The McGill Tribune Vol. 30 Issue 16

CARLETON FALLS AT CARNIVAL G A M E, PAGES 18

Published by the Tribune Publication Society Volume No. 30 Issue No. 16

T H IN K Y O U ’RE T H E NEXT T O M FRIED M A N ?, PAGE 8

Skreefing and shnarb: a summer of tree planting in Canada’s north

Every summer thousands o f Canadian university students forego internships in favour o f planting trees in northern Ontario and Manitoba. See story page to. ( Alice Walker and Ally Burrows/McCill Tribune )

New conservative student news source launched Monday Prince Arthur Herald will offer range of conservative and moderate opinions in online format /

By Sean Wood News Editor

The year in campus media took perhaps its most interesting turn last Monday with the launch of the Prince Arthur Herald, a new online conservative student newspaper based at McGill.

The website’s political posi­ tions, which tend to be libertarian, are articulated in a 25-point State­ ment of Principles.

“Our paper supports freedom of the individual, individual choice, and the free market as the most ef­ ficient [economic system] and the [one] that respects human dignity

the highest [for] the organization of society,” said Editor-in-Chief Bren­ dan Steven, U1 history.

Steven added, however, that the website, which so far has published exclusively opinion pieces, will encourage dialogue, both between different types of conservatives and more generally between conserva­

Redm en Hockey - # 3 in the N ation!

tives and liberals. Though most of its 17 columnists have backgrounds in international and domestic politics, there will also be columns on sports, culture, and the pro-life movement.

While many columnists will have typical conservative leanings of one sort or another, among them are Zach Paikin, who is a former president of

Tickets available at the

Wednesday, January 19 19h00 vs. Carleton Red &White Game FREE admission, $2 on all concessions with your Rock the Red & White T-shirt.

ATHLETICS & RECREATION

See “ NEW" on page 3

M a rtle t Hockey # 1 in the Nation!

R edm en H ockey

McGill

the Young Liberals of Canada, and Grace Khare, a board member of Queer McGill.

“Our hope is to engender voices that previously didn’t have a place in campus debate,” Steven said.

The Herald is undeniably a re­ sponse to the McGill Daily, most

redbîrd

SF^O RTS S H O R

McGill Sports Complex 475 ave des pins

R edm en H ockey

Friday, January 21 19hOOvs. UjQTR

514-398-1539

M a r t le t H o c k e y

Sunday, January 13 13hOOvs. UdeM

----------------------N e w s --------------------SPEAKER ON CAMPUS

Evidence o f clim ate change w ashing up on Arctic shores University o f Alberta’s Prof. Marianne Douglas discuss rapid warming in Nunavut

By Kat Sieniuc

Contributor Science Outreach’s Cutting Edge Lectures welcomed the Uni­ versity of Alberta’s Professor Mari­ anne Douglas to McGill’s Redpath Museum last Thursday to present her research on climatic warming in the Canadian High Arctic. Her recent re­ search suggests that environmentalwarming is occurring at an alarming rate in certain arctic regions.

“I think many people are aware that High Arctic regions are chang­ ing, and they are changing very quickly,” Douglas said as she went on to identify evidence of the vari­ ous environmental effects of warm­ ing Arctic temperatures, which include: coastal erosion, shrinking of ice over, earlier onset of spring conditions, increased plant produc­ tivity, new animal distributions, and net evaporation of shallow bodies of water.

“Understanding these changes provides insight into what future arc­ tic conditions may prevail,” Douglas said. She outlined the many conse­ quences of a warming Arctic for in­ frastructure (pipelines), vegetation,

(wallpaperbase.com)

and animal distributions.

Douglas specializes in paleolimnology, a method of research which examines lake sediments as a way of comparing past Arctic envi­ ronmental conditions to the present.

For scientists like Douglas, reading the data stored in these sediments is like reading a storybook that tells how a particular region has changed

through the decades.

“It’s like going back through time,” she said.

According to Douglas’s find­ ings, temperatures show greatest warming at high latitudes like the Canadian Arctic because as sea ice melts, the region absorbs more sum­ mer heat. Lake sediments on Elles­ mere Island in northern Nunavut

indicate that several thousand years of cold environmental conditions radically changed in the 1990s to conditions typical of a warmer envi­ ronment.

Douglas projected that warm­ ing at the end of the century will add roughly 30 days of growing season in places like Ellesmere Island.

"But, I think we are already there,”

she contends.

Third-year McGill political sci­ ence student Caitlin MacDonald was surprised by the drastic environmen­ tal changes Douglas described in her lecture.

“We always hear about the se­ riousness of climate change, but are rarely presented with these kinds of eye-opening statistics,” MacDonald said.

MacDqnald said it’s important to increase awareness of these issues among students, adding that “it is our generation that will be most af­ fected by Arctic warming and other environmental changes.”

Science Outreach Coordina­ tor Ingrid Birker viewed Douglas’ slecture as a chance for McGill stu­ dents to learn about cutting edge research on important scientific breakthroughs on climate change.

She hopes the lecture will increase awareness, and put into perspective the significance of past and present research in the field.

“I hope students can take away greater understanding and apprecia­ tion on the complexity of work like Dr. Douglas’s in investigating cli­ mate issues,” Birker said.

CAMPUS

City councillor donates own body Cadaver-donor program collects

By Maria Flores

News Editor Former City Councillor Mi­ chael Fainstat donated his body to McGill’s Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry in a program that gives students hands-on experience with real bodies. Fainstat, who died at 87 on December 29, was known for his many contributions to the commu­ nity and decided to make his body the last one.

The Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of Dentistry have a cadaverdonation program, where over 50 dead bodies are collected each year for purposes of study. A memorial is held every year to give thanks to the family members and friends of those who have donated their bodies.

“It’s a hands-on adventure for [students] for sure. They know what a body looks like in three dimen­ sions, [and] computerized anatomy programs are great, but they’re still not hands-on,” said Professor San­ dra Miller, chair of the anatomy department. “When a human needs surgery you cannot look at it at a distance in a screen, you’ve got to have your hands in [it]. That’s what_ surgery is.”

50

+ bodies a year

When a body is received, it’s properly treated and stored at McGill’s morgue for at least six months until students use it in next fall’s classes.

“Each group of students gets their brand new group of individuals who have died the previous year,” Miller said. “And all over the world where our students go, because of our hands-on experience, they go into the operating room with great confidence.”

The program coordinators reach out to donors by simple word of mouth. Interested individuals com­ plete the required paperwork and carry a card in their wallets stating their interest in donating their body to McGill.

“We need the whole body and the ones that we receive are gener­ ally elderly,” said Miller, who ex­ plained that most cadavers received die of old age or certain pathologies like Parkinson or cancer, which are acceptable for the program.

“These conditions are not a problem at all,” she said. “In fact, they are quite handy because stu­ dents see pathologies or pacemakers in these organs and different repair mechanisms in the body. These are

learning tools.”

At the end of each academic year, the majority of the bodies are cremated and deposited on a special site at the Mount-Royal Cemetery, where the university has a plaque designated for the program.

“If they are really good, we keep those for exam purposes, and they can last anywhere from five to 10 years, but normally the vast ma­ jority are cremated,” said. Miller.

On January 9, a commemora­ tive ceremony was held for Fainstat despite the absence of a body. A spokesperson of the Blythe Bernier Funeral House explained that Fainstat’s friends and family members were pleased with the event.

“It is not a happy moment but the ceremony ran smoothly,” said a spokesperson.

Other well-known Montreal figures have participated in the cadaver-donor program in the past, among them a former director of the Montreal Neurological Institute.

“It’s great that he’s done that, but he’s not the only celebrity to have donated his body. There have been a few over the years,” Miller said. “Every single donor is appreci­ ated. Every body is highly valued.”

N e w s in

B r ie f

M usic can be your aeroplane, study says Those who experience eupho­ ria when listening to their favourite music could be achieving the same pleasure as that which comes from good food, sex, or drugs, a McGill study has found.

In a first in the field, neurosci­ ence researchers at McGill have discovered a connection between the neurotransmitter dopamine, a chemical known for its rewarding “feel-good” effects, and its musi­ cally triggered release. The team, led by neuroscientist Robert Zatorre, found that music is physiologically linked to providing rewards, high­ lighting the importance of music to individual well-being.

Dopamine release has previ­ ously been linked with activities one finds pleasurable or rewarding.

Drugs like cocaine are addictive due to their manipulation of the dop­ amine release system, but music can provide a similar high with none of the destructive health effects. Music was found to elevate dopamine re­ lease up to nine per cent, which is slightly higher than the effects of food.

Valorie Salimpoor, the lead in­

vestigator for the study at the Mon­ treal Neurological Institute, said music is a “cognitive reward that we can have access to at any time,” and one that “works on the same regions associated with other addictive sub­ stances.”

“Music makes people happy, and this feeling has been linked to other feelings of intense euphoria, like cocaine,” Salimpoor said. Add­ ing that behaviours that are around for this long usually are biologically adaptive, necessary for survival, or evolutionarily significant.

While music may not be es­ sential to survival as a species, it’s a “cognitive and intellectual reward,” Salimpoor said.

“It seems as if our thinking centres are tapping into these re­ ward centres,” she added. “It is just the way you perceive it that makes it pleasurable.”

Is music addictive? Salimpoor doesn’t have a definitive answer, but said, “If it feels good ... if dopamine is released, the brain tells you to ‘make sure it happens again.’”

- Todd Chan

3

Tuesday, Jan u a ry 18, 2011

New centre-right news source Continued from COVER

explicitly with its formulation of a Statement of Principles, which is one of the Daily’s hallmarks. Both Daily Coordinating Editor Emilio Comay 'del Junco and Steven acknowledged the two sources’ opposition.

“Obviously, we do take political positions that [the Herald] disagrees with, and they think there is a gen­ eral conception that it is a response to the Daily,” del Junco said.

Though del Junco acknowl­ edged a difference of opinion, he indicated that it was Apportant to have a plurality of voices in campus media.

“In some ways it’s kind of un­ fortunate that it comes out as an op­ position because I think there is a lot of space ... for that kind of expres­ sion to happen,” he said.

The idea for the newspaper was bom last semester, and Herald Presi­ dent Kevin Pidgeon, U2 history, began to build the site in December.

Their costs, so far, have been negligible. One of the advantages of the online-only format, they said,

was that the students involved could easily foot the bill. For now, the editors and columnists are willing to work without payment. Though they plan to expand their operation in the future, the website w-ill operate on low costs, so it will not have to run advertisements. Pidgeon explained that this was a way to establish an independent image for the Herald.

“One of the absolute classic con­ demnations of the right is, ‘You’re a mouthpiece for big business,’ and in some cases it’s absolutely true. But our aim is to do absolutely nothing of that sort,” Pidgeon said.

Though the Herald is based at McGill and is primarily staffed

by McGill students, the newspaper wants to be read and written by stu­ dents across Canada.

“Canada, at the end of the day, has elected a Conservative govern­ ment; a lot of voters vote on conser­ vative political principles,” Steven said. “Clearly in the broader politi­ cal community there is a place for conservative values, so why not at university?”

Clic grince Sfrtfmr ferait» C an ada ’s Premier

N e w s in

B r ie f

Influenza outb reak in M ontreal w orries area hospitals

s tu d e n t n ew s source

The Herald’s front page.

Pidgeon and Steven said that they planned to offer “24/7” cover­ age, a feature which they claimed distinguishes them from other cam­ pus media outlets. The team of col­ umnists and editors aim to put out between five and six articles a day.

They have no plans to move to other media yet, but they have con­ sidered moving to print in the distant future.

Steven was not shy about his ambitions.

“We want to be Canada’s and McGill’s premier student news source,” he said.

An influenza and gastroenteri­ tis outbreak has stretched Montreal emergency rooms to 150 per cent capacity. According to the Montreal Health Agency, the worst hit hospi­ tals are the Lakeshore, Royal Victo­ ria, Montreal General, and the Santa Cabrini.

“Flu outbreaks are predictable, and what we are seeing this post­ holiday is no different than what we see mid-winter,” said Harley Eisman of the I^cGill University Health Centre. “The issue this year is things started earlier in December.

This is causing overcrowding in our Pediatric ER.” The Montreal Public Health Protections Department is assuring the population that this is not a strain of the H1N1 pandemic but merely the standard seasonal flu that proves especially dangerous for high-risk patients such as seniors and infants.

“Far and away, most patients we

are seeing have mild illness and are sent home with common sense in­ structions: use a fever reducer for comfort, drink fluids, and rest,” Eis­ man said. “Apple juice and chicken soup recommendations. The public should not panic, nor should they be phobic about fevers.”

In an effort to deal with over­ crowded waiting rooms, Pierre-Le Gardeur hospital will close its doors to visitors this weekend. Mean­ while the Jewish General Hospital is launching a one visitor per patient precaution initiative in an effort to limit the spread of infection.

As private health clinics start to feel the burden, Health Minister Yves Bolduc is evaluating a propos­ al to establish a network of seasonal flu vaccine clinics, similar to those opened during the H1N1 outbreak.

-Kirsten Williams

CITY

For ICU patients, private rooms help cut infection rates New McGill study compares M U H C ’s Montreal General Hospital to Royal Victoria Hospital

By Theo Meyer Managing Editor

Being admitted to a private room in a hospital’s intensive care unit can dramatically decrease the likelihood of a patient contracting an infection, a recent McGill study suggests.

About one in three patients admitted to hospital ICUs contract some sort of infection, which in­ creases the length of the average hospital stay by eight to nine days.

In the United States, this is estimat­ ed to cost health care providers $3.5 billion each year.

But putting patients in private rooms, rather than in shared rooms with curtain partitions, can cut the rate of infection by certain types of bacteria in half.

“There are three types of bac­ teria that are really at the focus of infection control efforts: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Clostridium difficile and vancomy­ cin-resistant enterococci,” said Dana Teltsch, a McGill PhD candidate who was the study’s lead author.

“For the three of them combined, the reduction was 54 per cent, and this is a very serious reduction.”

Teltsch’s study, published last week in Archives of Internal Medi­ cine, detected decreases in 12 types of bacteria, six of which were large enough to be statistically significant.

While other studies have investi­

gated the effect of making rooms private, Teltch said, hers compared a greater variety of bacteria, with more conclusive results.

To conduct the study, Teltsch compared data from the Montreal General Hospital and the Royal Vic­ toria Hospital over a period of five years during which the Montreal General Hospital carried out renova­ tions that made all ICU rooms pri­

vate. The Royal Victoria Hospital, however, had a mixture of shared and private rooms in its ICU. “The two populations are, by and large, comparable in the severity of illness,” said Dr. Peter Goldberg, the director of adult critical care at the McGill University Health Centre and a co-author of the study. This similarity made the two hospitals ideal for purposes of comparison.

Because both hospitals are part of the MUHC, Teltsch said, they also followed the same infection-control management and other practices, enabling her to hone in on one vari­ able: the types of rooms.

In the time since Teltsch’s data set was collected, the Royal Victo­ ria Hospital has switched to private rooms in its ICU as well, Goldberg said. That makes the two centres ex­

ceptions among Montreal hospitals, however, most of which still use shared rooms.

“Hospitals with a mix of pri­ vate and shared rooms still confine patients with infections to individual rooms,” Goldberg said. But it can take doctors up to 72 hours after a patient is admitted to determine whether or not he has an infection.

“In that 72 hours, you may have come into contact with many people: staff, other patients,” Goldberg said.

“By putting a patient straightaway into a private room, you have essen­ tially put them in isolation, so that they don’t have the ability to trans­ mit.”

Teltsch’s study may encourage more hospitals to abandon shared ICU rooms, but that may also fuel a rise in costs for hospitals. In addition to the cost of renovations, Goldberg said, hospitals may need to hire more nurses in order to monitor patients in individual rooms, rather than a sin­ gle shared one.

Separate rooms may also change doctors’ and nurses’ prac­ tices in the ICU, Goldberg added.

If patients are treated in separate rooms, he said, nurses may be more inclined to wash their hands as they move from patient to patient.

“Private rooms are not only barriers [to infection],” Goldberg said. “They are also instigators of different behaviours.”

Curiosity Delivers, www.mcgilltribune.com

SCIENCE

Study: Canadians mistaken about how healthy they are According to CBC survey,

77

per cent say they are healthy but only

By Anand Berry

Contributor A recent report on the health of Canadians commissioned by the CBC highlights some unpleasant truths about the country's perception of health and wellness.

Among the key findings of the report was the revelation that while 77 per cent of those surveyed believe that they generally live a healthy lifestyle, eat healthier than the'average Canadian, and maintain a healthy weight, 51 per cent of them are overweight or obese.

The report, titled Canada Weighs In, is part of the CBC's on­ going Live Right Now campaign, which aims to motivate Canadians to live healthier.

The multiplatform initiative came up during the development of the CBC's new Village on a Diet program, a primetime show which follows residents of a British Co­ lumbia town as they collectively try to lose weight while being helped by a team of experts.

"We saw an opportunity to do a broader project than just a TV show

Junk food may be leading to poor health. (Alice W alker/M cG ill Tribune)

—one that all Canadians would ben­ efit from," said Jeff Keay, head of media relations for the CBC. "The facts are shocking—today's genera­ tion may well live shorter lifespans than their parents' generation."

The campaign is similar to the

CBC’s 2008 environmental initia­ tive, the One Million Acts of Green challenge, which was sponsored by The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos.

Treading topics including food and nutrition, sleep, and visiting

49

per cent are in good shape

health professionals, the survey ex­ plores motivations for making or not making healthy choices.

Most respondents cited lack of time as justification for why they aren’t healthier, with 37 per cent reporting not enough time to make meals, 42 per cent reporting not enough time to get vigorous exercise regularly and 36 per cent noting not enough time to sleep. About half of those surveyed also reported feeling overwhelmed by all the information available about healthy eating.

When asked how to make sense of a myriad of differing sources on health, Katherine Gray-Donald, an associate professor in McGill’s School of Dietetics and Human Nu­ trition, recommended sticking to re­ liable sources. “[Dependable sources] may seem dull.as they do not jump on every shred of evidence, but wait until facts are well established,” Gray-Donald said in an email to the Tribune. “In Canada, our straightfor­ ward resource is the Canadian Food Guide for Healthy Living, [which] has been updated and is a good in­ teractive program.”

Where to find information on healthy living was a survey topic that yielded differing views between adults and youth. Adults consulted health professionals, magazines, and online health sites more often than anything else in the past year, while youth depended on friends and fam­ ily members, TV, and health profes­ sionals.

Youth also differed in their re­ sponses to questions on smoking, with smoking being far less com­ mon among younger age brackets, and in their responses to exercise, with youth being much more likely to exercise regularly.

The report seems to have had quite an impact on Canadians who have come across it, according to Dave Scholz, the executive vicepresident of Leger Marketing, which conducted the sampling.

"I have received a number of emails from respondents and people who wish they could have been re­ spondents about the study and [com­ mented] on the CBC poll — adding their stories to the mix," he said in an email. "It has certainly resonated with Canadians."

SPEAKER ON CAMPUS

In pivotal week for South Sudan, experts d iscu ss future Though many challenges loom, panel at Lev Bukham say there are chances for progress and stability

By Jimmy Lou

Contributor On Thursday evening, a group of experts debated the possibility of an independent South Sudan on a panel discussion in the Lev Bukhman Room of the Shatner Building.

South Sudan, after six years of democratic self-governance, is seeking to gain its full independence from the rest of Sudan through a referendum held last week. How­ ever, the post-independence future for South Sudan remains enigmatic.

Should the referendum pass, it’s un­ clear whether it would be a turning point for South Sudan, or simply an exacerbation of tensions with its neighbours like North Sudan.

At the discussion, the speak­ ers seemed rather optimistic about South Sudan’s future. While fully recognizing the difficulties that lie ahead, they said that Sudan’s po­ tential for progress and stability is significant.

In response to the title of the panel discussion, “An Independent Sudan in 2011,” Douglas Proudfoot, the director of Canada’s Sudan Task Force noted that “the title kind of misses the point ... the real issue isn’t whether there is going to be

an independent South Sudan or not.

The real issue is how do we maintain peace and stability and an environ­ ment in which development can take place in Sudan in 2011 and the years that follow.”

Proudfoot later pointed out that Sudan currently has one of the worst Human Development Index scores and highest percentages of mater­ nity deaths in the world. Moreover, Sudan seems to rely wholly on the United Nations and other non-gov­ ernmental organizations for health care. According to Proudfoot, it’s an unsustainable strategy that needs to be dealt with through increased medical facility funding and more training for medical practitioners.

Proudfoot claimed that, with ongo­ ing corruption and political instabili­ ty, though, the chances of the money being used for these purposes seem slim.

Kyle Matthews, the lead re­ searcher at the Montreal Institute for Genocide Studies, pointed to the lack of adequate security and police forc­ es in South Sudan. Matthews cited the town of Juba, where families have been repeatedly raided, raped, and murdered. The hostage crisis in December is further evidence of Su­ dan’s instability. The speakers also

invoked the possibility that Sudan could relapse into civil war, which would have global consequences.

Despite these problems, though, Proudfoot remained optimistic. He emphasized that South Sudan’s goals don’t implement policies carefully.

If there is little resistance to South Sudan’s policies, progress will even­ tually be made when South Sudan’s government become more mature and stabilized. During this referen­ dum, there has been a considerably lower level of violence than there was during the 2010 election.

While there have been many concerns about oil revenue sharing with North Sudan, Proudfoot said that these challenges could actually force the two regions to work to­ gether.

Marie-Joelle Zahar, associate professor of political science and re­ search director for the Francophone Research Network on Peace Opera­ tions at the University of Montreal, agreed, saying that despite the coun­ try’s past, Sudan can still make sub­ stantial progress by learning from previous mistakes and dedicating more effort to the improvement of civilian education and social institu­ tions.

When asked whether the coun­

Douglas Proudfoot at the discussion. (M att Essert/McGill Tribune)

try will be recognized internation­ ally, Proudfoot did not hesitate to answer “yes”, pointing to the legiti­ mate processes—a comprehensive

peace agreement, U.N. approval, and an official referendum—which South Sudan is undergoing to be­ come a country.

C o n n e c t W ith

Y o u r

S S M U Health & Dental Plan

Students’ Society of McGill University

Y o u r B e n e fit s fo r 2010/2011

Health

Dental

prescription drugs, chiropractor, physiotherapist, medical equipment, ambulance, vaccinations, and more..

cleanings, checkups, fillings, root canals, gum treatments, extractions, and more...

Vision

Travel

eye exam, eyeglasses or contact lenses, laser eye surgery

travel health coverage for 1 2 0 days per trip and up to $ 5 ,0 0 0 ,0 0 0 , trip cancellation, trip interruption

N e tw o rk s E n h a n c e Y o u r B e n e fit s a n d S a v e Y o u M o n e y Get even more coverage by visiting members of the Dental, Vision, Chiropractic, and Physiotherapy Networks.

Find a health practitioner at www.ihaveaplan.ca.

Change-of-Coverage Dates Only new Winter semester students can enrol themselves and their spouse/dependants between Jan. 13 - 27, 2011.

□ □

The Member Services Centre is there to assist you from 9:0 0 AM to 5:00 PM on weekdays.

(514) 789-8775 / T o ll-fre e : 1 866 795-4435

15

i h a v e a p l a n . c a

YES is a not-for-profit organization that helps you launch your business or career by offering you workshops, events and one-on-one services for free or at a minimal cost.

YEARS

JOB SEARCH PROGRAM

J u m p -S ta rt Y our J o b S e a rc h Tuesdays & Fridays (2:00 PM - 4:00 PM) FREE

In te rv ie w W o rk sh o p Monday, Jan 17 (10:00 AM - 12:00 PM) FREE

F re n c h fo r J o b S e e k e rs Tuesdays & Fridays, Jan 25 - Feb 18 (9:30 AM - 12:30 PM) $ 7 5

C a r e e r s in F in a n c e & A c c o u n tin g Thursday, Jan 27 (6:30 PM - 8:30 PM) $ 1 5

ARTISTS' PROGRAM

J u m p - S t a r t Y o u r A r t / A r ti s t s ' G r a n t s & L o a n s I n f o r m a t i o n S e s s io n Thursday, Jan 13 (2:00 PM— 4:0 0 PM) FREE (Handouts: $ 1 )

H o w t o W r it e a n E f f e c tiv e A r t i s t G r a n t W ednesday, Jan 19 (6:30 PM - 8:30 PM) $ 1 5

T im e -M a n a g e m e n t f o r C re a tiv e T y p e s W ednesday, Feb 16 (6:30 PM - 8:30 PM) $ 1 5

ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROGRAM

Download your own copy

W ednesdays (1:30 PM - 2:30 PM) FREE

G ra n ts & L o an s In fo rm a tio n S e s s io n s Wednesdays (2:30 PM - 3:30 PM) FREE

o f the YES W inter/Spring 2011 Program Book today at

J u m p - S ta r t Y o u r B u s in e s s

S ta r t Y o u r O w n B u s in e s s S e m in a r S e r ie s

w w w .yesm ontreal.ca

Tuesday evenings, Jan 18 - Feb 8 (6:30 PM - 8:30 PM) $ 6 5 fo r the series or $ 9 5 fo r the series including the Montreal Entrepreneur's Guidebook

Y ES E n t r e p r e n e u r s ' N e tw o r k i n g W o r k s h o p Monday, Feb 21 (6:00 PM - 7:30 PM) FREE

For more information on these workshops, to register online, or view our complete calendar for 2011, visit us today!

Tei: 5 1 4 . 8 7 8 . 9 7 8 8

• Fax: 5 1 4 . 8 7 8 . 9 9 5 0

• w

w

w

.y e s m

o n t r e a l .c a

666 Sherbrooke Street West, Suite 700 1*1

Canada

1* 1

Canadian Heritage

Patrimoine canadien

The Counselling Foundation of Canada

YES is a not-for-profit organization

Emploi

Québec 1 1

Successful futures start with

O p in io n

Brendan bids goodbye When I sat down to write my final column for the McGill Tribune, I didn’t really know the best way to wrap up my time here.

I could review criticisms of my work or what I have learned. But neither of these options seemed to be the best way to end “Right Minded.”

Instead, I would like to pass along some reflections on my experience.

For many months I have been caricatured by many people who have read my columns, but don’t know me personally. The assump­ tions made by those who meet me after reading this column range from the innocent to the ridiculous.

To them, I am the “big bad con­ servative,” or really just a shell for conservtive ideas. Anyone with an opinion builds their understanding of me based on their assumptions of what conservatism is.

I never really got used to this.

My hometown of Waterloo, Ontario voted consistently for a Liberal MP until very recently. I grew up in a Catholic school, and Catholics have a long history of being the Liberal Party’s staunchest supporters. I used to lionize European social democra­ cy, considering it the pinnacle of all government. I was an adamant NDP supporter: Conservatives were just enemies, pig-headed and stupid.

I moderated myself into a Lib­ eral later in high school, and by Grade 12, I was a staunch Conser­ vative. What brought me into the fold was the idea of freedom. After a childhood of knowing nothing about liberty, individual choice, and responsibility, I finally started see­

Drop the laptop!

The beginning of a new se­ mester is typically similar to the beginning of semesters past. But this semester is particularly differ­ ent for me, not only because it’s my last semester at McGill, but also because it’s the first semester at the beginning of which I have resolved to only take handwritten notes in class.

After three and a half years tak­

ing the other side. I volunteered for my local MP, a Conservative, and realized that the caricature of con­ servatism simply isn’t real.

The right wing is not evil. I dis­ agree vehemently with the left, but they’re not evil either. The left and right have profoundly different nor­ mative beliefs about human society.

As a right-winger, choice and per­ sonal responsibility form the core of government in my view. The farther one moves left, the more one accepts the role of government to participate in social engineering.

I admit these are very broad and sweeping statements. But often, the left and right talk past each other.

We do so for good reasons: we are both coming from different memes.

Every day, I try to honestly engage with my political opponents. No one is perfect, and I can talk past others just as much as anyone. We all need to make an honest effort to appreci­ ate the core values of those we dis­ agree with, so we can get to the ba­ sics of our disagreement. Otherwise, political discussion will be poison­ ous, at McGill and elsewhere.

Conservatism is one of the Western world’s most successful political philosophies. Its advocates form governments in dozens of countries across the planet, includ­ ing in Canada. Many Canadians vote for a conservative political party, and consistently poll their support for many conservative institutions (NAFTA and free trade being one example). Don’t be self-righteous in your criticisms of conservatism. It should be treated with respect.

All in all, it has been an hon­ our and privilege to appear in these pages. The students of this school continue to prove why it is the best in Canada. As I continue work on the newly minted Prince Arthur Herald, I look forward to continuing these conversations in a different forum. Thanks for everything, Tri­ bune readers. I look forward to even greater debates ahead.

I was a day late coming back to school, and thus, was behind in my classes before my final semes­ ter at McGill even started. Despite this, I don’t feel an urgent need to catch up. But why do certain people seem to actually prefer regularly repeating cycles of falling behind and then desperately trying to catch up? Why do they exhibit almost self-sabotaging behaviour in which they inhibit their studious habits for certain (extended) periods of time, and only give that great push in dire times around midterms, exams, and paper-writing season?

I don’t neglect my studies, and I’m very capable of keeping up with my workload. I do my readings, never hand in my assignments late (even when affected by injury and illness—extensions are for quitters), and I attend every class. Except, of course, when I’m getting on a train three and a half hours after my last class has ended, as was the case on the first Tuesday back. So what is in our nature to make us want, nay, need to procrastinate? It’s det­ rimental and damaging, but we all do it. I have never known a single person, even those with 4.0 GPAs, who don’t fall behind at times. Five classes and extracurricular activities will cause this, but so will friendrelated priorities, YouTube, and, of course, lack of motivation.

Procrastination is defined as an action wherein one “postpones doing something, especially as a regular practice.” But what I do, and what I believe many of my fellow stu­ dents do, is not what I consider pro­

crastination. As the definition itself shows, the postponing of my work doesn’t become a “regular practice.”

According to the definition, if stop­ ping becomes a regular practice, then an eventual return to our work would be a paradox. Simply put, in postponing the completion of a task, returning to it would not make the stopping a regular practice. What this definition lacks is “periodically postponing doing something.” Add­ ing this would make procrastina­ tion, as we have come to know it, a correct term for students’ forays into Facebook and videos of Miley Cyrus smoking salvia.

Because of this discrepancy, I would like to put forth a new term for this common student habit: recrastination. Etymologically, this word, with close approximation, would mean “a return to something we have a desire to do tomorrow.” At any level of schooling, the assign­ ments simply must be completed. In other areas of life, certain things can be put off perpetually, but this is not the case with academics. Eventually, an assignment must be handed in or an exam must be written. Avoidance is then no longer possible. We all re­ turn to our work, regardless of how long we may put it off.

Eventually, this word may take hold. I understand it is long and un­ necessary, but if it makes even one individual feel better about putting off work due to the knowledge that one must, and will, return to their work, then this word may actually act as a positive influence on those who simply can’t bring themselves to write that paper on Foucault, or study for that damned calculus test.

I spent about a half hour while writing this article looking at Tesla coils that, through midi files, play music. Yet I returned to the article , and thus recrastinated. So don’t be discouraged if the class has already finished the first book of the semes­ ter and yorr haven’t even bought it.

You’ll catch up ... eventually.

ing notes with my laptop, listening to the pounding sounds of the lap­ top keys, I decided that I would try something new. Little did I know how much I would actually learn.

I don’t mean to criticize those who take notes on the laptop—or to tell you how annoying it is. But I’ve started to avoid sitting next to anyone who brings a computer to class because it’s hard to concen­ trate while someone’s loudly typing every single word the professor says.

(Seriously, when professors tell an­ ecdotes, there is no reason to write it down verbatim. You also don’t need to write the same concept five times, just because the professor re­ peated it five times). Concentration becomes even more difficult when someone is browsing Facebook or playing Tetris right beside me.

Taking notes by hand is in­ deed more difficult. When I initially tried to write down the majority of the important points my professors were saying, I usually wrote too slowly and missed key information, while my laptop-using peers got down every word. But the point of going to class is not to have every word memorized; it’s to understand the material. This semester, I’ve been slowly training myself to think about the concepts the professor mentions and then take notes—rath­ er than just writing down everything he says and trying to understand it later.

One of my professors has rec­ ognized that students who take notes on their computer are often multitasking, instead of solely pay­ ing attention to the lecture, and are

therefore disrupting their peers. She banned laptops in her classroom, claiming that grades were signifi­ cantly higher in courses where stu­ dents didn’t use their laptops.

In a 2008 study, a professor from Minnesota found that the more students used their laptops in class, the lower their class performance was, the less attention they paid to lectures, and the less they under­ stood the material. These findings go against older ideas which suggested that technology in the classroom actually assisted student learning.

So what happened? Has technology failed students?

I don’t think so. Rather, we’ve failed ourselves. Instead of using technology to be more efficient, to take notes more quickly or to enhance our learning, we use it to

Polarize Me Marko D jurdjic

m djurdjic@ m cgilltribunèT corru

'im

Recrastinators of the world ... unite!

Interested in

A

photojournalism?

J o in o u r p h o to g ra ­ p h e r s in c o v e rin g n e w s , a rts , s tu d e n t living a n d s p o rts .

Email photo@mcgilltribune.com for details.

check our email when the professor is answering a student’s question that isn’t important to us. And our insecurities, which make us feel like we’re getting smarter only if we do have every word down, don’t help either. I understand this insecurity, because I used to think that way as well. It’s much harder to trust that you’ll write down what is actu­ ally necessary—and that’s not every word that comes out of the profes­ sor’s mouth. It requires trusting your own judgment and knowledge.

Becoming a non-laptop user in the classroom isn’t an easy path to take. However, I wish I’d made the change earlier. I would have spent more time listening and learning, instead of just typing, and would have appreciated my classes that much more.

-------------------- 7

T h e M cG ill

T r ib u n e W W W .M CGnXTRfflUNE.COM

Editor-in-Chief Tori Crawford editor@mcgilltribune.com Managing Editors Mookie Kideckel mkideckel@mcgilltribune.com Theo Meyer tmeyer@mcgilltribune.com Production Manager Iain Macdonald imacdonald@mcgilltribune.com Senior Design Editor Zoe Brewster zbrewster@mcgilltribune.com News Editors Matt Essert, Sean Wood and Maria Flores news@mcgilltribune.com Opinion Editor Ricky Kreitner opinion@mcgilltribune.com Features Editors Alison Bailey and Shannon Kimball features@mcgilltribune.com Arts &Entertainment Editors Brahna Siegelberg and Manisha Aggrawal-Schifellite arts@mcgilltribune.com Sports Editors SamHunter and Walker Kitchens sports@mcgilltribune.com Photo Editors Holly Stewart andAlice Walker photo@mcgilltribune.com Design Editor Kathleen Jolly design@mcgilltribune.com Copy Editor Kyle Carpenter Advertising Manager Dallas Bentley cpm@ssmu.mcgill.ca Publisher Chad Ronalds

C o n tr ib u to r s

Anand Bery, Christophe Boyer, Lane Cameron, Todd Chan, Monique Evans, Natalia Evdokimova, Marko Djurdjic, Alex Hamilton, Lillian Jordy, Jimmy Lou, Mari Mesri, GabePulver, AdamSadinsky, Kat Sieniuc, Daniel Sorger, BrendanSteven, VickyTobianah, KirstenWilliams T rib u n e O ffic e s

Editorial

Shatner University Centre Suite 110, 3480 McTavish Montreal, QC H3A 1X9 T: 514.398.6789 A dvertising

Brown Student Building Suite 1200, 3600 McTavish Montreal, QC H3A 1Y2 T: 514.398.6835 _________ F: 514.398.7490_________ TheMcGillTribuneisaneditoriallyautonomousnewspaper publishedbytheSociétédePublicationdelaTribune, astu­ dentsocietyofMcGillUniversity.Thecontentofthispublica­ tionisthesoleresponsibilityofTheMcGillTribuneandthe SociétédePublicationdelaTribuneanddoesnotnecessarily representtheviewsofMcGillUniversity. Letterstotheeditor maybesent toletters@mcgilltribune.comandmust include thecontributor’sname, programandyearandcontact infor­ mation. Lettersshouldbekept under300wordsandsubmit­ tedonlytotheTribune. SubmissionsjudgedbytheTribune PublicationSocietytobelibellous, sexist, racist,homophobic or solelypromotional innature will not be published. The Tribunereservestheright toedit allcontributions. Editorials aredecideduponandwrittenbytheeditorial board.All other opinionsarestrictlythoseoftheauthoranddonot necessar­ ilyreflecttheopinionsoftheMcGillTribune, itseditorsorits staff. Pleaserecyclethisnewspaper.

E d i t o r i a l --------------------In support o f course lecturer U Drive This week, 26 McGill profes­ sors signed an open letter expressing support for the Association of Grad­ uate Students Employed at McGill (AGSEM)'s “UDrive” to unionize course lecturers, or contract aca­ demic staff, at McGill. On Thursday, the McGill Daily expressed its sup­ port for the drive and called for “uni­ versity-wide solidarity.” As both the letter and the Daily editorial noted, the decision to unionize is ultimately one that course lecturers will have to make for themselves. Until then, we would like to add our voice in sup­ port of the unionization of course lecturers at McGill.

The reasons for unioniza­ tion have been stated many times in many publications, but they bear repeating here. McGill’s course lec­ turers are the only ones who are not unionized in Quebec. This is not in itself an argument for their organiza­ tion, until you look more closely at their working conditions. Despite a minimum pay increase this Janu­ ary and one scheduled to take effect next year, McGill’s course lecturers will still only earn $7,000 per course,

just over 87 per cent of the provincial average and $600 less than the next stingiest employer. Incidentally, this most recent top-up was announced October 6, after the UDrive cam­ paign was already in effect. Whether one believes AGSEM’s claim that the pay raise—which also comes with new, simplified contracts, improved access to campus facilities, and in­ creased opportunities for career ad­ vancement—was in response to their efforts, or Provost Anthony Masi’s assertion that the changes are the re­ sult of a senate task force’s findings, contracted academics at McGill need a mouthpiece to ensure a continued say in improving their working con­ ditions.

Course lecturers get no ben­ efits to supplement their meagre pay. They’re on temporary contracts, often with little prospects for achiev­ ing tenure., although they do the same work as tenured and tenuretrack staff (and constitute 50 per cent of Canadian university lecturers).

They often teach large classes, since they are often put in charge of those courses which fulfill students’ degree

requirements. They hold office hours, mark assignments, and are expected to publish their own research in order to keep their jobs and improve their position. While all careers have entry-level positions with relatively poor conditions, academics are start­ ing work with up to 10 years of grad­ uate studies already to their record.

They have often studied with the best and brightest, and have already writ­ ten full-length dissertations. They have spent years as teaching and re­ search assistants. Most arrive in their late 20s or early 30s, and many are looking to start families. They have a highly specialized skillset that can­ not be transferred easily. Entry-level academics may not be experienced professors, but they deserve to be treated better.

McGill’s duty to improve the lot of its contract staff—and to let them organize a useful union to speak on their behalf—is also a responsibil­ ity it owes to both its students and academia in general. To its students, it owes quality educators. While McGill enjoys its reputation, excel­ lent academics may be willing to

accept lousy conditions to teach at a prestigious institution in an excit­ ing city for a short time. However, it is unlikely that the most talented lecturers can be enticed to work with low pay and tenuous job security for long. If McGill’s reputation slips, and it cannot attract quality teachers, its students will inevitably suffer.

Finally, academia itself suffers from disregard of its employees. Ac­ ademia is already a labour of love; a profession that asks the best-educat­ ed minds to forsake incomes in law, medicine, or business for a life in university walls with the high goal of spreading knowledge. A professor­ ship does not have to buy a yacht, but it should support a comfortable life­ style. McGill and its lecturers cannot change trends throughout academia, but it should be acting in the service of all those involved. And a system in which our best and brightest decide that a lengthy PhD and years of un­ stable employment are not worth it is a system in which we all lose.

That is why we support course lecturer unionization, without any­ body’s interference. Good luck.

Harper wrong to scrap federal party subsidies Prime Minister Stephen Harp­ er recently announced that he will make the elimination of federal sub­ sidies to Canadian political parties a central component of his re-election campaign, which could come as soon as this spring. This inflamma­ tory move has predictably raised the ire of opposition parties, who in 2008—the last time Harper tried to kill the subsidies—rallied to their de­ fence, threatening to form a coalition to bring the Conservative govern­ ment down. Fearing defeat, Harper changed his tune.

The opposition parties were right. Federal subsidies for political parties, though quite new, have be­ come part of the Canadian system, ensuring it’s fair and not swamped by corporate money. It’s only natu­

ral that the Conservatives—one of the two major parties that enjoys the support of Canadian business— would want to eliminate that trickle of funds that smaller, less established political opponents receive. It’s natu­ ral for them to seek such self-serving changes, but far from democratic.

Party subsidies were introduced in a series of electoral finance re­ forms in 2003 that also saw political contributions from corporations and unions banned. The idea is that each party receives just under $2 for each vote it obtains in a federal election, in order to fund staffing and organiza­ tional costs for campaigns. The effect is to ensure that even relatively small political parties, like the Greens, can participate in the democratic process and influence the conversation even

if they don’t have a serious chance of wielding power. The removal of these subsidies would hurt third par­ ties and bolster the two party system that existed for much of Canadian history.

Elimination of party subsidies would also diminish the impact an individual Canadian can have with their vote. A Green Party sympathiz­ er in an overwhelmingly Conserva­ tive riding has no practical incentive to vote for their chosen candidate unless that vote will send money, if only a small amount, to the federal Greens. Because that vote has the practical effect of sending $2 to an organization with whose political ideals the voter identifies, the vote is meaningful in a way it wouldn’t be otherwise.

RE: SSMU to give opt-outable groups chance to speak out, Jan. 11, 2011 In case anyone felt, in reading this article, that VP Clubs and Ser­ vices Anushay Khan’s recent under­ taking to provide McGill students with information on opt-outable groups and services and to prevent the growth of “shadow opt-outs” is somehow unfairly siding with such opt-outable groups, such as QPIRG, CKUT radio, and more, I would like

to clarify that there are two debates here. 1) How can the opt-out system work in such a way that students can make informed decisions about where their money goes? 2) Should people financially support opt-out­ able groups? What Khan is doing— and I fully support her action—is making sure that students know more about opt-outable groups and servic­ es (question one) so they can critical­ ly answer question two on their own (and not just blindly opt-out of every possible club or service). Therefore, the statement “the solution is to ei­ ther change the system, or to create a better forum for providing infor­

mation-even if only one side of the opt-out debate ends up speaking” is misleading, because it suggests that Khan is helping groups convince stu­ dents not to opt-out, when in fact she is allowing groups to provide infor­ mation about the services they offer so students can make that decision for themselves. This strategy respects students’ intelligence more than the Opt-out Campaign’s strategy to tell them they can use their money for gum or a yo-yo, instead of providing concrete information on what groups such as QPIRG actually do.

Jessica Blair, B.A. 2005 in Women’s Studies and Sociology

Harper’s plan would thus create an American-style two-party system in which only those with money and power could influence the behaviour of government. If that system exists de facto right now, such a change could make it even more entrenched.

Since the subsidies were intro­ duced in light of new limitations on corporate donations, a Conservative attempt to scrap these subsidies could augur an attempt down the road to re­ introduce corporate and labour dona­ tions. This would open the Canadian electoral system to the same corpo­ rate free-for-all the American system was opened to by the U.S. Supreme Court in last year’s Citizens United case. All Canadians should be seri­ ously concerned.

Send guest commentary submissions of 550 -6 25 words to opinion@ mcgilltribune.com All students and faculty are welcome to write!

8 On term limits

First, let me say, “You’re wel­ come.” Second, let me explain why.

I’m quite sure I have figured out how to solve politics, or at least many of the problems that plague politics.

The answer is this: a term limit of one. I’m almost positive that a single term limit for every elected position could deal with a number of problems. Here’s why.

Many political issues can be traced to politicians’ concerns of being re-elected for a following term. An MP might not vote a cer­ tain way if she fears that it might alienate a certain demographic that would be key to winning her next election. Obviously, this fear would be eliminated if there were no pos­ sibility of running for another term in office.

Rewards of being a Tribune columnist Last winter, my friends and I were at a bar off St. Laurent when one announced his desire to get some fresh air. Upon return, he said he’d been standing on the comer and struck up a conversation with two McGill students. They asked who he was with inside the bar. He listed some names, including my own, to which one of the girls responded: “Ew, Ricky Kreitner? I hate him!”

And the other: “He’s such an ass­ hole!” They walked away. Back in the bar, my friend described their faces to me. I’d never met them be­ fore in my life.

Such are the joys of being a regular opinion columnist at a stu­ dent newspaper like the McGill Tribune. I can think of a few other examples, either from my first year as a columnist for the Daily, or from my second, here at the Trib, of the reputational perils inherent in be­ coming that strange thing in the McGill community: a known entity.

Now that I’m the faceless opinion editor of the Tribune, searching for someone to take over our sixth columnist spot, I thought I’d share some reflections about my own experience to give readers an idea of what it’s like and whether they might want to do it too.

You might think there are actu­ ally more negatives than positives that could come from single-term limits. For instance, how would pol­ iticians be held accountable for their actions? As it stands now, we can tell our politicians whether or not we approve of their actions by vot­ ing for them again and again. Isn’t this a useful tool? Well, kind of. But here’s the remedy for this possible issue: a heightened implementa­ tion of impeachment. We should be impeaching more people if they’re doing a bad job. It would be so ba­ dass!

But what if someone’s doing a good job and we want him to keep governing? Well, this probably won’t happen because most politi­ cians are idiots, but for the sake of argument assume it could happen.

One option is to create a system wherein the most attractive replace­ ment candidate will be forced to fol­ low through on his predecessor’s ac­ tions. If the former was doing such a great job, voters will probably want to see the next ruler doing the same things. The other option would be to suspend all rules and create em­ peror-type rulers, like in Rome, and

then just impeach them when they start screwing up (which they will, believe me). Problem solved.

Another issue is the question of who would actually want to run for office if they were only holding power for a short while. You could argue that some of those who run for office now only do so knowing they could spend a fair amount of time in that position and effect real change during that time. Well, you may have just provided my own ar­ gument for me. The people who run for office because they want power are not the kind of people I want running for office, anyway. Those are the kinds of people who make bad rulers. I may simply be being too idealistic and reading too much Plato, but I have faith that people exist who could be good rulers for the sake of the goodness of ruling and nothing else (notice, also, how 1 have started using the term “ruler” instead of “politician”). I think it’s quite possible that those who could make the best rulers simply don’t bother with politics because they know it’s a waste of time in its cur­ rent state. But that will all change with the one-term limit.

Of course, filling a 600-word space every two weeks doesn’t nec­ essarily mean you’ll have enemies, nor that you will necessarily piss off your closest friends, nor that your erstwhile good name will be dispar­ aged and your moral worth ques­ tioned by McGill students who can take comfort in the fact that their opinions are not subject to the pub­ lic scrutiny that yours are. Whether or not one “achieves” such notoriety depends entirely on the character of the column and of the columnist.

There is that judgment and reputa­ tion thing, but there is also plainly the recognition thing—which, albeit in a small way, even non-controversial writers are certain to encounter.

Witness the occasional party ques­ tion: “As in, the Ricky Kreitner?”

You might be surprised how dif­ ficult it is to summon an answer to that existential question.

As for the upsides: to be not only engaged in the campus conver­ sation but also in some small way to direct it; to actually stimulate in the minds of over 10,000 peers certain thoughts; to stir in them admira­ tion, anger, contemplation, or some blend of the same; to become a semi-official observer of student life at this university, is to experience a rewarding sense of actually being at McGill, which, at this centre-less school, in this incredibly diffused campus community, is not easy to come by otherwise.

Become a columnist not to show off your writing, but to im­ prove it. The process of being edited and of feeling compelled to put your best work before fellow McGillians, friends and foes alike, is one by

which all aspiring writers or even mere armchair observers could prof­ it. I can’t tell you how often I would read a particularly vicious response to one of my articles and realize the person was absolutely right. Yes, it felt crappy for a day or two, but the result, I’m convinced, was clearer thinking and better writing.

The writer Somerset Maugham once gave an excellent, though gen­ dered, argument for writing: “When­ ever [the writer] has anything on his mind, whether it be a harassing re­ flection, grief at the death of a friend, unrequited love, wounded pride, anger at the treachery of someone to whom he has shown kindness, in short any emotion or any perplexing thought, he has only to put it down in black and white, using it as the theme of a story or the decoration of an essay, to forget all about it. He is the only free man.”

When you have the power of the pen there is nothing you can’t confront, nothing you can’t neutral­ ize. The Montreal winter is a little less biting because you can go in­ side and write about it. Scorn from a lover or a friend is a little less dam­ aging because you can write about it. Your experience in life in general and at McGill in particular will be more meaningful if you can seize it, be aware of it, analyze it, and feed back into it that awareness, thereby enriching both your life and your writing in the process. Opinion­ writing as self-help! I fail to see why you haven’t applied already.

To apply, send a brief cover let­ ter, a CV, and two writing samples to opinion@mcgilltribune.com, by Tuesday, January 25.

One of our columnists decided to make his own paper.

B A R

Live Jazz Tue. Wed, Thu , Fri 6p m -8p m

Live cla ssic a l m usic every Sunday 6pm - 8pm

You should write for ours.

DJ’s Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat from 10pm Com plete lis tin g s

www.bilykun.com

opinion@ mcgilltribune. com

no W air Con DiTione D!

354 Mont Royal Est 514 845-5392 " I

M C A U S L A N 'H i i n sVAtax-, f»«*4

tA

y

m m ggm

PRENEZ

VOTRE ENVOL

Aspirez à une grande carrière artistique

DEMANDES D ’ADMISSION Date limite:

IerMARS 2011

S

tu d en t

L

iv in g

s a it * * b m

ODDS & ENDS

■

By Monique Evans C o n trib u to r

Having holiday bread and cheese withdrawal? Fear not. This baked brie is easy, oh-so-delicious, and guaranteed to disappear in 10 minutes or less. It’s served with caramelized onions and wrapped in puff pastry. If you don't like onions, you can use cranberry relish and al­ monds, or even raspberries tossed in a little flour and sugar. Get some friends together, grab a bottle of wine (or several) and a couple ba­ guettes, and relive the food comas of winter break.

Ingredients • One 8 " wheel of brie • One package puff pastry, thawed • 3 large onions, julienned • 3 cloves garlic, minced.

• 1/2 cup dry white wine • 1 tsp brown sugar • 1 egg yolk • Fresh thyme, minced

• Flour for rolling out pastry • 1 sliced baguette A note on cooking wine: If you wouldn’t drink it, don't put it in your food. A couple of good cooking wines are La Chamiza Chardonnay ($8.65 at SAQ) and Caliterra Reserva Sauvignon Blanc ($12 at SAQ).

Directions 1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 de­ grees Fahrenheit.

2. Grease a 9" pie dish. Roll out each square of puff pastry. Cut one into a disc the same size as the brie. Roll the other out thinly enough that you can fold it around the sides of the wheel of brie.

3. Melt some butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat.

Sauté onions until translucent and add the thyme. Reduce heat to medium and cook until onions are golden, stirring often, about (25 minutes).

4. Add the minced garlic and cook for a couple minutes. Add the

Sau cy explosion

first 1/4 cup of wine. Stir until liq­ uid evaporates.

5. Sprinkle in the sugar and cook the onions until they are soft and brown (about 10 minutes).

6 . Add the remaining 1/4 cup wine and stir until the liquid evapo­ rates. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

7. Place the wheel of brie on the larger of the two pieces of pas­ try. Top with caramelized onions.

Place the 8 " disc of pastry on top of the wheel and fold the larger pastry around the cheese so that you have covered the whole wheel without holes.

8 . Place in a pie dish. Whisk the egg yolk with a little water and brush it over the top of the pastry.

9. Poke a few holes in the top of the pastry to let the steam out.

10. Bake in the oven for 25-35 minutes or until the puff pastry is nice and golden. Let it sit for at least 15 minutes before serving with sliced baguette.

A kitchen criminal goes undetected

By Sean Wood News Editor

J

L

I’d like to think that most criminals get their due. A horrible mishap that I had at my summer job this summer, though, has changed my mind. Now, I’m more inclined to think that for every criminal that gets punished, there must be 10 that fly under the radar.

The scene: my summer job at a restaurant which will remain nameless. The players: me, a group of middle-schoolers, and a industrial sized jar of barbecue sauce. Every night at six, we served dinner to the whole group. On this particular evening, we had a group of 85 sixth graders coming in for a chicken nug­ get supper. About 15 minutes before dinner time, my boss sent me down­ stairs to get a jar of barbecue sauce.

I was about five hours into a long shift and feeling silly. Not violent, destructive, or drunk—just chastely, innocently silly. I went down to the storeroom, picked up the jar of bar­ becue sauce, and put it on my head, like a Jamaican banana saleswom­ an. It seemed like a good idea. As I headed toward the stairs, I shook my hips left and right, imagining a crowd of admirers (let’s be honest, female admirers) oohhing and ahhing at how funny I was.-I climbed the first two stairs before remember­ ing too late that the ceiling was very low above the third.

I missed the clearance. The barbecue sauce flew backwards and exploded. Many people exagger­ ate with the word “exploded,” but I don’t. There was barbecue sauce seven feet up on the walls. It had gathered in pools on the stairs. It looked like I had brutally and messily murdered a giant cockroach.

After a few seconds of numb­ ness, I started to panic. If anyone saw this, I would be fired. Not be­ cause it was necessarily such a big deal, but because it looked so bad.

I came back upstairs, trying to be cool. We were only 15 minutes until dinner, so there was a lot to do.

Upstairs, I would act as though noth­ ing was wrong, and then go down­ stairs to scrape barbecue sauce into a bucket with a dough scraper. Bring the boss an onion, then go leap up and down with a bleached cloth to reach the highest signs of the explo­ sion.

Miraculously, the end was eventually into sight. I had soaked five rags completely through with sauce, but it started to look better.

After about 30 minutes of on-andoff-again cleaning, the job was done.

I am still waiting for the arm of justice to come down on me. Until it does though, the only traces of my crime are a slight discoloration in the wall around the third stair and a faint hickory smell.

W eb C T quotation o f the w eek Subject: Assignment answers Author: Student l 1 don’t understand what resource utilization is. I’ve searched the slides and Ï haven’t found anything on it. Are we supposed to Google the answers???

Reply

Subject-.Assignment answers A uthor: Student 2 All the answers can be found from the textbook. I suppose Google could work too.

Reply Subject: Assignment answers A uthor: Student 3

I’m certain he said in class that everything we need to know is in the textbook, and that the answers are in there too. It would probably be wise to study from the textbook and not Google, since quiz and exam material will be from the book and what is taught in class.

Reply Subject:: Assignment answers A uthor: Student 2 Don’t tell me it’s one of those “learn by heart” courses...

Reply

T R E E

P E A N T I

T e x t a n d P h o to s b y A lic e W a lk e r

Have you ever wanted to take a helicopter to work? Could you di thousands o f Canadian university students opt out of retail jobs and intt

WHAT IS TREE PLANTING ?

6: o o am : H itch a ride in a pickup truck at su n rise.

When a logging company wants to log an area, they lease the land from the government under the condition that it will be replanted according to specific species and density requirements. This is the basis for the silviculture, or tree planting, industry, composed of roughly 100 companies across Canada that special­ ize in completing the replant requirements.

Tree planting began as a prison activity in New Zealand in the early 20th century. The backbreaking labour was conceived as a form of productive punish­ ment, but it fizzled out quickly. By the 1960s, in the age of peace, love, and free spirits, a few tree planting companies began to appear, offering to fulfill the de­ mand of logging companies who needed their leased land replanted. Back then, the only people who would efficiently plant trees were hippies looking to make a quick buck in the summer and move on. Since then, the silviculture industry has been taken over by university students. Every May, students from schools across the country drop their books and pick up a shovel.

Each person is paid per tree, depending on a va­ riety of factors including easiness of the land, species of tree, and travel time. This can vary from six cents per tree for trenches of loose soil in the Maritimes, to fifty cents or more per tree on the overgrown moun­ tainsides in British Columbia.

WHO GOES TREE PLANTING? The majority of tree planters are university stu­ dents who need to make money quickly. The tree­

planting season rut which meshes perfe ule. There are also go tree planting,.be nificant amount of r Student or not women. This gende other fields of mam about brute strengt cism, and planning.

There is a ge plant trees do it stri of backbreaking wi a toll on one’s sani a character-buildinj they have made a h a combination of tl style that leads the after year.

“Every year 1 1 Jonathan Gastaldi, son in the bush and of tree planters. “Bi miss all my friends Good tree plat acteristics: they m and excessively sai donH take themseh complainer will res respect, planters mi of modesty.

dhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiim iiiim iiiiiiiM iiiiiiiiiiiii

TREE PLANTING LINGO 7 :0 0 am : H elicopter in if th ere’s no truck a cce ss.

MMR

Skreefing: the act of kicking pine needlt Cream: land that is very easy to plant in A piece: an area in which you are respon Flag line: pieces of colourful tape tied 0 Shnarb: overgrowth, branches and debri Hi-baller: someone who plants consider -riiiiiim iiiiiiiiiiiiiiim iiim iiiiiiiiiiiiiiim iiiiiiiiiiiiim i

MG hourly wages for self-motivated piecework? Despite the intensive labour, hips each summer to attempt to make a killing replanting Canada’s forests.

rom May to July or August, with students’ semester schede non-students who choose to ;e it allows them to earn a sigey in a few months, nost half of tree planters are lance is unusual compared to abour, but tree planting is less id more about speed, athletiil consensus that those who for the money. Day after day in the snow or hot sun takes iome attempt tree planting as ;perience and quickly realize ile mistake. But some say it’s aming potential plus the lifed return to tree planting year tr I’m not coming back,” says ) just finished his eighth sead season crew bossing a group always end up coming back. I much.” ; share a few important charbe hardworking, intelligent, tic. They complain a lot, but oo seriously (being labelled a in a loss of respect). To gain >e hard workers with a degree

GETTING A JOB Tree planting is not for everyone, but those who want to try it out can apply between January and March. However, the economic recession has resulted in less demand for timber, so logging companies are cutting and replanting less. Jobs, especially for rook­ ies, have become much harder to come by. The ap­ plication process is entirely online, and shortlisted candidates are interviewed by phone. Gastaldi, who has hired several rookies as a crew boss says, “When I speak to a potential rookie, I’m looking for specific answers. When I ask why they want to go planting, their answer should be ‘to make money,’ not ‘to get a tan and lose weight.’ Wanting a tan doesn’t show me they are a hard worker.”

MAKING MONEY The potential for making serious cash while tree planting is real, but there are many hidden costs.

Transportation to rural areas can be hard to find and expensive. Tree planting companies provide water, food, and eating areas for $10-25 per day and planters are responsible for bringing their own shovel, bags, tent, and rain gear, which can cost around $ 1,000 .

Since tree planters are paid per tree, there is a huge variance in how much each person makes. Rook­ ies generally make much less than those with experi­ ence. Some rookies even finish the season owing their company money because they ask for cash advances and don’t plant enough to repay the few hundred dol­

lars they received.

For those who work hard and move quickly, the payout can be huge. A good planter can make anywhere from $5,000-15,000 in one summer. Eric Rowles, a McGill student and seventh year planter, put his millionth tree in the ground last summer. He said his strategy is, “focus, perseverance, hard work, lots of water, good equipment, and a good crew boss.

It’s also about making sacrifices and the ability to be alone all day. If you can’t be alone, you’re going to go crazy.”

THE EXPERIENCE As with money, individuals usually end the sum­ mer having obtained differing benefits from the expe­ rience. Some people become addicted to the lifestyle of working hard and partying harder, which keeps them coming back year after year.

“When I think about tree planting, I never think about the days when I plant 5,000 trees,” says Jordan Green, a fifth-year planter from Manitoba. “I think about the nights off. People who say they plant just for the money are lying.”

Planters typically try to forget the days they cried because it was snowing, or that time they were attacked by wasps. Instead, their fondest memories always come back to the most epic party night they can remember. Taking five shots of a “redheaded slut” shooter, then playing hide-and-go-seek with roman candles will stay with them forever, whereas the agony of the job somehow disappears from memory.

Some of the scarier moments in the wilderness even reinvent themselves in nostalgic ways. When a full-grown tree misses crushing someone by only a few feet, they retell the tale with a chuckle and de­ scribe how they could feel the earth shake as it crashed on the ground. Who could forget when all they had on was a rain jacket and spandex during a snowstorm?

They barely broke even, but who cares now?

This doesn’t mean, however, that there aren’t bad days. The work is gruelling and the conditions are extreme. Falling in a river will make you cry. Get­ ting eaten alive by blackflies/mosquitoes/no-see-ems/ horseflies/deerflies will make you cry. Walking three miles with all your gear and horrible blisters on your heels will make you cry. Getting so sick you had to drink cough syrup out of the bottle in the middle of the forest will make you cry. Getting a sunburn that blistered for days will make you cry.

At the end of the day, what appeals to you more?

Having a quiet, safe job and earning minimum wage, or taking a helicopter to work and pushing yourself harder than you ever have before with a huge pay­ out?

As Green says, “It beats flipping burgers.”

Alice Walker will be returning to Manitoba in May to her third summer as a tree planter

llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllb

id debris away from the spot you are about to plant a tree.

=

5 for planting.

E

branches and logs to mark where your piece starts, it make it difficult to plant more than the average planter

| =

^ IIIIIIIIIIIIIIM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIM IIIIIb

WEBSITES

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiir

• • •

|

replant.ca tree-planter.com twisted-tree-productions.ca =

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIM IIIIIIM IIIIIM M IIlif

12--------

Curiosity Delivers - mcgilltribune.com

MONEY MATTERS

HOW-TO

C razy couponing

Show ering like a pro

How to save

Doctors agree naked results in a deeper clean

95%

on your groceries

By Tori Crawford______________________ E ditor-in-C hief

During the approximately 100 hours I spent watching TLC over the holiday break, I learned some important lessons: 19 kids are far too many, petite girls should never carry big purses, and Sarah Palin is a good shot. Some of the most useful information, however, came from a new show called Extreme Coupon­ ing, which follows diehard coupon collectors as they use coupons to reduce $2,000 grocery bills to $40.

Although McGill students may not have the time or desire to knock on all their neighbour’s doors to ask for their coupons or have the space to stockpile enough rice, deodorant, canned soup and shampoo to last 10 lifetimes, as the people on this show do, there are some easy resources you can use to save money on items you buy frequently. coupons.smartcanucks.ca This website collects coupons and offers a database of printable ones. You can search by company or by category, like grocery, beauty, or garden. There’s also a list of the week’s most popular coupons which can help you find the best deals. flyerland.ca

find out about the deals they contain by entering your postal code on this website, which provides online ac­ cess to all the weekly flyers from your area. If you use some of these deals in combination with a coupon from Smart Canucks, you can often get something for close to free.

Groupon Although it’s been around in different countries and cities since 2008, Groupon has recently seen a surge in popularity, and you may have already gotten emails or Facebook messages from friends who are using the service. Each day, one specific deal is offered for the city you’re in. However, the promotion is only valid if enough people sign up for the offer.

Company email listservs While you might be hesitant to give your email address to the cashier at Gap for fear of being spammed with useless emails, the promotions these companies send out can help you save money. Some stores, like J.Crew, often offer online deals for limited periods of time, which you can only find out about through email. Consider creating a separate email account for emails like this so they don’t clog your inbox.

Instead of dealing with the waste created by a weekly flyer package,

Dearstudentsof McGill, Oneofyououtthere canread, writeand evenedit. Iknowit.We needaneditor, soon.

Sendane-mailto editor@mcgilltribune. com withaCV,letterof intent, andthreewriting samples

By Matt Essert News Editor

There are only a few reasons to take a shower. One possible reason is that you are so smelly that strang­ ers tell you as much. If a stranger complains that you are smelly, it means that you are so smelly that the stranger felt the need to tell you about it, an uncomfortable act for anyone. If a friend or family mem­ ber tells you that you are smelly, you can probably just ignore it and write it off as playful teasing. But if you are so dirty that you raise dust clouds as you walk around sterilized areas, you may want to consider shower­ ing. It is important that you diagnose your level of dirtiness in sterilized areas since unsterilized areas comes with their own dirt and grime, which could easily mix with your dirt and grime and give you an inaccurate measurement of your filthiness.

If, alternatively, you are not smelly or dirty enough to meet these requirements but still want to take a shower, you should probably do something to get dirty or smelly enough to warrant the use of enough water to hydrate a mid-sized village in Siberia. Maybe you should join an intramural team, like volleyball or ball hockey. Ultimate Frisbee is also very popular in warmer months. In­ tramural sports are great for this be­ cause even though you aren’t good enough to play the sport at a com­ petitive level, you still really like the

sport and will probably get really into the game and work up a sweat.

You could also just run in place for a few hours until you get sweaty enough to take a shower. This would be an especially good option if you don’t like spending time with other people, but do like showering.

If you have, probably begrudg­ ingly, decided you need to take a shower, the first step in the process is to find a shower. Most showers are located in bathrooms or bathroom showroom stores. Some showers in bathroom showroom stores are not fully functional, so they will not be very useful for this instructional guide. At this point, you need to find a bathroom. Many bathrooms can be found in public places—these are called “public bathrooms.” Al­ though these can be very useful in tight situations, they are often gross and sometimes do not have show­ ers. Remember, locating a shower is a key part of this process, so don’t give up! Try looking in your own bathroom at home; you may be sur­ prised to find exactly what you are looking for there.

Upon finding a shower, you should now attempt to bathe yourself.

Most doctors agree that you should be naked when taking a shower, but some are just not comfortable with this. Don’t be embarrassed to wear your swim trunks in the shower the first few hundred times you attempt this tricky operation.

The next step is to turn on the

water. This is probably one of the most difficult parts of the process.

Although most showers differ in their setting for adjusting the water temperature, most shower knobs share one characteristic: every set­ ting except one is excruciatingly hot or terrifyingly cold, and adjusting the knob or knobs by more than 1/16 of an inch will make the water tem­ perature unbearable. You’ll probably need to spend a good 15 to 20 min­ utes determining a good temperature for your upcoming shower. Trial and error is a good method, although some showerers will collect samples of water in containers and measure them with an instant read thermom­ eter, but this is best left to the pros.

At this point, you may have spent up to 20 minutes standing naked (or in swim trunks) in your bathroom testing the water tem­ perature. After 20 minutes in the bathroom with the shower running, your roommates probably think you are just playing with yourself in the shower, which is totally not cool, so you should probably turn off the shower and pretend to dry off.

You may be upset that you didn’t actually bathe yourself, but hopefully you are honing in on the perfect setting for the water tem­ perature. You probably weren’t even smelly or dirty enough to need a shower anyway, so don’t worry about it. Just put some gel in your hair, rub your face with olive oil, and you’ll be fine.

L O O K IN G F O R A N A P A R T M E N T DESIGNEDWITHSTUDENTSINMIND? • Fabulous layouts • 4 & 5 bedroom apartments • Fully-furnished • All utilities included • Internet included • Cable included • 32” LCD TV & DVD Player

Rooms from

per m onth

Discover the furnished student apartments at ^ J

•Weight and cardio room •Movie room •Game room with pool tables, foosball, video game consoles •Music room •Study lounges •Weekly activities

B W y 'l l ■HfiBK 3 | ^

|

M l

STE C A T H E RI N E STREET W E S T RUE STE C A T H E R I N E O U E S T www.515 s te c a th e rin e .c o m

----------------- A & E ----------------THEATRE

W riting, directing, and perform ing a play...ail in 24 hours T N C

h o s t s A R T i f a c t F e s t i v a l ’s p l a y w r i g h t i n g c o m p e t i t i o n

By Daniel Sorger C o n trib u to r

Even if you’ve never heard of McGill’s Tuesday Night Cafe The­ atre (TNC), you’ve probably won­ dered why there’s a 50s-inspired neon sign on the otherwise pleasant ivory tower that is the Islamic Stud­ ies building. But within the walls of this subtle structure is a world of stu­ dent ingenuity and talent.

This weekend, over 50 people came to TNC’s annual 24-hour play­ writing festival—one event out of the weeklong ARTifact festival. Ev­ eryday life was flipped on its head as three playwrights and tens of amateur actors and stage crew dove headlong into utterly new and chal­ lenging material. The night seemed to give a resounding answer, full of gusto, to the question lurking in the back of many of our heads: “Why theatre?”

The first play of the evening, written by Danji Buck-Moore, began with a challenge to the audience to justify why they would choose one “Lavid Dynch’- film over another. It then proceeded to tell the story of a young man who desperately sought the precious attention of the idolized director, only to find that he him­ self was acting in a farce. The show played with viewers’ sensibilities of how theatre is meant to work and with the tendency to mythologize artists at the expense of a power­ ful dramatic experience. As the plot thickened, spectators were intimate­ ly introduced to a narrative device in human form: a dinosaur-tailed antagonist playing a recorder and

two New Age disciples of Dynch who were connected at the neck by a scarf. In an effort to involve the crowd, the duo gently wrapped an audience member in their yam.

The second show, written by Lara Oundjian, cleverly empha­ sized the role of acting in everyday life. Her piece began with a sur­ real gunfight that turned out to be a children’s game. It went on to follow the lives of four friends as they dealt with their flaws through therapy, constantly revisiting their early memories. As the characters developed, they found that re-enact­ ing their unconventional and imagi­ native childhood dramas and dreams is the most reliable way to deal with their growing pains.

After the three half-hour per­ formances finished, McGill English professor and judge Myma Wyatt Selkirk commented that the suc­ cess of the evening came from the emphasis on “respect” and “fun.”

ARTifact coordinator Ben Bengtson echoed similar sentiments.

“It’s all about having fun,” he said. “And I know that’s kind of a generic word, but it really just trans­ lates into high energy.” He emphati­ cally praised the amateur actors for their genuine and unadulterated re­ spect of the play, particularly under time constraints.

“They have such knowledge of the conventions of the theatre,” he says. “They’re making smart deci­ sions out there instinctually.”

“I sat down and I just let my brain do its thing,” says playwright Stuart Wright of the process of writ­ ing a play in 24 hours. “I like to

Students share their poetry at the ARTifact Festival. (Anna Katycheva/McGill Tribune)

think of plays as dreams that a whole theatrical experience.

Bengtson described the expe­ community can share at once. I hope rience of grappling with this kind that, at best, there was a very strange of performance: “You start to think and meaningful dream.”

While people often judge the about it and then you say, ‘Ah I’m performing arts based on tomato- , just gonna go with it.’ That’s what meters and star quality, ARTifact theatre is.”

A less verbal response came demonstrated that suspending judg­ ment and physically participating from theatre-goer Chad Simmonds are crucial to a lively and communal who fell off his chair quite loudly,

twice, during the course of the night.

To find out more about theatre at McGill, visit mcgillstage.com

Pop Itfietoric Debating the merits of the Globes At the start of a new year, there are many good things to look for­ ward to: spending time with family, ■making New Year’s resolutions, in­ evitably failing to follow through on those resolutions, the Super Bowl, and of course, award shows. For some, award shows hold little inter­ est. They are often painfully long and rely on the comedic success of the host. There are also few awards that people actually care about, and those can usually be narrowed down

to Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Di­ rector, apd Best Picture. In contrast to the Academy Awards, which are dreaded for their length and filler content of performances and obscure awards (Best Live Action Short Film anyone?), the Golden Globes, which aired on Sunday, are a different and more casual story.

Instead of being confined to their chairs, celebrities are seated at tables where they can eat, talk, and get drunk (which they usually do). In general, the atmosphere seems much more relaxed than the Oscars, as the Oscars are generally considered more prestigious.lt also seems that the Golden Globes are more enjoy­

able for the audience and nominees alike for its relaxed feel. Host Ricky Gervais was especially entertaining this year. Many of his jokes may not have been tolerated in the more po­ litically correct mood of the Oscars.

It remains to be seen if hosts Anne Hathaway and James Franco will be able to establish the same feel of hu­ mour and fun at this year’s Oscars.

Yet the importance of the Golden Globes can be recognized for their consideration of genre in the category of Best Motion Picture and the inclusion of television in the competition. Without the Golden Globes, many people would not be recognized for their success in

television or cinema, especially for comedy projects.

However, the Globes also had some questionable nominations this year. While movies like The Fighter, Inception, and Black Swan were shoe-ins, it seems unfair that the Coen brothers’ True Grit was not nominated in any category de­ spite the strong leading and support­ ing performances by Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon and the film’s ac­ claimed directors. Furthermore, the movie starred newcomer Hailee Steinfeld in a substantial role for a 14-year-old girl.

The Golden Globes are unique for their recognition of certain

genres that are usually overlooked at the Oscars. For example, despite my personal distaste for the films Burlesque and The Tourist, both nominated this year, there is merit in acknowledging the cinematic ac­ complishments of those films. The Golden Globes, then, despite a more laid back atmosphere and memora­ ble acceptance speeches, definitely have some appeal, and often serve as an important indicator of how the Academy Awards will be distributed in February.

—Lane Cameron

14

Curiosity Delivers - m cgilltribune.com

BOOK REVIEW

Don D eLillo finally gets to the point with P o in t O m e g a

By Alexander Hamilton C o n trib u to r

At age 74, Don DeLillo looms large within the realm of literature.

Since establishing his reputation in the late 80s and early 90s with a quartet of lengthy epics — White Noise, Libra, Mao II and Under­ world— DeLillo has switched to a more condensed style. His new novel, Point Omega, weighs in at a slim 117 pages (in comparison to Underworld's, overwhelming 827).

Despite this change in format, his writing remains as sharp as ever, but is less inclined toward tangential ac­ counts. An example of these earlier, anecdotal elements in his work is the prologue to Underworld, which takes up almost 100 pages describ­ ing the historic 1951 victory of the New York Giants over the Brook­ lyn Dodgers, an event which, while central to the plot, is indulgently de­ tailed.

In Point Omega, DeLillo’s early tendency to mythologize mo­ mentous events is conspicuously ab­ sent. Reading the book is less about immersing oneself in the madness of DeLillo’s created universe. In­

stead, the book takes the form of a subtle meditation on a trio of topics: war, film, and familial relationships.

DeLillo’s fixation on epoch-defining events (JFK’s assassination in Libra and the 9/11 attacks in Falling Man) remains present, but the focus of Point Omega’s action is more re­ moved from the historical activ­ ity that has anchored his previous books.

The book recounts the interac­ tions of three characters who come together in the remote home of an aging intellectual whose legacy of involvement with the war continues to haunt him. In addition to the old man, we are introduced to a young filmmaker who is making a docu­ mentary on the war, as well as the old man’s daughter, a young woman described as “otherworldly.” As the novel progresses, it becomes clear that the characters travel to desolate locations as a means of coping with their feelings of disconnection and dislocation.

The old man drinks scotch and rhapsodizes at length about memo­ ries, which are often unrelated, refusing to move beyond the past that continues to define him. Simi­

larly, the filmmaker’s increasingly lethargic attempt to involve himself in any sort of constructive activ­ ity is almost painful to experience as a reader. However, the novel’s message is clearest in the character of the young woman whose discon­ nection becomes explicit when she ultimately vanishes into the desert surrounding the house.

The reason for Point Omega’s condensed length is abundantly clear after reading it. The action is almost paralytic, but this style is purposeful. Without drawing out the story with superfluous anecdotes and historical information, DeLillo re­ veals the disassociation between the characters, even as they steep them­ selves in their obsessions. He thus ensures that the reader will be able to discern his overall message. The title itself refers to a theorized state of maximum organized complexity and centricity, an “omega point” to­ ward which humankind is evolving.

Although Point Omega can be read as a warning, it is also a reflection on the trends already present within Western culture.

DeLilo’s latest novel, P oint O m eg a , will be released by Scribner’s on February 2, 2010. It is DeLillo’s fifteenth novel, (starvingwritersooks.com)

MUSIC

T h e G olden D ogs aim to be the best in sho w

By Kyle Carpenter Copy Editor

At first glance, you could mis­ take the latest album from the Gold­ en Dogs for a bargain bin joke; its cover features a close-up of a cocker spaniel with a hollow, glowing eye socket against a black background.

The album’s title, Coat o f Arms, furthers the canine word play. That said, it would come as a surprise that it’s one of the best albums of 2010 , that is, if you didn’t know the Gold­ en Dogs.

Coat o f Arms is the band’s third full-length release following Big Eye Little Eye in 2006. In the four years since that release, the Toronto indie pop rock band has taken time to re­ group: they’ve beefed up their core line-up with new members, worked on new material, and are ready to hit the road for a mini-tour across Canada.

“It’s a really strong set and our live show is getting really tight, so now’s the time that people should come out and see us,” says vocalist and keys player Jessica Grassia.

Coat o f Arms is an intimidat­ ing feat. It’s first and foremost a pop album, but the term itself seems to discredit the album’s magnitude. It begins with feel-good, yet subtly complex pop hooks in “Dear Fran­

cis,” and from there goes wherever it pleases. There’s “As Long As You Like It,” a Grassia-lead minimalist clap-along; “Weapon,” where we hear the breadth of Dave Azzolini’s voice at his most passionate; “Travel Time,” a speedy track with some monster snare fills; and “Underwa­ ter Goldmine,” a warm track with dreamy vocals. No two tracks sound alike, yet each song still seems to scream Golden Dogs. So how did they do it? For the band, some songs are sure things, others are laboured over, and some are even abandoned all together. But more and more, songs seem to come from nowhere. ‘“ Underwater Goldmine’ from the new record sort of really came out of left field one night,” Grassia says. “I started playing a little thing on piano and Dave [Azzolini] picked up on it right away and kind of came up with the melody and then two days later we were in the studio and it was recorded with the Zeus guys.

And this was before we even knew we were making a record and before they even knew they were Zeus; it was just kind of us hanging out. And that’s what’s happening now with the new line-up.”

The Golden Dogs and Zeus— another breakthrough Toronto indie rock band—have a long, intimate history together, from recording in

the same studio to even sharing the same members.

“The relationship goes back quite a ways. We were friends first before they are what they are now,” Grassia says. “All the members in Zeus at one point or another were in the Golden Dogs, aside from Rob Drake, their drummer.”

Though they have been praised over and over by critics as an enter­ taining live band, the Golden Dogs still like to mix things up when they play a show.

“We always try to do new things,” Grassia says. “We make a point of not doing the same show twice. We don’t have a setlist that we play every night. We kind of col­ laborate on it before the show.”

On their current tour, the band is even trying out a few new tricks for the first time.

“We have to make it fun for ourselves,” Grassia says. “We have to challenge ourselves more. We’re doing something that we’ve never done before; we actually do kind of a switcheroo where I’ll go to drums, Jay [McCarrol], our bass player goes to keys, [and] Taylor [Knox] will go to bass where he started with the Golden Dogs.”

With 2010 gone and a landmark record behind them, (not to mention their friends Zeus, whose February

The Toronto band tours following the success o f their new album. (killbeatmusic.com)

release Say Us also found a place in many critics’ albums of the year lists) the Golden Dogs are finally able to take a breath before moving forward.

“We did well this year,” Grassia says. “It was a hard year for every­

body, both Zeus and us. Everyone was dealing with life, basically. The times in the studio were the best.”

The Golden Dogs are playing with Elephant Stone at Le Divan Or­ ange on Saturday.

15

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

C D R e v ie w s

MOVIE REVIEW

G re e n H o rn e t sting s

By Theo Meyer M anaging Editor

Daft Punk: Tron: Legacy Let’s try to ignore that the best song in Tron: Legacy is “Separate Ways” by Journey (which you will not find on the soundtrack). Instead, let’s focus on what Daft Punk’s sortof new album is: exactly what it was supposed to be.

The album is a soundtrack, and it’s important to keep that in mind.

Sure, every Daft Punk fan in the world was hoping for another Home­ work, but that certainly wouldn’t have worked as a film score. Tron: Legacy is nearly perfect .for what it is, but it’s still probably not what you were hoping for.

First, there’s a prominent or­ chestral element to most songs, which appear to be devoid of any Daft Punk influence at all (see: “Adagio for Tron,” for instance).

Few songs, on the other hand, are pure Punk (single “Derezzed” is the best example, and not surprisingly, the album’s best song). Most of the album falls somewhere in between: half orchestral, half electronic, usu­ ally performed in tandem (“The Game Fias Changed” does this par­ ticularly well).

Arguably, any soundtrack is going to be lacking without experi­ encing the accompanying film at the same time, and Tron: Legacy is no exception. But it’s a strong effort at a new form of composition for the duo, and the only real shame is that there aren’t one or two more stand­ alone tracks.

—Kyle Carpenter

Generationals: Trust Following their 2009 debut Con Law, Louisiana natives Gen­ erationals have released their sec­ ond EP, Trust—a four-track album that presents their first collaboration with experimental musician Bill Baird. While the feel-good atmo­ sphere may sound deceptively sweet at first, this indie-pop group stands out with their insightful lyrics and mature blend of 1960s colour and electronic modernism.

The group is comprised of the multi-instrumentalist duo Ted Joyner and Grant Widmer, along with drummer Tess Brunet. Togeth­ er, they breathe new life into sim­ ple melodies by cleverly blending acoustic bass and electric guitar re­ verb into upbeat summer vibes. The EP is very lively, with resonances of R.E.M’s summer freshness and PJ Harvey’s raw acoustic resonance.

The opening track, “Say For Certain,” is a simple track meshing male and female vocals à la “Cali­ fornia Dream,” decorated by xylo­ phone riffs and occasional hand­ claps. Soothing vocals over reverb guitar riffs on the standout track “Trust” are backed by a simple bass line reminiscent of the easy-going 60s—it shouldn’t be a surprise if “Stand by Me” comes to mind. But at the same time, the electronic edge and energy that drive each track also evoke the 80s new wave style.

The term “retro pioneering” would describe Generationals’ sound accu­ rately. All four tracks on this album are good; catchy and youthful, but charming in their constancy in cre­ ating the perfect soundtrack for a summer road trip.

—Lillian Jordy

Decemberists: The King is Dead The Decemberists’ sixth fulllength album, The King is Dead, is a collection of folk tunes that may come as a surprise to fans of their last album, The Hazards o f Love.

Heavy on fiddle and harmonica, The King is Dead is a clear depar­ ture from the more experimental sound of Hazards and the earlier The Crane Wife. This album may seem out of place in their extensive repertoire and reputation as an inno­ vative, grandiose group. For those who have been put off by that sound in the past, The King is Dead offers a refreshing return to classic country rhythms and eloquent songwriting.

The bare-bones feel of the album allows the simplicity of each song to come through, with lead singer Colin Meloy’s melodies tak­ ing centre stage with support from country artist Gillian Welch, and a guest appearance by R.E.M guitar­ ist Peter Buck, who appears on the album’s first single, “Down by the Water,” help to create a rich, rustic feeling that is consistent throughout the record.

The 10 tracks on the album are all catchy, upbeat, and fun, but “Down by the Water,” along with “Rox in the Box” and “January Hymn,” are particularly standout.

The King is Dead may be heavily influenced by 1950s country and western music, but it doesn’t feel like a pure imitation. The sound of other influences like the Smiths can be detected as well, especially in the album’s title, a reference to The Queen is Dead, indicating that the Decemberists are still the same band, just following a new musical direction.

—Manisha Aggarwal-Schifellite

Minutes into The Green Hor­ net, Michel Gondry’s new superhero flick, Chudnofsky (Christoph Waltz), an insecure Russian gangster, saun­ ters into the office of a rival crime boss (James Franco) and demands that he get in line or get out of town.

In response, Franco rips into Chud­ nofsky, mocking his age and “disco Santa” wardrobe with a series of nonsense insults.

Franco’s arrogant, hilarious monologue—and his whimpered apologies once Chudnofsky guns down his bodyguards—is the best scene in an otherwise terrible film.

The Green Hornet— written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, the pair behind Superbad and Pineapple Ex­ press— is needlessly bad. It unfolds like a stoner comedy in which the one-liners have been replaced with choppy action sequences.

The film’s plot relies on a typi­ cal superhero movie formula. After his father is killed by a bee sting, newspaper heir Britt Reid (Rogen) discovers that Kato (Jay Chou), the man who cared for his father’s cars and made his coffee, is also a Q-like weapons expert with a talent for

martial arts. With Britt’s fortune and Kato’s skill, the two men don masks and trench coats to fight crime.

Even for an action movie, The Green Hornet frequently doesn’t make sense. As Britt and Kato ca­ reen around Los Angeles in their tricked-out Chrysler Imperial and firebomb meth labs, they kill as many cops as they do thugs. The car has loaded machine guns and ejec­ tor seats, but it can’t seem to outrun Chudnofsky’s SUV. Things explode, but the two-hour film takes far too long to get to the final showdown between Britt and his enemy.

Through it all, Rogen plays a less likeable version of his charac­ ters in Knocked Up and Pineapple Express, casually insulting Kato without the self-deprecating punch in the shoulder. When he mocks his new secretary (Cameron Diaz, good-naturedly along for the ride), Britt doesn’t get many laughs.

The script’s dialogue is cringingly contrived as well. “It’s not dying that you need to be afraid of,” Britt tells Kato midway through the film, “it’s never having lived.” The line’s hard not to roll your eyes at.

It’s not missing this movie that you need to fear; it’s wasting your money on a ticket.

Chudnofsky takes aim with his signature double-barrel pistol in Michel Gondry’s The Green Hornet, (comicbookmovie.com)

FINE ARTS

O p era co m es to life at the m u seu m M u s e u m

o f F in e A rts

By Natalia Evdokimova C o n trib u to r

The plaques that line the grey and crimson walls of the "Opera of Montreal Takes the Stage at the Museum" exhibition, currently on display at the Museum of Fine Arts, serve as a guide to creating the spec­ tacle of an opera. Encompassing the conceptualization of a plot, the fin­ ishing touches of the costumes, and the bejewelling of the props, these plaques illustrate the message that the exhibition is trying to relate: it isn’t easy to create an opera from scratch. Even though the exhibition realizes its goal, the arrangement and overall aesthetic are not as inter­ esting or as well structured as they could be.

The placement of the props, costumes, and plaques does not fol­ low a particular order. The start and finish of the exhibit seem arbitrary, and the museum-goer is met with a barrage of disconnected elements of the opera that don’t follow any chro­ nology or theme.

b reak s

d o w n

th e

art o f o p e ra

The exhibition starts with a video about the upcoming shows of the Opera of Montreal, then is followed by a display of gowns and costumes from previous op­ eras, which include an Edo Japa­ nese maiden's gown, a 19th century British boy's outfit, and an Egyp­ tian pharaoh's attire. Following the gowns, props surround the walking area on both sides, making it diffi­ cult to choose where to focus your gaze. Props of note include 17th century wigs for French aristocrats, and various weapons, including an Egyptian crossbow, a fencer's épée, and a medieval axe. Next is a banal video showing the process of creat­ ing a stage in four days for the opera Cendrillon.

Available with an audio guide, the tour becomes more engaging toward the end, where a plaque de­ tails different opera voices. Ranging from Coloratura Soprano to Dramat­ ic Bass, examples of the opera voic­ es can be heard on the audio guide while reading about the roles associ­ ated with each voice. For example,

S M

U

in

la te st ex h ib it

the plaque links a dramatic soprano to Isolde from the opera Tristan und Isolde. In this way, the audio guide provides helpful information and examples, but otherwise offers little new information on the attractions.

Finishing with more props from operas like Pagliacci, the exhibition can be covered at a leisurely pace, in roughly 40 minutes. Not a com­ plete waste of time, it does include a worn-out libretto for the opera Sa­ lome' and an intricate set maquette (miniature set design) for Cendril­ lon. With gems like this, the "Opera of Montreal" exhibit is somewhat interesting, but ultimately poorly designed. It fails to fulfill the expec­ tations of what an exhibition about opera should resemble.

Not only is there no flow to the exhibition, the atmosphere is disrupted by the exhibition's locale.

Unfortunately close to children's ac­ tivities, the exhibition's placement within the museum is detrimental to its ambience of style and class. The roaring children intervene with the angelic arias that play in the back­

B O O K

B

Ornate costum es, like the ones seen above, are displayed in artful ways throughout the exhibit, (fashionismymuse.blogspot.com)

ground, disturbing the otherwise se­ rene experience.

The exhibition should not be at the forefront of your agenda if you intend to visit the Museum of Fine Arts. While the opera is generally a visually delightful experience, the

A

Z

A

The free "Opera o f Montreal Takes the Stage at the Museum" ex­ hibition is on display through May 1, 2011 at the Museum o f Fine Arts.

A

. . . W H E R E I T ’ S B A Z A A H H O W L O W T H E P R I C E S A R E .

(WHO W R I T E S T H I S S T U F F ? H O N E S T L Y . )

opera exhibit should at best be an afterthought.

R

---------------------S

po rts

-----------------

HOCKEY— MCGILL 5 , CARLETON 4

Redm en rally riles up ram b un ctio us C arnival crowd M cG ill s c o r e s th r e e

g o als

in d e c i s i v e t h i r d

p erio d

after w ith s ta n d in g

early p r e s s u r e fro m

C arleto n

By Walker Kitchens

Sports Editor

In front of the largest home crowd of the year, tied 2-2 in the third period, and killing off a fiveon-three penalty, goaltender Hubert Morin and the McGill Redmen kept their composure and held off one more Carleton offensive onslaught.

Following the successful penalty kill the Redmen were able to rally with three goals in the final period to de­ feat the Carleton Ravens 5-4 on Fri­ day night and give the Management Carnival crowd of 1,355 something to celebrate.

“We stayed composed, and that was one of our keys tonight before the game,” said McGill Head Coach Kelly Nobes. “To keep our emotional composure, knowing we were going to have a big energetic crowd. And knowing that Carleton was going to come out hard—they’re a physi­ cal team and a high energy team so we were going to need to stay com­ posed.”

“That’s our team—we never give up,” echoed Morin. “We have to work harder and stay focused all the time and even if they score a couple goals, we [have to] work through it and give our best and that’s how we came back.”

The third ranked Redmen (190 -2 ) trailed 2-1 after the first period, and Carleton (11-6-2) continued to outplay the Redmen in the second.

The Ravens created many scoring chances in the slot but Morin an­ swered every time with clutch saves in traffic.

It wasn’t until captain Evan

Coaltender Hubert Morin kept the Redmen in the game by making a number o f key stops in the second period. (Holly Stewart / McGill Tribune)

Vossen rocketed a slapshot into the top right comer of the net with six minutes left in the second that McGill was able tie the game at 2-2.

However, the Redmen got into pen­ alty trouble to begin the third period after Vossen was sent to the box for roughing to end the second and Morin was given a delay of game penalty a minute into the third. De­ spite being two men down, Morin and the McGill penalty killers neu­ tralized the Raven attack without conceding a goal.

Nobes credited Morin with keeping the Redmen in the game and until the offence were able to orchestrate the comeback.

“Hubert made saves at the right time tonight so that the momentum didn’t swing in the wrong direc­

tion,” Nobes said. “And that’s the sign of an experienced goalie and that’s oftentimes the difference in hockey games.”

Morin credited the massive crowd with helping energize him in the game’s tense moments.

“The crowd was pretty loud with all the energy and emotion— you’re so into it—you’re so focused and [that’s] how I made the key saves,” Morin said. “You’re on your toes the whole time and you just try something, and sometimes it works.

It worked fine tonight.”

Leading the Redmen attack was playmaker Alex Picard-Hooper, who scored the first goal of the third pe­ riod to give McGill their first lead of the game. He also set up the other two Redmen goals in the period. On

the Redmen’s fourth goal, he made an incredible pass into the slot on the powerplay that defenceman Hu­ bert Genest buried, and also assisted Vossen’s empty net goal. The threepoint night extends Picard-Hooper’s CIS leading point total to a 47 points in 21 games. “[Picard-Hooper’s] been pretty consistent for us,” said Nobes. “He’s a smart player and the puck sticks to his stick. He makes great passes and his head [is] always up.”

The hockey game was part of the Management Carnival schedule, which resulted in 1,355 fans show­ ing up. The McGill crowd was ex­ tremely loud throughout the game celebrating the Redmen goals and taunting the Carleton players, name­ ly their goalie Matthew Dopud, and

defenceman Brad Albert.

“That was unreal,” said Morin.

“It was our biggest crowd of the year and people were so loud and it brought us a lot of energy, it was good for us.”

Nobes agreed that the crowd energized the Redmen and created an amazing atmosphere to play in.

“It was great. It was awesome.

It was outstanding,” he said. “It’s un­ fortunate it isn’t like that every night but [it’s] great to see all the McGill fans [come out to the game]—it made for a lot of fun.”

McGill’s next home game is on Wednesday, January 19 in a rematch against Carleton. While the crowd will not be nearly as big or energetic, the Redmen will hope to duplicate Friday’s result.

THIRD MAX IN Steroids clouding MLB's Hall of Fame judgements Let’s start with the truth about Major League Baseball: 1) We’re still in the “Steroid Era.” 2) We’ve always been in the Steroid Era. This week’s example: a player under sus­ picion of juicing has been retroac­ tively accused and it may jeopardize his Hall of Fame chances. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.

In the wake of last week’s Hall of Fame induction vote, a donnybrook erupted amongst baseball writers and fans. Jeff Bagwell, the legendary first baseman with the funny batting stance and tremen­ dous power, received a shockingly low number of votes in what has been widely accepted as an accusa­

tion of past steroid use. Until now, Bagwell’s name hadn’t appeared on the juicing marquee alongside Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and Mark McGwire.

Like Bonds and Clemens, Bagwell never failed a steroid test, and put up his best numbers before rules or a testing system were in place. By the time he entered the twilight of his career in 2001 , he was already con­ sidered to be the fourth greatest first baseman of all time by stats analy­ sis guru Bill James. Admittedly, this was BAP (Before Albert Pujols), but his numbers are fantastic. He was a pillar of his team and his communi­ ty, and spent his entire career with a single team—the Houston Astros. In any other era, his Hall of Fame can­ didacy would be unquestioned. Un­ fortunately, Bagwell played amongst

the juicers on the field and the jesters in the press who are all too happy to keep the steroid story mill churning.

Unlike Bonds and Clemens, Bagwell wasn’t under suspicion during his career—he seems to be a victim of circumstance. Unlike many other baseball fans, I believe that juicers like Bonds and Clemens belong in the Hall. Put them in the “steroid wing,” or with some stupid asterisk, but get them in there, and fast. Hank Aaron and Mike Schmidt were ad­ mitted amphetamine users. Even the great Mickey Mantle used a primi­ tive form of steroids late in his ca­ reer.

Another legend on this year’s ballot, Rafael Palmeiro, has the on­ field numbers to expect a first-ballot induction but barely got enough votes to stay on the ballot for next

year. He lied about his steroid use before failing a test, and now he may never get in. The Hall of Fame is clearly romanticizing the past, and is caught up in a witchhunt Zeitgeist.

Bonds and Clemens should be in the hall eventually, and they probably will. It would be tough to keep Barry Bonds out, and in retro­ spect we can say that the way he was railroaded into villainy by both the game and the media was both un­ precedented and unparalleled. His demonization speaks to the mostly arbitrary nature of whom we as fans decide to like. There’s very little doubt that Barry Bonds is a total prick on and off the field. There’s also no question that he is one of the best left-handed hitters of all time.

Compare him to Roberto Alo­ mar, one of this year’s inductees.

In addition to a famous incident in which he spat in an umpire’s face, Alomar is also under suspicion of having had unprotected sex with an ex-girlfriend while suffering from AIDS. Cheating in a game, which everybody else is doing anyway, is judged more harshly than lying to somebody about not having AIDS before having unprotected sex.

Did Jeff Bagwell cheat at base­ ball? Maybe, but that’s not the point this year. I’m not saying that the Ste­ roid Era should be forgotten, but we already have our villains, our heroes, and our admitted juicers that people have forgiven and forgotten about, like Andy Pettite. There’s no need to look for more people to point the finger at.

— Gabe Pulver

( /

Have your graduate photo taken by

HF P H O T O 2015, rue Drummond, Suite 600 514-499-9999

before February 1 stto be included in the 2 0 1 1 Old McGill Yearbook O nly photos of SSM U members are included in the yearbook.

T u e s d a y , J a n u a r y 18, 2011

---------------------------- 1 9 Tennis Preview: Australian Open

The first Grand Slam event of 2011 began Sunday evening on the hard courts of Melbourne Park, Australia. While you’re shivering in front of your TV and watching the temperatures at centre court rise as the mercury in your apartment plummets, check out some of our picks for the men’s and women’s brackets.

Without question, the big­ gest story of the tournament is Ra­ fael Nadal’s bid for a fourth straight Grand Slam win. Nadal, who won the Australian Open in 2009, was forced to retire last year in his quar­ terfinal match against Andy Murray because of tendinitis in his knee.

Twenty-four-year-old Nadal, who has nine Grand Slam trophies to his

name, made an incredible comeback in 2010, winning the French Open, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open. He will now try to become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to win four majors in a row.

Roger Federer, regarded by many as the favourite, will try to stop the Spaniard. He proved that he’s capable by defeating Rafa at the Barclays ATP World Tour Final on November 28; he also won three majors in a row in 2006 and 2007 but was thwarted in his attempt for a fourth on both occasions by Nadal at the French Open. Can Roger repay the favour in Melbourne?

Finally, don’t forget about vet­ eran Andy Roddick. Still possessing one of the most powerful serves in

the game, the former world number one is now 28 years old and knows he doesn’t have much time left to capture a second Grand Slam title.

Prediction: Nadal over Federer in the final Sleeper: Andy Roddick On the women’s side, defend­ ing champion Serena Williams is sidelined with a foot injury and won’t be able to defend her title.

In Serena’s absence, Kim Clijsters is the favourite to capture her first Australian Open.

Two other players to watch are Francesca Schiavone, who won her first Grand Slam at Roland Garros in 2010 at the age of 27, and the woman that Schiavone beat in Paris,

homegrown talent Samantha Stosur.

Stosur is the best hope for Australia on the men’s or women’s side. She broke the top five in the WTA rank­ ings July and is sure to get raucous support at Melbourne Park.

Caroline Wozniacki, who fin­ ished 2010 as world number one, has never won a Grand Slam tournament but has been excellent on the WTA tour. Wozniacki has never beaten Clijsters, Henin, or either of the Wil­ liams sisters. She was runner-up at the 2009 U.S. Open and reached the 2010 year-end WTA Tour Champi­ onships where she lost to Clijsters in a compelling final. She may yet get another crack at Clijsters in Mel­ bourne to prove her number one ranking is merited.

Maria Sharapova has an outside shot to return to her former winning ways. She missed significant action due to injury in late 2008 and early 2009, and hasn’t been the same since.

If Sharapova is to get through her bracket she will need to get through 31-year-old Venus Williams and 21year-old talent Viktoria Azarenka.

Azarenka has never made it past the quarterfinals of any Grand Slam event, but may benefit from a relatively weak bracket to go on and challenge Wozniacki in the semi­ finals.

Prediction: Wozniacki over Cli­ jsters in the final Sleeper: Viktoria Azarenka — Christophe Boyer

Undergraduate and Graduate programs

University of Ottawa S P E N D IN G T O O M U C H T IM E O N T H E COURTS?

U n iv e r s it y o f O tta w a In f o r m a t io n E v e n in g a n d F a ir

W R ITE FOR SPORTS!

LOVE W E A R IN G SHORTS? W R IT E FOR

> :

SPORTS!

i l l 1

!

LIKE T O B U I L D FO RTS?

T h u rsd ay , Ja n u a ry

W R IT E FOR

2 7 , 2 0 1 1

B e s u r e t o jo in us!

SPORTS! H ô te l d e s G o u v e r n e u r s , P la c e D u p u is 1 4 1 5 S t-H u b e rt S tre e t

FULL OF R ET OR TS ?

BERRI-UQAM Metro

W R ITE FOR

Bilingual Information Fair: 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.

French presentations: 7 p.m.

SPORTS!

Register!

SPORTS@

uOttawa.ca/ontheroad

M C G ILL TR IB U N E .

COM t

> ""

"

~î Ÿ' i *

I

j

§

|

•

»

I M

:I ;

u Ottawa

20

C u rio s ity J J e liv e rs ^ v w w j^

BASKETBALL— MCGILL 72 , CONCORDIA 6 i

M artlets think pink w hile sh o w in g rivals the power o f red “S h o o t for th e

C u re ” g a m e

By Mari Mesri C o n trib u to r

The McGill Martlets improved their regular season record to 6-0 as they defeated the Concordia Stingers 72-61 Thursday evening in a game that doubled as a fundraising event.

The “Shoot for the Cure” game was part of a nation-wide initiative by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WCBA) which aimed to raise a grand total of $100,000 for breast cancer research. The Martlets, who have been collecting donations and promoting awareness, entered the stadium sporting special pink and white uniforms.

In the first quarter, the Martlets got off to a quick lead by promptly reading the Stingers’ strategy.

“They were trying to double team and trap, but my teammates were ready for that,” said senior forward Anneth Him-Lazarenko. As the Stingers warmed up, they were able to work on closing the gap, end­ ing the first quarter only two points behind McGill.

As the second quarter started, McGill’s powerful defence suc­ ceeded in shutting down the league’s leading scorer, Concordia’s Yasmine

a h u g e

su c c e ss

Jean-Philippe. Jean-Philippe fin­ ished the game with only two points, both from free throws. Leading the defence was sophomore guard Ma­ rie-Eve Martin, who was also ag­ gressive offensively, registering 14 points in the match, including two three-pointers.

The second half of the game started with a scrappy quarter that continued a trend of high turnovers by the Martlets.

“I wasn’t at all happy with the amount of turnovers we had, or the offensive rebounds we gave up, so those will be some areas to work on.” said Martlets Head Coach Ryan Thome. Still, after a Martlet scoring streak, the team was able to push the lead to 60-40 at the conclusion of the third quarter.

The fourth quarter began with back-to-back dagger three-pointers

by Martin and Frances Grout-Brown.

Senior guard Natalie Laroque con­ tinued to drive the ball, creating op­ portunities for her teammates as she had throughout the game.

Thome was satisfied with the starters’ performances on the court.

“I think it was an overall team effort,” he noted, “Anneth played big inside, scoring 22 points and

as

M artlets d o m in a te

i n f r o n t o f s e a s o n ’s l a r g e s t c r o w d

The Martlets donned pink uniforms in support of breast cancer awareness for their game against Concordia last Thursday. (Alice Walker / McGill Tribune)

pulling down 10 boards, but the tone was set with offensive rebounding

by Helene Bibeau, tough defence by Martin, and easy transition baskets

by Françoise Charest.”

Overall, McGill shot an impres­ sive 46 per cent from the field and played well tactically throughout.

“We also made a point of at­ tacking the paint, which put some of their post players in trouble early and gave us an advantage inside,”

said Thome.

On the Concordia side, the scor­ ing campaign was led by freshman guard Kaylah Barrett who registered 21 points. Following Barrett was freshman forward Nekeita Lee with 14. The Stingers came away with an astonishing 20 steals.

As part of the fundraiser, the crowd was treated to a halftime show put on by McGill's a capella group, Tonal Ecstasy.

The Martlets, who are currently ranked first in the Quebec confer­ ence, will travel to Laval as they take on the Rouge et Or on Sunday. Hin Lazarenko is looking forward to the next matchup in hopes of stretching their winning streak.

“We are really ready to be ag­ gressive,” Him-Lazarenko said. “We are ready to play.”

BASKETBALL— MCGILL 70 , CONCORDIA 64

Burgeoning Redm en upset seventh-ranked Stingers Y o u n g

M cG ill s q u a d

a n d

first-y ear h e a d

were determined to reverse that result in front of the raucous crowd. Thurs­ day’s win put them in contention for The McGill Redmen made a the top spot in the conference. The statement Thursday night, knocking team continues to gain experience as off the number seven seed Concor­ they win more games and are look­ dia Stingers at Love Competition ing more and more like a contender Hall. In front of a large crowd left with each passing contest.

The game began cautiously, over from the Martlets’ “Shoot for the Cure” game earlier in the eve­ with both teams trying to feel each ning, the Redmen (4-3) dispatched other out before getting into a good their cross-town rivals by a score of rhythm. The teams traded buck­ 70-64. The win pulled McGill clos­ ets and went cold for long periods er to Concordia (6-3) in the RSEQ of time, with a pair of two-minute droughts where neither team could standings.

Freshman guard Simon Bibeau find the basket. The action got going led the way with 22 points, and con­ in the second quarter as the two sides tinued to establish himself as the began to find their game. With three number one option on the exciting* minutes left in the half, the Redmen Redmen. Centre Greg Gause and turned on the jets and went into half­ sophomore guard Winn Clark con­ time on a 10-2 run on back-to-back tributed to the winning effort as well, triples from Bibeau and Bouchard.

Concordia fought back in the dropping 12 points each. Olivier Bouchard joined in with 10 points of third quarter, bringing the score to his own. McGill Head Coach Dave 47-45 going into the final frame.

D’Aveiro was impressed by the McGill was unfazed, however and work of his young stars and added with five minutes to go, Clark and that the team benefited from the sup­ Bouchard nailed threes and Gause hit two free throws for an 8-0 run and port of the big crowd.

Last time McGill faced Con­ a nine point lead that put the game cordia, the Redmen succumbed to a out of reach. An emphatic dunk by hard-fought four point loss, but they the 6’8” Gause in the last minute

c o a c h

m a k e

s ta te m e n t w ith

w in

a g a i n s t in tra c ity riv als

By Adam Sadinsky C o n trib u to r

Simon Bibeau scored 22 points to lead the Redmen to an upset victory. (Ryan Reisert / McGill Tribune)

sealed the victory over their city ri­ vals and brought the crowd of 750 to its feet. After the game, when asked about the dunk, Gause seemed more interested in talking about his team in general and the way they stuck to their gameplan.Tn particular, he and the rest of the team took pride in get­ ting to loose balls and dominating the Stingers on the glass.

On the statistical side, the Red­ men shot just 35.1 per cent from the field while Concordia was slightly better at 39.7 per cent. The edge

came from McGill’s success beyond the arc—draining a third of their shots from long range—as well as winning the rebound battle. McGill dominated the evening on the boards, pulling down 19 offensive rebounds to Concordia’s 10 and leading the total tally 43-36. Every McGill play­ er registered at least three rebounds on the night, showing the depth of the team and Coach D'Aveiro’s de­ sire to get everyone involved.

For Concordia, both Kyle Desmarais and Evens Laroche registered

double-doubles. The number seven team in the nation was hurt, how­ ever, by the loss of junior forward Evens Laroche after just 12 minutes to what looked like an ankle injury.

McGill hit the road Sunday against conference-leading Laval (7-1 ), losing by a single point, 85-84.

Up next is a rematch with the Sting­ ers and another in-Montreal game at UQAM (3-4). The Redmen return to Love Competition Hall on Friday, February 4 against the Laval Rougeet-Or in what should be a stiff test.