The McGill Tribune, October 12, 2011

Tribune The McGill

Published by the Tribune Publication Society Volume No. 31 Issue No. 6

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

WUSC McGill Flora Terah Tribune Gives Thanks Exploring Montreal Photo Caption Contest Martlet Hockey Matt Bonner

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Burtynsky’s “Oil,” page 14

McGill cleared by CNT; Profs support end to strike

Developments in MUNACA strike as union, administration enter sixth week of negotiations

By Anand Bery and Elisa Muyl News Editors Duct tape on the sidewalks

by McGill’s entrances now demarcates exactly where MUNACA members on strike are allowed to march. Those aren’t the only lines on campus as a result of the labour conflict; these are divides which no one expects will be crossed anytime soon. New developments this week include a ruling on McGill’s alleged use of scab labour by the Quebec Labour Board, a press conference held by MUNACA, and a letter sent to Heather Monroe-Blum from 13 biology professors.

Scab labour ruling The Quebec Labour Board (CNT) ruled yesterday in favour of McGill on the issue of the university’s use of replacement workers.

The provincial labour board, which issued the ruling late Tuesday morning, found that McGill has been fully compliant with the law and has not used illegal replacement (scab) workers to fill gaps due to absent strikers.

The CNT originally sent an

investigator to McGill in late September to review scab use allegations filed by MUNACA. At the end of a 12-day investigation, the labour board released a non-legallybinding report which found 26 instances of illegal scab labour. In the days that followed, MUNACA filed a complaint based on the investigation and McGill presented its position before the board.

Yesterday’s ruling represents a legal verdict on the CNT’s initial finding and clears McGill of any wrongdoing.

“We’ve said all along that the Quebec labour code allows for certain types of workers, management employees, to perform the work of employees who are on strike,” Michael Di Grappa, McGill’s VP Administration and Finance, said.

“This ruling supports [what we’ve always been doing].”

According to Di Grappa, the original report contained some inaccuracies which likely led to the original 26 allegations of scab labour. There was also some ambiguity around an employee who was called to work at a different campus, See “MUNACA” on page 2

Members of PSAC and MUNACA speak at a rally held last week. (Sam Reynolds / McGill Tribune)

McGill alumnus never learned he won Nobel prize Ralph Steinman recognized for his work on the human immune system

By Anna Ross Contributor McGill alumnus Ralph Steinman passed away on Friday, Sept.

30, after a long struggle with pancreatic cancer. He was 68. The following Monday, the Nobel Prize committee announced that Steinman, who had conducted research at New York’s Rockefeller University until his death, was awarded the 2011 Nobel Prize in Medicine alongside American scientist Bruce Beutler, and Luxembourg-born Jules Hoffmann. At the time of the announce-

ment, the committee was unaware of Steinman’s untimely death.

Steinman, like his co-awardees, had dedicated his life to researching the immune system. When he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, he used his own body to experiment and research possible cures.

He removed a piece of the cancerous tumour, and trained his immune cells to hunt down any remains of it that may have been missed during the surgical procedure.

Dr. Sarah Schlesigner, who collaborated with Steinman on the experiment, told the BBC that train-

ing his immune cells to attack the tumour invoked a powerful immune response, and it is believed that this allowed Dr. Steinman to live longer than was expected. Unfortunately, his experiment was ultimately unsuccessful and he lost his battle with the disease.

While it has been years since Steinman studied at McGill, his affiliation with the institution continues to be cited routinely in reports of his death.

“McGill University gets a mention in reports around the world because Steinman got his undergradu-

ate degree here. Although it is unrealistic, we will take some credit for his achievements,” Joe Schwarcz, director of McGill’s Office for Science and Society, said. “Maybe we were able to interest him enough to provide stimulation towards a research career. But I suspect he would have done well no matter where he did his undergrad,” Schwarcz said.

Heather Munroe-Blum, principal and vice-chancellor of McGill, issued a public statement on Steinman’s death.

“On behalf of McGill University, I wish to extend our profound

condolences to the family and friends on the passing of one of our eminent alumni, Dr. Ralph Steinman, whose share of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Medicine was announced just days after his death,” read the statement. “Dr. Steinman’s outstanding work in immunology and his discovery of the key role dendritic cells play in immune processes has led to a number of significant potential therapies for a variety of diseases, including cancer.”

News MUNACA developments: week six continued from COVER

but the ruling stated that McGill was operating under the law.

“In most of the other cases, I’d say that it was differences in interpretation of the law,” Di Grappa said. “We’re very pleased that the commission sided with the university.”

Press conference Last Friday, MUNACA held a press conference in conjunction with representatives from SSMU, PSAC (MUNACA’s affiliate union), and 13 biology professors who have spoken out on the strike.

John Gordon, national president of PSAC, alleged that the university had been attempting to silence students who support the strikers.

“The university has been doing everything in its power to throw roadblocks at [us] every step along the way when it comes to addressing the issues,” Gordon said. “They refuse to address the issues but at the same time they’re trying to gag their own students from doing any protests in support of the strikers.”

Michael Di Grappa, McGill’s VP administration and finance, called the statement false and unfounded in response.

“Mr. Gordon doesn’t know that of which he speaks ... the fact that there have been numerous demonstrations on campus, I think, puts the lie very effectively to that statement,” Di Grappa said.

Di Grappa also refuted the union’s claims that McGill has been stalling negotiations.

“Mr. Gordon should know that the conciliator offered many more dates than were accepted by the par-

ties, and it was the unavailability of his representatives that limited the number of dates that we’ve had so far.”

Kevin Whittaker, president of MUNACA, spoke at the conference about changes to their picketing strategy in response to the extension of the injunction, which limits their ability to picket on campus. He also discussed a request for alumni to withhold donations until after reconciliation has occurred.

“As this injunction has been renewed, we will now be expanding our horizons into more creative methods,” Whittaker said. “We are also asking all alumni from McGill to not donate any money to McGill during the course of the strike. If they wish to do so afterwards, we would encourage them to wait until that time.”

He is also pleased with the reaction he’s gotten from a few members of McGill’s Board of Directors in response to letters.

“We have had some reactions from [some members of the Board] and they have indicated that they will be talking to the university,” he said.

After the press conference, attendees then moved to a rally held on a blocked-off section of McGill College directly across from the Roddick Gates. A negotiator from PSAC updated the union’s members on the process of negotiations. Although no progress has been made on contentious issues like pensions and wage increases, MUNACA had made considerable headway, the negotiator said, on other issues including the language in MUNACA’s agreements surrounding job security.

“The bad news is, we’re still on strike,” the negotiator said, adding that the union would not budge without a meaningful response from the university on key issues, such as pensions.

“In the meantime: stand together in solidarity, because that’s how we’re going to win this thing.”

Faculty support letter “While we were pleased earlier this month to see McGill ranked first among universities in Canada, we feel we should not turn our backs on a key part of our community that has allowed us to reach that position,” reads part of the open letter addressed to Principal Heather Monroe-Blum from 13 biology professors, urging both parties to resolve the dispute quickly.

Professor Dr. Louis Lefebvre, present at the press conference, emphasized that McGill staff and students must not ignore the striking workers, and that it is not just “business as usual” at the university.

“If [students haven’t noticed the effects of the strike], it’s because someone is working behind the scenes,” he said. “I already know one manager who’s had to take time off because of illness she attributes to overwork ... that’s not the way things should be in the community.”

At the same time, he clarified that the letter was not necessarily in support of either side, but rather in recognition of the professors’ absent colleagues and in favour of a speedy and amicable resolution to the strike.

“I’m not saying [to] support the strike ... [but] let’s acknowledge the fact that it’s not business as usual,” he said. Nonetheless, Lefebvre be-

(Holly Stewart / McGill Tribune) lieves it is important for students to understand the issues behind the MUNACA strike and to deal with their ethical and moral implications.

“We’re not a vocational training school,” Lefebvre said. “We’re

teaching [students the technical aspect of their degree], but also to be citizens and thinkers ... well-made heads, les têtes bien faites.”

Make some news in the house. Meetings Mondays @ 5:30 in Shatner 110.

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3

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

national

Ontario votes and Liberals win minority government

McGuinty gets third term as Ontario’s Premier, Conservatives and NDP make significant gains

By Sean Lamb Contributor Dalton McGuinty and the Liberal Party of Ontario won their third consecutive Provincial election last Thursday night, clinching victory despite Ontarians’ preference for Conservative Party candidates in recent federal and Toronto mayoral elections. The result marks McGuinty’s third term as Premier but only the first in a minority government, after handily winning majorities in 2003 and 2007.

When the polls closed, the incumbent party was holding at 53 seats, just one seat short of a third majority parliament. Both the Progressive Conservatives (PC) and the New Democratic Party (NDP) made gains, earning 37 and 17 seats, respectively.

Tim Hudak, running his first

campaign as leader of the Ontario PCs, entered the campaign as the official opposition, and, at first, was polling neck-to-neck with McGuinty. The party’s platform focused on what he saw as Liberal tax hikes over the past eight years. A PC press release quotes Hudak saying: “Dalton always hikes taxes. And he never takes responsibility.” Closer to election day, his focus became the spectre of a NDP-Liberal coalition: “He will claim he has to hike taxes as the cost of doing a deal with the NDP.” The party emphasized what they perceived as government waste, and extraneous taxation on hydro.

The NDP made considerable gains by reaching out to middle-class voters concerned with their bottom line. Leader Andrea Horwath vowed to eliminate the harmonized sales tax on hydro and cap the salaries of hospital CEOs. As a near-majority

government, the Liberals will need to rely on the support of one of the two opposition parties to pass legislation, considerably augmenting the influence of those parties in the legislature.

McGuinty’s re-election comes shortly after a major conservative victory in last May’s national election in Ontario ridings, as well as the recent election of fiscally conservative mayor of Toronto, Rob Ford.

Despite the apparent inclination of Ontario voters toward Tory governance, Iopsis Reed polls during the election suggested that Ford’s presence hurt Hudak’s chances.

Kathleen Klein, president of Liberal McGill, said that voters sent a message to the Conservatives, and were still reeling from previous Premier Mike Harris’ public service cutbacks.

“Stephen Harper wanted to

see the Greater Toronto Area go completely blue at the close of this election and his dreams have been trounced … Mike Harris’ so-called common-sense revolution is still too fresh in the minds of most Ontarians to make the mistake of electing Harris 2.0,” Klein said.

Despite a large contingent of Ontarians at McGill, many were unaware of the results of the election, or even that it took place.

“I should care since I’m from there, but I just don’t pay as much attention as I should … I voted in the municipal election here [in Montreal], but I don’t really notice what’s going on back home,” Amy Boekhoud, a U3 Art History student, said.

The trend of low voter interest is not unique to McGill; voter turnout was at its lowest in 36 years. Less than half of eligible voters in Ontario cast ballots on Thursday.

“Our health care is still covered by our home provinces, our younger siblings are still affected by government-mandated curriculum [sic] in their classrooms, many parents are paid by the provincial government and are affected by changes in the economy, and many of us students hope to return home to jobs upon completion of our studies,” Klein said, in response to the lack of student awareness. For students in particular, the Liberal platform has several proposals aimed at reducing student debt, such as 30 per cent post-secondary undergraduate tuition grants, and a six month grace period on loan repayment for graduates who enter the not-for-profit sector.

campus speaker

Microsoft chief research officer comes to McGill Craig Mundie talks to students about new Microsoft developments and Xbox Kinect

By Nathaniel Finestone Contributor Craig Mundie, Microsoft’s chief research and strategy officer, spoke at McGill last Friday about the future of human-computer interaction and Microsoft’s contributions to the field.

Many students anxiously awaited the talk, including Joel Cheverie, a U0 mathematics student.

“I use Microsoft [products] everyday and so I want to see every development. My class was cancelled because my professor was in a roundtable with [Mr. Mundie], so I figured it should be good,” Cheverie said.

The talk was one in a series of presentations given by the Microsoft executive at various institutions.

While at McGill, Mundie also met with principal Heather MunroeBlum and held a roundtable with many of McGill’s professors and students from different faculties.

“It’s good to have some crossfertilization between liberal arts and sciences, because there is a lot of room for each to contribute to each other,” Mundie said.

Computers have changed over the last few years, not only in computational power but also in analytic capabilities, and our interactions with them have changed as a result.

To illustrate exactly where he sees computers going in the future, Mundie demonstrated Microsoft’s

Craig Mundie spoke to students about Microsoft’s latest research projects. (Ryan Resiert / McGill Tribune) WorldWide Telescope (WWT), a computer program which turns complex data sets into useful information. Using massive computing power, the project blends terabytes worth of images and information from various sources like groundand sky-based telescopes to map the known universe. In his presentation he displayed a map of the continen-

tal United States and, after processing and overlaying huge data sets, WWT rendered a three-dimensional precipitation map.

Mundie also presented Microsoft Research’s Organ Navigator, which can display cross sections of the human body with the ability to zone in on any specific organ at any angle or cross section.

“Can we teach a machine to identify organs based on a read-out like a radiologist knows how to do?

Yes. All those processes that had to be guided by a human is just not true anymore [sic],” Mundie said.

He also discussed the real world capabilities of the Kinect, which has sold eight million units faster than any other computing device as certi-

fied by Guinness World Records.

Mundie spent considerable time showcasing Kinect’s capabilities, which include advanced functionality like three-dimensional model making and teleconferencing with up to eight participants. One goal of Kinect is to allow conversing in a natural way, as if participants were in the same room. All of these advances are supposed to enhance the computer-using experience and bring it closer to reality. Although the avatars can replicate facial and hand gestures, they still require a suspension of disbelief since they are computer expression characters.

Mundie, however, remained hopeful.

“We are not very far from blending the virtual and real worlds together,” he said. “It will one day be possible for the computer to be able to write the program for you and learn from you what is needed to analyze the data.”

The talk was very well received by student attendees.

“It was really engaging and had really innovative proposals,” Julietta Jakubowicz, a U3 software engineering student, said. “I was shocked because the stuff he showed was daring and experimental; much more than the public face of Microsoft with consumer products. It showed some high impact examples of cutting edge research.”

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Curiosity Delivers. www.mcgilltribune.com

campus

McGill reaches out to students in refugee camps Program offers former refugees chance at education and Canadian citizenship

By Jonny Newburgh Contributor This August, the World University Service of Canada (WUSC) welcomed 74 refugees from Malawi and Kenya who will attend one of 61 participating universities across Canada this year. Two participants in the program have enrolled at McGill, both in the faculty of engineering.

WUSC’s Student Refugee Program (SRP) provides refugees a post-secondary education, a chance to gain permanent residency in Canada, and a foot in the door on the way to becoming Canadian citizens.

The SRP began at Carleton University in 1978, the same year that the Canadian government changed the immigration policy to permit private sponsorship of refugees.

Canada has two official policies regarding immigration of refugees. The first is by inland claims, in which a refugee seeks protection at the Canadian border. The second is through refugee resettlement, when

refugees are selected by the Canadian government to live in Canada.

“The path to citizenship ... is the underlying principle of the program,” Zoe Greenwald, a U3 student, McGill’s co-chair for the SRP, said.

Allison Cooper, another McGill co-chair for the SRP, explained that while all of this year’s participants sought asylum in Kenya, many originate from different countries in Africa and Asia, and of the 1200-plus alumni of the program, many have moved to Canada from the Middle East, Africa, Sri Lanka, and Eastern Europe.

Michelle Manks, senior program officer for the SRP at WUSC’s head office in Ottawa, said that in the past, student enrollment in the program “depends [on] where conflicts are over time.” WUSC provides a means of private sponsorship “to get people out of refugee situations …and into permanent residency in Canada.”

“Most other countries don’t offer resettlement,” Manks said, as

refugees in most countries are confined to a camp.

Greenwald said that sifting through applications and picking students to attend McGill was the hardest part of the job.

“It feels like you’re playing God,” she said.

It is difficult to organize educational programs in refugee camps, and programs such as the SRP may seem out of reach for most refugees.

Several students apply for each spot that a Canadian university has available through SRP. McGill had the first choice of students. However, not being picked

by McGill does not imply rejection from the program.

Last year, Manks explained that applicants simply did not meet McGill’s academic requirements, and, therefore the university did not host any student refugees. Instead, the organization used the money intended for last year to admit an additional student this year.

Since its founding in 1987, McGill’s chapter of SRP has levied a 50

campus

McGill jumps in world rankings Moves up seven places in Times university rankings

By Eric Mauser News Editor McGill rose in the Times Higher Education World Rankings for 2011. McGill jumped from 35th last year to 28th in the current rankings.

Two Canadian schools were ranked higher than McGill in the Times rankings: the University of British Columbia, which moved from 30th last year to 22nd this year, and the University of Toronto, which fell from 17th in the world to 19th.

Canada had the fifth highest number of universities in the top 200 schools of any country.

According to the Times ranking’s website, there are five overarching categories that determine how a school ranks. These are teaching, worth 30 per cent of the overall ranking; research and citations, both worth 30 per cent; industry income, worth 2.5 per cent; and the international outlook of staff and students, which is worth 7.5 per cent.

“These strong results show that McGill continues to be regarded as one of the best universities in the world,” principal and vice-chancellor Heather Munroe-Blum said in a statement released by McGill.

“We are gratified to be thought of so

cent fee per student for every semester. This was intended to increase with inflation, but remains at the same level today. Those admitted to the program receive financial aid for tuition as well as living costs. After their first year, however, they need to find jobs to support themselves.

Cooper expressed concern that the McGill administration is seeking to diminish the program’s capacity by means of “a referendum question to use [WUSC’s] funding for other purposes.” According to the SSMU website, this referendum question seeks to “support international students from developing countries if there are no eligible WUSC refugee students in any year.”

Nevertheless, Cooper spoke highly of her personal experience with WUSC. “It really is an awesome and unique way to get involved, very much firsthand, with helping students adjust to life in Canada, learning from them and with them as we go through the [student] experience together,” she said.

The Tribune is looking for a news editor.

To apply, send a CV, cover letter, and three writing samples to editor@ mcgilltribune. com

by Oct. 31.

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A to Z’s of Running A Student Organization Studying to move up in the rankings. (Holly Stewart / McGill Tribune) highly and we continue to strive for the excellence in our academic and research missions that will maintain these high standings.”

Monroe-Blum also stressed that rankings are important because they help to determine where prospective students and faculty ultimately decide to go.

One explanation for McGill’s large jump in the rankings was the increased emphasis on international student and faculty composition this year, which favors McGill’s diverse student and faculty body.

Earlier in the year, McGill was

ranked 17th in the world by the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) ranking system.

“We are better able to prepare our students to live and work in an increasingly globalized society, where research and interaction will increasingly take place across borders, where different cultures and backgrounds will come together to exchange ideas and experiences in shaping tomorrow’s world,” Monroe-Blum said.

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5

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

campus

Food expert David Morley discusses famine in Somalia Kicks off Global Food Security Conference

By Holly Stewart Managing Editor David Morley, president and CEO of UNICEF, opened the McGill Global Food Security Conference with a moment of silence commemorating those killed in a bombing in Mogadishu, Somalia, on Oct. 4; a stark reminder of the everyday dangers of life in the region.

The death toll from the bombing has risen to close to 100. The area is also experiencing a famine which threatens the lives of 12 million people.

“Let us all remember … A bomb exploded outside the Ministry of Education in Mogadishu, in Somalia, today,” Morley said. “Parents and children had been lined up, waiting to get their test results from school. This illustrates some of what we’re having to deal with today in

the Horn of Africa.”

The fourth annual Global Food Security Conference on Oct. 4 hosted a variety of round tables on subjects such as food price volatility, and—a new addition this year—a student-led panel on grassroots action and challenges to aid. Morley, no stranger to global food crises, shared some of his experiences with the audience on Tuesday, drawing heavily on UNICEF’s efforts in Somalia this past summer. According to Morley, global food production, which continues to rise, has been more than able to keep up with global demand, but distribution is still a big problem.

He also illustrated some of the lesser-known threats to food security, such as infrastructure in the developing world, which is in such disrepair that up to 40 per cent of

food produced in those areas is lost.

“We see poor infrastructure in the developing world … that means poor rural roads, inadequate storage facilities ... means that so much food is lost during transportation,” Morley said. “Here in Canada, we don’t know how much food we lose, but our loss is at the other end—it’s the food that we throw out, and what we consign to the compost heap.”

The solutions to these problems are not immediately obvious.

Morley’s talk emphasized the realities of famine and food shortages which are often blunted in media reports by “antiseptic” words and statistics. To cope with food shortages or high food prices, people often eat less, sell as many belongings as they can spare, and go into debt.

“If you’re only eating two meals a day, now you’re eating one,”

Morley said.

Somalia suffered low rainfall this year and its worst crop production in 17 years. Over the summer, it experienced a food shortage which grew to famine levels, a grisly term based on the price of food and how many adults and children die of malnutrition per day. Morley responded to criticisms that the UN should have declared a famine state earlier than it did with a precise definition.

“There’s a technical definition and there’s a reason that we wait until certain thresholds are met. The definition is this: it’s when more than 30 per cent of the children under five are acutely malnourished, and when people are receiving less than the 2,100 kilo-calories per day needed to survive, and when the death rate is higher than two adults or four children per 10,000 people.”

Nonetheless, UNICEF responded with a massive aid effort over the summer, despite the difficulties of delivering aid to a politically unstable region. They succeeded in importing 31,000 metric tonnes of supplies, including basic health kits for 600,000 people and emergency food supplies for almost 300,000 people for two weeks.

“We want to double our capacity … over the next year,” Morley said. “It takes an incredible amount of diplomatic skill because there are constant negotiations. We won’t pay bribes to get through, but we will talk about negotiations. We’ll say, this is what it’s going for, this is why it has to go, and you have to negotiate clan to clan in making sure that your food [and supplies go] as far as [they] can.”

CAmpus

Tribute to Kenyan Nobel prize winner Wangari Maathai Flora Terah speaks about her mentor and experiences

By Carolina Millán Ronchetti Contributor Last Friday, Kenyan activist and political leader Flora Terah spoke at Atwater Library in celebration of the life of the late Wangari Maathai. Maathai, who passed away Sept. 25 at the age of 71, became the first African woman to win a Nobel Peace Prize in 2004. She was recognized for her work protecting the environment, promoting sustainable development, and encouraging gender empowerment in Kenya.

“Wangari did not just plant trees for the environment. Yes, environment was key, but please remember we come from a patriarchal society,” Terah said. “Wangari did the tree planting strategically: to get to talk to women. To get the women to understand that they are human beings, that they have a role in the society, that it is their right to ask for basic human rights. This is how many of us in Kenya have followed her path. Her path was so thorny.

She was beaten, jailed, put in house arrest. But she never gave up.”

Terah, an advocate for women’s rights who was abducted when she ran for Kenyan Parliament in the 2007 elections, considers Maathi a source of inspiraction and courage.

“I was tortured too, that’s the same thing Wangari felt. I knew, if she never gave up, I wasn’t going to give up,” Terah said. “Wangari has been my role model, and I feel her presence wherever I go.”

After reflecting on Maathai’s life and the inspiration derived from her life, Terah invited those present at the event to take the podium and “share this story of love from a man’s perspective.” One such person was Esmael Njuguna, currently srudying in Montreal as a Sauvé Scholar working on projects to mitigate HIV/AIDS impact and address questions of sexuality in his native Kenya. Njuguna met Maathai several times at youth leadership conferences.

“She was a humble woman, full of optimism,” Njuguna said. “This woman is my inspiration. She has really done a lot for not only the Kenyan people, but for every citizen of the world.”

Njuguna noted that environmental activism can play an important role in peacebuilding. “[A scholar in Kenya] was once asked, how is [the] environment related to peace? And he said that if we don’t have equity in the distribution of natural resources, we will always have war.”

Asked about her message to students, Terah encouraged young people to continue Maathai’s vision. “[Students] will make a difference by doing what Wangari loved most: her passion was the environment, social change, and human rights, especially rights for women,” Terah said. “They can also lobby the Canadian government to hold the Kenyan government accountable.

They are giving so much money to

Kenya but not holding the leaders accountable, so the money is going into the wrong hands.”

The event was organized by a group of women interested in youth apathy and political activism. One of the organizers, Chloe Landry, a U2 honours political science major, explained that the group had originally intended to host an event showcasing Terah’s work to end genderbased violence and her courage in surmounting the challenges she has faced. However, Maathai’s passing led Terah to prefer honouring her friend and mentor.

The event was an occasion for those present to reflect on issues of gender discrimination. Amy Tang, a U1 psychology student, spent the summer volunteering in Kenya and said the event inspired her to rethink some of the situations she witnessed.

“I met a man who was telling me his belief that it’s the man’s place to discipline the woman, to control his household, almost as if the woman was another child,” Tang said. “At the time, I didn’t think too much about it. I got a little ticked off, but thought ‘I’m a visitor, I’m not going to come into this man’s home and argue with him.’ But as I’ve come back and I hear more about [these abuses] I realize that sometimes the issue is culture but oftentimes it’s just human rights.

Period. Sometimes you’ve got to say, ‘Hey, this is wrong.’ You have to speak out.”

Terah’s poignant speech and the

Terah speaks at Atwater Library. (Simon Poitrimolt / McGill Tribune) legacy of Maathai’s life resonated with many of the people in the event. “[Maathai] saw tree planting as a way to reduce poverty, as a way to help women and as a way to help [the] community,” Landry said.

“There’s an interconnectedness of

issues. You don’t have to conquer all the isses because some things can really make a difference on a wide range. I find that is a very powerful message.”

Opinion On the Record

James Gilman jgilman@mcgilltribune.com

Defining a right One of the most common assertions made by student organizations and activists arguing for the elimination of tuition fees is that there is a universal right to education, and therefore, that charging or raising tuition fees is immoral, or even a violation of a fundamental human right. By this logic, the debate over tuition is no longer a budgetary question, but an abstract moral issue cast in terms of right and wrong, and not in terms of realworld constraints.

While almost no one disputes the first part of that argument—that a right to education exists—the idea that this extends to free post-secondary education is questionable.

The right to elementary education is grounded in international law, but a right to free higher education has no clear basis. The UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights claims that everyone has a right to education, yet beyond that it is more careful, stating that education should be free, but not necessarily at the postsecondary level. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights suggests that states move towards introducing free higher education, but recognizes that its implementation is subject to material constraints. Countries around the world have been moving in the opposite direction, suggesting that the political and budgetary constraints are considerable. More importantly, it envisions free higher education not as a right itself, but as a means to achieving equally accessible education, which can be done in other, more efficient ways.

Clearly then, no definitive right to free higher education is codified in international law. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms contains nothing on the subject. Yet regardless of whether it’s actually

Off the Board Anand Bery

Pixar’s golden age The generation born a decade before mine would probably like to think that they grew up in the best possible era for Disney films.

My older friends can easily claim The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin as relics of their childhood years, but I was not yet speaking in full sentences

spelled out, the idea behind such a right just doesn’t make sense.

There is a clear divide between primary and secondary education, on the one hand, and post-secondary on the other. Most of us agree that primary and secondary education should be free. But everyone has the right to go to primary and secondary school, and up to a point it’s compulsory. There is no merit qualification needed to attend either. However, not everyone has the right to go to university—everyone who qualifies on merit does. Instead, every qualified candidate has the right not to be denied a place for financial reasons.

We can ensure that access to higher education is meritocratic—without university being free for everyone —by subsidizing those who cannot pay, while making those who can, share in the cost of their education.

If there’s no need to fully subsidize every university student, then why should we? Taxpayer subsidization of post-secondary education is regressive, as lower-income individuals finance disproportionately well-off students and soon-to-be high-income earners.

The usual argument for why we should is that higher education is a public good. Although that’s not strictly true in the economic sense —we can easily exclude those who don’t pay from the full benefits— there’s no doubt that post-secondary education contributes to the public good. A better educated population has well-known, quantifiable social benefits, but equally significant are the private benefits to graduates, in the form of higher average earnings.

And while it’s almost impossible to quantify what portion of the overall benefit this accounts for, it’s obviously more than zero, and is clearly significant—suggesting students should pay part of the cost.

Making higher education equitably accessible is a noble goal and can be achieved through a fairer, more progressive cost structure.

Instead of arguing that university should be free across the board, and shrouding it in a vague discourse of rights, we should look for solutions that are both just and realistic.

As September began saying its goodbyes, Montreal indie-rock sensation Arcade Fire took the city for a free ride that is still the subject of many a Facebook status. The downtown streets swelled with a larger crowd than usual that Thursday, and so I paused in my weekly grocery run to watch the masses all stream in the same direction. I stared at the spectacle of a city strutting down its streets to welcome their world famous sons n‘ daughters home, and—unlike most of those in the crowd—I wasn’t fazed. As news of the evening’s unique vibe and enthralling atmosphere ignited discussions throughout the next week, I just smiled and nodded politely.

Montreal natives were proud that the multi-award-winning crew was performing where they refined their craft, and Torontonians in the crowd were, for the most part, shocked to find out that stuff happens outside the GTA. But my response was off the beaten path because I hail from a prairie province that exists far off of it. My Manitoban perspective often transcends stereotypes in Montreal, not because its nature is invulnerable to them, but because to paint in broad strokes one has to know at least something about a place. And because Manitoba is just ‘out there somewhere’ to most, it rarely gets stroked by outsiders, broadly or otherwise.

I stood there that evening, surmising the controlled frenzy in a way that few else present were doing; like an age-old surfer watching a wave approach. It varied in shape and size, but—all in all—it was something familiar. My reaction bordered on the unimpressed, not because of some backwoods snobbery, but rather because I’d felt this sort of palpable music-infused

the year The Lion King was released.

“Look at kids these days,” you often hear these so-called Disney purists say. “They’ll never know what it was like to grow up with real Disney classics.”

Sadly, these folks are missing something. Today’s kids have a lot to brag about.

In the last two decades, Pixar has picked up where Disney left off in every way, executing the art of film with as much depth, care, and emotional precision as any cartoon classic I’ve ever seen.

Animation by hand was tedious, but few realize the true work that goes into a work of computer animation.

Each individual frame represents hundreds, often thousands, of hours on the part of talented animators. A movie has 24 frames per second.

Today’s kids love their beloved animated friends just as much as older generations loved their cartoon ones. The Cars franchise has netted, to date, a cool $10 billion in merchandising alone. Not bad for a bunch of talking cars. Five-yearolds everywhere show their love for Lightning McQueen on their shoes, sheets, bathing suits, lunch boxes, and huggable motor vehicles.

It may sound hopelessly sentimental, but the connection between Pixar characters and today’s

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Oh, Canada?

Johanu Botha

Sounds of the prairies

excitement many a time before. It is not mundane to me, but it’s certainly commonplace. But what happens so often in ‘toba that sounds like the Arcade Fire escapade is something that truly happens ‘out there,’ in recreational centres and hockey rinks far away from the city.

The province’s small towns generate groups with all the flair, emotional fervour, and even stylized eccentricity of Montreal’s darlings.

And like Arcade Fire, they prefer to play at home. An apt example is Manitoba’s Dust Poets. This group blends sixties soul, bluegrass, and gritty country with irreverent folk lyrics that has cultivated a charmed audience across the continent. Although they combine genres across the spectrum, the Poets create the same pre-show ambiance in their admittedly older crowd as Arcade Fire does in theirs. There is a difference in decibels, but their audiences both await shows with the same crackling sense of anticipation. So much so, that a homesick Manitoban can watch a Montreal crowd stream hustling and bustling to see a renowned rock band and think, “that’s bigger in scale, but very familiar.”

I can hear the cultural elites from jazz clubs in Montreal and coffee houses in Toronto screaming already, and thus I propose a hypothetical situation in which my Arcade Fire experience becomes theirs: Suppose an urban Easterner made the mistake of venturing into the prairies. Their confusion causes them to make a wrong turn (which is a catastrophe because, when driving on the flatlands, there is usually only one turn to make, no matter where you’re going), and they end up in a town of four hundred people where the hardware store doubles as the liquor vendor. If at this point they muster up the courage to follow the sweet sounds coming from a building that was once a barn, I guarantee that they will stop short at the door, sense the atmosphere, and think, “this is something very familiar.”

kids is as strong as ever—mostly because Pixar’s protagonists are intensely relatable. Just like Simba, Ariel, and Dumbo, Pixar heroes make (often child-like) mistakes, encounter challenges, and grow and change a lot over the span of their respective 90-minute features.

One can identify with a Pixar film on a multitude of levels. While children appreciate the adventure and slapstick humour, adults can appreciate their powerful statements on the importance of universal themes like love and honesty, and the nature of good and evil.

I’m not ashamed to say there were tears in my eyes at the end

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of Toy Story 3. I empathized with Andy’s leaving home, his moving to college, and his fading childhood in a way I probably never have with a live-action character.

Defending what belonged to the childhood of one’s own generation is a natural part of a kind of desperate nostalgia. I’m sure today’s kids will be turning up their noses at their younger peers’ 4D (or, whatever-numbered-dimension is the craze then) childhood films. That doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be any less great.

Tribune

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The McGill

Editorial

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Editor-in-Chief Shannon Kimball editor@mcgilltribune.com

The Tribune gives thanks

Managing Editors Sam Hunter shunter@mcgilltribune.com Holly Stewart hstewart@mcgilltribune.com

With the onset of midterms and the upcoming drop in temperature, it’s easy to forget just how fortunate we really are. The Tribune is surprised that the university hasn’t completely crumbled yet, and in light of that, we’ve made a list of a few other things that we’re grateful for.

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 Steven Lampert and Adam Sadinsky sports@mcgilltribune.com Photo Editors Ryan Reisert and Sam Reynolds photo@mcgilltribune.com Senior Design Editor Kathleen Jolly kjolly@mcgilltribune.com Design Editor Susanne Wang design@mcgilltribune.com Copy Editor Marri Lynn Knadle Advertising Manager Corina Sferdenschi cpm@ssmu.mcgill.ca

Students We’re thankful for the bumpercar-chairs in the Education Building, which give us the impression of being in bumper cars without going to all the trouble of going off the island and risking frostbite at La Ronde.

We’re thankful for the delicious treats sold by Organic Campus, the extra days of winter break this year, and the Quidditch Team, whose practices on lower field remind us that sometimes, catching the Golden Snitch is just as important as doing your readings.

On campus, we’re thankful for having survived the Great McTavish Flood of 2011, the information dots all over campus (courtesy of the McCord Museum), and the temporary lull in construction which allows us to get from the Milton Gates to the

Around the World

Publisher Chad Ronalds

Kaiti O’Shaughnessy

TPS Board of Directors James Gilman (Chair): chair@mcgilltribune.com

kaitio@mcgilltribune.com

Johanu Botha, Kathleen Jolly, Shannon Kimball, Iain Macdonald, Alex Middleton, Zach Newburgh

Contributors Johanu Botha, Noah Caldwell-Rafferty, Graeme Davidson,

Trevor

Drummond,

Monique

Evans,

Nathaniel Finestone, Jacqueline Gailbraith, James Gilman, Alexander Hamilton, Ricky Kreitner, Sean Lamb, Chris Liu, Christopher Nardi, Jonny Newburgh, Kaiti O’Shaughnessy, Lauren Pires, Carolina Millán Ronchetti, Anna Ross, Bea Santos, Akiva Toren, Michelle Whiteman

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Peaceful occupation Occupy Wall Street has fast emerged as the topic of the hour. The protests have quickly spread around the world with Occupy Montreal protests planned for Oct. 15.

It is difficult to discern the exact demands of the group, with only such vague statements as “We are the 99%” popping up over and over. However, the group’s declaration seems more intent on spreading information, for example by pointing out that corporations “continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives

Arts Building without taking a detour down to Burnside.

SSMU SSMU is thankful for learning a new word: Mobil-access-sustaintranspar-consulta-bility, but sometimes students are so focused on mobilizing that they forget where the SSMU office is. Fortunately, SSMU now has arrows leading from the doors of the Shatner building to their office.

SSMU is thankful for those students who are showing up at their strategic summits, although there’s been some confusion on whether the topic is “Summit on Consultation” or “Consulting on a Summit of Free Sandwiches.” SSMU is also thankful for the fall General Assembly, which went off without a hitch despite losing quorum early in the evening.

The Tribune The Tribune is thankful that the administration has provided everyone with weekly, informative, and groundbreaking information on the MUNACA strike. The Tribune is thankful for acronyms—PSAC, MUNACA, MFLAG, QPIRG—which has saved our reporters from acquiring carpel tunnel syndrome. The Tribune is also thankful to have a pre-set cover story every week.

We’re thankful for the free snacks at the Board of Governors meeting. We’re thankful for the gold bars under the James Administration building, but we’re really confused as to why no one has put them to a good cause, such as reinstating MUNACA’s pension plan, hiring more professors, fixing the budget deficit, and making education free for all.

Montrealers We’re all thankful that the Ontario elections are finally over, that Arrested Development is back on television and the silver screen, and that it hasn’t snowed yet. We’re all glad that the depressing graffiti that said “friends are fashion accessories” on the construction scaffolding, steps up to Docteur Penfield, and elsewhere on campus has been removed. If you’re friends with the Tribune, then you’re more than just a fashion accessory. We’re all thankful that Montreal’s infrastructure problem is being addressed, and that the Champlain Bridge’s structural integrity might be upgraded to that of an al dente spaghetti noodle.

in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantive profit.” It seems the movement is intended to generate democratic solutions rather than demand instant reform. The group needs to articulate its demands, but the most important factor to their success will be everyone’s commitment to non-violence.

The protests are already gathering bad press. There were hundreds arrested when protestors attempted to march across the Brooklyn Bridge, and a few others were arrested for wearing masks. The protestors must organize themselves to be taken seriously. This means no rioting, violence, or anything else that will give the police an excuse to arrest dozens and dismiss the protest as merely a group of anarchists looking for something to get angry about. As the G20 protests in Toronto demonstrated, it only takes a few

individuals to incite rioting, which ruins other protestors’ ability to protest peacefully.

The same thing will happen to Occupy Wall Street protestors unless they commit to non-violence. Occupy Wall Street has already demonstrated an enormous following and a solid commitment to peaceful protest. Hopefully this trend continues at Occupy Montreal. On the Facebook page for Occupy Montreal, one individual asserted that there may indeed be a place for violence in the protests. Other commenters were quick to emphasize the centrality of mutual respect.

When it comes to asserting democratic rights, violence only makes the message less convincing. It is easy to dismiss protestors and activists as troublemakers, so when protestors get violent, they just prove what many people already

think. Once dismissed by society as illegitimate, protestors have little hope of communicating their message.

Occupy Wall Street has big goals of reforming the financial system and achieving a democracy that is not determined by economic power. Although there doesn’t seem to be a consensus on the specifics of this reform, the campaign has the potential to be a much-needed wakeup call to governments around the world. The current distribution of wealth is problematic and does need to be addressed, and Occupy Wall Street is well placed to call attention to these issues.

We have the opportunity to continue voicing our displeasure with the current economic system at Occupy Montreal, but we will only be successful with a continued and firm commitment to non-violence.

killed two hundred US Marines, hijacking of the TWA flight 847 in 1985, attacks on Jewish synagogues, embassies and community centres around the world killing hundreds, not to mention involving Lebanon into a war with Israel in 2006 after abducting and killing two IDF soldiers in northern Israel and firing 4000 rockets. Tadamon! thinks Hezbollah should be de-listed as a terror group because it donates money and medical supplies to gain support from the local population who otherwise revile it. Forgive me for suggesting that Hezbollah is on the terror list for a reason and

Tadamon’s defence of Hezbollah’s human rights record shows extremely poor judgment.

ERRATA

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Letter to the Editor

published by the Société de Publication de la Tribune, a student society of McGill University. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of The McGill Tribune and the Société de Publication de la Tribune. and does not necessarily represent the views of McGill University. Letters to the editor may be sent to letters@mcgilltribune.com and must include the contributor’s name, program and year and contact information. Letters should be kept under 300 words and submitted only to the Tribune. Submissions judged by the Tribune Publication Society to be libellous, sexist, racist, homophobic or solely promotional in nature will not be published. The Tribune reserves the right to edit all contributions. Editorials are decided upon and written by the editorial board. All other opinions are strictly those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the McGill Tribune, its editors or its staff. Please recycle this newspaper.

Tadamon! states that Hezbollah plays many roles in society, like providing daycare services to poor families. I can think of a few more roles, such as using women and children as human shields, and firing rockets from densely populated areas. Hezbollah has planned and been linked to hundreds of terror attacks around the world including the truck bombing in 1983 that

– Michelle Whiteman Quebec Regional Director Honest Reporting Canada

An article in last week’s Tribune (“TA support, privacy concerns discussed at Council,” Oct. 5, 2011, p. 3) mistakenly states that Zach Newburgh made a request for a list of SSMU members at Council on Sept.

29. Newburgh made the request in an email to SSMU President Maggie Knight and was not present at the Council meeting.

The Tribune regrets this error.

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Student Living Around the town

Walking through history and nature on Mount Royal Montreal’s mountain offers something for everyone

By Noah Caldwell-Rafferty Contributor On the coldest day of the season so far, with the first frost sure to come that night, I made my way along Chemin Olmsted up the west side of Mount Royal. I thought I would find myself alone, trekking unnecessarily up a mountain (or just a small hill) in a chilling autumn wind, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Montrealers were everywhere, enjoying the nippy air. Runners panted along, elderly couples strolled with rolled-up umbrellas, and shoppers trudged by, carrying their week’s groceries along the darkening forest road to their homes.

The mountain is integral to the machine that keeps city-dwellers going. Mount Royal has become something of a playground where you can escape the city to jog, bike, hike, sightsee, birdwatch, or take pictures of the behemoth LED cross.

However, the mountain could easily look and feel drastically different, if the brilliant Frederick Law Olmsted had his way.

With Central Park already on his resumé, Olmsted was contracted to design Park Mount Royal in 1874. His genius showed in the initial plans. The mountain was to be a haven from the then-industrializing city proper. It was planned that the dense vegetation at the mountain’s base would thin out toward the summit, giving a sense of imagined elevation. One winding, gradual road

A lovely couple enjoying Mount Royal’s trails. (Ryan Reisert / McGill Tribune) would bring carriages slowly up the slope, acclimatizing the visitor to the surroundings, and allowing the city to fade from one’s mind; tranquility in nature, as seen from a horsedrawn carriage.

As much as this seems suited to Victorian sensibilities, very little of the design was implemented. On May. 24, 1876, Olmsted and city officials inaugurated the park from the mountain’s summit, no doubt while the architect looked around and wondered what had happened

to his psychological experiment of an “urban wilderness.” None of the vegetation alteration had occurred, a promenade at the summit was nowhere in sight, and the carriageway was finished hastily. In time, a funicular railway was added, bringing passengers straight from top to bottom, something Olmsted had vehemently opposed.

A depression hit the city of Montreal in the 1870s, and municipal projects had to be patched up cheaply. But perhaps the park and

mountain were always destined to be shaped by the citizens, creatively, and as necessary.

As I continued up the mountain, I saw signs of improvised alteration everywhere. Steep biking trails bisect the undergrowth between the road’s switchbacks. Narrow footpaths crisscross through the trees and rickety wooden bridges are haphazardly built where streams impede on the paths. Spying a steep trail that promised a quick hike, I turned off and headed for the summit. So much

for Olmsted’s gradual ascent.

I skirted the Kondiacronk chateau with its tourists milling about and taking in the breathtaking view of downtown. Heading down the opposite slope, towards the Maison Smith, the man-made Beaver Lake came into sight. Here too the city’s creative hand made its mark.

Between thinned-out trees stands a sculpture garden, a set of dynamited granite stones formed into poised symmetrical stances.

I ended my sojourn on the banks of Beaver Lake. Although scenically beautiful and full of wilderness, the view would have puzzled Olmsted.

Joggers paced the path, an uncommon pastime in the 1870s. Rollerblading youngsters strayed from a protective father’s gaze. And, the most confounding to the Victorian eye? As I set off to leave, a roving yoga class of middle-aged women marched by, following an instructor, neon Lululemon body suits starkly contrasting with the autumn leaves.

If you head up the mountain, wander the Chemin Olmsted, an homage to the discarded architect’s plans. Continue on to Beaver Lake.

In summer, the paddleboats are cheap to rent from the pavillion.

An expansive hill above the lake is a sledding hill in the winter; bundle up, grab a cafeteria tray, and hit the slopes.

recipes

The classic Thanksgiving leftovers sandwich A no-fuss solution to your endless leftovers

By Monique Evans Contributor Thanksgiving potlucks this past weekend came as a blessing and a burden. For those who brought the yams, it was a blessing: no hosting, no expensive ingredients, no problems. For the hosts, it started out great—seeing friends, enjoying a nice big meal, and feeling proud of themselves for stuffing and baking a turkey. But once everyone has left the house, the hosts carry the burden of the thanksgiving potluck: leftovers and a tiny fridge. The bright side of the story is a week of Thanksgiving leftovers lunches.

Here is how to do it best:

Ingredients Turkey (or tofurkey for the vegetarians) mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, stuffing, and any other leftovers from your Thanksgiving meal.

Directions Heat all of the ingredients. For best results, I suggest keeping some things hot (such as turkey, potatoes, and gravy) and others cold (like the cranberry sauce and stuffing). Place a piece of bread on a plate. Begin by layering the soft ingredients, like potatoes, gravy, and cranberry sauce, and continue with the heartier items, like carrots, stuffing, yams, and turkey until you have made a sizeable sandwich. Top with another slice of bread and enjoy.

Write for Features and Student Living.

Meetings Mondays @ 5:30 Shatner Room 110

(Monique Evans / McGill Tribune)

EM

xploring ontreal

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THE BIODOME 4777 PIERRE-DE-COUBERTIN

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photo from freelargephotos.com

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lachine canal bike path Photo from danladue.blogspot.com

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1 Notre-Dame-des-Bonsecours 400 Saint Paul Street East PHOTO BY Jean gagnon

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hen Mark Twain visited Montreal in 1881, he told guests at a banquet held in his honour that it was his first time visiting a city where you couldn’t throw a brick without breaking a church window. He reported hearing of plans to build one more: “I said the scheme is good, but where are you going to find room? They said, ‘we will build it on top of another church and use an elevator.’”

Many churches have gone up since Twain’s day, and many more have been torn down. Still, the cityscape is dotted with spires and belfries, and a selfguided walking tour is a great way to spend the day.

There are some obvious choices: Notre Dame

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2 Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral

Notre Dame Basilica on the Place des Armes

near Place du Canada downtown

110 NOTRE-DAME STREET WEST

1085 CATHEDRAL STREET

PHOTO BY RYAN REISERT

PHOTO BY WENDY VANHATTEN

by RICKY KREITNER

Basilica on the Place d’Armes (go during services so you don’t have to pay admission); Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral near Place du Canada downtown (a scale model of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome); and NotreDame-des-Bonsecours in the Old Port (the oldest of Montreal’s large churches, built in 1771).

Fed up during class one day in first year, I skipped out and aimlessly walked downtown. I entered Mary, Queen of the World and sat in the pews and felt much better.

Philip Larkin wrote a poem about a visit by a disbeliever to an old, empty church. It concludes:

A serious house on serious earth it is, In whose blent air all our compulsions meet, Are recognized, and robed as destinies.

And that much never can be obsolete, Since someone will forever be surprising A hunger in himself to be more serious, And gravitating with it to this ground, Which, he once heard, was proper to grow wise in, If only that so many dead lie round.

MORE PLACES TO GO

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he Lachine Canal was opened in 1825 as a way for ships to climb the St. Lawrence; they had trouble getting through the Lachine Rapids (originally called the Saint-Louis rapids by Samuel de Champlain, the founder of Quebec, after a crewmate who drowned there). When it was built, the canal was heralded as a modern industrial marvel, and made possible the development of the Canadian interior.

But after the St. Lawrence Seaway was opened in 1959, allowing even bigger ships to bypass the rapids through a different route, the canal was rendered useless, and the neighbourhoods adjacent to it, PointeSaint-Charles and Saint-Henri, fell into rapid decay.

However, recent efforts to clean up the area have been met with universally acclaimed success. The canal is now home to one of the most interesting and beautiful parks in the city, with long, winding bike paths and wellmaintained green spaces.

Just 15 kilometres from its downtown entrance in the Old Port, the canal empties out into the vast expanse of Lac Saint-Louis (also named after Champlain’s dead friend), and the bike path ends in Parc René-Lévesque, which juts into the river on a thin peninsula across from the church spires of the historic town of Lachine.

There’s a little café in which you can buy hot chocolate and snacks, and a sculpture garden to explore.

There’s also a sense of accomplishment: the rush of exercise, the excitement of adventure, the beauty of autumn, and the sense of distance from your life of habit back in Montreal.

This is my habitat,” boasted my friend Sébastien as we entered the Laurentian Maple Forest room of the Montreal Biodome last May. Séb, like many of us, generally eschews the typical constructs of his inherited national identity. However, this doesn’t mean he’s not proud to be Canadian—he’s just not going to be proud for the reasons he’s told to be proud.

But Séb’s giddiness upon entering the Laurentian room was spontaneous and infectious. He led us Americans around the room, talking up the fascinating aspects of the beaver, the river otter, and the various reptiles he’s known and loved. In some small, artificially reproduced way, he was giving us a tour of his world.

Séb’s attachment to his natural habitat, so to speak, isn’t “constructed,” it’s innate. His excitement at the Biodome that day was pure pride, and it was awesome.

Much more than an ordinary zoo, the Biodome features five whole ecosystems existing approximately as they do in the wild. The vegetation, the climate, the animals, all the way down to the underlying cycles of life and death through which those elements interact – it’s all reproduced at the Biodome.

Surely you’ve heard of it, and maybe even thought about going. It’s one of those things that tourists who come to Montreal almost necessarily go see, but residents—especially university students watching their wallets—just never think about.

I highly recommend putting those long dormant plans into action. A ticket is only $12.50, which, let’s face it, is the same or less than the amount you blow on booze on Saturday night even after you’re already too far gone to care. Save up, go with a friend. The Biodome is right next to Olympic Stadium, out by the Pie IX metro station. It’s also a very easy ride straight down the Rachel Street bike path.

5 7 Parc Jean-Drapeau

east of downtown Montreal in the Saint Lawrence River

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1 2

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7 8 the Botanical Gardens 7

4101 Sherbrooke Street East

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6

9 Ile Perry

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6 Maison smith 1260 CHEMIN REMEMBRANCE PHOTO BY WALLY GOBETZ (FLICKR)

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hould you ever find your regular place in the library taken by that one person you, for no good reason, absolutely despise, don’t be consumed with anger. Don’t curse his or her first born child and don’t mumble your frustrations to your boots as you circle round and round without finding an open seat.

It’ll take 15 minutes, tops: take the path that begins at the top of Peel Street. Breathlessly climb the 200 or so steps from the Olmsted Path. Walk briskly past the chalet, barely glancing at the view you’ve seen a thousand times. Keep walking up the path, bear left towards the sculpture garden and enter the old stone house on your right.

Smell the coffee and the fresh pastries. Find an open table. Relax. You’ve come up here to study— and you will—but for now, just relax. Let the classical music soothe your cold ears; let the endorphins massage your brain; let your muscles whisper that they love you.

Café des Amis (open daily 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.) is inside Maison Smith, one of the last reminders that, before the city started buying out property to make a public park, Mount Royal was private land, owned by people who lived there year-round.

H.B. Smith, an industrialist, built this house in 1858. Edgar Collard, author of Montreal: The Days That Are No More, cites what he calls “a dubious tradition” that attributes the notable thickness of the house’s walls to “a belief, held at the time, that this massive construction would fortify its inhabitants against infection from epidemics.” These precautions were unnecessary: the house was secluded enough to render any bacterial journey up the mountain and into the Smiths’ bodies ineffective.

An afternoon of quiet study and relaxation in the café provides a similar seclusion, and a level of concentration one simply can’t attain on campus.

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Curiosity Delivers. www.mcgilltribune.com

odds and ends

Where to study during midterms this semester A closer look at the different study locations you can use

Other libraries to try: The Life Sciences Library and the Osler Library in the Medical McIntyre Building are worth the hike up the hill, and their inconvenient location keeps them empty and quiet. The Education Library is rather unconventional when it comes to normal library etiquette. All the faux-pas are permitted: talking, eating, and even playing with puppets.

By Kyla Mandel Features Editor Midterm season is officially upon us. Everyone has a different study style, but sometimes getting into the groove is difficult, especially if the weather is as nice as it was over Thanksgiving weekend.

To help get you started (or if it’s the night before your midterm or 10 -page paper), here’s an evaluation of the study spaces at your disposal.

The coffee shop: Arguably better for writing papers than for studying, your local coffee shop’s value is in its endless supply of caffeinated beverages. Starbucks and Second Cup are expensive, so spend your money wisely if you’re studying here. Some people study better with the background noise of jazz music and chitchat, but for those of you who need absolute silence, this isn’t the place for you. Also, be warned—studying with friends here is not the most productive, so make sure you have a second study session planned.

McLennan Library: If individual study carrels are your thing, this is the place for you.

Students working hard all over campus. (Ryan Reisert / McGill Tribune) With six floors to choose from, use the stairs instead of the tempting elevator to get that much needed miniburst of exercise during the study season. The fifth floor is more modern than the fourth, but the desks are slightly more communal, so if you’re easily distracted by someone’s Facebook procrastination, stick to the fourth or sixth floor, which have carrels. With 24-hour access, you can pull grueling all-nighters or escape

from noisy roommates. Be warned, though; some carrels are reserved for grad students, who may not be too excited about chatty undergrads.

Cyberthèque: On the bottom floor of Redpath, the Cyberthèque is located next to a Tim Horton’s, great for a cheap caffeine fix. With a variety of computers, desks with plugs, and colourful cushioned blocks, you should be

able to find what you’re looking for.

That said, bring a sweater as it can get chilly, and be prepared for a sore tushy if you sit on the floor for too long. If you have the sniffles, avoid those annoyed sighs and evil glares by other studiers and take Tylenol Cold before you go (it works wonders), since the Cyberthèque echos more than a canyon. Excuse yourself to go blow your nose.

Your bed: This study location is very risky. For those self-disciplined enough, or who live too far from campus, it is an excellent place to stay warm and cozy while reading over notes. With all your food and drinks at home you don’t need to pay to sustain your energy. What’s more, you can sniffle all you want and listen to whatever music you like. But to make this as efficient as possible, you should disconnect from the Internet and shut off your smartphone unless absolutely necessary to avoid many forms of procrastination. And whatever you do, don’t take a catnap. You will sleep for ten hours, not ten minutes.

Odds and ends

A user-friendly guide to surviving IKEA-mania

Nine essentials every IKEA shopper should know that they don’t mention in the commercials

By Shannon Kimball Editor-in-Chief Last weekend, I went to hell for the first time in two years. In need of some lamps to combat the complete lack of sunlight during a Montreal winter, I decided to make the haul out to IKEA. Why buy a lamp from The Bay when you can assemble one yourself? As expected, my blood pressure skyrocketed the minute I walked through the bright yellow and blue doors. If I had only remembered the rules of IKEA, it might have been a more pleasant experience.

1. Don’t forget to pre-IKEA carbo-load. It’s impossible to spend less than four hours at IKEA, so hit up the Swedish meatball stand or pick up some (world-renowned?)

Swedish chocolate.

2. Never go against the flow of traffic. I now know why Swedish people are so fit–it is because every weekend they enter IKEA, take the stairs up, walk through the

furniture section, then downstairs, then through the décor section, and finish this off with some strength training at the furniture pickup section. Out of laziness, I headed backwards through the store and straight towards the lighting section, and almost lost my life to some carts carrying LACKs and EFFEKTIVs. 3. Go with a list. IKEA is not for window shoppers. Bring a spreadsheet and diagrams of your room, or you’ll never leave.

4. No canoodling on the beds.

Passers-by may think you’re part of the assembly kit.

5. No playing house. You are not part of the 500 Days of Summer cast, so get out of the display kitchen and keep on walking.

6. Learn Swedish before you go. Surprisingly, the funny furniture names actually mean something, and knowing the Swedish word for mushroom will make your experience much more enjoyable.

(ibelieveinadv.com) 7. Close your eyes at checkout.

You’ll be pleasantly surprised that you refurnished your entire apartment for less than a hundred dollars.

That is, if you resist buying the unnecessary garden accessories (when you have no garden, remember?), and items piled up in front of the

register.

8. White furniture always looks worse after a week at home. Need proof? Come to the Tribune office.

9. Take advantage of Manland, a day-care for significant others who

have been forced to go to Ikea. Manland includes video games, foosball, and hotdogs.

If you follow these rules, you will survive, and one day, you may even become fluent in IKEA assembly language.

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Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Fashion

Canadian classics to keep you warm and chic Five items to complete your winter wardrobe

By Bea Santos Contributor Forget the traditional pearl earrings and classic trench coat ensemble. Not only have those basics been exhausted, but they can only really be worn in places where temperatures don’t go below zero. Canadians must forge their own set of rules for the looming winter season. Just because we dread winter doesn’t mean we have to dread warm clothing. Here are five winter items worth investing in to keep you full of true patriot love for the rest of your adult life.

The Fair Isle Patterned Sweater: “Fair Isle” is a term rarely used in a Canadian’s vocabulary, but it has become increasingly mainstream since its adoption by the TNA brand, and now you’ll find them in most dresser drawers. But those replications are for amateurs.

An authentic Fair Isle sweater, the kind you can pass on to your granddaughter, must be of a heavy wool, fit for an Irish farmer yet stitched delicately enough that even Armani

would approve.

The Roots Backpack: Whether you’re finishing up your East Asian studies degree or backpacking around East Asia in the flesh, you’ll need a durable and stylish backpack to carry all of your unnecessary goodies. This timeless piece is old-school sporty. It would fit in at a mid-century hunting lodge or among the luggage of a Bonnaroo-bound caravan. It’s long-lasting, versatile, and elegant.

The Leather Boot: Although you can’t trek through four feet of snow in these, you can look elegant and sporty for fall and late spring in a basic pair of leather knee-high boots. No bells.

No whistles. Just some cowhide (or plether), maybe a discreet zipper, and a slightly pointed toe.

The Fur Hat: Although the stereotype says otherwise, toques just aren’t that popular. This coming winter, save up for a fur hat or wrap that shows off your sophistication. Such a refined item can lend an air of elegance to

Fair isle patterned sweater. (stylebop.com), Leather boot. (modcloth.com) any outfit, even if it’s just spandex and a sweater. For animal-lovers, there are plenty of faux-fur options available that are just as chic.

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The Hudson’s Bay Coat: Probably the number one claim to a fashion identity for most Canadians is the multi-striped peacoat

from The Bay. Not only is it super cozy, but it’s an emblem of Canadian pride.

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MMPA

Master of Management & Professional Accounting

• Designed primarily for non-business undergraduates • For careers in Management, Finance and Accounting • Extremely high co-op and permanent placement To learn more about the MMPA Program, attend our information sessions: Wednesday, October 12, 2011 11:30 am – 1:00 pm Room 5001, Brown Student Services Building, 3600 McTavish, McGill University Wednesday, October 26, 2011 11:30 am – 1:00 pm Room 5001, Brown Student Services Building, 3600 McTavish, McGill University Wednesday, November 9, 2011 11:30 am – 1:00 pm Room 5001, Brown Student Services Building, 3600 McTavish, McGill University

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A&E Photography

Burtynsky peels back the layers of oil use

McCord Museum exhibits Canadian photographer’s 56 images of man-made landscapes

By Holly Stewart Managing Editor Just how much have humans changed the planet? Edward Burtynsky’s series of 56 photographs, titled Oil, answers that question far better than any academic or researcher ever could. Oil shows just how much we rely on the precious resource, with pictures grouped into three chapters: extraction sites and refineries, car and transport culture, and the end of oil—the waste products, which include abandoned oil rigs and old cars.

But what the exhibit doesn’t show is the progression of Burtynsky’s career that led him to these photographs. When he first started as a landscape photographer, he would spend hours at a time staring at complex, detailed, and chaotic landscapes, until the frame and light were just right. Since then, his photos have held the same luminous and perfectly exposed quality, and he continues to use a large depth of field to capture extraordinary detail.

For Burtynsky, the pristine, untouched landscape is too simple.

Raised in Saint Catherine’s, Ontario, by a father who worked at the local General Motors plant, Burtynsky was as familiar with the inside of an automotive plant as he was with the Canadian wilderness. Photographing such untouched spaces began to feel “out of sync” for Burtynsky.

His fascination with man-made landscapes developed, at first, with pictures of trains and railroad cuts.

“To be more true to my time is to begin to show our interventions and intersections into that

landscape,” Burtynsky said of his railway photographs. The difference between early photographs of Canadian landscapes with rail lines intersecting them, and Burtynsky’s work, is that he has never presented altered landscapes as a feat of human ingenuity. “The line was to be a meditation: neither a glorification, nor an indictment.”

The progression of Burtynksy’s career can be described in his continual search for a place bigger and more awe-inspiring than the last: the roots of Oil go back to his experiments with open-pit mines, and it was during this phase in Australia that he began to photograph from helicopters, lending new perspective to his work.

After mines, Burtynsky spent 17 years photographing quarries in eight different countries, developing his arranging skills with their intriguing and complex geometry.

Eventually he made his way to China, where he photographed the Three Gorges Dam, rows and rows of Shanghai’s skyscrapers, and the mountains of coal which power the country. China also introduced Burtynsky to recycling on a scale he had never before seen. Describing images he took in a village of workers stripping computers apart, Burtynsky is both reverential and alarmed by the disassembly and reassembly of all these raw materials, many of them risky and toxic. China was also where Burtynsky photographed factories on a scale unimaginable to most Canadians.

A fascination with the extraction of raw materials, their use, and eventual disposal, brought Burtyn-

sky face to face with the largest and most contentious resource of our time: oil. Conceptually and visually, the photographs in Oil show the decades that Burtynsky spent contemplating man-made landscapes. The pictures are so detailed that, standing up close, it is hard to believe they were not painted with a very fine brush, and ironically, it is the minutiae of the pictures that creates a powerful sense of scale. A 10-tonne truck, tires and doors fully visible, is merely a speck on an open mine kilometres across.

Make no mistake, the photographs are beautiful, but they are alien. In one, red rivers of tailings flow through banks of earth like lava, creating an image that looks prehistoric. Rows and rows of old tires in a northern California dump look like a post-apocalyptic nightmare. By finding places that look like they couldn’t possibly exist on this planet, Burtynsky is questioning the romantic, sublime landscapes that we are so accustomed to seeing in photographs. The life cycle of oil is also exposed in detail. Photographs of car and transport culture are eerily devoid of empathetic human subjects, and the people in the photographs clearly have no connection to the photographer, if they are even aware of his presence.

Burtynsky refers to NASCAR races as the “modern Roman amphitheatre,” and he uses light and movement in some of the photos to make a car convention have all the chaos of a children’s carnival.

Burtynsky’s mastery of scale and perspective, combined with his ability to find unimaginably massive

Edward Burtynsky, Oil Refineries #22, St. John, New Brunswick, Canada, 1999. Chromogenic color print. Photograph © Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto. industrial landscapes, has resulted in a series of photographs that expose how humans have irreversibly altered the landscape around them.

That, and the fact that they are simply beautiful photographs, makes

this an exhibit not to be missed.

Oil runs until January 8 at the McCord Museum. For more information visit www.mccord-museum. qc.ca

Pop Rhetoric Save Our Bluths?

“We’re gonna make the movie.

Mitch Hurwitz is just starting to write it. It’ll be out in a year and a half.”—Jason Bateman In show business, few things are guaranteed. Given ever-present uncertainties over financial backing, availability of actors, scheduling conflicts, accidents, and any and every other thing, claiming that something in show biz is dead set on happening is a great way to be proven wrong.

That quote from Jason Bateman is from 2009. There has been talk about an Arrested Development movie since the show was cancelled.

The last line of dialogue in the

show’s history more or less declared the producer’s wish to make one.

And since then, a wide variety of people involved with the show have declared, with varying degrees of certainty, that a movie would happen soon, yet it has continuously failed to materialize.

At a New Yorker Festival panel a few weeks ago, the cast and creators reunited to announce that a reunion was in the works. Some fans might be hoping that because Mitch Hurwitz delivered the statement, this time, it would all be true. Of course, the creator of a show expressing his wishes, or even his certainty, that a movie will be made is no guarantee that it will be. Just ask fans of Deadwood or Veronica Mars. There have been no contracts signed, no pre-

production started, no distribution method selected. In short, it’s pure speculation. Official speculation, but speculation nonetheless.

The only thing that distinguishes this most recent statement from previous ones is the possibility of a nine or 10 episode mini-series preceding the movie. Hurwitz speculated that each episode of the miniseries would focus on a single character and reveal what they had been up to in the years since the end of the series. Given that above all else, Arrested Development was a series that thrived on its ensemble cast, this seems like a bizarre proposal. While each character is undoubtedly hilarious in their own way, the whole is definitely greater than the sum of its parts, and giving each character their

own episode does not sound promising. We’re not calling Friends the world’s greatest ensemble comedy (it’s not), but look at what happened when Joey went out on his own. It’s difficult to imagine Gob or Lucille being just as funny in a vacuum.

And what about the quality of the movie itself? It should come as a shock to no one that movie adaptations are often less than successful, largely because the plotting and pacing required for a story of 90 minutes is very different than for 22.

That’s why for every South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut we get films like Reno 911: Miami and the Sex and the City movie. It would be painful to see an Arrested Development movie of such poor caliber. At the very least, it is reassuring that re-

gardless of the quality of a prospective film, it can’t retroactively affect the greatness of its original run.

Part of us wonders why Hurwitz and co. couldn’t just leave it alone.

Arrested Development has already cemented its legacy as an under-appreciated gem, and its three seasons have been cast in bronze. Yes, it was cancelled, and perhaps too soon, but the 53 episodes that were produced evidence a longer life-span than many shows, and plenty enough to give a sense of closure. Don’t get us wrong, we’d love to see the Bluths return to the screen, big, small, or both. Just don’t hold your breath.

—Graeme Davidson and Ryan Taylor

15

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Book Review

Concert Review

Arguably hits hard Collection of essays shows Hitchens at his best

By Ricky Kreitner Contributor Living alone in first year, pushed strongly toward my introverted side by the solitude, I found a strange kind of comfort watching the YouTube videos of essayist Christopher Hitchens lecturing and debating the opposition. An overweight, potentially drunk, white-suited, occasionally bearded, smart-aleck British ex-pat eviscerating rabbis and theologians, dropping opinions on the situations in Cyprus and Bangladesh, sharing the smartest dirty jokes and verbally “Hitch-slapping” his own God-fearing brother, Peter.

Hitchens’ singular style, more than anything else, captured my attention. He was witty, always the smartest guy in the room, and unrivaled in his worldliness—everything, mind you, that the bookish and lonely snob in first-year desperately wants to someday be.

For anyone who follows Hitchens as closely as I do, his new book of essays, Arguably, contains nothing new. This is partially because you too will have accessed the now-defunct website, hitchensweb. com, which catalogued and stored every new essay or book review by Hitchens appearing in any publication—as close as you could get to a Hitchens blog. This new volume is an aggregation of the content on the website. While everything he writes merits and rewards a second read,

one can’t help but handle Arguably as if it were a historical document, showing the tradition of the anthologized book of essays, a tradition reaching back to Montaigne, settling its affairs and drawing up its final will.

It’s also partially because the book, though a feast (and I’d like to thank jihad, oral sex, Vietname, Hitler, Abraham Lincoln’s depression, Harry Potter, and jihad for their dinner company these past few nights), is a strange kind of feast, like going to a potluck where everyone brings a different kind of pasta. For instance, once you know what he thinks about German-Ottoman collusion on the Berlin-to-Baghdad railroad during World War I, you can predict his response to the audacious waiter who, without asking, tries to refill Hitchens’ glass of wine. (He objects to both.)

But that amazing pugnacity does not wear thin—it is not subject to “diminishing returns,” to use one of Hitchens’ touchstone phrases— and is more stimulating in its admirable unity of message than narcotic in its repetition. Hitchens has always attributed his omnivorous grasp of all aspects of politics, religion, and culture to his deep involvement in a post-Trotskyist group at Oxford during the late 1960s. His worldview is systemic.

It’s futile to protest, as he only half-heartedly ever does, that Hitchens’s politics have not changed in

the four decades he’s been writing.

Forgetting about his endorsements of the Iraq War—which he argues can be justified on classically leftist grounds—and of George W. Bush in the 2004 election, one need only read his essay on left-wing terrorism in late 1960s West Germany and its “neurotic energy” to get the point.

One wonders, of course, what the post-Trotskyists would have thought of that.

Hitchens’ claim that it was not he who abandoned the left, but the left that abandoned him, gives too little credit to the flexibility of mind and commitment to intellectual honesty, as opposed to mere unchanging dogma, that really informed his migration from centre-left to centreright.

Hitchens does not pray for an omnipotent power to save him from esophageal cancer and continues to write frequently and eloquently on topics as diverse as U.S. foreign policy and the impact of his treatments on “the chest hair that was once the toast of two continents.” His rejection of the “cancer as battle” metaphor is surely one of the few times Hitchens has refused a fight in his life. The title and content of this mammoth book seem intended to counteract the image of that final declining gesture, a reminder of what the passing phenomenon known as “the Hitch” was all about. It succeeds.

Suuns / PS I Love You Thursday October 6, Il Motore Montreal’s Suuns (pronounced “soons”) made a hometown stop on their tour last Thursday night at Il Motore. Playing to a packed venue, the band pummelled its way through a dark, intense, and above all impressive set of dancey, minimalist, electro-tinged post-punk.

Extensive touring has turned the group into a well-oiled machine. Their performance was technically precise without sacrificing any of the visceral impact found on their debut Zeroes QC. The tracks on the record groove in their own right, but viewers get a greater appreciation of how tight the band actually is by seeing them perform live. Every single song, from “PVC” to “Pie IX” to “Arena,” just felt good. Go to a Suuns show, see the light.

Openers PS I Love You had the crowd in a frenzy from their first note, but with the exception of a new, beautiful instrumental opening song, the band has been playing almost the exact same set since the release of their debut Meet Me At the Muster Station a year ago. Paul Saulnier’s new doublenecked guitar looked and sounded great, but besides that the proceedings were predictable to anyone who’s seen them before.

—Ryan Taylor

Ben Shemie of Suuns (left) and Paul Saulnier of PS I Love You (right) (Sam Reynolds / McGill Tribune)

Literature

Hardboiled 101: An introduction to Dashiell Hammett Remembering the heyday of the detective novel through one of its greatest practitioners

By Akiva Toren Contributor When reading recreationally, I want a book that’s easy on the mind, yet emotionally gripping. It’s rare that my eyes will drift to the dry, unemotional stuff. That’s why I was surprised to find myself drawn to the work of one of the greatest hardboiled detective writers of all time: Dashiell Hammett.

When first confronted by hardboiled fiction such as Hammett’s, one notices the unique tone. The writing is unemotional. The protagonist is detached. The characters’ thoughts are obscured by unpredictable personalities. Violence is commonplace and treated with little or no emotional weight. Because of the callousness of his writing, it’s miraculous that anyone can be drawn in. What, then, makes his style so gripping?

Before delving into that question, it’s important to learn a little about the author. Samuel Dashiell Hammett, after dropping out of school at age 13 and working several jobs, joined the Pinkerton National Detective Agency in 1915 at age 21 as an operative and worked for them until 1922, taking a ‘break’ for a few years to serve in WWI. He left Pinkerton, disillusioned with its involvement in union breaking.

He turned to writing and, later, became a political activist before being blacklisted by Joseph McCarthy and sent to serve time in prison in Virginia. Not a normal life.

So, back to the question: what makes Hammett’s style so riveting?

First, to put it simply, the content of his novels is brilliant. The diversity and complexity of characters, suspects, personal and political motives, and plots clearly imported from his personal experiences in

each of his stories make for an interesting read. Red Harvest, perhaps his most famous novel aside from The Maltese Falcon, has a tremendous web of characters, from the unpredictable yet greedy Dinah Brand to the mysterious Max “Whisper” Thaler. The Dain Curse contains three apparently different stories about the same characters that can only be solved by subtly linking all three together.

Second, as they are all, at the very least, mystery novels, his style allows us to easily avoid the emotional jargon and judge the cases, crimes, and characters themselves.

We are forced to take a detective’s unemotional point of view. Hammett’s experience as a detective is crucial; he knows being a detective requires forced detachment. In Red Harvest, the detective is faced with a complex web of rival gangs and corrupt politicians. Despite the

vast number of characters and their unique personalities, we never catch even a glimpse of the protagonist’s thoughts. Consequently, our loyalties shift every page from one gang leader to the next, suspecting one and then another. We’re forced to sift through the parties involved to get to the core of the story: the crimes and corruption. The Glass Key follows the gambler Ned Beaumont and, despite his apparent loyalty to the politician Paul Madvig, we are confronted time and again with Beaumont’s detachment and rationality.

His loyalty seems questionable, but that is not important. What is important is the crime he sets out to solve.

Third, and perhaps most importantly, Hammett’s style allows me to catch a powerful glimpse of the political climate of the 1920s and 1930s. The “roaring twenties” roared with corruption, from President Harding’s administration to the

dirty bootlegging of Al Capone. The only choice was to become a cynic.

As I said earlier, Hammett broke away from Pinkerton because of its involvement in union breaking. He got involved in dirty and corrupt cases and would see no more of it.

It is perhaps because of this that his last novel, The Thin Man, follows a retired detective as he’s reluctantly drawn into solving a crime in the streets of New York City.

I hope by this point I have kindled your interest in Dashiell Hammett. With readings piled high on my desk, and the options of Facebook and YouTube always at my fingers, recreational reading becomes marginalized. However, when I pick up a Hammett novel, I’m gripped whether I’m reading it for the first time or re-reading it for the third.

16

Curiosity Delivers. www.mcgilltribune.com

Album Reviews

Film Review

The Ides of March Betrayal and disillusionment abound in political thriller

By Chris Liu Contributor

The Kooks: Junk of the Heart Britain’s quintessential indie hipsters, The Kooks, are back with their third album Junk of the Heart after a three-year hiatus. Known for their rousing choruses and tonguein-cheek lyrics, The Kooks are all about strings, fedoras, and black and white videos. This album attempts to change that, and the result is an unfulfilling, haphazard collection of songs.

The album is all over the place, and while there’s no musical coherence to it, there are a few decent songs which sound more like their earlier material, including “Mr. Nice Guy,” “Eskimo Kiss,” and title track “Junk Of The Heart (Happy).”

The Kooks have tried to switch it up on Junk of the Heart by introducing a little electronic pop to their sound—songs like “Runaway” attempt to combine their signature acoustic twang with arcade-like bleeps, and they even ventured as far as adding violin-backed interludes to “Time Above Earth”—but these attempts at sound evolution and growth fall short of anything that will bring in new listeners, and won’t appeal to original Kooks fans.

If Junk of the Heart tells us anything, it’s that the Kooks need to stop striving for something that will always be just out of their reach: maturity. They need to embrace the youth of their fan base and go back to doing what they were doing. Their albums may not define a genre, but at least they were enjoyable.

—Lauren Pires

Lady Antebellum: Own the Night Grammy Award-winning group Lady Antebellum is back with their third studio album, Own the Night.

The band has taken the country music industry by storm since their formation in 2006, and their sophomore album Need You Now proved they were more than capable of successfully crossing over into pop music.

The tone of the album is upbeat and optimistic, beginning with the first track, “We Owned the Night,” and other songs like “Friday Night” and “Singing Me Home” perfectly follow suit. Unfortunately, while the group has obviously attempted to show their versatility with some slower, melancholic tunes, most of them fall flat, failing to make a connection with the listener. To be fair, a few of the heartbreak songs are paired with an interesting enough hook that they avoid the downright dullness of some of their other songs, but as far as the band should be concerned, the more energetic, the better.

True to form, the power ballad “Just a Kiss” is the first single off of the album, fully capitalizing on their trademark harmonies and the undeniable chemistry that occurs when Hillary Scott’s smooth tone and Charles Kelley’s slightly more rock-and-roll style mesh.

Lady Antebellum is best when they leave the misery at the door, and stick to what they’re best at: writing catchy, positive songs about living life, loving your sweetheart, and having a good time.

Feist: Metals It was “1234” that made Leslie Feist a household name, but it took her an awfully long time to get to that last number in terms of albums, and Metals marks her return after a five-year hiatus.

At first listen, the disc sounds suspiciously similar to a number of other major summer releases, but this isn’t really a problem. Feist is certainly not guilty of lazy repetition and the shared elements are generally positive in character: interesting arrangements and mellow atmospherics.

Feist’s usually prominent vocals are balanced out with the use of careful instrumental arrangements, indicating more of a focus on songwriting than before. Metals doesn’t have any belting numbers like “I Feel It All” or “Sealion,” but its songs still pack a punch, just in a more understated way. Tracks like “Bittersweet Melody” and “Graveyard” culminate in powerful choruses, but there is a melancholy in them more appropriate to a campfire than the dance floor.

The album is more creative than its predecessors. Feist uses her vocals in a wider variety of ways, juxtaposing her voice with a masculine chorus in “A Commotion” to great effect, and transitioning from whispery to exuberant with confident ease.

Metals reveals a more open Feist than before, one willing to experiment and disclose parts of herself that we have yet to see.

—Jacqueline Gailbraith

—Alexander Hamilton

When a film title references the assassination of Caesar, viewers can’t expect lollipops and unicorns. The Ides of March, directed

by George Clooney, is a film that strangles hope with its bare hands, throws it in the trunk, then dumps the body in the wilderness of political cynicism. Not to say the film isn't expertly crafted; viewers familiar with Good Night and Good Luck know that Clooney understands the camera. Yet, for all the talent both in front of and behind the lens, it's difficult to grapple with the film's argument. I left the theatre feeling as jaded as the characters did; truth may be hard to swallow, but it shouldn’t leave such an awful aftertaste.

The tumultuous plot, based on the Beau Willimon play Farragut North, centres on Stephen Myers (Ryan Gosling), a senior-level staffer working on the Democratic Primary campaign of Mike Morris (Clooney). Myers, at first glance, appears easy to understand. He's young, idealistic, and in it to win it. He spins the numbers and baits the media, but avoids dirtier tactics.

When he talks about Morris, he slips into an emotional, husky drawl; the bro-crush would be embarrassing if half the United States hadn't done the same thing in the lead-up to 2008.

He's so focused—“married to the campaign”, as he claims—that during sex his eyes are on Morris' televised address rather than on intern Molly Stearns (in a hypnotic turn by Evan Rachel Wood). Now, Clooney is a handsome man, but could Myers really not have turned up the jazz and turned off the TV? He's also joined at the hip with campaign manager Paul Zara (Philip Seymour Hoffman), and the

two play the game of rhetoric and backroom deals against the rival candidate’s campaign manager, Tom Duffy (Paul Giamatti), whose own morals are questionable at best.

“This isn't about the democratic process,” he claims. “It's about getting our guy elected!” Both Hoffman and Giamatti are on their game, especially the latter; Giamatti is so incredibly expressive, it's as if every furrowed brow and forehead wrinkle is screaming, “I'm a slimeball!”

Accordingly, Duffy is the one who tips the first domino. A stroke of the ego, an unscrupulous offer, and Myers' bright and admirable worldview topples like a precarious house of cards. Except harder, and more vehemently; it’s a resolute cascade of misery and consequence.

Myers is left a mere husk of a man.

The viewer can see it coming—in this day and age it is absurd to not expect a little cynicism in politics— but this screenplay steamrolls over optimism and spits on its corpse. A shame, since the film’s dialogue is smart, organic and imminently quotable, a feature that's sorely missing from most contemporary fare.

The coup de grâce is the slowzoom long shot towards the end, when Myers delivers his decisive act of retribution. It's a stark contrast to the intimate, tight close-ups that cinematographer Phedon Papamichael consistently employed throughout.

Gone are the scenes where soft lighting flows across enthusiastic faces. Instead, the brutal reality of politics is delivered in a black SUV parked in a grime-filled alleyway.

This film could be a sobering lesson on the scheming darkness behind the magnanimous rhetoric for some. For most, it should cause a breath of relief that Canadian politics, at their worst, are merely boring. As for the rest—brace yourself.

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Sports Martlet Hockey — McGill 7, Concordia 5

Martlets survive scare, keep streak alive in opener McGill pushes streak to 106 straight in high-scoring affair

By Sam Hunter Managing Editor One hundred and six consecutive wins against Quebec conference opponents. Thirty-eight straight wins over rival Concordia. Three hundred and one career victories for Head Coach Peter Smith. But who’s counting?

The defending national champions kicked off yet another promising season in front of a sparse McConnell Arena crowd this past Friday. McGill withstood a surprisingly resilient effort from the visiting Concordia Stingers, holding onto an early lead they never fully relinquished in a tense 7-5 win.

“I’ll give Concordia credit,” Smith said. “I thought they were much improved and they did a good job.”

Concordia’s scoring output and the fact that the game’s outcome was ever in doubt raise the inevitable question: is there a crack in the Martlets’ patina of invincibility?

Five goals is the highest total McGill has allowed in a regular season game over the past two years.

Smith didn’t appear ready to sound the alarm.

“I thought that we did lots of good things, I thought we moved the puck well,” Smith said. “I just thought we had some inconsistencies and I thought that we kind of complicated the game as [it] went on ... We got away from some of the simple things that we do well.”

Despite rough patches of play—failed attempts to clear the puck and undisciplined penalties— every time the Stingers closed the

McGill had an answer to everything Concordia threw at them. (Sam Reynolds / McGill Tribune) gap the Martlets raised their game.

Three times in the third period Concordia cut the McGill lead to two goals, but each time the line of Leslie Oles, Ann-Sophie Bettez, and Katia Clément-Heydra responded quickly. The line scored 12 and 50 seconds, respectively, after each of the first two Concordia goals, twice restoring the three-goal cushion.

The three skaters combined for three goals and three assists. Leading the charge was Oles, who picked up two helpers to go with a pair of goals.

“I think we got goals at the

right time,” Oles said. “Every time you go out on the ice you want to bring a lot of energy and make sure that you win your battles … so that the next line out kind of follows the same pattern as our line did.”

Backup goalie Taylor Salisbury took that sentiment to heart. Coming on with under 10 minutes to go in relief of starter, Charline Labonté, Salisbury didn’t miss a beat. Stopping the only shot she faced, a pointblank snap shot with 1:50 to go, she preserved the win for McGill.

“I just tried to focus myself as

best as I could,” she said of the surprise substitution. “And the team did really well in front of me so I didn’t have to do a whole lot.”

McGill led 3-1 after the first period and 5-2 after the second. Martlet captain Cathy Chartrand scored one goal, Chelsea Saunders chipped in two, and freshman Ioanna Cagionas notched the first goal of her McGill career.

With the win, a fresh season has officially begun. But for a team where anything short of a national championship seems to represent

failure, and with a 106-game winning streak hanging over their heads, there is always plenty of pressure.

“We try not to think about [the winning streak] in the room,” Oles said. “Obviously, everyone outside tries to put a lot of pressure on us but, like I said, we just take it practice by practice, game by game, and shift by shift.”

Third Man in Forget Field of Dreams, I’ll stay in the dugout Sitting at his desk, in the basement of an empty building, the manager looks over a list of nine names.

These nine names represent his best and most talented people. Though he earns a seven-figure salary, the manager’s office does not have any windows, is not particularly large, and is not in some modern high-rise. Baseball managers sit in the basement of the stadium, just down the corridor from the locker room. It’s an area more fit for a janitor’s office than for the head of a professional sports franchise. But he is not a coach; he’s a manager. There’s a difference.

A coach’s work is done mostly at practice, teaching his players the strategies he would like them to apply. Having coached hockey, I found myself frustrated by my inability to impact the outcome of various events in the game. The fact that my players were seven years old may have had something to do with their inability to execute. I was bothered by my lack of influence; I was limited to substitutions, speeches, and the occasional play-call.

In baseball, however, the manager can affect multiple aspects of any given play throughout the game.

He can decide what pitch is thrown and where it’s aimed, whether the batter goes to the plate hacking away or taking the first pitch for a strike.

It’s this ability to control so many

aspects of the game that makes the position so appealing to me.

I’d love be in the manager’s chair, admiring my lineup card and listening to the sweet sound of batting practice. Crack. Crack. Crack. I could tell just by the sound whether he’d hit it on the screws or off the end of the barrel. I’d walk slowly through the clubhouse and up on the top step of the dugout, examining the field. Come game time, the dugout becomes the manager’s real office.

But rather than sitting at a desk, I’d be up against the railing, analyzing and studying the game with intense concentration and admiration for all of its subtleties.

They say that sports are 90 per cent mental and 10 per cent physical, but no game is more cerebral

than baseball. The manager must decipher what everyone on the field intends to do on a given pitch before it is thrown, and then decide what pitch to call. Every decision is influenced by statistics, psychology, intuition, experience, and wisdom. If the runner on first is about to attempt a stolen base, a curveball in the dirt could allow him to reach third, but a fastball on the outside corner would allow my catcher to gun him out at second. What separates baseball from other sports is the number of decisions that are made throughout a game. In a 10-pitch at-bat, the manager must decide 10 times whether to steal or hit and run, sacrifice bunt or suicide squeeze. The analysis involved in every decision is astounding.

Undoubtedly there are pressures that come with the position.

But as an extremely competitive individual, I wouldn’t want these decisions to be in anyone’s hands but mine. I want to be able to say that we won or lost because of my decisions as a manager. After all, there’s another game tomorrow. Though some question the significance of a single game in a 162-game season, that’s what I love most about baseball: being at the ballpark day in and day out. When you’re truly passionate about something, that fire never dwindles. Not for a game. Not for an inning. Not for a pitch.

—Trevor Drummond

18

Curiosity Delivers. www.mcgilltribune.com

Redmen Lacrosse — Mcgill 10, Bishop’s 11 (OT)

SCOREBOARD

Bishop’s keeps Redmen in check

(Scores since Oct. 4)

McGill fails to clinch CUFLA East title in loss to rivals

REDMEN BASEBALL Lost 4-2 vs. John Abbott Won 10-0 vs. John Abbott Won 9-3 @ Concordia Lost 5-2 vs. Concordia Lost 9-0 vs. Concordia

By Christopher Nardi Contributor There is an old adage that says “when the going gets tough, the tough get going.” Although this can be said about many sports teams, it applied particularly well to the Bishop’s Gaiters on Thursday as they roared back from a 9-5 deficit at the end of the third quarter to an 11-10 overtime win over the previously undefeated Redmen.

The large crowd that had braved the cold to attend “Fill the Hill” seemed confident that McGill would prevail, as they ended the first half leading their rivals 7-3. Yet an unruly fourth quarter cost the Redmen enormously and their 9-4 lead had evaporated by the time the final buzzer rang.

“We made some mental mistakes, and we took some stupid penalties, and unfortunately we lost our composure a little bit in the second half, which really affected our concentration offensively,” Head Coach Timothy Murdoch said. “We had to stay on the defensive for way too long, and we allowed them to creep back into the game, tie it up and then actually get ahead.”

Despite the late game collapse, the team can focus on the many positives. McGill dominated Bishop’s during most of the first half, only allowing them to score two quick goals 13 minutes into the game, and

REDMEN CROSS-COUNTRY Finished 7th of 7 @ Laval MARTLET CROSS-COUNTRY Finished 1st of 7 @ Laval REDMEN FOOTBALL Lost 39-16 @ Concordia REDMEN HOCKEY Won 4-3 @ Lakehead Won 3-2 @ Lakehead McGill was hurt by penalties in fourth quarter. (Robert Smith / McGill Tribune) then one late in the frame. McGill’s Alex Rohrbach and Ryan Besse potted two apiece in the first quarter, with Besse completing his hat trick in the second. This feat didn’t go unnoticed by his coach.

“I’d say Ryan Besse was probably the outstanding player of the game [for McGill], he had a hat trick …[and] he played extremely well offensively,” Murdoch said. Jishan Sharples and Nolan Prinzen scored the other McGill goals.

McGill was also strong in the third quarter, as both sides scored twice, making it 9-5 Redmen. The score might have been much closer

had it not been for McGill goaltender Ward Waesche who made three incredible saves on point blank shots, including a gliding foot save.

The fourth quarter was a different story, as Bishop’s players got under the Redmen’s skin, leading to 13 penalties against the home team.

The Gaiters scored five unanswered goals to take a one-goal lead before McGill’s J.J. Miller was able to tie the game in the last minute of play.

However, Miller’s last-minute heroics weren’t enough, as Bishop’s scored once more in overtime to end McGill’s winning streak at seven.

Despite his apparent disap-

pointment over the loss, Murdoch remained positive about his team’s performance. “I was proud of the team, even though we lost, I thought we played extremely well ... in an emotional game. We fought back hard, and just ran out of gas in the overtime,” Murdoch said.

Despite the loss, McGill remains in first place in the Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association East standings with two games remaining in the regular season. The Redmen will attempt to get back on track as they close out the year with a pair of games against winless Queen’s.

from the cheap seats Why the Long Island?

As an American, the concept of Thanksgiving in October has always seemed a bit odd. Instead of coming home to Long Island for nearly a week at the end of November to see all of my family and friends at once, I return for only three days when everyone is busy making preparations for fall and when turkeys aren’t even on sale (or readily available) at most grocery stores.

The worst part about not being home for American Thanksgiving, however, is missing football. Perhaps this is why it made sense to my father that if I couldn’t be home on American Thanksgiving and watch American football, we would instead go to the Islanders’ home opener every year on Canadian Thanksgiving and watch a Canadian sport.

Despite what you may think, going to see a game at the Nassau

Veterans Memorial Coliseum is not that bad. The Coliseum itself looks exactly like what you would expect from an arena. It was built long enough ago that my father saw Led Zeppelin there in the flesh; it’s a bit past its prime, but still has more structural integrity than any bridge in Montreal. Sure, the seats are probably not as wide as they should be for the modern fan, but that’s common in old arenas. While some of the nose-bleed seats (our favourite section) have limited sightlines, that’s more than compensated for by the fact that tickets are under $40 and you can still see everything that happens on the ice.

For a team that my Canadian friends tell me no one goes to see, the Coliseum was packed. I counted about seven open seats during the first period. Fans were energized and excited for the start of a new season, despite the fact that the game was against a weak Florida Panthers team.

Fans in New York are exactly as we are rumoured to be. When Rick DiPietro’s name was announced for the first time this season, he was greeted with a chorus of boos. Say what you will about us, but at least we’re honest, and we hope DiPietro and the upper levels of management get the message that hiring a sack of potatoes to play goaltender would probably be cheaper and more effective.

The game itself was great. Even though the Islanders were shut down in the first period and looked as though they didn’t know the regular season had started, the crowd remained energized and engaged for most of the game. Occasionally I heard quips from the people around me about how in three years the team would move away and how the drive up to Quebec City would be difficult. Most likely as a result of years of suffering, Islanders fans have realized that we don’t have a front office or a team – all we have

MARTLET HOCKEY Won 7-5 vs. Concordia REDMEN LACROSSE Lost 11-10 vs. Bishop’s (OT) MARTLET RUGBY Won 15-7 @ Ottawa MARTLET SOCCER Tied 1-1 vs. UQAM REDMEN SWIMMING Finished 2nd of 4 @ Quebec Cup III MARTLET SWIMMING Finished 3rd of 4 @ Quebec Cup III

The aging Coliseum welcomes passionate fans. (nytimes.com) is each other and our wisecracks.

Some fans took comfort in the fact that the Islanders do have the most over-paid, most scantily clad snow shovelers in the league in the “Ice Girls.” These girls, who someone once described as “the girls who didn’t quite make the Olympic iceskating team,” were surely there to draw attention away from the team on the ice. They did so with little success.

As the game wound down and

people decided that their time would be better spent fighting to get out of the parking lot early than watching the game, I was sad. The Islanders probably need a better roster and a better arena, but for a team that has had relatively little success over the past 30 years, they have a tremendously loyal and devoted fan base.

That is something to be valued by any team.

—Eric Mauser

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Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Exclusive Interview

The Red Rocket takes flight in Montreal The Tribune’s exclusive interview with Matt Bonner: man, legend, NBA Players Association VP negotiation sessions, which means a lot of travelling back and forth to New York City, so I’ve been busy with that, obviously, spending a lot of time with my family. [I’m] enjoying that aspect of the lockout. Normally right now I’d be in training camp but I can put in more time with my family and just work out and try to be healthy and in shape for whenever the lockout ends.

By Sam Hunter Managing Editor After his appearance at the POP versus Jock Charity Basketball Game, held at McGill’s Love Competition Hall on Saturday Sept.

24, the Tribune had the privilege of speaking to current NBA player and former Toronto Raptor Matt Bonner.

Bonner has been with the San Antonio Spurs organization since 2006, and won a championship with them in 2007. However, lately, instead of fighting for the Larry O’Brien Trophy on the hardcourt, Bonner, as Vice President of the NBA Players Association, has been battling the NBA owners in the boardroom for a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

The Tribune contacted Bonner at his home in Toronto, and we discussed rookie tribulations, the origins of his “Red Rocket” nickname, his thoughts on the city of Montreal, and, nearest and dearest to all our hearts, academics.

After you were drafted by the Raptors you were asked to spend a year in Italy. Can you describe that experience?

While I was in Italy I had a great year on the court, but off the court it was an absolute nightmare.

I only got paid half of my money, I had my electricity cut out: I had two eviction notices because the team wasn’t paying my rent. My water heater broke the first week I was there and never got fixed. I’d do the old freezing cold shower, like when you jump in, get wet, jump out, soap up, jump in, rinse off, jump out. And also I think because of that, because I couldn’t disinfect anything with hot water, I ended up getting salmonella poisoning at one point. I was sick for six days and I lost 22 pounds. I hit 105-temperature fevers. I was hallucinating and stuff. And…uh…that was a lot of fun.

But that taught me two things: One, it made me want to make it in the NBA that much more, and two, once I got to the NBA, I never took anything for granted. I’m so happy just to be in the NBA. That was always my dream.

[A]t the end of all that I got my one-year rookie minimum, unguaranteed contract. The worst contract you can get, but I took it, even though I was getting much bigger offers in Europe because, like I said, playing in the NBA was my dream.

How do you feel about being such a fan favourite in Toronto?

I don’t even know what to say, it’s just incredibly flattering and

Matt chats with the Butlers. (Elisha Lerner / McGill Tribune) awesome that all the fans would take to me, you know?…I don’t consider myself a flashy or exciting player to watch, I just try to go out and do whatever I can to help the team win, you know, through hustle and hard work....

It was funny, in Toronto, I got the nickname “The Red Rocket” because I never had a car and I just would either walk to the games or practice, or if it was raining I would take the streetcar or the subway.

[Editor’s note: The red colour of Toronto’s TTC transit system and Bonner’s red hair both contributed to the nickname.] A lot of times, going to the game and coming home, I’m on the streetcar with fans who are also going or coming from the game.

And they’re just like, “What are you doing here?” And I’m like, “I’m going home, just like you!” And I remember, every time I’d do a basketball camp we’d open it up for questions and one of the questions would be, “What kind of car do you drive?”

You know, a big NBA player must have an awesome car. And they just could not understand when I’d tell them that I don’t have a car.

Another funny one…I don’t even know why I’m telling you this, it’s so embarrassing…because I didn’t really make much money in Italy—then I came back and played for the Raptors and I never really had time to secure living arrangements, so, when I came home that following summer, I remember I lived in my parent’s tiny basement with my brother for the whole summer. A year after playing in the NBA. And I remember, same thing at camps, [fans would ask] “How big is your house?” and I’d have to explain to them that I lived in my parents’ basement.

One thing I learned about the NBA is that in college I might average 20 points a game, in Italy I might average 20 points a game, but

in the NBA I’m not going to score 20 points a game, ever. I’m not an AllStar. I’m not even a full-time starter.

I’m fine with that, I understand that.

It’s about finding your niche and your role that is part of the whole and that will win.

You said you’re not an AllStar but a lot of people felt like you should’ve been at the All-Star game in the three-point competition.

Don’t get me started on that. I feel like I’ve gotten the shaft a few times in that department but they always come back with some reason or excuse why I didn’t go. I’m just going to keep shooting the ball and hopefully one of these times I can catch a break. I just hope when I finally catch it I don’t go up there and shoot a two.

How great has it been playing with Tim Duncan in San Antonio?

It’s been awesome, he’s an incredible player. I mean, not just about his physical skills on the court, but his mentality; he’s about all the right things and will do whatever it takes to win. Some nights he won’t shoot the ball if he’s getting double-teamed because he knows if he kicks it out we can swing it and get a better shot off the rotation but if he needs to score he will. He’s not selfish. He doesn’t have an ego. He just goes out and wants to win.

He’s a really funny guy. I get along great with him because I’m from New England and people in New England have a very dry, sarcastic sense of humour and he shares that same attribute. He has a very sarcastic sense of humour and is definitely a funny guy.

What are your plans for the lockout?

I’m vice president on the executive board of the Players Association so I’ve been sitting in on all the

How did you maintain such a high GPA while playing so much ball?

Just busy. Hard work and being busy. I remember I’d go stretches where I’d wake up at 8 and go to bed at midnight for weeks at a time where every spare second was either something academic—studying, class, lab, whatever—or basketball—lifting weights, individual instruction, practice, games. So I just buckled down, put my head down and said I’m going to get the most out of college I can. I’m a student athlete and that means I’m going to get the most I can out of academics and on the court, and that’s what I tried to do.

How did you like our city when you came here for Pop Montreal?

It was amazing. Growing up in New Hampshire, which is about a three hour drive to Montreal, I remember in high school all my buddies would drive up to Montreal to party. You know, the drinking age is lower, they had the casino, and the US dollar was worth twice as much as the Canadian dollar back then and

they would just go up there and go nuts and come back Monday morning and tell me all about it. And I obviously never went, I was at the YMCA working on my jumpshot.

So the only stories I ever heard about Montreal coming up were these stories of just how…I don’t even know what I was picturing in my head, I was picturing the craziest party place, like Las Vegas times 10, like young 18-year-old kids just passed out on the street from going nuts. And so I never really had a chance to take a proper visit to Montreal because I went to the University of Florida, then my career and everything. It just never happened for whatever the reason, even though it’s so close. So to be able to go to Montreal and have Win and Will and everybody from Arcade Fire be our hosts and be passionate about sharing their city with me and my wife, we had an absolute blast. We went to so many amazing restaurants and concerts and the whole Pop Montreal festival and everything that entails was amazing. We got to do the Old Port.

We just got a really good crosssection of what Montreal’s about over those four days and it really blew my mind. I loved it, loved the city and it definitely shattered my preconceived notion of what it was.

I look forward to next year when I come back and hopefully participate again and get some of those same experiences.

Sports in brief Championship hangover lasts until Monday afternoon; Redmen eliminated by Concordia The defending champions saw their reign come to a crashing halt Monday, as the Redmen baseball team dropped the deciding third game of their CIBA Northern Conference semi-final against the Concordia Stingers. With the win, Concordia qualifies for the National Championship tournament while McGill will be left at home wondering what could have been. After taking home the title last year, the Redmen sputtered to an 0-4 start.

They closed the season in much better form and even took the first game of the series against the Stingers 9-3 on Sunday afternoon. That lead was squandered, however, as Concordia took the last two games by scores of

5-2 and 9-0. “There could have been [a championship hangover]. You know, guys were still on a high after winning, there’s still a lot of talk about the rings and all the garments we got that had ‘national champions’ on it. The minute that championship was done, for me it’s done,” Head Coach Ernie D’Alessandro said.

“We were a little disappointed with how everything turned out. Short season, things get off to a slow start, and sometimes it’s tough to right the ship. We lost a couple of guys that we didn’t expect to lose, we had a bunch of injuries, and things just never seemed to turn around for us.”

— Adam Sadinsky

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