Tribune The McGill
Published by the Tribune Publication Society Volume No. 31 Issue No. 1
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
6-7 MEET THE SSMU-SHIES EDITORIALS 9 ACTIVITIES NIGHT 12-13 JEAN PAUL GAULTIER 17 BASKETBALL 21 FROSH PHOTOS 24
MEET THE EXECS
Pages 6-7
MUNACA on strike after negotiations with administration fail
MUNACA workers picketing outside of Roddick Gates on Thursday, Sept. 1. (Sam Reynolds / McGill Tribune)
Non-academic certified staff walk out on job after repeated attempts to resolve contract conflicts By Anand Bery News Editor Members of the McGill University Non-Academic Certified Association (MUNACA), the union representing McGill University’s non-academic workers, went on strike Wednesday after the union and the university’s administration failed to reach an agreement on issues of compensation. Negotiations
began in November 2010. Picketing began at 6 a.m. on Thursday Sept. 1, and continued through the end of the work day on Tuesday. Picket lines have appeared along many campus entrances, including the intersection of McTavish and Sherbrooke as well as at both the Roddick and Milton gates. The workers group, whose membership comprises 1,700 McGill employees, is calling for changes to
McGill’s current proposal on three issues in particular: pensions and benefits, the wage scale, and overtime compensation. With regard to the latter, MUNACA is asking for a 25 per cent increase in base pay for hours worked on Saturdays and 50 per cent for hours worked on Sundays. “The core issues are the protections to our benefits and pensions ... and premiums (night and week-
end),” Kevin Whittaker, the president of MUNACA said. “What we want is what every other university [in Quebec] is offering.” In response to the group’s claims that its members are compensated unfairly compared to other universities in Quebec, McGill University has asserted that, overall, their offer for compensation is comparable to that of other institutions. “When you compare workers
in one university to those in another, you need to compare the total compensation package,” Morton Mendelson, Deputy Provost (Student Life & Learning) said. “And that includes pay, progression through the ranks, the time of work, length of vacations, pension, and benefits.” “McGill’s position is that MUNACA workers are currently receiving comparable compensation See “MUNACA” on page 3
News Politics
McGill remembers Jack Layton NDP leader ran for VP External Affairs while at the University By Elisa Muyl News Editor The Canadian political landscape, still reeling from the tragic and untimely death of Jack Layton, finds itself in a greater state of uncertainty than in May—the month when the Conservative Party claimed a majority government. It was then that the NDP shed its fringe status by defeating the Liberals and the Bloc Québécois, whose leaders both resigned after losing their seats. Layton’s death means that the three main oppositon parties are now all led by interim leaders “It shows that we’re in a period of real flux and indecision” Professor Will Straw, Director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada said, of the NDP’s sweeping success in May. The loss of the party’s beloved leader, then, begs the question: What’s next for Canada and the NDP? It remains to be seen if the party’s success was contingent on the affability and flawless bilingualism of “le Bon Jack”, and how this will affect the NDP’s momentum. “[May’s election] shows that the NDP is a very significant force and it shows that with the next right leader, [they] can make a breakthrough in Quebec” Professor Straw said, adding that the NDP is probably not going to do as well in Quebec as the during the last election, “but I don’t think it was just a fluke. The NDP has time to plant deep roots in Quebec.”
Laurin Liu, one of the four former McGill students who rode the orange wave into parliament this spring, agrees. “People have been coming into my riding office, telling me to keep fighting the same fight that Jack fought ... people, at least in Quebec, have a lot of confidence in the NDP. They say: ‘my first vote was for Jack, but my next one will be for you.’” Ironically, then, Layton’s death may have even strengthened the party, if only temporarily. According to Professor Straw, the provincial election in Ontario shows the NDP ahead several points. “People say that’s the effect of the Jack Layton funeral,” he says. “That’s not going to last forever ... outpourings of emotion don’t usually have long-standing political effects. However, the imagery gives a legitimacy that can only help them in the long run.” In fact, many sympathizers, as well as those within the party, feel even more motivated. “Yes, we’re very sad about it but ... the sadness of it almost motivates us more to do the work he started,” said Sam Harris, member and former executive at NDP McGill. Despite this, part of the NDP’s appeal may be attributable to Jack’s Anglo-Quebec heritage and Montreal roots. “Just the fact that he’s from Quebec, that he went to McGill, and obviously [his Quebec-Anglo roots] are all contributing factors that make
me feel close to him,” says Harris, an Anglophone Quebecker. Layton’s experience in Montreal and at McGill helped to shape his political views and ambitions. “I think his roots in Quebec were more and more encouraged as time went on; he never forgot where he came from, and that applies to McGill,” Matthew Dubé, another McGill grad turned NDP MP said. In fact, it was here that “Smiling Jack” first became interested in politics. “Jack shared with us that it was Charles Taylor, a philosophy teacher at McGill when he was a student, that made him want to change his biology major to a political science major,” Charmaine Borg, another former McGill student elected to parliment last year said. “I think Charles Taylor inspired Jack to get involved and make a difference.” This interest translated into an unsuccessful bid for VP External of SSMU, something Layton told Dubé he’d always remember. “His failed run was in a way more inspiring; the important thing to him was that he was active and involved.” It seems that Jack’s legacy will be the encouragement of political and community involvement. At last year’s Discover McGill, Dubé remembers Layton stressing the importance of all political involvement, not just within a particular political party. “He said: get involved in your community. Whatever it takes to be a part of the discussion.”
News in Brief Quebec backs down in MBA tuition battle The Quebec Ministry of Education has recognized McGill’s Desautels MBA as a ‘specialized’ program, a year after McGill first began operating the MBA under a self-funded tuition model. That one controversial word has caused the Ministry to effectively retract the $2 million fine it had imposed on McGill in March for budgetary violations, after the university first announced the move to self-funding in September 2009 and implemented the changes in September 2010. Since the fine was imposed, McGill has made changes to the program to meet the ministry’s criteria for self-funding. The university says the modifications have made the program more interdisciplinary, better internationally recognized, and unique among Quebec MBA programs. According to the university, the old funding model meant that McGill was subsidizing an MBA education by about $10,000 per student per year. Currently, MBA tuition is set at $32,500, close to $30,000 more than the provincial cap of $2,069. McGill plans to continue increases in tuition up to the Canadian MBA tuition average of around $37,000. A number of student groups, including the Quebec Federation of University Students (FEUQ), have criticized the decision. “The [FEUQ] is against this change, because [McGill] is shifting from a public to a private program, and this is a massive attack against accessibility to the MBA program for a large population of students,”
Martine Desjardins, president of the FEUQ said. “Right now [McGill has] two, private executive programs and no [MBA] programs of public opportunity.” Upon graduation, McGill MBAs earn average starting salaries of $103,000 per year. While some may point to these large starting salaries as justification for tuition increases, Desjardins claims that high tuition might deter applicants from middle-and lower-income backgrounds. “[Many] don’t have $30,000 at the beginning of the program,” Desjardins said. “We have to make sure that everybody that has the intellectual ability and is willing to go to the MBA program can [do so, and that] it’s not [determined by] how much they have in their pocket.” Roland Nassim, president of the Post-Graduate Students’ Society of McGill, says his organization believes McGill should be able to offer a specialized MBA program, but only in addition to a public, ministry-regulated MBA whose tuition falls under the provincial limit. His concerns extend to tuition increases in other programs as well. “Right now there is no [MBA] program [a McGill student] can sign up for that is regulated, and this is the problem for us,” he said. “Where do we draw the line—next could be Law or a lot of other [professional] programs that could be switched from ministry-regulated to nonregulated.” –Anand Bery
First frosh after revamp goes off without a hitch Repeat and new Froshies alike enjoy experience, despite having to pay for beer By Eric Mauser News Editor Year after year, hundreds of new and returning McGill students spend their first days at university involved in Frosh. However, this year’s Frosh has undergone a number of changes: participants had to pay for alcohol, it was held in conjunction with Discover McGill, and took place over the course of only one weekend. Meaghan Sky, a U2 Education student, enjoyed the experience so much last year that she returned as a Frosh leader. A future teacher, Sky said that she thought the event was valuable as she was gaining experience in how to deal with students. “I love [Frosh],” Sky said, “especially ‘cause I’m in education. I think this is something really good because it shows you are able to
handle situations that don’t come up every day.” The number of returning students who attended Frosh seemed to be a testament to the fact that changes in Frosh had not negatively impacted the event. Some even appeared to welcome the changes. “People seem to be enjoying themselves,” observed a U3 Science student who had attended Frosh all four years and wished to remain anonymous. “People aren’t drunkenly running through the streets of Montreal, which is helping the McGill reputation.” “I think Frosh should be kept within the McGill gates,” he added. “Pub crawl is a fun activity, but it really ruins the reputation of McGill for students. As a fourth year, when I go around Montreal I don’t wear any McGill apparel because I know
people will judge me on it.” Others disagree. Austin Eagleson, a U1 who participated in Frosh last year, said “[The changes are] going to make Frosh more controlled this year ... but I think some of the nuances are lost.” Todd Plummer, SSMU’s VP internal and the coordinator for Frosh explained some of this year’s changes. “Charging for beer was the product of a discussion I had with Professor Mendelson, the Deputy Provost. He didn’t feel comfortable letting Frosh be on campus unless he was sure that alcohol was controlled in some way. In his opinion, the best way to do that was to charge for alcohol and not have it included in the registration price,” he said. Plummer added that charging for beer may have contributed to off-
campus partying this year. “What I’ve been hearing from students and faculty associations is that [charging for beer] encouraged a lot more drinking off campus, which is a safety concern if people are pre-drinking a lot off campus in the Milton Parc community,” he said. “We just wanted to contain the drinking as much we could to Lower Field where Frosh leaders and security were.” While drinking is a part of Frosh, Plummer said that it was never meant to be the focus. “It’s not the goal to get drunk. It’s an option, and the planners of Frosh this year tried to make sure that drinking wasn’t [the] focus ... However, if our job is to provide a good social orientation to university life, it would be inadequate not to have alcohol. It’s central to Frosh
but it’s not the focus.” Faraz Alidima, a U0 Arts student, said he was pleased with Frosh so far. “Frosh is pretty amazing. It lived up to my expectations plus some more,” he said. “It’s been great to meet new people and make new friends.” Many others seemed to agree. “I feel like I’ll see people on the street that I’ve met here and I’ll know them and say ‘Hi’ and it will make it more comfortable to be here at McGill,” said Alwyn Rutherford, a U0 Arts student. This, according to Plummer, was exactly what Frosh was meant to accomplish. “The goal of Frosh is to provide a fun, inclusive, social orientation to university,” he said.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
News in Brief
SSMU
SSMU website refreshed Promises to be more accessible, user-friendly By Beatrice Britneff Contributor SSMU’s new website, designed by Plank Multimedia Inc., is going live this week. The new website boasts many improvements to the old design. The site underwent a substantial makeover back in 2008, but despite improvements, was not as user-friendly as SSMU had initially hoped. Problems included infrequent updates, complex navigation, and weak French content. Corina Sferdenschi, SSMU Communications and Publications Manager, and the SSMU executive have been working closely on the project over the summer. They are confident that the 2011 redesign will eliminate these problems. “[This new site] is much easier to handle … with regards to putting information online, thus [allowing] me to provide students with the latest information in a matter of minutes,” Sferdenschi said. A new, professional homepage will enable faster and more efficient navigation. The homepage will include an “easy-to-read-and-understand navigation bar,” featuring drop-down menus—a design that
will speed up the search for information. The website will also more effectively showcase “any important events having to do with campus life and students,” Sferdenschi said. A calendar of events will be on the homepage, which will, if students consult it on a regular basis, help them to stay informed and involved. Shyam Patel, SSMU’s VicePresident of Finance and Operations, points to the easy-to-use Clubs and Services page. This will incorporate a “section with all the resources and forms that the SSMU clubs need to submit.” These forms may be completed online and sent directly to the Vice-President Internal. This new feature is a welcome change to the old method of emailing the documents to SSMU executives. Next week, the website’s management team will also be launching Marketplace, “a safe space for students to sell and buy items,” Patel said. Marketplace will begin by selling simple items like textbooks, effectively replacing SSMU’s shortlived Book Bazaar which itself replaced the financially unsound Haven Books. The service will
Continued from COVER to other universities in Montreal,” Mendelson said. Before the strike even began, there were concerns that if MUNACA-member lab technicians were to abandon projects involving lab animals, those animals might have to be put down. While an agreement was reached on Wednesday to define animal care as an essential service, Whittaker claims that the university took too long to reach an understanding. “We don’t want to have the animals suffer in any way,” he said. “McGill left it to the very last minute, however.” MUNACA lab technicians will now come to work on an as-needed basis to care for lab animals. As with any labour disruption at a university, a major concern is how the disturbance will affect academia and research. The administration has reaffirmed that the university will do everything in its power to allow research and teaching to continue unaffected. “That’s our commitment—to maintain the core activities of the university,” Mendelson said. “We are going to try our darndest to keep the services that are really important going.”
Contingency plans have been implemented across academic departments, and services have been prioritized. McGill has put together a comprehensive list of ways the strike may impact student services, both currently and in the long-term. This list is available on the main page of the McGill website. The Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) has taken a supportive stance towards the union. In a statement issued to all McGill undergraduates, the SSMU executive wrote: “We believe students should stand in solidarity with MUNACA, both out of respect for MUNACA’s right to strike and their legitimate concerns at the bargaining table and out of gratitude for all the crucial services which MUNACA members provide to students.” There have also been reports of planned student demonstrations, including a proposal to unshelve library books, which was later called off. “I’m glad to see that was abandoned,” Mendelson said. “It would hurt [other] students and just because there’s a strike doesn’t mean that the Code of Student Conduct is suspended.” NDP McGill held a Solidarity March with MUNACA on Tuesday Sept. 6 at 4 p.m.
McGill receives top marks
hopefully expand in the future. Despite all these improvements, bilingualism still remains an issue. In the past, the French website has taken a back seat to the English version, but this year’s website team is committed to a bilingual website. To date, only the English content has been uploaded to the new website. The French content will not be ready for this week’s launch. “Bilingualism of the website is something SSMU takes very seriously,” Sferdenschi said. SSMU’s translator has already begun working on the French content, and the French website is scheduled to be launched this semester. According to Sferdenschi, French uploads will be faster than before as a result of a newer WordPress platform. A confident Patel asserts, “The executives are very keen on bilingualism and our new website will make sure to meet the needs of the francophone population.” Time will tell. For now, students can enjoy the advantage of accessing information “through one central point,” according to Patel, and are encouraged to explore the new look and get a feel for the new design.
MUNACA strike
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McGill University was ranked 17th in Quacquarelli Symonds’ (QS) list of the top universities in the world. Since QS began ranking universities in 2004, McGill University has consistently placed among the top 25 schools on the list. The rankings were based on six weighted factors according to QS’s website: academic reputation (40 per cent) and employer reputation (10 per cent)—both measured by a global survey, citations per faculty (20 per cent), faculty to student ratio (20 per cent), the proportion of international students (5 per cent), and the proportion of international faculty (5 per cent). One other Canadian university, the University of Toronto, made the top 25 of global universities. No other Canadian universities were ranked within the top 50. McGill improved from 19th overall last year to 17th. The University of Toronto jumped from 29th to 23rd. McGill felt that the ranking highlighted its position as Canada’s premier university and the diversity of its students. McGill University released this
statement after the rankings were announced: “Founded in 1821, McGill is Canada’s leading post-secondary institution. It has more than 36,000 students, including 8,300 graduate students. McGill attracts students from over 150 countries around the world, with more than 7,200 international students making up 20 per cent of the student body.” While there are several alternate rankings of world universities, McGill’s improved ranking this year is certainly good news for the school. McGill Principal and Vice Chancellor, Heather Monroe-Blum, commented that “McGill’s consistently strong performance in these rankings is particularly gratifying, reflecting the University’s outstanding contributions in teaching, research and innovation across a broad range of academic fields.” The University of Cambridge and Harvard University claimed the top two spots, while MIT jumped to third from fifth in 2010. –Eric Mauser
Tomorrow’s Professionals Apply Today!
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OLSAS
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November 1, 2011: Application deadline for first-year English programs February 1, 2011: Application deadline for first-year French programs May 1, 2012: Application deadline for upper-year programs
TEAS
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December 1, 2011: Application deadline for English programs March 1, 2012: Application deadline for French programs
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January 6, 2012: Application deadline
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The Summertime Grind At home and away: how your peers spent their summers By Eric Mauser News Editor During the academic year, McGill students often think of themselves as some of the busiest students in the world, and the summer is no different. Many McGill students, whether interning, working, or taking classes, kept themselves busy this summer combining travel and work experience. Danielle DaCosta, a U3 Anthropology student, spent her summer in Uganda at Children of Peace, a nongovernmental organization. Children of Peace works with orphans to provide them with education, nourishment, and medical care. “The three months I spent with Children of Peace proved to be truly incredible,� DaCosta said. “It was really rewarding to see what a difference the Children of Peace program made for people.� Despite the success of her internship, DaCosta encountered some
challenges at first. “Upon arriving in Uganda, I faced a bit of [a] culture shock,� she said, “but I just kept an open mind and tried to stay flexible and I was able to adapt very quickly.� DaCosta plans to use this experience to help her with her Anthropology Honours thesis. Ana Douglas, a U3 East Asian Studies student with a minor in International Development Studies, saw her internship in Mongolia as an opportunity to combine her two areas of study and supplement her education with real world experience. “While I appreciate the freedom both of these interdisciplinary faculties offer, I sometimes get frustrated by the lack of hands-on, practical skills taught within the world of academia,� Douglass said. “As such, taking part in an internship became essential for me if I was to truly understand the field in
which I have been studying for four years.â€? Douglas worked for the National Center Against Violence, an organization that tries to prevent domestic violence and abuse. The group provides shelter for victims of domestic abuse, and classes to help prepare victims for life without their abusive spouses. Douglas said that domestic abuse was a large problem in Mongolia, partly because of its male-dominated society. Douglas explained that one day while at her internship, â€œâ€Śan angry husband threw a brick into the back window of the shelter, hoping to scare his wife into coming back home. Needless to say, witnessing these events firsthand made me realize the extent to which Mongolian women—as they make up 99 per cent of domestic violence victims— are unprotected by the law, legal authorities, and a traditional society in which patriarchal values are em-
bedded.� Douglas said that while events such as the one she described were disconcerting, she and her colleages felt optimistic about how their work could and would make a difference. Douglas plans to pursue a career in law as a result of her experiences, and expand upon her time in Mongolia through a related course she is taking this year. Lesley Williamson, a U2 International Development Studies student, also spent time interning abroad this summer. Williamson did not intern for an NGO; instead, she was part of the Disney World International College program in the United States. “The experience was amazing,� Williamson said of the three month long program. “Work was still work, but a kind of work you’ll never experience anywhere else. And when you’re not working you have all the Disney
parks, as well as Florida’s beaches, Universal studios, and much more to explore.� Williamson added that the program was well suited for those looking to pursue a career in guest relations. A few McGill students chose to spend their summer in Montreal, including Elizabeth Flannery who spent the summer taking classes and enjoying the culture offered by Montreal’s many summer festivals and concerts. “I enjoyed the freedom that staying in Montreal by myself gave me, and I appreciated the chance to be able to focus on improving my French,� Flannery said. “I would definitely recommend staying in Montreal over the summer.�
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Top stories from the last week Monday, August 29
United States—Cleanup from Hurricane Irene began along the East Coast. The storm hit over the weekend, bringing down trees and power lines, causing flooding and evacuations, and leaving hundreds of thousands without power.
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to protest the military crackdown of President Assad on anti-regime protestors. This marks the first highprofile resignation caused by protests in Syria. Global—Muslims worldwide marked the end of the month-long religious celebration of Ramadan.
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Libyaâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Muammar Gaddafi gave a speech televised on a station owned by his son where he declared he would â&#x20AC;&#x153;not surrender.â&#x20AC;? The speech came on the 42nd anniversary of the coup in which he initially seized power. His present whereabouts are uncertain.
Friday, September 2
United Statesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Job data released by the U.S. Federal government showed that there were no new jobs created in the month of August. The news prompted markets to fall. Turkeyâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;The Israeli ambassador to Turkey was expelled by the Turkish government. The expulsion was a result of Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s refusal to apologize over its raid last year on a Gaza-bound flotilla. Globalâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Wikileaks published hundreds of thousands of secret diplomatic cables uncensored. While the information leak-based website had previously published secret cables, this latest development has drawn criticism from the siteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s supporters.
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Saturday, September 3
Vatican Cityâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;The Vatican rejected charges that it attempted to cover up clergy abuse scandal in Ireland. The charges were brought by the Irish government as part of the fallout from the Cloyne report (released by the Irish government in July), which indicated that the Catholic Church in Ireland had knowingly hid the scandal from the authorities.
Sunday, September 4
Franceâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Former head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, landed in France. Strauss-Kahn was being held until recently in the United States on charges of sexual assault. The case against him fell apart, and the charges were subsequently dropped. Japanâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Typhoon Talas has reportedly killed at least 19 people. The storm made landfall Saturday, and it is still too early to determine the full extent of the damage it caused. Germanyâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Chancellor Angela Merkelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ruling party (the Christian Democratic Union) appeared to suffer losses in recent elections in her home state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, according to exit polls. The same exit polls saw the opposition Social Democrats party win a plurality of votes cast.
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Curiosity delivers - mcgilltribune.com
Meet Your ssmu-shies How did you prepare for this year over the summer? There are a lot of things that have to be accomplished over the summer, from just making sure you’re up to speed in your portfolio, transitioning from the person before you ... as president, it’s really important to make sure that our team is working together really well, that we’re all on the same page and that we know how to support each other. How would you describe the role of president? It’s an exciting role because you get to be part of everything
MAGGIE KNIGHT, PRESIDENT
Tell us about your portfolio: We’re doing a lot of restructuring on the C&S portfolio, because it’s so huge and the VP of Clubs & Services just tends to burn out in various scenarios. In the past, there have been two major publications associated with the portfolio: Old McGill, which is the yearbook, and the SSMU handbook. These publications are better suited to other portfolios. As part of that restructuring, we’ve been talking about moving Old McGill to the VP Internal portfolio and the handbook to the president. Any long-term goals for your portfolio this year & beyond? As for clubs, my big goals there in terms of longevity is putting a system in place that makes sense and is highly organized that
keeps track of new clubs. So many new clubs are created all the time but we don’t have a systematic way of organizing them, which creates problems. If we don’t know which clubs are active, we can’t really help them. Similarly, we hope to have a more systematic way of supporting services; Shyam [VP F&O] and I are working on a sample budget for services. We oversee services but they’re also very autonomous; another goal of mine is to help keep it that way. As it’s technically their money, services should control how they pay stipended positions. Anything from previous years that you’ve found really works? Anushay [Khan] and Sarah [Olle, the previous two VP C&S] were both of strong convictions and
SHYAM PATEL vP fINANcE & OPERATIONS
SSMU does in some little way. It’s my job to have a basic understanding of everything that’s going on. For me I see it as a coordinating and supporting role where I’m the point person for a lot of things. As the official spokesperson, I’m also here to troubleshoot with all the different [executives]. How do you plan to increase student involvement with SSMU? Strategic Summits. We also have to look at both deep consultation, shallow consultation and involvement. We’re upping our use of social media. We’re also more
interested in being more of a presence in residences. What are some of your top priorities for this year? Making SSMU’s democratic processes more accessible and transparent and getting through the year as a cohesive, well-functioning group, and really rooted in what’s in the SSMU constitution, which is service, leadership and representation, which to me means leadership and representation grounded in service. Never have I ever slept with any other SSMU-shies.
recognized the political aspect of the portfolio, which I think is admirable. That’s something that’s hard to do but is your duty; it’s a commitment to defending student life. I think something I really love about Anushay is that she just has a lot of passion; she’s really dedicated to the job. That can be dangerous in this position, which can be a lot of work; really caring about the job is something I really care about ... Sarah had a lot of vision as well, for the website and doing bookings online. Often it feels like the things I’m doing aren’t specifically my ideas, but something done in the past that I’m building on and am actually realizing. Never have I ever lost my keys, but I don’t want to jinx myself.
How was your summer? It was extremely busy, but very exhilarating. I consider myself to be a very organized person, so before starting anything new I looked at everything that needed to be fixed. The first thing I did was organize all the material left by my predecessors and right after I jumped into the actual portfolio. My main focus for the summer was the student-run café.
in that sense I am more prepared to handle this sort of thing. I also want to do [the budget] differently from how its been done in the past. To many students the financial figures are jargon, but it’s a multimillion dollar budget, so it’s important they have an understanding of it. I’d like to see a budget with explanations; currently there are figures with no notes.
What are some of your long-term goals? My first goal is the studentrun café. In the past we had Haven Books, so a lot of students are hesitant to trust a similar initiative. Haven Books was a good initiative, but poorly planned. I have management experience, so
Are there any challenges you foresee? I like to work like a robot so the word “challenge” isn’t really in my vocabulary. But budgetwise, I’m really trying to help everyone—exec., councillors, students who come to council— understand it, which will be a
CAROL FRASER VP CLUBS & SERvIcES
challenge. Anything you’re really excited about? The student-run café. I think it’s something students care about, that I definitely care about. It’s something the students have been asking for for so long, and we’re in a financial position where we can do it. If this does not go through, I will resign. Councillors have been helping with it already so I think everyone’s very excited. I think it’s a great opportunity and it’s sad that we don’t have this type of café in the student building ...even the administration makes fun of us for it. It’s time. Never have I ever not dressed well.
7
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
The Tribune sat down with SSMU executives to see what they accomplished over the summer and what big items are on their agenda for the coming year. They also took part in a not-so-scandalous game of never-have-I-ever. What are the main issues you’ll be focusing on this year? As people know, the government announced that there will be a massive tuition increase starting September 2012. So my immeditate priority is to inform as many students as possible of that fact, what the effects of that might be, and hopefully to get as many people as possible out to marches and demonstrations. There will be a General Assembly at the end of September where people will be able to take a position on the most recent increase and decide where to move forward. There will be a big demonstration on Nov. 10, for which we hope to organize a McGill contingent. The overall goal for the year is to make McGill students’ participation in what will be a student mobilization against tuition increases as big as
JOEL PEDNEAULT, VP EXTERNAL AffAIRS
What are you working on this year? One of my big projects this year is showing the faculty associations how SSMU can complement what they do; that it’s not an alternative or umbrella organization. Some have been more receptive than others, although most people are just getting back to school, and the real work is still to come. Part of this is the Faculty Olympics. In Faculty Olympics your faculty forms a team and the Olympics is basically a giant competition ranging from academic jeopardy to boat races. I want to extend the Faculty Olympics and try to integrate it with other SSMU events: if your
team goes to athletics event, for example, you’ll get more points. What do you bring to the role that’s different than what your predecessors have done? I think what I bring is a whole new consciousness of faculty associations. Because I was an AUS exec, I’m much more aware of how annoying SSMU can be; much more sensitive to them and excited about this. My big priority is to create a more open dialogue between SSMU and the faculty associations.
possible. More immediately, as well trying to inform as many students a possible about the MUNACA strike, what it means, why they’re on strike and to get them out on picket lines, and to make the strike as short and as successful as possible. What are your expectations for this year? I get the feeling that mobilization and involvement in student activism at McGill has been picking up; the ball got rolling last year thanks to my predecessor Myriam [Zaidi]. My expectations are that more and more people are going to be involved; I expect large McGill contingents in student demonstrations this year. I’m also expecting participation in various events— panels, discussions, workshops— that I, and a lot of other people, are
Something new you’re bringing to the role? I’d like to work a lot on doing a lot more research and a lot more advocacy for specifically international and out-of-province students this year. The Quebec Student Movement represents mainly the concerns of students who pay Quebec fees (which makes sense, as most people in Quebec pay Quebec fees). What we want to do is basically advocate for those excluded students and make sure the student movement does as well. Never have I ever not skinnydipped in Lake Ontario.
What are some challenges you foresee this year? Frosh is still an issue. As much as it is an event that happens at the beginning of September, it’s something that’s always on the administration’s mind; something that students hold really dearly as having control over. I think a challenge is going to be that the students learned so much about how they want Frosh to be run, and when the faculty execs turn over, will all that knowledge turn over as well? I want to keep it fun and student-run, but it’s a slippery slope. hair.
TODD PLUMMER VP INTERNAL
Never have I ever dyed my
What are your top priorities for this year? Look over some of the different policies that are germane to students: for example the grievance process and the Code of Student Conduct. One of the ways that I’m going to do that is to form multiple working groups that will be charged with looking at the general code and accessing where there are some basic flaws ... any gaps missing.
EMILY YEE cLARE vP UNIvERSITY AffAIRS
going to be organizing to ensure people know about tuition increases and to think about issues in post secondary education as well.
How do you plan on strengthening student voices
in debates [One thing we’ve been working on is] an incredible project that will do really amazing things for the student body: the Diversity Survey [which will look into] perceptions of discrimination on campus as a follow up to [a program] last year. [We’ll] develop multiple focus groups that will target racialized groups: East Asian, South Asian, black; were really trying to ensure that we have students that aren’t necessarily involved in SSMU; their points of views are
just as important. see?
Any challenges you fore-
It’s in the nature of the position; no matter how prepared you are, there’s always an issue that will arise. It’s really about being quick on your feet and dealing with it as quickly as possible. Never have I ever seen Titanic in English, only in Hindi.
Opinion Piñata Diplomacy Ricky Kreitner rkreitner@mcgilltribune.com
Crossing the line Unless, out of sympathy for international labour, you’ve rigged some kind of Rube Goldberg-esque device that delivers the Tribune straight from our printer in SaintLeonard to your doorstep, it’s safe to assume that you picked this newspaper up somewhere on campus. That means you probably crossed the MUNACA picket line to get to school today. Repent! What were you thinking? Didn’t you too, immediately upon hearing about the strike, open your laptop to SSMU’s website—it is your homepage, isn’t it?—to see what they had to say about the matter? In response to the question of what a student should do if a picket line stands between her and class, the SSMU executive decrees: “As students, we are free to refuse to cross picket lines, but must be aware of the potential consequences … McGill has made it clear that the University wishes courses to continue as usual, and therefore course instructors are free to penalize students who don’t show up to class. Realistically, whether you choose to cross picket lines is a decision you will have to make on a case-by-case basis. We encourage you to ask your instructor what their policy is if you miss their class.” Had you checked the site, you would have known what to do. Read again the SSMU statement: what is the meaning of “realistically,” anyway? I was unaware the discussion had been occurring in any other terms. The sentence seems to really mean: “Technically, you’re free to cross the line on the way to class, you’re free to be a bad person, but don’t, wayward constituent, expect our approval.” Also wonderful is the statement’s preoccupation with punish-
Off the Board
Shannon Kimball
An accidental editor I was really lame when I was a first year. In fact, I’m still a square compared to the Froshies who were outside my building late last night. I had a difficult time finding extracurriculars when I arrived three years ago. Bar hopping in first year on St. Laurent was fun, but I wanted to
ment, that precious martyr’s prize. Surely some on campus welcome the strike as the perfect opportunity to prove their piety by being penalized for standing in solidarity with workers. The sacrifice feels, and looks, good. It’s as clear as day that the new SSMU team, working class heroes that they are, would ideally have us all joining MUNACA in its strike for fairer pay, and thus would have us miss classes until whenever the disagreement is resolved. All this notwithstanding, the union’s claim against McGill is one to which I’m sympathetic. According to the Daily, the administration is offering MUNACA a 1.2 per cent annual salary increase to keep pace with the cost of living. That’s abysmal. Even the union’s initial request of a three per cent increase — a starting figure from which they surely knew they’d eventually be knocked down—is just barely more than the 2.7 per cent that Canada’s Consumer Price Index increased over the last year, according to the federal government. That number doesn’t even tell the full story, as it excludes energy costs, which jumped almost 13 per cent in the last 12 months, and food prices, which rose 4.3 per cent. MUNACA deserves our support, and those students who, when not in class, choose to stand in solidarity with the strikers—and have their friends snap attractive photos of them in a vaguely rebellious tableau—deserve some respect. But Joël Pedneault, SSMU VP External, was only partially right when he told a crowd of strikers last week, “Our struggle and your struggle are the same struggle.” As students, our primary struggle should still be to attend class. For students to think of themselves as either traitorously crossing or virtuously not crossing a picket line is to consent to the administration’s story that McGill University is a business and students are customers, a concession I doubt the students who care about this sort of thing really want to make.
Every year Beloit College releases a new College Mindset List. Compiled by a professor and administrator, the 75-item list is a summary of sociocultural entities which the incoming freshman class may take for granted because of their age. The umbrella of topics is broad; some are banal, some insightful, and some simply obvious. A sample, from the newly released list for the Class of 2015: number 12 - “Amazon has never been just a river in South America”; number 73 - “McDonald’s coffee has always been too hot to handle”; and number 37 - “Music has always been available via free downloads.” To the contemporary student, the litany is at first enticing to peruse. One can chuckle, thinking, “They’re right. Ferris Bueller is old enough to be my dad.” The eldest among us might scoff, in silent undeserved condescension, at how young the 2015-ers are. But when you look at the list for too long, queasiness takes over. It’s not just a barrage of post-1993 trivia. It’s not simply what the authors claim, a “guide to the intelligent if unprepared adolescent consciousness.” Rather, it is a subtle (if not circuitous) way of trying to create a “generation” for today’s college student. This notion is peculiarly problematic for those of us between 18 and 22. Although we wouldn’t discount any one item on the Mindset List, we are hesitant when asked the question, “What does your generation stand for?” The more pertinent question is, “Are we a generation?” The second entry for “generation” in the Merriam-Webster dictionary is “a group of individuals born and living contemporaneously.” For our present purposes,
the conundrum we’ve encountered is more easily viewed through a McGill lens. Let us apply the definition (with a little flair). Consider that a McGillian is “born” as he or she first steps onto lower field, or ascends MacDonald’s majestic staircase (side-stepping construction, probably), or slurps tepid Boreale at OAP. And further, “living” is his or her cache of hours spent presiding over exam booklets, coffees outside of Cyberthèque, and the coveted, relaxing spaces in between. For now, I’ll refrain from expanding the metaphor so that graduating is equivalent to dying. Those of us facing the prospect try, often to no avail, to be more optimistic. Our coexistence (the “contemporaneous” part of the definition) in these pursuits in large part creates a generation at McGill. It is everchanging, as the tide of students ebbs and flows, but it is energetic all the same. We take every chance we can to vivify this campus generation, through music or dance or camaraderie or romance. But what is the common denominator? Should this microcosm feel solidarity with others around Canada? Around the world? Alas, when the scale is broadened, we lose clarity, and turn to the one grand idea: we are the Connected Generation. Number 1 on the Mindset List is our proclivity for the “internet ramp onto the information highway.” We flit adventurously around cyberspace searching for our careers, our callings, our intimate encounters — we are not left to our own devices, to congeal like past generations have. We are freer than that. The absence of a coherent generation for us Connected Informationists shouldn’t be worrisome. It should be a chance for plucking the best out of the campus, shining and brilliant, and enjoying it. And, surely, future commentators will bestow on us some title—as a history professor once put it to me, “They didn’t know it was the sixties in the sixties.”
find something more rewarding than someone else’s vomit on my shoes. I wanted to participate in an activity that would challenge me, be fun, and leave me with a group of friends with more depth than Carry Bradshaw’s posse. That’s a tall order. I’d always been athletic, but like many other students, it was unrealistic for me to pursue my goals through a team at McGill. By some sheer stroke of luck, my high school track team consisted of some the smartest people in my school (myself excluded). I took that as a clue that I needed to find a fun intellectual activity at McGill, if such a thing existed.
So when a friend suggested that my bad habit of critiquing every piece of food I eat could be useful in print form, I decided to give it a shot. I emailed an editor of the Tribune, who called me into the depths of Shatner to discuss my ideas. I’m pretty sure even my feet were sweating during that meeting. I was a first year without coherent opinions or direction in life. Why would anyone want to read what I wrote? Three years later, I’m still sweating. I worry that stories will fall through, that the rest of the editorial board will laugh at my opinions, and that we might not go to press. But I’ve found
that I thrive in this environment (even if it makes me a bit odiferous). On any given day in the office I’m intimidated by my fellow editors, but that is a blessing. I don’t want to pursue journalism after I leave McGill; some of my esteemed colleagues are better fit for that and are tackling their dreams after their years at the Tribune. But I’ve learned more from working at this newspaper than I have in three years of university. No, I couldn’t tell you whether we use an Oxford comma, but I do know how to argue, how to synthesize, and how to think critically, all under a looming deadline. Sure, you should learn
Compass Rose Noah Caldwell-Rafferty noahcr@mcgilltribune.com
College mindset
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those skills in your four years at McGill, but you might not, thanks to large class sizes and often inaccessible staff, and no class will let you ponder the pros and cons of fantasy football or send you to interview the latest Montreal music scene sensation. To the Froshies of 2011, if you enjoyed frosh week but you’re ready for something more intellectually challenging than counting the number of beers you’ve consumed, stop by the Tribune office. To those McGill students whose shaking legs and sweaty palms have held them back from writing, this is your year.
Tribune
9
The McGill
Editorial
www.mcgilltribune.com
Editor-in-Chief Shannon Kimball editor@mcgilltribune.com Managing Editors Sam Hunter shunter@mcgilltribune.com Holly Stewart hstewart@mcgilltribune.com Production Manager Iain Macdonald imacdonald@mcgilltribune.com News Editors Anand Bery, Eric Mauser, and Elisa Muyl news@mcgilltribune.com Opinion Editor opinion@mcgilltribune.com Features Editors Kyla Mandel and Kat Sieniuc features@mcgilltribune.com Arts & Entertainment Editor Ryan Taylor arts@mcgilltribune.com Sports Editor Adam Sadinsky sports@mcgilltribune.com Photo Editors Ryan Reisert and Sam Reynolds photo@mcgilltribune.com Design Editor Kathleen Jolly design@mcgilltribune.com Copy Editor Marri Lynn Knadle copy@mcgilltribune.com Advertising Manager Corina Sferdenschi cpm@ssmu.mcgill.ca Publisher Chad Ronalds
Contributors Liya Adessky, Johanu Botha, Beatrice Britneff, Noah Caldwell-Rafferty, Morgane Ciot, Trevor Drummond, Monique Evans, Eric Frydrych, Filippo Furlano, Alexander Hamilton, Matthew Herzfeld, David Irwin, Nicholas Petrillo, Ricky Kreitner, Kelly Malfara, Jonathan Rosenbluth, Adam Taras
Tribune Offices
Quebec right to drop $2 million fine The tuition beast has once again reared its ugly head, in both our Minerva statements and campus politics, as the Ministry of Education recently rescinded a $2 million fine it had slapped on McGill for a tuition hike. McGill’s MBA program tuiton was increased to $32,000 for all students, as it turned to a self-funded model this year (see: “News in Brief,” Page 2). This tuition hike transgressed provincial regulations regarding tuition freezes, and as such, was publicly and symbolically punished with the $2 million fine. Prior to the increase in MBA tuition, the program—which cost nearly $22,000 per student to run—was subsidized by undergraduate tuition to the tune of $10,000
per MBA student. Approximately $12,000 in financial aid per student is now available from McGill to level the playing field for potential MBA students. McGill has argued that the MBA program is now specialized, and maintains an international focus which exempts it from the tuition freeze laws. While enrolment in the program has decreased, its Financial Times ranking has increased, and members of the MBA Students Association have voiced strong support for the change. All this has occurred at a pivotal moment in Quebec tuition policy, in which tuition freezes have crumbled and undergraduate tuition is set to
increase substantially over the next few years. This has stirred fears that the self-funded MBA model will lead to tuition increases in other programs and may be the end of accessible education. MBA applicants typically have years of work experience behind them and can expect to make, on average, salaries over $100,000 upon graduation. This makes it easier for them to repay student debts than undergraduates, whose job security upon graduation is far less certain. While many believe that an undergraduate education is a right, the same argument cannot be applied to the MBA program, particularly when the tuition increase still leaves the
program as one of the cheapest in Canada. The Tribune recognizes that this tuition hike places an inordinate burden on prospective MBA students residing in Quebec. However, the average prospective undergraduate is in greater need of lower tuition than the average prospective MBA student. The McGill Tribune believes that McGill should prioritize the financial needs of undergraduates over students in professional programs, and that this change will lead to better programs across the board. The Tribune applauds the Ministry of Education’s decision to rescind the $2 million fine and for facing the fiscal realities of an elite program at an elite university.
Resolution in the best interest of students Some may say that a university is only as strong as its professors and researchers, but there’s an argument that the backbone of any school is made up of a less celebrated group: the administrative, technical, and logistical staff who run the libraries, the tech programs, the labs; who clean the buildings, collect the garbage cans, and help hundreds of confused and clueless students every day. Underfunding has led to budget cuts and McGill University NonAcademic Certified Association’s (MUNACA) benefits package has suffered, while the abysmal salary increase proposed by the adminis-
tration is not enough to account for inflation. The Tribune respects MUNACA workers’ right to strike and recognizes the legitimacy of their concerns. Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) Morton Mendelson, claims that the package offered to MUNACA, as a whole, is comparable to other universities, while MUNACA claims that the benefits are lacking and that, although the salary cap is reasonable, wages increase at an inordinately slow rate. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle, and that’s where we hope the strike will end: a compromise somewhere
between MUNACA’s demands and the university’s offerings, despite the constraints imposed by the University’s projected $6 million operating deficit for the 2011-12 year. While students will choose whether or not to cross the picket line depending on their political sentiments, the SSMU’s statement on MUNACA—which makes it clear that they endorse the strike and encourage students to stand in solidarity with MUNACA—can hardly be said to represent the student body as a whole. Students, whose primary concern is to attend classes, shouldn’t be obligated or pressured into joining
the picket line. The SSMU’s statement comes from a policy passed at a General Assembly in 2006—attended by fewer than two hundred students—which requires the SSMU’s general support for any unionized workers on campus, a policy we can no longer assume to be representative of the interests of the current student population. As tuition-paying students, we should be urging MUNACA and McGill to reach an agreement as quickly as possible; but we should not feel obliged to side with either party.
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$144.83 $114.11 $114.11 $114.11
10 10 10 10
Activity Room Combatives Room Combatives Room Aerobics Room
Kickboxing Kickboxing - Savate I Kickboxing - Savate II Tae Kwon Do Shaolin Kung Fu
Tuesday & Friday Mon, Wed,& Friday Monday & Wednesday Monday & Wednesday Tuesday & Saturday Monday & Wednesday Tuesday & Thursday Tuesday & Thursday Monday & Wednesday Tuesday & Thursday
$52.67 $52.67 $52.67 $70.23 $70.23
$96.56 $96.56 $96.56 $114.11 $114.11
10 10 10 10 10
Spin Room The Studio The Studio Spin Room Spin Room
Equestrian
Saturday
13:30-15:25
Sunday
13:30-15:25
$140.44 $140.44
$149.22 $149.22
6 6
Sports Squash Inter
Tennis Intro
Fitness & Wellness Abs, Back & Bootie Body Design Body Works Boot Camp Cardio Jam Classic Cardio CPR\First Aid CPR Re-Cert De-Tox Cycle Hatha Yoga I
Monday & Wednesday Tuesday & Thursday Saturday Monday & Wednesday Monday & Wednesday Tuesday & Thursday Monday & Wednesday Tuesday & Thursday Saturday, TBA Sunday, TBA TBA Sunday Monday & Wednesday
Monday & Wednesday Tuesday & Thursday Monday & Wednesday Tuesday & Thursday Friday Monday & Wednesday Tuesday & Thursday Monday & Wednesday Friday Monday & Wednesday Tuesday & Thursday Saturday Tuesday & Thursday Monday & Wednesday Saturday Thursday Monday & Wednesday
09:00-17:00 11:00-11:55 08:00-08:55 16:00-16:55 18:15-19:25 19:30-20:40 08:00-08:55 16:00-16:55 17:00-18:10 17:00-18:10 18:30-19:40 18:00-18:55 18:00-18:55 16:30-17:55 19:00-19:55 13:00-14:10 17:00-17:55 14:30-15:40 13:00-13:55 17:00-17:55 12:00-12:55 08:00-08:55 18:00-19:25 11:00-11:55 20:00-21:25 16:00-16:55
Tuesday & Thursday Tuesday & Thursday Monday & Wednesday Thursday Friday Wednesday Saturday Saturday Monday Monday Tuesday Tuesday Wednesday Wednesday Thursday Thursday Friday Friday Friday Friday Friday Saturday Sunday
08:00-08:55 20:00-20:55 20:00-20:55 14:45-16:15 14:45-16:15 15:00-16:15 10:30-11:20 11:30-12:20 16:00-16:45 17:30-18:15 16:45-17:30 17:30-18:15 12:15-13:00 13:00-13:45 16:00-16:45 16:45-17:30 08:30-09:15 09:15-10:00 14:30-15:15 15:15-16:00 16:00-16:45 10:45-11:30 11:30-12:15
Tuesday & Thursday
Hatha Yoga II Kick, Punch, Jive & Jam Pedal Jam Pedal & Pump Pilates Pilates/Yoga Pilates I & II Power Yoga
Spin Spin & Trim Step Tai Chi Zumba
17:00-17:55 19:00-19:55 12:00-12:55 12:00-12:55 19:00-19:55 18:00-18:55 17:00-17:55 17:00-17:55 09:00-17:00
$39.50 $39.50 $20.19 $39.50 $39.50 $39.50 $39.50 $39.50
$83.39 $83.39 $42.14 $83.39 $83.39 $83.39 $83.39 $83.39
10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 1
Aerobics Room Aerobics Room Aerobics Room Spin Rm Aerobics Room Aerobics Room The Studio The Studio TBA TBA Spin Room Mind/Body Room Mind/Body Room Mind/Body Room Mind/Body Room Mind/Body Room Mind/Body Room Mind/Body Room Mind/Body Room Mind/Body Room The Studio Spin Rm Spin Rm Activity Room Mind/Body Room Spin Room Mind/Body Room Mind/Body Room Spin Rm Mind/Body Room Spin Rm Spin Rm Aerobics Room Mind/Body Room Aerobics Room
$30.72 $52.67 $52.67 $65.84 $65.84 $52.67 $52.67 $65.84 $65.84 $65.84 $39.50 $61.45 $48.28 $52.67 $65.84 $52.67 $39.50 $52.67 $52.67 $26.34 $61.45 $92.17 $20.19 $39.50 $39.50
$52.67 $96.56 $96.56 $109.72 $109.72 $96.56 $96.56 $109.72 $109.72 $109.72 $83.39 $105.33 $68.46 $96.56 $109.72 $96.56 $61.45 $96.56 $96.56 $48.28 $105.33 $136.05 $42.14 $61.44 $83.39
1 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10
$43.89
$79.01
8
Activity Room
$43.89
$79.01 $79.00
8 8
Activity Room McConnell Arena
$50.92
$68.46
8
McConnell Arena
$23.70
$36.87
6
International Courts D & E
Sports Fencing I Fencing II Hockey I Hockey II Skating Squash Intro
$61.44
$35.11
$52.67
Day
Tennis Inter
Tennis Advanced
Martial Arts
Aikido
Capoeira Judo Karate Kendo
Outdoor Pursuits STAFF FITNESS
$31.60 $31.60 $31.60 $31.60 $31.60 $31.60 $31.60 $31.60 $31.60 $31.60 $31.60 $31.60 $31.60 $31.60 $31.60
Equitation Elysee Equitation Elysee
Aqua Fitness Badminton Body Design - Adv Body Design - Intro Hatha Yoga I Hatha Yoga II
Monday & Wednesday Tuesdau & Thursday Tuesday & Thursday Tuesday & Thursday Tuesday & Thursday Tuesday & Thursday
12:15-13:00 12:30-13:15 12:15-13:00 13:00-13:45 13:00-13:45 12:00-12:45
$13.17 $13.17 $13.17 $13.17 $13.17 $13.17
$13.17 $13.17 $13.17 $13.17 $13.17 $13.17
13 12 13 13 13 13
Memorial Pool Gyms 1 & 2 Aerobics Room Aerobics Room Presbyterian College Presbyterian College
Pilates - Intro Pilates - Advanced Power Yoga Lite Spin - Lite Cycle Spin Stretch & Strength Tai Chi Tennis Zumba Zumba
Monday & Wednesday Tuesday & Thursday Monday & Wednesday Monday & Wednesday Tuesday & Thursday Monday & Wednesday Monday & Wednesday Monday & Wednesday Monday & Wednesday Tuesday & Thursday
12:15-13:00 12:15-13:00 12:00-12:45 13:00-13:45 12:15-13:00 13:00-13:45 13:00-13:45 13:00-13:45 12:15-13:00 12:15-13:00
$13.17 $13.17 $13.17 $13.17 $13.17 $13.17 $13.17 $13.17 $13.17 $13.17
$13.17 $13.17 $13.17 $13.17 $13.17 $13.17 $13.17 $13.17 $13.17 $13.17
13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13
Mind-Body Room Mind/Body Room Presbyterian College Spin Room Spin Room Aerobics Room Presbyterian College Fieldhouse Aerobics Room The Studio
STEP TAE BOX BOOT CAMP BODY DESIGN POWER YOGA SPIN ZUMBA ZUMBA
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Friday Friday Sunday
18:00-18:55 17:00-17:55 18:00-18:55 17:00-17:55 17:30-18:25 18:00-18:55 12:30-13:25 12:00-12:55
$2.19 $2.19 $2.19 $2.19 $2.19 $2.19 $2.19 $2.19
$2.19 $2.19 $2.19 $2.19 $2.19 $2.19 $2.19 $2.19
Fitness Appraisal (Private) Personal Training (Private) Personal Training (Semi-Private) Skating (Private) Skating (Semi-Private) Squash (Private) Squash (Semi-Private) Swim (Private) Swim (Semi-Private) Tennis (Private) Tennis (Semi-Private)
by appointment by appointment by appointment by appointment by appointment by appointment by appointment by appointment by appointment by appointment by appointment
$43.89
$48.28 $48.28 $66.71 $21.95 $32.48 $30.71 $43.89 $21.95 $32.48 $30.71 $43.89
Fitness & Wellness (Pay-As-You-Go)
One On One
$43.89 $57.83 $17.56 $23.70 $26.33 $35.11 $17.56 $23.70 $26.33 $35.11
or www.mcgill.ca/ athletics
Aerobics Room Aerobics Room Aerobics Room Aerobics room Aerobics Room Spin Room Aerobics Room Aerobics Room 1.5 1.25 hrs 1.25 hrs 1/2 hr 1/2 hr 45 min 45 min 1/2 hr 1/2 hr 1 hr 1 hr
Fitness Centre Fitness Centre Fitness Centre McConnell Arena McConnell Arena Squash Courts Squash Courts Currie Memorial Pool Currie Memorial Pool Tennis Courts Tennis Courts
The Tribune’s Guide to Activities Night
Activities night is Tuesday, September 13 and Wednesday, September 14, from 4-8 PM in the Shatner Building.
By Kyla Mandel and Kat Sieniuc
If you haven’t experienced the keener-chaos of activities night, then you should charge the front lines this year. The 45-minute wait in line is worth it, even if only to take advantage of the free food. Of the hundred or so clubs and services that go through the effort of fashioning a posterboard display, you should stop by at least half. You’ll end up with a handful of looseleaf information sheets when you leave, and you might want to go to a couple meetings. What may start off as a resumé booster may turn into your reason for existence. Even if you don’t fall in love with any clubs, many students do not realize how many cool clubs there are at McGill.
Energy Association
(bp.blogspot.com)
You probably shouldn’t own an SUV if you want to be in this club. The Energy Association seeks to raise awareness about the future of renewable resources by organizing events ranging from discussion forums to guest speakers. More specifically, it attempts to educate students on the oil and gas industry and on the future of energy resources, the impact of energy on the economy, and which careers are available in the energy sector. Join the club to watch the CFL bulbs light up above the heads of your clubmates.
Best Buddies
Best Buddies is a friendship program that pairs McGill students with adults who have intellectual disabilities in the Montreal community. The program provides the adult buddies with the opportunity to have experiences which most people take for granted, such as going for coffee, watching a movie, or hanging out with a good friend. Co-head of Best Buddies Emily Kristensen believes being involved in Best Buddies is an extremely rewarding experience for both parties: students become integrated into the larger Montreal community where they can explore the city while giving their buddies the opportunity to participate in community activities with a peer who provides them with support.
Quidditch Team The McGill Quidditch team was founded in 2009. Quidditch is a co-ed, fullcontact sport, that attracts a diverse group of players ranging from Harry Potter fans to those who have never read the books or seen the films. Every year the Quidditch Team competes in the World Cup against hundreds of other schools from around the world. This year the event will be held in New York City. If you’re into having fun, playing something different, and hanging out with a lot of cool and interesting people who pretend to fly, this is the sport for you.
Anyone can join. Experience working with people with intellectual disabilities is not required. “All it takes is enthusiasm in the program’s purpose, a commitment to the required participation, and a big heart,” says Kristensen.
(newsletter.famegame.com)
McGill First Aid Service
McGill Outdoors Club
If hiking, camping, skiing, or canoeing are your things, the McGill Outdoors Club is for you. Students in the Outdoors Club spend their weekends getting fresh air and enjoying the great outdoors. The club is the oldest of its kind in Montreal, established in 1936, and includes members from other universities, as well as alumni. Even if you’ve spent the last twenty years of your life sedentary, it’s not too late to become an outdoorsman. The Outdoors Club organizes beginner courses in many disciplines, including telemark skiing, ice climbing, and first aid.
The Flintknappers Club Interested in archaeology? Created in 2002, the Flintknappers club specializes in teaching students the skills needed to make stone tools. In this day and age it might not be obvious why one would need to know how to make tools out of stone, but understanding the art of flint-knapping teaches archaeology students how to identify lithic technology encountered in the field. What’s more, this craft can be remarkably handy when camping or on extreme survival weekends; and admit it, smashing rocks is a lot of fun.
McGill First Aid Service is a club run by students which offers emergency first aid service for McGill students and the greater Montreal community. All members of the club—there are about 60—are trained at Red Cross Emergency First Responder level. First Aid volunteers are working behind the scenes across campus day and night. From sports games to 4 Floors, the First Aid Service is there. To apply to the First Aid Service, students need to be enrolled at McGill and hold a certification of Standard First Aid and CPR-C. The recruitment process consists of working on-call, and a couple months of training. If you can’t commit that much time, the First Aid Service offers courses to certify individuals in Canadian Red Cross first aid.
(The McGill Quidditch Team / McGill Tribune)
(upload.wikimedia.org)
(i01.i.aliimg.com)
Club Cinema 16
(flickr.com/photos/petergutierrez)
The new kid in town this semester is Club Cinema 16. But don’t let its fresh face fool you, it means business. Creating a “platform for genuinely alternative films,” as its President Charles Tuck explains, Club Cinema 16 will emphasize “radical cinema, art house films and other marginalia. Women and queer filmmakers, regional cinemas, camp, porn and contemporary video art are all on the list.”
Free Tea Club
However, because these films are shot on 16mm film—about half the size and half the price of the standard gauge 35mm film used in Hollywood—they are facing technological challenges.
There’s only one cure for Montreal winters: tea. The Free Tea Club promotes tea drinking in the undergraduate McGill community. They host tea-drinking events where students can sample different teas, learn how to brew tea properly, and engage in traditional tea-drinking activities such as ShogiJapanese chess. Even if you’re a coffee lover, you’re still welcome in this club.
(flickr.com/photos/firepile)
(flickr.com/photos/14880766@N02)
“We seem to think that everything is available to us on the Internet these days —it’s not,” says Tuck. This is where Club Cinema 16 comes in. They will be screening 16mm films in the McGill Cultural Studies Theatre located at 3475 Peel. Not only can students watch these screenings for free, but it is open to the public as well. In addition to screening alternative films, Club Cinema 16 will also be accepting submissions of student work.
Student Living Gizmos & Gadgets
Going back to school in the cool Toys to make class, rez and life a little bit easier By Iain Macdonald Production Manager Coming back to Montreal after a long summer can stir up mixed emotions. It’s great to see friends and roommates again, and there’s OAP and Frosh. However, nobody likes the inevitable late nights at McLennan or midterms in September. We’ve compiled a list of toys and tools to help ease you back into the scholarly grind.
ditional 0.25 GB if you use your McGill e-mail. More space is available at a small cost.
Tablets of all shapes and sizes have been flying off the shelves at Futureshop and Best Buy since the iPad came out, and this year is no exception. With the HP Touchpad’s firesale in late August, prices on that model have dropped to a somewhat more affordable $300. While they might not prove useful in class, their portability and convenience make any tablet a cool toy.
Dropbox is an online utility for reading, writing, and modifying files on multiple computers. It saves these files to a central repository, your Dropbox, so that you can access them from any computer that is connected to the internet. No more fumbling for your USB key in the computer lab, just download your work and go. You can get 2 GB for free when you sign up, plus an ad-
Docuum and Smart Minerva are websites designed by McGillian Alex Daskalov. Docuum is a course material sharing site. Users can upload their notes, assignments, and exams (no solutions, though), for others to use. The site sometimes contains old finals or midterms that professors don’t release to current students. Smart Minerva attempts to help students through the torturous McGill registration process by displaying clashing courses and a sample schedule.
Netflix offers unlimited streaming of TV and movies for a small monthly fee. After becoming wildly successful in the U.S., the service has migrated north to Canada. Now, for only $8 per month you can get your own Netflix account and stream videos on your iPad, Wii, XBOX 360, PC, or Mac. With an ever-growing library of content, it’s a great way to blow off some steam after a tough midterm. While the selections are weak compared to the American site, the first month is free.
Ebooks are the first new technology for the literary market since the printing press. Amazon, Indigo and many other vendors carry their own models, but they all do basically the same thing. Even if you don’t spend your spare time leafing through Tolstoy classics, many textbooks can be purchased, or otherwise obtained for use on your e-reader, potentially saving you the effort of even stepping foot in the McGill bookstore.
Headphones are a must-have for any student. Whether you want to splurge on brands such as Bose or Shure, or opt for a more affordable brand, there’s really no reason
not to have a pair. They’re great for blocking out sniffling in the library, noisy roommates, or just listening to some tunes. If you want all the silence with none of the music, pick up a set of earplugs, a necessity during exams.
iTunes U is a project started by Apple in 2007. It allows professors at other schools to upload their recorded lectures to iTunes for you to download for free. MIT has taken this to another level with Open CourseWare, which provides assignments, tests, and quizzes, too. You can even enroll in an Artificial Intelligence class at Stanford this semester, complete with your very own certificate (that is, if you pass). For bookworms and other curious minds, these are invaluable resources, and a great way to learn just about anything you can’t or don’t want to at McGill. If you can barely manage to watch the recorded lectures for the classes you registered for, don’t sweat it, attendance is optional.
Around the Town
Taking a gander at Goose Village A rainy-day stroll reveals glimmers of the past
By Noah Caldwell-Rafferty Contributor As I trudged by a workshop on Mill Street in the pouring rain, a kind-eyed, pony-tailed glassblower stared at me. He wore an expression of shock and sympathy, holed up in his abode of warm kilns and red-hot vases. I had little time to stop and commiserate, so I pushed through the growing puddles. I was almost at my destination, the once-thriving riverside Goose Village. I had already passed under Autoroute Bonaventure—the traffic artery of Montreal’s Centre Ville— skirted a crumbling but functional distillery, and left the old Ogilvie’s Flour Mill behind me. Up ahead I saw a behemoth Costco at a crossroads filled with traffic departing and entering the city from Pont Victoria. Passing a wind-battered Chinese depanneur, I reached Bridge Street quickly, once the heart of a vibrant neighborhood of Italian, Irish, Polish, and Ukrainian immigrants. Goose Village got its name from the waterfowl that once occu-
pied the banks of the St. Lawrence at this spot. First Irish immigrants, then Italians, built the little village into a community by the end of the 19th century, and into the 1960s the area pulsed with Catholic fervor and neighborly vivacity. At the height of its growth, Goose Village took up the space due west of the Old Port and south of Rue Notre Dame, running all the way to the St. Lawrence River. However, in the 1960s things changed—or rather, they were forced to change—and quickly. In the years before Expo 67, Mayor Jean Drapeau led a campaign to purge Montreal of what might be perceived as blights by outside visitors. Goose Village suffered mightily. Residents were informed that the area was to be bulldozed; since its poor (yet energetic) streets were among the first to be seen by cars entering downtown from both major bridges, the “blight” had to go. Now, over fifty years later, the kind-eyed glassblower was not simply astonished at my slog through the tempest, but rather that I was going to Goose Village at all. But I wished
to see what was left. Were there any resilient mom-and-pop corner stores or toddlers plodding the streets, jumping in muddy puddles? The journey started off promisingly enough. Exiting Griffintown (just northeast of Goose Village), there remained costume shops for nightlife masqueraders, and satisfied young professionals alighted the decks of bistros, umbrellas in hand. A residential atmosphere was recognizable. The feeling hardly lasted. Heading down Duke Street, a graffitied shack clung to the side of a vacant brick tenement building. Crossing the Lachine Canal onto Mill Street, the civilized city seemed to recede behind the clouds and the gray industrialism of the waterfront. Although wind and rain kept denizens off the street that day, I had the eerie feeling that a balmy, sunny afternoon would have brought out no more than one or two. I stood at the Costco crossroads, momentarily disheartened. Traffic whizzed shoppers away from the megastore. A cop perched his car on
a median, slowing traffic. But there was one last saving grace whose timelessness I had to sequester, and from what I had heard, it was just down the street. Down Bridge Street I trudged, crossing overgrown train tracks, and there it was: the massive, rugged, jagged Black Rock. The rock is a memorial, erected in 1859 to honour thousands of Irish immigrants who had died there of typhus in small shacks ten years prior. For years it has stood as the pride of the Irish community, and for Goose Village, those who survived went on to build a flourishing, homey neighborhood.
Now, the rock is solitary yet comforting, with an empty green hill and tumbledown shacks in the background. If you go to old Goose Village, there are glimmers amongst the grayness. The Espace Verre glassblowers run three exhibitions each year. Take the Lachine Canal bike paths from the Old Port to Atwater Market (on a sunnier day), or if you find yourself milling about Griffintown, simply satisfy your curiosity and go see the relic of Goose Village next door.
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Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Peaches and Pork Chops By Monique Evans Contributor As summer winds down, one must salvage as much prime barbequeing time as possible. And since Ontario peach season is upon us, why not add a little peach to your pork chop? Follow this foolproof recipe, and it won’t be long till you’re in maple-peach pork chop heaven. Ingredients: 2 large pork chops ¼ c. sea salt 4 c. water Herbs and spices, such as rosemary, to infuse the meat
2 tbsp. maple syrup 2 – 4 peaches ¼ c. fresh cilantro, roughly chopped 1 lime Directions: 1. Cut the peaches in half and remove the pits. Grill peach halves for about ten minutes, until they have caramelized and softened. Set aside. 2. Put the pork chops in a shallow baking dish. Heat the water, salt and herbs aromatics over the stove. Let cool, and then pour over the pork chops. Let the pork chops sit in
the brine for 30 minutes to 2 hours. 3. Grill pork chops to taste. The brine will keep even well done chops juicy. 4. Towards the end of cooking, brush the maple syrup on each side of the pork chops. 5. Serve peaches on the pork chop with some chopped cilantro, a squeeze of lime, a sprinkle of salt and some freshly ground pepper. Or for dessert, pair grilled peaches with vanilla ice cream and aged balsamic vinegar or a chocolate sauce. (Monique Evans / McGill Tribune)
Odds and Ends
Mixmaster
H2Woah
A parched editor taste tests three trendy brands
By Kyla Mandel Features Editor It’s obvious that water falls from clouds as rain drops, but the creators of Smartwater seem to think otherwise. As they cleverly point out on the bottle, “clouds contain nature’s source of water,” so they used this “forgotten” resource to inspire their product. In order to create their pure taste, they capture and distill water vapour, resulting in “hydration you can feel”. Is it really worth all the hype? As a Smartwater virgin, my first sip of this high-profile water, well, tasted like extremely refined water. While “pure” and airy tasting, it wasn’t anything out of this world, I could not feel the hydration, and most importantly, it certainly did not make me feel like Jennifer Aniston. Perhaps I would have better luck with the forever popular and celebrity-trusted Fiji water. While Smartwater may be fresh-from-theclouds, Fiji water is filtered through volcanic rocks. As their website advertises, this water is found away
from pollution, acid rain and industrial waste. That is, if you don’t count the effects of whatever is set up in Fiji to extract the water, which fills up the millions of plastic bottles, which are flown across the world and then transported all across North America. That said, it was the cheapest tropical vacation I’ve ever taken— $1.39 to be transported to an island paradise much like the one depicted on the bottle. Although I didn’t really taste the centuries old volcanic minerals, I must admit that this water was soft and smooth, as promised. To put it simply, both Smartwater and Fiji water are just water. They’re not too different from what comes out of your tap, except that they have enhanced minerals and architecturally unique bottle shapes. Do I suddenly feel healthier and more hydrated? Yes, because I drank two bottles of water. But perhaps what I need instead are more nutrients. You guessed it: Vitamin water. On the menu is the 10 calories per bottle ‘Recoup’ Vitamin water. It is
peach-mandarin flavoured, enriched with Vitamins B3, B5, B6 and B12. I have no clue what these vitamins do, but I know I need them. As I open the cap, I’m hit with a vivacious citrus and peachy smell. As I drink it, it tastes great. For about two seconds. The after taste isn’t nearly as pleasing, and that’s when I realized that it’s essentially just mildly flavoured water with a bit too much sweetener. Despite not living up to their witty labels (it has yet to be determined if this tasty force of hydration can help me cope with whatever life throws my way), there are a variety of flavours and vitamins to choose from, so you are likely to keep coming back. After having tried these three waters I sat back and waited. Would I feel more energized? Would I be able to take on the world or increase my IQ? Sadly, the only thing I gained was a very full bladder, and I lost $5.37 (plus tax) in my wallet. I think I’ll save my toonies and get my liquid hydration from the water fountain around the corner.
Amarula five ways Don’t try these all at once
By Shannon Kimball Editor-in-Chief If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my travels, it’s that liquor is really expensive in the Great White North. Shopping for cocktail ingredients fancier than orange soda and vodka will set you back at least fifty bucks. And, by the time you’ve thrown up half of those appletinis you were going to make, you’ll never want to see that bottle of vermouth ever again. So, I present five ways to use a twenty dollar bottle of Amarula. This liqueur is made from the southern African marula fruit (not from the elephants on the label), which makes it much more flavourful than Bailey’s. You can drink it straight, with hot chocolate, or with some liqueurs you may have lying around from that night you never made it to Tokyo. Straight Pour Amarula into a chilled glass. The alcohol content is fairly low, so fill-er-up! Springbok Pour one part crème de menthe into a shot glass. Slowly pour one part Amarula over the back of a spoon into the glass. Mudslide Pour one part Kahlua into a shot glass. Slowly pour one part Amarula over the back of a spoon into the glass. Coffee and hot chocolate Pour a dash of Amarula into a cup of hot chocolate or decaf coffee for a sweet after dinner drink.
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Curiosity Delivers. www.mcgilltribune.com
Odds & Ends
Roommates Q’s
Setting ground rules for weird roomies
By Kyla Mandel & Kat Sieniuc Features Editors Remember that roommate rules questionnaire your floor fellow handed out at the beginning of first year? We don’t. We’ve come up with our own replacement, because having roommate squabbles during exams is worse than actually taking exams. If you just discovered that your roommate uses a live rooster as an alarm clock, enjoys practicing Tai Chi in the shower, or shuns the modern concept of a toilet in favour of a chamber pot, it may be too late to find another one. But you may be able to compromise on some other issues before the year gets underway. Here are some things which you and your roommates should discuss: Chores: Sorting out household responsibilities should be one of the first things on your roommate discussion list. Make sure you decide who will take out the garbage, the recycling, who will cook dinners, and who will clean common spaces, which includes doing the dishes. While you don’t need to set up a hard schedule for this, you may be disappointed when your roommate fails to make chicken fingers six months from now, Groceries: If you don’t want to end up with vegan, low-fat, calcium enriched body wash, you might want to set up some sort of grocery schedule with your roommates. It is also important to set up a payment scheme for the groceries, so you don’t end up buying cases of Dom Perignon only on the weeks you are paying. Bills: Breaking down the bill payment costs between roommates
is almost as important as choosing a house 12-pack. Important services include: electricity, internet, phone, and TV. You also need to ensure you have an overdraft plan. What happens when your roommate comes home at four in the morning, drunk, and downloads every episode of Star Trek in ultra high-definition? Friends: Your apartment is your own personal space, but you are sharing it with others. You should set up rules with your roommates about having company over. Do you let them know? How far in advance? What if your friends are having a sleep-over and you’re going to stay up late telling scary stories? Sex: We’re not at a Mormon school, and your roommates might shag. If you’re really unlucky, you might have to deal with apartmentcest. Convention dictates that a tie on the door, ask no more. If you’re planning a love escapade lit by hundreds of candles and set to the tune of Dido, you might want to let your roommate—and the fire department—know in advance. Be sure to set up rules for repeat visitors. Vacation: The school year comes with several breaks. You should decide in advance what you’re going to do with the apartment, and who’s going to take care of your pet fish, Gob. Subletting and rent-splitting during time away are issues to think about. No matter how much you prepare, you will hit bumps. Whether you have the roommate who never cleans the pots, or the roommate who smokes too much pot, there will always be things that annoy you about each other, but how you choose to deal with it is the true test.
Want to fill this space? Come to a Features meeting Tuesdays at 5:30, Shatner 110
Campus Calendar
Ongoing Ongoing
Monday
Monday
Tuesday, Wednesday
The Imaginus Poster Sale Ends September 8 at 9 p.m. Shatner Ballroom
Open Air Pub Ends September 9 Three Bares Park
Zombie Night 7 p.m. James Square
McGill Safety Week September 12-16
Activities Night 4 - 8 p.m. Shatner
Pick out posters from a large selection to decorate your room for the new semester.
Enjoy food, beer and music in the park on campus.
Watch Zombieland and eat popcorn for free. Prizes to be won.
A variety of safety-related activities will be taking place on campus. Check out the safety presentations, a BBQ and the safety competition.
Line up outside of Shatner to browse McGill’s many clubs and sign up for those that interest you.
A&E Fashion
The “Enfant Terrible” all grown up Exhibit explores the storied career of fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier By Liya Adessky Contributor French couturier Jean Paul Gaultier, commonly known as fashion’s “enfant terrible,” is currently the subject of an extravagant exhibit at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Gaultier has long identified with the city of Montreal, so it’s fitting that our fair city play host to the eccentric designer in honour of the 35th anniversary of his label. The exhibit, the first to feature Gaultier internationally, showcases many of his most celebrated pieces from the runway. In true Gaultier fashion, the exhibit is bizarre, whimsical and tongue-in-cheek. One of the most talked-about elements of this exhibit continues to be the technology it employs. With the help of Montreal theatre company UBU, the mannequins have holographic faces that move, talk, and sometimes sing, with many of the voices and faces belonging to models and musicians, including Francisco Randez and Melissa Auf der Maur. There’s even a mannequin in Gaultier’s likeness at the beginning of the exhibit, speaking to the crowd about his outlook, inspiration, and overall aesthetic.
A few of the many dresses in the Gaultier collection. (mmfc.qc.ca) The exhibit is organized mostly by themes and by era. All of the ensembles were created between the early 1970s and 2010. The variety in clothing is vast—some outfits were heavily influenced by the grunge look of the ‘90s, while others were
designed to look like the nude body. Some ensembles resembled dominatrix attire, others looked like they came from 3,000 years in the future. Despite any hint of reference in his designs, Gaultier has always created something brand new in his work.
It is this incredible range of inspiration and imagination that has come to define Gaultier since his earliest days as a designer. He draws from so many places, and yet always manages to make every article of clothing his own, be it in the way it’s cut or
the way it’s styled. Apart from the clothing, the exhibit features many sketches, photographs, and art pieces which feature or were inspired by Gaultier’s work. Notably, the exhibit includes fashion photographs featuring the likes of Kate Moss, and others taken by famed photographers Mario Testino and David LaChapelle, to name a few. Adding to the experience are clips from films, television programs, and Gaultier’s own shows. Most anyone will appreciate seeing Madonna’s infamous cone bra (which Gaultier designed) and footage of her walking his runway. Much of the clothing is accompanied by short summaries, including information on the runway show that featured the outfit and the length of time each article of clothing took to make. Needless to say, the approximately 140 ensembles featured in this one-of-a-kind showing are astonishingly ornate and avant-garde, guaranteed to thrill any fashion lover. However, even those who aren’t longtime fans of Gaultier’s work or the fashion world will find this exhibit a fun trip through one man’s exhilarating career.
Music
Jeff Mangum breaks the silence Neutral Milk Hotel frontman returns to Toronto after decade-long absence By Ryan Taylor A&E Editor “There’s some bullshit idea that we’re not gonna sing along to my songs, like why the fuck’d I write them then, anyway?” So spoke Jeff Mangum, leader of influential ‘90s band Neutral Milk Hotel, trying to coax the hushed and sold-out audience at Toronto’s Trinity St. Paul’s to join in on “Two-Headed Boy Pt. Two,” the closing track of his band’s 1998 masterpiece—and final album—In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. Mangum disbanded NMH shortly after the success of Aeroplane and became a musical recluse, avoiding the stage and spotlight for close to ten years, save for some guest appearances and one-off performances, until his recently announced and unexpected tour. Knowing this, it’s completely understandable that there was initial hesitation to take Mangum up on his offer. After all, when people have been waiting, quite literally, for
years to hear songs many thought they never would, they want to hear them. But Mangum was insistent, commanding that the crowd “fucking sing!” before the end of the song. And from then on, sing they did: filling in the horn parts on “King of Carrot Flowers Pts. Two & Three” and “Song Against Sex,” holding a note as “Naomi” transitioned to “April 8th,” getting in on the “1234” countoff to “Holland, 1945,” and lending their voices to everything else. The “Church of Mangum” symbolism wasn’t lost on the audience, but what one would’ve expected to be a reverent, dignified gig instead became a convivial, campfire singalong. As far as the quality of the music, Mangum certainly didn’t sound like he’d been inactive for close to a decade. His voice was clear and more powerful than on record, no doubt aided by the pristine acoustics of the venue, and when he hit those high, sustained notes, especially on “Oh Comely,” the results were shiverinducing. Former NMH contributors Scott Spillane and Laura Carter also
appeared occasionally to fill out the sound on flugelhorn and clarinet, respectively. Throughout the show, Mangum appeared set on breaking down the audience/performer barrier. For such an enigmatic musician, he was relaxed, upbeat, and seemed generally happy to be playing the songs so many know and love to those that know and love them. There was even an impromptu interview session where Mangum opened up the floor to questions from the audience and confirmed that he had gone through periods of writing, but won’t put anything out unless his heart is in it. While his motivations for returning to the stage remain unknown, to try and draw bigger conclusions about what this means for the future would be to miss the point entirely. Mangum said it matter of factly at the beginning of the show: “We’re together now.” And he couldn’t have been more right. The evening wasn’t about him. It was about us. (amoeba.com)
18 Movie Reviews Harry Potter I’m not sure which part of the highly anticipated Harry Potter and the Death Hallows: Part II was worse: Voldemort’s laugh, or the fact that there was more laughing in the theatre during the “protagonistsare-dying” scenes than proper sobbing. While the first half of the film delivers a well-rendered account of the novel’s later scenes, the Hogwarts battle was terribly executed. Perhaps Judd Apatow was secretly given the reins. That’s the only plausible explanation I can find for the decision to make the darkest wizard of all time give Draco an awkward bro hug in the middle of the most legendary intra-wizard combat in magical history. Perhaps this is actually the root of the problem: Voldemort’s character was diluted to the point that he could be laughed at and easily confronted. The cool, controlled, transcendentally evil character succumbed to what looked like severe menstrual cramps every time a Horcrux was destroyed and then burst into calcified confetti in an anticli-
(amctheatres.com)
mactic finale. This preference for asinine entertainment over meaning was far too common. The Platform 93/4 scene was acceptable aesthetically, but the dialogue was banal and too affectedly enigmatic to be of any significance. Voldemort’s death was preceded by predictably cliché lines instead of a call for remorse. Dumbledore’s background story was nixed. Disappointing, but thank god they nailed the looking-off-into-themisty-distance shot.... twice. The one kernel of salvation was Alan Rickman’s emotional and sensitive performance as Severus Snape, a welcome act considering his rather dispassionate role throughout the series. Yet it too was quickly mocked by the movie’s vision of a weird and creepy young Snape, a perverted homage to this most complex and courageous of Rowlings’ characters. —Morgane Ciot
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Planet of the Apes Director Rupert Wyatt rebuilt the Planet of the Apes series entirely from scratch, making the original series and a one-off Mark Wahlberg remake entirely non-canon. The first movie in a planned reboot series, Rise of the Planet of the Apes introduces the ape Caesar, whose heightened cognition is the byproduct of a scientific experiment gone awry. Caesar’s self-awareness presents him with a difficult decision: accept his minor role in a world that is dominated by man, or recruit other apes to join him in insurrection. Not surprisngly, he picks the latter. In this fight between man and ape, both sides have their share of the usual good and bad guys, but with ambiguous motives. Do these apes want to conquer all mankind, or do they just want to be free from enslavement? The storyline is plau-
sible as far as sci-fi action movies go, and James Franco delivers a compassionate performance as Will, the doctor who raises Caesar. Anyone who has seen the original Apes movies can expect the obligatory references to Charlton Heston’s role as Taylor and a few subtle plot devices that tie in elements of the original series.
The pace of Rise of the Planet of the Apes isn’t rushed. The film tells only the beginning of a story that should require many sequels to fully explain. It considers itself Hollywood’s next blockbuster action series, and postures itself accordingly. —Nicholas Petrillo
(thegate.ca)
Crazy, Stupid, Love The romcom has morphed into a formulaic genre so rife with wellworn clichés that there’s often little room for creativity, honesty, or genuine laughs. Crazy Stupid Love isn’t an entirely new story, but its clever script and a believable cast set it apart from the pack. Ryan Gosling plays Jacob, a dapper Casanova trying to help co-star Steve Carell’s hapless Cal through a physical and mental makeover in the hopes of rediscovering and renewing his manliness after Cal’s wife, Emily (Julianne Moore), cheats on him with a coworker (Kevin Bacon). It’s Jacob’s relationship with Cal that truly sets the tone for the movie as the two men strike up an unlikely friendship, each learning about himself from the other. It should be noted that the supporting cast is as equally talented as the headliners. Emma Stone as a potential love interest for Gosling’s eternal bachelor and Cal’s young
son Robbie (Jonah Bobo) as a hopeless romantic with a crush on his babysitter turn in impressive performances and both Robbie’s babysitter (Analeigh Tipton) and Cal’s first post-divorce fling, Kate (Marisa Tomei), are entertaining. Beyond the talented cast, the
film has a lot of laughs, a few surprising twists, and fully realized characters going through extremely relatable experiences. This film is one that’s actually worth the price of admission. —Liya Adessky (moviemarketingmadness..com)
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19 Concert Reviews
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
NXNE
Back for its 17th year, the annual North by Northeast (NXNE) festival and conference brought over 600 bands to Toronto over the course of five sweltering days in June. One of the most anticipated shows was Toronto’s own Fucked Up playing a free show at Yonge and Dundas Square, a large public space smack dab in the middle of the city. Not a minute into the first song, singer Damian Abraham was over the barrier and into the sea of pulsating bodies at the front of the stage. It’s a common occurrence at most of their concerts, but it didn’t translate particularly well to an outdoor show with thousands of attendees. Abraham was barely audible, hardly visible, and the throng of photographers standing on the barrier documenting the proceedings meant you couldn’t even see the rest of the band on stage. It could’ve been the performance of the festival, but the spectacle got in the way of the music. The Thursday night lineup at the Horseshoe Tavern was particularly strong, featuring a slew
Colin Stetson
of up-and-coming Canadian acts. Montreal’s Suuns had the crowd moving the most with their brand of minimalist, dark, intense rock, while No Joy operated under the “less talk, more rock” principle, launching into their set without an introduction, forgoing banter, and leaving without a word. Usually the failure to acknowledge an audience works against a band, but when you play the hazey, shoegaze music No Joy does, it becomes part of the aesthetic. The music did the talking anyway. Elsewhere, Chad VanGaalen played a gloriously sloppy set featuring tracks from his new album Diaper Island. Even though the band made up the set list as they went along, fumbled through opening chords of less familiar songs, and went well over the allotted 40-minute set length, the crowd ate up every minute of it. And who can blame them? The new songs are some of his strongest yet and the rarity of his tours helped with the goodwill.
—Ryan Taylor
(musicvice.com)
Unless you’re deep into experimental and avant-garde saxophone, chances are you’ve never heard anyone play quite like Michigan-born, Montreal-based Colin Stetson. Between using circular breathing (simultaneously breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth in order play continuously), the keys as percussion, and singing into his horn via a mic attached to his neck, often all at once, the amount of sound the man gets out of the instrument is astounding.
It becomes only more impressive live when you see the sheer amount of physical exertion it takes to bring these pieces to life. Last Friday at Il Motore, Stetson was red in the face and grimacing after every mini-marathon song of technical wizardry. Make no mistake, as much as the songs dazzled on a scholarly level, he hit a rare (and welcome) balance where his fantastically creative compositions also worked emotionally. —Ryan Taylor
(David Irwin / McGill Tribune)
The Pack a.d. West-coast duo The Pack a.d. revisited Montreal this past summer with a powerful June 10 performance at Le Divan Orange. Guitarist and main vocalist Becky Black is disarmingly slight in person, given that the androgynous power of her voice captured on disc creates the impression of a giant. But she proved the authenticity of her sound in the flesh, and then some, with equal parts lung capacity and forcefully unpretentious riff-wrangling. Maya Miller set the tempo between tracks and during them. To say her drumming was on-point is to downplay the precision with which she manipulated her kit. As MC, she kept the tempo upbeat, electing to skip many of the slower songs on the set list to keep things lively.
The only drag was the stubbornly standstill audience. Only near the finale, when the air was seasoned with the smell of whiskey from spilled shots, did The Pack get some of the hoots and moving feet they deserved. A pity, since they’d played some of their best danceable tracks—“1880” and “Cobra Matte”—at the very beginning of their set. The set list was a solid mix of songs from their second and third albums, Funeral Mixtape and we kill computers, with a generous helping of preview tracks from their forthcoming thirteentrack album, Unpersons. Two new tracks, “Ride” and “8,” rounded out the evening and gave a hint toward The Pack a.d.’s new musical direction—more frenetic, more aggressive, more lightning for the
extremities and a big invitation to thrash. This brand of grungy bluesrock can easily unravel without the acoustics and multiple takes of a recording studio, but The Pack a.d. delivered a polished performance. —Marri Knadle
(style.ritzgirl.com)
CD Review
Jay-Z and Kanye West: Watch the Throne
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By Nicholas Petrillo Contributor Released exclusively online on Aug. 8, Jay-Z and Kanye West’s Watch The Throne embraces a growing trend in the music industry that prioritizes digital music over the aging CD. With this release comes an album that, according to the duo, will bring commercial and critical legitimacy to another game-changing movement they call “luxury rap.” A typical gripe with rap music is its obsession with all things super rich, but these two know how to make this sort of arrogance sound endearing. Jay-Z and Yeezy will tell you how many foreign watch, car,
and clothing companies they throw money at, but you can’t hate them for it. However, maybe if these two weren’t so concerned with their critical reputations, they would have released an album filled entirely with instantly gratifying songs like “Otis,” “Who Gon Stop Me,” and “Illest Motherfucker Alive.” The heavier stuff (“Murder to Excellence,” “Made in America”) makes the album drag at times, and the tracks sound as if they were conceived with only halfhearted seriousness. Watch The Throne has a few quirks, including dialogue snippets from Blades of Glory, a sample from the Chariots of Fire soundtrack, and a cartoony-sounding coda that in-
frequently creeps its way between a few tracks. Though not all the beats may be radio-friendly or loaded with catchy hooks, Jay-Z and Kanye made an album that continues to demonstrate the duo’s irresistible stylishness.
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TV Reviews
Game of Thrones Amidst all the madness of late spring season finales, television addicts like myself were treated to an unexpected surprise in HBO’s newest show Game of Thrones. Based on a critically acclaimed series of fantasy novels by author and screenwriter George R.R. Martin, Game of Thrones has been highly anticipated since the early stages of its production. It doesn’t disappoint; producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss put immense effort into re-creating Martin’s intricate fantasy world on screen. The show takes place in the kingdom of Westeros, where a vicious war of subterfuge for control of the throne is taking place. But while Martin’s world bears many similarities to our own—the plot draws inspiration from the historic War of the Roses in 15th-century England—it also involves a number of supernatural elements. In the first episode we are given a glimpse of the mysterious Others,
creatures who live in the forests of the north behind the Wall, a massive edifice of ice built on the border of Westeros. Even with these kinds of twists, it is the characters that drive the show. The protagonists are divided between two of Westeros’ warring noble houses, the Starks and the Lannisters. The murderous conflict between the two families prompted Benioff to describe the show as “The Sopranos in Middle-Earth.” Sean Bean (The Lord of the Rings) leads the cast as Lord Eddard Stark, who manages to be both sympathetic and infuriating in his naiveté. Set against him are twins Cersei (Lena Headey) and Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and their dwarf brother Tyrion (Peter Dinklage), who steals the show at times with his easy wit and wry delivery. —Alexander Hamilton (sickchirpse.com)
(wallpapergravity.com)
Entourage After the previous season ended with the arrest of Hollywood hunk Vincent Chase for possession of cocaine, Entourage viewers were left awaiting the fate of their protagonist in what was announced as the final season of the HBO series. One would think the final hurrah for the inside story of Hollywood’s A-List would be its most memorable, however, what we got is something that doesn’t even resemble Entourage’s previous vein of storytelling. What has kept viewers tuning in since the show’s debut in 2003 is the friendship of Vinny, E, Turtle, and Drama—from their early years in Queens, NY, to their conquest of the Hollywood Hills. Their strong bond, coupled with the cutthroat antics of uberagent Ari Gold, his assistant, Lloyd, and a slew of laugh-out-loud characters was the theme to which viewers could relate. With the end near, this bond should be as solid as ever, but it’s not. Together they got through Vince losing movies, Turtle’s
Curb Your Enthusiasm Any native New Yorker or avid fan of Borscht Belt humour should know that Larry David is back in town. Does it really matter that Curb Your Enthusiasm’s return from a two-year hiatus features episodes shot in Larry David’s native environment? Of course not. If Seinfeld was shot almost exclusively in Los Angeles then we can all agree that Curb has captured the neck-toneck social anxieties of New York. Like the slew of guest stars introduced each season, including Ricky Gervais, Rosie O’Donnell, and Michael J. Fox, New York is not only another character, but a shameless marketing ploy. But even if the show has become formulaic, Curb’s improvised scenes and socially conscious episodes are still some of the freshest and most dynamic on TV. As the ads suggest, “Same Larry, New York.” Larry carries social situations to the bitter end (we’re all relieved he’s finally
given up on ex-wife Cheryl) and carries his jokes even further. Like Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm elevates mindless issues into the center of their fictional world. There’s a reason Curb has stuck around for eight seasons (and 11 years), and it isn’t the loads of money we all assume Larry has. Curb treats sensitive issues with outrageous humour. The season (and likely the show’s) greatest achievement is the third episode, “The Palestinian Chicken.” In the episode, the recent Lower Manhattan Mosque controversy is mirrored by a controversy over the opening of a popular Palestinian Chicken restaurant next to Greenblatt’s Delicatessen in L.A. Not only is the story timely and well rounded, but the scenes with Larry and his friends, who largely improvise the material, are off-the-cuff and fresh. When Larry David sticks to his shtick, the results are pretty, pretty good. —Matthew Herzfeld
failing business attempts, E’s heartbreaks, and Drama’s failed acting career. However, with only a handful of episodes remaining, the boys are more divided than ever. Character arcs are increasingly separate storylines, interactions are strained, and tension is high. Every character faces uncertainty, with problems ranging from sobriety, to career troubles, to failing personal relationships. The show creators throw a wet blanket on the audacity that made characters’ antics charming and engaging. They even manage to smother the always-entertaining Ari with a downer storyline. It’s a mystery how the show’s many loose ends and meandering storylines will be tied up as the season draws to a close. However, as shown time and time again throughout the series, everyone loves a comeback. Hopefully the show follows suit and manages to go out with a bang, not a fizzle. —Kelly Malfara
(lovedvds.net)
Sports basketball—Mcgill 78, niagara 71
McGill wins second straight over NCAA Div-I opponent Renaud-Tremblay leads the way with 20 points, 11 rebounds as Redmen beat Purple Eagles By Trevor Drummond Contributor The McGill Redmen defeated the Niagara Purple Eagles 78-71 on Saturday evening, improving their record to 2-4 against NCAA Division I opponents this pre-season. This is the first time the Redmen have posted consecutive victories against American teams in seven years spent competing against teams from south of the border. The Redmen’s biggest strength in the victory was their ability to spread the ball around, as four players reached double digits in points on the evening. Tristan RenaudTremblay, a second-year forward from Montreal, led the charge on his way to a 20-point night. Head Coach Dave DeAveiro praised RenaudTremblay’s performance, saying, “He’s becoming one of the leaders of this team.” Both teams looked tentative out of the gate, trading turnovers and missing shots for the better part of two minutes before McGill’s Winn Clark sank the first field goal of the game, sparking a 9-0 Redmen run. In a hole early, Niagara crawled back into the game and ended the first quarter trailing by just two points. In the second quarter, the Redmen and Purple Eagles traded leads five times
in the first five minutes. At the fiveminute mark, with McGill up by three, second-year guard Karim SyMorissette had a steal and a bucket followed by another two from the foul line on the next possession, stretching the lead to seven points. The back-to-back plays by the second-year guard gave McGill the momentum heading into halftime with a 37-31 lead. The Redmen took over in the third quarter, outscoring Niagara 21-9. While DeAveiro was pleased with what he saw from his team on the night, the Niagara Head Coach Joe Mihalich didn’t hide his frustration. With 3:36 to go in the third, he blew up at officials after a string of questionable calls in McGill’s favour. Simon Bibeau, who had 15 points on the night, made both free throws that resulted from the technical, capping a 14-4 run for the Redmen. McGill took a 58-40 lead into the fourth quarter before pulling away even further. With the score 61-40, Renaud-Tremblay had his best play of the game, passing the ball through two Niagara defenders to teammate Vincent Dufort for an easy layup. After calling a timeout to regroup, the Purple Eagles came out much more aggressively. Niagara began playing a full-court press and
Renaud-Tremblay (pictured) had a breakout game with a double-double. (Sam Reynolds / McGill Tribune) started hitting their three-point shots as they cut the deficit to four points with just under two minutes to play. With 58 seconds remaining and a six-point Redmen lead, Niagara was once again the victim of questionable officiating as a foul call allowed McGill to take the ball the other way and stretch the lead to eight, taking
away any hopes of a comeback. Though Niagara would likely point to the one-sided officiating, the true story of the game was McGill’s dominance down low. The Redmen outscored the Purple Eagles 44-26 in the paint and out-rebounded them 41-33, leading to 16 second-chance points.
“All the credit goes to the kids,” said DeAveiro after the game. “The guys are a pretty happy bunch right now and they’ve seen what their hard work can achieve.” The Redmen will have some time off to focus on academics before resuming their pre-season schedule October 14 at Dalhousie.
Third Man in Summer 2011: When sports spun out of control
Two years ago I spent months engaged in a heated debate about why I love sports. “You should be doing something more important and worrying about the many problems facing the world today,” argued my friend. I responded by saying that sports are a way to escape the trials and disappointments of everyday life, a way to completely immerse oneself in an alternate reality. This summer, however, many have found sports far too real and have allowed their social escapism to leak out of the gates of the stadium into general society where their actions have become nothing more than social deviance. In 1994, when the Vancouver Canucks lost Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final to the New York Rangers, Vancouverites took to the streets, rioting and causing an estimated $1.1 million in damages to the city’s
beautiful downtown core. This year, with much of Canada behind them hoping for a Canadian team to bring home the Cup, Canucks fans and general hooligans embarrassed their city and country again by rioting after a Game 7 defeat. The riot— which caused $5 million in property damage—had Vancouver on the news alongside Cairo, Tripoli, and Damascus where citizens have been fighting for freedom from the iron grip of dictatorship. We torched police cars and broke windows after a hockey game. We should be ashamed. Perhaps we should have expected violence from hockey fans as these are the same people (and I am no saint in this regard) who rise up to cheer when two players decide to drop the gloves and begin to mercilessly deliver blow after blow to each other’s faces with bare knuckles. I once attended a hockey game with a man from Brazil who was astounded that the winning fighter’s team got no extra goal or advantage but that the fight was just a sideshow. The cheers for fights may be muted
this season, as the summer has seen the deaths of three of the NHL’s preeminent enforcers. Derek Boogaard, Rick Rypien, and Wade Belak all threw their skulls on the line every night while fans cheered for blood and treated them like Roman gladiators. Regardless of whether their depression and other mental health issues were caused by fighting, or if the men fought because of these issues, we as fans need to ask ourselves: When do we turn off the TV? Embarrassing violence is not confined to Canada and hockey alone. The end of the summer showed us that it is alive and well south of the border. One would think that Bay Area fans would have learned from the story of Brian Stow, the San Francisco Giants fan who was brutally beaten in the stands by Los Angeles baseball fans at the Dodgers’ home opener. Stow, beaten to the point where he needed to be placed in an induced coma due to brain swelling, did nothing but wear the wrong hat in the wrong place. This grisly act was replicated after
an August NFL pre-season game at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park when a man wearing a shirt that allegedly said “Fuck the ‘Niners” was shot in the parking lot. The shooting followed an unconnected brawl in the stands where 49ers fans battled Oakland Raiders fans as surrounding fans cheered them on. When we have come to a point where attending games is dangerous and parents are afraid to bring their children, we must ask ourselves whether this is all truly worth it. Concussions in hockey have left star players like Sidney Crosby and Marc Savard unable to skate, colleges have allowed football players at schools like Miami to be showered with benefits like strippers and prostitutes, and disagreements between billionaire owners and millionaire players over money has left us wondering whether there will be an NBA season this year. But the summer was not a complete descent into sports-fueled anarchy. Last month, as riots raged and buildings burned across London and other English cities, fans of a
second division soccer team, Millwall FC, banded together to defend London. Commonly known as “the most hated team in Britain,” Millwall supporters have a reputation for hooliganism and frequently sing “No one likes us, we don’t care.” Though Millwall fans are by no means poster children for orderly behaviour at sporting events, they were able to check their allegiances at the door when their city and society was under attack by other hooligans. Stateside, ten years after 9/11, baseball fans across the United States can remember how sport brought a nation together during its darkest hour. Let’s not continue down a road where a sporting event can be such a low point. Rather, let’s clean up the pastimes we love so dearly. The road will be tough, but if sports are to remain a haven from the chaos of everyday life, it is our duty to return to civility. —Adam Sadinsky
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Lacrosse—mcgill 18, concordia 4
McGill trounces rival Concordia in pre-season lacrosse Team effort critical in landslide victory By Eric Frydrych Contributor As the sun rose on a new McGill lacrosse season, the Redmen confirmed what froshies learned all weekend: It’s better to be a Redman than a Bumblebee. A stunning 18-4 rout of their cross-town rivals signaled that McGill has reloaded and is gunning for glory in the upcoming season. The Redmen closed out their four-game pre-season slate on Thursday night by embarrassing the Concordia Stingers at Molson Stadium. The lopsided score was the product of a solid team effort that saw contributions from the entire lineup. Head Coach Timothy Murdoch used the team’s last pre-season game as a chance to spread out playing time and give his entire roster valuable on-field experience. As a result, the McGill sideline seemed like a revolving door at times, sending fresh faces onto the field throughout the game. “We’re young, we’re deep, and we’re hopeful that we can go really far this year,” Murdoch said, reflecting his optimism going into the new season.
Ross Burst (pictured) contributed five goals and two assists to Thursday’s win. (Sam Reynolds / McGill Tribune) The game was a tune-up for the 37 men who will make up the Redmen squad this year; a group that emerged from the 50 who started training camp. Coach Murdoch’s inclusive gameplan revealed the immense depth of the squad. Regardless of who was on the field, McGill’s skill easily outclassed the Stingers from start to finish. Concordia only managed one goal in the second half.
While the Redmen’s performance against Concordia was a team effort, several players were key to the outcome of the game. Secondyear attacker Ross Burst from St. Louis, Missouri had an impressive performance, which may point to a breakout year for him. Burst helped McGill establish control over the pace of the game from an early point by scoring a hat trick in the first quarter, and finished with five goals and
two assists on the night. Murdoch was also particularly pleased with his team’s success in the face-off circle, as the face-off crew highlighted by Brandon McLean, J.J. Miller and Jordan Sanford combined to win 90 per cent of the draws on their way to dominating ball possession. The Redmen will once again rely on cocaptain Jishan Sharples of Vancouver. Sharples potted two goals and last season’s second-leading scorer
MLB
Bringing Home the Hardware: MLB Awards By Jonathan Rosenbluth Contributor With the end of the baseball season near, many of the playoff races have already been wrapped up, and it’s now time to turn to the major awards and evaluate who the front runners are for the MVP and Cy Young, and if the season were to end today, who should be going home with the hardware. AL Cy Young Award: Justin Verlander, Detroit Tigers Runner Up: Jered Weaver, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim The extent of Verlander’s dominance this season is exemplified by his inclusion in the AL MVP debate. He leads the league in strikeouts, WHIP (walks plus hits per inning pitched), innings pitched, wins, and is second in ERA. With 21 wins already, Verlander is enjoying his best season in the majors. His no-hitter against the Blue Jays in May was the cherry on top of what will likely be a unanimous vote for the AL Cy Young.
NL Cy Young Award: Roy Halladay, Philadelphia Phillies Runner Up: Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers
AL MVP Award: Jose Bautista, Toronto Blue Jays Runner Up: Justin Verlander, Detroit Tigers
NL MVP: Justin Upton, Arizona Diamondbacks Runner Up: Matt Kemp, Los Angeles Dodgers
After crossing over from the American League last season, Halladay dominated hitters to the tune of his second career Cy Young Award. This season has been no different for “Doc,” as he has been the most complete pitcher in the NL. He currently sits third in wins, ERA, innings pitched, and strikeouts. Clayton Kershaw challenges the leader of the Phillies pitching staff for this award, as his stats are nearly identical in many areas. Halladay, however, plays home games in a hitter friendly park while Kershaw plays in the pitcher-friendly Dodger Stadium. A telling statistic that puts Halladay’s bid for back-toback Cy Young Awards over the top is WAR, or Wins Above Replacement. Halladay’s 7.2 score means that his presence in the lineup contributed 7.2 more wins to his team than a AAA or bench player would have. Kershaw’s WAR is an excellent, but lower, 5.8.
As much as this vote will come down to performance on the field, it will also hinge on voting philosophy. The two candidates, Bautista and Verlander, each have a major knock on their resume. Bautista’s Blue Jays are a .500 ball club and are not in the playoff hunt, while Verlander, a starting pitcher, plays only once every five days. The last pitcher to win an MVP award was Dennis Eckersley, a closer, in 1992. Bautista’s stats speak for themselves, however, as he leads the league in home runs, slugging percentage and on base percentage. The most feared hitter in baseball this season, Bautista has carried the Blue Jays offence and boasts an MLB-best WAR of 8.0, compared to Verlander’s 6.4. Bautista would be the Jays’ first MVP since George Bell took home the award in 1987, proof of the masterful job done by GM Alex Anthoplous in Toronto.
The NL MVP race is even more complicated than the AL race. Roy Halladay leads the NL in WAR, but as in Verlander’s case he is a starting pitcher. Matt Kemp leads NL position players in WAR, but the Dodgers have been out of the playoff hunt since May. Justin Upton has led his team to a five game lead in the NL West but his stats are slightly worse than those of other MVP candidates. There is great value, however, in playing for a contender and leading your team to the playoffs. On the Brewers, one could argue for either Ryan Braun or Prince Fielder as the team MVP, the Phillies boast a historically talented and deep rotation, and Kemp simply plays for a losing team. Arizona relies on Upton, and he has delivered, already, with over 25 home runs, and over 20 stolen bases. He is a five-tool player, and his ability to hurt you at the plate, on the base paths and to make plays in the field puts him over the top.
Ryan Besse of Aurora, Ontario contributed two assists. Thursday night’s game was a clear indicator of the buzz surrounding this team to start the season. The game drew a surprisingly large crowd that continued to grow well after the game had started. Coach Murdoch noted that there will be a lot of reason for optimism this season. “The reality is we want to win a national championship,” the coach said. “We’re really not happy with anything but that ... we think we’ve got something special going on.” All of this suggests that the Redmen have grown over the summer after a 5-4 campaign last year that ended in a first round playoff ouster. The development process will only be aided by the strong recruiting class joining the team in 2011. The new-look Redmen have swagger that makes them a team to be watched by the McGill faithful this fall. McGill starts its CUFLA season Saturday on the road with a fixture against the University of Toronto.
SCOREBOARD (Scores since Aug. 12)
Redmen Basketball *Illinois State – L 66-90 *Central Florida – L 58-100 *Akron – L 57-85 *Albany – L 58-93 *New Hampshire – W 77-74 *Niagara - W 78-71 Redmen Soccer *@ Southern NH – T 1-1 *@ Boston U – L 0-2 *Queen’s – W 4-1 *Cape Breton – L 0-3 *@Middlebury - L 0-2 Martlet Soccer *@ Vermont – L 0-4 *Fraser Valley – L 1-2 *Cape Breton – W 3-0 *@ Trinity Western - L 2-3 *@ Victoria - T 1-1 Martlets Field Hockey *Queen’s – W 4-0 *UPEI – W 1-0 *Western – T 1-1 Redmen Football @ Montreal – L 13-24 Redmen Lacrosse Concordia – W 18-4 *Denotes Pre-season
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Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Fantasy Football
The start of the fantasy football season... and school Stack your team—and your schedule—with safe picks, busts, and sleepers By Adam Taras Contributor As the relaxing summer comes to an end and the school year at McGill begins, a wave of responsibility hits students solidly in the face. I almost feel bad that while my friends are devoting their time to making sure they picked the right classes, I devote it to picking Fantasy Football players. Yet I’ve started to wonder, are they really so different? They both require you to determine what you need (choosing electives is a lot like picking bench players), seek advice from friends, go to the first few classes or do mock drafts, read every piece of information out there on ratemyprofessors.com or ESPN, scream at the computer when Minerva or the online draft fails, and, most importantly, both are crucial to making your season or semester enjoyable. For those of you who also enjoy the game of Fantasy Football during a jam-packed start to the school year, here’s some advice.
The Safe Picks
These are the guys that have time and again proven that they’re solid. They’re mentioned so many
times among the league’s elite that it may even seem boring to choose them. “Maybe I should take the rookie or the exciting new star,” you think to yourself. Resist this urge. Take the safe player with confidence, as he will be the (figurative) leader of your team. Adrian Peterson, RB Vikings: Some might push to draft Arian Foster first overall, but he just doesn’t have the same body of work to look back on as Peterson, who has rushed for over 1250 yards and over 10 TDs every year he’s been in the league. While Foster put up amazing numbers last year, he only rushed for 0.3 yards more per carry (4.9 to 4.6) than Peterson, and Foster is likely to get fewer carries this year with a healthy Ben Tate in the fold. Be safe and take Peterson at number one. Tom Brady, QB Patriots: He may not be the flashiest of the top QBs, but he finished as the league’s MVP last year even without a downfield presence in Randy Moss. With a receiving corps highlighted by Deion Branch, Wes Welker, and new Belichick disciple Chad Ochocinco and supported by breakout tight ends Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez, Brady is about as safe as
you’re going to get. Steven Jackson, RB Rams: While he is definitely no longer in his prime, he’s a workhorse, averaging 21 carries per game over the past five years, and there’s no reason to think that this won’t continue. In a league in which it’s hard to find a reasonably priced back with no time-share, Jackson is a safe pick, although there are other running backs with higher value.
The Busts
There are some players that you’ve heard are just way too good to be true. Maybe they’ll even have an impressive few games or a highlight of the night. Eventually, however, they’ll fizzle out and you’ll wonder why you took them. Peyton Hillis, RB Browns: While he had an unbelievable start and was the surprise of the 2010-11 season, Hillis averaged only 54.4 yards in his last five games. He’s still unproven and ranked far too highly. This year Montario Hardesty, the Browns’ second round pick last year, will finally be healthy and will likely steal touches as the Browns try to keep Hillis from burning out like he did last year. Finally, Hillis is on the
cover of Madden. Do not take the curse lightly. Avoid drafting him. Darren McFadden, RB Raiders: DMC finally showed what he’s capable of last year, but it seems like he’s never at full health, battling turftoe and knee problems. Although he has the potential to be great, it’s not worth the high draft pick that would be needed to get him, or the anxiety that comes from seeing him on the Questionable list almost every week. Joe Flacco, QB Ravens: People often get confused about the difference between a good quarterback and a good fantasy quarterback. In real terms he led the ravens to a 12-4 record, but in fantasy terms he only had one game in which he threw over 300 yards and shouldn’t be ranked too highly.
The Sleepers
Finally, there are the players who no one talks too much about. They may not seem like the coolest choices but they’re undervalued and should be easy to draft. These are the guys you’ll be thanking when you’re the last of your friends standing at the end of the season. Josh Freeman, QB Bucca-
neers: He was an extremely consistent player last year, with a 61.4 percent completion rate and four times as many passes for TDs as INTs. He also finished second only to Michael Vick in rushing yards by a QB with 364. He did all this in only his second full season, and seems poised to do even better this year. Malcom Floyd, WR Chargers: Yes, Vincent Jackson is back, but Floyd is still a good deep threat and could produce good numbers again. Davone Bess, WR Dolphins: He had 79 receptions last year and is only 25 years old. At his draft spot he could start as a flex, and he has great upside. Instead of stressing about classes and profs, spend your time looking for that player who will make the difference between a championship and missing the playoffs. Even if your classes don’t turn out just right, if you have a good fantasy football team you’ll always have something enjoyable to do during them anyways. After all, priorities are important, and between school and fantasy we all know which comes out on top.
Soccer
Bright future for Martlets, Redmen Both teams looking to improve on last season’s performances By Filippo Furlano Contributor Building on a pair of Quebec semi-final finishes last year, the Redmen and Martlets will look to challenge for league honours this season. After a tough pre-season, the Redmen and Martlets both look ready. “It has been a tough pre-season with strong opponents. I felt that last year we were not as hard working despite being talented,” Redmen Head Coach David Simon said in an email to the Tribune. “In order to succeed,
everyone will have to put their ego aside and play for the team.” The Redmen’s pre-season was filled with more downs than ups, beginning with a 1-1 draw against NCAA foe Southern New Hampshire. The Redmen then travelled to Boston where they fell 2-0 to the Boston University Terriers. “We need to improve mentally,” Simon said. “We tend to lose our focus at key moments of the game.” Although the results were not great, the tough early tests prepared the team for the Old Four Tour-
nament against long-time rivals Queen’s, Western, and the University of Toronto. McGill was seeking a second consecutive title after a nail biting final triumph against the Golden Gaels last season. The Redmen soundly won their opening match 4-1 against last year’s finalists, but the tournament was cut short and the championship game against Toronto could not be played due to flooding at Molson Stadium from the remnants of Hurricane Irene. McGill followed up the unfinished Old Four tournament with losses against Middlebury and Cape Breton. If McGill is to achieve success later this year, they will have to avoid being hit on the counterattack. “We are able to generate dangerous attacking opportunities but are often unable to finish, which in turn makes us more vulnerable defensively,” Simon said. Without more clinical finishing ability, the Redmen could be in danger of giving up quick leads after attacking moves forward. The coach also stressed mental toughness as a key to success. The Redmen will begin their
Photos by Ryan Reisert, McGill Tribune
Quebec season at UQAM on September 11. On the women’s side, the Martlets also had a challenging pre-season. Their first game was in Vermont where they faced the Catamounts, suffering a tough 4-0 loss. This was followed by a 2-1 loss to Fraser Valley at Molson Stadium. Like the Redmen, the Martlets opened up the Old Four tournament against Queen’s. An intense match saw the McGill women squeak by, 4-3, on penalties. The championship pitted the Martlets and Toronto, but the flood affected this match, leaving
the championship without a winner for the year. After the Old Four Tournament, the women had a strong showing against Cape Breton, cruising by the Capers in a 3-0 rout. The penultimate pre-season game was against Trinity Western—the Martlets lost 3-2 in heartbreaking fashion after going up 2-1 early. The women now travel to British Columbia for training camp and a pre-season matchup against Victoria before kicking off their regular season at Bishop’s in Lennoxville on Friday night.
Frosh 2011 Photos by Sam Reynolds