The McGill Tribune Vol. 27 Issue 10

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Volume 27 Issue 10 • November 6, 2007

www.mcgilltribune.com

Published by the Students' Society of McGill University

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Playing a game on his personal laptop, Mario Paquet illustrates the increasing presence of homeless people on the internet, which has become an effective and necessary means of empowering the homeless community. See Features pg 12.

The Students' Society released its annual budget this past Thursday to a projected surplus drastically lower than previous years. Citing rising costs and lower operating rev­ enues, the budget report to Council by SSMU Vice-President Finance and Operations Imad Barake stated, "the current fis­ cal year is going to be a financially difficult year."

With the SSMU surplus down from 5222,298.94 in 20062007 to a projected $49,947.58 this year, Barake made it clear in his budget report that there were major differences be­ tween this year’s budget and last year's.

"We have a start-up operation, Haven Books, this year, and if we take a look at the numbers, Haven Books is expect­ ed to lose about $68,000 this year," Barake said.

Although seemingly daunting, the overall savings for the student population is expected to increase as Haven Books will "continue to provide books to students at an af­ fordable price," according to Barake. When contacted for comment, Haven Books quickly referred the McGill Tribune back to SSMU. The second significant change in cost was the recent library settlement between SSMU and the See FINANCIAL on page 3

M o n t r e a l t o c l e a n u p its s u s t a i n a b i l i t y a c t M u n ic ip a lity

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K ristin M aich The Montreal Metropolitan Community re­ cently put forward a $i.02-billion environmental plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the Montreal municipality to the Quebec govern­ ment. Targeting residual waste elimination, the proposal is focused on creating a comprehen­ sive composting infrastructure in the city.

"The current state of Montreal's recycling and sustainability efforts is not very good, espe­ cially in comparison to other large cities such as Toronto, Halifax and Hamilton,"said Students’Society Environment Commissioner Derina Man. "In many areas of Montreal, we continue with

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twice-a-week garbage pick-up instead of more environmentally friendly waste management systems. Efforts towards greater sustainability have mostly been made by small communities [and] activist groups rather than the municipal government."

Environment Canada Climate Change Co­ ordinator Pierre Sylvestre explained that with the plan in effect, collected organic waste would undergo a gasification process which would break the material down in the absence of oxygen, producing methane gas, which can then be harvested to produce electricity or used as fuel for buses and cars. This latter policy has already been implemented in several European

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cities according to Sylvestre.

"The gasification of all Montreal area wastes would reduce greenhouse gases by 1.5million tons per year," he said. "[Gasification is] a good way to resolve some of our environmental problems related to waste."

According to Man, the $i-billion invest­ ment will be well worth the money in the long run, but she emphasized that implementation of the program will require a clear public educa­ tion program.

“Many individuals have been willing for many years [to compost] but-there hasn't been a way for them to do it," she said.

Sylvestre agreed with Man, and also sug­

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gested the use of a 'brown box' for collection purposes, analogous to the familiar 'blue box' used for recyclable materials.

"I think [the composting plan is] something that can be done—we just have to make sure that it is well-publicized," he said. "We have to make sure that everything collected is organic, that everything is separated correctly; as long as it's well-organized and it's easy for citizens to do it, then I'm sure that the people will be very sup­ portive [of composting collections], as people are very supportive of the blue box right now."

Gorilla Composting Coordinator and SSMU See SSMU on page 4

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CITY

Agenda set for Special GA S O A P s e ts p h a s e r s t o f u n w ith satirical m o t i o n s K en S un The Nov. 13 Special General Assembly will bring some surprising motions on the table. Students Organized Against Protesters, a group of approximately 300 McGill students from various faculties, put forward motions to give many McGill buildings Star Trek-themed names, force the Students'Society Council to recite "Rocket Man" in the style of William Shatner and turn room 108 in the Students' Society into a shrine dedicated to William himself.

"SOAP represents the conservative opinion at McGill," said SOAP member JP Venturi, U4 mechanical engineer­ ing. "We were fed up with not having an adequate rep­ resentation of Conservative opinions on campus and we decided that these motions would be the best way to ex­ press our unhappiness with the way things are happening at McGill."

Other motions at the Special GA will include those not discussed before quorum was broken at the fall regular assembly. The motions, if passed, would demand SSMU to stand against the Capital Campaign, take action to create a student-parent status and demands that SSMU move to end the online opt-out procedure currently in place and create their own.

New motions include the McGill Mobilization Com­ mittee calling for SSMU to strike and join the province­ wide student protest to call for a "publicly funded, high quality system of education" on Nov. 15. Others include calls for SSMU to stand for transparency in non-human ani­ mal testing at McGill and to support for the Association of Graduate Students Employed at McGill.The final motion is to censure Principal Heather Munroe-Blum, condemning her actions lobbying the government for the deregulation of tuition and "efforts to steamroll the fundamental human rights of the students of McGill."

"The [motion] is saying that her idea of getting rid of all regulations so that the school can just increase tuition whenever and by however much they want is very bad and very dangerous," said Warne Goodman, Uo arts, who put forth the motion. "She is highly antagonistic to us as undergraduates. In response to that, SSMU has just been more and more friendly to her, and I think it's time we say, 'Hey, this is wrong. We don't like this. We're against this. We

think what you are doing is against what we want.'"

Because a quorum of 500 students is necessary for a Strike GA rather than the 100 necessary for a Special GA, a quorum of 500 will be called before discussion on the strike begins rather than adjourning in order to call a sepa­ rate GA as the rules on such procedures are unclear.

"The way I see it is that a Strike GA isn't a Strike GA as much as it is a motion for a strike," said SSMU Council Speaker Yahel Carmon, who is looking into the matter. "If I'm wrong, I'll adjourn and call a new one."

Derek Lappano, member of the McGill Mobilization Committee that submitted the motion calling for a strike, stated that it is not directed solely at the administration, but also at other students in the province, Jean Charest and the provincial government.

"A strike is a very visible form of protest where people can see how many disagree with the tuition rises and how many want to move towards a more accessible education," he said.

Despite the joke motions put forward by SOAP, Lap­ pano is confident that, while they might "hurt the GAs," it will not take away from discussions surrounding the stu­ dent strike resolution.

"I don't think [these motions will] actually impede that discussion," Lappano said. "There will be enough people there to discuss the strike GA and Idon't think these mock motions will detract from that. [SOAP is] free and welcome to bring these issues to the GA, but we want people to be serious about the strike GA." While there is still very little known about SOAP, ru­ mours amongst students point to the Engineering Under­ graduate Society as the source; however, Laura Meimari, EUS Representative to SSMU, emphasized that SOAP was notan initiative brought forward by the EUS, but was rath­ er a conglomerate of McGill students from various faculties who "feel very strongly about William Shatner" and aim to "clean up McGill."

"We are a loosely knit group of students on campus; we have no hierarchy, we have no precedent,"Venturi said.

While Venturi is not optimistic about the success of the SOAP motions, he hoped that SOAP will stimulate in­ terest in the GA improve debates surrounding the other motions on the table. ■

CITY

Bumblebees are not buzzing C o n c o rd ia n s d isp lay a p a th y to w a rd a c tin g p re s id e n t V incci Tsui Concordia Vice-President Services Michael Di Grappa was appointed Acting President on Oct. 18 after former Con­ cordia President Claude Lajeunesse stepped down from his role after serving only two years of his five year term.

Though Di Grappa has been working at Concordia for over 21 years, his appointment was controversial; only one week prior, the Labour Board had ruled that he violated Ar­ ticle 12 of the Labour Code, which forbids employers from hindering employees'rights to association. He was required to sign a written letter of apology, which was posted on the Concordia Web site.

Concordia spokesperson Chris Mota said that Di Grappa will retain his old responsibilities as Vice-President Services while also taking on all the responsibilities of the President.

“Legally, he has all the powers that the president would have," Mota said. "He is very conscious of the fact that it's a very limited appointment. He is in close consultation with colleagues, such as the Interim Provost [Louise Durand]; certainly he is not going to make any rash decisions."

Immediately after his appointment was announced, The Link, one of Concordia's student newspapers, printed letters from students and alumni describing Di Grappa as "evasive and patronizing" and "a union-busting securityfreak administrator with no Ph.D.” However, Link Editor-inChief Giuseppe Valiante said that this does not reflect the general student opinion on Di Grappa.

"I don't think the majority of undergrads know or care who the new acting president is," he said. "The only peo­ ple who really know about internal school politics are the stakeholders: members of the student media, the faculty and the Students'Union."

Independent student Chadi Marouf agreed, saying that part of the reason students are unlikely to organize is

that Di Grappa is not expected to be in the role for a long period of time.

"The actions of students are usually limited to issues that they're facing directly on campus. Whether we're talk­ ing about loss of student space, loss of student rights, the corporatization of the campus—this is really how students mobilize and work against the government of Concordia University," Marouf said. "None of it is targeted against one person; the problem in Concordia is not just one person, it’s a full picture. So even if you do take Michael Di Grappa out of the picture, it won't solve the problem.”

Mota said that she was unaware of any negative reac­ tion to Di Grappa's appointment.

"Everybody that I've talked to has been extremely pleased,"she said. "He spent three hours of the day of his ap­ pointment just responding to the positive reaction... I think he is going to spearhead the next couple months in a com­ petent fashion. He certainly has the support of the [Board of Governors] and the support goes beyond that."

As the university searches for an interim president and eventually a new president, Valiante hopes that a person who will make an effort to understand the community within the university will fill the role.

"The new president should do his best, or her best, to be open to meeting student groups, donors to the univer­ sity and the stakeholders as much as possible," he said.

Marouf doubted that a new president will bfing sweeping changes to the university.

"The university circles are very closed, and these peo­ ple have an elitist attitude. They'll pick from the bunch of people that are already inside the circle," he said. "Concordia views itself as a corporation, somewhat. They are more for business than part of a community. That’s why the repre­ sentatives that sit on the Board of Governors are not repre­ sentative of communities; they're representative of corpo­ rations and corporate interests."*

UQAM loses credit as debt soars O fficials c ite m i s m a n a g e m e n t e d u c a tio n q u a lity u n a ffe c te d T rip Y ang The Université du Québec à Montréal now holds the worst credit recoi of any Canadian university according to a recent study by the Dominion Bor Rating Service, a leading debt-rating agency. UQAM, which ranked numb two ofi3 schools studied, including University of Ottawa, University ofToroni and the University of Ontario Institute of Technology which was named higl est in debt.

Most debt for UQAM has been attributed to campus renovations and e pansions as the îlot Voyageur project and its continued operating deficits ha\ brought the university's debt to an estimated $6so-million, or $22,600 per ft time student. The average Canadian bachelor's degree student owes slight less at their time of graduation with $19,500 in loans.

Last month, UQAM was given $2o-million by the Quebec government order to stay afloat and Dominion has downgraded UQAM's credit rating froi A (low) to BBB (high). The challenges comprise of a high debt burden, UQAIV limited ability to increase tuition fees and no guarantee on province-suppo debt. îlot Voyageur is valued at $i86-million by the Pomerleau constructic company; the structure is meant to solve space issues and "increase its activ ties in the areas of teaching, research and creating,"according to the company press release.

Construction was launched in 2005 with a budget of $325-million, but h; since experienced problems due to poor management at the project leve according to the Dominion Bond Rating Service report. UQAM warned of tf problems in fall of 2006, citing "cost overruns and downward revisions to prc jected revisions to projected revenues had seriously compromised the sustair ability."

As of December 2006, îlot Voyageur had cost overruns of $40-million. sum of $6o-million in government funding that was assumed in plans but nc confirmed further contributed to the University's financial downgrade.

"The îlot Voyageur project presented huge problems for us," stated UQAI official Francine Jacques. "Our former Director of Development provided fais fied accounting to UQAM and the consequences were significant."

In response, UQAM has created committees to examine its financial stat and provide subsequent governing procedures. UQAM has noticeably a most administrative expenses, requesting operating units to abort or pos pone all "nonessential spending."The project is being fully reviewed, and a external auditing firm has been hired to provide financial assistance.

Despite the university's financial difficulties, UQAM insists that its educ; tional facilities have not been affected.

"Our grim financial state is due to accounting trafficking, not to lack c quality teaching,"Jacques said.

The science complex will continue to be funded by the university, whil costs related to the îlot Voyageur project have been absorbed by the Ministr of Education.

According to Jacques, the new university head will "work closely with th Liberal Minister of Education and the hired auditing firm to provide the be; possible course of action for UQAM." Although the government of Quebec is expected to provide some so of financial relief, DBRS believes the recent financial miscues are "likely to cor strain UQAM's credit profile for a long time." ________________________________________ With files from Kate Spirae

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6.11.07 -The McGill Tribune • 3

News Briefs

SPEAKERS ON CAMPUS

A r c h it e c t ta k e s u tilita ria n a p p r o a c h t o a e s th e tic s R o n a n

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I nes B eatrix Chicago-based architect John Ronan came to Mc­ Gill last Tuesday as part of his 2007-2008 lecture series exhibiting his latest works. The event, held in the Mac­ donald-Harrington Building, was coordinated by archi­ tecture professors Martin Bressani, Rami Abou Khalil and David Theodore, and was incorporated into the curriculum of McGill architecture students.

"We brought the students to the Comer Center and asked them to do a counter-project based on the same site and the same program," Bressani said.

The lecture was largely well-received by members of the faculty, who praised Ronan for his originality and artistic transparency.

"Ronan's method of design is idea and iterationbased," Theodore said. "He is not like other architects who come up with a brilliant idea and we don't really know how they did it. His work is no less outstanding for that."

Ronan began his presentation discussing his in­ spiration for the Gary Comer Youth Center in Chicago, built in 2006. The idea for the project was inspired by the namesake American philanthropist who funded the project in an effort to lower crime rates and hired Ronan to realize his vision.The designs included a gym as the focal point of the structure and the inclusion of a prominent tower.

"I wanted to give a landmark to a neighborhood which didn't have any," Ronan said.

Other impressive dimensions of Ronan's style in­ clude its colorful exterior, open feel and luminous at­ mosphere, despite the 'no windows' requirement— a caution against drive-by shootings.

"But how do you put light into a building without any windows?" Ronan asked.

The answer he provided was to create an illusion of open space with the use of glass walls and ceilings, which allowed students to "be in one space and look through into another space.”

In addition to its aesthetic appeal, Ronan's work is also utilitarian: the gym doubles as a theatre.

Ronan, who stands out in his field as somewhat

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of a pioneer, frequently experiments with new styles.

He is currently studying the weathering effects of time on buildings, such as water marks, cracks and irregular beams, as possessing aesthetic appeal.

"You take economical materials and ennoble them," he said. "I'm finding that [cement] cures at different lev­ els so that it produces many different shades. I find it quite beautiful." ■

— Ken Sun

Bronfman getting laptops The Bronfman building basement has been undergoing renovations, including the replacement of 120 desktop computers with 68 laptops in the basement computer lab.

Management students will be restricted to the computer lab on the sec­ ond and third floors of Bronfman until completion of the project, projected for Dec. 16.

Students will be able to loan the laptops for up to two days and there is an additional plan for a larger workspace area for students who have their own computers.

Some students are uncertain of the practicality of the new laptops.

"I think laptops will be better for us," said Ishita Aswani, Ui management. "[But] laptops are not helpful for students with their own computers, only for those who don't have a computer at home."

David He, Uo management, suggested that desktops were more univer­ sal.

"I think laptops will be more useful to a smaller number of management students, and be tailored to their specific needs."

— Sarah Xu

NEB0J5A PETROVIC Ronan explains the art of using colour and creating the illusion of space in his buildings.

Library debt breaks the books O p e r a tio n a l

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Continued from COVER McGill administration.

"Every year, we have the McGill Undergraduate Stu­ dent Fund that contributes to library use and bursaries," Barake said. "From 2003 to 2004, the library portion wasn't paid; because of this, we now owe the university $253,832," Barake said.

As a result of this settlement, SSMU is set to pay an additional $75,000 per year for three years followed by a final payment of $28,832 in the fourth year."The library has had an extensive and valuable relationship with the SSMU," said Library Associate Director of Planning and Resources.

"The Library meets regularly with SSMU to develop the priorities for expenditure of these funds."

Coupled with increased expenditures, SSMU will also operate this year with less revenue.The contract between the Post-Graduate Student's Society and SSMU expired this year, thereby striking $16,000 of revenue.

"The contract ran out last year and on numerous oc­ casions, they came to us and asked about the contract and our response was one of'show us what you have to offer]" said PGSS Vice-President External Roland Nassim.

"We never heard anything. We've asked for proposals, we've asked for data and we've received nothing.”

Barake was more optimistic about renewing a con­ tract with the PGSS. "We are going to try and get a meeting with [PGSS executives] next week, separate the issues, and try to reach an agreement."

The vacancy left by University Bytes in room 108 and the reduced capacity of Shatner will also lower op­ erating revenue. In both cases, SSMU placed blame at

New appointment completes science representation at Council Last Wednesday, the Science Undergraduate Society announced the ap­ pointment of Raïsa Mirza, U2 environment, as Science Representative to the Students'Society Legislative Council.

While the Faculty of Science traditionally has three elected representa­ tives to Council, two out of the four candidates in the Spring Election Period failed to maintain the academic standing required to remain in the election.

Current Science Representatives Neil Issar and Andrew Ling subsequently won the seats by default.

Mirza, who was present and voting at the Nov. 1 Council session, had no apprehensions about coming to the table late in the year.

“I don't think people need to worry about me not being able to express my opinions,"she said."That has never been a problem."

SUS President Spencer Ng was excited with the decision, adding that Mirza was selected in part for her"self-conftdence,"and also for her understand­ ing of SSMU and student issues. "[The selection committee] definitely got the feeling from her that she was going to dive right in [to her job]," he said. "Having that knowledge [of SSMU] present was something we were really looking for.”

The SUS selection committee, comprised of SUS President Spencer Ng, Councillors Issar and Ling and Senator Ryan Luther, selected Mirza from a pool of 16 applicants, a number that surprised some members of the committee. "[The candidates] didn't want to run in an election [last year] because it is a pretty intimidating process," Ng said.

Mirza's first goal will be to improve student debate surrounding the tu­ ition de-freeze issue.

"There needs to be more [discussion] about the tuition freeze and what that is about," Mirza said. "[My goal is] not necessarily for or against the de­ freeze, but just to get people to talk about it."

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the McGill administration for their disinterest in resolving these issues.

"Having a general decline in revenue is not a good thing because ideally you want to secure revenues over the long-run and the best way to do that is through leas­ es... you sign a five-year lease and this is guaranteed rev­ enue for five years, which is a relatively long-term return for a student society," Barake said.

The vacancy creates a loss of roughly $30,000 in sunk revenue. The reduced capacity, along with lowering rev­ enue, is indicative of the increasingly-strained relationship between SSMU and McGill administration.

"Standing at just over 1,000 people, the building has yet to be kept up to code as stipulated by the Montreal Fire Department largely due to the failure on part of the McGill Administration of carrying oUtthe necessary reno­ vations to revise the capacity upwards," Barake said in his report. "The reduced capacity has consequently deprived the SSMU of revenues from large attendance events and lucrative rentals."

Due to the sharp decrease in revenue] SSMU was forced to use what interest they had earned on their'Yainyday" $1.8 million fund towards this year's budget. Specifi­ cally, the interest on the account was added towards the SSMU operating fund.

Dipping into the slush fund and the lower surplus raises the issue concerning the security of SSMU once the lease of Shatner runs out in three years." I don't think we'll get kicked out of Shatner, if anything, the university will make the lease much less attractive. I don't think the ad­ ministration would go down that road, especially with this administration, especially with Campaign McGill."*

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London School of Economics evolutionary theorist Oliver Curry has pre­ dicted that the human race will split into two sub-species in 100,000 years. A tall, genetically superior class will emerge alongside a short, stupid, goblin-like underclass. • Coal-miners in Australia are receiving free sex lessons from companies in order to stave off crankiness and im­ prove work productivity. With a focus on menopause and foreplay, one of the class coordinators said that the workers were very attentive to the lessons. "We've obviously got some cranky men with cranky wives out there who want some help," she said. • Monkeys and baboons in Kenya are causing a bit of confusion after making lewd gestures at women, harassing them by gesturing at them and touching themselves. "They become very naughty," Sichuki Kabukuru, a spokesperson of the Kenya Wildlife Service, said. Residents of the Kabete region are unsure how to address the monkey business. Maybe the monkeys took some lessons from those Australian coal-miners? • 100 protesters gathered in the city of Innsbruck last week to rally support to have the city's huge crucifix statue taken down. The protesters, who took issue with Jesus's blatant display of public nudity, were led by an 82-year-old anti-pornography activist. For Christ's sake, just put some clothes on! • Chemists at the University of California, Berkeley have developed a device that could help people avoid the'red-wine headache'. About the size of a briefcase, the device can determine levels of chemicals called biogenic amines, which occur naturally in foods that are aged, pickled or fermented, by testing only a drop of wine. Surely the device will be all the rage to bring to restaurants if they make the briefcase pretty. • An Australian man who assaulted and raped a woman blamed his violent actions on a spider bite last week. Philip Spiers, who had kidnapped and raped his victim in 1997, claimed that the toxins from a funnel-web spider-bite left him angry and violent. With the Emo Spiderrwan safely locked up behind bars for the next eight years, Mary-Jane can now sleep at night. • A judge has been unanimously removed from the bench by the Virginia Supreme Court last Friday. Judge James Shull, who was known for calling a teenager a "mama's boy", telling a woman to marry a boyfriend that abused her, and insisting that a woman drop her pants in court so he can see the"stitches" from a wound, was finally removed after admitting to tossing a coin to determine custody rights in a case.

Sources: BBC, Fox, Yahoo!News,

4 • News • 6.11.07

The McGill Tribune

SPEAKERS ON CAMPUS

S S M U m i r r o r s c i t y 's e f f o r t s W e a t h e r m a n c a lls fo r h o tte r n ig h ts F o re c a s ts lin k s

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Environment Canada's regional service manager Claude Masse gave a presentation last Wednesday in Thomson House, touching on the significance of climate change, warming nights and the relationship between weather forecasting and the energy market.

Organized by the Post Graduate Student Society of McGill's environment committee, "Climate, Weather and Energy" was the kick-off to this autumn's speaker series.

Claude Masse, who worked at Environment Canada for 12 years as a weather forecaster, is now involved in numerous environmental projects that deal with the variables of weather forecasting and its effects on the energy market. Masse claimed that "the ability to predict the weather can immensely impact the success of firms' businesses," though he pointed out that many business leaders still remain cynical.

"Wind farms would need to use weather forecasting to predict the amount of energy that they can expect from coming seasons," Masse suggested. "These inferences help in the decision-making of managers and in turn can save the firms millions of dollars."

Masse also elaborated on the recent expansion of what is known as the 'energy market'.

While highlighting some side effects of climate change, Masse pinpointed one major trend that is occurring rapidly yet going largely unnoticed: the rising temperature of Canada's nights.

"It's not that we have increased heat, what we have is less cold," he said.

"Ice-free days in the Great Lakes and the Hudson Bay have risen significantly since the past decade.This in turn, causes delayed coldness in our cities. We are 35 years in advance of what environmentalists have considered the'worst-case scenario'in climate change."

In addition to climate change issues, Masse also focused on environmen­ tal degradation, such as the ecological effects of urbanization.

"We have more asphalt than trees,"he said. "Action needs to take place. We need to help by planting more trees and building more green roofs."

Jessica Ward, a Biology graduate student, was impressed with Masse's presentation.

"I knew very little about the economics of the environment but found a lot of the things he said fascinating. Who knew limits on the operation of air­ planes can reduce the temperature by a whole two degrees?"

Though the crowd was relatively small due to the lecture's coinciding with Halloween, PGSS Environment Committee Chair Chris Wrobel was content with the turnout and the content of Masse's presentation.

"It's important for students to be exposed to and knowledgeable of the ef­ fects of environmental damage,"he said."We are thinking about having [Masse] as one of the future speakers over at Macdonald Campus. Perhaps we will do a round-table discussion."*

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gas emissions.

"We've committed to modifying the mandate of the Building Sustainability Coordinator David Gray-Donald VP Operations and Finance to include social and envi said that SSMU plans to participate in the municipal ronmental sustainability instead of just financial sustain composting campaign. ability... by 2009," Lamb said. "And as a first step toward "In cooperation with SSMU, [Gorilla Composting is] reducing greenhouse gas emissions, we're planning also collecting other compostable waste generated in among other things, on measuring the output of green the [Shatner] building,"he said."We're meeting soon with house gas from SnowAP, which hasn't really been trackec Food Services, Build­ in previous year; ing Services and ReThere has been Think McGill to see lot of criticism be if reinstituting cam­ cause we don't havr pus-wide compost­ these figures. Also, ing, such as what am hoping to do we operated last greenhouse gas in year, is feasible and ventory of Shatne sustainable into the by the end of th future; part of our year. That woulc ultimate goal [is] to [involve] laying ou get McGill to adopt where the differen and maintain a com­ emissions are com posting program on ing from and gaug its own." ing the importance "We're not ex­ to see what can be pecting to be able reduced, and wha to immediately start SARA YOUSEFNEJAD would have th1 a large-scale collec­ Hopefully this composting operation will expand. greatest impact [ tion and treatment reduced]." process," SSMU Environment Commissioner Graeme Man outlined several other campus initiatives.

Lamb said. “Hopefully, by the end of the academic year, "The McGill Sustainability Project is also working or well have it phased in." research and different projects in the area," Man added Man said that SSMU has committed to eight actions "Within the SSMU building, the Plate Club is operating tc from Montreal's'Plan Durable,'adding that SSMU is "defi­ reduce waste in the cafeteria and the Environment Com nitely interested in working with the city in this respect." mittee is looking to implement a sustainable dish anc According to Lamb, some of these commitments tupperware system at the beginning of next semester include improving bicycle infrastructure, compost­ We're looking at placing a large vermicomposting sys ing table scraps by 2009, participating in environmen­ tern in our sub-basement. The cost will be fairly low; we tally-themed events sponsored by the City— like Car- need to build the system and supply it with worms but i Free Day, Water Day and Festival des Écolo, integrat­ will be a self-perpetuating thing.This will help us in com ing a sustainability management system into SSMU's posting as well as provide us with a source of worms foi decision-making process and reducing greenhouse students to take for [their] personal composters. ■ Continued from COVER

CORRECTIONS In last week's article, "Green fee allocation still in the works," (30.10.07) the funding numbers presented in a quote .from Greening McGill Coordinator Warren Huard were those projected by Students' Society Vice-President Imad Barake and have yet to be ratified by SSMU Council, making them confidential. It was also stated that $9,394.79 was allocated to student initiatives and 519,923.01 to internal initiatives when it is in fact the other way around.

In last week's article, "Macdonald majors to be consolidated," (30.10.07) Natalie James was attributed with quotes that she did not, in fact, say. The quote was said by another meeting participant.

The Tribune apologizes for these errors.

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SPECIAL GENERAL ASSEMBLY MOTIONS Motion Re: Capital Campaign Be it resolved that SSMU officially oppose McGill University's Capital Campaign; Be it further resolved that SSMU propose that the University use the resources already allocated to the Capital Campaign to actively promote public investment and sustainable financing of post-secondary education.

Motion Re: Opt-outs Be it resolved that the SSMU take every reasonable action to reclaim and protect the sovereignty and independence of all campus student groups and activities; Be it further resolved that the SSMU take every reasonable action to put an end to the online opt-out system recently created by the University such that campus groups shall be in charge of their own opt-out processes.

Motion Re: Student-Parent Status: Be it resolved that the Students' Society of McGill University (SSMU) adopt the following policy: The National Assembly should create a special "student-parent status"to: • Grant parental leave for students, without penalties, financed by the public system, for a maximal period of 2 years • Give priority to the "student-parents" for the places available in the CPEs connected to or near post-secondary institutions • Grant full time student status to part time student-parents The creating of "student-parent status" should be the part of an accessible and flexible daycare system put in place in post-secondary institutions in order to ensure a conciliation between the needs of study and family.

Be it further resolved that the SSMU take action towards the achievement of this policy as a goal.

Motion Re: Heather Munroe Blum Censure Resolved : That the Students of McGill University represented

by General Assembly do hereby censure Heather Munroe-Blum, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the McGill University, and condemn her attempts at lobbying the government of Quebec to deregulate tuition, and her efforts to steamroll the fundamental human rights of the students of McGill.

Motion Re: Student Strike Be it resolved that SSMU members be on strike on November 15th in solidarity with students across Quebec calling for a publicly-funded, high quality system of education.

Be it further resolved that the SSMU call on all its members to joi the Quebec-wide protest starting at the Square Dorchester at 1:30pm in Montreal, on November 15th.

Motion Re: Star Trek Building Names BIRT SSMU recognize the following buildings under the following names: Redpath Library - Wrath of Khan Library Leacock - Janeway Building of Women’s Studies Brown Student Services - Sick Bay Bronfman - 6 of 9 Building James Administration - Captian Jean-Luc Picard Administra­ tion Building Ferrier - Worf Building Wong - Jordy LaForge Chemical and Material Engineering Building MacIntyre - Bones McCoy Medical Centre Trottier- Zulu Electrical Engineering Building Burnside - The Cube

And be it further resolved that The SSMU does actively demand Heather Munroe-Blum reverse her policy in regards to tuition deregulation and the unlimited rights of students to organize on campus, and write a formal written apology to the student body to be e-mailed to all SSMU members, and published in both the McGill Tribune and McGill Daily.

Motion Re: Transparency in Animal Testing Be it resolved that the Students’ Society of McGill University officially support transparency in McGill’s use of nonhuman animals in research.

Be it further resolved that the SSMU take action towards the achievement of this policy as a goal.

Motion Re: AGSEM Therefore be it resolved that the SSMU call upon McGill University to provide better training and support for its Teaching Assistants; and Be it further resolved that the SSMU support the Association of Graduate Students Employed at MGill (AGSEM) in its upcom­ ing negotiations with McGill University, insofar as this support shall benefit the educational experience of the undergraduate student body.

Motion Re: Shrine to Shatner BIRT SSMU implement Shatner worship space, to be known as a Shrine to Shatner, with admission to be charged at the discre­ tion of the VP-Finance and Operations.

Motion Re: Rocket Man BIRT SSMU show its devotion to William Shatner by having SSMU Council recite “Rocket Man” by Elton John set to music, Shatner-style.

November 13th, 2007 Three Bares Park, 3-7 p.m.

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I t used to be that I was never fully satis­ fied with a meal unless it involved a good chunk of meat (please resist the urge to be crude), but this past year I've made a change that I believe to be more ethically and nutritionally sound. While I'm not a veg­ etarian, I make an effort to reduce my con­ sumption and purchase only ethically raised and slaughtered meat. Has this earned me the right to look down on you from my plat­ form of self-inflated moral grandeur and speak of your rampant meat eating habits as evidence of lower moral standards? Ap­ parently not. Only if I gave up meat eating altogether would I be able to make preten­ tious statements about how "cows are slaves to humans” and ask ridiculous questions like, "how would you feel if you were killed and eaten?"

To be perfectly clear right from the getgo, I have absolutely no problem whatso­ ever with about 99 per cent of vegetarians, vegans or any other alternative dietary de­ cision makers. My problem lies exclusively with those individuals who wear said dietary decisions like a badge of honour and preach incessantly to all those who do not share their views. The root of my annoyance with this particular brand of pretension lies in what I perceive to be a faulty understanding of pain versus suffering. Now I'm not going to claim that animals raised for slaughter do not feel pain as they are killed. This may be true in some cases, but the living condi­ tions of these animals are sometimes hor­ rific enough to defy description and anyone inclined to claim that there is no ethical dif­ ficulty involved in the mass production of meat need only research for five minutes to be dissuaded of this notion. Even the most abysmal of these circumstances, however, cannot be productively compared to situ­ ations of human tragedy and degradation.

This is because there is a fundamental dif­

ference between the pain an animal feels, a physical sensation no matter how intense, and the suffering of a human being, which necessarily involves emotional and intellec­ tual strain as well as physical trauma.

Claiming, for example, that cows are "slaves" to humans shows a complete mis­ understanding of the true horror of slavery, which stems from the dehumanization and degradation of intelligent and rational be­ ings who are well aware of every injustice they suffer. This is simply not applicable to non-human animals. That is not to say that animals do not feel emotion; they very well may and my experience with pets suggests that they do. However, even the most com­ plex animals raised for slaughter lack the capacity to understand what is wrong with their treatment because they cannot imag­ ine an alternative life free from abuse. Ani­ mals do not have imagination, they do not long for something they have never known or feel that something is missing from their lives. For this reason, any argument for veg­ etarianism which involves an explicit or im­ plicit comparison to human experience will suffer for it.

Not that vegetarians need such faulty justification in the first place.There is without question a moral reprehensibility involved in the excess that characterizes much of the modern world and our wasteful attitude towards the production and consumption of meat highlights this. But appeals such as "how would you feel if you were killed and eaten?" only serve to weaken the force of the argument. I don't know how I would feel, but since my feelings would inevitably involve complex emotions consisting of concern for my loved ones, rational fear and an intellectual understanding of the mo­ rality involved, I feel confident in asserting that I would feel a whole lot worse than the chicken I just ate did. ■

magine what it would be like to live in a coun­ try where police officers turn out to be the perpetrators of criminal offences. Believe it or not, this seems to be happening more and more right here in Canada. What makes it worse— in­ deed, what makes such abuse possible— is that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are re­ sponsible for investigating accusations against themselves. The consequences of this policy are sometimes tragic and the facts only rarely come out since the police organization has shown a greater interest in controlling its image than pursuing justice.

There has been a recent proliferation of media reports which depict RCMP officers being involved in crimes as serious as murder and sexual assault.

On Oct. 29 2005, Ian Bush, then 22, went to watch a minor league hockey game on a Sat­ urday night in the small British Columbia town where he grew up. During the second intermis­ sion, some of the fans went outside to get some fresh air.

One of Ian's friends asked him for a favour: to hold his beer for a moment.This prompted an of­ ficer to come by and question Ian about having an open bottle of alcohol in public. The officer asked his name and since his friends were joking around, he gave his buddy's name instead. For that crime, the officer— a rookie RCMP officer on the force for only five months— handcuffed him and threw him in the back of his cruiser. He was arrested for "obstructing an investigation." When his friends went to look for him they were sent away from the station.

The next day they got the news that sent the town grieving: Ian Bush was killed at the RCMP detachment. Newspaper stories quoted many friends, former teachers and employers and family members, who all had the highest praise for him. He was shot in the back of the head. The video surveillance at the station had been turned off by the officer.

Further, just last month at Vancouver Inter­ national Airport, a passenger had arrived from

Europe to visit his mother whom he hadn't seen in seven years. The passenger had reportedly been stuck in the airport for 10 hours because he didn't understand English and was apparently lost and confused. At 1:30 a.m. he began bang­ ing on windows and throwing chairs— undesir­ able activity, but he wasn't causing harm. In fact, a witness said,"none of us felt threatened by him."

Nonetheless, RCMP officers saw fit to stun him with a taser immediately upon their arrival and he was dead within minutes.

Among other examples that should be noted is a recent report which found that the RCMP covered for an officer accused of sexually abusing boys at a reform school in New Bruns­ wick. Sexual complaints were filed and over 50 names of suspects were compiled, but only three were charged and only two convicted— includ­ ing one who admitted to preying on hundreds of boys for over 35 years.

There are two ways to approach the prob­ lem of RCMP misconduct, and both are based on the premise that increasing accountability is the key to decreasing misconduct: First, police offi­ cers should be subject to civil liability claims for negligent behavior. The Supreme Court of Can­ ada acknowledged that in a decision last month.

The second, more compelling remedy is to cre­ ate a body responsible for overseeing the RCMP. As it currently stands, the RCMP investigates itself.

There is an association called the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP, but it's nothing more than an "independent" body that reports its findings to the RCMP— more than half of which have been rejected.

All nation-states have, by definition, a monop­ oly on the legitimate use offeree. Ifthe RCMP is to be seen as legitimate, our federal politicians need to change the law. In the last parliamentary ses­ sion the Conservative government's catch-phrase was"accountability;"currently, it's"tackling crime."

If Harper is serious about either, the government must create a truly independent oversight orga­ nization. Nothing less than Canada's legitimacy is at stake. ■

±40°

D u m b le d o r e a p p a ra te s o u t o f t h e c lo s e t D avid L evitz DAVID.LEVITZ@MAIL.MCGILL.CA

F or the few who missed out, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling recently revealed to the world that she conceived of Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore as gay. But what does this revelation mean—for Harry and for homosexuals? And why do I feel so ambivalent about it?

In some ways Harry's story in itself was always symbolic of the queer experience. Sure, Harry shares an awkward first kiss with a girl and later has a girlfriend, but the cues for a queer reading are clearly present. Harry feels "different" as a child. He grows up with the Dursleys, an unimaginatively conventional, self-righteous, smug, little family unit—the prototypical Muggles (read: breeders).

Like all Muggles, the Dursleys are blissfully—albeit willfully— igno­ rant of wizardly (read: queer) ways, which they believe might cor­ rupt their son. Fortunately, though, Harry finds acceptance among his kind and is initiated into the community of wizards, who are re­ covering in the wake of Lord Voldemort's deadly wrath, a checked, but still present threat (read: AIDS).

So, you see, I can read whatever the hell I want into these books, not having even read most of them. And while J.K. Rowling may have imagined her character as homosexual, she didn't ever "spell"out his sexual orientation explicitly. In fact, she didn't have to, because in a children's book, sexuality shouldn't even play a role, so it shouldn't matter in theory if the characters are gay or straight, right? Wrong.

What is important here is not the effect Dumbledore's out­ ing will have on the Harry Potter legacy—or, for that matter, which

hateful "Christian" groups will boycott the next movie. Truth­ fully Dumbledore's orientation is a small detail that has little to no impact on the meaning of the books. However, it does have implications for the problematic portrayal of homosexuality in our culture.

In the New York Times last week, Edward Rothstein wrote an article arguing that Dumbledore is neither gay nor straight. In fact, he is "not a sexual being; he has shelved personal cares and em­ braced a higher mission, (that of running Hogwarts)." Rothstein is very right to point to Dumbledore's celibacy (although, if we've learned anything from the Catholic Church in recent years, it's that donning a robe doesn't automatically reduce one's sexual nature to that of an amoeba).

So Dumbledore's sexuality really isn't that important to his role as wizard and mentor. Great! Isn't that wonderful? Especially considering that, even though gay characters have become in­ creasingly common in mainstream media since the 1990s, else­ where they have been quite stereotypical. Not only stereotypi­ cal: in order for gays to be portrayed in film and television, they must fully personify homosexuality, remaining comically twodimensional. Will and Grace, for example, which was touted as a milestone for having gay main characters, seemed to exist only for that reason. For eight whole seasons, the show's every punch line exploited stereotypes and the homo/hetero divide. Queer Eye for the Straight Guy was another wonderful example of how gays can be made palatable to the mainstream through the reinforce-

ment of stereotype. Yes, such portrayals acknowledge gays' exis­ tence, but they can only do so because straight viewers are told to label them as an Other, which assuages heterosexuals'lurking fears of self-identification with homos: "Aren't those people over there funny?"ln light of these portrayals, Dumbledore's subtler sexuality is a step forward.

But if Rowling seeks to normalize homosexuality, why not mention Dumbledore's orientation in the books? Of course, the books don't contain sexual references, but they do mention love, don't they? If homosexuality is in theory acceptable, the fact that gay love must be omitted from a children's book suggests that it is automatically perceived to be more adult, more sexual than hetero love and, therefore, something children should be shielded from.

It's important to mention here that the other way that gays can be portrayed in mainstream media, with few exceptions, is if they and their sexuality are marginal. Sex and the City, My Best Friend's Wedding, The Object o f My Affection, and countless others all show that the gay character is well and good, as long as he exists only as some chick's side-kick. And as long as it's about her romantic life, not his.

Has Rowling created the new type of acceptable mediagay: the heroic-supporting-role-gay, whose sexuality is never stated nor really implied and possibly doesn't count because he's celibate, anyway?

That's a pretty hard one to duplicate. It seems Albus remains in a class of his ow n.l

06.11.07 • The McGill Tribune • 7

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EDITORIAL

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n Oct. 22, the United States and Mexico announced an agreement in which the U.S. would provide Mexico with $i.4-billion USD to combat drug trafficking.

The agreement relies primarily on Mexican law enforcement, with the largest item in the package going towards the purchase of small air­ craft for police operations. However, while organized drug smuggling is a dangerous and often violent aspect of the illegal drug trade, a more ef­ fective approach is needed to ad­ dress the destructive symptoms of drug addiction. A combination of harm reduction and decriminaliza­ tion coupled with education and economic empowerment is the best and most pragmatic solution to the current drug crisis, rather than cease­ lessly entertaining the facile con­ servative fantasy of eliminating the drug trade, whether domestically or internationally.

Mexican President Felilpe Calde­ ron could better spend his nation's resources by cracking down on the violent crimes stemming from drug trafficking rather than trying to stamp out the trafficking itself.

In turn, domestic demand could be largely reduced by the legalization, or at the very least decriminalization of drugs. Not only would this move the black market economy of drugs into the realm of the government, allow­ ing for them to be taxed and regu­ lated, but much of the violent crime and property crime associated with

O

it would disappear. The elimination of such dissident economic practices by means of legalization would resultantly ameliorate a fundamental rift between the widely circulated ideals of democratic society and the reality of its practical operations.

Moreover, the illegality of drugs like methamphetamines and cocaine that come from South America cre­ ates huge profit margins that finance the drug cartels. These high profit margins also create the potential for police and political corruption, and require a large allocation of funds and resources that could be better used in other areas of law enforcement. In fact, one-quarter of those arrested in the United States are for drug-related crimes. The resulting legal quag­ mire creates incredible amounts of backlog within the justice system.

As economist Milton Friedman once said, "Drugs are a tragedy for addicts.

But criminalizing their use converts that tragedy into a disaster for soci­ ety, for users and non-users alike."

The U.S. and Mexico should concede that drug supply is inevi­ table instead of wasting precious tax revenue on futile clampdowns. Peru and Bolivia already permit farmers to grow coca crops for traditional uses; such programs should be extended, granting full amnesty for all farmers.

Likewise, the government funding previously allocated to fighting drug trafficking could be redistributed as development aid, helping spur local industry and allowing farmers to es­

cape their dependence on coca as a cash crop. Such policies would re­ flect the reality that drug-based cash crops, with their incredibly high yield by acre, are often the only alternative for indebted tenant farmers.

The current aid package to Mexico is part of a larger willful! igno­ rance on the part of U.S. policymakers on the issue of drugs. Such punitive polices do not address the domestic demand for narcotics. Retaliatory do­ mestic policies only cause waste and backlog in the legal system and do little to address systemic problems that stem from drug abuse.

The best solution is one that

acknowledges, rather than criminal­ izes, the problem of drugs in both in the U.S. and Mexico. Legalization or decriminalization can combat the property crimés related to drug use and can drive down the cost of nar­ cotics through free market competi­ tion. Government regulation would reduce drug-related deaths and control the quality of drugs sold, cut­ ting down on health care costs. By pouring financial resources into futile efforts such as this attempt to stem drug trafficking, the U.S. only exacer­ bates the problem, under the delud­ ed idea that prohibition will work this time around. ■

J am ie G oodman

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[PARITY] & THRUST

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G e n d e r p a r it y : a f e m in in e c ritiq u e ?

E lizabeth P erle Liz says: Anyone that has ever been to SSMU Council can attest to the fact that male members speak more often than females, despite the close ratio of women to men. Members of Council of both sexes have noted this phenomenon, and while the way in which the forum is currently run is gender blind, there is clearly a different experience of participation for male and fe­ male members.Though admittedly gender parity may not be the most efficient solution, it certainly would not be harmful.The motion makes explicit a bias that is currently implicit and should be eradicated, and you can't eradicate it until it's brought to the forefront.

Kate replies: By identifying a speaker by their gen­ der first and foremost in the way that gender parity does, all statements are gendered, which will skew the speaker's reception.This policy is dangerous in that it could spark a great deal of animosity between debate participants. Female arguments will undoubtedly be dismissed in the eyes of some because, "she only gets to speak because she's a woman”. It also allows for the potential dominance of debate by three or four opin­ ionated and confident women. It is sexist and insult­ ing to men and women alike to argue that non-males are not listened to or not given the opportunity to speak in an open forum. It's also sexist to claim that shy women deserve special treatment while shy men do not. By patronizing female participants in this way, it creates a notion that women need encouragement to speak their minds. This is doing more to create an explicit bias than it is to expose an implicit one.

Liz retorts: You are implying a classic post-feminist re­ sponse: "since we're all equal, to treat us differently is sexist." Unfortunately, we're not all equal, even if we're

and

K ate S pirgen

more equal than we used to be. The impediments aren't necessarily institutional or conscious, but girls are still encouraged not to speak up and not to be too aggressive. The purpose of parity isn't different treat­ ment: the amount of speaking time for each gender is equal. Moreover, it does not stop anyone from speak­ ing—or force anyone, either. It is simply a way to run a meeting. When a woman speaks, her words are al­ ready gendered. People apply their own stereotypes and understandings of gender necessarily to interpret meaning. We decode our culture instinctively, and gender is a huge part of that whether we acknowl­ edge this or not.

Kate says: While a speaker's gender is generally ap­ parent, that does not necessarily mean that argu­ ments are interpreted primarily in terms of gender.

Individuals should be identified first and foremost by their position on Council and their constituency, not the individual or their gender—something that is too often forgotten. Although men and women would be given equal time to speak, but real equality can­ not be defined in terms of one ascribed characteristic.

Why should speakers not be given parity in regard to race, religion, age or economic status? These consid­ erations have no doubt had similar influence in their willingness to speak their minds. Not to sound like a post-feminist, but your approach to gender construc­ tion is somewhat concerning. You claim that girls are encouraged not to speak up, but you see far more encouragement of females to speak their minds than you do for boys.

Liz asserts: It is fallacious to support gender parity based on the notion of oppositional inherent gen­

der traits, despite President Itzkowitz's assertions in Council last Thursday. Women are socialized not to participate in such political forums in the same way as men, while men frequently participate in such a way that often inhibits women's participation, aside from explicit or conscious sexism. And if council members are not appreciably participating based on your other proposed criteria (race, age etc.), what is there to lose in acknowledging that, too? The fact of the matter is, we all bring baggage to the table, and sexism is al­ ways a part of that baggage, whether we acknowl­ edge it or not. When we refuse to do acknowledge the roles gender plays for better or worse in our lives is when its effects are the most insidious.That SSMU is attempting to address these issues is a good sign and will, in and of itself, shore up the solution, whatever it may be.

Kate concludes: I agree that sexism is somewhat in­ grained in the same way that racism is, and that the notion of inherent gender differences is a fallacy, but simply addressing the problem is not going to make it go away. The problem has been widely known for ages, but is still here. The best way to end sexism is to fight for equality by instituting actual equality.

Perpetuating the ideal that women are weak and in need of special consideration in order to assert them­ selves is counter-productive. Although proponents of this system like yourself claim that this does not give special treatment to women, it does. The argument for it implies that women are uncomfortable express­ ing themselves in an open forum and therefore are in need of a change in procedure that will help them as­ sert themselves. This simply enforces the sexist social structure it is aiming to abolish. ■

The M c G ill T r ib u n e is an editorially autonom ous newspaper published by the Students' Society o f McGill University in collaboration w ith the Tribune Publication Society. Opinions expressed do no t necessarily represent those o f the Students' Society or McGill University Letters to the editor may be sent to letters@mcgilltribune.com and must include the contributor's name, program and year and contact information. Letters should be kept under 300 words and subm itted only to the T r ib u n e Submissions judged by the Tribune Publication Society to be libellous, sexist, racist, hom ophobic or solely prom otional in nature w ill not be published. The T r ib u n e reserves the right to edit all contributions.

Editorials are decided upon and w ritten by the editorial board. All other opinions are strictly those o f the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions o f the M c G ill T rib u n e , its editors or its staff. Please recycle this newspaper.

8 »The McGill Tribune • 06.11.07

L e tte rs t o t h e e d it o r Ben around the block the Tribune currently refuses all articles written in French, Mr. I'd have replied to Ben Lemieux's column ("Quebec's Apartheid Politics" Lemieux's article will only flare up the existing antagonisms 30.10.07) in French, but I might confuse him with my bastardized French. between Quebec's francophone population and McGill Uni­ Also the Tribune won't print letters in French. I'll apologise to Ben for any versity's Anglophones. errors in my English since Iknow that he is very concerned about language —AmélieT Gouin purity as he speaks English with perfect Received Pronunciation. After all, Francophone Commissioner, SSMU he wouldn't want to be speaking a bastardised version of English. Why does Lemieux believe REAL French is only spoken in France? By 1700, Canadian Ben there, done that colonists were all of French mother tongue, while at the time of the 1789 J'ai vérifié mes sources, et Ben va comprendre ce message Revolution, only about half of France spoke French and many only spoke ("Quebec's Apartheid Politics" 30.10.07). Je vais tutoyer Fauteur it as a second language. It is only in the 1880s with the guarantee of public de l'article, parce que je n'ai pas assez de respect pour lui pour schooling for all that French began to supersede other Gallic languages. le vouvoyer. Moi non plus, je n'aime pas cette citoyenneté à How could we follow a country whose version of French united itself later? deux vitesse. Par contre, je ne peux pas tolérer qu'on insulte ma French Canadians didn't bastardize the language, it just evolved differently langue maternelle en la traitant de bâtarde. Ce n'est pas parce here than in France. Also, Lemieux should know that all languages have que le français que NOUS parlons, au Québec, ne sonne pas familiar and formal usagés. There is also a big difference between Jouai du tout comme l'écrit (ou comme celui des Parisiens) qu'ON and Canadian/Québécois French. And a little history lesson: the pronun­ doit le dénigrer pour autant. C'est un fait que la langue change ciation of "moi”only became "mwa” in France at the time of the bourgeois avec chaque génération d'apprenant, et que le système écrit revolution before which the elites pronounced it'Ynwé". So Québec culture tend à être conservateur et ne peut suivre le rythme évolutif. is pretty much Céline Dion, Les Boys and le Bonhomme carnaval? You're Tu as raison cependant de dire que notre système d'éducation not even original in you trivialization. Céline Dion? Ouch! Please tell me est en faille quand à l'apprentissage de notre histoire, et que this is not the only Québec culture that is exposed in the'English school PierreTrudeau était un traître et un déserteur. Et je ne le prends system! Twenty per cent of the Tribune's membership is Francophone pas non plus que tu dises que notre culture se base seule­ — mostly French-Canadian, Acadian or Québécois. And most of us don't ment sur une chanteuse, un film et une icône. Va découvrir les appreciate our language being denigrated and our culture dismissed. It's Pierre Lapointe, Mes Aïeux, C.R.A.Z.Y., l'Erreur Boréale, la chute possible to criticize Marois's bill without resorting to francophobia and Montomorency ou St-Eustache. Et revient m'en donner des Quebec-bashing. nouvelles. Je te renverrai finalement la balle en te demandant —David-Marc Newman •ce qui distingue la culture canadienne de l'américaine. Séri­ Francophone Commissioner, SSMU eusement, Ben, un cours de linguistique te ferait le plus grand bien, quant à ton ouverture langagière. Je te conseille de com­ Ben dazed and confused mencer par la base, LING200, intro à l'étude du langage. *** Je vous écris en réponse à l'article de Ben Lemieux concernant la culture québécoise et la langue française ("Quebec's Apartheid Politics" 30.10.07).

Cet article va selon moi beaucoup trop loin. Réduire la culture québécoise à Céline Dion, les Boys et le Bonhomme carnaval est une insulte au peuple québécois. Ces trois éléments font en effet partie de notre héritage, mais n'est-ce pas simpliste de réduire la culture québécoise à cela? Et qu'en estil des artistes québécois, que ce soit au niveau de la chanson, du cinéma ou du théâtre? Et nos écrivains québécois, les a-t-on oubliés? Affirmer que le français québécois est un « distant, bastardized cousin of its European ancestor » fait preuve d'une ignorance de l'histoire du Québec. Le français parlé au Québec n'est peut-être pas le même qu'en France, mais laissezmoi vous rappeler qu'au temps où la France a conquis le territoire québé­ cois, seulement une minorité (une région) de la population française parlait français. La société québécoise a été la première société francophone à s'unifier. À la fin du i7ième siècle, la totalité des gens nés en NouvelleFrance avaient pour langue maternelle le Français. De son côté, seulement 50% de la population de la France parlait français en 1759. Près de la to­ talité de la population vivant dans le Nord et le Sud de la France ne parlait pas français. C'est seulement en 1889 la langue française est devenue la principale langue d'éducation. Devant ces faits, comment peut-on affirmer que le français parlé au Québec ne représente pas le « vrai » français? La publication de l'article de M. Lemieux coïncide drôlement avec le débat du fait français au sein du Tribune. Alors que leTribune refuse actuellement tout article écrit en français, l'article de M. Lemieux ne fait qu'enflammer les antagonismes déjà présents entre la population francophone du Québec et les anglophones de l'Université McGill. #* *

■I I am writing to reply to Ben Lemieux’s article concerning Quebec's culture

and the French language ("Quebec's Apartheid Politics" 30.10.07). It is my opinion that this article goes too far. Reducing Quebec’s culture to Céline Dion, Les Boys and the Quebec City's Carnival's "Bonhomme” is an insult to Quebec's people. These three elements are indeed part of our cultural heritage, but isn't it simplistic to reduce Quebec's culture to this? And what about our artists, either in the field of music, cinema or theatre? And our writers, have we forgotten them? Affirming that Quebec's French language is a "distant, bastardized cousin of its European ancestor" is a proof of ig­ norance ofQuebec's history. The language spoken in Quebec may be dif­ ferent from France's, but let me remind you that at the time of France's conquest ofQuebec's territory, only a minority (one region) of the French population actually spoke French. The Québécois society was the first fran­ cophone society to be unified. At the end of the 17th century, the whole population born in Nouvelle-France had French as its mother tongue.

Meanwhile, only 50% of France's population actually spoke French in 1759.

Close to 100% of the population living in the North and South of France did not speak French. It is only in 1889 that the French language became the main language of education. Keeping these facts in mind, how can we argue that the French spoken in Quebec does not represent the "real" French? The publication of Mr. Lemieux’s article strangely coincides with the debate surrounding the use of French content at the Tribune. '

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I checked my sources and Ben will understand this message (“Quebec's Apartheid Politics" 30.10.07). I will use the French "tu" with the article's author, because I do not have enough respect for him to use the more polite "vous". Me neither, Ido not like this two-tiered citizenship. However, I can not toler­ ate insults to my mother tongue, which is being qualified as "bastardized”. It is not because the French WE speak, in Que­ bec, does not sound at all like its written form (or the Parisian French), that we should disparage it. It is a fact that languages change with each new generation of learners, and that the written language tends to be conservative and is therefore incapable of following this evolution. You are also right to say that our education system is flawed with respect to the teaching of our history, and that Pierre Elliot Trudeau was a traitor and a deserter. And Ialso do not accept your argument that our culture relies only on one singer, one movie and one icon. You should discover Pierre Lapointe, Mes Aïeux, C.R.A.Z.Y., l'Erreur Boréale, la Chute Montmorency or St-Eustanche. And

then give me some feedback. I will probably send the ball in your court by asking you what distinguishes the Canadian cul­ ture from the American one. Seriously Ben, a class in linguistics would do you good, with respect to your openness to lan­ guages. Iadvise you to start with the basics, LIN200, introduc­ tion to the study of languages.

— Lynne Champoux-Williams McGill Green Party President You've Ben warned Mr. Lemieux, I must congratulate you for your courage and audacity ("Quebec's Apartheid Politics"30.10.07). It is so rare, in this mecca of political correctness, to hearsomeone boldly af­ firm what they really think about Quebec.Thank you for spell­ ing out what hundreds of people like you— French-American dip kids, frustrated Anglo-canadians and Quebec sceptics, in general— are nowadays too polite to say out loud. You have just proven to hundreds of thousands of La Presse and Le Devoir readers, who will no doubt have read what reporters have written about your alleged "black-humored" column, that bigotry "made in Canada" is just as prevalent as ethnocentrism"made in Quebec".You are the living proof that Lord Durham's view of Quebec is far from moribund. Will other Anglo bigots please stand up? Please stand up? Please stand up? Let's hear what you have to say, if you have the courage to say it. And more importantly, let's see how many have the courage to speak up against Mr.Lemieux. Now, wouldn't that be refreshing.

—JoëlThibert, MUP, 07', B.A, 04' Lemieux is a dorm-ridden has-Ben Dear editors of the McGill Tribune, Iam appalled and sadened at the tone and content of the lastest'Devil's Advocate'("Que­ bec's Apartheid Politics"3o.io.07). It is paramount to hate-litterature, no less; to compare any of current or proposed policies in Québec regarding the language issue to South Africa's is not only defamatory, it is an insult to those who have suffered under the real apartheid policies; this kind of filth is disgusting and shows above all the narrow- mindedness, ignorance and stupidity of its author. I'm displeased to see that this kind of discourse still exists on McGill Campus. I invite this Ben guy to venture out of the coziness of his campus dormitory, and to explore the richness of Québec's culture, the diversity of Mon­ tréal, the open- minded ness of the vast majority of its inhabit­ ants. Grow up young fellow.

— André Giguère M.Sc. McGill '87 The Tribune would like to thank the SSMU translator for editing and translating both French letters.

VOX POPULI

D a r f u r is t e s tin g t h e w o r ld 's m o r a l s ta m in a J am es Y oung JAMES.YOUNG@MAIL.MCGILL.CA

I t's been four years, 300,000 people dead and a third round of peace negotiations has just ended. The nego­ tiations in Libya last week to bring a lasting ceasefire in Darfur never really stood a chance. Many of the principal rebel factions in Darfur refused to even attend, citing the government of Sudan as an untrustworthy partner. This is unfortunately another opportunity lost to resolve the worst human rights crisis on the planet and just another test of the rest of the world's moral stamina.

After four years it takes a different type of commit­ ment to still care about a cause. The crimes against hu­ manity perpetrated in Darfur outraged many, but as much as the slaughter, rape and mass refugee crisis shocked initially, a certain apathy eventually creeps in. Activists initially argued for a strong international response to the crisis and could rely on disgust and shock to garner up support. However such disgust and outrage is temporary, and activists themselves are not immune to such apathy.

As a member of the Darfur advocacy group STAND McGill, I've come to appreciate how numbing the seem­ ingly repeated and mundane reports and statistics that stream out of Darfur can be. Like many other Darfur ad­ vocates, I joined the Darfur movement under the delu­ sion that a resolution to the crisis was similar to that of the Rwandan genocide. However, the daunting reality is that Darfur is much more complicated than just a simple victim-oppressor dichotomy.

Faced with a reality that the crisis in Darfur is con­ voluted with ethnic, socio-economic and political actors, it's tempting to take an easy way out. One of those easy ways is to forcefully simplify, that is to say dumb the con­ flict down, to an Arab-African conflict that is in the end a harmful falsehood. The second temptation is to identify a complex problem as an impossible problem and concede

that nothing can be done.

Even acknowledging the difficult fact that there will be no simple solution to Darfur's complex problems, both activists and concerned citizens can be driven into the ground at the lengthy negotiating that has embroiled the conflict. Four years is a long time to stay passionate about a cause. Idealistic illusions that there will be a quick reso­ lution have to be replaced by realism manifesting itself in sustained pressure and incremental success. The longer the Darfur conflict goes on, the more it becomes a war on apathy.

Apathy is what those war criminals cowering from justice are counting on. Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir is betting that the international community will forget about Darfur, accept the carnage and lose interest. Ty­ rants have always had a contemptible faith in the limitless of public apathy to the plight of others.

If the war criminals under the Sudanese govern­ ment's protection took any notice of what is going on in Montreal, they'd be thoroughly disheartened. It was amazing to see McGill host the Global Conference oh the Prevention of Genocide, which focused both inter­ national and local attention on Darfur. Each event held like that is a boost to a moral stamina and is a reminder that gross transgressions of human rights cannot be so easily dismissed. The continued and sustained efforts of activists will send a message to the leaders of Sudan that the world will not forget, nor will it ignore, what has been done and is still happening. ■ James Young is a U3 McGill Political Science and Econom­ ics student and is a member o f STAND (Students Taking Ac­ tion Now Darfur) McGill. STAND meets Thursdays a t 5:30 in Shatner cafeteria.

S

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L e a rn h o w to b e a s p a c e c a d e t M a k in g

w h a t

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Colour your world Use colour to your advantage by opting for softer tones.

Softer colours will make an area appear more airy and spacious, while darker colours create a more confined, cozier environment.

For optimal effect, use lighter shades of blues and greens. As an added bonus, using these hues will also create a calm setting and may reduce stress.

One of the most effective methods to make a small space appear larger is to use a monochromatic colour scheme. This technique tricks the eye into seeing one continuous wide-open area instead of many distinct blocks created by contrasting co­ lours. Choosing paint, furniture, rugs and accessories in different shades of the same cool colour achieves a simpler and more spa­ cious atmosphere.

Janet M c M ullen University living is often remniscent of sleeping in an air­ plane bathroom, but although space may be limited, it doesn't have to induce claustrophobia. By following a few simple guide­ lines, you can turn your apartment from small to spacious— al­ though deceivingly so— in the blink of an eye.

De-clutter your digs Between exams, extra-curricular activities and social events, tidying tends to get ranked at the bottom of the priority list. How­ ever, getting rid of the clutter is one of the best ways to make less seem like more. When de-cluttering, remember to both organize the randomly scattered items and throw out the ones you no longer use.

If there isn't space for everything, consider investing in some creative storage solutions such as a storage ottoman, an extra bookcase or an under-the-bed storage box, which will not only create more storage space, but will also help keep everything organized and easier to find.

Let the sun shine Opening heavy curtains and letting in the light will instantaneously open up the room and make it appear larger. Take advantage of natural daylight by opting for simple and light window treatments. For basement apartments with few windows, invest in a

variety of floor lamps and table lamps to add some light to your space. Just remember to be mindful of the environment— and that electricity bill.

Mirror, mirror, on the wall One of the easiest ways to make a very tiny space appear slightly less cramped is to strategically place mirrors all around the room, à la Holiday Inn.This will reflect both light and the room itself, creating a more open space. Try standing an oversized mir­ ror against a bare wall, or hanging an assortment of elaborately and simply framed mirrors together to create visual interest.

With a few simple alterations, cramped quarters can feel luxurious in no time at all. ■

M c G ill

GUIDE

S h e w e a rs d e a d p e o p le T h e

h u m a n

b o d y , fo r fu n

Emma C abrera-A ragôn Piercing for ornamental purposes has been around for a long time and using jewellery to display wealth or social status goes far beyond bling.

As people evolve, so do their cultures and customs.

Once, an ivory lip-plug through the lower lip—called a labret—indicated the entrance of a native Alaskan into adulthood, while now it can be used by anyone, to say anything.

In Japan, ear piercings were meant to 1stretch out earlobes, which conferred social status. This is still a significant altera­ tion on the Asiatic island of Borneo and also an alternative form of ear pierc­ ing in mainstream Western culture.

Commonly referred to as gauging, the process consists of inserting increas­ ingly larger plugs MICHELLE GEESAM AN over time to stretch Gauging, when done properly, the piercing. Nor­ shouldn't hurt— too much. mal ear-piercings are

a n d

p r o fit

done with a 20- or 18-gauge needle, but some stretch their ears to a 00 (the size of the hole increases as num­ bers decrease). Some even get into fractions. Becuase the skin is stretched, rather than removed, this procedure isn't necessarily permanent, so practitioners can also gauge back down.

Body ornaments do not, however, stop at piercings.

Comapnies such as LifeGem help you preverve memo­ ries in a different way, by creating diamonds out of the carbon content of a former loved one. The remains of a parent, spouse or household pet can be converted into a diamond, set on a ring and worn in memory. Imagine when someone comments on the loveliness of your ring, being able to respond with, "Thank you. It was my grand­ mother."

If waiting for someone to die for the sake of aesthet­ ics seems a little callous, there is another option. Biojew­ elry is made from bone tissue taken during a biopsy and grown in a lab until there is enough to make a ring. If you can't literally have someone's heart, why not have a piece of their skeleton?

In certain parts of Africa and along the Thai-Burma border, there are'long-neck'tribes. By adding a single me­ tallic ring at a time, the women of these tribes elongate their necks. As they do, neck muscles stretch and the col­ larbone and ribs are pushed downwards, further enhanc­ ing the giraffe-like effect. In certain tribes, the longer the neck is stretched, the greater the person's beauty is en­ hanced. Side effects can be detrimental to the person's health, but this is usually not taken into consideration.

Whether all this is pretty, or pretty gross, is up to you. ■

P rin cip a l H e a t h e r M u n r o e - B lu m invites McGILL STUDENTS, FACULTY AND STAFF to a Town Hall w here the follow ing three topics, chosen by community input, will be discussed: ■ Protecting McGill's Environm ent ■ Enhancing the Student Experience ■ Cam paign McGill

W ednesday Novem ber 14, 2007 1:00 p.m. until 2:20 p.m.

Moot Court Faculty of Law New Chancellor Day Hall Room 100 Entrance by 3660 Peel Street

A brief question and answer period on other issues and concerns will follow.

It's our university.

let's ta lk ab out it...

•

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T u e sd a y

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W ednesday

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F rid ay

"Crossing Many Boundaries: Refugees and HIV/AIDS in Canada" Thursday, Nov. 8,6-7:30 p.m.

Rm. 202, Chancellor Day Hall SDonsored bv McGill Global AIDS Coalition.

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Want to advertise in the Campus Calendar? For just a toonie you can advertise your event up to two weeks in advance.

Email calendar@mcgilltribune.com for more information, or drop by the Tribune office in Shatner 1 1 0 .

11

18

The McGill Tribune

10 • Student Living • 06.11.07

CAMPUS: CHATTERBOX

K a r l M o o r e m i x e s it u p P r o f e n jo y s

fa m ily

a n d

J a c k

D a n ie l's

Dr. Karl Moore, a renowned McGill Management professor who is also p a rt o f the Department o f Neurology and Neuro­ surgery, has achieved quasi-Guru status amongst B.Com and MBA students and been identified by the Globe and M ail as one o f Canada's top to academics. Moore also runs a podcast every Monday for The Globe and MaiTs Report on Business, where he interviews corporate CEOs and professors.

At McGill I teach...'Managing in a Globalizing World'for MBAs and B.Coms and I help direct and teach on our In­ ternational Masters of Health Leadership and Advanced Leadership Program for global executives. It is great fun to be able to teach and learn from 20-year olds (B.Coms), 30year olds (MBAs) and 45-year olds (MDs and execs). It does take some mental shifting of gears, but it is stimulating.

The 20-year olds may well be the ones with the greatest raw intellectual firepower.

If I were not at McGill, I would be... still in the business faculty at Oxford, where I was for five years. Our children were born in England and my wife (who is Québécois) and I wanted our kids to grow up seriously bilingual.That and the chance to work with McGill's Henry Mintzberg— I am not kidding; the number one management prof in the world— were the two irresistible things which brought me to McGill. I do miss England though; I love the sense of humour there.

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On a weekend, I usually... play with my kids, Erik, age 11, and Marie-Eve, age nine, read five newspapers and go to church as a family.

When I was a child, I wanted to be... a chartered accoun­ tant, but then I worked for a summer as an accountant at Laura Secord in Toronto. Great five-cent chocolate bars for employees, but that summer cured me of that ambition.

S P a n e l

same time was engaged with doing research on the then emerging PC market for IBM, where I worked at the time.

The combination of research and teaching was tremen­ dously alluring. I am both an extrovert who loves being with people and simultaneously loves the world of books and ideas, a kind of weird mix.

What my students don't know about me (but should) is that... Iwalk fast and leave the impression that I am off to do something important; that is almost never true. I am tall and hence walk fast; if you want to talk, just stop me, don't be intimidated.

I am inspired by... the thought of providing for my family and the excitement of new ideas gets me out of bed in the morning. I love the world of ideas and, in time, their practical, pragmatic impact on changing the world.

The Internship Offices Network cordially invites McGill students from all faculties to its

SAR AYOUSEFNEJAD Moore fun than a barrel of monkeys.

My deepest fear is of... going blind.The new O Noir res­ taurant on Ste-Catherine's is totally unappealing.

My drink of choice is... Jack Daniel's and Ginger Ale with lots of ice in a tall glass. ■

I realized I wanted to become a professor when... I taught a night class at the University ofToronto and at the

,

— Compiled by Ken Sun.

Teach English in Japan

Are you ready for a rewarding and exciting opportunity?

Students who have embarked on internships from different faculties will be present to discuss their experiences in the run up to, and during, their internships.

f o r R S V P & m o r e in fo T uesday, N o v e m b e r 6 ,2 0 0 7 5:00 - 6:30 pm Redpath M useum Am phitheatre

Enthusiastic individuals are invited to apply to teach English conversation to adults and/or children at one of our 300 branches across Japan.

Send your resume and essay titled, “Why I Want to Live and Work in Japan” to aeontor@aeonet.com.

Interviewing in Ottawa: November

24

th

A p p lic a tio n d eadline: N o v e m b e r 18th

www.aeonet.com Tel: 416-364-8500

Change is good.

Two years under your belt and still not sure where you're going? Here's some good news.

Those 2 years could be the perfect springboard to a degree from Canada's best business school.

ur. JMIT YOURSELF

An undergraduate business degree from Ivey to be precise. Check it o u t You might be very glad you did. Go to iveyhba.com and let’s talk.

iveyhba.com

06.11.07 «The McGill Tribune • 11

www.mcgilltribune.com

HOW-TO

B u y in g t h e r ig h t p a ir o f w in t e r b o o ts B e c a u s e

n o t h in g

is le s s f a s h i o n a b l e

Joanna Reznick

their boots as well: just make sure your pants are baggy enough to fall over the boots.

Although every pair of'boots may seem desirable in its own way— with the excep­ tion of hideous purple Uggs— the perfect boot is warm and waterproof as well as styl­ ish, a combination that is unfortunately hard to come by.

Leather and suede Leather boots are the most beautiful, but unless insulated, they aren't particularly warm.

Also, don't opt for the pleather variety unless they are really cheap and just for fashion. The leather and suede protecting spray is always a good idea, but doesn't hold up against torren­ tial rain or extreme snowfall. A pair of leather boots will work for the fall and are great for a night out. Suede, although beautiful, is not ap­ propriate for winter, as water stains it. Even the spray on protection might not save your $300 boots from damage.

Ankle, mid-calf and knee-length Ankle boots are hot, but they're also ex­ tremely impractical, since when the tempera­ ture drops to below freezing frostbitten ankles afflict all who wear them. Go for a mid-calf or knee-high boot instead. This rule applies for guys who don't want to tuck their pants into

th a n

fr o s tb ite

Waterproof is the way to go Companies such as Timberland and Pajar make winter boots that are stylish, waterproof and warm. Pajar is a Montreal based company, so they know what they're talking about when it comes to winter warmth. They have an insu­ lated mid-sole and rubber heels, so water can't get through— especially with the layers of alu­ minum, wool and felt.

of -75°C and usually cost about $70. Although not really necessary for everyday use, Sorels are perfect for ski vacations and brutal Janu­ ary weather. The rubber soles provide great traction for icy situations. Seam sealing is also crucial in terms of warmth, because even if a pair of boots are insulated, if they are not sealed properly, cold air will get in and numb your toes.

Montreal is cold and wet, deal with it!

When it comes to winter boots in a city like Montreal, there is only one thing you need: a fabulous pair of Sorels. Popular among fiveto-nine-year-olds everywhere, these boots take ugly to a new level, but everyone should own a pair. Sorels can withstand temperatures

Finding the right pair of boots can be tricky. Girls and guys alike may find themselves purchasing two or three pairs, instead of just one. But be sure to do your research. This win­ ter, break away from the UGGIy trend and find something warm, waterproof and affordable.

Your feet will thank you.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Lindsay Frank

Sw eet

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U n b e a t a b l e P ric e s !

p o ta to e s S a v o u ry , s a n s

O ne low monthly fixed price keeps life simple!

s u g a r You don't need to add marshmallows to make this side dish taste good. This recipe bakes up a spicy sweet glaze that enhances the sweet potatoes'flavour, in­ stead of overwhelming it, and brings out the natural sweetness of these vitamin and fibre-packed root vegetables. Try this intriguing side dish with barbequed meats and combine your marshmallows with rice krispies instead.

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Ingredients:

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Steps: Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a bak­ ing sheet with parchment paper, or line a glass casserole dish with tin foil and grease generously. Set aside. Wash and (peel too, if de­ sired) cube sweet potatoes. In me­ dium sized bowl, coat sweet pota­ toes with olive oil.

In a separate small bowl, stir to­ gether brown sugar, chilli powder, cinnamon, cayenne pepper, and salt and pepper. Increase the cay­ enne pepper to 1/4 tsp if you really want to feel the heat. Pour mixture over sweet potatoes and stir thor­ oughly to coat.

Spread sweet potatoes in a single layer on the lined baking sheet.

Bake for 20-30 minutes (depends on cube size) or until potatoes are soft and have caramelized. If cook­ ing with a casserole dish, you may have to stir once or twice during baking time. Makes 2-3 servings.

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F EATURES WELCOMETOTHEHOMELESS NETWORK How a l t e r n a t i v e m e d ia g i v e s th e m a r g in a liz e d a v o ic e PunksinTraffic.Discouraged by the necessity of exclud­

Ezra G linter Two weeks away from his final exams and two credits shy of high school graduation, Alex Berthelot decided that life had to have something more interesting in store for him than the fenced-in future of a boring, impersonal job or a conventional, white-picket family. So he said goodbye to his home­ town of Elliot Lake, Ontario and hit the rails.

"I had it," he says. "I decided I didn't need a piece of paper and fucked off."

For the next two and a half years, Berthelot— who goes by Gadget, a monicker reflecting his perpetual preparedness and ever-present stash of appliances— rode trains all over Canada, never, stopping in one place for more than a week and half. Eventually, having crisscrossed the country from coast to coast living as a modern day hobo, Gadget decided to quit the itinerant lifestyle and landed in Montreal.

"I was on welfare and living in a four-and-a-half [apartment] with five other people," the lanky, multipierced outreach worker says, recalling his efforts to get off the street. "You're still kind of on the street and homeless because of the living conditions when you're getting off the street and on welfare— I know lots of my buddies who are still seven people in a five-and-a-half. I got one, buddy who sleeps on the kitchen floor."

In Montreal, Gadget enrolled in an employment training program, where he worked with homeless or­ ganizations all over the city. Eventually, he was referred to Homeless Nation, a new outfit dedicated to giving the homeless not just help, but a voice.

A home for homeless activism The brainchild of documentary film maker and Concordia professor Daniel Cross, Homeless Nation fol­ lowed in the wake of Cross's critically acclaimed films and

TheStreet:aFilmwiththeHomeless S.P.I.T.:Squeegee

ing vast amounts of material from his final cuts, Cross decided to create a space where such stories would not be lost, and in 2005 he launched homelessnation.org.

"He had this idea that here could be a forum for these stories," says Alexandra Yanofsky, Homeless Na­ tion's national coordinator; "People with no fixed ad­ dress, the most marginalized in our society having no place to have their story heard— that's what Homeless Nation is and that's what our Web site is for."

In one video, for example, Trevor Coburn, now a coordinator of Vancouver's Youth Visions Coalition, re­ counts the stories of his childhood spent in and out of foster care, his adolescence spent in jail and on the streets and his struggles with crack and crystal meth. In another,'James k-9' admits that he buys beer with the money he makes, but says that he's "heading towards sobriety and is a little nervous."

Today, Homelessnation.org features hundreds of similar short films by and about the homeless, as well as podcasts and blogs generated by the site's 2,658 registered users.

"The video vignettes are one thing," Gadget says.

"They'reawayforpeopletogettheirvoicesoutandtelltheir story, butthe real discussionsand the real debatesgoon in the blogs.”

In the past two years the organization has also expanded from its Montreal headquarters to include branches in Toronto, Vancouver and Victoria.

Giving homelessness a home in front of the nation While the Internet forum Homeless Nation pro­ vides is still a unique project, media by the homeless is not an entirely new concept. a magazine written, edited, produced and sold by homeless people, has been available on the streets of Montreal since 1992 and follows in the footsteps of other homeless publica­ tions such as New York's and London's In Quebec, the mobile produc­ tion unit Video Paradiso has been making films with street youth since 2004 and each year Canada's airwaves and Montre­ al's Native Friendship Centre host CKUT Radio's night-long homelessness marathon. In a world where media creation has become accessible to just about everybody, such organi­ zations allow the most margin­ alized group of people to share their stories as well.

"The general concept... is to make a space on the na­ tional radio spectrum for home­ less and poor people to speak about their experiences being poor and homeless in Canada," explains CKUT producer Gretchen King. During the Homeless­ ness Marathon, which takes place each-January or February, people can come share their

Litineraire,

News

SARAYOUSEFNEJAD

According to a recent study, the homeless population is currently between 200,000 and 300,000 people.

Street TheBigIssue.

stories, their political views, their poetry and music, or just come and hang out. For many marginalized people, the event has become a yearly social gathering in its own right.

"It's a space that people can come to and find a community and an open microphone as well," King says. "A lot of people come just to hang out— they want a positive environment where they'll be greeted with food and hot drinks and an opportunity to speak if they choose."

Though the rise in media by and about the home­ less is largely the result of individual efforts by people like Cross, it also reflects the growing crisis of home­ lessness in Canada. According to a 2005 estimate by the now-defunct National Homelessness Initiative, the homeless population then numbered around 150,000 people, while a more recent study by Gordon Laird, a scholar at the Calgary based Sheldon Chumir Foun­ dation for Ethics in Leadership, placed the homeless population between 200,000 and 300,000 people. One seventh of that number are children and one third are between the ages of 16 and 24. Moreover, according to Laird, a total of 1.7 million people are considered to have housing affordability issues.

Covering the basis: food, shelter and Internet While basic necessities such as food and shelter will always be primary concerns, the lack of Internet ac­ cess and other modern means of communication ex­ acerbates the predicament of many homeless people.

According to Darin Barney, an associate professor in McGill's Department of Art History and Communica­ tions and the Canada Research Chair in Technology and Citizenship, access to the Internet is essential for suc­ cessful integration into mainstream society.

"To the extent that an increasing portion of main­ stream social, political and economic life are mediated, in one way or another, by these technologies, lack of access to them can serve to even further marginalize people who are already marginalized in other ways," he says. A recent example of technological necessity that has activists up in arms is the requirement in British Co­ lumbia of applying for welfare over the Internet.

"That's quite a chore to assign somebody who doesn't have a roof over their head, much less a com­ puter, much less Internet access," Yanofsky says.

In response to such difficulties, organizations such as Homeless Nation, CKUT and Litineraire have set up regular workshops at shelters and other homeless or­ ganizations to teach people everything from basic Internet use to programming and digital audio and video editing.

Taking debate to the streets In addition to offering basic assistance, the oppor­ tunity for homeless people to create their own media has allowed them to contribute directly to public dis­ cussions on social issues that affect them.

"Access to media such as these can provide margin­ alized people with a means... to make themselves seen and heard, by themselves and by others, in the context of social and media cultures that would rather they re­ main invisible and silent,"says Barney."These media... can provide the means by which such communities can organize and mobilize themselves to engage in po­ litical action that demands redress of the unjust condi­ tions under which they are forced to live."

During CKUT Radio's first Homelessness Marathon for example, an impromptu on-air debate broke out be­ tween the mayor's attaché on housing, who had called in, and squatters.

"The squatters would never have the opportunity in any other place to challenge a politician whose de­ cisions directly affect their lives," King says. "More often than not you see media that just gener­ ates apathy and I think that's what different

06.11.07 «The McGill Tribune • 13

The homeless shelters of Montreal W h e re

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M eghna M arjadi and C arolyn Yates There are many resources for the homeless in Montreal. Shelters, though often ap­ plauded for their ability to facilitate long term rehabilition, frequently have hidden restric­ tions for their clients. Here are just a few o f the places in the city that can be turned to when there is no where to go.

Old Brewery Mission: Patricia Mackenzie Pavillion Started in 1889, The Old Brewery Mission is an initiative that has grown into four centres offering transitional lodging, food and clothing to homeless adults in Montreal, as well as programs designed to help them get back on their feet.

According to Mariehelene Bourdon o f the Patricia Mackenzie Pavilion—-the centre specifically for women—-a woman who wants a bed should call earlier in the day so that her name can be placed on a list. If she isn't at the shelter at 6:30 p.m. that evening, her place will be given away. Before being admitted, there is a short interview to ensure that clients are not inebriated, or carrying weapons or drugs. "[The interviews] can be about drugs, or alcohol; sometimes we have some girls who we don't accept anymore because the person is aggressive and has done some­ thing wrong here before,” explains Bourdon.

Tina Defchampf, another employee of the pavilion, says there are few requirements for the people let in.

"The only things we ask are that you do not consume, you are not inebriated, and you do not carry weapons," she says.

In addition to short term shelter, the centre also offers counselling help and some of its residents are enrolled in a program that they refer to as Project A. This project helps the residents to organize their lives better and get themselves back on their feet.

NIKIHYDE A lack o f means o f com m unication exacerbates th e s itu a tio n o f m any homeless people. about the Homelessness Marathon. It's not just a description o f the situation, it's also a description o f the solutions and talking about w hat practically has happened already in different places in Canada to make change and w hat could make things better."

Barney is sceptical, however, about the real effects * g o f homeless media on the broader population.

"These media provided unprecedented o p p o rtu n i­ ties for diversity at the production end, but this diversity does not necessarily translate into widespread exposure ■ to difference at the level o f individual consumption," he says. 'This means that, for the most part, the audience ■ for media produced by marginalized com m unities will primarily be those com m unities themselves and the « other people w ho already care about them."

Nonetheless, the effect on individual lives is already undeniable. For Gadget, making movies and helping the homeless to use the Internet has given him previously inconceiv­ able opportunities.

"I've gone and made presentations at the United Nations World Urban Forum in Van­ couver," he says."I've been invited to [Governor General's residence] Rideau Hall to present the project to a digital media conference... all w ith o u t a high school education." ■

SARAYUUStmlJAU The in te rn e t is g ivin g th e homeless co m m u n ity a m ore visib le space.

L'Auberge A youth-centred facility, LAuberge focusses on the improvement of life for homeless people between the ages of 18 and 29.Their goals are primarily directed at the long-term and include initiatives such as access to permanent housing, ability to attain a decent, sustainable income, creating community support systems and giving life new value.

One o f the cornerstones of their initiative is to give clients enough time to recover stability and so their program is based around a series o f large apartments in which cli­ ents can stay for up to one year, in the theory that this prevents recurring visits. Some employment assistance is offered. Residents are financially responsible to the program (paying a maximum o f $275 per month), as the ultimate goal is economic and personal stability and part o f this is the ability to make regular payments.

Dans La Rue Dans La Rue is an organization that focusses mostly on giving shelter and help to youth under the age of 20. Started by Father Emmett Johns (Pops) 17 years ago, Dans La Rue runs three programs: the Bunker, Chez Pops Day Centre, which offers day workshops and counselling, and The Van, a bus that circles Montreal giving out food and personal care products.

The Bunker functions as a care facility for minors— primarily runaways— on a short­ term basis. For first-time visitors, the limit is five nights, although they can return to spend the night after a short interim period. "it's an emergency shelter, so its location is confidential," explains Aki Tchiacov, ex­ ecutive director of Dans La Rue. Unlike other shelters with stringent intake requirements, including documentation and even interviews, The Bunker is fairly welcoming.

"We work with young people in whatever state they are, so even if they are intoxi­ cated, or if they're high from using drugs, we will let them into our centres,"explainsTchiacov.'We don't require that much security because, like I like to tell a lot of people, you are safer in our organization than you are in most high schools in Montreal. [...] The people that come to us have come voluntarily, they have a lot of respect for the organization and have already built relationships with the people within the organization and it's the one place for them where they can be comfortable and just decompress."

Refuge Des Jeunes de Montreal The Refuge Des Jeunnes de Montreal is an organization dedicated to addressing the often-complex needs of homeless young men between the ages of 17 and 24 in Montreal. A specially trained staff is on site to listen to the "needs and problems” o f desti­ tute young men in the city, and offer temporary shelter to those in need. Other services offered include meals, clothing, and medical treatment, all free of charge. Since the open­ ing of the shelter in 1986, over 14,000 young men have taken advantage of the shelter's services. The average age of residents is just 21.

The refuge is primarily financed by the government o f Quebec, the city of Mon­ treal and the Federal government, but also relies on private charities and donors.

Anyone who is interested in donating money or volunteering time should visit www.refugedesjeunes.org. ■ —Additional reporting by Byron Tau.

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The legends of living room rock G u ita r H e ro

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ery, another type of immensely popular virtual fantasy game has emerged from the ether in Somewhere around the mid-90s, in the recent years: Guitar Hero. frenzied midst o f the console wars between With the third installment in the rockstarSuper Nintendo and Sega Genesis, there was simulation franchise, Guitar Hero III: Legends o f much ado about virtual reality. With the promis­ Rock, released (and sold out in both stores and ing graphic rendering and ingenious gameplay online outlets) just last week, it is clear that the o f 16-bit masterpieces like Pilotwings and Sonic game has become a certified cultural phenom­ & Knuckles, it seemed as if the days of Virtual enon. For those woefully uninitiated, Guitar Hero Golf, Virtual Bowling and Virtual (Virtual) Skeeis essentially a guitar-playing simulation game. ball weren't far off. But following the seemingly Using a specially designed, minituarized fivefated flop o f Nintendo's Virtual Boy system— re­ button guitar controller, complete with a strum member the one with the migraine-inducing button and whammy bar, players advance neon Tron graphics?— and the subsequent through the game by successfully playing cer­ rise o f Sony Playstation and Nintendo 64, it tain songs (accomplished by pressing the cor­ seemed as if virtual reality technology would responding button when it appears on screen). be relegated to philosophy lecture halls and A closet air-guitarist's wet dream, Guitar Hero III Cronenberg movies. lets players do their best Pete Townsend or Tony Although they perhaps still a far cry from lommi as they rock out to tunes such as "Paint it Virtual Dog Walking, there has nonetheless Black" by the Rolling Stones, "Sabotage" by the been a noted increase in console and computer Beastie Boys, "The Number o f the Beast" by Iron games which seem at least like the poor cousin Maiden and literally dozens more. of true virtual reality,.if not its harbinger. Apart "Basically, it lets you vicariously live out from the Massively Multiplayer Online Role Play­ whatever rockstar fantasy you have in the com­ ing Games of the Final Fantasy XI and World of fort of yourow n living room,''said Freddie Wong, Warcraft ilk, which allow gamers to slay goblins, a qualified Guitar Hero who played Guitar Hero II rescue maidens fair and generally submit to the competitively on the 2007 World Series of Video consuming quintessence of unabashed nerdGames circuit. A 22 year old Seattle native cur­ rently studying film produc­ tion in Los Angeles, Wong propelled himself to acci­ dental pseudo-stardom with an intense (and hilarious) YouTube video in which he tears through the blistering solos of Rush's "YYZ" on Gui­ tar Hero II. In the video, and in his competitive playing, Wong distinguishes himself with the rowdy, intimidating stage presence o f a veteran air-guitarist.

"I don't know which is more embarrassing: air gui­ tar in your bedroom or [GuitarHero]','Wong said.

But Wong has nothing to be embarrassed about.

GAMESPOT.COM His performance at the Dal­ G uitar Hero III m aintains th e game's in tu itiv e interface. las WSVG competition saw

r o c k fa n ta s ie s of an actual guitar— may try to undermine the simple amusements provided by a game like Guitar Hero, Wong notes that when play­ ing'real guitar'(which he does), "You definitely don't have a crowd like the one you have [in the game]."

Whether it arrests development by per­ mitting the indulgence of immature fanta­ sies of rock stardom, provides a challenge to even the most dexterous video-game players or just proves a genuinely fun way to waste a few hours (or days) with friends, the popular­ ity o f Guitar Hero remains undeniable. Legends o f Rock, which features a handful of co-opera­ tive and online modes o f play and introduces guitar greats Slash and Tom Morello as play­ able characters, is bound to expand the game's appeal. And though it may not be the sort of totally interactive virtual reality once heralded by systems such as Virtual Boy, let's face it, who wants to play Virtual Tennis when you can burn through the solo of "Welcome to the Jungle" in your underpants? ■

J ohn Semley

REALMMEDIA.COM Rocking th e proverbial "Casbah": W ong. him incorporate Van Halen issue kicks and stage slides into a routine that Motley Crue frontman Vince Neil hailed as "amazing” and his combina­ tion o f talent and unrestrained rock showman­ ship separates him from more humourless com­ petitors, whose concerns rest primarily with high scores and not the feeling o f rock 'n' roll super stardom which Guitar Hero affords. ."I was just strutting around, having a good time,” Wong said of his WSVG performances.

And because the WSVG rewards showman­ ship and style in competition, Wong was able to remain competitive with what he called the "hardcore players."

Appropriately, the spirit of fun Wong brings to his competitive playing speaks to the unique character of Guitar Hero itself.

"It's really a casual game,"Wong explained.

"The reason it's so popular is because it appeals to ... an audience who normally isn't into video games, to people who would never identify themselves as video-game players." And though the inevitable naysayers— sceptical of the wide­ spread desire to play a guitar simulation instead

Guitar Hero III: Legends o f Rock is now avail­ able for PS2, PS3, Xbox36o, Wii and, soon, PC. Good luck finding a copy.

EB6AMES.CA That's rig h t. Slash is on th e cover.

P O P R H E T O R IC

Getting the Led out... if there's any left C harlie C heng n Nov. 19, Led Zeppelin will perform a one-off show with Jason Bonham replacing his father, in honour of Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun who died last year. It has been 19 years since Led Zeppelin performed as a group. Rumours have surfaced o f a world tour, depend« ing on how the performance goes. Members of the band have also stated that they would be interested in producing new material, possibly another album. Similar rumours have been floating around for the past decade, so none o f this is set in stone. The sheer possibility that there is still life in Led Zeppelin is astounding enough, however. Ticket selling sites reported traffic numbers of over 120 million as 20 mil­ lion die-hard fans gambled for the 20,000 seats. The concert is reportedly the most in-demand one-off show in history.

I will say this right now: do not expect the reunion to be as epic as, say, Cream or Pink Floyd tw o years ago or : even the unexpected Police and Van Halen reunions this year. Although it's true that Led Zeppelin hasn't performed , as a 'group' since 1988, there has been plenty of life flowing around the band since its demise. All surviving members 1 have consistently produced and performed both new and

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classic material since the band's breakup. Jimmy Page and Robert Plant have even created tw o thoroughly mediocre studio albums as a duo in the mid 90s and John Paul Jones, in keeping with his reputation as the quiet one, has created a string of exceptional experimental albums, met with most­ ly underground success.

Furthermore, tw o Led Zeppelin reunions have already occurred, in 1985 for a Live Aid event with Phil Collins on drums and a second time in 1988 for Atlantic Records'30th anniversary with Jason Bonham filling in. Although ex­ tremely hyped up, the tw o performances were generally considered to be sub-par in comparison with the standard of the band in its heyday, proving that it just wasn't the same w ithout John Bonham. Members even requested that their 1985 performance be removed from the DVD release of the Live Aid concert. Their 1988 performance was also riddled with problems such as Plant losing his voice in the middle of "Heartbreaker"and Page having issues with the tone of his guitar during the conclusive "Stairway to Heaven" solo.

These tw o disappointing performances may have sparked the band's interest to try again 19 years later. All three

surviving members are now in their late 50s or early 60s. And though John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham have kept their skills intact, don't expect Plant to achieve the same orgasmic wail in "Dazed and Confused"that he did 40 years ago. Page's history with cocaine and heroin needs no introduction and, although he has reportedly sobered up, his guitar playing has progressively worsened over the last tw o decades as shown by both the reunions and his solo material.

Will the new performance, which will be one of, if not the last performance by Led Zeppelin, tamper with the legend that they left? Should they have stopped when John Bonham died in 1980? Will they become a parody of themselves like the Rolling Stones today? Perhaps, but we shouldn't forget who we're talking about. Decades or maybe even centuries from now, Led Zeppelin's musical influence will undoubtedly be remembered. We're lucky that they are still active in our lifetime. If I was somehow able to get my hands on a ticket, I would pay whatever price they named just so I can tell my grandchildren someday that I did indeed see Led Zeppelin. Not necessarily in their prime, but still, fucking Led Zeppelin.■

06.11.07 • The McGill Tribune • 15

P r e v ie w s

OPERA

Arias in the postwar era O p e ra

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S h a k e s p e a re

W illiam Robinson Michael Cavanagh's interpretation of Gounod's inter­ pretation o f Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet offers a highly entertaining rendition of a classic love story. Exciting chore­ ography and music provide an invigorating operatic experi­ ence, making it very accessible to anyone interested in the performing arts.

Cavanagh's production is contemporized, laying the scene of Shakespeare's play in 20th century Italy. Whereas the spectacular sets depicting Renaissance architecture act as a backdrop, the cast finds itself working with mid-century furniture and wearing a late 40s wardrobe. Sword fights are replaced with knife fights and everyone looks like a mafioso.

The creativity does not end there, however. Traces of Mus­ solini's fascism linger in the high-arm salutes and the red arm-bands on certain cast members. The composition is well executed, allowing the audience to clearly understand the singers as they act out each scene. This achievement is especially apparent during the exciting duels of act three.

Cavanagh claims to have attempted a "playfulness"

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and "careful spontaneity" which comes through the delivery of the skilled actors at his disposition. When Juliette begins to sing "Je Veux Vivre," "it's not enough just to have her tell us this," Cavanagh explains, but the audience needs to truly see how much she wants to live. Cavanagh's emphasis on rampant gaiety also serves to amplify the more sobering, solemnly dramatic points of the opera. Such dramatic con­ struction, coupled with Cavanagh's ability to reconstruct a sense of danger and excitement create a modern and en­ joyable experience.

Musically, the opera is beautifully performed by the instrumentalists and singers. In an excellent turn as Juliette, Maureen O'Flynn powerfully projects her radiant voice into the audience while Alex Dobson as Mercutio and Antoine Bélanger as Tybalt embody their respective characters right down to the last hand gesture.

Overall the opera is an elating success as the music, the choreography, the lighting and the décor come together to offer a clean, polished performance and the theme of eter­ nal love is well captured in the seamless merging of an ageold story with a modern setting. Cavanagh's production might have further distinguished itself from the general trend of adapting Shakespeare to more recent contexts, however, by explor­ ing themes such as fascism, which while no­ ticeable, were handled rather timidly.

Nevertheless, despite the rather down­ hearted airofShakespeare'sstory,theoperatic production emerges as lively and triumphant.

Artistic director Michel Beaulac stressed that although Romeo and Juliet may be classi­ fied as a classic Shakespearean tragedy, the play should not be presented as a wholly gloomy affair.

"I should say it ends sadly, but it is a very positive statement," Beaulac said. "It's re­ ally love winning over opposition, conflicts and winning even over the destruction of the couple." ■

Romeo et Juliette plays Nov. 7, 10, n and 75 at 8:00p.m.; Salle Wilfrid Pelltier, Places-desCOURTESYOPERADEMONTREAL Arts (175 Ste-Catherine W.). Visit www.operMarc H ervieux and Maureen O'Fylnn as th e starr-cross'd lovers.

ademontreal.com for tickets.

BOOKS

Life of a McGill undergrad C o m in g -o f-a g e

n o v e l a

b re e z y

C ompiled By J ohn Semley

Music. Sigur Ros, Hvarf/Heim: Nov. 6. For post-rock nerds who aren't interested by upcoming Jay-Z or Monster Magnet releases, this week will also see the release of a double-CD compilation album from everyone's favorite gaggle of melodic Icelanders. The first disc contains studio versions o f previously unre­ leased songs and the second contains acoustic versions of already released tunes. Not exactly new material, but probably enough'to sate fans for now.

G am ing. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, Wii; ships Nov. 6. Though Crash Bandicoot seems regrettably absent, today marks a momentous occasion in video game history as Nintendo's pudgy plumber and Sega's spiky hedgehog unite with a large supporting cast (Luigi, Knuckles and Dr. Robotnik, et at). Pre­ sented as a series of minigames (in the style of Nintendo's Mario Party series), the players pit the cartoonish cast against each in the 100 metre dash, highjump, hammer throw and some other events which seem terminally boring on paper.

Music. Karlsruher Konzert-Duo. Nov. 8 at 8:oop.m; Chapelle Historique du Bon Pasteur (100 Sherbrooke E.J.The duet, with violin/cellist Reinhard Armleder and pianist Dagmar Hartmann, was founded in 1997 and, thanks to prizes won at several international competitions, has garnered substantial acclaim in Ger­ many and abroad.

Film . No Country For Old Men; Nov. 9. Already garnering substantial critical at­ tention, the pairing o f a Cormac McCarthy adaptation with the Coen brothers [The Big Lebowski, Fargo) seems like a recipe for a success. Hopefully McCarthy's cat-and-mouse story o f a man with a suitcase of money and heroin evading multiple pursuers will give the Coens a chance to redeem themselves from the mire they've been wading in lately (Intolerable Cruelty, The Ladykillers). Check www.cinema-montreal.com for showtimes.

FIRST YEAR DEBATES Come GRILL the candidates!!!

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he learns from life." He comes across not as a rebel, how­ L ori R. C ohen ever, but as an immature man with a chip on his shoul­ der. And it's never dear why Nellcott likes Alice. He seems Set at McGill in i 99i,Golda Fried's Nellcott is My Darling initially smitten, then bored, then borderline abusive. He initially strikes the reader as a typical cliché-ridden com­ bears up as a martyr as Alice tenaciously clings to her vir­ ing-of-age novel: young virgin leaves home to experience ginity, the focal point o f her non-identity, the yardstick of life and love in a new city. Alice Charles, as described in the whether or not Alice has "grown up." opening chapters, seems to have very little identity other Fried seems to feel, as an eighteen-year-old male than a love of movies and the sixties. While Fried tries to once said to me, that virginity is not something you lose, give the reader a sense of place by sticking in insignificant it's something you overcome. All her female characters ex­ details— who cares what floor o f McLennan houses the press only relief when that bit o f skin is shredded, never re­ film studies books?— she doesn't provide enough dues morse or regret. And the moment is momentous for none as to who Alice is and why we should care about her, at of them. In fact, Fried's message about sex seems to be the least in the beginning. As the story unfolds, however, we more casual, the less traumatic. When she leaves home, Al­ do begin to care, if only a little. We learn about her tastes ice's father, who is always "giving her things,"gives Alice his in music and the classes she takes and feel her uncertainty winter parka— warm, snug, protective and shapeless. Nell­ at this turning point in her life. cott, o f course, hates it, and in a rather symbolic moment Sadly, though, the other characters are all stick figures, types for Alice to react to: her loving father and emotion­ takes it from Alice and hangs it on a lamp post.Though she lets go o f the jacket, she still doesn't sub­ ally difficult mother; the members o f the mit sexually, though again, you're never McGill Film Society; Allegra, the drama sure why. Alice is clearly head-over-heels queen in the dorm room next to hers; infatuated with Nellcott, but some sixth Walker, the self-absorbed friend from high sense seems to warn her that sleeping school who lives Alice's dream by going with him will produce a loss greater than, to Ryerson for film studies; and Bethany, she can bear. the high school chum who comes along Though this isn't a great book, it to McGill, but dislikes both Alice's taste in is an easy, fun read. Even though the movies and her new friends, especially characters are mostly stereotypes, they Nellcott, the eyeliner-and-combat-bootare stereotypes every university student wearing boyfriend o f the title. has met. (I, for one, have met Alice's phi­ Nellcott, too, never rises from the losophy T.A. many, many times.) An un­ pages to become more than-a stereo­ dergraduate reader might find herself or typical first infatuation. He is supposed to her friends somewhere in these pages, be "cool” because he dresses somewhat which amount to not so much a novel Goth, plays guitar semi-professionally, as a slice of life: six months out o f a stu­ smokes, loves diner food, and works at a record store instead of going to universi­ AMAZON.CA dent's year, and about tw o hours of the reader's time. ■ ty because "everything he needs to know Life and love on low er field.

C o m e h e a r th e

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c a n d id a te s p r e s e n t t h e ir e le c to r a l p la tfo r m s a n d d is c u s s is s u e s p e r t a i n i n g t o Y O U !!!

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S ta r ts a t 8 p m L o c a tio n : C lu b s L o u n g e ( S h a t n e r )

P o llin g b e g in s O N L IN E o n w w w .e le c t io n s m c g ill.c a

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16 • Arts & E nte rta in m e n t • 06.11.07

R e v ie w s Various A rtists. I'm Not There (OriginalSoundtrack). Spanning two discs and 34 tracks, the soundtrack to I'm Not There, the forthcoming Bob Dylan biopic, sees some of the bard's old guard (Roger McGuinn, Willie Nelson) and a bunch of fresh faces (Sufjan Stevens, Jack Johnson, Cat Power) doing their best Zimmy impressions. Because j, many of the tracks are backed by two house bands, Arizona's Calexico and the Million Dollar Bashers supergroup, this soundtrack proves strikingly consistent as an album, as opposed to just a collection of Dylan covers. Ste­ phen Malkmus's typically bratty, half-assed vocals on "Maggie's Farm" and "Ballad of a Thin Man," which fittingly capture the spirit of the similarly snide mid-'6os Dylan, JeffTweedy's strong recital of "Simple Twist of Fate"and sMiDTw* Mason Jennings faithfully folksy rendition of'The Times They Are A-Changin”'stand as some of the album's most earnestly Dylanesque moments— save, of course for Dylan's "I'm Not There" which, though widely bootlegged, sees official release here. But because any diehard Dylan devotee is bound to take the original versions as definitive, it's the more liberally reinterpreted songs that prove the most compelling. Sonic Youth, with their foggy, protracted rendition of "I'm Not There," apprehend a tenderness which is only gestured at in the original. Similarly, Jim James’ s unremittingly affecting vocals triumphantly haul "Goin'to Aca­ pulco" out of Basement Tapes obscurity. Bottom line: based on the one-two-punch o f Dylan's songs and the quality of the renditions, I'm Not There is perhaps the best soundtrack album since 0 Brother, Where Art Thou? (or maybe even The Blues Brothers) and will likely reveal itself a far more rewarding investment than that bloated three-disc DYLAN set released last month.

—John Semley

Food. Diese Onze. Tucked in a base­ ment down on Saint Denis, Diese Onze has been supplying jazz to the people of Montreal for over tw o years and now ---------------------------------hopes to extend its service from just I O CT P the ears to the mouth as well. As a club, ab ^0 « Diese Onze is an impressive little'cave Q P I 7 P de jazz.'The interior exudes class with a direct and modern style that keeps most of the decoration on the walls and leaves the club open, giving the place some room and letting almost every table and barstool have a view of the stage. On the opening night o f the kitchen, Diese Onze showed that it had the reputation to attract some of the biggest local jazz talents and put the stage to good use by hosting Yannick Rieu's group, Spectrum. Rieu is a world class tenor saxophonist recently given the Oscar Peterson Award for his contribution to Jazz in Canada, so needless to say the gig was both entertaining and impressive. But as great as Rieu and his band were, the main attraction of the night was the newly opened kitchen. The food follows the class of club by being relatively high brow, running 16 to 22 dollars an entrée and consisting of subtle and delicate flavors. While it isn't what you would call 'finger lick­ ing good,' it is meticulously made and well balanced. Entrées such as the caramel pork and the red tuna tartar with citrus both avoid being too strong in their flavours, with the caramel's sweetness and the citrus'tartness not masking the flavour of the meats. By being so delicate, however, the food wasn't very striking, which probably won't be a problem for people with a cultivated pallet, but for everyone else the food may not be as memorable as the music.

— Geoffrey Anstey

Jazz club

Stars o f Track and Field. Centuries Before Love and War. When this three-piece band from Portland, Oregon took their name from a Belle and Sebastian song it was clear that they knew what would get fans of indie-pop interested. The influence of bands like Death Cab for Cutie, Postal Service and late Jimmy Eat World are obvious in their latest album, but where these bands were innovative and fresh in the indie-pop genre, Stars ofTrack and Field just take the old sound and make it more amphitheatre-friendly.Tracks such as"Movies of Antarctica," with mournful, romantic vocals over a constant cascade of electric guitar and drums sounds as if the band has been reading the formula for inoffensive, radio-friendly, stadium rock.They follow the formula well, though, and for fans of the genre they’re worth a listen. Although definitely generic, Centuries is still full of potential. Its stron.

T«*'; c gest aspect is its ability to blend exuberance and melancholy, especially in "With You", a sad song that makes you want to dance."Fantastic,"one of the best tracks on the album, relies the most on digital effects, layering soft vocals over upbeat beeps and blurps. Quick to overdo the wails of electric guitar in their attempt to create anthems, the triumph of"Fantastic''hints that maybe Stars ofTrack and Field would do well to head more in this direction in the future. Although their sound is nothing new, their ability to master it so skilfully shows that this is a group to keep your eye on.

— Laura Tindal

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a result, each show is different and audiences can always expect to see something unique.

The non-lyrical instrumental pieces on Granite's latest neo-jazz compilation definitely paint certain im­ ages and want the listener to be drawn to them. On the stand-out track “Life Fragments", for example, all the instruments seem to follow their own tune w ithout co­ inciding with one another, creating a nonsensical and anti-structuralist feel. The result is a build-up o f tension and a feeling similar to the anxiety o f being lost in the chaos o f a busy city. The music then slows, however, and you feel like you have been transported to a secluded place where all you can hear are birds chirping. The refreshing sounds linger for a moment, and then we are back in the city, but this time the chaos has eased.

So far, Granite is under­ standably pleased with the at­ tention his new album is receiv­ ing.

"It is always hard to be in­ dependent and receive press coverage," he said. It takes cour­ age and confidence to break away from normative ways o f composing, but Granite's music has been worth the risk.»

Self-described as a "one time pots and pan genius," musician Avi Granite makes a quirky kind of jazz which will soon see release on his new and promising album, Avi Granite: 6Red Tree, made with the six piece instrumen­ tal jazz band with whom he has been working with for the past tw o years.

While the process o f composing music is always an interesting concept, this is especially true in the case of Granite, whose compositions often lack a conventional melody. Deciding what notes sound right in certain positions requires a unique skill and con­ fidence that Granite undeniably possesses.

"I am conscious o f how it sounds,"Granite said o f his eclectic music. "I try to make it as acces­ sible as possible, but this is how it turns out."

According to the Toronto composer, his musical inspiration "comes from surroundings" and the cultural experiences in which he has been immersed. He de­ scribes his work as "hilarious juxta­ positions" characterised by "weird tim e signatures."

When performing live, Gran­ ite's music is highly improvised, Avi Granite and his band will marked by what he called a "mixed be performing on Nov. 77 at 9:00 bag as far as vibe and groove go.” pm.; Upstairs Jazz Bar and Grill He despises structure and rules (1254 Mackay). For more informa­ AVIGRANITE6.COM tion go to www.avigranite6.com. and he instructs his band to "em­ brace the flow o f what comes." As Granite composes on guitar.

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SO C C ER — M O N TR EA L 3, M ARTLETS 0

Martlets' season ends at hands of Montreal D e fe n d in g

Q S S F

c h a m p io n

V ladimir Z ivkovic The McGill Martlets, who were ranked as high as second in the country this season, learned a classic sports lesson the hard way on Friday night— it’s difficult to win on the road in a single­ game elimination tilt. In a highly anticipated semi-final match-up, the Martlets came up short against the Montreal Carabins, losing 3-0 at CEPSUM. From the opening whistle, the Carabins appeared to be the more determined squad, controlling the game and putting con­ stant pressure on the McGill back four. While Montreal dominated possession in the first half, they failed to capitalize on their scor­ ing chances due to the rock-solid goalkeeping of McGill rookie netminder Anne-Catherine Huot— one of several Martlet start­ ers playing in their first career playoff game. However, the Cara­ bins found their scoring touch in the second half, connecting for three goals, and earning themselves a place in the Quebec conference finals. "[Montreal] totally deserved to win tonight," McGill Head Coach Marc Mounicot said. "From the first to the 90th minute

c ra s h e s

to

fin is h

d is a p p o in tin g

c a m p a ig n

they were a better and stronger team.They were angry and they wanted it more. In the end our inexperience really showed today and we just did not have that killer instinct."

Game slips away after missed chances In a lacklustre first half, the Martlets mustered only tw o de­ cent opportunities to score with both coming off set pieces. The best o f McGill's scoring chances came in the 31st minute, when midfielder Sophie Joyal saw her free kick from just inside the Carabins' half sail past goalkeeper Pascale Lefebvre only to cru­ elly connect with the crossbar. Near to the end of the first period, Martlet striker and co-captain Magalie Kolker executed a clever free kick but Lefebvre was well positioned the second time and handled the shot without much difficulty.

The turning point o f the match came in the 51st minute as the McGill defence failed to clear a dangerous advance from their zone, allowing Carabins captain Emilie Mercier to receive a pass and make a quick run down the left flank. From a difficult angle, the forward sent a high ball towards the net. At first it seemed like a cross, but to the disappointment of the McGill players and staff it hooked towards the net and eluded Huot, deflecting off the far post and careening into the goal. Down by a goal mid­ way into the second half the Martlets were forced to open up in order to press for an equalizer, but with the Carabins inspired by their recent success and maintaining pressure on McGill, the Red 'n' White were scrambling to gain any possession. Ten minutes after the opening goal, Montreal striker Nadege Akamse was left unmarked in the box where she received a beautiful low cross and snapped a close range volley into the top left corner for a 2-0 lead.

Unable to find miracle

HUGEGALDONES W hile F Lindsay Hogan streaked in against Concordia, McGill d id n 't ge t th e same chances against M ontreal.

In search of some fresh energy from the bench for a final as­ sault, Mounicot made several substitutions halfway through the second half opting for a more offensive formation. However, the Martlets proved unable to solve the Carabins'tight defence.

The Carabins found themselves with yet another scoring chance in the 69th minute, but Huot made an excellent save on a powerful shot from just inside the penalty area to keep McGill in the match. Yet, only five minutes later, after a McGill foul by the right touchline, Carabins midfielder Véronique Maranda scored a beautiful goal, deftly lobbing the ball over a sleepy Martlet de­ fence and surprising Huot who was caught off her line. The goal gave Montreal a 3-0 lead and slammed the final nail in the coffin o f last year's QSSF champions.

"It is extremely disappointing," a distraught Kolker said. "We thought we could take this team, as we have beat them in the past, but today just was not our day. In the first five minutes o f the second half we were still looking strong, but after they scored the first and second goals we started to slowly give up."

For the last ten minutes o f the match, Montreal retreated into a defensive shell, allowing McGill to control possession until

HUGEGALDONES The M artlets' possession-oriented attack broke dow n against th e Carabins on Friday. the end o f the game. The Martlets continually pushed forward in search of a miracle, but found it ultimately impossible to break down the Carabins back-line in order to create scoring chances.

The Martlets will have to salvage some lessons from Friday's loss and a difficult follow-up campaign from their championship season last year in order to prepare for the 2008 soccer season.

With all its starters returning next year, the team will look to im­ prove this year's frustrating performance with more experience— the attribute Mounicot's club most sorely lacked this season. ■

T H I R D M A N IN

T il death do you part n the interest of full journalistic disclosure, I preface this dia­ tribe with the fact that I, like many here at McGill, am from Toronto (cue the standard Imperial March music), and, of course, support the Maple Leafs. So while I passionately dis­ like the Buds'whipping boys over in Ottawa, and Jason Spezza's newly signed contract extension has my blue blood boil­ ing, it should also have everyone questioning Canadian faith in the seemingly moribund NHL and its pointless lockout in 2004... yet again.

This past week, the Senators, a team on the very preci­ pice of financial bankruptcy and organizational disbandment immediately prior to the lost NHL season, announced they had signed their stud 24-year old centre, Spezza, to a sevenyear, $49-million extension.The revelation, surely sending Ot­ tawa into raptures, was hot on the heels of GM Bryan Murray inking All-Star sniper Dany Heatley to a six-year, 545-million deal on the first day of the NHL's regular season.The tw o con­ tracts, combined with captain Daniel Alfredsson's already ex­ isting long-term deal— it expires in 2012, Spezza's in 2015, and Heatley's in 2014— have locked up Ottawa's offensive core for another four years.

Ottawa, weren't you and our Canadian cousin to the West— the Edmonton Oilers— leaders of the "bitching bri­ gade" during the lockout? Wasn't it your tw o franchises that spearheaded the incessant whining and moaning about the

need for a fair and equitable system to allow small markets to compete with the Leafs, Red Wings, Canadiens and Rang­ ers o f the world? It was Oilers' President Patrick LaForge and his Senators' counterpart Roy Mlakar that were at the head o f the pro-owner, NHLPA-busting faction, demanding a hard salary ceiling and guarantees of linkages between revenues and wages. During the lockout, both clubs claimed that they "[supported] the league and commissioner 100 per cent" and that the "system [was] clearly broken."

In the end, they got their cap. Sure, the NHL emerged brutalized and discredited as a professional league, but fran­ chises like the Senators and Oilers could tie their spending to their income and player contracts could, hypothetically, never spiral out of control again. Now, three seasons removed from the mass suicide committed by the NHL, it is these very clubs that are submarining a CBA largely constructed in their name and for their benefit. You simply cannot give out six and seven year contracts in a salary cap system— look no further than Ottawa's Ontario rival, burdened by mammoth deals awarded to Bryan McCabe and Pavel Kubina, for an example of why this is. Anything over three seasons is a monumental commitment, or at least it was. This past summer, the Oilers' GM, Kevin Lowe, in moronic and horribly inflationary moves, offered a seven-year, $5o-million offer sheet to Buffalo's un­ proven forward Thomas Vanek, and then poached Dustin

A aron Sigal

Penner from the Anaheim Ducks with a ridiculous five-year, $21.25 million contract. Now the Senators have upped mar­ ket values and contract lengths once again with the Heatley and Spezza signings. While Heatley has scored. 50 goals and broken the 100-point plateau twice in his career and may be deserving of a $7-million price tag, Spezza has done neither and yet is to be paid only $500,000 less than his linemate (on average against the cap). Nevermind the fact that under this pricing structure, the Mississauga-native will see $2.6-million more than Alfredsson, the captain and heart of the locker room.

In a salary cap system, long-term deals haunt franchises.

It takes years and even decades to escape the clutches of bad managerial decisions. Yet, for teams like the Oilers and Senators, it seems that on the strength o f a strong loonie (which will most likely evaporate eventually) clubs are will­ ing to forget the lessons of the past. NHL owners and presi­ dents founded their pro-cap, pro-lost season and anti-fan argument on the fact that contracts had gotten wildly out o f control. Yet, here we are with those very same hypocritical spearheads throwing money and years at undeserving play­ ers, allowing contracts to grow wildly out of control yet again.

The lockout's"gains"have proven to be a complete farce.Take it from a Leaf fan who knows it all too personally: the owners fucked us. ■

18-Sports-06.11.07

The McGill Tribune IM A G E S

SO C C E R — LAVAL 2 , R E D M E N 0

Redmen title hopes extinguished M c G ill fa lls

a fte r e m o tio n a l w in

M att C hesser The McGill Redmen pulled o ff one shocking upset this weekend, but tw o days later, couldn't find the same magic again.

After a stunning 1-0 victory over the topseeded University o f Montreal Carabins on Friday night, McGill's season came to a heart­ breaking end with a 2-0 loss to the Laval Rouge et Or in the Quebec University Soccer League final on Sunday afternoon.

"Sometimes when you're coming off of a good performance, some players forget to focus on the next game," said McGill Fiead Coach Philippe Eullafroy. "And I think that's what happened on Sunday. Laval played a pretty good game, and some of us were still caught up in our win from tw o days ago. The best team won, but we could have done a lot better than that."

Friday night's game at CEPSUM was es­ sentially meaningless for Montreal, who had already locked up a spot in the CIS national championships by finishing first in the QUSL. Nevertheless, going into that game the na­ tionally unranked Redmen hadn't beaten the fifth-ranked Carabins in over five years, so the odds of an upset did not look promising.

But on the strength o f a dean sheet by goalkeeper Olivier Boulva, who turned away all four shots he faced, and a goal in the 6o,h minute by midfielder Alec Milne, the Red 'n' White defeated the Carabins to advance to the QUSL final. Milne's goal was set-up by a beautiful indirect free kick by Thomas Lucas—

a high cross that the underrated fourth-year scorer simply had to flick into the back o f the net.

"We played a very good game against Montreal," Eullafroy said. "We had been work­ ing on a specific system for playing against them in practice all week, and we executed it perfectly on Friday."

Less than 48 hours later the Redmen travelled to Quebec City to face a Rouge et Or squad that was ranked seventh in the na­ tion, but had a 1-0-1 record against McGill in the regular season.

However, another upset was not in the cards for the Red 'n'White. McGill played an undisciplined game, accumulating four yel­ low cards, and failed to get their offence on-track in the provincial capital, registering only one good scoring chance in the first half. Laval's Boris Salou capped a magnificent season— that saw him lead the QUSL with 10 goals in 12 games— by bagging a pair o f goals just 18 minutes apart. Rouge et Or goalkeeper Francis Riel-Roberge had a solid game, hold­ ing McGill at bay as they pressured in the sec­ ond half and finishing the match with a clean sheet.

"For 90 per cent o f our players this was their first final," Eullafroy said. "A lack of expe­ rience was a problem for us, especially with such a short period o f time between the tw o games. But we're probably only going to lose between three and six players from this year's squad, so hopefully we can come back even stronger next year." ■

mtW’-ft a

ADAMSCOTTI F Anne-Sophie Bettez notches tw o o f her league-leading e ig h t goals, as th e M artlets rolled to a 7-0 w in over th e C arleton Ravens, Sunday.

University of Ottawa

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06.11.07-Sports «19

www.mcgilltribune.com R U G B Y — R E D M E N 2 5 , C O N C O R D IA 1 0

Redmen try out Stingers defence 7

M c G ill a d v a n c e s

to

Q S S F

M att C hesser For the sixth consecutive season, the McGill Redmen are going to the QSSF finals.

The Redmen picked up their ninth straight victory, and re­ main undefeated this year, after a 25-10 win over the Concordia Stingers in QSSF semi-final action at Molson Stadium. McGill's of­ fensive efforts were powered by a huge game from team captain Caleb Balloch, who notched tw o tries in the Sunday afternoon match.

"Our entire back row really stepped it up today," said McGill Head Coach Sean McCaffrey. "A lot o f today's win came on the shoulders of Balloch, [Jon] McIntosh and [Antoine] Nestle. They really were crucial in our early tries and on defence they threw some great hits. It seemed like they were everywhere out there today."

Winning did not come w ithout adversity, however, for the Redmen who played w ithout the services o f star fly-half Alastair Crow. Crow, who led the league in scoring this season as a rookie, missed the game with a sore hamstring.

"Clearly, [missing Crow] changes our game a little bit," Bal­ loch said. "We missed all our converts today, and Crow's a guy who can hit pretty much any convert within the 40 [yard line].

We were cognizant o f the fact that we probably couldn't clear the ball [out o f our end] as easily, but we pulled together and showed just how much depth we have on our team."

Concordia opened the scoring early, as their own rookie fly-

fin a ls

to

d e fe n d

its t i t l e

second consecutive year. The Bishop's Gaiters also advanced to half Sasha Palatnikov scored the game's first try on a short run after a Stingers' line-out. McGill's Balloch would even the score the final, which takes place on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Molson Sta­ dium, by virtue of a 10-7 win over the Sherbrooke Vert et Or on less than five minutes later, however, on a bruising 20-yard run Sunday. In tw o regular season meetings, McGill defeated Bishop's that saw the sturdy flanker break tw o tackles on the way to his by scores o f 55-0 and 36-3. ■ first score of the day.

Just over ten minutes after Balloch's first strike, a long run by hooker Dave Tontini set up a line-out for the Redmen at the 10-yard line. A perfectly executed front peel o ff the lineout throw allowed Balloch to bowl his way into the end zone again and give the Red 'n'White a 10-5 lead.

"Concordia's always a tough team to play against,"Balloch said. "They always come to play in the playoffs, and they seem to save some tricks that you didn't see in the regular season for now.The game was much closer than the score indicated, we just caught a couple extra breaks."

McGill would add one more try before the half, as fly-half Evan Straight had a fairly easy 15-yard run into the end zone after winger Kyle Buckley drew three defenders on a cross-field dash before throwing a lateral pass to Crow's replacement.

The Redmen would add tw o more tries in the second half to put the game out o f reach, the first from No. 8 Antoine Nes­ tle after a botched Concordia line-out, and then from Alexan­ der Hart, who recovered the ball after scrum-half Jesse Meyers blocked a Stingers' kick. Palatnikov would tally a second try for Concordia late in the game to finish o ff the scoring.

STEVECAMPBELL With the win, McGill advances to the QSSF Final where Take note Redm en fo otb all players: this is how you tackle. they will attempt to claim the Quebec championship for the

S p o r ts B r ie fs Redmen snatched by Gryphons at Bagattaway Cup The second-seeded Guelph Gry­ phons defeated third-ranked McGill 10-6 in a men's lacrosse national cham ­ pionship semi-final on the campus o f St. Michael's College School inToronto, Saturday, dashing McGill's hopes for a first-ever Bagattaway Cup title.

After a see-saw battle and 5-5 tie at halftime, Guelph took control in the second half to advance to the Canadian University Field Lacrosse As­ sociation's gold medal game against defending cham pion Brock, which outlasted Bishop's 13-12 in the other semi-final.

McGill finished its season w ith a best-ever record o f 11-4 overall, includ­ ing a 5-1 first-place standing in the CUFLA East and a national ranking.

Soccer Martlets place five on AllConference squad Defender Karlie Kennedy-Cross has earned All-Conference honours and been voted rookie o f the year in the women's division o f the Quebec University Soccer League.

She was one o f five McGill play­ ers picked as All-Stars and joins team ­ mate Vanessa Salesky on the first team.

Members o f the Martlets on the sec­ ond squad include goalkeeper AnneCatherine Huot, m idfielder Elizabeth Williams and striker Magalie Kolker.

Redman grabs top-rookie honours Thomas Lucas has earned AllConference honours and was voted rookie o f the year as the Quebec University Soccer League All-Stars and award winners were announced, Wednesday.

Lucas, a dynamic midfielder, was one o f four Redmen named to an AllConference team. Also honoured was McGill head coach Philippe Eullaffroy, w ho shared the league's coach o f the year honours w ith Laval's Samir Ghrib.

He was joined on the first squad by defender Alejandro Julian. Redmen players selected to the second team included forwards James Scholefield and Shawn Amarasekera. ■

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