The McGill Tribune Vol. 29 Issue 6

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Vol. 29 Issue 6 • Tuesday, October 6. 2009

Faculty o f E ducation w elcom es D alai L am a to M cG ill ADAM SCOTTI Production Manager

Addressing a crowd of 500 education students and faculty in Pollack Hall, the Dalai Lama brought his message of religious toler­ ance and compassion for others to McGill this past Saturday.

After visits to Vancouver and Calgary, the 74-year-old exiled spiritual leader of Tibet chose Montreal as his third and final stop in Canada. McGill was first approached a year ago by the office of the Dalai Lama to host a talk between his Holiness and education stu­ dents from six French and English Quebec universities.

The Quebec Ministry of Education ’s con­ troversial introduction of a compulsory ethics and religions course sparked the Dalai Lam a’s interest in holding an event in Quebec. He ap­ plauded the province’s efforts to teach toler­ ance in a secular setting, saying that “compas­ sion, ethics and ecology should be a part of education.”

Throughout his speech, the Dalai Lama covered topics such as compassion, religious tolerance, and society’s obsession with money.

When Principal Heather Monroe-Blum asked a question on behalf of a Laval student on the definition of religion, the Dalai Lama re-

The Dalai Lama reaches in for a handshake following his address at the Bell Centre on Saturday.

ADAM SCOTTI

See DALAI LAMA on PAGE 3

Choose Life proceeds with controversial “Echos of the Holocaust” Jose Ruba speaks in Shatner STEVEN HOFFER News Editor

The students’ society pro-life club Choose Life hosted an unadvertized closed club event with controversial pro-life advocate Jose Ruba, co-founder of the Canadian Centre for Bio-ethical Reform, in the Shatner building’s Lev Buhkman Room last night. Because the SSMU executive was unaware of the event.

Ruba’s arrival brought on a degree of panic

as the executives discussed their course of ac­ tion.

This incident follows Choose Life’s deci­ sion to proceed with hosting Ruba’s pro-life presentation, “Echoes of the Holocaust,” de­ spite a SSMU council motion last Thursday censuring the advertised event. Today’s lec­ ture, which will present abortion parallel to the atrocities of the Holocaust, is scheduled to take place this evening from six to eight p.m. in Leacock 232.

According to Natalie Fohl, president and founder of Choose Life, yesterday’s program

was an “apologetic training event” which aimed to facilitate discussion among pro-life supporters and help them feel comfortable speaking about abortion. “ [Monday’s meeting was] a talk just for the pro-life students, giving them a little bit of the rationale for the pro-life position and why it makes good sense to be pro-life,” said Ruba in an interview wth the Tribune. “A lot of people think that what we are saying is offen­ sive and it’s true, but if abortion kills a human being then what is offensive is killing human beings. When we talk about abortion in the

context of these past genocides ... then it is common sense to say that this is just as bad as the Holocaust because we have actually killed more people with abortion than with these past genocides.”

Following yesterday’s incident, SSMU Vice-President Clubs and Services Sarah Olle explained the executive’s reasons fof~allowing M onday’s meeting to take place, despite Cou­ ch's censure. “We figured that what should apply here was what was decided by Council

See FOHL on PAGE 6

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CAMPUS

CASA and SSMU settle lawsuit over disputed membership fees SSMU pays $35,000 to CASA TORI CRAWFORD News Editor

The Canadian Alliance of Student Asso­ ciations and the Students’ Society have settled their lawsuit 27 months after the initial filing, with SSMU agreeing to pay $35,000 to the or­ ganization.

The Tribune learned of the settlement in an anonymous letter from someone claim­ ing to be a former SSMU councillor. SSMU President Ivan Neilson confirmed that the two groups reached an agreement this past May. After McGill undergraduates voted to disaffiliate from CASA in 2005, the Alliance filed a lawsuit against SSMU two years later for approximately $28,000 in unpaid member­ ship dues. For unpaid fees, CASA charges a three per cent interest rate every 15 days.

SSM U’s original offer to pay $8,000 was rejected. A court date was set for Decem­ ber 2008, although SSMU requested to have the suit pushed to the following May due to a change in legal representation. However, before the trial could resume, the two parties agreed to an out-of-court settlement.

“It was sort of a mediation between both groups, which resulted in a declaration of settlement out of court,” said CASA National Director Arati Sharma. “[SSMU] essentially offered us $35,000 to compensate for the money they owed plus lawyer fees, and we also dropped the interest payment for them.”

Neilson explained that although he is happy with the settlement, the current execu­ tive was not actively involved in the process. “[The settlement] wasn’t decided com­ pletely by this executive, it was mostly done by the previous executive during the transition month,” he said.

Neilson also explained that the nature of the agreement constrains the current executive from divulging specific details regarding the negotiation process and settlement.

“The executive would have liked to have more of [the settlement] be open to students, as this is something they knew about from last year, and something that was present on cam­ pus,” said Neilson. “But purely because of the agreement we signed, there’s not a whole lot that we can say about the agreement or how we feel about CASA as an organization.”

Since disaffiliating from CASA and sub­ sequently the Canadian Federation of Students, SSMU has chosen to focus on lobbying efforts at the provincial rather than national level.

“Ultimately the more consequential deci­ sions are made at the provincial le v e l... so our efforts are more fruitfully directed [there],” said SSMU Vice-President External Sebastian Ronderos-Morgan. "There's no near future

prospect for further [national] engagement. I can’t speak for further down the road but that’s the reality w e’re at right now and that’s fine.”

In November 2008, SSMU underwent a change in legal counsel, replacing long-time attorney John Feldman with Réna Kermasha.

In the anonymous letter received by the Tri­ bune, the sender claimed that Feldman had previously indicated to SSMU that they would have likely been able to win the case in a trial.

However, Neilson said that despite Feld­ man’s suggestions, SSMU’s new attorney Ker­ masha believed that it was in the best interest of the society to settle.

“When we consulted with [Kermasha] on any of the precedents and all the cases [Feld­ man] was citing, she demonstrated to us why those arguments were not valid and would not stand up in a court of law, so that’s ultimately why we had the recommendation to settle," said Neilson.

CAMPUS

CAMPUS

Students protest Bills 38 and 44

McGill implements new survey

Bills to change school structure

Aims to explore student diversity

MATTHEW CHAN Contributor

A large crowd of students, professors and staff took to Montreal’s streets last Thursday to protest Quebec Bills 38 and 44.

If passed, the two bills would consider­ ably change the composition of university and CEGEP boards of directors across the prov­ ince. While Bill 38 applies to universities, and Bill 44 to CEGEPs, both include sections that would require a minimum of 60 per cent of each institution’s board of directors to be “in­ dependent directors,” and only a minimum of 25 per cent to be “members of the university community.”

“Independent directors” are defined in the proposed bill as having no “direct or indirect relation or interest” with the school. The con­ troversial bills are currently being discussed in Quebec’s National Assembly.

The demonstration started at 12:30 p.m. at Place Émilie-Gamelin outside the BerriUQAM metro station, and made its way down St. Catherine St. The procession was escorted by police bikes as squad cars blocked off traf­ fic and brought up the rear.

The protest eventually led to 600 Fullum St., the location of the Quebec Ministry of Education, Recreation and Sports.

Those inside the building looked down from their windows on the crowd below as 15 police officers stood guard by the front-en­ trance. The protestors’ signs exclaimed slogan such as “The Courshesne Law: Schools for Sale.” Michelle Courchesne, the minister of education, recreation and sports, is spearhead­ ing Bills 38 and 44.

The Association for Student Union Soli­ darity (ASSÉ) was one of the organizers of last Thursday’s event. ASSÉ spokesperson Christian Pépin was optimistic about the ef­ fects of the demonstration, which was held on the final day of commissions into the investi­

gation before the two bills are passed.

“We think [Courchesne] won’t be able to ignore us like in the commissions,” said Pépin. “She will need to justify herself with no legitimate justification.”'

Also represented at the demonstration was the the National Federation of Teachers of Quebec (FNEEQ). Marie Blais, vice-president of FNEEQ, emphasized the need to continue working in order to reach the goals of Thurs­ day’s demonstration.

“We need to continue our struggle against the bills that could be implemented as early as November,” said Blais.

Sebastian Ronderos-Morgan, Students’ Society vice-president external, has been working hard to raise awareness and mobilize the McGill student community against the bills. Ronderos-Morgan called for students to get involved by informing themselves and others and by voicing their opinions through avenues such as SSMU’s external affairs com­ mittee and future demonstrations.

“We can see the power that McGill stu­ dents have if they really rally against the bills,” said Ronderos-Morgan. “We can push the issue in the McGill community by getting involved.”

Ronderos-Morgan quoted the famous ral­ lying slogan “Maîtres chez nous!” (Masters of our house) as he argued for a university or CEGEP’s right to choose its own board mem­ bers. “ [External members on a board of direc­ tors] aren’t connected, they’re not in touch with w hat’s going on the ground,” said Ron­ deros-Morgan.

Ronderos-Morgan is optimistic about a possible province-wide coalition composed of schools, students, educators, and other faculty members standing up against Bills 38 and 44.

“It is us standing in solidarity in arms with stakeholders across Quebec,” he said.

STEVEN HOFFER News Editor

This week, McGill administration will begin undertaking a survey on student diver­ sity. After a three-year development period and a pilot run last fall, the survey will touch on prominent student topics such socioeco­ nomic status, religious background, and gen­ der issues. The Tribune recently sat down with Morton Mendelson, deputy provost (student life and learning), fo r a roundtable discussion about the survey.

make McGill a comfortable place for students of a particular background.

On the availability of the data I want to make the information available.

I can’t promise you that the moment we have the data that we are going to hand it out to all the student groups. We are going to have to analyze it. At a minimum, we are going to make a detailed summary of the findings that are available. There is no question about that.

And we are going to then make a decision about the extent to which the data will become available. The idea is not to keep it a secret, the idea is to use it.

On helping students with disabilities On improving student services There is a range of questions that we are going to be asking and we may find out that we have a certain kind of diversity represent­ ed for which we do not have many services.

So we may see that there are students with a particular need that is not being met. That would be an issue that would then be raised in student services. Students themselves and stu­ dent services have a lot of input into the kinds of services that are offered, but this would be information that for example, the executive di­ rector of services for students or the commit­ tee on student services would be able to use this and say, ‘gee, there are a lot of students of such and such origin, or such and such a need and we don’t provide anything that may support them.’

On building a diverse community We may see that we are very underrepre­ sented in terms of particular group. We may, as a university, decide for another group, as we already have for aboriginal students, that this [is] a group that we should actually try to serve because of our responsibility to Quebec and Canada. And so then we have to think what are the steps that we have to take to recruit students from the communities, what kinds of services might we have to provide [them] to

I think the information that we get from this can, in fact, promote those [sensitivity] programs because we will have a better sense of the degree to which there are groups who otherwise might not be identified. We know how many men and women there are in the university, but we don’t know how many in­ dividuals have disabilities of one kind or an­ other. We know the students who come to the office for students with disabilities, but there are other students with disabilities who don’t avail [those disabilities] to those services so we don’t have access to that kind of informa­ tion. So I think that would support those kinds of programs.

On concerns with releasing the data Let’s say we find out that we are not as diverse as we think we are. Releasing that in­ formation may expose us to someone saying ‘Aha! I knew the University was a university for rich kids.’ But I think the fact that we are grappling with these issues, that we are try­ ing to understand these issues, that we are trying to address the issues that could be ad­ dressed is an indication of goodwill. I would rather do this survey and have the Univeristy understand itself than have someone from the outside doing some simple assessment o f what we are like and reporting that.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009 • 3

Curiosity Delivers

C ITY

Dalai Lama discusses religious tolerance with future educators Continued from COVER sponded that “religion means individualism,” and that individualism has a place in a greater religious community.

Martina Bols, a U4 education student, saw this insight as an important point for fu­ ture teachers who will face the challenge of balancing ethics education and secularism in the classroom.

“As individuals we have to exemplify compassion and understanding and in order to extend that to our students and to teach them about ethics and about how to make the world a better place,” said Bols.

While the talk focussed on the impor­ tance of teaching religious tolerance and mo­ rality to today’s youth, there was no mention of the ongoing political tension between the Dalai Lama’s exiled Tibetan government and the People’s Republic of China.

"The talk was about religion, ethics, and education,” said Mitchell Miller, U3 education and president of the Education Undergraduate Society. “There was no political agenda.”

Instead, the talk remained lighthearted and stimulating. When addressing the issues of marriage and divorce, the Dalai Lama empha­ sized the importance of inner peace and under­ standing in tough times, but finally conceded with a big smile on his face, “I am a monk, it is none of my business.”

McGill University’s Ombudsperson Spencer Boudreau, the event organizer, high­ lighted the Dalai Lam a’s visit as an enlighten­ ing experience for both students and faculty. “[We all] need a community, [we] need some spirituality, [we] need direction, [we] need guidance, [we] need discipline, and someone like his Holiness helps with that di­

ADAM SCOTTI

On a visit prompted by Quebec’s new course on ethics and religion, the Dalai Lama addressed the issue of individualism in religion. rection,” said Boudreau, who compared the at­ mosphere around the room before meeting the Dalai Lama to that of meeting a celebrity.

“You know you used to say ‘Elvis is in the building’—this was bigger than Elvis,” said Boudreau.

The Dalai Lama showed a keen interest in the crowd, taking out a visor to reflect the stage lights so he could better see the next generation of teachers in attendance. At the

end of the talk, Ophélie Lemieux, a University of Montreal education student, and Mitchell Miller thanked him on behalf of the students in attendance for his visit and inspirational words.

Both students had prepared to express their appreciation from the podium, but were instead motioned by the Dalai Lama to stand beside him while he held their arms and lis­ tened intently. He also presented Miller, Le­

mieux, and Munroe-Blum with khatags, Ti­ betan ceremonial scarves. “[It was] surprising for the most p a r t... to be invited next to him and have a physical con­ nection with him, it was really special,” said Miller. “No matter his age, he still has wisdom to share, [and he] should continue.”

The Dalai Lama will return to the United States before continuing the second part of his world tour in Oceania.

CAMPUS

McGill researchers receive highest total of CRC funding grants Recipients earn $17,600,000 MARIA FLORES Contributor

Nineteen McGill researchers received Canada Research Chair funding, the highest total of any Canadian university. In addition, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, an in­ dependent federal corporation, granted an ad­ ditional $750,000 to six of the Chairs to fund research infrastructure. In total, 181 Chairs were appointed in 45 Canadian universities.

“The Canada Research Chairs Program is designed to attract the best talent from Cana­ da and around the world,” said Trevor Lynn, manager of media and external relations of the CRCP, in an email to the Tribune. “There are currently 1,763 active Canada Research Chairs at 66 universities across Canada. O f these, 138 are based at McGill.”

This year, McGill received $17,600,000 in funding, the largest amount awarded among all eligible degree-granting institutions. This included nine Tier-1 Chairs, awarded to out­

standing senior researchers for a period of seven years, and 10 Tier-2 Chairs, for emerging researchers who have the potential to become leading figures in their field. Tier-1 Chairs re­ ceive $200,000 annually for a period o f seven years and Tier-2 Chairs receive $100,000, an amount tenable for five years.

“The CRCs program provides funding for individuals who are appointed Canada Re­ search Chairs that can be used for their salary, for their research expenses, to support gradu­ ate students and post-doctoral fellows,” said Dr. Eliot Phillipson, president and CEO for the CFI. The Canada Reseach Chair program was created in 2000 by the Government as an in­ vestment in science and technology. Follow­ ing nominations made by national granting councils, CRCs are awarded to researchers who meet the program’s high standards.

“There are only a certain number of Chairs that are available for which McGill needs to apply,” said Nathalie Foisset, associate direc­ tor in the Strategic University Research Fund­ ing Office. “We nominate candidates for those

Chairs, and every time we nominate a candi­ date it means that either they have certain po­ tential for becoming a star researcher or that they are already very senior researchers.”

M cGill’s 19 Chairs conduct research in various fields, from the science and engineer­ ing fields to the social sciences and humani­ ties. The re-allocation of the nominations re­ flects the changes in research success at every institution.

“Everytime we have a Chair award, of course it is very positive for McGill. It repre­ sents the quality of research,” said Foisset.

Chairs are also eligible for infrastructure support from the CFI. The CFI gives faculty members the opportunity to acquire research equipment in their field and to establish their own laboratory facilities. These opportunities are particularly important if the professors are first-time faculty members, and if the univer­ sity lacks the required infrastructure. “[CFI funding] assists McGill in recruit­ ing and establishing new faculty members who have an important research program,” said Phillipson, “It is up to the university to

decide if they should do an application for CFI funding on top of the CRC application.”

Phillipson explained that CFI funding is granted when the institution decides to further enhance their research capacity, which could also improve the framing of the institution’s education program.

“That is how the [CFI and CRC] became linked and it has been hugely successful be­ cause the university is recruiting new faculty members, and they can indicate that they will not only nominate them for the Chair, but the same application will apply for equipment and infrastructure,” said Phillipson, “So if in one process the individual is successful, then it is provided with salary support and funding for their research.”

Since its creation in 1997, the CFI has committed almost $5.2 billion in support of 6,353 projects. These projects were conducted at 130 research institutions across 65 Canadian municipalities.

mcgilltribune.com

4 • Tuesday, October 6, 2009

CAMPUS

Douglas Institute purchases two state-of-the-art brain scanners Funds come from KIP program EVE SWIRSKI Contributor

The Douglas Mental Health University Institute, an affiliate of McGill University, will soon be home to some of the most advanced equipment available in psychiatric research.

Thanks to a $20-million infrastructure grant from the federal and provincial govern­ ments through the Knowledge Infrastructure Program, the Douglas Institute was able to purchase two Tesla MRI machines, which are new state-of-the-art brain scanners.

The new technology will be housed in a new building scheduled to be completed in March 2011.

This will be only the second centre in Canada, and one of only a few in the world today. Most brain-imaging centres today are located in hospitals, not psychiatric institu­ tions.

Amir Raz, a professor of psychiatry, psychology, neurology, and neurosurgery at McGill, believes that more independent insti­ tutions should have access to advanced psy­ chiatric equipment.

“Hospitals have agendas. They set a par­ ticular tone, there’s a certain political stance to it,” said Raz. “It’s important to understand that usually an independent institute is better for science because the second it’s shackled to a particular hospital or a different regulating body sometimes it may interfere with some of the research dynamics.”

Each Tesla MRI costs around $4.5 mil­ lion, together adding up to almost half the money allotted for this project. One machine is designed for humans while the other is for small animals.

JULIA WEBSTER

The Douglas Mental Health University Institute awaits the arrival of two new Telsa MRI machines pending the completion of their new facility. Construction is set to end in March 2011.

The MRI to be used on humans will make scanning the very young, the elderly, and those in internal units much simpler, while the MRI for small animals, namely rodents, will be in­ strumental for research in an emerging field.

“We can develop animal models of dif­ ferent psychiatric disorders, like a mouse model of Alzheimer’s, and the idea is that you can look at the brains of these mice and see the change over time, try new drugs on these models, and the entire time the MRI allows you to see what is happening at the brain’s level,” said Dr. Martin Lepage, the director of the Brain Imaging Group at the Douglas In­ stitute.

Even though the two MRI scanners will be the “crown jewels” of the centre, other de­ vices located at the Institute are also important for the research and treatment of many psychi­ atric disorders and diseases.

One such example is transcranial mag­ netic stimulation, a recent technique which has proven to be exceptionally effective for treating major depression, obsessive compul­ sive disorder, and schizophrenia.

“Most people only see the MRIs but the centre has a whole umbrella of techniques that all have merits and drawbacks,” said Raz. “The benefit of having a centre is the ability to use converging methods, to triangulate and

use many techniques and methodologies to il­ luminate the answers better.”

Once the centre is up and running, Lepage hopes to focus on schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s, ADHD, eating disorders, and severe depres­ sion.

According to Raz, the new centre not only benefits the Douglas Institute, but McGill students as well.

“The implications [of this centre] will be on every level,” said Raz, “On an educational level students will get working experience and exposure ... [to] how this technology af­ fects basic research as well as clinical applica­ tions.”

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Health status of Canadians ranked tenth out of sixteen countries United States places last MATT ESSERT Contributor

In a recent report on general health, Cana­ da received a B grade for overall health perfor­ mance from the Conference Board of Canada.

The annual report ranked Canada tenth out of the 16 countries evaluated, placing Canada in the same position as last year.

The report evaluated the health status of Canadian citizens on the basis of several fac­ tors, including life expectancy and premature mortality, as well as more specific categories such as mortality due to respiratory diseases and mortality due to medical misadventures.

Canada scored relatively well in most of the 11 categories considered, including seven B ’s and one A for self-reported health status.

However, it was given three C ’s in the catego­ ries of mortality due to diabetes, mortality due to musculoskeletal system diseases (rheuma­ toid arthritis, osteoporosis, for example) and infant mortality. Canada did not receive a D

grade in any category.

Though Canada didn’t perform poorly, some wondered why the country did not have a higher rank relative to other countries. Dr. Pierre-Paul Tellier, director of Student Health Services at McGill University, was not sur­ prised by these findings.

“Certainly Canada is not at the top,” said Tellier. “If we look at things like pregnancy rate and abortion rates and STI rates, w e’re not really doing as well as some of the North­ ern European countries.”

“Part of it is a function of education. We don’t really start our health education in a sys­ tematic way earlier on in age. [Another] part is also related somewhat to our culture and the fact that we are next to a country that is huge and has a large impact on us that has notorious bad health.”

The United States received four D ’s and four C ’s with an overall rating of D, ranking it last of the sixteen countries examined. Tellier added that obesity rates and poor nutritional habits are clear signs of poor health, both of which are prevalent in the United States.

The Conference Board of Canada, a non­ profit organization that mainly researches economic trends, along with other Canadian public policy issues, conducted the study. Dr. Gabriela Prada, director of Health Innovation and Policy and Evaluation at the Conference Board, further explained some of the factors that led to Canada’s mediocre ranking.

“Canada’s peers have also made progress, which in many instances, has outpaced Cana­ d a’s progress. As a result, Canada has dropped from fifth place in 1990s to tenth place in this report card,” she said. “Top performing coun­ tries have focussed and made progress on addressing determinants of health and health promotion programs aiming to improve health behaviours.”

Prada admitted that Canada’s low grade for infant mortality is difficult to assess.

“It’s not clear. There might be reasons in­ cluding successful delivery of more pre-term babies and babies with very low birth weight, who have much higher chances of death.”

In order to improve Canada’s health per­ formance, Tellier stressed the importance of

preventative care, citing a current absence of it as a major problem.

“If you go into a drop-in clinic for care, you are not going to get preventive health, you’re not going to get continuous care,” he said. “Prevention is really w hat’s at the basis of getting to these kinds of problems.”

Prada stressed the need to increase pre­ ventative care and day-to-day health promo­ tion while also improving health information technology systems. “[They] are also important for under­ standing population health needs and assess­ ing the impacts of new policies and strategies.

But despite their importance, less than 20 per cent of Canada’s family physicians use elec­ tronic medical records.”

McGill Health Services is currently de­ veloping a website with information on nutri­ tion and exercise to promote healthier living within the McGill community.

Curiosity Delivers

Tuesday, October 6, 2009 • 5

CAM PUS

Residence cafeterias inaugurate monthly Local Food Day MacDonald supplies produce SEAN WOOD Contributor

For once, the dinner conversations at residence cafeterias have nothing to do with drunken escapades or miserable all-nighters.

Instead, everyone was talking about apples.

“This golden apple is boggling my mind,” said Kasra Sammak, U0 Arts, as he began to eat at New Residence Hall. “I don’t know what it is, it tastes good. I’ve yet to understand it.”

The apples were part of the first-ever Local Food Day at McGill last Wednesday, where most of the food served in residence cafeterias came from within Quebec.

The inaugural McGill Local Food Day featured a large selection of locally grown food served in residence cafeterias. The event was organized by the new McGill Food Sys­ tems Project, a collaboration between student environmental groups, McGill Food Services, and the McGill Office of Sustainability.

The event aimed to increase the sustain­ ability of the food process at McGill. The menu included chicken legs, natural beef, haddock, bison burgers, stir-fry with local vegetables, cheese, fresh bread, pizza, and crepes. “ [The organizers of MFSP] have been working for a long time to try and reconnect students with their food and trying to shorten the distance between farm and plate,” said Rose Karabush, U 1 international development studies, a volunteer coordinator of the event.

According to an MFSP report, McGill Food Services considers a variety o f important factors when determining suppliers, but sus­ tainability is often overlooked. For example, a Granny Smith apple travels an average of 5,700 km before reaching McGill, which con­

tributes to unnecessary carbon emissions.

To promote sustainability, the organiz­ ers of Local Food Day attempted to find a single Quebec supplier. One of the primary sources for produce was M cGill’s MacDon­ ald Campus. The Campus sent approximately $1,000 worth of apples, peppers, pumpkins, watermelons, tomatoes, and other produce to McGill Food Services. Organizers were so pleased with the quality of MacDonald’s fruits and vegetables, and they have decided to try integrating MacDonald into the regular group of suppliers.

“We’re hoping that they’ll keep deliv­ ering for at least another month, because we were so happy with the products and the prices and the service, and it’s a McGill product that w e’re offering to McGill students,” said Oli­ ver De Volpi, Executive Chef of McGill Food Services."

Aside from the environmental benefits of using local ingredients, much o f the food is fresher. “[MacDonald campus’s] tomatoes were phenomenal, as good as any I ’ve had this year, as well as their apples,” said De Volpi. “You could see their peppers and eggplants were all off the branches or off the plants in the last 48 hours.”

Students agreed that the food seemed fresher and more seasonal.

“It looks like fall food should look,” said Rebecca Rosenthal, U2 urban systems and a New Residence floor fellow.

De Volpi came to McGill a month ago from the restaurant Aix Cuisine du Terroir in Old Montreal, which showcases Quebec pro­ duce. He was able to use some of his contacts to supply much of the food for Wednesday’s event. Despite his contacts, however, there were still logistical hurdles for the organizers

UN IV ERSITY OF

LORRAIN CHEUN

Students at McGill’s residences had the chance to enjoy local Quebec produce last week. to overcome.

“There’s probably three times the amount of effort for the organizing than a regular day, and that’s the part that I guess is a little bit disappointing,” said De Volpi.

However, getting started seems to have been the worst of it. As the organizers develop a routine, they hope to strengthen relationships with local suppliers.

“Will it become easier as we go because w e’re going to do this each month? Yeah, it will definitely become easier as we go because

we have the contacts,” said De Volpi.

The organizers hope to raise the profile of local foods on campus, for both sustainable and practical reasons. Local Food Days will continue to take place once a month for the remainder of the school year.

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• Extremely high co-op and permanent placement To learn more about the MMPA Program, attend our information sessions:

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6 • Tuesday, October 6, 2009

SSMU Legislative Council votes to censure Choose Life event Continued from COVER when we censured the event that is hap­ pening tomorrow,” said Olle, who was gener­ ally satisfied with the event’s outcome. “We discussed with Natalie [Fohl] that nothing in the subject matter of the event tomorrow would be permitted in the presentation today because SSMU Council had already said that the event would be unacceptable ... so it would not be fair to copy that material and use it today to get around that censure.”

Because none of last night’s content crossed over, the event proceeded smoothly and without interruption. Nevertheless, both Fohl and Olle said that the relationship be­ tween Choose Life and SSMU has become strained.

“I think that we should have the same rights as any other club,” said Fohl, “SSMU doesn’t really keep tabs on other clubs quite so much, especially on private meetings among members.”

“I feel like communication has broken down between ... the SSMU and Choose Life,” said Olle. “Because of the censure there has been a lot of distrust that has grown and Natalie [Fohl] has not been entirely forthcom­ ing with me. Likewise, I have not been able to trust that their events will naturally fall in line with our equity policy so I have felt a lot of pressure to kind of watchdog Choose Life which, I don’t like and I don’t think they like either.”

In addition to yesterday’s incident, there has also been confusion regarding whether Choose Life would proceed with the “Echoes of the Holocaust” event. Fohl explained that the club’s executive had deliberated whether to go on with hosting Ruba’s address on cam­ pus, considering the repercussions of damag­ ing relations between the club and SSMU.

ADAM SCOTTI

Pro-life advocate Jose Ruba arrived for a private Choose Life talk yesterday, taking the SSMU Executive by surprise.

“A lot of judgments and statements were made about the presentation without having heard it, which I think is unfortunate and ob­ viously incorrect,” said Fohl. “People are free not to attend and people are free to disagree, but I think we should also be free to give Mr. Ruba a chance to present this viewpoint and allow people to dialogue on it respectfully.”

This past Friday, Arts Senator and SSMU councillor Sarah Woolf met with what she de­ scribed as a “loose gathering of concerned prochoice advocates.” Although Woolf preferred not to specifically reveal the group’s plans, she

stated that protestors would be in attendance at today’s event.

“They are not trying to actually host a de­ bate,” said Woolf. “They are presenting it as a debate, but the truth is that it is a forum for Ruba to spew hate speech.”

No stranger to student union sanctions, Ruba also commented on SSMU council’s censure. “What I have noticed is that none of the [student union motions] actually use any facts,” said Ruba, who also emphasized the right of students to disagree and engage in debate. "All they say is that is that these ar­

guments make people feel bad and therefore we should censure them. I thought that this university had a more prestigious reputation than that.”

The SSMU executive also spoke out on the issue. “I think there is a very strong con­ sensus that there is no interest in engaging him in the subject matter at hand and that the sub­ ject matter is not something that needs to be discussed in that forum, especially on campus and especially in a location and setting that is very public,” said Sebastian Ronderos-Morgan, SSMU vice-president external.

CAMPUS

University of Toronto researchers develop diagnostic microchip Chip to help cancer treatment SOO JIN CHEON Contributor

Researchers at the University of Toronto have developed a sensitive microchip that would allow for quicker, non-invasive diag­ nostic testing for certain diseases. For some types of cancer, the microchip test can reduce the time spent waiting for results. “ [The] very sensitive device [identifies] very low levels of cancer cells you see circu­ lating in urine and blood,” said Shana Kel­ ley, the lead investigator for the research and professor in the department of pharmaceutical sciences at University of Toronto. “We at­ tained sensitivities we think will allow us to use our devices for non-invasive testing.”

Built with nanowires and only the size of a fingertip, the chip can trace cancer biomark­ ers, which are biological molecules that indi­ cate the presence or progression of a disease.

These are then analyzed so that the illness can

be diagnosed. This simple procedure can rec­ ognize the type and severity of the cancer. In comparison to the existing means of diagno­ sis, such as biopsy- a method that takes sev­ eral days to render results- the new microchip only takes thirty minutes.

“Prostate cancer, in particular, can be very aggressive or very slow growing and it's quite important to be able to distinguish those types,” said Shana Kelley, according to the September 27 issue of The Montreal Gazette.

Use of nanotechnology is becoming in­ creasingly common among researchers in fighting cancer.

Last month the Washington University School of Medicine announced their “nano­ bees” could fight cancerous tumors by deliver­ ing bee venom, melittin, throughout the body using small materials known as nanoparticles.

The Massachussets Institute of Technology also used nanoparticles to deliver genes to kill ovarian tumours in mice. Furthermore, in May, MIT disclosed the development of gold nanoparticles that can kill cancerous tumours

using heat while protecting the surrounding tissue from damage.

The simplicity of the microchip and the handheld device that is used for analysis could replace rooms full of heavy equipment and computers required for evaluation. The mi­ crochip allows for easier, more effective, and more accessible testing on cancer patients, and could also be used to diagnose and assess in­ fectious diseases, such as H 1N 1 flu and HIV. “You can detect different types of bacte- ria and viruses if you know which molecules to look for,” said Kelley, who worked with U of T engineering professor Ted Sargent and a team from Princess Margaret Hospital and Queen’s University on the project.

“Any type of cancer where there’s an established molecular profile, we can modify our platform so we can gear it towards what­ ever disease is of interest.”

However, any prospect of this microchip being used by the public seems far away as Kelley makes a “conservative estimate” of five years to get the device on the market. The

chip has only been tested on existing biopsy samples so far.

“We have not yet done the work with clinical samples, but that’s the next step,” said Kelley.

U of T has hailed the research as the lat­ est development in the history of nanomedi­ cine. However, not everyone shares the same sentiment about the cancer diagnostic break­ through.

Dr. Gerald Batist, chair of the department of oncology at McGill, believes that the Uni­ versity of Toronto’s recent development is not ready to be applied in clinics and hospitals.

“It’s not particularly exciting at this point.

It is neat technology, but not highly original, nor applicable in the near future. The clinical implications are several steps from being vali­ dated, and several more from application to the actual clinical world,” said Batist.

Curiosity Delivers

Tuesday, October 6, 2009 • 7

CAMPUS

N ews

in

Angela Davis speaks at McGill

B r ief

A louettes to rem ain at M cG ill Last Monday the Montreal Alouettes signed a new lease that will keep them at M cGill’s Percival Molson Stadium for the next 20 years.

Drew Love, director of McGill Athletics, described the Alouettes as a classy organiza­ tion and said he is excited for them to continue to play their home games at the university’s stadium.

“We are very happy to see the Alouettes continue as tenants,” said Love. “They are a great organization and are involved in the community. They are good community part­ ners and we have a wonderful working rela­ tionship.”

Molson Stadium also hosts games for the McGill Redmen football team, other McGill varsity athletics teams, and the Selwyn House Griffins, a local high school team.

The stadium opened in 1919 and was named after Captain Percival Molson, a McGill almunus killed in WW 1.

Civil rights activist discusses police brutality in New York City While the financial terms of the contract are not available for public disclosure, the deal is contingent upon several renovations to the 90-year-old venue. The upgraded stadium will feature 5,000 additional seats as well as new private suites to be completed before the 2010 season.

“It was extremely important for the Alou­ ettes to [have] the stadium upgraded,” said Love. “[In addition to] more seating, the face­ lift includes adding more elevators and regular replacement of the field turf.”

The Alouettes have a long history at Mol­ son Stadium. They played their home games at the storied venue from 1947 to 1967 and during most of the 1970s.

Since returning to Molson Stadium in 1998, the Alouettes have compiled a 77-24-0 record. The announcement comes as the 11-2 Alouettes have clinched the CFL East Divi­ sion and gear up for another playoff run.

MAXIME SAWICKI

Angela Davis addressed a packed Leacock 132 last Thursday night as part of the Media@ McGill’s Beaver brook lecture series.

CAMPUS

Statistics Canada analyst discusses country’s economic downturn Stresses cyclical components IVAN DI Contributor

Phil Cross, chief economic analyst for Statistics Canada, visited McGill last Friday to address the woes of the economic downturn to an audience of mainly reporters and a few interested economic students.

The symposium, entitled “The Crisis One Year After," consisted of a series of graphs and plenty of economic jargon. By applying data from the graphs, Cross pinpointed that the re­ cession started September 18. 2008. To mea­ sure the recession, Cross also did an analysis on the “3 D ’s,” which Cross referred to as depth, diffusion and duration.

According to Cross, all economies are made up of seasonal, cyclical, and noncyclical components. The seasonal aspects, which are generally unaffected by financial turmoil, represent economic sectors including construction, ice cream sales, and Christmas shopping. The cyclical component represents most of Canada’s output, including mining, oil, and manufacturing. Cross stated that these are the areas that were hit hardest during the recession. Non-cyclical industries include food, clothing and other necessities that re­ main fairly stable regardless of the economic environment.

Cross also stressed the importance of understanding and measuring recessions. Ac­ cording to Cross, recession is a process, not an event, no matter how catastrophic the decline.

Unfortunately, such a process is self-reinforc­ ing. For example, a decline in sales will lead to inventory buildup, which incurs inventory costs and leads to lower sales. Recession is

also independent of the endogenous or exog­ enous factors that caused it. A meteor strike that destroys the agriculture sector causes a recession just the same as a credit crunch or bank run.

In the last section of the lecture, Cross noted that during the early stages of the reces­ sion, Canada remained fairly immune to the economic trouble that was plaguing the Unit­ ed States. But as it became apparent that the financial storm was more serious than origi­

nally predicted, Canadian industries mostly in manufacturing and extraction began to struggle.

“Now we have a trade deficit [with the USA], [and] government [is transitioning] from a tight surplus to a deficit spending, firms are losing profit and have to borrow to stay solvent,” said Cross.

Finally, Cross pointed out that despite their practical use, the graphs didn’t tell the entire story of the economic downturn. Cross

explained that the missing information is often of more value to economists because it helps identify the weaknesses and flaws in the econ­ omy. Thus, armed with data, economists can then ponder and discuss how to safeguard the economy from future recessions.

Cross concluded his presentation by of­ fering a little advice to the attending students.

“Study hard, don’t get into mining.”

JULIA WEBSTER

Statistics Canada Chief Economic Analyst Phil Cross discussed the origins of the worldwide economic downturn last Friday.

8 • Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Last Sunday, I found myself in a familiar situation. I was in a classroom at Université Laval, preparing for the Parlement Étudi­ ant du Quebec—a simulation of the National Assembly of Quebec held in January. As we went around the room introducing ourselves, a common pattern emerged: “Bonjour moi c ’est Julie de Trois-Rivières.” “Salut, je m ’ap­ pelle Mathieu et je suis de la ville de Quebec, étudiant à Laval.” “Mon nom est Pierre-Oli­ vier, étudiant à Polytechnique, originare de Chicoutimi.” Then it was my turn: “Bonjour; je m ’appelle Justin Margolis, je suis dans le programme des etudes sur le Quebec à M c­ Gill et je viens de Moreland Hills, Ohio.” And as expected, I got the normal responses: Où?

Quoi? Comment? Quoi the phoque? Every time I introduce myself I get similar reactions, and a variation on the same question: how did an Ohioan end up falling in love with Quebec to the point that he dreams of representing the Bloc Québécois party in Parliament?

To answer that question, let’s start at the beginning. My name is Justin Margolis. I ’m 21 years old and in the final semester of my undergraduate degree in Quebec Studies at McGill. I was bom and raised in suburban Cleveland, Ohio, where I lived until I was 18.

I have no family in Montreal, or anywhere else in Canada. My parents, both Jewish, are unilingual Anglophones, as are my grandparents and great-grandparents. Despite numerous visits to Niagara Falls and one trip to Toronto, I had never been to Quebec until I was in grade nine, when my father took me skiing at Mont Tremblant. Obviously, Tremblant is not a true depiction of Quebec. However, from that mo­ ment on, I was hooked. I hadn’t even seen any of M ontreal—which is Quebec’s normal sell­ ing point. Something about Quebec hooked me. I don’t know exactly what it was, but I fell in love.

As a result, I forfeited my study hall to enroll in French at my high school. I organ­

OVERREACHING IN COPENHAGEN Beneath his cool public demeanour and professorial diction, U.S. President Barack Obama has a cocky side.

It was visible in 2004 when, on his way to deliver the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in Boston, Obama was asked by the Chicago Tribune’s David Mendell if he was nervous. “I'm LeBron, baby,” Obama told him, comparing himself to the Cleveland Cavaliers’ star forward. “I can play on this level. I got some game.”

It emerged again during his campaign for president, in moments such as when Obama called his rival Hillary Clinton “likeable enough” during a January debate. The remark

O

p in io n

ized a French Club trip to Montreal in grade 10, which is when I saw the city for the first time. Despite behaving like a typical Ameri­ can tourist—showing up to a trashy club on St. Catherine (for me it was Club Dôme, Op­ era’s predecessor) at 10 p.m. when the doors opened, being too drunk to move by 11 p.m., and finishing the evening at Super Sex at mid­ night while the true Montrealers were just be­ ginning their night—I knew that Montreal had something special, and I knew that I was des­ tined to spend the rest of my life in a city that many students only visit for four years.

I ’ll be honest, I spoke mediocre French upon my arrival and I knew very little about Quebec culture. I was assigned housing in the Toronto Private School Alumni Associ­ a tio n -b e tte r known as New Rez. However, I requested a Francophone roommate, think­ ing that it would be the best way to integrate into Quebec society. Between my roommate teaching me “Jouai” (the Quebec version of French) and introducing me to cultural phe­ nomena like Les Cowboys Fringants and Les Boys, my FRSL 326 professor instructing me on Québécois history, and what I observed while walking around francophone Montreal neighbourhoods, I learned so much about Quebec and became even more obsessed with this province.

Too many McGill students from outside Quebec don’t realize how much this city and this province have to offer. Yes, not speaking French is a severe limitation. Despite the bi­ lingual reality of the downtown core, French is the official language here, and one cannot truly understand Quebec without speaking French. So take a French course, and use your French outside of the classroom. Buy a Mes Aïeux CD and follow along with the lyrics to Dégéneration to get a feeling for rural Que­ bec life. Take the Metro to a stop with a name you can’t pronounce and just walk around.

Befriend a local and have him show you his side of the city, and hopefully you’ll see what I see.

In this biweekly column I hope to discuss facets of Quebec and Montreal life that are underrepresented in English language campus media. La Belle Province has so much more to offer than the bubble between Atwater and St. Denis, and I hope that through this column you’ll discover a few of the reasons that I fell in love with the city beyond the McGill gates.

came off as patronizing and cost him days later when he lost the New Hampshire primary.

Most recently, the president displayed his cocksure side by travelling to Copenhagen at the last minute to lobby the International Olympic Committee on behalf of his adopted hometown, Chicago, which was bidding for the 2016 Summer Games. And this time, h e’s paid a high price for it.

After weeks of declaring that he was too busy shepherding health care legislation through Congress to make the trip, Obama suddenly reversed his position. This gave "a gleeful Jon Stewart, host of The Daily Show, the gift of announcing the news before playing an earlier video clip of Obama saying he was too committed to the health care reform to go.

Congressional Republicans lambasted the president for his reversal, with House Mi­ nority Leader John Boehner complaining that Obama was “going to go off to Copenhagen when w e’ve got serious issues here at home that need to be debated.”

This was largely unfair criticism, though Obama left himself open to such attacks by re­

A SKETCH OF MY JEWISH IDENTITY My father and I stand at the edge o f the Grand Canyon ju st before dawn in the August o f my fifteenth year. Ai the sun peeks slowly over the horizon o f the glimmering distant desert, a warm breeze rises gently from the canyon below. The overwhelming beauty o f the display silences the crowd o f early-risers behind us, as my father turns to me and, loud enough fo r at least a dozen to hear, asks, “How can you look at that and not believe in God?” Such is the terrific wit of my father, an atheist since the age of sixteen, when he dis­ sented from his Brooklyn family’s belated sprint towards Orthodox Judaism. My mother grew up in the Long Island tradition of Reform Judaism, which essentially reduces religious observance to thrice yearly family gatherings in vague recognition of what ancestors consid­ ered major holidays. I believe her theological views match my father’s in substance if not intensity.

This is the infertile (or at least indiffer­ ent) soil from which my own Jewish identity has struggled to take root.

In the early years of my childhood, the Kreitners were insistent that my sister and I make our own choices regarding how serious­ ly we wanted to take our religious heritage. In all candour, however, we were perhaps influ­ enced by our parents’ occasional playful barbs at the expense of our relatives’ antiquated re­ ligiosity. Eventually, my sister decided to skip the Hebrew School scene altogether, while I agreed to attend only in a selfish attempt to win favour from my Orthodox grandmother. I soon found myself spending Tuesday evenings in the Gurkovs’ basement learning the Hebrew alphabet and the causes of the Six-Day War. My parents and I are resting on a park bench at a lake in a New Jersey State Park in the spring o f my thirteenth year. One o f them asks me i f I believe in God. Without hesitation, 1 answer in the affirmative.

versing his position at the last minute. Obama flew to Copenhagen Thursday night and re­ turned by midday on Friday. As White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters, the only thing the trip caused him to miss was sleep. And it is, of course, the president’s pre­ rogative to determine his own schedule.

That being said, as a matter of perception, the trip was a mistake at a time when Obama cannot afford such blunders. The president, influenced by his coterie of Chicago-born advisers—his Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel and senior advisors David Axelrod and Valerie Jarrett all hail from the city—took a needless political risk by travelling to Copenhagen. And that gamble backfired when the IOC awarded the Games to Rio de Janeiro after eliminating Chicago in the first round of voting.

Despite the enthusiasm of Chicago’s or­ ganizers, the city faced some serious obstacles in its bid for the 2016 Olympics. Chicago fin­ ished third, behind Tokyo and Madrid, in a June 2008 evaluation of candidate cities by the IOC, and Chicago’s bid was hampered by the U.S. Olympic Committee’s fractured relation­

mcgilltribune.com

My reasons for committing that outra­ geous lie were purely economic. My Bar Mitzvah lessons had recently begun, which meant only one thing: presents. Lots of pres­ ents. I personally know of no little Jewish boy for whom the ancient rite of passage signified anything of greater importance.

Retrospectively, I can point to these Bar Mitzvah lessons as the moment when it began to dawn on me that religion was mostly non­ sense. Not a single person asked if I had any clue what I was saying in my Hebrew recita­ tions. I had no idea. The realization that no­ body really cared led me to consider the whole Judaic enterprise mere pomp and circum­ stance, and believers of any faith delusional and usually hypocritical.

And honestly, not much has changed in the past six years.

In high school I became passionately in­ terested in the philosophy of religion and in the whole “God debate.” During a summer spent working as a page in the U.S. House of Representatives, a southern Republican con­ gressman gently chided me for reading Rich­ ard Dawkins’ The God Delusion on the House floor.

I maintained a vaguely open mind as I danced around the genre, reading a pro-God book one week and an anti-God one the next.

But eventually I had to admit my heart was just not into the whole religious thing, and I came down pretty hard on the side of Dieu n 'existe pas.

But when asked, I still tell people I’m Jewish. Why? I think it’s because I’ve begun to realize that there is something about being Jewish that transcends all differences of both belief and action. Something ineffable.

I understand that this can be easily and perhaps rightly criticized as a rather uninspir­ ing conception of Jewish identity. But if it is all I am capable of mustering at this point in my life, it will just have to suffice.

Despite my anti-religious rhetoric, I sprinkle my daily conversation with Yiddish expressions and eagerly inquire of promising new acquaintances whether they are “mem­ bers of the Tribe.” For a very brief moment I considered joining the rest of the Jewish world in fasting last week on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. In the end I did not. Maybe next year.

ship with the IO C —which was exacerbated by the USO C’s decision to launch the U.S. Olym­ pic Network without the IOC’s consent. And the fact that Rio de Janeiro would be the first South American city to host the Games gave it a special allure for the IOC. Though the trip didn’t cost him much time, President Obama sacrificed legislative momentum by making this trip. One could have easily imagined Obama—who is quite capable of compensating for his cockiness with self-deprecating humour—shrugging off the bid’s loss to Brazil with a joke if he had re­ mained in Washington. Instead, he flew home on Friday to continue the health care battle, having overreached internationally.

At another time in his presidency, Obama’s trip to Copenhagen might have been a minor mistake. But at this juncture, as the president attempts to pass health care legisla­ tion that Democrats have struggled with for decades, every misstep counts. As an Illinôis native myself, I would have loved to see Chi­ cago host an Olympics. But I’d much rather be able to afford health care in a few years.

Curiosity Delivers

îM c G ill

Tuesday, October 6, 2009 • 9

M

t r ib u n e

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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Thomas Quail editor@mcgilltribune.com MANAGING EDITORS James Gilman jgilman@mcgilltribune.com Carolyn Yates cyates@mcgilltribune.com PRODUCTION MANAGER Adam Scotti ascotti@mcgilltribune.com NEWS EDITORS Tori Crawford Steven Hoffer Trip Yang news@mcgilltribune.com OPINION EDITOR Matt Chesser opinion@mcgilltribune.com FEATURES EDITORS Shannon Kimball Brahna Siegelberg features@mcgilltribune.com ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITORS Kyle Carpenter Laura Tindal arts@mcgilltribune.com SPORTS EDITORS Kailan Leung Jon Rubenstein sports@mcgilltribune.com PHOTO EDITORS Alice Walker Julia Webster photo@mcgilltribune.com

— — — E d i t o r i a l ----------------Choose Life crossed the line with Ruba event At 6 p.m. tonight, Choose Life, the Student’s Society’s pro-life club, will host a presentation by Jose Ruba, a co-founder of the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform, titled “Echoes of the Holocaust.”

Ruba’s speech will attempt to draw paral­ lels between abortion and the Holocaust, by arguing that “dehumanization and denial of personhood has justified some of the great­ est affronts to human dignity that the world has seen.” The presentation refers to abor­ tion as a “mass human rights violation” and includes graphic imagery such as photos of dead bodies at concentration camps followed by photos of supposedly aborted foetuses.

On Thursday night, SSMU Coun­ cil voted to censure the event and to make Choose Life ineligible to receive funding if they go through with tonight’s presentation.

We commend them for that decision. The comparison of abortion to the Holocaust is not only horribly offensive and inaccurate, it is deliberately designed to be inflammatory.

This event is not intended to foster debate — it is designed to be provocative and to dis­ tract from meaningful discussion o f abortive rights.

Last October, when Choose Life was applying for interim club status, the Tribune editorialized that SSMU Council should ap­ prove their application. We still stand be­

hind that decision. Although many who op­ posed the club have adopted an “I told you so” attitude in light of Choose Life’s recent actions, they miss the point of our original argument: you cannot preemptively cen­ sor a club based on what you believe they might do. Choose Life could have fulfilled their mandate by hosting informative events that presented the pro-life position without sensationalizing the issue or attempting to induce guilt among pro-choice believers. A pro-life belief is not, in itself, oppressive.

Even though Choose Life had the potential to behave inappropriately, it was necessary to give the club some rope, and see if they used it to hang themselves.

The Tribune believes that every woman deserves the right to safe and legal abortions.

The legality of abortion is not something that we think should be up for debate—the decision to have an abortion is a personal one, and is not a decision that most women take lightly.

However, a pro-life argument, based on the belief that life begins at conception, can have merit if made in a rational way.

Choose Life is unfortunately not taking this route. Instead of having a reasoned debate about when life begins—a question to which there is no “right answer” —they have hired a speaker who makes hyperbolic, offensive,

and illogical comparisons.

Because of that, if Choose Life contin­ ues on its current course, we would support a move to strip them of their club status.

SSMU has a responsibility to disassociate itself from incendiary events that desecrate a people’s heritage and devalue the meaning of one of the worst atrocities in human his­ tory. There is no validity or value to Ruba’s comparison—it is simply a shameful at­ tempt to create guilt by association in the minds of those who would consider having an abortion.

We do, however, urge SSMU Council or the Judicial Board to use caution should they decide to revoke Choose Life’s club sta­ tus. Revocation of club status in response to a controversial event could set a dangerous precedent and prove to be a slippery slope in the future. This precedent could be used to argue against controversial events like Israeli Apartheid Week, or any other event that offends a large group of students.

“Echoes of the Holocaust” is one of the rare events that is so offensive and so need­ lessly provocative that it necessitates dras­ tic action. We are embarrassed that fellow McGill students would provide a platform for an extremist like Ruba, and we hope that there are consequences for their decision to do so.

DESIGN EDITORS Alison Bailey Zoe Brewster design@mcgilltribune.com COPY EDITOR Carolyn Grégoire ONLINE EDITOR Alexandr Cartasiov online@mcgilltribune.com ADVERTISING MANAGER Dallas Bentley cpm@ssmu.mcgill.ca PUBLISHER Chad Ronalds

Foucalt you, Ricky.

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Re: “Pinata Diplmacy: James M cGill— Turning in my grave” by Ricky Kreitner (22.09.09) What up. James McGill, Michel Foucault here (also conveniently undead for the time being). I am writing to clear up certain mis­ conceptions you seem to have regarding my personal area of expertise: cultural studies. To be sure, there is great value in studying clas­ sical works, but it seems to me, oh gracious namesake of this institution, that a fur trader such as yourself might miss the importance of studying the workings of culture in postmodern society. After all, your lifespan (1744-1813) barely qualifies you as part of the modern age, let alone allowing for a comprehension of the complicated relations of the postmodern. Well, let me get you up to speed on a few things that have happened in the last century and a half.

Despite your skepticism regarding the necessity and value of teaching “cultural lit­ eracy,” I must insist as a critical cultural stud­ ies theorist myself in the importance of un­ derstanding the world around you. Things are slightly more complicated now; a pelt is not worth what it used to be! Instead, existence in the wake of modernity and industrializa­ tion as well as postmodemity and globaliza­ tion is complicated by ideas of cultural hege­ mony and embedded power relations. Sorry if this is over your head, Mr. McGill, but that is precisely my point: cultural studies literally teaches you about yourself by theorizing one’s relationship to the world, as well as exposing the hidden workings of culture itself. Nothing exists outside of culture, Mr. M cGill—except

us, because technically we are ghosts.

Before I return to my place as a key theorist in M cGill’s cultural studies curricu­ lum specializing in the relationship between power, knowledge and discourse, I must fight fire with fire! In response to your threat, re­ member: the panoptic gaze is watching you James McGill and he/she/it is pissed! Internal­ ize surveillance!

— Mishki Vaccaro U3 Cultural Studies

Kira hearts the Tribune.

The group which protested last week’s Choose Life event was not, in fact, affiliated with QPIRG in any w ay—except that, along with most McGill students, we had all probably paid our fees. Unlike the Daily, the fine folks at the Tribune have recorders—use them.

—Kira Page U2 Philosophy and Environment

The Daily reads the Trib.

Re: “Charkaoui: innocent until proven guilty" (Editorial, 29.09.09) While I appreciate the sentiment ex­ pressed toward the end of last week’s editorial on Montrealer Adil Charkaoui’s recent victory at the Federal Court, it included some factual inaccuracies that need clarification.

First, a security certificate can be applied to any non-citizen, not only “suspected terror­ ists.” For instance, Charkaoui and his family arrived in Montreal in 1995, yet he remains a permanent resident while his parents and wife have acquired citizenship. This distinction allowed the government to send Charkaoui to jail for two years and impose severe bail conditions on him for the last four, all without ever publicly releasing the information in his file. How? The so-called evidence is secret, as to protect “national security” —one of many terms, including “sleeper agent,” that remains

undefined in Charkaoui’s file.

Second, in February 2007 the Supreme Court ruled the security certificate law uncon­ stitutional. For some reason, the Court sus­ pended the effect of its decision by one year. In no way did they require “the Canadian govern­ ment to create a new class of defence lawyers for suspected terrorists.” In October of 2007, the Conservatives introduced new security certificate legislation—which they managed to push through Parliament at an astonishing pace—which included a provision for “special advocates.” These lawyers have access to the secret files, but cannot communicate this to security certificate detainees or their lawyers, and are not obligated to respect normal condi­ tions of confidentiality with the client.

And again, it’s not just for “suspected terrorists,” but for any non-citizen who finds themselves stripped of their freedoms and la­ beled a “terror suspect” overnight. It’s a subtle yet vital distinction: your consistent use of “suspected terrorist” as opposed to “security certificate detainee” throughout the editorial unfairly links the villainous term to Charka­ oui in the reader’s mind, when in fact there is nothing to substantiate the claim. And what exactly is preventing you from saying “with any confidence that Charkaoui is completely innocent”?

Lastly, it isn’t “necessary that CSIS op­ erate in the shadows,” it’s necessary for CSIS to be accountable. If not, our government will continue to fund the unlawful detention, depor­ tation, and subsequent torture of Canadians.

Everyone deserves the right to see the evi­ dence against them in order to properly defend themselves. However, this will not be a reality in Canada until discriminatory measures like security certificates are banished altogether.

—Max Halparin U4 Geography

mcgilltribune.com

10 • Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Com m entary Mookie Kideckel THE POWER OF PROPER NOUNS At this point, given SSMU Council’s de­ cision to censure them on Thursday, comment­ ing on Choose Life’s decision to host an event entitled “Echoes of the Holocaust” seems a bit like beating a dead horse. And yet, there is still so much that needs to be said about why this event is so offensive that it has no place on our campus.

First and foremost, this event, unin­ tentionally or not, cheapens the Holocaust.

Choose Life founder Natalie Fohl defended the event in the McGill Daily and on Facebook by writing, “while no two atrocities are identical, parallels can often be drawn.” She’s right, but a speaking tour comparing consen­ sual abortions to the roundup and slaughter of 11 million people is no academic exercise in historical analogies.

Choose Life isn’t stupid—they are com­ pletely aware that the accuracy of their anal­ ogy is less important than the connotations of their object of comparison. By stating that one controversial practice (in this case, abortion) is similar to something history has deemed ob­ jectively wrong (the Holocaust), a group can divorce itself from the need for persuasive ar­ guments to support its points, and rely on the work others have done. Thus, the debate shifts from “is abortion wrong?” to “is abortion like the Holocaust?” Naturally, if abortion is like the Holocaust, nobody could morally support its existence.

As an object of comparison, the Holo­ caust carries connotations that are about as powerful as you can get. Part of the reason for this is that people are so careful about in­ voking it. Evoking the Holocaust for a cause does not merely try to associate the Holocaust with that cause, it also begs people to think of that issue when they recall the Holocaust.

Genocide-prevention groups have done an excellent job of using the horrors of the Ho­ locaust to try and mobilize support and aid for places like Rwanda and Darfur. So when Holocaust Education Week rolls around in the

Com m entary Mohammed Ashour CHOICE WORDS FOR WOOLF Re: “Choose Choice" by Sarah Woolf (29.09.09) A swamp of bold accusations and care­ lessly selected words, last week’s Commen­ tary section featured the mental diarrhea of a student who apparently was less than satisfied with a club on campus called Choose Life.

Not only did Sarah Woolf argue that the club is unworthy of formal recognition and funding, but she went as far as suggesting that it was a moral obligation upon our student leaders to condemn this group.

To that end, I would like to address a criti­ cal flaw in Woolf’s heavy-breathed analysis.

If we strip away the hard rhetoric and dis­ solve all redundancies, we can deconstruct and summarize Woolf’s argument into the follow­ ing syllogism: Premise one: any student group that makes it a goal to oppress women is unworthy

fall, people will not just remember the past, but also think of people dying en masse today.

Choose Life would also have them think of unborn foetuses.

The problem with this is twofold. First, it is an insult to the past. I don’t care how you feel about abortion, equating the death (with a mother’s consent) o f an unborn children to the systematic torture and murder of millions of Jews, Roma, homosexuals, and other minori­ ties of all ages—with dreams, experiences, re­ lationships, homes, and families—is deceitful history, demeaning to victims and their fami­ lies, and twice as amoral because of its virtu­ ous pretences. Part of the reason foetuses are dehumanized is because there is no consensus on whether they are human. Presenting this universal division of opinion as conspiratorial dehumanization is not a moral revelation—it is a deliberate misrepresentation of the debate.

Second, whether it’s People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals showing chicken coops alongside Auschwitz bunks, peace protestors comparing Bush to Hitler, or Echoes of the Holocaust, frequent and dubious analogies to the Holocaust dilute its power. Invoking the connotations of any historical atrocity too often creates the image that the event's connotations are generalizable, and thus not unique. If invoked improperly, the memory of the Holocaust will lose its ability to do good things, such as preventing further genocide or offering a grave warning about global idleness towards hatred.

This is not limited to the Holocaust; it ex­ tends to tragedies like Apartheid, the Atlantic Slave Trade, and the like. Yes, every atrocity is unique. And every word carries connota­ tions that can add shock value but can also rob debates of their nuance. Maybe to answer Choose Life’s question about why everybody is offended but nobody will debate them, it’s best to invoke an historical analogy of my ow n—one I think far more fitting than theirs.

As Representative Barney Frank replied to the woman comparing his support for universal health care to a Nazi Policy, “Trying to have a conversation with you would be like arguing with a dining room table. I’ve no interest in doing it.”

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In the article “QPIRG members protest first Choose Life event o f the school year, ” (29.09.09) the Tribune mistakenly inferred that QPIRG McGill organized the protest o f the event. In fact, QPIRG did not officially organize the protest.

In the editorial “Charkaoui: innocent until proven guilty, ” the Tribune asserted that Charkaoui “won a Supreme Court case in February 2007 that required the Cana­ dian government to create a new class o f defence lawyers fo r suspected terrorists." In fact, the Supreme Court ruling did not necessitate the creation o f a new class o f defence lawyers; the federal government created this provision after, and in response to, the February 2007 Supreme Court decision that struck down key provisions o f security certificates as grossly unfair.

HE 8TH ANNUAL RETHINK CONFERENCE '

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E ducation & Sustaina October 22, 2009 N ew Residence H all Ballroom 8:30am -3:00pm Keynote Speaker:

John Spengler Akira Yamaguchi Professor of Environmental Health and Human Habitation Harvard School of Public Health

Questions to be addressed: * How does the University exercise its role/ responsibility in education for sustainability?

How can professors become more sustainable in the practice of their vocation?

How does the University community integrate education for sustainability in its programs?

Information/Registration FREE* for all McGill faculty, staff and students Spaces are limited - please register early to avoid disappointment. *See website for cancellation policy.

A presentation of the Senate Committee on Physical Development's Sub-Committee on Environment

Member of cewrwt o r exre*Tt»« on *ducat»ow FCM SOSTAMABU OCmOMMMV MONTREAL.

Mookie Kideckel is a U2 History student, and the president o f Hillel McGill.

of club status.

Premise two: Choose Life is a student group that makes it a goal to oppress women.

Conclusion: therefore, Choose life is un­ worthy of club status.

Although this argument is cogent, the conclusion can only be accepted if the prem­ ises are both acceptable and true. Let us now examine the validity of the premises offered

by Woolf.

The first premise is hardly controversial, and most people (hopefully) would condone it.

Accepted.

The second premise, on the other hand, is a blind accusation resulting from careless lexi­ cal scrutiny. Strong words must be supported with strong evidence.

For an action to be categorized as “op­ pressive,” it must be imposed on an individual (or a group) against their will. This being the case, how exactly is promoting one’s opinion on this matter—or any other—a form of op­ pression?

I don’t see Choose Life forcing women to carry pregnancies they do not want. The fact that the club employs guilt-devices to appeal to the emotions of mothers-to-be (or not-to-be) is admittedly not very intellectual. But that is

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a personal, irrelevant judgment which distracts from the main point: in the end, every woman is endowed with intellectual faculties which she can use to evaluate the vast resources at her disposal, and ultimately, make an informed decision that she can freely exercise.

If Woolf’s definition of oppression were to be granted, then the Students Society’s “hypocrisy” would be stretched to the point of absurdity and it would have to unplug life support from half of the clubs on campus. Re­ ligious clubs believe in very different things, and their constant preaching and attempts to “convert” others could be deemed “oppres­ sive.” Political clubs can be assumed to take advantage of politically unlettered students by recruiting them into agendas that they hardly understand, much less agree with. The falsity of this logic’s extension can go on and on.

What is truly amazing (and ironic), how­ ever, is that Woolf has managed to accomplish the very thing she endeavored to eliminate. Her efforts to build a fortress around these young ladies to ‘guard’ them from opinions of anti­ abortion groups like Choose Life are insulting.

They implicitly suggest that not only are these young ladies easily manipulated, but that they also lack the intellectual fortitude and inde­

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pendent rigor to make up their own minds.

Opinions are not oppressive. They are a bark without a bite. It is only when oppressive action is taken in the name of highly cherished opinions that they achieve lethality. Indeed, history is replete with examples of atrocities committed in the name o f opinions that did not accept contest. But that is the fault of Homo sapiens, not the opinion itself. This is a key distinction one should always keep in mind when discussing differences of opinion in the context of a well-established, well-respected, academic environment.

It’s truly a pity that certain individuals feel the compulsive need to smear particular groups in an effort to stifle opinions that they disagree with. Besides being intellectually dis­ honest, this approach serves no other purpose than to embarrassingly reveal one’s own igno­ rance.

It’s healthy when we agree to disagree.

It’s even commendable to establish clubs that challenge each other’s agendas. But let us do so with meaningful purpose, with utmost dig­ nity, and with mutual respect.

Mohammed Ashour is in the first year o f his M aster’s degree in Neuroscience.

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Curiosity Delivers.

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POP MONTREAL

A C anadian K oala join s forces w ith A ussie W olves Kid Koala teams up with Wolfmother's rhythm section for the one-of-a-kind Slew Tour DANIELLE CHERKAS Contributor

Have you ever wondered what would happen if the forces of nature combined a vinyl-slinging marsupial with two-fifths of a rhythmic wolf? Neither had I, but Friday night’s epic Kid Koala set answered this ques­ tion, along with a dozen others I had never even thought to ask.

The stage at La Tulipe was overtaken by six turntables, the rhythm section of Austra­ lian band Wolfmother, Montreal DJ P-Love, and Kid Koala. Characterized by a pastiche of musical genres, instruments, and technologies, Koala’s one-of-a-kind tour truly lives up to its title, “the Slew.”

In order to fully appreciate the show, one must look at the origins of this musical mish-mash. It all began with Eric San, former McGill student, and the Kid behind the man.

“I was first introduced to [tumtabling] in Vancouver,” says San. “I used to take those paper-thin CDs that came free in magazines and scratch them on my sister’s record player, and from then on out, it was all scratching, all the time.”

Moving to Montreal to obtain his bach­ elor’s degree in education from McGill, San quickly fell into the Montreal music scene, scratching in a band called Bullfrog.

“There are so many venues and indepen­ dently run places in Montreal that the nightlife is more driven by artistry,” says San. Drinking was secondary, and San honed his skills and signed with Ninja Records by the time h e’d graduated from McGill.

“I was able to iron out all of the bugs in a nurturing environment, so when I took my set to places like New York, everything was finely tuned.”

By 2006, San had three successful albums under his belt and was ready to record some­ thing new. He and his friend Dylan J. Frombach

were approached to create the soundtrack for a documentary film in the making, giving life to his fourth album, The Slew. “We had a vague framework of the album from seeing pieces of the film four years ago, but as time went on, we kept developing the music, while the film production kept getting more and more com­ plicated,” notes San. "In that sense, the film and the music developed independently, and as a result, w e’ve distanced ourselves from its catastrophe.”

San and Frombach enlisted the help of production powerhouse Mario C, known for his work with the Beastie Boys, to produce the album. The results speak for themselves: a thunderous electric guitar and drum core toyed with by mixmaster genius. Aware that the unique sound would weaken even the pur­ ist of metalheads’ nervous systems, the rhythm section of Wolfmother wanted a piece of its

debut on stage.

“We would run into [Wolfmother] at various festivals around the world,” says San. “They would always ask me what was going on with that Slew record."

Eventually it worked out that they all had time in their schedules to go on tour together, and with that, the Slew Tour was bom.

“We wrote ‘one-time-only tour’ on the advertisement because w e’re all adults and have our own schedules to follow, but w e’re having so much fun that w e’re talking about getting into the studio with our turntables and their drum and bass to make some new music,” Sari admits.

If The Slew is any indication of the newest of progeny we can anticipate from this four­ some, we can be certain, something wicked is coming our way.

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Kid Koala and his Slew Tour bandmates know more than one way to tear up a stage.

Pop lÿietoric ROMAN LAW Until he was taken into custody by Swiss authorities two weeks ago, legendary filmmaker Roman Polanski had managed to avoid the media circus he so detested for 32 years. But Polanski was once again thrust into the spotlight when he was arrested at the Zurich airport on an outstanding arrest war­ rant for his 1977 conviction of engaging in unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl he was photographing in his Los Angeles home for Vogue. Homme. Polanski now faces potential extradition to the U.S. with a possibility of being freed on bail if he agrees not to leave Switzerland. Though he will fight extradi­ tion, there remains a high probability that the 76-year-old French citizen will return to the United States to face sentencing.

Fans and filmmakers around the world were appalled and befuddled by the unex­

pected arrest. It has given rise to a wave of polarized emotional responses from both his supporters and those who believe that Polan­ ski should have been put behind bars back in the 70s.

In the 1977 case, after pleading guilty to the felony and serving 42 days in a cor­ rectional facility, Polanski bought a one-way ticket from Los Angeles and fled to Europe just hours before the judge ruled his final sentence. Convinced that the judge would go back on a plan to let him off without jail time, Polanski made his swift departure and has since been living as a fugitive. Polanski’s abhorrence of the cruelty and misrepresenta­ tion of the press became one of the factors that led him to leave America—where he was viewed as a dark, twisted, and contro­ versial figure—for Europe, where his films had earned him a reputation as a tragically brilliant creator.

Presiding Judge Rittenband—a man

who loved the press—orchestrated a media circus around Polanski’s highly publicized trial. Polanski has long been trying to move his court case out of L.A., where he claims the court is biased against him. With the case’s inexplicable renewal, his original trial is now not the only morally questionable el­ ement of the legal proceedings.

The seemingly arbitrarily-timed and unexplained arrest makes a mockery of the whole situation. The L.A. district attorney explains away the three-decade-plus waiting period by alleging the difficulty of finding a good place to arrest him. “He just showed up at a time and place where we knew he would be available,” claims a spokesperson for the D.A. But Polanski hasn't been hiding away in the mountains—quite the contrary, in fact—he’s remained a public figure in Eu­ rope and continued to make films, accepting Oscars from across the ocean.

A significant consideration in whether

CAROLYN GREGOIRE

Polanski deserves to be arrested now is the question of whether he poses a threat to pub­ lic safety. Let's look at the facts here: cin­ ematic genius aside, Polanski is a respected 76-year-old who has been living with his family in Paris—in apparent accordance with the law, I might add—and has not touched U.S. soil in 31 years. The victim, Samantha Geimer, long ago said she wants the case to be closed and forgotten. So why now? Yes, he broke the law, but there are undeniably better uses for the L.A. prosecutor’s time.

Why jailing would now be an accept­ able punishment for Mr. Polanski is inexpli­ cable, and goes against the aims of criminal law. Until the L.A. prosecutor produces a logical and coherent explanation for Polan­ ski’s delayed arrest, it deserves to be viewed as nothing more than an arbitrary and unjus­ tified exercise of power.

PO P M ONTREAL

Pop goes Montreal A post-Pop look at the festival’s hottest shows last week, from household names to up-and-comers, and even a German krautrock band. Whether you want to relive the shows you saw or want to find out what you missed, here are a few highlights from Pop Montreal.

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JOEL PLflSKEtb EfflERGEOCY LAURA TINDAL A&E Editor

Considering that he already played the Junos, the Polaris Music Prize, and opened for Paul McCartney this year, Joel Plaskett seemed very excited to play Pop Montreal for the first time last Thursday. On stage with his band The Emergency—with Chris Pennell, Dave Marsh, and regular guest Peter Elkas— Plaskett inserted references to Pop anywhere he could, in both his banter and his songs.

Club Soda wasn’t as full as might be erpected for CBC’s favourite Canadian indie rocker, but the crowd was nevertheless ex­ cited and fed off of Plaskett’s jittery energy.

Between songs, Plaskett turned his small-talk observations into beat poetry, getting the au­ dience laughing and shouting back, making the entire night a conversation between artist and fans. Plaskett is known for his tendency

to wander off in silly anecdotes, occasionally at the expense of the music. But the band kept the ball rolling: with The Emergency behind him, the skinny Nova Scotian was forced to keep playing—and boy, did he play.

His newest album, the three-disc tri-philic Three, was the source of most of the night’s line-up, but crowd favourites camé from La De Da, including “Absentminded Melody,” “Happen Now,” and an enjoyable re-writing of “Love This Town” in which Kelowna finally warms up to Plaskett’s performance.

Although at times rambling, Plaskett managed a good balance between his rollick­ ing songs like “Rollin’, Rollin’, Rollin’,” and “Fashionable People,” which got the crowd bouncing and singing along, and his slower, more soulful ballads. Both the band and the crowd seemed to have a great time, and in the end, that’s the best measure of a good show.

ADAM SCOTTI

Joel Plaskett: Sufjan wasn’t the only one with an Emergency at his show.

fllRbb S Kim RYAN TAYLOR Contributor*I

I was confused when I first saw Matt & Kim this summer at North by Northeast. With' so much hype surrounding them, I squeezed myself into a tiny but packed art gallery to see what all the fuss was about. To be hon­ est, I didn’t really get it: simple keyboards and drums played by two people without any real musical skill—but the crowd was going nuts!

I left feeling slightly cheated. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that Matt & Kim aren’t about virtuosity, nor do they pre­ tend to b e—they’re about having fun. And fun is exactly what you got at their sold out show at Club L’ambi.

Bounding onto stage a little after 12:30 a.m., Matt & Kim were all smiles as they launched into an hour-long set that never let up. What ensued was a night of energetic shout-it-out sing-alongs, dancing and near­ constant crowd surfing. Hits like “Daylight,” “Yea Yeah” and “5K” elicited huge responses from the crowd, but the real standouts were the non-singles, with the crowd sing-alongs to

“Good OF Fashioned Nightmare” and “Cin­ ders” being the most enthusiastic.

Even though they’re only two people, Matt & Kim know how to command a stage.

Matt frequently rose from his seat to play standing up, jumping up and down and thrash­ ing his keys, and exuberantly pointing his arm in the air to energize the crowd. You’d think Kim’s drum kit had wronged her for how hard she hit it. It was also clear just how much they were enjoying themselves, to the point where it was hard to tell who was having more fun— the teeming crowd or the band.

The band showed how much they ap­ preciated everyone coming to see them and profusely and honestly thanked the crowd for making them feel so welcome. It really did feel like a hometown show where everyone was a friend.

Matt may sing out of tune and Kim may play out of time, but that’s not the point. A Matt & Kim concert will always be a Matt & Kim concert—a place to let loose, dance, sing, and celebrate being young.

suFjnn sbEVEns RYAN TAYLOR Contributor

ADAM SCOTTI

Hollerado’s Menno Versteeg plays great music in a not-so-great venue.

HOLLERHDO LAURA TINDAL A&E Editor

It seemed like a strange decision to put one of the hottest up-and-coming bands play­ ing at Pop this year in one of the shittiest ven­ ues possible. But this appeared to be the case when Hollerado played at Bar St. Laurent II, an out-of-the-way dive that sells giant bottles of Black Label beer for eight bucks.

However, the location may not have been an oversight. The rain and the distance from St. Catherine kept people away, but as it was, the place was packed and the grimy atmo­ sphere seemed perfectly suited to the young rock band from outside of Ottawa.

Arriving at BSL2 after their second Nacho House—a free beer, free nachos, and live bands in a house that isn't yours—the band was a little inebriated, but if anything that just gave more energy to their loud, raucous, crowd-surfing sound. Throwing beer at each other and shooting silly string at the sweaty audience, the band seemed in their element, playing sing-along favourites “Do the doot da doot doo” and “Americanarama,” which

had the audience head-banging and cheering along. Songs like “Juliette” sounded perfect in the dark, drunken space, and it only seemed natural for the band to play their last songs with most of the crowd dancing next to them on the small stage.

Overall, the crowd and atmosphere per­ fectly complimented Hollerado’s upbeat, funny, and surprisingly clever songs. It seemed that m ost—if not all—of the crowd knew their album Record in a Bag very well, and for those two who didn’t, the band played a skilled but silly covey of Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World.” For those who missed the show, it would be well worth it to buy Record in a Bag online, and catch Hollerado next time they’re in town. The boys have been playing everywhere and anywhere in the last year, and it’s paid off: the buzz that’s surrounding them is reaching a crescendo—it probably helped when Jack White himself picked them to open for his band The Dead Weather this summer in Toronto. Hollerado’s Pop show proved that they have the energy and talent to justify all the hype.

There are few musicians as enigmatic as Sufjan Stevens. Following the release and critical acclaim of Illinois over four years ago, there was a Christmas album here, a symphon­ ic piece based on the Brooklyn-Queen’s Ex­ pressway there, but no talk of a proper follow­ up for his famed “Fifty States Project” and even fewer public appearances. It was there­ fore welcome news when Stevens announced his first tour in years—not in the cavernous venues he was sure to sell out, but in small and intimate clubs, including Montreal’s 500person Just For Laughs Theatre.

The show opened with Stevens and his horn player performing the delicate and pow­ erful “Mistress Witch From McClure.” The rest of Stevens’ six-piece band came out as he announced that the purpose of this tour was to give himself a chance to workshop new songs.

He then proceeded to play the first of four new tracks, “Impossible Souls.” As the song reached its conclusion seven minutes later, it became clear why Stevens decided to screen his new material to only a few hundred faith­ ful—it’s not exactly an accessible sound, and definitely not a continuation of anything heard on Illinois. Each new song was over seven minutes long and frequently ventured into free jazz with squealing, distorted guitars and wild trumpets. The majority of the band was still reading the sheet music—Sufjan himself had to pause and check the lyrics on the page— but the songs’ in-progress status made the oc­ casional self-indulgence (mostly due to their

PHILIP SOUTHERN FLICKR.COM

Sufjan Stevens: because you can’t do free-form jazz in front of a festival crowd.

DVDS KYLE CARPENTER A&E Editor

DVAS—and no, that does not stand for Deaf Vermonters Advocacy Services—are an electro band that made their live debut as part of the UC showcase at Le Divan Orange on Saturday, which also featured performances

by Upper Class Recordings label-mates The Cansecos, Silly Kissers, and Cadence Weapon.

Their high-energy stage presence and throw­ back dance tracks drew a large crowd to the small room—more than anything, it was an opportunity for electro fans to hear non-Top40 dance music in an unpretentious setting.

DVAS (that is, Dietzche V. and the Abominable Snowmen) are a keyboard and sample-heavy group, with a pop and dance sound similar to Montreal duo Chromeo.

Originally from Edmonton, DVAS now splits their time between Montreal and Toronto.

They have released two studio albums, with a third scheduled for a summer 2010 release,

length) forgivable.

However, the old was shuffled in amongst the new as Stevens pulled out such favourites as “Casimir Pulaski Day,” “Jacksonville,” and “To Be Alone With You,” much to the tearyeyed delight of the audience. The real treat was hearing the incredibly rare and aptly titled “Majesty Snowbird,” which was played in all its epic glory.

Things got a little intense when a woman collapsed midway through the new “Age of Adz,” forcing Stevens to stop the show until she was helped to an emergency exit. “That last song was too serious,” Stevens said, light­ ening the mood before launching into the up­ beat and joyous “Detroit, Lift Up Your Weary Head.”

Stevens returned for a heart-stopping en­ core with the haunting “John Wayne Gacy Jr.” It seemed as though that was the end of the show, but the crowd wouldn’t have it—they feverishly chanted and clapped for one more song. The applause went on for well over five minutes and the house lights and music came on, but it was clear the audience wasn’t leav­ ing, so Stevens and the band came back to play the incredibly catchy “Too Much Love,” the strongest of his new material. A lone crowd member yelled a resounding “Yes!” before the last note finished ringing, summing up the feelings of the audience.

It may not have been the onslaught of hits that some had been hoping for, but Stevens gave the 500 fans something incredibly spe­ cial: the opportunity to see the stage become his practice space and watch his ever-chang­ ing creative process.

and boast of spreading their sound to “London hipsters, Parisian electro-kids, right through to New York fashionistas.” Depending on who you ask, that kind of following can be a bless­ ing or a curse.

Though they originally started out as a duo, the band knew that something was lacking. One of the things that makes DVAS unique is that they have a bass player and a drummer: two elements that are often lacking in live electronic music. Add three keyboards, and you’ve got a pumping synth-based sound that holds steady beneath some light pop hooks—imagine Soul wax if they toned down the grunginess a touch.

Though their set became a little repeti­ tive, it served as a nice transition into Cadence Weapon, who started his set with a string of dance tracks before getting into some of his earlier material. Unfortunately for Weapon, a noticeable portion of the audience left when DVAS were finished their set.

FRUSt EMMA QUAIL Contributor

Faust, the krautrock band from Ham­ burg, Germany, played their first ever show in Canada as part of Pop Montreal on Saturday night at the Ukranian Fed­ eration. Formed in 1970, the only original member of the band that played was Wer­ ner “Zappi” Diermaier, the gargantuan drummer. Faust’s typical style of music can be described as a mixture of experi­ mental rock, progressive rock, psyche­ delic, and minimalism.

Aesthetically, the show was very enjoyable, as the audeince was seated in a cozy theater- with a laid back feeling.

There were projected drawings and im­ ages on the velvet curtains behind Faust, which added to the visual appeal. The bass player spoke to the crowd in between songs and was extremely friendly, speak­ ing in French and English.

Musically, the show was inconsis­ tent. There were some amazing and heavy experimental songs, as well as some im­ provisation with various instruments such as the keyboard and ukulele. Guitarist Zoe Skoulding captured the audience by recit­ ing spoken word while accompanied by heavy bass beats. In between these beau­ tiful acts, however, Faust would present out-of-character, satirical pop-folk songs with silly lyrics. It didn’t fit into image or the style of the show. The player was keen on “connecting” with the audience but unfortunately, this derailed the flow. At one point, Diermaier pulled out an electric sander and used it against a symbol, causing sparks to fly across the stage. This was cool, but still seemed con­ trived. The best part of the show was the long, drone-like instrumental songs, not the theatrics.

14 • Tuesday, October 6, 2009

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ART POP

The art (project) o f happiness Do Make Say Think member’s album becomes art installation RYAN TAYLOR Contributor

Although it made the Polaris Prize long list, Charles Spearin’s album The Happiness Project flew under the radar of many musiclovers. And that’s a shame, since anyone who heard it will tell you what a phenomenal musi­ cal achievement it is, blurring the boundaries between music and speech and making you question which is which.

In an attempt to bring more awareness to Spearin’s album. Artist Bloc, a Toronto collec­ tive, curated an event that brought The Happi­ ness Project to life through visual art. As part of Pop Montreal, each room in an Outremont apartment was dedicated to a song on the album with installations from a series of Mon­ treal artists and one group from Toronto.

Every installation was noteworthy, from the white wishes of “Vanessa” —whimsical white fabric installation with a white “WISH” as the focal point—to the piled cardboard homes of “Anna," to the dark and unsettling “Marisa,” but there were a few that stood above the rest. The “Ondine” room focussed on a child’s rejection of reality. The paintings in the room depicted a world where imagina­ tion runs wild, showing colourful children’s heads floating like balloons, a young girl’s dress flowing into a castle-like fortress, and children crawling out of paintings and into the reality in which they were created. Although unsettling at first, the installation successfully

recreated the childhood feeling of living in a world without limits.

The “Vittoria” installation was simply a room with ribbons and drawings of different dancers on the wall, with a TV playing a loop of young children dancing to Outkast with the track dubbed over top. It served as a remind­ er of the innocence of children and how we should just let them be without expectation or pressure. “Vittoria” reminds us of this on the track when mentioning her favourite time at school is when they “get to do art.” And it was cute as could be.

The definite highlight was the “Mr. Gowrie” room. The set-up was minimal: a bed, a rocking chair, and a set of dresser drawers.

What made it so special was the projection on the wall of an animated Mr. Gowrie sitting in the rocking chair beside the dresser, as if the viewer were lying in bed listening to him tell his story of growing up in poverty. I took the liberty of lying on the bed to get the perspective of the projection, and it was as if Mr. Gowrie was speaking directly to me as he tucked me in at night. The track on the record is inspiring in its own right, but coupled with the art it was completely and utterly flooring.

Spearin achieved something truly spe­ cial with his album and the art exhibit was no different. Wandering through the house felt like wandering through a childhood hom e— complete with delicious chocolate chip cook­ ies and warm hosts. The community of artists working on The Happiness Project success­ fully captured the community of neighbours in the album, giving life to their words on living, love, and happiness.

JULIA WEBSTER

There’s nothing happy about finding yourself where broken homes go to die.

F IL M POP

A trip to a G oblin Christina Rossetti poem reimagined in a short film DANIELLE CHERKAS Contributor

Directed by Montrealer Adam Leith Gollner, author of The Fruit Hunters, Film Pop's Goblin Market explores the themes of defile­ ment, sexuality, and sacrifice lurking in the depths of the classic 1859 Christina Rossetti poem. The film’s simplistic set design allows the viewer to focus on its central commentary: the temptation of “fruits.” Leith links the fruits to sex through a series of suggestive oral vi­ suals, and displays portions of the poem that coincide with his erotic notions intermittently

M a rk e t

throughout the film. One such visual portrays the cautionary image of Jeanie, head tilted back, having a pair of cherries dipped sugges­ tively into her mouth. Scenes of sexual indis­ cretion eventually culminate in the attempted rape of Lizzie (played by newcomer Tamar Amir) by the Goblins, as they smear popping cherries all over her face in their attempt to insert their fruits into her mouth. Goblin Mar­ ket’s lack of dialogue coupled wih beautifully portrayed gothic cinematography contributed to its themes of darkness and silencing associ­ ated with sexual abuse. Running 12 minutes in length and starring Liane Balaban (New Wa­ terford Girl, Last Chance Harvey) and Dave Lawrence (Fubar), the 8 mm film may be short in duration, but its message is sure to endure.

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Curiosity Delivers

Tuesday, October 6, 2009 • 15

St

16 • Tuesday, October 6, 2009

u d e n t

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in g

D A TIN G FOR DOUCHEBAGS

M ake M e a M atch!

Interview with a Matchmaker BRAHNA SIEGELBERG

6

Public Service of Canada Job Fair

McGill Farmers Market 11:00 a.m.- 5 p.m.

9:30 am - 8:00 pm Palais de Congres in Montreal Discover job opportunities in public ser­ vice of Canada.

7

Check out local produce at Three Bares Park between classes.

Thanksgiving Day

Human Rights Discussion 2:30 am - 5:00 pm Peterson Hall

Sleep in. Don’t forget to not go to class.

Panel Discussion Yuri Melini, leading Guatemalan Human Rights and Envi­ ronmental Advocate, who survived an assassination attempt in 2008.

LEADERSHIP TRAINING PROGRAM Leadership Skills Development Workshops

Leadership Leadership Training Program First-Year Office

If you a re a student involved in campus activities as an executive, o rg a n ize r or event planner, you q u a lify fo r the Leadership Training P rogram ’s FREE Skills D evelopm ent Workshops.

D evelop and build your leadersh ip skills. Attend a minimum of five workshops throughout 0 9 / 1 0 academ ic y e a r and receive a certificate o f completion.

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1 4 , 5 : 3 0 - 7 :3 0 p m

(d o w n to w n cam p u s)

A re you new to a position o f leadersh ip or involved in a club or service? Learn the basics from the Pros and m ake your M c G ill o rg anizing ride a lot smoother!

E v e n t P la n n in g & P ro m o tio n s - M ake it Happen W e d n e s d a y , O c to b e r

2 8 , 5 :3 0 - 7 :3 0 p m ( d o w n t o w n c a m p u s )

Red ta p e got you down? Learn the ins and outs o f event planning a t M c G ill. If you’re in a club or service planning

on

holding a fundraiser - m ake sure you’re there!

R e g is tra tio n fo r w o rk s h o p s : In person beginning one w e e k in

Features Editor

When you think “matchmaker,” your mind probably jumps to Fiddler on the Roof, an old lady with a wagging finger, and a cou­ ple unhappily married for 25 years.

But young, fresh, and hip, Margaux Chetrit is putting matchmaking back on the table. Chetrit—a Montreal native and McGill alumnus—is the owner and co-founder of Three Matches, a matchmaking company that defines itself as a “sophisticated dating con­ cept.” I sat down with her to discuss some of the intricacies and benefits of using her service in contrast to the many other forms of “new age" dating.

Although she has been unofficially mak­ ing matches since age 10, Chetrit—along with her mother, N icole—decided to turn the talent into a business a little over a year ago, and has since managed to build an international matchmaking empire which spans cities like Montreal, Paris, New York, London, and Tel Aviv.

In a world in which the rules of old-fash­ ioned dating have gone out the window, and been replaced by a new set of dos and don’ts, Chérit is hearkening back to traditional forms of meeting people.

“You go into a bookstore and there are a thousand self-help books teaching you how to date,” says Chetrit. “There are no understood rules in this world of dating. We’re trying to date each other, but everything’s colliding.

Matchmaking is the only trusted and true way.”

Three M atches—the name taken from the ancient Jewish belief that he who is respon­ sible for making three introductions will be rewarded in “the world to come” —is not de­ signed for anyone who just can’t get a date, but targeted specifically for successful singles who are too busy because of their jobs, don’t trust their own judgment, or are anxious about meandering their way through the complex dating world.

“Divorced women, for example, no mat­ ter how wonderful they are, need an extra push to get back in the dating game. They’re very insecure after 20 or so years of marriage, and they just don’t know how to get back into dating. I make it a bit easier for them,” says Chetrit.

Unlike online dating services like eharmony, match.com, or JDate, Three Matches performs thorough background checks on all clients and tries to get to know each client—of which there are over one thousand—face-toface. The process is initiated by a two-hour in­ terview that gets a lot more in-depth than, for

example, a client’s favourite type of pizza.

“We discuss almost every relationship the person has had in their lives, so we could track down patterns. If someone is asking for ex­ actly what they’ve always gone for, we make them realize that’s already problematic— which is a big step.”

Though she does include a complex point system for all her questions, Chetrit notes that many of her matches are based mostly on in­ tuitio n -so m eth in g a computer most certainly does not have. If a client describes what they are looking for and she feels they just aren’t going for the right thing, Chetrit will set them up with people she thinks are better s u ite d even against the client’s own judgment. And apparently it works, because she claims to get it right almost always on the first try.

Another perk of having a matchmaker?

Learning valuable insights on your own rela­ tionship pitfalls.

“Sometimes you go on a date, and the person never calls you back, and you wonder what went wrong for the rest of your life. Here, [because I ask for feedback], I ’m revealing it, and helping them learn how to be a better date in the future.”

To find matches, she will also go to lengths that no computer would dare go. If, for example, a person wants something as specific as dating a member of a yacht club, Chetrit will go and join that club. She will travel the world to meet with her clients, and is com­ mitted on a personal level to finding a match for every single one. And most impressively, the clientele has expanded to what it is today mostly on the basis of word-of-mouth.

To nobody’s surprise, she finally turned the table on me at the end of the interview and asked. “Are you single?”

THREE MATCHES

Margaux and her mother, Nicole.

a d v a n c e o f workshop, on a first-com e, first-served basis, in the FirstY e a r O ffic e .

M a c d o n a ld c a m p u s students: send an e m ail with your nam e, Student ID, club, position, M c G ill e m ail & tele p h o n e num ber to:

leadership.training@m cgill.ca For more info, come by the First-Year O ffice in the B ro w n B u ild in g , Suite 2 10 0, or call 5 1 4 -3 9 8 -6 9 1 3

WRITE FOR FEATURES! EMAIL FEATURES@MCGILLTRIBUNE.COM TO FIND OUT HOW. NO EXPERIENCE REQUIRED.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009 « 17

Curiosity Delivers

X V S .Y

B lackberry vs. iPhone Blackberry Looks: A bit on the chubby side, although newer models like the Strorm and Curve are sleeker.

Portability: Models such as the Pearl make it easy to fit into pockets and purses. However, there’s no hope of fitting the larger models and rubber case into skinny jean pockets.

Remember those cell phones that looked like grey bricks and had antennae? That was back when texting didn’t exist and the only thing you could do on a phone was, well, talk. The fierce competition between the mobile monsters BlackBerry and Apple has created a whole new level of innovation. If you absolutely must have the shiniest, newest phone, then you have a critical choice to make. BlackBerry and Apple are duking it out for the young adult market.

Coolness: Blackber­ ries used to be exclusive­ ly for the business world, but with over a thousand applications available, the QWERTY keyboard, and word completion that simplifies texting, the younger generation has caught on.

The breakfast of champions FRANCESCA FERENCZI Contributor

Everybody knows that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. But between being late to class, laziness, and limited op­ tions, jump-starting your day with a meagre cup of coffee is often tempting, unhealthy tas it may be.

A good breakfast is obviously a mat­ ter of taste, but in my experience, granola is always a crowd pleaser. Many commercial granolas are high in calories, sugar, and fat.

Fortunately, it’s really easy and fun to make your own at home. Consider the following recipe a blueprint for making your own gra­ nola; you can follow if precisely, or adjust it to your taste, but keep the following tips in mind: • Always add dried fruit at the end, once the granola is out of the oven and has cooled.

• If you want more clusters, add an ad­

Portability: That beautiful screen the size of a small tele­ vision can break on a rough night on the town.

Coolness: It’s made by Apple, so owners must resemble the Justin Long, not the boring PC guy.

Applications: Apple is break­ ing away with trendy applications such as the Barista, which provides instructions on making coffee and espresso drinks, and the Pianist, which allows you to play a piano on your phone. Your phone can also be your personal trainer, with running logs and yoga instructions.

Winner Tie. Besides, they will both be obsolete in six months. Re­ member when the hottest new phones had cameras? That was only a few years ago. Batteries will last longer, the number of applications will increase, and someone may even come up with a model as pretty as the iPhone and as practical as the Blackberry. Until then, go with whatever suits your budget.

Too t>Cjumi " Granola-to-go

Looks: Slender, sleek, and oh so shiny.

Practicality: It’s a phone, iPod, camera, a mobile internet source, so if you lose it, you’re screwed. Password protection and back-up come in handy.

Chatting: Black­ berry Messenger is grow­ ing in popularity.

Procrastination capacity: Relatively high, but the con­ stant clicking from the keyboard will draw attention in class.

iPhone

Procrastination capacity: Extremely high (see applica­ tions section). Alternatively, it saves you time by automatically adjusting to flip horizontally when needed.

- Shannon Kimball

M IN D F U N K ditional 2 tablespoons of oil.

• Nuts tend to bum easily, especially if they’re around the edges of the pan.

Keep an eye on them and if they are browning quickly, just take the pan out, stir, and return to the oven. Do this as often as needed, although more than once or twice should not be necessary.

Ingredients 2 Vi cups rolled oats (not quick) 1 cup sliced almonds 34 cup pecan pieces 'A cup light brown sugar Vi cup maple syrup 1 tbsp. cinnamon 1 tbsp. vegetable oil xh cup dried cranberries

Directions 1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Combine all ingredients except for the cranberries and mix well.

3. Spread this mixture on the baking sheet and bake for 7 minutes. Stir, and make sure to redistribute it evenly. Bake for another 7-9 minutes, until golden and toasted.

4. Let cool and mix in cranberries.

Makes about 5 cups. The granola can be stored for up to a month in a cool, dry place.

Stretch and sw eat Turn up the heat with hot yoga SHANNON KIMBALL Features Editor*I

| Why is there a crowd of people outside . on a Friday night on St. Laurent and Duluth?

No, it’s not Schwartz’s, or a new d ub. But I rather, Moksha Yoga, one of the cheapest hot | yoga studios in town, and a welcome escape . from the approaching cold weather.

Bikram yoga, also known as hot yoga, • was founded by Bikram Choudhury in Los | Angeles. While the yuppies and WASPs of • L.A. may not be the prime experts on medita­ tion and bliss, Bikram yoga has grown in pop‘ ularity worldwide. Traditional Bikram yoga | consists of 26 asanas, or poses, in a room that ■ usually reaches 40 degrees Celsius. The whole rotation takes approximately 90 minutes. The 1 intense heat and more intense postures turn I yoga into a cardiovascular activity while deep■ ly stretching muscles at the same time.

Moksha, part of the world-wide Moksha 1 yoga group that extends from Trinidad to AlI berta, located at St. Laurent, provides a quint■ essential escape from stress and the cold. Their large loft-like studio looks over Mount Royal, 1 providing an escape from the daily hassles of I the city.

■ Moksha has created its own spin on Bikram yoga, making it accessible to both beginners and advanced levels. Unlike tradiI tional Bikram, whose intensity and repetitivej ness is bound to keep many away, Moksha of­

fers classes for beginners and advanced levels, with varying class lengths and poses. Moksha offers over 50 classes per week, between 7:00 a.m. and 9:30 p.m, which makes it ideal for students.

Heating a room up to 40” C gets expen­ sive, which means that serious students can take a real hit to their wallet. However, Mok­ sha established daily “Community Classes,” in which local instructors and students teach the class for a fee o f $5. On Friday nights, while most people are gearing up for a night on the town, many can be found lined up early for the “Karma Class,” also $5, whose profits go to local charity. Beginners are also welcome to a week of unlimited classes for only $20.

Other Bikram yoga studios in Montreal, a bit further from campus, include Bikram Yoga Montreal, at 721 Ave. Walker, and Happy Tree Yoga, at 4010 W. St. Catherine St.

BRITTANY M CGILLFRIVARY

18 • Tuesday, October 6, 2009

mcgilltribune.com

Readers, e-readers, and the revolution of reading digitally Carolyn Yates Managing Editor

Will well-stocked bookshelves like these be a thing o f the past? With the rise o f the e-reader, the reading experience and content itself has the potential to change.

After Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol was released on September 15 Amazon.com announced that it sold more electronic cop­ ies than it did print copies within the first 24 hours. Barnes & Noble, an American chain that has not yet released its own dedicated ereader, pronounced similar results.

Devices such as Amazon’s Kindle and Sony’s Sony Reader, among others, allow users to carry around a potentially unlimited library of books. Nevertheless, the increasing digitization of content has the potential to alter not only the way that readers interact with content, but the content itself.

“We’re entering a very different domain in terms of our connections with content and the physical objects we call books,” says Les­ lie Chan, a senior lecturer in media studies at the University of Toronto at Scarborough.

“The kind of freedom we currently have we may be giving up in favour of an illusory ad­ vantage. [It’s] great to download a book into a reader and then read it anywhere you want to —[but] that’s an illusory freedom. It could be taken away.”

While e-readers such as the Kindle have garnered a lot of attention recently, the first ereaders actually appeared on the market over ten years ago. Early devices were the literary equivalent of early mp3 players: bulky, incon­ venient, and unattractive. They also failed to improve the reading experience—the LCD screens meant that reading from an e-reader was no more comfortable than reading from a computer screen. About four years ago, Sony released the Sony Reader, the first device to use E Ink technology, which reduces eyestrain through better contrast. Since then, Amazon has released the Kindle, Sony has improved on the Reader through both technological and

aesthetic upgrades, and several other compa­ nies—including Barnes & Noble and A p p le are rumoured to be releasing their own ver­ sions in the next several months.

Though the e-readers themselves are smaller than the average paperback, their principle advantage is something different: e-readers can fit a small library on their hard drive. The Kindle Store currently offers over 320,000 books and 6,000 newspapers, maga­ zines, and blogs available for download to the Kindle. Sony’s eBook Store offers similar paid content—although limited to books—in addi­ tion to over one million public domain books from Google. Bookstores such as Chapters and Barnes & Noble also offer e-books that are compatible with open-platform devices, of which the Sony Reader is one.

“The advantage of an e-reader is more ac­ cess in more places, and the ability to carry a library worth of books on one device,” says Cynthia Hayman, a spokesperson for Sony Canada. “It’s all about portability.”

Of course, the e-reader’s portability has a profound impact on the physical experience of books themselves.

“A physical book is a very tactile thing.

You hold it in your hand and you turn the page—there’s a very specific way you interact with the book. Whereas with an e-book, you hold an object that is accessing the pages very differently. Your connection with that object is very different,” says Chan.

That connection is something that readers might be reluctant to give up.

“I like to hold something tangible,” says Lauren Carsley, U2 history and English litera­ ture, who does not currently have an e-reader and is not planning on getting one. “They’re not the same as books, where you have a personal attachment to the illustration or the cover.”

Books can be taken anywhere: shared, passed around, forgotten places, reshelved,

/

stolen, swapped, photocopied, highlighted, and read whilst in the bath. E-books are a little different. Currently, books purchased for the Kindle can’t be read on any device besides those Amazon has approved, which is current­ ly limited to iPhones and iPod touches.

Sony, on the other hand, uses an ePub format, which is more open. This also allows content from other sources, such as Google Books or some public libraries, to be accessed from the Sony Reader, in some cases for free.

“You can get content on the Sony Reader from a variety of sources, not just the Sony eBook store,” says Hayman. “With competi­ tors’ products like the Amazon Kindle you’re tied to that bookstore to get your content, but with the Sony Reader you can get your content from wherever you like.”

That content* itself also has the potential to change. Currently, the books available for e-readers are traditionally formatted books that have been digitized. However, the change

“W ere entering a verydifferent domain in terms of our connec­ tions with content and the physical objects we call books.”

— Leslie Chan

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in the way readers can access that information might have the potential to change the infor­ mation itself.

“It allows you to read in a very different way, and what it means is it will allow creative people to create a compelling story in a differ­ ent way,” says Chan. “Instead of writing one novel beginning to end, things can be serial­ ized and delivered in a different way.”

C o n te n t c o n tro l One of the potential problems with elec­ tronic books, however, is the ease with which they can disappear.

In July, Amazon remotely deleted unau­ thorized editions of George Orwell’s Animal Farm and 1984 from readers’ Kindles. There were earlier instances in which unauthorized editions of Atlas Shrugged, The Fountain­ head, and the Harry Potter books were also remotely removed from readers’ Kindles, but the extreme irony of the Orwell incident meant that Amazon faced heavy criticism from the media. Amazon executive Jeffrey Bezos later apologized on the web site, calling Amazon’s actions “stupid, thoughtless and painfully out of line with our principles,” but the situation nevertheless highlighted the potential for cor­ poration-determined control when materials can just be deleted.

“What you can and cannot do is tied to a device that is in turn controlled entirely by the company,” says Chan. “With these devices, increasingly, they can control the content, as demonstrated in the case of withdrawing the books. You are dependent on the content pro­ vider because of the device. You’ve lost that degree of freedom.”

“The advantage of the e-reader is more access in more places, and the ability to carry a library worth of books on one device. It’s all about por­ tability.”

— Cynthia Hayman

Content for closed devices, such as the Kindle, operates similarly to content pur­ chased from the iTunes store. Users can ac­ cess it through their specific devices on their own, but there are restrictions on the degree to which that content can be shared.

“I’m concerned with the ability of a com­ pany to control the content through the devic­ es, that’s why I’m not crazy about any device­ specific content or application,” says Chan.

The fu tu r e O f course, despite recent leaps for­ ward in technology, the devices themselves

remain flawed. Current e-readers are still bulky, and—despite eye-strain friendly E Ink screens—don’t provide an ideal reading expe­ rience. There is also a limited amount of mate­ rial accessible through e-readers, though it is constantly expanding.

However, e-readers might also have a short shelf life as users expect more and more out of their digital devices. Asus, one of the first companies to develop a viable netbook, has said that it plans to release an e-reader by the end of the year, one which would feature colour, a dual LCD touchscreen and email and extended Internet capabilities. Apple also seems to be thinking along similar lines, and the way in which they join the e-book mar­ ket—if they choose to do so—will no doubt shape that market for years to come.

“I’m sure there will always be dedicated devices, and they may have a few advantages in doing just one thing,” said Steve Jobs in a September 9 article in the New York Times.

“But I think the general-purpose devices will win the day. Because I think people just prob­ ably aren’t willing to pay for a dedicated de­ vice.”

Top right: Apple Inc. is widely rumoured to be releasing their own e-book-friendly device early next year. Rather than following the E Ink, single-purpose format o f the Sony Reader and Kindle, experts speculate that Apple will release a tablet device more versatile than that o f the competition.

Bottom right: The Sony Reader, shown here in a display from Paragraph Bookstore, is avail­ able in several formats, including touchscreen and pocket editions.

Look out for the vook Carolyn Yates Managing Editor

On October 1, Atria Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, and Vook, a new video-text publishing venture, jointly announced the re­ lease of four new titles—a workout guide, a self-care guide, a thriller and a romance. But what makes the titles unique is that they’re not books, but Vooks—a new medium that com­ bines text and video to create a whole new user experience.

“Vook is bringing together two creative mediums—books and video—taking the best of both and redefining how we tell and con­ sume stories,” says Vook founder and chief executive officer Bradley Inman.

The integration of video is central to the vook experience. For fiction, video advances the story as well as enhancing it, while for non-fiction, the dual-media integration allows for greater clarity and more in-depth informa-

tion. The video is professionally produced and HD-quality, while the text is XML-based fof faster loading. Vooks are accessible through browsers, via the flash-based Vook Reader, or on mobile devices. Browser-based vooks are streamed, while mobile vooks are downloaded to users’ devices.

“Vook is a game-changing model for reading in the age of digital multimedia,” says Elbe Hirschhom, executive vice-president and chief digital officer of Simon & Schuster, which partnered with Atria and Vook to offer the new releases. “It is easily accessible in the way that consumers have come to expect from digital content, has great potential for distri­ bution through traditional and non-traditional outlets, and expands and improves upon what was previously possible in the area of reading digitally.”

Vooks take the idea of e-books and expand it. However, they can’t be read (or viewed) on e-readers, since those devices don’t currently support video, and while Simon & Schuster

is working on a physical incarnation of the Vook, the form that that will take remains to be seen.

There are other issues—users wishing to access their vooks both on their iPhone and their computer will need to purchase two separate copies, as the accounts cannot yet be linked. Additionally, because Vooks are not downloaded, users cannot share their Vooks in the same way they share traditional books.

And the form itself is still evolving.

“Mixing médias—especially enhancing text for fiction—is tricky beyond the mere subject of taste,” writes Mark Wilson of Gizmodo. “We're used to watching both news and fart-related video clips on a blog, but embed­ ded flash video is just corny when placed next to a murder mystery.”

Currently, vooks are available from vook. com, Simon & Schuster’s website, or iTunes.

The browser versions currently cost $6.99 CAD, while the iTunes version is $4.99.

PHOTOS BY HOLLY STEWART ANF JEFF ST. AUBIN

Sp o

20 • Tuesday, October 6, 2009

rts

mcgilltribune.com

W O M E N ’S SOCCER - M C G IL L 3, LAVAL 2

M artlets strike first, hang on to lead in victory over L aval Defensive effort propels McGill to victory MICHAEL SENGARA Contributor

It was a tale o f two halves on Friday night at Molson Stadium, as the McGill Martlets defeated the eighth-ranked Laval Rouge et Or 3-2. The Martlets looked like they could do no wrong for most of the game, but with the clock winding down, Laval mounted a comeback and looked poised to draw even.

Controlling possession of the ball and the pace of the game, the Martlets stormed out to a 3-1 lead, but barely managed to hold off La­ val’s second-half charge.

“We had a very good first half—we won the first half and lost the second,” said McGill Head Coach Marc Mounicot. “We scored a beautiful first goal, and that was quite positive.

The girls followed the game plan for the first 45 minutes, and after that, it was crappy play, with [mostly] one-on-one battles. We have to work on maintaining consistency during the entire game.”

McGill looked sharp from the opening kickoff, scoring just six minutes in. First-year midfielder Alexandra Armstrong made a strong run down the right wing, and crossed the ball into the box to sophomore Anna Smith, who fired it into the bottom-left com er of the net.

Laval evened the score eight minutes later, as Kathy Gosselin headed home a comer kick from striker Virginie Jacques. The ball appeared to deflect off someone on the way in, but Gosselin was still credited with the goal.

Alexandra Morin-Boucher put the Mart­ lets ahead again with her league-leading eighth goal of the season. Defensive midfielder Julia

JOHN KELSEY

The Martlets almost had another late game collapse but played tough on defence to take down eighth-ranked Laval.

Bahen placed a beautiful pass through the de­ fence, and Morin-Boucher steered her shot around the Laval goalkeeper, who could do nothing but watch as the ball rolled in.

Just before the half, Morin-Boucher drew a penalty off a scramble in the six-yard box when she was tackled before she had the ball, much to the irritation of Laval coach Helder Duarte. Smith’s penalty kick was saved by Rouge et Or keeper Noemi Duguay, but Smith made no mistake on the rebound, putting McGill up 3-1 at the break.

In the 76th minute, Laval’s strong sec­ ond half paid off when Jacques scored to cut M cGill’s lead in half. While making a save, McGill keeper Anne-Catherine Huot appeared to be fouled by a Laval player, but no call was made. Jacques quickly slotted home the re­ bound, and Huot was forced to leave the game,

T hird NOT SO BITTER ABOUT TWITTER

The NBA recently banned it from being used before, during, and after games. The NFL has banned it completely, and the MLB is bound to follow soon. Think I’m talking about steroids? Close, but not quite. In this case, I ’m talking about Twitter.

Twitter is a social-networking phenom­ enon that has taken popular culture—and, in particular, the sporting world—by storm. It has exploded in popularity in the last year, giving fans unprecedented access to sports figures’ daily lives. Nevertheless, the ques­ tion remains: is Twitter bad for sports? At first. I thought so. I didn’t care that Shaquille O ’Neal (@THE_REAL_SHAQ) just went to the bathroom, or that Alexander Ovech­ kin (@ovi8) just got back from walking his dog. Do athletes really need another venue to inflate their egos?

Twitter controversy—in the sports world, that is—began when former Milwau­ kee forward Charlie Villaneuva (@CV31)

replaced by Shimone Slomowitz. A tenacious defensive effort on M cGill’s part denied Laval any further scoring opportunities during the game.

“Our physical play really surprised them,” said Martlet defender Carolyn Bell. “They w eren’t expecting it. It was a little nervewracking back there, but [their goal] was their only chance the entire half. They put it away, credit to them, but I thought we held them off pretty well.”

Questionable calls and non-calls frustrat­ ed both sides throughout the game. Mounicot, for one, was not shy about expressing his con­ cern with the officiating.

“Tonight, for both teams, the referee stole the show,” he said. “This was not the first time this year where we have had to deal with the refereeing being pretty average, and that’s a

M an

posted on his Twitter profile during an NBA game last season. Villaneuva wrote: “In da locker room, snuck to post my twitt. We’re playing the Celtics, tie ball game at da half.

Coach wants more toughness. I gotta step up.” It was unprecedented—a star athlete had broken all sorts of media conventions by posting a message on his Twitter page in the middle of a game against one of the best teams in the NBA. From a coaching standpoint, this was terrible. You want your players to be focussed on the game at hand, not worrying about updating thousands of online followers. But from a fan’s perspec­ tive, this was an exciting development. The sports fanatic now had unparalleled access into the mind of a professional athlete. And in the second half, like he said he would, Villaneuva stepped it up, leading his team to a 86-77 victory over the defending cham­ pion Boston Celtics.

From a journalistic perspective, Twitter has revolutionized how sports are reported.

Recently, superstar guard Allen Iverson (@ alleniverson) announced that he was signing

In

with the Memphis Grizzlies on his Twit­ ter page before the team had confirmed the deal or alerted any major news outlet. Last month, Minnesota forward Kevin Love (@ kevin_love) tweeted that his coach was get­ ting fired before the team had made an of­ ficial announcement. Twitter has allowed players to bypass the media completely and dictate what is being reported. Instead of sports journalists digging up new informa­ tion and providing the public with the break­ ing news, they are now getting their infor­ mation from the same place everyone else is—a player’s Twitter page.

Does this signal the end of sports jour­ nalism? Perhaps. In a sense, it eliminates the purpose of the journalist because fans can now get information directly from players.

There is no need for someone else to put it in writing. However, given the fact that not all athletes wish to participate in the Twitter craze, and the fact that much of the public is still unfamiliar with the website, it’s safe to say that sports journalism is still a viable industry. At least for now.

nice way of saying that.” • While the Martlets are pleased with their win, they recognize the importance of main­ taining momentum throughout the season. For a few minutes after Friday night’s game, how­ ever, the Martlets allowed themselves to bask in the glow of victory.

“We came out tonight and played our game,” said Smith. “We just played harder than them tonight.”

The Martlet's take a break from competi­ tive play for a week and a half before returning to Molson Stadium to take the field against the Sherbrooke Vert et Or on October 16 at 6:30 p.m.

JON RUBENSTEIN The influence of Twitter has altered the business of sports journalism. The media can now use Twitter to its advantage by collabo­ rating with athletes about impending free agency or the status of their injury. Twit­ ter has turned a new page in professional sports—one in which the journalist and the athlete work together to break the news.

When a journalist hears a rumour about a possible trade, he no longer spends hours calling team executives who are reluctant to talk to the media. That same journalist can now tweet the actual player who is involved in the trade gossip. The possibilities are end­ less.

For now, it seems like sports journal­ ism is here to stay. But when we do reach the point of extinction, rest assured you’ll be able to find me online @The_Real_JR.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009 «21

Curiosit^Delivers

P R O F IL E

M E N ’S L A C R O S S E

H am ilton brings greatness to the gridiron

L ax L ovin ’

Redmen running back leads McGill resurgence

Redmen dominate over weekend

GABE PULVER Contributor

If football is a game of inches, then for the last few years, the McGill Redmen have been moving by the millimeter. Two winless seasons are enough to destroy the morale of any team. But with fan support waning and pressure mounting. McGill Head Coach Sonny Wolfe vowed at the beginning of this year to make the Redmen relevant again. Hav­ ing already won three games this year, the turnaround that Wolfe envisioned is starting to become a reality.

Most people who have watched McGill this year will point to the acquisition of a new, experienced running back—a player with the charisma and talent to put numbers in the win column and fans in the stands—as the main reason for the team ’s success. This player is Andrew Hamilton, a Montreal-born, Miamiraised running back who has literally carried the Redmen back to respectability.

A quick look at Hamilton’s statistics this year offers proof as to why Wolfe is so excited about his team ’s prospects. Hamilton is sec­ ond in the country in yards per carry, second in rushing yards per game, and first in all-purpose yards per game. If he keeps up his stellar play, Hamilton will also have a legitimate shot at the Hec Crighton trophy, which is awarded to the Most Outstanding Player in the entire country.

“H e’s got great vision,” said Wolfe. “H e’ll pass up an opening for seven yards because he knows he might get 78.”

Football has taken Hamilton far, and the journey has been bittersweet. A standout highschool career in Miami was followed by a scholarship to Eastern Michigan University.

Hamilton then transferred to Delaware State University in order to stay with the coach who recruited him. Following his NCAA stint, Hamilton entered the CFL draft after a successful evaluation camp, but never made a roster and was released after a tryout with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. After a year playing for Concordia, Hamilton was able to make the Montreal Alouette’s practice roster.

A potential big break ended in disappoint­ ment when Hamilton signed a contract to play in the Arena Football League, but the league folded earlier this year. Hamilton, though, sim­ ply appreciates that he still has the opportunity to compete at a high level.

“I ’m just grateful to be playing football,” he said. “I love football. I’m just glad to be here.”

Hamilton’s road to McGill has been bumpy, to say the least. After stints at the professional level, Hamilton dealt with is­ sues over eligibility early in the year, and was only cleared to play minutes before the team ’s home opener against Sherbrooke. (He missed the Redmen’s season opener.) He is quick to credit Wolfe for making it possible for him to join the Redmen.

“Not a lot of people thought I could [play here],” said Hamilton. “[It] takes a different kind of person to take a situation, [knowing] that this is probably the most unrealistic situa­ tion in the world, and sit there and say, we can try to do this.”

This past summer, Hamilton worked hard to ensure that he would receive the 18 cred­ its necessary to allow him to play at McGill.

Player and coach soon developed a strong re­ lationship based on trust.

“When you want to show somebody you’re serious, you hound them,” said Ham­ ilton. “I didn’t really have to do that, I would say [we hounded each other].”

Adding the ‘student’ tag to the more fa­ miliar ‘athlete’ label has not come without its share of difficulties, but Hamilton is happy with how he has adjusted to the rigours of uni­ versity life so far.

“It’s different, the way I apply myself in the classroom [now],” he said. “When I was younger, it was about playing sports and getting by. [But] once you’ve gone through things—[being on] a practice roster, now [you] get a sense of [yourself]. I ’m learning what I want to do and how I want to do it, and I can apply myself in a classroom setting.”

When Hamilton met Wolfe, he knew he was being counted on to bring life back to a struggling program. While Wolfe has been elated with what Hamilton has been able to deliver on the gridiron, watching his star run­ ning back develop as a student has been even more gratifying.

“We’re 3-2 for the first time since the [2005] season,” said Wolfe. “Three wins.

That’s three more than w e’ve had in the last two years. But that’s not the truly important side of the story. What [is] most impressive is that someone who had always gone to school to play football is now truly looking [at life] from the perspective of a student.”

If Hamilton can continue to excel on the field and in the classroom like this, another crack at professional football could very well be on the 25-year-old’s horizon. For now, though, Hamilton cites his decision to come to McGill as one of his most sensational touch­ downs.

“How can I not like this place?” he asked.

“It’s [been] great to come here and get my life together.”

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MATT CHESSER Opinion Editor

There is a clear division between the good teams and the bad in the Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association’s Eastern Confer­ ence. And with a pair of 18-8 wins over the weekend, the McGill Redmen left no doubt as to what half of the conference they belong to.

Victories over the Queen’s Golden Gaels (0-5), and the Carleton Ravens (3-3) propelled the Redmen (5-2) into a three-way tie for first place in the CUFLA East.

The Redmen were clearly the superior side from the opening whistle against the Golden Gaels on Saturday night. McGill spent almost the entire first quarter in Queen’s half of the field, jumping out to a 5-0 lead and limiting the Gaels to two shot attempts in the period.

“You can’t afford to be complacent,” said McGill Head Coach Tim Murdoch. “As in any sport it’s always tough to motivate your guys when you know your opponent is the weaker team. But w e’re in a playoff hunt where every goal counts.”

The Redmen were led by rookie attackman Ryan Besse, who racked up three goals and four assists. The diminutive 5-foot-9 freshman showed great willingness to go into the high traffic areas and take a beating, as all three of his goals were scored from within five feet of the net.

“We were bouncing back off of a tough [7-6] loss against Bishop’s [on Thursday] so it was really important that we play a strong game,” said Besse.

Besse and midfielder Sean Simeson in particular used their speed and vision to find seams in the slower Queen’s defence. Sime­ son, who finished with two goals and an assist, set up Besse on the first goal o f the second half with a beautiful 40-yard run and a thread-theneedle pass that found Besse alone at the side of the net.

Other strong McGill performances came from midfielder Scott Bailey, who tallied four goals, and attackman Luke LaCava, who notched two goals and two assists.

The outcome was not all positive for the Redmen, however, as goaltender Guy Fox suf­ fered a leg injury midway through the fourth quarter. Fox has split time with freshman Simon Hudson throughout the year, although the fourth-year goaltender played the entirety of the big games against Trent and Bishop’s — the only two teams who have defeated the Redmen this season. Hudson will be asked to fill in as a starter for “at least a week” while Fox recovers.

Hudson got off to a good start with a win in his first full gam e—an 18-8 victory over Carleton on Sunday afternoon. Greg Henry, Mike Ting, Nick Moreau, and Alex Kruse all notched hat-tricks to lead the Redmen to an­ other blowout win.

The Redmen will face the Ravens again on Wednesday night, before travelling to the U.S. for a pair of exhibition games against Plattsburgh State and the College o f the Holy Cross. McGill closes out the regular season with home games against Trent and Bishop’s.

mcgilltribune.com

22 • Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Chicago Btackhawks: TheBlackhawks look to mature this year after losing in the con­ ference finals to Detroit last spring. With some of the best young guns in the gam e—including Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews—scoring should be no problem for this squad. The main issue here is goaltending as Cristobal Huet is no sure thing between the pipes.

H C O M

Detroit Red Wings: Though they have won the division in each of the past eight sea­ sons, the streak could end this year. There was talk of the team showing age last season, and durability will remain a question this year. De­ troit’s legendary scouting staff needs produc­

tion from their prospects if they hope to regain the division crown this season.

St. Louis Blues: The young Blues sur­ prised everyone last year by earning the sixth seed in the West. The team will look to better last season’s result with the return of Paul Kariya, who battled injuries all through last year.

Kariya will put points on the board, something the Blues desperately needed a year ago.

Columbus Blue Jackets: Last year, the Jackets earned their first-ever playoff berth, but were swept by Detroit in four games. Rick Nash will have considerable help up front with

recent additions Justin Williams and Antoine Vermette. Steve Mason will have to prove last year was no fluke if they hope to make the playoffs again.

Nashville Predators: Without much in the way of offence, the Predators could strug­ gle this year. After a summer with no major offensive acquisitions, the Predators are hop­ ing Steve Sullivan can stay healthy and pro­ ductive. Sullivan returned for 41 games last year, after sitting out nearly two years with a back injury.

—Michael Sengara

Pacific San Jose Sharks: it’s now or never for the San Jose Sharks. The Sharks sacrificed depth and grit when they let some valuable players go to clear cap room for Dany Heatley.

Heatley will have a massive season alongside Joe Thornton, Devin Setoguchi, and the rest of the Sharks’ offensive weapons—which on paper are the best in the league. Their defence is also vastly underrated. They’ll finish near the top of the standings but that won’t matter if the Sharks don't win the Stanley Cup d>A * l

JAL •!»;*«**•x.*'

Anaheim Ducks: The Ducks sacri­ ficed defence to add some firepower up front, as they lost defencemen Chris Pronger and Francois Beauchemin, but added Saku Koivu, Joffrey Lupul, and will get a full season from rookie sensation Bobby Ryan. As a result, Anaheim might struggle defensively, but Scott

Niedermayer and the best goaltending tandem in the league will keep the Ducks in the play­ off hunt.

Dallas Stars: After a nice run of success over the last 15 years, Dallas had a disastrous season last year due to a perfect storm of sea­ son-ending injuries. Lean years are coming for the aging Stars franchise, but a healthy season from Brendan Morrow, and bounce-back years from Marty Turco and Brad Richards will put Dallas on the playoff bubble.

Los Angeles Kings: The Kings have missed the playoffs in each of the last six sea­ sons, and this w on’t be the year they break that dubious streak. L.A. is loaded with young talent up front—like Anze Kopitar, Alexander Frolov, and Dustin Brown—and on defence—

Jack Johnson and Drew Doughty—but all of the above are at least a few years away from being dominant NHLers. Another season near the bottom of the Western Conference is in the cards for the Kings.

Phoenix Coyotes: Poor Coyote fans are in for a long season, but at least they still have a team —for now. Phoenix made a few nice pickups over the summer—including Radim Vrbata and Adrian Aucoin—but their roster of spare parts and mediocre youngsters would be better suited for the AHL. At least the Coyotes have the underrated Ilya Bryzgalov between the pipes, and no longer have the worst coach in the league—Wayne Gretzky—behind the bench.

—Matt Chesser

N orthw est Calgary Flames: Does defence win championships? The Flames, who look to be Stanley Cup contenders, certainly hope so.

The blockbuster addition of Jay Bouwmeester forms a defensive trifecta with Dion Phaneuf and Robyn Regehr that is unmatched in the league. Under new coach Brent Sutter, there’s no reason to doubt this team ’s ability to w in— even if the scoring will be done by commit­ tee.

Vancouver Canucks: The Canucks fea­ ture the most prominent set of twins since the Olsens: Henrik and Daniel Sedin each racked up 82 points (in 82 games) last season. Creepy.

The defence is solid, but the team ’s chances

V

mostly rely on goalie Roberto Luongo. This team is playoff bound, though a division championship may be out of reach.

Edmonton Oilers: Four of the five teams in the Northwest changed coaches this year, but Edmonton’s was the most signifi­ cant in that they now have a lot of experience between new Head Coach Pat Quinn and As­ sociate Coach Tom Renney. The Oilers have almost the exact squad as last season, meaning another close-to-.500 finish is almost inevi­ table, but Quinn is the real wildcard.

Minnesota Wild: Does the addition of Marty Havlat secure a playoff berth for M in­

nesota? Probably not. Havlat has a history of injuries, and the Wild lost too many play­ ers this off-season to stay competitive. Their strength is in goal, but the W ild’s fatal flaw is clear: they were 22nd in scoring last year.

Colorado Avalanche: Oh boy. This is a young team set for a rebuilding season. Draft pick Matt Duchene is a great young prospect to build around, but this team is not destined for great things yet as it must improve on its 2.32 goals a game average from last season.

The lone bright spot lies is the Avs’ defence, led by captain and longtime Av, Adam Foote.

—Jonathan Cohen

Tuesday, October 6, 2009 • 23

Curiosit^Delivers

—

A tlantic Pittsburgh Penguins: The Penguins start the 2009-2010 season as the team to beat.

Led by superstars Sydney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, the Penguins w on’t have any trouble scoring goals. If goaltender Mark André-Fl­ eury can be the elite nctminder he was in last year’s playoff run, then the Penguins should not only win the Atlantic but challenge for a second consecutive Stanley Cup. Philadelphia Flyers: The Flyers’ of­ fence is electric with four 30-goal scorers in Jeff Carter, Simon Gagné, Scott Hartnell and Mike Richards. With the off-season addition of Chris Pronger, the defence should be vastly improved. The only question is whether Ray Emery can be a legitimate number-one goalie

in the NHL. If he can, the Flyers could chal­ lenge for the Atlantic division title.

New Jersey Devils: The defending Atlantic Division champions are led by Zach Parise (45 goals,49 assists), Patrick Elias (31 goals, 47 assists) and future Hall-of-Famer Martin Brodeur. Still, the Devils lack depth on offence, and a playmaker on defence. Expect Jersey to make the playoffs, but fall short of defending their division title.

NY Rangers: New York’s offence was atrocious in 2008-2009, and the Rangers hope the signing of Marian Gaborik will solve this problem. If Gaborik can stay healthy, he has the

potential to score 40 goals. Henrik Lundqvist is one of the better goaltenders in the league, but the Rangers will still struggle to make the playoffs with their lack of team depth.

NY Islanders: The Islanders had the worst record in the NHL last year, and are counting on the addition of OHL record set­ ter and first-overall draft pick John Tavares to resuscitate the struggling franchise. However, with no other notable additions and goalie Rick DiPietro still recovering from knee sur­ gery, it looks like another season in the cellar for the Islanders.

—Walker Kitchens

N ortheast Boston Bruins: The Big Bad Bruins may have said goodbye to their leading goalscorer Phil Kessel during the offseason, but they will continue to be the class of the divi­ sion. Norris winner Zdeno Chara, Vezina win­ ner Tim Thomas, and slick playmaker Marc Savard will continue to lead the charge. The young offensive core should be able to replace Kessel’s 35 goals, with power forward Blake Wheeler and sniper Michael Ryder being the most likely candidates for the job.

Montreal Canadiens: The Habs' struggles to meet the lofty expectations in the club’s centennial year prompted general man­ ager Bob Gainey to dramatically remodel the team ’s offence and defence. A trio of dynamic but inconsistent, and undersized, forwards Scott Gomez, Brian Gionta, and Mike Cammalleri are expected to lead the charge, with veterans Hal Gill, Jaroslav Spacek and Paul

Mara providing size and experience at the back end. A rebound performance in net by Carey Price should put the Canadiens back into, the post-season—though the four-month absence of Andrei Markov will hamper their shot at the division title.

Toronto Maple Leafs: Newcomers Col­ ton Orr, Mike Komisarek and Garnet Exelby are all big and intimidating players. GM Brian Burke also added a bit of skill to complement this belligerent bunch with 35-goal scorer Phil Kessel joining the lineup in mid-November.

Expect this injection of new blood to improve on the league-worst penalty kill of 74.7 per cent and to give up less than the 286 goals the team allowed last season.

tors were able to add wingers Milan Michalek and Jonathan Cheechoo. The addition of Alex Kovalev rounds out a potent offence that al­ ready has established stars Jason Spezza and captain Daniel Alfredsson. Look for the Sena­ tors to surprise the division—particularly if Pascal Leclaire brings stability in net.

Ottawa Senators: The days of being a one-line team are over for the Ottawa Sena­ tors. With Dany Heatley’s departure, the Sena-

Buffalo Sabres: With a management that seems content on maintaining a weak de­ fensive core, the playoffs are likely out o f the picture for Buffalo. The Sabres added Steve Montador to the mix and will be praying that the 12th overall pick of 2008, gargantuan Tyler Myers, has a smooth transition from junior to pro hockey. Aside from Vanek’s 40 goals, only two other players on the team surpassed the 20-goal mark. A healthy Ryan Miller may be the best hope for the Sabres to sneak into play­ offs.

—John Hui

bounce back with the help of newly acquired Alex Tanguay. A solid, but at times question­ able, goalie situation could be the deal breaker this season-

include former teammates Nik Antropov and Pavel Kubina. Netminder Kari Lehtonen will have to live up to expectations if this team wants to taste the playoffs.

Carolina Hurricanes: A full season with Head Coach Paul Maurice and winger Erik Cole should help. Eric Staal will be an of­ fensive threat as always. However, Cam Ward will need to repeat his stellar play from last year in order for this team to succeed.

Florida Panthers: This off-season, the Panthers saw their franchise player Jay Bouwmeester leave for Calgary, and replaced him with no big name defenceman. Outside of a solid goaltending duo, the Panthers have few impact players this year. At least they have the prospect of a top five pick in the 2010 draft to look forward to.

—Shawn Stenhouse

Southeast Washington Capitals: The Capitals should capture their third straight division title this year. Expect superstar winger Alexander Ovechkin to lead the league in scoring again, backed by an elite-supporting cast of Nicklas Backstrom, Alex Semin, and Mike Green.

Washington’s biggest question mark this sea­ son will be in the net, with the position up for grabs between veteran José Théodore and newcomer Semyon Varlamov.

Tampa Bay Lightning: Sophomore Steven Stamkos should lead the Lightning of­ fensively, while second-overall draft pick Vik­ tor Hedman solidifies their blue line. Vincent Lecavelier and Martin St. Louis will attempt to

Atlanta Thrashers: All-star sniper Ilya Kovalchuk may finally have the supporting cast he’s longed for since Dany Heatley left the team. Notable off-season acquirements

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