The McGill Tribune Vol. 28 Issue 13

JAMESNAISMITH: MORETHAN JUSTPEACHBASKETS, PAGE18

EXPLORINGVISUALPERPTION, PAGES10-11

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Volume 28 Issue 13 • November 2 5 ,2 0 0 8

R e fe r e n d a p e r io d fa ils m e e t q u o r u m Fewer than 15 per cent of students vote in plebiscite M att C hesser The Students'Society's fall referenda period failed to meet quorum last week, invalidating the results of the three questions on the SSMU ballot.

The proposal for a 75-cent increase to the McGill chapter of the Que­ bec Public Interest Research Group's opt-outable fee, as well as renewals of the $19 McGill Undergraduate Student Fund and the $10 Athletics and Recreation Facilities Improvement Fund fees, didn't meet the required quo­ rum. Fewer than 15 per cent of McGill students voted during the referenda period.

"It was obviously frustrating that quorum wasn't reached on the [SSMU] questions," said SSMU President Kay Turner. "It's always a struggle to get quorum in the fa ll... more could probably have been done [by] all par­ ties involved to advertise the importance of this referenda period.”

Both the ARFIF and MUSF referenda questions affect fee renewals for the 2009-10 academic year, and will be placed on the ballot in the winter ref­ erenda period. But, because the QPIRG referenda question concerns a fee increase and not a renewal, it can't be voted on during the winter referenda period. SSMU Council would have to declare an "exceptional referendum period" in order for the question to appear on the ballot in March.

gernon Moncrieff (Brian Beckett) pushes Jack Worthing (Nicolae Rusan) a bit too far in the McGill apartment of English's T h e im p o r ta n c e o f B e in g E a rn e s t. See Page 13 for story.

See ONE on Page 4

I h a r e s t p r o p o s e s in c e n tiv e s fo r y o u n g n u r se s Quebec Liberals to encourage nursing students to work in public sector A lana Levine A Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ) announcement to promote id enhance the status of nurses in the province could affect îe future plans of McGill nursing students.

In an attempt to resolve problems within the current ealthcare system, Premier Jean Charest, has proposed a se­ es of incentives to encourage young nurses to work in the ublic sector. This includes a S3,000 bonus in each of the first tree years for recently graduated nurses who choose to work 1hospitals and community health centres instead of private ompanies and practices. The PLQ hopes that this policy will

motivate nursing students at universities like McGill to choose careers in the public realm.

A nursing shortage in Quebec hospitals is one of the main issues that the PLQ hopes to address. In past years, policies that limited the number of students admitted into medical faculties at universities and encouraged nurses already in the system to retire early greatly reduced the number of person­ nel in the public sector. According to Dr. Helene Ezer, director of the McGill School of Nursing, there was a misjudgment in terms of what healthcare needs were, which contributed to a slump in enrollment.

"There is a large number of nurses that will be going into retirement within the next five to 10 years.There is a real worry

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Saturday, Nov. 29 at 19 h00 (McConnell Arena) R e d m e n H o c k e y - O t t a w a v s . M c G ill T u e s d a y , N o v . 2 5 a t 1 9 h 0 0 ( M c C o n n e ll A r e n a )

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that those that are really experienced are going to leave, and that there are not enough people to replace them," Ezer said.

Currently, there are 66,000 nurses within the public health­ care system in Quebec, but only 40 per cent hold permanent positions. The remaining 39,600 are employed part-time and work on-call. The Liberals' goal is to increase the number of full-time nurses to about 60 per cent by the year 2010 with the new incentive program.

Charest outlined his proposed incentive program in a press release last Saturday.

"The message we are sending to young people as they

See PLQ on Page 2

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Saturday, November 29 (McGill Gym) Martlets Game @ 18 h00 Redmen Game @ 2 0 h00

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S ilv e r s te in 's p o r tfo lio t o

b o o s t h e a l t h c a r e r e m a i n v a c a n t in J a n u a r y Turner, committees to pick up slack McGill students already likely to work in public realm T u „ r/icvco IHEO IVIEYER

C o n tin u e d fro m COVER make career choices is clear: a career in nursing is one of the most valued in Quebec," Charest stated.

PLQ representative Alexandra Mandich added that the goal of the in­ creased funding would be to show young students in science that the Que­ bec government supports and values their role in today's society.

"If students see that the government is investing in their field, students will feel that that is a job and a field that has [a] future—that they are a valu­ able part of society and the healthcare system," Mandich said.

According to Mandich, the Quebec government already allots a large portion of its budget for healthcare. If implemented, the funding for this program would come from the healthcare allotment.

"If you look at the overall budget of the government, just about 44 per cent of the budget is going directly into healthcare. There is already a pre­ fixed budget, so we won't start cutting into other expenses," Mandich said.

Ezer explained that at McGill, students are already trained to work in the public sector.

"This is the students' market," Ezer said. "They can choose to go wher­ ever they like. They are very much in demand and are not likely to go into the private sector. I'd say our students are already likely to go within the system that they were trained: the public sector."

It's still uncertain how students will react, and it will take time before any conclusions can be made.

"We need to encourage people to go back into nursing and stay in Quebec," Mandich said. "We have to start with something, and I think it is with encouraging students. We can't say what the results will be right away, but this is something that only time will tell." ■ THE TRIBUNE EDITORIAL BOARD IS HOLDING OFFICE HOURS ON WEDNESDAYS FROM 1 - 5 P.M .

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The Students' Society vice-president finance and operations position will remain vacant once current VP Finance Tobias Silverstein steps down in January.

The SSMU Constitution mandates that when a member of the executive submits his or her resignation, as Silverstein did on November 11, SSMU Council must elect one of its members to serve in his or her place.

Council followed this procedure by calling for candi­ dates at their last meeting, and setting last Thursday as the deadline for councillors to submit their candidacies.

No councillors had expressed interest in the position by the deadline, however, which means the VP finance and operations portfolio will remain vacant.

According to Silverstein, it may be better for the society if the position is not filled halfway through the year.

"I think, for the interim period, it's a good idea for the position to remain vacant for the remainder of this year," Silverstein said. "I think it would be too difficult for somebody to come into the position— it's a very steep learning curve—and then try to understand what his or her role [would be] as VP Finance."

Silverstein said that even veteran councillors would have difficulty filling the position, which is full-time commitment. SSMU executives usually take only one class per semester because of their workload.

"It's difficult no matter how well you know SSMU. Being in the office 24/7 is different than being a council­ lor or a representative,"Silverstein said..

SSMU President Kay Turner agreed, saying that the transition would be hard for the executive. "[Anyone who took the position] would find it frus­ trating— it would be difficult for the staff, it would be difficult for everyone,"Turner said.

Turner emphasized, however, that she would have preferred if Silverstein hadn't resigned in the first place.

According to Turner, one prospective candidate dis­ cussed the position with her at length. Turner claims

that she dict not try to discourage any councillors fi applying for the position.

"I didn't attempt to dissuade anyone from runni she said.

Hanchu Chen, the Arts Undergraduate Societ) external and a member of the Tribune's Board of Di tors, was one of the councillors who considered runr for the position.

"I decided not to run [because] of personal reasi I would like to graduate on time,"Chen said.

Chen was also reluctant to leave the Arts repres tatives to SSMU that he serves with on Council. In at tion, he cited problems in the current portfolio.

Silverstein submitted his resignation after exprt ing frustrations with the discrepancy between his p tion's description in the Constitution and its day-toimplementation by the society. Turner said that SS would be working on this issue.

"We're going to put together a working comr tee to look at what the VP finance and operations's description is and what their day-to-day job is, anc see if there are indeed areas where [the structure can changed],"Turner said.

According to Silverstein, SSMU-run operatic such as Gert's Bar and Haven Books, would likely unaffected by his resignation, because both operatk are run by general managers.

"Students will still be able to use the bar and bookstore with or without the vice-president finar and operations,"Silverstein said.

SSMU's Operations Committee will also take o much of the responsibility for Gert's and Haven. Turi will assume some of Silverstein's duties, while otl councillors and permanent staff will pick up slack wf necessary.

"The responsibilities and duties of the position \ be disseminated and dispersed amongst the other f executives,"Silverstein said.

SSMU Council will meet on Thursday to determ exactly how Silverstein's responsibilities will be divid between councillors. ■

PR O VIN CIAL

C h a r e s t p l e d g e s s u p p o r t fo r in -v itr o fe r tiliz a tio r Critics question whether plans will utilize public funds effectively A ustin

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Premier Jean Charest announced last Monday that his party's healthcare platform would include full provincial fund­ ing for in-vitro fertilization treatments for women unable to become pregnant.

"IVF has certainly become increasingly used and popu­ lar today, and I believe that is a reality that the government is adapting to," said Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ) spokesperson Alexandra Mandich in an email to the Tribune.

The policy's goal is to raise Quebec's low fertility rate, which is currently around 1.5 children per woman. The issue has plagued Quebec since the Quiet Revolution in the 1960s, when birth-control use skyrocketed and the influence of the Catholic Church began to wane.

In-vitro fertilization involves taking a woman's egg and a man's sperm and achieving conception in a laboratory dish.

The fertilized egg is then placed inside the woman's uterus for the duration of the pregnancy.

According to the Liberals, the plan will lead to an addi­ tional 1,500 births per year in the province. The fertility rate in Quebec is the lowest in the country, well below the national rate of 1.59 children per woman, as of 2006, according to Sta­ tistics Canada. A fertility rate of 2.1 is needed just to replace the population from one generation to the next, excluding the effect of immigration.

Some critics believe, however, that the plan isn't an effec­

tive use of public funds.

"Does the public really feel that this is a procedure that should be taking up one fifth of new money into the health system when there is so little access to primary care, physi­ cians, and nurses?" said McGill professor Abby Lippman, who researches reproductive and genetic technologies. "Why are they not spending some of this money towards primary pre­ ventive work so that women can have babies at younger ages and in good health, and then they won't have to be treated for infertility?"

Lippman also warned against the medical risks involved in the procedure.

"There is not adequate monitoring of these procedures with regard to the babies who will be born and the women who are treated with hormones in order to go through in-vitro fertilization,"Lippman said.

The PLQ estimates that their healthcare plan will cost ap­ proximately $162 million. From that amount, $35 million will go towards funding for in-vitro fertilization treatments.

Under the Liberal plan, women who are infertile will be eligible for full tax credits for their first two infertility treat­ ments. For further attempts, between 30-50 per cent will be covered. In 2005, approximately 1,700 fertility treatments were performed, each costing approximately $10,000 to $20,000 each.

The Parti Québécois was quick to accuse the Liberals of opportunism and of breaking from their longstanding posi­ tion of only supporting partial funding for the procedure.

"It's kind of simple: Charest was the only one that was against it and then he did a 180 [degree] shift," said PQ spokes­

person Jules Hébert.

Both opposition parties, the PQ and the Action Démoci tique du Québéc, support full funding for in-vitro fertilizatic Aside from health issues, some groups have also criticiz the Liberal plan on the grounds that it creates an unreaso able expectation for women.

"We should also ask ourselves 'Doesn't in-vitro fertilii tion. encourage our society to believe that everyone has 'right' to a child?"' said Leah Singh, assistant director at tl Catholic Organization for Life and Family.

"This thinking is dangerous because it reduces the hum. person to an object that is owned by someone else. Yet v know that there is no 'right' to another human being," Sin< said."What's more, pregnancies with multiples often end wi the doctors advising 'selective reduction,' which is unaccep able because it consists of killing one or more of the develo ing embryos."

There is also the issue of what procedures will be fu covered by the government.

"If I can't get pregnant... is the government going to p. for in-vitro fertilization if another woman is going to carry n child for me?''asked Lippman.

Charest maintains that the issue of defining what sp cific procedures would be covered by the Liberal plan, as wi as other ethical issues, can be left to medical experts in tl Régime de l'assurance maladie du Québéc, the public boc charged with overseeing the province's health care system. I

'ww.m cgilltribune.com

25.11.08 • The McGill Tribune • 3

D U C A TIO N

u e e n 's c a n c e ls H o m e c o m in g fo r t w o y e a r s iscalating violence and injuries in annual party cited as causes A lison Bailey

Queen's University has cancelled its annual Homecoming vent for at least the next two years in order to assuage con?rns that have arisen over reports of violence and irrespon|ble drinking.

Queen's traditionally holds Homecoming each October, |rimarily for its alumni.To young adults all over Canada, howver, the event has become more widely known for its wild Jarties on Kingston's infamous Aberdeen Street.

Since 2000, participation has increased and destrucIve behaviour has worsened, peaking in 2005 when a crowd lipped and burned a car. This year's Homecoming celebra|ons drew an estimated 10,000 people.

Mike Menor, a media relations officer of the Kingston PoIce, described how busy officers from the Ontario Provincial Jolice were in Kingston the weekend of Homecoming.

"A grand total of 138 arrests were made, nine criminal lode charges laid— one of which was assaulting a police of|cer—and 620 offence tickets laid. Most of them were liquor slated," Menor said.

In addition, nearly 60 people were admitted to the emer­ gency section of Kingston General Hospital.

Dr. Gordon Jones, of Emergency Medicine at the Kingston general Hospital, expressed concern about the way students |re partying.

"There seems to be a culture out there that's to drink until Jou're unconscious— drink yourself into stupidity," Jones said.

Both Jones and Menor mentioned that Queen's students lause a small fraction of the violent incidents and injuries re­ ported.

Davin Young, a second year engineering student at jueen's, pointed out that although the police statistics vere troubling they're not representative of the students at Jueen's.

"You always see in the news the number of arrests that vere made, but you never see what percentage of those were Queen's students,"Young said.

Queen's students often house several visitors during the Homecoming weekend.

On November 18, in an open letter to the Alumni of

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Queen's University, Principal Tom Wil­ liams explained that the painful yet necessary decision was made after much deliberation.

"After broad consultation with faculty, staff, students, alumni, par­ ents and groups who compromise the Queen's family, the Town/Gown Aberdeen working group, the Police, the hospitals, fire and rescue and legal experts, there is broad agreement that a new course of action is required,"Wil­ liams wrote in the letter.

Williams also assured alumni that, in lieu of the fall Homecoming, an event in the spring will be held to up­ hold the traditions of the university.

"The University will hold a homecoming-styled Spring Reunion Week­ end from May 22 to 24, 2009, that will include class reunions, and the Tri­ colour Guard dinner."

Revellers at Queen's Homecoming this past year.

L A U R A T IN D A L Initial reactions to the decision are mixed. Most members of the Kingston Jones said that even if this isn't the right approach, it community agree that drastic mea­ sures needed to be taken, the disagreement lies in whether might be the only realistic way to instill change.

"I can't think of another option that would really work or not the university made the appropriate decision given the circumstances. Realistically, the students— as well as their other than a break from this cycle. It's the tradition of every­ guests— might throw parties without the university's support one else not associated with homecoming that has created the problem. Whether or not that will change for next year, I or approval.

Students are responding in a variety of ways. A Facebook don't know," Jones said.

Young suggested that there may be another viable solu­ event entitled "Queen's Homecoming 2009" has already re­ ceived the confirmation of attendance from nearly 4,000 peo­ tion, one that would benefit the small university town fiscally.

"The logical course of action would be to throw an event ple as of Sunday.

Tammy Popper, a second year student in life sciences at that coincided with Homecoming. This would flood the city Queen's University, explained that many students are deter­ with money. If they legitimize the party and go about it the right way, it can boost the local economy." mined to party.

Young agreed that most engineering students won't be "I think the reasons that the university has for cancel­ ling Homecoming are warranted, but their attempts to cancel detered by the decision made by the administration's deci­ Homecoming are futile," Popper said. "No matter what the uni­ sion.

"I can promise you that next year, during the last week­ versity does or says, it will not be able to stop Homecoming al­ together. If there's a will, there is a way, and Queen's [students end of September, all the engineers will be holding keggers at aren't] willing to give up their Homecoming tradition just yet." 8:00 a.m. Saturday morning," he said. ■

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After January 102009, all Canadian airlines will be obligated to pro­ vide an extra seat free of charge for all disabled passengers. Included in this definition of disabled are all people who are considered morbidly obese. According to Health Canada, anyone with a body mass index over 30 is considered obese; however airlines have not yet specified if they use this weight-to-height ratio as their criteria. Although this type of policy has existed for some time on certain buses, trains and ferries, Canada is the first country to extend it to airlines. The new rules will add between 44 and 77 cents to every ticket purchased.

Arthur

For Inf o & R e s e r v a t i o n s :

Somewhere along the Alberta-Saskatchewan border, there is a $10,000 chunk of rock. A meteor struck the Earth near somewhere near Maclin, Saskatchewan, last Thursday. Robert Haag, a meteorite collec­ tor from Arizona, has offered a reward for the first person who brings him a meteorite fragment of one kilogram or more in mass. Estimates place the meteor's original mass between one and seven tonnes, but it would have disintegrated into smaller pieces after entering Earth's at­ mosphere. Haag collects meteors, and also sells them to, in his words, a community of "crazy people for rocks."

When the Ontario Provincial Police responded to a lone crashed car on Friday, they didn't expect to find the driver covered in cereal and milk. Yet that's exactly how they found 21-year-old Louise Light on High­ way 7 in Wellington County, Ontario. Light was apparently attempting to eat a bowl of cereal with a spoon while driving in icy conditions and unsurprisingly lost control of her car. She has been charged with care­ less driving. Police also suspect that the fact she is a woman may have played a role. Hopefully Light will next time opt for a bagel.

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O n e a n c illa r y f e e p a s s e s , o n e fa ils SSMU laments low turnout C ontinued fro m COVER "We're obviously disappointed that the referendum didn't make quo­ rum, as it will not allow us to do the kind of expansion of our program that we were hoping for," said Max Silverman, a member of the board of QPIRG and a Tribune columnist. "We have to look at the by-laws, but if we're al­ lowed to, we will certainly bring the question [to the winter referenda pe­ riod]."

Because of a new provincial law, the administration is required by pro­ vincial law to receive student approval if total ancillary fee increases exceed $15 per year. Two fee increases made up the McGill portion of the referenda period.

McGill ancillary fee questions do not have a quorum requirement. Stu­ dents voted to approve one ancillary fee increase, and reject another.

"When drafting the by-laws, we didn't want to put any unnecessary obstacles in the way of approval of ancillary fee increases," said SSMU VicePresident University Affairs Nadya Wilkinson. "What we wanted was consul­ tation. We wanted students who had an opinion to express to be able to vote on these proposed increases. The turnout obviously wasn't as high as we would like, but I'm confident moving forward with how many people came out to vote."

The $io increase per semester to Student Services fees passed with 51.7 per cent of the vote. The administration claims the extra money will be used to maintain the current level of student services, and to expand programs in the Student Aid Office, the office for Students with Disabilities, and Student Health services on both the Downtown and Macdonald campuses.

The proposal to standardize the application fee for all students ap­ plying to McGill did not pass after 53.5 per cent of students voted against.

The proposal would have raised the application fee by $25 for Quebec resi­ dents and by $5 for all other students, so that all potential students would be charged an $85 application fee. The McGill administration had already begun charging students applying for the 2009-10 school year an increased fee and will have to reimburse applicants for that increase.

"I was impressed with the seriousness with which the SSMU Executive and Council undertook the process of fashioning a referendum procedure," said Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) Morton Mendelson in an email to the Tribune.

Both Mendelson and Turner, however, indicated that some parts of the process need improvement. Mendelson was concerned that students may not have sufficient access to information on fee increases, and therefore wouldn't understand the "possible trade-offs that may be needed if a fee [increase] does not receive support."

Turner agreed that access to information could be improved.

"I think that the system needs to be tweaked,"Turner said. "Under the current rules, the SSMU executives are not allowed to campaign on the an­ cillary fee increases. We're the people with the most information, and when we hire people to try to transmit information they tend not to have the same level of commitment or knowledge that the SSMU Executive does."*

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G r a n d P r ix w o n ' t b e b a c k Lost race will hurt Montreal's economy T rip Yang After negotiations between Formula One Chief Ex­ ecutive Officer Bernie Ecclestone and Montreal officials failed last month, the Canadian Grand Prix was perma­ nently removed from the Fi 2009 calendar. An annual tradition, held on île Notre-Dame, the Canadian Grand Prix has been a popular attraction for tourists and an economic boon for local businesses.

Montreal Mayor Gérald Tremblay rejected Eccle­ stone's request for $175 million over the next five years to sustain the race. Tremblay's offer of $100 million with a portion of profits was not enough for Ecclestone to reconsider.

"The Mayor is very disappointed in the decision.

Our objective was to make an offer that was economi­ cally viable. We worked toward a solution that would yield more economic benefits than costs. In the end, Bernie Ecclestone's demands were too extreme," said Renee Sauriol, press secretary of the Mayor's office.

Ecclestone cited difficulties in negotiating with Montreal promoter Normand Legault as a reason for re­ jecting Montreal's proposal.

Tremblay, however, remained supportive of Legault and praised him as a responsible promoter.

"The Mayor has no ill feelings toward Legault and the Grand Prix coordinators. They did what they could to keep the Grand Prix in Montreal," said Sauriol.

The loss of the Grand Prix, and the $75 million in revenue it provides, will be felt most by local busi­ nesses. Proprietors on Crescent, Peel, and surrounding streets rely on the Grand Prix weekend for large profits.

With the Grand Prix cancelled, many businesses will suf­ fer reduced profits in the summer.

"I think everyone is disappointed. Our profits will

be reduced by 25 to 30 per cent in June. As a Grand Prix specialty store, we will probably have to diversify our products to attract more customers," said Ahmad Najjar, manager of Grand Prix Boutique.

Despite Ecclestone's plans to relocate the event, many business owners remain committed to bringing the Grand Prix back to Montreal. A grassroots move­ ment, consisting of merchants affected by the cancel­ lation, is underway in hopes of changing Ecclestone's decision.

Business owners along Crescent, Peel, St. Laurent, and Drummond Streets, and in Little Italy, have written letters to import car manufacturers to place pressure on Ecclestone. They hope prominent companies such as Toyota, BMW, Mercedes, and Honda will compel Eccle­ stone to reconsider.

"We are trying to keep a 30-year-old [race] alive.

Bernie Ecclestone is arrogant, egocentric, and is tak­ ing away a proud Montreal—and Canadian—tradition.

I believe there's a 10 per cent chance of this plan suc­ ceeding," Najjar said.

Montreal officials plan to replace the Grand Prix with other events, such as expansions of the city's com­ edy and jazz festivals. For many business owners, how­ ever, the financial void cannot be filled by laughs and music.

"The hotel business in the summertime relies on the Grand Prix. We will lose 75 to 80 per cent of revenue that weekend, mostly from New England tourists. There can be more festivals and new events, but financially they cannot replace the Grand Prix," said Ricky Chadha a service representative of the Holiday Inn. Grand Prix coordinators were not available for comment. ■

IN TE R N A TIO N A L

O tta w a p r o fe sso r a r r e ste d Diab accused of 1980 synagogue bombing Tori C rawford A Canadian judge released detailed information last Thursday regarding accusations of terrorism against University of Ottawa and Carleton University Professor Hassan Diab.

Diab, a Canadian citizen, teaches sociology parttime at both of Ottawa's universities. He was arrested last week in connection with the October 1980 bombing of a Paris synagogue that killed four people and injured many others. He faces charges of murder, attempted murder, and willful destruction of property. No suspects had ever been charged in the case, and Diab's arrest last week took many by surprise.

"We are very pleased that the authorities in France and Canada are pursuing terrorism even 28 years after a crime. It sends a message that terrorists will not get away. That's a very good thing both as a message to terrorists and potential terrorists, as well as to victims of terrorism," said Benjamin Shinewald, the national ex­ ecutive director and general counsel for the Canadian Jewish Congress.

As for University of Ottawa students, uncertainty has been the most common response so far.

"There really hasn't been much of a reaction from the student body. Everyone is confused and wondering what is going to happen, but since it's an ongoing in­ vestigation our organization is opting not to comment for the time being," said Seamus Wolfe, University of Ottawa Students' Federation vice-president university affairs.

The University of Ottawa and the French Embassy also declined to comment.

For the past 28 years, police have suspected that the bomb was planted by the Popular Front for the Lib­ eration of Palestine. Diab's alleged connection with this group, based on information obtained from German intelligence agencies, was one of the four main points that Ontario Superior Court Justice Michel Charbon-

neau presented in the declaration of the case. The other three points were Diab's resemblance to police sketches of the suspect, the match between his handwriting and that of the bomber, and the use of his passport to enter France around the time of the bombing, under suspi­ cious circumstances.

Although Diab has requested a release from cus­ tody, Charbonneau is not expected to rule on the pos­ sibility of bail until December 3. However, the judge was cautioned on Friday by Assistant Crown Attorney Claude LeFrancois that Diab poses a flight risk and should be kept in custody until an extradition hearing is conducted. It is strongly suspected France will request such a hearing. However, the length of time that has elapsed since the crime was committed could poten­ tially complicate the extradition process.

"There is no limitation on when France can file their request. If it's a really old crime, however, it in­ creases the chances they won't have a great case so it might not make it past the judge," said Robert Currie, a Dalhousie University law professor, "The test by an ex­ tradition judge is to determine if we would commit the person for trial here in Canada if we had the evidence presented."

Currie explained that the process could take any­ where from two weeks to 10 years, depending on whether or not Diab accepts the extradition request.

Despite the various accusations, Diab's lawyer, Rene Duval, has stated in various press releases as well as in court that his client was not in France at the time of the bombing, and that this is a case of mistaken iden­ tity. The Canadian Jewish Congress, for their part, are confident that Canadian courts will make the correct decision.

"We have full trust in the Canadian judicial system.

I was at the bail hearing on Friday and we hope and ex­ pect that justice will take due course," Shinewald said.

"We are confident that the courts will dispassionately render the correct verdict." ■

www.m cgilltribune.com

25.11.08-The McGill T rib u n e -5

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

N e w C o n c o r d ia p r e s id e n t s e t s u p s h o p McGill alumna Judith Woodsworth formally installed last Monday

Aftertakingofficeonaninterimbasis lastAugust, Judith Woodsworth was formally installed as Concordia University's firstfemalepresidentonMonday, November77 attheuniversity's fall convocationceremony. TheTribunerecentlysat downwith Woodsworth, aMcGillalumna, todiscusshervisionforConcor­ dia'sfuture,plansforworkingwithMcGill,andherreturntoMon­ trealafter77 yearsaway.

You've mentioned that you want to increase Concor­ dia's academic reputation while maintaining its tradition of accessibility. How will you combine the two?

We try to be accessible to all kinds of students with dif­ ferent backgrounds, like people who are economically disad­ vantaged, whose parents didn't go to university, or who grew up in a house where there weren't very many books. That was my case— my parents were immigrants. They didn't have an education ... and we had no books at home. But if you have families where the kids are disadvantaged in these ways and they don't do well in high school, we give them a chance that maybe they don't get at some other universities. We're very proud of that tradition. When I meet the alumni, during Home­ coming for example, I find that many of them are very success­ ful. ... It affects how we do in Maclean's [however], because Maclean's takes into account the average entering grade of students. But all the same, I think that you can make that part of your distinguishing features. Where the average entering grade might be 88 per cent, it's easy for those universities to turn out good graduates because they were good to begin with. But if you tell people about the success of some of the students at Concordia who came in with 58 per cent and grad­ uate and go to law school or to Princeton for graduate school, then that's saying a lot.

How do you plan to work with McGill University?

I think there's a lot of room for cooperation. [Principal] Heather Munroe-Blum was extremely welcoming when I was appointed. I think there are opportunities to collaborate on programs and maybe ways of finding efficiencies. Some of that has been done in the past, but I feel that there's an op­ portunity to form a really good relationship. McGill is a great school, and in fact all of the rectors and principals in Quebec are working very well together because we have a lot of com­ mon issues. I also like to think that maybe if you've got two women in charge they might work well together.

What do you think it means that both of Montre­

al's English-language universities are now headed by women?

I think that in a way it's a coincidence. I don't think the English-speaking people in Montreal came out and said "I think it's about time we both had women," but I am proud that it's the only city in Canada where you have two female univer­ sity presidents. There aren't very many of us in Canada ... So, I say good for Montreal. The other Montreal universities don't have female presidents but they have women as chairs of their boards, so we're forming a nice strong network of women and that might change the tone of the way we do business.

What do you think are the most im portant issues fac­ ing university students in Quebec right now?

We're in an economic crisis. I don't want to over-dramatize the crisis, but we just don't know what the long term ef­ fects will be. Whether or not young people will get the jobs that they are training for is a big issue. I think students just have big question marks about what's going to happen ... But I think that, besides that, there is a kind of inflation of creden­ tials these days. It used to be that high school was good and if you got a university degree you were laughing, but now ... the master's is the new BA, and there seems to be no end. My advice to students is always to do what you really love doing, and if you find yourself in a field that you really love just keep studying, if you can manage it, and hope for the best. Things will sort themselves out if you have the passion.

With an election coming up, what do you hope the province's politicians will concentrate on with regards to post-secondary education?

Obviously the universities think that [the politicians] should make a really strong commitment to education. There's likely a lot more sympathy in the general population for im­ proving healthcare than there is for education, but we believe that education is really critical to the economic prosperity of society, to its social well-being, and even to its health. There are a lot of statistics that show that the higher peoples' edu­ cation level is, the healthier they are. They take better care of themselves, they eat better, and they exercise more, and as a consequence have fewer hearts attacks, lower diabetes rates, and a whole range of th ing s... So we feel that an investment in higher education pays off in terms of dollars, but it also con­ tributes to development and world-class research.

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New Concordia University President Judith Woodsworth.

It's great. I love Montreal. I came here from Winnipeg when I was 17 to go to McGill, and I loved it as soon as I landed here. ... You have three cafes on this street corner, and three on the next one, and lots of culture. I love the fact that you have access to culture in both English and French. It's a city of a quarter of a million students, so there's lots of life and lots of energy. ■

—CompiledbyToriCrawford

How is it being back it Montreal?

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H a n d a a n d V e lk t a lk e c o n .

Professors discuss the emerging recession J

a m e s

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il m a n

A pair of McGill economics professors discussed the cur­ rent economic crisis in an event organized by the Economics Student Association last Tuesday night in Arts West 215. Pro­ fessors Jagdish Handa and Thomas Velk briefly explained the factors contributing to the crisis before taking questions from the audience.

Handa, who specializes in monetary economics and macroeconomic theory, spoke first. He discussed how the crisis had evolved from a financial crisis—affecting only fi­ nancial assets—into an economic crisis. He focussed on the tendency of capitalism to create bubbles, including the hous­ ing bubble that burst last year.

"Economists will fully declare that bubbles always burst, one way or another," Handa said. "Whether they're positive or negative, they'll burst and prices will then turn around."

Handa expressed considerable pessimism over the pos­ sible longevity of a recession.

"The worry is first that this current recession will be lon­ ger and deeper than any we have experienced since 1945.1 think that's a fairly safe prediction," he said. "Recessions since 1945 have often been about two years in length, so if this is going to be deeper and longer, you might bet on three or four years. Beyond that we don't know how long it will last."

Velk, who specializes in money and banking, monetary theory, and public policy, spoke next, taking a*different stance on the causes of the crisis.

"I have the view that it's regulation that created the problem, and it should not be regulation that we look to to cure the problem,"Velk said.

He argued that two "failures of policy" in the United

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States created distortions in the housing industry, which is widely considered to be the origin of the economic crisis. The first was the Community Reinvestment Act, passed in 1977, which Velk said forced banks to lend to risky borrowers. The other policy was the creation of the government-sponsored mortgage providers Fannie Mae, in 1938, and Freddie Mac, in 1970. "[Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac] ended up being engines of patronage for the Democratic Party and also ended up buying a lot of the bad mortgages that were produced by the Community Reinvestment Act," Velk said.

Although they provided different interpretations of the causes of the crisis, neither economist claimed to know the correct solution to the problem. They shared an uncertainty about the future.

Handa claimed that greater policy coordination be­ tween governments was needed, but expressed pessimism over the likelihood of this.

"There has to be policy coordination across countries," he said "Coordination has never been done effectively before, and I'm doubtful that it will be done effectively at this point."

Velk argued that the West must look to emerging coun­ tries to solve their liquidity crisis, and avoid the worst possible outcomes.

"The only hope we have in this situation is the enormous liquidity reserves of India, China, and the commodity export­ ers. There's maybe somewhere between three and 15 trillion dollars in the so called sovereign wealth funds [which] have no debt at all," he said. "We damn well better be thoughtful of the emerging countries, because that's where some of the power is these days." ■

O UR LAST M EETING OF THE YEAR IS T O D A Y AT 5 :3 0 IN SHATNER 110

QUEBEC ELECTION CANDIDATE MEET AND GREET EVENT W ED N ESD A Y , N O V E M B E R 2 6 T H 4 P M -6 P M T H O M S O N H O U SE RESTAURANT

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p i n i o n HISTORIA M E ABSO LVERA

YO U H A D A N O P TIO N , SIR

T h e T o rie s n e e d to d o s o m e s o u l s e a r c h in g

T h e re 's m o re to P o u n d th a n s a v a g e p h ra s e s

T imothy M ak TIMOTHY.MAK@MAILMCGILL.CA

M ax Silverman MAXWELL.SILVERMAN@MAIL.MCGILL.CA

s a city, Winnipeg isn't totally life­ time in Winnipeg likely contributed to this less. There are three or four city outcome.

I left the convention concerned blocks of bars and restaurants, a few of which have some degree of charac­ about the direction of the Conservative ter. That's not too bad, eh? Add to this the party. Right now, there's very little discus­ howling winds, bone-chilling tempera­ sion about how the party can move the Canadian political spectrum further to the tures, and early nights, and the one word that describes Manitoba's capital is "sepia." right, or what the party needs to do to win Unfortunately, this lacklustre backdrop a dozen more seats and gain a majority. was appropriate for the Conservative The Conservative party seems to be d rift­ ing along, content with being in power but Party of Canada's second-ever national lacking the energy to solidify its hold on convention. the Canadian polity. It's natural for a party Don't get me wrong—the convention was brilliantly organized and flawlessly in power to rest on its laurels, but now is the time to executed. talk about I had a « I t 's n a t u r a l f o r a p a r t y i n p o w e r t o growth and great time r e s t o n i t s l a u r e l s , b u t n o w is t h e t i m e new ideas. seeing old t o ta lk a b o u t g r o w t h a n d n e w id e a s ."

Whi l e friends delegates and meet­ ing Conservatives from across the coun­ did reaffirm some of their conservative principles, it was disappointing to see try. But I couldn't help wondering what the point of having a convention was, party higher-ups wave it off. Jay Hill, the other than to fulfill the party's constitu­ government's house leader, made it clear to reporters that the policies developed tional obligations.

By and large, it wasn't a victory con­ and approved at the convention would vention where we could all pat each other not "hamstring" the government when on the shoulders for exceeding expecta­ making decisions. As someone who val­ ues grassroots decision-making, I find this tions. The Conservatives had high hopes worrying. for this year's federal election, arid failing I also left the convention sensing a to win a majority was a let-down. Without the excitement of a new four-year man­ slight imbalance between practical and principled considerations. If the Conser­ date, we celebrated our recent victory vative party wants to keep winning elec­ hesitantly—which is no way to party.

The gathering was billed as a policy tions, sooner or later it has to look in the convention, but delegates lacked enthu­ mirror and promote what it really stands siasm as they debated whether additional for: smaller government and lower taxes. charges should be laid against some­ Currently, the government is continuing one who harms a pregnant woman, or to increase in size and its tax cuts have whether Section 13 of the Human Rights been largely cosmetic.

Small-c conservatives need a boost.

Act, which deals with online hate speech, should be scrapped. Turnout was also low, Twenty years from now, we want to look as only about half of the expected dele­ back on these sessions of parliament and gates showed up to discuss party policy. remember something that we accom­ Fatigue from the recent election, high en­ plished together, other, than being elect­ trance costs, and asking people to spend ed. We're still waiting. ■

A

ick Pound has to go. As a former Stu­ dents'Society executive, I'm sad that, of all the McGill administrators who could orchestrate their own downfall, it was Pound that did so. On the whole, he's an ally to stu­ dents in a hostile administration, and he's often the only one who can chastise administrators when they're acting like children. He's also the Queen's representative to our university, and has the name of a pornstar. That's pretty cool.

Nonetheless, Dick Pound has to go.

We all know the story by now— sort of.

In an interview with La Presse this summer, Pound said that, in comparison with China 400 years ago, Canada was fairly new to the civilization game. Most people have focussed on Pound's use of a particular French word— "sauvage"—to show the racism in his state­ ment. Consequently, Pound has tried to skirt around the issue by making it into a semantic debate over the translation of "sauvage." But the real issue isn't the translation of his com­ ments.

Giving Pound the benefit of the doubt, let's translate "sauvage" as "not civilized." I'd say that's as neutral a translation as one could find, in the context of his point that China was civi­ lized, while Canada was "un pays de sauvages."

Still, Pound's point was that this land became civilized when white, European settlers ar­ rived. Ignoring the semantic debate and look­ ing purely at Pound's message, there is no way to skirt around this issue: it was racist.

Do I think Pound is actively plotting to oppress First Nations and continue our multigenerational genocide against them? Of course not. Pound has made a point of pro­ moting a liberal, multicultural discourse in his involvement in Canadian athletics, and I think the rose-tinted part of his brain believes that this approach will fight racism.

My issue isn't with Pound as a person, but with what he represents professionally.

Canada is a racist country, McGill is a racist institution, and the 2010 Olympics are a pro­ foundly racist project. As someone involved in

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all three, Pound's comments weren't an abe ration. They represent the attitudes at play i all three entities.

Most Canadians pay lip service to th suffering we've visited upon the original ir habitants of this land. If we're really feelin our liberal guilt, we'll occasionally whisper th word "genocide" to describe European behav iour hundreds of years ago. But we pay this li service to avoid addressing the very real, ver oppressive predicament of Canada's First Na tions. We feel better describing something a a tragic result of an oppressive past, rathe than admitting our responsibility for activ racism and genocide. We don't like to thin of ourselves as an example of the aparthek paradigm, or brutal colonialism still in actior But these are far more accurate descriptions o Canada's treatment of First Nations.

Right now, developers are tearing up lane agreements and stealing First Nations' lane to build a network of condos and resorts tha will accompany the 2010 Olympics, Vancouve police are brutalizing their city's (dispropor tionately aboriginal) street population, ane the legacy of genocide that allowed for these Olympics is being ignored. Closer to Montreal police are moving in on the Algonquin of Bar riere Lake, who have blockaded a highway because of the unabashed violation of wha was heralded as the most progressive treat) in Canadian history. In that community, the government has undemocratically installée council heads and thrown out all agreement: for profit-sharing.

Canadian racism towards First Nation: peoples is blatant, rampant, and absent frorr our public discourse. Pound's comments— which are far from shocking—were a natura outgrowth of the racism at the core of oui country's existence. Pound's resignation woulc send a clear message about the tolerance ol racism in an academic environment, and also call attention to the blatant and aggressive racism Canada's First Nations experience on a daily basis. ■

FRESH HELL

b e s t o f a b a d m u s ic a l s it u a t io n do

y good friends know that I don't live music. I've never really examined this prejudice, because I as­ sumed that its genesis lay in the Jewish community centre basement where I saw my first concerts. I do enjoy music in general, and will happily sit on my bed making col­ lages while listening to an artist's entire discography. I prob­ ably dislike live performance because I hate feeling obligat­ ed to attend a friend's show, or to pay attention to musicians in a crowded venue. Ignoring the musicians to do something far more interesting— like listen to myself talk—is rude, and my Minnesota roots force me to be cloyingly proper in pub­ lic. That's probably why stadium concerts aren't even on my radar: they seem so indecent.

Since high school, when I was socially obligated to go to battles of bands and talent showcases, I haven't been to many shows. My friends go and enjoy themselves, and I don't mind not being invited. Once, in first year, I caved and went to a MSTRKFT show. Despite the intense hype my residence buddies created, I finished the night crying and ambling up St. Catherine's Street at an absurd hour of the

M

night, ill-dressed for the December cold. I've redoubled my opposition to live music patronage since then.

But on Thursday night, I was at a bar listening to the screeches and squeaks of a garage band performance. I was there, of course, as a favour to a friend. (If I may digress, I've never understood the logic of forcing a friend to attend an event they don't enjoy. What message does that send? They like you enough to be unhappy for you?)

With beer in hand, I steeled myself for two hours of toe­ tapping, head-nodding, and yelled conversation. So imag­ ine my surprise when I found a way to have fun.

Admittedly, it helped that I was high, and enjoying the bar's Habs-heavy décor. The first few performances piqued my interest but didn't tickle my fun bone, but then I had the unabashed pleasure of having my ears blasted out by some band with a fantastic drummer. I had been under the impression that drummers were the disposable also-rans of band life (e.g. Ringo, the guys from Spinal Tap). Lead sing­ ers and bassists have a cachet to maintain. Keyboard players are just lovable geeks who sometimes have great shoulder

dancing skills. Triangle, tambourine, and harmonica players are just showing off. But drummers are hidden sources of hilarity on stage.

This particular drummer was mesmerizing. He re­ deemed the three other lamewads on stage who were gen­ tly humping their guitars. He was a furry giant, smashing the drum kit like pies in the faces of his enemies. His bottom lip was stretched painfully over his lower teeth, but still he soldiered on. His bandmates's button-down shirts were no match for his plaid one-piece, and his mop of sweaty hair outshone the glistening side-parts of his comrades.This was a drummer for the ages. He was demolishing beats, he was sainted when he walked off stage, he was the soft-lipped and bearded Cro-Magnon (man of who only appears on Thursday nigf|fs.

I've since decided that when I must "go to shows," I shouldn't expect to enjoy myself, get wasted and dance, or hook up with the bassist. I'll just be disappointed. But if I go expecting only to watch a totally non-self-conscious drum­ mer, maybe I'll be alright. ■

rock)

25.11.08 • The McGill Tribune • 7

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EDITORIALS

Q u e e n ' s f a c ilit a t o r s a r e t h e b r a in p o lic e

P re s e rv in g fre e d o m o f t h e p r e s s in R u s s ia

hile most universities try to teach their students about tolerance and diversity, Queen's University has taken this process one step further. Or, to be blunt, one step too far.

Two weeks ago, Queen's announced the hiring of six "intergroup fa­ cilitators" who will live in residence halls with students. According to the university, the facilitators will "address issues relating to social identities."

One of their methods will be intervening in students' conversations in­ volving controversial issues or offensive language. Students who use the phrase "that's so gay," for example, will now be subject to conversational interventions.

Cataloguing the impracticalities of this program is an exhausting task. While the Queen's administration may disagree, the facilitators'work is inherently judgmental. They decide what phrases and conversations qualify as non-inclusive or offensive, and therefore warrant intervention.

In practical terms, the facilitators will become the (often unwelcome) en­ forcers of political correctness on the Queen's campus.

The potential for a backlash against conversational interventions is also troubling. Eavesdropping (or intruding) on students'personal conver­ sations isn't a great way to foster healthy dialogue. At best, students will bite their tongues to avoid a run-in with the etiquette police. At worst, fa­ cilitator interventions could spark conflicts and resentment of their own.

But the most disappointing aspect of the facilitator program is the message Queen's is sending. Last week, the university cancelled its homecoming festivities due to concerns with "unsanctioned student gatheringtsj." With the facilitators, Queen's is trying to coerce students into adopting and expressing certain political and social viewpoints.

Both of these actions show the university's lack of faith in its own students. Queen's students are supposedly attending one of the best academic institutions in Canada, but the university doesn't trust them to speak or assemble freely. A university is supposed to provide education, not discipline. If Queen's administrators want to enlighten their students, or just show them the error of their ways, they should focus on scholar­ ship instead of impractical enforcement schemes. ■

I n October of 2006, Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya was shot and

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killed in Moscow. A harsh critic of the Russian government's human rights record, many believed that Politkovskaya's murder was politically motivated. This October, the trial of three men accused of plotting her mur­ der began. Unfortunately, it seems unlikely that the trial will reach a satis­ factory conclusion.

Last Thursday, Judge Yengeny Zubov ordered that the trial be closed to the press, supposedly upon the jury's request. However, the next day Yevg­ eny Kolesov, one of the jurors, told a Moscow radio station that no such request had been made. Zubov has made other procedural decisions on false pretenses, and Kolesov's revelation casts further doubt upon the le­ gitimacy of the proceedings. The Russian Supreme Court have announced an investigation into Zubov's decision, but unfortunately the problems are systemic, and not specific to this case.

Freedom of the press is a rare commodity in Russia. In 2001, Vladimir Putin's government and their associates began a program of media cen­ sorship. Government allies control all three of Russia's major television net­ works. Earlier this year, the New York Times reported on a "so-called stop list, a roster of political opponents and other critics of the government who have been barred from TV news and political talk shows by the Kremlin."

And even opposition media like Echo of Moscow—the radio station that broadcasted Kolesov's revelation— are regularly subjected to government intimidation.

The decline of journalistic freedom parallels human rights concerns in Russia. Politkovskaya was a vocal critic of Russia's military involvement in Chechnya, and Echo of Moscow's latest run-in with the government was caused by their reporting on the conflict in Georgia this summer.

At the Group of Eight meeting this summer, Prime Minister Stephen Harper told then-President Putin that "membership in the G8 club implies very high degrees ... of democratic behaviour." His rhetoric was high-mind­ ed, but so far Harper has been all bark, and no bite. If Canada is concerned about human rights, we put some muscle behind our position, and demand that the Russian government respect freedom of the press. ■

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CORRECTIONS

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In last week's "Fee endorsements" editorial, the QPIRG-McGill was described as receiving funding from their provincial mother organization, QPIRG. While they are supported by QPIRG, the overwhelming majority of QPIRG McGill's funding comes from McGill students.

Also, the photo for last week's story "Lovely bands being bred at McGill" was captioned as including The Lovely Feathers guitarist James Ben­ jamin. In fact, Benjamin does not appear in the photo.

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B Y R O N .T A U @ G M A IL .C O M

hat started as an unfortunate comment has rapidly turned into a national con­ troversy. When Dick Pound suggested to La Presse that Canada was once "un pays de sauvages," it was unlikely that cooler heads would prevail. "Racism! Denigration of an en­ tire ethnic group!" cried his critics. "Resign from McGill! Off with his head!" And when Globe and Mail columnist Margaret Wente came to Pound's defence, the reaction was similar.

It's easy to dismiss this latest cultural flap as over-sensitivity by a vocal minority. But the righ­ teous indignation directed towards Pound and Wente is symptomatic of something larger and more perverse. In grappling with multiculturalism, Canadians are becoming fearfully silent.The right to freedom of expression and the demo­ cratic tradition of open debate are rapidly erod­ ing in the face of a political correctness regime from which no comment is safe.

This regime takes many forms. It manifests itself in the human rights hearings conducted against journalists like Ezra Levant of the West­ ern Standard and Mark Steyn of Maclean's maga­ zine. It's present in the work of the Canadian Human Rights Commission, and a recent libel suit brought against Levant by former Liberal party strategist Warren Kinsella. And it can be found in the latest brouhaha over Pound's com­ ments and Wente's column.

Somewhere along the way, Canadian so­ ciety has become uncomfortable with the el­ ementary right to challenge orthodoxy and

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debate normative beliefs. This discomfort has ushered in a regime of thorny legal restrictions on expression in the guise of human rights laws, coupled with libel suits against critics, human rights complaints against journalists, and man­ ufactured public outrage at perceived racial or cultural slights.

What Pound said was obtuse, but the public controversy and calls for his dismissal from McGill and the International Olympic Committee only erupted when a Native rights group took the complaint to the IOC. And when Wente dared to suggest that most First Nations societies never progressed beyond subsistence agriculture, her critics were all too quick to invoke the spectres of racism, broken treaties, and forced cultural as­ similation.

Consumers and citizens are well within their rights to boycott the Globe and denounce Wente's piece. But it's odious when contrarian commentary provokes widespread calls for a pundit to be fired. Wente's detractors could have stepped up and rebutted her claims in an open debate. That would be reasonable. But instead, Wente was denigrated as a racist defender of co­ lonialism, instead of a provocative sceptic.

The Pound and Wente affair is a classic ex­ ample of political correctness gone awry, but it's not the only example. Canadian human rights law provides a great deal of illustrative fodder.

Provincial human rights tribunals were created to fight housing and employment discrimina­ tion, but more recently they're now used as a

blunt instrument to enforce cultural sensitivity at the expense of free speech.

In recent years, such complaints were filed against Maclean's magazine for an article pub­ lished by journalist Mark Steyn, and Ezra Le­ vant's Western Standard for reprinting the Dan­ ish cartoons lampooning God and Mohammad.

Though these complaints against Maclean's and Levant were dismissed or withdrawn, they cost the defendants a great deal of time and mon­ ey— not to mention their reputations—while the plaintiffs' misguided accusations of hate speech were funded by Canadian taxpayers.

Reverend Stephen Boissoin wasn't so lucky to have his complaint dismissed off hand. Boissoin published a silly rant in the Red Deer Advocate in 2002, where he denounced the "homosexual agenda." As a result, he was hauled before Alber­ ta's human rights tribunal and ordered to pay a cash settlement. The tribunal also muzzled him from making similar comments about homosex­ uals for the rest of his life.

It's not enviable to defend bigots like Bois­ soin, provocateurs like Levant, Steyn, and Wente, or gaffe-prone windbags like Pound. But the cur­ rent regime of cultural sensitivity has gone too far. At best, it stifles debate over serious issues.

At worst, it treads on the right to free speech. Ei­ ther way, it has no place in a free society like 21st century Canada. ■

Byron Tauis a McGill alumnus and former opinioneditorfortheTribune.

The M cG ill T ribune is an ed ito rially au to no m o us new spaper published by th e Stud ents'S ociety o f M cG ill University in collaboration w ith the T ribune P ublication Society. O p inion s expressed do not necessarily represent those o f the Students' Society o r M cG ill University Letters to the ed itor m ay be sent to letters@ m cgilltribune.com and m ust inclu d e th e contributor's name, program and year and co ntact inform ation. Letters should be kept under 300 w ords and subm itted o n ly to th e Tribune. Subm issions ju d g ed by th e T ribune P ublication Society to be libellous, sexist, racist, h o m o p h o b ic o r solely prom o tio nal in nature w ill n o t be published. The Tribune reserves the right to e d it all contributions. Editorials are d ecid ed upon and w ritten by th e editorial board. All oth er opin io n s are strictly those o f the author and d o not necessarily reflect th e opin io n s o f th e M cG ill Tribune, its editors o r its staff. Please recycle this newspaper.

8 • The McGill Tribune • 25.11.08

V O X POPULI

P o lit ic a l id e o lo g ie s a n d t h e p a r a d o x o f f r e e d o m A ndy Y u ANDY.YU@MAIL.MCGILL.CA here is a fundamental inconsistency in the two most popular political ideologies of today. Broadly con­ strued, "liberals" support social liberalism but econom­ ic conservatism while "conservatives" support social conser­ vatism but economic liberalism. Yet, as my (perhaps) gross generalization of the ideology indicates, how can liberals support conservatism, and vice versa?

First, let's take a look at what liberals generally stand for.

As social liberals, they clearly stand for things like the free­ dom of speech, abortion rights, and universal healthcare.

But because they need to support many social programs— healthcare, education, unemployment benefits, etc.—this often means higher taxes. Higher taxes in turn imply a kind of economic conservatism. To put it harshly (but frankly), lib­ erals believe that restricting economic freedom is justified as a means for achieving social freedom.

This modus operandi is shared with the conservatives.

Essentially, conservatives believe in the converse: they be­ lieve that restricting social freedom is justified as a means for achieving economic freedom. This may not seem obvi­ ous, but I think that we can very much see it this way. Above all, conservatives, as defenders o f the free market, want lower taxes and (generally) less government intervention in

T

the economy. Often, this means that social freedoms— es­ pecially the positive ones, such as the freedom to education and healthcare— suffer. Compared with liberals, conserva­ tives are less likely to think twice about suspending rights if it means better protection from terrorists.

Liberals and conservatives provide opposing answers to the question "To what extent can we sacrifice some free­ doms for others?" For liberals, the answer is that we ought to protect social freedoms, even if it means restricting eco­ nomic ones. For conservatives, the answer is that we ought to protect economic freedoms, even if it means restricting social ones.

But both of these answers are unsatisfactory and incon­ sistent with any coherent account of freedom. The answer ought to be that there is no extent to which we can sacrifice some freedoms for others. To embrace freedom, we must embrace it fully, and to do any differently means adhering to a double standard. The belief that the government should intervene in either the social or economic realm implies that the government can make better decisions in that realm.

But if the latter belief is true, then the same must be true for both the social economic realm.

The dilemma, then, isn't which freedoms are worth sac­

habeas

corpus

and

The Faculty of Arts

rificing for others, but rather whether we should support a truly liberal society or a truly conservative one. The choice is between some form of libertarianism and some form of au­ thoritarianism. Either we embrace both social and economic freedom, or we embrace both social and economic conser­ vatism. To prioritize one kind of freedom over another is to adhere to a fundamentally inconsistent view.

Given the alternatives, what are we to choose? If gay marriage makes you cringe and you believe that civil liber­ ties should be suspended for some greater good, then you fit squarely in the conservative camp. But you'll also have to believe that the government spends money better than you can yourself.

If, on the other hand, you're more sympathetic to liberal ideas such as universal healthcare and subsidized educa­ tion— as I suspect many readers are— then you should also agree that this should not come at the expense of higher taxes.

I make no suggestion here as to which o f the alterna­ tives you should choose. But if you do adhere to one politi­ cal ideology or another, it ought to be a consistent one. ■

AndyYuisU2philosophyandeconomicsstudent.

L e tte r s t o t h e

p r e s e n ts

e d ito r

A M a x w e ll C u m m in g s L e c tu r e

Max's Rememberance Day column gets a nod

A r c h ite c tu re, L itera tu re, an d th e S earch for C a n a d ia n Id en tity D.M .R. Bentley Professor o f English The U niversity o f W estern O ntario London, Ontario

Re: "Lest we remember the wrong things" (11.11.08) I want to congratulate Max Silverman for break­ ing the silence about Remembrance Day. On numer­ ous occasions I have tried to give my opinion on how Canada has been (and still is) involved in wars totally unrelated to human rights. What have I got in response? Attacks and patriotic angry accusations. I want you to relax and listen.

People who do not support Remembrance Day do not wish death or miseryto anyone—wejust think that the cause is promoted with different premises than the real ones.

Please always seek the truth before giving your heart to it. My opinion: "Hatred does not cease with hatred."

And thanks, Silverman.

— Adriana Celada, U1 animal biology Max also gets a one-fingered salute

D.M.R. Bentley, Distinguished University Professor and Carl F. Klinck Professor in Canadian Literature at the University o f W estern Ontario, is founding editor o f the scholarly journal Canadian Poetry: Studies, Documents, Reviews, now in its fourth decade, and o f the associated Canadian Poetry Press editions o f Canadian poetry and Jiterary documents. His major publications include The Gay]Grey Moose: Essays on the Ecologies and M ythologies o f

Canadian Poetry, 1690-1990, Mimic Fires: Accounts o f Early Long Poems on Canada, The Confederation Group o f Canadian Poets, 1880-1897, and M nemographia Canadensis: Essays on Memory, Community, and Environment in Canada. Other major scholarly works, including Canadian Architexts: Literature and Architecture in Canada, 1759-2005, have been published on the Canadian Poetry website, a major research resource for the study o f Canadian poetry. Dr. Bentley has also been an ardent and eloquent spokesman for humanities research and teaching, and for their synergy, on many university, inter-university, provincial, and federal government committees and councils.

Thursday, November 27, 2008 6:00 p.m.

Reception to follow

Stephen Leacock Building Room 232 855 Sherbrooke Street West, M ontreal QC For more information contact the Department o f English Tel: (514) 398-6550 Email: brian.trehearnefir nicgill.ca

McGill

Re: "Lest we remember the wrong things" (11.11.08) Fuck off, Max Silverman. Have you no shame? For 364 days of the year you can freely criticize the actions of our government and the state of our world. But I am amazed how you cannot break out of your ivory tower idealism and just say thank you to those who fell.They deserve at least one day to themselves.

Remembrance Day is not about considering Canada's role in the world. You can do that on Canada Day. It is about realizing that the world, as bad as it may seem, is still leaps and bounds beyond what it would have been, had it not been for the sacrifice of our soldiers.

Who cares if the motives were good, bad, unin­ tentional, or methodically processed? The fact of the matter remains is that you can freely speak and vote and criticize a government without being hunted down, put in prison, or publicly hung for treason. That is what our soldiers fought for. That is what they died for. Our government should be praised for sending them.

Tell you what, Max Silverman: I'm gonna have to say thank you twice as hard for our fallen "impe­ rial soldiers," those who are doing and have done the "boss' work." I know our world is better because of them, regardless of why you claim they were drawn into battle.

To them, I salute. To you, I give the finger.

— Sean Bernstein, U3 political science

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i v i n g G IZ M O S & GADGETS

oodguru

H e a lth y in s t a n t n o o d l e s iamen: no longer only for emo band names N iki H yde

Directions

Although a recession may bring to mind some fun imag, like dingy speak-easies, gun molls, and the thrilling prac:e of box-car riding, it's not all high glamour. Many students ay be feeling a bit of a pinch after maxing out a third credit rd on the shiny new iPod they totally In order to (just to dramatically diminished means, costs must be cut. it does this mean no more debauchery-filled weekends umbling from club to club? No, the easiest way to cut costs altering the way you nosh.

Fueled by Ramen need not only be a mediocre music bel that boasts shudderingly twee bands like Paramore, jte is What We Aim For, and Fall Out Boy—it can also be a cipe for your future on the dole. People assume that a diet >nsisting solely of instant noodles is not nutritionally suffient, but it doesn't need to be—by adding some veggies and otein, you can create a cheap and balanced meal that is ady in minutes.

needed.

1. Boil water.

2. (If you are using tofu, skip this step) Cook meat in a frying pan until done, add seasoning as desired.

3. Microwave frozen veggies with water (just enough to cover them) in a bowl, following the package directions.

Drain.

4. Add water, veggies and tofu or meat to noodles. Stir.

5. Let sit for three minutes.

6 . Consume while crouched over a mountain of study ma­ terials. ■

T h e h a m ste r sh red d er C arolyn Yates Artist Tom Ballhatchet has created an installation called the Hamster Shredder, which puts multitasking to the forefront of design and mitigates the very real fire haz­ ard of overloaded power bars.

As the hamster runs, it generates its own bedding, pro­ viding a cost-effective and environmentally friendly solu­ tion for the pet owner looking to add a little labour into a hamster's normal routine of sleeping, making those annoy­ ing noises with the water bottle, and sitting around looking fluffy.

Unfortunately, the shredder isn't an actual product, but the installation has been displayed at London and Ital­ ian art galleries since 2007. Read more about the exhibit at www.tomballhatchet.com. ■

Ingredients

• 1 pkg. of noodles (I recommend the baked kind like Chef Woo, but Mr. Noodle or any other brand will do) • frozen veggies (peas work well and are very cheap, but check out the week's special at your local grocery store) • tofu (silken tofu is great for soups and very cheap) OR • meat (again, peruse the specials for the week: pork, chicken or beef all work well) E L E G A N T S U F F IC IE N C Y .T Y P E P A D .C O M

Your ramen soup will probably not look this good.

U n i v e r s i t é d 'O t t a w a

U n iv e rs ity o f O tta w a

Going to university is a big financial commitment. Do you consider it an investment for your future? Or is it a necessary expense to get you closer to the job you really want?

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In science, researchers order, control, and examine sets o f variables. These variables— from mice in a maze, to bacteria in a culture— provide key insights into the macro, and microscopic properties, o f the world. In theory, this control is essential. In practice, however, luck is often a scientist's best friend.

T homas Q uail The scientific method is full of surprises. In 1928, Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in his organics garbage after an extended vaca­ tion. In 1791, Luigi Galvani discovered biological conductance following a nasty gust of wind. Ac­ cording to Nobel Prize laureate Max Delbruck, experimental science should be "sloppy enough so that unexpected things can happen, but not so sloppy that we can't find out what hap­ pened."

In 1895, the German physicist Wilhelm Roentgen stumbled across an important piece of physics. The discovery later earned him the 1901 Nobel Prize in physics, the 1896 Rumford medal, the 1896 Matteucci medal, and the honor of having element num berm — Roentgenium— named after him. Roentgen's work remains un­ paralleled in the scientific realm. However, the discovery itself was unplanned.

Late one Friday afternoon, Roentgen was alone in his University of Wurzburg lab, study­ ing radiation effects on cathode-ray tube mate­ rial. When Roentgen fired radiation through the glass tube, the adjacent lab bench lit up. Roent­ gen fired once more. It shimmered again. A bar­ ium-coated screen, set up for another experi­ ment on the adjacent lab bench, was glowing.

Bewildered, Roentgen picked up the screen and fired more radiation through the tube. Simulta­ neously, Roentgen observed the skeletal out­ line of his hand holding the screen. By accident, Roentgen had reshaped the scientific landscape and discovered the X-ray.

Closer to home, scientific happenstance is still only one petri dish away. McGill physiol­ ogy professor Leon Glass shares a similar tale of unexpected scientific discovery. Originally discovered in the late 1960s, his discovery is re­ sponsible for a wave of new visual perception research.

A rickety photocopier and one sheet of white paper

Glass studied at the University of Chicago in the 1960s. After gradu­ ating, he worked as a post-doc­ toral fellow at the University of Edinburgh's department of machine intelligence and perception. Guided

by Professor Christopher Longuet-Higgins, Glass researched visual percep­ tion: the brain's ability to interpret electromagnetic waves (light) and translate

these signals into corresponding psychological perception.

In 1969, Longuet-Higgins left to meet an American colleague for the weekend. He re­ turned visibly excited. According to Glass, Longuet-Higgins's colleague Professor Robert Hearth had introduced him to a new idea in spa­ cial distribution research.

Higgins explained the experiment to Glass, dots who found it fascinating and decided to try it. did in­ All he needed was a blank sheet of white paper deed create similar concentric circles. and a photocopy machine.

Glass's paper entitled First, Glass photocopied the blank sheet.

"Moire Effect from Random Dots" was published There wasn't much difference—a little residual in the August 9,1969 edition of Nature. photocopier dust had been picked up. Then he photocopied the photocopy. The difference Glass patterns 101 increased. Glass photocopied the photocopy Glass's discovery affected visual cortex re­ of the photocopy. Again, the dots increased in number and resolution. He repeated the pro­ search, which involves the section of the brain responsible for sight. cess at least 20 times. "[Glass patterns] have been used as a tool to By this time, the sheet had thousands of defined black dots. Glass mounted the photo­ study perceptual organizations where you have copies on slides and, using the overhead, began a perception of a pattern" says McGill professor Fred Kingdom."They've also been used to study measuring the distance between dots.

One day, Glass accidentally placed the 14th what kind of physiological processes produce and 18th photocopied slides on the overhead the sensation of a pattern out of what is just a series of dots." together. He decided to superimpose the two Glass patterns are made up of pairs of slides— lining them up dot for dot. He then moved the top slide, rotating it ** ** «* slightly. * .** 4* Perfect con­ •** centric circles leaped off the 4»•* mm- *4 ** *#* page. ,m mm ,1* ** ## »* Glass met with ** ^ ** .. mm ** •* ** Longuet-H iggins' «* * ■ # and explained his findings. He en­ * • » » * * «%♦ couraged Glass to mm . write a scientific ♦4 *4 m "V „ ** paper about his *** «* *» ** ** _ .* «•* ** discovery. »* _ mm * ** **mm . ** ^ *« »* First, Glass **■ t* ** •* mm ** wanted to confirm H ** «» mm** whether random mm *|# *** mm mm *4 •» dots would, under mm *•# the same condi­ tions, manifest the , «V* same pattern. To do this, he dripped black paint from an aerosol can on white paper. He «V. then made a trans­ parency copy. After following the same procedure, Glass An example of two Glass patterns. The global orientation SCIENCEDIRECT.COM found that random structure is (above) linear and (right) concentric.

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25.11.08*The McGill Tribune • 11

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dots—one from the top slide, and one from the original—called dipoles. In our brain, dipoles simulate oriented lines.These short oriented line segments stimulate neurons in the visual cortex called simple cells. However, our brain does not see thousands of short line segments. There are other physiological processes that link these di­ poles together. Contours are formed, and in the brain, these contour patterns are interpreted as concentric circles.

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"As fa r a s I k n o w , t h e r e w a s v e r y little in t e r ­ e s t in t h e s u b je c t . I g o t v e r y lit t le f e e d b a c k [ c o n ­ c e r n i n g t h e p a p e r]," s a y s G la s s .

Nobody seems to care...

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In his original paper, Glass suggested that the scientific community should study these patterns'research implications. "[Glass and Longuet-Higgins] believe that

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However, the scientfic community slowly caught up with Glass. In 1982, MIT professor David Marr published a book on visual perception in which he coined the term "Glass patterns" N to describe Glass's random dot research.

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alities of Glass patterns, but not the specifics.

"We have a pretty good conceptual idea of how they are processed by the brain, in an algo­ rithmic sense," says Movshon in an email to the Tribune. "But it remains unclear what specific mechanisms they engage and how those are organized in the brain."

Interestingly, Movshon has incorporated time into Glass pattern experiments, with the goal of further mapping the visual cortex.

"This creates global apparent motion based on local cues and is very useful for studying mo­ tion mechanisms," says Movshon.

In addition, visual perception scientists are examining coloured Glass patterns. According to Kingdom, these scientists are studying how our colour vision system interprets Glass pat­ terns.

Kingdom suspects that visual perception researchers will continue using Glass patterns for now.

"I suspect it will carry on at a similar level for a few years to come, at least. People are still exploring different aspects of Glass patterns," he says.»

throughout the world to study the visual cortex.

No end insight?

In the last 15 years, Glass ; pattern research has dramati­ . ** ’ { f «* * v, *•* cally increased. Today, scientists are studying the underlying * * » ► », *» 1 physiological processes in­ *' ** ** •« ** ** volved in interpreting different *» ** types of Glass patterns.

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C ir c le s , s t ic k f ig u r e s , a n d e v o l u t i o n Wilson studies Glass patterns and the primary visual cortex T homas Q uail

AttheUniversityofChicagointhe1960s, McGillprofes­ sorLeonGlassandYorkprofessorHugh Wilsonsharedan officeasgraduatestudents. WhileGlassdecidedtostophis visualperceptionstudiesafter1973, Wilsonworksinthefield tothisday. Wilsonhaswrittenmanypapersonvisualpercep­ tionandincorporatedGlasspatternsintohisresearch. The TribunerecentlyspokewithWilsonabouthisresearch.

McGill Tribune: Can you explain the different levels of the visual cortex?

Hugh Wilson: First, let's talk about form vision. In fact, there are two parallel pathways in vision. One is vision for recognizing objects, or form vision. The other is vision for action. You can imagine to recognize someone's face, all you have to know are the face's idiosyncrasies—you don't need to encode how far away it is, or how large it is on your retina. But, in order to grasp a cup, you have to en­ code its exact size and how far away it is. So, vision has two sub-specialties in the brain: action and form vision.

has different cells that encode the local tangents to lines and contours. It is a very local analysis. But, it picks out the points— in the identified object—where there are edges and boundaries. This ultimately defines the object. Then, there's the second visual area— or, V2. In V2, the informa­ tion is combined into contour segments. This is done to pick out curved arcs, or angles. Then, V4 is the next promi­ nent area in the form vision pathway. And in V4, it's been shown in monkeys, and from our work in humans, that there are cells sensitive to concentric structure, or ellip­ soidal structure.

MT: Does this mean, as humans, we recognize circles before other shapes?

Wilson: No. I'm saying that as humans, we are about as efficient at recognizing circles as we possibly could be, and Glass patterns show that. Because in fact, if you mea­ sure the threshold for detecting circular Glass patterns as opposed to other types of Glass patterns, everyone we've ever tested is best with the circles.

MT: That's fascinating. Why do you think that is?

MT: Can you explain the form vision pathway?

Wilson: Form vision, at the cortical level, starts with the primary visual cortex—or, Vi. The earliest visual area

Wilson: Well, think about it. Smooth, closed curves— ellipses, circles, etc.—do define the shape of many parts of many animals. They define the shape of foliage of a

tree at a distance. That's how kids draw trees: they draw a green circle on a brown stick.

MT: It has evolutionary biology implications, doesn't it?

Wilson: That's exactly right. In fact, people studying natural images—photographs of environments we might have evolved in such as forests or pastures for example— have discovered that the most common structure is local straight lines. But, the second most common structure is the circle. So it really does fit quite nicely in evolutionary terms.

MT: Now, can you finish explaining the form vision pathway?

Wilson: From V4, the next projection will have to be explained with monkey data. This is because it's too dan­ gerous to experiment with the human brain in this area.

But, the next area is an area called the Inferior Temporal cortex. We've known since about area IT since 1974. It has cells that are sensitive to entire faces. So, we think that at this point, cells are combining information about circular structures, which Glass patterns have elucidated, with other shapes such as eyes and noses, to represent whole faces. This is form vision to the best of our knowledge.

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TRAVEL

Campus Calendar Engineers W ithout Borders' Third Annual Holiday Craft Fair When: Nov. 25,9 a.m. to 4 P-m.

Where: Centennial Center, Mac Campus

A "fair trade and locally made" craft fair for local products, featuring Santropol fair trade cof­ fee, clothing and accessories, ceramics, cheeses, spices, and more. The goal is twofold: to popu­ larize fair trade products and to promote locally made crafts by Montreal artisans.

Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology Seminar When: Nov. 26,11:30 a.m.

Where: Lecture Theatre M-i

Strathcona Anatomy & Dentistry Building See Dr. Julie Lessard speak on "An Essential Switch in Subunit Composition of a Chromatin Remodeling Complex During Neural Develop­ ment."

Ode to the Hanky Code When: Nov. 28,10 p.m. - 3 a.m.

Where: The Playhouse (5656 Parc)

Head & Hands is holding a dance party to support queer-positive sex ed. It is also a kick-off to World AIDS Week, which is a series of events to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS, including free anonymous HIV testing clinic on Dec. 1 at Head & Hands in partnership with the McGill Shag Shop. $10 suggested donation.

Advertise your event in campus calendar.

Send th e name, date, location, and other info to features@ m cgilltribune.com .

O n a b r e a k in t h e H i m a l a y a s The view from Shimla is worth the ride A mrita Kumar-R atta In addition to major tourist attractions such as the Taj Mahal and great food, India offers a wealth of natural beauty.

With all of the rich cultural history and a lot less of the heat, the mountainous town of Shimla allows for easy exploration of a lesser-known part of India. But be warned: the Himala­ yan monkeys steal your sunglasses.

Shimla, the capital of Himachal Pradesh, sits in the middle of the Himalayas. Surrounded by green pastures and snow-capped peaks, and boasting grand colonial architec­ ture, this "city on a hill'" offers a unique panoramic view of India.

There are three ways of getting to the historical Summer Capital of British India. Travelling by air is quick and easy; the Jubbarhatti Airport is 23 kilometres from Shimla, and major domestic airlines offer services from the airport to the city.

Roads connect Shimla to other major cities and towns, and there are regular bus services from the Punjabi city of Chandighar to Shimla as well as a variety of coach services.Travelling by bus allows for a scenic, though very bumpy, experi­ ence. Train travel is equally scenic and far more comfortable.

There are regular trains from the town of Kalka to Shimla, and you can travel on a multi-coach train or try the singlecar train with the glass roof.

Remember to check out the seven hill attractions of Shimla. In Western Shimla, Prospect Hill houses the temple of Kamna Devi, the goddess Kali; Summer Hill has the pictur­ esque campus of Himachel University; Observatory Hill holds the estate of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study; and Inveraram has the State Museum at its peak. In Central Shimla, Bantony has the Grand Hotel whereas Jackhoo houses the temple of Lord Hanuman, the Monkey-God. Finally, in NorthWestern Shimla, Elysium is home to the Aukland House, the oldest convent school, and Longwood, a hill accomodation.

Other must-see attractions include the Mall, the five ki­ lometre-long hub of the town's social life. The Mall includes the shopping and cuisine of central Shimla, and from the south you can view the valley below the town. The street holds the famous Gaiety Theatre, modelled after the world famous Bijou theatre, and remarkable for its famous acous­ tics. At the crossroads you end up at The Ridge, a large open space that gives you a fabulous view of the mountain rang­ es. Here, you can see the Christ Church, the oldest church in

will

Northern India.

If you're loaded: If you want to experience luxury at its finest, try staying at one of the Oberoi Hotels and Resorts, such as The Oberoi Cecil. For about $400 a night for a luxury single room, this place has got it all: the comfort, the view, and the bustling town feel.

If you're frugal: Check out places like the Honeymoon Inn, Clark's Hotel, Moon International Hotel, and Marina Hotel. Located in the Mall of Shimla, these hotels charge $30 to $75 a night. You can also try the Galleu Hill hotel; and Star Resort, atop the Fagu hill, at $30 to $60 a night. These locations offer easy access to the central shopping district of Shimla, Jakhoo temple, and Kufri. They also provide a great view of the Himalayas and the Viceregal Lodge, a prime ex­ ample of colonial architecture. ■

T R A V E L B L O G .C O M

This train runs between Kalka and Shimla, affording all the scenery of the road without any of the potholes.

M IN D F U N K

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS ARE LAM E. UNLESS THEY INVO LVE W R ITIN G FOR FEATURES. GET A H E A D START O N NEXT YEAR BY C O M IN G T O O UR M EETING O N W ED N ES D A Y, mam N O V . 2 6 A T 6 P.M . IN THE TRIB OFFICE (FIRST FLOOR SHATNER).

OR M aAiIL m E em l , FEATURES*® r c a 1u » t M C G IL L T R IB U N E .C O M FOR H M O R E INFO .

EATURES: BECAUSE Y O U , T O O , C A N W RITE A B O U T SH REDD IN G HAMSTERS. COOWES .OCCASIONALLY PROVIDED.

J o u r n a l w r itin g fo r h e a lth Get it out on paper, or your laptop screen Carly O rleach When final exams are on the horizon and seriously sleep-deprived students are running around nursing severe caffeine addictions, a little writing therapy may provide some much-needed relief.

"The process of writing about traumatic events or im­ portant events can have beneficial physical and mental health effects," says Carolyn Birnie-Porter, a PhD student at McGill who has researched the therapeutic benefits of jour­ nal writing. Much of her research is based on studies by James Pennebaker, a psychology professor at the University of Texas. According to his studies, journal writing can, among other things, improve immune system function and reduce stress levels.

Pennebaker found that students who write down their thoughts had easier transitions from high school to univer­ sity because they confronted their experiences through writ­ ing. They also had better GPAs than those who did not write.

"If people want to write about their relationships, that should carry over into better mental health, which is benefi­ cial for your work," says Birnie-Porter.

The act of writing is important, but the way that you write about an event also matters. "[The writing] needs to have insight into why it hap­ pened," says Birnie-Porter. "Just writing about positive emo­ tions [or] negative emotions ... does nothing." Some key

words to use that will have a positive effect include "realize" and "understand."

Many find it difficult to motivate themselves to write in a diary, but there are other options available. Birnie-Porter offers suggestions such as emailing a partner or close friend, anonymous people, or even yourself. Or try writing a blog, a 21st century form of journal writing. But Birnie-Porter warns bloggers to be careful of what they write because they never know who could see it or who could get hurt.

In order to stay focussed, try to schedule sessions of at least 15 minutes once or twice a week.»

S O O O T H IS .B LO G S P O T .C O M

Journaling can be cathartic whether by pen or keyboard.

r t s

&

E n t e r t a in m e n t

1EATRE

h e im p o r ta n c e o f b e in g b o m b a s tic inglish Dept, presentation of Wilde's classic play amuses and delights T

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eyer

Near the end of the play's first act, Algernon Moncrieff deares with relish to his butler:"Lane, tomorrow I'm going Bun|jrying!"The overdramatic zest with which actor Brian Beck: delivers this line typifies the best of director Myrna Wyatt tlkirk's production of Oscar Wilde's — enthusiastic acting with a wonderful flair.

Wilde's play is more about being Ernest than earnest. Set 11890s England, Jack Worthing (Nicolae Rusan) is a country bntleman who uses an imaginary trouble-prone brother tmed Ernest as an excuse to regularly escape to London.

Ihile in the city, Jack goes by the name of Ernest. Algernon, leanwhile, is a London aristocrat who similarly visits his imaglary and often ill friend Bunbury in the country to get out of pcial engagements in the city. When Jack lets Algernon in on |e secret of his double identity, "Algie"decides to travel to the puntry and impersonate Jack's brother Ernest. Needless to |y, hilarity ensues.

While suffers from a slow start, the play takes off bar the end of the first act and doesn't let up for the rest of its bnsiderable running time. Rusan succeeds in the somewhat Ifficult task of making the brusque Jack an eminently likeable Jiaracter, lending the role a quiet intensity. His exasperation lith Algernon's ridiculous behaviour is thoroughly believable, }ough he fails to capitalize on some moments to bring more nergy to his character's frustrations.

TheImportanceofBeing

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Earnest

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Earnest r e s u r r e c t s

Beckett's Algernon is in many ways the star of the show, and his delivery of Wilde's w itty one-liners scores most big laughs.The dandyish Algernon is written as an osten­ tatious character and Beckett takes his absurd pompousness to new heights in his portrayal. But Beckett fails to bring his high-strung character down in the show's quieter moments and doesn't make choices that might have created a more three-dimensional character. As a result, Beckett is always "on," sacrificing a bit of the character's believability.

Much of plot focusses on Jack’s pursuit of Alger­ non's cousin Gwendolen Fairfax (Jessica Hill) and Algernon's subsequent proposal to Jack's ward Cecily Cardew (the fetch­ ing Joy Ross-Jones). Both female leads threaten to outshine the men with their solid performances. Hill's strong portrayal of Gwendolen lends the role a certain steeliness while maintain­ ing Gwendolen's obvious affection for Jack—a tough balance to pull off. Her excellent sense of timing injects energy into the scenes filled with fast-paced banter. Ross-Jones also pulls of a difficult balance as Cecily, resisting the temptation to turn her romantic character sickly saccharine. Her scenes with Beckett allow the characters to play off each other to great effect.

The production also features a couple of stand-out per­ formances in more minor roles. Michael Coke's portrayal of Lane, Algernon's stoic butler, in the first act is dead-on. Coke's unblinking, dry delivery of Wilde's witty lines contrasts won­ derfully with Algernon's excesses. Gwendolen's mother Lady

ofEar­

nests

Earnests

Bracknell (Elana Dunkelman) is a commanding presence in the few scenes in which she appears, taking control of the stage to great effect. is a three-act play on a grand scale, and Selkirk's production succeeds most when it plays to this strength.

The scenes with only Jack and Algernon in the first act falter somewhat due to Jack's lack of energy, and both characters' over-rapid line delivery. Beckett's ridiculous pomposity, which works so well in the play's big scenes, feels out of place in these more intimate scenes.

But later in the play, as Jack's and Algernon's alter egos begin to appear, the problems of the first act disappear— Ru­ san brings his energy up very effectively and Beckett's ridicu­ lous mannerisms become an asset (a scene in which Beckett ostentatiously devours muffins is particularly amusing). The play is also at its best when the steely Hill gets the chance to play off Ross-Jones's more innocent Cecily, which she does very effectively. is a big undertaking— Selkirk's production recog­ nizes this and plays up its more grandiose and over the top aspects. The result is a thoroughly entertaining production of Wilde's grand and witty play. ■

Earnest

Earnest

The Importance of Being Earnest playsat730p.m . Nov.27 to29inMoyseHall (ArtsBuilding, 853SherbrookeSt. West). Ad­ missionis$10foradultsand$5forstudentsandseniors.

PH O TO S B Y A D A M SC O TTI

n in e te e n th c e n t u r y V ic to ria n s o c ie ty w it h p e rio d c o s tu m e s a n d w it t y b a n te r.

POP RHETORIC

N o l o v e in t h i s c l u b Kyle C arpenter

ouldn't the world be great if you could hear only your favourite eight songs over and over again?

Think about it. No more having to choose be­ tween different artists, albums, styles, or genres. Wouldn't it be great if there was somewhere you could go that would rid you of these weighty burdens? Well, there is—they're called clubs, and they're all over Montreal just waiting for you to come party.

But before you get too excited, it's not as great as it sounds. There is a price to pay—a second cover, if you w ill—whenever you find yourself at a club. Instead of hear­ ing anything remotely enjoyable, you'll almost certainly be drowned out the entire night by a repetitious assemblage of lacklustre "club rap."

The real question here is simple: when did hip-hop be­ come so fucking lame?

There seem to be two main categories of club rap— the overtly masculine and the surprisingly soft. In the first

W

category, one finds daft hits like Lil John's"Get Low,"the lyr­ ics of which are more in line with the notoriously juvenile Bloodhound Gang than those of a respectable hip-hop art­ ist. But tracks like"Party Like A Rockstar"are full of nonsense lyrics and rely solely on choruses and their flavour-of-the week status. Songs in this category are definitely the lesser of two evils. I would much rather hear repetitious odes to manliness than syrupy pseudo-pop passed off as hip-hop.

This second category is made up of near-emo songs like Akon's "Love In This Club" and Chris Brown's "Forever."

While hip-hop songs clearly don't have to be all about guns, drugs, hoes, and drinking 40s, they also don't need to delve into the singer's tender side like a bad Reese Witherspoon movie. If I wanted to hear about picture-perfect moments about magically meeting eyes with a beautiful girl across the room, I would listen to James Blunt, not Kanye West.

Another prominent type of music is now being heard at clubs— electronica. While often dismissed as being stu­

pid, or "not real music," at least electronica is honest. There is a tongue-in-cheek message behind artists like Daft Punk and MSTRKRFT that says "I can make you want to dance just by piling up electronic sound effects." For that reason alone, I would so much rather listen to a drum machine and synthesizers than a drum machine and a guy who thinks layered harmonies and catchy choruses are what makes a good hip-hop song.

Occasionally, clubs will mix it up and throw in a rock song or two. However, hearing a mediocre song like The Killers' "Mr. Brightside" or Franz Ferdinand's "Take Me Out" once every two hours doesn't make up for the plethora of bad hip-hop songs surrounding it. There are plenty of genres, artists, and songs that could work in a club setting besides what's in the Top 40 hip-hop charts this week, and it's long overdue that clubs realize this and see club rap for what it really is: the disco of our generation. ■

The McGill Tribun

14 • Arts & Entertainment *25.11.08

R eview s

BOOKS

TheBronx(III).

TheBronx

The Bronx.

Dear The Bronx: naming all of your albums does more than fuck up iTunes libraries; it makes you look like you're trying ■if so hard to be unique that you left logic at the door.

Beyond its ambiguous title, the new album from The Bronx (who are from California—thanks to Scots and Brits for trailblazing that silly trend) ^ \ ' . is a clumsy collaboration of straightforward rock, JE æ punk, and hardcore. Several songs, including "The Knifeman" and "Inveigh," are heavily guitar-driven, which sounds as if they are just searching for those perfect catchy riffs. Other songs like "Enemy Mind" have a repetitive and somewhat crowded structure that don't encourage repeated listening. Overall, the album sounds like an underachieving pairing of Priestess and Audioslave, with the occasional throaty wail of a screamo band. The main drawback of the album is that one song sounds like hard rock, the next like hardcore, and the next like Warped Tour ready-pop punk. This is a departure from the band's previous record­ ings, such as the single "White Guilt," which has a southern rock undertone to it.The resulting sound is, at best, undefined. The Bronx's new album is the band's third release, and it might as well be a third strike.

S$ £ *

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Texas

Asia

—KyleCarpenter The Waking Eyes. H olding On To Whatever It Is. Winnipeg's The Waking Eyes are back with their third album, H oldingOnToWhateverItIs.There is a refreshing ambition behind The Waking Eyes'song­ writing on their new album. Songs like "Get Me To The Doctor,"as well as the title track, have a blatant complexity and foresight that employs a wealth of instruments, effects, and tempo changes. The album has the intricacies and presence of a large band such as Broken Social Scene, though The Waking Eyes is composed of a modest four members. The band has an exemplary knowledge of how and when to make a song pick up, drop off completely, and everything in be­ tween. This is best illustrated in tracks such as "All Empire Fall" and "Keep Me Coming Back," which is reminiscent of British rockers Muse. The album has a nice range of sound variation, and also takes a page out of Oasis's book, utilizing the vocal talents of two main singers. Another factor that should not be ignored is the top-notch work of drummer/percussionist Steve Senkiw, which is evident on songs like "Masters of Deception" and especially "Clap Clap." Don't let the psychedelic album art fool you: The Waking Eyes are a band that comes to play.

—KyleCarpenter This WarisOurs.

This WarisOurs

Escape the Fate.

Escape the Fate's sophomore album is probably best classified as "post-hardcore"— but what that means is up for interpretation. With a general sound that is a mix of bands like My Chemical Romance and Thrice, this group has put together a fairly generic set of tunes that could be played on any mainstream radio.

Admittedly, they are just noisy enough to seem rough and tough— but only to recently-turned Goth kids who just got drunk for the first time. For the most part, the songs are indistinguishable, which comes as no surprise since the prominent electric guitar riffs drown out the drum and bass almost entirely. The very typical semi-feminine whiny vocals are the only sound that's equally overpowering.

What could potentially save this band from disappearing into musical obliv­ ion are the odd songs in which the lead singer unexpectedly breaks out in impressive deep growling, accompanied by seriously intricate guitar wailing.

They equip this album with some originality and actual heaviness worthy of being categorized as metal. But these moments are disappointingly sparse.

These guys aren't worth getting too excited about, but don't be surprised if you start hearing them on radiowave repeat in the near future.

—RenéeSutton

DarkHorse.

Nickelback.

Sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll... and love? Canadian rock band Nickelback is using this unusual blend to recreate the magic of its last studio effort, And why wouldn't they? In addition to having sold nearly 7,000,000 copies in the United States alone, has been sitting pretty on the Billboard album charts since its release over three years ago.

For their sixth studio album, Nickelback sticks to the same formula that turned into a surprise hit back in 2005.

While 11 electric guitar-laden tracks aren't quite as cohesive as the Alberta natives have created another album that contains the sort of upbeat rock anthems and sensitive power ballads that have become their signature. On head-banging tracks like "Burn It to the Ground," the raunchy "Something in Your Mouth," and the country-ish "This Afternoon," the boys are out to have a good time. And when they're not getting plas­ tered and having "S.E.X.," they're looking for love on tracks like "Never Gonna Be Alone"and the first single, "Gotta Be Somebody." Between their bar—and bed-hopping— one might imagine it being difficult to take them seriously.

For the most part, however, as is the case with "If Today Was Your Last Day," a track vaguely reminiscent of "If Everyone Cared," they manage to pull it off. All things considered, makes a nice follow-up to and will likely satisfy most Nickelback fans.

AlltheRightReasons.

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—JoshuaRosenblatt

W h o s a y s w r itin g fic tio n d o e s n ' t p a y t h e b ills ?

Canada Council for the Arts announces winners of Governor General's awards Globe and Mail columnist Christie Blatchford wo the non-fiction prize for her vivid chronicle of Canadia soldiers in Afghanistan,

M arshneill A braham

Spearheaded by the Canada Council for the Arts, the annual Governor General's awards recognize and promote the achievements of Canada's finest literary talents. Each author receives $25,000 and a speciallybound copy of their winning book. In addition, pub­ lishers of winning titles receive a $3,000 grant for the promotion of the prize-winning book. Finalists each receive $1,000.

This year's winners were announced November 18 at Montreal's historic McCord Museum of Canadian His­ tory.

Nino Ricci, a Toronto native, won in the fiction cat­ egory for his novel a semi-autobi­ ographical account of a man reaching a crossroads in his life in 1980s Montreal. The book was praised by the jurors for its "great humanity, realism and wit."This is the second win for Ricci, who was last awarded the prize 18 years ago for his novel Ricci prevailed against a tough bill of authors, in­ cluding Montreal writer Rawi Hage. Hage, who was al­ ready the reigning winner of the acclaimed IMPAC Dub­ lin Literary award, was an early favourite for Tuesday's top prize. his second novel, was shortlisted for the triumvirate of Canada's top literary awards this year, yet failed to win gold.

In his acceptance speech, Ricci paid tribute to the nation's long history of governor generals who have "continued to carry the torch for Canadian culture, sometimes in the face of the whims of the individual governments of the day."

TheOriginofSpecies,

LivesofSaints.

Cockroach,

FifteenDays:StoriesofBraver) Friendship, LifeandDeathfromInsidetheNewCanadia Army. The jury said Blatchford's writing "proves repor age and the language of common speech can rise t the challenge of literature."

Blatchford gave what was perhaps the morning most touching speech. "I owe huge debts of thank: chiefly to the men and women of the Canadian arm and to their families and friends, who trusted me wit the telling of their stories," She said. "Whatever is goo< about this book is good because of them."

Ricci and Blatchford's wins were a double succès for publishing powerhouse Doubleday Canada, whos editorial director Martha Kanya-Forstner, oversaw botl works.

The awards are some of the most prestgious ii Canada, as well as an emotional and financial achieve ment for the authors. So it's no wonder then that th< process is highly competitive; a total of 1,469 books906 in English and 563 in seven French—were submit ted to the juries this year for the 72nd installment o the awards. The Governor General's Literary Award encompass the full gamut of literary categories: Eng lish-language and French-language books in fiction literary nonfiction, drama, poetry, children's literature children's illustration, and translation. ■

GovernorGeneral MichaelleJeanwill formallypres ent theawardsduringaceremonyat RideauHall inOt tawaonDecemberto.

BOOKS

T a le s f r o m a C a n a d ia n c it y McGill grad's new novel explores Toronto D iane Salema

Once,

Refreshingly honest and poignantly subtle, a collection of sixteen short fictional stories, is McGill alum Rebecca Rosenblum's debut. Set mainly in the diverse urban corners ofToronto, Rosenblum presents a number of mere glimpses into the lives of different characters, each struggling with their own brand of confusion, constricted self-awareness, and meditated acceptance.

We meet a whimsical, delicate girl who's always chilly but finds a certain warmth in a mysterious strang­ er identified only by his ice blue socks and coat. Next we discover a pair of girls who take the bus on route 99 and attempt to superstitiously control whether it comes or not by ordering either shrimp cakes or duck stew for lunch. In another story and another part of town, a young high school dropout floats somewhere between his grandparents'world of dried onion husks in the garden with Ronnie Spector reverberating on the radio, and the dingy world of daytime squeegeeing and showering at public pools. In yet another, we meet a city library worker whose past confronts her present, forcing her to examine what the people in her life really want, and whether or not she can give it to them.

The stories are simple, detached, and playfully dark with seemingly inconsequential details concern­ ing each character's daily reality. Rosenblum, however, offers much beneath the mundane and mediocre, and doesn't attempt to shove her own meaning down the reader's throat. She only offers up her stories, her char­ acters, and her insight, as if dangling them all gracefully

before us, letting us pluck whichever thread should grab our attention, and allowing us to unravel it for ourselves.

While it would be tempting for a writer to in­ tertwine the tales of a collection into one tight knot, gratifying the desire to see the connections before the story does itself, Rosenblum, thankfully, uses extremely loose ties to link the tales— so loose they sometimes aren't even there. We might see a character reappear a second time or the Vietnamese restaurant, Pho-Mi 99, feature occasionally, but Rosenblum doesn't demean her characters by pushing it too far. It's enough for the reader to see the small passing intersections, without being hit over the head by an extreme interrelatedness which would, really, make everything implausible.

What makes each glimpse so fascinating and re­ vealing is the inexplicable relationship we develop with that specific character. The thoughts and musings that play out in their mind are ones we recognize as pass­ ing observations of our own, only they are thoughts we never could have expressed because we didn't con­ sciously know they were there. beautifully captures sixteen exposing and sincere illustrations. Character background is left un­ revealed, plot details unexplained, and revelations stunted or even non-existent. There's no conclusion, no huge moral discovery, no change, no finality, because there can't be. We're given only a few moments of each person's time, a few thoughts, a few dry details or hid­ den secrets, and it really comes down to just a glance.

But that glance, just once, is enough. ■

Once

vww.mcgilltribune.com

.

25.11.08 «The McGill Tribune • 15

/lUSIC

FILM

U s in g t h e ir o u t d o o r v o i c e s Ecclectic group Library Voices is loud and proud

A gran d sh ort Alum's six-minute film earns critical acclaim

A rielle Frank What do an economics professor, a piano teacher, and a gh school art teacher have in common? They're all part of Lirary Voices, a self-described "pop as fuck" band out of Regina, askatchewan. The Regina music scene is growing at a steady ace, even as it is more or less overlooked by the rest of the ountry. For Library Voices' guitarist, organist, and lyricist Mihael Dawson, it's "the best music scene in the country."

In barely any time, what began as a group of neighborood friends playing music together evolved into the eclectic 3-member group that is Library Voices. According to Dawson,

Library Voices "fell together over a couple of days." Several mem­ bers of the band attended the University of Regina, but only Darcy McIntyre, vocalist and accordionist by night and piano teacher by day, has any formal training.

Library Voices focusses on employing unconventional in­ struments along with classic pop melodies and vocals, citing Fleetwood Mac and Talking Heads as inspiration. "Those are bands that crafted catchy, poppy, timeless songs that work so w e ll... bands that stretched the boundaries of pop songs,"says Dawson.

Crafting catchy, poppy songs is exactly what Library Voices manages to do. The group seems to have endless amounts of energy that translate well throughout all the tracks on their EP Unlike some brooding indie rock bands setting out to make a statement, Library Voices is "not doing anything overly political," according to Dawson. The band sets out to have fun while engaging the listeners—and in this they are more than successful, with shows that often be­ come a giant dance party.

What is perhaps as exciting for the Canadian music scene is Dawson's creation of a new label in Regina. Library Voices, "didn't have time to shop around" for record labels to sign with when they wanted to record an album, explains Dawson. The group had just finished up playing at smaller showcases with such bands as Islands, of Montreal, and Okkervil River. The band worried that their newfound exposure would be lost if they didn't release an album quickly.

"There's nothing worse than no one remembering our songs when we go back home," says Dawson, who co-founded his own label, Young Soul Records."lt made sense because I was already doing a lot of work [for the band]," says Dawson. Library Voices is still experimenting and forming their own sound. They also felt that signing with a big label might hinder artistic po­ tential.

Library Voices continues to develop their own uninhibited style, staying true to their neighborhood roots while constatly evolving as artists. ■

M adeleine W erker If you've forgotten how to believe in the power of the people, then the short but sweet film is a must see. Directed by McGill graduate Gavin Heffernan, the controversial film doesn't have a linear plot line, and instead takes the viewer through a series of seemingly incongruous scenes, from children on a mer­ ry-go-round to fish being caught on a large boat.

The film focusses on repeated scenes of war pro­ testers marching through the streets—a powerful re­ minder that a large group of people have the power to enact real change. With sounds, colours, and images that blend together beautifully , the film is brilliantly put together. Viewers are especially struck by the slow, enchanting, piano soundtrack, which both contrasts with the sounds of the city and renders vocals and con­ versations simply as background noise. The audience must therefore rely on emotion and image associa­ tion to take from the film what they wish. The string of seemingly unrelated but politically-charged scenes makes the viewer question authority and recent gov­ ernment decisions.Therein lies the controversial aspect of this film.

The strong, colourful film has been extremely well received since its premiere at the 2008 South by South­ west Film Festival. It was also awarded the Special Jury Prize for Best Cinematography at the 2008 Canadian Film Festival in Toronto. In addition to screenings in the recently found a global au­ United States, dience with screenings at foreign film festivals in Den­ mark, Germany, Greece, Italy, Russia and Spain. is available online at http://www. vimeo.com/1917372 . The film's accessibility, combined with a short running time of six minutes, means there's no excuse for missing out on this important film. ■

GrandWheel

HuntingGhosts andOtherShorts.

. . . . . . . . b r a r y V o ic e s t a k e s a s t u d y b re a k .

M Y S P A C E .C O M / L IB R A R Y V O IC E S

GrandWheel

Grand Wheel

LibraryVoicesplayatZooBizarre(6388St. Hubert)onNovem­ ber27.

: ILM

S p r u c in g u p t h e s t r e e t s o f M o n tr e a l The city is the canvas in new documentary about street artist Roadsworth Renée Sutton Every Montrealer has experienced the seemingly endless construction work that takes over the city streets. However, once the pavement is clear of huge trucks and bulldozers, the roads go unnoticed. It seems at times that simplicity is what prevails, and in fact, artist Peter Gibson (also known as Roads­ worth) has proven this to be true. Over the last few years, Gib­ son's work has emerged all over the streets of Montreal, forc­ ing us to pay attention to the ground we walk on.

Director Alan Kohl's new documentary is an introduction to Gibson, his work, and his artistic experiences. The film begins by demonstrating the unique methods this artist uses in producing his work. For in­ stance, in the middle of the night he would place one of his stencils onto the pavement and use spay paint to outline the image. By morning, a traffic divider had become a giant zipper, a crosswalk turned into a series of candlesticks, and parking spots seemed to bloom with dandelions.

Kohl developed an instant fascination with Gibson's work based on how perplexing he found it to be. "I was drawn to it because it was confusing and I had no idea who the author was,"says Kohl. "Curiosity overtook me and I asked everyone if they knew who this person was. Eventually I found him."

Kohl's film shows the ways in which Gibson's work affects the way we interact with our surroundings.

"It just allows us to observe public space with an aware­ ness that you didn't have before. It isn't any kind of grand statement, but a way to appreciate and be aware of the envi­ ronment around us that goes unnoticed," says Kohl.

This message in Gibson's work, however, is one that he

CrossingtheLine

Roadsworth:

admits to having unintentionally fallen into. He began mark­ ing the streets to make a social statement, rather than for any aesthetic purpose. "Things didn't start out as any kind of art project," says Gibson. "It was initially a form of activism. Eventu­ ally I really got into it and I started trying to incorporate beauty into the landscape."

Despite having made the switch from activism to artwork, these pieces and Gibson's continuing growth as an artist actu­ ally led to his arrest three years ago. While the artwork itself is an integral component of Kohl's documentary, the film also examines the artist's struggle with authority and his fight for the legitimacy of his creative methods. He addresses the con­ troversies that Gibson began to arouse in the public eye, and demonstrates that despite this opposition, many people had come to support the artist they knew as Roadsworth. Gibson was surprised at the publicity he had gathered, and believes that it contributed to his charges being dropped.

"I found it encouraging to see that sometimes the legal system can be influenced by strong public opinion. Actually my work became legitimate after I had been arrested," says Gibson jokingly.

Ironically, shortly after the charges against him were dropped, Roadsworth was commissioned to work outside of Montreal's Palais de Congres. Montrealers should take advan­ tage of the oppurtunity to view Roadsworth's important work both on the streets and on the movie screen. ■ Roadsworth playsSaturdaytoThursdayat3:15p.m . and9 p.m.atCinemaduParc.

S t r e e t a r t is a c r e a t i v e o u t l e t f o r R o a d s w o r t h .

FC O M .U S .E S

The McGill Tribun

16 • Arts & Entertainment *25.11.08

ART

T h e a rt o f u n fin is h e d b u s in e s s Ian Shatilla's new exhibition shows that change can be a good thing N iki H yde Ian Shatilla is no stranger to change. The Montreal-based artist has, over the last few years, lost nearly half of his body weight in an act of transformation which he has chronicled in a diverse body of multimedia works. Shatilla's collection. is now on display at Galerie Luz. Shatilla has seen many transformations in his career thus far, both physical and emotional. After he began dabbling in the fine arts while finishing high school in Laval, Shatilla ob­ tained his Fine Arts degree from Dawson College. "[It was] two years of intense training, ... probably the most intense training I've ever had," says Shatilla. After a short jaunt to the east coast for his BFA, he returned to Montreal" with the hopes of attaining an MFA at Concordia University.

His journey there was not an easy one. "In a matter of five weeks, I was rejected [from Concordia], accepted, and given money,"says Shatilla.

The cost of his scholarship was a rejection from the paint­ ing department, which saw him primarily as a printmaker— the medium he had studied thus far. Luckily, after a few weeks, Shatilla was granted a transfer from print-making to painting.

Shatilla's background in print-making still manifests itself in Shatilla's works. He prefers to leave portions of his works un­ finished, reminiscent of the focus on process in print-making."

"Having a completely finished work is difficult to do be­ cause I like seeing the underneath structure and the final result." Shatilla refers often to structure, explicitly leaving pro­ portion guides on some of his work.

His most arresting testament to the alterations he has gone through since shrinking to half of his former size is the moving mixed-media work, "Theme Song for a Fat Man."This piece features a svelte Shatilla nude at the piano, playing to a painting of himself at his largest. He claims the desire to do so emerged while meditating on the structure of his own body while chronicling his weight loss: "I became obsessed with the way I looked, my image."

The decision to mix mediums in this piece was a very deliberate one for Shatilla, who felt that the conflict between paint, a traditional medium, and the modern medium of video, mirrored his own struggle between past and present. Accord­ ing to Shatilla, paint represents "history ... the history behind even my own identity," whereas, "video you can shut off and it doesn't exist anymore and so the present can always be the present, whatever present that is."

Presently, Shatilla is experiencing another life-altering change with the launch of his exhibit. One can only assume he'll tackle this new life metamporpheses with the same te­ nacity with which he has approached his previous ones.*

Call to Change isondisplayatG alerieIIandIIIofGalerieLl (372St. Catherine, suite418)untilNovember30.

Shatilla'sworkisavailableonlineatwww.ianshatilla.com P H O T O S B Y N IK I H Y [

Call

toChange,

C O U L D BE

GOOD November 25-December 2 Tuesday. Music. Ani DiFranco.

The Grammy-nominated soulful folk singer performs at Theatre Maison­ neuve. Expect a characteristically humorous and intimate show from this genre-blending artist.

Wednesday. Music. Sarah Brightman. The world's great sell­ ing soprano in history returns to the Bell Centre as part of a tour pro­ moting her new album, Come prepared to be blown away by her vocal talent.

Symphony.

Thursday. Film. Transporter 3. International heist, intrigue, and illicit romance accompany Frank Martin as he delivers the kidnapped daughter of a Ukrainian govern­ ment official from Marseilles to the Black Sea in this new action flick.

Now playing at Cinema Quartier Latin.

Friday. Music. Stars. Returning to their hometown to play at Me­ tropolis, the indie pop rockers' per­ formance is promoting their new digital-only EP, Gentle­ man rag opens.

SadRobots.

Saturday. Music. Bum to Black.

These Canadian deathmetal rockers play their last-ever show at Elmo.

Check this band out while you can, they won't be back in black anytime soon.

Saturday. Circus. Circo Hiverno. A winter-themed circus show at Theatre St. Catherine will warm you up and get you ready for he season that's rapidly approaching.

Monday. Music. Neil Young.

Making his first Montreal appear­ ance in over 10 years, the Torontonative singer-songwriter's new tour features special guests Wilco and Everest. Don't miss the chance to rock in the free world with this leg­ endary musician at the Bell Centre.

A Traditional American Thanksgiving Thursday Nov. 27th 2008 $24 / person ‘ R e s e r v a tio n s

S u g g e s te d

Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie Prepared from scratch

S po rts OCKEY— M ARTLETS 10, D A LH O U S IE 3

v e n t h e M a r itim e s f e e l t h e M a r tle ts ' w r a th cGill's winning streak at 32 games after 10-3 victory over Dalhousie S

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For most hockey teams, a seven-goal victory would in­ dicate a flawlessly executed game. But then again, the topranked McGill Martlets aren't a regular hockey team. The Martlets posted a 10-3 win over the Dalhousie Tigers at McCo­ nnell Arena on Saturday afternoon—their 32nd consecutive win against a Canadian opponent. But an uncharacteristically sloppy third period, in which they gave up three goals, left something to be desired.

"I thought we were pretty good in the first and the sec­ ond periods, but we weren't good in the third," said Head Coach Peter Smith. "The team knew they weren't very good in the third though, and knew they got away from the attention to detail that they work so hard on."

It had been a relatively slow game until three quick McGill goals in less than one minute broke the game open at the end of the second period. The trio of goals extended McGill's lead to 5-0 and allowed the Martlets to coast throughout the third frame.

Sophomore forward Anne-Sophie Bettez scored the first of those three goals with two minutes remaining in the pe-

A D A M L A ID L A W A s h le y B o u t ilie r w a s la r g e ly in e ff e c t iv e a g a in s t t h e to p r a n k e d M a r t le t s , a llo w in g e ig h t g o a ls in

riod. Rookie linemate Marie-Andrée Leclerc-Auger took a shot from a sharp angle that squeaked through Dalhousie netminder Ashley Boutilier's pads and rolled along the goal line, setting up an easy tap-in for Bet­ tez, whose goal made the score 3-0.

"The puck was sitting behind the goalie," said Bettez, who was named the CIS female athlete of the week last Wednesday. "I just came in and had the entire open net to put it in."

The roles were reversed 30 sec­ onds later, as Bettez set up LeclercAuger, who gave the Martlets a fourgoal lead. The three-goal outburst was capped off 20 seconds later when Alyssa Cecere tipped a point shot past a screened Boutilier for her third goal of the season.

McGill retained its scoring touch when the third period began, as Van­ essa Davidson and Amy Soberano scored in the first two and a half min­ A D A M L A ID L A W utes. But the Tigers responded quick­ S u p e r s o p h o m o r e A n n e - S o p h i e B e t t e z ( l e f t ) h a d y e t a n o t h e r s i z z l i n g ly, scoring their first goal of the game p e rfo rm a n c e o n S a tu rd a y , s c o rin g t w o g o a ls a n d s e ttin g u p th r e e o th e rs . off a shot by their leading scorer, Joc­ elyn LeBlanc. The two teams would "The strength of our game is our depth and team play," combine for a wild eight-goal third period, trading five goals said Smith. "We roll four lines and have 12 forwards who can back and forth the rest of the way. all play. The team is so keen at doing things the right way— "It was our third game in three days, so it was a chal­ they work really hard and keep coming at them for a full 60 lenge," said Bettez, who was named first star of the game after minutes." registering two goals and three assists. "But I think we did a The Tigers'three goals were the most that McGill goaltender Charline Labonté had surrendered in CIS action this year, good job overall."

Leclerc-Auger was named second star for her three-point and she finished the game with only eight saves. But in her effort, and Dalhousie's Leblanc was awarded third star after defence, two of the three goals came while the Martlets were notching one goal and two assists. shorthanded, including one on a five-on-three advantage for McGill opened the scoring in the first period with a pow­ Dalhousie. At the other end of the ice, Boutilier made 35 saves er-play goal when Leclerc-Auger tipped home a shot from and allowed eight goals before being pulled for Emelie EderBettez, who finished with an impressive five-point perfor­ fors, who made 13 saves on 15 shots to finish out the game. mance. Though the win over the Tigers did not contribute to The win on Saturday was McGill's third in as many nights, her season stats, Bettez is third in CIS scoring with 22 points— after an 8-0 victory over the St. Mary's Huskies on Thursday five behind Moncton's Mariève Provost—even though she night and a 5-1 victory over the St. Francis Xavier X-Women has only played in six games to Provost's 11. on Friday night.The Martlets (6-0-0) will play the University of Forward Alessandra Lind-Kenny scored the only other Ottawa (4-2-0) at McConnell Arena next Saturday at 7 p m. in goal of the first period when she tapped home the puck after their last game before the holiday break. ■ Boutilier couldn't find the rebound in a crowd of players.

43 t r i e s .

TH IR D M A N IN

F o r th e e ffo rt o r th e m o n e y ?

J

s hard as it may be to admit, the sports world— like the rest of the world— runs on money. Ticket prices continue to rise year after year, merchan­ dise sales make up a substantial percentage of a team's net worth, and player salaries have reached all-time highs. It seems that every time an athlete signs an un­ precedented contract, another superstar comes along with an even bigger deal, making retired players wish that they were born one generation later. It seems clear that now, more than ever, owners want to make money first, and please their fans second.

In this cash-filled climate, Mike D'Antoni has been a breath of fresh air in his first year as head coach of the New York Knicks. D'Antoni has revitalized a team that was the laughingstock of the NBA last year by motivat­ ing his players to play hard-nosed, fast-paced, entertain­ ing basketball. And his impact reaches far beyond the island of Manhattan. D'Antoni has earned the attention of NBA pundits, as well as my admiration, for benching veteran PG Stephon Marbury, who is making $22 million this year. Yes, you read that correctly. A 22-million-dollar player has been told not to report to team meetings— or even participate in practice. For D'Antoni, effort and attitude matter much more than money.

Perhaps the best part of this rare situation is that

A

the Knicks are playing better basketball without Mar­ bury. D'Antoni is starting Chris Duhon (making $5 mil­ lion per season) over Marbury because Duhon worked harder in practice and showed more dedication to the team. D'Antoni also benched centre Eddy Curry (making $9 million per year) in favour of David Lee, who plays hard on both ends of the court— even though Lee is making about one-ninth as much as Curry this season.

D'Antoni has taught athletes, sports fans, and the members of the sports media a valuable lesson—that nothing is guaranteed in life. Salaries in sports have risen to ludicrous levels in recent years, and have heavily contributed to the ever-expanding "superstar" mental­ ity. Many athletes think that once they've signed a big contract, they can coast through the entire season while giving only a fraction of the effort they gave during their contract year. D'Antoni has spoken up for all of us who think that an athlete's effort should match the figure on his contract.

D'Antoni's decision was a hard one to make: the Knicks still have to pay Marbury because the NBA has guaranteed contracts (unlike the NFL).The team is pay­ ing him not to play. Imagine buying a $22 million car (if such a car existed), deciding that it doesn't go well with the Hyundai and Ford that you already had, and leav­

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u b e n s t e in

ing it in the depths of your garage—out of sight from your neighbours—while you continue to pay for it every month. The decision to bench Marbury and Curry cer­ tainly wasn't easy to make, but in the process D'Antoni has gained the respect of the other members of the team for putting his trust in them and setting the rota­ tion based on merit, not salary.

This past off-season, D'Antoni turned down a more appealing head coaching job in Chicago for more money in New York. Many NBA writers called him "selfish" and "money-hungry." They wondered who would want to take a job with the Knicks after former General Manager Isiah Thomas ran the team into the ground by handing out obscene contracts, making bad trades, and squan­ dering every asset the team once had. But it appears that D'Antoni may have had a master plan all along. Per­ haps he saw the Knicks job as a challenge and wanted to turn around one of sports' most storied franchises.

Money undoubtedly played a role in his d e cisio n proving once again the truth of the mantra at the top of this column. But D'Antoni knew that if he could resurrect the Knicks, he would prove the critics wrong and gain the respect of the NBA community. As he's proven this season, it always pays to take the high road in life. ■

The McGill Tribi

1 8 - S ports-25.11.08

PROFILE— JAM ES N A IS M IT H

W h e r e a th le tic s m e e t s r e lig io u s fe r v o r The many achievements of one of McGill's most influential graduates J acob K anter

T h e a th le tic th e o lo g ia n

In his first year at McGill, Naismith was watching a rugby Take a moment and think about the complexity of any game from the sidelines when the McGill centre left the game given sport: all the intricate rules that have evolved over the with a broken nose.

"The coach looked up and saw him standing on the years to make that sport what it is today. It seems fitting, then, that it is impossible to identify a single inventor for most sideline," said Stuart Naismith. "So he said, 'Naismith, you get in here and play centre.' So he went in and played centre. He sports. Baseball's background is shrouded in mystery. Football evolved from rugby, whose origins in Scotland are largely un­ played very well, so they made him part of the team."

Naismith was the starting centre in McGill's next game— known. Variations of soccer were played in hundreds of coun­ tries for centuries. Hockey developed from shinny, which in­ against Queen's University—and in every subsequent rugby game for seven years. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree herently lacks rules.

There is, however, one glaring exception to this rule. One with honours in 1887, and then entered Montreal's Presbyte­ rian College (which is affiliated with McGill to this day) to be­ sport was invented by a single man— a McGill graduate— who devised a game, wrote 13 rules for it, and called it "Basket come an ordained minister.

During his seven years at McGill, Naismith made a name Ball." But despite his unique position as the inventor of one of the most popular sports in the world, McGill alumnus James for himself both on and off the field. He won the Wicksteed Naismith and his many accomplishments remain relatively un­ Gold Medal in 1887 as McGill's top athlete, and was named director of physical training in 1889. He took his childhood known. friend R. Tait McKenzie under his wing as an assistant direc­ tor. McKenzie—who is now regarded as the "father of physical S m a ll t o w n r o o t s education" after having pioneered the field at the University Naismith was born to John Naismith and Margaret Young of Pennsylvania—succeeded his mentor when Naismith left near Almonte, Ontario, on November 6, 1861. His parents died of typhoid fever when he was nine years old, and when his Montreal in 1890. McKenzie eventually became McGill's medi­ cal director of physical training. grandmother died in 1872, he and his two siblings were left to Naismith also began to show his creative tendencies be raised by his uncle. Academics did not suit Naismith, and he dropped out of high school in 1877 to pursue a career as a while at McGill.

"He is credited with [creating] the first football helmet," lumberjack.

"He was good at [being a lumberjack]," said Naismith's said Stuart Naismith of his grandfather. "He had cauliflower grandson, Stuart Naismith. "[But one day] he was in the sa­ ears— he was a boxer as well as a [rugby] player—so he took a soccer ball and hollowed it out, and made a helmet out of it loon having a drink of whisky, and somebody turned around and said, 'You're Margaret Young's boy, aren't you? ... She'd roll to protect his ears."

Though he is well remembered for his athletic achieve­ over in her grave if she could see you now, drinking.' So he put down the whisky and never touched another drop as long as ments at McGill, Naismith's focus was on his theological stud­ ies. His involvement in both departments angered his fellow he lived."

Naismith reentered high school soon after that incident, theologians, who frowned upon the violent nature of rugby and with the tutelage of Almonte High School Principal P. C. and lacrosse. But Naismith's continued involvement in ath­ letics paid off, as he eventually found a means of connecting McGregor, started on the path to the ministry.

"McGregor said, 'Go out and serve your fellow man,"' said sports and the ministry.

During one rugby game in his final year at Presbyterian John Gosset, former executive director of the Naismith Basket­ ball Foundation and Museum in Almonte. "Naismith thought College, a player swore in frustration at the outcome of one that Christianity would put him in the best position to be a play. He turned around, saw Naismith, and apologized, saying, "I beg your pardon, Jim; I forgot you were there." Naismith's positive role model."

Naismith's uncle pleaded with him to remain on the fam­ status as a theology student, as well as the level of respect he ily farm, but with a desire to serve his fellow man and hopes had garnered from the student body, had inspired a sincere of eventually becoming a minister, Naismith enrolled at McGill apology from his fellow player. "[That moment] was a big influence in his life,"said Gosset.

University in 1883. It was in Montreal, on McGill's rugby pitch, "It made him realize that if he combined the attributes of his where Naismith began to integrate the two spheres that would ministerial training and sport, then he could influence a great­ dominate his life's work: athletics and religion. er number of people. It was one of those things that sparked something in him that he always kept close.

As an adult, when he graduated from McGill A lu m n i ... he always maintained those two worlds— A s s o c ia tio n athletics and the pulpit— because he could see how they could influence a greater circle in collaboration with of people."

INTERNATIONAL STUDENT SERVICES This realization led to an interest in the cordially invites Young Men's Christian Academy movement, all International Students which had roots in Montreal since the midto an 1800s. Naismith was intrigued by the "Muscu­ lar Christianity" movement, which the YMCA taught in conjunction with its athletics class­ m u ! es. The secretary of the M i s '----- ....................................... /tu J YMCA in Montreal, D.A. Budge, invited Naismith to come to Springfield College in Massachu­ setts.

"Naismith wanted to pursue the YMCA work in Springfield," said Gosset.

"At Springfield College, they brought in what it’s F R E E i they viewed as potential FREE adm ission. FREE skate rental and refreshments! secretaries who would open branches of the WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 26th 2008, 7:30 PM to 10:00 PM YMCA across America. He at The Atrium, Le 1000 de la Gauchetière went to train and become C o m e o n o u t and celebrate the holidays. a YMCA leader."

Fun tim es w ith friends w ill d e fin ite ly recharge y o u r batteries!

® M cG ill

lei SWiHG

Hurry and Sign up now! SPOTS ARE LIMITED! REGISTRATION ENDS ON TUESDAY NOV.

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International students MUST REGISTER IN PERSON and present their McGill International Health Insurance (IHI) card at: INTERNATIONAL STUDENT SERVICES (ISS) William and Mary Brown Student Services Bldg., 3600 McTavish St.. Suite 3215 Monday - Friday 9:00 am to 5:00 pm

F r o m t h e o r y t o p ra c tic e

In Springfield, as an assignment from his professor and mentor Luther Gulick, Naismith was given two weeks to create a new game that could help revitalize stu-

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dent interest in the athletic program.

Naismith began with his memories of a game he h played as a child in Almonte called "duck on a rock." Each pi er would try to knock a small stone (the duck) off a large rt from a given distance. The tossing motion and coordinat of "duck on a rock" served as the foundation for basketb Naismith originally envisioned two 18 by 18-inch boxes as 1 goals, which would be on the floor, as the rock was in his ch hood game.

"Naismith worked on the rules for 12 or 13 days, and it nally came into his head one night,"said Ian Naismith, anotl of Naismith's grandsons. "He always told my dad that the fi game of basketball was played in his bed the night before, was struggling. He went downstairs at 11:15 in the morning the first class was at 11:30—and had the secretary type up rules. And as she was typing, he went and found [the janit Mr. Stebbins. ... If it hadn't been for Mr. Stebbins, who die have any 18 by 18-inch boxes—he only had peach bask in the basement of the YMCA—the game would have be called 'boxball,' because that was basically his vision."

Naismith realized soon after that if the basket were plao on the floor, physical contact—an element that he tried rid from the game— would be encouraged, and that scorif would be nearly impossible, as one player could easily bio the entire goal. So he put the baskets on a railing about 10 fe above the ground—at the same height that basketball rir are placed today.

"The problem was, the ball wouldn't pass through cause of the diameter [of the boxes],” said Ian Naismith. "I eryone says that Naismith was smart enough to put the b; kets up on the railing, but he wasn't smart enough to cut tl bottoms out. But there were two reasons that he didn't c the bottoms out. Number one, the ball wouldn't have gor through anyhow, because of the diameter. And number tw because the boxes were so flimsy, all their strength was in tl base. So he left the bottom of the baskets in."

It didn't take long for the game to spread after it was i traduced to Naismith's class of YMCA secretaries-in-trainir on December 21,1891. With Gulick's promotional help and tl YMCA's budding popularity, young men were playing baske ball throughout North America within a few years. The gan thrived as a gentler alternative to the contact sports of tl time, such as wrestling, rugby, and boxing. Naismith's reput tion grew steadily with the sport.

Originally, players couldn't mo\ with the ball—they could only pa: it—and committing three fouls in row would result in two points bein awarded to the other team. But tl game, like any sport, evolved ov< time. Across the country, Naismit was heralded as the undisputed it ventor of the sport, to the exter that there were demands to call th game "Naismith Ball." However, Na smith's humility prevailed.

Naismith remained in Sprint field as a physical education profe: sor until 1895, when he departed ft Colorado to head up Denver's ne\ YMCA facility. But before he left, h inspired the invention ofyetanothe sport. ■

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1897 g r a d u a t i o n

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Discover which other sport ca traceitsrootsbacktoJamesNaismitI andlearnabouttherestofhisachieve meats, inparttwooftheTribune'spre fileonNaismithnextweek.

25.11.08 -Sports - 19

w w .m cgilltribune.com

10CKEY— RYERSON 3, REDM EN 0

a m s s h u t o u t u n s u s p e c tin g R e d m e n IcGill falls to lowly Ryerson for trie first time in over seven years J acob K anter The Redmen returned to Montreal this weekend riding a four-game winning streak that restored their hopes for a successful season. After two losses at home, those hopes are still alive, but it's clear that the Redmen still have a lot of wrinkles to iron out if they hope to make a successful run to the playoffs.

On Friday night, McGill lost 6-3 to the Ontario Univer­ sity Athletics Mid East division-leading Toronto Varsity Blues.

Saturday night provided an opportunity for the Redmen to bounce back against the perennial basement-dwelling Ry­ erson Rams, but the flair that carried the Redmen through their winning streak was nowhere to be found as Ryserson defeated McGill for the first time in seven years, 3-0.

"In the past, Ryerson wasn't really good," said McGill co­ captain Eric L'Italien. "But this year they proved a lot. They worked really hard to n ig h t.... They were hooking a lot, they were playing physical, they were doing a lot of obstruction.

We just weren't able to adjust to their style of play."

The Redmen had their chances against Ryerson goaltender Pierre Beaulieu, who made 31 saves to pick up the shutout in his first start of the season. But whenever they seemed poised to break through onto the scoreboard, the Rams came up with a deflection or a steal to thwart a McGill scoring opportunity.

"We had our chances, there's no doubt about that," said McGill Head Coach Martin Raymond. "But at the same time, this is a young team, and we unfortunately have a tendency to fall into old habits, like taking chances with the puck. We made too many turnovers tonight to have a real chance of coming back in the game after falling behind."

For the most part, the Redmen played sound defence, but the Rams found the back of the net in the 17th minute of each of the three periods.

The Rams'first period goal was the product of multiple redirections following Ryerson defenceman Matt Rehman's

r e d b îr d

shot from the point. The puck bounced off of McGill de­ fenceman Marc-André Dorion's skate, and then off of the Rams'Greg Payne before defenceman Michael Paolo tapped it past Redmen goaltender Danny Mireault. Mireault had overplayed the puck before the deflection, leaving the left side of the net wide open.

The Redmen turned up the heat towards the end of the period, and opened the second period with the same ag­ gressive style of play, but couldn't score the equalizer.

"We had some chances early in the second period, said Raymond. "I thought we really picked up our play and forced the power-play. ... We had our spurts of intensity, but our play with the puck was the issue tonight. [Our defencemen] struggled with finding guys open, and when they had no­ body open, they were still looking for somebody to pass to instead of just moving the puck up the ice and clearing our zone."

Those forced passes turned into a number of turn­ overs—one of which led to the Rams'second goal. Ryerson defenceman Paul McMullen intercepted a pass and skated down the ice before threading a pass to centre Josh McNair.

Mireault turned away McNair's shot— one of his 1 9 saves— but forward Brent Small gathered the rebound and slapped it past a helpless Mireault to make the score 2-0 heading into the third period. McNair added an insurance marker in the third period to seal the victory for the Rams.

"We could have shot the puck more," said McGill de­ fenceman Yan Turcotte. "But I don't really know [what the problem was]. If I had the solution, this [loss] wouldn't have happened."

The Redmen had an opportunity to climb into third place in the OUA Far East division this weekend, but the loss­ es to U ofT and Ryerson kept them in last with a 4-6-1 record.

But McGill can't afford to dwell on the loss to Ryerson, as the third-place Ottawa Gee Gees visit McConnell Arena thisTuesday at 7 p m. ■

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