.

Additionally, the Braves have the air of a team that has been there before, which is crucial as October creeps along. Getting past the wild-card showdown seems likely, and beating Washington without Strasburg is a definite possibility. Look for this team to challenge for the NL crown.

Images from famouslogos.com, tow.edu. com, sportsgatherings.com, wikia.com, logomix.com, sportsmediamonsters.com, nyshows.org, signbive.com

St. Louis Cardinals Getting rid of Albert Pujols hasn’t been too bad for the Cardinals.

Catcher Yadier Molina has taken the reins of power production and performed well in the role. Coupling him with fellow offensive juggernauts Carlos Beltran and Allen Craig, and Kyle Lohse’s unbelievable 16-3 record on the mound, St. Louis has done well for a so-called rebuilding year. Athough the goal will be to defend their World Series championship, any results past the wild card showdown would be a pleasant surprise for the team and Cards’ fans.

19

SPORTS

Redmen Preview

Hockey

Inside: by trevor drummond

“We’re all part

of a big winning tradition at McGill.

It’s like the players, the individuals, don’t really matter. We’re just a big family.

”

The Redmen study film before their final preseason game. (Simon Poitrimolt / McGill Tribune)

T

he McGill Redmen hockey team enters the 2012-2013 campaign as the defending National Champions for the first time in its 137-year history. Last year, just one season after losing in the CIS Final to the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds, the Redmen hoisted the trophy in the 50th edition of the University Cup. They defeated the Western Mustangs 4-3 in overtime.

Captain Evan Vossen led by example during the game, netting the OT-winner and finishing his Redmen career with a school record of 216 games played.

This year’s edition of the Redmen looks markedly different from

their championship squad. The team’s top six scorers from last season have all graduated. This group includes Vossen, league MVP and Defenseman of the Year Marc-André Dorion, two-time league leader in goals Francis Verrault-Paul, and former MVP and scoring champion Alex Picard-Hooper.

Despite a slew of new faces and the departure of the core group of leaders, Head Coach Kelly Nobes— entering his third campaign as Redmen bench boss—has the same high expectations for this year’s team.

“We’re not changing the style that we’re going to play,” Nobes said. “We’re going to play the same

THIRD MAN IN In parenthood, our primary concern will be raising our children properly, from ensuring their happiness and well-being to familiarizing them with the colours of division rivals. The proudest occasion of any sport-loving parent will be the purchase of his or her child’s first jersey.

Picture the joy on their faces upon unboxing the iconic Bruins spoked-B or the classic Celtics’ green. Then picture the desolation on yours as they happily point to the horrid ads surrounding the team’s emblazoned logo. Sadly, this will be reality of North American sports in the near future.

The never-ending quest to increase revenue streams is now targeting the very aspect sports fans love and cherish the most— the jersey. Is there no end to this madness?

Europeans are already accustomed to jersey advertisements.

style that we’ve played the last two years: up-tempo, aggressive [and] in your face.”

Those are encouraging words for McGill hockey fans, who watched their team skate to a 224-2 record in 2011-2012. The Redmen finished with the best record in the league for the second consecutive season, but did so in the face of stiffer competition. They were very successful in tight contests, finishing with an astonishing 12-1-2 record in one-goal games.

This season, the title of National Champions may earn the Redmen even more attention from their opponents. The target is on their backs,

making the task of repeating their historic victory that much more difficult. However, this is the sort of pressure that championship teams embrace.

“We don’t resent it, we relish it,” Nobes said. “Our standard of play has to be there, night in and night out. That’s how we approach it. At the end of the day, it makes us better.”

Though this year’s team is short on veteran experience, it is loaded with youthful speed, skill, and grit.

The Redmen will lean on their increased toughness and balanced attack in the quest for another national championship. Though player turnover is a valid cause for concern, the team’s chemistry is developing much faster than Coach Nobes had anticipated. First-year winger Jonathan Brunelle is the perfect example of a rookie who has bought into the team’s system.

“We’re all part of a big winning tradition at McGill,” Brunelle said.

“It’s like the players, the individuals, don’t really matter. We’re just a big family. We feel like a group already.”

With nine freshmen on the roster, the Redmen will look for leader-

MLB playoff preview ship from the few returning players they do have.

Although not technically a returning player, defenceman Guillaume Monast hopes to be one of these leaders. Monast sat out last season in order to be eligible to play in the CIS, after splitting his time during the 2010-2011 season between the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) and American Hockey League (AHL). Though he found it difficult to sit in the press box, Monast was able to study the system and gain insight into how he can best contribute to this season’s success. Monast offered another vote of confidence for the new recruits.

“Everyone brings something to the table,” Monast said. “The new guys are young, but they are very good players. They have all been captains before, and they are smart players who know what to do.”

Despite an offseason of changes, optimism still emanates from the Redmen dressing room. The team posted a 3-1 preseason record, including a convincing 6-2 victory over Western. Coach Nobes leads his team into the 2012-2013 season with a career regular season record of 46-6-4, which only sets the bar higher for this year’s new-look team.

The McGill Redmen open the season on the road against the Concordia Stingers on Oct. 5. They will raise their championship banner at home on Oct. 6 against UQTR.

The Boston Pizza Bruins? Not for my kid.

The biggest soccer clubs in the world have large prints of company logos adorning the front of their jerseys. The situation is even worse in European hockey, where players look like Jimmie Johnson’s racecar.

Luckily, the trend has not yet caught on in any major North American sports. Particular care and thought have always gone into designing the jerseys of these leagues. Remakes and alternative styles are constantly introduced, and radical models ultimately fade away, replaced by those that manage to preserve a sense of tradition.

Nevertheless, change is inevitable and necessary in sporting gear. Hockey, for example, has benefitted greatly from the implementation of protective gear and high-performance equipment.

Even jerseys have been subject to technological advancements.

While original garments used wool and cotton, players today have the added advantage of micro-fiber material, which keeps them dry by wicking sweat away to the surface. To a certain extent, this keeps the player more comfortable and, hopefully, allows for a certain degree of performance improvement. However, beyond these small technological benefits, the jersey has remained true to tradition and replicas have continued to sell.

While sports merchandise already represents a steady and important source of income, leagues see no harm in exploring all avenues to bolster profits. And when this could lead to an additional $100 million in revenue— the amount earned by the English Premier League in 2010—their eagerness in pursuing such a path is understandable.

According to a report by

Sports Illustrated, the NBA plans to introduce jersey ads at the beginning of the 2013-2014 season.

Considering the NBA is an industry of entertainment with internatinal access, it would be foolish not to pursue these changes.

Where fans see tradition violated, owners see new, lucrative traditions. Where fans see a fashion faux-pas, owners see fashion statements; and where fans see selling out, owners see adapting to changing times.

Admittedly, the NHL and other North American leagues could benefit by following in the NBA’s footsteps. Isn’t the current lockout mainly hinged upon a dispute in revenue sharing? A ninefigure increase in profits would go a long way in settling their differences. These advertisements would allow for an astronomical margin of profit once the cost of stitching on the patches is deduct-

ed. The owners win, the players are satisfied, and the fans get their beloved sport back.

Although I dislike the idea, I am more than willing to give it a chance for the sake of the growth and improvement of the games that I love. Who knows, perhaps the ad placements won’t be as bad as originally perceived. It all boils down to a question of tradition, but what are modern day professional sports but corporate versions of these once unprofitable pastimes?

Fans still hold considerable leverage, as seen in the recent events surrounding the replacement referees in the NFL. As clients of the leagues, if we value tradition, we should voice such an opinion and reshape the outcome to our liking.

The final product will ultimately depend on fan approval.

— Hrant Bardakjian