The McGill Tribune Vol. 29 Issue 26

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McGill THE TRIBUNE GRADES SSMU, PAGES 6&7

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SCORING THIS YEAR’S SPORTS, PAGES 22&23

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Published by the Students’ Society of McGill University

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www.mcgilltribune.com

Vol. 29 Issue 26 •7 April 2010

W et hot Canadian summer: A guide to M ontreal May-August

M I M S H j j j B HUH* S

ipsissr^ rJi&ïÆg Staying in Montreal this summer? See pages 14 and 15 for your activity, festivity, and culinary guide.

A L IC E W A L K E R

SSMU Council votes to reinstate Choose L ife’s club status Club adopts new regulations regarding its operations

flicts surrounding the club’s “Echoes o f the

TORI CRAWFORD & STEVEN HOFFER »

News Editors

After a semester of meetings on the fu­ ture of Choose L ife—the controversial pro­ life group whose club status was suspended last semester—the Students’ Society Council officially reinstated the group’s club status last Thursday.

Choose L ife’s club status was suspended last year on November 12 in light of the con­

Holocaust” event. This was intended to be a temporary measure, however, until the Student Equity Committee could generate an appendix to the group's constitution. As a condition of its reinstatement, Choose Life has agreed to adopt an appendix that would specifically govern how the club operates under the SSM U Equity Policy.

Since both Choose Life and the Equity Committee had agreed on this document prior to the meeting, there was little debate before Council passed the motion.

SSM U Vice-President Clubs and Services

Sarah Olle expressed confidence that this doc­ ument has cleared up some of the confusion stemming from Choose L ife’s understanding o f the SSM U Equity Policy.

“A lot o f their complaints revolved around the ambiguity of our equity policy, or ambiguity of their actual violations of the eq­ uity policy,” Olle said. “It’s good that we have gome to some sort of agreement on a black and white document.”

In particular, the document stipulates that “Choose Life will not advocate or lobby for the criminalization o f abortion- through the use o f SSM U resources.”

“It’s really important that resources from student fees are allocated in a way that reflects our policies, constitution, and ethical prac­ tices,” said VP University Affairs Rebecca Dooley. “However, if a group wants to take a position, we cannot prevent them from taking that position as long as they are not using our resources to do so.”

Although Choose Life VP Internal Paul Cemek said that the negotiations had facilitat­ ed constructive dialogue, he felt that the clause restricting Choose Life from using graphic imagery in their events singled out the club

See CLUB on page 3

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NEWS

2 •7 April 2010

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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

A final fireside chat with Students’ Society President Ivan Neilson What are some of the challenges that next year’s executives will face?

Free speech on campus will be an issue at McGill next year. Right now, as we saw at the University o f Ottawa with Ann Coulter, there are two different camps on campuses across Canada. There’s one group that wants to main­ tain the university as a place o f learning where students can come and not feel barraged by other ideas. Then, there’s the opposite groups, who says that universities are the final bastions of free and open expression and dialogue.

Next year, we also have several leases coming up in the building. It’s really an oppor­ tunity for us to decide what type of services we should be offering. And then, o f course, in the face o f imminent tuition hikes, it’ll be impor­ tant to represent a solid and unified front to the university and the provincial government.

Do you have any concerns regarding next year’s SSMU executive?

ALICE WALKER

What were your biggest accomplish­ ments this year?

First, continue to build on the successes that we’ve had this year. Too often, a new ex­

I was happy with the style o f management that we had this year. The individual vice-pres­ idents started new initiatives and new projects, assisting one another. I ’m also thrilled that we were able to reform the committee structure.

That’ll be a big improvement next year.

ecutive will come in and reinvent the wheel.

In some cases, this is necessary. Obviously I ’m biased here, but I believe a lot of the work we’ve done this year can only be improved upon. Beyond that, it’s important to solicit as much input from as many different members as possible—whether that’s advice from the big

What advice do you have for next year’s SSMU President-elect Zach Newburgh?

student groups on campus, or finding different ways to reach out to individual students.

They all have strong backgrounds in their respective portfolios. Individually, they’ll be able to handle certain challenges, but it’s going to depend on how they work together as a team.

None o f them have worked together before.

Their success will depend on whether they can come together. In particular, their success will hinge on Zach’s leadership and the vision that he will promote. But it’s also going to depend on their willingness to work together. Again, once you let egos and personalities get in the way, it’s really hard to maintain that sense of

O f course, this was an executive initiative, though it was by no means a done deal when it was brought in front of Council.

What did you think of Council this year? Is it simply a rubber-stamping body that serves as a check on the executive?

Council is the body that runs the Society.

The trend has been, in the last couple years, for different reasons, that Council’s quality has declined. The number o f initiatives being presented by councillors has decreased, the level o f interest at Council is dwindling, and the committee activity and participation have fallen off the map. Perhaps it simply wasn’t a good year for individual councillors. But as it’s set up right now, it’s supposed to be the body that runs the Society.

Do you think this year was just a bad year for Council? Or is reform needed?

A lot of it depends on the individual lead­ ership of the executive. This year, [the SSMU executive] has been strong. In past years, if there’s less confidence in the executive, coun­ cillors see more o f a need to step in and inter­ vene. However, many factors play a role, so it’s hard to justify sweeping reform from one bad year.

What action do you recommend taking on General Assemblies?

I recommend that the executive look at it

Yes. When we brought this to Council, we

and take it on as a project. They’re going to have to look at it and make some tough de­ cisions. Whether'that’s firmly entrenching the GA as an institution and accepting its short­ comings, or, in turn, deciding that GAs have no place in the society—thus getting rid o f it altogether.

were given no indication that this would be an issue. I was surprised by the negative reaction.

—C om piled by Tom Quail & Ja m es Gilman

collective vision.

Has the Salman Rushdie lecture be­ come more controversial than you thought it would be?

EDUCATION

University of Toronto seeks tuition hike to reach balanced budget dents’ Society vice-president external, point­

versity was voting to increase tuition fees, the

“High tuition fees are absolutely a road­

ed out that tuition laws and policies differ

provost said that the increase was only $250

block for students, particularly in Ontario where we have the highest, on average, fees in the country,” he said. “Tuition fee increases make education less accessible for people.

between provinces, though he called rising tuition a trend that is “already very obvious throughout Canada.” He also criticized the ad­ ministration and government for their stances

and that it really wasn’t unmanageable for stu­ dents. For many, $250 represents the amount o f money they spend on food in a month.”

Both Awad and Ronderos-Morgan believe

The University of Toronto’s Business Board has proposed a tuition fee schedule that will include an average fee increase o f 4.31 per cent for domestic students and 6 per cent increase for international students. The fee in­ creases are part of the Business Board’s plan to balance the budget for the upcoming years.

There seems to be a disconnect between the, perspectives o f decision-makers, both in uni­ versities and in government, and the realities of students that leads to a deep misunderstand­ ing o f the challenges that we face.”

Julius Grey, a well-known Montreal law­ yer and former McGill law professor, also

on tuition increases.

“There’s so much rhetoric that goes on coming from the McGill administration and the Quebec government,” Ronderos-Morgan said. “According to them, so long as there is an allocation o f the fee hike that goes toward student aid, it’s actually not affecting accessi­

After missing out on a large endowment of $62 million last year, the Business Board is taking major steps to plan out projects for the next several years including updating certain student services and strengthening research

commented on the situation during a panel dis­ cussion last week on alternatives to tuition fee hikes. He expressed concern with the develop­ ments at the University of Toronto and urged Quebec students to stand up for themselves.

infrastructure.

Although many are happy about the plans to balance the budget and recuperate from the previous losses, others are opposed to the proposed solution of tuition fee hikes. Adam Awad, the incoming president of the Univer­ sity o f Toronto Students’ Union, has been a

“I think it’s a very serious and terrible thing that’s happening in Toronto,” Grey said.

“It’s a shocking development, and everyone at McGill should be protesting against [this] pro­ gram, which is going [to create] a new class system.”

Sebastian Ronderos-Morgan, the Stu­

bility.”

Ronderos-Morgan cited a study conduct­ ed by the Ministry o f Education in 2007, which found that tuition hikes would lead to lower enrolment in universities, especially among lower and lower-middle class students.

Awad also commented on the policy mak­ ers and their role in these discussions.

“I sometimes wonder if decision-makers recognize that the times have changed quite substantially since many o f them were in school,” Awad said. “Last year, when the uni­

that tuition fee hikes are not the only answer to many universities’ yawning budget deficits.

“Research is being done by other student associations and there are a lot of alternative proposals that exist and are around, but they are not being considered by the government,” said Ronderos-Morgan. “And frankly, they’re not being considered by governments around

R ise in f e e s raises fe a r s o f sim ilar action at M cG ill MATT ESSERT C o n trib u to r

vocal opponent o f the imminent tuition hikes.

Canada.”

“I don’t think that increases are inevitable if there is adequate funding coming from the province,” added Awad. “There is, o f course, the issue o f how universities prioritize their spending internally, which is largely a matter o f shifting limited resources within a starved institution.”

Curiosiï^DelNers

7 April 2010 «3

INTERNATIONAL

In Switzerland, accelerator begins smashing protons at full speed M cG ill p r o fesso rs a n d gradu ate students involved in p r o jec t THEO M EYER New s Editor

At 12:58 p.m. local time last Tuesday, the Large Hadron Collider, a mammoth particle accelerator buried 100 metres beneath Geneva, Switzerland, finally began smashing subatom­ ic particles together at record-high speeds.

Though the LHC's first successful particle collisions occurred in November, on Tuesday physicists at the accelerator recorded the first collisions at the energy level—about seven trillion electron volts (TeV )—at which the col­ lider will operate for about the next year and a half. Collisions recorded in early December had broken the previous speed record of 1.96 TeV, held by an accelerator at Fermilab, locat­ ed near Chicago.

Whether they were in the control room at the European Organization for Nuclear Re­ search (CERN) in Geneva or halfway around the world, physicists watched last week’s col­ lisions with intense excitement.

“When the LHC finally started, people at CERN were simply ecstatic,” said Marc-An­ dré Dufour, a fourth-year McGill PhD candi­ date who has spent over a year working on the LHC. “Others who were not fortunate enough

to physically be at CERN for that event, in­

interesting particle collisions that occur.

cluding me, were following from their com­ puter screens.”

The LHC, which straddles the border be­ tween France and Switzerland, is the world’s largest particle accelerator, with a circumfer­

“These particle interactions happen at an enormous rate, and the vast majority of them are very mundane,” Robertson said. “W e’re trying to pick out individual events out of liter­ ally millions o f less-interesting ones. The trig­

ence o f 27 kilometres. The physics behind

ger system is almost like taking a snapshot of a particle interaction.”

Though exciting for physicists, the colli­ sions recorded last week are of mostly sym­ bolic importance. Any actual discoveries that

the massive machine, however, is relatively simple.

“You’re starting with a bottle o f hydrogen gas,” said Steven Robertson, an associate pro­ fessor o f physics at McGill who was one o f the first Canadians to work on the LHC. “All the scientists do is inject the gas into something that strips off the electron. You’re left with a bunch of protons floating around. You apply voltage to them and off they go.”

Like race cars navigating a circular track, the particles are then steered around the col­ lider by powerful magnets. The larger a given particle accelerator and the more powerful the magnets, the faster the particles can be whipped around the collider.

Several McGill professors and graduate students have worked on the collider and are looking to use the data generated by the LHC in their research. Physicists from institutions around the world are each responsible for dif­ ferent aspects o f the LHC’s operation, and those from McGill worked with the high-level jet trigger, which attempt to identify the most

may be made will require months’ worth of data generated by the collider.

“The first interactions aren’t going to tell you anything,” Robertson said. “It’s çeally ex­ citing when these events appear, but you have to accumulate a fair number of them before you can actually say anything about it.”

Once they accumulate the necessary amount of data, physicists have several ideas of what they might discover. A popular one is the Higgs-Boson, a theoretical particle that would fill the last remaining gap in the Standar Model o f particle physics.

Another possible discovery involves a the­ ory known as supersymmetry, which attempts to describe the behaviour of particles at energy levels above one T eV —a point at which the mathematical model breaks down. To envision supersymmerty, imagine a very intelligent fish able to measure pressure. Such a fish would be

able to tell that underwater pressure decreased the closer it got to the surface, but it wouldn’t know what kind o f environment exists above the surface. In theory, the LHC should enable physicists to examine the behaviour o f sub­ atomic particles beyond this threshold.

Any discoveries, however, are unlikely to have immediate practical applications.

“If we were to discover supersymmetry, it tells us something very fundamental about the universe, but we’re not likely to taking these particles and making a better iPod with them,” Robertson said.

It is possible, however, that the LHC may aid in developing spin-off technologies. When they needed a more efficient way to share large amounts o f information decades ago, physi­ cists working at CERN played a key role in the development o f the internet.

“Over the long term, the LHC will very clearly dominate as the primary source o f par­ ticle physics discoveries worldwide,” wrote Andreas Warburton, an associate professor of physics at McGill, in an email to the Tribune from Switzerland. “We at M cGill are excited to be playing an important role in that pro­ gram.”

Club agrees to new restrictions regarding use of graphic imagery Continued from COVER unfairly.

“At some level this is a double standard,” Cemek said. “Other groups on campus use dis­ plays of graphic images in open, public spaces to further their points. Not even that anyone [from Choose Life] had an overwhelming desire at this moment to mount one of these displays. We just thought that we should have the right to.”

Olle, however, emphasized that in this situation the Equity Committee was acting as a regulator.

“We are not in the same position as Choose Life because we were in a position where we were enforcing something on a group that had committed a violation o f our equity policy,” she said. “O f course, there was an effort put toward getting cooperation from Choose Life and explaining why we would implement certain regulations but at the same time they were being regulated.”

Cemek said he is hopeful that this ap­ pendix will help strengthen relations between SSM U and Choose Life next year.

“This should help things go more smoothly,” he said. “Things have been pretty rocky at times. The whole process we went through with the Equity Committee, working with them in close contact, really helped both parties come to an understanding with each other. They want us to keep being able to be a club; shutting down a point o f view is not at all their goal.”

ADAM SCOTTI

mcgilltribune.com

4 * 7 April 2010

CAMPUS

For deaf Montrealers, basketball team offers an athletic outlet Team c o a c h e d by fo r m e r M cG ill b a sk etb a ll stay Victor M ansure

A SSQ has also helped bridge the gap between the hearing and non-hearing community in Montreal. The task of coaching a deaf basket­

KAILAN LEUNG

ball team has allowed Mansure to develop new skills and pursue new friendships, but has also presented him with a variety of challenges.

“The way that we use our words and our vocabulary influence the way we think,” he said. “So the words [the players] use influence the way they think, and [learning their words] has been quite an experience. I came into the job without any sign language, but I learned my ABCs, and now we can have a conversa­ tion.”

On the court, the sign language used by Mansure’s team is similar to the gestures used

Sports Editor

Staring up at the scoreboard in M cGill’s Love Competition Hall, the visiting team watched the seconds tick down to zero before they began to celebrate their 74-68 exhibi­ tion basketball win over the Redmen volley­ ball team last Tuesday. The visitors are used to keeping an eye on the clock, though, be­ cause the sound o f the buzzer isn’t very help­ ful. Coached by former McGill basketball star Victor Mansure, the Association Sportive des Sourds du Quebec basketball squad is out to prove that it can not only play with—but win against—just about anyone.

Organized in 1968, the ASSQ has played an important role in providing members of the province’s deaf community with amateur athletic opportunities, ranging from basketball and cycling to flag-football and swimming.

The stated goals o f the organization are to pro­ mote sports and leisure activities among deaf children and adolescents, and in doing so, the

ments and national team tryouts for differ­

that takes them. The level o f basketball is get­ ting higher and higher, and I think [my players could] definitely play CEGEP right now. But it’s very hard for a deaf person to go into the hearing community.”

ent sports throughout the year. Team Canada participates in the World Championships, the Pan-American Games, and the International Olympic Committee-sanctioned Deaflympics,

Whatever limitations they face on the court, Montreal’s deaf basketball team is improving rapidly, thanks in part to the support of the ASSQ and CDSA in facilitating practices

which take place every four years.

While deaf athletes participating in main­

and games. Mansure, for one, is pleased with Canada’s commitment to developing athletes and promoting sports within the deaf commu­ nity, and is optimistic about the future.

“We play in the Montreal senior basket­ ball league ... we’ve been beaten a few times, but I see this group in a few years time compet­ ing,” Mansure said. “I ’m very positive. Right

can imagine that’s been a bit o f a learning ex­ perience for me.”

The ASSQ is an affiliate o f the Canadian Deaf Sports Association, which hosts tourna­

stream professional sports are a rarity, over­ coming hearing disabilities is not without precedent. Lance Allred, a seven-foot center who led Team USA to a second-place finish at the 2002 World Deaf Basketball Champion­ ships, became the first legally deaf athlete to

by all basketball players. Fingers point to the shot clock, fists call for screens, and arms wave to signal an open man. O ff the court, however, signing is infinitely more complex, even among members o f the team.

“They not only speak a different lan­

play in the NBA in 2008. Mansure believes many of his players would have the talent to play at a high level within the hearing com­ munity if given the chance.

“I have a kid who is six-foot-five and

now we’re still a step behind, but who knows where we’ll be in two or three years. These kids have a lot of chances; they can compete in the deaf community against anyone, and

g u ag e-sig n language—but there’s also the fact that half my team signs in French and half signs in English,” Mansure said. “One of the kids is from Mongolia and got here two months ago. He signs in Mongolian, so you

15 years old, and he can really play,” he said.

“They’re all starting to pick it up. There’s a deaf world tournament in June, and we’re probably going to have three or four guys from Quebec on the national team. We’ll see where

community pretty soon.”

hopefully, they’ll [compete] in the mainstream

CITY

Montreal buskers audition for right to perform in metro stations M usicians try to w eed out m ed iocre perfo rm ers SEAN WOOD Contributor

After 25 years performing in the metro, Greg Dunlevy has seen some terrible musi­ cianship.

“You get a lot people who ... bang on pieces of wood,” Dunlevy said. “They go out and get themselves a cheap guitar, they buy themselves a harmonica or a recorder, and they blow in it and they can’t do anything with it.

With a harmonica, they [blow in and out to] get the same two notes, and they do that for about two hours.”

Or worse. Some “musicians,” according to Dunleavy, will show up drunk and harass commuters, giving the real players a bad name.

In an effort to protect their reputation and their finances, the city’s metro musicians have or­ ganized auditions to help separate the wheat from the chaff. A number of them depend on the metro to make ends meet.

“They’re trying to feed their kids, feed themselves, they’re trying to advance them­ selves in their art, and they can’t find places to play,” said Dunlevy, who entertains metro users on stilts.

The current situation spreads the miscon­ ception that all buskers are beggars. After one o f Dunlevy’s performances, a man came up to him and offered him the remaining $1.80 on his Subway gift card, and came back a few minutes later with a couple shirts.

“I said ‘Look, I really don’t need charity.

I ’ve got clothes! This is just a way to make ends meet and to practice my art,”’ he said.

These problems have persisted for years.

In response, metro musicians have tried to get

Organizers claim that auditions will protect musicians who count on metro performances for their livelihood.

DAN_DC VIA FLICKR

organized since the 1980s, with varying suc­ cess. The newest organization, though, called the Regroupement des Musiciens de Montréal,

permit away for a couple of months. If they see that it’s really serious, then they’ll start playing by the rules a little more,” said Dun­

Even though leading members of the R e­ groupement are thus far pleased, their excite­ ment is not quite universal. Lee Blanchard,

has now come farther than any o f its predeces­ sors. Talk o f auditions to perform in the metro has circulated since the 90s, but had never ma­ terialized until now.

“We’re building great things with [the STM ],” said Pierre Deslauriers, the president o f the Regroupement.

The Regroupement and the STM are ne­ gotiating a permit system for buskers who pass

levy, who is the media and communications representative for the Regroupement.

The auditions are not trying to make the Regroupement a privileged club, but are just

a long-time metro musician, was ambivalent

their auditions.

“If you have permits, then if you have complaints about someone you can give them warning. If they keep it up, they have a second complaint, then you hit them with a ticket. If they have a third complaint you can take their

in place to protect the musicians who need the metro to stay afloat. The talents at the first two auditions, held the last two Sundays, have ranged from “so-so” to virtuosic.

“There was a guitarist I listened to last Sunday who really blew me away,” Dunlevy said. “He basically should be playing for some big-name group. He was incredible.”

The next auditions will take place tomor­ row in Rosemont, with three more sessions to follow later in the month.

about the process.

“It seems like they have good intentions, but as the saying goes, they pave the road to hell,” Blanchard said. “The anarchy system— that anybody who wants to play plays—is kind of a nice thing,” he said.

Veteran buskers are not used to playing forjudges, he added.

“I don’t like the process o f having some­ body sitting there and watching what you’re doing.”

*

j

THE TRIBUNE NEWS TEAM WOULD LIKE TO THANK ALL OF ITS CONTRIBUTING WRITERS FOR A GREAT YEAR! THANKS AND WE HOPE TO SEE YOU NEXT IN THE FALL!

The Faculty of Arts presen ts A M axw ell-C u m m in gs L ec tu re

Friending the Past: The Sense of History and Social Computing Alan Liu Professor of English University of California, Santa Barbara

Heat things up this summer at McGill

Alan Liu’s central interests include the cultural life o f information including new media, literary theory and cultural studies. In a series o f theoretical essays in the 1990s, he explored cultural criticism, the “new historicism,” and postmodernism in contemporary literary studies. In 1994, when he started his Voice o f the Shuttle Web site for humanities research, he began to study information culture as a way to close the circuit between the literary or historical imagination and the technological imagination. His most recent books include: The Laws of Cool: Knowledge Work and the Culture of Information (Univ. o f Chicago Press, 2004), and Local Transcendence: Essays on Postmodern Historicism and the Database (Univ. of Chicago Press, 2008). His web projects include: The Voice of the Shuttle, Palinuru: The Academy and the Corporation, The Romantic Chronology (co-edited with Laura Mandell), and The Agrippa Files. He is principal investigator of the University o f California’s Transliteracies Project, a multi-campus research group on online reading practices and technologies, and founder o f the UCSB English Department's curricular and research development project, Transcriptions: Literary History and the Culture of Information.

Thursday, April 8, 2010 6:00 p.m.

Reception to follow

www.mcgiU.ca/summer summer.studies@mcgill.ca 514-398-5212

McGill

Stephen Leacock Building Room 232 855 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal QC For more information contact the Department o f English Tel: (514) 398-7135 Em ail: tom.molc(fl)mcgiH.ca

® M c G ill

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH CREATIVE WRITING PRIZES AND AWARDS

THE TRIBUNE WOULD LIKE TO CONGRATULATE MATT ESSERT AND MARIA FLORES ON BECOMING NEXT YEAR'S NEWS EDITORS. I'M SURE YOU'LL DO BETTER THAN WE DID!

The MONA ADILMAN PRIZE IN POETRY, estimated value $700~or estimated value $350 for two students, is open to undergraduate or graduate stu d en ts registered in the Faculty of Arts for the best poem or group of poems relating to ecological or environmental concerns.

The CLARK LEWIS MEMORIAL PRIZE, estimated value $450, is open to m ajor or honours students in the Department of English.

The prize is awarded annually or from time to time for original plays staged in the course of the academic year.

The CH ESTER MACNAGHTEN PRIZES IN CREATIVE WRITING (two prizes, one of estimated value $700 and another of estimated value $400) are open to undergraduate studen ts of the University for the best piece of creative writing in English, i.e. a story, a play, a poem, an essay, etc. Printed compositions are ineligible if they have been published before April 15, 2010.

The PETERSON MEMORIAL PRIZE, estimated value $2,000, is open to undergraduate or graduate stu d ents registered in a degree program in the Department of English with distinction in English Literature (CGPA 3.30 or above) who has also shown creative literary ability.

The LIONEL SHAPIRO AWARDS FOR CREATIVE WRITING, three prizes of estimated value $ 1,500 each, to be distributed if possible among the genres of poetry, fiction, screen writing and playwrighting. Each prize is to be awarded on the recommendation of the Department of English to students in the final year of the B.A. c o u rse who have demonstrated outstanding talent. (A note from your academic adviser verifying you will have completed your program requirements and the minimum credits required by the Faculty of Arts MUST accompany yoür submission.

T h ese com petitions are restricted to studen ts who have not previously won the First Prize.

Forms to be completed are available in the Department of English General Office, Arts 155. Submissions must be IN TRIPLICATE DEADLINE: Thursday, April 15, 2010.

mcgilltribune.com

6 * 7 April 2010

IVAN NEILSON

GRADE: A-

President

When Ivan Neilson was elected last year, the Tribune was confident that he would be a

However, we feel that Neilson could have worked to be a more visible public face of the

were on relatively unglamorous issues that will benefit SSM U in the long run. For example, his

competent president. We thought his pragmatic

organization. Previous presidents, such as Jake

efforts to reform committee structures and hold

nature would allow him to work effectively with the vice-presidents and build a good rela­ tionship with M cGill’s administration. He has, for the most part, lived up to our expectations.

Itzkowitz and Adam Conter, have been more active in engaging with students at various campus events—something we feel Neilson would have been wise to attempt.

SSMU has had a fairly successful year

councillors responsible for attending Council meetings were significant accomplishments, and will have substantive, beneficial effects on the way the SSMU operates.

Finally, Neilson has been an excellent

the two sides of the presidential portfolio. The president has responsibilities for both internal and external issues: he manages the executive while simultaneously representing SSM U at Senate and the Board of Governors, and, from time to time, in the media. Previous SSMU

overall, and while this year’s executive, as a

representative for students at Senate and on the

whole, has been very strong, some of this suc­ cess can be attributed to Neilson’s leadership.

Despite clashing views on all sorts of topics, this year’s executive has functioned well as a team (at least publicly), and Neilson has done

presidents have excelled at one half of the job while underperforming in the other. Neilson has, in contrast, struck a good balance.

a commendable job leading a group of strong-

Board of Governors. His personable nature has allowed him to work well with the administra­ tion while not backing down on important is­ sues, such as tuition increases.

This year’s executive, led by Neilson, made substantive progress across the board.

willed VPs. Many of Neilson’s biggest achievements

Hopefully, the incoming executive will be able to build on their accomplishments.

Neilson has done a good job balancing

JOSE DIAZ

GRADE: A-

w V? finance and Operations

Vice-President Finance and Operations Jose Diaz began his term in the most difficult position of any of the executives. Tobias Sil-

a key factor in boosting the bar’s popularity.

A number o f smaller initiatives have also helped to put Gert’s in the black this year. Diaz

verstein, his predecessor, had resigned midway through his term, leaving the rest of the execu­ tives to handle his portfolio. Despite-this initial disadvantage, Diaz stepped confidently into

invested in two new pool tables and instituted

his position and has handled his portfolio well throughout the year.

Diaz’s major success this year has been the revitalization of Gert’s Bar. Thanks in part to the increased number of successful events held in the bar, Gert’s has been become a water­ ing hole for regular students—in addition to its usual crowd of drunken SSMUshies and news­ paper editors.

SSM U’s renegotiated beer contract provid­ ed approximately $6,000 in sponsorship money from the beer companies, which Diaz used to create the Gert’s Life Fund. The money from the fund was used to subsidize various events—

a new pricing scheme, which has nfctted about $6,000 in additional revenue. Thanks to a new lease with A1 Taib, Gert’s now uses its ovens to serve pizza after-hours, as well as an assort­ ment o f fried appetizers. And Diaz is currently in talks about renovating the bar after a success­ ful redesign contest.

The most significant decision Diaz made this year was to shut down Haven Books, SSM U ’s financial fiasco of a bookstore. Haven Books, purchased in 2007 by former VP Fi­ nance Dave Sunstrum against the advice of SSM U ’s auditors, had racked up losses of more than $200,000 by the time Diaz delivered a 40-minute speech to Council in February argu­ ing for its closure. According to Diaz, he and Ben Paris, the bookstore’s manager, examined

various solutions to Haven’s woes before decid­ ing to close its doors. The Tribune has editorial­ ized in favour of closing the bookstore several times, and we’re glad that Diaz made the dif­ ficult decision to give up on it.

Diaz’s competent management of the op­ erations side of his portfolio—breaking even on Gert’s and other operations—aided the finan­ cial side, giving the executive more money to work with later in the year. Events like the Girl Talk concert and this week’s lecture by Salman Rushdie were largely financed by these funds. • Overall, Diaz has successfully picked up the pieces of his portfolio', solving previous mistakes like Haven Books while improving Gert’s and tabling a successful budget. Though Diaz’s frequent late nights out meant that he didn’t make into the office until the afternoon some days, his hard work on the portfolio will put Drew in a strong position when he takes over this summer.

SEBASTIAN RONDEROS-MORGAN V? External

Without a “sexy” issue like defederation or tuition hikes during his tenure, Students’ Soci­ ety Vice-President External Sebastian Ronderos-Morgan has spent much of his time work­ ing behind the scenes to establish student repre­ sentation and bolster community relations. And though our political views don’t always align with Ronderos-Morgan’s, the Tribune feels he has done a competent job representing students’ needs and has set the table for his successor Myriam Zaidi to fight tuition increases.

Ronderos-Morgan’s biggest achieve­ ment has been finalizing bylaw.s and financial practices for the Quebec Student Round Table (TaCEQ), a nascent association of Quebec stu­ dents’ societies, and for that we applaud him.

TaCEQ is still in its infancy and has yet to ac­ complish anything of note, but the Tribune is cautiously optimistic about its future prospects.

Bad luck and government bureaucracy sidetracked Ronderos-Morgan's efforts to prmote TaCEQ this year. A plebiscite question that asked undergraduate students whether TaCEQ should continue lobbying the govern­ ment to receive bursaries was declared invalid after it didn’t appear in its entirety on the winter referendum ballot. Meanwhile, the provincial government has continually stalled TaCEQ’s . attempts to get official recognition.

Ronderos-Morgan has also focussed on improving relations with the Milton-Park com­ munity. He helped found the Community Ac­ tion and Relations Endeavour—which brings together representatives from the university administration, SSMU, and the Milton-Park community—and has had some success plan­ ning events such as the Holiday Fair. While community outreach shouldn’t be the main focus of the VP external, we were glad to see

Ronderos-Morgan make a concerted effort to patch the damaged relationship between stu­ dents and Milton-Park residents.

The Tribune is concerned, however, that the VP external seems to have a lighter work­ load than the other VPs. While we understand that successful lobbying campaigns require some year-to-year continuity, we question the need for a VP specifically tasked with lobby­ ing and community relations. The external responsibilities could be folded into the presi­ dential and university affairs portfolios—with assistance from the political affairs coordinator and external affairs committee—while the VP internal could handle community relations with assistance from a student coordinator.

Despite this, Ronderos-Morgan was a vast improvement over his predecessor, Devin Al­ faro, and he cjid well within the limitations of the role.

GRADE: B+

7 April 2010» 7

Curiosity Delivers

A LE X BROW N

GRADE: A-

VP Internal

The Tribune applauds Alex Brown for her work with the VP Internal portfolio this year. Brown has been consistently visible and knowledgeable on Students’ Society projects and events since September.

Frosh is always a major undertaking for the vice-president internal, and Brown handled the year’s opening event successfully, generat­ ing profits to support other SSMU endeavors.

She has also been innovative and receptive to recommendations with her event planning.

Brown made the difficult decision to cancel SnowAP, an event that likely would have lost SSMU over $15,000. In its place, Brown held the inaugural Week 101 in Gert’s, a successful

replacement that generated profit for SSMU. In addition to the SSM U mainstays, Brown sought out creative ways to utilize her portfolio, particularly with the leftover funds that would have gone toward SnowAP. This included smaller events such as the first—and hopefully annual—SSMU Iron Chef cooking competi­ tion, and a SSMU-subsidized ice skating outing in the Old Port, not to mention the sold-out Girl Talk concert at Metropolis.

Finally, not being one to slow down as the year comes to a close, Brown recently booked Salman Rushdie to speak to McGill students on Friday.

One criticism of Brown’s year was her

lack of engagement with Athletics, an area that past VP internals have done better work in.

In Council sessions, Brown has been an outspoken contributor and never hesitates to exercise her knowledge of Robert’s Rules.

Brown has also worked to revamp the website and communications side o f her re­ sponsibilities. Under her watch, the Students’ Society established the French-language ver­ sion of its website.

A former VP internal once said that the main purpose o f the portfolio is to make memo­ ries for McGill students—with a concentrated, yearlong effort, Brown has served this mission exceptionally well.

REBECCA DOOLEY

GRADE: B+

VP University Affairs

At this time last year, the Tribune voiced concerns with Students’ Society Vice-President University Affairs Rebecca Dooley’s lack of experience. Before her tenure as VP UA, she’d

dent taskforce, "The McGill We Want,” which will ultimately draft a report suggesting ways to improve the undergraduate experience.

At SSMU Council meetings, Dooley

been Queer M cGill’s political action coordina­

spoke frequently, defending her opinions while

tor, which, the Tribune believed, was insuffi­ cient training for the portfolio. We were wrong.

Since the beginning of her tenure, Dooley has demonstrated a firm understanding of the uni­ versity’s inner workings, and thanks to her hard work, she has succeeded in most areas of her

forging compromise between disparate factions of councillors. At University Senate meetings, though, Dooley appeared timid, and sometimes outmatched by other senators. Behind closed doors, however, Dooley was a strong student advocate. In committees, she fostered strong re­ lationships with professors and administrators, tackling issues such as M cGill’s problematic research policy draft.

This past semester, Dooley led a series of meetings between the Equity Committee

portfolio.

In the first semester, Dooley worked close­ ly with Jonathan Glencross to promote a new $7.50 student fee for the Sustainability Projects Fund. She also formed an undergraduate stu­

and Choose Life, the embattled pro-life club, retooling the group’s constitution. Though the meetings were hostile, in the end. Choose Life and the Equity Committee compromised, com­ ing to terms on a document. This was a major victory, and Dooley deserves a large portion of the credit.

Dooley is affable and approachable, and she thoroughly understands the role of the VP UA. We can only hope that next year’s VP UA, Joshua Abaki, emulates Dooley’s work ethic, amiable demeanour, and willingness to com­ promise with both the administration and other students.

SARAH OLLE

GRADE: A

VP Clubs and Services

Although her portfolio has quieted down in the second semester, Sarah Olle has had an extremely successful term as vice-president clubs and services. The Tribune had high ex­ pectations for Olle, who came into the position after serving as interest group coordinator last year. She has proven herself to be more than capable.

Olle’s biggest strength is her ability to han­ dle the day-to-day issues that arise with various clubs and services. Olle is thorough, organized, and knowledgeable about countless facets o f the Students’ Society. She has made herself readily accessible to both clubs and student journalists, keeping regular office hours and always an­ swering emails promptly.

This year, Olle was able to accomplish many things that previous VPs have long dis­ cussed, including putting room bookings on­ line and changing activities night to a two-day event. Olle has also taken on significant new projects. The Ambassador Fee, which fills the void in funding for clubs like the Debat­ ing Union that attend off-campus events, was largely her initiative. She helped to coordinate a long-term plan for proposed renovations in the Shatner Building.

a wide variety o f issues.

The nature of the clubs and services portfolio means that most of the work occurs during the first semester. However, this year, Olle played an important role in securing in­ dependence for the Tribune during the second semester, helping to craft budgets and negoti­ ate various other aspects of the transition. We acknowledge our bias—Olle was the executive we worked most intimately with—but if the dedication she showed to Tribune indepen­ dence was typical of her work With other clubs

In addition, she was calm, rational, and fair when dealing with the Choose Life controversy throughout the year. She is a strong, vocal pres­ ence at Council, contributing to discussions on

and services, then Olle fully deserves an “A.” In fact, there is only one thing the Tribune can fault Olle for this year: closing down Mo­ tion to Blog.

GRADE: C+

COUNCIL SSM U ’s Législative Council has had, by many accounts, a disappointing year. Although it’s difficult to evaluate the performance of a body of this type, the Tribune feels that this year's Council deserves a below-average grade.

Although there were some councillors who were proactive, well-informed, and contributed in a constructive manner to debates, there were too many councillors who seemed to revel in mak­ ing mountains out of molehills, and speaking

mainly to hear the sound of their own voices.

One of Council’s most important functions is to act as a check on the executive. However,

Yet another important function of Coun­ cil is to put forward meaningful motions, and to contribute to the running of the Society ..

explore vegan food options, and to advocate for paid practicum for education students, were

councillors must adequately inform themselves about issues, instead of simply arguing with executives for the sake of it, as councillors sometimes did. For example, there was no valid reason to block the bylaw changes proposed

by President Neilson, which were eventually passed in a student-initiated referendum.

However, Council this year spent too little time debating important issues, and too much time discussing trivial ones.

On the bright side, attendance at Council was excellent this year, and good work was done in many of the committees. Motions to eliminate styrofoam in the Shatner building.

It’s unclear whether Council’s disappoint­ ing performance this year is due to its composi­ tion, or whether this points to a need to reform the body. But either way. Council didn’t do its job as well as it should have—something that SSM U will have to consider going into next year.

among the worthwhile Council initiatives.

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8 * 7 April 2010

Pinata Diplomacy Ricky K reitner rk re itn er @ mc'tii 1It ri bu rïeTëôm'

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’s r e g r e t

If I regret any of my columns from this year, it would be February’s “Middle-class guilt.” My regret isn’t so much over the views I tried to express, but over the fact that I haven’t yet negotiated a comfortable balance between the nuanced views I try to maintain and my emotional writing style, which tends to be ex­ cessive and—as my mother complains—angry.

This year, the angry tone has too often drowned out the “voice of reason” I ’ve striven to be.

In February, I wrote: “Middle-class guilt ... is really only the false (and psychologically unbearable) notion that your woeful, half-in­ formed, lifelong mea culpa will set the world straight, and make it easier for a billion people to starve everyday. I ’m quite fed up with this notion, and also with the insinuation o f ‘apa­ thy’ or, worse, malevolence on the part of those unwilling to posture themselves in such a selfserving fashion.”

I tried to identify this guilt as only unpro­ ductive. It doesn’t make the world a better place.

If you feel “guilty” about your privileged posi­ tion in the world and are motivated to action, it wasn’t guilt that motivated you. It was some­ thing else. My column was long on the critical but too short on the constructive; I should have concluded by advocating the persistent cultiva­ tion of that “something else” within each of us.

Some thought I was equating middle-class guilt with the faintest empathy for those suffer­ ing around the world, and thus attacking any­ one who felt that wimpy empathy stuff. That criticism deeply disturbed me.

Whether or not one identifies with radical “activists” isn’t a proper metric of humanitar­ ian commitment. Many who might otherwise sympathize with the aims of radical politics are repelled by the kind of exhibitionists who, to quote an admiring Daily columnist, “find them­ selves sinking into the ground with the weight of all the fucked up shit in the world on their

Commentary Ben Thompson

T A ( n g st ) I arrived in Montreal in Fall 2008 eager to begin my graduate career at McGill as a master’s student in political science. I knew McGill had a reputation for academic excel­ lence and talented, open-minded, and intel­ lectually stimulating students and faculty members. Fortunately, McGill measured up to its reputation in these respects. But I had also heard about the teaching assistants’ strike that had occurred the previous spring and was con­ cerned that I would confront difficult working conditions as a TA. Unfortunately, this expec­ tation also came to pass.

mcgilltribune.com

shoulders.” I ’m a strict Aristotelian in the sense that I think motives and intentions are impor­ tant in evaluating virtuous behaviour. My argu­ ment in the “Middle-class guilt” column was against those who “posture themselves in such a self-serving fashion,” not at all against those who recognize and try to combat injustice for sincere and well-considered reasons. Obvious­ ly, sincere motives and self-serving guilt can coexist within the same person, but the latter is merely a false solution to an obviously real problem.

John Stuart Mill wrote about how opin­ ions, unless vigorously challenged and defend­ ed, eventually harden into reflexive dogma, and the reasons why those opinions are considered true are forgotten. They become vapid, lifeless slogans that nobody cares to take the time to understand.

Among our peers there’s really no chal­ lenging the notion that “fucked-up shit" exists in the world, and we all share a basic concep­ tion of what that shit looks like. We speak the same basic language; we just disagree on the definition and application of certain terms.

The progressive consensus among our generation has fostered an endemic laziness of thought, a social milieu in which mentioning in passing that shit is fucked—or, worse, wearing your recognition of shit as fucked like a badge of honour—is of the utmost importance should a student wish to avoid being considered a heartless apologist for exploitation and greed.

I ’m not advocating an alternative to progressivism, or any kind o f worldview that de­ nies the existence of fucked-up shit or our in­ dividual responsibility to make shit un-fucked.

I’m advocating sincerity and an individual re­ examination of whether you’re doing the right things for the right reasons.

“Middle-class guilt” resulted from my frustration with being lectured on ethics and social justice by people whose motives I found base and distasteful. I still feel the same way, but I should’ve been clearer on what I was ad­ vocating as a positive alternative. Some of the criticism stung, but in the future I ’ll assert more forcefully my refusal to be caricatured by any­ body, including myself.

Think y o u ’re better than Ricky? Apply to b e a columnist by sending a cov er letter an d three writing sam ples to opinion@ m cgilltribune.com .

I thought I knew who I was before I came to university.

I thought, for instance, that I wasn’t a rac­ ist. But when I told two girls tabling against Israel that the State had a right to exist, they cleared that up for me. Which was lucky, because after a year of educating my Jewish youth group on the dangers o f Islamophobia, I might have gone my whole life not knowing how much I hated people different from me.

I also thought that I was a big lefty; I was going to be an activist for all kinds of social justice causes. This was corrected quickly. A year o f carefully observing university-level protestors taught me that I couldn’t be in­ volved with leftist politics without hating cap­ italism, anybody with a smidgeon of authority, and, of course, Israel. They pointed me to my people; the neo-cons, which surprised nearly everyone with whom I ’d ever had a political discussion.

And since Israel seemed to come up in every political interaction I had, I thought that I was pretty liberal when it came to Israeli politics—for example, opposing the settle­ ments and the war in Lebanon. One of my best friends is from Ramallah, and h e thought I was moderate. But the enlightened Torontonians informed me that my devotion to the two-state solution placed me squarely in the extremist camp, something reiterated in letters to the editors o f both the Tribune and the Daily.

I ’m not happy that I found out all these things about myself. Ignorance was bliss.

But my right-wing relatives must be thrilled. The activist left has done what no conservative could ever have accomplished— they pushed me to the centre.

It started with the protests. The ones where demonstrators donned black masks and shouted. Intimidated. Emanated pure negativ­ ity. What kind of dream did they have? They

This fall I was a TA for a large introducto­ ry political science class. Since there were only four TAs for the class, I was responsible for 89 students. Among other things, this meant hav­ ing to grade about 70 essays for each assign­ ment (the professor would take on some o f the load), having to lead four large discussion sec­ tions each week, and having 89 students vying for my attention. This was close to a full-time job. I was only paid to work part-time, how­ ever, and so I was working many more hours than I was paid. Moreover, with graduate work to complete, I only had time to work a parttime job. As a result of this TA position my work weeks were consistently long and stress­ ful.

Not only was this unfair to me, it was un­ fair to my students. First o f all, my students had to participate in large discussion groups o f over 20 students. Discussion groups are an important part o f large classes as they allow students to engage more intimately with the material. But in groups this large, it’s difficult

for all students to consistently participate and to develop cohesion and intellectual intimacy.

(However, a large group does not preclude physical intimacy: the classroom that one of my groups was located in was so cramped that on one occasion a student had to sit in the hallway.) Secondly, there was only so much time I could spend grading students’ papers, answering their questions, and preparing for weekly discussion groups, which affected how well those tasks were done. Thirdly, stress and a lack of sleep sometimes affected my disposition and perspicacity which probably negatively affected my work. My discussion sections went well, my students’ questions were answered, and my students’ essays were adequately graded, but it was unfair to them that I was so severely limited in how well I could do my job.

Being responsible for too many students is not the only difficulty TAs often encounter at McGill. Other common problems include a lack o f training and poor communication be­

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were straight out of a nightmare.

Then there was the writing. The people who thought they were radical and critical, but who really just recited the tropes of the six­ ties leftist movement. Who thought you were crazy for entertaining new ideas after 40 years of stagnation.

There was the anti. Anti-racism. Antioppression. Anti-capitalist. What were they for? All they talked about was destruction.

And, worst o f all, there was the narcis­ sism. The self-righteousness, entitlement, and lack of appreciation for history. As if they were marching with King or Ghandi or Man­ dela. As if law enforcement was equivalent to. police brutality. As if calling something in­ justice made it so, forgetting that oppressors have also invoked the cause of liberty and jus­ tice; that segregationists and slaveowners also fought for their “rights.”

It’s not good enough to only say we have a right to something. We’re smart university students—we can dig deeper, ask “why,” and make a more convincing case than that.

I have no interest in the activist right, but the unethical behaviour o f the activist left— who I agree with on many issues—isn’t any better. And if I ’m guilty o f the type of label­ ling that pushed me to the centre, if I ’ve made attributions that were insincere or untrue, then I apologize. Because it needs to stop. It’s time that we who believe in social justice practice what we preach.

So I guess I know myself better than be­ fore I came to McGill. But I wonder what peo­ ple who spend more time yelling than learning have picked up along the way. They can call me a racist and a neo-con all they want. I ’m over it. But one day they’re going to run into an actual racist. One day they’ll meet a real right-winger. And they won’t know what hit them.

M ookie has, however, en joyed being a Tribune columnist during his time at McGill.

The Tribune is looking f o r students to write a bi-w eekly column during the 2010-11 f a l l and winter sem esters. A pplicants should send a cov er letter and three writing sam ples to opinion@ m cgilltribune.com .

tween TAs and the professors they work for.

(Luckily, this problem was not relevant for me.) But overcrowding is particularly unfair to TAs and their students. The administration has a responsibility to address this pressing problem.

In the meantime, students, professors, and TAs need to recognize that when TAs have too many students, it limits the quantity and quality o f work TAs should be expected to produce. Particularly, TAs in such a situa­ tion should understand it’s only the adminis­ tration’s fault, and that it’s not fair for them to work more hours than they’re paid. Moreover, continuing to do so encourages the administra­ tion to maintain the present situation. As long as the administration can hire inadequate num­ bers o f TAs and overwork them, it will likely continue to do so.

Ben Thompson is a m a ster’s student in p olitical science.

7 April 2010 « 9

Curiosity Delivers

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J-Board should throw out case against Newburgh On Friday, the Students’ Society’s Judi­ cial Board will hear Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights’ case against Zach Newburgh, SSM U ’s speaker o f council and SSM U pres­ ident-elect.

SPHR claims that by acting as chair of the Winter General Assembly, Newburgh “placed himself in a serious conflict o f interest, making it impossible for him to perform his task in an impartial manner” during the debate over the motion “Re: The Defence o f Human Rights, Social Justice, and Environmental Protection.”

The motion, which passed, expanded the man­ date o f the Financial Ethics Review Commit­ tee, but caused controversy due to preamble clauses that singled out the Israeli occupation o f the Palestinian Territories as “unlawful” and “unethical.” SPHR claims that, because New­ burgh is also the president o f Hillel Montreal, he should not have acted as the GA Speaker.

SPHR’s case hinges on three issues: prec­ edent, procedure, and prejudice. All three have little legal merit, and the Tribune encourages the Judicial Board to dismiss SPH R’s case against Newburgh.

Newburgh’s decision to permit a motion

that struck all mentions o f Israel from the pre­ amble to “Defence of Human Rights...” is the main focus of SPHR’s case. Since it was pre­ viously thought that preambles (statements of fact that precede the motion) were unalterable, past SSM U GAs have not entertained motions to amend them. However, Newburgh was cor­ rect to break with precedent and allow an op­ ponent o f SPH R’s motion to amend the “Is­ rael clauses” in the preamble. Robert’s Rules o f Order—which govern G A s—allow for amending preambles, and so an argument of “precedent” holds no water. If the precedent is an incorrect reading of Robert’s Rules as this was, it should be struck down.

SPHR also argues that Newburgh didn’t follow the proper procedure for amending a preamble. They may have a point. In the chaos of the Winter GA, he may not have perfectly followed every nuance of Robert’s Rules. How­ ever, voting on the amendment was fair and democratic. Anyone who has been to SSMU Council or a previous GA knows that Robert’s Rules are exceedingly difficult to follow to the letter. Newburgh was almost entirely accurate and—most importantly—fair. That should be

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Brahnaphobia.

R e: “S portsophobia” by B rahna S iegel­ berg (30.03.10) I always wanted to attend a great academic post-secondary institution, and I thought that McGill was the right school. However, after reading “Sportsophobia,” written by a fellow McGill student, my impression of the school is somewhat diminished. I will bring your “liter­ ary work” to the attention of enrolment services in hope that McGill entrance standards will be raised.

Clearly you know nothing about sports or the merits of athletics, but given the irrational and pseudo-intellectual theme of your article, it’s unlikely that you feel the need to have any real knowledge to back your opinions.

How about the stereotypical female cultur­ al icons such as Cosmopolitan magazine, Oprah celebrity fixations, and D esperate Housew ives'?

Instead of criticizing a pastime you believe to be exclusive to men (it’s not, o f course), why not take a critical look at the cultural ailments which have diseased the minds o f generations of young women? Why don’t you challenge and

ridicule those activities that condition women to accept being unintelligent, needy, incompetent, and inconsequential? By criticizing sports, you seem eager to deprive young women of the suc­ cessful and strong role models they need to suc­ ceed in a male-dominated society.

Your last paragraph seems a bit off-base (or perhaps it’s the entirety of your article that’s off-base): “In my humble opinion, there are a lot of things that went awry on the Y chromosome: the need to direct a woman when she is trying to park, the refusal to ask for directions when lost, and the generally slow intake o f emotional cues, to name just a few.”

Not really relevant to the main is s u e sports entertainment as the source of male anti­ social behaviour—is it? This rant reveals ÿour true agenda: a good, old-fashioned neo-feminist male bashing.

Your painfully embarrassing article taints the feminist movement, belittles the hard work of subjugated women, and ignores the incred­ ible achievements of Canada’s finest female athletes.

But hey, thanks for reinforcing a stereo­ type, and giving us all a little comic relief.

—Sean Bracken UO Economics & Finance

The democratic hacky sack.

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Society Legislative Council, I felt like my nails were being pulled out of my fingers. I heard the word “democracy” being thrown around like a hacky sack as councillors took turns accusing others of infringing on their ‘democratic right’ to speak and then carefully stroking their own and. indeed, everyone’s ego with a passionate appeal to the ‘democratic process.’

I had a visceral reaction every time I heard the word “democracy.” Hearing “democracy” spoken with the same ease as an order at Burger King has become quite a common oc­ currence. We speak today o f the democratic process, the democratic child, the democratic Easter bunny—think o f almost any noun, pre­ fix it with “democratic,” plug it into Google and see what happens. Have we overused the word democracy? It wouldn’t be the first. Try using the word “great” to describe something that is truly Great. Or, ask someone how they are doing and try to get a genuine response.

I wonder whether we wouldn’t be bet­ ter advised to speak o f our conduct at SSM U Council not in terms o f democracy, but in terms o f collegiality, productivity, fairness, mutual respect, maybe even conviviality. After all, the two tenets of democracy—equality and freedom—are not ideas to be thrown around lightly.

—Marco Garofalo U2 Italian & Political Science

Last Thursday, as I sat through Students’

THANK YOU. The McGill Tribune is an editorially autonomous newspaper pub­

enough to satisfy even the harshest critics.

Finally, SPHR claims that Newburgh’s ties to Hillel Montreal and to Hillel McGill President Mookie Kideckel (disclosure: K i­ deckel is a Tribune columnist) create a bias that prejudiced Newburgh against the motion.

The Tribune feels that Newburgh handled himself admirably in a difficult environment at the GA, and that his decisions showed no bias.

Furthermore, Newburgh approached SSM U President Ivan Neilson before the GA to dis­ cuss his potential conflict o f interest. Neilson, and the SSM U Executive Committee, decided that any potential conflict of interest was irrel­ evant. Newburgh is a SSM U employee; there­ fore, any onus to remove him from his position was on the executive.

SPH R’s case is nothing more than a per­ sonal vendetta against Newburgh. The motion passed—as it should have once the specific mention o f Israel was struck from the pream­ ble—so we’re unsure why they have brought this case to judicial board. No one likes a sore w inner—we hope the Judicial Board will see through SPH R’s petty politics, so we can fi­ nally put the awful Winter GA to rest.

AND LASTLY, THANK YOU TO THE STUDENTS' SOCIETY. AFTER 29 YEARS, THIS IS OUR LAST ISSUE TOGETHER. WE'RE GLAD THE BREAK-UP HAS BEEN MUTUAL.

V___________________________________________________________________________ /

Correction In the column “My point ... and I do have one: Crazy like a fox” by Max Silverman, it was incorrectly stated that “[Steyn is] welcome to believe that ... if we continue our current, allegedly too-liberal immigration policy, ‘the cities of the Western world will be filling up with sheep-shaggers.’”

In fact, the actual quotation is “the chal­ lenge presented by Islam is not that the cities o f the Western world will be filling up with sheep-shaggers.”

The Tribune regrets the error.

St u d e n t l iv in g

Curiosity Delivers

7 April 2010» 11

GIZMOS & GADGETS

Avoid iTunes’ high prices, legally H ow to d ow n load c h ea p music in C an ada iMacdonald Contributor

People love Apple, and a perfect example o f this is the iPod. In order to use an iPod, one must have iTunes installed. If iTunes isn’t installed, the iPod will not work. But when iTunes is installed, Apple’s movie player, Quicktime, is also installed, as well as a num­ ber o f other iServices that Apple doesn’t tell you about. Some of these services, like Bon­ jour, iPodService, iTunesHelper, and qttask, are not essential for your computer’s opera­ tion, but iTunes installs them anyway so that

account type. In addition to per-month down­ loads, users may buy booster packs for more downloads. The per-track price works out to less than $0.25, and about two million songs

Apparel clothing. Apple has a firm hold on the record companies and controls prices across the board. But there are other options.

A few months ago, Apple announced it would start selling songs in iTunes Plus For­

are other ways to buy music online. Services like Napster, eM usic, and Zune Marketplace (a few of which used to be free and illegal) offer subscription service, where users may down­ load a number o f songs per month. The sub­

mat, which is DRM-free. DRM , or digital rights management, is essentially a chastity belt for music that prevents songs from being played on devices other than the original ma­ chine it was downloaded to.

To compensate for this new freedom,

scription plans vary from service to service.

While iTunes has the advantage in selection, with over 12 million tracks available, some o f these services are noticeably cheaper, such as eMusic, where users can download tracks for an average o f $0.22 with the appropriate

fied. Zune offers per-track, and subscription

Apple announced a new pricing scheme, in

subscription, or iMesh, which hosts over 15 million songs absolutely free, but with DRM restrictions.

While Canadians might get free health­ care, we’re still being screwed by geographi­ cal copyright restrictions. Some of the most

based downloading.

popular services, like Amazon MP3, Walmart Music (what would Walmart be if they didn’t try and steal business from everyone?), and Rhapsody are unavailable to Canadians. But with the websites below, you can stop iBuying music.

song basis. iMesh hosts about four million songs for purchase, and 15 million free songs.

Users receive a 14-day free trial, with access to all of the copyrighted material (unfortu­

which some songs would increase in price to $1.29, some would stay the same $0.99, and some would drop to $0.69. Shockingly enough, all o f the songs anyone would want to buy— and even some that nobody would—increased in price. I spent a few minutes trying to find some $0.69 songs, and came up with “The Hazards of Sitting Beneath Palm Trees” by Hayden, and “Outro” by Limp Bizkit (an eight

it can run faster. The downside is that while iTunes is running faster, the rest of your com­ puter is running slower, because the additional programs consume CPU resources. There are a few other iPod management services, but none as popular as iTunes. The requirement that users install iTunes upon purchasing an iPod, has another entirely intended effect: when people want to buy music, they turn to iTunes because it’s already there. Apple’s clever deployment of the iPod makes my head spin.

Ben Stiller). I also came across a track called “Rain—Gentle, Relaxing Rain Sounds.” How much does it cost to listen to rain drops for eight minutes? Ninety-nine cents. In an effort to cash in on this rain-music phenomenon, I recorded the water coming from my shower the other night. While it sounded exactly the

People won’t give up their iPods, because the iPod has become much more than just an MP3 player: it is a status symbol much like Starbucks Coffee, Fiji Water, and American

same, Apple executives were not interested in my music, even though I offered to sell it for only $0.69 per track.

In fact, most people don’t know that there

minute conversation between Fred Durst and

Services mentioned Napster: Napster offers access to over 2.5 million songs for $10 per month, or $15 if you want to keep them on your portable music

are available.

Zune Marketplace: This Microsoft ser­ vice offers about five million songs. Tracks purchased are .compatible only with the Zune portable music player, unless otherwise speci­

iMesh: This service allows users to trade some music online for free. However, users must pay for any copyrighted material. Users can pay on a per-month subscription or per-

nately, those copyrighted songs disappear at the end of the trial).

7Digital: A pay-for-song service with about 3.5 million tracks. DRM protected tracks are $0.79, while unprotected MP3s are up to $1.29.

player.

eMusic: Subscription based, with a pre­ set number of downloads per month based on

MIXIN’ VIXEN

FIN A L TH O U G H TS ON FO O D

when you’re cooking for'some friends.

I wrote at the beginning o f the year that I was “fascinated by why we eat what we eat, and why we crave certain foods at certain times.” And aftér a year o f writing about food, I have a better understanding of that now. Food is important to us all because it connects us to each other and to the world around us. There is

I ’m shipping off to grad school in Lon­

nothing like breaking bread with friends (es­ pecially if you’ve baked it yourself), and mak­ ing a dish that can take you thousands of miles

don (no, not Ontario) in the fall—and I ’m try­ ing desperately to conjure up some deep, cap­ tivating message about food, agriculture, and culinary ethics that hasn’t already been put on a bestseller list by Barbara Kingsolver, Jamie

away in your mind.

It’s friends and family that show us the value o f food in our lives. I was lucky enough to inherit two very distinct culinary tradi­ tions—Eastern European Jewish and Puerto

Oliver, or Mark Bittman.

Rican—with brilliant home cooks on both

I could try to predict the next big ingredi­ ent trend (it’s going to be durian, by the way), or make bold speculations about the future of molecular gastronomy, or run a recipe for the perfect chocolate chip cookie (because there aren’t enough out there).

There’s no shortage o f observations and commentaries to be made about food, but I think the one that has struck me the most this year is how much I hate eating alone. I ’ve tried it a couple of times, bringing a notebook

sides to teach me that these foods are a vital part of who I am. I ’ve also been part o f some amazingly talented and enthusiastic food com­ munities here at McGill. In first year, some friends and F formed a small supper club where I learned to push myself to try new things in the kitchen, and where I watched food bring people together. Working as a floor fellow these past two years has helped me realize just how much both Bishop Mountain Hall and the M ORE Houses are unique culinary contexts'

to meals with the hopes o f writing the begin­

that bring people together and build lasting

ning o f a recipe or a column, but I know now that it’s not for me.

After a few years o f living on my own, I still haven’t mastered the art of cooking enough food for one person—and not because

friendships.

I guess my take-away message for this last food ramble is this: cook for other peo­ ple. Embrace your cravings. Don’t be afraid of new ingredients, and if you are, cook with a brave, reassuring friend. Buy a cool cook­ book and try every recipe. Push yourself in the kitchen and taste the results.

I ’m a glutton and will eat three portions of something (to be fair, it has happened), but because I think that most meals turn out best

The strawberry-basil mojito CAROLYN GREGOIRE Copy Editor

Ingredients Being the strawberry addict that I am, the return o f strawberry season is for me one of the most exciting aspects o f the arrival of spring.

As soon as fresh, inexpensive strawberries are available, I eat them on their own, in salads, over vanilla ice cream, and any other way I can think of. You can imagine, then, my ela­ tion upon discovering a spring cocktail made with loads o f fresh strawberries.

The strawberry-basil mojito—a surpris­ ingly delightful and refreshing twist on the traditional Cuban highball made with rum, mint, and lim e—is the perfect spring cocktail.

Though it’s hard to improve on a classic drink like the mojito, this perfect combination of flavours creates a drink that’s even better than the original. Perfect for sipping drinks on the patio or to accompany a light spring meal, this concoction replaces the standard mint leaves and lime with fresh basil leaves and strawber­ ries for a wonderful new taste.

• • • •

1 cup sliced strawberries 8 large, fresh basil leaves 1/2 cup light rum 2 tbsp. sugar

•

1/2 cup club soda

Directions 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Place basil and sugar in a glass and mash until mostly combined.

Add strawberries and continue mashing until somewhat blended together.

Add the mixture and rum to a cocktail shaker (a chilled coffee thermos will work in a pinch).

Add ice and shake well.

Pour back into the glass and add club soda on top.

Makes 2 drinks.

mcgilltribune.com

12» 7 April 2010

TRAVEL

Summer adventures in Southeast Asia A guide to a c o lle g e student’s oasis JAMIE SHEDLETSKY Contributor

Squeezed between the twin giants of China and India rests a college student’s oasis: a collection of diversely charming states re­ plete with swarms of homy backpackers, flawless beaches, delectable cuisine, and dirtcheap alcohol. This magical haven, Southeast Asia, is the perfect travel destination for any jaded, over-educated university student seek­

that if time allows for it, a few days at the beach is a nice retreat from Southeast Asia’s notorious grime, smog, and rowdy tuk-tuk (the Thai taxi) drivers. Some o f the better known

long white-sand beach, and Ha Long Bay is a great place to go to by boat for the night, which is just north o f Vietnam’s capital Hanoi.

For the party animal

Thai islands are great beach destinations—Ko Phi Phi, Koh Phangnan and Koh Tao, which is the best place for scuba diving.

Another alternative is to take a short longtail boat (the tuk-tuk’s water counterpart) from

I f you really like alcohol, and especially dirt-cheap hard liquor in large quantities, this sub-continent will be your new best friend— buckets o f any mixed drink are readily avail­

Phuket to Ray Leigh, a tiny, car-free sanctu­ ary for serious beach-lovers. The small town of Hoi An in central Vietnam has a beautiful,

able everywhere. You simply cannot visit Thailand without venturing to Koh Phangnan, which is famous for its full-moon parties every

ing one last trip before entering the real world.

Once you’ve secured a plane ticket and con­ quered the slightly terrifying obscurities na­ tive to Southeast Asia—namely the ongoing fear o f malaria (get immunized); rabid dogs; bed bugs (bring a silk hostel sheet); and con­

month, and probably hordes the majority of Thailand’s alcohol supply. But no Southeast Asia trip is fully complete without an extend­ ed visit to Vang Vieng, Laos, for some unadul­ terated, debauched—but oh so n e cessary tubing, and obviously, more buckets.

For the culture kook Put simply, Bali is the most enchant­ ing place in the world. You have to be a true anti-tourist with a real aversion to excitement to not fall in love with the entire island—its people, landscape (expect to be awed by the rice paddy terraces), art, culture and monkeys (beware—Balinese monkeys are not kind!).

There are hundreds o f mesmerizing Hindu temples—my favorite is Uluwatu, which is located on a cliff overlooking the ocean— that welcome guests, but don’t forget to cover up as a form of respect. Northern Thailand is where you will find the most authentic Thai

taminated water (take Dukoral ahead of time to help your stomach acclimatize)—you’ll find that Southeast Asia has something special for everyone.

cultural experience. Chiang Mai is a great place for market shopping and taking cooking lessons. I f you are amenable to something o f a more serious nature, visit the killing fields and memorials in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. From

For the beach bum

there, Ankor Wat, located close to Siem Reap,

While I have never been an avid support­ er o f spending a lazy day at the beach, I think

JA M IE S H E D L E T S K Y

is a must-see.

FOOD GURU

Make your own meatball sub This sandw hich is easy to m ake a t hom e, an d so much better

Meatball Subs

For the tomato sauce: For the meatballs:

•

• • •

1 lb ground beef 3 slices o f bread soaked in 1/4 cup milk 1/2 cup ricotta cheese

• •

28 ounces whole peeled tomatoes from a can 5 tablespoons unsalted butter 1 medium-sized yellow onion, peeled

Meatball subs are the quintessential Italian-American dish—a pizza, burger, and a pasta hybrid. They have all the flavors you

• • •

1 egg 2 tablespoons minced parsley 3/4 tsp. salt

•

and halved Salt to taste

could ask for in a meal, and they are hearty and filling. Making your own is simple, fun, and will certainly leave you satisfied (or want­ ing more).

This recipe uses ricotta to lighten the meatballs and the simple tomato sauce is worth making in bulk for future meals. To make this sub even more exciting, the rolls are

•

1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

FRANCESCA FERENCZI Contributor

smeared with garlic butter and broiled before adding the huge meatballs, melted cheese and finally dousing it with the tomato sauce. The final result is essentially a garlic bread sand­ wich. Drooling yet? Making these yourself only once will be enough to keep you from ever making the mistake o f buying one.

Preheat the oven to 400° F. Line a baking sheet with tinfoil and spray with baking

Put the tomatoes, onion and butter in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Bring the sauce to a simmer then lower the heat to keep the sauce at a slow, steady simmer

spray.

In the bowl with the soaking bread, add the ricotta, egg, parsley, salt, and pep­ per. Stir, mashing against the sides of the bowl until it looks like a paste.

Thoroughly mix the paste into the meat with your hands, trying not to over-mix.

for about 45 minutes, or until droplets of fat float free o f the tomatoes. Stir occa­ sionally, crushing the tomatoes against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon.

Add the meatballs to the sauce, making sure they are coated. Keep at a simmer over low heat.

Directions

2.

3.

4.

5.

Form the mixture into about 12 meatballs and place on the baking sheet.

Bake for 15 minutes. Set aside.

For the subs: • • • • •

1 portion tomato sauce with meatballs 4 large hoagie rolls, split in half 4 tbsp. butter, softened 2 large cloves minced garlic 8 slices of provolone

Directions 1.

1.

use or reheat them and continue with the fol­ lowing steps within two to three days.

2.

Directions 1.

2.

3.

4.

Note: You can stop here to let the sauce and meatballs cool, and freeze them for future

Preheat the broiler. Keep the sauce and meatballs over the heat at a simmer.

Mix the butter and minced garlic and spread onto the rolls, dividing evenly between the four. Broil these until Crusty and golden, about two minutes.

Place three meatballs and lay two slices o f cheese on the bottom half of the rolls.

Place these in the oven for 30 seconds, until the cheese melts.

Divide the remaining sauce over the top of the melted cheese. Cover with the top half o f the roll and serve immediately.

FR A N C E S C A F E R E N C Z I

7 April 2010» 13

Curiosity Delivers

Women h e lp in g w om en

By Shannon Kimball, Features Editor In 2011, Winnipeg is planning to open Manitoba’s first birthing centre, where mothers can give birth in a less clinical atmosphere with the

Natural birthing options Natural birth can take many forms, including home births, births at a birthing centre, and even hos­ pital births. However, all natural births, by definition, exclude the use of prescription painkillers and medi­

respectful o f what a woman wants to

assistance o f midwives, nurses, and doulas. While it’s a step forward for natural births in the province, mid­ wifery and natural births are still the

cal interventions such as cesarean sections unless they are necessary.

Berry says that many hospital births that are initially at low risk of

minority among birthing practices in Canada. Roughly 99 per cent of Canadian women choose to give birth in a hospital, even though most

complications result in a cascade of interventions including painkillers like pitocin (also known as oxyto­ cin), epidurals, and ultimately, in some cases, cesarean sections.

“It may start with pitocin to speed up labour because hospi­ tals work on a schedule,” explains

do during a birth,” says Lesley Ever­ est, founder o f Mother Wit Doula Care in Montreal. While midwives focus on the actual delivery o f the baby, doulas provide much needed assistance to both the midwife and mother.

They take on an even more per­ sonal role during hospital care, and provide continuity o f care during long labour.

women are at low risk for the labour complications that require physician care. Most women in Montreal who do give birth in hospitals opt for an epidural, a local anesthetic that eases labour pains. However, many women are renouncing the medicalization o f childbirth, and looking to other women to ease their labour pain.

A long, local history In Canada, informal midwifery has its roots in aboriginal birthing

Berry, “but speeding it up could increase labour pains ... then you have an epidural and that slows things down.”

While the evidence for unnec­ essary cesarean sections is mixed, womerl are more likely to have a cesarean if they begin their birth­ ing process in a hospital. Cesar­ ean sections can cause a variety of complications, especially for future

having to do anything else.”

While over 90 per cent of women giving birth in Montreal hos­ pitals receive an epidural, women who are accompanied by a doula typically only receive an epidural 10 per cent o f the time. Everest credits the presence and support o f another women during birth for this ability to withstand the pain.

Future of natural births

“In a hospital, we’re going into

labour. An increase in natural births will require a working relationship between midwives, doulas, and doc­ tors, as well as the expectation of the mother to thoroughly examine her choices. However, medical in­ tervention will always have to be an option in the event of complica­ tions.

Ultimately, the birthing trends will depend on what women want

they have an epidural right away and they come out with a baby and they’re all very happy,” says Ever­ est. However, she also claims that women may not be aware o f what they’re missing.

“The discomfort that’s inher­ ent in labour is there for a reason: it helps to create this beautiful cock­ tail o f hormones that the mother and the baby are bathed in,” says Everest. This cocktail of hormones

births if a mother has had multiple

is surprising that doulas and physi­

and particularly for low-risk birth­

medical education and care by the 20th century.

“Doctors were taught by mid­ wives at M cGill,” says Sarah Berry, McGill professor o f health sociol­ ogy. But the teaching wasn’t mu­ tual. “Once new technologies were introduced, physicians excluded women and midwives from those educational processes.”

Midwifery was outlawed in Canada at the beginning of the 20th

cians work well together.

“We respect the fact that our client is choosing to have a hospital birth and we’re just trying to make that as good of an experience for her as possible within the system,” says Everest. Doulas will outline a wom­

ing women.”

Giving birth in a hospital can cost up to $ 10,000, while midwife costs in Canada range from $800 to $3,000. But midwives also follow wives throughout pregnancy and afterwards.

However, reintegrating mid­ wifery and natural births into the healthcare system won’t be easy.

Canada and the United States were

century, be it from doubts over women’s capabilities, physicians’ protectionist instincts, or a colo­ nialist fear o f following aboriginal

the risky parts o f birth, “rather than the majority o f births where mid­ wives could provide good care for low risk women.” This focus on risk

“A lot of partners have never seen a birth before and it can be very tense to see how intensely a woman expresses her pain in labour,” says

practices. While lay midwives contintued to practice, it was only after intensive lobbying that midwifery was reintegrated into healthcare in the 1990s, making Canada one of the last developed countries to regulate the practice. Even now, this regulation and coverage varies from

undermines a woman’s confidence in giving birth naturally, which is

Everest, “and a lot o f times the partner might not know that this is okay. We expect way too much from [women’s partners].” Doulas and midwives diffuse the tension and act as communicators between midwife or physician and the family.

“We help the partner be free to

family during hospital births.

“Midwives are generally very

Even if natural births don’t become the norm, many women are now discovering the empower­ ment and bonding that comes with

While natural births are less popular, they are also significantly less expensive, something that is appealing to policy makers.

“We see a trend in de-hospitalization because it’s so expensive,” says Berry. “Midwifery looks ap­ pealing because it not only provides good care but the scientific evidence suggests that midwives provide re­ ally good care for birthing women

c-sections.

All of these interventions have led many mothers to opt for some form o f a natural birth. Midwives, who help to deliver babies either within the home or at a birthing centre that has a home-like environ­ ment, are becoming increasingly well respected by the medical com­ munity.

Berry emphasizes that the media often focusses too much on

province to province.

Making the decision

a very clinical place,” says Everest.

“It’s very big, it’s not personal; most of the time the woman’s doctor is not there, and she’s being taken care of by people that she does not know.”

The doula’s job is to provide con­ tinuous care to the mother, father, and newborn baby in the clinical en­ vironment, where shift changes and new personnel are the norm.

With conflicting methods, it

practices, which then extended to

very safe.

Midwives are not the only op­ tions for natural births. A doula can act as a midwife’s assistant, or pro­ vide assistance to the mother and

make their jobs easier too.”

an’s choices, always with deference to her doctor.

Additionally, doulas help to make the birthing experience easier for a woman’s partner.

really loving to the woman without

anomalies in abolishing midwifery, and so reintegration will have to begin from scratch.

“I think generally [doula and midwife care] are a reasonably rare practice,” says Everest, “but it is getting more and more well known.”

Everest, who is overbooked, credits physicians who readily give refer­ rals to natural birthing practices for this increase in popularity.

“The nurses and doctors ... are usually really happy that we’re there,” says Everest. “We help to

from their birthing experience, aside from a healthy child.

“I know lots o f women who have gone in, they haven’t had any thought about the experience and

allows the mother and baby to bond, and is noticeably absent in hospital environments.

While hospital births rarely result in long-term health problems for either the mother or the child, it is worth exploring the older, less complicated ways o f bringing a baby into the world.

“When moms are left to birth in a way that makes them feel very powerful, they tend to forge really happy relationships with their ba­ bies.”

The Tribune’s guide to a sum m er in M o n tre a l Whether you’ re a visiting student, taking a May course, or a Montreal native, summer is the best time to tour Montreal.

It’s easy to get trapped in the McGill bubble during the school year, but use the warm weather as a chance to explore the city. From festivals to cuisine, we present your summer guide to one of Canada’s most diverse and exciting cities.

Day in the sun

Festivals First Peoples’ Festival

International Jazz Festival

La Ronde

The Beach

Come discover the rich cultures of Cana­ da’s First Nations through art, film, music, and dance. The richness and vivacity o f aborigi­

A summer in Montreal is incomplete without attending the world-famous Jazz Fes­ tival. Running from June 25 through July 6,

nal cultures takes centre stage and encourages awareness of the continent’s first inhabitants.

Coinciding with National Aboriginal Day on June 21, the festival is sure to be educational,

the festival is held annually at Place des Arts, and is a must-see spectacle for jazz enthusiasts and laypeople alike.

With a selection o f some of the best roller coasters in Canada and an incredible fireworks display at night, La Ronde is the perfect place to spend a warm summer’s day. Opens June 12

Everybody’s going surfin’ —at least they do from the beginning o f June to the end of August on Jean Drapeau Park’s beautiful and lively beach. A refreshing oasis just minutes from downtown, the water is crystal clear, and you can enjoy a day o f swimming, surfing, playing beach volleyball, or just lounging in the sun. You can also rent sailboats, paddle-

exciting, and like nothing else.

Chamber Music Festival Right at the top o f Mount Royal, this mu­ sical festival offers classical chamber music throughout the week, as well as jazz on Fri­ days. Everyday from May 6 through June 28, the festival is the perfect way to take ad­ vantage o f a beautiful day while listening to Beethoven and Mozart.

and goes until August 14.

Old Montreal Just For Laughs The Just for Laughs comedy festival, which runs from July 7-18, is one o f the larg­ est conglomerations o f the most sought-after Anglophone comedians in the world. One par­ ticularly great part of the festival is the Nasty Show—a show featuring some o f the most hi­ larious and outrageous comedians in the busi­ ness. Not for the easily scandalized.

Montreal is one o f the oldest cities in North America, and as such, it is full of rich history and old architecture. Though the Old Port is beautiful all year round, it is best to

boats, or canoes.

Shakespeare in the Park

explore during summer.

For all you history buffs, one great stop in Old Montreal is St-Sulpice Seminary—the oldest structure in Montreal still standing. The

To be or not to be? That is occasion­ ally the question during Montreal’s summer Shakespeare in the Park. Bring a blanket or fold-up chair and curl up to a first-rate perfor­

seminary—erected in 1685—is right near the

mance on a warm summer night.

Notre-Dame Basilica on Notre-Dame Street.

* 7 April 2010 • 15

Restaurants Breakfast

Lunch

Graduation Dinner

True espresso aficionados should head

Santropol’s legendary sandwiches are a

Graduating this semester? Montreal has

to Caffe in Gamba in the Plateau. Combined with plush seating and decadent pastries, their freshly brewed espresso drinks are the best in Montreal.

must-eat: nowhere else will you find unique flavor combinations like pesto, cream cheese, and hot sauce in a sandwich, and heaping por­ tions of soup and colorful salads.

the some of the best fine dining in the world, which you probably haven’t experienced on a student budget. The Plateau’s La Chronique offers impeccable yet unpretentious French

Eggspectation and Chez Cora—both Ca­

M:brgr’s posh atmosphere is toned down

food and an enormous wine list. Pied du Co­

nadian chains—offer crepes, pancakes, and waffles piled high with fruit for reasonable prices.

Place Milton and Lola Rosa are two breakfast/brunch/lunch restaurants that you’ve

a bit during lunch, where you can get a juicy, made-to-order burger, fries, and a soft drink for $12.75. ‘

chon is perfect for any carnivore. Their duckfat fries and foie gras are crowd-pleasers, and their selection of French desserts will make your celebration special.

Located on Bishop Street, Da Vinci offers

probably walked by every morning while rushing to class, but maybe never tried. Place Milton offers traditional breakfast fare at dirt cheap prices (but beware o f their pancakes— they either use pancake mix, or their flapjacks are just mediocre). Lola Rosa’s vegetarian and vegan cuisine is both cheap and flavourful, and their brownies will send you into choco­ late heaven.

For the best thin crust pizza north o f the

Dinner border, head to Prato on St. Laurent. They’ve redefined pizza by using only the freshest in­ gredients and cheeses. Make sure to try their Pizza Bianca, with thyme, prosciutto, onions, and a creamy cheese sauce.

Vallarta’s rendition of Mexican food is truly unique to Montreal: it’s real Mexican food. Everything from the chips and guacamole to the mole to the flan is homemade.

real Italian food—no pizza, chicken parmesan, or garlic bread. Their selection o f homemade pastas and antipasto platters is refreshing after four years of frozen meals.

and a wide variety o f cheese, baked goods, and specialty foods, all of which are perfect for a picnic on Mount Royal.

St. Viateur and Fairmount bagels turn out piping hot Montreal-style bagels 24/7, and at about 70 cents per bagel, they’re economical, too.

Juliette et Chocolat serves up chocolate in every imaginable way: on crepes, with fruit, and with alcohol, just to name a few. With a new location close to campus that’s bigger than previous locales, and a decent lunch menu, this is the place. to go for all things chocolate.

Miscellaneous Take advantage of summer produce by taking the metro to Atwater and Jean Talon markets. Their stands offer reasonably priced, freshly picked summer fruits and vegetables

Addresses and logistics • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Atwater: 155 Greene Avenue Caffe in Gamba: 5263 Avenue du Parc Chez Cora: 1240 Rue Drummond, 3465 Avenue du Parc Da Vinci: 1180 Rue Bishop Eggspectation: 190 West St. Catherine, 1313 De Maisonneuve West Fairmont: 74 Fairmount West International Jazz Festival: Places des Arts, 305 St. Catherine West Jean Talon: 7070 Avenue Henri-Julien Juliette et Chocolat: 3600 St. Laurent Just for Laughs: 2111 St. Laurent La Chronique: 99 Laurier West Lola Rosa: 545 Rue Milton M:brgr: 2025 Rue Drummond Parc Jean Drapeau: take the Yellow Line to the Jean Drapeau station Pied du Cochon: 536 East Duluth Place Milton: 105 Rue Milton Prato: 3891 St. Laurent Shakespeare in the Park: Runs July 29 to August 22.

St. Viateur: 263 St. Viateur West Vallarta: 1327 Rue St. Catherine East

7

Class registration

Don't forget to register for classes on Minerva starting on April 7.

You have until September 14, but be sure to get into the classes that you want by registering early!

8

Mosaica presents “Mindsight” Centaur Theatre, Old

Montreal

M cG ill’s dance company presents their final show.

Tickets are $15/students and $18/general. Email adm ission m cgillm osaica@ hotm ail.com .

U

Science Documentary Film: The Refugees

o f the Blue Planet Redpath Museum, 4:00 p.m.

This film from the NFB sheds light on environmental refu­ gees, who are constantly grow­ ing in number and often have no legal status.

14

McGill Chamber Singers Redpath Hall 7:30 p.m.

Listen to McGill Chamber Singers, directed by Matthias Mautte, mesmerize you with their vocal chops. Tickets are $10 and sold in Redpath Hall.

A&E

16 « 7 April 2010

mcgilltribune.com

THEATRE

The good, the bad, and the ugly pig noses This y e a r ’s T heatre L a b stages The G o o d P erson o f Sichuan BRAHNA SIEGELBERG Features Editor

How can a good person come to a good end in a world that is, in essence, not good?

This is the central question of Bertolt Brecht’s The G ood P erson o f Sichuan, staged by this year’s McGill Theatre Lab—a full-year pro­ duction class in which students work on a col­ laborative project that eventually culminates in a spring performance.

Directed by Myra Wyatt Selkirk, the play centers on a prostitute named Shen Te who struggles to lead a “good” life according to the terms of morality taught by the gods, without allowing herself to be trod upon by those who abuse her goodness. However, when her neigh­ bors take advantage o f her kindness, taking her food and moving into her small tobacco shop, Shen Te is forced to invent an alter ego in the form o f her male cousin Shui Ta who is, con­ versely, business-minded, unemotional, and pragmatic.

The play is difficult to understand if you

are not well-versed in Brecht’s distinctive the­ atrical style. Making good use o f his famous tactic o f verfrem dungseffekt—distancing the audience from what is taking place on stage by making the familiar seem strange—char­ acters wear pig snouts while stuffed animals and puppets are cast as real characters. By situating the play in an “exotic” setting,—the Chinese province of Sichuan—Brecht further distances the western audience from any sense o f familiarity.

Allegorically, The G o o d P erson o f S ich­ uan explores a classic Brechtian dilemma: is it possible to be good while still looking out for yourself in a merciless world? With the human psyche split in two through Shen Te’s inhabiting of two disparate characters, Brecht urges the audience to develop their own inter­ pretation of goodness. Shen Te may be called a “better person” than her cousin, but she is also a pushover who gets taken advantage of.

While Shen Te falls in love with a pilot named Yang Sun (Kate Sketchley) in a moment of helpless passion, Shui Ta sees Yang Sun for the scheming conman that he is. When some­ body asks Shen Te if it bothers her that Yang Sun is a “bad” person, she responds resolutely,

“How can he help it? He’s in poverty.” Shen Te’s altruism simply cannot be reconciled with Shui Ta’s capitalistic philosophy of exploiting young workers—which is clearly a jab at the patriarchal economic system.

While it’s easy to get wrapped up in the startlingly outlandish nature of the play, it’s important to remember that the performance was not simply rehearsed like any other play, but is rather an impressive result o f in depth analysis and investigation of Brecht’s text. The cast not only had to write academic papers on the text, but was also responsible for costume, set design, music, and all of the play’s produc­ tion aspects.

In accordance with Brecht’s method of “epic theatre,” the Theatre Lab’s rendition of the play makes the audience acutely aware that they are indeed watching a play. Wang (Marko Djurdjic) speaks directly to the audience throughout the play, asking them questions and referring to the actions onstage. The per­ formance features highly amusing moments of song and outbursts of dancing opium addicts, which, like most o f the play, seem a bit out o f place, but are somehow sensible within the context o f the play as a whole.

Although political, the play is not didac­ tic. Rejecting realist conventions o f theatre, Brecht shows you what is being presented, but he never tells you where to stand in relation to it. The play demonstrates that human action is not always rational, but also suggests that this is not necessarily a bad thing. In one poignant monologue, Shen Te cries out, “I could not be good to others and at the same time to myself ... for your great plan, O gods, I was human and too small.”

At the end o f the play, the responsibility of finding a solution to this seemingly irresolv­ able paradox is thrown onto the shoulders of the audience. As the gods refuse to offer Shen Te any guidance, the audience must see for themselves that something greater is needed in order to resolve the conflict. This play is undoubtedly perplexing, jilting and difficult— but quite deliberately so.

The Good Person o f Sichuan plays April 8 to 10 at 7 :3 0 p.m . in M oyse H all. Tickets are $5 f o r students and m ore inform ation can b e fo u n d at w w w .m cgill.ca/english/m oyse.

ALICE WALKER

Pop Iffietoric MATERIAL G IRL GAGA When Lady Gaga first entered the pop music scene back in 2 0 0 8 ,1 forced myself to take a second look. Her lyrics were symbol­ ic o f both the feminine mystique and female empowerment, she wore avant-garde and provocative clothing (or a lack thereof), and she had the strong ability to capture the at­ tention of millions by dominating the music charts for weeks on end. This was reminis­ cent of a certain Queen o f Pop who seemed to embody many o f the same traits. Begin­ ning with the release of her single “Like A Virgin” in the mid-1980s and up until her most recent album H ard Candy, Madonna hasn’t ceased causing both chaos and ex­ citement over her musical and fashion styles in the minds o f countless critics and fans.

But, amidst the recent statement that Madonna claims to see a bit of herself in

Lady Gaga, along with Lady Gaga saying that she’s about to take over the pop industry and change it forever, I ’m still sceptical. The director of Gaga’s most recent video “Tele­ phone” has said that she has the potential to become as big as Madonna. That’s pretty cocky: comparing a cultural icon to a wild and sexualized dance-pop newcomer? I ’m hesitant to even place them side by side in a sentence. Yes, Lady Gaga may have a highenergy onstage presence and a “creative” mind, but her costume changes don’t fool me. The comparison doesn’t make sense.

Madonna has unquestionably champi­ oned a certain femininity in her genre over the past few decades. She has earned her royal title due to the revolutionary changes that she’s propelled throughout the music industry by daring to be different, rising up against the norms of mainstream pop, and committing herself spiritually and passion­ ately, even through the fire o f religious con­

demnation. Madonna’s music videos, award show performances, and constant flamboy­ ance allowed her to continuously transform and reinvent herself.

Madonna’s 1989 video “Like A Prayer” is a prime example. The video features Ma­ donna kissing a statue of a saint (who she later makes love to when he suddenly turns human), a contentious scene where she dances with burning crosses, and a fun-lov­ ing jam with a gospel choir at the end. No big deal for Madonna, but pretty controver­ sial for those who were used to listening to Whitney Houston and Gloria Estefan. The Catholic Church’s position regarding Ma­ donna’s revealing expressionism is quite in­ comparable to the responses that Lady Gaga has received in light of her antics.

I won’t lie, I did enjoy Lady Gaga per­ forming with Elton John at the Grammy Awards. Putting aside the fact that the “Fame Factory” metaphor didn’t really intrigue me,

it was an elaborate act, a good opening, and some musical talent shined through as she worked that piano solo. It was not, however, as good as Madonna. Take Gaga’s VMA “Paparazzi” performance—how could this ever be compared to Madonna’s “Like A Virgin?” Please don’t tell me that Gaga de­ serves such praise just because she was cre­ atively “out there,” wearing underwear with knee high boots and bleeding on stage.

I don’t think Madonna’s ready to give up her throne just yet. And when she is ready to hand over the “Queen of Pop” title to someone else, the crown may not fit Lady Gaga’s head (have you seen the Coke cans in her hair in “Telephone?”). Lady Gaga simply cannot cause the pandemonium that Madonna did. It’s already been done, and much more authentically.

— Brittany R appaport

Curiosity Delivers

7 April 2010 « 17

MUSIC

Toronto bands unite for A rts & C rafts triple th reat Collett, Zeus, an d B aham as c ele b ra te colla b o ra tio n MANISHA AGGARWAL-SCHIFELLITE Contributor

This spring, Toronto-based singer-song­ writer Jason Collett and indie bands Zeus and Bahamas unleashed “The Bonfire Ball” in North America. The three-in-one tour has been travelling across the continent since the begin­ ning of March, and has even been as far south as Mexico City, playing a show for the oneyear anniversary o f record label Arts & Crafts’ expansion to the region. Alfie Jurvanen, a for­ mer member o f Collett’s backing band and now performing under the name Bahamas, joined the tour as it moved up the West Coast following their stint at the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas.

While Zeus was working with Collett on his newest album Rat A Tat Tat, the band was also writing and recording their own debut, Say Us. “It was great watching my backing

band becoming this thing which is their own,” Collett says. “It’s fun to play shows together. It makes it more interesting.”

None of the three bands are listed as opening acts, and each is given stage time to showcase their talents, as well as collaborat­ ing with the other bands. “What’s great about this tour is it’s a three-band project, but we all get to play with each other, learn each other’s material,” Collett says.

The collaborative nature of the tour is a continuation o f Collett's recording process for Rat A Tat Tat. Zeus and Collett worked closely together on the record, drawing inspiration from their surroundings and the new incarna­ tion o f Collett’s backing band. “It was sort o f a culmination o f my work with the band,” Col­ lett says about the album. “I ’ve been able to take advantage o f their talents as producers, as writers, as musicians, in an artistic sense. It was great to tap into that and write with them in mind ... There were hints o f it in the last record, but it really came to fruition in this one.”

To avoid the monotony o f the touring schedule, Collett believes it’s important to keep things interesting. Part of this involves the bands playing more covers. “We’ve been having a lot o f fun playing Kylie Minogue’s ‘Can’t Get You Out of My Head,” ’ he says.

“For the encore, we like to just bust out play­ ing a lot of covers, like we’re a wedding band or something.”

The extensive territory covered by the tour demonstrates the growing popularity of Canadian independent music outside the coun­ try. Much o f Collett’s inspiration for songs comes from his personal experiences, many o f them explicitly Canadian. Songs like “Win­ nipeg Winds” and a single titled “Love Song to Canada” reflect Collett’s experiences on the road and at home. “People always ask me, ‘Why would you reference Canada?’ [They’re] afraid that you’re not being universal,” he says.

While his references to names and places may not be familiar to all who hear them, Collett isn’t worried about alienating his global audi­ ence. “The wonderful thing that I ’ve learned

Collett playing Kylie?

ARTS-CRAFTS.CA

from mythologizing a bit o f Canada is that it becomes something for people [who] have never been to these places. It works. It lends it­ self in an intriguing way that can bring people in even more.”

Ja s o n Collett, Zeus, an d B aham as p lay P etit Cam pus on A pril 15.

C D REVIEWS

Barenaked Ladies: A ll in G o o d T im e

Cancer Bats: B e a r s , M a y o rs , S c ra p s

David Myles: T u rn T im e O f f

For a Canadian alternative rock band, the Barenaked Ladies have had their share of success from the shoebox o f life. I was both intrigued and astonished to see them release a new album, All in G ood Time, after some recent ups and downs with the band’s front­ man, Steven Page, splitting from the group in 2009.

From the first single “You Run Away,” I thought I was listening to a Miley Cyrus Disney remix, and it only got worse as the entire CD flowed like a Sesame Street chil­ dren’s special. The songs themselves have no continuity and end almost as abruptly as they start. The band fails miserably as it reaches for what appears to be a serious side, scraping superficially at love story portrayals and life lessons with mediocre and meaningless lyrics in songs like “I Have Learned” and “Another Heartbreak.” Page’s songwriting, responsible for clever songs like “Brian Wilson,” is clearly missed.

For all the talent and potential the band has demonstrated over the years, this new album certainly doesn’t live up to their usual optimistic tone and creative musical abilities.

Where are those clever harmonies and witty rhythmic combinations that infatuated us from the beginning? I ’m not sure what I was ex­ pecting, but this new album was both horrible and extraneous—sometimes you should just admit it’s all been done and quit while you’re ahead.

— B ian ca Van B avel

I’ve had a soft spot for Cancer Bats since high school, watching them open many Alexisonfire shows in Toronto. I ’ve endured the dirty looks received for wearing a shirt with “cancer” written on it, and for many other people their first two albums are too much to handle. The band has always been able to pro­ duce a wall o f noise—like any good hardcore punk band should—and sometimes that wall isn’t welcoming.

Their latest album B ears, M ayors, S craps an d B on es picks up where they left off with 2008’s H ail D estroyer. As usual, lead singer Liam Cormier alternates between softer and “screamier” singing styles, which is reminis­ cent o f Tim Mclllrath o f Rise Against. On this album, the band has let their punk influ­ ence shine through with rawer songs with less of a groove like “Sleep This Away,” “Dead Wrong,” and “We Are The Undead.”

Standout tracks include “Scared to Death,” which has got a bit of a Queens o f the Stone Age sound to it, and “Trust No One,” which is a fast, heavy song with a solid groove and enough changes to keep it interesting until the end. There’s a surprise cover o f The Beastie Boys’s hit “Sabotage” as the last track on the album, which is a little ham-handed but still novel; hardcore Beastie fans may object, but they’re also not very likely to be listening to a Cancer Bats album. Bear, M ayors, Scraps an d B on es is Cancer Bats sticking to what they know, which is the same sound I ’ve liked from the start.

—K yle C arpenter

Hunter Valentine: L e s s o n s F r o m T h e L a t e N ig h t

an d B on es

If the warm weather makes you nostalgic for winter evenings spent curled up by the fire, David Myles new album, Turn Time Off, is for you. As the title suggests, this album is a break from listeners’ busy lives, and it provides a soundtrack to relax and reflect upon oneself.

Dealing mostly with love—or a lack thereof—with songs such as “Out o f Love” and “Run Away,” David Myles’ music hits straight to the heart. Many of his songs have a country and folk aspect to them. “Peace of Mind” and “People Don’t Change” conjure up the forests of Nova Scotia, the home province o f the artist. Added to these are a few upbeat, lively tunes such as “Gone For Long” and “So Far Away,” which counteract the hypnotic ef­ fect of the rest o f the album.

With soft music but harsh lyrics, Myles captures the essence o f relationships—the kind that are intense and passionate and “turn time off and turn [you] on.” Yet after the initial soothing of the background beat you discover a certain bitterness in the musician, and the final message seems to be one o f pain more than one o f hope.

Myles’ music style is quite unique, as he sounds jazzy without completely adhering to the genre. Mostly, he is a fusion of jazz, folk, and pop. Turn Time O ff flows well, and can easily be listened to in one sitting, giving you the perfect break after a long day.

—Sam Jessu la

Hunter Valentine are a three-piece all­ girl rock band from Toronto who will release their second full-length album, Lesson s From The L ate Night, on April 17. With seven songs totalling 22 minutes, it’s a slight step above an EP, though you probably won’t be disap­ pointed that there isn’t more.

Lead singer Kyomi McCloskey sounds like a less-raspy Brody Dalle (of Spinerette, formerly o f The Distillers). The vocals add a flare to the album’s sound, which isn’t as bland as it is a few years too late. It feels like pop punk that’s trying to weigh on the punk side, which is very symptomatic o f the early 2000s with bands like Anti-Flag and Closet Monster.

The opening tracks “The Stalker” and “Treadmills o f Love,” are catchy, and the mix o f vocals on the latter are a nice touch. Things cool off a bit with “Revenge,” and “Scarface” is the most pop-friendly song on the album, but that’s not necessarily a good thing. “Barbara Jean” is catchy but uses the age-old punk trick of briefly pausing the song for a second during the chorus with a couple o f heavy downbeats on the drams, like at the start of “Communica­ tion Breakdown” by Led Zeppelin.

Overall, the album feels tom between punk and pop, and even though the two aren’t mutually exclusive—my favourite childhood bands wouldn’t exist if they were—the album sounds like it’s trying to be one or the other, depending on the song.

—K yle C arpenter

—

mcgilltribune.com

18 * 7 April 2010

COULD BE G O O D

%

A&JE WOULD LIKE TO THANK ALL OF THIS YEAR'S CONTRIBUTORS!

\

(WE OWE YOU A BEER).

A p r il

April 8-17. Theatre. D a n n y a n d t h e D e e p B lu e S e a .

HOPE TO SEE YOU NEXT YEAR!

Written by John Patrick Shanley (D oubt), and presented by new Mon­ treal production company Nani Tanifa Productions, Danny an d the D eep B lu e S ea will be on campus during exams.

Dark and troubling, it’s not as worrying as that paper you have to write. @ Play­ ers’ Theatre.

April 9. Music. Old Man Luedecke.

Maritimer Old Man Luedecke plays East Coast music as it should be: with stomping boots and a banjo. My H ands Are On F ire an d O ther L ov e Songs is the follow-up to his Juno-winning album P r o o f o f L ove. CD release party @ Green Room.

April 9. Books. Yann M artel’s B e a t r ic e a n d V irgil.

B ea tr ice an d Virgil, the third novel from’ L ife o f Pi author Yann Martel, touches on such topics as the Holocaust, taxidermy, theatre, and hunting. Sure to entertain.

April 9. Music. Nickelback.

Nickelback brings their critically panned, fan-adored songs to Montreal in what’s sure to simultaneously be a rocking spectacle and the largest con­ centration o f mullets in downtown.

Shinedown, Breaking Benjamin, and Sick Puppies open. @ B ell Centre.

April 10. Music. Titus Andronicus.

Catch these Jersey party-rockers on their 48-day “Monitour” support­ ing their latest 65-minute civil warthemed epic The M onitor. Get your fix o f beer, sing-a-longs, and history in one fell swoop. Hollerado opens. @ Green Room.

April 13. Music. Soulstice.

It’s the 10th anniversary o f Solstice a capella. Originally started by a group o f students who didn’t get into the other a capella groups, Soulstice has now be­ come the group to aim for. Expect popu­ lar hits (think Feist and Bon Iver) and a capella classics. @ La Sala Rossa.

April 15. Film. K ic k -A s s .

This story o f an average kid who decides to fight crime without super­ powers is sure to satisfy fans of the original comics. Think a more violent version o f M ystery M en featuring teen­ agers.

redbîrd

SPORTS SHOP M eG rl Sports Centra

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McGill

SALE ENDS MAY 10, 2010

A T H L E T IC S & RECREATION

Curiosity Delivers

BOOKS

7 April 2010 » 19

BOOKS

Dissecting art Nancy Drew’s newest competition The P a rab o list ex p lores the biolog y o f p e o p le an d p o etics

Alan B radley talks abou t his F la v ia de Lu ce detective series

CAROLYN YATES

TORI CRAWFORD

M anaging Editor

News Editor

Nicholas Ruddock’s debut novel, The P arabolist, is told through interlacing narra­ tives that pivot around a group o f University o f Toronto medical students in 1975, taught by Roberto Moreno. Moreno is a recently immi­ grated Mexican poet and member of the (fic­ tional) parabolist movement, a group which “arranges words and ideas in such a way that the energy input bums. Then it explodes in the gut and the chest, where feelings are the deep­ est, where you can hardly breathe.” Combin­ ing sex, murder, medicine, vigilante justice, and poetry, the book is surprising, fast-paced, and inexplicably enjoyable.

The twisting narratives centre upon a midsummer night’s murder. A woman is raped in the street and her attacker is found dead around the comer. The only clue found at the scene o f the crime? Crisco. The drunk vigilantes responsible for the death? Moreno and Jasper Glass, a med student in Moreno’s poetry class.

The entire case is complexly intertwined, which adds elements o f both realism and con­ fusion. Jasper Glass is in love with Valerie An­ derson, who is sleeping with Roberto Moreno.

Roberto lives with his aunt and uncle, whose neighbours are June and Bill Glass, Jasper’s parents. June Glass and Valerie have an overthe-fence friendship. There’s also a feminist poet, a professor writing a book of idioms, and a violent psychiatrist—all tumbled together in Ruddock’s landscape o f aesthetic, moral, and physical contemplation.

The most consistent character is the ca­ daver that undergoes a full dissection over the course o f the novel, creating a vein that flows through the discussion of poetic aesthetics.

The anatomy class dissection provides clever grounds for examining the physical aspect of the mind-body relationship, while leaving the parabolist aesthetic to deal with the abstract.

As skin and organs are stripped away, they re­ veal that for all the higher-level philosophy, in the end it all comes down to biology. Por­ nographic scenes, murder, and ultimately, the climax, are also rendered in clinical language that reduces the events to a mere recitation of body parts, albeit a poetic one.

However, Ruddock sensationalizes where sensationalization isn’t really necessary, which cheapens otherwise strong characters and situ­ ations. A child prostitute, a pimp, and a rapehappy psychiatrist add unnecessary trauma to a book that already centres around a murder.

And while the ending is cleverly executed on many levels, it’s also alienating. Despite the fact that the initial rape and murder centres the action, the resulting investigation has little to do with the rest of the novel.

The style o f the book is alternately dis­ tracting and engrossing. There are no quota­ tions marks and little punctuation, and it’s easy to skip over the excerpts o f poetry that seem to appear on every other page—charming at first, but increasingly non-essential. Nevertheless, a certain unique variety of English lit major will probably find them utterly engrossing.

In some ways, The P arabolist is a murder mystery to which readers will already know the solution from the very beginning; in other ways, it’s an introduction to dissection, of both bodies and minds. And in other ways still, it’s a manifesto o f art.

When Alan Bradley set out to write his first detective novel he had no idea it would lead to the character o f Flavia de Luce, or to a series about the young sleuth, in which The Weed that Strings the H angm an’s B ag is the second novel.

“I was writing another detective novel that I thought I had plotted very carefully for story and characters, then Flavia just materialized in it,” Bradley says. “She actually hijacked the book; it took a couple o f years for me to real­ ize that she was someone who needed her own book.”

The first book in the series, The Sw eet­ ness at the Bottom o f the P ie, became both a New York Times and Globe and Mail bestsell­ er and also won numerous awards, including the Crime Writers’ Association Debut Dagger Award. Bradley, for his part, says he never dreamed the book would be so successful.

“When I set out I was writing for myself.

I was trying to write a consoling book that would be something I would love to run across some rainy afternoon in the library,” he says.

“You would just happen to pick up this book and it would have all of these bizarre, eccen­ tric, curious things.”

The book is indeed full o f strange charac­ ters, settings, and situations. The story centres around the de Luce family, made up o f Father and his three daughters—Ophelia, Daphne, and Flavia—who live in a rambling country house in England called Buckshaw.

The best part of the book is its main char­ acter, Flavia, the inspiration for the series. The 11-year-old girl has a “passion for poisons,” and divides her time between the chemistry lab constructed in her rambling English coun­ tryside home by her late Uncle Tar, and solv­ ing mysteries that arise in the nearest town, Bishop’s Lacey. The first book centered around Flavia’s search to solve the murder of the dead

SH IRLEY BRA D LEY

Canadian author Alan Bradley. body she found in Buckshaw’s garden.

The Weed that Strings the H angm an’s B ag is also a murder story. When Rupert Porson, a travelling puppeteer, dies mysteriously during a performance at the local church, Flavia is convinced that the audience has witnessed one thing: murder. As she sets out to find the killer and his motive, she begins to uncover connec­ tions between Rupert and many other strangegoings-on around town, including a secret marijuana grow-op run by a local farmer and the mysterious death a few years earlier of a boy Flavia’s age.

What makes Flavia such an intriguing character, and such a good detective, is the way she is able to extract sensitive secrets from al­ most any adult. Bradley explained that this is due to the “invisibility” o f 11-year-olds.

“She can go wherever she wants, she can overhear, she can pump people for infor­ mation and they don’t mind being very blunt about things because to them she’s just a kid;

she’s going to forget about it in two minutes anyway,” he says, “They have no idea what she’s doing with the information. To me, the 11-year-old girl is absolutely the perfect detec­ tive. O f course she takes full advantage o f the fact that no one has any real regard for her.”

With Flavia, Bradley takes on a difficult task: writing a book for adults about a child protagonist. However, Flavia is so well-developed, and Bradley’s writing is so strong, that he perfectly captures the mannerisms and character o f a lonely, strange, curious young girl. In addition, despite its somewhat mature subject matter in some instances—particularly murder, suicide, and love affairs—it’s not sur­ prising that Bradley says he has heard from people o f all ages who love the book.

“I ’m keenly aware, and growing more aware by the day, that these books reach a wide audience because o f their appeal. Flavia has different appeals to different age groups,” he says. “I ’ve heard from a girl of eight who loves Flavia and I ’ve heard from a woman of eighty-five who loves Flavia. So it’s created a new realization that wasn’t there when I start­ ed the series.”

In addition to the captivating characters, the setting o f the book makes the story even more interesting. The story takes place in 1950s England, and Bradley effectively utiliz­ es the hangovers o f war. Dogger, the de Luce’s live-in handyman, for example, often slips into a daze in which he thinks he is back on the battlefield, while Dieter, a local German field hand who arrived in England as a prisoner of war, still wears the red circle to designate this status somewhat proudly.

While Bradley has received numerous of­ fers to develop the series into movies or a tele­ vision show, he says he has no interest, at least until he is done writing the six book series.

“I don't want other people touching Flavia while I ’m still working on the series. It would be very unnerving to know that somebody somewhere in another place is putting Flavia through her paces, which I probably would not approve of. So for the moment she’s going to stay in the books.”

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20 * 7 April 2010

mc|plltribune.com

MLB SPA SON PREVIEW AMERICAN LEAGUE

N ew York Y ankees: The defending champions are set to take home their second AL East title in as many years. This should be the best team in baseball, but with the de­ partures of Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui—and some question marks at the end of the rotation—the Yankees aren’t unbeatable. With the addition o f Curtis Granderson, Joe Girardi’s squad now has one more name on the roster to instill fear in the hearts o f Yankee opponents.

B oston R e d S o x : Red Sox nation will see fewer home runs this season, and Boston will have to rely more on keeping opponents’ balls inside Fenway Park in order to suc­ ceed. A revamped defence—featuring new additions Mike Cameron, Adrian Beltre, and former Angels’ star pitcher John Lackey—should make life easy for the offence and keep opposing teams off the scoreboard. While defence is key for Boston this season, veterans Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia, and Victor Martinez give the team considerable firepower.

Look for the Red Sox to secure another wild card berth.

Tam pa B ay R ays: In any other division, the Rays would be far and away the best team, but in the best division in baseball, the Major Leagues’ third best team will find themselves on the outside of the playoffs looking in. Shortstop Evan Longoria will be a candidate for the AL MVP award and will be joined by the usual cast o f characters who won the pennant in 2008. Carl Crawford might be playing his last season in Tampa and should put up astounding numbers once again.

B altim ore O rioles: The division cellar dweller for a number of years, the Orioles seem to have finally turned a corner. The acquisitions of Garrett Atkins, Mike Gonzalez, Kevin Millwood, and Miguel Tejada bolster an already solid foundation. Young players like Adam Jones and Matt Wieters are poised for breakout seasons, and Nick Markakis will continue to be a force in the middle of the lineup. Dave Trembley’s team isn’t quite there yet, but this is a group to look out for in the future.

Toronto B lu e J a y s : When Blue Jay fans said farewell to Roy Halladay, they knew the team was entering a new era. Having failed to make the playoffs in the last decade, Toronto is now in rebuilding mode under rookie General Manager Alex Anthopoulos. The offseason additions of Kyle Drabek and Brett Wallace show that Toronto is looking towards the future rather than the present. The Jays will likely be one of the worst teams in baseball this season, but the organization’s moves should begin to pay dividends in the near future.

—Adam Sadinsky

M innesota Twins: The Twins head into this season with high expectations. Re-signing hometown hero and reigning MVP Joe Mauer was huge for the organization and fans, and all but ensures that Minnesota will be competitive for the next few years. No team has been better at home this decade than the Twins, primarily because they’ve been playing in a bizarre stadium that opponents hated. This year, they’re moving to a new, more traditional layout, and could actually suffer for it.

D etroit Tigers: The 2008 Tigers were a colossal disappointment, and last year they became the first team ever to lose a three game lead with four to play and miss the play­ offs. They’ve added Johnny Damon, but sacrificed a better player in Curtis Granderson. Detroit still has Magglio Ordonez and Miguel Cabrera, so scoring runs won’t be a problem, and the pitching is in good hands as well. However, the Tigers seem too fragile to win the division or the Wild Card, and now that manager Jim Leyland is officially barred from smoking in the dugout, there’s a lot of tension in Tigerland.

C levelan d In dian s: Cleveland faces plenty o f ‘what ifs’ going into the season: if Grady Sizemore, Travis Hafner, and Fausto Carmona can all bounce back after down years; if Matt LaPorta taps into his tantalizing talent; if someone in the bullpen steps up ... The Indians can be a threat each game. They’re not far off from another post-season berth, and if everything clicks, they’ll punch their ticket to the playoffs.

K an sas City R oyals: It’s almost as if Royals management expects reigning Cy Young winner Zack Grienke to pitch every day, because they seem to have no interest in providing him with more rest, or an adequate supporting cast. We can confidently say that top draft picks Alex Gordon and Luke Hochevar won’t live up to their hype, but they may turn into decent M LB players down the road. KC needs pitching, but in their attempt to fill this void, they’ve turned to the wrong guy—Rick Ankiel is just a mediocre outfielder right now.

C h icag o W hite S ox: When Sox ace Mark Buehrle threw a perfect game last July he became something of a household name, and deservedly so. He’s thrown two no-hitters, and by all accounts is a nice guy. Manager Ozzie Guillen, by all accounts, is not, and he’ll have his hands full with a terrible offence. Between managing Alex R ios’s hideous contract and what’s left o f Andruw Jones, Guillen will have to find a better middle infielder than career .206 hitter Lance Nix. Thankfully, sophomore third-baseman Gordon Beckham is the real deal, and Jake Peavy is the best second-starter in the league, so Chicago should be able to win about a third of its games.

—G abe Pulver

L o s A n geles A n gels: How good is the Angels’ pitching? 26-year-old Scott Kazmir—a former AL strikeout champion who started Game One o f the World Series just 18 months ago for the Rays—is LA’s fifth starter. Sure, they did lose John Lackey, but they also picked up reigning World Series MVP Hideki Matsui. Bobby Abreu might be 35, but he’s got a cannon arm and is the most patient hitter in the M LB. The Angels should run away with the division.

Seattle M arin ers: The Mariners have two legit aces in perennial Cy Young candidates Felix Hernandez and C liff Lee, and a borderline third in Eric Bedard. The recent pickup of Jarrod Washburn makes a great rotation even better. Unfortunately, other than all-world hitter and fielder Ichiro Suzuki, there isn’t enough offence or defence to really win games. Expect a lot o f 2-1 losses from the Ms this year.

Texas R an gers: Manager Ron Washington’s recently revealed cocaine issues link nicely with the team’s play each year: the Rangers are powerful and exciting in the be­ ginning, but crash really hard in the second half o f the season. They’ll hit lots o f home runs—Josh Hamilton, Michael Young, and what’s left of Vlad Guererro will make sure of that—but their shoddy rotation and seemingly endless clubhouse distractions will doom the team by the all-star break.

O aklan d A ’s: The A’s surprised everyone this offseason by nabbing Ben Sheets, although his one-year deal all but ensures that he’ll be traded by the deadline. Their pitching will be feast or famine, as their new Big Three—Sheets, Justin Duchscherer and Rookie-of-the-Year closer Andrew Bailey— are all coming off injuries. The Athletics are waist-deep in decent young players, but many o f their best prospects are still raw, and it’s hard to see the team finishing better than third in a vastly improved AL West.

—G abe Pulver

Curiosity Delivers

7 April 2010 «21

MLB SEASON PREVIEW NATIONAL LEAGUE

P h ilad elp h ia P h illies: In their quest for a third straight pennant, the Phillies added Roy Halladay. Now they have great starting pitching, and four guys on the team who hit 30 home runs or more.last season. Factor in a shutdown bullpen, and here’s the team to beat in the entire senior circuit. If Philadelphia has any weakness, it’s that Shane Victorino and “Disco” Ben Francisco are the only regular players on the team under 30. Fatigue could play a factor in a third straight post-season trip.

A tlanta B rav es: If there’s one team who can beat the Phillies in the NL East, it’s Atlanta. They’ve got a second-year ace in Jair Jurjjens, and the early candidate for Rookie o f the Year in five-tool phenom Jayson Heyward. Chipper Jones can still rake, and Bobby Cox’s retirement should provide added inspiration for his club. Don’t forget the Hinske Effect: offseason signee and former RO Y Eric Hinske has made the World Series the last three years in a row with three different teams.

N ew York M ets: Discounting the Cubs, the Mets might be the closest thing to a cursed team in the M LB. New York has lots o f talent, but have blown seemingly locked-in division championships in two o f the last three years. They have so much hitting, speed, and defence, but somehow, it never clicks until the end. Given the M ets’ collective age this year, this season may be the current team’s last shot.

F lo r id a M arlins: Somehow, the Marlins are always good, despite consistently having the lowest payroll in the majors. Remember in 2006 when they challenged for the wild card while making less money than A-Rod as a team? Well, the best scouts in baseball have done it again, because it looks like this season Florida will be on the right side of .500. Shortstop Hanley Ramirez is an MVP-caliber player, and starting pitcher Josh Johnson is a legitimate ace.

W ashington N ation als: When last year’s first overall draft pick Stephen Strasburg inevitably gets called up to pitch in the majors in July, fans will have a reason to tune in to what is sure to be yet another losing season. It’s sad when an organization has great players, but never at the same time (see Raptors, Toronto). Let’s hope Strasburg hits his prime before their current best player, Ryan Zimmerman, begins to decline.

—G ab e Pulver

St. L ou is C ardin als: It’s no surprise that the Cards are the team to beat in the Central this year. Re-signing Matt Holliday was huge, and Albert Pujols’ career averages speak for themselves: .334 B A , 41 HRs, 124 RBI. Pitching is so-so beyond the team’s top two starters, but St. Louis’ offence will render the minor bullpen issues meaningless, as the Cards should run away with the division.

C incinnati R ed s: Somehow, the Reds managed to get a hold o f Cuban defect Aroldis Chapman, a starter who regularly touches 100 on the gun. Factor in young studs like Joey Votto and Jay Bruce, and Cincinnati has a team that could win the division ... in 2011. The Reds are only one more year away.

C h icag o C ubs: Rejoice at Wrigley! Locker room cancer Milton Bradley is gone, which might translate to an extra 10 wins or so for the Cubs. The team is a little less crazy now, although Carlos Zambrano once removed his belt to brandish it at an opponent during a brawl. The Bradley Effect aside, it might be a long season in Cubland. Chicago’s roster is filled with once-great hitters on the downside o f their careers.

H ouston A stros: For so many seasons in the last decade, the Houston Astros were somehow able to put themselves in the playoff race at the end of the year. But those days are long gone. Outside o f Roy Oswalt, the pitching staff is one pie-thrower after another, and a few solid defensive players won’t make up for a lack of offence outside the three and four slots.

M ilw au kee B rew ers: The Brewers have made the playoffs only once in the last 27 years, but they might match their stellar 2008 season this year. Milwaukee’s offence is one of the best in the game, and with defensive legend Jim Edmonds and career .300 hitter Joe Inglett sitting on the bench, they’re deep. Ken Macha is also a great manager with a history of making the most o f talent. The ageless and incomparable Trevor Hoffman anchors a solid bullpen, but the Brewers’ starting pitching will be the X-factor.

Pittsburgh P irates: Apparently, the Pirates are going to bat their pitcher eighth this season. When you’ve been under .500 for 17 seasons in a row, this type of move probably won’t make Pittsburgh any worse. At the same time, it won’t make them any better. Make it 18 losing seasons, ladies and gentleman, because the Pirates are still terrible.

—G abe Pulver

S an F r a n cis co G iants: This is the year the Giants will take the next step. Nothing is stopping Tim Lincecum from winning a third Cy Young in a row, and the rotation behind him is rock-solid. There’s not much to say here, other than that the defence should be great, and third-baseman Pablo “Kung Fu Panda” Sandoval has the best nickname in the majors.

L o s A n geles D odgers: It’s becoming clearer with each season that Joe Torre is simply the best manager in baseball. We’ve all seen incredibly talented teams fail to reach their potential, but this never seems to happen with Joe. With Manny Ramirez in a contract year, Montreal-native Russ Martin likely to bounce back to form, and some great young pitching, Torre’s postseason streak should hit 13 straight years.

C olorad o R o ck ies: Todd Helton is one of the best hitters ever and Ubaldo Jimenez is a future star, but the rest o f the division is too good, and the Rockies don’t project to make the playoffs again this year. Their 2007 pennant should be celebrated, as should their 2009 Wild Card, but reality will strike in 2010. One way or another, this is a very excit­ ing team to watch.

A rizona D iam on d backs: Three years ago, the Diamondbacks were fresh off a division title with a young team built for the future, and looked headed for a dynastic great­ ness. The team is much the same, but the magic has somehow fallen off. Nobody expects them to return to 2007 form, but they have many o f the same players, and there’s no logical reason why they shouldn’t stay competitive.

S an D iego P ad res: For whatever reason, the Padres refuse to trade Adrian Gonzalez, and seem content with building for the future. On the surface, it makes sense: he’s a hometown hero, in his prime, cheap, and the fans adore him. But that’s what makes him so tradable, and San Diego still refuses to flip him for what is sure to be a huge return. Right now, they’re destined for a couple 90-loss seasons in a row.

—G a b e Pulver

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22» 7 April 2010

M o .V 'tte 'fc Spoy-fcs» R E P O R T G A R P s

M artlet: Hockey___________ 2010 marked the end of an era for the Martlets. Canadas top womens hockey program was finally humbled by the Alberta Pandas in the CIS championship game last month by a score o f 2-0.

The victory ended the teams record-shattering 86-game winning streak against CIS competition, as well as McGill’s 20-game playoff winning streak, dating back to 2007. Much of the Martlets’ success was due to their impressive team speed, timely scoring, and great goaltending. Taking over from Peter Smith for the year, interim Head Coach Amey Doyle managed to get the most out of her squad all season.

However, the Martlets will have to deal with several significant personnel changes going into next season. Vanessa Davidson—the Martlets’ all-time leading scorer—and forwards Rebecca Martindale and Amy Soberano are graduating this year, while goaltender Gabrielle Smith’s status re­ mains uncertain. Both Peter Smith and goaltender Charline Labonte will return to McGill after a year-long commitment to Team Canada, and Doyle will reprise her role as Smith’s number two.

Despite significant turnover, the Martlets should remain at the top of the CIS. The depth on the team is incredible—forwards Jordanna Peroff and Alyssa Cecere look primed for breakout seasons, while Quebec Player of the Year Cathy Chartrand and winger Ann-Sophie Bettez will continue to provide veteran leadership and consistency. Having two Olympic gold-medal winners on the team won’t hurt their chances, either.

MVP: Cathy Chartrand

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This looked like the year Head Coach Rachel Beliveau’s squad would make a deep run at Nationals, if not win it all. Stacked with talent at every position, the Martlets had a perfect mixture of veteran savvy and youthful energy, and early on in the season all signs pointed towards success. But what happened in the second half of the regular season can only be described as a meltdown.

McGill went 2-8 over their last 10 games and were unceremoniously dismissed in the first round of the QSSF playoffs by an inferior Laval team.

Fifth-year power-hitter Jennifer Thomson became one of the only athletes in CIS history to garner allCanadian status for five consecutive years, but even her brilliance couldn’t save the Martlets from their season-ending collapse. On a more positive note, McGill was dominant during the first half of the season, sweeping the AUS-QSSF interlocking tour­ nament and spending extended time in the national top-10 rankings.

The team returns all-stars Kelsey Irwin and Marcela Mansure, as well as starting power-hitter Amy Graham and promising libero Daphnee-Maude Andre-Morin. How­ ever, Thomson’s departure is a significant loss for a team in dire need of strong leadership.

The Martlets will also have to work on their passing in order to succeed: McGill ranked first in the nation in total reception errors.

If the Martlets can convince themselves that they are talented and mature enough to play with the best in the country, then they have a legitimate shot at Nationals. If they cannot stay mentally tough, though, 2010-11 could be a long season.

MVP: Jennifer Thomson Players to W atch : Marcela Mansure, Olivia Grecu

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While it would be a stretch to call the 2009-10 season a success, the Martlets showed impressive resilience and grit in clinching a playoff berth and making it to the QUBL finals.

Although the postseason ultimately ended in a humbling 22-point loss to the Laval Rouge et Or, McGill was able to develop many of its younger play­ ers over the course of the season, and has all the tools to succeed in the near future.

Anchoring the team in the post was sophomore star Anneth HimLazarenko, a 5-foot-io forward who returned this season after suffering a devastating ACL injury during her rookie year. Him-Lazarenko once again led the Martlets iff scoring and rebounding, averaging 15 points and 7.8 boards a game en route to first team all-conference honours. Scoring often proved a problem for the Martlets, but fresh­ men guards Marie-Eve Martin and Françoise Charest showed that they are more than capable of providing firepower from long range.

The Martlets will miss the leadership and on-court contributions of graduating se­ niors Nathifa Weekes, Stephanie Bergeron, and Caroline Hebert, but if there’s one team with a surplus o f talented players ready to step into major roles, it’s McGill. Expect Thorne’s young team to continue to shoot the ball from deep—McGill ranked third in the nation in three-point attempts this year—and rely on Him-Lazerenko to wear teams down inside.

The conference is wide open, and McGill has as good a shot as any other team to capture the Quebec crown.

MVP: Anneth Him-Lazarenko Players to Watch: Marie-Eve Martin, Helene Bibeau

Curiosity Delivers

7 April 2010 «23

R e d w v e w 9 p o r-fc s : R E P O R T G A R P s R e tiiy v e iA H o c ^ e i/_________________________________________A With a rookie head coach, the early season loss of their starting goalie, and a first line made up entirely of sophomores, McGill hockey fans, players, and coaches alike easily could have set their sights on the future of the team, rather than the present. However, 2009-10 ended up being far from a bridge year—the season was a smashing success, as the team won the OUA East Queens Cup and qualified for the National Championships.

Led by the sophomore line o f Francis Verreault-Paul, Alexandre Picard-Hooper, and Andrew Wright, the Redmen scored more goals than any other team in the country and backed up their of­ fence with a stingy defence. Verreault-Paul took home the OUA East’s MVP award, and was joined

by Picard-Hooper on the conferences first team. Defenceman Marc-André Dorion was named the best defenceman in Canada and also garnered first-team all-Canadian honours. The loss of goaltender Danny Mireault turned out to be less of an obstacle than anticipated, as second-year goalie Hubert Morin stepped into the spotlight and excelled.

In his first season after taking the reins from Martin Raymond, Head Coach Jim Webster benefited from a talented core of young players with the talent and will to compete for a National Championship banner. With this lofty goal always in mind, Webster led his team to second-place finish in conference play and watched as his team knocked off long-time rivals UQTR in the con­ ference final. A week later, the Redmen would bring home their second Queens Cup in three years by defeating the Lakehead Thunderwolves on the road. However, the fairy-tale story came crashing down at Nationals, as McGill was bounced in two games. Despite the disappointing end to the season, the team will retain much o f this year’s core, and can be expected to challenge for a Nationals berth in the upcoming season.

MVP: Francis Verreault-Paul Players to Watch: Alexandre Picard-Hooper, Andrew Wright

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The Redmen volleyball team

Craig Norman era has come to an end.

The recent decision by athletics director Drew Love to pass on rehiring Norman after yet another early postseason exit is

has flown so far under the radar

without question the team’s biggest story

for so many years that it would be easy to overlook the team’s steady improvement over the course of

this year, and makes the basketball Red­ men one of the most intriguing squads to follow next season.

the season. Despite lacking size or superior athleticism, Head Coach Simon Berleur has done

McGill finished a respectable 8-8 in regular season play, but their lack of play­ off experience and inconsistent offence

a commendable job at building a program that increases in confi­ dence and competitiveness every year. While the Redmen finished with just three wins on thé sea­

were exposed early and often in the Que­ bec quarterfinals against Laval. The team’s success more or less correlated to the play of second team all-Canadian and confer­ ence Player o f the Year Matt Thornhill, a

son, the players exhibited cama­

six-foot-four guard who began to realize

raderie, heart, and even some flashes of brilliance at times.

Sophomore libero Jeff Por­

his enormous potential this year. Thorn­ hill averaged 18 points and five rebounds for the Redmen, and along with fellow

ter stepped into a starting role this year and excelled, taking home Quebec Libero o f the Year honours and becoming the first Redmen volleyball player to receive a major award in program history. Matt Mosseler was the team’s most consistent offensive threat, and earned a spot on the conference’s second team alongside Porter.

Playing in the ultra-competitive QSSF, the Redmen will continue to struggle to

senior Pawel Herra, helped make McGill the third most accurate team in the country from long range.

The Redmen struggled with inconsistency all year—appearing unbeatable one game, and downright terrible the next—and their lack of size in the paint proved a serious defensive con­ cern. Rumours of former Atlantic University Sport MVP Leo Saintil joining the team in the second semester never materialized, and the Redmen were forced to live and die by the threepoint shot. Although Norman wasn’t able to recruit a true post player last summer, he leaves McGill with a stellar young core: point guard Olivier Bouchard was Quebec’s Rookie of the

win games until they add some significant size to their lineup—six-foot-six power-

Year, and was joined by 6-foot-7 forward Nic Langley on the conference all-rookie team. Much

hitter Yannick Pirali played a semester for the team while on exchange from Belgium and proved what a difference-maker height can be. The Redmen will miss the talent and leadership of departing seniors Mosseler, Ed O’Dwyer, and Thomas Fabian, but are only one strong recruiting class away from respectability.

will depend on McGill’s head coach selection, but the Redmen have a range of young, talented players who are capable of making the program relevant on a national level.

MVP: Jeff Porter Players to Watch: Jeff Porter, Pierre-Yves Brennan

MVP: Matt Thornhill Players to Watch: Nic Langley, Olivier Bouchard

PAID ADVERTISEMENT BY SSMU 7 APRIL 2010 «24

STATE OF THE UNION

_____

STUDENT GOVERNMENT NOW

STUDENTS’ SOCIETY OF MCGILL UN IVERSITY R EV IEW External Affairs

IVAN NEILSON President

Lobbying Merely a concept since 2007, the ‘Table de concertation étudiante du Québec’ (TaCEQ) has now established itself on the Provincial scene and SSM U is proudly one o f its found­ ing members. Dedicated to bringing a fresh new perspective to lobbying, TaCEQ is inves­ tigating innovative solutions for the Univer­ sity underfunding crisis. Along with the other member associations, SSM U has been instru­ mental in the writing o f the Bylaws and proce­ dures for the newly formed organization.

The 2009-2010 academic year is rapidly approaching its conclusion. Simultaneously, the mandate of the current SSM U Executive team is also coming to an end. It has been a dynamic and exciting year to say the least. The Society has experienced tremendous growth, and we are in an excellent position to continue this success into future years.

On the institutional level, we are incred­ ibly stable. This is something SSM U has not enjoyed for some time, and the Executive team is doing everything to take advantage. Just six short years ago, SSM U was on the verge of fi­ nancial ruin. However, several years o f sound management have led us to new heights. What follows are a few areas where SSM U has made, and will continue to make, significant progress.

Community Affairs Under the capable leadership o f the VicePresident (External), the Students’ Society has finally decided to address relations with the Milton-Parc community head-on. SSM U is currently developing the Community Action Relations Endeavour (CARE) which consists of a series of yearly commitments by the com­ munity, the University, and SSMU.

Governance (SSMU) This year, all Executives have endeav-

Student Life

I.R.C. C.A.R.E.

...all Executives have endeavored to reaffirm the Society’s central mission.

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Milton-Parc relations initiative - C.A.R.E. SSMU Council ored to reaffirm the Society’s central mission through improved governing documents. We have worked to bring SSM U ’s Bylaws and Policies up to date and simplify them. We have also been working to centralize our policies and improve our policy process. In particular, considerable effort has been put into remodel­ ing and clarifying our Equity Policy to ensure fair treatment for all members. In addition, I have been working to improve the Commit­ tee structure o f SSM U Council and encourage student-at-large participation.

Governance (McGill)

tion to proposed changes to the regulations on sabbatic leaves. Because sabbaticals allow Professors to stay on top o f their research, and are an important tool for both recruitment and retention, we voted to maintain competitive compensation SSM U worked diligently with Professors and various student groups in order to craft a Research Policy all members o f the McGill community could be proud of. The unprec­ edented level of debate about the new Policy sparked discussion about the role o f social re­ sponsibility in the research conducted at the University.

Sustainable Projects Fund SSM U has been clearly mandated to pur­ sue initiatives that promote sustainability with­ in the Shatner building and across the campus.

This past fall, students diligently campaigned for the creation of the Sustainable Projects Fund. Keeping with the spirit o f community action, all student funds will be matched by McGill and projects will be selected by a par­ ity committee of students and McGill Faculty.

This fund will target large scale projects with the intention o f changing attitudes and behav­ iors to breed further sustainable change.

Events SSM U has worked to reach out to stu­ dents more than ever this year. Activities Night brought in almost 4,000 students, a record tum-out. The Executives have held several events to increase discussion between students and Executives. Students have been thrilled about the sold-out year-end Girl Talk concert.

Resources

General Assembly Opt-In Ethics The role o f students in M cG ill’s gover­ nance structures is as necessary as ever. The start o f this year featured a united McGill com­ munity against projet de loi 38. The future of this legislation is still unclear, but it is obvious that M cGill's Board and other interest groups (PGSS, MAUT, MUNASA, MUNACA) were able to convey their objections to the Bill.

Senate Successful partnerships with these groups have yielded positive outcomes in other areas.

SSM U stood with our Professors in opposi­

Student Affairs Throughout the H1N1 pandemic plan­ ning process, SSM U representatives priori­ tized flexibility for students who might be­ come ill during the semester. This ultimately manifested itself with a self-reporting system that would temporarily excuse students from academic commitments. Additionally, student representatives have been pushing Student Services to prioritize Health Services so Med­ ical Notes are more accessible to students who need them

Sustainability

SSMU Programs In 2009, the Students’ Society adopted the Five-Year Plan for Sustainability. Signifi­ cant progress has already been achieved. This year’s Council already made steps toward eliminating Styrofoam and red-listed fish from the Shatner Cafeteria and other food service outlets. Additionally, the bottled water ban is in the final stages o f implementation. In col­ laboration with the Sierra Youth Coalition, SSM U has funded research in the areas of food sourcing [McGill Food Systems Project], industrial composting [Gorilla Composting], and an Organic Storefront [Organic Campus],

Girl Talk gets sweaty.

SSM U has increased funding for clubs and other student groups to over $250,000, a record this Executive is proud to hold. Small changes, like moving room bookings and table bookings online, have decreased the bu­ reaucratic hurdles of working with the SSMU. SSM U also invested over $20,000 on new club computers.

PAID ADVERTISEMENT BY SSMU 7 APRIL 2010 • 25

STATE OF THE UNION

EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

UNIVERSITY AFFAIRS

External Affairs this year T h e t h r e a t o f tu itio n h ik e s lo o m s la r g e

SEBASTIAN RONDEROS-MORGAN V P External A ffairs

Among the many challenges and projects that SSM U has confronted this year in the Ex­ ternal realm, none has been more consequen­ tial than the impending threat of tuition hikes.

Not only will tuition hikes exponentially in­ crease student debt and further undermine the accessibility of a postsecondary education to lower-income students, but more fundamen­ tally they will empower governments to fur­ ther reduce funding to our publicly-funded universities. The trend has been empirically proven: since the 80s, government contribu­ tion to universities has decreased dramatically in relation to student contributions, as tuition rates have increased.

The challenge ahead for students at McGill, in Quebec and in Canada will be to take a leading role in proposing alternative solutions to university underfunding without both undermining equitability of access or sig­ nificantly indebting our future workforce!

TaCEQ

Mobilizing: Some highlights To kick off the academic year, SSM U worked in concert with its external representa­ tion - the TaCEQ, the A SSE and other unions in the postsecondary education sector - to com­ bat the proposed provincial Bills 38 & 44 on university governance. If passed, these Bills would have seen uniform regulations applied to the Boards of every university and CEGEP in Quebec, rolling back both local autonomy and the number o f internal (read: emanating from within the university/CEGEP commu­ nity) representatives who would sit on the in­ stitution’s highest decision making body.

In October, SSM U sponsored buses for McGill students to attend the Fill the Hill rally in Ottawa, calling on the federal Conserva­ tives to fully address climate change. Around 60 McGill students participated in an event at­ tended by approximately 1000 in Ottawa and hundreds o f thousands world-wide.

The Mobilization committee was cre­ ated as a subcommittee of the External Affairs committee in January 2010. This committee organized a small rally on February 17th, in solidarity with many others across Quebec, to decry the Minister o f Education’s announced intention to pursue “significant” tuition in­ creases by 2012. The committee also partici­ pated in the large demonstraton on April 1st against tuition hikes.

Community Affairs SSM U has made large strides on the com­ munity affairs front this year.

The most important part of the External Affairs portfolio this year has been the devel­ opment o f TaCEQ. This acronym stands for Table de concertation étudiante du Quebec, and roughly translates to Quebec Student Roundtable, in English. TaCEQ was formally founded in late April 2009, a month before the mandate of the current SSM U executive began.

Since exiting the Federation Etudiante Universitaire du Quebec (FEUQ) in 2006, SSM U, and thus all McGill undergraduates, had been without external representation on the provincial level. Functioning as a coali­ tion of student associations, TaCEQ has an innovative and refreshing power structure. Its bylaws stress respect for local associations (like SSM U ), consensus decision-making, re­ strained executive power and easy entry and easy exit.

The TaCEQ provides the following ben­ efits to McGill undergraduates, among others: i) Enhanced lobbying capacity vis-àvis the provincial government given the sim­ ple notion o f strength in numbers. Currently it is composed of four student associations rep­ resenting around 65,000 students in Quebec. ii) Strengthened research capacity to investigate challenges, financial and other­ wise, facing students. iii) Greater coordination and solidarity o f initiatives amongst students and their rep­ resentative associations all across Quebec. iv) Improved access to thé halls of power in Quebec City.

The TaCEQ must now seek to assert it­ self on the provincial scene, while building its connection and responsiveness to its base: the students it represents.

Throughout the months of Frosh plan­ ning, SSM U maintained regular contact with the representatives from the Milton-Parc Citi­ zens Committee in order to tackle the peren­ nial problems that Frosh festivities bring unto the neighbourhood. As the academic year revved up, SSM U prioritized promoting in­ clusive events in the Milton-Parc community that would draw both permanent residents and students. To date, SSM U has successfully pro­ duced two novel events which have provided a venue for students and permanent residents to meet and share: the Holiday Fair and Café Conversations.

Both in response to a Frosh postmor­ tem and the general increased momentum of SSMU-Milton-Parc relations, the SSM U VP External and Helene Brisson, a member of the Milton-Parc Citizens Committee (MPCC), sat down in October with the goal of creat­ ing a framework for community relations and engagement involving SSM U, the MPCC and McGill University. After months of hard work, the result is the Community Action and Relations Endeavour (CARE). The CARE is a unique model that commits the three main stakeholders to regular institutional relations, community-focused and community-sensitive event planning and open communication.

From January to March 2010, approximate­ ly 15 consultations took place with various stakeholders to further strengthen the sub­ stance o f the Endeavour. By the end of the ac­ ademic year, the goal is to have implemented a new framework and resource for constructive community engagement, endorsed by all three aforementioned stakeholders.

The U ndergraduate at McGill D w indling stu d en t in v olv em en t a t a “B ig 5 ” sch ool?

REBECCA DOOLEY V P University A ffairs

Earlier this academic year, McGill Prin­ cipal Heather Monroe-Blum came under fire for being implicated in what the post-second­ ary education Twitter nerds called “The Big 5 Controversy”. The commotion started when Maclean’s magazine reported that Canada’s top 5 research Universities—University of Toronto, University of British Columbia, Université de Montréal, M cGill University and University of Alberta—were calling for a break from the “one-size-fits-all” model o f higher education in Canada. The “Big 5”, Maclean’s reported, was demanding a reorga­ nization o f Canada’s postsecondary schools into graduate research institutions and under­ graduate institutions. Increased investment in research institutions to support the production of internationally competitive research would result in the drastic reduction or elimination of undergraduate programs at the “B ig 5”. Un­ surprisingly, this report sparked widespread debate and quite the backlash from Canada’s less research-intensive Universities.

While Principal Monroe-Blum quickly denied the validity o f the Maclean’s report and the existence of the “Big 5” collabora­ tion, it does not disregard the reality of this shift or the legitimacy of the debate. Should we be concerned? Naturally, news like this doesn’t thrill undergraduate students, adding one ingredient to the mess o f uncertainty sur­ rounding undergraduate education at McGill.

At the risk of this turning into an angst ridden metaphysical discussion about coming of age in a post-modern society, it’s time to pose the question—“what does it mean to be an under­ graduate M cGill?”

McGill is a research intensive institution.

Research drives the University’s budget and priorities. If, as the Maclean report suggests, undergrads don’t have a significant role in the research side o f the University, what are we?

Are we future researchers, critical contribu­ tors to society, and important partners in the academic mission o f this University? Or, are we a liability, a money source, an annoying outspoken group, or a drain on resources? As an undergraduate student representative I am constantly asking myself these questions, and with a year’s worth of experience in Univer­ sity governance I can say that, in practice, no one approach is seen 100% o f the time.

Reading M cG ill’s mission statement, our priorities o f research intensity, student centeredness, and providing a competitive high quality education are not meant to be mutually exclusive. Our participation in the academic mission o f the University is linked to our role in the University community on a whole. The ideal is to create a structure within which Faculty research is consistently applied as a tool for learning and undergraduate students learn from their exposure to a vibrant Univer­ sity community. Data from the 2009 National Survey o f Student Engagement, which bench­ marks survey responses from McGill against responses from dozens of other like institu­ tions in North America, suggests that McGill isn’t successfully integrating research and teaching across programs. McGill students rate professor interaction poorly in compari­ son to other institutions, along with the re­ ceipt of meaningful feedback on coursework and access to research opportunities. Debates over the last few years also demonstrate in­ consistency in how students are expected to participate in the McGill community. Use of the “M cGill” name, access to space on cam­ pus, and security presence at student events can leave undergrads feeling ostracized and, at times, unwelcome.

The impact that underfunding has on M cG ill’s undergraduate education is not a fac­ tor to be ignored. An undergraduate degree at a public research-intensive institution is a different experience than at a private less re­ search-intensive school. The budget priorities are limited and resources scarce. Any sources of potential funding are sought out and lu­ crative areas of the academic mission are expanded. McGill is interested in increasing the graduate student population to create a 2:1 undergraduate to graduate student ratio. The University is also prioritizing investments in competitive research areas, like genomics. Pri­ orities for improving undergraduate education do not go unacknowledged, but they definitely take a back seat in the hierarchy of pressing projects. Our learning does not make the Uni­ versity a steady stream of money; neither do our extracurricular activities. When it comes to any under­ graduate services outside o f academ­ ics, like everything in the Brown Build­ ing, we’re expected to fund all o f them ourselves. This is likely why, in 2012, undergrads will see increases in their tu­ ition fees.

Whatever the economic future holds, the time has come for an inten­ sive review o f the undergraduate experience at McGill. On the academic side, McGill has the opportunity to occupy a middle space. McGill should strive to be an institution where undergraduates are exposed to research and engage with it through learning. Integrating undergraduates further into research activities may also lend to culture changes in other areas—although protests may still be discouraged.

PAID ADVERTISEMENT BY SSMU 7 APRIL 2010 * 2 6

STATE OF THE UNION

INTERNAL, CLUBS & SERVICES

Student Life FROSH, G IRL TALK, FUNDS ALEX BROWN & SARAH OLLE V P Intenal and V P Clubs and Services

The SSM U is dedicated to providing diverse events and supporting clubs and services. These essential functions ensure a vibrant student life at McGill. Students have consistently expressed to SSM U how important these functions are to a positive undergraduate experience. Accordingly at SSM U , we do our best to offer the best events and club support we can.

Events SSM U has been making steady progress in improving its contribution to student life. This year, new events were mixed with tried and true events to create a varied programming for our diverse students.

August kicked off with Faculty and SSM U Frosh, which brought over 2500 people to meet each other, get to know Montreal, and have a great time. Next year’s team will

enhance Frosh by adding more orientation elements while still maintaining a high level of fun for all attendees. Fall Activities Night had the highest attendance o f any SSM U event this year, bringing nearly 4,000 students into the Shatner Building to find out about more about our over 200 clubs. 4Floors, the annual Halloween party o f SSM U , packed the Shatner Building with costume-clad students. For the-first time, SSM U brought you a year-end concert - Girltalk! It was a crazy, sweaty, awesome time. W e’ve also filled out our event calendar with smaller events like Iron Chef. Movies in the Park, and Culture Shock. Lastly SSM U is bringing you Salman Rushdie this Friday, April 9th, at 6:30 pm in Leacock 132.

SSM U. SSM U was also able to move the vast majority o f club forms online for easier use and reduced waste. SSM U gave clubs and other groups more money than ever.

This year, SSM U created the Ambassador Fund, which has been the most popular fund and was the first fund to be exhausted this winter after allocating nearly $18,000 in its first semester. The SSM U also was able to increase the Club Fund to $75,000 this year to help clubs thrive on McGill campus.

Services have also received increased funding, which has lead to improved services and new initiatives. Overall SSM U has allocated over $500,000 to clubs and services this year. This had lead to new service initiatives, like Drivesafe’s First Responder training, and new club events across the board.

Clubs and Services More resources are being offered to clubs to improve their events. SSM U joined the 21st century by putting room bookings and table bookings online. Rooms are consistently booked from 4 pm on every day by various clubs and groups under

Communications

increasingly finding out about clubs and events from the SSM U website. The event calendar continues to provide the most comprehensive listing o f events on campus.

SSM U also continues to put out a comprehensive agenda, with a circulation o f 8,000 copies available in August and September. This agenda provides invaluable information on how to live cheaply, where to go if you lose your student ID, what the best bars in Montreal are, and more! Lastly Old M cGill, SSM U ’s yearbook for over 100 years, has achieved record sales. Copies, featuring great photos o f campus events and this year’s graduates, will also be available at convocation.

It has been a great year for student life at M cGill. We are excited for the years to come!

The SSM U has expanded and improved its communications to students this year. The website (ssmu.mcgill.ca) continues to grow as a source for information on clubs, events, and more. New and returning students are

FINANCE & OPERATIONS

Back in (the) Black Student b a r m akes m oney V P Finance and Operations

On November 7th, 1974, the Students’ Society opened its first pub. It was named “Gert’s” in honor o f the queer poet Gertrude Stein and it was quite a hit. Initially, the establishment ran three days a week, Thursday - Saturday, and offered ridiculous happy hour prices, such as two beers for $0.75. However, almost a year after its opening, the pub closed when the Quebec Liquor Corporation changed the rules for alcohol permits, which forced student pubs around the province to shut down.

Gerts reopened in March 1976, after Gay M cGill managed to pull some strings in the QLC. From then on, total sales increased from $10,505 in 1977, until they peaked in 1982 at $435,651, when the pub was also a pizzeria and a café. After 1982, sales began to decrease.

It is rumoured that the once much frequented campus pub fell into oblivion after the shocking managerial decision o f increasing prices, some as much as threefold, to cut the deficit. Scared patrons away en masse. From then on, the SSM U has struggled to make the bar appealing to students and keep its deficit under control... until this year, that is.

The draft selection had also been increased to eleven different products, including an import and cider. In turn, draft beer sales have increased 36% compared to last year, or $45,000 in total to date. A month later, the bar began selling food at night and two new professional size pool tables became operational. These endeavours have brought in additional revenues o f ,$20,000 and $3,000 respectively.

When the Society reviewed the pub’s books for the month o f January, 2010, the numbers were surprising. The bar was in the black for the first time. If there was any doubt on whether this could be sustained, they had all been dispelled by now. What could have been the determinant factor in such a positive change?

The bar has experienced several major improvements this year and students have responded favourably to them. When the bar opened its doors in September 2009, minor aesthetic changes had taken place.

In addition to innovative revenue generating ideas, the bar has made a significant investment in student events in the bar. The bar opened its doors this year with an investment o f over $5,000 in promotional material, including faculty handbook ads and free beer for thousands of students during faculty Frosh events. Besides that, we have offered students groups $6,000 through the Gert’s Life Fund to help subsidize events in the bar, which have kept the calendar jam-packed with bookings.

As o f the end o f March 2010, bar

revenues had increased 38% vs. last year’s, an increase o f over $60,000. In 2010, weekly sales have been consistently exceeding $ 10,000 - what used to be gross monthly sales in past years; March alone generated $55,000 in sales. In order to address the new business needs and the surge in the bar’s popularity, the SSM U sought student input through the Great Gert’s Reno Challenge.

Renovations should occur in the summer o f 20 11, making the bar a more inviting space for its patrons.

The success the bar is experiencing should continue over the upcoming years.

With a more stable budget and increased turnout, Gert’s will be able to provide more services and entertainment to students. The SSM U will continue to work hard to run a pub that our students, our community, and maybe even Gertrude Stein, will not only be proud of, but will want to take part in as well.

PAID ADVERTISEMENT BY SSMU 7 APRIL 2010 * 2 7

STA TE O F T H E UNION

S T U D E N T G O V E R N M EN T I N T H E P A S T

lo o Y e a rs o f S S M U ERIC VAN EYKEN Contributor

The SSM U was founded in 102 years ago, in 1908. It was housed in what is now the McCord Museum. The Daily was the SSM U ’s first and only publication until 1980. Female students were first admitted in 1931. In 1963 the Post-Graduates Student Society was sub­ sumed under the SSM U because it was finan­ cially unstable. The Quebec student move­ ment began in 1964-1965 with the creation of the Union Générale des Étudiants du Québec (UGÉQ), which McGill joined in 1967. The University Centre on McTavish Street opened in 1965. In 1969, students staged various pro­ tests and occupations in order to gain seats on University Senate and Board o f Governors and ultimately succeeded. SSM U was incor­ porated in 1973 as a legally independent entity from McGill University. SSM U Security was introduced in 1973-1974 when SSM U council restricted the SSM U executive from calling in Montreal police to arrest anti-zionist protest­ ers

1980s The Daily became independent from SSM U in 1980. In almost yearly referendums, the Daily failed to motivate students to in­ crease its student fees. When such referenda did pass, enterprising students used the SSM U judicial board to invalidate them on techni­ calities. Daily pleas to the McGill Senate fell on deaf ears.

The SSM U started the Tribune in 1981 to continue having a SSM U newspaper and to ensure student life was covered..

Gerts, located on the 1st floor in what is now Café Supreme, was busy, though losing money. Following a series o f fights and coat thievery, Gerts instituted a full time coatcheck policy to limit weapons in 1989. In 1982, SSM U opened up “The Alley” (Gerts II), which was a more sophisticated jazz bar with wood paneling and plush carpeting, in the basement.

In 1982-1983, SSM U signed contracts with the LSA, MUS, ASUS and EdUS where­ by those societies hired SSM U to take care o f managing their cafeterias. These contracts meant that SSM U was running food services in the Union building, Redpath, and in faculty locations across campus. Food service man­ agement took up so much o f Council’s time that in 1984, a resolution was passed to bar Council from discussing food prices or quality in order to make room for other topics.

In 1985, Senate finally recognized SSM U ’s right to elect each other to commit­ tees. Formerly the administration decided which students sat on which committee.

The General Assembly was allegedly first held in the winter o f 1988. Quorum was first reached when 500 students attend a GA in 1990 on whether to strike in protest of pending tuition increase.

The Fédération Étudiante du Québec (FEQ) (later FEEQ and eventually FEUQ) was formed at McGill on Saturday Febru­ ary 25th 1989 by McGill Sherbrooke, UdM, Laval, UQAR and Polytechnique. Its first policy was adopted from the SSM U policy on loans and bursaries with the additional request that 25% o f a student’s debt be forgiven if a student graduates on time.

1990s In 1991, the McGill Sexual Assault Cen­

tre, later renamed the Sexual Assault Centre of the McGill Student Society (SACOM SS) was established.. In its early stages, the Centre was divided as to whether they should focus on survivor services or political lobbying efforts.

The McGill Women’s Union created a walk safe service to assist students in getting home safely after late nights studying on cam­ pus. Walksafe became a service in 1992.

McGill First Aid Service, TV McGill and Drivesafe were all founded between 1997 and 1999.

A 1998-1999 security and safety audit finds that the Shatner building was not up to code. This necessitated an estimated 2.5 mil­ lion dollars of renovations. The audit forced campus groups to cancel activities. Sprinklers and smoke shields were installed. Cosmetical­ ly the student lounge and meeting rooms on the basement and on the 4th floor were built.

The McGill Student Fund was passed for 1999 at $38/semester. It replaces the previous library fund and allocates 14$ to the librar­ ies and $12 each to bursaries and the Shatner renovations.

In 1992-1993, SSM U officially adopted its long standing position to not pass council motions on external political issues that are extremely divisive. The official policy reflects concerns over the Palestinian question.

In 1993 SSM U decided to officially rec­ ognize clubs of a political or religious nature.

This doubled the number of recognized clubs on campus. Some councillors expressed con­ cern over funding all these new groups.

Annual protest actions are started in the early 90s against a blood drive policy than bans the collection of blood from homosexual men. In the fall of 1996, controversy again visits SSM U when President Carter, the first openly gay SSM U president, attempted to give blood, resulting in the CRC canceling the blood drive for fear that other gay students would secretly give blood.

The number o f election posters for the 1997-1998 SSM U executive campaign were so high (up to 8000 in some cases) that they led to the imposition of a limit of 1000 posters per candidate.

SSM U is re-incorporated in 1992-1994 as part of a requirement o f LOA negotiations.

SSM U VP Finance 1991-1992 Lev Bukhman proposed that SSM U set up a medi­ care plan for students. 75% o f students voted in favor of the idea. A few years latter, Lev founded ASEQ and SSM U becomes its first client. The dental portion o f the plan is added in the fall o f 1996.

M TY Tiki-Ming signed an agreement in 1999 to be the Shatner food supplier and in­ vested $650 000 into renovating the Shatner 2nd flood cafeteria.

SSM U convinced Peel Pub to manage Gerts bar and invest $150 000 into renovat­ ing it. The pink walls and steel cages were replaced by hardwood floors and a oak and mahogany bar. Like most other food and bev­ erage managers that SSM U contracted with, Peel Pub leaves the contract early finding it impossible to make money.

The cola wars hit McGill in 1999-2000.

Despite McGill and SSM U allegedly agree­ ing to equally sharing 10 million dollars from Coke, the PGSS, C FS, and other campus ele­ ments campaign against the effort. Eventually 56.4% o f students vote against the proposal.

A few years latter McGill signs an agreement anyways, and Pepsi and SSM U sign their own agreement.

SSM U successfully worked in Senate

during 1996-1997 to create a revised holy day policy that accommodated non-christian stu­ dents.

When PQ Education Minister Pauline Marois threatens to increase tuition in 1996, a SSM U GA saw over 800 people voting in favor o f a strike action and joining the efforts of students across the province. After massive FEUQ led mobilizations and demonstrations, the PQ government abandoned the policy but decided to increase out of province tuition to the Canadian average and match international tuition rates to Ontario’s.

First student senators -1969 The 2000s Midnight Kitchen and Organic Campus are started in 2002. Midnight Kitchen later re­ ceives a student levy to support its operation and is guaranteed access to the newly reno­ vated kitchen on the 3rd floor. Organic Cam­ pus moves from delivering weekly bundles o f organic produce to selling organic produce and prepared food three days a week. The Bike Collective was opened in 2008 to pro­ vide workshops and hands-on instruction on repairing and upgrading bicycles.

In 2005, McGill reclaimed the Muslim Student Association’s space in the basement of Peterson Hall in order to build an archae­ ology lab. The SSM U eventually stepped in and provided M SA with a space in the base­ ment for prayer. MSA’s case against McGill with the Quebec Human Rights Commission is still pending.

In 2008, SSM U Council voted to move the Tribune towards independence from SSM U in order to attain total editorial and financial autonomy. This passes in the 2010 Winter referendum.

In the winter of 2000, the McGill carnival tradition is revitalized with the establishment o f SnowAP. After a decade o f fun in the snow, Snow AP is has its final bash in 2009. Mount­ ing costs for security charges and heating were resulting in annual losses o f $15 000.

A radical splinter group o f Queer McGill, the Second Cumming, disrupted a 2005 blood drive and Héma-Québec left mid-drive due to fears about students lying on the question­ naire. SSM U later banned blood collection in Shatner for constitutional reasons. A student initiated referendum saw student vote 68.5% for reinstatement of blood drives but a spe­ cially appointed J-Board affirmed 2:1 that SSM U ’s Constitution does indeed prohibit blood drives.

A SSM U report finds that there is a need for daycare spots for undergraduate students.

The groundwork is set for a SSM U Daycare that finally opens in 2002. In 2008, SSMU also opens a nursery for children under 18 months.

The Campus Life Fund was created for 2001-2002 at $3.00/semester to support club activities and club teams. Underfunding of SSM U services lead to an era o f supplementa­ ry direct services funding. A “referral services fee” was charged starting in 2006 for Nightline, Queer McGill and the UGE. In 2007, this was joined by fees for the Midnight Kitchen and the McGill Tribune.

SSM U and other campus groups begin to lose direct oversight o f cafeterias on campus in 2000. McGill aims to centralize all cafete­ rias under Food and Dining Services. In 2007, following the departure o f University Bytes from its room 103 location in Shatner, SSM U considered using the space to open a student run food service. Despite this interest, at a closed meeting o f SSM U Council in 2007, it

was decided to lease the space to a new tenant - Liquid Nutrition.

In 2006 LOA negotiations, SSM U re­ nounced its potential share o f bookstore prof­ its in exchange for a direct payment of 1.875 million dollars, which SSM U invested. One year following the settlement SSM U acquired the Montreal location of Haven Books as a new operation. The operation replaced various efforts o f past years to run used book drives.

Early years of operation saw it operating at loses in the tens o f thousands. It was closed in 2010.

Beginning in 2006, the General Assem­ bly is reformed several times. Quorum is lowered to ensure it can be met, then raised to ensure the body is democratic and reflective of all students. It is moved from being ad hoc to once per semester. Many GAs fail to reach quorum, yet GAs with controversial motions, usually regarding Israel/Palestine, attract over 600 students in 2009 and 2010.

FEUQ revokes its sovereignty mandate in May of 2001. In the winter of 2002, SSMU re-joins la FEUQ. In 2004-2005, the Liberal Charest government cut $103 million from bursaries in the province o f Québec. This de­ cision set off the largest student protests in the province’s history. Members of the FEUQ, A SSÉ and CFS-Q take to the streets and en­ gage in ever increasing campaigns against the government action. The FEUQ negotiated a restoration o f $103 million worth o f bursa­ ries. Regardless dissatisfaction amongst vari­ ous student groups eventually lead to a period of disaffiliation’s from the FEUQ. McGill students also voted to have SSM U leave the FEUQ in the fall o f 2006.

A few weeks after leaving FEUQ, SSMU took out provisional membership with the CFS and attended a CFS national conference where they passed a motion to have CFS lobby Health Canada on the discriminatory blood drives questionnaire. SSM U also ended provi­ sional membership of CFS shortly after.

Finding no place in either FEUQ, ASSE, or CFS, SSM U Council officially adopts membership in the Table de Concertation in the winter o f 2009. This TaCEQ is comprised o f SSM U, CADEUL, REM DUS, and AELIES. Text fro m “100 Years o f SSMU", by E ric Van Eyken

FITNESS CLASSES S p r in g 2 0 1 0 C o u rs e Dance Belly Dancing - Intermediate Belly Dancing Latin Dance Social Dance Fitness & Wellness Hatha Yoga I Kick, Punch, Jive &Jam Pilâtes Power Yoga Power Yoga Spin Spin Sports Squash Tennis (All Levels)

Martial Arts Aikido Kickboxing • Savate Sfiaolin Tae Kwon Do Outdoor Pursuits Equestrian

M ay 3 - Ju n e 20 T im e D ay

W ks

W h e re

Monday Wednesday Monday Monday

18:00-18:55 18:00-18:55 18:00-18:55 19:00-20:25

23.92/37.31 23.92/37.31 23.92/37.31 31.90/45.18

6 6 6 6

Aerobics Room Spin Room Aerobics Room Aerobics Room

Monday &Wednesday

17:30-18:40

42.53/69.11

6

Combatives Room

Tuesday &Thursday Monday Wednesday Monday &Wednesday Tuesday &Thursday Tuesday &Thursday Tuesday &Thursday

17:30-18:25 18:00-19:25 18:00-19:25 17:00-17:55 17:30-18:25 08:00-08:55 17:00-17:55

33.66/50.71 23.92/37.21 23.92/37.21 33.66/60.25 33.66/60.25 37.21/63.79 37.21/63.79

6 6 6 6 6 6 6

Mind/Body Room Mind/Body Room Mind/Body Room Mind/Body Room The Studio Spin Room Spin Room

Tuesday Wednesday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Tuesday &Thursday Saturday Sunday

17:30-18:15 18:15-19:00 19:00-20:10 17:30-18:40 18:00-19:55 17:30-18:40 18:45-19:55 10:00-11:55 10:00-11:55

31.01/44.30

6

International Courts F&G

39.87/53.16 39.87/53.16 63.79/77.08 39.87/53.16 79.74/106.32 63:79/77:08 63:79/77:08

6 6 6 6 6 6 6

Tennis Courts Tennis Courts Tennis Courts Tennis Courts Tennis Courts Tennis Courts Tennis Courts

Tuesday & Friday Tuesday &Thursday Tuesday &Thursday Monday &Wednesday

18:00-20:00 17:00-20:00 18:00-19:25 19:00-20:30 19:00-20:30

53.16/79.74

6

Combatives Room

31.90/58.48 31.90/58.48 31.90/58.48

6 6 6

Spin Room Mind/Body Room Spin Room

Saturday Sunday

13:30-15:30 13:30-15:30

141.76/150.52 141.76/150.52

6 6

Equitation Elysee Equitation Elysee

6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6

Gym1&2 Spin Room Aerobics Room Aerobics Room Spin Room Fieldhouse/Outdoors Presbyterian College Presbyterian College Mind/Body Room Mind/Body Room Presbyterian College Aerobics Room Spin Room Presbyterian College Fieldhouse

Staff Fitness Monday &Wednesday 12:30-13:15 Badminton Monday &Friday 12:15-13:00 Belly Dancing 12:15-13:00 Tuesday &Thursday Body Design - Adv 13:00-13:45 Tuesday &Thursday Body Design - Intro 12:15-13:00 Tuesday &Thursday DanceAerobics Monday &Wednesday 13:00-13:45 Fitness Walking 13:00-13:45 Tuesday &Thursday Hatha Yoga I 12:00-12:45 Tuesday &Thursday Hatha Yoga II Monday &Wednesday 12:15-13:00 Pilâtes - Intro 12:15-13:00 Tuesday &Thursday Pilâtes - Advanced Monday &Wednesday 12:00-12:45 Power Yoga Lite Monday &Wednesday 12:15-13:00 Recess 13:00-13:45 Tuesday &Thursday Spin Monday &Wednesday 13:00-13:45 Tai Chi 12:30-13:15 Tuesday &Thursday Tennis Fitness & Wellness (Pay-as-You-Go) 18:00-18:55 Monday Spin 17:00-17:55 Monday Abs, Back & Bootie 18:00-18:55 Tuesday &Thursday Body Design Wednesday 17:00-17:55 Step 17:30-18:25 Wednesday Boot Camp, 17:00-17:55 Tuesday &Thursday Zumba 18:00-18:55 Power Yoga Thursday One on One by appointment Fitness Appraisal {Private) by appointment Personal Training (Private) by appointment Personal Training (Semi-Private) by appointment Squash (Private) by appointment Squash (Semi-Private) by appointment Swim(Private) by appointment Swim(Semi-Private) by appointment Tennis (Private) by appointment Tennis (Semi-Private) Sports - Summer Tennis (All Levels)

C ost

Monday Wednesday Tuesday &Thursday

18:00-19:10 18:00-19:55 18:00-19:25

2.22

Spin Room Aerobics Room Aerobics Room Spin Room Aerobics Room Aerobics Room Spin Room

44.30/48.73 44.30/48.73 58.47/67.33 26.57/31.00 35.44/44.30 17.72/22.15 23.92/32.78 26.57/31.00 35.44/44.30

1.25hrs 1hr 1hr 45min 45min 1/2hr 1/2hr 1hr 1hr

Lab Fitness Centre Fitness Centre Squash Courts Squash Courts Currie Memorial Pool Currie Memorial Pool Tennis Courts Tennis Courts

39.87/53.16 63.79/77.08 79.74/106.32

6 6 6

Tennis Courts Tennis Courts Tennis Courts6

M c G ill ATHLETICS & RECREATION 2010 SPRING SESSION O n -lin e registra tio n opens A p r il 1 9 , 2 0 1 0 Through the spring and summer months, McGill students must purchase a membership in order to gain access to the Sports Centre.

Special student rates are in effect for all those who were registered through the 2010 winter semester.

FU LL SPRING & SUMMER M EM BERSH IP

M c G ill stu d en ts $ 9 9 * * MAY SPECIAL FOR STUDENTS $34.55

**lncludes free access to PAY-AS-YOU-GO fitness classes through May & June Non-members registered in courses my use the facility only during their designated class times.

Most classes begin the week of May 3 and run through the week of June 7, 2010 Pay-As-You-Go classes begin May 3 and run until June 17, 2010 Classes w ill not be held May 24,2010 All prices listed do not include GST & QST

INFO: 5 1 4 -3 9 8 -7 0 0 0 or w w w .m cgill.ca/athletics